Singapore Flyer







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Diameter: Singapore Flyer is 150 metres in diameter – about the length of 87 Singaporean men lying down head-to-toe. The average Singaporean man is 1.72m tall.
Height: Singapore Flyer measures 165 metres in height – about the height of a 42-storey building. To amuse your child, describe the height as “31 male giraffes stacked on top of one another”. The average height of a giraffe is 5.3 metres.
Land area: Singapore Flyer stands on 33,700m2 or 363,000 ft2 – an area that will fit 172 tennis courts or 1,120 parking lots. A typical parking lot is 30m2.
Capsule size: Each capsule is 4 metres x 7 metres – about the size of a city bus. There are 28 capsules. Each capsule can carry up to 28 passengers.
Speed it travels: 0.24m per second, or 0.76km/h.
Total capacity per revolution: 784 passengers.
Boarding & Flying
Boarding: To board the capsule, you use the “step on platform” – it’s like walking on level ground into the capsule. There are two synchronised doors and two platforms on each side – making it easy for the elderly and those in wheelchairs to get on and off.
Rotation: Each rotation is about 32 minutes.
Smooth Rotation: Singapore Flyer is designed and built to rotate smoothly under various wind conditions at high altitudes – thanks to precision wind engineering.
View Radius: On board Singapore Flyer, you can see up to 45 kilometres away – that’s 3 kilometres more than the entire length of our island city. From the Flyer, you’ll be able to see Changi Airport, Sentosa Island, and even parts of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Design & Technology
Design: Singapore Flyer is the brainchild of world renowned architect Dr. Kisho Kurokawa (Japan) and architectural firm DP Architects (Singapore). The design is notably “avant-garde” – experimental and innovative while emphasizing simplicity and harmony.
Technological Wonder: Singapore Flyer uses a slim ladder truss rim – not the usual triangular rim used by other observation wheels.

Copper

Facts about the Definition of the Element Copper

A ductile, malleable, reddish-brown metallic element that is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity and is widely used for electrical wiring, water piping, and corrosion-resistant parts, either pure or in alloys such as brass and bronze. The most common uses of Copper are in Copper sulfate, Hammered copper, Tubing, pipes – Plumbing, Wire, Electromagnets, Statues, Watt’s steam engine, Vacuum tubes, Musical instruments, Component of coins, Cookware and Cutlery. A Copper Reaction involves a process in which Copper is mixed with another substance which react to form something else.

Interesting Facts about the Origin and Meaning of the element name Copper
The name originates from the Latin word cyprium, after the island of Cyprus. Copper was associated with the goddess named Aphrodite / Venus in Greek and Roman mythology. The island of Cyprus was sacred to the goddess. In alchemy, the symbol for copper was also the symbol for the planet Venus. In Greek times, the metal was known by the name Chalkos. In Roman times, it became known as Cyprium because so much of it was mined in Cyprus.

Facts about the Classification of the Element Copper
Copper is classified as a “Transition Metal” which are located in Groups 3 – 12 of the Periodic Table. An Element classified as a Transition Metals is ductile, malleable, and able to conduct electricity and heat.

Occurrence of the element Copper in the Atmosphere
Obtained from chalcopyrite, coveline, chalcosine
Common Uses of Copper
Copper sulfate
Hammered copper
Tubing, pipes – Plumbing
Wire
Sheets
Electromagnets
Statues
Watt’s steam engine
Vacuum tubes
Musical instruments
Component of coins
Cookware
Cutlery

The Properties of the Element Copper
Name of Element : Copper
Symbol of Element : Cu
Atomic Number of Copper : 29
Atomic Mass: 63.546 amu
Melting Point: 1083.0 °C – 1356.15 °K
Boiling Point: 2567.0 °C – 2840.15 °K
Number of Protons/Electrons in Copper : 29
Number of Neutrons in Copper : 35
Crystal Structure: Cubic
Density @ 293 K: 8.96 g/cm3
Color of Copper : red / orange / brown

9 interesting confusions !


1. Can you cry under water?

2. Do fishes ever get thirsty?

3. Why don't birds fall of trees when they sleep?

4. Why is it called building when it is already built?

5. When they say dogs food is new and improved, who tastes it?

6. "I Love You" is not a question then why does it need an answer?

7. Why does round pizza come in a square box?

8. Why doesn't glue stick to its bottle?

9. If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

Kuala Lumpur

20120303-105558.jpgFull name: Kuala Lumpur (more commonly known as K.L)
Area: 243.65 km² / 95.18 sq mi
Population: Estimated 1.8 million
National Language: Malay Language (Bahasa Melayu)
Other Spoken Languages: English, Chinese, Tamil
Ethnic Groups: Malay 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, Indigenous 11%, Indian 7.1%, Others 7.8% (2004 est.)
Religions: Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Christian, Sikh
Currency: Ringgit Malaysia (RM)
National Anthem: Negaraku
Country code + Area code: +603
Time difference: GMT + 8 (day light savings do not apply)
Weather: tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons
Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz, standard two or three pin British-style plugs
Emergency number: 999 (medical, police and fire)
Places Of Interest: Petronas Twin Towers, Sultan Abdul Samad Building, Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, Menara K.L, Lake Gardens, Dataran Merdeka, National Mosque, National Museum, National Monument, Chinatown, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, National Theatre.
Festivals: Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Wesak, Federal Territory Day, etc.
Districts: Ampang, Bangsar, Damansara Heights , Cheras, Segambut, Sri Hartamas, etc.
Transportation: Light Rail Transit (LRT), K.L Monorail, Rapid K.L (Bus), KTM Commuter Trains, Taxis

Snakes

There are around 3000 snake species in the world, and about 375 of these are venomous. From enormous ones like the python, which can swallow animals as large as a deer whole, to snakes that are just a few inches long, snakes can be found in all types of habitats.
While some climb trees, others live underground, and still others are found in the waters of lakes and even seas. Given below are some more fascinating facts about snakes.
Snakes are reptiles that have an elongated body that is flexible and limbless. The shape of the body of snakes is dependent on the habitat they live in.
For example, snakes that burrow underground have a tendency of being more compact, whereas the types that live in trees tend to be slender and long equipped with a prehensile tail which they use to grasp branches, while the body of aquatic snakes is generally flattened.
Snakes occur in a large variety of colors, ranging from dull to brilliant hues with striking patterns. Snakes that have dull coloring use it for camouflage, while those that are brightly colored are usually poisonous.
They use their bright colors to warn predators to stay off. Some non-poisonous snakes mimic the patterns and bright colors of poisonous snakes to fool predators.
As for the size, while the anaconda can grow up to 38 feet in length, the brahminy blind snake is just 2 inches long, making it the smallest snake.
Snakes occur practically all over the world, apart from places like Greenland, Iceland, and Antarctica. However, it is in the tropical regions of the world that most snakes are found.
Like all reptiles, snakes are cold-blooded, which means they do not have the ability of generating adequate amounts of heat in order to keep their body temperature at a constant level. Instead, they are dependent on the heat from their surroundings and the sun to control the temperature of their body. This is the reason most snake species are found in the humid and warm climes of tropical regions.
Another interesting fact about snakes is that they need to shed their skin regularly while they grow, a process known as molting. Snakes shed their skin by rubbing their head against something rough and hard, like a piece of wood or a rock.
This causes the skin, which is already stretched, to split open. The snake keeps on rubbing its skin on various rough objects, resulting in the skin peeling off from its head, enabling it to crawl out, turning the skin inside out.
Snakes have the ability of surviving without food for many days at a stretch after having a filling meal. This is because they have a slow rate of metabolism. In fact, the King Cobra, for example, can go for months without food.
Snakes do not have any eyelids; instead, a transparent scale protects their eyes. Also, they are deaf to airborne sounds, and they ‘hear’ by picking up vibrations through their jawbones.
Plus, snakes use their forked tongue to smell. The tongue gathers particles that are airborne which it then passes to the Jacobson’s Organ, a specialized organ located on the roof of the snake’s mouth.
Snakes have the unique ability of swallowing prey three times larger than their mouth. They can do this because the special tendons located in their mouth are highly stretchable and because the two halves of their jaws are not attached to each other rigidly.
Snakes have more than 200 teeth, which they do not use to chew, since they point backwards, but bite and grip their prey securely.
Being extremely shy animals, we are just beginning to learn more interesting facts about snakes. However, many of their species are disappearing completely for various reasons like being wantonly killed due to fear or for their skins, while their habitats are being continuously eroded and destroyed by us.

