Thursday, March 29, 2007

Major ice ages

There have been at least four main ice ages in the Earth's past.

The earliest hypothesized ice age is believed to have occurred around 2.7 to 2.3 billion years ago through the early Proterozoic Age.

Main article: Snowball Earth.

The most primitive well-documented ice age, and probably the most harsh of the last 1 billion years, occurred from 800 to 600 million years ago and it has been suggested that it formed a Snowball Earth in which permanent sea ice extensive to or very near the equator. It has been not compulsory that the end of this ice age was responsible for the subsequent Cambrian Explosion, though this theory is current and contentious.

The timing of ice ages all through geologic history is in part prohibited by the position of the continental plates on the surface of the Earth. When landmasses are determined near the Polar Regions, there is an increased chance for snow and ice to build up. Small changes in solar energy can tip the balance between summers in which the winter snow mass completely melts and summers in which the winter snow persists until the following winter. Due to the positions of Greenland, Antarctica, and the northern portions of Europe, Asia, and North America in Polar Regions, the Earth today is considered prone to ice age glaciations.

Proof for ice ages comes in a variety of forms, including rock scouring and scratching, glacial moraines, drumlins, valley cutting, and the deposition of till or tillites and glacial erratic. Successive glaciations be inclined to distort and erase the geological proof, making it difficult to interpret. It took some time for the current theory to be worked out. Analyses of ice cores and ocean sediment cores unmistakably show the record of glacial and interglacial over the past few million years.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Banksia

Banksia is a genus of around 80 species in the plant family Proteaceae. They are native to Australia, occurring in all but the most arid areas. Easily recognized by their characteristic flower spikes and fruiting "cones", Banksia are a well-known Australian wildflower and a popular garden plant. They grow in forms varying from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up to 25 metres tall. They are normally known as Banksias or Australian Honeysuckle Trees.
Banksias grow as trees or woody shrubs. The largest trees, the Coast Banksia, B. integrifolia, and the River Banksia, B. seminuda, often grow over 15 metres tall, and may be up to 25 metres tall. Banksia species that grow as shrubs are typically erect, but there are some species that are prostrate, with branches that grow on or below the soil.
The leaves of Banksia vary greatly among species. Sizes vary from the narrow, 1–1½ centimetre long leaves of the Heath-leaved Banksia, B. ericifolia, to the very large leaves of the Bull Banksia, B. grandis, which may be up to 45 centimetres long. The leaves of most species have serrated edges, but a few, such as B. integrifolia, do not. Leaves are usually arranged along the branches in irregular spirals, but in some species they are crowded together in whorls.
Banksias are most without difficulty recognised by their characteristic flower spike, and the woody fruiting structures that appear after flowering. The flower spike consists of a central woody axis with a furry coating; it is usually held erect, but hangs down in a few species. This axis is enclosed in tightly-packed pairs of flowers, which are attached to the axis at right angles. A single flower spike may have over a thousand flowers.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Studio cameras

Most studio cameras stand on the floor, regularly with pneumatic or hydraulic mechanisms to adjust the height, and are typically on wheels. Any video camera when used along with other video cameras in a studio setup is controlled by a device well-known as CCU (camera control unit), to which they are linked via a Triax or Multicore cable. The camera control unit along with other equipments is installed in the production control room often documented as Gallery of the television studio. When used outside a studio, they are often on tracks. Initial models used analog technology, but digital models are becoming more common. Some studio cameras are light and small enough to be taken off the pedestal and used on a cameraman's shoulder, but they still have no recorder of their own and are cable-bound.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Haze

Haze is an atmospheric occurrence where dust, smoke and other pollutant particles obscure the usual clarity of the sky. It occurs when dust and smoke particles build up in relatively dry air. When weather conditions block the dispersal of smoke and other pollutants they concentrate and form a generally low-hanging shroud that impairs visibility and may become a respiratory health threat. Dense haze caused by industrial pollution is also known as smog.
Sources for haze particles include farming (ploughing in dry weather), traffic, industry, forest fires and peat field fire.
Seen from afar (e.g. approaching airplane), haze is brownish, while mist is more blueish-grey. While haze is formed in somewhat dryish air, in more humid air mist is formed, and the haze particles can even act as condensation nuclei for the mist droplets.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Mirror

A mirror is an object whose surface has good specular reflection; that is, it is smooth sufficient to form an image. The most common type of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface. Curved mirrors are also used, to produce magnified or demagnified images or focus light.
The most common use of mirrors is for personal hygiene. However, mirrors are also used in scientific apparatus such as telescopes and lasers, as well as industrial machinery. Most mirrors are designed for visible light, however, mirrors intended for other wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation are also used, particularly in optical instruments.

