It is just interesting how old is this tree?

Just look at huge plane. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world. Specifications: Length overall – 72.73 m (238.6 ft), Wingspan – 79.75 m (261.6 ft), Height – 24.45 m (80.2 ft)

Miss Liberty sits proudly atop the 65 ft. tall foundation fashioned in the shape of an eleven-point star, and an 89 ft. stone pedestal.

Other Statue of Liberty Dimensions

Wow! That lady’s got big feet!

It’s true, Miss Liberty’s feet are 25 ft long, making her a US women’s shoe size 879. She also has a 35 ft. waist, and her face is more than 8 ft. tall. Her right arm, which holds the ever-lit torch, measures 42 ft.

And I thought I had a big nose! The Statue of Liberty’s nose is 4 ft. 6 in.

There are 354 steps inside the statue from the pedestal to the crown, which was open to visitors prior to September 11, 2001. The crown, with its 25 window-view of New York Harbor, will reopen to the public on July 4, 2009. In 2004, public access was granted to the observation deck and museum gallery, but the rest of the interior has remained closed.

The crown has seven points, representing the seven seas and seven continents. Each individual ray of the crown weighs about 150 pounds, and measures up to 9 ft.

The total weight of the Statue of Liberty is 450,000 pounds (225 tons). The copper alone weighs around 100 U.S. tons and is 3/32 of an inch thick—a little less than the thickness of two pennies. It was hammered by hand into plates, which are attached to the interior iron frame.

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Construction

Construction began on January 5, 1933. The project cost more than $35 million. Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction and making some groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he had placed a brick from his alma mater’s demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured. He innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the construction site, which saved the lives of many otherwise-unprotected steelworkers. Of eleven men killed from falls during construction, ten were killed (when the bridge was near completion) when the net failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen. Nineteen others who were saved by the net over the course of construction became proud members of the (informal) Halfway to Hell Club.

The project was finished by April 1937, $1.3 million under budget.The bridge-opening celebration began on May 27, 1937 and lasted for one week. The day before vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed by foot and roller skate.

Structure

The weight of the roadway is hung from two cables that pass through the two main towers and are fixed in concrete at each end. Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. There are 80,000 miles (129,000 km) of wire in the main cables. The bridge has approximately 1,200,000 total rivets.

Paintwork

The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat, which was touched up as required. In the mid-1960s, a program was started to improve corrosion protection by stripping the original paint and repainting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and vinyl topcoats.Since 1990 Acrylic topcoats have been used instead for air-quality reasons. The program was completed in 1995 and it is now maintained by 38 painters who touch up the paintwork where it becomes seriously eroded.

Suicides

The Golden Gate Bridge is not only the most popular place to commit suicide in the United States but the most popular in the entire world.The deck is approximately 245 feet (75 m) above the water. After a fall of approximately four seconds, jumpers hit the water at some 76 miles per hour (122 km/h). At such a speed, water has proven to take on properties similar to concrete. Because of this, most jumpers die on their immediate contact with the water. The few who survive the initial impact generally drown or die of hypothermia  in the cold water.

Wind

Since its completion, the Golden Gate Bridge has been closed due to weather conditions only three times: on 1 December 1951, because of gusts of 69 mph (111 km/h); on 23 December 1982, because of winds of 70 mph (113 km/h); and on 3 December 1983, because of wind gusts of 75 mph (121 km/h).

Seismic retrofit

Modern knowledge of the effect of earthquakes on structures led to a program to retrofit the Golden Gate to better resist seismic events. The proximity of the bridge to the San Andreas Fault places it at risk for a significant earthquake. Once thought to have been able to withstand any magnitude of foreseeable earthquake, the bridge was actually vulnerable to complete structural failure (i.e., collapse) triggered by the failure of supports on the 320-foot (98 m) arch over Fort Point. A $392 million program was initiated to improve the structure’s ability to withstand such an event with only minimal (repairable) damage. The retrofit’s planned completion date is 2012.

