Friday, June 24, 2011

The best places to bag a bargain holiday

Fancy a bargain-basement holiday? You asked for it!

Using hard stats and thousands of travellers’ reports, we reveal some of the cheapest popular destinations in the world,
 In this age of austerity, pinching the pennies has become an essential part of planning our next travel jaunt for most of us. With that in mind the Post Office has released a survey listing some of the cheapest popular holiday destinations. But with the help of the good people at Mercer and Expatistan, we've found a few that are even cheaper.
Both Mercer, a consultancy, and Expatistan, an expats' website, rank cities by the prices of dozens of everyday items - from a cup of coffee, pub meal, theatre tickets and new business shoes to the cost on the ground of cheese, milk, chicken breast and a Big Mac Meal. The result? A pretty reliable indicator of the impact each city will have on your travel wallet.
Here's our selection, backed by a wealth of travellers' reports, of the 12 best budget city destinations worthy of your hard-earned cash.

Bucharest, Romania


Mexico City, Mexico


New Delhi, India


Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina


Buenos Aires, Argentina


Lviv, Ukraine


Windhoek, Namibia


Tashkent, Uzbekistan


Kharkiv, Ukraine


Managua, Nicaragua


And cheapest of all


Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Street Monkey Lndonesia

These street monkeys chained and wearing masks on their heads, and their purpose - to entertain tourists in Indonesia. But pity they did not cause. I do not know whether such a sight to call someone a smile.















Most Amazing Gun 20 Century

The history begins in the tanks during the First World War and has since developed rapidly as the design and the tactics they use, views on who repeatedly changed. Since the end of World War I tanks gradually became widespread in virtually all countries. And sometimes these steel monsters are truly awful.
Concreted T-34
In fact, this point of the gun is only enhancing armor variant of the Soviet T-34 tank, which was one of the main armed with the Soviet Union during World War II, but it looks like never menacing.

SAM S-125M «NEWA-S
This monstrous armored vehicle - an example of a successful combination of anti-aircraft missile system S-125 System and the base of T55 tank to create a powerful mobile SAM system.

American tank Chrysler TV-8
TV-8 - one of the most unusual projects in the global tank industry. Designed by Chrysler and brought the customer in the face TASOM in May 1955 as an option to replace the M48 tank. All units and components of the tank, including logistics, housed in a huge tower on a rocking lightweight crawler, there were jobs for all four crew members. Armament - 90 mm ​​gun in a tight T208 Recoilless installation and two 7,62 mm machine gun.
Was built only full-size model of the machine. The project was rejected due to the high technical risk and a lack of decisive advantages over classical tanks ...

Indian Tank LVTH6
LVTH6 belongs to a class landing craft, but armed with a 105mm howitzer fire. Accepted into service 210 vehicles. In 1957, many LVTH6 were modified in LVTH6A1, changes are mainly touched on the engine and exhaust system. LVTH6 has a very large crew, which amounted to 7 members: commander, gunner and loader - in a tower, a driver and crew commander - in the driving compartment and 2 feed the shells were located in the fighting compartment behind the tower.

Secret German armored motorcycle Type R

Gas-dynamic minesweeper "Warm-T
Designed to detect and sweeping mines laid on roads covered with asphalt. Consists of a chassis of the T-54 mounted with a turbojet engine VC-1. Weight of this monster of about 37 tons.

Gruson 5.3cm L/24 Fahrpanzer
Mobile artillery point Gruson
The scheme artelleriyskoy point Gruson
Mobile gun point from Germany. Serial production was started in 1890. The main task - placing on the border, in addition to ukrep.tochkam. Before the First World has sold several units in Greece. Mobility (ie supply to a point) due to horse traction, or on rails. The firing point is equipped with 53mm cannon shooting 1,75 kg shells, and has a weight of 3 tons.

Italian self-propelled gun of the First World
Italian self-propelled gun of the First World, equipped with 305mm caliber gun, firing 442kg projectiles to a distance of 17600m. Allegedly used during the shelling of Austrian fortifications in the Alps.

T10 Sherman M4A2 «Mine Eploder»
The tank was made ​​by "Fisher Company", its design basis of the M4A2. «Mine Eploder» T10, was tested in June 1944 in Aberdeen, the State of Maryland. This "roller War was originally made ​​for the removal of minefields, and belongs to the category of so-called medium tanks.

