A place for discounts and deals: August 2015

The wonder with lost glory- Roman Colosseum

The Roman Colosseum was an amphitheater of very impressive architecture between the Esquiline and Caelians Hills of Rome. The ruins that can be seen today represent the architectural genius of Romans. It is a symbol of cruelty. Humans and animals were mercilessly killed, just for the entertainment of the Emperor.

The Colosseum was built on the site of a lake in Emperor Nero's famous landscaped gardens of his Golden House, the Domus Aurea. The size and design is the architectural work of a great man. It was oval in shape. 617 feet long and 512 feet wide and 1629 in circumference.

The exterior wall was 187 metres high and was made of travertine stone. Only a part of this wall is visible today. There were four storeys, each of the lower three had 80 arches. The top storey wall supported great masts with huge canvases attached to them. The central arena itself, an oval measuring 289 feet by 180 feet, was covered in sand to soak up blood. Under it were changing rooms and animal pens. Colosseum can hold upto 50000 people and 45000 could be seated and 5000 standing. In the middle of the long curve on the north side was a raised platform for Emperor's box.

Colosseum represents a great work of architecture. But it will always remind the world of the cruelty of the Roman Emperors and it is a shame on the work they did for their own entertainment.

Story behind The Statue of Liberty

U.S.A. is the third largest country in the world in population and the fourth largest in area. People of Europe saw in this "New World" a chance to build new and better lives. In 1776, Colonists established an independent nation and people from almost every other part of the world settled in the country. It is called "a nation of immigrants".

In this land of all peoples of the world, in the city of New York, one of the most famous landmarks is the majestic copper sculpture that towers over the liberty island, at the entrance to the New York harbor.

The statue of liberty was given to the people of U.S.A. by the people of France in 1884. This is a gift which was an expression of friendship and an ideal of liberty shared by both peoples. French citizens donated the money to build the statue and the citizens of U.S.A. gave money for the pedestal.

The french sculptor Fredric Auguste Barthodi designed the statue and decided its size. He modelled the statue's face on the face of his mother.

The statue stands on a 5 hectare Liberty island in New York. The pedestal rises from the walls of a star shaped fort. It is 47 meters tall. The statue is over 46 meters high. It weighs 204 tons. It is made of sheets of copper. It has a stairway with 142 steps and has 25 windows. The torch glows with the help of 16 powerful lamps.

The statue was built in Paris and was handed over to U.S.A. on July 4, 1884. It was disassembled and packed in 214 wooden crates and shipped to U.S.A.

Truth behind The Terracotta Warriors

The Terracotta Warriors are a mystery for all. More than 70,000 life size figures, all with different expressions and different ear shapes. Was it possible to create such a huge army through pottery or as some of us believe .... are they real human bodies carved as statues??

The truth is still untold.

Terracotta Warriors were discovered by the archaeologists while digging for the mausoleum of king Zheng, the first emperor of Qin in the year 1974. The stories say that as soon as he became the king according to Chinese customs, he started building his own mausoleum. It was 15 miles east of present day Xian. 700,000 laborers and craftsmen built it.

Deep below the palace, a lavish palace was constructed with ingenious defence mechanisms and packed with treasures. Around the palace two concentric walls were built. The inner square was 2.5 miles and the outer one was 3.5 miles. Thousands of workers and their wives were also buried along with the king. Thousands of pottery soldiers, horses, chariots, metal weapons, all life size were arranged in battle formations. Each of the figures have been individually modelled and are not shaped in moulds. The pit has been dug, repaired and covered by an huge arched roof.

This is the present day Museum of the Terracotta Warriors of the first emperor of Qin, opened in 1979.

LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO turns into ashes...

An orange colored Lamborghini Gallardo went up in flames in the middle of a busy road on Monday morning at south Delhi's Badarpur area

The incident took place around 9 a.m under a flyover in Badarpur. The driver of the car, Sujan Singh noticed smoke coming out from its huge engine, soon after he took a U-turn under a flyover. Seconds after he came out, the car caught fire.

Nobody was hurt. The driver managed to escape without any injuries.

The car was registered in the name of Satya Prakash, reported to be a businessman.

Police have sent the car for further analysis to find out the reason behind it bursting into flames.

The driver of the yellow-coloured car managed to escape without any injuries - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/lamborghini-catches-fire-driver-escapes-unhurt/#sthash.CdrKxxJi.dpuf

The only wonder visible from moon..

One of the famous man made wonder of the world, which is said to be visible from the space is THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.

The height of the wall is 22 feet to 26 feet. At the base it was 21 feet thick tapering to 18 feet wide at the top. The top layer is layered with brick work and has battlements on the north side. Every 590 feet there is a watch tower. At important mountain passes, the height of the wall is doubled for more protection. The wall is exactly 2500 miles long.

