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| Home | Issues | The Daily Star Home | Volume 7, Issue 48, Tuesday, December 11, 2012 | |
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READER'S CHIT
Intrepid Museum New York City is regarded by many as the world's most glamorous of all cities. Nicknamed the 'Big Apple' the city continues to enchant its citizens and visitors. With the optimism shaped by the Statue of Liberty, New York Life is much like episodes taken out of pages of fiction, as the city is full of locations that one reads about in books and sees in movies. Amongst the many spectacular locations of the city is the Intrepid Museum. Intrepid is a must visit location for any science & technology enthusiast. The museum opened in 1982 at Pier 86 after Zachary Fisher, a prominent New York real estate developer and philanthropist, and journalist Michael Stern succeeded in saving the Intrepid from scrapping in 1978. The museum showcases the World War II aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, which became a National Historic Landmark in 1986, the submarine USS Growler, a Concorde SST and a Lockheed A-12 supersonic reconnaissance plane. USS Intrepid is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She also served as an antisubmarine carrier (CVS) in the Atlantic and during the Vietnam War. Her notable achievements include being the recovery ship for Project Mercury and Gemini space mission.
USS Growler (SSG-577), an early cruise missile submarine of the Grayback class, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named after the growler, a large-mouth black bass. It served for the US Navy for about 6 years during the 1960s. The Lockheed A-12 was a supersonic reconnaissance plane built for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It had the ability to travel at speeds of up to 3,560 km/h. Defying radar systems and having the ability to outrun missiles this was a one-of-a-kind spy plane in its days. The iconic design of the jet by Clarence Johnson would catch a visitor's eye on the aircraft deck of the Intrepid. Many of us only heard about the once-famous aircraft Concorde. The turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner once amazed the world with its lightning pace. Till now it holds the record of the world's fastest commercial airliner. A British Airways Concorde lies in the Intrepid Museum right beside the USS Intrepid. The Iconic Aircraft is a great attraction for those interested in Aviation. The most startling surprise that Intrepid holds is the Space Shuttle Enterprise. I wasn't lucky enough to see the shuttle myself since when I visited Intrepid the Shuttle hadn't yet arrived. The Shuttle went on public display on July 19, 2012, at the Intrepid Museum's new Space Shuttle Pavilion.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise was the first Space Shuttle orbiter. It was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform test flights in the atmosphere. Now the Space Shuttle Program is over so watching a Shuttle Launch Live on TV is a thing of the past. NASA's new vehicles for outer space are still in the research laboratories and no NASA vehicle is going Outer Space before 2015, at the earliest. So, stopping by at Intrepid to gaze at a Space Shuttle might always be a good idea for any space enthusiast. If you plan to visit New York and are interested in the march of military and space exploration technology, do consider a visit to Intrepid. By Tamim Sujat CHECK IT OUT
18 years of Rang What is life without colour? It was said of Bengalis that we are a nation of “13 festivals in a year.” When the boom in boutique culture took flight in Dhaka in the late eighties and early nineties, 40 kilometres away from Dhaka at Chashara, Narayanganj, “Rang” opened its doors for the fashionistas of the locality. That was 20 December, 1994. Today, Rang has over 10 outlets dotted across Dhaka and most major cities of the country. "We started Rang with the dream of adding colour to people's lives, to brighten people's special moments with a splash of colour," reminiscences Biplob Shaha on the completion of the 18th year of the brand. "A person's outfit speaks, it makes a statement and we try to make Rang's clothes speak about our history and heritage through our special collections on Ekushey February, 16 Decemeber and Pohela Baishakh." Their specialised store, Shrodhya, a shop dedicated to catering to the fashion needs of the elderly in Banani has received much praise from their clients. "We saw that the elders of the family rarely receive much importance when it comes to stores catering to their needs. So, we thought of doing something for them, the result of which was Shrodhya," said Shaha. In the 18 years since starting the boutique, the fashion scene of the country has taken a 360 degree turn. Fashion fads came and went but Rang has remained popular with their ability to predict the notions of the coming seasons well in advance. Whether it is the quintessential sari, or the comfortable shalwar kameez, Rang assures you that you are never out of style. "Rang was never a business for us, it was our dream and it could not have come true without the relentless support and love of our customers and celebrity brand ambassadors who have always stood by Rang." The dream that kept the entrepreneurs Biplob Shaha and Showmik Dash motivated has now turned into a reality. Yet their desire to strive is not over. Rang tries to reinvent themselves with every festive occasion or every change of season. Their collections are always trendy and fashionable. Celebrating their eighteenth anniversary, clients can avail an 18 per cent discount on all purchases at Rang outlets. Visit to your nearest Rang outlet while offers last. LS Desk CHECK IT OUT Nail addiction
