Green Iceland and Icy Greenland

Iceland and Greenland are two such neighbouring islands which are opposite of what their names suggest. Iceland is the world's 18th largest island, and Europe's second largest island following Great Britain. Greenland is the largest island in the world and has second largest ice sheet. The total area of Greenland is 2,166,085 km out of which 1755,617 km (81%) is covered by Greenland ice sheet. Greenland posses one-twentieth of the world's ice and one-quarter of the earth's surface ice.

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland got its name from the visitor, the Norwegian Viking Flóki Vilgerðarson. The Landnámabók (source of information about Icelandic history) makes it clear that Flóki chose the uninviting name ísland ("ice land") for the view of a distant fjord full of sea-ice that he glimpsed from a tall mountain. Flóki settled for one winter at Barðaströnd. It was a cold winter, and when he spotted some drift ice in the fjords he gave the island its current name, Ísland (Iceland). Iceland is now famous for its natural scenery with volcanic craters, lava flows, hot springs and geysers, glaciers and stunning waterfalls.

Greenland

Greenland

The name Greenland comes from Scandinavian settlers. The real story behind the name is given in Erik the Red's Saga, based on oral tradition and written down in the early thirteenth century in Iceland. In the Icelandic sagas, it is said that Norwegian-born Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for murder. He was banished from Iceland for three years. He used the time to explore the rumoured lands to the west. When his term of banishment expired, he returned to Iceland to invite his neighbours and friends to settle the new country with him. He purposely chose the pleasant name Grænland ("green land") to attract settlers. Greenland was also called Gruntland ("Ground-land") and Engronelant (or Engroneland) on early maps. Whether green is an erroneous transcription of grunt ("ground"), which refers to shallow bays, or vice versa, is not known. The southern portion of Greenland (not covered by glacier) is indeed very green in the summer and was likely to have been even greener in Erik's time, and the northern part of Greenland is occupied by the Inuit (Eskimos).

Ogre: The Mythological Monster

Ogres are fascinating mythological creatures that have captured the imaginations of humans for very long. An ogre is a large, hideous monster of mythology, folklore and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature. In art, ogres are often depicted with a large head, abundant hair and beard, a voracious appetite, and a strong body. Symbolically, the term is often used for the persons who exploit, brutalize or devour their victims.

Giovanni Lanfranco's painting depicting an ogre 

Like many mythical creatures, ogres have an origin shrouded in mystery. The word ogre is of French origin, and was originally believed to have been coined by either Charles Perrault (1628-1703) or Marie-Catherine Jumelle de Berneville, Comtesse d' Aulnoy (1650-1705), both of whom were French authors. Other sources say that the name is derived from the word Hongrois, which means Hungarian. The word is also thought to have been actually inspired by the works of Italian author Giambattista Basile (1575-1632), who used the Neapolitan word uerco, which means 'orco' in Italian language, meaning demon. Some believe that ogre has been derived from the two mythical giants ‘Gog’ and 'Magog', or even from some kind of Greek river god whose name was Oiagros, who was also father of Orpheus.

Regardless of their origins, ogres are undeniably part of a group of folklore creatures that exists in most mythical traditions. This group includes various types of humanoid creatures of great size and strength, who in general possess a dislike of humans, a taste for human flesh, and a lower than average intelligence.

Ogres have appeared in many classic works of literature. Its earliest attestation is in Chrétien de Troyes' late 12th century verse romance Perceval, li contes del graal, which contains the lines:

“ et s'est escrit que il ert ancore,

que toz li reaumes de Logres,

qui ja dis fu la terre as ogres,
ert destruite par cele lance.”

In English this meant:"And it is written that there will come a time when all the kingdom of Logres [England] which formerly was the land of the ogres will be destroyed by that spear." In the fictional History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, ogres were the inhabitants of Britain prior to human settlement.

The word ogre came into wider usage in the works of Charles Perrault or Marie-Catherine Jumelle de Berneville, Comtesse d' Aulnoy. The first appearance of the word ogre in Charles Perrault's work occurred in his Histoires ou Contes du temps Passé (1697). It later appeared in several of his other fairy tales, many of which were based on the Neapolitan tales of Basile. The first example of a female ogre being referred to as an ogress is found in his version of Sleeping Beauty, where it is spelled ogresse.

The Ogre Fountain in Bern, Switzerland

In the literature for children also ogres have been extensively used. Ogres have appeared in a variety of fairy tales and fantasy stories, including works by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien,Ruth Manning-Sanders and more modern authors such as Piers Anthony.   Today, variants of ogres can also be found in many popular fantasy roleplaying and video games series such as Dungeons and Dragons, Final Fantasy, RuneScape, Warcraft, Two Worlds, Ogre Battle, AdventureQuest and Magic: The Gathering.

