PSLV-C16 puts 3 satellites in orbit.20 Apr. 2011

It was the PSLV's 17th consecutive successful mission out of the 18 launches from Sriharikota. At the end of 18 minutes of “a delightful” flawless flight, the fourth stage of the rocket shot India's Resourcesat-2 into its orbit. About 40 seconds later, the fourth stage bulleted again the Youthsat and the X-sat into their orbits. The accuracy was such that the Resourcesat-2 reached an orbit at an altitude of 822.9 km against the targeted 822 km.

 The 54-hour countdown progressed without any hitch. At 10.12 a.m., the PSLV-C16 roared off from the first launch pad, climbing steadily. The rocket rode on towers of flame, tracing a parabolic path across a clear sky. One could see with naked eyes the separation of the first stage. The four stages and the strap-on booster motors ignited on time and fell into the Bay of Bengal. The rocket also performed “a dog-leg manoeuvre,” skirting the Sri Lankan territory.

What is Good Friday?"

Question: "What is Good Friday?"




Answer: Good Friday is the Friday immediately preceding Easter Sunday. It is celebrated traditionally as the day on which Jesus was crucified. If you are interested in a study of the issue, please see our article that discusses the various views on which day Jesus was crucified. Assuming that Jesus was crucified and died on a Friday, should Christians remember Jesus' death by celebrating Good Friday?



The Bible does not instruct Christians to remember Christ’s death by honoring a certain day. The Bible does give us freedom in these matters, however. Romans 14:5 tells us, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” Rather than remembering Christ's death on a certain day, once a year, the Bible instructs us to remember Christ’s death by observing the Lord’s Supper. First Corinthians 11:24-26 declares, “...do this in remembrance of me...for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”



Why is Good Friday referred to as “good”? What the Jewish authorities and Romans did to Jesus was definitely not good (see Matthew chapters 26-27). However, the results of Christ’s death are very good! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”



Many Christian churches celebrate Good Friday with a subdued service, usually in the evening, in which Christ’s death is remembered with solemn hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a message centered on Christ suffering for our sakes, and observance of the Lord's Supper. Whether or not Christians choose to “celebrate” Good Friday, the events of that day should be ever on our minds because the death of Christ on the cross is the paramount event of the Christian faith.



Though Jesus was innocent, Pilate could not do justice and afraid of his position and handed over Jesus to be crucified as it is written in the books of Isaiah.. So dying on the cross He showed us the way, how to live our life even in misery. When Jesus died, there were dark clouds, earth shook, many good people who died came out of their tombs and appeared to many. Death on the cross is meant defeat of satan. So it is called "Good Friday".

Easter ..It,s significance

On Good Friday, a cross, symbolic of the one on which Jesus was crucified, is unveiled in many churches. It is believed that Jesus rose from his grave on the following Sunday, which is celebrated as Easter. The rituals for Good Friday begin on the preceding Thursday. A feast symbolising the last supper of Christ is held on Thursday night. The end of this meal marks the beginning of the fast for Easter.

quis·ling   /ˈkwɪzlɪŋ/

[kwiz-ling]

–noun

a person who betrays his or her own country by aiding an invading enemy, often serving later in a puppet government; fifth columnist.

Use Quisling in a Sentence

See images of Quisling

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:

1940; after Vidkun Quisling (1887–1945), pro-Nazi Norwegian leader who sold his country to Hitler.

Quisling and Adolph Hitler

Biography of Quisling.

Vidkun Quisling, (born July 18, 1887, Fyresdal, Nor.—died Oct. 24, 1945, Akershus Fortress, Oslo), Norwegian army officer whose collaboration with the Germans in their occupation of Norway during World War II established his name as a synonym for “traitor.”

 

Quisling entered the army in 1911 and served as military attaché in Petrograd (St. Petersburg; 1918–19) and in Helsinki (1919–21). He assisted in relief work in Russia under the famous Arctic explorer and humanitarian Fridtjof Nansen and later for the League of Nations. In the absence of diplomatic relations between Britain and Soviet Russia, he represented British interests at the Norwegian legation in Moscow (1927–29). As minister of defense in an agrarian government (1931–33), he gained notoriety for repressing a strike by hydroelectrical workers. He resigned from the government in 1933 to form the fascist Nasjonal Samling (National Union) Party, which stood for suppression of Communism and unionism, but he never gained a seat in the Storting (parliament).

