Grand Slam tennis tournaments refer to four different tennis tournaments: The French Open, Wimbledon, The US Open and The Australian Open.

They are called Grand Slams because in 1938 Don Budge won all four tournaments. The term originated from American writer Allison Danzig, who wrote that like a bridge player, Budge scored a ‘Grand Slam’ of victories.

The phrase started to become popular, but the Grand Slam events were in no way affiliated with one another until in 1989 when a committee was formed. This committee now forms the rules of all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Pete Sampras has won the most singles men’s Grand Slam titles with 14 titles total. Sampras, however, never did win a French Open title. Margaret Court has won the most on the ladies side with 24 titles to her name.

Only two men have won all four events in one year, Budge in 1938 and Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969. Three women have taken all four titles in one year, they are: Maureen Connolly in 1963, Margaret Court in 1970 and Steffi Graff in 1988. Graff also went on that year to win a gold medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics; her 1988 season is referred to as “The Golden Grand Slam.”

The friendly and knowledgeable sales staff in the Next Day Blinds Columbia, Maryland store — conveniently located in the Columbia Crossing II shopping center in Long Reach — can help you with any aspect of window treatment, answering any questions you may have. The rest of their 33 Baltimore and DC-area stores have been getting consistently shining customer feedback as well.

We also offer a free in-home consultation that makes any window dressing venture a much more time-efficient situation, as they get right to the heart of your design needs.

A Next Day Blinds Decorator will:

* Arrive with window treatment samples that will help make your decision quick & easy.
* Measure for all of your windows and help with even the most demanding applications.
* Schedule the installation date while in your home.
* Our network of Next Day Blinds installers and service technicians will follow through to ensure that your shop at home experience is exactly to your specs.

Next Day Blinds’ friendly and experienced sales staff are more than happy to help you — whether in-store or in-home, with one of our free consultations — decide on the perfect window coverings by which to bring your home atmosphere to life.

Shop Next Day Blinds online and discover a stylish, classy line of blinds, shades, and top-notch customer service, all only a few clicks away!

Google maps are an internet phenomenon. It takes pictures using a satellite of every location on the map of the world and the USA map. Just queue up your address and find your house, complete with your car in the driveway.

Creepy? Kinda, against the law? Hardly. There has been a debate since Google introduced the concept or street view in 2007. In street view users can gain access to the streets of major cities, the images are so sharp and up close, you can almost make out the facial features of people on the street.

Privacy groups think street view is a little too invasive since people are being photographed without their knowledge. Some sites have made light of the situation showing the funny things users can find in street view, such as a wardrobe malfunction, or a man mid sneeze.

Experts, however worry that the street view that allows you to hone in on a street map of Florida is a little much. There could be images that bring up liability issues or potentially cross the line. Google argues that what is done in broad daylight is fair game, because anyone can see that.

The street View is not in real time, so if you look at street view you are not seeing the world as it is happening now.

Perhaps Google’s street view can be used as a way to navigate through the street map of California,searching for your favorite celebrity.

Google street view is just like an updated version of this video game called The Sims. Where can walk the streets but in just virtual reality. And isn’t real reality so much better? Google street view could have a viable use, even if it’s mostly just internet fodder. Although it would be a cool way to travel the entire map of Europe without spending a dime.

South African cheese quality is improving. So much so every year more and more Cheese festivals are popping up all around the country. South Africa Cheese Festivals remain a premier event with one of the widest cheese selections world round. Africa’s cheese’s are in serious competition with the USA and the UK. The South Africa Five Star Hotels will only proudly serve African cheeses due to there award winning tastes and consumers putting pressure on local cheese makers to supply greater amounts of their favorite and pressures to create newer exciting cheese.

South Africa is relatively a new comer to the cheese industry. However, as the popularity of South African cheese grow the more the African economy grows. It’s a strategy South Africa put into place. One being affordable cheese makers an opportunity to showcase their quality cheese products. Another is a forum to show cheese consumers new varieties which is organized Cheese Festivals. The main objective of the Cheese Festivals will be to promote cheese and increase consumption to benefit all the population of South African. Standard and new cheese consumers will be introduced to the ever expanding applications of cheese as a cooking ingredient to change and enhance all consumers to always choose cheese dishes. To change South Africans preference of a milder cheese to use a more flavorful artisan cheese, as the french do in their most famous recipes. Today, in South Africa, it is beginning to happen. Most markets only carried a few varieties, now Delis, farmers markets are beginning to carry bold brine-ripened cheese, savory blue-veined cheese and specialty goat’s and sheep milk cheeses.

