Crazy Things To Do Before You Die!

Posted by on December 5, 2012

Bored of all the standard “50 things to do before you die” which include stuff like- see the northern lights, visit France, pick your nose- YAWN!

Well this list is a bit different and is a more thrilling version for all you adrenalin junkies. We’re not content with the standard skydive/ bungee jump/ marathon ideas, so lets take them to the EXTREME!

Since we’ve already mentioned the standard skydive, lets jump right in (pun intended) to the list with -

Mt. Everest Skydive

At 29,500 ft. not only are you skydiving over the tallest mountain in the world, but you’ll also be falling from the highest commercial skydive in the world! Unless you have a bit of spare change and can afford a skydive like Baumgartner!

Break a World Record

Sounds difficult, but you will probably surprise yourself with a potentially record breaking talent you didn’t even know you had. Just have a flick through the Guinness World Record book and see what you can do, it could be something about you (longest big toe) or a strange hidden talent (eat the most hotdog in a minute), it’s completely up to you!

Bungee Jump off the Royal Gorge Bridge

Back on the falling theme, this will seem like nothing after falling from 29,500 ft. but the Royal Gorge Bridge bungee jump is the highest in the world at 1,053 ft. Unfortunately it isn’t open to the general public (unless you ask VERY nicely) so you may have to settle for the puny, in comparison, Volcano Bungee in Chile which sees you fall 820 ft.

Climb Everest

Climbing the tallest mountain in the world isn’t something you do after a few beers and on the spur of the moment. This 7 week gruelling trek to the tip of the earth should have included at least 12 months of physical and mental preparation. You’ll also have to start saving as it’ll set you back nearly £40,000

Drive on the Autobahn… as FAST as you can

Everyone’s heard of Germanys legendary Autobahn but did you know that only 50% of the Autobahn is limitless so be careful and observe the speed limits when enforced. The fastest recorded speed anyone has done on the Autobahn is an incredible 268.8 mph in a Mercedes-Benz W125, but I don’t think that counts as they had the road closed for their attempt. The real winner, in my eyes, is a Porsche 9ff GTurbo850 attempt of 236 mph done during the daytime with other traffic on the road!

Running of the Bulls

This strange Spanish festival started in the early 14th century and basically sees the town’s streets sectioned off for people to run around in front of a hoard of charging bulls. Fun! Unsurprisingly, there are injuries numbering between 200-300 each year, most of which are concussions from falling or being knocked over. Since records began, in 1924, 15 people have been killed, mostly by goring.

Ride Every Single Ride at Cedar Point

Cedar Point has been voted the World’s Best Amusement Park for the last 14 years and it also boasts the most rides in the world, they have 72! 15 of which are roller coaster and their 16th will be opening next year. Cedar Point also has these world records to their name –

  • THE Tallest roller coaster inversion – GateKeeper 170 ft.
  • 2nd tallest steel roller coaster– Top Thrill Dragster 420 ft.
  • 2nd tallest steel roller coaster drop – Top Thriller Dragster – 400 ft.
  • 3rd fastest roller coaster – Top Thrill Dragster – 120 mph
  • 4th longest steel roller coaster – Millenium Force – 6,595 ft.
  • 4th longest wooden roller coaster – Mean Streak – 5,427 ft.
  • 7th tallest vertical loop – Mantis 119 ft.

Run the Polar Circle Marathon

Stuff the London marathon, how about doing a real marathon through the Arctic desert! With temperatures at a toasty -10 degrees C, this isn’t marathon isn’t just about running. Not only is the temperature a big factor, but also the terrain you will be dealing with comes I the form of ice and gravel paths covered in snow!

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All Time Olympic Winner’s Medal Board

Posted by on September 5, 2012

Here’s an updated list of the current top 20 Olympic Team’s Medal Board after the great success of the London 2012 Olympics. The table is in order of Combined Total of Medals, from highest to lowest and includes both the Summer and Winter Olympic games.

As you can see the most impressive tallys are from the Soviet Union, East Germany and Russia as they only competed in 18, 11 and 10 Olympic Tournaments, respectively, but still managed to notch up an impressive haul of medals.