Shrek, an ogre

In addition, Shrek, the hero of a recent series of DreamWorks movies, is probably one of the best-known (and best liked) modern ogres where Shrek is depicted as a large, green,physically intimidating ogre.

Tickle Torture

Tickling induces laughter but prolonged tickling can be extremely unpleasant or even torturous. Tickle torture is the use of tickling to abuse or dominate someone. There are historical evidences of tickle torture actually being used in China and Rome.

Tickle torture was practiced by the Chinese, particularly in the courts of the Han Dynasty. Chinese tickle torture was a punishment for nobility since it left no marks and a victim could recover relatively easily and quickly.

There are also tales of the Romans using tickling of the soles of the feet as a punishment. The victim’s feet were dipped in a salt solution or honey, and a goat was brought in to lick the solution off. This type of torture would only start as tickling, eventually becoming extremely painful. After a while the goat's rough tongue would wear away at their flesh causing intense pain.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there are instances when restrained victims were tickled upon the bare soles of their feet, apparently against their will and for the pleasure of their tormentors.

The Illustrated Police News of 1869 features an entry: ‘A Wife Driven Insane by Husband Tickling Her Feet’. This story featured a poor woman who was fooled into thinking that being tied to a plank would help her back problems. Once secured the husband made his wife’s feet bare and then through prolonged tickling of the soles of her feet with a feather drove the poor woman to insanity.

The New York Times dated April 14, 1872 cites about the stocks in ‘old England’ where the soles of the victims’ feet would be tickled relentlessly. The New York Times of September 6, 1903 also reveals how a patient was tortured by the hospital attendant by incessant tickling.

The tickle torture is also mentioned in various books. In the book "The History of Torture and execution" by Jean Kellaway tickling is briefly mentioned in the section discussing the use of stocks. Similarly the book “The A-Z of punishment and torture” by Irene Thompson also mentions about tickling being used as a method of torture by Chinese and Romans and how prolonged tickling can be unendurable. The quote is as follows: “Those of us who are ticklish know that at first it makes you laugh, but prolonged tickling becomes unendurable.”

No doubt, tickling has a very mysterious and interesting history and it has been used as a torture method over the centuries.

Talking or Texting More on Cell Phones

Ever wondered how many minutes we spend on talking and texting on cell phones? Or whether we talk more or text more?

A study conducted by the Nielsen Company in the United States shows that blacks talk twice as much as whites on their cell phones, and women talk and text more than men. The Nielsen Company of New York compiled the data from 60,000 cell phone bills collected from April of 2009 to March 2010.Some interesting facts revealed by the study are:

1. Blacks are at the top, in both talking and texting.

2. Blacks talk an average of 1,331 minutes per month, followed by Hispanics at 826 per month, Whites at 647 minutes and Asians and Pacific Islanders talk an average for 692 minutes per month.

3. Blacks and Hispanics also lead the way in texting, sending and receiving 780 and 767 messages, respectively, per month. Whites send/receive an average of 566. Asians and Pacific Islanders text the least, at 384 per month.

4. Women talk on their cell phones 22 percent more than men: 856 minutes per month compared with 667.

5. Women also text 34 percent more than men.

6. Teenagers text about four times more often than the minutes they spend speaking on the cell phone. Teenagers average a whopping 2,779 texts per month.

7. After the teen years, text usage drops by half for each consecutive age group, with those 18 to 24 sending about 1,300 texts per month. By the age of 25, most people are using their cell phones for talking rather than texting. People older than 65 average just 32 texts per month.

Source: TBO.com

Cell Phone on Fire

Cell phones are so much a part of our daily lives and some of us practically sleep with them. But did you know these constant companions can actually start a fire or explode? It's a rare occurrence but it happens while the phone is in use or in the pocket of the owner.

There have been several reported incidents in which a seemingly normal cell phone has burst into flames. A man from Vallejo, California suffered third degree burns all over his body when he slept with his phone in his pocket. A cell phone in the front pocket of a man's pants spontaneously combusted, quickly ignited his clothes and left the man with third-degree burns across at least half his body. In another case a teenager's phone in California exploded, sending battery fragments shooting around the room.

All batteries run the risk of bursting into flames, but the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that this danger can be prevented by: keeping phone batteries away from metal such as coins, reducing exposure to extreme heat or pressure, and using only batteries that have been designed for your own specific phone model.

