Terrifying Glass Skywalk on the Side of Tianmen Mountain !

Jutting out from a sheer cliff 1,430 meters high, the glass skywalk in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park offers sightseers terrifying thrills and clear view of the mountains below as they tread nervously across the 60 meter long bridge encircling the vertical cliffs of Tianmen Mountain in Hunan province. The 3ft-wide, 2.5in thick glass walkway is so scary that sightseers are requested to wear cloth slip-ons over their shoes when they cross the skywalk, presumably to make the job easier for the cleaners.

No matter how terrifying the glass skywalk looks, it can only be an improvement from the treacherous road made of wooden planks thousands of feet high on the sides of the Huashan Mountain, located in the south of Huayin city.

10 coolest homes away from home for the nomad in you !

The modern architecture and city life is somewhere causing saturation. Everybody waits for the weekends just to take off to the nearest hill station or place of relaxation. Well, I seriously wonder why do we need to go anywhere? Can't we just bring the green to the scene? I mean can't we have a nice home environment itself, that provides comfort and peace? Yes, we can!

Here are some caravans that give you a luxurious feel no matter where you may be. Let us check them out :

1. The Stealth Defiant Caravan:

The Stealth Defiant caravan has all the possible facilities one would need. For a good night's sleep, there is space for a double bedroom! For a nice relaxing shower, there is storage for power shower system which gives you a nice portable shower experience. After all the relaxing and long baths, we definitely can be hungry! So, nothing to worry, the kitchen has a microwave oven, fridge, stove and ample storage. And in the evenings, when you just want some space for you, there is an expansive area for relaxation which just completes this caravan.

2. The Newell’s 2011 Luxury Caravan: 

How about feeling royal on your trip? Feeling like you own everything and live in utter comfort and luxury, is such a good feeling! The Newell is go great in terms of quality, design, luxury and comfort that you will feel like settling in permanently. This is mainly for big shots who keep traveling all over the place, and need this kind of a pad! These custom coaches are great when it comes to functionality, mechanism, interiors and just about everything. Being in this caravan will not make you feel any less than a King!

3. Bob Villa’s Caravan:

Now from all the newly designed caravans, there has to be one that stands apart! Drawing inspiration from Airstream and 50's styles is this Caravan by Bob Villa, which is a classic! This baby has whitewall tires and wheel covers. Together with smooth airstream form, aluminum band and dark windows, the new caravan recaptures the individuality of classic caravans. Imagine having a bedroom, with electronically operated top up roof above the main living area? This caravan has made it possible. Also, there is access to the room from the kitchen, as there is a ladder placed there! Apart from this, there is a regular bathroom and the kitchen comprises of a fold out breakfast bar area. How cool is that? Apart from the uniqueness in design and structure, there is still the comfort factor that is taken care of!

4. Slideable Inos Caravan:

We all know how great the European's are when it comes to modern concepts and class! The Inos Caravan has proved it further! This is Europe's first slide out caravan that gives great space to the users to relax. The way this caravan is constructed makes it dent free. It looks pretty simple from the outside, but on the inside it tells a different story altogether! It comes with gorgeous beautiful LED lights placed in a fashionable manner, while the whole thing has been given striking Italian walnut-finished furnishings. This has great security system as the locks fitted don't let just anyone enter. Also, there is about two meters of headroom and there is floor heating system. The windows come fitted with Horrex Black out blinds and fly screens. The Inos Caravan comes with a starting price tag of £36,000 ($57,750).

5. Opera Mobile Holiday Home:

Inspired by the Sydney Opera House, the Opera by Belgian architect Axel Enthoven is a trendy caravan for modern nomads that presents a luxury vacation on the move. An ideal trailer that provides electronically operated beds, a toilet, has hot and cold water, LED lighting and a mobile hob and barbecue for outdoor cooking. This by far is the best designed caravan for me. So trendy and cool, apt for party goers and youngsters setting out on their own trip. The reason I am saying this is because there is a wine cabinet, an espresso bar, warm-air heating and an enclosed teak veranda. Best feature about this is that it has navigation system that allows you to go to the great restaurants and famous places around. There is absolutely no chance of being lost anymore!

6. Mehrzeller Inhalt Caravans:

Now, think of a caravan that is more like a spaceship. Isn't that an awesome idea? This one has many white lights installed inside which gives you that feel of a nice spaceship while you are on the move! A nice resting spot is provided along with a retractable table which is again great to have a drink or two or may be work on some stuff. Apart from this, there is a kitchen with an oven. Another good thing for your entertainment is an HDTV placed at the side.

