The Sabudi Prasetyo's Web Log

Ied Mubarak 1 Syawal 1432 H

2011-08-30T06:19:00.003+08:00

Taqabalallahu minna wa minkum
Wa ja'alana minal 'aidin wal faizin

Ied Mubarak
1 Syawal 1432 H

-Sabudi Prasetyo & family-

The Suramadu : Indonesia Longest Bridge

2010-05-02T10:53:00.008+08:00

(Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : DPUTR Chief Team & Google)

The Suramadu Bridge (Indonesian: Jembatan Suramadu), also known as the Surabaya–Madura Bridge, is a bridge with three cable-stayed sections constructed between Surabaya on the island of Java and the town of Bangkalan on the island of Madura in Indonesia. Opened on June 10, 2009, the 5.4-km bridge is the longest in Indonesia and the first bridge to cross the Madura Strait.

The cable-stayed portion has three spans with lengths 192 m, 434 m and 192 m. The bridge has two lanes in each direction plus an emergency lane and a dedicated lane for motorcycles. The first toll bridge in Indonesia, fares have been initially set at Rp. 30,000 (US$3 in 2009) for four-wheeled vehicles and Rp. 3,000 (US$0.30) for two-wheelers.

Construction was started on August 20, 2003. Work on the bridge halted at the end of 2004 due to lack of funds, but was restarted in November 2005. The main span of the bridge was connected on March 31, 2009, and the bridge was opened to the public in June 10, 2009. Within a week of the opening, it was discovered that nuts and bolts as well as maintenance lamps had been stolen and that there was evidence of vandalism of cables supporting the main span.

The Indonesian Safari Park

2009-05-05T16:30:00.018+08:00

(Original Source : BFG Tour Services, The Adis-Bogor, Foto Source : CCMRS-IPB Team)

Taman Safari Indonesia (Indonesian Safari Park) located at Cibeureum, Cisarua Bogor, West Java, was constructed in 1980. This location was a non productive tea plantation of about 136.5's Ha. given by local Government Governor of West Java to the Oriental Circus to manage as Taman Safari Indonesia.Taman Safari Indonesia, located in a Buffer Zone of Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, stands at an elevation between 900-1,800 meters above sea level, with temperatures ranging between 16-27 degrees Celsius.

Taman Safari was established as a National tourism Object by the Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunication, (Late) Mr. Soesilo Soedarman, and pronounced as Indonesian Centre for Reproduction of Endangered Wildlife (ICREW) and Ex-situ Conversation by the Minister of Forestry, Mr.Hasyrul Harahap at March, 16, 1990. The location is between Jakarta and Bandung, around 80 km from Jakarta or 1.5-2 hours by car. While from Bandung, capital of West Java, about 78 km or 3 hours drive. If coming by public transport, from bus terminal, Jakarta (Kampung Rambutan) to Bandung, stop at Cisarua. From Cisarua continue by minibus or by public motor cycle, it takes only 15 minutes to arrive from there to Taman Safari Indonesia.Taman Safari Indonesia was designed with two concepts in mind combining modern zoo tourism with an area of natural beauty, opened for the public in 1986, the animals collection in that year held about 250 animals from 100 different species.

Ten years later, October 1995, the collection now has more than 2500 animals from 200 different species. More than 50% were born

at Taman Safari, other wildlife have been entrusted by th Forestry Department (Directorate General PHPN/Forest Protection and Nature Conservation) the remainder entrusted from public or exchanged with wildlife from overseas zoos. Part of the wildlife collection at Taman Safari are protected species not only endemic in Indonesia, but also from the five continents. Some animals as endangered species, need special care to increase their population with captive breeding. Like other zoos, Taman Safari has many programs. While we are a tourism site, we actively support conservation populations of endangered species and their habitat and facilitate the increase of scientific knowledge that will benefit conservation. And also promote and increased public awareness of conservation needs.

The Bogor Botanical Gardens

2009-05-05T16:13:00.013+08:00

(Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Irwansyah)

The Bogor Botanical Gardens (Indonesian: Kebun Raya) are located 60 km south of the capital of Jakarta in Bogor, Indonesia. The botanical gardens are situated in the city center of Bogor and adjoin the Istana Bogor (Presidential Palace). The gardens cover more than 80 hectares and was build by Java's Dutch Governor-General Gustaaf Willem, Baron van Imhoff who was governor of Java at the time.

The extensive grounds of the presidential palace were converted into the gardens by the German-born Dutch botanist, Professor Casper George Carl Reinwardt. The gardens officially opened in 1817 as 's Lands Plantentuin ('National Botanical Garden') and were used to research and develop plants and seeds from other parts of the Indonesian archipelago for cultivation during the 19th century. This is a tradition that continues today and contributes to the garden's reputation as a major center for botanical research.

Today the garden contains more than 15,000 species of trees and plants located among streams and lotus ponds. There are 400 types of exceptional palms to be found along the extensive lawns and avenues, helping the gardens create a refuge for more than 50 different varieties of birds and for groups of bats roosting high in the trees. The bats can be easily detected by the noise they make while competing for space under the canopies. The orchid houses contain some 3000 varieties.

The Mount Tangkuban Perahu

2009-03-15T20:32:00.016+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : CCMRS-IPB Team )

Tangkuban Perahu, or Tangkuban Parahu in local Sundanese dialect, is an active volcano 30 km north of the city of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. It is a popular tourist attraction where tourists can hike or ride to the edge of the crater to view the hot water springs upclose, and buy eggs cooked on its hot surface. This stratovolcano is on the island of Java and last erupted in 1983.

The name translates roughly to "upturning of (a) boat" or "upturned boat" in Sundanese, referring to the local legend of its creation. The story tells of "Dayang Sumbi", a beauty who lived in West Java. She cast away her son "Sangkuriang" for disobedience, and in her sadness was granted the power of eternal youth by the gods. After many years in exile, Sangkuriang decided to return to his home, long after the two had forgotten and failed to recognize each other. Sangkuriang fell in love with Dayang Sumbi and planned to marry her, only for Dayang Sumbi to recognize his birthmark just as he was about to go hunting. In order to prevent the marriage from taking place, Dayang Sumbi asked Sangkuriang to (1) build a dam on the river Citarum and (2) build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise. Sangkuriang meditated and summoned mythical ogre-like creatures -buta hejo or green giant(s)- to do his bidding. Dayang Sumbi saw that the tasks were almost completed and called on her workers to spread red silk cloths east of the city, to give the impression of impending sunrise. Sangkuriang was fooled, and upon believing that he had failed, kicked the dam and the unfinished boat, resulting in severe flooding and the creation of Tangkuban perahu from the hull of the boat.

Short Course : Port Management and Operations

2009-03-15T20:13:00.009+08:00

( Photo Source : CCMRS-IPB Bogor Team )

Port management is the management of ports. Large ports need to deal with a number of disparate activities: the movement of ships, containers and other cargo, the loading and unloading of ships and containers, customs activities. As well as human resources, anchorages, channels, lighters, tugs, berths, warehouse and other storage spaces have to be allocated and released. The efficient management of a port involves managing these activities and resources, managing the flows of money involved between the agents providing and using these resources, and providing management information.

Mask (Topeng)

2008-12-07T16:17:00.001+08:00

Topeng adalah sesuatu yang membuat kita menjadi percaya diri dengan menyembunyikan wajah asli kita…. Orang lain akan berpendapat sesuai dengan yang mereka lihat….yaitu topeng kita.. tapi tahukah bahwa topeng yang kita pakai adalah senjata ampuh untuk membunuh apa yang disebut ‘percaya diri….’

Pertanyaan selanjutnya adalah mengapa kita selalu memikirkan pendapat orang lain tentang diri kita sendiri, mengapa kita selalu berharap agar orang lain menghargai dan menghormati kita karena melihat topeng yang kita kenakan ? kalo kita tidak memakai topeng mereka tidak menghargai dan menghormati kita ?

Sampai kapan kita sembunyi dibalik topeng yang kasat mata... apakah selamanya ? sesungguhnya bathin akan tersiksa dan kita akan terlihat seperti menjalani dua kehidupan….

Cobalah apa adanya…..apa adanya dengan diri kita….. bathin akan tenteram..... semoga…..

Happines (Kebahagiaan)

2008-08-26T23:29:00.002+08:00

[English]
What is happines ? Someone has dream to finding out the real happiness not just imagine. He was study hard, he was working hard and got more salary. He was got manager level in his office and has so many relations. He has so many family and friends in the office also friends in the adventure wherever he will go. Going mountain, beach, village and more other destination. Although he was going to around the world just for finding out one thing which he never get. What is that ? That is Happines. But why it never come true ?
Till in one day during night in his town, he shown a women with her baby sleep in her hand in the car, and a man come true and kissing his baby softly, baby still calm and a moment later they go in the night escape him which still standing up…
Actually that the real happiness is in around of us, we should finding it… although find out until around the world it will not be found cause the happiness is in around of us.

[Bahasa]
Apa sih kebahagiaan itu ? Seseorang bercita – cita untuk menemukan kebahagiaan yang sesungguhnya, bukan hanya topeng belaka. Dia belajar dengan tekun, dia bekerja dengan giat dan mempunyai penghasilan yang lebih dari cukup. Dia menduduki jabatan tinggi di kantornya dan mempunyai banyak relasi. Dia mempunyai banyak saudara dan teman, baik itu teman kantor maupun teman berpetualang kemanapun dia mau. Pegunungan, pantai, lembah, desa, dan masih banyak lagi tujuan lainnya. Bahkan dia sudah berjalan keseluruh penjuru dunia hanya untuk menemukan satu hal yang belum ia temukan. Apa itu ? Kebahagiaan. Tapi mengapa kebahagiaan tidak juga datang ?
Hingga akhirnya di suatu senja menjelang malam di kotanya, dia melihat seorang wanita dengan bayi yang tertidur lelap dalam dekapan berada di dalam mobil, dan seorang lelaki datang menghampiri dan mengecup sang bayi dengan lembutnya agar sang bayi tidak terbangun, dan beberapa saat kemudian mereka pergi menghilang ditengah kegelapan malam meninggalkan dia yang masih tertegun ...
Sadarlah kita bahwa sesungguhnya kebahagian itu berada disekitar kita, kita yang harus mencarinya sendiri.... walaupun dicari sampai keujung dunia tidak akan ketemu karena kebahagiaan itu tidak berada jauh dari kita ....

The Movie : The Incredible Hulk

2008-06-27T11:01:00.002+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia )

The Incredible Hulk is a 2008 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk, which was released on June 13, 2008. It is directed by Louis Leterrier and stars Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner / the Hulk, Liv Tyler as Betty Ross, William Hurt as General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross and Tim Roth as Emil Blonsky. The film follows Banner as he flees the pursuit of General Ross while attempting to find a cure to rid himself of the Hulk. When Blonsky personally volunteers to be injected with Banner's gamma formula to aid Ross in his capture, he becomes an even greater monster, and Banner must accept his inner beast to defeat Blonsky.

After the 2003 film Hulk, Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the character, and writer Zak Penn began work on a loose sequel that would be much closer to the comics and the television series. Norton rewrote the script after he signed on to star, severing all ties to its predecessor by retelling the origin story in flashbacks and revelations, thereby establishing the film as a reboot. Leterrier's direction aimed to make the monsters look more realistic and frightening. He redesigned Blonsky's monstrous gamma-irradiated form — called the Abomination in the comics — from a reptilian humanoid into a mutated man with bony protrusions. Filming mostly took place in Toronto, Canada in 2007, where the production attempted to be environmentally friendly.

Adult (Dewasa)

2008-06-10T22:15:00.005+08:00

[English]
Adult.... We often hear ‘be adult attitude don’t be childis… ‘ What is adult` attitude ? adult attitude is 17, 25, 30 or 45 years old ? or has ID card or Driving License ? or finance needed is over, good worked and got married ? or clever and smart ? or has so many graduate ? which I don’t know where they got it…. or has experience to around the world ? or has so many experience in a life ?

I also don’t know what is real adult attitude… In my mind, adult attitude is a person have a calm and stable emotional…but…mmm…I don’t think so… who can help me?

[Bahasa]
Dewasa….kita sering mendengar orang bilang ‘ bersikaplah dewasa, kayak anak kecil aja…’ apa sih sikap dewasa itu ? apakah orang yang bersikap dewasa itu orang yg umurnya sudah 17, 25, 30, atau 45 tahun lebih ? atau orang yg sudah punya KTP atau SIM ? atau orang yg kebutuhan finansialnya selalu terpenuhi, yg mapan pekerjaan dan sudah menikah ? atau orang yang pintar dan cerdas ? atau orang yg punya banyak gelar di depan dan dibelakang namanya ? yg nggak tahu nemu dimana gelar itu….. atau orang yg sudah keliling dunia ? atau orang yg sudah banyak makan ‘asam garam kehidupan’..?

Aku sendiri sampai sekarang belum seluruhnya tahu apa arti sikap dewasa yang sesungguhnya…. Yang aku tahu orang yg bersikap dewasa itu adalah orang yang tingkat emosinya tenang dan stabil….. tapi ….mmm….. entahlah… siapa yang bisa bantu?

Bamboo (Bambu)

2008-06-04T12:39:00.005+08:00

[English]
Why I talking about bamboo which is just a plant without flowers and fruits? In the ‘bamboo’ we’ll found a good attitude where we can follows. Yes… bamboo growth in a group, high, without flowers and fruits. But Bamboo has calm attitude and ‘heavy’ also growth straight and not unstraight.

Bamboo are calm, not swing of branches except by wind, but noisy only and then calm again. Bamboo always self confident, no need aplausing or praising or reproach where can make bamboo nervous, panic or going anywhere.. Bamboo still calm cause its root is strenght. This is important, because its root is strength. Bamboo also still growth straight and not unstraight. Try to unstraight bamboo ? never. Bamboo didn’t influence by everyone if everyone will change it.

Are we could be bamboo’s attitude which is no need to apalusing or praising and if we get reproaching we still calm and have self confident because the root is strength. And still growth high straight and not unstraight cause influence from outside. Hope…

[Bahasa]
Mengapa saya menceritakan bambu yang notabene merupakan tanaman yang tak berbunga dan tak berbuah ? di dalam tanaman bambu terdapat nilai – nilai moral yang dapat kita jadikan teladan. Ya….bambu tumbuh secara berkelompok, menjulang tinggi, tanpa bunga dan buah. Tapi bambu mempunyai sifat yang tenang dan berbobot serta tumbuhnya lurus, tidak ada yang bengkok.

Bambu cenderung tenang, tidak bergoyang kesana- sini, kecuali kalo ada angin, itupun hanya berbisik-bisik sesama bambu saja kemudian tenang kembali. Bambu selalu percaya diri. Bambu tidak butuh pujian-pujian atau celaan-celaan yang akan membuat bambu kurang percaya diri, panik atau kesana kemari. Bambu tetap tenang karena akarnya kuat. Ini yang terpenting, akarnya kuat. Bambu juga tetap tumbuh lurus tidak bengkok. Coba bengkokkan bambu ? tidak akan bisa. Bambu tidak terpengaruh oleh siapapun jika ada yang akan mempengaruhi dari luar.

Apakah kita bisa seperti sifat bambu yang tidak butuh pujian dan jika dicela kita tetap tenang dan percaya diri karena akar atau dasar kita kuat. Dan tetap tumbuh lurus menjulang tinggi dan tidak ada yang bengkok akibat pengaruh dari luar……
Semoga......

Eid Mubarak

2007-10-11T13:55:00.000+08:00

Taqabbalallahu Minna Wa Minkum
Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin

Happy Eid Mubarak
Syawal 1st 1428 H

- Sabudi Prasetyo and family -

Water Power

2007-05-23T02:20:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo : Google Images )

Energy in water (in the form of motive energy or temperature differences) can be harnessed and used. Since water is about a thousand times denser than air, even a slow flowing stream of water, or moderate sea swell, can yield considerable amounts of energy.

The reservoir created for hydroelectric dams may initially produce significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane from rotting vegetation. Once this vegetation is gone, no additional greenhouse gases are produced. In some cases they may produce more of these greenhouse gases than power plants running on fossil fuels. They also affect water quality, creating large amounts of stagnant water without oxygen in the reservoir, and excessive air bubbles in the water downstream from the dam, both of which impact aquatic life. Failures of large dams, while rare, are potentially. Though the dams can be built stronger, at greater cost, they are still prone to sabotage and terrorism. Smaller dams and micro hydro facilities are less vulnerable to these threats. Wave and tidal stream power demonstration projects exist, but large scale development requires additional capital.

Wayang Kulit : A highlight of Javanese culture

2007-05-17T06:04:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Discover-indo.tierranet.com Website, Photo : Google Images )

Wayang is a Javanese word meaning "shadow" or "ghost", kulit means "leather", and added together "shadow from leather". The wayang kulit is the flat one and it is made with buffalo leather. They are maipulated behind a white screen with a back light, so the attendance can see them as shadow puppets. Wayang Kulit in Central Java is probably one of the oldest continuous traditions of storytelling in the world, and certainly among the most highly developed. Wayang is well integrated in Javanese society, and it is considered to be a highlight of Javanese culture. Wayang Kulit was already established in the East Javanese kingdoms one thousand years ago.

In 2003 the UNESCO proclaimed the Wayang puppets Theater of Indonesia as a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity". The related action plan recommends that specialized schools play a greater role in the transmission of traditional skills linked to wayang and that support be provided to enable puppeteers to earn a living as professional performers. The plan also calls for the creation of inventories, publications, audio-visual recordings and seminars designed to encourage research.

Penguin

2007-05-16T04:51:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia )

Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere.

The number of penguin species has been and still is a matter of debate. Depending on which authority is followed, biodiversity varies between 17 and 20 living species, all in the subfamily Spheniscinae. Some sources consider the White-flippered Penguin a separate Eudyptula species, while others treat it as a subspecies of the Little Penguin, the actual situation seems to be more complicated. Similarly, it is still unclear whether the Royal Penguin is merely a color morph of the Macaroni penguin. Also possibly eligible to be treated as a separate species is the Northern population of Rockhopper penguins. Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not, contrary to popular belief, found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin actually live so far south. At least ten species live in the temperate zone; one lives as far north as the Galápagos Islands (the Galápagos Penguin).

Kangaroo (macropodidae macropus)

2007-05-16T04:35:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

A kangaroo is any of several large animals of the Macropodidae, a marsupial family that also includes the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the Quokka, some 63 living species in all. Kangaroos are endemic to the continent of Australia, while tree-kangaroos are found on both Australia and New Guinea.
The term kangaroo is sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to all members of the macropod family, but is generally reserved for the four largest macropods, namely the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus. Smaller macropods are called wallabies, while some intermediate in size are called wallaroos.

The Movie : Transformers

2007-05-16T03:54:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia )

Following a battle on Cybertron, events move to the Arctic Circle during the 1800s where Captain Archibald Witwicky is shown chipping away at a massive sheet of ice, only to break through it and fall into the abyss, landing on a robotic hand partially buried in the ice. He finds the eyes of Megatron staring back at him. Megatron burns a map showing the location of the mysterious Allspark into Witwicky's eyeglasses, which are handed down to his descendant, Sam (Shia LaBeouf), in the present day. When Witwicky buys his first car from dealer Bobby Bolivia (Bernie Mac), it happens to be the Autobot Bumblebee, and Witwicky comes under the protection of the Autobots as the Decepticons come looking for the map.

Elsewhere, Decepticons Blackout and Scorponok attack a United States Air Force base in Qatar in the present day. The Allspark has also been referred to as both the Energon Cube and the Energon Crystal; the earliest description credited it as "responsible for Transformer life on Earth." The Allspark is based upon the Creation Matrix of the original Transformers comics.

Wind Power

2007-05-16T03:16:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo : Google Image )

Wind power uses the naturally occurring energy of the wind for practical purposes like generating electricity, charging batteries, or pumping water. Wind turbines capture the kinetic energy in the wind, converting it into electrical energy. Utility-scale turbines are mounted on tall towers, usually 100 feet or more above the earth's surface where the wind is faster and less turbulent. In utility-scale power applications, anywhere from one or two to several hundred turbines are connected to the utility grid, providing electricity when the wind blows.

Kinetic energy in airflows can be used to run wind turbines; some are capable of producing 5 MW of power; turbines with rated output of 1.5-3 MW have become the most common for commercial use. The power output of a turbine is a function of the cube of the wind speed, so high-power output can be achieved as wind speed increases, though turbines must shut off at extreme wind speeds to prevent damage. Areas where winds are stronger and more constant, such as offshore and high altitude sites, are preferred locations for wind farms.

Lily (lilium)

2007-05-12T05:07:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

The plants of the genus Lilium are the true lily plants, comprising a genus of about 100 species in the lily family, Liliaceae. They are important as showy and large flowered garden plants, and in literature.
Lilies are native to the northern temperate regions. Their range in the Old World extends across much of Europe, the north Mediterranean, across most of Asia to Japan, south to the Nilgiri mountains in India, and south to the Philippines. In the New World they extend from southern Canada through much of the United States. A few species formerly included within this genus have now been placed in other genera. These include Cardiocrinum and Nomocharis.
They are commonly adapted to either woodland habitats, often montane, or sometimes to grassland habitats. A few can survive in marshland and a single one is known to live as an epiphyte (L. arboricola). In general they prefer moderately acidic or lime-free soils.

Bamboo (poaceae bambusoideae)

2007-05-09T19:53:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. There are 91 genera and about 1,000 species of bamboo. They are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. They occur from Northeast Asia (at 50°N latitude in Sakhalin), south throughout East Asia west to the Himalaya, and south to northern Australia. They also occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Americas from the southeast of the USA south to Chile, there reaching their furthest south anywhere, at 47°S latitude. Major areas with no native bamboos include Europe, north Africa, western Asia, northern North America, most of Australia, and Antarctica.

Manta Ray

2007-05-08T01:04:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

The manta ray, or giant manta (Manta birostris), is the largest of the rays, with the largest known specimen having been nearly 7.6 meters (25 ft) across its pectoral fins (or "wings") and weighed in at 3,000 kg (6,600 lb). It ranges throughout the tropical seas of the world, typically around coral reefs. Mantas are most commonly black above and white below, but some are blue on their backs. A giant manta's eyes are located at the base of the cephalic lobes on each side of the head, and unlike other rays the mouth is found at the anterior edge of its head. To breathe, like other rays, the manta has five pairs of gills on the underside.