Tracked vehicle Besta, Model 1975
This unique military machine was built in 1917 by some American citizen by the name of Best. U.S. Army Command commented very positively about the tank weighs only 15 tons in the process of testing and this machine was adopted by the U.S. Army that same year. In the month was about 50 of these armored vehicles for the army.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Music's worst cover versions

From Miley Cyrus covering Nirvana to Matthew Morrison covering Sisqo, we look at original songs that never should have been remade...
 You know those untouchable classic songs, like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach?" Well, they've been touched... besmirched actually by a growing number of pop stars who think they have the vocal and emotional maturity to handle such weighty material. Excuse us if we're getting a little high falootin', but we can't believe someone gave the green light to Avril Lavigne's cover of a Bob Dylan song! Find out who else we can't believe butchered classic material in our rundown of music's worst cover verisions.


Miley Cyrus "Smells Like Teen Spirit"


Little Miss Cyrus is a classic case of a child star trying to shake off her sickly-sweet image and slip into something a little more uncomfortable. Her pretty floral dresses have been replaced with Rihanna-inspired leather chaps, her dancing has become noticeably more risqué and, instead of singing teeny-bop tunes, she's covering iconic rock songs. Miley Cyrus covered Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on her recent tour -- smells more like a bad cover to us...

Matthew Morrison "Thong Song"


We're the first to admit that we're closet Gleeks -- catch us driving home from a hard day's work and you're likely to hear "Glee"'s cover of "Don't Stop Believin'" booming proudly from our speakers. But, despite their talent for belting out creative covers, the "Glee" crew doesn't always get it right. Seeing Matthew Morrison perform Sisqó's "Thong Song" on the show was one of the most cringeworthy, yet hilarious music moments ever.

Britney Spears "I Love Rock 'n' Roll"


Back in the day, we thought Britney Spears loved anything pink, sparkly and girly, so she surprised everyone when she decided to tell the world that, despite her pop back-catalogue, she actually loved rock 'n' roll... Britney covered "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," which was made famous by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1982 and, despite her best attempts to writhe around in leather on top of a motorbike in her music video, Britney was about as much of a rocker as Marilyn Manson is a Sunday school teacher...

Jessica Simpson "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"


It seems that Jessica Simpson wanted an excuse to strut around in ridiculously short denim hot pants and cowboy boots so, naturally, she decided to cover Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'." Not only did the cover stink like well-walked-in cowboy boots, but the music video managed to undo all of the hard work that feminists have done for women throughout the last hundred years in just three minutes...

Kelly Osbourne "Papa Don't Preach"


Before she was dipped in super-shiny L.A. paint, Kelly Osbourne fancied herself as a bit of a rock star. Donning a grungy style and an angst-filled attitude to match, she covered Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach." The verdict? Kelly Don't Sing...

Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne "Changes"


What unites a lot of the artists responsible for cover version crimes is a lack of self-awareness. Once you've opened up your dysfunctional family life to the reality TV cameras it's probably hard to judge when you've gone too far. For example, you might not realize that destroying Black Sabbath's 1972 masterpiece "Changes," by rewriting it and re-recording it as a soppy duet with your daughter, might be a bad idea. If you've not heard it, imagine two stray dogs howling at a karaoke machine.

Celine Dion "You Shook Me All Night Long"


We're sure many great cover versions have emerged simply because the artist in question was crazy enough to take a risk. However, such questionable sanity has also been responsible for some of music's most heinous crimes. No one, we repeat, absolutely no one ever wondered what Canadian "Titanic" warbler Celine Dion would sound like singing AC/DC. Except, it seems, Celine herself.

Avril Lavigne "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"


Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was written for the soundtrack of the brutal 1973 western "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid." The words reflect the dying thoughts of a once ruthless deputy sheriff. Who better to interpret such an iconic and unambiguous classic than pre-packaged-punk popster Avril Lavigne? The Canadian purveyor of smudge eyeliner and artificial angst performed the song regularly on her Try To Shut Me Up Tour. We tried. We really tried.

Boyz II Men "Back For Good"


Another important rule when tackling a much-loved song is making sure that you, erm, actually know the song you're singing. We're pretty sure U.S. soul giants Boyz II Men can't have actually heard Take That's 1995 classic "Back For Good." If they had, this horrendous cover from last year's "Love" album might have in some way resembled the original tune. We've heard the demo version featuring Girls Aloud's Nadine Coyle and it sounds like an attempt to break the world record for singing as many unpleasant notes as possible.

Limp Bizkit "Faith"


Limp Bizkit covered George Michael's "Faith," on their 1997 album "Three Dollar Bill, Yall$." Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Hee hee hee hee hee hee! Oh dear. No, but seriously, Fred Durst and his band of bearded, backwards cap wearing, overgrown skate punks... no, sorry, it's no good. Ah ha ha ha ha ha. Limp Bizkit covering George Michael! Snrk, pssst, guffaw, hrnk... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.