Source: SanFranciscoChronicle

Bee Bearding

Facial hairs and beards are usual things, but ever thought of having bee beard! A bee beard is really something to behold.

 



Tibor Szabo, the winner at the Bee Beard Competition held in Canada



Every year, the unusual Bee Beard competition is held at the Clovermead Bees & Honey in Ontario, Canada. Several brave contestants participate in the competition to grab the title of "Best Beard”. The object of the Bee Beard Competition is to get as many bees on your body as possible. Contenders are weighed before and after they are covered in bees, and the heaviest one wins. This year’s Bee Beard Competition winner was Tibor Szabo, from Guelph, Ontario, who managed to cover his entire head, neck, shoulders and hands with honey bees.





Bee bearding is the practice of wearing several hundred thousand honey bees on the face. It is a mass of honey bees crawling on your face and it looks like a beard. Bee beards have been around since the 1700s and up until a hundred years ago, honey vendors used them to attract customers, but now bee bearding is mainly done for fun, and for charity.

 

Attempt for bee beard world record in 2005

In 1998, Mark Biancaniello from America successfully wore 350,000 bees, weighing just over 87 pounds, and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for "most pounds of bees worn on the body”. In 2005 an Irish beekeeper has tried - and failed - to take the world record for a "bee beard" despite attracting 200,000 onto his body. He was to wear a full one hundred pounds of bees, but failed when only 60 pounds of bees landed on his body. In 2009, couple Li Wenhua and Yan Hongxia of Ning'an, China, both beekeepers, married while both were covered in bees.

If you’ve ever wondered how on Earth these people get thousands of bees clustered on their bodies, today is your lucky day. As you probably already know, every bee hive has its queen, a kind of ultimate star of the bee world that everyone flocks to. All they have to do is put the queen in a small cage, tie it around their necks and start pouring bees on their bodies. As soon as they smell her, honey bees begin to huddle around her. While they can manipulate how the bee beard is going to look, by placing Vaseline on its edges and keeping the bees contained to a certain area, wearing a bee beard isn’t the most pleasant sensation in the world. It definitely offers unique thrills, but having literally tens of thousands of bees clinging to your skin is pretty hard to bear. The bees closest to your skin grab on to it, while the others cling to the bees, but your skin ultimately supports all their weight. And then there are the stings. Bees look for moisture and in its absence, as time passes they get more and more irritated, which ultimately results in a few stings on the bee beard wearer’s face and neck. When it’s time to take of the living beard, the queen is removed and the wearer leans over the bees’ colony box and jumps. The jerking move forces them to let go of their skin.

PLEASE DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, BEES CAN STING YOU!

World’s First Artificial Life

SCIENTISTS have created artificial life in a laboratory, leading to accusations they are "playing God' and tampering "with the essence of life".

Geneticist Craig Venter has delivered on a pledge he made 15 years ago: to create the first artificial life, a cell controlled by DNA built from scratch in the laboratory.

"This is an important step, we think, both scientifically and philosophically," Dr Venter said. "It's certainly changed my views of the definitions of life and how life works."
 
The creation of a new life form, which has been nicknamed "Synthia", paves the way for customised bugs that could revolutionise health care and fuel production.

The technology could be harnessed to create environmentally friendly bugs capable of producing biofuels and pharmaceuticals or removing pollutants from water or air.

"This is the first synthetic cell that's been made and we call it synthetic because the cell is totally derived from a synthetic (gene-bearing) chromosome, made with four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesiser, starting with information in a computer," Dr Venter said.


Source: The Australian May 21, 2010

Scrumptious Chocolate

We all know that chocolates are yummy and delicious. But do you know that chocolate is responsible for invention of microwave. Yes, it’s true. At the time of World War II while testing a device called magnetron, a scientist named Percy Spencer discovered a melted chocolate in his pocket. Spencer thought of using the magnetron to cook food. He successfully used it for popping corn and also cooked an egg (which cooked so quickly that it blew up in his face!). So relax and enjoy this mouth-watering treat while you surf for the amazing facts about your favourite chocolate. 1. Cocoa, from which chocolate is created, is said to have originated in the Amazon at least 4,000 years ago. Chocolate, derived from the seed of the cocoa tree, was used by the Maya Culture, as early as the Sixth Century AD. To the Mayas, cocoa pods symbolized life and fertility. They even used cocoa beans as currency.

2. During the 16th and 17th centuries, eating chocolate was considered a sin, but by the 18th century chocolates were known for their medicinal qualities.

