Aspundir

Guinness belly trick

2012-02-16T09:02:00.000-08:00

Guinness belly trick

Helena Vlahos rocks coins across her belly

WHY ? WHY ? WHY ?

2012-02-16T07:10:00.001-08:00

WHY ? WHY ? WHY ?

If swimming is a good exercise to stay FIT, why are whales FAT??

Why is the place in a stadium where people SIT, called a STAND?

Why is that everyone wants to go to HEAVEN but nobody wants to DIE?
Shall I say that there is racial discrimination even in chess as the WHITE piece is moved FIRST?

In our country, we have FREEDOM of SPEECH, then why do we have TELEPHONE BILLS?

If money doesnt grow on TREES then why do banks have BRANCHES?

Why doesnt GLUE stick to its BOTTLE?

Why do you still call it a BUILDING when its already BUILT?

If its true that we are here to HELP others,what are others HERE for?
If you arent supposed to DRINK and DRIVE why do bars have PARKING lots?

प्रणाम विनय का सूचक है

2012-02-15T08:32:00.000-08:00

प्रणाम विनय का सूचक है

प्रत्यहं प्रत्यवेक्षेत् नरश्चस्तिमात्मनः।

'मनुष्य को प्रतिदिन अपने आचरण का अवलोकन करते रहना चाहिए।'

स्वामी अखण्डानंदजी सरस्वती प्रायः श्री उड़िया बाबाजी, श्रीशास्त्रानंदजी, श्री हरि बाबाजी, श्री आनंदमयी माँ आदि भारतवर्ष के प्रसिद्ध सिद्ध महापुरुषों को प्रणाम करते थे।

दंड-ग्रहण के समय उन्हें कहा गया कि 'सबको प्रणाम नहीं करना चाहिए।' जिससे अखण्डानंदजी के मन में बड़ी दुविधा उत्पन्न हो गयी। इस पर उन्होंने श्री उड़िया बाबाजी महाराज से पूछा, तब उन्होंने समझाते हुए कहाः ''दीक्षा या उपदेश ग्रहण करना हो तो तब तो ब्राह्मण (जो ब्रह्म में रमा हुआ) हो इसका ध्यान रखना चाहिए परन्तु प्रणाम करना हो तब तो सबको करना चाहिए। प्रणाम भगवदबुद्धि से करना चाहिए, मनुष्यबुद्धि से नहीं। प्रणाम तो विनय का सूचक है, एक सदगुण है। तुम जिन महात्माओं को पहले प्रणाम करते रहे हो, उनको बिना विचार किये ही प्रणाम किया करो।"

बाबा का यह उपदेश अखण्डानंदजी ने धारण कर लिया और उन्हें फिर कभी किसी को प्रणाम करने में हिचक न हुई।

मनु महाराज ने 'मनुस्मृति' में कहा हैः

ऊर्ध्व प्राणा ह्युत्क्रामन्ति यूनः स्थविर आयति।

प्रत्युत्थानाभिवादाभ्यां पुनस्तान्प्रतिपद्यते।।

अभिवादनशीलस्य नित्यं वृद्धोपसेविनः।

चत्वारि तस्य वर्थन्ते आयुर्विद्या यशो बलम्।।

'बड़ों के आने पर छोटे के प्राण ऊपर चढ़ते हैं और जब वह उठकर प्रणाम करता है तो पुनः प्राणों को पूर्ववत् स्थिति में प्राप्त कर लेता है। जो नित्य पुरुष नित्य बड़ों को, वृद्धजनों-गुरुजनों को प्रणाम करता है और उनकी सेवा करता है उसकी आयु, विद्या, यश और बल – ये चारों बढ़ते हैं।'

(2.120-121)

अतः हमारे कर्म व व्यवहार ऐसे हों कि बड़ों के हृदय से हमारे लिए आशीर्वाद निकलें, हमारे व्यवहार के कारण किसी के हृदय को ठेस न पहुँचे। इसी में हमारा मंगल छुपा है। मूर्ति को प्रणाम करने से भी लाभ होता है तो जिनमें जाग्रत देव बैठा है उनको प्रणाम करने में अहं आड़े क्यों आये? संत तुलसीदासजी इस बात की पुष्टि करते हैं-

सीय राममय सब जग पानी।

करउँ प्रनाम जोरि जुग पानी।।

वो सर सर नहीं जो हर दर पे झुकता रहे।

वो दर दर नहीं जहाँ सज्जनों का सर न झुके।।

!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!!!!۞!!!

Fresh or dried fruit – which is better?

2012-02-14T09:43:00.000-08:00

Fresh or dried fruit – which is better?

Fresh fruit comes packaged as nature intended and therefore it contains all the vitamins, minerals, fibre, phytochemicals and antioxidants you might expect. Fruit also contains water — and lots of it. An apple for example is approximately 85% water and grapefruits, water melons and strawberries all contain over 90% water by weight.

This water content can not only contribute to your daily fluid requirement but it also adds bulk and volume to the fruit which helps to make you feel satisfied and full - a real plus point for anyone looking to control their weight.
As the name suggests, dried fruits have had most of their water content removed. This, in effect, concentrates the remaining nutrients into a smaller volume which is why dried fruits, weight for weight, are often richer in fibre, iron and other key vitamins and minerals. However, this also means dried fruits will also be richer in calories and sugar.

This is partly due to the concentrated nature of dried fruits but also because some dried fruits have sugar added during the drying process. This reduction in overall volume plus the increase in calories and sugar content means that, if you are watching your weight, you will need to keep a keen eye on the quantity of dried fruits you consume.
The drying process varies from fruit to fruit but several dried fruits are also treated with sulphur dioxide as it helps to preserve colour and flavour. There is little evidence to suggest this is hazardous to most people however it can cause skin rashes, stomach upsets and asthma attacks in some susceptible people.
Sulfur dioxide also eliminates the Vitamin B1 or thiamine content within the fruit which in itself is not too much or a problem as vitamin B1 is fairly readily available in foods so a deficiency of this vitamin is rare.

Fruits that are dried without the use of sulfur dioxide are often less appealing to look at though as they tend to be more discoloured. For example, apricots dried without the use of sulphur dioxide tend to be brown and far less appetizing to look at than those treated with sulfur dioxide which are likely to retain more of their original orange colour and shape.

If in doubt, select organic dried fruits wherever possible as these will not have had sulfur dioxide added.

The drying process can also deplete other valuable water soluble nutrients such as vitamin C and other B vitamins. However, eaten in smaller quantities to avoid excess calorie and sugar consumption dried fruits still make a really, excellent alternative to most other commercially prepared snacks.
So, in short, as long as you don't over do it, most dried fruits are a healthy, convenient and nutritious snack. However, fresh fruits are likely to be richer in immune boosting vitamin C and if weight loss is your goal, their high water content will help with hunger control, helping you to feel fuller for longer.

10 Comparisons Between Chimps and Humans

2012-02-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

10 Comparisons Between Chimps and Humans

Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, and yet they were unknown to most of the world until Charles Darwin wrote about and popularized them in 1859. Much about them has only been discovered recently, and misconceptions abound due to the exaggerations and artistic license used in works of fiction. Nevertheless, our similarities and differences are not what many people think. By learning about our relatives we can better understand ourselves.

Number of Species

Chimpanzees are often incorrectly called monkeys, but they are actually in the great ape family just like us. The other great apes are orangutans and gorillas. There is only one species of human alive at present: homo sapiens. In the past, many scientists tried to argue that there were several species of human, and would often hasten to add that they themselves belonged to the ‘superior’ species. However, all humans can produce fertile children and so we are all the same species. Chimpanzees, on the other hand, are actually two species: pan troglodytes, the common chimpanzee, and pan paniscus, the gracile chimpanzee or bonobo. These two types of chimpanzee are completely separate species. Humans and both chimpanzee species evolved from a common ancestor, possibly sahelanthropus tchadensis, between five and seven million years ago. Only fossils of this ancestor remain.

DNA

It is often said that humans and chimpanzees share 99% the same DNA. Genetic comparison is not simple due to the nature of gene repeats and mutations, but a better estimate is somewhere from 85% to 95%. This figure may still sound impressive, but most DNA is used for basic cellular functions which all living things share. For example, we have about half the same DNA as a banana, and yet people do not use this to emphasize how similar bananas are to us! So 95% does not say as much as it first appears to. Chimpanzees have 48 chromosomes, two more than humans. It is thought that this is because in a human ancestor, two pairs of chromosomes fused into a single pair. Interestingly, humans have some of the least genetic variation of all animals, which is why inbreeding can cause genetic problems. Even two completely unrelated humans are usually genetically more similar than two sibling chimpanzees.

Brain Size

The brain of a chimpanzee has a volume of 370mL on average. In contrast, humans have a brain size of 1350mL on average. Brain size alone, however, is not an absolute indicator of intelligence. There have been Nobel Prize winners with brains ranging from below 900mL all the way up to over 2000mL. The structure and organization of the various parts of the brain is a better way of determining intelligence. Human brains have a high surface area because they are much more wrinkled than chimpanzee brains, with greater numbers of connections between many of its parts. These, as well as a relatively larger frontal lobe, allow us much more of the luxury of abstract and logical thought.