Monday, March 05, 2007

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: Torre pendente di Pisa) or simply The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or self-supporting bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the Cathedral and it is the third structure in Pisa's Campo dei Miracoli (field of Miracles).
Although planned to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has permitted the foundation to shift.
The height of the tower is 55.86 m (183.27 ft) from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70 m (186.02 ft) on the highest side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m (13.42 ft) and at the top 2.48 m (8.14 ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 tonnes. The tower has 294 steps.
The Tower of Pisa was a work of art, performed in three stages over a period of about 174 years. Construction of the first floor of the white marble campanile began on August 9, 1173, a period of military success and prosperity. This first floor is enclosed by pillars with classical capitals, leaning against blind arches. Today, it is still unscarred from centuries of weather and age.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Mobile

A mobile or cellular telephone is a long-range, transferable electronic device for personal telecommunications over long distances. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, current mobile phones can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video. Most current mobile phones attach to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception are satellite phones).
Mobile phones are not distinct from cordless telephones, which usually operate only within a limited range of a specific base station. In principle, the term mobile phone includes such devices as satellite phones and pre-cellular mobile phones such as those operating via MTS which do not have a cellular network, whereas the linked term cell(ular) phone does not. In practice, the two terms are used almost interchangeably.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Manhattan

Manhattan refers to both the Island of Manhattan and encompasses most of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the five boroughs of New York City. The viable, financial, and cultural center of the city, Manhattan has many famous landmarks, tourist attractions, museums and universities. It is also home to the control center of the United Nations and the seat of city government.
The borough of Manhattan is coterminous with New York County, which is also the most densely populated county in the United States. Postal addresses within the borough are typically chosen as "New York, NY."
Manhattan has the biggest central business district in the United States and is the site of most of the city's corporate headquarters and the New York Stock Exchange. Although its population is third biggest of the five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, and it is geographically the smallest, Manhattan is the borough that many visitors most personally associate with New York City.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Indian culture

Indian culture can be classified into many different form which are existent in their totality throughout the territory of India. The culture of India has been influenced by different religions and customs of the world, which resulted in the mingling of religious values, folk idioms and art forms. While the religious influence is relatively evident in the "classical" Indian culture mostly found in smaller towns and villages, the urban India is now widely influenced globalization.
The cultural policy of the Government of India has three most important objectives. One of them is to preserve the cultural heritage of India; to repeat Indian art consciousness amongst countrymen and to promote high standards in innovative and performing arts fields

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Eye movement

Animals with compound eyes have a wide field of vision, allowing them to look in many directions. To see more, they have to move about their entire head or even body.The visual system in the brain is too slow to process that information if the images are slipping across the retina at more than a few degrees per second. Thus, for humans to be able to see while moving, the brain must compensate for the motion of the head by turning the eyes. Another complication for vision in frontal-eyed animals is the development of a small area of the retina with a very high visual sharpness. This area is called the fovea, and covers about 2 degrees of visual angle in people. To get a clear view of the world, the brain must turn the eyes so that the image of the object of regard falls on the fovea. Eye movements are thus very essential for visual perception, and any failure to make them correctly can lead to serious visual disabilities.Having two eyes is an added complication, because the brain must point both of them accurately enough that the object of regard falls on corresponding points of the two retinas; otherwise, double vision would occur. The movements of different body parts are controlled by striated muscles acting around joints. The movements of the eye are no exception, but they have special advantages not shared by skeletal muscles and joints, and so are considerably different.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Software

