Monday, April 02, 2007

The Colossus of Rhodes


From its building to its destruction lies a time span of merely 56 years. Yet the colossus earned a place in the famous list of Wonders. "But even lying on the ground, it is a marvel", said Pliny the Elder. The Colossus of Rhodes was not only a gigantic statue. It was rather a symbol of unity of the people who inhabited that beautiful Mediterranean island Rhodes.

Let us first clear a misconception about the appearance of the Colossus. It has long been believed that the Colossus stood in front of the Mandraki harbor, one of many in the city of Rhodes, straddling its entrance. Given the height of the statue and the width of the harbor mouth, this picture is rather impossible than improbable. Moreover, the fallen Colossus would have blocked the harbor entrance. Recent studies suggest that it was erected either on the eastern promontory of the Mandraki harbor, or even further inland. Anyway, it did never straddle the harbor entrance.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Dengue



Dengue is a flu-like viral disease spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a severe, often fatal, complication of dengue. Dengue occurs in most tropical areas of the world. Most U.S. cases occur in travelers returning from abroad, but the dengue risk is increasing for persons living along the Texas-Mexico border and in other parts of the southern United States. There is no specific treatment for dengue. Prevention centers on avoiding mosquito bites in areas where dengue occurs or might occur and eliminating breeding sites. Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever are caused by any of the dengue family of viruses. Infection with one virus does not protect a person against infection with another. Dengue is spread by the bite of an Aedes mosquito. The mosquito transmits the disease by biting an infected person and then biting someone else.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Jewellery and society

One universal issue is control over who could wear what jewellery, a point which indicate the powerful symbolism the wearing of jewellery evoked. In ancient Rome, for instance, only convinced ranks could wear rings; later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewellery; again based on rank. Cultural dictate have also played a important role; for example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered "effeminate" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. on the other hand, the jewellery industry in the early 20th century launched a crusade to popularize wedding rings for men — which caught on — as well as appointment rings for men , going so far as to make a false history and claim that the practice had Medieval roots. By the mid 1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. feature a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s.Religion has also played a role: Islam, for instance, consider the wearing of gold by men as a social taboo,and many religions have edicts against extreme display.

Monday, March 05, 2007

ETA

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA is a Basque nationalist terrorist group founded in 1959. It evolved rapidly from a group advocating usual cultural ways to an armed group fighting for Basque self-government. Every formulation of ETA's goals have centered on sovereignty and self-determination for the Basque Country. ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai. This refers to the two figures in the ETA sign, a snake wrapped around an axe.

ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, European Union and the United States in their related watch lists. ETA has committed about 900 killings and dozens of kidnappings. More than 500 ETA militants are held in jail in Spain and France. On March 22, 2006 the association declared a "permanent ceasefire." After government rejection to agree any peace settlements, ETA broke the ceasefire with a car blast attack on December 30, 2006 at Barajas International Airport, Madrid killing two Ecuadorian immigrants.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Gold

Gold is a extremely sought-after valuable metal that for many centuries has been used as money, a store of value and in ornaments. The metal occurs as nugget or grains in rocks and in alluvial deposits and is one of the coinage metals. It is a soft, glossy, yellow, dense, malleable, and ductile change metal. Modern manufacturing uses include dentistry and electronics. Gold forms the basis for a financial typical used by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International resolution . Its ISO currency code is XAU.

Gold is a tinny element with a trait yellow color, but can also be black or ruby when finely alienated, while colloidal solutions are intensely tinted and often purple. These colors are the effect of gold's plasmon frequency lying in the visible range, which causes red and yellow glow to be reflected, and blue light to be engrossed. Only silver colloids show the same interactions with light, albeit at a shorter occurrence, making silver colloids yellow in color.

Gold is a good conductor of temperature and electricity, and is not precious by air and most reagents. Heat, damp, oxygen, and most corrosive agents have very little chemical effect on gold, making it well-suited for use in coins and jewelry; equally, halogens will chemically alter gold, and aqua regia dissolve it.