Sociability

Chimpanzees spend a great deal of time socializing. Much of their socializing is grooming each other. Juvenile and adolescent chimpanzees will often play with, chase, and tickle each other, as will adults with their offspring. Shows of affection include hugging and kissing, which are done between chimpanzees of any age or gender. Bonobos are especially frisky, and nearly every show of affection is done sexually, regardless of gender. Chimpanzees strengthen friendships by spending extensive time grooming each other. Humans spend a comparable time socializing, albeit more through talking than grooming. Nevertheless, much of the vast amounts of inconsequential chatter we produce is simply a more sophisticated version of chimpanzee grooming – it serves little other purpose than to strengthen our relationship bonds. Humans also demonstrate stronger relationships through physical contact – a pat on the back, a hug, or a friendly shove. Primate social group sizes closely reflect their brain sizes. Chimpanzees have about 50 close friends and acquaintances, whereas humans have between 150 and 200.

Language and Facial Expressions

Chimpanzees have complex greetings and communications which depend on the social statuses of the communicating chimps. They communicate verbally using a variety of hoots, grunts, screams, pants, and other vocalizations. Most of their communication, however, is done through gestures and facial expressions. Many of their facial expressions – surprise, grinning, pleading, comforting – are the same as those of humans. However, humans smile by bearing their teeth, which is for chimps and many other animals a sign of aggression or danger. A much greater portion of human communication is done through vocalizations. Humans uniquely have complex vocal chords, allowing us a great range of sounds, but preventing us from drinking and breathing simultaneously like chimpanzees can. Moreover, we have very muscular tongues and lips, allowing us accurate manipulations of our voices. This is why we have pointy chins whereas chimps have receding chins – we attach our many lip muscles to the prominent lower chin, but chimpanzees lack many of these muscles and so do not need a protruding chin.

5 Diet

Chimpanzees and humans are both omnivorous (eat plants and meat). Humans are more carnivorous than chimpanzees, and have intestines more refined towards the digestion of meat. Chimpanzees will occasionally hunt and kill other mammals, often monkeys, but otherwise restrict themselves to fruit and sometimes insects. Humans are much more dependent on meat – humans can only obtain vitamin B12 naturally through eating animal products. Based on our digestive system and the lifestyles of extant tribes, it is thought that humans have evolved to eat meat at least once every few days. Humans also tend to eat in meals rather than continuously eating throughout the day, another carnivorous trait. This may be due to meats only being available after a successful hunt, and so are eaten in large quantities but infrequently. Chimpanzees will graze on fruits constantly whereas most humans will eat no more than three times in a day.

Sex

Bonobos are renown for their sexual appetite. Common chimpanzees can become angry or violent, but bonobos defuse any such situation through sexual pleasure. They also greet and show affection to each other through sexual stimulation. Common chimpanzees do not engage in recreational sex, and mating only takes ten or fifteen seconds, often whilst eating or doing something else. Friendships and emotional attachments have no bearing on with whom a common chimpanzee mates, and a female in heat will generally mate with several males, who sometimes patiently wait their turn directly after each other. Humans experience sexual pleasure, like bonobos, however even sex for reproduction only takes much longer and requires more effort; long-term partnerships naturally form as a result. Unlike humans, chimpanzees have no concept of sexual jealousy or competition, as they do not take long-term partners.

Walking Upright

Both humans and chimpanzees are able to walk bipedally (on two legs). Chimpanzees will often do this to see further ahead, but prefer to move on all fours. Humans walk upright since infancy and have evolved bowl-shaped pelvises to support their internal organs while doing so. Chimpanzees, leaning forward during movement, do not need to support their organs with their pelvis and so have broader hips. This makes childbirth much easier for chimpanzees than for humans, whose bowl-shaped pelvis is in opposition to a large birth canal. Human feet are straight with toes at the front to help push directly ahead when walking, whereas chimpanzee feet have opposable big toes and are more like strong hands than feet. They are used for climbing and crawling, involving sideways, diagonal, or rotating movements.

Eyes

Humans have white around their irises, whereas chimpanzees usually have a dark brown color. This makes it easier to see where other humans are looking, and there are several theories as to why this is so. It may be an adaption to more complex social situations, where it is an advantage to see whom others are looking at and thinking about. It may help when hunting silently in packs, where eye direction is vital to communication. Or it may simply be a genetic mutation with no purpose – white around the iris is seen in some chimpanzees also. Both humans and chimpanzees can see in color, helping them to choose ripe fruits and plants to eat, and have binocular vision; their eyes point forward in the same direction. This helps see in depth and is crucial to hunting, rather than eyes on the side of the head like rabbits which help avoid being hunted.

Tool Use

For many years, humans were considered to be the only tool-using animal. Observation in 1960 of chimpanzees using sharpened twigs to fish for termites has since changed this. Both humans and chimpanzees are able to modify their environment to forge tools to help with daily challenges. Chimpanzees will make spears, use stones as hammers and anvils, and mash leaves into a pulp to use as makeshift sponges. It is thought that as a result of walking upright, our front limbs were much freer to use tools, and we have refined tool use to an art. We live constantly surrounded by the products of this ability, and much of what people consider makes us ‘successful’ is rooted in our tool making.

source

10 interesting facts about Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

10 interesting facts about Valentine's Day

Most of you know that Valentines Day is supposed to be a day to declare your love. It is the holiday that sells the most the greeting cards with the exception of Christmas and it is also a holiday where gifts of candy and flowers are freely and not so freely given as tokens of affection. Here are a few fact’s about Valentine’s day you may not know.

1. In reality, there were actually 3 St. Valentine’s. One was a priest, one a bishop and one little is known about except he was a martyr. The stories of the priest’s and bishop’s martyrdom are so closely related it is difficult to tell which St. Valentine the Holiday is named after.

2. According to legend it was St. Valentine himself who sent the first valentine in the form of a letter to his jailer’s blind daughter with whom he had fallen in love. Just before he was put to death at the hands of King Claudius II for marrying the kings soldiers without the king’s permission he penned a note to his love and signed it: From your Valentine.

3. It is believed that a mount Holyoke college student by the name of Ester Howland created the first lace valentine in the United States from lace, ribbon and colorful pictures. She has become known as the Mother of the Valentine.

4. Teachers receive more valentine cards than anyone else, even children.

5. More than 650 million valentine cards are exchanged by children from ages 6-10 each year. Most of these cards are bought in the last 6 days leading up to Valentine’s day.

6. Each year the city of Verona Italy receives more than 1000 valentine’s addressed to Shakespeare’s Juliet. It really is amazing how much affection a dead fictional character can attract.

7. It was once believed that if a woman saw a flying robin on Valentine’s day she would end up getting married to a sailor. If a sparrow was the bird she saw she would end up marrying a man that was poor and live a happy life, if she saw a goldfinch then she was to marry a man that was a millionaire. One can only wonder who she would marry if she saw a crow.

8. In 1929 at the height of prohibition Al Capone ordered the killing of members of a rival gang run by Bugs Moran in Chicago on Valentines Day. Authorities were unable to find any real evidence to tie Capone to the crime and he was never arrested or tried for the murder of these seven men. Instead he served his time for tax evasion.

9. More than 9 million pet owners buy gifts for their pets for Valentine’s day. Now that is what can be called real puppy love.

10. It is estimated that 15% of the women in the United States who receive flowers for Valentine’s day send them to themselves. There are no figures that tell how many of these women are married, single or in a relationship.

Valentine’s day may be a commercial holiday but, as you can see it is one that has some interesting history and facts surrounding it.

Statues of Easter Island

2012-02-14T08:10:00.001-08:00

Statues of Easter Island

The Easter Island Statue Project (EISP) is a private research program and archive created by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Principle Investigator and EISP founder and director, with Cristián Arévalo Pakarati, Rapa Nui artist and co-director of EISP. The profound and immediate need for conservation actions on the moai became apparent over the course of more than 20 years of subjective observation and field experience acquired by us during our island-wide archaeological survey, which was conducted in association with our Chilean and Rapa Nui colleagues.

The Easter Island Statue Project office is located at 225 Arizona Avenue, Studio 500, Santa Monica, CA, 90401. The EISP field office is located at the Mana Gallery, Petero Atamu s/n, Hanga Roa, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile.

Britain’s most glamorous 100-year-old

2012-02-14T07:49:00.000-08:00

Britain’s most glamorous 100-year-old: Centenarian refuses to leave the house without full make-up and perfect hair

Britain's most glamorous great-grandmother still insists on a full face of make-up and perfectly coiffed hair every day - at the age of 100.

Polished Marion Williams will not leave the house without perfectly manicured dark red nails, designer jewellery and expertly applied crimson lipstick.

Former professional dancer Marion loves nothing more than a spritz of her favourite perfume, Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood and her Louis Vuitton handbag.

Glamorous granny: 100-year-old Marion Williams insists on being perfectly groomed each day, topped off with a spritz of her favourite perfume, Boudoir by Vivienne Westwood

And she even has a uplifting silicone bra in her lingerie drawer, which she asked her daughter to buy for her when she was 95.

Marion - nicknamed 'The Duchess' - spends hours shopping for glamorous outfits each week - and has her nails painted and hair done every fortnight.

Her eldest daughter Shirley Hodges, 76, who cares for Marion at her home in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, said her mother is 'simply amazing'.

She said: "My mother just looks incredible. When she was younger people would look to see what she was wearing that day and nothing has changed.

'Her motto has always been, "if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well' and she applies that to her appearance even today.

Striking: Aged 21 in 1933, former professional dancer Marion with the finger-waved hair and red lips that were the height of fashion at the time - and are now making a resurgence

'Last year she asked the dentist if she could have a teeth whitening treatment. She replied "I don't think you need that" and thought it was hilarious.