3. Chocolate was regarded as an aphrodisiac by Aztec Indians.

4. In 1830, first solid eating chocolate was developed by J. S. Fry and Sons, a British chocolate maker.

5. Chocolate is not particularly high in caffeine. It is lower in caffeine than tea, coffee and coca cola. A single cup of coffee has ten times more caffeine than in one chocolate bar.

6. Switzerland leads the world in chocolate consumption with 22.36 pounds per person, followed by Austria and Ireland with 20.13 pounds and 19.47 pounds, respectively.

7. Chocolate manufacturers use 20% of the world’s peanuts and 40% of the world’s almonds.

8. Research shows that moderate chocolate consumption lower the risk of heart failure. Chocolates with higher cocoa content are associated with greater heart benefits as cocoa powder is full of iron and antioxidants.

9. There is absolutely no link between chocolate and acne.

10. Chocolate contain theobromine which can be deadly for dogs. Small amounts of chocolate may not hurt your dog, but large amounts can be poisoning.

Chocolates are addictive, but a bar now and then won’t harm. With all those great antioxidants it contains, it may help you live longer. So indulge in this scrumptious pleasure.

Pluto – A Dwarf Planet

Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh on February 18, 1930. Pluto was long considered as the ninth planet of our solar system. It shares the region of its orbit known as the Kuiper belt, with a collection of similar icy bodies called Kuiper belt objects. Due to its small size, irregular orbit and similarities with Kuiper belt objects it was classified as dwarf planet.

From its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was considered the Solar System's ninth planet. In 1978, following the discovery of minor planet 2060 Chiron in the outer Solar System and the recognition of Pluto's very low mass, its status as a major planet began to be questioned. In the late 20th and early 21st century, many objects similar to Pluto were discovered in the outer Solar System, notably the scattered disc object Eris in 2005, which is 27% more massive than Pluto. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined the term "planet" for the first time. This definition excluded Pluto as a planet and added it as a member of the new category "dwarf planet" along with Eris and Ceres. After the reclassification, Pluto was added to the list of minor planets and given the number 134340.

The definition of planet set in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) states that a planet is a celestial body that:
1. is in orbit around the Sun,

2. has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium (a nearly round shape), and

3. has "cleared the neighbourhood” around its orbit.

A non-satellite body fulfilling only the first two of these criteria is classified as a "dwarf planet"

Pluto's origin and identity had long puzzled astronomers. One early hypothesis was that Pluto was an escaped moon of Neptune, knocked out of orbit by its largest current moon, Triton. This notion has been heavily criticised because Pluto never comes near Neptune in its orbit.

Pluto's true place in the Solar System began to reveal itself only in 1992, when astronomers found a population of small icy objects beyond Neptune that were similar to Pluto not only in orbit but also in size and composition. Astronomers now believe Pluto to be the largest member of the belt. Like other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs), Pluto shares features with comets; for example, the solar wind is gradually blowing Pluto's surface into space, in the manner of a comet. If Pluto were placed as near to the Sun as Earth, it would develop a tail, as comets do.

Facts about Sun

Here are some interesting facts about Sun.
1. The Sun is a star at the centre of our Solar system. The Sun is the closest star to the Earth and is 149.60 million kilometres (92.96 million miles) away.

2. The sun is orbited by nine major planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (a dwarf planet).

3. The Sun was formed over four and a half billion years ago. The present age of the sun is estimated to be 4.6 billion years, halfway through its lifetime.

4. Approximately 109 planet Earths would fit on the surface of the sun and more than one million planet Earths would fit inside the sun.

5. Approximately every 11 years, the sun reverses its overall magnetic polarity. Its north magnetic pole becomes a south pole, and vice versa.

6. The sun rotates on its axis once every 25.38 Earth days or 609.12 hours.

7. The sun contains 99.85% of the mass in the solar system.

8. The sun radiates heat and a steady stream of charged particles known as the solar wind, which blows about 280 miles (450 kilometres) per second throughout the solar system.

9. The sun’s gravity is 28 times that of Earth.

10. The Sun’s visible surface is called the photosphere. The temperature of the photosphere is about 6000 degrees Kelvin.

11. The Sun’s atmosphere is called the chromosphere, where temperatures can reach upto 100,000 Kelvin. There is even more distant region called corona, where the temperature can reach upto 1 million Kelvin.

12. Its core is under its atmosphere. The temperature at the core, or very middle, of the Sun, is about 13.6 million Kelvin.

13. The Sun’s diameter is about 870,000 miles wide. The Sun is 109 times wider than Earth, and is 333,000 times heavier.

14. The Sun is 695,000 kilometres at its equator.

15. Our Sun is approximately 25,000 light-years from the galactic core of our galaxy (the Milky Way).

Smallest facts

Ever wondered what is the smallest animal in the world or smallest fruit.Here are some of the world's most interesting smallest facts!