Doyle Drive replacement project

The elevated approach to the Golden Gate Bridge through the San Francisco Presidio is popularly known as Doyle Drive. Doyle Drive, dating back to 1933 was named after Frank P. Doyle, director of the California State Automobile Association.The highway carries approximately 91,000 vehicles each weekday between downtown San Francisco and suburban Marin County. However, the road has been deemed “vulnerable to earthquake damage”, has a problematic 4-lane design, and lacks shoulders.For these reasons, a San Francisco County Transportation Authority study recommended that the current outdated structure be replaced with a more modern, efficient, and multimodal transportation structure. Construction on the $1 billion replacement, known as the Presidio Parkway, began in December 2009 and is expected to be completed in 2013.

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The physical withdrawal symptoms of nicotine are notoriously difficult to overcome, but the psychological cravings for cigarettes can be even worse.To successfully quit smoking, it is important to know the initiators that send you looking for a cigarette and figure out ways to defuse them.

1. Coffee

Cigarettes and coffee go so well together that the combination has inspired movies and songs. A 2007 study even found that coffee seems to enhance the taste of cigarettes.

To avoid coffee-related cravings, try changing your routine: Find a new coffee shop, have your morning cup a bit later than usual, or switch to soda or water.

2. Stress

Although cigarettes actually increase physical markers of stress, smokers tend to feel more relaxed after lighting up. So, it’s not surprising that emotional stress is one of the biggest initiators for smoking.

If you quit smoking, make an effort to reduce the stress in your life; take up yoga or meditation, for instance.

3. Driving

For many smokers, cars are a smoking lounge on wheels. You’re bound to have cravings when you’re behind the wheel—especially if you’re late for work and stuck in a traffic jam—and while you can’t avoid them altogether, you can make it harder for yourself to sneak a cigarette.

For starters, remove your car’s cigarette lighter and fill the ashtray with hard candy or gum (you might even try nicotine gum).

4. Alcohol

As with coffee, many smokers enjoy pairing cigarettes with a glass of wine or beer.

Experts suggest that you scale back your alcohol consumption or even stop drinking altogether right after you quit. After a few months, when the nicotine cravings aren’t as strong, that second glass of wine won’t be as hazardous.

5. Meals

For many smokers, the cigarette after a good meal is the most delicious one of all, and the urge to light up often hits as soon as they drop their fork.

To resist post-meal cravings, get up from the table immediately after eating and do something enjoyable to distract yourself, experts recommend.

6. Smokers

The areas outside office buildings and restaurants where smokers congregate are like quicksand for people trying to quit. If you find yourself walking by a group of co-workers or friends who are merrily puffing away, don’t get sucked in. If possible, find a way to avoid them—use another entrance or tweak your schedule.

If your friends head outside for a cigarette, don’t go with them and pick up the conversation when they return.

The architect should be working hard to design the overall house structure which must be build at only a little more than 2000 square feet of land. Due to the unique structural design and floor layout, it wasn’t easy for them to acquire a building permit for this house, but in the end the enthusiasms of both the client and architect prevailed. And the result is an amazing house it’s a modern home with unique structural design and layout, see the floor-plan and section drawing after the jump for more detail.

The car flies over a safety rail towards a crowd of spectators

Those in the vehicle’s path rush for safety

Amazingly, the Mini came to rest having only struck two men, neither of whom sustained life-thretening injuries

Catalyst: Magrow’s car flipped after he collided with a fellow competitor

Parts of the car were torn off as it raced through a gravel pit towards a safety barrier

Perfectly fine: A track spokesman denied the circuit was unsafe

Bath, Somerset – United Kingdom

Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in the south west of England. It is situated 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 13 miles (21 km) south-east of Bristol. The population of the city is 83,992. It was granted city status by Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and was made a county borough in 1889 which gave it administrative independence from its county, Somerset. The city became part of Avon when that countyunitary authorityBath and North East Somerset was created in 1974. Since 1996, when Avon was abolished, Bath has been the principal centre of the of Bath and North East Somerset.