With distinctive "horns" (from which the common name 'devil ray' stems), on either side of its broad head, the manta is a prized sighting by divers. These unique structures are actually derived from the pectoral fins. During embryonic development, part of the pectoral fin breaks away and moves forward, surrounding the mouth. This gives the Manta Ray the distinction of being the only jawed vertebrate to have novel limbs (the so-called six-footed tortoise (Manouria emys) does not actually have six legs, only enlarged tuberculate scales on their thighs that look superficially like an extra pair of hind limbs). These flexible horns are used to direct plankton, small fish and water into the Manta's very broad and wide mouth. To make them more streamlined when swimming, they are able to curl them up.

We are nothing….

2007-05-03T02:42:00.000+08:00

[English]
Arrogant is a bad attitude which always come to our mind, our heart. We surely have a arrogant although that content is very less. Surely…arrogant because of rich, arrogant because of knowledge, arrogant because of moral and possible that arrogant because of kindness. We was born to this world without richness, don’t know everything yet, can’t speaking yet, can’t walking yet, need helps yet, not clever yet, and still more what we don’t know before. Recently, while we knew everything, we were became arrogant. Try to walking with ‘face to bow’, otherwise you will ‘fall by stone’…..

We are nothing…..

So, actually what kind could make us arrogant in this world ?

[Bahasa]
Kita ini tidak ada apa – apanya..........

Sombong adalah penyakit yang kerap menghinggapi batin kita, kita pasti punya perasaan sombong walaupun kadar kesombongan itu sedikit sekali. Pasti ada..... sombong karena kekayaan, sombong karena pengetahuan, sombong karena moral, dan mungkin juga sombong karena kebaikan. Kita lahir kedunia tanpa kekayaan apapun, masih belum tahu apa-apa, masih belum bisa bicara, masih belum bisa berjalan, masih perlu bantuan orang lain, masih belum pintar, masih .....dan masih banyak lagi yang kita belum tahu sebelumnya. Sekarang ketika kita sudah tahu segalanya, malah berubah menjadi sombong. Cobalah berjalan dengan ‘wajah menunduk’, kalo kita berjalan sambil mendongakkan kepala, kita pasti akan tersandung batu....

Kita ini tidak ada apa – apanya..........

Jadi sebenarnya apa sih yang kita sombongkan di dunia ini ?

India Gate in New Delhi

2007-04-28T23:02:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Indiasite Website, Photo : Sabudi Prasetyo )

All India War Memorial
India Gate is constructed as a memorial and was built in the memory of 90,00 soldiers who laid down their lives during world war I. Located at Rajpath, India Gate is 42 m high and is popular relaxation area during the summer evenings. India Gate also act as popular pinic spot during winter. Also known as the All India War Memorial, India Gate was designed and constructed by Lutyens. He was the who is considered the chief proclaimer in designing the New Delhi plans.

The Architectural Marvel
A tour of Lutyens’ Delhi just has to kick off with the stately India Gate at the east end of the broad Janpath (earlier Kingsway) that leads to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Another additional 13,516 names engraved on the arch and foundations form a separate memorial to the British and Indian soldiers killed on the North-West Frontier in the Afghan War of 1919. The foundation stone was laid by HRH the Duke of Connaught in 1921 and the monument was dedicated to the nation 10 years later by the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin. Another memorial, Amar Jawan Jyoti was added much later after India had said goodbye to its imperial rulers. It is in the form of a flame that burns day and night under the arch to remind the nation of soldiers who perished in the Indo-Pakistan War of December 1971.The entire arch stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge cornice, beneath which are inscribed Imperial suns. Above on both sides is inscribed INDIA, flanked by MCM and to the right, XIX. The shallow domed bowl at the top was intended to be filled with burning oil on anniversaries but this is rarely done.

Jyotisar

2007-04-27T00:17:00.001+08:00

( Original Source : Vahini.org Website and Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

One of the most revered of holy centers of Kurukshetra is Jyotisar. Renovated recently, it retains its sanctity and the birthplace of the Holy Bhagwad Gita. A vat (Banyan) tree stands on a raised plinth here August, Spreading Venerated. It is believed that it was under this holy Banyan that Lord Krishna delivered the doctrine of Karma a wavering Arjun. He showed too, His Virat Roop, the image of Himself as the Creator, the Preserver, the Destroyer-under whose will every leaf, every bud, every event, every man moved as automation. A marble chariot depicting Lord Krishna delivering to Arjun marks the site the Shrimad Bhagwad Gita. In one secluded section of this center an old Shiv temple can also be seen. Hundreds of years ago, a holy water tank was built here. Today the Kurukshetra Development Board has renovated the site. A mango shaped lake has been constructed here. Covered bathing ghats for the ladies have been provided. Cement parapets and enclosures have been built for protection. A restaurant and accommodation wings of Yatrees has been built here. The area has been landscaped with flowering bushes and eucalyptus trees. Jyotisar lies on Pehowa road, 5 Km from Kurukshetra.

Bhimgoda Barrage in India

2007-04-22T01:13:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo : Sabudi Prasetyo )

A weir/barrage is a small overflow-type dam commonly used to raise the level of a river or stream. Weir/barrages have traditionally been used to create mill ponds in such places. Water flows over the top of a weir/barrage, although some weir/barrages have sluice gates which release water at a level below the top of the weir/barrage. The crest of an overflow spillway on a large dam is often called a weir/barrage.

Weirs/barrages are used in conjunction with locks to render a river navigable. In this case, the weir/barrage is made significantly longer than the width of the river by forming it in a 'U' shape or running it diagonally. This is done in order to minimize fluctuation in the depth of the river upstream with changes in the flow rate of the river. Doing so avoids unnecessary complication in designing and using the lock.

Weirs/barrages also give hydrologists and engineers a simple method of measuring the rate of fluid flow in small to medium sized streams. Since the geometry of the top of the weir/barrage is known, and all water flows over the weir/barrage, the depth of water flowing over the weir/barrage will be an indication of the flow. There are different types of weir/barrage. It may be a simple metal plate with a V notch cut into it or it may be a concrete and steel structure across the bed of a river. A v-notch weir/barrage will give a more accurate indication of low flow rates.

While a weir/barrage will typically increase the oxygen content of the water as it passes over the crest, a weir/barrage can have a detrimental effect on the local ecology of a river system. A weir/barrage will artificially reduce the upstream water velocity which can lead to an increase in siltation. The weir/barrage may pose a barrier to migrating fish. Fish ladders provide a way for fish to get between the water levels.

Mill ponds provide a water mill with the power it requires, using the difference in water level above and below the weir/barrage to provide the necessary energy. A walkway over the weir/barrage is likely to be useful for the removal of floating debris trapped by the weir/barrage or for working staunches and sluices on it as the rate of flow changes. This is sometimes used as a convenient pedestrian crossing point for the river.

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India

2007-04-18T02:25:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : IIT Roorkee Website, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) is located in Roorkee, a small township in Uttarakhand, India. Instituted as Thomason college of Civil Engineering in year 1847 by British, it was rechristened as University of Roorkee in year 1949. It is acclaimed for its fine quality of academia and for producing brilliant engineers.
The Institute has completed 150th year of its existence in October 1996. On September 21, 2001, an Ordinance issued by the Government of India declared it as the nation's seventh Indian Institute of Technology. The Ordinance is now converted into an Act by the Parliament to make IIT, Roorkee as an "Institution of National Importance".

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee is among the foremost of institutes of national importance in higher technological education and in basic and applied research. Since its establishment, the Institute has played a vital role in providing the technical manpower and know-how to the country and in pursuit of research. The Institute ranks amongst the best technological institutions in the world and has contributed to all sectors of technological development. It has also been considered a trend-setter in the area of education and research in the field of science, technology, and engineering.

The Institute offers Bachelor's Degree courses in 10 disciplines of Engineering and Architecture and Postgraduate's Degree in 55 disciplines of Engineering, Applied Science, Architecture and planning. The Institute has facility for doctoral work in all Departments and Research Centres.
The Institute admits students to B.Tech. and B.Arch. courses through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) conducted at various centres all over India.

Department of Water Recources Development and Management

Objective And Achievements
The proposal for establishing a training centre in water resources development originated with the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (now known as ESCAP) some time in 1951-52 and the Centre was actually established at the 'University of Roorkee (Now Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee)' on November25, 1955. The essential equipment was provided under the then U.S. Technical Cooperation Mission and U.N. Technical Assistance Board. The Government of India provided funds for the building and other facilities and agreed to bear the entire recurring expenditure. The USAID, UNDP and ECAFE provided specialists for short-term lecture arrangements.

The choice of opening the Centre naturally fell on India which had the unique distinction of having the biggest network of irrigation works, the largest area under irrigation and the greatest variety of irrigation structures in the East. India also had, after attainment of independence, embarked on an ambitious programme of construction of river valley projects. IIT Roorkee being successor to University of Roorkee which in turn being successor to the Thomason College of Civil Engineering the oldest and best-known technical institution in the East and having the basic infrastructure for imparting such education with Dr. A.N. Khosla as the Vice-Chancellor was selected as the location, and the Centre was set up with Dr. Khosla as the first Director. Roorkee also has the added advantage of the facilities of the U.P. Irrigation Research Institute, the Bengal Engineer Group of the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Institute of Hydrology. The country's oldest canal passes through the town of Roorkee.

Objective And Achievements
The objective of the Centre is to train serving engineers from Asia, Africa and other developing countries in various aspects of water resources engineering and to bring together engineering talent from these countries for a first hand understanding and appreciation of each other's problems and to help evolve, by pooling of knowledge, new techniques in water resources development and utilization suited to conditions of this region. In addition, the programme of education at the Centre helps foster a feeling of brotherhood amongst the engineers of these countries. Since its creation in 1951 the Centre has trained 2032 serving engineers from 38 countries in the field of Water Resources Development and Irrigation Water Management.

Mathura

2007-04-18T01:56:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

The Krishna’s Birth Place, Krishna is King of Dwarka and The charioteer for Arjuna in The Epic of Mahabharata’s Battle.

Mathura (Hindi: मथुरा, Urdu: متھرا) is a holy city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, located approximately 50 km north of Agra, and 150 km south of Delhi. It is the administrative centre of Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient period, this was an economic hub, located at the junction of some relatively important caravan routes.
Mathura is the reputed to be the birthplace of Krishna, Krishnajanmabhoomi. The Keshav Dev temple was built in ancient times on the site of Krishna's supposed birthplace (an underground prison). As per epic Mahabharata, Mathura was the capital of the Surasena Kingdom, ruled by Kansa the maternal uncle of Krishna.

Dwarka is a city and a municipality in Jamnagar district in the state of Gujarat, India. Dwarka (Dvaraka in Sanskrit - this name shall be used in this article when referring to the city in a historical context) is rated as one of the seven most ancient cities in the country. The legendary city of Dvaraka in Hindu mythology was the dwelling place of Krishna. It is believed that, due to damage and destruction by the sea, Dvaraka has submerged six times and modern Dwarka is the 7th city to be built in the area. Dvaraka is mentioned in the Mahabharata, the Harivansha, the Bhagavata Purana, the Skanda Purana, and the Vishnu Purana.
Sri Krishna renounced war in Mathura for the greater good (and hence the name Ranchodrai) and founded (and settled in) Dvaraka. Sri Krishna killed Kamsa (his maternal uncle) and made Ugrasen (his maternal grandfather) the king of Mathura. Enraged, the father-in-law of Kamsa, Jarasandha (king of Magadha) with his friend Kalayavan attacked Mathura 17 times. For the safety of the people, Krishna and Yadavas decided to move the capital from Mathura to Dvaraka.
Land was reclaimed from the sea near the western shores of Saurashtra. A city was planned and built here. Dvaraka was a planned city, on the banks of Gomati River. This city was also known as Dvaramati, Dvaravati and Kushsthali. It had well organized six sectors, residential and commercial zones, wide roads, plazas, palaces and many public utilities. A hall called "Sudharma Sabha" was built to hold public meetings. The city also boasted a good harbour.

Kurukshetra

2007-04-06T02:16:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

The Battlesfield of Mahabharata in The Epic of Mahabharata

Kurukshetra (Hindi: कुरुक्षेत्र) is the name of a city in the present-day Indian state of Haryana हरियाणा. The name literally means "Land of the Kurus" after the famous Kuru vansha (clan), but is also sometimes referred to as Dharam Kshetra meaning the "Land of Righteousness". It purports to be the site of the Kurukshetra war, described in the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. Nevertheless, this place holds inestimable importance in Hinduism as this is where the Bhagavad Gita ("The Song Celestial") was recited to Arjuna amidst the battle field, just before the great war of Mahabharata. A few kilometeres from Kurukshetra is the village, Amin where there are remnants of a fort and it is said to be Abhimanyu's fort.
Thanesar, a historical town is located adjacent to Kurukshetra city. "Kurukshetra" is in fact the name of a mythological battlefield, where the Mahabharata war was waged, the actual location of which is impossible to confirm. Local hearsay identifies the legendary "Kurukshetra" with a nearby obscure hamlet, and with the active abetment of the state government, it is presently experiencing a tourist boom.
In some ancient Hindu texts, the boundaries of Kurukshetra correspond roughly to the state of Haryana. The Kurukshetra region is south of Turghna (Srughna/Sugh in Sirhind, Punjab), north of Khandava (Delhi and Mewat region), east of Maru (=desert) and west of Parin.

Taj Mahal

2007-04-04T20:06:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Sources : Sabudi Prasetyo & Google Images )

The Tāj Mahal (Persian: تاج محل‎, Hindi: ताज महल) is a mausoleum located in Agra, India. The name is Persian, the court language of the Mughal empire, and can be literally translated to "Location (Mahal) of the Crown (Taj)" or alternatively, "the Crown (Taj)of Mahal (i.e. Mumtaz Mahal)"; the latter version making the most grammatical sense in Persian. The Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān commissioned it as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Construction began in 1632 and was completed in 1648. Some dispute surrounds the question of who designed the Taj; it is clear a team of designers and craftsmen were responsible for the design, with Ustad Isa considered the most likely candidate as the principal designer.
The Taj Mahal (sometimes called "the Taj") is generally considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Persian, Turkish and Indian. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar part of the monument, the Taj Mahal is actually an integrated complex of structures.

Origin and inspiration
Shah Jahan, emperor of the Mughal Empire during a period of great prosperity, controlled extensive resources. In 1631 his second wife died during the birth of their daughter Gauhara Begum, their fourteenth child. Shah Jahan was reportedly inconsolable. Contemporary court chronicles contain many stories concerning Shah Jahan's grief at Mumtaz's death; these are the basis of the "love-story" traditionally held as the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. 'Abd al-Hamid Lahawri, for example, noted that before her death the Emperor had "but twenty white hairs in his beard," but thereafter many more.
Construction of the Taj Mahal was begun in Agra soon after Mumtaz's death. The principal mausoleum was completed in 1648, and the surrounding buildings and garden five years later.

The tomb
The focus of the Taj Mahal is the white marble tomb. Like most Mughal tombs, the basic elements are Persian in origin: a symmetrical building with an ‘iwan’, an arch-shaped doorway, topped by a large dome.
The tomb stands on a square plinth. The base structure is a large, multi-chambered structure. The main chamber houses the cenotaphs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz (the actual graves are a level below).
The base is essentially a cube with chamfered edges, roughly 55 metres on each side (see floor plan, right). On the long sides, a massive pishtaq, or vaulted archway, frames the iwan, with a similar arch-shaped balcony above. These main arches extend above the roof of the building by use of an integrated facade.
To either side of the main arch, additional pishtaqs are stacked above and below. This motif of stacked pishtaqs is replicated on the chamfered corner areas.
The design is completely uniform and consistent on all sides of the building. Four minarets, one at each corner of the plinth, facing the chamfered corners, frame the tomb.

Calligraphy
Throughout the complex passages from the Qur'an are used as decorative elements. The calligraphy is a florid and practically illegible thuluth script, created by the Mughal court's Persian calligrapher, Amanat Khan, who was resident at the Mughal court. He has signed several of the panels. As one enters through the Taj Mahal Gate the calligraphy reads "O Soul, thou art at rest. Return to the Lord at peace with Him, and He at peace with you."
The calligraphy is made by jasper inlaid in white marble panels. Some of the work is extremely detailed and delicate (especially that found on the marble cenotaphs in the tomb). Higher panels are written slightly larger to reduce the skewing effect when viewed from below.
Recent scholarship suggests that Amanat Khan chose the passages as well. The texts refer to themes of judgment: of doom for nonbelievers, and the promise of Paradise for the faithful. The passages include: Surah 91 (The Sun), Surah 112 (The Purity of Faith), Surah 89 (Daybreak), Surah 93 (Morning Light), Surah 95 (The Fig), Surah 94 (The Solace), Surah 36 (Ya Sin), Surah 81 (The Folding Up), Surah 82 (The Cleaving Asunder), Surah 84 (The Rending Asunder), Surah 98 (The Evidence), Surah 67 (Dominion), Surah 48 (Victory), Surah 77 (Those Sent Forth) and Surah 39 (The Crowds).

The garden
The complex is set in and around a large charbagh (a formal Mughal garden divided into four parts). Measuring 320 m × 300 m, the garden uses raised pathways which divide each quarter of the garden into 16 sunken parterres or flowerbeds. A raised marble water tank at the centre of the garden, halfway between the tomb and the gateway, and a linear reflecting pool on the North-South axis reflect the Taj Mahal. Elsewhere the garden is laid out with avenues of trees and fountains.

The charbagh garden was introduced to India by the first Mughal emperor Babur, a design inspired by Persian gardens. The charbagh is meant to reflect the gardens of Paradise (from the Persian paridaeza -- a walled garden). In mystic Islamic texts of the Mughal period, paradise as described as ideal garden, filled with abundance. Water plays a key role in these descriptions: In Paradise, these text say, four rivers source at a central spring or mountain, and separate the garden into north, west, south and east.

Most Mughal charbaghs are rectangular in form, with a central tomb or pavilion in the centre of the garden. The Taj Mahal garden is unusual in siting the main element, the tomb, at the end rather than at the centre of the garden. But the existence of the newly discovered Mahtab Bagh or "Moonlight Garden" on the other side of the Yamuna provides a different interpretation -- that the Yamuna itself was incorporated into the garden's design, and was meant to be seen as one of the rivers of Paradise.

The layout of the garden, and its architectural features such as its fountains, brick and marble walkways, geometric brick-lined flowerbeds, and so on, are similar to Shalimar's, and suggest that the garden may have been designed by the same engineer, Ali Mardan.
Early accounts of the garden describe its profusion of vegetation, including roses, daffodils, and fruit trees in abundance. As the Mughal Empire declined, the tending of the garden declined as well. When the British took over management of the Taj Mahal, they changed the landscaping to resemble more the formal lawns of London.

Outlying buildings
The Taj Mahal complex is bounded by a crenellated red sandstone wall on three sides. The river-facing side is unwalled. Outside the wall are several additional mausoleums, including those of many of Shah Jahan's other wives, and a larger tomb for Mumtaz's favourite servant. These structures, composed primarily of red sandstone, are typical of smaller Mughal tombs of the era.

On the inner (garden) side, the wall is fronted by columned arcades, a feature typical of Hindu temples later incorporated into Mughal mosques. The wall is interspersed with domed kiosks (chattris), and small buildings which may have been viewing areas or watch towers (such as the so-called Music House, now used as a museum).

The main gateway (darwaza) is a monumental structure built primarily of red sandstone. The style is reminiscent of that of Mughal architecture of earlier emperors. Its archways mirror the shape of the tomb's archways, and its pishtaq arches incorporate the calligraphy that decorates the tomb. It utilises bas-relief and pietra dura (inlaid) decorations with floral motifs. The vaulted ceilings and walls have elaborate geometric designs, like those found in the other sandstone buildings of the complex.
At the far end of the complex, two grand red sandstone buildings open to the sides of the tomb. Their backs parallel the western and eastern walls.

The two buildings are precise mirror images of each other. The western building is a mosque; its opposite is the jawab or "answer", whose primary purpose was architectural balance (and which may have been used as a guesthouse during Mughal times). The distinctions are that the jawab lacks a mihrab, a niche in a mosque's wall facing Mecca, and the floors of the jawab have a geometric design, while the mosque floor was laid out the outlines of 569 prayer rugs in black marble. The mosque's basic design is similar to others built by Shah Jahan, particularly to his Jama Masjid in Delhi: a long hall surmounted by three domes. Mughal mosques of this period divide the sanctuary hall into three areas: a main sanctuary with slightly smaller sanctuaries to either side. At the Taj Mahal, each sanctuary opens on to an enormous vaulting dome.

Jama Masjid of Delhi

2007-04-04T19:55:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

The Masjid-i-Jahan Numa مسجد جھان نمہ, commonly known as Jama Masjid of Delhi is the principal mosque of Old Delhi in India. Commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and completed in the year 1656 AD, it is one of the largest and best known mosques in India. It is also at the beginning of a very busy and popular street/center in Old Delhi, Chandni Chowk. (There are also Jama Masjids in many other cities with a history of Islamic rule, or large Muslim populations.)
Masjid-i-Jahan Numa means "the mosque commanding a view of the world", and the name Jama Masjid is a reference to the weekly congregation observed on Friday (the yaum al-jum`a) at the mosque. The courtyard of the mosque can hold up to twenty-five thousand worshippers. The mosque also houses several relics in a closet in the north gate, including a copy of the Qur'an written on deer skin. The cost incurred on the construction in those times was 10 lakh (1 million) Rupees.
Shah Jahan built several important mosques in Delhi, Agra, Ajmer and Lahore. The Jama Masjid's floorplan is very similar to the Moti Masjid at Agra, but the Jama Masjid is the bigger and more imposing of the two. Its majesty is further enhanced because of the high ground that he selected for building this mosque.

Architecture
The courtyard of the mosque can be reached from the east, north and south by three flights of steps, all built of red sandstone. The northern gate of the mosque has 39 steps. The southern side of the mosque has 33 steps. The eastern gate of the mosque was the royal entrance and it has 35 steps. These steps used to house food stalls, shops and street entertainers. In the evening, the eastern side of the mosque used to be converted into a bazaar for poultry and birds in general. Prior to the 1857 War of Indian Independence, there was a madrassah near the southern side of the mosque, which was pulled down after the mutiny.