If You Eat an Excessive Amount of Carrots, Your Skin Will Turn an Orangish/Yellow Shade

2012-02-14T07:20:00.001-08:00

If You Eat an Excessive Amount of Carrots, Your Skin Will Turn an Orangish/Yellow Shade

Take notes those of you from New Jersey, you don’t need to get a fake tan to turn orange, you can simply eat large amounts of orange plants, such as orange carrots. The resulting condition is known as carotenemia and isn’t as uncommon as you might think. It particularly rears its orangish-yellow head with infants that are often fed copious amounts of mushed carrots and a variety of vegetables that contain high amounts of carotene. Carotene is a pigment and if you consume a lot of it, the carotene levels in your body build up and your skin will turn orangish-yellow. This effect will typically first show up with your nose and/or palms showing the color first, which is why you occasionally see babies with orange noses.

Luckily, especially for kids whose parents over feed them carrots and other such carotene packed food, this condition isn’t harmful, other than potentially making the kid look like a future star of Jersey Shore, which I guess could be considered a form of child abuse. But beyond that, all one has to do to make the skin coloration go away is to simply stop consuming large amounts of things with carotene in it.

While it can cause odd skin coloration, one thing eating large amounts of carrots won’t do is improve your eyesight, at least assuming you’re not malnourished. If you are malnourished, it may improve your vision. Specifically, if you aren’t getting enough Vitamin-A, eating carrots (because of the beta-carotene that your body converts to Vitamin-A as it needs it) can improve your eyesight and night vision. However, the fact is that most people in the developed world get plenty of Vitamin-A because it’s in an awful lot of foods, such as: pretty much all dairy products, eggs, peas, pumpkin, broccoli, cantaloupe, spinach, sweet potatoes, papayas, lettuce, mangoes, cucumbers, peaches, pineapples, tomatoes, yellow corn, and many, many more. Further, because excessive amounts of Vitamin-A won’t improve vision any more than adequate amounts will get your vision at and because Beta-Carotene won’t be turned into Vitamin-A in your body if you’ve already got enough Vitamin-A (which is good because too much Vitamin-A can be toxic), eating carrots won’t usually do anything for your vision at all.

The myth that carrots can improve your eyesight beyond normal, particularly that carrots can improve night vision, was popularized by British propaganda during WWII. British gunners in WWII were able to locate and shoot down German planes at night due to significant advancements in radar technology during WWII. To help cover up this fact, the British spread about an urban legend that said that they were able to increase the night vision of their pilots by having them consume large amounts of carrots. This propaganda campaign included stories about certain pilots like Lieutenant John “Cat Eyes” Cunningham who they said had exceptional night vision thanks to a habit of eating large amounts of carrots. This lie not only gave birth to an urban legend, but also caused many British people to start planting their own vegetable gardens, including planting and eating a large amount of carrots in order that they’d be able to see better during blackouts.

Bonus Factoids:

Not only will your skin eventually turn orangish-yellow by consuming a large amount of carotene, but the carotene will also be excreted through your feces and urine, which in extreme cases can make both of those turn an orange color.
Excessive consumption of the pigment lycopene, found in such plants as tomatoes, can also cause your skin to turn orange, similar to excessive consumption of carotene. This is also harmless and completely reversible by simply stopping consuming the lycopene.
One that isn’t naturally reversible is the effect of consuming too much elemental silver, which can eventually turn your skin blue-ish/purple. The condition is known as Argyria This is more or less a permanent condition, though there has been some progress recently in being able to reverse the effect, such as one method that uses laser therapy.
Argyria
A somewhat surprising source of carotene can be chicken. This isn’t because the chicken meat itself would normally contain much carotene, but rather because commercial chicken feed often contains things such as marigolds, which have high amounts of beta-carotene.
While consuming too much carotene isn’t typically thought to be harmful, recent studies have indicated that excessive intake of beta-carotene for smokers may increase their chances of getting lung cancer. The only other known negative to eating too much carotene, outside of the potential cosmetic effects, is that occasionally people are misdiagnosed with jaundice, rather than the correct harmless carotenemia.
If you really want to keep your eyes healthy, eating fresh fruits and leafy vegetables is even better than getting your vitamin-A mostly from carrots. The leafy vegetables typically contain beta-carotene, so you’ll still get your vitamin-A, but they also contain such things as Vitamin C and E, which have been shown to prevent cataracts, as well as normal age related macular degeneration (loss of clear sight to the center of your field of vision due to damage to the retina).
Another eye related myth is that reading in dim light will damage your vision. In fact, this will do nothing to harm your eyesight, other than fatigue your eyes more quickly than normal, which is only a temporary thing.
The idea that the Germans didn’t have or know anything about radar during WWII is also a myth (that is even spread about on certain otherwise reputable documentaries *looks at the History Channel*). The Germans had relatively advanced radar technology of their own and they even used it on occasion, particularly later in the war, though not nearly to the extent they could have had their high ranking officials realized the potential of the technology. They were also well aware the British were using it, though both sides spread about an amazing amount of misinformation to try to hide their use of radar and the state of their technology, such as with the carrot/eyesight myth. The Germans even for a time tried to focus their bombing on the British radar towers during the Battle of Britain, but these towers were easily replaced and very hard to hit with bombers at the time, so the Germans quickly abandoned this strategy. One of the many blunders the Germans made during the Battle of Britain was in under-utilizing their own radar technology (Hitler famously didn’t see much use for it as he viewed it as solely something that was useful for defensive purposes, which of course is amazingly short-sighted). On a similar vein, they also underestimated how useful radar was to the British as a defensive weapon, with it being a key part of the Dowding System strategy of defense the British used during the Battle of Britain.
Another interesting thing about the Battle of Britain was that, while the British had significantly more planes than the Germans thought, they did not have an excess of pilots to put in the planes. This was never a major issue as they were always able to have enough pilots for their needs, though many pilots were flying as many as 6 or 7 missions per day during certain parts of the Battle of Britain. However, this likely would have been an issue save for the fact that German Luftwaffe pilots on the whole felt it wasn’t appropriate to shoot pilots who’d been forced to eject and parachute to the ground. Had they done so, it is thought Britain would have quickly run out of trained pilots as new pilots tended to get killed within their first five combat missions, so this would have been devastating to the Royal Air Force. The reality was that very shortly after a pilot had been forced to eject, they would land safely, un-harassed while parachuting. They then were given a new plane and were back up in the air shortly thereafter, often within a couple hours. Had the Luftwaffe had a more Nazi-like ruthless policy and shot at the ejected pilots, it is very likely the lack of trained pilots in Britain would have become critical and may have tipped the balance in the Battle of Britain.
In ancient times, the root part of the carrot plant that we eat today was not typically used. The carrot plant, however, was highly valued due to the medicinal value of its seeds and leaves. For instance, Mithridates VI, King of Pontius (around 100BC) had a recipe for counteracting certain poisons with the principle ingredient being carrot seeds. It has since been proven that this concoction actually works.

Sources and Further Reading:

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Do chidiyo ki prem kahani

2012-02-13T11:01:00.001-08:00

Do chidiyo ki prem kahani

ek din female chidiya ne bola ki mujhe
chodkar kahi tum udd to nahi jaogay
male chidiya bola udd jaunga to tum pakad lena
female chidiya boli main tumhe
pakad sakti hun par pir pa nahi sakti
male chidiya ki ankhon me aansu
aa gaye aur usne apne pankh tod diye aur
bola ab hum hamesha saath rahenge
ek din zor se tufan aane wala tha
to female chidiya udne lagi
tabhi male chidiya ne kaha tum udd jao
me nahi udd sakta
female chidiya boli apna khyal rakhna
kehkar udd gayi
jab tufan thama to female chidiya
wapas us ped par aai to
dekha ka male chidiya mar chuka tha
aur ek dali par likha tha
kash ek bar to kehti ki main
tumhe nahi chod sakti
to shayad main tufan aane se pehle nahi marta..!

Moral - Marta humesha ladka hi hai ..

Wife Shouted

2012-02-13T10:58:00.002-08:00

Wife Shouted:

Jaanoo, Computer is not performing as per my COMMAND :@

Husband Calmly answered:

Jaanoo, wo computer hay HUSBAND nahi

7 SURPRISING SEX FACTS

2012-02-13T10:55:00.001-08:00

7 SURPRISING SEX FACTS

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SEX, BUT DON’T

We all do it, or at least want to be doing it, but do you know everything you need to? Even if you consider yourself to be a Karma Sutra king or queen, sex is a deep and complex subject and, quite frankly, there’s bound to be something you haven’t yet discovered. So, let’s talk sex:

SEX IS GOOD FOR YOU

According to male legend Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘The best activities for your health are humping and pumping’. In many ways this is true; safe sex does have lots of health benefits. Those who have sex once or twice a week have been shown to have higher levels of immunoglobulin A or IgA, an antibody which helps protect you from respiratory diseases like the cold and flu. Also researchers have found that men in their 20s who had five or more ejaculations per week were one third less likely to develop prostate cancer in later life. It would seem Mr Schwarzenegger is on to something.

GET MORE SEX

Everyone wants more sex and we know how you can get it. Dr Helen Fisher, biological anthropologist at Rutgers University explains that ‘People fall in love when dopamine levels rise in their brains”. This is the neurotransmitter that controls the brain’s reward and pleasure centres. You can only get more dopamine by doing two things. The first is to have more sex. The second is to recreate a rush of dopamine by doing an exciting activity, such as bungee jumping, flying in a helicopter or even doing something simple like climbing a tree. Once you have raised your partner’s levels of dopamine, they will want to have sex with you more.