The City of Bath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1987. The city has a variety of theatres, museums, and other cultural and sporting venues, which have helped to make it a major centre for tourism, with over one million staying visitors and 3.8 million day visitors to the city each year. The city has two universities and several schools and colleges. There is a large service sector, and growing information and communication technologies and creative industries, providing employment for the population of Bath and the surrounding area.

Marianske Lazne – Czech Republic

Marianske Lazne is a spa town in the Carlsbad Region of the Czech Republic. The town, surrounded by green mountains, is an exquisite mosaic of parks and noble houses. Most of its buildings come from the town’s Golden Era in the second half of the 19th century, when many celebrities and top European rulers came to enjoy the curative carbon dioxide springs.

By the early 20th century, approximately 1,000,000 bottles of mineral water were exported annually from Marienbad. The water from the Cross Spring (Kreuzquelle, K?ížový pramen) was evaporated and the final product was sold as a laxative under the name of sal teplensis. The modern spa town was founded by the Tepl abbots, namely Karl Kaspar Reitenberger, who also bought some of the surrounding forests to protect them. Under the guidance of gardener Václav Skalník, architect Ji?í Fischer, and builder Anton Turner the inhospitable marshland valley was changed into a park-like countryside with colonnades, neoclassical buildings and pavilons around the springs.

Kusatsu spa in Japan

People of Kusatsu in Gunma Prefecture are proud to have one of the most prolific outpourings of hot water of all hot springs in Japan. Spa water gushes up from a number of wells in the town and the combined output for the whole town is about 37,000 liters (9,772 gallons) per minute. The springs produce sulfurous spa waters with high acidity that are said to be effective against neuralgia and skin diseases. Records show that men in power visited the town to bathe in the hot waters in as early as the 13th century, and that the spa itself was already well-known at that time. Today the town is part of the Joshin’etsu Kogen National Park and is constantly busy with many visitors. People come in the summer to escape the heat, in the fall for the autumn leaves, and in the winter for the skiing.

There are at least 18 public baths in the town, which are open round the clock to everyone without charge. At some of the public baths the traditional way of controlling the water temperature, known as “yumomi”, is still practiced. Yumomi adjusts the temperature by mixing the cold air of the highlands into the hot water with vigorous movements of the wooden boards. Several women standing at the edge of the bath tub and stirring the water in the bath with a wooden board to cool the water. The raw spring water is too hot to bathe in, but adding cold water decreases the medical efficacy of the spa water. Therefore, in recent years Yumomi has been performed as an entertainment show and become a popular tourist attraction for the visitors staying in Kusatsu.

Bagni Di Tivoli in Italy

Tivoli is an amazing Ancient Roman spa town where the rich came to relax and during the Renaissance the nobility came to play during the hot Roman summers. The sulfur water is supplied to the Spa town of Bagni di Tivoli from the Tiburtini Hills which is host to a vast number of natural springs. Visiting the magnificent Renaissance palace Villa D’Este, you can get a feel how these nobility lived as you walk through the most elaborate gardens made almost entirely out of fountains that are carved in all different shapes and sizes.

These create the most glorious amount of shade and atmosphere as you walk though this masterpiece of a garden listening to the trickle of water.

Saratoga Springs in New York

Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,186 at the 2000 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word “Saratoga” is known to be a corruption of a Native American place name, authorities disagree on what the exact word was, and hence what it meant. The city is near the center of Saratoga County in upstate New York.