7. Blackmore Vale Leisure T@B 320 Retro Caravan:

When you decide to take off on a trip apart from comfort, you need to see if you are protected from all the weather hazards. In order for that to happen, you need a vehicle to be sturdy inside and out and be able to withstand anything and everything. This caravan comes with thick insulated panels designed to withstand the toughest weather conditions, a 6 year water ingress guarantee and a huge easily made king-size bed. So, preventing a disaster is as important as your comfort. It also comes with a sun canopy which is again a great design. The pricing for the new T@B 320 tear drop caravan starts at £6990 (approx. US $11,328).

8. VARIO Perfect Platinum is a high-tech luxury home on wheels:

Bringing luxury to your homes, is everyone's dream! And now the VARIO Perfect Platinum has made this possible. It has powerful torque and environment-friendly middle engine, full air suspension, independent front suspension and three axles. The exterior looks tough and sturdy, while the interior is made from "bentART" design! There is facility for video rear vision system with side cameras and a color rear vision camera with IR-LEDs and electric dust lid. Apart from this, the interiors consist of leather upholstery, extendable couch, halogen lighting, luxury living room seat, adjustable chair with headrest, bar table with floor cupboards, dinette with Alcantara upholstery, center table and hanging cupboards with lids. You name it and it's there in the VARIO! However, one of the smashing features of this would be hydraulic operated car garage that houses a compact car.

9. A-Cero’s Mercedes Benz luxury caravan is a complete home on wheels:

Created by architectural studio A-Cero managed by Joaquin Torres, here is one handy trailer for traveling. It has a garage inside which makes it possible for you to take your vehicle and go for a spin. The furniture used, avoids all the vibration that is caused because of the road bumps and traveling in general. A smooth ride indeed! The inside is simple, but also gives you a nice homely feel, which will not let you miss your home at all!

10. Robert Williams’ ForFreedom Caravan adds more to your fun outdoors:  

Another exciting experience on the move by Robin Williams this time! This has knight-vision3D modelling and animation. It may not seem too big in size, but it does not take a back seat with its interiors. It focuses on green credentials as there is Internal electric heating with solar panels on the rear section which adds to its eco friendly credentials over standard caravans. Spacious and great for traveling, this compact trailer is one great vehicle to own

Worlds Top Ten Famous Civil Engineers

Civil engineers are responsible for creating and designing bridges, buildings, roadways, and other pieces of infrastructure that are important within a society. Great designers and architects, there are some names that really stand out in this field. Continue reading to learn about ten famous civil engineers and what their inventions have brought to the world.

1. Henry Larcom Abbot- A military engineer, he served in the U.S. Army Engineers. He was responsible for creating the Army's Engineer School of Application and his influence can be seen in a lot of elements of the coast defense systems of the U.S., especially in the submarine mine system, and in the employment of seacoast mortars.

2. Duff A. Abrams- A researcher in the area of organization and properties of concrete, he was responsible for coming up with the necessary methods for testing concrete characteristics that we still use. President of the American Concrete Association for a year, he discovered the concept of fineness modulus and the definition of water-cement ratio.

3. Charles Adler- Charles Adler was an American inventor and civil engineer. An inhabitant of Baltimore, he invented several signals, some we still use today. He got a patent on an electric automotive brake, discovered modern traffic lights, and invented the first pedestrian-actuated signal.

4. Truman Heminway Aldrich- A civil engineer, Truman Heminway Aldrich was a mining company executive, as well as a paleontologist. He investigated the existing coal-mining operations around the Cahaba coalfield and provided fuel for the first triumphant coke-fired furnace in the Birmingham District.

5. Bernard Amadei- A professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado, Bernard is the creator of Engineers without Borders (USA) in addition to being the director of the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities. Although it started out small, the Engineers without Borders organization now has more than 12,000 members in 225 chapters.

6. Sir David Anderson- A Scottish civil engineer and lawyer, he joined an enterprise with fellow engineers Basil Mott and David Hay and created the company Mott Hay and Anderson. He was ultimately elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

7. Othmar Hermann Ammann- A Swiss-born American structural engineer, he designed the Bayonne Bridge, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and the famous George Washington Bridge. He also designed more than half of the 11 bridges that attach New York City to the rest of the country. During the Depression, he was able to cut costs with his bridge projects while still keeping them safe and this made him very popular and sought after. As well as his work on bridges, he planned the construction and directed the building of the Lincoln Tunnel.