SEX O’CLOCK

When we think of having a romantic encounter with that special someone, we often think of moonlight hitting silk sheets or candles flickering in a seductive, half-lit room. However, our bodies may be more attuned to having sex in the morning. Men’s testosterone levels peak in the morning and so men become more easily aroused at this time. Although many men wake up erect anyway, this does not actually mean they are sexually aroused – but what better way to start a day be it giving or receiving.

WHO ENJOYS SEX MORE?

When you’re under the covers, who is enjoying sex more; him or her? Interestingly this is not a new debate. In Ancient Greek mythology Hera complained to Zeus that he got more pleasure from their sex than she did. According to a new study, it is possible that Hera was telling the truth. Researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that nearly nine out of 10 young men reported having an orgasm most or all of the time they have sex with their partner. However, less than half of young women experience orgasm that frequently when they have sex with their partner.

RULES OF ATTRACTION

It is possible that beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but rather in the nose of the beholder. We have sex because we have an innate instinct to reproduce. Therefore we are attracted to certain people because they will produce a strong baby. We find out who will produce these strong babies through our noses. For example, when people sweat pheromones are released; revealing their type of immune system. If their immune system is the opposite to the person smelling them, the two will be a good match, and should find each other irresistible.

HOW TO TELL WHEN SHE WANTS IT

We all know women are hard to read, but there are several physical clues that can help you to know when a woman wants to have sex with you. Firstly, when a woman is aroused her pupils will dilate. If a woman sees a man who she likes when out, but does not know him, she will give him prolonged eye contact. Her lips will also purse and if you catch her repeatedly gazing at your lips then it is very likely that she wants you. However, if a woman crosses her legs or arms and repeatedly looks away from you, it’s time to leave.

WE ALL HAD A CLITORIS

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to understand what it is like to be a member of the opposite sex? Once upon a time, it would seem we were not all that different from each other. In the first trimester of pregnancy, the fetus is gender neutral, being neither male nor female. However, the fetus has all the makings of a clitoris and vagina. It is not until eight to 12 weeks have passed that males become distinct.

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Magic For the Birds

2012-02-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Magic For the Birds

Amazing. Have not seen like it before

When God created Woman

2012-02-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

Inspirational: When God created Woman

The Woman

When God created woman he was working later on the 6th day.

An angel came by and said: "Why spend so much time on that one?"

And the Lord answered:

"Have you seen all the specifications I have to meet to shape her? She must be washable, but not made of plastic, have more than 200 moving parts which all must be replaceable and she must function on all kinds of food, she must be able to embrace several kids at the same time, give a hug that can heal anything from a bruised knee to a broken heart and she must do all this with only two hands."

The angel was impressed. "Just two hands...impossible! And this is the standard model? Too much work for one day...wait until tomorrow and then complete her."

"I will not", said the Lord. "I am so close to completing this creation, which will be the favorite of my heart. She cures herself when sick and she can work 18 hours a day."

The angel came nearer and touched the woman. "But you have made her so soft, Lord."

"She is soft", said the Lord, "But I have also made her strong. You can't imagine what she can endure and overcome."

"Can she think?" the angel asked.

The Lord answered: "Not only can she think, she can reason and negotiate."

The angel touched the woman's cheek. "Lord, it seems this creation is leaking! You have put too many burdens on her."

"She is not leaking...it's a tear" the Lord corrected the angel.

"What's it for?" asked the angel.

And the Lord said, "Tears are her way of expressing grief, her doubts, her love, her loneliness, her suffering and her pride."

This made a big impression on the angel; "Lord, you are genius. You thought of everything. The woman is indeed marvelous!"

"Indeed she is! Woman has strengths that amaze man. She can handle trouble and carry heavy burdens. She holds happiness, love and opinions. She smiles when feeling like screaming. She sings when she feels like crying, cries when she is happy and laughs when she is afraid.

She fights for what she believes in. Stands up against injustice. She doesn't take "no" for an answer, when she can see a better solution. She gives herself so her family can thrive. She takes her friend to the doctor if she is afraid. Her love is unconditional.

She cries when her kids are victorious. She is happy when her friends do well. She is glad when she hears of a birth or a wedding. Her heart is broken when a next of kin or friend dies. But she finds the strength to get on with life. She knows that a kiss and a hug can heal a broken heart.

There is only one thing wrong with her…

SHE FORGETS WHAT SHE IS WORTH."

11 Horrifically Violent Animal Mating Rituals

2012-02-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

11 Horrifically Violent Animal Mating Rituals

Quolls: Death By Fornication

While you may not have already heard of a quoll, if you know enough about their mating rituals, you won't soon forget the species. Every winter, thefemales all go into heat at the same time, causing a breeding frenzy within the species. The males will try to mate with as many females as possible, grabbing their newest mate by the neck and dragging them off to do the nasty. Average mating sessions last up to three hours, but can go on as long as a full day. That's because the males don't release very many sperm at a time, so they must ejaculate multiple times to ensure their genes are passed on. Like many human males trying to compensate for something, the quoll males are violent and ruthless. In fact, throughout all the biting, scratching and screeching, many females end up killed in the process, only to be eaten by their angry partner.

As if nature wished to compensate the females for their suffering, many of the males put out so much energy during the mating season that they lose weight, start balding and die within only a few weeks of their sexual rampage.

Bedbugs: Impaler? I Hardly Know Her

Why bother courting and mating when you can instead just impale and run? That seems to be the thought process behind the bedbug's reproduction method. Indeed, rather than finding the female's reproductive organs and getting a little frisky, this quick-moving bug just stabs his lady in her stomach, deposits his sperm and leaves. The sperm then travel through the female's blood stream into sperm receptacles and eventually into her waiting ovaries.

This type of mating behavior is known by the terrifying title of “traumatic insertion,” and it certainly lives up to its name. At least when it's happening to something as horrible as bed bugs it's a lot harder to feel bad for the victims.

Squid: Those Slippery, No-Good Cephalopods

Squids may not seem like the sexiest animals around, but as it turns out, they might be some of the kinkiest. The male bioluminescent Dana Octopus Squid uses its beak and sharp claws to pierce holes in its mate before using a penis-like appendage to insert sperm into the cuts. On the other hand, the Greater Hooked Squid just bypasses the stabbing step by using sperm that independently burrow their way into the female's skin, using an enzyme that dissolves tissue.

The Sharpear Enope Squid is the first-known transgender squid, as some males not only resemble females in appearance, but even have female sex glands. While the debate is still out on what evolutionary benefit this provides, some researchers speculate that it allows these individuals to get closer to potential mates without being detected.

Seals: Humping Their Way Onto The Endangered Species List

Is there anything cuter than a baby seal? There is when it's been crushed to death by a horde of frisky male seals who wanted to get in the action when they heard another couple mating. Think that's a rare occurrence? Think again. Some colonies have been known to lose 2/3 of their cubs this way. That's why the babies grow up so darn fast –the sooner they bulk up, the sooner they can avoid being crushed to death.

Of course, babies aren't the only ones at risk. The male Southern Elephant Seal often crushes the female's skull in his jaws during copulation and female Monk Seals are often mobbed to death by excited males when they go into heat. In fact, endangered seal species are some of the only at-risk creatures to be put on libido-suppressing drugs in order to stop them from sexing themselves into extinction.

Seed Beetles: Take A Stab At Quenching Your Thirst

There are over 350,000 species of beetle and their reproductive methods vary drastically. When it comes to beetle sex though, few have it as bad as the female Seed Beetle. That's because the male has a disturbingly spiky penis that always injures the female in the process of copulation.Researchers have concluded that larger spikes somehow help the males win out in the genetic arms race, and that those with the biggest, sharpest spikes also sire the most offspring.

As for why the females would even agree to mate with a partner knowing they would have to go through such a traumatizing experience, scientists have an answer for that one too. It turns out that because the beetles live in such an arid climate, the ejaculate fluid provides females with much needed hydration. When the insects are provided with ample water, female interest in mating drops drastically, but when things get dry, they suddenly have an insatiable thirst for love. Well, at least they get something out of the horrific experience.

Flatworms: Fencing As Foreplay

Sex might seem easier for hermaphroditic species, but that's very often not the case. All sea slugs are hermaphrodites. But when it comes to flatworms, fighting for the right to be the father can be a dangerous duty. The animals all have a dagger-like penis that they use to hunt for food, but when it comes time to mate, the two flatworms will go about fencing one another in order to avoid becoming the mother. When one of the fighters is stabbed, it will become the mother, meaning it has to give up substantial energy resources to its new brood while the winner will continue to enjoy the life of a bachelor flatworm.

Slugs and Snails: Playing Cupid Is Less Romantic Than It Sounds

Like flatworms, snails and slugs are hermaphrodites that have to battle as part of their reproduction process. While they might not shake their penises at each other, their mating ritual is certainly just as strange.

For one thing, the creature's genitals are hidden on their necks behind their eye stalks. Since they don't actually have penises, they instead have an archery battle, shooting off so-called “love darts” at one another. The darts, made mostly from calcium, do not contain sperm, but instead cause the victim to become more receptive to the shooter's sperm, giving it an edge in sharing its genes with the next generation.
Shooting love darts can be rather dangerous and some victims have even been known to be shot in the eye and brain in the process –but don't worry, they survive, they just carry around a giant dart for a while.

Of course, dart shooting isn't the only weird bedroom behavior these invertebrates get into. The Banana Slug has a penis of around 6 to 8 inches, roughly the size of its full body. When fertilizing one another, the larger slug will often get his penis stuck inside the other. That would be bad in any situation, but the impatient partner makes it infinitely worse by biting off the offending member in order be able to get going a little bit sooner.