Unsurprisingly, the US top the chart with more than double the 2nd place team. The United States’ huge population, wealth and interest in sports has helped them to become the super power of the Olympics and make them the team to beat.

China are the team to watch as they have only competed in 18 Olympic games but are consistently high up the medal table, I expect them to climb higher and higher up the overall table year-on-year.

Considering the size and population of Great Britain, they have done extremely well to make 3rd, this is probably down to the huge amount of interest in sport, the considerably high amount of money pumped into its sports programmes from school level upwards and good old plucky British spirit.

Germanys total would be far greater if it wasn’t for the fact that they used to compete as East and West Germany. If you were to combine the current Germany teams medals with those won by East and West Germany, they would have a total of 503 Gold medals, 501 Silver medals and 521 Bronze medals. This would have given them a grand total of 1525 medals and put them in 2nd place behind the US and jumping ahead of the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France.

 

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Ocean Cruises with Oceania

Posted by on May 15, 2012

With three much praised, identical 700 passenger ships plus two larger, 1260 passenger ships, Oceania Cruises is going places in more ways than one.

Oceania Cruises opened for business in 2003 with Regatta, their second ship Insignia entered service a year later and Nautica, completed the trio in 2005. By this time the line was winning travel magazine awards and achieving high levels of repeat bookings, although far from resting on its laurels the line has operated a continuous programme of upgrades and improvements in public rooms, restaurants and cabin suites, with other innovations still in hand.

Itineraries travel to Australasia, China, India, Japan, Hong Kong, South America and the Amazon, Patagonia and Antarctica, all this plus the ever popular Mediterranean and Caribbean cruises.

So, having sailed on Regatta on her inaugural, maybe it was time for me to see if Oceania’s claims of ever onwards and upwards could be substantiated. A few days back on board recently in the Western Mediterranean proved them right. Four open seating dining options mean a contrasting choice of menus from night to night, bars are stylish and sophisticated, the pool deck is spacious, there’s a good spa and fitness centre and evening entertainment is professional and varied. Throughout my cruise service was smooth and efficient by staff who clearly enjoyed their work, cabin suites were immaculately maintained, the shore excursions programme was varied and reasonably priced and the relative smallness of Regatta at 30,000gt meant that at a couple of ports where bigger ships were banished to the outer commercial areas, we were positioned so that passengers could stroll just a couple of hundred yards to the town centre.

The Grand Dining Room must be one of the most charming at sea and serves a wide choice of international fare, together with a selection of celebrity chef Jacques Pepin’s signature dishes.

The Polo Grill, which offers top quality steaks, chops and seafood, is like an exclusive club with subdued lighting, deep leather chairs and waiters in long white aprons, French bistro style. The Toscana serves fairly authentic Italian regional food with great gusto. The self service daytime Terrace Café becomes Tapas on the Terrace in the evenings, still self service but with lots of staff to carry dishes to the table and replenish wine glasses. The dinner menu offers a mix of international, Asian, Spanish, French and Italian dishes – something for everyone in a relaxed style, maybe seated on the aft open deck dining area.

Oceania had added other unique little touches too, like the personal cabanas – private forward facing areas with double sun beds and personal service from deck staff – and teak double sun beds on the main deck for the romantically inclined.

It is a fact that while all suites are handsomely furnished, with fine bed linen and heavy drapes, the bathrooms on middle and lower grade cabins are smaller than those on luxury lines. This together with the fact that Oceania adds a service charge to onboard purchases and prefers guests to pay gratuities at the end of the cruise has luxury lines regarding Oceania as being outside their exclusive community although Oceania’s answer to this is that their fares are lower while their standards throughout equal the best at sea.

Very evident on Regatta was the positive passenger response, from American, Brit, Canadian, Australian and other nationality passengers, many of whom were booking future cruises while on board. Throughout the cruise I heard not a single complaint. With 2012 itineraries selling very strongly, passengers seeking a new experience at sea need to move quickly.