I do not want to hike your expectations up too high, so I added the 'perhaps', because although the rhinestones, the nail stamps and many more such embellishments that aid in creating those marvellous nail art have arrived, they are still either kind of expensive or hard to obtain. But do not get disheartened because the Facebook entrepreneurship revolution has made things much easier. At the end of this article I will provide links to pages where you can order your nail embellishment to your heart's content. Before that, however, let's spend some joyful moments together going over what is out there. See this as a written version of window shopping! Nail stamps What is more, these are 3D nail stamps. The nail stamping sticks are one-design-per-stick and the designs range from cute Hello Kitty-ish animations, animal prints (for the whole nail) to random decorative designs. Each such nail stamp will cost you from Tk.70 to Tk.120 per stick. Pearls, rhinestones and others Nail tapes These are available in colours such as golden, silver, laser red, laser blue, laser green and shocking pink. You can also use the tape to obtain natural stripes on your nails by putting on the tape and then applying nail polish to the whole nail area and finishing off by taking the tape off. Once the nail tapes have done their job, you can keep your nails free of further embellishments or go crazy by decorating the different sections you created in different styles. Oh what fun! Dotting tools We have done similar designs before but without the aid of such a precision tool. So now the dotty designs can get better and prettier. The dotting tool will cost you TK.220 to Tk.340. Crackle nail polish First, you need to put on a regular nail polish as the base and apply the crackle over that once it dries. The crackle needs to be applied at one go since overlapping of the crackle will provide fewer cracks and hence dissatisfying results. It's a matter of practice and it can get tricky, but oh the fun of seeing the colour crack to reveal the base colour! The overall effect is nothing short of marvellous. Crackle nail polishes will cost you from Tk.280 to Tk.500. Nail boosting serum Now that the window shopping is over, here are the links and locations I have promised at the beginning: facebook.com/Accessories.Dreams; facebook.com/Wonderful. The crackle nail polishes are also available at Almas Super Stores and Nail Arts in Bashundhara City, Level 1, Block C. By Raisaa Tashnova ENGINE BLOCK Save the wallet: Fuel edition By Ehsanur Raza Ronny Car owners are the ultimate villains. They are polluting the world with their heavy bass music and carbon footprints. Both are equally dangerous. But this article is not a defence of the accusation. Let's face it, if we love cars we are the bad guys and girls. Thus we are punished with ever rising taxes and fuel prices. While we can't avoid taxes we can cut down on fuel costs. Here are a few tips. Alternate fuel: Yes, it's called CNG, we have it. We use it. That's tip number 1. Of course, if you can afford to buy a poor-handling, space-eating SUV for more than one crore taka, don't waste our poor people's CNG.
Tire pressure: Those black rubber things that go round and round while we wave our hands in air like we just don't care, they can cost you fuel. If you have the fancy cool looking fat tires, your car is working extra hard to make those tires turn round and round. It's called rolling resistance. If the air inside is not of the right pressure, it causes drag. Too little pressure, it's the same as walking around in really large shoes. Extra effort means extra fuel. Recommended pressure is written on tire sidewalls. If not, Google. Brand new cars will come with a book telling you what's right. Don't listen to tire shop guys. Most of them don't know anything and usually overfill which is bad because it wears out your tires. You have to have just enough air. Air filter: Simplified, the engine is a massive air pump. It needs air to operate. A dirty air filter will waste fuel, make it burn unnecessarily. Air filters are cheap so change regularly. Change more frequently if you regularly drive in dusty areas. Clean out your car: Lighter the car, less effort the engine requires to make it go. So throw out unnecessary junk like buckets, books, dead bodies, etc. But leave the subwoofer because you need music. Also, leave out people, heavy people. Last tip: Don't drive. It's surprising how much money you can save when you walk, or ride along with someone else. But considering the rate at which rickshaw fares are increasing, using the car (on CNG at least) is for now cheaper. NOTICE In keeping with our motto to continually reinvent ourselves, we have recently launched our very own Facebook page. Take the time to browse through our content, unseen pictures and much more. Be sure to leave your comments and suggestions. We hope that our dear readers will not only be part of this change but lead us in new directions by expressing themselves and letting their views and preferences be known. |
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Ok. I am done with the research and am set with all the big news and updates on nails. With extreme joy I can tell you all that the days of ooh-ing and aah-ing followed by sighing at the wonderfully delicious nail art you see on TV, because you know the necessary tools are not available in Bangladesh, are perhaps over. 
Drive slow: It may come as a surprise but driving slow saves fuel. When accelerating as if your pants are on fire and angry mutant bees are on your fiery behind, the car uses much more fuel than it should. 70 kmph on a highway is the average optimum speed for most cars. 70 kmph in Dhanmondi is silly. So go slow. Unless you're too slow in which case walk. Considering our traffic jams, walking is pretty fast.