Miss America

Height of overreaction!

Miss America 2003

-Miss Florida-

Ericka Dunlap

Ericka Dunlap from Florida carries the honors as the new Miss America On Saturday, September 20th, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Miss America 2004 was crowned from 51 representatives. She is Miss Florida, Ericka Dunlap, a 21 year-old aspiring lawyer at the University of Central Florida from Orlando. She won the evening gown competition and talent competition on the final night, singing "If I Could." Her platform is Celebrating Cultural Diversity & Inclusiveness, a social message about teaching understanding of different cultures she will promote during her year. The court of honor: First Runner-Up, Miss Hawaii Kanoelani Gibson, a crowd favorite who sang "Natural Woman" which won her a preliminary talent award. Second Runner-Up, Miss Wisconsin Tina Sauerhammer, a 22 year-old who is already a medical doctor and won a preliminary talent award with a classical cello piece. Third Runner-Up, Miss Maryland Marina Harrison, who elicited a noticeable booing when the audience felt she was done an injustice in her given position. She sang the Alicia Keys R&B hit "Fallin'". Fourth Runner-Up, Miss California Nicole Lamarche, a preliminary swimsuit winner who plans to become an ordained minister.

Completing the top ten:

Miss Virginia, Nancy Redd, a Harvard graduate who also picked up a preliminary swimsuit awardMiss Indiana, Bryn Champman, a student of vocal performanceMiss Rhode Island, Laurie Beth Gray, a Harvard graduate who finished in the top 5% of her class and aspires to be a medical doctor, and picked up a preliminary talent award with a classical violin pieceMiss New Hampshire, Candace Glickman, recipient of a preliminary swimsuit awardand Miss Oklahoma Kelley Scott, an aspiring accountantFinishing the top fifteen:Miss Missouri - Amber Etheridge; Miss Michigan - Madonna Emond; Miss Alabama - Catherine Crosby; Miss Georgia - Andrea Bailey and Miss New Jersey - Jennifer Farrell
The three-hour telecast included talent, swimsuit, eveningwear, a quiz segment, platform discussion and a brand new casualwear segment. Miss Maryland, Marina Harrison, won the casualwear segment, while Miss California, Nicole Lamarche, won the swimsuit portion. Miss Florida carried the eveningwear and talent segments.

Sania Mirza

Computer Chips : Jeep

Jeep made with Computer Chips

Guatemala City : Sinkhole

A 330-foot-deep sinkhole

GUATEMALA CITY , Guatemala - killed at least two teenagers as it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main. The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities feared it could widen or others could open up. Rescue operations were on hold until a firefighter, suspended from a cable, could take video and photos above the hole and officials could use the documentation to decide how to proceed. The dead were identified as Irma and David Soyos, emergency spokesman Juan Carlos Bolanos said. Their bodies were found near the sinkhole, floating in a river of sewage. Their father, Domingo, was still missing, according to disaster coordinator Hugo Hernandez.

Koena Mitra

Koena Mitra the Bengali Bombshell and winner of Gladrags Supermodel Contest has now forayed into Bollywood. Koena has done numerous Music Videos and Commercials too. Winner of Gladrags Mega Model 2002 this sultry and hot model from Calcutta is here to make it big. She took the modelling world by winning the Supermodel title and later on went on to become the semi-finalist of Miss Intercontinental. Koena aspires to be an actress and featured in quite a few music videos like 'Stereo Nation´s Ishq', 'Aaj Ki Raat', 'Akh Teri', 'Channo' by Jassi. The lady had set waves with an item number in Ram Gopal Varma´s film Road. Koena is very much excited after working with Ram Gopal Verma and believes that whoever works with him will eventually be successful because he is a man who deals only with success. And she was honoured to be worked with him. In fact that´s why despite being very conscious in choosing her films she opted to do a cameo in the film. Koena has done commercials like ACP Whisky, Mirinda, Clinic All Clear, Maruti Alto. Right from her childhood Koena was attracted to the glamour world and wanted to be an actress and soon realised that to be recognised one has to win a contest or a beauty pageant and thus she participated and won the Gladrags Mega Model last year. And now it's no looking back for this beautiful and confident lady.

Motorbike : 1896

Tiger Temple : Thialand

There aren’t many places in the world where you can touch a fully-grown tiger, but the monks at Thailand’s Tiger Temple allow you to get up close and personal with their domesticated brood of big cats. Just a couple of hours’ drive outside Bangkok in the Kanchanaburi province, not far from the world famous Bridge Over The River Kwai, lies the Tiger Temple of Thailand, formally known as Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno. Since 1999, the monks here have taken care of tigers which have been rescued from poachers in the nearby Thai-Burmese border jungle - and to date they have 17 fully grown tigers and tiger cubs living within the temple grounds. Every afternoon, the tigers are let out of their cages and taken down to a quarry which has a natural pool for them to bathe and play in. Visitors can walk down into the quarry and see the tigers from only a few feet away - there’s a single rope between you and them. Most of the tigers simply sit stretched out in the sun - they are nocturnal creatures so they laze around during the day. Some of the younger tigers are pretty frisky however - on both occasions I’ve been to the temple, they’ve been busy playing in the pond - “playing” in this case meaning “whacking each other in the face with their paws”. (See the photo gallery to see what I mean).