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Diamond Plant Will Provide 400 Ghanaian Jobs

Posted by on March 5, 2012
Ghana now has a diamond processing capability

The new plant will be a massive boost for Ghana’s export industry

A new diamond cutting and processing plant will expand to create approximately 400 jobs in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The new plant, constructed by the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) at a cost of $480,000 United States Dollars was inaugurated at a ceremony in late February and will help establish Ghana as an important name in the production of precious gems. So international readers, keep an eye out the next time you buy silver jewellery. That Silver Island ring may well have been mined and polished in Ghana!

PMMC was established in 1989 and is already a major name in Ghanaian raw material exports. For instance, the company is responsible for 23 per cent of total gold exports and it has already exported 13 million carats of diamond since its creation. However, until now the exports have primarily been in rough form. Clearly, taking the ability to turn such valuable primary materials and turn them directly into market-ready cut and polished diamonds will be a massive boost for the Ghanaian economy.

Polished diamonds are many magnitudes more expensive than the raw material, and it is felt by many in the industry that tens of millions of dollars have been lost to the nation as a result. It is likely that low wages and other reduced local costs will make Ghana a very competitive entity in the gemstone market.

Mining is very important to Ghana, which is reliant on primary industries in general (though in African terms, the nation has one of the healthiest GDPs per capita). Alongside mining, oil exports will figure prominently in the nation’s future after a large oil-field was discovered in 2007. Ghana is also the second largest producer of cocoa in the world, and the importance of this cash crop is so significant that it is referred to as the nation’s “Black Gold”. Gold itself contributes 90% of the total country’s mineral exports. The boost to the diamond industry continues a move to establishing a critical third pillar in an economy reliant on cocoa and gold.

A future of investment and local infrastructure improvements await the nation. In discussion presently is a significant $3 billion USD loan from the Chinese government. Unsure of the ability of Ghana to pay back its investment in monetary funds, the Chinese are instead asking for repayment in natural resources: 13,000 barrels of oil every day for the next 15 and a half years. Critics have pointed out that the value of this quantity of oil is far in excess of the loaned amount, especially as the price per barrel has tended to increase on a global scale.

Nonetheless, forthcoming refocusing of Ghanaian policy for the minerals industry means that the nation is to get better value for money. The government has set up a team to renegotiate stability agreements and has partnered with Ghanaian-based industries like PMMC to achieve its goals. The new PMMC plant was created with expert support from an Indian diamond company and expansion is expected as exports gain momentum.

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Costa Allegra Taken Under Tow To The Seychelles By A French Fishing Vessela

Posted by on February 28, 2012

Generally seen as a rather slow method of taking a holiday the cruise has recently become far more controversial than it has been in years. It used to be that people’s fear of flying would stop them taking long distance holidays. However, it seems that it’s becoming increasingly true that you’re less likely to experience any accidents or inconvenience taking Thailand holidays from Ireland  or flying off on a Sydney holiday from Australian Sky than taking a boat on the ocean.

Thoroughly enforced stringent safety standards throughout the industry mean that accidents and incidents very rarely happen. At least that was the truth until this year when two ships, built by the same shipwrights and owned by the same company have come in for trouble already.

Earlier this year the Costa Concordia ran aground and then capsized in the Mediterranean Sea causing the loss of more than 30 passengers lives. Now we hear that the Costa Allegra is powerless and floating about the Indian Ocean, stricken.

Fire In The Engine Rooms

A fire in the engine rooms has left the ship unable to propel itself, there is no light, air conditioning or facilities to cook food. A French fishing trawler is currently tugging the cruise ship to a small island in the Seychelles.  Desroches Island is near Alphonse Island at the south west end of the Seychelles island network. The Seychelles are located several hundred miles away from Somalia, a country riven by civil war for the past twenty years. The lawlessness that this war has caused has meant that pirates have patrolled the Somali coast unchallenged, taking container vessels and tankers and keeping their crews as hostages. However, NATO and UN forces and battleships patrol the area and pirates have never yet taken a cruise ship.