Bees: Pop Goes The Penis

You know how bees often die after stinging humans? As it turns out, this same fate awaits the males who mate with the queen. Before mating, the new queen will need to kill off all of her sister siblings, ensuring she will remain the unchallenged monarch of the hive. Once that messy business is taken care of, the virgin queen will take a mating flight with about a dozen males. While the special mating males, selected from the tens of thousands of other male bees in the colony, might seem lucky at first, their luck is soon to change. That's because they die as their penises explode (audibly even) while inside the queen. She's then loaded up with all the sperm she'll need for the rest of her life, which entails laying up to fifteen hundred eggs per day for three full years.

Wasp Spiders: Breaking Off A Piece of That…Literally

You probably know that black widows often eat their mates, but as it turns out, this is hardly the most violent example of spider copulation. Male wasp spiders allow their genitals to break off inside their partner just before she attacks and eats him. For a long time, researchers believed this was an attempt to escape their eminent demise. But it turns out, breaking off their sex organs had no impact on whether or not the creature survived, but it did make it less likely that the female's subsequent mates would be able to pass on their genes. Females with genitals already broken off inside of them ate their mates much more quickly, providing the males with even less time to attempt to successfully mate first.

Wasp spiders aren't the only species of spiders to lose their junk in the mating process. In fact, the Tent Cobweb Weaver voluntarily chews off one of his sex organs before mating so he can pass his genes along to his mate faster, thereby being able to impregnate her before competing spiders get the chance.

Octopuses: Watch Which Hand You Shake

Next time you see an octopus tentacle, just remember, you could be looking at one of his arms, or, at his penis. While the sex organ tentacle isn't truly a penis, in many species, it actually fills with blood and becomes erect just like a human's. Regardless of species though, the basic process involved is always the same: the male places a packet of sperm on his sex arm and then uses it to place the sperm in a slot of the female's body used for reproduction. In every species, the male's organ stays embedded in the female's body. He cannot regrow his sex tentacle and he will die within a few months.

In some species though, the process is much more bizarre. For example, the Paper Nautilus will detach his penis tentacle and allow it to swim by itself over to the female. The Blanket Octopus has a similar unobtrusive mating habit. The male, which is approximately 40,000 times smaller than the female, will swim up to his woman of choice, stick his mating arm to her body somewhere and then swim off to die. The female rarely even notices the encounter, even as the arm left behind will crawl its way around her body until it arrives in her gill slit where it will wait until her eggs are mature. At that point, she'll remove the arm, rip open the sperm packet and sprinkle it over her eggs. She may as well be adding some sugar to her iced tea. Meanwhile, her mate will almost certainly be dead by that point.

Praying Mantis: Post-Coitus Snack Anyone?

It's common knowledge that female praying mantises eat the heads of their mates during intercourse, but as it turns out, this isn't always the case. In some species, head-eating is a required part of the interaction, as it makes the male ejaculate more quickly. But in most cases, the cannibalism is actually a relatively rare behavior that occurs anywhere from 5-31% of the time. In these cases, the female will only eat the male because she's hungry and needs more sustenance in order to go on living. Remember, most animals only mate to keep their species going and a dead female isn't going to help the mantis survive as a species. When cannibalism doesn't occur, the mating ritual is actually a bit romantic, including a long mating dance and soft antennae stroking. Who knew these guys were such softies?

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Extreme cold weather hits Europe

2012-02-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

Extreme cold weather hits Europe

Frigid temperatures have gripped Europe in the last week, with the mercury reaching as low as 35 degrees Celsius below zero. After what had been a relatively mild winter, the sudden cold caught many unprepared. Eastern Europe is hardest hit, with over 100 deaths in Ukraine, and with over 11,000 people in remote villages cut off by snow in Serbia. Most of the fatalities recorded have been homeless people found frozen to death outside, and emergency tents with hot meals have been set up to help them in several affected countries. Russia and Poland are mobilizing help for the homeless. Travel in Romania has been chaos as a blizzard hampered efforts to clear both rails and roads. Recorded temperatures in Italy were the lowest in 27 years. -- Lane Turner (45 photos total)

A woman looks out a bus in Bucharest on February 2, 2012. (Vadim Ghirda/Associated Press)

Snow paints a scene in Rubi, Spain on February 2, 2012. (Manu Fernandez/Associated Press) #

Skiers approach Wendelstein church near Bayrischzell, Germany on January 31, 2012. (Lukas Barth/dapd/Associated Press) #

A homeless man emerges from Warsaw's underground heating duct where he lives on February 2, 2012. (Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images) #

Homeless men gather in Warsaw's underground heating duct on February 2, 2012. (Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images) #

A homeless woman, Anna Svrcinova, sits in an abandoned factory that served her as a shelter during a cold night in Prague on February 2, 2012. (Petr David Josek/Associated Press) #

Homeless people eat a hot meal and drink hot tea in one of newly opened tent shelters in Lviv, Ukraine on February 1, 2012. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP/Getty Images)#

Homeless people eat a free dinner provided by the Russian Orthodox church in Moscow on February 1, 2012. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press) #

A homeless man drinks tea in a shelter in Donetsk, Ukraine on February 2, 2012. (Alexander Khudoteply/AFP/Getty Images) #

A woman rests in a shelter for adults and the elderly in Belgrade on February 1, 2012. (Marko Drobnjakovic/Associated Press) #

People carry food supplies in a remote village cut off by road due to high snowfall near Sokolac, Bosnia on February 1, 2012. Rescue helicopters are airlifting supplies and evacuating dozens of people from snow-covered villages in Bosnia as the death toll from Eastern Europe's severe cold spell has risen to 79. (Radul Radovanovic/Associated Press) #

Emin Hotovic, 55, carries a 25-kilo sack of flour and some groceries to his remote village of Hotani, Bosnia on February 2, 2012. (Amel Emric/Associated Press) #

A woman carries firewood in Bucharest on January 31, 2012. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters) #

A man braves the bitter cold as he makes his way to exercise in a park in Moscow on February 1, 2012. Temperatures in Moscow fell to -21 degrees Celsius. (Mikhail Metzel/Associated Press) #

People walk on frozen Black Sea waters next to an ice-covered dam in Constanta, Romania on February 1, 2012. (Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images) #

A snow kiter makes his way on the Schauinsland mountain near Freiburg, Germany on February 1, 2012. (Winfried Rothermel/dapd/Associated Press) #

Television technicians move their equipment from the field as the Italian Serie A soccer match between Parma and Juventus is cancelled due to weather at the Tardini stadium in Parma on January 31, 2012. (Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters) #

Ducks take off from a pond in Minsk, Belarus on February 1, 2012. (Sergei Grits/Associated Press) #

Deer run in a snow-covered field near the village of Mileikovo, Belarus on January 31, 2012. (Sergei Grits/Associated Press) #

A cow looks out of its stable in Davos, Switzerland on February 2, 2012. (Arno Balzarini/Keystone/Associated Press) #

A stray dog sleeps in the snow in Bucharest on January 26, 2012. (Radu Sigheti/Reuters) #

A pug dog strolls on a street in Gelsenkirchen, Germany on February 2, 2012. (Martin Meissner/Associated Press) #

A seagull rests in Istanbul on February 1, 2012. Heavy snow and cold weather paralyzed life in Istanbul and closed several roads in eastern Turkey. (Associated Press) #

A man rides a horse in the village of Vrapce, Serbia on February 1, 2012. (Sasa Djordjevic/AFP/Getty Images) #

A horse-drawn sleigh makes its way on a snowy road in Klosters Monbiel, Switzerland on February 2, 2012. (Arno Balzarini/Keystone/Associated Press) #

A man walks his dog along the banks of the Neris river in Vilnius, Lithuania on January 31, 2012, as morning temperatures plummeted to -23 Celsius. (Mindaugas Kulbis/Associated Press) #

A pedestrian walks past a frosted window in Pristina on February 1, 2012. (Visar Kryeziu/Associated Press) #

A man walks through blowing snow in Roncesvalles, Spain on February 2, 2012. (Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press) #

Boys play on a frozen pond in Prague on January 31, 2012. (David W Cerny/Reuters) #

Young men enjoy hockey as the sun sets over a frozen dam in Brno, Czech Republic on February 1, 2012. Temperatures in the Czech Republic plummeted to lows of minus 30 Celsius. (Petr David Josek/Associated Press) #

A heating plant obscures the sun in Minsk, Belarus on February 1, 2012 as temperatures of minus 21 Celsius hit the Belarusian capital. (Sergei Grits/Associated Press) #

A passenger boat sails at sunrise in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Ukraine on February 1, 2012. (Andrew Lubimov/Associated Press) #

A small cutter makes its way to the Harmaja lighthouse off the coast of Helsinki on Feburary 1, 2012. (Martti Kainulainen/AFP/Getty Images) #

Icicles hang on the branches of a bush on the banks of the River Elbe in Dresden, Germany on February 2, 2012. (Norbert Millauer/dapd/Associated Press) #

Reed sprouts are covered with ice at Lake Zwischenahner Meer in Bad Zwischenahn, Germany on January 31, 2012. (David Hecker/dapd/Associated Press) #

Frost decorates a window on February 1, 2012 in Godewaersvelde, France. (Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images)#

An Orthodox Christian cathedral stands amid a winter landscape in Kiev on January 30, 2012. (Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press)#

A van drives along a road near the village of Sliznevo as temperatures fell to minus 34 Celsius outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on January 30, 2012. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)#

People walk through the snow in Istanbul on February 1, 2012. (Associated Press)#

A policeman tries to open the frozen door of his car stuck in a snow drift during a blizzard in Afumati, Romania on January 26, 2012. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)#

A man walks in the center of Kiev where temperatures dropped to minus 20 Celsius on February 1, 2012. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)#

A Ukrainian angler, in a tent for protection from the wind and cold, fishes through an ice hole on the Dnipro River outside Cherkasy, Ukraine on February 1, 2012. (Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press)#

A snowman decorates a car on February 1, 2012 in Nice, France. (Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images)#

A man braves minus 20 Celsius temperatures in Kiev on February 2, 2012. (Sergei Chuzavkov/Associated Press)#

An gargoyle grows an icy beard in a fountain in Zurich on February 2, 2012. (Alessandro Della Bella/Keystone/Associated Press)#

The love of an 80 year old couple

2012-02-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

A wonderful and peaceful film about an old couple in India,

It’s a 10 minute film from India, An Excellent Short Film.Watch it all the way to the end to enjoy it.
This film teaches us to valuewhat we have in life right now.