Software basically is the distinct image or representation of physical or material position that constitute configuration to or functional identity of a machine, usually a computer. As a substance of memory, software in principle can be changed without the alteration to the static paradigm of the hardware thus without the remanufacturing thereof. generally software is of an algorithmic form which translates into being to a progression of machine instructions. Some software, however, is of a relational form which translate into being the map of a recognition network.
Software is a program that enables a computer to achieve a specific task, as contrasting to the physical components of the system (hardware). This include application software such as a word processor, which enables a user to achieve a task, and system software such as an operating system, which enables other software to run suitably, by interfacing with hardware and with other software.
The term "software" was first used in this intellect by John W. Tukey in 1957. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all computer program. The perception of reading different sequences of instructions into the memory of a apparatus to control computations was invented by Charles Babbage as part of his difference engine. The theory that is the source for most modern software was first projected by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungs problem.
TypesPractical computer systems partition software into three major classes: system software, programming software and application software, although the division is subjective, and often blurred.
* System software is one of the major class helps run the computer hardware and computer system. It includes working systems, device drivers, analytical tools, servers, windowing systems, utilities and more. The intention of systems software is to protect the applications programmer as much as possible from the details of theexacting computer complex being use, especially memory and other hardware features, and such accessory procedure as communications, printers, readers, displays, keyboards, etc.
* Programming software usually provide tools to support a programmer in writing computer programs and software with different programming languages in a more suitable way.The tools comprise text editors, compilers, interpreters, linkers, debuggers, and so on, An incorporated development environment (IDE) merge those tools into a software bundle, and a programmer may not need to type various command for compiling, interpreter, debugging, tracing, and etc., because the IDE typically has an sophisticated graphical user interface, or GUI.
* Application software allows humans to complete one or more explicit (non-computer related) tasks. typical applications include manufacturingautomation, business software, educational software, medical software, databases and computer games. Businesses are possibly the biggest users of application software, but approximately every field of human action now uses some form of application software. It is used tocomputerizeall sorts of functions.

Friday, January 26, 2007

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.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Historical background of real estate

History of the wordThe word 'real' in the context of 'real estate' is not the opposite of 'unreal' but is in fact derived from the same source as the word 'royal'. An illustration of this is found today in the name of soccer team Real Madrid, meaning Royal Madrid.
Interpretations varyWhen the word 'real' was originally used in conjunction with the word 'property', it had the literal meaning under common law of royal property. Translated for application in the United Kingdom today, this term refers to Crown property (since the real property rights of the British Royal Family were amended under the Act of Settlement.) However, since Scotland is not a common law jurisdiction, its strict interpretation today differs from that of its application to England and Wales and other localities where common law does apply.
Within international jurisdictions, such as those states of the United States where common law is applicable (and not all states are common law states), the term refers to both the land owned by the federal government; land owned by the state; land owned by Indian tribes (where applicable), and the land owned by individuals and companies within that state. This is in contrast to all other property in such states which is then deemed to be 'personal' property.
Even when common law is the governing law, interpretations of real property under common law vary according to the jurisdiction.

DefinitionsAn important area of real immovable property are the definitions of estates in land. These are various interests that may limit the ownership rights one has over the land. The most common and perhaps most absolute type of estate is the fee simple which signifies that the owner has the right to dispose of the property as she/he sees fit. Other estates include the life estate where the owner's rights to the property cease at their death and fee tail estates where the property at the time of death passes to the heirs of the body (i.e. children, grandchildren, descendants) of the owner of the estate before he died.

Monday, December 11, 2006

A Day at the Park

A couple of months ago I went to the playground with my nephew. I keep in mind the day like be yesterday. The climate was cool and clouds were transparency. I sat by myself and watching the play and watch everything take place something like exciting things just watching people, but surprised at what I did discover. Children were all over the place and were tiresome coats that had their preferred characters on them. A girl had plum mittens with a teletubby on them.

Before I know it, it was time to depart as my nephew and I walked back to my car the thought of being a kid again would be vast. One of the boys complicated in the game fell down and began to shed tears. There were only two mothers at the playground and seven children not including a baby by the side of one of the mothers. They would lash out, wet sand all over their backs as they ran. Although that was going on, the other children discovered that when they went down the slide it shocked them.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

History of chocolate

The word chocolate is derived from the Nahunta language of the Aztecs of Mexico. The word is derived from the Nahunta word xocolatl. The word is derived from xocolli bitter, and atl, water. It is associated with the Mayan god of Fertility. Mexican philologist Ignacio Davila Garibi proposed that "Spaniards had coined the word by taking the Maya word chocol and then replacing the Maya term for water, haa, with the Aztec one, Atl."[Verification needed] However, it is more likely that the Aztecs themselves coined the term, having long adopted into the Nahuatl the Mayan word for the "cacao" bean; the Spanish had little contact with the Mayans before Cortés's early reports to the Spanish King of the beverage known as xocolatl.