The mosque faces west. Its three sides are covered with open arched colonnades, each having a lofty tower-like gateway in the centre. The mosque is about 261 feet (80 m) long and 90 feet (27 m) wide, and its roof is covered with three domes with alternate stripes of black and white marble, with its topmost parts covered with gold. Two lofty minarets, 130 feet (40 m) high, and containing 130 steps, longitudinally striped with white marble and red sandstone, flank the domes on either side. The minarets are divided by three projecting galleries and are surmounted by open twelve-sided domed pavilions. On the back of the mosque, there are four small minarets crowned like those in the front.

Under the domes of the mosque, is a hall with seven arched entrances facing the west and the walls of the mosque, up to the height of the waist, are covered with marble. Beyond this is a prayer hall, which is about 61 meters X 27.5 meters, with eleven arched entrances, of which the centre arch is wide and lofty, and in the form of a massive gateway, with slim minarets in each corner, with the usual octagonal pavilion surmounting it. Over these arched entrances there are tablets of white marble, four feet (1.2 m) long and 2.5 feet (760 mm) wide, inlaid with inscriptions in black marble. These inscriptions give the history of the building of the mosque, and glorify the reign and virtues of Shah Jahan. The slab over the centre arch contains simply the words "The Guide!"

The mosque stands on a platform of about five feet (1.5 m) from the pavement of the terrace, and three flight of steps lead to the interior of the mosque from the east, north, and the south. The floor of the mosque is covered with white and black marble ornamented to imitate the Muslim prayer mat; a thin black marble border is marked for the worshippers, which is three feet long and 1 ½ feet wide. In total there are 899 such spaces marked in the floor of the mosque. The back of the mosque is cased over to the height of the rock on which the mosque stands with large hewn stones.

Ganga River

2007-04-04T19:43:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Sources : Sabudi Prasetyo )

The Ganges (Devanāgarī: गंगा) (Ganga (IPA: [ˈgænʤiz]; IAST: Gaṅgā in most Indian languages, IPA: [ˈgəŋgaː]) is a major river in the Indian subcontinent passing though most of northern India and Bangladesh. The 2,510 km (1,557 mi) long river begins at the Gangotri Glacier in the state of Uttarakhand in the Central Himalayas, passes though the plains in northern India before draining into the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh. The river, held sacred by Hindus, is worshipped as the personified form of the goddess Ganga after whom the river is named.
Along with several other tributaries, it forms a large and fertile basin of about one million square kilometres in area which supports one of the highest densities of human population in the world.

Course
The Ganges originates in the Himalayas at the confluence of five headstreams – the Bhagirathi, Mandakini, Alaknanda, Dhauliganga, and Pindar at Devaprayag in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Out of the five, the Bhagirathi is held to be the source stream originating at the Gangotri Glacier at an elevation of 7,756 m (25,446 ft). The streams are fed by melting snow and ice from glaciers including glaciers from peaks such as Nanda Devi and Kamet.
After travelling 200 km through the Himalayas, the Ganges emerges at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar in the Shiwalik Hills. At Haridwar, a dam diverts some of its waters into the Ganges Canal, which links the Ganges with its main tributary, the Yamuna. The Ganges which till this point flows in a south-western direction now begins to flow in a south-eastern direction through the plains northern India.

From Haridwar the river follows an 800 km (500 mi) winding course passing through the city of Kanpur, before being joined by the Yamuna from the southwest at Allahabad. This point, known as the Sangam, is a sacred place in Hinduism. According to ancient Hindu texts, a third river, the mythical Sarasvati River is believed to meet the two rivers at this point.

Joined by numerous rives such as the Kosi, Son, Gandak and Ghaghra, the Ganges forms a formidable current in the stretch between Allahabad and Malda in West Bengal. On its way it passes the towns of Mirzapur, Varanasi, Patna and Bhagalpur. At Bhagalpur, the river meanders past the Rajmahal Hills, and beings to change course southwards. At Pakaur, the river begins its first attrition with the branching away of it's first distributary, the River Bhagirathi, which goes on to form the River Hooghly. Close to the border with Bangladesh, the Farakka Barrage, built in 1974 controls the flow of the Ganges, diverting some of the water into a feeder canal linking the Hooghly to keep it relatively silt free. After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as Padma River till it is joined by the Jamuna River the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra. Further downstream, the Ganges is fed by the Meghna River, the second largest distributary of the Brahmaputra and takes on its name. Fanning out into the 350 km (220 mi) wide Ganges Delta, it empties out into the Bay of Bengal. Only two rivers, the Amazon and Congo have a higher discharge.

Religious significance
According to Hindus the river Ganga (feminine) is sacred. It is worshipped by Hindus and personified as a goddess, who holds an important place in the Hindu religion. Hindu belief holds that bathing in the river on certain occasions causes the forgiveness of sins and helps attain salvation. Many people believe that this will come from bathing in Ganga at any time. People travel from distant places to immerse the ashes of their kin in the waters of the Ganga; this immersion also is believed to send the ashes to heaven. Several places sacred to Hindus lie along the banks of the river Ganga, including Haridwar and Kashi. People carry sacred water from the Ganges that is sealed in copper pots after making the pilgrimage to Kashi. It is believed that drinking water from the Ganga with one's last breath will take the soul to heaven.

Hindus also believe life is incomplete without bathing in the Ganga at least once in their lifetime. In most Hindu families, a vial of water from the Ganga is kept in every house. This is done because it is auspicious to have water of the Holy Ganga in the house, and also if someone is dying, that person will be able to drink its water. Many Hindus believe that the water from the Ganga can cleanse a person's soul of all past sins, and that it can also cure the ill. The ancient scriptures mention that the water of Ganges carries the blessings of Lord Vishnu's feet; hence Mother Ganges is also known as Vishnupadi, which means "Emanating from the Lotus feet of Supreme Lord Sri Vishnu."

Some of the most important Hindu festivals and religious congregations are celebrated on the banks of the river Ganga such as the Kumbh Mela and the Chhat Puja.
It has hundreds of temples along the banks of the Ganga which often get flooded during the rains. This city, especially along the banks of the Ganga, is an important place of worship for the Hindus as well as a cremation ground.

Himalaya

2007-04-04T19:20:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

The Himalayas (Sanskrit: हिमालय), also Himalaya (Sanskrit: हिमालय), (IPA pronunciation: [hɪ'mɑlijə], [ˌhɪmə'leɪjə]) are a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. By extension, it is also the name of the massive mountain system which includes the Himalaya proper, the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, and a host of minor ranges extending from the Pamir Knot. The name is from Sanskrit himālaya, a tatpurusa compound meaning "the abode of snow" (from hima "snow", and ālaya "abode"; see also Himavat).
Together, the Himalaya mountain system is the planet's highest and home to the world's highest peaks: the Eight-thousanders, including Mount Everest. To comprehend the enormous scale of Himalayan peaks, consider that Aconcagua, in the Andes, at 6,962 m, is the highest peak outside the Himalaya, while the Himalayan system has over 100 separate mountains exceeding 7,200 meters.
The Himalayas stretch across six nations: Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is the source of three of the world's major river systems, the Indus Basin, the Ganga-Brahmaputra Basin and the Yangtze Basin. An estimated 750 million people live in the watershed area of the Himalayan rivers, which also includes Bangladesh.

Geography
The Himalaya range runs for about 2,400 km, from Nanga Parbat (Pakistan) in the west to Namche Barwa in the east. The width varies between 250-300 km. The Himalayan range comprises three parallel ranges, arranged by elevation and geological age.The youngest of the three is called the Sub-Himalayan Range (Shivalik Hills) and has an elevation of about 1,200 m. This range is made up of erosion material from the rising Himalaya. Running parallel to this is the Lower Himalayan Range, which has an elevation between 2,000-5,000 m. The northernmost range is called the Great Himalayas and is also the oldest of the three. It has an elevation of more than 6,000 m and contains a large number of the world's highest peaks including the three highest, Mount Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga. Much of Nepal and Bhutan lies in the Himalaya. The Pakistani state of Baltistan, and the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh lie mostly in the Himalaya. A very small portion of southeastern Tibet also lies in the Himalaya. (However, the Tibetan Plateau is by definition beyond the Himalaya, and thereby not part of it). It is in fact just north of India and Bangladesh.

Ecology
The flora and fauna of the Himalayas varies with climate, rainfall, altitude, and soils. The climate ranges from tropical at the base of the mountains to permanent ice and snow at the highest elevations. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the front of the range. This diversity of climate, altitude, rainfall and soil conditions generates a variety of distinct plant and animal communities, or ecoregions.

Bee (trigona minima)

2007-03-31T03:34:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Bees are flying insects, closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila. There are slightly fewer than 20,000 known species of bees, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher. They are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Many species of bees are poorly known. The smallest bee is the dwarf bee (Trigona minima) and it is about 2.1 mm (5/64") long. The largest bee in the world is Megachile pluto, which can be as large as 39 mm (1.5"). The most common type of bee in the Northern Hemisphere are the many species of Halictidae, or sweat bees, though this may come as a surprise to people, as they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. The most well-known bee species is the Western honey bee, which, as its name suggests, produces honey, as do a few other types of bee. Human control of this species is known as beekeeping or apiculture.
Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source, and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae.

Bees have a long proboscis that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers. Bees have antennae almost universally made up of thirteen segments in males and twelve in females, as is typical for the superfamily. They all have two pairs of wings, the back pair being the smaller of the two; in a very few species, one sex or caste has relatively short wings that make flight difficult or impossible, but none are wingless.

Pollination
Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinators in ecosystems that contain flowering plants. Bees may focus on gathering nectar or on gathering pollen, depending on their greater need at the time. Bees gathering nectar may accomplish pollination, but bees that are deliberately gathering pollen are more efficient pollinators. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of this accomplished by bees.

Most bees are fuzzy and carry an electrostatic charge, thus aiding in the adherence of pollen. Female bees periodically stop foraging and groom themselves to pack the pollen into the scopa, which is on the legs in most bees, and on the ventral abdomen on others, and modified into specialized pollen baskets on the legs of honey bees and their relatives. Many bees are opportunistic foragers, and will gather pollen from a variety of plants, but many others are oligolectic, gathering pollen from only one or a few types of plant. A small number of plants produce nutritious floral oils rather than pollen, which are gathered and used by oligolectic bees. One small subgroup of stingless bees (called "vulture bees") is specialized to feed on carrion, and these are the only bees that do not use plant products as food. Pollen and nectar are usually combined together to form a "provision mass", which is often soupy, but can be firm. It is formed into various shapes (typically spheroid), and stored in a small chamber (a "cell"), with the egg deposited on the mass. The cell is typically sealed after the egg is laid, and the adult and larva never interact directly (a system called "mass provisioning").

Bees are extremely important as pollinators in agriculture, especially the domesticated Western honey bee, with contract pollination having overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries. Monoculture and pollinator decline have increasingly caused honey bee keepers to become migratory so that bees can be concentrated in areas of pollination need at the appropriate season. Many other species of bees are increasingly cultured and used to meet the agricultural pollination need. Bees also play a major, though not always understood, role in providing food for birds and wildlife. Many of these bees survive in refuge in wild areas away from agricultural spraying, only to be poisoned in massive spray programs for mosquitoes, gypsy moths, or other pest insects.

Visiting flowers is a dangerous occupation with high mortality rates. Many assassin bugs and crab spiders hide in flowers to capture unwary bees. Others are lost to birds in flight. Insecticides used on blooming plants can kill large numbers of bees, both by direct poisoning and by contamination of their food supply. A honey bee queen may lay 2000 eggs per day during spring buildup, but she also must lay 1000 to 1500 eggs per day during the foraging season, simply to replace daily casualties. The population value of bees depends partly on the individual efficiency of the bees, but also on the population itself. Thus, while bumblebees have been found to be about ten times more efficient pollinators on cucurbits, the total efficiency of a colony of honey bees is much greater, due to greater numbers. Likewise, during early spring orchard blossoms, bumblebee populations are limited to only a few queens, thus they are not significant pollinators of early fruit.

Evolution
Bees, like ants, are essentially a highly specialized form of wasp. The ancestors of bees were wasps in the family Crabronidae, and therefore predators of other insects. The switch from insect prey to pollen may have resulted from the consumption of prey insects that were flower visitors and were partially covered with pollen when they were fed to the wasp larvae. This same evolutionary scenario has also occurred within the vespoid wasps, where the group known as "pollen wasps" also evolved from predatory ancestors. The oldest bee fossil, of the genus Melittosphex, is 100 million years old and supports the theory that bees evolved from wasps, and subsequently evolved alongside flowers. The earliest animal pollinated flowers were pollinated by insects such as beetles, so the syndrome of insect pollination was well established before bees first appeared. The novelty is that bees are specialized as pollination agents, with behavioral and physical modifications that specifically enhance pollination, and are much more efficient at the task than beetles, flies, butterflies, pollen wasps, or any other pollinating insect. The appearance of such floral specialists is believed to have driven the adaptive radiation of the angiosperms, and, in turn, the bees themselves.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007-03-23T20:04:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Yahoo! Movies )

As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief--or will it?

Production Status : In Production/Awaiting Release
Genres : Action/Adventure, Kids/Family, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Adaptation
Release Date : July 13th, 2007 (wide)
Distributors : Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution
Production Co. : Wigram Productions, 1492 Pictures, Heyday Films
Studios : Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Produced in : United Kingdom

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in India

2007-03-22T16:28:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Andhra Pradesh Tourism Website )

There would be very few modern constructions you will come across that evoke such a response. A feeling of awe and significance overcomes you when you lay eyes upon the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam for the first time. Its sheer size and magnitude leaves you breathless and astounded. As the tallest and largest masonry dam in the world, truly stands as one of the wonders of engineering excellence. Stretching across the mighty river Krishna, the barrage also has another distinction to its credit - it has created one of the world's largest man-made lake! The reservoir is a vital source of irrigation for vast tracts of the surroundings region. The two left and right canals, called Bahadur Canal and Jawahar canal respectively, cater to the watering needs of a very large area of the state. Successfully transforming a barren, thirsty land into a lush verdant landscape with acres and acres of green fields swaying in the breeze as far as the eye can see. Naturally, it has played a leading role in helping the state of Andhra Pradesh emerge as' the Rice Bowl of India'.

Significantly, the creation of this lake has submerged the excavations that were carried out here in 1926 which unearthed three historical sites- Dhanyakataka, capital of the Satavahanas; Sriparvata, Vijayapuri, capital of the Ikshvakus and a Buddist civilization that thrived here in the third and fourth centuries B.C. What is of special interest to historians is the fact that the excavations also revealed the existence of Brahmanical temples here which indicates that Hinduism and Buddhism flourished together in peaceful co-existence.

Wolverine (gulo gulo)

2007-03-22T16:22:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Nationalgeographic Website )

The wolverine is a powerful animal that resembles a small bear but is actually the largest member of the weasel family. These tough animals are solitary, and they need a lot of room to roam. Individual wolverines may travel 15 miles (24 kilometers) in a day in search of food. Because of these habitat requirements, wolverines frequent remote boreal forests, taiga, and tundra in the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and North America. Wolverines eat a bit of vegetarian fare, like plants and berries, in the summer season, but this does not make up a major part of their diet—they are tenacious predators with a taste for meat. Wolverines easily dispatch smaller prey, such as rabbits and rodents, but may even attack animals many times their size, such as caribou, if the prey appears to be weak or injured. These opportunistic eaters also feed on carrion—the corpses of larger mammals, such as elk, deer, and caribou. Such finds sustain them in winter when other prey may be thinner on the ground, though they have also been known to dig into burrows and eat hibernating mammals.

Males scent-mark their territories, but they share them with several females and are believed to be polygamous. Females den in the snow or under similar cover to give birth to two or three young each late winter or early spring. Kits sometimes live with their mother until they reach their own reproductive age—about two years old. Wolverines sport heavy, attractive fur that once made them a prime trapper's target in North America. Their fur was used to line parkas, though this practice is far less common today and the animals are protected in many areas.

Type: Mammal
Diet: Omnivore
Average lifespan in the wild: 7 to 12 years
Size: Head and body, 26 to 34 in (66 to 86 cm); Tail, 7 to 10 in (18 to 25 cm)
Weight: 24 to 40 lbs (11 to 18 kg)
Size relative to a 6 ft (2 m) man

Solar Energy

2007-03-22T16:00:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Renewable energy sources
Mass production of electricity from renewable energy flows requires technology that harnesses the power of natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat. Each of these sources has unique characteristics which influence how and where they are used.

The majority of renewable energy technologies are directly or indirectly powered by the Sun. The Earth-Atmosphere system is in equilibrium such that heat radiation into space is equal to incoming solar radiation, the resulting level of energy within the Earth-Atmosphere system can roughly be described as the Earth's "climate". The hydrosphere (water) absorbs a major fraction of the incoming radiation. Most radiation is absorbed at low latitudes around the equator, but this energy is dissipated around the globe in the form of winds and ocean currents. Wave motion may play a role in the process of transferring mechanical energy between the atmosphere and the ocean through wind stress (Sorensen, 2004). Solar energy is also responsible for the distribution of precipitation which is tapped by hydroelectric projects, and for the growth of plants used to create biofuels.

In this context, "solar energy" refers to energy that is collected from sunlight. However, most fossil and renewable energy sources are ultimately derived from "solar energy," so some ascribe much broader meanings to the term.

Solar energy can be applied in many ways, including to :
1. Generate electricity using photovoltaic solar cells.
2. Generate electricity using concentrated solar power.
3. Generate electricity by heating trapped air which rotates turbines in a Solar updraft tower.
4. Heat buildings, directly. Careful positioning of windows and use of brises soleil can maximise inflow of light at the times it is most needed, heating the building while preventing overheating during midday and summer.
5. Heat foodstuffs, through solar ovens.
6. Heat water or air for domestic hot water and space heating needs using solar-thermal panels.
7. Heat and cool air through use of solar chimneys.
8. Generate electricity using Space Solar Power Satellite in geostationary orbit and beam it down via microwaves.

The sun does not provide constant energy to any spot on the Earth, so its uninterrupted use on Earth requires a means for energy storage. This is typically accomplished by battery storage. However, battery storage implies energy losses. Some homeowners use a grid-connected solar system that feeds energy to the grid during the day and draw energy from the grid at night; this way no energy is expended for storage. Batteries provide direct current (DC), whereas most household appliances run off alternating current (AC). Conversion from DC to AC leads to some energy loss.

Advantages from solar energy sources include the inexhaustible supply of energy and zero emissions of greenhouse gas and air pollutants. Shortcomings include, depending on application :
1. Economic competitiveness with conventional energy conversion
2. Intermittency; it is not available at night or during heavy cloud cover.
3. For photovoltaics (solar-electric), the current generated is only of DC type, and must be converted if transmission over the standard AC grid is needed.

Batik

2007-03-22T15:51:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Batik or batique is an Indonesian-Malay word and refers to a generic wax-resist dyeing technique used on textile. The word originates from Malay word for dot or point, "titik" and the Javanese word "amba", meaning ”to write”. The island of Java in Indonesia is famous for batik. Melted wax is applied to cloth before being dipped in dye. Wherever the wax has seeped through the fabric, the dye will not penetrate. Sometimes several colors are used, with a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps. Thin wax lines are made with a tjanting needle, wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup with a tiny spout, out of which the wax seeps. Other methods of applying the wax onto the fabric include pouring the liquid wax, painting the wax on with a brush, and applying the hot wax to precarved wooden or metal wire block and stamping the fabric.

After the last dyeing, the fabric is hung up to dry. Then it is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax, or ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colors and the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character. The invention of the copper block or tjap developed by the Javanese in the 20th century revolutionised batik production. It became possible to make high quality designs and intricate patterns much faster than one could possibly do by hand-painting. As compared to Indonesian batik, which are mystic-influenced and carry illustrations of animals and people, Malaysian batik have brighter hues and more versatile patterns.

Tulip

2007-03-22T15:38:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Tulip (Tulipa) is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. They are native to southern Europe, north Africa, and Asia from Anatolia and Iran (where the flower is suggested on the nation's flag) east to northeast China and Japan. The centre of diversity of the genus is in the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains and the steppes of Kazakhstan.

They are perennial bulbous plants growing to 10–70 centimetres (4–27 in) tall, with a small number of strap-shaped, waxy-textured, usually glaucous green leaves and large flowers with six tepals. The fruit is a dry capsule containing numerous flat disc-shaped seeds.

Cultivation
Tulips cannot be grown in the open in tropical climates, as they require a cold winter season to grow successfully. Manipulation of the tulip's growing temperature can, however, allow growers to "force" tulips to flower earlier than they normally would.

Some historical cultivars have had a striped, "feathered", "flamed", or variegated flower, as in the illustration below. While some modern varieties also display multicoloured patterns, this results from a natural change in the upper and lower layers of pigment in the tulip flower. Historical variegated varieties - such as those admired in the Dutch tulipomania gained their delicately feathered patterns from an infection with Tulip Breaking potyvirus. The mosaic virus is carried by green peach aphids, Myzus persicae, an insect common in European gardens of the seventeenth century, in which peach trees were often a prominent feature. While the virus produces fantastically beautiful flowers, it also causes the plant to sicken and die slowly. Today, it has been almost completely eradicated from growers' fields. The Black Tulip was the title of a historical romance by Alexandre Dumas (1850), in which the city of Haarlem has a reward outstanding for the first grower who can produce a truly black tulip. This fascination with growing a black tulip, a biologically impossible task, was historically accurate to the tulipomania in which the novel is set.

Tulips can be grown in either of two ways: through offsets or seed. Being genetic clones of the parent plant, offsets are the only way to enlarge the stock of a given tulip cultivar. By contrast, tulips do not come true from seed; the mixing of genes between parent tulips is very unpredictable. A tulip grown from seed will usually bear only a passing resemblance to the flower from which the seeds were taken. This makes for great potential in breeding new tulip flowers, and great variation in the wild. However, tulip growers must be patient: offsets often take at least a year to grow to sufficient size to flower, and a tulip grown from seed will not flower for anywhere between five and seven years after planting. "Broken" tulips (tulips affected by the mosaic virus) will occasionally revert to plain "breeder" colouring, but usually maintain their colourful, infected state when grown from offsets.

