Hone your photographic skills in the Himalaya in 2011

by Kraig Becker on

When it comes to photographing spectacular landscapes it’s difficult to top the Himalaya, which offer endless mountain vistas, towering snow capped peaks, and beautiful remote valleys. The entire range is a photographer’s dream and I know first hand that it is difficult to take a bad photo there. That said, it never hurts to get some advice on how to take the best photos possible, and if you’re going to take a photography workshop, it might as well be in the Himalaya too.

Himalayan Workshops offers a combination trek and photography workshop that visits a unique and interesting destination in the Himalaya each year. They past two years, the workshops have been held in the Everest region, visiting the South Side of that mountain in 2009 and the North Side in 2010. For 2011, they’ve announced a trek to Mt. Kailash, a 21,778-foot tall peak located in Western Tibet. This year’s expedition will once again balance adventure in the mountains with the opportunity to learn more about photography along the way.

The workshop aspects of the trek will be conducted by Chris Marquardt and Jon Miller, who share their considerable knowledge and talent with the other members of the tour. Marquardt is the founder of Tips From The Top Floor , one of the best photography websites and podcasts on the Internet, while Miller produces The Rest of Everest, a video podcast that covers all aspects of climbing and trekking in the Himalaya. Over the course of the 17-day trek, they’ll demonstrate how to get the most out of your camera and video equipment, while capturing spectacular images of the Tibetan landscapes.

Billed as the “highest photography workshop in the world,” the Mt. Kailash trek will begin in Kathmandu on April 17th of 2011. For more information on the trek and workshops, click here, and if you’re interested in joining the trip, registration info can be found by clicking here.

Highwood, IL to attempt Guinness Record for most jack-o-lanterns lit in one location

by Gadling Staff on

There must be a thousand ways to break a Guinness World Record, and most are easier than this.

The city of Highwood, Illinois will light the night for Halloween this year. If all goes well, they will also end up in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most jack-o-lanterns lit in one location. To break the record, this little town of about 5,000 residents needs to beat Boston’s record of 30,128 pumpkins aglow in 2006.

Starting Wednesday October 20, 2010, thousands of volunteers will be carving, staging and lighting candles in pumpkins, culminating in a whopping 32,000 simultaneously-lit pumpkins for the record-breaking grand lighting at precisely 6:30 p.m. (central time) on Saturday October 23rd.

Pumpkin walls are already in place with tiered racks to hold the massive number of pumpkins. To qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records, all 32,000 must remain lit together for a minimum five-minute period.

Other concurrent events include an Evening Gourmet Farmers Market at Highwood’s City Hall Park, vendors selling antiques, live music, a haunted fun house, and of course, a pumpkin pie eating contest.

Pumpkin farmers from across the Midwest are bringing thousands of pumpkins and carving events are organized en masse at every school, religious and community organization and local military base in this area north of Chicago. The ghosts of all those pumpkins will be composted after the celebration.

The Highwood, Illinois festival is also dedicating Scout Park to the Boy Scouts of America and will have 100 Scout packs and troops, as well as veterans and local military on hand for three days of recognition, to raise awareness for Wounded Warrior Project. Highly motivated by this huge celebration, the local Scout troops are pitching in to carve 10,000 of the pumpkins required to beat the world record.

If you’re in the Chicago area and see a strange glow in the sky on October 23, besides the full moon, it just might be the Great Pumpkin victory, as Highwood, Illinois breaks the world record.

Helen Gallagher writes about business, technology, and travel for national consumer and trade publications. She is the author of Social Media Handbook and Release Your Writing: Book Publishing, Your Way! Read her blog on Red Room.

Exhibition explores Germany’s relationship with Hitler

by Sean McLachlan on

More than sixty years after the end of World War Two, Germans are still struggling with their Nazi past. While most of the population is too young to be culpable for World War Two, their parents or grandparents were involved. Many Germans opposed Hitler’s rise to power, but many more supported him, at least in the beginning.

A new exhibition at Berlin’s Deutsches Historisches Museum explores the German people’s relationship with Hitler. Hitler and the Germans: Nation and Crime brings together a wide range of artifacts and documents showing how Nazism came to dominate every part of German life. Hitler was everywhere–on postage stamps, magazine covers, even toys–and the Nazi party sought to have its ideology permeate every aspect of life.

During the 1920s the German economy was in ruins after losing the First World War and getting caught up in a global economic crisis. In his early speeches Hitler called on Germans to be proud, and blamed Germany’s loss in the First World War on Jews, socialists, and other “foreign elements”. Hitler became even more popular when he got into power and revived the economy. People who suddenly had good jobs after years of hardship and pessimism turned a blind eye to the regime’s seamier side.