China

China is the most populous nation on earth. With more than 1.2 billion people, it contains one-fifth of the world’s population.
Approximately 93 percent of the people are Han Chinese; the remainder is made up of 350 minority groups — 55 of them are commonly recognized — which have their own language, culture, and religion.
China has the third largest landmass of any nation. Only Russia and Canada are larger. China is slightly larger than the United States.
There are 31 provinces, autonomous regions and special municipalities. Hong Kong, which reverted to China in 1997, is referred to as a special administrative region.
The four largest cities, Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin are administered directly by the central government.
Approximately half the land is occupied by minority people groups such as Mongols, Tibetans, Yugur, and Bai. Only about 15 percent of China’s land is farmable, so there is a great strain on the land to feed so many people.
Mandarin Chinese (also known as Putonghua) is the primary language, and is spoken by more than 70 percent of the population. Cantonese prevails in Hong Kong and in parts of the Guangdong Province. Many other dialects abound.
With its first recorded history dating back to 1500 BC, China claims the world’s oldest existing civilization.
During most of its history, China was ruled by a series of dynasties. The last dynasty ended in 1911 with the establishment of a republic by Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
From 1911 until 1949 there was great turmoil in China as various factions fought for supremacy, ending with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.
Since 1949, the country has been under communist rule. China’s governments claims that during that time there has been an eradication of opium, an increased life expectancy, and a reduction of the infant mortality rate.
But, there have also been periods of great turmoil, the worst of which was the Cultural Revolution, officially lasting from 1966-1970, though many historians extend its effects until the death of Mao Ze-dong in 1976.
The Cultural Revolution was a period of unprecedented turmoil in which society was virtually turned upside down.
Students, in the form of Red Guard, went on a rampage. Schools and universities were closed, intellectuals and artists of all kinds were dismissed, persecuted, sent to labor in the countryside, or killed.
Temples, monuments, and works of art were defaced and destroyed. All religious institutions were closed and religious workers were sent to prison or to work in factories or in the countryside. This was a time of suffering for all the Chinese people. Its effects are still felt in society.
Except for a few minority groups and some rural dwellers, families are strongly discouraged from having more than one child.
Those who ignore the admonitions can be severely penalized. The government takes pride in this intrusive manner of population control.
China’s economy has been improving rapidly since 1979 when China opened the doors to foreign investment and opened the economy to more private initiative.
This has resulted in a vast increase of consumer activity, so that upper middle class families have many symbols of middle class affluence: refrigerators, telephones, color televisions, video CD players, and more.
Commercialism and materialism are increasingly popular in China. However, there is still terrible poverty as well.
Even though the Communist government encourages atheism, there are five recognized religions in China today: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestant Christianity.
Ancestor worship is a daily practice for many. Confucianism is not officially a religion, though through the centuries, there have periodically been temples devoted to the worship of Confucius.
In any case, Confucianism remains a major element of the Chinese value system. The government cracked down on a very popular Falunggung religious practice in 1999, terming it a dangerous cult.
Robert Morrison was the first Protestant to introduce Christianity in China. He arrived in Canton in 1807.
From that time until 1949, hundreds of sending agencies sent thousands of missionaries to serve in China. China was a difficult mission field; converts came slowly. In 1949 there were no more than 750,000 Protestant Christians in China.
After all the foreign missionaries left China in the early 1950s and all religious institutions were closed from about 1966 because of the Cultural Revolution, it was feared that Christianity might have died out once again.
But, when the churches began to open up in 1979 it was discovered, even to the Chinese Christians’ amazement, that there were at least 6 million Christians.
No longer foreign, all Chinese churches are just that: indigenous Chinese churches, and thousands of Chinese, young and old, are turning to Christ every day.
Nobody really knows how many Christians there are in China. Accurate statistics are hard to come by because there is no systematic or standard reporting system and the numbers change rapidly.
Estimates for members of registered (government sanctioned) congregations range up to 15-20 million, with more than 37,000 congregations meeting in church buildings referred to as churches and 25,000 meeting in other locations, referred to as meeting points.
But there are also many millions of believers, perhaps 45-80 million of them, who meet in house churches that are not government approved.
Even by placing the estimate at the high end of 100 million total Christians, one is reminded that there are still more than one billion Chinese who don’t know Christ!
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Footwear

20120307-073400.jpgSandals originated in warm climates where the soles of the feet needed protection but the top of the foot needed to be cool.


4,000 years ago the first shoes were made of a single piece of rawhide that enveloped the foot for both warmth and protection.
In Europe pointed toes on shoes were fashionable from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries.
In the Middle East heels were added to shoes to lift the foot from the burning sand.
In Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries heels on shoes were always colored red.
Shoes all over the world were identical until the nineteenth century, when left- and right-footed shoes were first made in Philadelphia.
In Europe it wasn’t until the eighteenth century that women’s shoes were different from men’s.
Six-inch-high heels were worn by the upper classes in seventeenth-century Europe. Two servants, one on either side, were needed to hold up the person wearing the high heels.
Sneakers were first made in America in 1916. They were originally called keds.
Boots were first worn in cold, mountainous regions and hot, sandy deserts where horse-riding communities lived. Heels on boots kept feet secure in the stirrups.
The first lady’s boot was designed for Queen Victoria in 1840.

Watch


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The use of quartz in watches makes use of a long-known type of electricity known as piezoelectricity. Piezoelectricity is the current which flows from or through a piece of quartz when the quartz is put under electrical and/or mechanical pressure (piezo is from the Greek verb meaning “to press”).

The oldest means of determining time is by observing the location of the sun in the sky. When the sun is directly overhead, the time is roughly 12:00 noon.
A slightly later development, and one less subject to an individual’s judgment, is the use of a sundial. During the daylight hours, sunlight falls on a vertical pole placed at the center of a calibrated dial, thus casting a shadow on the dial and providing the reader with a relatively accurate time reading.
The invention of the mechanical clock in the fourteenth century was a major advancement—it provided a more concise and consistent method of measuring time.
The mechanical clock includes a complicated series of wheels, gears, and levers powered by a falling weights and with a pendulum (or later a wound-up spring). These pieces together moved the hand or hands on a dial to show the time.
The addition of chimes or gongs on the hour, half hour, and quarter hour followed soon afterward. By the eighteenth century, smaller clocks for the home were available, and, unlike their predecessors, were closed and sealed in a case.
Developments in metal technology and in miniaturization, the lubrication of small parts, and the use of first, natural sapphires (and then artificial sapphires) at the spots that received the most stress (the jeweled movement) all became integral components of horological science.
Small pocket watches, perhaps two to three inches (five to seven centimeters) in diameter, were available by the end of the nineteenth century. Mechanical wristwatches were an everyday item in the United States by the 1960s. And yet, the central problem faced by watch and clockmakers remained the same: mechanical parts wear down, become inaccurate, and break.
In the years immediately following World War II, interest in atomic physics led to the development of the atomic clock. Radioactive materials emit particles (decayed) at a known, steady rate.
The parts of a mechanical clock that ratcheted to keep the time could be replaced by a device that stimulated the watch movement each time a particle was emitted by the radioactive element. Atomic clocks, incidentally, are still made and sold, and they are found to be consistently accurate.
With the development of the microchip in the 1970s and 1980s, a new type of watch was invented. Wristwatches that mixed microchip technology with quartz crystals became the standard; there are few non-quartz wristwatches made today.
The microchip is utilized to send signals to the dial of the watch on a continual basis. Because it is not a mechanical device with moving parts, it does not wear out.
A quartz watch uses the electricity from a piece of quartz subjected to the electricity from a battery to send a regular, countable series of signals (oscillations) to one or more microchips. (Electrical wall clocks, in contrast, use the regularity of wall current to keep track of time.)
The most accurate quartz watches are those in which the time appears in an electronically controlled digital display, produced via a light-emitting diode (LED) or a liquid crystal display (LCD).
It is possible, of course, to have the microprocessor send its signals to mechanical devices that make hands move on the watch face, creating an analog display.
But because the hands are mechanically operated through a portion of the watch known as a gear train, analogue watches usually are not as accurate as digitals and are subject to wear.
Both types of watches achieve tremendous accuracy, with digital watches commonly being accurate to within three seconds per month.