Introduction to Western Europe
It is unclear who first brought the flower to northwest Europe. The most widely accepted story is that of Oghier Ghislain de Busbecq, Ambassador from Ferdinand I to Suleyman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire in 1554. He remarks in a letter upon seeing "an abundance of flowers everywhere; Narcissus, hyacinths, and those which in Turkish Lale, much to our astonishment, because it was almost midwinter, a season unfriendly to flowers" (see Busbecq, qtd. in Blunt, 7). By 1559, an account was given by Conrad Gessner of seeing tulips flowering in the garden of Councilor Herwart in Augsburg, Bavaria. Due to the very nature of the tulip's growing cycle, if the bulbs are to be removed from the ground, it generally occurs in June, and they must be replanted again by September to endure the winter, Busbecq's account of the supposed first sighting of tulips by a European is likely spurious. While possible, it is doubtful that Busbecq could successfully have had the tulip bulbs removed, shipped, and replanted between his first sighting of them in March 1558 and Gessner's description in 1559. After introduction of the Tulip to Europe, it is believed to gain much popularity and shown as a sign of abundance and indulgence in the Ottoman Empire, The era which the Empire was wealthiest is called the Tulip Era, in Turkish Lale Devri.

Another oft-quoted account is that of Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, governor of the Portuguese possessions in India. Having been brought home in disgrace after usurping his position from the rightful governor, Sampayo supposedly took tulip bulbs with him from Sri Lanka. This tale too, however, does not hold up to scrutiny; tulips do not occur in Sri Lanka, and the island itself is far from the route Sampayo's ships should have taken.

Regardless of how the flower originally arrived in Europe, its popularity soared quickly. Charles de L'Ecluse (Clusius) is responsible for much of the spread of tulip bulbs in the final years of the sixteenth century. He was the author of the first major work on tulips, finally completed in 1592. Clusius had already begun to note and remark upon the diseased variations in colour that made the tulip so admired. His taste for tulips quickly spread to others. While occupying a chair in the medical faculty of the University of Leiden, Clusius planted both a teaching garden and his own private plot with tulip bulbs. In 1596 and 1598, however, Clusius suffered thefts from his garden, with over a hundred bulbs stolen in a single raid. Between 1634 and 1637, the early enthusiasm for the new flowers triggered a speculative frenzy now known as the tulip mania and tulip bulbs were then considered a form of currency. The Netherlands and tulips are still associated with one another. The term 'Dutch tulips' is often used for the cultivated forms.

Boomerang

2007-03-22T02:46:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

A boomerang is a simple wooden implement used for various purposes. It is primarily attributed to Australian Aborigines, but other forms are found amongst peoples of North East Africa, Arizona Indians and in India. It comes in many shapes and sizes depending on its geographic/tribal origins and intended function. The most recognizable type is the returning boomerang, a kind of Throwing Stick that, when thrown correctly, travels in a curved path and returns to its point of origin. Other types of boomerang are of the non-returning sort, and indeed, some are not thrown at all but are used in hand-to-hand combat by Aboriginal people Boomerangs can be variously used as hunting weapons, percussive musical instruments, battle clubs, fire-starters, decoys for hunting waterfowl, and as recreational playthings. The smallest boomerang may be less than 10 cm from tip-to-tip, and the largest over 2 meters in length. Tribal boomerangs may be incised and/or painted with designs meaningful to its maker. Most boomerangs seen today are of the tourist or competition sort, and are almost invariably of the returning type.

History
Boomerang-like devices, including hunting sticks, have been used all over the world for hunting, religious and recreational activities. Their origin is still not fully clear. Research has shown that ancient tribes in Europe used special throwing axes. Also, in ancient Egypt a special type of stick was exclusively used by the pharaohs for hunting birds. However, the world famous "country of the boomerang" is Australia, where the Australian Aborigines have used both boomerangs and hunting sticks for many thousands of years. The name of the boomerang comes from the Indigenous Australian Turuwal tribe of Aborigines who lived south of Sydney, Australia.

Today, boomerangs are most used as sporting items. There are different types of throwing contests: accuracy of return; aussie round; trick catch; maximum time aloft; fast catch; and endurance (See below). The modern sport boomerang (often referred to as a 'boom' or 'rang'), is made of Finnish birch plywood, hardwood, plastic or composite materials and comes in many different shapes and colors. Most sport boomerangs typically weigh less than 100 grams, with MTA boomerangs (boomerangs used for the maximum time aloft event) often under 25 grams.

Design
A returning boomerang is an airfoil. Though it is not a requirement that the boomerang be in its traditional shape, it is usually flat. A falling boomerang starts spinning and most then fall in a spiral. When the boomerang is thrown with high spin, the wings produce lift. Larger boomerangs are used in hunting, thus they drop on the ground after striking the target. Smaller ones are used in sport, and are the only boomerangs that return to the thrower. Because of its rapid spinning, a boomerang flies in a curve rather than a straight line. When thrown correctly, a boomerang returns to its starting point.

Now in more detail
Returning boomerangs consist of two or more arms or wings, connected at an angle. Each wing is shaped as an airfoil, air travels faster over one surface of an airfoil than the other, as the air is accelerated due to the curvature, thus creating lift, along what is roughly a plane which intersects the airfoil at a near right angle along the long axis of the wing.

These wings are set so that the lift created by each wing opposes the lift of the other, but at an angle such that the flight pattern is constantly shifted as the forces of lift, drag, speed, rotational inertia etc. 'attempt' to reach equilibrium, see Boomerang engineer.

This is what makes the boomerang 'return gracefully to the thrower, fluttering to a stop in his hand'... when thrown correctly. This is also what makes the boomerang 'rocket straight up into the air before plunging to its shattered doom'... when thrown incorrectly. With the exception of long-distance boomerangs, they should not be thrown sidearm or like a frisbee, but rather throw with the long axis of the wings rotating in an almost-vertical plane.

Fast Catch boomerangs usually have three symmetrical wings (in the planform view), whereas a Long Distance boomerang is most often shaped very similar to a question mark. Maximum Time Aloft boomerangs have one wing considerably longer than the other. This feature, along with carefully executed bends and twists in the wings, help to set up an 'auto-rotation' effect to maximize the boomerang's hover-time in descending from its highest point in the flight.

Basic throwing instructions
A right-handed boomerang circles towards the left, a left-handed boomerang circles towards the right. Most sport boomerangs are in the range of 2.5 to about 4 ounces. The range on most of these is between 25 - 40 yards (or meters)

A right or left handed boomerang can be thrown with either hand, but the flight direction will depend upon the boomerang, not the thrower. Throwing a boomerang with the wrong handedness requires a throwing motion that will feel awkward to many throwers. Beginners should thus take care to get a boomerang with the right handedness.

Grasp one wing of the boomerang nearly vertically so that the other wing points forward and the flat side is away from you. The other way works also, but this way is usually easier to learn. Holding the tip by just the end between your thumb and one or two fingers, launch the boomerang forward quickly while trying more for spin than for very much force.

The boomerang should flatten out on its own and arc around, sometimes coming to rest a little in front of the thrower or behind the thrower, but ideally it should hover gently and allow the thrower to catch it as a sort of "boomerang sandwich" between the thrower's hands.

One should not throw a returning boomerang level, like a flying disc. The boomerang will turn in the direction of the top of its airfoils, so if that direction happens to be up rather than to the side it may fly high enough that the landing causes damage to the boomerang or whatever it lands on.

Sakura

2007-03-02T08:19:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Sakura (Japanese kanji & Chinese character : 桜 or 櫻; hiragana : さくら; katakana : サクラ) is the Japanese name for ornamental cherry trees, Prunus serrulata, and their blossoms. Cherry fruit (known as sakuranbo) come from a different species of tree. Sakura, a well-known and ubiquitous symbol of Japan, are represented on all manner of consumer goods, including kimono, stationery, and dishware. Cherry blossoms are an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, and as such are frequently depicted in art. There is at least one popular folk song, originally meant for the shakuhachi (bamboo flute), titled "Sakura", as well as a number of pop songs. "Sakura" is also a common Japanese female name.
Sakura is indigenous to the Himalayas and east Asia. Some trees can be found in China and Korea but the largest number and variety of sakura, more than 305 species, can be seen in Japan. Many of them were artificially hybridized or grafted by the Japanese many centuries ago.

"On the other hand, in China, cherry blossom is the symbol of feminine dominance, female beauty and sexuality. Additionally, the cherry blossom is the Chinese symbol of feminine principle and it also symbolizes love in the language of herbs. Interestingly, cherry blossom is the flower of the April in China, whereas in Japan, it is wisteria." Spring flowers of Japan
Japan's most beloved variety is the Somei Yoshino. Its flowers are nearly pure white, tinged with the palest pink, especially near the stem. The flowers bloom, and usually fall (or "scatter", 散る [chiru], in Japanese) within a week, before the leaves come out. Therefore, the trees look nearly white from top to bottom. The variety takes its name from the village of Somei (now part of Toshima in Tokyo). It was developed in the mid- to late-19th century at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period. The Somei Yoshino is so widely associated with cherry blossoms that jidaigeki and other works of fiction often depict the variety in the Edo period or earlier; such depictions are anachronisms.

Other categories include yamazakura, yaezakura, and shidarezakura. The yaezakura have large flowers, thick with rich pink petals. The shidarezakura, or weeping cherry, has branches that fall like those of a weeping willow, bearing cascades of pink flowers.
Annually, the Japanese Meteorological Agency and general public track the sakura zensen, or Cherry-Blossom Front. Nightly forecasts follow the weather segment of news programs. The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January, and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. Then it proceeds north, arriving in Hokkaidō a few weeks later. Japanese pay close attention to these forecasts. They will go to parks, shrines and temples with family and friends and hold a "flower viewing party" known as hanami (花見). Hanami festivals celebrate the beauty of sakura, and for many, it is a chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful view. Hanami custom in Japan dates back to many centuries ago. It is witten in Nihon Shoki (日本書紀) that the Hanami festival were already held in the 3rd century.

Most Japanese schools and public buildings have sakura trees outside of them. Since the fiscal and school year both begin in April, in many parts of Honshū, the first day of work or school will coincide with the cherry blossom season. The sakura has always been a symbol of ephemeral beauty in Japan and closely associated with samurai or bushi. Life was considered brief and beautiful, much like a cherry blossom. This theme remains alive today, seen often in pop culture (specifically manga and anime). Music also works with the theme. For example, the band Kagrra, that often associates sakura to its songs and live shows ambience.

Greenhouse

2007-03-01T14:55:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse or hothouse) is a building where plants are cultivated.

Explanation
A greenhouse is structure with a glass or plastic roof and frequently glass or plastic walls; it heats up because incoming solar radiation from the sun warms plants, soil, and other things inside the building. Air warmed by the heat from hot interior surfaces is retained in the building by the roof and wall. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings. The glass used for a greenhouse works as a selective transmission medium for different spectral frequencies, and its effect is to trap energy within the greenhouse, which heats both the plants and the ground inside it. This warms the air near the ground, and this air is prevented from rising and flowing away, in addition to the fact that infrared radiation cannot pass through the greenhouse glass. This can be demonstrated by opening a small window near the roof of a greenhouse: the temperature drops considerably. This principle is the basis of the autovent automatic cooling system. Greenhouses thus work by trapping electromagnetic radiation and preventing convection. Miniature greenhouses are known as a Cold frame.

Uses
Greenhouse effects are often used for growing flowers, vegetables, fruits, and tobacco plants. Bumblebees are the pollinators of choice for most greenhouse pollination, although other types of bees have been used, as well as artificial pollination. Besides tobacco, many vegetables and flowers are grown in greenhouses in late winter and early spring, then transplanted outside as the weather warms. Started plants are usually available for gardeners in farmers' markets at transplanting time.

The closed environment of a greenhouse has its own unique requirements, compared with outdoor production. Pests and diseases, and extremes of heat and humidity, have to be controlled, and irrigation is necessary to provide water. Significant inputs of heat and light may be required, particularly with winter production of warm-weather vegetables. Special greenhouse varieties of certain crops, like tomatoes, are generally used for commercial production.

Greenhouses are increasingly important in the food supply of high latitude countries. The largest greenhouse complex in the world is at Leamington, Ontario (close to Canada's most southern point) where about 200 acres (0.8 km²) of tomatoes are entirely grown under glass.
Greenhouses protect crops from too much heat or cold, shield plants from dust storms and blizzards, and help to keep out pests. Light and temperature control allows greenhouses to turn unarable land into arable land. Greenhouses can feed starving nations where crops can't survive in the harsh deserts and arctic wastes. Hydroponics can be used in greenhouses as well to make the most use of the interior space..

History
The idea of growing plants in environmentally controlled areas has existed since Roman times. Doctors for the Roman emperor Tiberius prescribed him a cucumber daily. The Roman gardeners used artificial methods (similar to the greenhouse system) of growing to have it available for his table every day of the year. Cucumbers were planted in wheeled carts which were put in the sun daily, then taken inside to keep them warm at night. The cucumbers were stored under frames or in cucumber houses glazed with either oiled cloth known as "specularia" or with sheets of mica. (Pliny the Elder and Columella).

The first modern greenhouses were built in Italy in the sixteenth century to house the exotic plants that explorers brought back from the tropics. They were originally called giardini botanici (botanical gardens). The concept of greenhouses soon spread to the Netherlands and then England, along with the plants. Some of these early attempts required enormous amounts of work to close up at night or to winterize. There were serious problems with providing adequate and balanced heat in these early greenhouses. Jules Charles, a French botanist, is often credited with building the first practical modern greenhouse in Leiden, Holland to grow medicinal tropical plants.

Originally on the estates of the rich, with the growth of the science of botany greenhouses spread to the universities. The British some times called their greenhouses conservatories, since they conserved the plants. The French called their first greenhouses orangeries, since they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. As pineapples became popular pineries were built. Experimentation with the design of greenhouses continued during the Seventeenth Century in Europe as technology produced better glass and construction techniques improved. The greenhouse at the Palace of Versailles was an example of their size and elaborateness; it was more than 500 feet long, 42 feet wide, and 45 feet high.

In the nineteenth Century the largest greenhouses were built. The conservatory at Kew Gardens in England is a prime example of the Victorian greenhouse. Although intended for both horticultural and non-horticultural exhibition these included London's Crystal Palace, the New York Crystal Palace and Munich’s Glaspalast. Joseph Paxton, who had experimented with glass and iron in the creation of large greenhouses as the head gardener at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, working for the Duke of Devonshire, designed and built the first, London's Crystal Palace.
In Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant who exported herbs. In the Twentieth Century the geodesic dome was added to the many types of greenhouses.

Snowy Owl (bubo scandiacus)

2007-02-24T03:24:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Library Thinkquest Website and Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

The Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. It is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl or the Great White Owl. Until recently, it was regarded as the sole member of a distinct genus, as Nyctea scandiaca, but mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data (Olsen et al. 2002) shows that it is very closely related to the horned owls in the genus Bubo.

Many birds come to the Arctic in the summer to live and breed but not all of them live here year round. Ptarmigan, snow bunting, and snowy owls are some of the Arctic birds that live here year round. They are called snowy owls because their coloring is almost pure white when they are full grown. The feet of snowy owls are covered with feathers and have extra thick pads. Snowy owls live on the tundra. They stay in the Arctic during the winter unless their food sources are scarce. If they leave the arctic in the winter they overwinter in northern Greenland, the Canadian islands, northern Eurasia, Wrangel Island as well as North America.

This huge yellow-eyed white bird is unmistakable. It is 53-65 cm long with a 125-150 cm wingspan. The adult male is virtually pure white, but females and young birds have some dark scalloping; the young are heavily barred, and dark spotting may even predominate. Its thick plumage, heavily-feathered feet, and coloration render the Snowy Owl well-adapted for life north of the Arctic Circle.

Snowy Owl calls are varied, but the alarm call is a barking, almost quacking krek-krek-krek-krek; the female also has a softer mewling pyee-pyee-pyee-pyee or "prek-prek-prek". The song is a deep repeated gawh. They may also clap their beak in response to threats or annoyances. While called clapping, it is believed this sound may actually be a clicking of the tongue, not the bill.

Snowy owls have incredible vision. They can see from high up in the sky and swoop down silently to capture their prey. Like all owls they have good night vision. They are nocturnal and diurnal hunt at night but in the Arctic it doesn't get dark in the summer so the owls hunt in the daylight too. When the owl gets food it swallows it whole or tears it into large pieces to swallow. The Snowy Owl is typically found in the northern circumpolar region, where it makes its summer home north of latitude 60 degrees north. However, it is a particularly nomadic bird, and because population fluctuations in its prey species can force it to relocate, it has been known to breed at more southerly latitudes. During the last ice age, there was an Central European paleosubspecies of this bird, Bubo scandiacus gallicus, but subspecies are not recognized among the living population.

This species of owl nests on the ground, building a scrape on top of a mound or boulder. A site with good visibility, ready access to hunting areas, and a lack of snow is chosen. Gravel bars and abandoned eagle nests may be used. Breeding occurs in May, and depending on the amount of prey available, clutch sizes range from 5 to 14 eggs, which are laid singly, approximately every other day over the course of several days. Hatching takes place approximately five weeks after laying, and the pure white young are cared for by both parents. The mother stays on the nest and the father brings her food and protects her. After the owlets are born both parents work to feed the owlets. In eight weeks the owlets are ready to leave the nest. This is important because the summers are so short in Arctic regions. If the owlets weren't ready to take care of themselves they would not survive the cold winter.

This powerful bird relies primarily on lemmings and other rodents for food, but at times when these prey are not available, or during the ptarmigan nesting period, they may switch to ptarmigan young. As opportunistic hunters, they feed on a wide variety of small mammals and birds, and will take advantage of larger prey, frequently following traplines to find food. Nesting birds require roughly two lemmings per day, and a family may eat up to 1500 lemmings before the young birds set off to fend for themselves. Due to their beauty, Snowy Owls are kept in captivity by wildlife centers, zoological gardens and by serious hobbyists. They are known to be sensitive to disease, stress and heat, frequently perishing during attempts to train a wild owl during the summer. These owls are not suitable for beginning raptor keepers.

India Gate : India War Memorial in New Delhi

2007-02-23T02:58:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Indiasite Website, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

All India War Memorial
India Gate is constructed as a memorial and was built in the memory of 90,00 soldiers who laid down their lives during world war I. Located at Rajpath, India Gate is 42 m high and is popular relaxation area during the summer evenings. India Gate also act as popular pinic spot during winter. Also known as the All India War Memorial, India Gate was designed and constructed by Lutyens. He was the who is considered the chief proclaimer in designing the New Delhi plans.

The Architectural Marvel
A tour of Lutyens’ Delhi just has to kick off with the stately India Gate at the east end of the broad Janpath (earlier Kingsway) that leads to the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Another additional 13,516 names engraved on the arch and foundations form a separate memorial to the British and Indian soldiers killed on the North-West Frontier in the Afghan War of 1919. The foundation stone was laid by HRH the Duke of Connaught in 1921 and the monument was dedicated to the nation 10 years later by the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin.

Another memorial, Amar Jawan Jyoti was added much later after India had said goodbye to its imperial rulers. It is in the form of a flame that burns day and night under the arch to remind the nation of soldiers who perished in the Indo-Pakistan War of December 1971.

The entire arch stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge cornice, beneath which are inscribed Imperial suns. Above on both sides is inscribed INDIA, flanked by MCM and to the right, XIX. The shallow domed bowl at the top was intended to be filled with burning oil on anniversaries but this is rarely done.

Prambanan : The Largest Hindu Temple in Indonesia

2007-02-21T22:37:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Borobudurpark Website and Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Prambanan, named after the village, is the biggest temple complex in Java. There are 224 temples in the complex; three of them, the main temples are Brahma Temple in the north, Vishnu Temple in the south, and the biggest among the three which lies between Brahma and Vishnu temples is Shiva Temple (47 meters high).

Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple compound in Indonesia, located in central Java, approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta (Coordinates: 7°45′8″S, 110°29′30″E). It was built around 850 CE by either Rakai Pikatan, king of the second Mataram dynasty or Balitung Maha Sambu, during the Sanjaya dynasty. Not long after its construction, the temple was abandoned and began to deteriorate. Reconstruction of the compound began in 1918. The main building was completed in around 1953, since it is next to impossible to find the original stonework, which has often been stolen and reused at remote construction sites. A temple will only be rebuilt if at least 75% of the original stones are available. Therefore only their foundation walls of most of the smaller shrines are visible and they will not be rebuilt.

The temple was damaged during the earthquake in Java in 2006. Early photos suggested that although the complex appears to be structurally intact, damage is significant, with large pieces of debris, including carvings, scattered over the ground. The temple has been closed to the public until damage can be fully assessed. The head of Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency stated that: "it will take months to identify the precise damage". However, some weeks later in 2006 the site re-opened for visitors. The immediate surroundings of the Hindu temples remain off-limits for safety reason.

The complex
The compound is assembled of eight main shrines or candis, and more than 250 surrounding individual candis. The three main shrines, called Trisakti (Ind. "three sacred places"), are dedicated to the three gods Shiva the Destroyer, Vishnu the Keeper and Brahma the Creator.
The Shiva shrine at the center contains four chambers, one in every cardinal direction. While the first contains a three meter high statue of Shiva, the other three contain smaller statues of Durga, his wife, Agastya, his teacher, and Ganesha, his son. The statue of Durga is also called temple of Loro Jongrang (slender virgin), after a Javanese princess, daughter of King Boko. She was forced to marry a man she did not love, Bandung Bondowoso. After long negotiations she eventually agreed to the marriage, under the condition that her prince built her a temple ornamented with 1000 statues, between the setting and the rising of the sun. Helped by supernatural beings, the prince was about to succeed. So the princess ordered the women of the village to set a fire in the east of the temple, attempting to make the prince believe that the sun was about to rise. As the cocks began to crow, fooled by the light, the supernatural helpers fled. The prince, furious about the simple trick, changed Loro Jongrang to stone. She became the last and the most beautiful of the thousand statues.

The two other main shrines are that of Vishnu, to the north, and the one of Brahma, facing to the south. In front of each main temple is a smaller candis on the east side, dedicated to the mounts of the respective god - the bull Nandi for Shiva, the gander Angsa for Brahma, and Vishnus Eagle Garuda, which serves as the national symbol of Indonesia (cf. also to the airline Garuda Indonesia).

The bas-reliefs along the twenty sides of the temple depict the Ramayana legend. They illustrate how Sita, the wife of Rama, is abducted by an evil ogre. The monkey king Hanuman brings his army to help Rama and rescue Sita. This story is also shown by the Ramayana Ballet, regularly performed at full moon in front of the illuminated Prambanan complex.

The temple complex is surrounded by more than 250 individual temples of different sizes, called Pewara, believed to have been offered to the king as a sign of submission. The Pewara are arranged in four rows around the central temples, according to the rank of the people allowed to enter them. While the central row was accessible to the priests only, the other three were reserved for the nobles, the knights and the simple people respectively.