The chocolate residue found in an ancient Maya pot suggests that Mayans were drinking chocolate 2,600 years ago, which is the earliest record of cacao use. The Aztecs associated chocolate with Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertility. In the New World, chocolate was consumed in a bitter and spicy drink called xocoatl, often seasoned with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote, (which we know today as annatto). Xocoatl was believed to fight fatigue, a belief that is probably attributable to the theobromine content. Chocolate was an important luxury good throughout pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and cocoa beans were often used as currency. Other chocolate drinks combined it with such edibles as maize gruel (which acts as an emulsifier) and honey.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Kerala

Kerala is a state on the Malabar shore of southwestern India. To its east and northeast, Kerala boundaries Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; to its west and south lie the Indian Ocean islands of Lakshadweep and the Maldives, correspondingly. Kerala envelops a coastal exclave of Pondicherry. Kerala is one of four states that create the linguistic-cultural region known as South India.

First settled in the 10th century BCE by speakers of Proto-South Dravidian, Kerala was prejudiced by the Mauryan Empire. Later, the Cheran kingdom and feudal Namboothiri Brahminical city-states became major powers in the region. Early contact with abroad lands culminated in struggles between regal and native powers. Finally, the States Reorganization Act of November 1, 1956 elevated Kerala to statehood. Social reforms enacted in the late 19th century by Cochin and Travancore were prolonged upon by post-Independence governments, making Kerala along with the Third World's longest-lived, healthiest, most gender-equitable, and most educated regions. However, Kerala’s rates of suicide, joblessness, and violent crime rank among India are highest.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Tree

A tree is a large, perennial, woody plant. Though there is no spot definition regarding minimum size, the term normally applies to plants at least 6 m high at development and, more important, having secondary undergrowth supported on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical power. Compared with most other plant forms, trees are long-lived. A few kinds of trees grow to 100 m tall and some can live for several thousand years.

Trees are important components of the usual landscape due to their prevention of wearing away and significant elements in landscaping and agriculture, both for their aesthetic appeal and their orchard crops. Wood from trees is a common building material. Trees also play a close role in many of the world's mythologies.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Plastic

Plastic covers a variety of artificial or semi synthetic polymerization products. They are composed of organic concentration or addition polymers and may contain other substances to improve performance or economics. There are few natural polymers generally measured to be "plastics". Plastics can be formed into objects or films or fibers.
Their name is resulting from the fact that many are malleable, having the belongings of plasticity. Plastic can be classified in many ways but most commonly by their polymer backbone. Other classifications include thermoplastic vs. thermo set, elastomer, manufacturing plastic, addition or condensation, and Glass conversion temperature. Plastics are polymers: elongated chains of atoms bonded to one another. These handcuffs are made up of many repeating molecular units, or "monomers". The vast bulk of plastics are composed of polymers of carbon alone or with oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine or sulfur in the backbone. The backbone is that part of the chain on the main "path" connecting the multitude of monomer units jointly.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the walls of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. They were both evidently built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. The green Hanging Gardens are extensively documented by Greek historians such as Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, but otherwise there is little evidence for their existence. In fact, there are no Babylonian records of any such gardens having existed. Some incidental evidence gathered at the excavation of the palace at Babylon has accrued, but does not completely substantiate what look like fantastic descriptions. Through the ages, the location may have been confused with gardens that existed at Nineveh, since tablets from there clearly show gardens. Writings on these tablets describe the possible use of something similar to an Archimedes' screw as a process of raising the water to the required height.

The Hanging Gardens probably did not really "hang" in the sense of being balanced from cables or ropes. The name comes from an inexact conversion of the Greekord kremastos or the Latin word pensilis, which means not just "hanging” but "overhanging," as in the case of a terrace or balcony.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Architecture

Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. A wider description would include within its scope also the design of the total built environment, from the macro level of town scheduling, urban design, and landscape architecture to the micro level of creating furniture. Architectural design usually must address both possibility and cost for the builder, as well as function and aesthetics for the user.

Designed architecture often manipulates space, volume, surface, light, shadow, or theoretical elements in order to achieve pleasing aesthetics. This distinguishes it from applied science or engineering, which usually concentrate more on the practical and feasibility aspects of the design of constructions or structures.

In the field of construction architecture, the skills demanded of an architect range from the more complex, such as for a hospital or a stadium, to the apparently simpler, such as planning residential houses. Many architectural works may be seen also as educational and political symbols, and/or works of art. The role of the architect, though changing, has been central to the successful design and completion of pleasingly built environments in which people live.