126th Anniversary of Eiffel Tower Opening

Today marks the 126th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower; it opened to the public on March 31, 1889. Built in 1889 as the entrance arch to the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair), it was initially criticized by for its design and mocked as "a truly tragic street lamp." Now, it has become the most visited paid monument in the world with almost 7 million annual visitors. The tower had received 250 million visitor by 2010, 75% of them were from overseas.

At 324 meters or 1,063 feet, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to become the tallest man-made structure in the world. It held the title for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. In comparison, the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas stands at 350.2 meters or 1,149 ft; Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino has a half scale, 165-meter or 541-foot tall replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Google has featured an Eiffel Tower Doodle by artist Floriane Marchix on its web page to commemorate the 126th anniversary of the tower's public opening.

Postcard FR-430903 from France shows a view of Paris from Tour Montparnasse with the Eiffel Tower and the Champ de Mars on the left side, and Les Invalides on the lower right.

Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa

Postcard ZA-50304 from South Africa shows car lights brighten the busy national road from the north at Bellville, a city in the greater Cape Town metropolitan area. Originally called "12 Mile Post" as it is located 12 miles or 20 kilometers from the city center of Cape Town, Bellville was originally founded as a railway station on the line from Cape Town to Stellenbosch and Strand. It was renamed to Bellville in 1861, named after the Surveyor-General Charles Davidson Bell (October 22, 1813 - April 7, 1882),  who was also an artist and designer.

The postcard arrived a few days before what would be Nelson Mandela's 96th birthday on July 18, 2014. As the former president of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Mandela passed away at 95 last year on December 5, 2013. His birthday was officially declared as Nelson Mandela International Day by the United Nations in November 2009; and the first Mandela Day celebration hosted by UN was held on July 18, 2010. This is the first time the day has been celebrated since his death, in honor of his legacy through volunteering and community service.

Google Doodle made a beautiful tribute to Nelson Mandela today.

Clean, Safe and Sanitary Water for a Better World

Postcard US-1864022 to California shows a field survey photo I took at Banda Aceh, Indonesia during the aftermath of the 2005 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. The earthquakes damaged city's water supply and sewerage systems. Drinking water had to be trucked in and supplies were often in shortage. Residents had often resorted to nature water bodies for their needs, as shown in the inserted photo on the left where the woman dressed in red was doing her laundry downstream of the river. Meanwhile, as seen in the enlarged photo on the top right showing the house upstream by the right side of the bridge, raw sewage had been discharging into the river directly. Providing clean, safe and sanitary water has been a challenge for many parts of the world, especially after natural or man-made disasters.

I was ecstatic to see that 11-year-old Audrey Zhang, a student from Island Trees Middle School in Levittown, New York, won first place in Google's annual Doodle 4 Google competition by drawing of a transformative water purifier machine to make the world a better place.

As Zhang describes her machine, "It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes, and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and sanitary water, when humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life." Her artwork was displayed on Google's search page on Monday, seen by millions of people.

Happy Mother's Day from Google

Mother's Day 2013 from Google's Doodle

It is Mother's Day tomorrow on May 12, 2013. If you forget to get a Mother's Day card for your mom, don't be desperate. You can make a DIY postcard with Google's Mother's Day 2013 Doodle. Once you have generated the art piece, you can print it out, or send it to one of the one-hour photo printing services at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart or Costco to make a 4"x6" or 5"x7" photo. Then you can use 3M scotch permanent double sided tapes, or 3M photo mount spray adhesive to attach the photo to a piece of heavy card stock. I use Staples 110 lb card stock. Alternatively, you can attach the photo to an Avery Internet Shipping label (5126) with TrueBlock Technology.

You can buy cards or personalized stamps featuring Google's Doodles from their Doodle Store at Zazzle.com