Friday, February 23, 2007

The Institution of Engineers

The Institution of Engineers (IEI) was established by Sir Thomas Holland and others in Madras in 1920. In 1935, it obtained the Royal Charter from King George V to promote and move ahead the art, science and practice of engineering and technology in India.
The first President of the Institution was Sir Thomas R J Ward. Sir Thomas Guthrie Russell played a key role in the winning petition for a Royal Charter. The current President is Prof S C Naik.
The organization has been prominent amongst the founder members of the Commonwealth Engineers' Council and the Federation of Engineering Institutions of South and Central Asia. The Institution has a conditional membership of the Engineers Mobility Forum since 2003.
Today, the Institution is head-quartered in Kolkata, with 94 state and local centres. With half a million members, it is one of the biggest professional bodies in the English-speaking world. Life corporate members of the Institution are accredited with the Chartered Engineer title.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Education

Education is a term often used to refer to prescribed education. The word's broader meaning covers a variety of experiences, from formal learning to the building of understanding and knowledge throughout day to day experiences. Ultimately, it might be and has been said that all that we experience serves as a form of education. It is a generally held belief that education is lifelong. Individuals receive informal education from a mixture of sources. Family members, peers, books and mass media have a strong authority on the informal education of the individual.
Education also refers to a regulation, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to understanding and improving the processes of teaching and learning. It draws on additional disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, sociology and anthropology.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Gardening

Gardening is the art of growing plants with the aim of crafting a purposeful landscape. Residential gardening most often takes place in or about a residence, in a space referred to as the garden. Although a garden naturally is located on the land near a residence, it may also be located in a roof, in an entrance, on a balcony, in a windowbox, or on a yard.
Gardening also takes place in non-residential green areas, such as parks, public or semi-public gardens (botanical gardens or zoological gardens), pleasure and theme parks, along transportation corridors, and around tourist attractions and hotels. In these situations, a staff of gardeners or groundskeepers maintains the gardens.
Indoor gardening is concerned with the increasing of houseplants within a residence or building, in a conservatory, or in a greenhouse. Indoor gardens are sometimes included as part of air conditioning or heating systems.
Water gardening is concerned with growing plants adapted to pools and ponds. Bog gardens are also considered a type of water garden. These all require extraordinary conditions and considerations. A simple water garden may consist simply of a tub containing the water and plant(s).
Container gardening is concerned with growing plants in any type of container either indoors or outdoors. Common containers are pots, hanging baskets, and planters. Container gardening is usually used in atriums and on balconies, patios, and roof tops.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Jewellery

Jewellery is factually any piece of fine material used to decorate oneself. Although in earlier times jewellery was created for more convenient uses, such as wealth storage and pinning clothes together, in recent times it has been used almost completely for beautification. The first pieces of jewellery were made from likely materials, such as bone and animal teeth, shell, wood and engraved stone. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were covered with it.Jewellery is made out of almost every material recognized and has been made to garnish nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality and artistic pieces are made with gemstones and valuable metals, less pricey costume jewellery is made from less-valuable materials and is mass-produced.Form and function Kenyan man exhausting tribal beads.Over time, jewellery has been used for a number of reasons: Currency, wealth display and storage, purposeful Symbolism Protection and Artistic display Most cultures have at some point had a practice of observance large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of jewelry, or create jewelry as a means to store or display coins. on the other hand, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good; a mostly poignant example being the use of slave beads.
In creating jewellery, a variety of gemstones, coins, or other valuable items can be used, often set into precious metals. Common expensive metals used for modern jewellery include gold, platinum or silver, although alloys of nearly every metal known can be encountered in jewellery -- bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Most gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is affirmed in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. For example, ordinary gold jewellery ranges from 10K (41.7% pure gold) to 22K (91.6% pure gold), while 24K (99.9% pure gold) is considered too soft for jewellery use. Platinum alloys variety from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). The silver used in jewellery is usually sterling silver, or 92.5% fine silver.Other generally used materials include glass, such as merged glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; natural clay, polymer clay, and even plastics.
Jewellery and society
One universal issue is control over who could wear what jewellery, a point which indicate the powerful symbolism the wearing of jewellery evoked. In ancient Rome, for instance, only convinced ranks could wear rings; later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewellery; again based on rank. Cultural dictate have also played a important role; for example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered "effeminate" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. on the other hand, the jewellery industry in the early 20th century launched a crusade to popularize wedding rings for men — which caught on — as well as appointment rings for men , going so far as to make a false history and claim that the practice had Medieval roots. By the mid 1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. feature a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s.Religion has also played a role: Islam, for instance, consider the wearing of gold by men as a social taboo,and many religions have edicts against extreme display.