Before racing began in Saratoga, the area’s natural mineral springs had been attracting summertime visitors for many decades. These springs were believed to have healing powers. The Lincoln Baths was one such place people would go to be treated with the waters. The bath house has since been transformed into an office building, but still exists and can be visited to this day. The spa treatments also are being continued in a new bath house in the Spa State Park called the Roosevelt Baths. Springs can be found all over town. Most of the springs are covered by small pavilions and marked by plaques; others, however, are less conspicuous, sometimes just a spigot in a rock. The springs are famous for their varied and distinct tastes: some are clear freshwater, others are saltier, and some taste strongly of a certain mineral such as sodium bicarbonate or sodium chloride. There is a sulfur odor but mineral analysis of the water consistently shows almost no presence of dissolved sulfur, because the sulfur is in the form of the gas H₂S, which degasses from the water very quickly. Visitors are welcome to bottle the spring water for personal consumption.

Heviz in Hungary

Heviz Spa and the Szent Andras Hospital, Hévíz (St. Andrew’s State Hospital for Rheumatology and Rehabilitation) is a spa in Hungary. It is located in Hévíz, on the shores of the lake of the same name.

The machinery of the hospital and the treatments were made up to date. By 1968 it has become Hungary’s most modern winter bath. For the reconstruction of the bath in the 1970s Austrian larch was used. 1986 3 March central buildings of the bath (in the lake) burnt down. In September 1989 the reconstruction of the destroyed parts was finished. The new set of buildings was more attractive and up to date than the previous one. To day the area of the Institution is 620,000 square metres. The plans of further reconstruction of the park and buildings were completed between 2000 and 2002.

The very much sophisticated complex balneotherapy of Hévíz and the spa are part of the world’s cultural heritage.

Baden Baden in Germany

Baden-Baden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe.

Baden-Baden is the most picturesque of all the German bathing towns. The city offers many options for sports enthusiasts. Golf and tennis are both popular in the area. Horse racing fans enjoy the international racing season each August at nearby Iffezheim. The countryside is ideal for hiking and mountain climbing. In the winter Baden-Baden is a skiing destination.

The springs of Baden-Baden have been known for more than 2,000 years, and their composition resembles that of the Roman baths of the 3rd century. The water at the baths of “Caracalla-Therme” spa is rich in sodium chloride, and comes from artesian wells 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) under the Florentiner Mountain.

Hot Springs in Arkansas

Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County. According to 2008 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 39,467.

Hot Springs is traditionally best known for the natural spring water that gives it its name, flowing out of the ground at a temperature of 147 degrees Fahrenheit (64 degrees C). Hot Springs National Park is the oldest federal reserve in the USA, and the tourist trade brought by the famous springs make it a very successful spa town.

The city takes its name from the natural thermal water that flows from 47 springs on the western slope of Hot Springs Mountain in the historic downtown district of the city. About a million gallons of 143-degree water flow from the springs each day. The rate of flow is not affected by fluctuations in the rainfall in the area. Studies by National Park Service scientists have determined through carbon dating that the water that reaches the surface in Hot Springs fell as rainfall in an as-yet undetermined watershed 4,000 years earlier. The water percolates very slowly down through the earth’s surface until it reaches superheated areas deep in the crust and then rushes rapidly to the surface to emerge from the 47 hot springs.

Royal Leamington Spa in the United Kingdom

Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa and Leamington or “Leam” to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe around 1797. During the 19th century, the town experienced one of the most rapid expansions in England.

The 2001 census reported a population of 45,114 making it the third largest town in the county after Nuneaton and Rugby. It is named after the River Leam which flows through the town. Tourism was initially driven by the spring waters.

Montecatini in Italy

Montecatini Thermal Center is located in Valdinievole, in a pleasant and green area at the foot of the hill, where the historical medieval village of Montecatini Alto rises. It is connected with the city through a funicular.

The thermal baths of Montecatini are known since the XIV century but they achieved their highest international fame in the last years of last century. Besides the efficient and rich thermal equipment, divided into different establishments, the place boasts of an elegant and refined look: the numerous liberty-style buildings, the broad parks, the wooded alleys remind of many famous thermal resorts from the other side of the Alps. Numerous high-level manifestations, congress structures and additional equipment like the golf course and the hippodrome besides the pleasant geographic position with respect to the most important art centers of Europe, make of Montecatini not only a very interesting thermal resort, but also a holiday station.