South Africa, being a member of the World Trade Organization which has kicked up their quality of cheese and its production to satisfy an ever growing need in the world consumption for artisan cheeses. You’ll find in most historical South African dishes a lack of cheese as an ingredient. But today, South African cuisine is becoming more interesting and intriguing with the enhanced tastes of excellent cheese. A whole new industry has grown and providing more employment opportunities for the mostly poor and war torn population. In turn, the income of South Africa is growing and starting to keep up with the economical growth of other 3rd world countries.

In Singapore, it’s time to prepare the backyard gardens with the latest and best herbs. And when they have grown you can start creating meals that all the Top Singapore Hotels serve and impress your friends and family with not only a wonderful tasty meal, but serve them the tasty meal in your beautiful aromatic backyard. Your friends will keep dropping by in hopes of another meal and your family will hang around more often. Most restaurant chef peruse the local farmers market to get their fresh herbs, but you won’t have to, you’ll just go to your backyard and enjoy the beauty and the smells as you clip off some of your favorite herbs to use in your favorite recipe. Throw out those dried crushed up herbs out of a bottles and cook fresh!

The herbs that fit in with Singapore’s climate, are pretty much all of them. Singapore’s humid climate is ideal for herb gardens. You should also consider planting medicinal herbs. You’ll need to study up on healing herbs, which will not only be educational, but may lead you into taking better care of your health. Just planting the herbs alone are beneficial to your health. So, cooking with them and knowing how to make tinctures can only improve upon a healthy lifestyle and in time, if you’re serious enough about learning the qualities of each herbal plant, you will notice a change in your life, it will be subtle, that’s how herbs work, gentle and kind, the change will be more energy and a lightness in your soul.

Take a look around your neighborhood, your local grocery stores and the latest herbal trends in crops or gardening and you will see that more and more people are understanding and reaping the benefits of herbs. There are even more apothecaries cropping up not only in Singapore but all around the world. We are becoming a wiser society, understanding the Allopathic medicines along with the holistic medicines. We aren’t there yet, but the balance scale is tipping. Go herbal, go green. So, what are you waiting for? Go plant an herb garden and begin a new journey in your life. Get back to nature.

Singapore has long desired to become a cultural and artistic hub. One of the aspects of a city or a neighborhood that contributes to this attainment of artistic stature, is the talent and the inspiration of a city’s own, their own people creating works of music, theater, and art. Many of the businesses on the island support the local art scene, such as the cafes, the restaurants and the business hotels. Singapore artists work to become recognized first locally and then internationally. One of Singapore’s “own” is an extremely accomplished and self taught artist Chong Fah Cheong. Chong was born in Singapore in 1946. He was raised by a medical doctor and part of a very large family. He is considered to be one of the pioneering sculptors of not only his time, but of all time in Singapore. He now lives and works in Canada, however he exhibits frequently in the galleries and the shows in Singapore and has quite a number of public works installed throughout the city.

As with the case of many self-taught artists, Chong showed an interest and a talent for the arts at an early age. And, as with many of those self-taught artists, he went on in life to pursue work outside of the field. He studied to become a teacher in a Missionary school, St. Joseph’s, but found that the religious life was not a life he wanted to be immersed in. He left and joined secular society in 1967. He was soon married and had two children. He continued school at the National University in Singapore. After one year, he and his family moved to England where he took up his boyhood interest, and studied art. He then moved back to Singapore where he became once again, a teacher at Saint Patrick’s School. As luck, and destiny, would have it, he found his voice, and now his vocation, through a random happening.