Mango

The mango is known as the ‘king of fruit’ throughout the world.
The Mango is a member of the cashew family of flowering plants; other species include the pistachio tree and poison ivy.
The name ‘mango’ is derived from the Tamil word ‘mangkay’ or ‘man-gay’. When the Portuguese traders settled in Western India they adopted the name as ‘manga’.
Mangos originated in East India, Burma and the Andaman Islands bordering the Bay of Bengal. Persian traders took the mango into the middle east and Africa, from there the Portuguese brought it to Brazil and the West Indies. Mango cultivars arrived in Florida in the 1830′s and in California in the 1880′s.
The Mango tree is a symbol of love.
Mango leaves are used at weddings to ensure the couple bear plenty of children (though it is only the birth of the male child that is celebrated – again by hanging mango leaves outside the house).
Many Southeast Asian kings and nobles had their own mango groves; with private cultivars being sources of great pride and social standing, hence began the custom of sending gifts of the choicest mangoes.
Burning of mango wood, leaves and debris is not advised – toxic fumes can cause serious irritation to eyes and lungs.
Mango leaves are considered toxic and can kill cattle or other grazing livestock.
Mangos are bursting with protective nutrients. The vitamin content depends upon the variety and maturity of the fruit, when the mango is green the amount of vitamin C is higher, as it ripens the amount of beta carotene (vitamin A) increases.
There are over 20 million metric tons of mangos grown throughout the tropical and sub-tropical world. The leading mango producer is India, with very little export as most are consumed within the country. Mexico and China compete for second place, followed by Pakistan and Indonesia. Thailand, Nigeria, Brazil, Philippines and Haiti follow in order.
The fruit of the mango is called a Drupe – consisting of the mesocarp (edible fleshy part) and endocarp (large woody, flattened pit).
The mango is a member of the Anachardiaceae family. Other distant relatives include the cashew, pistachio, Jamaica plum, poison ivy and poison oak.
The over 1,000 known mango cultivars are derived from two strains of mango seed – monoembryonic (single embryo) and polyembryonic (multiple embryo). Monoembryonic hails from the Indian (original) strain of mango, polyembryonic from the Indochinese.
Dermatitis can result from contact with the resinous latex sap that drips from the stem end when mangos are harvested. The mango fruit skin is not considered edible.
Mangiferin – rich in splenocytes, found in the stem bark of the mango tree has purported potent immunomodulatory characteristics – believed to inhibit tumor growth in early and late stages.
Mangoes contain as much vitamin C as an orange.
To choose a Mango gently squeeze the ‘nose’ of the fruit. If there is slight give then the mango is ripe. Color is not the best indicator of ripeness.
A Mango stored at 55 degrees will last for up to two weeks. Do not refrigerate.
Mangoes are some of the best sources of beta carotene; they contain 20 percent more than cantaloupe and 50 percent more than apricots.

Thendayuthapani Temple

Name
Other names: Chettiar Hindu Temple
Proper name: Sri Thendayuthapani Temple
Tamil: ஸ்à®°ீ தண்டாயுதபாணி கோவில்
Location
Country: Singapore
Location: 15 Tank Road
Architecture and culture
Primary deity: Murugan
Architectural styles: Dravidian architecture
History
Date built: 1859
Creator: Nattukkottai Chettiar Community
The Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, better known as the Chettiar Hindu Temple, is one of Singapore Hindu community’s most important monuments. It was built in the year 1859 by Nattukkottai Chettiar community.   This Shaivite temple, dedicated to the six-faced Lord Subramaniam (Lord Muruga), is at its most active during the festival of Thaipusam, where the procession ends here. It is here, during the annual Thaipusam festival, that hundreds of pilgrims, their bodies pierced by hooks, spears and spiked steel structures called Kavadi, end their walk from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on Serangoon Road.
The act of penance is carried out by devotees in gratitude to Lord Subramanian or Murugan, son of Lord Siva, for granting their prayers of supplication.
The First Consecration Ceremony
As quoted in their website, the slab stones found at Sri Thendayuthapani Temple show that the temple was consecrated on 4.4.1859. That would mean that the building works had started one or two years earlier.
In fact the community bought the land, where the present temple stands, from the estate of Mr Oxley, the first Surgeon General of Singapore. The temple in its original form was of a simple structure.
At the entrance to the temple, two raised platforms similar to that found in Chettiar households in Tamil Nadu were erected. It had an alangara mandapam and an artha mandapam.
The alangara mandapam was used to house the decorated deities on special occasions while the artha mandapam was the centre hall leading to the main sanctum. The main sanctum was of course dedicated to Lord Muruga in the form of Sri Thendayuthapani.
Subsequent Consecrations  
The old temple underwent some renovation and restoration works on two occasions when the consecration ceremonies were held in 1936 and 1955. However, the community felt the need to upgrade the temple with modern facilities so as to keep pace with the development of Singapore.
The Nagarathars decided in the late seventies, to rebuild the temple on the same site. The temple was to be in the centre with a wedding hall and staff quarters flanking its sides. The food courtyard known as the karthigai kattu was replaced by a wedding hall with car parking facilities. The piling work started on 4 Jan 1981 and was completed on 19 Jan 1983.

Facts About Rain

1. The umbrella was originally invented to protect people from the hot sun.
2. Rain drops can fall at speeds of about 22 miles an hour.
3. Rain starts off as ice or snow crystals at cloud level.
4. Light rain is classified as being no more then 0.10 inchese of rain an hour.
5. Heavy rain is classified as being more then 0.30 inches of rain an hour.
6. Louisiana is the wettest state in the U.S, which receoved an annual rainfall of 56 inches.
7. Rain drops range in size from 0.02 inches to about .031 inches.
8. Rain drops do not fall in a tear drop shape, they originally fall in the shave of a flat oval.
9. Rain that freezes before it hits the ground is known as frozen rain.
10. Rain is recycled water that evaporated from our worlds lakes, rivers, oceans, seas etc.

