marie claire blog: September 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Car Wallpapers

Bollywood Wallpapers

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Photo of the tallest Bougainvillea (pokok bunga kertas) plant in full bloom. The photo was taken from a room at Park Hotel, Miri.

The tall Bouganinvillea used a pine tree as a support. The pine tree could be over 100ft tall.

From far, the pine tree look like it was infest with a blooming parasite plant.

Above: Shot taken from underneath the plant.

About Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea (pronounced /ˌbuːɡɨnˈvɪliə/) is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province). Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. The plant was discovered in Brazil in 1768, by Philibert Commerçon, French Botanist accompanying French Navy admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville during his voyage of circumnavigation.

They are thorny, woody vines growing anywhere from 1-12 meters tall, scrambling over other plants with their hooked thorns. The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance. They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate, 4-13 cm long and 2-6 cm broad. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colors associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. Bougainvillea glabra is sometimes referred to as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery. The fruit is a narrow five-lobed achene.

nature | photo

Friday, September 18, 2009

Shahid Khan Afridi Powered Pakistan for Victory!

Lord's was all green on Sunday. The greensward was as spectacular as ever but it was the green of Pakistani flags flying with pride at their team’s crowning as World Twenty20 champions that dominated the eye.It is a long time since Pakistan supporters have been able to puff out their chests at the achievements of their talented but flawed cricket team. Scandals of match-fixing and ball-tampering have both eaten away at their credibility since Imran Khan’s Tigers won the 1992 World Cup.But recently it has been the action of terrorists that has made them the outcasts of the world game. Shots fired at beaten finalists, Sri Lanka, have ultimately hurt their own players the most, knowing as they do that it will be years before another team sets foot in Pakistan.

This week it is likely the International Cricket Council will deliver a final, telling blow when they

find a new home for the 2011 World Cup due to be co-hosted by Pakistan.With such a parlous future in mind, their captain, Younus Khan, made a frank plea after the team’s momentous eight-wicket victory. “This is a message from our nation: please come to Pakistan,” he said. “I am proud of my country and this victory is very nice for all of us but to keep our youngsters interested and for the structure of our cricket we need home series.”

The Test tour by Sri Lanka, that ended at a roundabout in Lahore on March 3, was their first home Test series for 18 months. This was a team of strangers when they arrived here and it is little wonder they started so slowly losing to England and scraping through the first round on run rate over Holland.But following defeat in the Super Eights stage against Sri Lanka, Pakistan have grown under Younus as a team culminating in a performance of nerveless cricket. Nerveless, not because of the closeness of the match, but because of the significance of victory. There was no better expression of that focus than Shahid Afridi. His 54 off 40 balls was a story of consistent scoring, those quick ones and twos ensured pressure remained on the bowling side, combined with the odd lusty blow that is Afridi’s wont. The brainless that blends with the brilliant when Afridi is batting was absent. “Even Afridi scored singles,” joked Younus. That Afridi only struck three sixes in this tournament speaks of a man

whose form arrived slowly, but when it did he took responsibility for a team that due to its own inconsistency was constantly fighting for its life. With the Three Ms - Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis - to contend with chasing 139 was far from straightforward. But with Kamran Akmal and the 19-year-old Shahzaib Hasan setting off at a decent trot, they had 48 off seven overs before Sanath Jayasuriya took the first wicket, Pakistan were in command. Wickets were needed by Sri Lanka and as much as they contained, Afridi and Shoaib Malik paced themselves scoring 76 off 59 balls to win in the penultimate over.

At one stage, with 36 needed off 38 balls, Sri Lanka had a chance. Afridi changed all that swinging Isuru Udana over the rope as Pakistan took 22 off the 18th over. Time for the engravers to get to work.

The defeat was hard for Kumar Sangakarra, the Sri Lankan captain. He is a statesman in cricketer’s clothing, an articulate man captaining his country through the tumult of the end of a civil war that raged for most of his life.

He had to pick up his team at Lord's when they looked beaten at 32 for four thanks to the

brilliance of Abdul Razzaq’s bowling. Sangakkara almost achieved the impossible - regrouping in a Twenty20 timeframe. He played with orthodox strokes and timing to score 64 from 52 balls adding 68 with Angelo Mathews. But Pakistan were destined for victory. The last word falls to Younus who announced his Twenty20 retirement before making one final declaration. “This final goes to Bob Woolmer (the coach who died at the 2007 World Cup). I would be a very proud man if he was alive and sitting here next to me.”