Life could be so tough, but still it has green patches of True Love and Care.

WATCH OUT FOR TOXINS

2012-02-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

GOING TO THE OFFICE? WATCH OUT FOR TOXINS

People who work long hours in the office end up with higher levels of some toxic chemicals in their blood.

Offices account for more than a third of a type of toxic chemical called PFCs in people’s blood.
Newer buildings and newly renovated offices contain higher levels of PFCs in the air than do older buildings.
The more time people spend in their offices, the more chemicals accumulate in their blood.

Many office workers are unknowingly exposed to significant levels of toxic chemicals which have been linked to reproductive, developmental, liver and immune problems in animals and people.

People who spend the most time at the office have the highest levels of polyfluorinated compounds (PFC) levels in their blood, found a new study, which also showed a direct link between chemical levels in the air of a person’s workplace and the amount of PFCs in his/her blood.

More than 95 percent of Americans harbor PFCs in their bodies, according to national health survey data. The new findings help narrow down major sources of exposure, opening up potential ways to reduce the burden of chemicals in our bodies.

“When we think of occupational exposures, it’s easy to think about construction workers or welders, but an even larger population is office workers,” said Michael McClean, an environmental health scientist at the Boston University School of Public Health. “We wanted to look at those environments and see what was in the air.”

PFCs are a group of chemicals that offer water-resistant and stain-resistant properties to a wide range of products, including carpets, furniture, food wrappings and nonstick pots and pans. Investigations have turned up significant levels of several PFCs in the environment and in people, but few studies have systematically considered where most of those chemicals come from.

McClean and colleagues decided to look at offices because people spend a lot of time at work, and because offices are full of stain-resistant furniture, paint, carpeting and other objects that can emit PFC-containing dust.

The team recruited 31 adults who live and work in Boston-area offices. About a quarter of their offices were in a new building that had been built the previous year and was decorated with brand new carpets, upholstered chairs and other furnishings. A quarter of workplaces were in older buildings with no recent history of renovation.

The remaining half of offices sat in a building that had been partially renovated the year before with new carpeting in the hallways and about 10 percent of rooms. All offices were painted from floor to ceiling, had closed-air ventilation, and at least one computer on a desk. And all had doors that were closed at night.

For a week during the winter, from 8 a.m. on a Monday to 8 a.m. on a Friday, air pumps collected particulate and gaseous matter from the air in each office. At the end of the week, researchers also collected blood and dietary information from every worker.

Levels of a chemical called FTOH were highest n the air of the new building and lowest in the air of the old one, the researchers reported in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Our bodies break down FTOH into a PFC called PFOA.

When levels of FTOH were high in an office, people who worked in that office had higher levels of PFOA in their blood compared to people who worked in offices with lower levels. People who worked longer hours also inhaled more chemicals and accumulated higher levels of PFOA in their blood than did people who worked fewer days or shorter days.

Overall, the level of chemicals in the air of an office accounted for 36 percent of PFC levels in the blood.

“The fact that air in an office environment can explain more than a third of PFOA that you find in the blood,” McClean said, “is actually pretty striking.”

Scientists have long assumed that diet was the main source of PFCs in our bodies, said John Meeker, an environmental health scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Based the new findings, he said, it will now be useful to zero in on offices and figure out what it is about them that produces the most PFCs. The answers could lead to more regulations of products or safer renovation processes.

For now, it’s too soon to offer advice to office-workers about how best to reduce their exposures.

“We’re not going to tell people to stop going to the office,” Meeker said.

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Top 10 Highly Developed Countries

2012-02-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Highly Developed Countries

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic used to rank countries according to their development levels from “very high” to “low.” Countries are placed based on life expectancy, education, standard of living, child welfare, health care, economic welfare, and population happiness. Formulas are used to factor all the variables and determine the scores of countries. Critics have cited the HDI as inaccurate or vague, but coming up with top ten highly developed countries list on my own opinion would have been very subjective and probably badly ranked. Thus, I have simply listed the first ten countries on the HDI and displayed their scores, while providing explanations. Enjoy.

10 Sweden

Score: 0.904

The socialist and largely liberal European country of Sweden (officially the Kingdom of Sweden) is led by Prime Minister Fredrick Reinfeldt and is about the size of the US state of California (or Spain if unfamiliar with the CA) and has an approximate population of 9.3 million with the capital and largest city being Stockholm. The Swedish people are rated as one of the happiest in the world and have high marks in income ($35,876 GDP per capita, and a regular GDP of $485 billion), life expectancy (80.9 years), and education. In addition, the country has very low unemployment and poverty rates, has equal and free access to health care, and has been one of the most active supporters of environmental sustainability today and pushes for other countries to “Go green.” Sweden also serves as a major tourist destination for millions of international travelers, as the country has a long and rich history.

9 Germany

Score: 0.905 Score

The Federal Republic of Germany, or Germany, has the largest economy in the European Union, and one of the largest populations at 82.2 million, as well as its bustling capital and economic center of Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel is the head of a government with a people of very high education standards, with a nearly 100% attendance rate and 99% literacy rate. Germany thrives in industry and manufacturing and is a major exporter of electrical and engineering products, such as cars (Volkswagen anyone?), and are renowned globally for their skilled work force. The GDP is $3.5 trillion and GDP per capita is $40,631, and poverty rates are low, although the unemployment rate is about 7%. Germany also, like Sweden, is a prime tourist destination for its historic beauty, and the wonderful people (aside from Adolf and the Nazis back in the 1930-40s) have a life expectancy of 79.4 years.

8 Liechtenstein

Score: 0.905

The Principality of Liechtenstein is one of the smallest and least populated countries in the world, with a landmass of just 160 square kilometers (62 sq miles, about the size of Washington, US) and a population of 35,000. Even so, this parliamentary democracy manages to have one of highest GDP per capita’s in the worlds ($141,000) and has virtually zero debt, poverty, and unemployment rates, while having prominent literary and education ratings. Liechtenstein has very low taxes imposed on its citizens and is a center of investment from countries and the wealthy. If ever feeling the desire to travel to this rather interesting country, visit the capital of Vaduz, where you can view the huge Vaduz castle, home to the prince and his family, while also getting acquainted with the city’s 5,100 inhabitants.

7 Ireland

Score: 0.908

The Republic of Ireland has a relatively small population of 4.5 million, is a parliamentary democracy, and its capital is Dublin. Ireland has a very high literacy rate of 99% and high education standards, as well as a strong life expectancy of 78.9 years. It also has a well balanced infrastructure, with a GDP of $203.89 billion and a GDP per capita rate of $45,497. The country is ranked #7 for its press freedom, economic freedom, and political freedom it offers to the public. Ireland was in the process of rapid economic growth and development when the global recession began in 2008. Ireland than experienced negative GDP and accumulated massive debt, being rated as one of the five European “P.I.I.G.S.” (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) and losing two points on the Human Development Index Scale. Still, the Taoiseach (or Prime Minister) Enda Kenney is collaborating with EU leaders (France and Germany) to relieve this problem and continue developing forward.

6 Canada

Score: 0.908

Canada is, geographically, the second largest country next to Russia and shares the longest international border in the world with the United States. Canada is governed by a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy and keeps it ties with the United Kingdom close, being one of the few countries with two anthems (“O Canada,” the national anthem, and “God Save the Queen,” the Royal Anthem) with Queen Elizabeth II being the Head of State. The country is very economically advanced with a GDP $1.758 trillion and GDP per capita of $51,147. It has an intelligent population with high education and literacy rates, and a large percentage of the population is even bilingual or trilingual (English and French are the official languages, but Spanish doesn’t hurt). Canada is known for its free health care system (on top of an 80.7 life expectancy) and poses minimal taxes on the 34.7 million inhabitants. And of course, it is a great tourist destination, as you can visit the world-renowned waterfall of Niagara Falls, or the capital of Ottawa, or maybe even the historical landmarks at the largely French-rooted city of Quebec.

5 New Zealand

Score: 0.908

New Zealand is a small and relatively remote group of islands and was one of the last islands to be discovered and settled by humans. Thus, it contains a beautiful landscape and flourishing animal life and biodiversity that attracts flocks of tourists annually. New Zealand is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy that also recognizes Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State and in their national anthem, while John Key is the Prime Minister. New Zealand has one of the highest living standards and happiness ratings in the world, and tends to be a strong advocate for peace and environmental sustainability, banning nuclear weapons and protecting its diverse wildlife. The country’s GDP is $157.877 billion dollars, with a GDP per capita of $35,374 for its population of about 4.3 million. Its education, literacy, and health standards are all very high with a life expectancy of 80.2 years (keep on living, Jamie). Of course, New Zealand is a hot spot for travelers looking for beautiful topography and biodiversity, and while you’re there you can stop by the wonderful city where Jamie came from: Wellington (pictured).