Pizza Facts

Love pizza? Ever thought of getting to know more about pizza? Here is a list of fun and interesting facts about this yummy food. See how many you knew!

 

1. The biggest pizza ever made was baked in Norwood, South Africa in 1990. The gigantic pie measured 122 feet 8 inches across, weighed 26,883 pounds, and contained 9,920 pounds of flour, 3,968 pounds of cheese, and 1,984 pounds of sauce.

2. In 2005, the record for the world's largest rectangular pizza was set in Iowa Falls, Iowa. A 129 X 98.6-foot pizza from 4,000 pounds of cheese, 700 pounds of sauce, and 9,500 sections of crust was baked. The enormous pie was enough to feed the town's 5,200 residents ten slices of pizza each.

3. In 2006, a chef from Scotland baked world's most expensive pizza covered in snails and gold and called it “Pizza Royale 007″. The pizza was auctioned on eBay for £2,150 (approx. $4,200 in US dollars).

4. The word “pizza” is derived from the Latin word “picea”, a Roman word used to describe the blackening of bread in an oven.

5. The word pizza was originally spelt as "pitsa".

6. Since 1987, October has been officially designated National Pizza Month in the United States.
7. Approximately three billion pizzas are sold in the United States every year, plus an additional one billion frozen pizzas.
8. In the U.S., there are about 61,269 pizzerias representing about 17 percent of all U.S. restaurants.

9. Women are twice as likely as men to order vegetarian toppings on their pizza.

10. The first known pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria, opened in Naples, Italy, in 1738.

11. Americans eat 100 acres of pizza per day.

12. On average, each person in the United States eats around 23 pounds or 46 slices, of pizza every year.

13. Thirty six percent of all pizza orders want their pizza topping to be pepperoni, far and away the most popular pizza topping.

14. Saturday night is traditionally the biggest night of the week for eating pizza.

15. Children aged 3 to 11 prefer pizza over all other foods for lunch and dinner, that's according to a recent Gallup Poll.

16. In Australia -- shrimp, pineapple, barbecue sauce are preferred toppings.

17. Some popular pizza toppings in Japan are squid and Mayo Jaga (mayonnaise, potato and bacon).

18. In India they like pickled ginger, minced mutton and paneer.

19. The people of Brazil prefer green peas for their topping.

20. Russians serve pizza covered in mockba (a mix of sardines, tuna, mackeral, salmon and onions.)

Past Life Puzzle

Ever wondered if you have been in this world before! Just how exciting would it be to know who you were in your past lives? Who were you and where were you?

We unconsciously carry forward experiences, attitudes, and relationships from our prior lives into our current lifetimes. Our relationships, health, job and financial status is a result of what happened in our previous lives.

Many times traumatic experiences or phobias such as fear of heights or fear of water, are left unresolved, relationships are left unhealed, or attitudes and decisions may be carried forward from a past lifetime that is detrimental to our current life. Regression therapy has traditionally been used, in resolving these experiences from the past that are blocking our progress and happiness now.

Regression therapy, also known as past life therapy is based upon the premise that we are eternal beings who carry forward learning and experiences from one human lifetime to another. Regression therapy is person or client-centred. It focuses upon the discovery of the origins of a client's problem. Past lives memories are explored through the use of hypnotic regression, which means a person is put into a hypnotic or highly relaxed state, and are then regressed to the time and place where the original activating event occurred.

Re-experiencing the key events of a past life and reprocessing the impact helps in resolving current issues more effectively. Traditionally regression therapy has been used to solve problems related to troubling behaviour and attitude patterns that have persisted over time; phobias or intense fears, such as fear of heights or fear of water that seem unconnected to an experience in the current life; some chronic physical ailments, sensations and pains and dominant attitudes or emotions that seem to persist throughout the life.

Now, regression therapy is also being applied to more positive experiences rather than just troubling memories. It can be applied to access one’s strengths, accomplishments and success from prior lifetimes to increase confidence in the present and accessing the wisdom and spiritual nature of one’s existence to give direction to present lifetime.

Mystifying Mummies

A 10-month-old baby who lived in Peru 6,420 years ago, a German nobleman dead since 1648, an 18th-century Hungarian family, Egyptian animal mummies and all such treasures of mummies.

In July, 2010 Mummies of the World, opened an exhibition at the California Science Centre in Los Angeles. The exhibition puts on display an incredible array of 45 mummies and 95 artifacts from 15 museums across Asia, Oceania, South America, Europe and ancient Egypt, some dating as far back as 6,500 years. Mummies of the World is the largest travelling exhibition of mummies ever assembled.