8. Apollodorus of Damascus- A Greek civil engineer, sculptor, designer, and architect, he constructed Trajan's Bridge over the Danube, designed the Forum Trajanum in Rome, designed the triumphal arches of Trajan at Beneventum and is credited as the architect of the Pantheon.

9. William Armstrong- Armstrong was in charge of creating the hydraulic accumulator. He often built tall water towers when water pressure wasn’t available. He created the hydraulic accumulator which a cast-iron cylinder fitted with a plunger that supported a heavy weight.

10. Dr. John Job Crew Bradfield- Bradfield was a well-known Australian engineer who is most famous for designing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, one of Australia’s most illustrious symbols.

How to Become an Early Riser

• Don’t make drastic changes. Start slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.
• Allow yourself to sleep earlier. You might be used to staying up late, perhaps watching TV or surfing the Internet. But if you continue this habit, while trying to get up earlier, sooner or later one is going to give. And if it is the early rising that gives, then you will crash and sleep late and have to start over. I suggest going to bed earlier, even if you don’t think you’ll sleep, and read while in bed. If you’re really tired, you just might fall asleep much sooner than you think.
• Put your alarm clock far from you bed. If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.

• Go out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. Just force yourself to go out of the room. My habit is to stumble into the bathroom and go pee. By the time I’ve done that, and flushed the toilet and washed my hands and looked at my ugly mug in the mirror, I’m awake enough to face the day.
• Do not rationalize. If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option.
• Have a good reason. Set something to do early in the morning that’s important. This reason will motivate you to get up. I like to write in the morning, so that’s my reason. Also, when I’m done with that, I like to read all of your comments!
• Make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. A good reward is to make a hot cup of coffee or tea and read a book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat for breakfast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something that’s pleasurable for you, and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine.
• Take advantage of all that extra time. Don’t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs, unless that’s a major goal of yours. Don’t wake up early and waste that extra time. Get a jump start on your day! I like to use that time to get a head start on preparing my kids’ lunches, on planning for the rest of the day (when I set my MITs), on exercising or meditating, and on reading. By the time 6:30 rolls around, I’ve done more than many people do the entire day.

8 Tips for Choosing the Perfect Lighting for your Home

Lighting in your home is one of those items that you don’t always notice when it has a good presence and feeling when you’re in the space. Although, when the lighting is poor and you are trying to perform a task, or you feel the opposite of how you would like to feel in the space, you notice it immediately. Lighting is for ambiance, aesthetics, tasks, and seeing better in your home.  Think about your home and if it has all the lighting qualities you would like.  If your answer is no, here are some tips on how to choose the perfect lighting for you and your family.

1. Determine what your lighting goals are: Direct or task lighting is focused in the space you are trying to work. Ambient or indirect lighting is used for ambiance and for overall lighting of a space. Once chosen you can begin to choose lighting options.  Each room in your home should have a mood you want to set, as well as a function you want your lighting to serve 
2.    Provide lighting for safety and security on the exterior of your home: Walkways, sidewalks, perimeter of your house, and the front entry should be lit with ambient lighting.  Too dim of lighting on the exterior is a welcome sign for intruders. While too bright of exterior lighting is costly and disturbing to neighbors. Consider installing flood lights at the exterior corners of your home that are motion activated to further deter intruders. Follow the aesthetics and security lighting of your neighborhood for further guidelines as to what to implement at your own home. 
3. Use exterior wall sconces for décor: Outdoor lighting doesn’t have to only be utilitarian.  Wall sconces can provide washes of light against the exterior walls of your home to create ambiance in the evening hours.  Directional sconces pointing upwards or downwards can focus on architectural elements on your home, and draw attention to exterior niches and plantings around your home. 
4.  Inside your home use multiple light sources for one space: For rooms like the kitchen, bedrooms, and living spaces, multiple light sources will help you achieve a variety of functions and activities in that space. In the kitchen, under counter lights can provide great task lighting. While in a living room, opt for a floor lamp next to a couch or favorite reading chair. In bathrooms the lighting at the mirror should be free from shadows and glaring light.