Ice Skates

The oldest pair of skates known date back to about 3000 B.C., found at the bottom of a lake inSwitzerland. The skates were made from the leg bones of large animals, holes were bored at each end of the bone and leather straps were used to tie the skates on. An old Dutch word for skate is “schenkel” which means “leg bone”.
Around the 14th Century, the Dutch started using wooden platform skates with flat iron bottom runners. The skates were attached to the skater’s shoes with leather straps.
Poles were used to propel the skater. Around 1500, the Dutch added a narrow metal double edged blade, making the poles a thing of the past, as the skater could now push and glide with his feet (called the “Dutch Roll”).
In 1848, E. V. Bushnell ofPhiladelphia, PA invented the first all steel clamp for skates.
In 1865, Jackson Haines, a famous American skater, developed the two plate all metal blade. The blade was attached directly to Haines’ boots.
The skater became famous for his new dance moves, jumps and spins. Haines added the first toe pick to skates in the 1870′s, making toe pick jumps possible.
The first artificial ice rink (mechanically-refrigerated) was built in 1876, atChelsea, London,England and was named the Glaciarium. It was built near the King’s Road inLondon by John Gamgee.
In 1914, John E. Strauss, a blade maker fromSt. Paul, Minnesota, invented the first closed toe blade made from one piece of steel, making skates lighter and stronger.
The largest outdoor ice rink is the Fujikyu Highland Promenade Rink inJapan, built in 1967 and boasts an ice area of 165,750 square feet– equal to 3.8 acres.

Teddy Bear

Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, is the person responsible for giving the teddy bear his name. On November 14, 1902, Roosevelt was helping settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana.
During his spare time he attended a bear hunt in Mississippi. During the hunt, Roosevelt came upon a wounded young bear and ordered the mercy killing of the animal.
The Washington Post ran a editorial cartoon created by the political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman that illustrated the event.
The cartoon was called “Drawing the Line in Mississippi” and depicted both state line dispute and the bear hunt.   At first Berryman drew the bear as a fierce animal, the bear had just killed a hunting dog.
Later, Berryman redrew the bear to make it a cuddly cub. The cartoon and the story it told became popular and within a year, the cartoon bear became a toy for children called the teddy bear.
Who made the first toy bear called teddy bear?  
Well there are several stories, below is the most popular one:   Morris Michtom made the first official toy bear called the teddy bear.
Michtom owned a small novelty and candy store in Brooklyn, New York. His wife Rose was making toy bears for sale in their store.
Michtom sent Roosevelt a bear and asked permission to use the teddy bear name. Roosevelt said yes. Michtom and a company called Butler Brothers, began to mass-produce the teddy bear. Within a year Michtom started his own company called the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company.

Intel

In 1968, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore were two unhappy engineers working for the Fairchild Semiconductor Company who decided to quit and create their own company at a time when many Fairchild employees were leaving to create start-ups. People like Noyce and Moore were nicknamed the “Fairchildren“.
Robert Noyce typed himself a one page idea of what he wanted to do with his new company, and that was enough to convince San Francisco venture capitalist Art Rock to back Noyce’s and Moore’s new venture.
Rock raised $2.5 million dollars in less than 2 days by selling convertible debentures. Art Rock became the first chairmen of Intel.
Intel Trademark  
The name “Moore Noyce” was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so the two founders decided upon the name “Intel” for their new company, a shortened version of “Integrated Electronics“. However, the rights to the name had to bought from a company called Intelco first.
Intel Products
In 1969, Intel released the world’s first metal oxide semi-conductor (MOS) static ram, the 1101. Also in 1969, Intel’s first money making product was the 3101 Schottky bipolar 64-bit static random access memory (SRAM) chip. A year later in 1970, Intel introduced the 1103, DRAM memory chip.
In 1971, Intel introduced the now-famous world’s first single chip microprocessor (computer on a chip), the Intel 4004, invented by Intel engineers Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stanley Mazor.
In 1972, Intel introduced the first 8-bit microprocessor the 8008. In 1974, the Intel 8080 microprocessor was introduced with ten times the power of the 8008.
In 1975, the 8080 microprocessor was used in one of the first consumer home computer – the Altair 8800 that was sold in kit form.
In 1976, Intel introduced the first micro-controllers, the 8748 and 8048, a computer-on-a-chip optimized to control electronic devices.
Though produced by theUSA’s Intel Corporation, the 1993 Pentium was basically the outcome of a research conducted by an Indian engineer. Popularly known as the Father of the Pentium chip, the inventor of the computer chip is Vinod Dham.

Toilets

King Minos of Crete had the first flushing water closet recorded in history and that was over 2800 years ago.
A toilet was discovered in the tomb of a Chinese king of the Western Han Dynasty that dates back to 206 BC to 24 AD.
The ancient Romans had a system of sewers. They built simple outhouses or latrines directly over the running waters of the sewers that poured into the TiberRiver
Chamber pots were used during the middle ages. A chamber pot is a special metal or ceramic bowl that you used and then tossed the contents out (often out the window).
In 1596, a flush toilet was invented and built for Queen Elizabeth I by her Godson, Sir John Harrington.
The first patent for the flushing toilet was issued to Alexander Cummings in 1775.
During the 1800s, people realized that poor sanitary conditions caused diseases. Having toilets and sewer systems that could control human waste became a priority to lawmakers, medical experts, inventors, and the general public.
In 1829, the Tremont Hotel of Boston became the first hotel to have indoor plumbing, and had eight water closets built by Isaiah Rogers. Until 1840, indoor plumbing could be found only in the homes of the rich and the better hotels.
Beginning in 1910, toilet designs started changing away from the elevated water tank into the modern toilet with a close tank and bowl.

Strange Facts

Cars were first made with ignition keys in 1949.
J.B Dunlop was first to put air into tires.
Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, also set a world water-speed record of over seventy miles an hour at the age of seventy two.
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world.
The surface speed record on the moon is 10.56 miles per hour. It was set with the lunar rover.
If you could drive to the sun — at 55 miles per hour — it would take about 193 years
Hawaii is moving toward Japan 4 inches every year.
The North Atlantic gets 1 inch wider every year.
The average ocean floor is 12,000 feet.
Shrimp’s hearts are in their heads.
Porcupines float in water.
A cat’s jaws cannot move sideways.
Only humans sleep on their backs.
A crocodile’s tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth.

HORSE


One of the first horses was called a Hyracotherium. It lived about 50 million years ago and was as tall as a fox. It had toes!
This horse changed over millions of years to become a modern horse.
Camargue horses are completely white as adults. Their babies are pure black when they are born.
There is a breed of horse from Russia called Akhal-Teke. It can go for days without food or water.
You can tell how old a horse is by how many teeth it has. A horse gets all of its teeth by the time it is five years old. After that, they just get longer.
A female horse is called a mare.
In the wild it is the mare that decides when the herd moves on to another spot to find food.
A male horse is called a stallion. Usually only one stallion will stay with a herd.
Any marking on a horse’s forehead is called a star, even if it is not shaped like a star.
Horses and ponies feel safer when they are in a herd.
Mustangs are one of the few breeds of horses that live wild in North America. They are related to the horses that the Spanish explorers brought to North America 400 years ago.
Horses can communicate how they are feeling by their facial expressions. They use their ears, nostrils, and eyes to show their moods.
Beware of a horse that has flared nostrils and their ears back. That means it might attack!
A hoof is like a fingernail. It is always growing and needs to be clipped so that it won’t be uncomfortable for the horse.
A farrier is a person who makes horse shoes and fits them on your horse.
They also clip hooves to keep them from getting overgrown.
A horse can move in four ways: walk, trot, canter, and gallop. A gallop is the fastest gait.