These three ancient masterpieces of Hindu architecture are locally referred to as Prambanan Temple or Lorojonggrang Temple. One of its appeals is the wealth of sculptural detail. The well known one is on the inner wall of the balustrade, the wonderfully vital and utterly engrossing Ramayana epic.

Perhaps one of the most majestic temples in the South-East Asia, Prambanan attracts many admirers each year from abroad. Situated about 15 kilometers from Yogyakarta, the top of the main shrine is visible from a great distance and rises high above the scattered ruins of the former temples. Prambanan is the best seen shortly after dawn or in the late afternoon. However it is still beautiful at any time.

Prambanan Sunrise
Enjoy sunrise behind the glory of Prambanan Temple. Visitors should be at the location - in the area of The Open Air Theater and archaeological park of the temple - before sun rise at about 5:00 o'clock in the morning.

Playground

A park designed specially for children and the rest of your family to play in and have fun while enjoying the beauty of Prambanan Temple.

Archeological Museum

The museum where you can learn about the ancient history of Prambanan and all the surrounding temples and Wanabaya's discoveries.

Lionfish

2007-02-12T05:39:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

A Lionfish is any of several species of venomous marine fish in the genera Pterois, Pteropterus, Parapterois, Brachypterois, Ebosia or Dendrochirus, family Scorpaenidae. The lionfish is also known as the Turkey Fish, Dragon Fish and Scorpion Fish. The lionfish are voracious predators. When they are hunting, they corner prey using their large fins and then use their lightning quick reflexes to swallow the prey whole. They are notable for their extremely long and separated spines, and have a generally striped appearance, red, brown, or black on white.

While the hardiness and disease resistance of the lionfish make their care relatively simple, the venom of the spines is extremely painful, and lionfish are recommended for only the careful aquarist.The lionfish is native to the tropical Indo-Pacific region of the world, but various species can be found worldwide. Due to a recent introduction, the lionfish has recently been spotted in the warmer coral regions of the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Successful breeding of the lionfish in captivity has not been reported.

Venom
Lionfish are members of the scorpionfish family Scorpaenidae, and have venomous dorsal, pelvic and anal spines. Typically they have 12 to 13 dorsal spines, 2 pelvic spines and 3 anal spines. Each spine contain two grooves containing venom producing tissue. The ornate pectoral fins, though similar in appearance the dorsal fins, are not equipped with these glands.
The severity of an envenomation event may depend on the species and the size of the lionfish. The predominate effects of the lionfish venom are severe pain and swelling (edema) in the area around the wound. Other systematic responses such as nausea, dizziness, muscle weakness, shortness of breath, hypotension, and headache have been recorded either from the venom or as a reaction to level of pain.
In a series of 101 documented cases of captive lionfish envenomations in the US, the following effects were reported (Gallagher, 2001):
92% of patients experienced local pain
60% of patients experienced edema
13% of patients experienced systematic symptoms
1% of patients experienced tissue necrosis
0% of patients experienced death
In another study of 45 documented cases of captive lionfish envenomations reported to the San Francisco Poison Control Center over a 5 year span, the following effects were reported (Kizer, et al, 1985):
100% of patients experienced local pain
22% of patients experienced pain extending through the affected extremity
13% of patients experienced systemic symptoms
0% of patients experienced death
ResponseLionfish venom is comprised of thermolabile proteins which, as their name suggests, are vulnerable to heat and denature quite easily. First aid techniques are to immerse wound in hot water(43 – 45 °C) for 30 to 40 min or until pain diminishes.

Koala (phascolarctos cinereus)

2007-02-10T04:20:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

The Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) is a thickset arboreal marsupial herbivore native to Australia, and the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae.

The Koala is found all along the eastern coast of Australia from near Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula, and as far into the hinterland as there is enough rainfall to support suitable forests. The Koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The Koala is not found in Tasmania or Wester Australia.

Names
The word "koala" comes from the Dharuk word gula. Closely related words appear in other Australian Aboriginal languages, including:
1. The Ngunnawal of the Canberra region also call it gula.
2. In the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Aborigines called Koalas by the word Cullawines.
3. In the Murray Region, Aborigines called Koalas by the word Karbors.
4. Other Aboriginal names for Koalas include: Bangaroos, Koolewongs, Narnagoons and Colos.

It is commonly said that the common name 'Koala' is an Aboriginal word meaning "no drink." The Koala actually does drink water, but only rarely, due to its diet consisting of eucalyptus leaves, which contain sufficient water to obviate the need for the Koala to climb down for a drink.

Early European settlers to Australia called the Koala the Native Bear, and the Koala is still sometimes called the Koala Bear, but it is not a member of the bear family. In fact, it is not even a placental mammal (which most mammals are) - it is a marsupial. The Koala's scientific name (Phascolarctos cinereus) comes from the Greek: phaskolos meaning "pouch" and; arktos meaning "bear". The cinereus epithet is Latin and means "ash-coloured".

Variation
Although three subspecies have been described, these are arbitrary selections from a cline and are not generally accepted as valid. Following Bergmann's Rule, southern individuals from the cooler climates are larger. A typical Victorian Koala (formerly P. cinereus victor) has longer, thicker fur, is a darker, softer grey, often with chocolate-brown highlights on the back and forearms, and has a more prominently light-coloured ventral side and fluffy white ear tufts. Typical and New South Wales Koala weights are 12 kg for males and 8.5 kg for females. In tropical and sub-tropical Queensland, however, the Koala is smaller (at around 6.5 kg for an average male and just over 5 kg for an average female), a lighter, often rather scruffy grey in colour, and has shorter, thinner fur. In Queensland the Koala was previously classified as the subspecies P. cinereus adustus, and the intermediate forms in New South Wales as P. cinereus cinereus. The variation from one form to another is continuous and there are substantial differences between individual Koalas in any given region such as hair color. Koala fossils are quite rare, but some have been found in northern Australia dating to 20 million years ago. During this time, the northern half of Australia was rainforest. The Koala did not specialise in a diet of eucalyptus until the climate cooled and eucalyptus forests grew in the place of rainforests. The fossil record indicates that before 50,000 years ago, Giant Koalas inhabited the southern regions of Australia. The Koala fills the same ecological role as the sloth of South America. However, its origins are unclear.

Physical description
The Koala is broadly similar in appearance to the wombat (its closest living relative), but has a thicker, more luxurious coat, much larger ears, and longer limbs, which are equipped with large, sharp claws to assist with climbing. Weight varies from about 14 kg for a large, southern male, to about 5 kg for a small northern female. Contrary to popular belief, their fur is thick, not soft and cuddly. Koalas' five fingers per paw are arranged with the first two as opposable thumbs, providing better gripping ability. The Koala is one of the few mammals (other than primates) that has fingerprints. In fact, koala fingerprints are remarkably similar to human fingerprints; even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two.

The Koala has an unusually small brain, with about 40% of the cranial cavity being filled with fluid, while the brain itself is like "a pair of shrivelled walnut halves on top of the brain stem, in contact neither with each other nor the bones of the skull. It is the only animal on Earth with such a strangely reduced brain.”

It is a generally silent animal, but males have a very loud advertising call that can be heard from almost a kilometre away during the breeding season. There is little reliable information about the lifespan of the Koala, but in captivity they have been observed to reach the age of 15 years.
The inverted thumbs on the Koala's back feet help for grip while the koala changes branches or eats with its front hands.

Life cycle
Females reach maturity at 2 to 3 years of age, males at 3 to 4 years. If healthy, a female Koala can produce one young each year for about 12 years. Gestation is 35 days; twins are very rare. Mating normally occurs between December and March, the Southern Hemisphere's summer.

A baby Koala is referred to as a joey and is hairless, blind, and earless. At birth the joey, only the size of a jelly bean, crawls into the downward-facing pouch on the mother's belly (which is closed by a drawstring-like muscle that the mother can tighten at will) and attaches itself to one of the two teats. The downward-facing pouch provides a much shorter trip from the birth canal to the pouch than in other marsupials. Thus, the forearms need not be as developed for the journey into the pouch, and can develop more fully for excellent climbing ability later in life. Young remain hidden in the pouch for about six months, only feeding on milk. During this time they grow ears, eyes, and fur. The joey then begins to explore outside of the pouch. At about 30 weeks it has begun to eat the semi-liquid form of the mother’s excrement called "pap". The baby Koala will remain with the mother for another six months or so, riding on her back, and feeding on both milk and gum leaves until weaning is complete at about 12 months of age. Young females disperse to nearby areas at that time; young males often stay in the mother's home range until they are two or three years old.

Ecology and behavior
The Koala lives almost entirely on eucalyptus leaves. This is likely to be an evolutionary adaptation that takes advantage of an otherwise unfilled ecological niche, since eucalyptus leaves are low in protein, high in indigestible substances, and contain phenolic and terpene compounds that are toxic to most species. Like wombats and sloths, the Koala has a very low metabolic rate for a mammal (which conserves energy) and rests motionless for about 19 hours a day, sleeping most of that time. Koalas spend about 3 of their 5 active hours eating. It feeds at any time of day, but usually at night. An average Koala eats 500 grams of eucalyptus leaves each day, chewing them in its powerful jaws to a very fine paste before swallowing. The liver deactivates the toxic components ready for excretion, and the hind gut (especially the caecum) is greatly enlarged to extract the maximum amount of nutrient from the poor quality diet. Much of this is done through bacterial fermentation: when young are being weaned, the mother passes unusually soft faeces, called pap, which is rich in these bacteria, thus passing these essential digestive aids onto her offspring. The Koala will eat the leaves of a wide range of eucalypts, and occasionally even some exotic species, but it has firm preferences for particular varieties. These preferences vary from one region to another: in the south Manna Gum, Blue Gum and Swamp Gum are favoured; Grey Gum and Tallowwood are important in the north, and the ubiquitous River Red Gum of the isolated seasonal swamps and watercourses that meander across the dry inland plains allows the Koala to exist in surprisingly arid areas. Many factors determine which of the 800 species of eucalyptus trees the Koala eats. Among trees of their favourite species, however, the major factor that determines which individual trees the Koala chooses is the concentration of a group of phenolic toxins called formylated phloroglucinol compounds.

Conservation status
The Koala was hunted almost to extinction in the early 20th century, largely for its fur. In recent years, some colonies have been hard hit by disease, especially chlamydia. The Koala requires large areas of healthy, connected forest and will travel long distances along tree corridors in search of new territory and mates. The ever-increasing human population of the coastal parts of the continent continues to cut these corridors by agricultural and residential development, forestry and road-building, marooning Koala colonies in decreasing areas of bush. The Australian Koala Foundation has mapped 40,000 km² of land for Koala habitat and claims it has strong evidence to suggest wild Koala populations are in serious decline throughout the species natural range. Although the species covers a massive area, only 'pieces' of Koala habitat remain. These pieces need to be managed, protected and restored in a coordinated way. Presently, many are being lost to weeds, cleared for agriculture, or carved up by developers. Other threats come from logging, poor management, attacks from feral and domestic animals, disease and roads.

In contrast to the situation on much of the mainland, where populations are declining, the Koalas of many island and isolated populations have reached what some have described as "plague" proportions. On Kangaroo Island in South Australia, Koalas introduced some 90 years ago have thrived in the absence of predators and competition. Combined with an inability to migrate to new areas, this has caused the Koala populations to become unsustainable and threaten the Island's unique ecology. In particular, species of Manna Gum, native to the island, are being stripped by Koalas at a rate faster than they can regenerate, endangering local birds and invertebrates that rely on them, and causing the extinction of at least one isolated population of manna. Koala numbers are estimated at over 30,000, with ecologists suggesting that the Island can sustain 10,000 at most. Although culling has been suggested as a means to reduce Koala numbers, with the South Australian Government seriously considering such in 1996, this has met with fierce opposition both domestically and internationally, and the species remains protected. The popularity of the Koala has made the possibility of a cull politically improbable, with any negative perception likely to impact tourism and a government's electability. In place of a cull, sterilisation and translocation programmes have had only limited success in reducing numbers thus far, and remain expensive. There is evidence that Koalas relocated to the mainland have difficulty establishing themselves in the different circumstances. A mooted alternative to the complex sterilisation method, wherein the animal must first be captured, are hormonal implants that can be injected via darts.

The Koala inhabits four Australian states. Under state legislation, the species is listed as Vulnerable in the South East Queensland Bioregion, Vulnerable in New South Wales and Rare in South Australia. The species' national status is under review. The IUCN lists the species as Near Threatened. The Koala cannot legally be kept as a pet in Australia.

Kabuto

2007-02-09T03:43:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Kabuto : Japanese Warrior’s Helmet
Kabuto (兜, 冑) is a helmet used with traditional Japanese armour as worn by samurai. It features a strong bowl, the "hachi", which protects the crown of the head, a suspeded series of articulated plates (the "shikoro") to protect the neck, and often a crest of the clan (mon).

A Kabuto was usually constructed from 3 to over a hundred metal plates, riveted together. The plates are usually arranged vertically, and radiate from an opening in the top called the "tehen" or "hachiman-za" (seat of the war god, hachiman). The original purpose of the tehen was for the warrior to pass his top knot through. Although this usage was largely abandoned after the kamakura-muromachi period, the tehen remained as a feature of most helmets, and was decorated with a "tehen kanamono", or ring of intricately worked soft metal bands surrounding the opening of the tehen. The rivets that secure the metal plates of the kabuto to each other could be raised, creating a form known as "hoshi-bachi," or hammered flat, leaving only the flanges of the plates protruding, a form known as "suji-bachi." Some of the finer helmets were signed by smiths, usually from one of several known families, such as the Myochin, Saotome, Haruta, Unkai, and Nagasone.

Another form of Kabuto is the "Kawari Kabuto," or "strange helmet." During the Momoyama period of intense civil warfare, the production of helmets was simplified to a 3 or four plate design that lacked many of the ornamental features of earlier helmets. To offset the plain, utilitarian form of the new helmet, and to provide visibility and presence on the battlefield, armorers began to build fantastic shapes on top of the simple helmets in "harikake," or lacquered paper over a wooden armature. These shapes mimicked forms from Japanese culture and mythology, including fish, cow horns, the head of the god of longevity, bolts of silk, head scarved, ichi-no-tani canyon, and ace heads, among many others. Some forms were realistically rendered, while others took on a very futuristic, modernist feel. A definitive show of Kawari Kabuto was mounted by the Japan Society in 1985. The catalog, entitled "Spectacular Helmets of Japan" (ISBN 0-87011-784-X is a good guide to this form).

Most Kabuto incorporate a suspended neck guard called a "shikoro". This is usually composed of semi-circular lacquered metal or oxhide lames, attached and articulated by silk or leather lacing. This system of lames is the standard technology of defense employed, along with mail, for the body protection in Japanese Armor. Kabuto are often adorned with "Maedate" (Front Crests,) "Wakidate" (Side Crests) or "Ushirodate" (Rear Crests.) These can be family or clan emblems, or flat or sculptural objects representing animals, mythical entities, prayers or other symbols. Horns are particularly common, and many helmets sort "Kuwagata", or stylized deer horns, as seen in the attached illustration (in this illustration, the Kuwagata have been mistakenly transposed L-R). Upon the return of general peace under the Tokogawa Shogunate in the Edo Period, Armor became more elaborate and ceremonial. Many very luxurious armors were produced during this period, as well as a great number of simpler armors for lower ranking Samurai and foot soldiers. Fine armor continued to be produced up to the end of the Edo period in 1867, and slightly beyond. Later armors often emulated the garb of the romanticized Kamakura-Muromachi warriors.

Kabuto were a prominent and important part of the equipment of the bushi, and played a symbolic role, as well. This explains the number of expressions, sayings and codes related to them. A few examples follow:
1. Katte kabuto no o o shimeyo ("Tighten the string of the kabuto after winning the war"): don't lower your efforts after succeeding. Could be compared to not to rest on one's laurels.
2. Kabuto o nugu ("to take off the kabuto"): to surrender.

Nowadays, smaller-sized Yoroi and Kabuto are bought and kept by Japanese people as a personal interior collection or a seasonal home decoration item displayed during the Boys' Festival/May 5 for expressing the hope that each boy in the family will grow up healthy and strong.

Kabuto in the West
The kabuto, with the German Stahlhelm, is the inspiration for the helmet of Darth Vader. Vader’s helmet, armour and robe is highly reminiscent of samurai armour. The helmet is taken directly from the menpō mask and kabuto helmet of a feudal samurai. Vader also wore an under-robe of black that resembled long, flared out pants, called hakama, a garment worn in feudal Japan. Warriors often wore wide-cut pants that grazed the floor, many times it has been erroneously said that these pants were used to hide the movements of their feet from the enemy but in all actuality they were the normal wear and not designed to hide the feet, or give the illusion of floating. In fact, the hakama was tucked up through the belt when a confrontation was imminent, just as the sleeves of the kimono were tied back with cord.

Global Warming

2007-02-08T19:44:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Photo Source : Google Images )

Energy Portal
Global warming is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans in recent decades, and its projected continuation. Models referenced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predict that global temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) between 1990 and 2100. The uncertainty in this range results from both the difficulty of predicting the volume of future greenhouse gas emissions and uncertainty about climate sensitivity and feedback effects.

Global average near-surface atmospheric temperature rose 0.6 ± 0.2 °Celsius (1.1 ± 0.4 °Fahrenheit) in the 20th century. The prevailing scientific opinion on climate change is that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations", which leads to warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases are released by activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, and agriculture. Other phenomena such as solar variation have had smaller but non-negligible effects on global temperature trends since 1950.

An increase in global temperatures can in turn cause other changes, including a rising sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. These changes may increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, heat waves, hurricanes, and tornados. Other consequences include higher or lower agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer streamflows, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors. Warming is expected to affect the number and magnitude of these events; however, it is difficult to connect particular events to global warming. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, even if no further greenhouse gases were released after this date, warming (and sea level) would be expected to continue to rise for more than a millenium, since CO2 has a long average atmospheric lifetime.

Remaining scientific uncertainties include the exact degree of climate change expected in the future, and especially how changes will vary from region to region across the globe. A hotly contested political and public debate has yet to be resolved, regarding whether anything should be done, and what could be cost-effectively done to reduce or reverse future warming, or to deal with the expected consequences. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at combatting global warming.

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

2007-02-07T03:23:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : The Wikipedia Encyclopedia & Google Images )

Hindi : कभी अलविदा न कहना, Urdu: کبھی الوداع نہ کہنا, English: Never Say Goodbye

Dev Saran (Shahrukh Khan), a formerly successful, now injured footballer, is unhappily married to Rhea (Preity Zinta), who has a high-flying job with a fashion mag. They have a son named Arjun. Maya (Rani Mukerji) is about to unhappily marry her childhood friend Rishi Talwar (Abhishek Bachchan). Samarjit a.k.a "Sexy Sam" (Amitabh Bachchan) is Rishi's dad, and Kamaljit (Kiron Kher) plays the peppy mom to Dev.

Dev happens to meet Maya before her wedding and despite being strangers, they connect instantly. It could be that the two are unhappy with their partners, it could be that Dev was only too happy to talk of his uncomfortable marriage or it could be that Maya just could not love Rishi and so, found Dev attractive. Whatever the case, the connection between the two remains a glowing spark that re-ignites when they meet four years later.

During those four years, Maya has married Rishi and Dev has met with an accident that leaves him crippled and ends his football career. So when Maya meets Dev the next time, he is bitter - his failed career and failing marriage are festering wounds to which his wife Rhea's professional success is salt. In the Talwar home, things are no better - Maya still does not feel any love for Rishi and feels guilty for her inability to have children.

Dev and Maya realise that their situations are similar and decide to help each other repair their breaking marriages. Things don't work quite as expected however, and they become more and more drawn to each other. At the same time, Rishi and Rhea are working to keep their marriages afloat and are willing to see hope in even the smallest, most innocuous signs from their partners. However, their efforts are insignificant in the face of Maya and Dev's intense unhappiness in their marriages and their growing love for each other.

Dev and Maya give in to a dreamy, coffee-drenched romance and realise they have fallen in love. However, when Dev is about to give flowers to Maya, he sees Rhea and gives them to her so she dosent see Maya. He saves one rose for Maya. She takes the rose home and Rishi sees it and Maya gives it to him. Rhea and Rishi now think that their partners really love them and are happy. But after an incident at the ballet that makes Dev intensely jealous, they realize they now feel like they are cheating on each other with their own spouses. This realization brings them to a dramatic point of no return. Shortly afterward, they are caught in an embrace outside the train station by Sam and Kamaljeet.

Sam, having lived the good life for a long, long time ultimately has to bear the punishment of all his excesses - he has a fatal heart attack and as he lies on his death bed, he gives Maya some unconventional advice: he tells her to leave his son Rishi since neither of them are happy in their marriage.

Things come to a head and Dev and Maya decide to leave each other and return to their partners. But this re-union will not be without honesty, so they come clean and confess their extra-marital affair. Rishi and Rhea decide that enough is enough and end their marriages - this doesn't mean that Maya and Dev come together however. They only speak to each other on the phone, and lie to each other, saying that all is well in their marriages.

Three years later, Rishi goes to meet Maya and invites her to his wedding. There Rhea sees Maya for the first time in three years and realises that she and Rishi weren't together as she thought. The news that Dev is still alone, combined with some prodding from Rishi and Rhea convinces Maya to run after Dev. Dev is about to catch a train to Canada when he sees Maya. He hides from her because he has told Maya earlier than he was happy with Rhea and he thinks that she is happily married to Rishi. However, Maya finds him in his seat a few seconds before his train leaves the station. He uses the emergency brakes to get out to meet her. Dev finds out that Maya has been living alone all of that time too and feels very bad. Then they finally get together.

Directed by : Karan Johar
Produced by : Dharma Productions
Written by : Karan Johar
Starring : Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan & Kirron Kher.
Music by : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Cinematography : Anil Mehta
Editing by : Sanjay Sankla
Distributed by : Dharma Productions
Running time : 193 Min.
Language : Hindi
Budget : $ 11 million [Rs 50 Crore]

Road Test: Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster LP640

2007-02-02T17:11:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : By Patrick Hong with photos by Bruce Benedict, Yahoo!Autos )

Unadulterated Fun. Test drive Lamborghini’s new $400,000 sports car. Lamborghini's new roadster goes zero to sixty in three seconds.

The Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster LP640 is bold, aggressive and powerful. But some practical-minded people may argue that there is hardly any sensible reason to own the $400,000 exotic that: 1) has only two seats, 2) is powered by a 632-bhp and 487-lb.-ft.-of-torque 6.2-liter V-12 engine, and 3) can rocket you from 0-60 mph in just 3.4 seconds, and to a top speed of 205 mph. Plus, where would you be able to experience the car's extreme performance limits in these days of traffic-laden highways?

Well, just throw out your thinking cap and trust what your heart and soul tell you. Driving the low-slung and wide LP640 Roadster is a heart-pounding experience. You may feel guilty about pressing the pedal to the metal for the sole purpose of getting a quick rush of adrenaline. But boy is it fun to hear the deep-throated growl as the engine revs past 5000 rpm — and feel the air rushing above the open top.

On the road, the LP640 Roadster is a movie star, with large numbers of passers-by pointing and looking at this Italian raging bull from Sant'Agata Bolognese. Some will stop and ask you about the car. Some will just give a thumbs-up or a slight nod of approval. But the best is to see the reactions of kids: eyes wide open and mouths agape.

Largely unchanged from last year's Murciélago LP640 Coupe styling, the Roadster offers a special bevel-cut window line that adds more sleekness to the exotic. Inside, the seats are snug and the instrument panel is canted toward the driver for better reach. The 6-speed paddle-shift transmission and the traction control take the worry out of trying to master all of the car's massive torque on acceleration at a stoplight.

Also helping to keep the powerful Lamborghini in check is the full-time all-wheel-drive system. Through a viscous clutch aided by electronic management, torque can be distributed up to a full 100 percent to the front or the rear when it is appropriate. At cruise, the drive force is split 30 percent front and 70 percent rear.

The LP640 Roadster retains much of the coupe's steel and carbon-fiber chassis, with added reinforcement in the engine compartment to ensure body stiffness with the open top. The suspension is of multilink type all-around, riding on front 245/35ZR-18 and rear 335/30ZR-18 tires. Our test car is fitted with the $6500 carbon-ceramic brake rotors acted on by 6-piston calipers. Full ABS stopping distances are quite exemplary: From 60-0 mph, 107 ft., and from 80-0 mph, 189 ft. Not bad for a car that tips the scale at 4160 lb.

The LP640 is a competent performer, but by no means is it the fastest or the best-handling car in the world. However, the Murciélago Roadster offers the unique styling flair and driving atmosphere that only the folks from Sant'Agata Bolognese can deliver. This makes the Lambo an irresistible ride for any car enthusiast.

Grape juice good for the heart

2007-02-01T21:21:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : By Patricia Reaney, Wed Jan 31, 12:06 PM ET Yahoo!News)

Study shows grape juice is good for the hearth.

LONDON (Reuters) - Grape juice seems to have the same protective effect against heart disease as red wine, French scientists said on Wednesday. Researchers at the Universite Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg were examining the effect on the heart of Concord grape juice.

"Grape juice can have a similar effect (against heart disease) as red wine but without the alcohol. That is a very important message," said Dr Valerie Schini-Kerth, lead author of the study published in the journal Cardiovascular Research.

Red wine and certain types of grape juice have high levels of polyphenols, which block the production of a protein linked to cardiovascular disease -- the number one killer in many Western countries.

Heart and vascular problems develop when endothelial cells that make up blood vessels do not work properly.Schini-Kerth and her team found that polyphenols in Concord grape juice activate endothelial cells to produce nitric oxide which helps to protect against cardiovascular disease and to maintain healthy blood vessels and blood pressure.

Polyphenols work the same way in red wine and in grape juice.
"But not every grape juice has the beneficial effect. It has to have a high level of polyphenols," Schini-Kerth said.

The amount of polyphenols in grape juice, as in red wine, depends on the type of grape used and how it is processed.

"We have information on more than 100 different kinds of wine and the amount of polyphenols. What we know is that the most protective ones have the highest levels of polyphenols. That is established," she said.

But Schini-Kerth, whose research was partly funded by Welch Foods Inc which is a leading producer of grape juice, said little information is available on the levels of polyphenols in grape juice.

The scientists were studying cells from pigs, which provide a good model for studying human cells.They were looking at healthy blood vessels and are planning a further study to see whether grape juice has a similar impact on blood vessels that show signs of cardiovascular disease.

Bonsai

2007-01-28T04:13:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Other Photo Source : Google Images)

History
It appears that the Chinese were the first to miniaturize container-grown trees around 200 AD. The art form may be derived from the practice of transporting medicinal plants in containers by healers. Its early focus was on the display of stylistic trunks in the shape of animals and mystic figures.

From China, the practice spread to Japan around the Heian period. During the Tokugawa period, landscape gardening attained new importance. Cultivation plants such as azalea and maples became a pastime of the wealthy. Growing dwarf plants in containers was also popular, but by modern bonsai standards the container plants of this period were inappropriately large.

The period term for dwarf potted trees was hachi-no-ki, "a tree in a pot." The term "bonsai" probably didn't come into use until the late 19th century during the Meiji period.

Aesthetics

Japanese School
The Japanese aesthetic is centred on the principle of "heaven and earth in one container", as a Japanese cliché has it. Three forces come together in a good bonsai: shin-zen-bi (真善美) or truth, essence and beauty.

Traditional subjects for bonsai include pine, maple, elm, flowering apricot, Japanese wisteria, juniper, flowering cherry, azalea and larch. The plants are grown outdoors and brought in to the tokonoma at special occasions when they most evoke the current season.

The Japanese bons are meant to evoke the essential spirit of the plant being used: in all cases, they must look natural and never show the intervention of human hands.

Chinese School

The Chinese aesthetic hopes to capture the essence and spirit of nature through contrasts. Philosophically, the Chinese artist is influenced by the principle of Taoism, specifically Yin and Yang the conceptualisation of the universe as governed by two primal opposing but complementary forces. Inspiration is not limited to nature, but also from poetry and visual art, of which factor similar aesthetic considerations. Common themes include dragons and the strokes of fortuitious characters. At its highest level however, the artistic value of penjing is on par with that of poetry, calligraphy, brush painting and garden art.

Cultivation
A bonsai is not a genetically dwarfed plant. It is any tree or shrub species actively growing but kept small through a combination of pot confinement, and crown and root pruning.

Common styles
There are many different styles of bonsai, but some are more common than others. These include formal upright, slant, informal upright, cascade, semi-cascade, raft, literati, and group / forest.

The formal upright style is just as the name suggests, and is characterized by a straight, upright, tapering trunk. The trunk and branches of the informal upright may incorporate pronounced bends and curves, but the apex of the informal upright is always located directly over the roots.

Slant style bonsai are similar to the straight trunks of formal upright trees, but the trunk emerges from the soil at an angle, and the apex of the bonsai will extend to the left or right of the root base.

Cascade style bonsai are modeled after trees that grow over water or on the sides of mountains. The apex, or tip, of Semi-cascade style bonsai extend just beneath the lip of the bonsai pot, whereas the apex of a (full) cascade style will fall below the base of the pot.

Raft style bonsai mimic a natural phenomenon that occurs when a tree that has been toppled (typically due to erosion or another natural force) and branches along the exposed side of the trunk form a group of new trunks. Sometimes, roots will develop from buried portions of the trunk. Raft style bonsai can incorporate other treatments, such as sinuous, straight-line, slanting styles. These all give the illusion of a group of trees, but are actually the branches of a tree planted on its side.

The literati style is characterized by an emphasis on the bare trunk line, with branches reduced to a minimum, typically placed higher up on a long, contorted trunk. Their style is inspired by the Chinese brush paintings, like those found in the ancient text,The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, depicting pine trees that grew in harsh climates, struggling to reach sunlight. In Japan, the literati style is known as bunjin-gi. (Bunjin is a translation of the Chinese word wenren meaning "scholars practiced in the arts" and gi is a derivative of the Japanese word, ki, for "tree").

A group or forest style comprises a number of trees (typically an odd number if there are three or more trees) planted together in a pot. The trees are usually the same species, but a variety of heights are employed to add visual interest and to reflect the age differences encountered in mature forests.

Size Classifications
Additionally, bonsai are classed by size. There are a number of specific techniques and styles associated with mame and shito sizes, the smallest bonsai. These are often small enough to be grown in thimble-sized pots, and due to their minuscule size require special care and adhere to different design conventions.

Techniques
Shaping and dwarfing are accomplished through a few basic but precise techniques. The small size of the tree and the dwarfing of foliage are maintained through a consistent regimen of pruning of both the leaves and the roots. Various methods must be employed, as each species of tree exhibits different budding behavior. Additionally, some pruning must be done seasonally, as most trees require a dormancy period and do not grow roots or leaves at that time; improper pruning can weaken or kill the tree.

Most species suitable for bonsai can be shaped by wiring. Copper or aluminium wire is wrapped around branches and trunks, holding the branch in place until it eventually lignifies and maintains the desired shape (at which point the wire should be removed). Some species do not lignify strongly, or are already too stiff/brittle to be shaped and are not conducive to wiring, in which case shaping must be accomplished primarily through pruning.

To simulate age and maturity in a bonsai, techniques called Jin and Shari can be used. Jin is done by removing the bark in an area of a large branch or the trunk, while Shari is the stripping off of an entire branch. These techniques simulate scarring by nature and limbs being torn off. Care must be taken when employing these techniques, because these areas are prone to infection, and removal of too much bark will result in losing all growth above that area. Also bark must never be removed in a complete ring around the trunk as it will cut off all water and nutrient flow above that ring.

Bonsai care
Watering
Because of limited space in the confines of a bonsai pot, bonsai care can be quite difficult. The shallow containers limit the expanse of the root system and make proper watering practically an art in itself. While some species can handle periods of relative dryness, others require near-constant moisture. Watering too frequently, or allowing the soil to remain soggy can promote fungal infections and "root rot". Sun, heat and wind exposure can quickly dry a bonsai tree to the point of drought, so the soil moisture should be monitored daily and water given copiously when needed. The soil should not be allowed to become "bone dry" even for brief periods. The foliage of some plants cultivated for bonsai, including the common Juniper do not display signs of drying and damage until long after the damage is done, and may even appear green and healthy despite having an entirely dead root system. In cooler climates, soil must not be allowed to become waterlogged as this may lead to root rot. In warmer climates, bonsai should be sat in a shallow watertight tray when not in use, and allowed to absorb water through the bottom of the pot throughout the day to prevent dehydration.

Repotting
Bonsai are generally repotted and root-pruned around spring time just before they break dormancy. Bonsai are generally repotted every two years while in development, and less often as they become more mature. This prevents them from becoming pot-bound and encourages the growth of new feeder roots, allowing the tree to absorb moisture more efficiently.

Wiring
Bonsai wiring is one of the most powerful tools to control the shape of the tree. The best time to wire a tree is in spring or fall when there is not as much foliage and the tree will not be too stiff. (Trees become stiff in winter while dormant because the sap pressure of the trunk and branches is much lower.)

To wire the tree wrap the trunk, and then each branch in spirals of bonsai wire so that the branch may be bent. The tree will then train the branch to grow in the desired direction. Another method of wiring involves attaching weights to the branches, causing them to sag and creating the impression of age.

Generally, wire is left on for one growing season. The tree should not be allowed to outgrow the wire, since this could cause the bark to become bound to the wire, making removal traumatic. When the time comes to remove the wire, it should be cut away in small pieces (rather than winding it off) as this will cause less damage to the foliage. The thickness of the wire used should match the size of the branch— larger branches will require lower gauge wire. Two pieces of thinner wire paired together can be used in lieu of heavier wire. It is bad form to let any wires cross; this is most readily accomplished by starting from the base of trunk and working up. When bending the branches, one should listen and feel for any sign of splitting. When bending a branch near the trunk extra caution should be used, as the branch is generally most brittle near the trunk. It is possible to gradually bend a branch little by little over the course of several months. When working with the branches, consideration should be given to the style desired.

Tools
Special tools are available for the maintenance of bonsai. The most common tool is the concave cutter, a tool designed to prune flush, without leaving a stub. Other tools include branch bending jacks, wire pliers and shears of different proportions for performing detail and rough shaping. Aluminum or anodized copper wire is used to shape branches and hold them until they take a set.

Fertilization and soil
Opinions about soil mixes and fertilization vary widely among practitioners. Some promote the use of organic fertilizers to augment an essentially inorganic soil mix, while others will use chemical fertilizers freely. Bonsai soils are constructed to optimize drainage. Bonsai soil is primarily a loose, fast-draining mix of components, often a base mixture of coarse sand or gravel, fired clay pellets or expanded shale combined with an organic component such as peat or bark. In Japan, volcanic soils based on clay (akadama, or "red ball" soil, and kanuma, a type of yellow pumice) are preferred.

Containers
Every bonsai pot is equipped with drainage holes to enable the excess water to drain out. Each hole is typically covered with a plastic screen or mesh to prevent soil from escaping. Containers come in a variety of shapes. The ones with straight sides and sharp corners are generally better suited to formally presented plants, while oval or round containers might be used for plants with informal shapes. Quality bonsai containers are ceramic, and are high-fired so that they can withstand exposure to freezing temperatures. The most common containers are unglazed and brown in color. Glazed containers are also used, typically for deciduous and flowering trees. Economical containers of molded plastic or "mica" are available for developing bonsai, but most any container that provides good drainage can be used for developing bonsai material. Some enthusiasts construct their own "growing boxes" from scraps of fenceboard or wood slats.

Location
Contrary to popular belief, bonsai are not suited for indoor culture, and if kept indoors will most likely die. While certain tropical plants (Ficus, Schefflera, etc.) may flourish indoors, most bonsai are developed from species of shrubs or trees that are adapted to temperate climates (conifers, maples, larch, etc) and require a period of dormancy. Most trees require several hours of direct or slightly filtered sun every day.

Overwintering
Some trees require protection from the elements in winter and the techniques used will depend on how well the tree is adapted to the climate. During overwintering, temperate species are allowed to enter dormancy but care must be taken with deciduous plants to prevent them from breaking dormancy too early. In-ground cold frames, unheated garages, porches, and the like are commonly used, or by mulching the plant in its container up to the depth of the first branch or burying them with the root system below the frost line.

Mallsai
Inexpensive bonsai trees often sold in chain stores and gift shops are derisively referred to as "mallsai" by experienced bonsai growers, and are usually weak or dead trees by the time they are sold. Often these bonsai are mass produced and are rooted in thick clay from a field in China. This clay is very detrimental to the bonsai, as it literally suffocates the roots and promotes root-rot. Very little if any shaping is done on mallsai, and often the foliage is crudely pruned with little finesse to resemble a tree. Due to the conditions under which they are transported and sold, they are often inadequately watered and are kept in poor soil, usually a clump of sphagnum moss or the aforementioned clay with a layer of gravel glued to the top, which leaves them susceptible to both drying and fungal infections. Some "mallsai" can be resuscitated with proper care and immediate repotting, although this is reportedly rare. This top layer of glued-on gravel should be immediately removed once the bonsai is purchased, and the plant should be repotted in a good bonsai soil such as akadama sugi.

Collecting
Bonsai may be developed from material obtained at the local garden center, or from suitable materials collected from the wild or urban landscape. Some regions have plant material that is known for its suitability in form - for example the California Juniper and Sierra Juniper found in the American West, and Bald Cypress found in the swamps of Louisiana and Florida.

Collected trees are highly prized and often exhibit the characteristics of age when they are first harvested from nature. Great care must be taken when collecting, as it is very easy to damage the tree's root system (often irreparably) by digging it up. Potential material must be analyzed carefully to determine whether it can be removed safely. Trees with a shallow or partially exposed root system are ideal candidates for extraction. There is a legal aspect to removing trees, so the enthusiast should take all steps necessary to ensure permission from the owner of the land before attempting to harvest. If not, consider the right of the plant to stay where it is undisturbed.

Three Gorges Dam in China

2007-01-27T03:31:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : ICOLD Official Site, Photo Source : Google Images)

World Water Council Director : Dams are necessary to solve "chronicle water scarcity"

Daniel Zimmer was interviewed by the French daily Liberation on May 20, in an unusual position. The interviewer reminds that « many experts think that the fears about Three Gorges Dam or other large dams are rich countries fears. In the developing countries, ‘there are billions of people to feed it’s unthinkable to stop building large dams! If we do nothing, they will die out of hunger’ So explains one of the most famous French geologists, Ghislain de Marcilly. ‘If you take the Aswan dam, of course it had a disastrous environmental impact, but it enabled Egypt to double its population without famine.’” Here follows the interview

Will the Three Gorges Dam be the last large dam of this type?

Of course not! You just need to look at the situation in the developing countries to understand why. In Africa, for example, they store only between a few dozens and a few hundred of cubic meters per capita and per year. In the United States and in Europe, this figure is going up to 5000 cubic meters per year, when those regions need less water than Africa! There is a 1 to 100 proportion! We can therefore understand that developing countries want large dams and send us back to our own economic development when we talk about environmental risks! As for us, we have water for our consumption, for irrigation and even for leisure.
Do the international institutions share this viewpoint?

When the polemic began on large dams, the World Bank changed its infrastructural policy, refusing to launch other projects. Today, it recognizes this was an error. She renewed its estimation of the benefits from large dams and completely changed its strategy. For the Bank, if you want that the countries suffering from chronicle water scarcity get a minimum of water reserves to resist drought periods, it’s imperative to go back to those projects. On the condition, of course, that we take into account and we solve the social, human and environmental problems associated with them. Today, happily, we made big progresses on those points.

But there are still very strong tensions around the Three Gorges Dam…

Of course, there are always tensions around constructions like that. But once again, you need to keep in mind this colossal dissymmetry between the developing countries that need to store water to compensate for the hazards of climate, and the developed countries, where that need is less strong. That’s an injustice for which the countries from the South are reproaching us more and more and that we can no longer tolerate.

Is there any alternative to large dams?

In Western Africa, for example, we try to manage small reservoirs, more upstream, to delocalize water storage. Another possibility is underground storage rather than surface storage. That’s not always possible but if so, it is an interesting alternative.

Don - The Chase Begins Again

2007-01-26T23:07:00.000+08:00

(Original Sources : DON Official Site & Wikipedia Encyclopedia)

The year is 2006. The drug trade is booming. Trafficking between Asia and Europe is at an all time high. It is at this time that the Malaysian Intelligence and Anti-Narcotic Department are called upon for assistance by their indian counterparts. There are rumors that the gang have recently moved their operational headquarters to KL.

The cartel in is headed by the dreaded, singhania. But what many people do not know, is that the business is truly managed by his trusted lieutenant, Don (Shahrukh Khan).

A man who lives life on the edge, Don is constantly expanding the size of his empire while evading arrest or death at the hands of his enemies, both within and outside the law. Fearless, cunning and ruthless, he is unstoppable in his pursuit of absolute power.

His chief pursuer is an Indian Police Officer Narcotics, DCP DeSilva (Boman Irani). He is a man who has sworn to put an end to this nexus of evil and knows that in capturing Don lies the key to unlock this puzzle. And one day, he succeds. Don is captured and desilva puts his plan into action.

Unknown to even his own department, DeSilva has recruited and trained a man who is a spitting image of soon. His name is Vijay (Shahrukh Khan).

Vijay infiltrates the cartel and manages to give Desilva all the information he needs to bring it down. But in a bizarre twist of fate, desilvais killed during a raid and the secret that Don is in fact, Vijay, a police informer, is buried with him. The only people who realize that he is infact an imposter, are the members of Don’s cartel. And they want their revenge.

Vijay manages to escape and is now on the lookout for the one last piece of evidence that can get him out of this mess.

Helping him on this quest are two people. The first is Roma (Priyanka Chopra), a young woman, who was working in the gang but only to avenge her brothers death. He had been mercilessly killed by Don when he had decided to leave the gang.

The other is Jasjit (Arjun Rampal), the real father of Vijay’s adopted son, deeply, he owes Vijay for having looked after the boy while he was in prison.

Wanted by the police. Hunted day and night. Forever on the run….The chase has begun…

Directed by : Farhan Akhtar
Produced by : Ritesh Sidhwani
Written by : Javed Akhtar Salim Khan
Starring : Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Isha Koppikar, Boman Irani, Om Puri, Sushma Reddy
Music by : Shankar Mahadevan Ehsaan Noorani Loy Mendonsa
Distributed by : T-Series
Release date(s) : October 20, 2006Language : Hindi

Pura Besakih : Bali's "Mother Temple"

2007-01-26T20:28:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : Greg Cruey, About : Asia for visitors., Photo Source : Google Images)

High on the slopes of Bali's Mount Agung sits Pura Besakih, widely referred to as the "Mother Temple" of Hinduism in Bali. Pura Besakih, or Besakih Temple in English, is the largest of the island's 11,000 or so Hindu temples; its 35 shrines and halls draw devotees from all over Bali in massive numbers each year.

The world is lucky to have Besakih. In 1963 Mount Agung, a volcano, erupted and destroyed several nearby villages. Besakih was untouched.

The temple is generally agreed to date back to prehistoric times in Bali. It is named for Naga Besukian -- the dragon-god thought by pre-Hindu Balinese to inhabit this, the highest mountain in Bali. But at the beginning of the 11th Century Besakih became the state temple at a time when Bali was no mean kingdom. It has remained the state temple in some form or another ever since and is state supported today.

Like most Balinese temples, Besakih is not a closed building but a mostly open-air affair. It is made up of courtyards with altars and shrines devoted to a number of gods. And those gods have better things to do than just hang around a temple; the Balinese believe that the gods visit a temple on particular dates -- and on those dates the Balinese hold festivals to honor (or placate) the gods. Of all the temples on Bali six are "supremely holy:" Pura Besakih, Pura Lempuyang Luhur, Pura Gua Lawah, Pura Batukaru, Pura Pusering Jagat, and Pura Uluwatu. Of these, Besakih stands higher than the others -- not because it sits some 3000 or so feet above the ocean on the mountain's side, but because it is more sacred to the Balinese. It is said to be the only classless, casteless temple on the island where any Balinese Hindu can come to worship.

Bali's Hinduism is unique. Many scholars believe it gives us a view of Hindu beliefs much as they existed 1500 to 2000 years ago. Hinduism was once the dominant religion in much of Southeast Asia and empires in the region where ruled by god-kings -- empires like Funan, Sri Vijaya, Angkor, and Bali.

The Hinduism of Bali is less fragmented than that of modern India. Balinese are generally said to worship one god, Brahman, who manifests himself in various forms or personalities.