4 United States of America

Score: 0.910

The United States came a long way from its beginnings in 1776, beating the British in the American Revolution (with a lot of help from the French) and declaring its independence, and now, after removing the Native Americans, fighting a Civil War, dealing with the Great Depression, and engaging in two World Wars, the US has emerged as the most powerful country in the world, with a GDP of $15 trillion (the largest in the world) and a GDP per capita of $48,147. The US is a representative democracy (republic) and a manufacturing giant and a major importer and exporter of goods and a trading partner with every major country. The US is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world (the state I live in, California, has a 50% Asian, Latin American, and African American population, out of almost 40 million people.) However, all this aside, the US loses points because, out of a population of nearly 315 million, there is a 15% poverty rate, 9% unemployment average (and in some states up to 14%), and international critics argue that American education standards fall behind the rest of the world. Also, the US loses points in health because, while life expectancy is relatively high at 79 years, obesity rates are skyrocketing, with up to 33% of adults at obese levels, and similar rates for children. On top of all this, America is spiraling through massive debt and dragging other countries down through the decrease of trade caused by the global recession. With 2012 elections looming, we’ll see how President Barack Obama will tackle these issues if he is reelected (hopefully not).

3 Netherlands

Score: 0.910

Also known as the United Netherlands or Holland, the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, while also being a representative democracy. The Netherlands has very high educational and literacy standards, while having low poverty and unemployment rates, and is led by its Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Throughout its history, the Netherlands was one of the key founders of the EU, NATO, OECD, AND WTO and is a called the “world’s legal capital,” hosting five international court systems. The country’s GDP is $832.160 billion and has a GDP per capita of $49,950. In May of 2011, the Netherland’s 16.7 million people were ranked as the happiest in the world, with a stable economy, guileless government, low taxes, beautiful cities such as the capital of Amsterdam, and a healthy life expectancy of 79.8 years.

2 Australia

Score: 0.929

Officially the Commonwealth of Australia, this island/continent has the world’s 13th largest economy, with a GDP of $918.978 billion, and the 5th highest per capita of $40,836. Australia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy with some of the highest rankings in the world in the categories of quality of life (the people are very happy), health, education (nearly a 100% literacy rate and extremely high percentages of enrollment and college graduates), economic freedom, and finally civil liberties and protection of human rights. The 22.7 million inhabitants enjoy a country striving for a stable government, content citizens, peace, and sustainability and protection of wildlife and biodiversity (of which Australia has a lot of), and a life expectancy of 81.2 years. Of course, Australia is a fantastic place to visit and experience its rustic wildlife and beautiful cities such as Sydney.

1 Norway

Score: 0.943

And #1, crushing the runner up by almost double the rating is Norway, or the Kingdom of Norway. This country of almost 5 million is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with extremely high education standards and a very low poverty and unemployment rate, with a life expectancy of 80.2 years. Norway was a pivotal founding member of NATO but rejected joining the EU, but continues to have good relations with neighboring European countries. Norway is also a founding member and now huge donator to the United Nations as well as helping found the Council of Europe, and is an active member of WTO and OECD. Norway has one of the largest reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, freshwater, and hydro-power in the world and is a major exporter of oil. Norway is internationally recognized for its universal health care, advanced schooling systems, and a distinguished social security system. For all these reasons, the Kingdom of Norway ranks number one on the United Nation’s Human Development Index.

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Most Venomous Animals- Blue Ring Octopus

2012-02-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

Most Venomous Animals- Blue Ring Octopus

A serious threat in the coastal waters of Australia for those who wish to explore is the little blue ring octopus. They are currently recognized as one of the world’s most venomous marine animals. This small creature, about the size of a golf ball, or even smaller at times, is highly toxic to humans and there is no known antivenin for the venom of the Blue Ring Octopus, which is highly poisonous. The venom of the Blue Ring Octopus contains neuro toxins, and can lead to paralysis, and will, if left untreated, end up in cardiac arrest for the victim.

They can be recognized by their characteristic blue and black rings and yellowish skin. When the octopus is agitated, the brown patches darken dramatically, and iridescent blue rings or clumps of rings appear and pulsate within the maculae. An individual blue-ringed octopus tends to use its dermal chromatophore cells to camouflage itself until provoked, at which point it quickly changes colour, becoming bright yellow with blue rings or lines.

Their diet typically consists of small crab and shrimp, but they may also feed on fish if they can catch them. They pounce on their prey, paralyze them with venom and use their beaks to tear off pieces. The octopus produces venom that contains tetrodotoxin, 5-hydroxytryptamine, hyaluronidase, tyramine, histamine, tryptamine, octopamine, taurine, acetylcholine, and dopamine.

The major neurotoxin component of blue-ringed octopus venom was originally known asmaculotoxin but was later found to be identical to tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin which is also found in pufferfish and cone snails that is 10,000 times more toxic than cyanide. Tetrodotoxin blocks sodium channels, causing motor paralysis and respiratory arrest within minutes of exposure, leading to cardiac arrest due to a lack of oxygen. The toxin is produced by bacteria in the salivary glands of the octopus. There is no blue-ringed octopus antivenom available.

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10 Amazing Facts About the Transit of Venus

2012-02-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

10 Amazing Facts About the Transit of Venus

A transit in astronomical terms is when one heavenly body passes in front of another such that, as viewed from Earth, we can see one move across the other in the background. The moon transiting in front of the sun during a solar eclipse, for example. Much more rare than a solar eclipse is the planet Venus transiting the Sun. The last time this took place was in 2004. But you are in luck! The next transit of Venus will occur this year! On June 5 to June 6, 2012 those positioned in the right spot on Earth, and with clear skies, will get to see this very rare event. The best spot to see the transit will be in the Pacific Ocean. The island of Tahiti is ideal for those who wish to travel to see it happen and the island is making preparations for many “astronomy tourists” to go there to view the transit. Portions of the transit will be viewable from Europe and North America. Most of South America and western Africa will not be able to see the transit. What an observer will see is a small black dot (Venus) passing in front of the sun. Depending on where you are on Earth to view the transit, you may see the dot move slowly across the Sun for several hours.

Sequences of transits occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with transits occurring eight years apart followed by a gap of 121.5 years, then a gap of eight years (the 2012 transit finishes the latest eight year period from the transit of 2004) and then another long gap of 105.5 years until the next transit. So for those who miss the Venus transit this June, you will have to live to be very old indeed to catch the next pair of transits (2117 and 2125). To see if you can view part or all of the 2012 Venus transit go here (warning – may need fast internet connection).

10 First Historical Observations

As Galileo invented his first telescope in 1609 the first chance to observe a Venus transit using modern optical devices came with the transits of 1631 and 1639. Five years before the 1631 transit, in 1627, Johannes Kepler became the first person to predict a transit of Venus. Kepler successfully predicted the 1631 event. However, Kepler was unable to determine where would be the best location to observe the transit, nor did he realize that in 1631 the transit would not be observable in most of Europe. Therefore, no one made arrangements to travel to where they could see it, and this transit was missed.

Fortunately, 8 years later on December 4, 1639, a young amateur astronomer by the name of Jeremiah Horrocks became the first person in modern history to predict, observe, and record a Venus transit. Horrocks corrected Kepler’s earlier calculations and realized what we now know about Venus transits, that they occur eight years apart after long (very long) waits. It is commonly stated that he performed his observations from Carr House in Much Hoole, near Preston England. Horrocks also told his friend, another amateur astronomer by the name of William Crabtree, about the coming predicted transit and he also spotted the planet’s silhouette on the solar disk. Crabtree probably observed near Broughton, Manchester England. Although Horrocks was uncertain when the transit would begin, he was lucky enough to guess the time so that he was able to observe part of it. He used a telescope to shine the image onto a white card, thus safely observing the transit without harming his eyes. Using his observational data, Horrocks came up with the best calculation for an Astronomical Unit (AU).

9 Used to Calculate an Astronomical Unit

One hundred and twenty-two years later came the next eight-year pair of Venus transits. During that time the noted astronomer Edwin Hubble had proposed that scientists could gain an accurate estimate of the distance between the Earth and the Sun (an Astronomical Unit or AU) using the scientific principal of parallax. Parallax is the difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Hubble correctly reasoned that if the Venus transit was viewed and measured from very distant points on the Earth, that the combined measurements, using parallax, could be used (with trigonometry) to calculate the actual distance between the Earth and the Sun (AU). Up to that time, the scientists were using Horrocks determination of AU, but realized they needed many more accurate observations to get a truer calculation.

Thus the Venus transits of 1761 and 1769 launched an unprecedented wave of scientific observations to the farthest points of the Globe. This was one of the earliest examples of international scientific collaboration. Getting (and surviving the trip) to these locations was as much an adventure as obtaining the first accurate data for a Venus transit. Scientists, mostly from England, France, and Austria, traveled to places as far apart as Newfoundland, South Africa, Norway, Siberia, and Madagascar. In South Africa very good measurements were obtained by Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason who would later go on to add their name to the historic Mason-Dixon Line in the USA. Noted points of the globe for the 1769 transit included Baja, Mexico; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA; Hudson Bay, Canada; and from Tahiti, the great British explorer Captain Cook observed the transit from a place he called “Point Venus.”