The exhibit is based on the work of the German Mummy Project, a group of experts from 15 European institutions based at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim, Germany. The researchers used scientific tools such as DNA analysis, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer tomography (CT), radiocarbon dating and mass spectrometry to learn more about 20 mummified specimens that were rediscovered in 2004 within the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums of Mannheim, Germany.

In 2004, staff members of Reiss-Engelhorn
Museums in Mannheim, Germany found a treasure trove they were not expecting—20 human mummies and many precious artifacts, forgotten in a corner of an underground vault.

Where had the mummies come from? And why had they been forgotten?
Researchers discovered that the collection of mummies found in the vault had been purchased by the museum in 1917 and had been assumed to be lost during the chaos and destruction of World War II.

What is a Mummy?
A Mummy is the dead body of an animal or a human that has been preserved after death so that it does not decompose. To be considered as a mummy, the body must keep some of its soft tissue, such as hair, skin or muscles. The word 'mummy' is generally believed to derive from a Persian word, mummiya, which means 'bitumen', used to describe the blackened state of ancient Egyptian bodies.

Mummification takes place when the process of decay is blocked, generally from a lack of moisture or oxygen. This can happen as a natural process or as an artificial process. Natural mummies are preserved by the environment in which they died. Environments that are warm and dry, such as a desert or attic, allow bodies to dry out naturally. Environments that are cold and dry also allow bodies to dry out naturally. Artificial mummies occur when the natural process of decay is blocked intentionally or artificially by some procedure usually involving human assistance.

Mummies of humans and other animals have been found on every continent of the world, both as a result of natural preservation through unusual conditions, and as cultural artifacts to preserve the dead. There are more than 1000 mummies in dry Xinjiang China. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats.

In fiction mummies were popularized by films and other mass media. One of the earliest appearances was The Jewel of Seven Stars, by Bram Stoker, first published in 1903.There are various films representing mummies such as the 1932 movie The Mummy starring Boris Karloff to the current big-budget re-makes of recent years.

Exhibiting Interesting Mummies
The treasures presented in Mummies of the World exhibition include some very interesting mummies.

The Detmold Child is a Peruvian child mummy in a remarkable state of preservation, radiocarbon dated to 4504 – 4457 B.C.

Baron von Holtz is a 17th century nobleman believed to have died in Sommersdorf, Germany during the Thirty Year’s War (1618 – 1648). He was discovered in the family crypt of the von Crailsheim family’s late 14th century castle, still wearing his top boots.

The Orlovits family was part of a group of 18th century mummies discovered in a long-forgotten crypt in Vac, Hungary in 1994. Michael and Veronica Orlovits and their son, Johannes, were among those preserved by the cool, dry air and oil from the pine boards used to build their coffins.

Egyptian animal mummies are elaborately wrapped in painted linen bandaging, holding fascinating clues to life and death in ancient Egypt. The Egyptian cat mummies in this exhibition date to the Ptolemaic period and show how Egyptian cats were ritually embalmed in a lengthy process using salt and various resins.

Source: Mummies of the World

Lion plus Tiger equals Liger

The liger is a cat born from the breeding of a male lion and a female tiger. Both are the members of genus Panthera. Ligers inherit characteristics from both the species. They have a tiger-like striping pattern on a lion-like tawny background. They enjoy swimming which is a characteristic of tigers and are very sociable like lions. They usually chuff like a tiger and roar like a lion, but without giving the typical lion grunt at the end. Their vocabulary is made up both of lion and tiger sounds.

The liger is the largest known big cat in the world and is far larger than lions. Male ligers are bigger than either parent, 10 to 12 ft in length, making them the biggest hybrid cat and can weigh approximately 450kg (990 lb). Female ligers may also attain great size, weighing approximately 320 kg (705 lb) and reaching 10 ft long on average, and are often fertile. No fertile male ligers have yet been found and it is assumed all are sterile. This is not the case with females and a 15-year-old ligress at Munich Zoo produced a li-liger after mating with a lion. A liger can have a long life. Shasta, a ligress (female liger) was born at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City on May 14, 1948 and died in 1972 at the age of 24.



Hercules is the largest liger living on the Earth, weighing over 410 kg (904 lb). Hercules seems completely healthy and is expected to live a long life. Hercules, the liger is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest big cat.'Hercules is a prime example of hybrid vigour, which he gets from his lion father and his tigress mother,' said Dr Bhagavan 'Doc' Antle, the founder of The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in South Carolina, who has brought up eight-year old Hercules since birth.'The social side of his personality of course is inherited from his father and the pensive, observant nature is inherited from his mother.'As a mixture of the world's largest two big cats, Hercules is an impressive specimen and a pretty well balanced and relaxed guy too.'