Apart from its size the wall follows the crests and valleys of hills and fits into the landscape because of this it is also considered a great work of art.

Shih Hyang Ti, was a great Chinese emperor of the 3rd century. he ruled over all the cities of Northern China. These cities were repeatedly attacked by the nomadic warrior tribes called the "Huns".

He ordered that the existing walls around the tows strengthened and connected to create a wall protecting all the cities of his province.

The great wall of China is a superb work of military engineering and is built across the hills of Northern China. It took 300,000 men and over 10 years to build the wall. It was built in mud and stone.

The wall was rebuilt by Yung Lo, in 1420.

Great Wall Of China has hidden lot of secrets in its hearts. The archaeologists have proven that the men who used to die working in the extreme weather conditions were buried in the foundation of the wall. It was difficult to work in extreme heat and in chilly winters, but no sympathy was shown and when they died , they were thrown inside the wall and buried.

What lies inside?...THE PYRAMIDS

On a 50 mile stretch of the Nile, lies the Pyramids. Who built them? What was the need? How were they built? Was it only humans who helped in the construction of Pyramids? Let the secrets be revealed in front of the whole world..

The pyramids are 70 in number, but the Pyramids of Egypt also known as the Pyramids of Giza are the most famous ones because of their huge size. It is said that it took 2,50,000 people in the construction of the Pyramids, out of which most of them died while lifting tons of weight.

The largest of the 3 pyramids is the pyramid of Cheops and it is called THE GREAT PYRAMID. The base area is of 53000 metres. It contains 2,300,000 tons of limestone blocks each weighing 2.5 tons. The construction of the great Pyramids is also famous for its accuracy. At the base the average length of the four sides is 765 feet. The difference between the shortest baseline is just eight inches and four corners make almost perfect right angles. By observing the stars, the builders were able to align its sides to face the cardinal points of the compass to within fractions of a degree.

The inside of the Pyramid was built around a vertical core of masonry. The core was then cased with limestone blocks to give a stepped effect. In the center of the great pyramid lies Cheops burial chamber. Built of granites. It measures 34 by 17 feet and is 19 feet high.

Cheops pyramid is surrounded by rows of low, flat tombs called Mastabas and three small pyramids in which his family and high officials were buried. The Cheops funeral ship is lying untouched here from past 4600 years.

The second pyramid is the Pyramid of Chephren, it lies to the south west of the great pyramid. It is 140 metres high and 216 metres, with a slightly steeper angle of elevation.

The third and the smallest Giza pyramid is the pyramid of Mycerinus. It is 108 metres by 70 metres. It needed just 1/10th of the limestone required to built the other pyramids.

In the burial chamber along with the mummified dead body, great treasures like gold and silver were also buried and even the personal servants were buried alive so that they can serve their king after life also.

The book of the dead was placed beside the dead body and it contained many spells which can be used to bring back their dead king or queen.

The walls of the burial chambers were decorated with paintings and heirographics. They consisted of egyptian mortuary prayers, hymns ad spells to protect their king or queen.

At the end, the question arises, that how were the egyptians able to lift such huge blocks and place them with such accuracy??? Did they used some special mental powers or were actually helped by the unknown or the unrevealed world??

The pyramids still stand strong and erect safeguarding thousands of secrets beneath them.....

Taj Mahal--- Secrets Revealed

The names of the architects of Taj Mahal are not known, but names of some craftsmen were recorded and hidden from the outer world
It took 22000 men and 22 years to built Taj Mahal.
The master of caligraphy in Taj Mahal was Amanat Khan Shirazi.
Mumtaz Mahal was the fourth wife of Shah Jahan, who died while giving birth to his 14th child.
After the death of Mumtaz Mahal ,Shah Jahan married her real sister.
Taj Mahal is actually a Masoleum on the banks on river Yamuna in Agra. The graves of the king and his beloved queen are kept there.
A special namaz is offered here on every Friday.
Taj Mahal is the symbol of the 17th century Moghul emperor Shah Jahan's love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
The Taj Mahal, a square stands on a square red sandstone platform., with an elegant Minaret at each corner.
The platform rests on a solid stone terrace. The magnificient dome rises from the centre of the building. It is 70 feet (21.3 m) in diameter and the building is 120 feet high.
At its each corner there are 4 smaller domes. on each side a pointed arch forms the entrance of the tomb.
Calligraphic designs are inlaid in various colours of marbles and include every chapter of quran.
The octagonal main chamber is decorated and has marble sarcophagus which are empty.
The actual tombs are in a vault exactly below. 4 smaller octagonal rooms surround the main chamber.
The beauty of the Taj Mahal lies in its symmetry, architectural excellence and the rich ornamentation of the marble with floral and calligraphic patterns.