Pure gold is too soft for ordinary use and is hard-boiled by alloying with silver, copper, and other metals. Gold and its lots of alloys are most often used in jewelry, coinage and as a typical for monetary exchange in various countries. When promotion it in the form of jewelry, gold is calculated in karats , with pure gold being 24k. However, it is more commonly sold in lower capacity of 22k, 18k, and 14k. A lower "k" indicates a higher percent of copper or silver assorted into the alloy, with copper being the more typically used metal between the two. Fourteen karat gold-copper alloy will be almost identical in color to definite bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce polish and added badges. Eighteen karat gold with a high copper content is establish in some traditional jewelry and will have a distinct, though not dominant copper cast, giving an attractively warm color. A comparable karat weight when alloyed with silvery metals will appear less humid in color, and some low karat white metal alloys may be sold as "white gold", silvery in exterior with a slightly yellow cast but far more resistant to decay than silver or sterling silver. Karat weights of twenty and higher is more general in modern jewelry. Because of its high electrical conductivity and confrontation to decay and other desirable combinations of physical and chemical properties, gold also emerged in the late 20th century as an vital industrial metal, particularly as thin plating on electrical card associates and connectors.





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Thursday, February 15, 2007

Rice vinegar

Rice vinegar is vinegar prepared from fermented rice or rice wine in China and Japan. Japanese rice vinegar is very soft and mellow and ranges in colour from colourless to pale yellow. There are two different types of Japanese vinegar: one is made from fermented rice and the other is made by adding rice vinegar to sake. Chinese rice vinegars are stronger than Japanese ones, and range in colour from clear to different shades of red and brown. Chinese and especially Japanese vinegars are very mild and sweet compared to purify and more acidic Western vinegars which, for that reason, are not proper substitutes for rice vinegars. White rice vinegar is colorless to pale yellow liquid, superior in vinegar content and more similar to Western vinegars, but still less acidic and milder in flavor.

Black rice vinegar is popular in southern China. Chinkiang vinegar, which originated in the city of Zhenjiang in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, China, is measured the best of the black rice vinegars. Usually black rice vinegar is made with glutinous rice, although millet or sorghum may be used instead. It is dark in colour, and has a deep, almost smoky flavor. In addition to Zhenjiang, it is too produced in Hong Kong.

Red rice vinegar is darker than white rice vinegar, and paler than black rice vinegar, with a typical red colour from Red yeast rice, which is cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus. This vinegar has a distinctive flavour of its own due to the red mold. In Chinese cookbooks, ½ tablespoon of Western white vinegar is equivalent in strength to 1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar. Many Chinese people who grow up with rice vinegars take time to raise accustomed to the strength of Western vinegars when they begin to encounter them. Rice vinegar is also used to make sushi.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Essentials of healthy life-cleanliness a brief review

Health is wealth so preserve it. Life is short so use it in the right way. Cleanliness merely fits with the apt meaning of being free from dirt, dust, germs and bad smells. A recent shift has now taken place to recognise that 'germs' may play a major role in our immune systems. So experts say washing hands frequently, specially when in an environment of many people with infections and diseases. Washing is one of the best way to achieve cleanliness.Have a brief overlook on the following issue to be aware of how to keep one self clean.
A step way process regarding cleanliness of hands is given below:
• Use warm water
• But avoid scorching your hands.
• Use anti-bacterial soap or hand wash.
• Wash between fingers and use paper towels to wipe off.
Washing of hands has to be followed
• Before eating
• After eating
• After using the toilet
• After playing outdoor games
• After attending to a sick person
• After blowing nose, coughing, or sneezing; and after handling pets.
The proverb "Cleanliness is next to Godliness," a common phrase that describes humanity's high opinion of being clean. Purposes of cleanliness include health, beauty and to avoid the spreading of germs .If your hands have any kind of skin cut or infection, wash hands with an anti bacterial soap. Thoroughly wash with hot, soapy water all surfaces that come in contact with raw meat, poultry, fish, and eggs before moving on to the next step in food preparation. Consider using paper towels to clean kitchen surfaces.
Keep pets, household cleaners, and other chemicals away from food and surfaces used for food. Along with removing any old food or dirty water, it's a very good practice to clean the bowls or containers that the food and water are in, ever Hygienic practices—such as frequent hand washing or the use of boiled (and thus sterilized) water have a profound impact on reducing the spread of disease. This is because they kill or remove disease-causing microbes (germs) in the immediate surroundings. For instance, washing one's hands after using the toilet and before handling food reduces the chance of spreading E. coli bacteria and Hepatitis A, both of which are spread from fecal contamination of food.-healthy
Personal cleanliness:sadblack1
common

• Daily washing of the body and hair.
• More frequent washing of hands and face.
• Oral hygiene—Daily brushing teeth.
• Cleaning of the clothes and living area.
• Use of bandaging and dressing of wounds.
• Not touching animals before eating.
• avoidance of unhygienic people.
• Holding a tissue in your hand when coughing or sneezeing.
• Suppression of habits such as spitting or nose-picking.
• Washing hands before eating.
• Not licking fingers before picking up sheets of paper.
• Cut finger nails and toe nails.

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