At a meeting with Adolf Hitler in December 1939, Quisling urged a German occupation of Norway; after the German invasion of April 1940, he proclaimed himself head of the government. Although his regime came under widespread bitter attack and collapsed within a week, he continued to serve in the occupation government and was named “minister president” in February 1942 under Reich commissioner Josef Terboven.

Quisling’s attempts to convert the church, schools, and youth to National Socialism aroused fervent Norwegian opposition. He was held responsible for sending nearly 1,000 Jews to die in concentration camps. After the liberation of Norway in May 1945, he was arrested, found guilty of treason and other crimes, and executed.

General Knowledge.

The top five soccer coutries in the world(as of today)
1. Brazil
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. Argentina
5. England
Top 5 Smallest Countries of the World.
1. Vatican City: 0.2 square miles. Vatican City is surrounded by Rome, Italy. Approximate population 1000
2. Monaco: 0.7 square miles. Monaco lies along the French Riviera on the French Mediterranean coast near Nice. Approximate population 34,000
3. Nauru: 8.5 square miles. Oval-shaped island, part of Micronesia. Approximate population 15,000
4. Tuvalu: 9 square miles. Northeast of Australia. Tuvalu is composed of 9 coral atolls along a 360 mile chain in Polynesia. Approximate population 12,000
5. San Marino: 24 square miles. Located on Mt. Titano in north central Italy. Approximate population 29,000
Top 5 First Human Beings on the Moon
1. Neil Armstrong
2. Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin
3. Charles Conrad Jr
4. Alan Bean
5. Alan Shepard

The umbrella has come into general use, and in consequence numerous improvements have been effected in it. In China people learned how to waterproof their umbrellas by waxing and lacquering their paper Parasols. The transition to the present portable form is due, partly to the substitution of silk and gingham for the heavy and troublesome oiled silk, which admitted of the ribs and frames being made much lighter, and also to many ingenious mechanical improvements in the framework. Victorian era umbrellas had frames of wood or baleen, but these devices were expensive and hard to fold when wet. Samuel Fox invented the steel-ribbed umbrella in 1852; however, the Encyclopédie Méthodique mentions metal ribs at the end of the eighteenth century. Modern designs usually employ a telescoping steel trunk; new materials such as cotton, plastic film and nylon often replace the original silk.

The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra, meaning shade or shadow (the Latin word, in turn, derives from the Ancient Greek ómbros [όμβρος].) Brolly is a slang word for umbrella, used often in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa; Bumbershoot is a fanciful Americanism from the late 19th century.

The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra, meaning shade or shadow (the Latin word, in turn, derives from the Ancient Greek ómbros [όμβρος].) Brolly is a slang word for umbrella, used often in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa; Bumbershoot is a fanciful Americanism from the late 19th century.

The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra, meaning shade or shadow (the Latin word, in turn, derives from the Ancient Greek ómbros [όμβρος].) Brolly is a slang word for umbrella, used often in Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa; Bumbershoot is a fanciful Americanism from the late 19th century.

Straight shaft umbrella

Twin Umbrellas

How the septic tank works

How septic tank works.

A septic tank is a tank and maybe made of steel, fiberglass and concrete where sanitary waste coming from the toilet are being stored. Residential houses use tank made of reinforced concrete.

Another term for a septic tank is septic vault. Houses in the urban area make use of the installed sanitary sewer lines that can be found along the main and secondary roads.

Water coming from the use of toilet lavatory and kitchen sink is not allowed to go to the septic tank. They go directly to open or closed canal and after discharge in the storm drainage.


Septic tank is meant just for the storage of sanitary waste. The standard and common septic tank has three (3) compartments namely main tank, digestive chamber and the leaching chamber. You can find this type of septic tank in most residential houses. To give you a clear picture of how ordinary septic tank looks please see the second page of this blog. This sketch was done using MS Excel program.

The septic tank works like this. Sanitary waste coming from the use of water closet goes to the main tank including the water that goes with it. Solids remain in the main tank. When the main tank is already full and the water reaches the level of outlet pipe excess water will go to the digestive chamber. This water contains small particles that will be left behind at the digestive chamber. From the digestive chamber the water will go the leaching chamber where water are further filtered while passing to a pile of small diameter gravel. Finally the clean water goes out of the septic tank and directly goes to the road gutter down to the storm drainage.

The main tank has one inlet pipe and one outlet pipe. The outlet pipe goes to the digestive chamber. There is one outlet in the digestive chamber and this goes to the leaching chamber. Leaching chamber has one outlet pipe that goes to the road gutter.

