Galeries Lafayette in Morocco receives first Guinness World Record for largest in-store shop facade

by Jessica Festa on

The Galeries Lafayette, a department store in Casablanca, Morocco, has received an award from the Guinness Book of World Records for having “the largest in-store shop façade”. The façade has a combined area of 36,402.68 square feet (about 46 feet high and almost 791 feet wide) that takes over the three story store located in the Morocco Mall.

The Galeries Lafayette is set to open on December 5, 2011, along with the Morocco Mall itself.

While winning the Guinness Book of World Records spot is exciting, it is also worth noting that the Morocco Mall is the first destination mall in Africa and is being built as an economic development initiative of the Mediterranean Region, Southern Europe, and Africa. Construction began in 2007 and the mall is said to be on of the five largest in the world. People visiting the Morocco Mall will be immersed in a world of shopping and entertainment and will be able to visit the third musical fountain to be built in the world.

For more information on the Morocco Mall, click here.

Free private jet service a nice perk for Zappos employees

by Chris Owen on

A recent report from Launch says Zappos boss Tony Hsieh is offering his employees free private jet service courtesy of JetSuite.

A memo leaked from Zappos details Hsieh’s stake and seat on the board of JetSuite, a company he invested in with lower than average operating costs on the new Phenom 100 planes. While most private jet services charge about $5000 an hour, JetSuite guarantees a lower rate of $4000 an hour. Noted in the leaked memo:

“Just like we have markdowns at Zappos and 6pm for unsold inventory, JetSuite occasionally has empty planes flying around so it can reposition its planes, so JetSuite offers the empty planes at a big discount (called SuiteDeals) every day on its Facebook page”.

JetSuite’s last minute daily flight deals on the company Facebook page give pretty much anybody the chance to fly private starting at only $499 each way.

That’s $499 each way for the whole 4-passenger jet.

Not good enough for Zappos employees says Hsieh:

But for Zappos employees, we’ve negotiated a special employee benefit… Instead of the discounted price of $499, Zappos employees get to fly FOR FREE.

Yes, that is not a typo (and nobody has hacked my email :) — All the SuiteDeal offers are available to Zappos employees for free. You get to fly on an entire jet (and bring up to 3 of your friends, since the plane seats 4 people) for free!

So if you’re interested, please read the attachment carefully for step-by-step instructions on how to sign up!

-Tony :)
[Benefits are hot]”

We have to agree.

Flickr photo by Josh Beasley

Enjoy nudist hiking? Rethink that holiday in Switzerland

by Sean McLachlan on

Last year we reported on a major victory for nudist hiking in Switzerland. A hiker in the conservative Swiss canton of Appenzell got fined for baring all, appealed, and won.

Now that victory has turned into defeat. The BBC reports that Switzerland’s highest court has ruled that local authorities can fine people for hiking in the buff. Naked hiking isn’t illegal per se, but but public indecency is, and if the local authorities decide naked hiking is indecent, well, then you can’t do it. And since this came from the nation’s highest court, it applies to all of Switzerland.

The court stated its ruling was only a “marginal” infringement on personal liberty. Much more marginal than, say, forbidding women to vote, which is what Appenzell did until 1990. This makes me the local authorities aren’t so much concerned with individual rights as they are with a buttoned-up conservatism.

But individual rights are an issue here. In a truly free country, shouldn’t a person have the right to get an all-body tan while hiking? In a truly free country, shouldn’t people who are offended by the sight of naked strangers be able to have a picnic in peace?

Tricky.

Photo courtesy Alain Tanguy.

Virginia hosts ‘100 Miles of Lights’ this holiday season

by Libby Zay on

It might not even be Thanksgiving yet, but holiday travel planning is well underway. If you’re looking to be razzle dazzled this holiday season, the state of Virginia offers a festival of lights that has been bringing visitors back year after year. The 100 Miles of Lights celebration is a series of world-class light displays spread across six cities: Richmond, Williamsburg, Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. While exploring the glitzy trail, visitors will find drive-through light displays, twinkling cityscapes, and other sparkling spectacles.

The whole shebang kicks off in Norfolk this Saturday with the Grand Illumination Parade, an event that sets downtown Norfolk ablaze in lights and is followed by a parade featuring festive floats, marching bands, giant balloons, dancers and more. Nearby, the Virginia Beach boardwalk will also be shimmering with Holiday Lights at the Beach (pictured above), which is expected to draw 30,000 cars to the boardwalk before the new year begins.

Newport News Regional Park will become home to Celebration of Lights (picture above), a two-mile drive of 750,000 lights and 200 displays, including the animated “Winter Wonderland” and “Santa’s Enchanted Kingdom.” Over in Richmond, the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden will features more than half a million lights, botanical decorations and trains for GardenFest of Lights. New this year, the “Virginia is for Lovers” LOVE artwork will be on display, allowing families and couples to take holiday photos.

Besides these long-running events, Colonial Williamsburg will host a Grand Illumination on December 4, while Hampton will host the Holly Days Parade on December 11.

If getting the whole family to go to Virginia seems like a Christmas miracle, you may be in luck: The Virginia Tourism Corporation also just announced the “Virginia Snowmotion Sweepstakes.” The grand prize includes a free ski or snowboard lesson, complimentary equipment rental and lift tickets, a $200 gift card for dining, and a three-night, four-day stay at Wintergreen Resort for a family of four. Also included in the promotion is round-trip airfare and car rental to explore the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains. To enter, visit www.virginia.org/sweeps.

Not able to make it to Virginia? Check out more of the best Christmas light displays in the United States.

London’s Temple of Mithras is moving back to its original location

by Sean McLachlan on


London got its start as the Roman city of Londinium in the first century AD. Back then the so-called “mystery religions” were very popular in the Roman Empire. These cults, with their personal connections to the divine and secret rites, gave believers a more personal experience than the giant temples to Jupiter, Mars, and the rest of the standard pantheon. One of the most popular mystery religions was that of Mithras, an eastern deity whose worship appears to have been open only to men, mainly soldiers.

Since Mithraic rites were secret, not much is known about their beliefs, but there are many similarities between Mithraism and Christianity, such as Mithras being born on December 25 to a virgin, and having died and been resurrected for the salvation of mankind. Both faiths practiced baptism and communal meals. The similarities were so numerous that early Christian writers claimed the older religion was invented by the Devil as a cheap imitation of Christianity before Jesus was even born!

Temples to Mithras, called mithraea, have been found all over the Roman Empire, including one in the heart of London. The mithraeum in Roman London was discovered in 1952 and moved 90 meters away and set up on Queen Victoria St. The restoration wasn’t a completely accurate one. One major problem was that it was put on a podium when mithraea were generally underground.

Now the site has been bought by Bloomberg LP, which plans to build its European headquarters there. Bloomberg LP is going to dismantle the temple and put it back in its original location, according to a press release from the Museum of London Archaeology. The temple will be dismantled starting on November 21 and the corporation says the new reconstruction will be much more accurate. There’s no word yet on when this whole project will be completed. Such a large and delicate process will probably take several years.