Baby ligers born in Taiwan on 15 August , 2010.

On Sunday 15th August, 2010, three liger cubs were born in Taiwan. Out of the three liger cubs, two of the cubs survived. The cubs are the offspring of an African lion named Simba and a Bengal tigress named Beauty, kept in the same cage for the last six years at the World Snake King Education Farm in Taiwan.

Global Red

Red is hot. Red colour catches people's attention, and can be used either in a negative way to indicate danger and emergency, or in a positive way for good luck. The colour red is most often associated with power and passion. Red is also the color of romance and love. Red means a lot....

1. Red is the colour of blood, the life substance of the living body.

2. The longest wavelength of light is red in the range of roughly 630–740 nm.

3. Red is the highest arc of the rainbow.

 4.The red colour is used to represent the highest ranks and positions of officials in the government hierarchy, political structures and in martial arts.

5. The colour red doesn't really make bulls angry; they are colour-blind.

6. Bees can't see the red colour.

7. Stop sign used in various countries is of red colour.

8. Mars is called the Red Planet.

9. In Kodokan judo badge red symbol means "indomitable spirit”.

10. In the business, red symbolizes losing money.

11. Red is the colour found in the national flags of about 140 countries.

12. It is the colour of mourning in South Africa. In Central Africa red colour is a symbol of life and health.

13. In Russia, red means beautiful.

14. In China, red is the colour of good luck, courage and is associated with weddings.

15. In India, red is the symbol of purity, the traditional colour of bridal dresses, and is a symbolic colour for married women.

16. In Japan, red is a traditional colour for a heroic figure.

17. Red is the colour of Communism, but it also symbolizes Christmas when mixed with the colours green, white, and gold.

18. Red is the colour of the root chakra located at the base of the spine.

19. Red colour light is used for the treatment of migraine headaches, cancer and depression.

20. Red is used in various phrases and quotes like - Paint the town red, Caught red-handed, Red carpet treatment, Red in the face, Red flag, Seeing red, Red letter day, and the list is endless.....

Symbolism of Roses

The rose is a flower that is steeped in tradition. Roses are the ultimate flower for expression of emotion or feeling. Roses can convey different meanings, if the person receiving them knows the symbolism attached to the various colours of roses. There are many elements, such as the type of rose and number of stems, which can carry as much significance as the colour...

 
Red - Love, Romance

Dark Red - Unconscious beauty

Pink - Grace, Elegance, Happiness, Appreciation

Light pink - Sympathy, Friendship

Dark Pink - Appreciation, Thankfulness

Yellow - Joy, Friendship, Platonic Love

Yellow with red tips - Friendship, falling in love

White - Innocence, Purity, Youth

Orange - Fascination, Desire, Pride, Celebration

Peach - Sincerity, Gratitude

Lavender, Lilac - Love at first sight, Enchantment

Burgundy - Beauty

Green - Calm

Coral - Desire

Purple - Majestic Glory, Protection

Black - Death, Farewell (There are no true black or blue roses,they are artifically created)

Blue - Impossible, Unattainable, Mystery

Red and White - Two colours; Passionate Purity, Unity

Red Rosebud - Symbol of Purity and Loveliness

White Rosebud - Girlhood, Youth

Thornless Rose - Love at First Sight

Single Rose - Simplicity, Utmost Devotion

Two Roses - An engagement or coming marriage

Six Roses - A need to be Loved or Cherished

Eleven Roses - True and Deep Love

Twelve Roses - Love and Appreciation

Thirteen Roses - Secret Admirer

Why Dolphins Jump?

Dolphins are intelligent aquatic mammals of different sizes and colours. Even though dolphins move around by swimming, they also often jump out of the water for various reasons.

1. One of the most commonly mentioned reasons is that dolphins leap out of the water to conserve energy while travelling, as moving through air uses much less energy than through water. Jumping into the air while swimming also allows the dolphin to breathe without losing stride.

2. Dolphins also jump in an attempt to find food, similar to the way birds scan for fish from above the water. They jump to locate food or food related activity like seagulls eating or pelicans hunting.

3. Dolphins also use jumping as a form of communication with other dolphins. They also communicate through various vocal sounds such as whistling and clicking. They splash as a warning of danger.

4. Dolphins might jump to shake off parasites such as barnacles or sucker fish. In addition, they also may jump to escape small attacking sharks.