MP3

The German company Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft developed MP3 technology and now licenses the patent rights to the audio compression technology – United States Patent 5,579,430 for a “digital encoding process”. The inventors named on the MP3 patent are Bernhard Grill, Karl-Heinz Brandenburg, Thomas Sporer, Bernd Kurten, and Ernst Eberlein.
In 1987, the prestigious Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen research center (part of Fraunhofer Gesellschaft) began researching high quality, low bit-rate audio coding, a project named EUREKA project EU147, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).
Dieter Seitzer and Karlheinz Brandenburg
Two names are mentioned most frequently in connection with the development of MP3. The Fraunhofer Institut was helped with their audio coding by Dieter Seitzer, a professor at the University of Erlangen. Dieter Seitzer had been working on the quality transfer of music over a standard phone line. The Fraunhofer research was led by Karlheinz Brandenburg often called the “father of MP3“. Karlheinz Brandenburg was a specialist in mathematics and electronics and had been researching methods of compressing music since 1977. In an interview with Intel, Karlheinz Brandenburg described how MP3 took several years to fully develop and almost failed. Brandenburg stated “In 1991, the project almost died. During modification tests, the encoding simply did not want to work properly. Two days before submission of the first version of the MP3 codec, we found the compiler error.”
What is MP3
MP3 stands for MPEG Audio Layer III and it is a standard for audio compression that makes any music file smaller with little or no loss of sound quality. MP3 is part of MPEG, an acronym for Motion Pictures Expert Group, a family of standards for displaying video and audio using lossy compression. Standards set by the Industry Standards Organization or ISO, beginning in 1992 with the MPEG-1 standard. MPEG-1 is a video compression standard with low bandwidth. The high bandwidth audio and video compression standard of MPEG-2 followed and was good enough to use with DVD technology. MPEG Layer III or MP3 involves only audio compression.
MP3 Players
In the early 1990s, Frauenhofer developed the first, however, unsuccessful MP3 player. In 1997, developer Tomislav Uzelac of Advanced Multimedia Products invented the AMP MP3 Playback Engine, the first successful MP3 player. Two university students, Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev ported AMP to Windows and created Winamp. In 1998, Winamp became a free MP3 music player boosting the success of MP3. No licensing fees are required to use an MP3 player.

Malibu Hindu Temple

Malibu Hindu Temple, a temple of the Hindu god Venkateswara, built in 1981, is located in the city of Calabasas near Malibu, California in the Santa Monica Mountains. It is owned and operated by the Hindu Temple Society of Southern California. Built in the traditional South Indian style, it is frequented by followers of Hinduism in Southern California.
The priests are situated and live on the grounds of the temple. The temple has many gatherings for ceremonies, and provides numerous space for meditation, picknicking, it has a full stage for special cultural and Hindu programs.
Temple Complex  
The Hindu temple has two complexes – the upper complex with Lord Venkateswara as the presiding deity and the lower complex with Lord Shiva as the presiding deity. In addition to the presiding deity, both complexes have shrines for other deities.
In Popular Culture
 In 1997, the temple was used in a small scene in the movie Beverly Hills Ninja starring Chris Farley, and in 1998 in a song in the Tamil film Jeans. In January 2006, the pop-star singer Britney Spears had her 4-month-old son blessed in a large ceremony by the Hindu priests of this temple. The event had world-wide coverage in the media.

Sparrow

•Sparrows are loosely monogamous. Both the female and the male take care of the young ones, though the female does most of the brooding.
•These birds are aggressive and social, which increases their ability to compete with most native birds.
•They can swim to escape from predators, although they are not considered to be water birds.
•The difference between a male and a female sparrow is that the former has a reddish back and a black bib, whereas the female has brown back with eye stripe.
•Sparrow nests are bulky, roofed affairs. They are haphazardly built and without good workmanship, unlike what is displayed by other weaver finches.
•The nest building is initiated by an unmated male, who begins the construction while displaying it to the females. The females do assist in nest building, but are less active than the male.
•In cool season, sparrows build specially created roost nests or roost in streetlights, to avoid losing heat during the winter.
•Sparrows are generally not territorial, but they are quite aggressive when it comes to protecting their nest from intruders of the same sex.
•They prefer to live near human dwellings, especially if there are bird feeders. They are generally found in farming areas, cities and suburbs.
•Sparrows are around 14-16 cm long. They are chirpy, with grey and brown color. They have the ability to fly at the speed of 38.5 km/hour and can even reach a speed of 50 km/hour.
•These birds usually nest in cavities, but some may nest in bushes and trees as well. They build untidy nests of grass and assorted rubbish, including wool, feathers and fine vegetative material.
•Manmade environments have always been a source of food and shelter for sparrows. They usually nest under the eaves of homes and in holes in the walls of buildings or in climbing plants that grow on walls.
•Sparrows raise three nests of 3-5 eggs. Both male and female helps to incubate the eggs for 12-15 days. The fledglings usually fly out after 15 days.
•The population of sparrows has been declining, as there is less food for them, because of fewer gardens. They are now on the threatened birds’ list in many parts of the world.

JAPAN

Raw horse meat is a popular entree in Japan.
Sliced thinly and eaten raw it is called basashi – it is pictured above.
Over 70% of Japan consists of mountains. The country also has over 200 volcanoes.
A musk melon (similar to a cantaloupe) can sell for over 31,473 yen ($300.00).
The literacy rate in Japan is almost 100%.
There are vending machines in Japan that dispense beer!
Japanese people have an average life-expectancy that is 4 years longer than Americans. Maybe American’s should eat more basashi!
 Some men in Japan shave their heads as a form of apology.
Japan has the second lowest homicide rate in the world, but is also home to the extremely spooky suicide forest, aokigahara. One occupant of the forest is pictured above.
Japan has produced 15 Nobel laureates (in chemistry, medicine and physics), 3 Fields medalists and one Gauss Prize laureate.
Younger sumo-wrestlers are traditionally required to clean and bathe the veteran sumo-wrestlers at their wrestling “stables”…including all the hard-to-reach places.
Japan’s unemployment rate is less than 4%.
 Japan consists of over 6,800 islands.
A Paleolithic culture from about 30,000 BC is the first known inhabitants of Japan.
Prolific Japanese film-maker Takahi Miike made up to 50 films in a decade during the peak of his career.
Animated Japanese films and television shows (.i.e.: Anime) account for 60% of the world’s animation-based entertainment. So successful is animation in Japan, that there are almost 130 voice-acting schools in the country.
21% of the Japanese population is elderly, the highest proportion in the world.
In the past, the Japanese court system has had a conviction rate as high as 99%!
Japanese prisons (as of 2003) operated at an average of 117% capacity.

Rice



Rice is an excellent source of energy, especially energy-giving carbohydrates, which are used in the body for brain performance, physical activity, bodily functions and everyday growth and repair.
After carbohydrate, protein is the second most abundant constituent of rice. When compared to that of other grains, rice protein is considered one of the highest quality proteins.
Rice is low in fat and cholesterol free.
Rice contains negligible amounts of sodium, with less than 5mg sodium per 100g serve. It is therefore a super food for those who need to watch their salt intake.
Both white and brown varieties of rice contain essential vitamins and minerals, including B-group vitamins (e.g. thiamin, niacin) zinc and phosphorus. Brown rice contains more nutrients and fibre than white rice since it retains the bran and germ, where many of the vitamins and minerals are found.
The bran layer of brown rice provides valuable dietary fibre. One cup (160g) of cooked brown rice contains around 2.4g of dietary fibre, which equates to 8% of an average man’s daily fibre needs and 9.6% of an average woman’s daily fibre needs.
Rice is gluten free and the most non-allergenic of all grains.
To retain nutrients, do not rinse rice under water before or after cooking.
Brown rice contains natural oils in the bran, so it has a shorter shelf life than white rice.  It’s best to refrigerate or freeze brown rice to extend its shelf life.