Some of the trees on the grounds of the school had been cut down. A colleague suggested he put the wood to use in his art class. He experimented with the wood, and in doing so, his interest in creating his own work was ignited. He now enjoys the fruits of a career most passionate and whimsical. All based on techniques that are self-taught. In 1978, he became a successful sculptor, but continued to teach. He has been an art lecturer as well, from time to time. But his iconic sculptures contribute to the incredible, and the growing, public art scene in his homeland of Singapore. Many pieces of Chong’s are installed along the Singapore River, alongside the works of Salvador Dali. And while Dali is famous and well respected, the people of Singapore admire and love Chong, as his pieces along the river, chronicle the history of their lives, and the history of the entire island.

Well, it’s the most wonderful time of year once again folks. No, not Christmas, nor that magnificent holiday, Thanksgiving. No, it’s time for the French Open and I say, screw presents and turkey, give me that sweet sweet clay. With Rafael Nadal coming off of his #1 tennis ranking last year, there’s no doubt that Roger Federer would love to take down his rival where he has shown himself unparalleled.

However, these two giants of the tennis world still have to struggle against some wild cards out to see them both go down. Novak Djokovic has certainly shown himself capable, confident, and adaptable; although Nadal has always put him in his place on clay. Andrew Murray has shown the world he can take down both of these champions and claims clay is his favorite court-type, possibly an idle boast but perhaps not. Moving on to the women’s side of the bracket, there is still going to be a bit of a power vacuum going on.

With Justine Henin’s retirement last year, it’ll be time for a new queen of clay to establish a reign. Ana Ivanovic is defending her title, but she also seems to be struggling a bit this year. Dinara Safina is going strong so far and showed last year that she can manage on clay, perhaps this time she‘ll deliver. Whatever the outcome is, remember that celebrating with public drunkenness and exposure lands you in trouble, don’t learn that one the hard way like I did last year.

The most popular and famous drink in Goa is called Feni. It is served in many of the bars, restaurants and four star hotels. Goa is known for its Feni production, sometimes referred to as Fenny. This is one drink that has a very high alcohol content, and those not familiar with the effects should be very careful as it is quite easy to become pretty intoxicated in a short amount of time. There are two different kinds of Feni , one is made from cashews and the other from coconut juice. Both are made by fermenting the fruits. Many cities in India produce Feni, but the Goan fenis are considered to be superior to those produced in other regions.

The distillation process is very tedious and requires a lot of time and effort. With the cashew Feni, the nuts are manually crushed and the juice is collected in a ceramic pot. This is buried far under ground to allow for the fermentation process. Just about four percent of the juice will become alcohol. This is then distilled in large copper basins. When the juice is boiled, the alcoholic steam that rises is collected and put into a condenser for the cooling process. This whole process is done three separate times, with different kinds of Feni being produced each time. The first drink, Urrack, is very low in alcohol content. The second, produces a drink called Cazulo, which is a bit stronger. The third, and the most popular is the true Feni. This is the intoxicating liquor that is most popular. Many drink Feni straight up, but some prefer to mix it with soda and lemons, or just regular cola. Just as with fine wine, Feni’s main attribute that distinguishes the various qualities, is the aroma. Just as many visit the wine countries of California, France and Italy, many connoisseurs travel to Goa for a bit of tasting and quite a lot of fun.

Next Day Blinds Columbia Maryland offers the full range of blinds and blinds accessories for your home design. They carry wood blinds, aluminum blinds, vertical blinds, as well as shades of all types. Shop them online and discover a stylish, exciting line of blinds, shutters, cornices and shades.

You’ll love their attractive honeycomb, pleated, roller or Roman shades, as well as wood shutters, vinyl shutters, and cornices. Next Day Blinds, a manufacturer and retailer of high quality custom made blinds, shades and shutters, has introduced motorized blinds and shades to the market. Customers now have the ability to control their blinds and shades easily with just the touch of a button. Next Day Blinds offers three options to control these new products in order to provide their customers with a choice to fit their lifestyle: a remote, wall switch, or preset timer.

Next Day Blinds is a manufacturer and retailer of high-quality window treatments, utilizing only the highest-quality goods for their wide range of home decorating/window treatment products. All of their products are custom made in their own factory in Jessup, MD. They have 35 stores throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area, showcasing a wide variety of window blinds, shades, shutters, and cornices.