European Space Agency

100 The European Space Agency, recognized in 1975, is an inter-governmental organization dedicated to exploration of space with currently 16 member states. Its headquarters are in Paris, France. ESA has a staff of about 1,900 with a budget of 3 billion euros in 2005.

ESA's spaceport is the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, a site chosen because it is close up to the equator from which commercially essential orbits are easier to access. During the era of Ariane 4 ESA gained the location of market leader in important space launches and in current years ESA has established itself as the main competitor of NASA in space exploration.

ESA's mission
Since the Cold War ended with the fall of the Soviet Union's "iron curtain," space agencies around the world had to redeploy and amend their visions and goals. In an conference with JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, Jean-Jacques Dordain ESA's Director General outlined briefly the European Space agency's mission:

Today space activities are pursued for the advantage of citizens, and citizens are asking for a well again quality of life on earth. They want greater security and economic wealth, but they also want to pursue their dreams, to increase their knowledge, and they want younger people to be fascinated to the pursuit of science and technology.

Radio clock

A radio clock is a clock that is synchronized by a time code bit stream transmitted by a radio transmitter associated to a time standard such as an atomic clock. The picture shows a type of radio controlled digital clock. With special mechanism, radio controlled analog clocks are also available.
A radio controlled clock consists of an antenna for intercepting the RF time code signal, a receiving circuit to exchange the time code RF signal into digital time code, and a controller circuit to decode the time code bit streams and to drive an output circuit which can be LCD in case of digital clocks or stepping motors in case of analog clocks.

Orange

Orange refers to a citrus tree and the fruits of this tree. It is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo and tangerine. It is a small tree, growing to about 10 m tall, with thorny shoots and evergreen leaves 4-10 cm long. The fruit originated in southeast Asia, in either India, Vietnam or southern China. The fruit from the species Citrus aurantium are also called oranges, varieties of C. aurantium are more bitter than C. sinensis.
Cultivation and uses
'Ambersweet' orangesOrange cultivation is a major business and an significant part of the economies of the US, Florida and California, many Mediterranean countries, Romania, South Africa, China, and the Riverina district around the Murray River in Australia.
Oranges are generally grown in warm climates worldwide, and the flavors of orange vary from sweet to sour. The fruit is generally peeled and eaten fresh, or squeezed for its juice. It has a thick bitter rind that is usually discarded, but can be processed into animal feed by removing water using pressure and heat. It is also used in certain recipes as flavoring or a garnish. The outer-most layer of the rind is grated or thinly veneered with a tool called a zester, to produce orange zest which is popular in cooking because it has a similar flavor to the fleshy inner part of the orange. The white part of the rind, called the pith, is almost always discarded. Oranges also can be used to create citrus oil, which is used in aromatherapy to uplift and relieve stress.

Cold River (Maine)

The Cold River is a 16.4 mile long (26.5 km) river placed in western Maine in the United States. It very briefly enters New Hampshire as well. It is part of the Saco River drainage basin.

The Cold River begins at the height of land in Evans Notch, a pass through the eastern White Mountains. Maine Highway 113, a narrow two-lane road, passes through the notch, subsequent the Cold River on the south side and Evans Brook, a tributary of the Androscoggin River, on the north. The Cold River, flowing south, picks up the Mad River, a short stream with waterfalls that flows off the southern faces of East Royce and West Royce mountains, then reaches the southern base of Evans Notch at the junction of Basin Brook, coming out of a large glacial cirque to the west, where the Cold River national forest campground is located.

South of Basin Brook, the Cold River briefly enters New Hampshire near the village of North Chatham, then veers back into Maine, flowing south-southwest in the town of Stow through an ever-widening valley. The Little Cold River enters from the west near the village of Stow. The Cold River ends at Charles Pond in the northern corner of Fryeburg. Water flows from Charles Pond via the short Charles River, entering the Old Course of the Saco River and finally the Saco itself south of Kezar Pond.

Rameswaram

Rameswaram (Chennai to Rameswaram 572 km) is a small island in the Gulf of Mannar, is a major pilgrim centre. It is linked to the mainland by road and railway bridges. Rameswaram is a holy place because Sri Rama, on his return from Sri Lanka, offered his thanks to Lord Shiva and performed pooja to wash away his sin in killing the Demon King, Ravana.
Rameswaram is known for its 22 theerthas or wells in and around the main temple. This place is evenly sacred to both Vaishnavites and Shaivites. According to Hindu Mythology, if one visits Rameswaram and prays to Lord Shiva one will be relieved of one’s sins. It is 197 metres long.
The Ramanathaswamy temple is famous for its magnificent corridors and massive sculptured pillars. The third corridor of Ramanathaswamy temple is the longest one in the world.
Besides pilgrimage, Rameswaram Island has some places, which are ideal picnic spots. There are beautiful beaches at Olaikuda, Dhanushkodi and Pamban. The Olaikuda beach is 1 km from the main temple and s engulfed by coral reefs, which makes bathing in the sea safe and enjoyable. With diving glasses and respiration tubes, scuba diving is safe and possible. Flamingos, sea gulls and a variety of birds travel to the Rameswaram Island during winter.
Rameswaram is a main fishing centre of Tamil Nadu. Variety of fishes with export quality fish like prawns, sea cucumber, and lobster are available here. Rameswaram is also famous for its dry fish.

