What Is Spirulina?

2009-09-17T10:59:00.001-07:00

Spirulina is a blue-green algae. It is a simple, one-celled form of algae that thrives in warm, alkaline fresh-water bodies. The name "spirulina" is derived from the Latin word for "helix" or "spiral"; denoting the physical configuration of the organism when it forms swirling, microscopic strands.

Spirulina is being developed as the "food of the future" because of its amazing ability to synthesize high-quality concentrated food more efficiently than any other algae. Most notably, Spirulina is 65 to 71 percent complete protein, with all essential amino acids in perfect balance. In comparison, beef is only 22 percent protein.

Spirulina has a photosynthetic conversion rate of 8 to 10 percent, compared to only 3 percent in such land-growing plants as soybeans.

Spirulina also provides high concentrations of many other nutrients - amino acids, chelated minerals, pigmentations, rhamnose sugars (complex natural plant sugars), trace elements, enzymes - that are in an easily assimilable form.

Even though it is single-celled, Spirulina is relatively large, attaining sizes of 0.5 millimeters in length. This is about 100 times the size of most other algae, which makes some individual Spirulina cells visible to the naked eye. Furthermore, the prolific reproductive capacity of the cells and their proclivity to adhere in colonies makes Spirulina a large and easily gathered plant mass.

The algae are differentiated according to predominating colorations, and are divided into blue-green, green, red and brown. Spirulina is one of the blue-green algae due to the presence of both chlorophyll (green) and phycocyanin (blue) pigments in its cellular structure.

Even though Spirulina is distantly related to the kelp algae, it is not a sea plant. However, the fresh-water ponds and lakes it favors are notably more alkaline - in the range of 8 to 11 pH than ordinary lakes and cannot sustain any other forms of microorganisms. In addition, Spirulina thrives in very warm waters of 32 to 45 degrees C (approximately 85 to 112 degrees F), and has even survived in temperatures of 60 degrees C (140 degrees F)

Certain desert-adapted species will survive when their pond habitats evaporate in the intense sun, drying to a dormant state on rocks as hot as 70 degrees Centigrade (160 degrees F). In this dormant condition, the naturally blue-green algae turns a frosted white and develops a sweet flavor as its 71 percent protein structure is transformed into polysaccharide sugars by the heat.

Some scientists speculate that the "manna" of the wandering Israelites, which appeared miraculously on rocks following a devastating dry spell and was described as tasting "like wafers made with hone " may have been a form of dried, dormant Spirulina.

This ability of Spirulina to grow in hot and alkaline environments ensures its hygienic status, as no other organisms can survive to pollute the waters in which this algae thrives. Unlike the stereotypical association of microorganisms with "germs" and "scum", Spirulina is in fact one of the cleanest, most naturally sterile foods found in nature.

Its adaptation to heat also assures that Spirulina retains its nutritional value when subject to high temperatures during processing and shelf storage, unlike many plant foods that rapidly deteriorate at high temperatures.

Spirulina is also unusual among algae because it is a "nuclear plant" meaning it is on the developmental cusp between plants and animals. It is considered somewhat above plants because it does not have the hard cellulose membranes characteristic of plant cells, nor does it have a well-defined nucleus. Yet its metabolic system is based on photosynthesis, a process of direct food energy production utilizing sunlight and chlorophyll, which is typical of plant life forms.

In essence, Spirulina straddles that fork in evolutionary development when the plant and animal kingdoms differentiated. Thus it embodies the simplest form of life. In contrast, other algae such as Chlorella have developed the hard indigestible walls characteristic of plants.

Visit Nepal

2009-08-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Nepal is a country lying between China on the North and India on the South. It is a landlocked country on the collision zone between two plates, so large mountain ranges are formed in the creasing – including the Pahar Hill region and the Mountain region, both with large altitudes and populated valleys. Tourism is especially large in Mount Everest and a large amount of conflict has arisen there – as we will study later. Mountaineers with ambitions to travel, view and climb the spectacular slopes come in their ten thousands. 39% of the GDP comes from agriculture; 76% of people use it as their principle employment. Services (which would include tourism) equal 42% and industry 21%. The lack of natural resources means that agriculture is the main primary industry, while tourism probably the main tertiary. Main exports are clothing, leather, jute goods and grain.

There are lots of places to visit in Nepal. That is why people often term Nepal as "a place where there are more temples than houses". Similarly because of Gods and Goddesses we term it as a place where the number of gods and goddess is more than the population of people.

Inside the Kathmandu Valley, there is lots of sight seeing. For example, you can go to Kasthamandap which was build of one tree, Pashupati nath of the capital and several other temples, historical places and monuments.