Thailand

Capital: Bangkok, population 8 million
Major Cities:  Nonthaburi, population 265,000  Pak Kret, population 175,000  Hat Yai, population 158,000  Chiang Mai, population 146,000
Government: Thailand is a constitutional monarchy under the beloved king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has reigned since 1946. King Bhumibol is the world’s longest-serving head of state. Thailand’s current Prime Minister is Yingluck Shinawatra, who assumed office as the first ever female in that role on August 5, 2011.
Language: Thailand’s official language is Thai, a tonal language from the Tai-Kadai family of East Asia. Thai has a unique alphabet derived from the Khmer script, which is itself descended from the Brahmic Indian writing system. Written Thai first appeared around 1292 A.D.
Population: Thailand’s estimated population as of 2007 was 63,038,247. The population density is 317 people per square mile.   The vast majority are ethnic Thais, who make up about 80% of the population. There is also a large ethnic Chinese minority, comprising about 14% of the population. Unlike the Chinese in many neighboring Southeast Asian countries, the Sino-Thai are well-integrated into their communities. Other ethnic minorities include the Malay, Khmer, Mon, and Vietnamese. Northern Thailand also is home to small mountain tribes such as the Hmong, Karen, and Mein, with a total population of less than 800,000.
Religion: Thailand is a deeply spiritual country, with 95% of the population belonging to the Theravada branch of Buddhism. Visitors will see gold-spired Buddhist stupas scattered all across the country.   Muslims, mostly of Malay origin, make up 4.5% of the population. They are located primarily in the far south of the country, in the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkhla Chumphon.   Thailand also hosts tiny populations of Sikhs, Hindus, Christians (mostly Catholics), and Jews.
Geography: Thailand covers 514,000 square kilometers (198,000 square miles) at the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia.
The Thai coastline stretches for 3,219 km along both the Gulf of Thailand on the Pacific side, and the Andaman Sea on the Indian Ocean side. The west coast was devastated by the Southeast Asian tsunami in December of 2004, which swept across the Indian Ocean from its epicenter off Indonesia.   The highest point in Thailand is Doi Inthanon, at 2,565 meters (8,415 feet). The lowest point is the Gulf of Thailand, at sea level.
Climate: Thailand’s weather is ruled by the tropical monsoons, with a rainy season from June through October, and a dry season beginning in November. Average annual temperatures are a high of 38° C (100° F), with a low of 19° C (66° F). The mountains of northern Thailand tend to be much cooler and somewhat drier than the central plain and coastal regions.
Economy: Thailand’s “Tiger Economy” was humbled by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, when the GDP growth rate plummeted from +9% in 1996 to -10% in 1998. Since then, Thailand has recovered well, with growth at a manageable 4-7%.
The Thai economy depends mainly on automotive and electronics manufacturing exports (19%), financial services (9%), and tourism (6%). About half of the workforce is employed in the agriculture sector, and Thailand is the world’s top exporter of rice. The country also exports processed foods like frozen shrimp, canned pineapple, and canned tuna.
Thailand’s currency is the baht.

Tale of Two Cities

Author: Charles Dickens
Illustrator: Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)
Cover artist: Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)
Country:United Kingdom
Language: English
Series Weekly: 30 April 1859 – 26 November 1859
Genre: Novel, Historical, Social criticism
Publisher London: Chapman & Hall
Publication date: 1859
Media type: Print (Serial, Hardback, and Paperback)
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set inLondon and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature.
The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period.
It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events. The most notable are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Darnay is a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Carton is a dissipated British barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay’s wife.
The 45-chapter novel was published in 31 weekly installments in Dickens’ new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859, Dickens also republished the chapters as eight monthly sections in green covers. Dickens’ previous novels had appeared only as monthly installments.
The first weekly installment of A Tale of Two Cities ran in the first issue of All the Year Round on 30 April 1859. The last ran thirty weeks later, on 26 November.

WHAT IS Email ?

Computer engineer, Ray Tomlinson invented internet based email in late 1971. Under ARPAnet several major innovations occurred: email (or electronic mail), the ability to send simple messages to another person across the network (1971).
Ray Tomlinson worked as a computer engineer for Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN), the company hired by the United States Defense Department to build the first Internet in 1968.
Ray Tomlinson was experimenting with a popular program he wrote called SNDMSG that the ARPANET programmers and researchers were using on the network computers (Digital PDP-10s) to leave messages for each other.
SNDMSG was a “local” electronic message program. You could only leave messages on the computer that you were using for other persons using that computer to read.
Tomlinson used a file transfer protocol that he was working on called CYPNET to adapt the SNDMSG program so it could send electronic messages to any computer on the ARPANET network.
The @ Symbol
Ray Tomlinson chose the @ symbol to tell which user was “at” what computer. The @ goes in between the user’s login name and the name of his/her host computer.
First Email
The first email was sent between two computers that were actually sitting besides each other. However, the ARPANET network was used as the connection between the two. The first email message was “QWERTYUIOP”.
Ray Tomlinson is quoted as saying he invented email,”Mostly because it seemed like a neat idea.” No one was asking for email.

Smoking

Cigarettes are the single-most traded item on the planet, with approximately 1 trillion being sold from country to country each year. At a global take of more than $400 billion, it’s one of the world’s largest industries.
 The nicotine content in several major brands is reportedly on the rise. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Health Department revealed that between 1997 and 2005 the amount of nicotine in Camel, Newport, and Doral cigarettes may have increased by as much as 11 percent.
Cigarettes contain arsenic, formaldehyde, lead, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and 43 known carcinogens.
Urea, a chemical compound that is a major component in urine, is used to add “flavor” to cigarettes.
The ‘Cork Tip’ filter was originally invented in 1925 by Hungarian inventor Boris Aivaz, who patented the process of making the cigarette filter from crepe paper. All kinds of filters were tested, although ‘cork’ is unlikely to have been one of them.
In most countries around the world, the legal age for the purchase of tobacco products is now 18, raised from 16, while in Japan the age minimum is 20 years old.
Contrary to popular social belief, it is NOT illegal to smoke tobacco products at any age. Parents are within the law to allow minors to smoke, and minors are within the law to smoke tobacco products freely. However, the SALE of tobacco products is highly regulated with legal legislation.
Smoking bans in many parts of the world have been employed as a means to stop smokers smoking in public. As a result, many social businesses have claimed a significant drop in the number of people who go out to pubs, bars and restaurants.
Scientists claim the average smoker will lose 14 years of their life due to smoking. This however does not necessarily mean that a smoker will die young – and they may still live out a ‘normal’ lifespan.
Cigarettes can contain more than 4,000 ingredients, which, when burned, can also produce over 200 ‘compound’ chemicals. Many of these ‘compounds’ have been linked to lung damage.
Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds after smoke is inhaled. It has been found in every part of the body and in breast milk.
Sugar approximates to roughly 20% of a cigarette, and many diabetics are unaware of this secret sugar intake. Also, the effect of burning sugar is unknown.
‘Lite’ cigarettes are produced by infusing tobacco with CO2 and superheating it until the tobacco ‘puffs up’ like expanding foam. The expanded tobacco then fills the same paper tube as ‘regular’ tobacco.
Smokers draw on ‘lite’ and menthol cigarettes harder (on average) than regular cigarettes; causing the same overall levels of tar and nicotine to be consumed.