Using the data obtained from the two transits, French astronomer Jérôme Lalande calculated the astronomical unit to have a value of 153 million kilometers. The calculation was a considerable improvement on Horrocks’ calculations from the 1639 observations. The modern measurement for an AU is 149 million kilometers (92,955,807.3 miles).

8 Discovery of the Atmosphere of Venus

Prior to astronomers viewing the transit of Venus no one knew Venus had an atmosphere. All of that changed with the 1761 Venus transit. Looking from the Petersburg Observatory, Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov predicted the existence of an atmosphere on Venus. Lomonosov saw the image of Venus refracting solar rays while he observed the transit. During the initial phase of the transit, he saw a ring of light around the trailing end of the planet (the portion that had not yet transited in front of the sun). He correctly inferred the only thing to explain the light refraction would be an atmosphere around the planet.

7 Black Drop Effect

When observing the Venus transit, the most critical times are the first, second, third, and fourth contact. Being able to clearly see and time these transitions – from the shadow of Venus not touching, to just first touching the suns disc (first contact) the time the shadow of Venus fully transits into the disc of the Sun (second contact), and then when exiting, the point where the leading edge of the shadow of Venus again touches off the disc of the Sun (third contact), back into outer space, and the time the entire shadow has left the disc of the Sun (fourth contact) and is no longer visible – is important to gain accurate data. Unfortunately, an optical phenomenon called the black drop effect makes it difficult to see the second and third contacts.

Just after second contact, and again just before third contact during the transit, a small black “teardrop” appears to connect Venus’ disk to the limb of the Sun, making it impossible to accurately time the exact moment of second or third contact. This negative impact on the timing of the second and third contact contributed to the error in calculation of the true value of AU, in 1761 and 1769 transits. It was first thought the black drop effect was caused by the thick atmosphere of Venus, but it is now believed it is caused mostly by interference in the Earth’s atmosphere. Today, better telescopes and optics are minimizing the black drop effect for astronomers observing Venus (and Mercury) transits.

6 Search for Extrasolar Planets

By the time the 2004 and 2012 Venus transits rolled around, measurements of AU could be made using other and more accurate measuring techniques. However, that did not mean the 2004 and 2012 transits were not highly anticipated. They could still be used to do very important science, in this case, helping in the search for planets outside our solar system.

Scientists were eager to learn more about how patterns of light were dimmed and interfered with as Venus blocked out the Sun’s light. This would provide data to develop new and better methods to use the same technique to look for planets orbiting distant suns. Right now, a variety of other methods are used to “see” extrasolar planets orbiting distant suns. But most of these methods require the extrasolar planets to be very large – Jupiter-sized planets. Perfecting a way to “see” an extrasolar planet based on the light it blocks, coming from its sun, when it transits, would be a much more accurate way to detect the planet and could be used to ‘see” and calculate the size of much smaller planets orbiting these suns. However, extremely precise measurement is needed: for example, the transit of Venus causes the Sun’s light to drop by a mere 0.001 magnitude, and the dimming produced by small extrasolar planets will be much less.

5 First Transit of Venus “Movie”

In December 1882, astronomer David Peck Todd traveled from Amherst College in Massachusetts to California to photograph the transit of Venus. The transits of 1874 and 1882 were the first since the invention of photography so Todd’s documentation of the Venus transit was one of the first made using photographs. On top of Mount Hamilton from what would become Lick Observatory (still under construction in 1882), Todd collected a series of photographs during the December 6 transit. Viewing conditions were ideal with no clouds and he collected 147 glass negative plates documenting most of the transit. The plates were carefully stored but soon forgotten as astronomers found better ways to view and document the transits.

In 2002, two astronomers writing for Sky and Telescope magazine rediscovered the long forgotten plates, all of them intact and in good condition. They realized the sequence of photos could be made into the first “motion picture” of a Venus transit. The resulting “movie” documents one of the historic observations of a Venus transit. You can see the animation of the transit made using the 147 negatives here (warning – you need QuickTime and a fast internet connection).

4 Transit Creep and Non-Pairing Transits

The months in which we can see the eight-year pairings of Venus transits is “creeping” forward. Before the 1631 transit, the pair occurred in May and November. Transits can currently occur only in June or December. Transits usually occur in pairs, on nearly the same date eight years apart. This is because the length of eight Earth years is almost the same as 13 years on Venus, so every eight years the planets are in roughly the same relative positions. However the small difference means the timing of the arrival of the eight-year pairs of transits is slowly creeping forward on the Earth calendar.

This approximate conjunction between Earth and Venus usually results in a pair of transits, but not always. The transit of 1396 did not have a pair (there was no transit in 1404, one did not appear until May 1518). The next “solo transit” will be in 3089.

3 Multiple Transits at Once

Multiple transits are very, very, very rare occurrences, but do happen. It is possible for there to be a solar eclipse and a transit of Venus at the same time. The last time this took place was in the year 15,607 BC. The next solar eclipse plus Venus transit will occur on April 5, 15,232.

It is also possible for Mercury and Venus to transit the Sun at the same time. That’s right, both of Earth’s inner planetary neighbors perfectly lining up with the Earth’s orbit and the Sun so that an observer on Earth could see both tiny shadows passing in front of our Sun at the same time. The last time this happened was in the year 373,173 BC. The next time the simultaneous transit of the Sun by both planets will occur will be July 26, 69,163. Will man even be around to see this far off transit?

2 Transit of Venus March

The year 1882 was a Venus transit year and to commemorate this historic event, and the unveiling of a statue of American physicist Joseph Henry (who developed the first electric motor and was the first secretary for the Smithsonian Institute), the famous bandleader and composer John Philips Sousa was commissioned to write a march. Sousa wrote the march, it was published by the J.W. Pepper Company, and quickly forgotten about and lost. But not before the march was performed for the first time on April 19, 1883 at 4pm, which, for Sousa, a Freemason, had Masonic significance having to do with the element copper, copper used in electric motors (invented by Henry), and Venus, which probably makes perfect sense to Masons reading this list but is lost on the author.

In any event, the march came and went about as fast as a Venus transit and was thought lost for over 100 years until it was rediscovered in the Library of Congress in… wait for it… 2003! Yes, one year before the 2004 transit the long lost Sousa march “Transit of Venus March” was found just in time to celebrate the next transit! In 2004 the Library of Congress joined with NASA to bring back the long lost march to the general public (who, apparently, were as thrilled with it as the people of 1883). Now you too can hear Sousa’s Transit of Venus March (which to me sounds just about the same as all his other marches) in the clip above.

1 Guillaume Le Gentil

A French scientist and astronomer who took long names to a new extreme – Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière (Guillaume Le Gentil) made some important contributions to astronomy, especially some of the first observations of several Messier objects. But it was his role as part of the international drive to document the 1761 Venus transit that makes him such an interesting and tragic figure.

Le Gentil was one of over a hundred observers from around the world who marched or sailed off to far away locations of the globe so as to gain various far flung vantage points of the transit to help calculate a more accurate determination of an AU. Not all of these expeditions met with success, in fact, many were thwarted by cloudy skies, rain, unfriendly natives, difficulty getting to where they wanted to go, and faulty equipment. But no one was as unlucky as Le Gentil.

Guillaume le Gentil set out from Paris in March 1760 bound for Pondicherry, a French colony in India. He reached Mauritius in July. But by then he learned that France and Britain were at war. Before his ship arrived, he learned the British had occupied Pondicherry so the ship diverted back to Mauritius.

On June 6, 1761 the transit arrived as predicted, but Le Gentil was still on board the ship. Though the skies were clear he could not make observations aboard the rolling deck of a ship at sea. No problem, he thought, I came this far, I will wait for the next transit, eight years away.

He passed the time, among other ventures, mapping the coast of Madagascar and then set off or Manila in the Philippines to see the 1769 transit. Once there however he was met with resistance from the Spanish authorities. So he set sail once again for Pondicherry India. He arrived in March 1768 and built a small observatory and waited. June 4, 1769 finally arrived and though previous weeks had offered perfect clear skies, June 4th had nothing but clouds and rain. He saw nothing. Despondent, he decided to return to France. He was delayed by an attack of dysentery and then his ship was caught in a storm. He was dropped off at the small island of Reunion, east of Madagascar, and he had to wait until a Spanish ship could bring him back to France. He arrived in France almost 11 years after he left, in 1771, only to find he had been declared dead, removed from his position in the Royal Academy of Sciences, and stripped of his fortune by his greedy relatives. Oh yes, his wife had remarried as well. Eventually his position to the Academy was restored and he lived out the remainder of his life in France.

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Mysterious Landscapes in the world

2012-02-12T05:59:00.000-08:00

Mysterious Landscapes in the world

World's largest saltmarsh, in Bolivia

Efflorescent tower-like rocks, "The Fireplace Fairies" in Turkey.

Peculiar desert landscape, in Eygpt.

"The Chocolate Hills", in Philippine.

World's largest saltmarsh during rainy season, in Bolivia

Twixt Israel and Jordan, the Dead Sea: bird's-eye view.

Monument Valley, in the United States.

Desert, in Eygpt.

The Sahara Desert, in Tunisia.

Turkana Lake, in Kenya.

"Twin Towers" Monument Valley, in the United States.

Red dunes in Namib Desert.

Peculiar circular landscape, about 50 kilometers in diameter, center of the Sahara Desert.

Dracaena draco, on Yemen islands.

Peculiar Hawaii Island landscape.

Lake in Blue Mountains National Park, in Chile

Geyser, in the State of Nevada, the United States

Geyser named "Strokkur", in Southeast Asia.

The Sahara Desert, world's largest desert.

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