This is more or less how the ordinary septic tank works. Hope you find my blog on this subject worth reading. And hoping that I have clearly answered your query about how it works.

The Theory of Evolution...Simplified and with diagrams and photos

I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection. (Charles Darwin)

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. (Charles Darwin, Introduction to The Descent of Man, 1871).

Brief Summary

Darwin's theory of evolution is based on five key observations and inferences drawn from them. These observations and inferences have been summarized by the great biologist Ernst Mayr as follows:

1) Species have great fertility. They make more offspring than can grow to adulthood.

2) Populations remain roughly the same size, with modest fluctuations.

3) Food resources are limited, but are relatively constant most of the time.

From these three observations it may be inferred that in such an environment there will be a struggle for survival among individuals.

4) In sexually reproducing species, generally no two individuals are identical. Variation is rampant.

5) Much of this variation is heritable.

From this it may be inferred: In a world of stable populations where each individual must struggle to survive, those with the "best" characteristics will be more likely to survive, and those desirable traits will be passed to their offspring. These advantageous characteristics are inherited by following generations, becoming dominant among the population through time. This is natural selection. It may be further inferred that natural selection, if carried far enough, makes changes in a population, eventually leading to new species. These observations have been amply demonstrated in biology, and even fossils demonstrate the veracity of these observations.

To summarise Darwin's Theory of Evolution;

1. Variation: There is Variation in Every Population.

2. Competition: Organisms Compete for limited resources.

3. Offspring: Organisms produce more Offspring than can survive.

4. Genetics: Organisms pass Genetic traits on to their offspring.

5. Natural Selection: Those organisms with the Most Beneficial Traits

are more likely to Survive and Reproduce.

Darwin imagined it might be possible that all life is descended from an original species from ancient times. DNA evidence supports this idea.

Probably all organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial life form. There is grandeur in this view of life that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved. (Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species)

Charles Darwin

Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Charles Darwin
IN THE BEGINNING Evolution For Children And Beginners

[Keep in mind, this is the simplified version of evolution and big bang to introduce the concept. Links below will help you expand upon the subject.]
"Evolution" is what has always been and continues today. The way a certain creature develops offspring which is slightly different from the parents in order to assure survival is evolution.

Evolution simply means to develop from one way to a slightly different version of the original.
Evolution helped us get to be who we are today.

The universe is a big, endless area. Outside of the earth, there is no exact time or no direction. Time and direction is an idea made by people.

The universe is always changing. Many atoms, molecules and gases have always been. Some of these elements floating around are very big and others very small. These elements always are changing.

The beginning is like a kernel of popcorn. The popcorn is hard and small. When it gets really hot it explodes into a big, white, fluffy treat which no longer looks like the kernel.

One element knocks into another element very quickly and starts to change both elements. Sometimes they come together as one. Other times they break up into other new elements. Other elements expand upon itself and just grows.

One theory called "big bang" states that in the big vacuum of this universe, one element no bigger than a speck of dust became superheated and caused an explosion which caused it to expand. When they did, the pieces began to change and grow and continues to spread out.

These elements eventually created this section of our universe, our galaxy. Outside of our universe may be other universes made up of many galaxies. The galaxy in which we live is called the "Milky Way".

A galaxy is a bunch of stars, dust and gases as well as huge rocks, metals and other solid materials held together by a force of gravity. The center force of gravity in our galaxy is the sun.

The sun is a big star filled with dust and gases and is a mass of many elements which is on fire. All the planets are spinning around the sun because of this force of gravity.

THE EARTH'S BEGINNINGS.

When our galaxy was formed, many planets started to get sucked by the gravity force of the sun. The gravity of the sun helps each planet rotate around it. Many of the planets are spinning while they spin around the sun.

Each planet has its own gravity force. The Earth has its own gravity pressure which is different from other planets. It is because of gravity that keeps all life inside of our planet.

A heavy gravity force would make it hard to move. A light gravity force would make it hard to move as well. A steady force of gravity will keep things in place long enough to grow and develop.

Our planet, Earth spins while it spins around the sun. This lets one side of the Earth see light coming from the sun. The other side of the Earth is not facing the sun and sees darkness. This makes day and night on our planet. Each planet has in it a set of gases that it makes and is different for each planet. Some gases are just right to create living elements as we know them.