Marina Bay Sands

Address:10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956
Opening date
Grand opening – 15th Febuary 2011
Official opening – 23 June 2010
Preview opening – 27 April 2010
No. of rooms: 2,561
Permanent shows: Disney’s The Lion King
Signature attractions:
Sands SkyPark, The Shoppes atMarina Bay Sands, The Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Bay Floral, MarinaBay Club, MarinaBay Sands Art Path, ArtScienceMuseum and Wonder Full

Notable restaurants :
CUT, DB Bistro Moderne, SavoySingapore, Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine, SANTI, Waku Ghin, Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza, Hide Yamamoto, Rasapura Masters, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon and Chinois by Susur Lee
Casino type: Land-Based
Owner: Las Vegas Sands Corp
Website: marinabaysands.com
Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort frontingMarina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, it is billed as the world’s most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion, including cost of the prime land.
With the casino complete, the resort features a 2,561-room hotel, a 1,300,000-square-foot (120,000 m2) convention-exhibition centre, the 800,000-square-foot (74,000 m2), The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands mall, a museum, two large theatres, seven “celebrity chef” restaurants, two floating Crystal Pavilions, an ice skating rink, and the world’s largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines.
The complex is topped by a 340m-long SkyPark with a capacity of 3,900 people and a 150m infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world’s largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 67m.
The 20-hectare resort was designed by Moshe Safdie Architects. The local architect of record was AedasSingapore, and engineering was provided by Arup and Parsons Brinkerhoff (MEP). The main contractor was Ssangyong Engineering and Construction.
Originally set to open in 2009, Las Vegas Sands faced delays caused by escalating costs of material and labour shortages from the onset. The severe global financial crisis also pressured the company to delay its projects elsewhere to complete the integrated resort.
Although Marina Bay Sands has been compared on scale and development costs to MGM’s CityCenter, the latter is a mixed-use development, with condominium properties (comprising three of the seven main structures) being sold off.
The resort was officially opened with a two-day celebration on 23 June 2010 at 3.18 pm, after a partial opening (which included the casino) on 27 April 2010.
The SkyPark opened a day later on 24 June 2010. The theatres were completed in time for the first performance by Riverdance on 30 November 2010.
The indoor skating rink, which uses artificial ice, opened to a performance by Michelle Kwan on 18 December 2010. TheArtScience Museum opened to the public and the debut of a 13-minute light, laser and water spectacle called Wonder Full on 19 February 2011 marked the full completion of the entire Integrated Resort.
The grand opening of Marina Bay Sands was held on 17 February 2011. It also marked the opening of the seven celebrity chef restaurants. The highly-anticipated Broadway musical The Lion King debuted on 3 March 2011.
The last portion of the Marina Bay Sands, the floating pavilions, were finally opened to the public when the two tenants (Louis Vuitton and Pangaea Club) opened on 18 September 2011 and 22 September 2011 respectively.

Coca Cola

Coca-Cola’s original formula included extracts of the African kola nut and coca leaves, both strong stimulants. It was one of those patent medicines sold in the 1800′s that actually contained traces of use “spent coca leaves“.
It also stopped advertising Coca-Cola as a cure for headaches and other ills. Coca-Cola and the Olympic Games began their association in the Summer of 1928.
In Africa, during WWII, when German forces over ran allied bases stocked with Coke, they would strap Coke bottles wrapped in towels to their aircraft wings, fly around for a short time, then land  and enjoy ice cold Coca Cola’s.
When WWII began, the company’s use of sugar in the manufacturing of syrup for civilian consumption was restricted to 50% of its pre-war average due to rationing.
The rationing ended in August, 1947. If all the Coca-Cola ever produced to this point were to gush from “Old Faithful” at its normal rate of 15,000 gallons every hour, the geyser would flow continually for over 1,685 years.
Another way of putting that fact—if the geyser had been continually erupting since 313 A.D., it would just be running out about now.
In Brazil, a local bottler makes 3-day trips up the Amazon River to deliver Coca-Cola to remote locations. The slogan “Good to the Last Drop” was first used by the Coca-Cola Company in 1908. It later became the slogan for Maxwell House coffee.
Cuba and Panama were the first two countries to bottle Coca-Cola outside of the U.S. Coca-Cola trucks travel over 1,000,000 miles a day to supply consumers with soft drinks.
The greater Mexico City bottler produces the greatest volume of any Coca-Cola bottler on the globe. Coca-Cola was first shipped in used whiskey kegs and barrels, but they were painted red to give them a distinctive mark. The color red has been associated with the product ever since.
It took 58 years–until 1944–to sell the first billion gallons of Coca-Cola syrup. Today, that billion gallon mark falls approximately every 7-1/2 months.
Coca-Cola products are now sold in approximately 200 countries and their logo is written in over 80 languages.
Coca-Cola is the world’s most recognizable trademark—recognized by 94% of the world’s population! If all the vending machines in the United States were stacked one ontop another, the pile would be over 450 miles high.
The consumption of Coca-Cola Classic in the U.S. exceeds each of the following: bottled water, juices, powdered drinks, wine and distilled spirits.
There are 7,000 Coca-Cola products consumed worldwide every single second.
More than 5 billion bottles of Coca-Cola were consumed by military personnel during WWII In 1943, an American soldier stationed in Italy received 2 bottles of Coca-Cola sent from home. He raffled them off at 25 cents a shot and made over $4,000 for charity.
In 1886, sales of Coca-Cola averaged 9 drinks a day. That first year, John Pemberton sold only 25 gallons of syrup. For his efforts, he grossed $50.00 and spent $73.96 in advertising.
Diet Coke is known as Coca-Cola Light in most countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. It is the most popular diet cola worldwide.
The first outdoor sign advertising Coca-Cola still exists. It was originally painted in 1894 and is located in Cartersville, Georgia.
By the 1950′s, automobile service stations sold more Coca-Cola than they did motor oil.
In July, 1985, Coca-Cola became the first soft drink to be enjoyed in outer space…on the Space Shuttle Challenger. A special company-developed space-can was used.
Asa Candler, owner of Coca-Cola from 1891-1919, later became mayor of Atlanta, Georgia.

Chicken Pox

What is chickenpox?
Chickenpox (varicella) is a very common childhood infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus. It is most common in children and is usually mild. When adults get it, however, they can get very sick.
Chickenpox is dangerous for people with immune system problems, such as leukemia, or for people who are taking drugs that weaken the immune system, such as steroids.
What are the symptoms of chickenpox?
Chickenpox begins with a fever, followed in a day or two by a rash that can be very itchy. The rash starts with red spots that soon turn into fluid-filled blisters. Some people have only a few blisters; others can have as many as 500. These blisters dry up and form scabs in 4 or 5 days.
How is it spread?
Chickenpox spreads easily. It is most contagious on the day before the rash appears.
•It spreads from person to person through direct contact with the virus. You can get chickenpox if you touch a blister or the liquid from a blister. You can also get chickenpox if you touch the saliva of a person who has chickenpox. The virus enters the body by the nose or mouth and can make you sick, too.
•It can also be spread to you through the air if you are near someone with chickenpox who is coughing or sneezing.
•A pregnant woman with chickenpox can pass it on to her baby before birth.
•Mothers with chickenpox can also give it to their newborn babies after birth.
The only way to stop the spread of the virus from person to person is to prevent infected people from sharing the same room or house with healthy people, which isn’t a practical solution. Chickenpox cannot be spread through indirect contact.
Is there a vaccine against chickenpox?
Yes. The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommend that all healthy children 12 months of age and older get the chickenpox vaccine.
How can chickenpox be treated?
If your child gets chickenpox, do not give him aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) or any products that contain aspirin. Taking aspirin increases the risk of getting Reye’s syndrome. This severe illness can damage the liver and brain. If you want to control your child’s fever, use acetaminophen (eg, Tylenol, Tempra and Panadol).
Taking good care of the skin and not scratching it may prevent infections that can be caused by bacteria that get into the skin. Your doctor may recommend a medication to help reduce the itch.