Lee Arnold, in his article on The Temples of Bali, quotes an anonymous Balinese who explains their views: "I am just one person; someday I might be a farmer, another a driver, yet another a cook, but I am still only one person." In the same way the Hindu "gods" Siva and Vishnu (Siwa and Visnu in Balinese) are really just different manifestations of the one god, Brahman, in Balinese theology. While this may be true, temples generally end up serving as places where one of Brahman's manifestations is worshipped; and Besakih is dedicated largely to Siva worship.

While the Hinduism of Bali may provide a glimpse into the religion's past it is by no means pure. Balinese religion has kept Islam at bay, but has absorbed aboriginal animism and Malay cultic ancestor worship along with aspects of Mahayana Buddhism.

The temple's anniversary, Odalan, is an excellent day to visit if you are looking for pageantry. But you should expect a crowd of several thousand people. That ceremony comes in the tenth month of the Balinese calendar, usually in April.

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-01-26T19:19:00.000+08:00

( Original Source : Yahoo! Movies )

Set in 1940s Spain against the postwar repression of Franco's Spain, a fairy tale that centers on Ofelia, a lonely and dreamy child living with her mother and adoptive father, who is a military officer tasked with 'ridding the area' of rebels. In her loneliness, Ofelia creates a world filled with fantastical creatures and secret destinies. With Fascism at its height, Ofelia must come to terms with her world through a fable of her own creation.

Also Known As : El Laberinto Del Fauno, El Laberinto del Fauno

Production Status : Release

Logline : A fairy tale, set in Fascist Spain, about a young girl who falls in love with a fawn that lives in the old ruined labyrinth behind her family's decrepit home.

Genres : Art/Foreign, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Thriller

Running Time : 2 hrs.

Release Date : December 29th, 2006 (limited)

MPAA Rating : R for graphic violence and some language.

Distributors : Picturehouse

Production Co. : Esperanto, Telecinco, Estudios Picasso, Tequila Gang, CafeFX, Sententia Entertainment, Anhelo Productions

Financiers : Telecinco

Filming Locations : Bariloche, Argentina
Madrid, Spain
Produced in: Spain

Borobudur : Pathway to Enlightenment

2007-01-20T04:50:00.000+08:00

(Original Sources : PBS Website, Copyright © Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). All rights reserved., Photo Source : Google!Images)

On the island of Java stands a mountain of a thousand statues...
surrounded by volcanoes, shrouded in mystery. In 1814, two hundred men cross
the lush Kedu plains of Central Java to search out this legendary mountain near the small village of Boro. For six weeks, they slash and burn the choking vegetation. They clear away tons of volcanic ash. Hidden beneath the debris, they find strange figures carved in stone – thousands of them.

The excavation of the monument, known as Borobudur, has been ordered by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the new British Governor of Java. Unlike the Dutch traders before him, Raffles is intrigued by the exotic stories and architecture of the Indonesian islands: "The antiquities of Java have not, till lately, excited much notice; nor have they yet been sufficiently explored. The pursuits of commerce have been too exclusive to allow there being much interest in the subject."

When Raffles comes to inspect the progress of his expedition, he finds a colossal pyramid, rising to a huge bell-shaped pinnacle. Lacking adequate historical records, Raffles is unable to determine the exact date of Borobudur's construction, but he does have some insight into the purpose of the structure: "The resemblance of the images which surround this monument to the figure of Buddha, has introduced an opinion that Borobudur was exclusively confined to the worship of that deity."

But there is no central altar or sanctuary in this temple. Instead, the galleries that ring the structure are covered with nearly three thousand bas-relief panels carved into the stone.

As word of the discovery spreads, scholars of Asian religions visit. They recognize Borobudur as the largest Buddhist temple in the world... and the most unusual. The panels depict the teachings of the Buddha, each familiar story a step in the pilgrim's progress. The galleries are designed to guide the faithful on a spiritual journey as they move upward from terrace to terrace, each level representing a higher plane of consciousness. In ancient times, pilgrims may have come from all over Southeast Asia to study the sacred texts full of mystery, meaning, meditation and morals. Borobudur is a three-dimensional guide to Enlightenment. But despite Raffles' best intentions, uncovering Borobudur has placed it in grave danger, as reports of the exotic temple attract a new breed of pilgrim. The local villagers are no longer superstitious of the monument, and now view it as a constant source of building materials.

Souvenir hunters decapitate many of the Buddhas and ship them to mansions and museums throughout the world. For the weary tourist, a teahouse is built high on the crumbling central stupa. According to Asian art historian, Jan Fontein, "Many of the Europeans who came to Asia, and many of the Asians themselves, because they had been converted to Islam, regarded these monuments as the work of heathen, and this prevented them from appreciating their true beauty."

But in 1885, an accidental discovery rekindles interest in preserving this ancient treasure. J. W. Ijzerman, a Dutch architect involved in a restoration project, walks along the high processional path that surrounds the base of Borobudur. "And he noticed that the moldings of the wall continued underneath a crack that he saw in the floor," says Fontein. "This meant that all these stones must have been added at a time when part of the building was already finished."Ijzerman excitedly calls for a section of the path to be removed. When sixteen layers of stone have been pulled away, Ijzerman discovers another tier of panels quite unlike those of the upper galleries. These are portrayals of hellish tortures mixed with scenes of sweet pleasure. In all, one hundred sixty panels are uncovered. A few scenes had been left unfinished, with instructions to the stone carver inscribed in Sanskrit, and the style of lettering is so distinctive that it can be dated specifically to the middle of the 9th century. Experts conclude that Borobudur must have been built by the Sailendra kings who ruled in Central Java at that time.

Further efforts at restoration by Europeans throughout the next century are well meaning, but ultimately do more damage than good. The sediment and plant life that had shrouded Borobudur for so long had also protected it from the elements. As the galleries are cleared, the porous volcanic stone is exposed to Java's relentless heat and torrential downpours. Throughout most of the 19th century, Borobudur suffers more damage than in the thousand years before.

In 1968, the Indonesian government and the United Nations, working through UNESCO, launch the "Save Borobudur" campaign. Over the next fifteen years, twenty million dollars are raised to support a bold plan: the complete dismantling and reconstruction of the lower terraces of the monument – stone by stone. Professionals from twenty-seven countries join their Indonesian counterparts to carry out the project.

Over one million stones are moved during the course of restoration, and set aside like pieces of a massive jig-saw puzzle. Thirteen hundred carved panels are taken apart and individually cleaned, catalogued and treated for preservation. And Borobudur becomes a testing ground for new conservation techniques – new procedures to battle the microorganisms eating away at the stone. Experts in engineering, chemistry, biology and archaeology all share their skills to solve the multitude of problems. The restoration takes eight years of labor and unprecedented international cooperation to complete.

In the words of Professor Soekmono, the Indonesian archaeologist who directed the Borobudur Restoration Project: "Borobudur has resumed its old historical role as a place of learning, dedication and training. We might even conclude that the builders of the monument hoped and planned for such continuity. An excellent training program, either for the pilgrim-devotee or for the field technician, is always based on a wish, a fervent wish, that the trainee will achieve what is projected. For the ardent Buddhist it is the Highest Wisdom that leads to the Ultimate salvation, and for the technician the highest degree of expertise that leads to the appropriate fulfillment of his duty. In both cases, Candi Borobudur is the embodiment of such a deeply felt wish. It is a prayer in stone."

Cendrawasih/Raggiana Bird of Paradise (paradisaea raggiana)

2007-01-20T03:37:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : Indonesianfauna Website)

Cendrawasih is the Indonesian word for the bird of paradise. The Raggiana bird of paradise (Paradisaea raggiana) is the national bird of New Guinea, and its figure graces everything from money to stamps to taxi cabs. Because they have such rare and beautiful plumage, birds of paradise have been hunted for centuries, and their feathers have been used for decoration and their supposed mystical properties. They are currently listed as endangered and trapping and export are illegal, but all species of the bird of paradise are still being traded illegally on the black market.

Interesting Fact: After trading plumes of birds of paradise with early European explorers, local tribes told them that the birds were the birds of the gods and never touched earth, feeding only on dew. This story accentuated the value of the birds for over 100 years, and the feathers were in such high demand that it almost killed off the species.

The cendrawasih is only found on the island of New Guinea. There are at least 37 other species of the bird of paradise that also make their homes on this island. The males are known to gather in a specific tree together in the morning and will engage in mutual display, where they fluff out their extensive colorful feathers to try and attract a female. They live in the tops of trees and in the underbrush, making nests in tree branches and holes.

Cendrawasih, or Birds of Paradise, are considered by many to be the most beautiful birds on the planet. The females are a relatively drab, dull brown, which helps them take cover when they are nesting and raising the young. They average about 13 inches in length (33 cm), about the size and build of a crow. The males are covered with different sizes and shapes of feathers in every conceivable color, and they often have patches of skin without feathers that are wild, shocking colors as well. The Raggiana has very long, orange, trailing tail feathers. His head and the nape of his neck are yellow, and he has a green chin.

Cendrawasih are primarily fruit eaters, but they will also eat berries, leaves, and small animals, such as lizards and frogs. Their flight is slow and ponderous, contrary to their graceful appearance, and they stay in the same area all year, not following any sort of migratory pattern.

Courtship is the main purpose of the cendrawasih’s gaudy appearance. The females outnumber the males, so the males must compete with each other to win favor of a female when she is ready to mate. The Raggiana especially is known for his overly energetic courtship dance. There are, however, some bird of paradise species that mate for life, and the males have drab brown feathers like the females and will help raise the young and tend the nest. Of the species that are polygamous, however, the female takes care of all nesting and raising duties, usually laying two eggs at a time.

The Wayang Golek Theater of Java

2007-01-20T01:50:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : Marla Mallett Website)

The painted wooden puppets on the preceding page are old examples from the still thriving and important folk art puppet theater of Java in Indonesia. Although tourist shops now sell imitations of wayang golek puppets, the puppets illustrated on these pages were actually used for many years in theater productions--in presentations of Hindu epics, Javanese history plays and the Islamic Menak cycles. These performances were given in towns and villages on holidays and for a variety of festivals, as were the distinctive shadow-puppet plays. A dalang, or puppet master, manipulated the puppets, spoke their parts, and coordinated the puppets' actions with music from a gamelan orchestra.

Anne Richter has described the stories as follows: "The most frequently performed narratives derive from the Hindu epics. The Arjuna Sasra Bahu and Ramayana cycles concern the affairs of the noble Rama himself and his ancestors. Favorite stories concern Rama's marriage to Sinta; their banishment to the forest together with his brother Laksmana; Sinta's abduction by the monster king Rahwana; and her subsequent rescue, with the aid of the monkey king and after numerous battles, from the kingdom of Sri Lanka. The Ramayana contains many episodes from the lives of these characters which are emphasized in varying degrees to form separate plays in their own right.

The Mahahharata tells of the conflict between the superior Pandewa brothers (Judistra, Bima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sadewa) and their hundred jealous and mendacious cousins, the Kurewas, who drive them away from their home at the court of Astina, to wander in the wild. In the forest the Pandewas build the lovely and idealized kingdom of Amarta where the majority of the plays are set. The heroic quests, battles with vile ogres and scenes of romantic love are made all the more poignant by the knowledge that the glory and beauty are fleeting. Events are presented as taking place in Java rather than India, and the heroic Pandewas, descendants of Vishnu, are the ancestors of the Javanese kings. Many episodes have simply been invented by puppeteers over generations.

The court scenes also allow scope for the comic misadventures and intrigue of the Pandewas' clown servants, the Punakawans: Semar the wise, whose identity is thought to have evolved from that of the pre-Hindu Javanese god Ismaya and his sons. The inane and melancholic Gareng, with his round drooping nose, is the butt of jokes and tricks played by the sharp Petruk. Philosophical and mystical speculations made by the refined characters provide an intellectual and spiritual dimension for members of the audience with a taste for high seriousness."

Richter describes the puppet making itself: "Like so many other crafts in Indonesia, making wayang golek is a skill handed down through families. The master puppet-maker usually makes the head because it expresses the personality of the puppet. Ceremonies are performed before commencing a deity or a demon. A piece of light, local softwood, which is easy to carve and not too heavy to hold up during a performance, is sawed or chopped down to the right size, and the main features are roughly chiseled. After sanding, fine decorations such as the parts of a crown are carved in with more care and sanded. The smooth surface receives a coat of glue-based paint, which will enable subsequent coats to adhere well. Lips, flowers and some bits of jewelry are painted red, as are the irises of angry characters. Blue is also used for eyes and sapphire jewelry. Fine black lines are painted for eyes, eyebrows, moustaches and wisps of hair....Bodies are often made by younger members of the family, and arms are attached at the elbow and shoulders with string so that they move easily. The shapes of hands also express character and role; those of nobles stretch out gracefully, but servants and commoners have large open palms. A rod passes from a hole in the base of the puppet's head and down through the body to form a handle. Costumes are usually made by wives. ...Since the stories portray historical and human rather than divine affairs, the puppets, like those used for history plays, are always fully clothed in Central Javanese traditional dress with batik sarongs.

Puppet body types can be identified across a spectrum which ranges from alus (extremely refined) to kasar (extremely rough and crude). Refined, virtuous characters have small dainty bodies, slitted oval eyes with pupils shaped like rice grains, pointed noses and a modest downward gaze... Vigorous or turbulent characters have a more direct and confrontational stare. As the personality of the puppet becomes less refined, there is an increase in size; the nose becomes heavier and blunter; eyes and pupils become larger and rounder and the gaze more aggressive; teeth and gums may be exposed in a snarl or a foolish sneer. The more refined middle-sized puppets may represent courageous but impetuous kings and heroes; the coarser ones suggest an uncontrolled or evil nature. The largest puppets are used for those whose greatest attribute is physical strength." Richter concludes, "It is the mixture of courtly, mystical and popular elements that allows traditional theatre to be so loved by so many people."

Beluga Whales (delphinapterus leucas) faltering in Alaskan waters

2007-01-17T22:20:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : By Yereth Rosen, Tue Jan 16, 4:53 PM ET Yahoo! NEWS & Yahoo!Images)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Beluga whales were once so thick in the waters along Alaska's biggest city that boaters had to take care to avoid bumping them.

But now Cook Inlet's population of small white whales, beloved by locals and tourists, may be headed for extinction, according to a report from government biologists last week. A new count by the National Marine Fisheries Service puts the Beluga whale population at 302, less than half the number in 1994 and well below the 1,000 to 2,000 believed to have been swimming in earlier years in the glacier-fed channel that runs from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska.

"There's basically a one in four chance that this population is going to become extinct in 100 years," said Bruce Smith, a National Marine Fisheries Service biologist studying the belugas.

The Cook Inlet belugas, a genetically distinct population already listed as a "depleted" and meriting special management under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, are candidates for new safeguards under the Endangered Species Act.Biologists say the reason for the precipitous decline since the 1990s was simple -- overharvesting by the area's Alaska Natives, mostly Athabascan Indians, who are entitled by law to pursue their traditional whale hunts.

Native groups agreed to curb hunting until stocks return to higher levels, but that does not appear to be helping the whales recover, according to Smith.
Environmentalists say it should be no surprise that belugas are faltering in Alaska's most industrialized waterway.

OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY
Oil drilling, associated bustle and noise, vessel-traffic pressures from thriving cargo-shipping and commercial fishing activities, sewage and storm water runoff from Alaska's most densely populated region and other industrial factors are likely hurting the belugas, according to environmentalists.

Particular scrutiny should focus on the oil and gas industry, with its constant marine disposal of wastewater and its reliance on loud seismic surveys that disrupt the underwater whale communications, said Bob Shavelson, executive director of the environmental group Cook Inletkeeper.

"Everybody said, 'OK, it was the hunting.' Everybody said, 'OK, once we get a handle on the hunting the problem will go away.' Lo and behold, we're not seeing any increase; we're seeing what's likely a decrease," Shavelson said.

Oil and gas industry representatives fear new restrictions will unfairly burden them.
"There's a lot of interest in being able to use the inlet the way it's been used by the people, bringing all the groceries in and all the cars in as well as the oil and gas, and still protect the belugas at the same time," said Judy Brady, a former state natural resources commissioner who heads the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.
Past tests have shown that belugas and other sea life in Cook Inlet are untainted by industrial pollutants, Brady said.

Smith said it may be the nonpollution factors, such as noise, inadvertent harassment, large-scale beach strandings, disease outbreaks and the occasional predation by killer whales that are keeping the beluga population low.

Those factors might have been easily absorbed in the past, but not anymore."It could be now that the population is reduced to the point where some threats and impacts that weren't threatening to the whole stock, now are," he said.

Rafflesia Arnoldii : World's largest flower evolved from family of much tinier blooms

2007-01-17T22:12:00.000+08:00

(Original Sources : By Steve Bradt, FAS Communications, Copyright 2006 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Photo Source : Jeremy Holden)

Molecular analysis shows giant rafflesia flower grew 79-fold over millions of years.
The plant with the world's largest flower - typically a full meter across, with a bud the size of a basketball - evolved from a family of plants whose blossoms are nearly all tiny, botanists write this week in the journal Science. Their genetic analysis of rafflesia reveals that it is closely related to a family that includes poinsettias, castor oil plants, the tropical root crop cassava, and the trees that produce natural rubber.

The team from Harvard University, Southern Illinois University, the Smithsonian Institution, and the University of Wisconsin was led by Harvard's Charles C. Davis.

"For nearly 200 years rafflesia's lineage has confounded plant scientists," says Davis, an assistant professor of organismic and evolutionary biology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "As a parasite living inside the tissue of a tropical vine, the plant lacks leaves, shoots, or roots, making it difficult to compare to more conventional plants. Most efforts to place plants in the botanical tree of life in the past 25 years have tracked ancestry using molecular markers in genes governing photosynthesis. Rafflesia is a non-photosynthetic parasite, and those genes have apparently been abandoned, meaning that to determine its lineage we had to look at other parts of the plant's genome."

Davis and his colleagues determined that over an estimated 46 million years, rafflesia's blooms, which now weigh up to 15 lbs., evolved at an accelerated pace. However, after increasing in size by a factor of roughly 79, the plant then reverted to a more sedate evolutionary pace.

This evolutionary spurt is one of the most dramatic size changes ever reported among eukaryotes; if humans were to undergo comparable evolutionary growth, Davis says, an average man would end up some 146 meters tall, roughly the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Because rafflesia lacks the genes most commonly used to trace plant ancestry, the scientists delved deeper into the genome, looking at some 11,500 base pairs of DNA to determine that the giant flower's closest relatives are in the Euphorbiaceae family, many of which have blossoms just a few millimeters in diameter.

"The power of nucleic acid comparisons is revealed as well as ever in this stunning deduction," says noted botanist Peter H. Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, about his fellow scientists’ discovery. "The massive increase in flower size is one of the most significant among living organisms, and could never have been deduced by conventional methods."

Found growing on the jungle floor in parts of southeastern Asia, rafflesia is unusual in more than just its flower's size. A parasite, it derives its nutrients from a plant in the grapevine family and lacks leaves, stems, or roots. More dramatic is the plant's carcass-like appearance: Its blooms are a mottled blood red, reek of decaying flesh, and in some cases even emit heat, much like a recently killed animal. These traits help the flower attract the carrion flies that pollinate it.

"While it's surprising to find this giant plant evolved from a family typified by much smaller blossoms, rafflesia is unusual enough that it's frankly been difficult to imagine it fitting neatly into any plant family," Davis says. "Many botanists had refused to even speculate on where this botanical outlier might fit into the tree of life."

Rafflesia was first discovered in the Sumatran rain forest some 180 years ago by Sir Stamford Raffles, governor of the East India Company's establishments in Sumatra, and Joseph Arnold, a naturalist and physician. Shortly before Arnold died of malaria on the same expedition the flower was discovered, he described rafflesia as "the greatest prodigy of the vegetable world," adding, "To tell you the truth, had I been alone, and had there been no witnesses, I should think I would have been fearful of mentioning the dimensions of this flower, so much does it exceed every flower I have ever seen or heard of."

Photo : Rafflesia Arnoldii, Batang Palupuh, Sumatra, Indonesia.

Polar Bear (ursus maritimus)

2006-12-28T23:42:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : Kids’ Planet Website, Photo Source : Yahoo! Image /art.com)

Status :
Not federally listed as endangered or threatened. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Polar Bear Specialist Group lists most populations as "stable."

Description :
The polar bear rivals the Kodiak bear as the largest four-footed carnivore on Earth and can live up to 25 years. Although the polar bear?s coat appears white, each individual hair is actually a clear hollow tube that channels the sun?s energy directly to the bear?s skin and helps it stay warm. The polar bear?s entire body is furred, even the bottom of its paws. That helps prevent bears from slipping on the ice. The polar bear is classified as a marine mammal. Its feet are partially webbed for swimming, and its fur is water-repellent. A formidable predator, it has extremely sharp claws.

Size :

Males are 8 to 11 feet long and weigh 500 to 1,100 pounds but can reach as much as 1,500 pounds. Females are smaller, measuring 6 to 8 feet long, and weigh from 350 to 600 pounds, occasionally reaching 700 pounds.

Population :
Worldwide there are thought to be 22,000-27,000 polar bears in 19 separate populations. They can be found in the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland and on the Arctic islands of Norway. There are estimated to be about 3,000 to 5,000 polar bears in Alaska.

Range :
Polar bears are found throughout the Arctic and are the most nomadic of all bear species. They travel an average of 5,500 miles a year or 15 miles a day. In the United States, polar bears are located in two Alaskan populations: the Chukchi/Bering Seas of western Alaska and the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska.

Habitat :
The entire circumpolar Arctic region is polar bear habitat. They are equally comfortable in the water and on land. Polar bears can be found on pack ice, coastal islands, coastlines and even out in Arctic waters. They are exceptional swimmers and have been observed in the sea more than 100 miles from the nearest land or pack ice.

Food :
Polar bears are strictly carnivores and feed or scavenge only meat. Their primary prey is the ringed seal though they also take bearded, harp and hooded seals and the occasional walrus youngster. They will also scavenge walrus and whale carcasses. That sometimes results in temporary aggregations of polar bears at such sites. Other species, such as the Arctic fox, rely entirely upon "polar bear left-overs" after the bears have eaten their fill of seal skin and blubber, leaving the remaining meat for such scavengers.

Behavior :
The two main focuses of this solitary creature's life are to conserve energy and to hunt. Only pregnant females dig dens and hibernate in the traditional sense for extended periods. The other bears may enter into what is referred to as "walking hibernation" where they remain active and continue to hunt and feed, even though some of their metabolic processes may slow (decreased heart rates, respiration, lowered temperatures, etc.). Polar bears depend mostly on their sense of smell to determine the location of prey. Their white coats make great camouflage for hunting seals, and they will wait patiently for hours next to a seal?s air hole waiting for the seal to take a breath. Once the seal arrives, the polar bear will use its immense strength and sharp claws to clutch the seal and drag it through the small blowhole.