Doing an exhibition on Nazism is tricky in Germany and some earlier attempts have been rejected by the police. It’s illegal to display the swastika except in a scientific or historical context, and the common fear is that any exhibition on Hitler will attract neo-Nazis. So far this exhibition has been well received and there have been no incidents.

Hitler and the Germans: Nation and Crime runs until 6 February 2011.

[Photo courtesy user Professional Assassin via Wikimedia Commons]

Haunted hotels in the US

by Gadling Staff on

“The tender word forgotten, the letter you did not write, the flower you might have sent dear, Are you haunting ghosts tonight.”
– Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Spending an evening away from home in a luxurious hotel invites the opportunity to be pampered in a spa-like setting, enjoy fine dining and spend a romantic evening in a beautiful room. Over the years, some guests have enjoyed their stays so much at these hotels that they never leave … even after their demise.

With Halloween fast approaching, it’s time to explore some of the most haunted hotels in the U.S. that ooze with charm, history and ghosts. As an intuitive and paranormal researcher, I’ve had the opportunity to stay at many of the hotels on this list and have personally experienced some of the paranormal activity reported there. The question for you is: Do you dare spend an evening in the company of ghosts?

The Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, Colorado)
Ghosts at the Stanley Hotel include children running through the halls and the original owners and namesake of the hotel, Freelan Stanley and his wife. Paranormal reports at the Stanley inspired Stephen King to write his novel, The Shining and part of The Shining mini-series was filmed at the hotel.

TAPS investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson from the Syfy TV show Ghost Hunters investigated the Stanley and observed a number of paranormal occurrences including a thick glass cracking on the bedside table during filming.

Bourbon Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Once home to some of New Orleans’ most elegant parties and balls and at one point operating as a convent and an orphanage, the Bourbon Orleans is steeped in history. Ghostly reports run the gamut from children playing outside, to nuns shushing noisy guests and confederate soldiers pacing on the seventh floor.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there’s a ghostly Romeo who steals kisses from attractive female guests of the hotel. Located in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans, if you don’t have a ghostly encounter while visiting NOLA, chances are you never will.Hotel Del Coronado (Coronado, California)
Located oceanfront in San Diego, the ‘Hotel Del‘ as it’s referred to by locals has a glamorous history, including the filming of Some Like It Hot with Marilyn Monroe on the beach in front of the hotel.

Sadly, the ghosts reported to roam the hotel are two women, both of whom committed suicide while guests of the hotel, the most famous story being of Kate Morgan, who was pregnant and apparently abandoned by her husband. In her distress, she bought a gun and shot herself on the steps of the hotel. Guests who stay in her room report strange noises throughout the night as well as the TV turning on and off and curtains blowing. Others have reported seeing the ghostly woman in the hotel’s bookshop rearranging the displays.

Grove Park Inn (Asheville, North Carolina)
“Built for the Ages” is the motto of this Inn, nestled in Asheville with a spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Guests at the Grove Park flock from around the world to enjoy the underground spa and the hotel has attracted a large number of presidents and celebrities over the years.

It’s also the home of the “Pink Lady,” a ghostly figure who is seen frequently in the main Inn’s Palm Court, where she reportedly fell to her death in the 1920s. A gentle spirit, guests report not being scared when she materializes in front of them in her pink gown — she simply appears for a moment and then moves on to another part of the Inn.

Hawthorne Hotel (Salem, Massachusetts)
Visiting Salem alone during Halloween is enough to guarantee a haunting good time, and highlighting the experience is a stay at the Hawthorne, conveniently located in the midst of all the haunting activity in Salem. The hotel has a long list of ghostly encounters and restless nights including guests being approached by ghosts of sea captains in their room and throughout the hotel.

It is also reported that the land that the Hawthorne was built upon, was previously an apple orchard owned by one of the women executed as a witch during the Salem Witch Trials and that when she visits the hotel, an overwhelming scent of apples fill the air.

Queen Mary (Long Beach, California)
Frequented by paranormal researchers for years now, the Queen Mary is reportedly one of the most haunted ships to date. Nicknamed the “grey ghost” during WWII when she was painted grey to slip back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean carrying soldiers, she’s lived up to her name even after she retired.

Now a hotel and museum, guests of the Queen Mary report running into her ghostly crew on numerous occasions.

Battery Carriage House (Charleston, South Carolina)
Location, location is key in real estate and often in haunted hotels. In a historic port city like Charleston, ghosts walk the streets by day and sleep at the Inns at night.