Tender Coconut

Coconut water is the juice in the interior or endosperm of young coconut. The water is one of the nature’s most refreshing drinks consumed worldwide for its nutritious and health benefiting properties.
Its juicy water is usually obtained by opening a tender, green, healthy, and undamaged coconut. The liquid is clear, sweet, and sterile and composed of unique chemicals such as sugars, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, enzymes, amino acids, cytokine, and phyto-hormones.
Botanically, coconut plant belongs to the Arecaceae family of palm trees and has scientific name: Cocos nucifera.   Each nut may contain about 200 to 1000 ml of water depending on cultivar type and size.
Any nuts younger than 5 months age tend to be bitter in taste and devoid of nutrients. Whereas, older nuts have less water and their endosperm becomes thicker as white edible meat (kernel).
Coconut water is a very refreshing drink to beat tropical summer thirst. The juice is packed with simple sugar, electrolytes, and minerals to replenish hydration levels in the body.
Research studies suggest that cytokinins (e.g., kinetin and trans-zeatin) in coconut water showed significant anti-ageing, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-thrombotic effects.
Coconut water has been generally offered to patients with diarrhea in many tropic regions to replace fluid loss from the gastrointestinal tract and reduce the need for intravenous therapy.
The osmolarity of tender coconut water is slightly greater than that of WHO recommended ORS (Oral Rehydration Therapy) osmolarity.
Coconut water is composed of many naturally occurring bioactive enzymes such as acid phosphatase, catalase, dehydrogenase, diastase, peroxidase, RNA polymerases etc. Altogether, these enzymes aid in digestion and metabolism.
Despite very light consistency, its water has much better composition of minerals like calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc than some of fruits like oranges.
Its water is also a very good source of B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pyridoxine, and folates. These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish.
Coconut water contains a very good amount of electrolyte potassium. 100 ml of water has 250 mg of potassium and 105 mg of sodium.
Together, these electrolytes help replenish electrolytes deficiency in the body due to diarrhea (loose stools).   In addition, fresh coconut water has small amount of vitamin-C (ascorbic acid); provides about 2.4 mcg or 4% of RDA. Vitamin C is a water-soluble ant-oxidant.

Turmeric

Turmeric is known as golden spice of India.
The turmeric plants were cultivated by Harappan civilization earlier in the 3000 B.C.
It is basically a tropical plant of ginger family is the rhizome or underground stem, with a rough, segmented skin.
It looks much like ginger and turns things into a lovely orange-yellow shade.
Turmeric is of Zingiberaceae family, Zingiberaceae – A family of tropical monocotyledonous plants of order Musales.
Turmeric is also known as Curcuma longa or curcumin.
The maximum production of Turmeric (90%) is in India.
Sangli is the largest and most important trading centre for turmeric in Asia also in the world. Sangli is the town of Indian State Maharashtra.
There are approximately 30 varieties have been recognized in the type of Curcuma in which turmeric belongs.
‘Alleppey Finger’, ‘Erode and Salem turmeric’, ‘Rajapore’ and ‘Sangli turmeric’, ‘Nizamabad Bulb’ are some popular varieties of India.
Turmeric is a known antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic agent.
Curcumin is the active ingredient in turmeric and have wide range of therapeutic effects. It has been used for thousands of years as a safe anti-inflammatory in many ailments as part of Indian traditional medicine – Ayurvedic medicine is a more than 3,000 year old comprehensive medicine system. Curcumin is also an antioxidant that helps to stabilize membranes damaged by inflammation.
It is taken in some Asian countries as a dietary supplement, which helps in stomach problems and other ailments.
Turmeric stimulates digestion, supports the liver, and reduces intestinal permeability.
According to recent research results the component curcumin causes degradation of the human protein p35 which is responsible for removing damaged cells that are likely to become tumors. This effect would – in contrary to the research activities to use it as a treatment for cancer –increase the risk of developing tumors.
Several studies indicate that curcumin slows the development and growth of a number of types of cancer including prostate cancer. Turmeric may also slow the rate at which hormone-responsive prostate cancer becomes resistant to hormonal therapy.
A project is funding to extract and isolate tetrahydrocurcuminoids (THC) from turmeric by the Government of Thailand. THC is colorless compounds that might have antioxidant and skin lightening properties and used to treat skin inflammations, making these compounds useful in cosmetics formulations.
Turmeric has wide range of use in canned beverages, ice-cream, yoghurts, yellow cakes, biscuits, sweets, cake icings, baked products, dairy products, popcorn-colour, cereals, sauces, gelatins, cosmetics, medicinal, ayurvedic medicines etc.
It is commonly used in curries, best-known in Indian and Thai cuisine, also used in many other countries. It is an essential ingredient in curry powder and also used in mustard blends and relishes.
It is used in holy ritual and also used to make kunkuma, a red cosmetic powder.
In India, at the time of wedding, turmeric paste is applied over the bride and grooms body mainly face and arms. The turmeric-based paste is used to beautifying and enrich skin complexion.
The curcumin powder dissolved in alcohol is used for water containing products.
It is popular served as a tea in Okinawa, Japan.
Turmeric is popularly used in cosmetic industry for preparing herbal products. It is also used as a fabric dye, a usually soluble substance for staining or coloring in fabrics as well as for preparing natural hair dye.
Turmeric is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin C and Magnesium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Iron, Potassium and Manganese.

COW

A cow is a mature female and a bull an adult male of a bovine family. A heifer is a female cow that hasn’t had a calf yet. Cattle is the name for the whole “cow” family.
There are about 920 different breeds of cows in the world. They were domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Cows came to America with the Pilgrims.
Modern domestic cattle are believed to belong to either the species Bos taurus (like Holstein, Brown Swiss, Jersey and Guemsey), or the species Bos indicus which are humped cattle like the Brahman. Some cattle are a cross between those two species.
The smallest type of cow is a breed called Dexter, which was bred a small size for household living. Cows can live 25 years. You can guess the age of a cow that has horns by counting the number of rings on the horns.
Cows have almost total 360 degree panoramic vision and are able to see colors, except red. They can detect odors up to 5 miles away. Cows can hear lower and higher frequencies better than humans.
Per day, a cows spends 6 hours eating and 8 hours chewing cud. A cow doesn’t bite the grass, but she curls her tongue around it. A cow has no upper front teeth.
The average cow drinks about 30 gallons of water and eats about 95 pounds of feed per day.
A cow stands up and sits down about 14 times a day.
The mean gestation period of a cow is between 279 and 290 days. The bond between a cow and her calf is very strong and continues after the calf is fully grown. In non-commercial herds, some cows will nurse their calves for up to 3 years.
A cow weighs about 1400 pounds. A 1000 pound cow produces an average of 10 tons of manure a year.
Cows are very social animals. They form large herds and will bond to some herd members while avoiding others. They “moo” and use different body positions and facial expressions to communicate with each other.
A Holstein’s spots are like a fingerprint. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.
A cow has one stomach containing four digestive compartments: the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum. The rumen is the largest compartment and acts as a fermentation chamber. The abomasum is last of the four and is comparable in both structure and function to the human stomach.
Cows have cloven hooves. In galloping through boggy places or in deep mud, cattle can run faster than a horse. Their toes spread, and therefore their wide feet do not sink so deep as do those of the solid-hoofed horse.

Ripon Building

Ripon Building is the seat of the Chennai Corporation (Madras Corporation) in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu. This is a fine example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, a combination of three types of architectural styles – Gothic, Ionic and Corinthian.
The Ripon Building is white in colour and is located near the Central station in Chennai. Commissioned in 1913, it was built by Loganatha Mudaliar.
It took 4 years to build at a cost of 750,000. Ripon building was named after Lord Ripon, Governor-General of British India and the Father of local self-government.
Earl of Minto, the then Viceroy and Governor General of India laid the foundation on 12 December 1909.   The Municipal Corporation of Madras, after functioning from several other places, settled at Ripon building in 1913, with P.L. Moore as the President of the Municipal Corporation at the time of the inauguration.
Building Information
The building is rectangular and is 85 meters long and 32 metres wide.
The first of its three floors offers about 2,800 square metres of space.
Its central tower is 43 metres tall and has a clock 2.5 metres in diameter.
The walls were constructed with stock bricks, set and plastered with lime mortar.
The roofs are supported with teak wood joists. The original flooring of the ground floor was Cuddapah Slate. This has now been replaced with marble.
One of the main attractions Yof the building is the Westminster Quarter chiming clock. This was installed by Oakes and Co. in 1913. The clock has a mechanical key system, which is wound every day. There are a total of 4 bells, which were cast by Gillet and Johnston in 1913.