Kite fishing

Kite fishing is supposed to have been first invented in China. It was, and is, also used by the people of New Guinea and other Pacific Islands - either by cultural distribution from China or independent invention.
Kites can give the boatless fishermen access to waters that would otherwise be available only to boats. Similarly, for boat owners, kites provide a way to fish in areas where it is not safe to find the way such as shallows or coral reefs where fish may be plentiful. Kites can also be used for trolling a lure through the water.
Suitable kites may be of very easy construction. Those of Tobi Island are a large leaf stiffened by the ribs of the fronds of the coconut palm. The fishing line may be made from coconut fibre and the lure made from spiders webs.
Modern kitefishing is popular in New Zealand, where large delta kites of synthetic materials are used to fish from beaches, taking a line and hooks far out past the breakers. Kite fishing is also emerging in Melbourne where sled kites are becoming well-liked, both off beaches and off boats and in freshwater areas. link title The disabled community are ever more using the kites for fishing as they allow mobility impaired people to cast the bait further out than they would otherwise be able to.

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food preservative for the purpose of flavoring.
Many of the same substances have other uses in which they are referred to by different terms, e. g. in food preservation, medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery or as vegetables. For example, turmeric is also used as a preservative; licorice as a medicine; garlic as a vegetable and nutmeg as a recreational drug.
Spices are illustrious from herbs, which are leafy, green plant parts used for flavoring purposes. Herbs, such as basil or oregano, may be used fresh, and are normally chopped into smaller pieces; spices, however, are dried and usually ground into a powder.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Journalism Basics

Journalism is a concrete, professionally oriented major that involves gathering, interpreting, distilling, and other reporting information to the general audiences through a variety of media means. Journalism majors learn about every possible kind of Journalism (including magazine, newspaper, online journalism, photojournalism, broadcast journalism, and public relations).
That's not all, though. In addition to dedicated training in writing, editing, and reporting, Journalism wants a working knowledge of history, culture, and current events. You'll more than likely be required to take up a broad range of courses that runs the range from statistics to the hard sciences to economics to history. There would also be a lot of haughty talk about professional ethics and civic responsibility too - and you'll be tested on it. To top it all off, you'll perhaps work on the university newspaper or radio station, or possibly complete an internship with a magazine or a mass media conglomerate.

Charleston earthquake – Pre-20th Century

The Charleston Earthquake of 1886 was the biggest quake to hit the Southeastern United States. It occurred at 9:50 p.m. on August 31, 1886. The earthquake caused severe damage in Charleston, South Carolina, damaging 2,000 buildings and causing $6 million value in damages, while in the entire city the buildings were only valued at approximately $24 million. Between 60 and 110 lives were lost.
Major damage occurred as far away as Tybee Island, Georgia (over 60 miles away) and structural injure was reported some hundred miles from Charleston (counting central Alabama, central Ohio, eastern Kentucky, southern Virginia, and western West Virginia). It was felt as far away as Boston to the North, Chicago and Milwaukee to the Northwest, as far West as New Orleans, as far South as Cuba, and also as far East as Bermuda.
Good Friday Earthquake – 20th Century
The Good Friday Earthquake (also known as the Great Alaska Earthquake) of Friday, March 27, 1964, was the most dominant earthquake in U.S. and North American history. As of 2006, it remains the third most powerful earthquake deliberate in modern times everywhere in the world. The magnitude 9.2 earthquake that resulted in 131 deaths was centered in Prince William Sound off the coastline of South Central Alaska. The powerful earthquake also caused some parts of Alaska to be liquefied, resulted much damage to property and leading to landslides.

A brief history of evolution

Evolution is a change in the genetic structure of a variety. For thousands of years during pre-scientific times the theory of evolution was unreal. The understanding of the universe was based only on the interpretation of paranormal concepts; God created Earth and made everything the way it is. People thought that to think differently would be impractical.

There were two long-standing planning that impeded the development of the concept of evolution. One would be the fixity of variety. The notion of Fixity of Species is that, “Species, once produced, can never modify.” This is a theory that is totally different to those of biological evolution. God created man as well as he is who he is. The non-living and whole worlds are fixed by creation.