However, one of the most amazing thing of the Kathmandu Valley is the excellent view of the valley from all the hilltops!

Similarly when one goes outside of the valley, he or she can see countless natural beauties never explored. Tourists stare with amazements of the gift of God to the Himalayan Kingdom. Nepal is a must visit place.

The topic of “content” comes up time and time again in discussions about online presence. I’m not sure who coined the phrase “content is king,” but I have customers continuing to ask the question: Is Content King in Travel and Tourism?

The answer is, without a doubt, yes - especially for smaller outfits and organisations with limited online presence. Sure, there is plenty of free content out there – and judging by the traffic numbers of sites like Wikitravel and the forums on Lonely Planet, free content is here to stay. But the content on your site is your vehicle to present your message and portray your brand. And if you offer the ability to book online or at least direct customers to contact info, the content might be the last stand between you and a booking. Consider:
a frustrated mother can’t decipher if your tour offering is suitable for children will decide to book something else. Worse, if it is clearer on your competitor’s site, they might get the sale instead of you.
a last minute client who doesn’t see your contact information cannot call to see if there is space for an extra booking.
a referral customer visits your photo gallery and decides not to book because the images don’t reflect the experience his friend described.

The worst part about each of these scenarios is two-fold: 1) you’ll never know that it happened, and 2) the problems were easy to fix.

Here are some easy questions you can ask while browsing your content. Do you like the answers you get back?
Is it easy to find all the available mediums for contacting you (phone, email, post)?
Is it easy to see the types of services available, the details on the offering, and availability/cost?
Are images or video professional and reflect the reality of your offering (In this case, less is more.)
Do you display important certification information?

The European online travel market alone is expected to reach EUR 67 billion in 2009 (source: eMarketer.com) , never mind the exploding success in the US. Is your online presence sending the message it should? Content is king in travel and tourism, so I hope the answer is yes.

Travel is the change in location of people on a trip through the means of transport from one location to another. Travel is most commonly for recreation (as part of tourism or to visit friends and family), for business or for commuting; but may be for numerous other reasons, such as migration, fleeing war, etc. Travel may occur by walking or human-powered mode, or through mechanical vehicles, either as private or public transport.[citation needed]

Travel may be local, regional, national or international. In some countries, non-local internal travel may require an internal passport, while international travel typically requires a passport and visa.

The word originates from the Middle English word travailen ("to toil"), which comes from the Anglo-French word travailler ("travail").[1] A person who travels is called a traveler (US) or traveller (UK).

We made a 17 days trip to Nepal in December 1999, just enough to get a quick impression of the beautiful country, it's friendly and colorfull inhabitants, the various landscapes and some of it's rich flora and fauna. The trip to Nepal was exellent: nice people, nice weather, very nice landscapes. Lots of walking and photographing, of course. To me it was like a strange mix of all kind of countries I visited so far, but a nice mix. Also their way of living is such a strange mixture of modern and traditional. On one hand living in the 17th century, on the other hand equiped with the same high tech as we have.

But let's start at the beginning: the first days we spended in Kathmandu and surroundings and visited a lot of Hindu and Boudist temples, the holy river where they burn their dead relatives, and other interesting places.

The second part of the trip was spend on a travel to the top of mountains, from which you had a mighty overview over the Himalayan mountain range and where you could make nice walks in the mountains around, taking photographs of the lovely sawa-like landscapes.

Than we went to Pokhara to start our "Royal Trek": a nice four days walk through the hills and mountains (daily varying altitudes between 700 to 2100 meters high, so not really difficult, even not for us, flat-bottom-walkers). Overnighting in tents, luggage carried by local porters, accompanied by sherpa's to guide us, a personal cook (group). So 14 people around to take care of us (my wife and me and six other Dutch people). Very luxury way of traveling. And very enjoyable, passing lots of small villages, each with its own characteristics. But because it was wintertime (by day 20+ degrees, by night less than 5 degrees), birdlife was not abundant and flowers were sparcely seen as well as butterflies. I did hardly see mamals and reptiles in this by agricultural use dominated landscapes, what surprised me very much.

Once back in Pokhara, we lost two days because of modern problems with striking students: we were not able to travel because of road blocks. But we got an intensive excursion programme in Chitwan, during which we saw quite a lot of the wildlife: monkey species, rhino's, alligators and so on. So at the end of the two weeks trip, we were quite satisfied. Alas, the next day we had to drive back to Kathmandu, to catch the plain back home. In general, I liked this trip very much but the next time, I would like to spend more time in the Chitwan national park in the south.

Travel N Tourism

What Is Spirulina?

Visit Nepal