Stepping through the wrought iron gates out front of the Battery Carriage House Inn, it’s easy to slip back in time to a more gentile and charming era, along with the memories of the civil war in which Charleston was hard hit. Guests of the Inn frequently report seeing headless torsos, ghostly lights and polite encounters with a gentlemen ghost from the civil war era.

Don Cesar Hotel (St. Pete Beach, Florida)
Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico on a sugar white sandy beach, the Don Cesar is known as the ‘Pink Palace’ by locals. Employees report seeing the ghost of Thomas Rowe, who originally built the hotel as he embraces his true love Lucinda. They were forbidden to be together in life, but have become reacquainted in the after life and now roam the hotel.

Also used as a convalescent hospital during WWII, guests report ghostly encounters with soldiers walking the halls recovering from their injuries from the war.


Kala Ambrose is an author, paranormal researcher, and host of the “Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show.” Her new book, Ghost Hunting North Carolina, will be available in stores in 2011. Read her blog on Red Room.

[Images: Flickr | MiguelVieira; alliecreative; Floyd Nello; hyku]

From the shores of Louisiana – SoLa premiere

by Jon Bowermaster on


Baton Rouge, Louisiana – Last weekend I premiered my new documentary film about water and man in Louisiana – “SoLa, Louisiana Water Stories” – in the belly of the beast, in the heart of the state’s capitol.
The showing was at the beautiful Manship Theater and drew a crowd of Louisiana’s environmental cognoscenti, from activists to lawyers, politicians to fishermen. After the screening I was joined on stage by several of the characters interviewed in the film. I hadn’t been to Louisiana in a couple months – certainly not since the BP gusher had been finally capped – and was curious to gauge their take, emotional and statistical, on the status of the mess in the Gulf.
Former head of Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality, Paul Templet, admitted he hadn’t seen signs of change in the state level, or even yet at the federal agency level in regard to oversight of the offshore oil business. “My only sense of optimism,” he said, “lies with the courts. I think if BP is ultimately held to its promises it will be because of judges not politicians.”
There was worry among the crowd that BP may not live up to its promises of restitution – the $20 billion promised and currently being administered by Kenneth Feinberg, which many believe could grow to $100 billion, which could bankrupt the company.
Attorney Danny Becnel, Louisiana’s answer to F. Lee Bailey, from Reserve, Louisiana, filed the first suit in federal court against BP just 10 days after the spill, has since filed dozens more on behalf of fishermen, oil workers, restaurant and hotel owners and more. “The legal fights are going to go on as long as there is oil in the Gulf, which will be a long time,” he tells the crowd.

Dean Wilson, the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, who watches over the environmental health of the most biodiverse swamp in the country, says while there is no oil in the basin …yet … his biggest concern post-spill is the continued lack of political will in the state. “We’ve been able to stop a lot of local environmental problems, like the cutting of the cypress swamps, but without the support of government and legislators. I think what we saw throughout the BP spill was the same thing … a lack of political will necessary to stop big pollution.”

“I don’t think (Governor Bobby) Jindal has ever even said the word ‘environment’ out loud,” quipped Templet. Prompting a shout-out from the audience, “But we know he can say ‘berm,’ ” reference to the governor’s fervent efforts during the spill to get a too-little-too-late $400 million berm built at the mouth of the Mississippi.

“Where has Mr. Jindal gone,” someone else asked from the audience. “He was all over the TV during the spill, calling for federal help. Now he’s nowhere to be seen.” Apparently his efforts these days are focused on getting the November 30 moratorium on new drilling lifted early.

Marylee Orr, the executive director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, reminded a crowd that is impacted by Louisiana’s disasters first hand, whether hurricanes, oil spills or Saint’s losses, reminded that local time is now told “pre-spill and post-spill.” She guesses she did more than 400 radio, television and print interviews at the height of the spill and worked 20-hour days for more than 3 months. Is she optimistic now that the well has been capped?

“Only time will tell if we can afford optimism. The notion that is now being spread around the world that the spill is over, that the problem is over, that everything’s back to normal … is not okay. Nothing is back to normal.”

Supporting her was chemist Wilma Subra, who has literally been on the ground since day one of the BP gusher, measuring toxins in the air, water and fish. She is not impressed by any of the numbers and is most angered by the “spin” being put on the issue of whether Gulf seafood is good to go … or not.

“The director of NOAA stood in front of a group of fishermen last week and said, repeatedly, ‘Seafood from the Gulf is not contaminated.’ Well, I don’t think we know that for sure yet.” Her biggest concern is that the government has changed the “allowable percentages” of certain chemicals found in fish, to ensure the fisheries reopen, choosing economic incentive over environmental cautions.

“It will still be many years before we know for sure how these coastal communities are going to fare,” said Subra. “Anything else you hear is a rush to judgment.”