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya - Engineers Day is his Birth day

Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, 15 September 1860 – 14 April 1962) was a notable Indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore during 1912 to 1919. He was a recipient of the Indian Republic's highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He was knighted as a Commander of the Indian Empire by King George V for his myriad contributions to the public good. Every year, 15 September is celebrated as Engineer's Day in India in his memory. He is held in high regard as the first and pre-eminent engineer of India. He was the chief designer of the flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad.

Early years

Visvesvaraya was born to Srinivasa Sastry and Venkatalakshamma, in Muddenahalli village, 40 miles from Bangalore, India. His family was a Smartha Brahmin family of the Vaidiki Mulukanadu sub-caste. In fact his ancestors actually belonged to Mokshagundam village, near Giddalur in the Prakasam district of present-day Andhra Pradesh, and had migrated to Mysore some three centuries ago. His father was a Sanskrit scholar and an authority on Hindu Dharmashastras (theology), besides being an Ayurvedic practitioner. Visvesvaraya lost his father at the age of 15. The family was in Kurnool when this happened, and moved back to Muddenahalli there after. Sir M.V. attended primary school in Chikballapur and high school in Bangalore. He earned his B.A. from Madras University in 1881 and later studied civil engineering at the Government Science College, Pune which is presently known as College of Engineering, Pune. 

6 Tips to Choose the Perfect Kitchen Tile

The kitchen is the one room in the house that can have several different types of tiles, in different applications, and they all will enhance your kitchen beautifully.  When choosing kitchen tile for your home consider where it is going to go first.  Glossy tile that goes on a wall will not be the same as flooring tile. Flooring tile has to be safe to walk on, and a glossy floor kitchen tile could be unsafe under foot.  Here are tips for choosing the right application and type of tile for your kitchen.

1.) Determine where the tile will be installed: Before you select a material you will need to decide what surface the tile will be applied.  Tile can be placed as a backsplash behind a stove, or on the wall to the underside of the upper cabinets. Tile is a popular countertop material, and can also be used on the kitchen floor.

2.) Decipher the difference between ‘tiles’: The word ‘tile’ refers to a resilient material that can be laid in rows over a surface.  For kitchens, this could include: quarry, stone, cork, vinyl, bamboo, ceramic, porcelain and glass.  Applications like vinyl, cork and bamboo tiles are most commonly used in flooring. While quarry, ceramic, and porcelain can be used for counters and floors. Glass tile is commonly reserved for walls and backsplashes.

3.) Determine your budget before getting sold on the look: Kitchen tile can be inexpensive, such as vinyl and linoleum tiles or they can be expensive, such as custom designed ceramic tiles.  Do your homework before getting married to an envisioned look in your head! Tile and home improvement stores can help you estimate the amount of product that will be required for your kitchen.

4.) Consider your household’s lifestyle: Although kitchen tile is resilient, it still requires up-keep and the longevity of each material differs.  For countertops, ceramic tile is durable and will hold up to heat from hot pans, and is easy to clean and maintain. Unfortunately a ceramic tile surface can be uneven and it can easily crack or chip.  Determine if your family’s lifestyle will match the tile finish you choose.

5.) Choose a floor tile that can withstand your family’s habits: When choosing floor tile it has to be durable enough to withstand heavy traffic, pets, spilled foods and cleaning supplies.  Ensure that you purchase floor tile that is called ‘floor tile’.  If you choose a wall tile for a floor the coefficient of friction (COF) will be too low, which in turn means it’s too slippery for walking. Instead choose floor tile that has a slight raised pattern, or texture to it to allow for a safer kitchen floor. For a more refined and elegant look consider using quarry tile. The clay and limestone based tile is fired to look like natural stone. Quarry tile is more expensive than the traditional ceramic tile, but is gorgeous in the right application.

6.) The sky is the limit for your tile backsplash: Well, to a certain point the sky is the limit. Since your backsplash doesn’t take direct heavy traffic, glossy, and painted tiles are a perfect fit for your backsplash.  Although they still have to withstand, hot oil splatters, grease and daily cleaning.  Choose from porcelain, ceramic, glass, metal or stone materials for a backsplash that can subtly or boldly bring a decorative flair to your kitchen.

Your kitchen floors, counters and backsplash have a variety of tile styles to fit your budget, and taste.  Consider these tips when choosing tile for your kitchen.  Research your tile options and then make your kitchen the one you’ve always dreamed of!

Freshome reader’s do you have tips for planning, purchasing or selecting kitchen tile? Let us know, we would love to add to the list.