The Valetta Waterfront. Large-scale events in Malta

Malta: Large-scale events on the rocks

7.05.2015

A guest post by Paul Selis

Situated in the heart of the Mediterranean, the three main islands Malta, Gozo and Comino are small, beautiful and unique. With a fascinating 7,000 years of history and pre-historic temples older than the Pyramids, the Islands are bursting with culture, friendly locals, sunshine and ongoing events. With its thriving economy, continuous business development and considered to be a very safe destination, Malta has become an important hub for various trades, professions, services, vocations, research and education in the Mediterranean, making it an optimal choice to hold international meetings.

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TED Talk. Bel Pesce: Five ways to kill your dreams

7.05.2015

The journey of life proceeds in small steps – and making a dream come true is a tough task asking for all the powers a person can muster over a long period of time. To hope that the big boom happens in one’s stride is another misconception that predestines ambitious projects to shipwreck.

Believing that success sets in overnight, that somebody else has all the answers for you, to snugly lean back once the business has started to prosper, that the responsibility for plans not working out is somebody else’s and that the only thing that matters is the dream itself, are the five mythical mechanisms hindering entrepreneurs from achieving their set goals, says Bel Pesce.

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Doused in purple light: A restaurant in the Caves in Edinburgh's underground.

A cryptical maze: The Edinburgh Vaults

1.05.2015

When South Bridge was built around the end of the 18th century, it was not solely constructed in order to connect the Old Town of an expanding community with its Southside, but designated to become the city’s very first purpose-built shopping street. Underneath, embedded in the viaduct’s 19 arches, lie a series of chambers known as The Edinburgh Vaults. Back then, they mainly served as a practical storage area for the shops above.

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A give and take: Berlin visitors engaging in social projects

28.04.2015

Undeniably, wielding of a dusty broom or a mucky pitchfork is readily associated with serious physical effort – yet, both chores could turn out to be oh! so rewarding emotionally! Perhaps activities such as these may not come to mind ad hoc when considering a trip to Germany’s trendy capital, Berlin. The modern full-time hedonist will usually opt for places of ample sophistication: clubs, theatres and cabarets, museums, the opera, boats, urban beaches or street parties, chic shopping malls, quirky cafés or fine dining restaurants and might even muster the patience to queue up for a visit to the parliamentary Reichstag … all of which are stops equally perfect for fringe programmes enhancing exhausting conference schedules!

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Swooshing through Japan: The Shinkansen bullet train

27.04.2015

Can a train really go as fast as 600 km/h? It can, obviously, since it has done so in spring of 2015: The record-breaking speed had been achieved by Japan’s Maglev bullet train in a test run by its developer Central Japan Railway Company. Instead of sitting on regular tracks, the superconducting Maglev hovers above them, enabling frictionless and low-noise movement by „magnetic levitation“ = Maglev. Thus the breathtaking tempo. If all goes well and according to the company’s ambitious plans, Tokyo will be connected with Nagoya within as little as 40 minutes by 2027. At present, the ride takes twice as long. Another two decades ahead, by 2045, travel time for the total distance from Tokyo to Osaka might shrink from 142 to sensational 67 minutes.

„Regular“ Shinkansen have been successfully cannonballing through the nation for fifty years.

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