Offspring :
Females are able to breed at the age of five years. They dig dens either on the coastal mainland or out on the drifting pack ice in late October or early November, and then remain denned until the next spring. An average of two cubs are born, each weighing about 1 pound at birth and growing to about 15 pounds by the time they emerge in the spring. The cubs have much to learn and usually remain with their mothers for more than two years.
Threats :
The primary threat facing polar bears today may be global warming. Scientists have already documented measurable effects in the body sizes and reproductive success of bears at Hudson?s Bay. This southern-most population of polar bears has adapted to an ice-free summer by moving onshore at Churchill, Manitoba, and fasting through the short summer season until freeze-up occurs, and the bears can return to the ice. Global warming has resulted in prolonged ice-free periods, and the polar bears are left stranded onshore for longer and longer periods. Break-up in the spring occurs an average of 10-14 days earlier than 20 years ago and was four weeks earlier in 1999. Scientists estimate that for every week of delay in freeze-up, polar bears lose at least 22 pounds of critical fat reserves. Pregnant females are losing so much weight that they fail to produce enough milk for their cubs, which then suffer increased mortality. Once females fail to attain a minimum weight they won?t give birth at all, and scientists can already document a 15 percent drop in birth rates.

Another globally produced impact to polar bears are chemical pollutants that find their way into the cold Arctic ecosystems and then never disappear. Such chemicals as PCB?s (polychlorinated biphenyls), banned from the U.S. plastics industry since the 1970s, concentrate in the blubber of prey species that are then eaten by the bears. Such concentrations of these and other toxins are linked to immune deficiencies and generally reduced fitness in some polar bears.

The third threat of note is the proposed oil and gas development on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. This is the most important onshore denning habitat for polar bears in the United States. About half of the bears from the Beaufort Sea population den onshore, and half of these select the refuge?s coastal plain. This is the very place proposed for oil exploration. Both the seismic exploration phase and an eventual oil extraction phase could introduce serious disturbances that may result in den abandonment and death of the offspring.

Protection :
CITES* Appendix II, U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act, Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears.
*Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international treaty with more than 144 member countries. Appendix I listed species cannot be traded commercially. Appendix II listed species can be traded commercially only if it does not harm their survival.

Carnivorous Plants

2006-12-26T19:46:00.000+08:00

Most carnivorous plants eat flying, foraging, or crawling insects. Those that live in or around water capture very small aquatic prey like mosquito larvae and tiny fish. On rare occasions, some tropical carnivorous plants have even been reported to capture frogs, or even rats and birds (although these creatures were probably sick or already near death)! But don’t worry, these plants pose no danger to humans, even if you fell asleep in a whole bed of them.

Carnivorous plants tend to grow in places where the soil is thin or lacking in nutrients like bogs and rocky areas, so these plants must get some of their nutrients by trapping and digesting animals, especially insects. More than 600 species and subspecies of carnivorous plants have been identified, although some are now extinct. The Venus's-flytrap is probably the most famous.

Catching a Meal

Just like other plants that need to attract other creatures to help with things like pollination, carnivorous plants use different strategies to attract their prey. Some are sweetly scented, others are brightly colored, still others have parts that are sticky or slippery or designed in a way that makes it hard for prey to escape.

Once they have attracted their dinner, carnivorous plants use five basic trapping strategies:
Pitfall traps (like pitcher plants), in which the prey falls into a rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes and/or bacteria at the bottom;
Flypaper traps, that use a sticky glue substance to hold onto unsuspecting insects;
Snap traps (like the Venus’s-flytrap), where the leaves actually snap shut to create a plant prison;
Bladder traps, which use a bladder to suck in aquatic creatures; and
Lobster-pot traps, which use inward-pointing hairs to force prey towards the digestive enzymes.
The Venus’s-flytrap has long been an object of fascination (it even stars in a movie!). How does the plant move? Does it have muscles? Venus’s-flytraps aren’t the only type of carnivorous plant that moves, but they are the most commonly known. When something touches the trigger hairs on the edges of the leaves, the cells on the inside wall of the trap transfer water to the outside walls, so the inside essentially goes limp. This makes the leaf snap closed. Another way carnivorous plants move can be observed in sundew plants, which have a long flypaper trap. Once the prey gets stuck on the gluey tentacles, the tentacles embrace the creature by growing faster on the outside than the inside. And they can do this really fast. One species of sundew can bend 180º in only a minute or so!

The Digestion Question
So once they catch their prey, how do these plants digest the meal? Most carnivorous plants make their own digestive enzymes. Still others depend on bacteria to produce these enzymes; the bacteria cause the captured prey to rot and the plant absorbs the nutrients. Still other plants rely on both their own enzymes and additional enzymes generated by bacteria. Yet another method is even more unappetizing. Some carnivorous plants use bugs and insects as helpers. For example, on carnivorous sundews, assassin bugs crawl around and eat the insects that have been captured. Then these bugs poop and the feces provide dinner for the plant! Yuck!

Plant Eats Hollywood
Meat-eating plants have also captured the imagination of many writers and filmmakers. One of the more well-known carnivorous plant stories is Little Shop of Horrors, which was originally filmed in 1960, then made into a Broadway musical, with a second Hollywood release in 1986. This comedy/musical/horror film tells the story of a florist clerk who discovers an unusual plant with a unique appetite…for human blood.

Bridges

2006-12-26T19:23:00.000+08:00

Bridges have come a long way since ancient times, when people used logs or weaved vines to cross streams. In fact, they have become an art form.

The most common types of modern bridges include: beam, truss, arch, cantilever, cable-stay and suspension. A beam bridge, the simplest type of bridge, is made of long beams of wood, metal or concrete that are supported at each end by piers. In a truss bridge, the beams are arranged in a lattice pattern. Many railroad bridges are truss bridges.

Arch bridges feature roads built on top of arch curves. Arch bridges are made of steel, concrete or masonry. The Natchez Trace Bridge in Franklin, Tennessee, is an arch bridge. Suspension bridges are usually longer than other types of bridges. The road is suspended in the air on long cables that extend from one end of the bridge to the other. The cables sit atop tall towers and are secured on both sides by anchorages. The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is a suspension bridge.

Cable-stayed bridges look a lot like suspension bridges, but the cables are attached directly to supporting towers and are secured to the roadway. Picture : The Meiko Bridges in Nagoya is an example of a cable-stayed bridge.

All About Ozone

2006-12-26T19:02:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : The Environmental Protection Agency, Fact Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved., Photo Source : Yahoo! Image/wetteronline.de)

I. The Ozone Layer

The Earth's atmosphere is divided into several layers. The lowest region, the troposphere, extends from the Earth's surface up to about 10 kilometers (km) in altitude. The next layer, the stratosphere, continues from 10 km to about 50 km. Most atmospheric ozone is concentrated in a layer in the stratosphere, about 15–30 kilometers above the Earth's surface.

Ozone is a molecule containing three oxygen atoms. It is blue in color and has a strong odor. Normal oxygen, which we breathe, has two oxygen atoms and is colorless and odorless. Ozone is much less common than normal oxygen. Out of each 10 million air molecules, about 2 million are normal oxygen, but only 3 are ozone.

However, even the small amount of ozone plays a key role in the atmosphere. The ozone layer absorbs a portion of the radiation from the sun, preventing it from reaching the planet's surface. Most importantly, it absorbs the portion of ultraviolet light called UVB. UVB has been linked to many harmful effects, including various types of skin cancer, cataracts, and harm to some crops, certain materials, and some forms of marine life.

At any given time, ozone molecules are constantly formed and destroyed in the stratosphere. The total amount, however, remains relatively stable. While ozone concentrations vary naturally with sunspots, the seasons, and latitude, these processes are well understood and predictable. Each natural reduction in ozone levels has been followed by a recovery. Recently, however, convincing scientific evidence has shown that the ozone shield is being depleted well beyond changes due to natural processes.

II. Ozone Depletion

For over 50 years, chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, were thought of as miracle substances. They are stable, nonflammable, low in toxicity, and inexpensive to produce. Over time, CFCs found uses as refrigerants, solvents, foam blowing agents, and in other smaller applications. Other chlorine-containing compounds include methyl chloroform, a solvent, and carbon tetrachloride, an industrial chemical. Halons, extremely effective fire extinguishing agents, and methyl bromide, an effective produce and soil fumigant, contain bromine. All of these compounds have atmospheric lifetimes long enough to allow them to be transported by winds into the stratosphere. Because they release chlorine or bromine when they break down, they damage the protective ozone layer.

In the early 1970s, researchers began to investigate the effects of various chemicals on the ozone layer, particularly CFCs, which contain chlorine. They also examined the potential impacts of other chlorine sources. Chlorine from swimming pools, industrial plants, sea salt, and volcanoes does not reach the stratosphere. Chlorine compounds from these sources readily combine with water and repeated measurements show that they rain out of the troposphere very quickly. In contrast, CFCs are very stable and do not dissolve in rain. Thus, there are no natural processes that remove the CFCs from the lower atmosphere. Over time, winds drive the CFCs into the stratosphere.

The CFCs are so stable that only exposure to strong UV radiation breaks them down. When that happens, the CFC molecule releases atomic chlorine. One chlorine atom can destroy over 100,000 ozone molecules. The net effect is to destroy ozone faster than it is naturally created.

III. Ozone FAQ

What is the ozone layer and why is it important?
The ozone layer is a concentration of ozone molecules in the stratosphere. About 90% of the planet's ozone is in the ozone layer. The layer of the Earth's atmosphere that surrounds us is called the troposphere. The stratosphere, the next higher layer, extends about 10–50 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Stratospheric ozone is a naturally occurring gas that filters the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. A diminished ozone layer allows more radiation to reach the Earth's surface. For people, overexposure to UV rays can lead to skin cancer, cataracts, and weakened immune systems. Increased UV can also lead to reduced crop yield, disruptions in the marine food chain, and other harmful effects.

How does ozone depletion occur?
It is caused by the release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS), which were used widely as refrigerants, insulating foams, and solvents. The discussion below focuses on CFCs, but is relevant to all ODS. Although CFCs are heavier than air, they are eventually carried into the stratosphere in a process that can take as long as 2 to 5 years.
When CFCs reach the stratosphere, the ultraviolet radiation from the sun causes them to break apart and release chlorine atoms, which react with ozone, starting chemical cycles of ozone destruction that deplete the ozone layer. One chlorine atom can break apart more than 100,000 ozone molecules.
Other chemicals that damage the ozone layer include methyl bromide (used as a pesticide) and halons (used in fire extinguishers). As methyl bromide and halons are broken apart, they release bromine atoms, which are 40 times more destructive to ozone molecules than chlorine atoms.

How do we know that natural sources are not responsible for ozone depletion?
While it is true that volcanoes and oceans release large amounts of chlorine, the chlorine from these sources is easily dissolved in water and washes out of the atmosphere in rain. In contrast, CFCs are not broken down in the lower atmosphere and do not dissolve in water. The chlorine in these human-made molecules does reach the stratosphere. Measurements show that the increase in stratospheric chlorine since 1985 matches the amount released from CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances produced and released by human activities.

What is being done about ozone depletion?
In 1978, the use of CFC propellants in spray cans was banned in the U.S. In the 1980s, the Antarctic “ozone hole” appeared and an international science assessment more strongly linked the release of CFCs and ozone depletion. It became evident that a stronger worldwide response was needed. In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed and the signatory nations committed themselves to a reduction in the use of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances.
Since that time, the treaty has been amended to ban CFC production after 1995 in the developed countries, and later in developing. Today, over 160 countries have signed the treaty. Beginning January 1, 1996, only recycled and stockpiled CFCs will be available for use in developed countries like the US. This production phaseout is possible because of efforts to ensure that there will be substitute chemicals and technologies for all CFC uses.

Will the ozone layer recover? Can we make more ozone to fill in the hole?
The answers, in order, are: yes and no. We can't make enough ozone to replace what's been destroyed, but provided that we stop producing ozone-depleting substances, natural ozone production reactions should return the ozone layer to normal levels by about 2050. It is very important that the world comply with the Montreal Protocol; delays in ending production could result in additional damage and prolong the ozone layer's recovery.

Night at the Museum

2006-12-26T18:56:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : Yahoo! Movies)

Opens: December 22nd, 2006 (wide)
Starring: Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Kim Raver, Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox Distribution, 20th Century Fox International

What's the Story?
Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is a down-on-his-luck guy who gets a job as the night watchman at New York's Museum of Natural History. It's a boring job, until he accidentally unleashes an ancient curse and the exhibits start to come to life. Now he's got to keep a tiny Attila the Hun from fighting the ancient Romans, the cavemen from setting the place on fire, and the dinosaur bones from trampling everything.

Three Good Reasons
It's got the biggest names in comedy from three generations: Ben Stiller, Robin Williams and Dick Van Dyke.
Owen Wilson shows up as a miniature cowboy in his eighth on-screen collaboration with Stiller
Didn't you always wonder what those things in the museum were up to when everybody went home?

Bet You Didn't Know
Williams plays a wax statue of President Theodore Roosevelt, who helps Stiller's character deal with the rampaging exhibits. Roosevelt's father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., was one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History. The famous, Roman-style entrance to the museum is a monument to Teddy Roosevelt.

Winter Solstice

2006-12-21T16:04:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : by Ann-Marie Imbornoni, Fact Monster™ Database, © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Thu., Dec. 21, 2006, marks the solstice—the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
The precise moment of the 2006 solstice will be December 21, 2006 at 7:22 P.M. EST (Dec. 22, 00:22 UT).

In astronomy, the solstice is either of the two times a year when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn; the summer solstice occurs either June 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices are reversed.
Reason for the Seasons
The reason for the different seasons at opposite times of the year in the two hemispheres is that while the earth rotates about the sun, it also spins on its axis, which is tilted some 23.5 degrees towards the plane of its rotation. Because of this tilt, the Northern Hemisphere receives less direct sunlight (creating winter) while the Southern Hemisphere receives more direct sunlight (creating summer). As the Earth continues its orbit the hemisphere that is angled closest to the sun changes and the seasons are reversed.
Longest Night of the Year
The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice. Hence the origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, “sun” and -stitium, “a stoppage.” Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

Virgin birth expected for Komodo Dragon (varanus komodoensis) in UK zoo

2006-12-21T15:53:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : By Patricia Reaney, Wed Dec 20, 1:07 PM ET, Yahoo!NEWS )

LONDON (Reuters) - Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, is expecting eight babies in what scientists said on Wednesday could be a Christmas virgin birth.
Flora has never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon, and fertilized all the eggs herself, a process culminating in parthenogenesis, or virgin birth. Other lizards do this, but scientists only recently found that Komodo dragons do too.
"Nobody in their wildest dreams expected this. But you have a female dragon on her own. She produces a clutch of eggs and those eggs turn out to be fertile. It is nature finding a way," Kevin Buley of Chester Zoo in England said in an interview.
He said the incubating eggs could hatch around Christmas.Parthenogenesis has occurred in other lizard species, but Buley and his team said this was the first time it has been shown in Komodo dragons -- the world's largest lizards.
Scientists at Liverpool University in northern England discovered Flora had had no male help after doing genetic tests on three eggs that collapsed after being put in an incubator.
The tests on the embryos and on Flora, her sister and other dragons confirmed that Komodo dragons can reproduce through self-fertilization.
"Those genetic tests confirmed absolutely that Flora was both the mother and the father of the embryos. It completely blew us away because it (parthenogenesis) has never been seen in such a large species," Buley explained.
A Komodo dragon at London Zoo gave birth earlier this year after being separated from males for more than two years.
Scientists thought she had been able to store sperm from her earlier encounter with a male but, after hearing about Flora's eggs, researchers conducted tests which showed her eggs were also produced without male help.
"You have two institutions within a few short months of each other having a previously unheard of event. It is really quite unprecedented," said Buley.
The scientists, reporting the discovery in the science journal Nature, said it could help them understand how reptiles colonize new areas. A female dragon could, for instance, swim to another island and establish a new colony on her own.
"The genetics of self-fertilization in lizards means that all her hatchlings would have to be male. These would grow up to mate with their own mother and therefore, within one generation, there would potentially be a population able to reproduce normally on the new island," Buley added.

A Green Tea Overview

2006-12-21T15:48:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : The Salada Green Tea Website.//www.greentea.com, Photo Source : Yahoo! Image)

Green tea is the palest in color, ranging from light green to light yellow in color. Green tea is not oxidized; the leaves are steamed or baked immediately after being plucked. They are then rolled and dried allowing the leaves to remain green in color. Green tea is made from both new buds as well as young leaves – “pluckers” take ‘two leaves and a bud’. Green tea, which is unfermented tea, remains the most popular tea in Asian countries such as China and Japan. In fact, up until the eighteenth century, it was also the most popular form of tea in Britain as well. Imports of green tea into the United States outpaced black tea until about 1915. Much of the tea dumped into the Boston harbor during the Boston Tea Party, was in
fact green tea. Thus it is unlikely that the harbor turned to a copper color! About ninety percent of the world's green tea is produced in China. While most of the world's black tea comes from countries such as Sri Lanka (Ceylon), India, Kenya, Indonesia and Argentina, these countries produce little, if any, green tea. Several hundred varieties of green tea are made in China alone. Some of the most popular include Gunpowder, Hyson, Imperial Green, and Gyokuro (Japan). A cup of green tea is generally much lighter than other teas. While Asian cultures have believed for centuries that green tea has properties beneficial to human health, modern science is just now discovering that this may be true. ManufactureDifferences between green, black, and oolong teas occur during the processing of the tea leaves. Plucking All types are normally hand plucked. Pluckers take only the bud and two leaves, as only young leaves produce good quality tea. Machine plucked tea is usually inferior. WitheringThe next step in manufacturing is withering. Tea leaves are laid out and allowed to wilt for several hours. Leaves are laid out in bamboo trays or in withering beds indoors. Withering reduces the moisture content in the leaves and prepares them for the next step. Withering can be omitted during the production of green tea, but is crucial in black tea manufacture. SteamingThis process differentiates green tea from other types. After withering, green tea leaves are immediately steamed, baked, or pan heated. This crucial step in green tea manufacture prevents the oxidation (fermentation) of the leaves so that they remain green.RollingGreen tea is very often hand rolled, but mechanical rollers are used as well. The rolling process gives the leaves their appearance. During green tea manufacture, leaves are usually steamed rolled and steamed alternatively. Tightly rolled leaves are an indication of good quality tea. FiringGreen tea leaves are given a final firing to dry the leaves and ensure no oxidation of the leaves occurs. The firing of leaves is done in ovens.

DIFFERENCES IN THE TEA PROCESSING METHODDifferences in the tea processing method create three basic tea types - green tea, black tea and oolong tea. The amount of oxidation, often referred to as fermentation, that the tea leaves undergo determines the basic tea type. It is the oxidation process that produces tea’s distinctive color and taste characteristics. All tea comes from the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis tree. Tea gardens pluck or prune the Camellia Sinensis year round and the plant more resembles a bush, but allowed to grow wild, it reaches heights of about thirty feet.

Giant Panda (ailuropoda melanoleuca)

2006-12-19T03:39:00.000+08:00

(Original Source : WWF Website)

Emblem of hope for a nation and global biodiversity

The giant panda is universally loved, and of course has a special significance for WWF as it has been the organization's symbol since it was formed in 1961.
Today, the giant panda's future remains uncertain. This peaceful, bamboo-eating member of the bear family faces a number of threats. Its forest habitat, in the mountainous areas of southwest China, is fragmented and giant panda populations are small and isolated from
each other. Meanwhile, poaching remains an ever-present threat.

Over 50 reserves created
By mid-2005, the Chinese government had established over 50 panda reserves, protecting more than 10,400km² and over 45 % of remaining giant panda habitat.
However, habitat destruction continues to pose a threat to the many pandas living outside
these areas, and poaching is a further problem. Today, only around 61% of the population, or about 980 pandas, are under protection in reserves. As China's economy continues its rapid development, it is more important than ever to ensure the giant panda's
survival.

WWF on the ground
WWF has been active in giant panda conservation since 1980, when it supported U.S. scientist Dr. George Schaller and his Chinese colleagues in field studies in the Wolong Nature Reserve. WWF was the first international conservation organization to work in China at the Chinese Government's invitation.
More recently, WWF has been helping the government of China to undertake its National
Conservation Programme for the giant panda and its habitat. This programme has made significant progress: Reserves for this species cover more than 16,000 km² of forest in and around their habitat. The latest survey (released in 2004) revealed that there are 1,600 individuals estimated to remain in the wild.

Physical Description
Species Description
Pandas have a white coat with black fur around their eyes, on their ears, muzzle, legs and shoulders. The unique physical features of the species include broad, flat molars and an enlarged wrist bone that functions as an opposable thumb - both of these adaptations are used for holding, crushing and eating bamboo.
Giant pandas are classified as bears and have the digestive system of a carnivore, but they have adapted to a vegetarian diet and depend almost exclusively on bamboo as afood source. Pandas live mainly on the ground but have the ability to climb trees as well. While the species does not hibernate, it often relocates to lower altitudes in the winter and spring.

Size
Giant pandas are about 150 cm long from nose to rump, with a 10-15 cm tail. A large adult panda can weigh about 100-150 kg, with males 10% larger and 20% heavier than females.

Colour
Distinctive black and white coat.

Habitat
Major habitat type
Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests

Biogeographic realm
Palearctic

Range States
China

Geographical Location
Southwest China (Gansu, Shaanxi, and Sichuan Provinces) to the east of the Tibetan plateau.

Ecological Region
Temperate forest of the upper Yangtze

Why is this species important?
Panda habitat is found at the top of the Yangtze Basin, an ecoregion shared by both pandas and millions of people whose ancestors have utilized the region's natural resources for millenia. The Basin is the geographic and economic heart of China, and is one of the critical regions for biodiversity conservation in the world. Its diverse habitats contain many rare, endemic and endangered animal and plant species, the best known being the giant panda. Economic benefits derived from the Yangtze Basin include tourism, subsistence fisheries and agriculture, transport, hydropower and water resources.The survival of the panda and the protection of its habitat will ensure that people living in the region continue to reap ecosystem benefits for many generations.

Interesting Facts
A giant panda may consume 12-38 kg of bamboo a day to meet its energy requirements.