If a planet is close to the sun, everything on that planet will be really hot. If a planet is too far from the sun, everything on that planet will be really cold. The Earth is not too near or far from the sun and has gases that are able to support life forms we know. It is the reason why there is so much life on Earth. But how did life start?

In the beginning on Earth was filled with liquid, vapor and solid gases as well as mineral elements. The atmosphere around the Earth developed from the vapor gases. The liquid gases formed the water. The solid gases and minerals became parts of the land.

Vapor gases are light. Solid and liquid gases are heavy. These forms are always changing. Water can be all elements - solid, liquid and gas. Water is a vapor in the sky. When the vapor molecules get heavy, they become liquid and fall down from the sky. This makes rain. If the water gets too cold, it freezes and turns into ice or snow.

Water goes in a cycle from the clouds as rain. It falls on the ground as ponds, rivers, lakes, oceans and streams. There is so much water on the surface of the Earth that does not evaporate quickly. The water that evaporates turns to a vapor which goes back towards the sky. The water left over helps support life near the ground.

It is from this ground water where life began many millions of years ago. Water consists of elements of hydrogen and oxygen molecules. Every living thing has water inside. This is because originally all living things were first developed in the water.

When you leave water in a pool without bleach, what happens? For a few days it's nice and clear. Then after awhile green slime starts to grow on top and clings to the sides of the pool. If you did nothing to that pool, by the end of the summer it would look like a green swamp.

Water has tiny one cell organisms living in it. These beings are simple and barely visible. They have a unique life cycle. While they don't die, they were always making copies of themselves. Pretty soon, there were a lot of these single celled things living in the water.

All living things need to feed themselves in order to survive. These cells would have killed themselves if they did not change. There were too many cells in the water and if these cells did not change, they would all starve.

Some one cell creatures became two celled creatures. Some developed more cells. The creatures with more cells fed on the ones with less cells. The ones with less cells then had plenty eat, except now they were also food for the other creatures.

Over a few million years, the battle of these cells grew larger and large as they could have been seen without a microscope. Many of these cells became the model for many of the water animals we see today. Other of these cells changed in order to eat the food that was forming on the solid land. Some of these cells came out of the water and developed wings for many different reasons. These changes were not overnight, but took billions of years for single cells to become the earliest versions of bigger living creatures we know today.

It is because of those changes we have flying creatures, swimming creatures and land creatures.

THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION.

What is evolution? Evolution has happened, evolution is happening and evolution will continue to happen!All life forms have come from other life forms. All living things are related to each other. All life on Earth has a common origin.

One life form can mutate or change into another version of the same life form. Some changes are to survive which is called natural selection. Others are due to the enviornment. These changes help life to continue and get stronger. The weaker life forms die off and the new ones take over.

Mutation changes the genetic code of the cells called DNA. Life forms that are more complex than the original one celled creatures all have a genetic code. This code tells their cells what to become.

A person will have a genetic code that will tell some cells to become eyes or ears or skin or any part of the body inside and out. A person will have a completely different code from any other life form.

It is when two living beings come together that the DNA cells come together. Just like the big bang. These cells join and become one cell that grows and divides into more cells. Eventually that cell becomes a life form according to what the DNA cells dictate.

Some people have the wrong idea about evolution. Due to the term "Theory of Evolution" some assume it is only a theory that has not been proven. They believe there is no proof of a transitional fossil known as a missing link. They believe that there has never been a real observation to prove that things can evolve. They also mistakenly believe that evolution says that life originated, and evolution proceeds, by random chance and violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Evolution has actually been proven within the past century. Due to chemical changes and pesticides, many insects have changed their DNA code in order to become able to survive what would have poisoned and killed them.

Many diseases have been cured due to medicines such as antibiotics. After awhile, the germs, which are living celled beings, would have become totally extinct if they did not change. These germs became stronger versions of the old germs and the DNA structure changed.

These are examples of evolution that has happened rather quickly. If such changes can be made in such a short time, it is also believable that major changes can happen over a much longer period of time.

The changes are not as big as some people think. A frog will not change into a cow. A monkey will not change into a man. Instead, the change is rather gradual. While primates such as monkeys, chimps, and apes may have similar DNA traits to man, people are merely their cousins on the evolution chart. Man did not come from apes, but developed from similar living sources which became separate creatures.