The Costa Allegra has a thousand people aboard including both crew and holiday makers and once the ship reaches Desroche Island passengers will be disembarked to the only hotel on the island where they will await flights to the Seychelles main island Mahe. This could take some time as the island really is so small the airfield is only big enough to take light aircraft which can carry a maximum complement of 20.

Officials from Costa Cruises, the ship’s owners, insist that the vessel is steady and safe, the radio is being powered by a small generator. There are nine armed guards aboard the ship and there is a military aircraft patrolling the area to ensure that the ship remains safe from boarders.

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Best of Cinnamon Challenge Fails!

Posted by on February 21, 2012

Here’s the funniest Cinnamon Challenge Fails -

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Valentines Proposal in 2011 in Ghana

Posted by on February 9, 2012

This is a post from David at The Sanctuary, Spa Days a company dealing in fine beauty products and spa days in London in the U.K. Here he tells us how he proposed to his fiancé on the beautiful Okisan beach.

My bags were packed, I had enlisted help from my then girlfriends mother and friend to pack her some clothes for the 4 day break I was about to surprise her with to Ghana. I was nervous, I was going to pop the big question, but still needed a plan of how to do it on Valentines night, which was the following evening.

So Danielle came back from the hair salon that I had sent her to in time for Valentines day, only to find a suitcase and her passport ready, she was confused bless her, but it was all beautifully hidden from her that the real reason we were going was so I could propose to her. She was ecstatic to find out we were going on a surprise vacation for Valentines day, despite having some brief reservations about visiting a continent she had never been to before.

We landed, had a great evening, and as she slept I went down to talk to the porter at the hotel reception, had a great conversation with him about my proposal and within 20 minutes, he had arranged the most romantic evening I have ever heard of, it sounded like the scene of a movie. Had he proposed to me, I would have married him! I tipped the guy and he said he would make the arrangements and come find me on the hotel’s beach the next day.

It was Valentines day, I waited nervously, I had no back up plan, it was going to be tonight or I was flat out refusing to do it. Then Abeek, the concierge, came and found me and gave me a very British cheeky smile, wink and a thumbs up, I excused myself from the sun lounger where I left my unsuspecting girlfriend to rendezvous with Abeek.

The man had come through! He had arranged a table to be taken out from the hotel to this small stretch of private beach just behind the main hotel beach, he had arrange a friend who wasn’t working that evening to act as our personal waiter and to bring out a three course meal from the hotel. All for a price that was more than reasonable considering how perfect the night sounded.

I went and told my lady the plans, with a small white lie that we had to walk along the beach a tiny bit to the restaurant that I booked, she was thrilled.

We started walking along the beach on the calm warm February and walked around the corner to see our personal waiter standing ready by the table with a bottle of sparkling Rosé. That was enough to bring a tear to my ladies eye and I knew that tonight was the night.

The meal was beautiful, emphasised by the stunning views, and by candlelight as the sun went down after our meal, and before the desert I popped the question, there was only going to be one outcome, she cried, we laughed, and enjoyed the desert.

We hugged our waiter ‘K’ and thanked him for making our night so special.

A year on and we’re still together, our wedding is planned for the summer, but I still find myself day dreaming back to that perfect moment on the perfect holiday with the perfect conditions for the perfect proposal.

Ghana will ALWAYS be a place special to us and we plan to go back for a week of our honeymoon.

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The Best African Beach Holiday

Posted by on February 7, 2012

Africa as a whole has started to really turn a corner, in almost all the industries they are starting to gain a foothold and being able to make some money of there own rather than waiting for the aid and help to come there way.

The tourism industry has been a great catalyst for this growth in Africa, as on the coastal countries of Africa, benefit from polished beaches, warm waters and all year round sun, turning it into a fairly cost effective destination. Great food, great weather and some of the kindest people you will meet. Companies such as Wexas Travel have followed the trend by finding some of the best holidays around to Africa.