Modern ice cream

In the 18th century cream, milk, and egg yolks began to feature in the recipes of previously dairy-free flavored ices, resulting in ice cream in the modern sense of the word. The 1751 edition of The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy by Hanna Glasse features a recipe for raspberry cream ice. 1768 saw the publication of L'Art de Bien Faire les Glaces d'Office by M. Emy, a cookbook devoted entirely to recipes for flavored ices and ice cream.

Ice cream was introduced to the United States by colonists who brought their ice cream recipes with them. Confectioners, many of whom were Frenchmen, sold ice cream at their shops in New York and other cities during the colonial era. Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson were known to have regularly eaten and served ice cream. Dolley Madison is also closely associated with the early history of ice cream in the United States.

History of Kerala

According to fable, Parasurama caused the oceans to retreat, enlightening Kerala. During Neolithic times, humans mainly avoided Kerala's malarial rainforests and wetlands; thus, the first evidence of environment potsherds and dolmens dates to the 10th century BCE. These were shaped by speakers of a proto-Tamil verbal communication from northwestern India, suggestive of that ancient Kerala and Tamil Nadu once shared a common language, civilization, and culture. By the early 14th century, Kerala had become a linguistically separate region. The first major recorded kingdom, the Chera, ruled Kerala from Vanchi.

Related with the Pallavas, they warred against the Chola and Pandya kingdoms. A Keralite identity distinct from the Tamils and linked with the second Chera Empire and the development of Malayalam evolved throughout the 8th–14th centuries. In written account, Kerala was first mentioned in the Sanskrit epic Aitareya Aranyaka. Later, figures such as Katyayana, Patanjali, Pliny the Elder, and the unknown novelist of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea displayed expertise with Kerala.

Classification

A tree is a plant appearance that occurs in many special orders and families of plants. Trees thus show a wide selection of growth form, leaf type and shape, bark personality, reproductive structures, etc.

The earliest trees were tree ferns and horsetails, which grew in huge forests in the Carboniferous Period; tree ferns still live, but the only surviving horsetails are not of tree form. Later on, in the Triassic Period, conifers, ginkgos, cycads and other gymnosperms appeared, and subsequently flowering plants in the Cretaceous Period. Most species of trees today are peak plants and conifers. The listing under gives examples of many well-known trees and how they are naturally classified.

A small group of trees growing jointly is called a grove or copse, and a landscape enclosed by a dense growth of trees is called a forest. Numerous biotopes are defined largely by the plants that inhabit them; examples are tropical forest and taiga. A landscape of trees spread or spaced across grassland is called a savanna.

Cellulose-based plastics: celluloid and rayon

All Goodyear had completed with vulcanization was improving the properties of a usual polymer. The next logical step was to use a normal polymer, cellulose, as the basis for a new material.Inventors were particularly involved in developing synthetic substitutes for those natural materials that were exclusive and in short deliver, since that meant a profitable market to exploit. Ivory was a particularly attractive target for a synthetic substitution.

An Englishman from Birmingham named Alexander Parkes developed a "synthetic ivory" named "pyroxlin", which he marketed below the trade name "Parke sine", and which won a bronze medal at the 1862 World's fair in London. Parke sine was prepared from cellulose treated with nitric acid and a solvent. The productivity of the process hardened into a tough, ivory-like material that might be molded when heated.

Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a giant sculpture of the god Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos, a pupil of Lysippos, between 292 BC and 280 BC. It was approximately the same size as the Statue of Liberty in New York, although it stood on a lower platform. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Alexander the Great died at an early age in 323 BC without having had occasion to put into place any plans for his succession. Fighting broke out among his generals, the Diadochi, with three of them ultimately divides up much of his empire in the Mediterranean area. During the fighting Rhodes had sided with Ptolemy, and when Ptolemy eventually took organize of Egypt, Rhodes and Ptolemaic Egypt formed an alliance which controlled much of the trade in the eastern Mediterranean.

Architecture and buildings

The difference between architecture and building is a subject that has engaged the notice of many. According to Nicolas Pilsner, European historian of the early twentieth century, a bicycle shed is a construction; Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture. This difference, however, is not a clear one, and fashionable scholarship is showing that all buildings, cathedrals and bicycle sheds alike, are part of a single field that characterizes the build world.
Structural design is also the art of designing the built situation. Buildings, landscape, and street design may be used to impart both functional as well as aesthetic character to a project. Siding and roofing materials and colors may be used to enhance or blend buildings with the environment. Building features such as cornices, gables, entrances, fenestrations and textures may be used to soften or enhance portions of a building. Landscaping may be used to create privacy and block direct views from or to a site and enhance buildings with colorful plants and trees. Street side features such as decorative illumination, benches, indirect walkways, and bicycle lanes may improve a site for passerby, pedestrians, and cyclists.