Some people try to claim that the DNA information carried by living things lets them create order. However, order from disorder is common in nonliving systems, too like snowflakes, sand dunes, tornadoes, and lightning. In any nontrivial system with lots of energy flowing through it, you are almost certain to find order arising somewhere in the system.
As far as missing links, there are many transitional fossils that either have been destroyed over time or have yet to be found. That does not mean that because some fossil proofs are not around that evolution did not occur.

There are in fact many examples of transitional fossils. What some people fail to understand is the evolution is very gradual. These transitional fossils found will have very minor changes and may have many other living forms changed from the original.

There's nothing in the theory of evolution which says an living form can have only one line of descendents, or that it has to go extinct when a line of descendents evolves.

The theory of evolution does not says that life originated, and evolution proceeds by random chance. Chance certainly plays a large part in evolution, but natural selection and mutation is the very opposite of choatic chance.

Chance, in the form of mutations, provides genetic variation. Natural selection sorts out variations to see which will survive and which will not.

When the environment changes, or organisms move to a different environments, different variations are selected, leading eventually to different species. Harmful mutations usually die out quickly, so they don't interfere with the process of beneficial mutations multiplying.

Abiogenesis (the origin of the first life) is not due purely to chance. Atoms and molecules arrange themselves not purely randomly, but according to their chemical properties. To calculation of the odds of abiogenesis is impossible without recognizing the wide range of materials that the first cells might have formed from and the many different forms that the first organism might have taken.

Carbon atoms are sure to form spontaneously, and these complex molecules can influence each other to create even more complex molecules. Once a molecule forms that is self-replicating, natural selection will guide the formation to become more efficient replicators. The first self-replicating object didn't need to be as complex as a modern cell or even a strand of DNA.

The theory of evolution doesn't depend on how the first life began. The truth or falsity of any theory of abiogenesis wouldn't affect evolution in the least. Like so many other words, it has more than one meaning. Its strict biological definition is "a change in frequencies over time." By that definition, evolution is an indisputable fact.

Most people seem to associate the word "evolution" mainly with common descent, the theory that all life arose from one common ancestor. Many people believe that there is enough evidence to call this a fact, too.

Calling the theory of evolution only a theory is true, but the idea it tries to convey is completely wrong. Scientific theories differ from scientific laws only in that laws can be expressed more exactly. Being a theory implies self-consistency, agreement with observations, and usefulness. The argument rests on a confusion between what "theory" means in informal usage and in a scientific context.

A theory, in the scientific sense, is "a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena". The term does not imply lack of certainty.

Nothing in the real world has ever been rigorously proved, or ever will be. Proof, in the mathematical sense, is possible only if you have the luxury of defining the universe you're operating in. In the real world, we must deal with levels of certainty based on observed evidence. The more and better evidence we have for something, the more certainty we assign to it; when there is enough evidence, we label the something a fact, even though it still isn't 100% certain.

The significance of Vishu

The significance of Vishu.

FOR MALAYALIS the world over, April 14 is auspicious. They celebrate Vishu. But there is a widespread misconception that Vishu is the harbinger of the Kerala New Year.

But why this ignorance? There could be many reasons. Mostly indifference, one could say. Also, it coincides with the Tamil and Bengali New Year Day.

So what does Vishu signify? On the day, the Sun leaves Meena Rasi and enters Meda Rasi, it is Vishu Sankraman and Vishu is celebrated the next day. This is near vernal equinox, one of the two occasions of the year when day and night are of equal length, owing to the Sun crossing the Equator.

Vishu Kani and Vishu Kaineetam are the highlights of the celebrations. One the eve of Vishu, a mirror, rice, dal, specified vegetables and fruits, ornaments and coins are arranged in the puja room. In the early hours, the senior most member of the family wakes up and lights the traditional lamp in the Kani. He then wakes up the others and leads them one by one with their eyes closed to the Kani. Then they open their eyes to the light and prostrate before the deity. The oldest member then hands out Vishu Kaineetam, which is one fourth of an anna or three paise. Fireworks add to the happy atmosphere.

As Vishu is different from the Kerala New Year, here are some facts about the Malayali era. Kolla Varsham, as the Era is called, was recognised as the official year in many parts of Kerala till the Indian Constitution cane into force on January 26, 1950. Panchangams of Kerala are still based on this eara. The year begins with the month Chingom (Avani in Tamil calendar) and ends with Karkidagom (Tamil Adi). Before Kolla Varsham came into existence, Kali Abdam is said to have prevailed in the State.
S. BALAKRISHNAN