The best African beaches

The beaches in Africa are so well maintained, they look like the ones you would expect to find across the Indian Ocean or when on a fantastic beach holiday anywhere else in the world. Not in the past poverty stricken African countries, but a lot has changed for the majority of the country in recent years. Including a much more concerted effort into how they can make a sustainable living by either exporting the services they can or by taking advantage of the large amount of jet setting holiday seekers every year.

Some of the best African beaches have been picked up upon and are located in Sierra Leone (pictured) and Tanzania, idyllic stretches of pure white sand and calm, clear blue waters.

Safari tours

Before there were beach holidays in Africa, there were a lot of safari tours, as people with an interest in the nature reserves went over to the various National Parks and Wildlife Parks of Africa to get tours around the Serengeti, and see some of the “Big 5” game. One of the must universal items on peoples “bucket list”.

With this increased popularity of the tourism in the country, there has been more inward investment into developing technologies and industries a little less reliant on the global economy, whilst in fact developing the country to a point where it will be fully self supportive and be able to help the other countries within the continent.

Tourism fuelling development

Water pumping powered by solar power and many other technologies are becoming more and more popular and as African nations start to gain a better credit rating and a steady rise in the “ease of doing business” as rated by the world bank.

Many countries in Africa are becoming more popular holiday destinations and it will one day compete with the heavyweights of the holiday industry, such as the countries within the Caribbean that have built themselves around the tourism industry for many years.

Africa, has a lot of growing to do, but with leading figureheads like Richard Branson giving valued guidance, they are sure to continue to grow and improve.

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Lumiagate – Have Argos Broken The Law?

Posted by on February 6, 2012

Hot UK deals. If you’re not already a fan of this share and save website, you’ll no doubt soon be resigned to a life of bulk buying an endless array of occasionally scorching but sometimes utterly useless products just because they are cheap. People swarm to Hot UK deals from all over the world, Scarborough to Santa Fe. Bargain hunting platforms have already taken off in the USA and have now arrived on UK shores and we replicate American consumer behaviour.

For those of you who have not yet been exposed to the beauty of Hot UK deals, it is a website which provides a platform for shoppers to share their best bargain finds both on and offline. It’s also the platform on which Argos.co.uk took a meteoric brand nosedive this past weekend.

The Deal

So here’s the, ahem, deal. On Saturday morning (January 21st) the savvy Hot UK dealers were out in force, taking advantage of misprices and dirt cheap deals whilst the rest of the still intoxicated mortals nursed their hangovers. Around 10.00am on Saturday morning, a Hot UK dealer by the name of isam8390 posted a deal that was so good it was about to set ablaze the comments fields and spectacularly burn itself into the ground all within a few hours.

The deal isham8390 posted was for a Nokia Lumia 800 mobile phone, sim free for £119.00 reduced from £449.99. For those Smartphone geeks out there, the opportunity to buy this pretty damn good high spec Windows 7 phone for such a price was an offer they couldn’t refuse. It was an extremely hot deal on a very good product.

There were a few comment murmurings questioning as to whether it was an Argos pricing error, but most didn’t stop to think and cashed in immediately on the offer, with some placing high quantity orders in the hope of making huge profits by re-selling the phones, as you’d be entitled to do.

Everything was perfect, Windows fans were happy, Nokia would have something to shout about again, Argos were raking in the cash and Hot UK dealers generously rolled out 1089 degrees of heat for the listing. Three hours later, it all turned ugly.

Cunning Marketing Or Genuine Error?

There was no reason to assume this product was not a genuine deal. The Argos product page listed the original price (£449.99), the new price (£119.99) and two lovely little graphics informing the user that it was an ‘Online Exclusive’ offer and indeed was ‘Better than half price’. Though it is acknowledged that these alerts could have been generated via an automated database system rule. However any casual user would not have known any different. The suspicion starts.

Around three hours after the listing, with happy customers and orders in place, trolls started to hit the comments and putting reasonable doubt in the minds of the blissfully innocent consumers.

Then more and more comments started to feed through stating that customers had contacted Argos about this deal and had been told it was a pricing error and that it would not be honoured. Shortly after, a wave of customers received text messages from Argos informing them that they had realised their pricing error and that they would be fully refunded within 7 days. Those who did not provide their mobile in the order process had not been communicated with.