5. Dolphins are extremely playful creatures and they show their playfulness by jumping out of the water. Spinner dolphins, for instance, leap from the water and do several corkscrew spins before hitting the water again.

Ice Hotel

ICE HOTEL is a hotel built of ice and snow. Ice hotels are oversized, extravagant igloos. Solid blocks of ice make up their barrel-shaped structures. But inside, ice hotels glitter with elaborate ice furniture and ice sculptures. Colorful lighting makes the structures look more like magical snow castles than frigid arctic dwellings. All of the ice hotels are reconstructed every year, and are dependent upon constant sub-freezing temperatures during construction and operation. The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice, and are held together using a substance known as snice, which takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel.

The hotels are built near rivers where workers can draw water, freeze it into ice and cut the ice into large blocks before trucking it into place. Extensive, large-capacity ice hotels take about five to six weeks to build. But when spring comes, all the hard work melts away, and the hotels must wait until winter to rebuild.

The first ice hotel was built in 1989 in a village called Jukkasjärvi in northern Lapland, Sweden, 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. It started as a modest, 60-square-meter igloo and now it is the world's largest hotel of ice and snow of about 5500 square meters.

 

The ICEHOTEL Sweden has a different design every year, built from blocks of ice gathered from the Torne River. Creating the ice hotel each winter takes 10,000 tons of clear river ice, plus 30,000 tons of snow. The Ice Hotel Sweden offers different kinds of accommodation to choose from for about 100 guests and also have other features like a sauna, a reception hall, a multimedia theatre, an ice chapel for weddings and ABSOLUT ICEBAR.

The Sweden Ice Hotel is open for business beginning in December (depending on the weather) and ending in March. Not only is the entire Sweden Ice Hotel structure made totally of ice, but all of the furniture and most of the décor found within is also made from ice. Beds at the Sweden Ice Hotel are slabs of solid ice, and chairs are carved from blocks of ice. Statues and other forms of art are carved throughout the hotel, in rooms and in hallways, and tend to be quite ornate. For comfort, reindeer skin blankets are draped over beds and chairs to offer (moderate) warmth.
 

Eighty six

What does Eighty six means? Yes, you are right! Eighty six (86) is the natural number following 85 and preceding 87.

Did you know?

Eighty six also means "to refuse to serve a customer at a bar or restaurant". It also means to throw away or that an item is no longer available.

Origin

The term is American and originated in the restaurant trade. There are a number of theories about the origin of the term. The actual origin is uncertain but the most famous theory is that it originated from Chumley's Bar and restaurant at 86 Bedford Street in Greenwich Village New York City. Purportedly, the expression "to Eighty-six" (meaning to leave, to cut off, or to eject) originated at Chumley's as a reference to its address: Patrons were told to "Eighty-six it out the Garden Door" in anticipation of a police raid.

But there are other theories also:

That it originated from British merchant shipping where the standard crew was 85, so that the 86^th man didn't get to go;
That 86 was the number of a US law that forbade bartenders to serve the overly intoxicated;
And that it refers to the number of tables at the New York restaurant (New York restaurant had 85 tables), and the table 86, in other words, means no table that the undesirable got.
Whatever its origin, it does seem that "Eighty-six" was first used in restaurants and bars, either in the late 1920s or in the early 1930s.The oldest citation of "Eighty six" is in Walter Winchell column in the Havana Evening Telegram. Winchell was a slang master. 1 June 1933, Havana (Cuba) Evening Telegram, Walter Winchell column, pg. 2, col. 3:

"A Hollywood soda-jerker forwards this glossary of soda-fountain lingo out there..."Shoot one" and "Draw one" is one coke and one coffee..."Shoot one in the red!" means a cherry coke...An "echo" is a repeat order..."Eighty-six" means all out of it..."Eighty-one" is a glass of water..."Thirteen" means one of the big bosses is drifting around...A "red ball" is an orangeade..."Squeeze one" is a limeade..."Eighty-nine" means that a movie player of importance is in the store, and "Twisted, choke and make it cackle!" means a chocolate malted milk - with an egg in it." 

The other clear citation is from the February 1936 issue of journal American Speech, where "Eighty-six" was used to refer that the item on the menu is not on hand."

If you work in a restaurant or bar, you might eighty-six (or "eliminate") a menu item when you run out of it, or you might eighty-six (or "cut off") a customer who should no longer be served. "Eighty-six" is still used in this specific context, but it has also entered the general language. These days, you don't have to be a worker in a restaurant or bar to eighty-six something -- you just have to be someone with something to get rid of or discard.