At this stage, the deal was still live on the Argos website, no emails had been sent, no phone calls from Argos had been received and no changes had been made to the order status in their Argos accounts.

So, half were left disappointed and infuriated, having been informed that their deal would not be honoured and they would have to wait 7 working days for their money to be refunded. Half didn’t know anything and probably went off to spend the rest of their Saturday blissfully unaware, safe in the knowledge they’d have a shiny new phone delivered to them within the coming weeks.

The Legal Bit

Over the next 24 hours, Argos sent all customers a text message or email informing them that their deal would not be honoured and that they would be providing full refunds within 7 working days. This was a heavy blow to those who made bulk orders and who would now be a couple of grand down.

Naturally, angry customers moan, moan some more and then realise they might just have legal ground to stand on, which subsequently makes them moan some more. So in this example, just where does the customer stand? I personally, have absolutely no idea. What I have come to realise though is that it’s somewhat of a grey area in terms of consumer rights. Here are the FACTS about this particular deal.

  • Email notifications were sent from Argos to inform that the transaction would be checked before confirmation;
  • Those who paid via credit card or Paypal had money taken from their accounts straight away, before Argos had sent any confirmation;
  • The deal remained live whilst some customers received text messages to inform them the deal would not be honoured;
  • Argos informed customers that it would take 7 days before they would receive a full refund.

What makes this particular situation even more interesting is the fact that M&S experienced a similar mispricing issue just weeks ago where customers nabbed a Panasonic 50 inch plasma television worth over a thousand pounds for just £199. M&S honoured this deal to the delight of many of their customers.

Should Argos follow suit and honour the deal for their customers, or was this just a clever marketing technique designed to get people looking at the phone and their site? After all, maybe it isn’t a coincidence that this incident occurred on the release day of their new catalogue.

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Soursop, A natural cancer killer

Posted by on January 31, 2012

Soursop, A natural cancer killer

It seems a cure for cancer could finally be here. Information circulating on the Internet claims that research has indicated that extracts from the miraculous Graviola tree are 10,000 times stronger than chemo.

Research shows that with extracts from this miraculous tree, it now may be possible to attack cancer safely and effectively with an all-natural therapy that does not cause extreme nausea, weight loss and hair loss, but protects the immune system and combats deadly infections.

The fruit is said to have been studied by one of America’s largest drug manufacturers, with over 20 laboratory tests conducted since the 1970s. What those tests revealed was that extract from the tree were shown to effectively target and kill mali……

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Oil Will Affect Ghana’s Exports Diversification Agenda

Posted by on January 31, 2012

Oil Will Affect Ghana’s Exports Diversification Agenda

Dr Nii Kwaku Sowa, DG of the SEC launches the report

By Carly Ahiable

The discovery of oil creates the fear that exports may greatly affect the diversification agenda of Ghana, Dr. Felix Asante, Senior Research Fellow and head of the economic division of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Legon, has observed.

He was speaking at the launching of an ISSER annual publication, ‘The State of the Ghanaian Economy in 2009’, today at the Novotel Hotel in Accra.

The 218-page book sheds light on Ghana’s fiscal development, international trade and payments and the various sectors of the economy for 2009, and outlook for 2010. It also prescribes interventi……

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NDC, Lying With The Truth

Posted by on January 23, 2012

NDC, Lying With The Truth

By Sydney Casely-Hayford, sydney@bizghana.com

A year ago on 10th July 2009, I wrote an article attacking NDC public truths. NDC Big and Small Lies Will Un-Make the Party. Actually walking the soil and riding Mass Metro Transit, Tro-Tro and taxis in Ghana, trying to make sense out of the complex economic chains, is an eye opener of how the macro and micro economic environments are separate from each other. Ghana is two economies. The macro numbers, which capture the attention of academia, the donor community and the regulatory authorities and the micro economy, where 80% of Ghanaians live and struggle to make a living. In stark contrast to each other, visu……

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