An encounter with a GHOST!!!

One dark night, as I was returning from a friend's house, I heard footsteps behind me. At first I ignored thinking they belong to another lonely person like me, hurrying to get home, I thought of the warm fireside and my mother waiting for me with a hot dinner.

Suddenly my foot knocked against a large stone and I tripped. My books fell on the road and I found myself sprawled face downwards. Cursing my clumsiness I stumbled to my feet and rubbed my knees. As I went to pick up my books I suddenly realized that there was no sound behind me. Whoever had been there had either stopped walking or disappeared. I found it odd that he had not come running to my help when I had fallen down.

I looked back but there was only the long stretch of road. No living being was in sight. I shrugged my shoulders and started on my way. I was not far from my home. Already , I could see the light of the front porch. Imagine my horror, therefore, that as soon as I started walking I heard the footsteps again. I couldn't believe my ears and I began to feel really and truly scared. Every horror story I had ever read, swam before my eyes and my hair stood on the end. A shiver ran down my spine and I began to run.

Too terror-stricken to look back, my only thought was to reach my mother's safe arms.

It was only on the next day that I heard the story of how a 10 year old girl while returning from her friend's house that night, had been run over by a speeding car on that very road.

Things you must know about PREGNANCY

The moment you see those two positive lines on the pregnancy kit, your heart is filled with 1000s of emotions. It is the best part of a woman's life. The thought of carrying a life inside you fills you with excitement, terror, stress.....and the list of emotions one goes through is never ending.

Being pregnant is only a start. You have to take care of yourself more. You have to eat, drink, sleep....and even sometimes pee in a correct posture. Women these days are so busy in their lifestyle that they forget to take care of the life which is growing inside them.

We are going to discuss the major things that women ignore in pregnancy....which can leave a scar on their pregnancy.

EAT HEALTHY---- Eating healthy does not mean that you have to eat all those green vegetables and soyabeans and all the stuff that you have never even tasted all your life. But eating healthy means that you should eat whatever you want to eat and your body can happily consume it. A food that is of your choice and not of someone else's. Remember whatever you eat 70% of that is consumed by your baby and you don't want to give birth to a malnutritioned child.

LEAVE STRESS FOR OTHERS----The biggest enemy of your pregnancy is stress. The moment your pregnancy is confirmed , just leave the stress for others. Just enjoy each and every moment because this time once gone will never come back.The more you take stress the difficult it will be to deliver a healthy baby. Leave everything behind and share your emotions with your partner. laugh if you want to laugh, cry if you fell like but don't hold your emotions. Let them flow easily.

TAKE PROPER SLEEP---- Your body is working 24X7 and, it needs rest too. The moment you sleep your brain can focus itself in the growth of your child. Take small naps whenever possible. Try to sleep for at least 9 hours. Lack of sleep will make you feel more and more uncomfortable and fatigued. Don't let it hamper your daily routine. Leave all the assignments aside. Forget about everyone and take out time for yourself. Spend quality time in resting and doing your favourite things.

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR DOCTOR---- Here I am especially referring to the first timers. Do not ignore any problem that you are facing. Just go and talk to you Gynecologist or mid wife about the issue. They are the best people to examine and prescribe a solution. Never opt for medicines over the counter or without the permission of your doctor.

THINK POSITIVE---- It is very difficult to stay focused on the positive things only but try and be positive about your pregnancy. Whatever will happen will be the best for you. Do not let any negativity hamper your happiness. The women who think negative are seemed to have worse experiences in pregnancy. Try meditation and yoga and try to focus on the best things and memories.

"I saw myself dead.....and people crying near me"------- A Near Death Experience

A specialist in medicine, first encountered a patient who had an NDE during her residency. Since then she has interviewed more than 420 people who reported to her having near death experiences.

"As I was interviewing these people, they wanted to speak to the other people who had same experiences". She began a monthly support group for people which is one of the largest such in the world.

A patient says his heart stopped during a heart attack. "the pain was gone at myself lying on the stretcher and they were putting paddles on me." After a life of selfishness, he says his brush with death made him a giving person.

A Soft spoken technology entrepreneur tells of an NDE after a reaction during which he reports he turned blue. "I could see in color. I could hear, I could feel " He pauses." So, whats that lying on the table? Thats me, I know thats me. It scares me to look at it"

These people do not offer medical documentation that they were clinically dead, but that is somewhat beside the point. It is the near death experience and what it means that fascinates them. A specialist says that these people find comfort in knowing they're not alone and not crazy. Their stories may sound bizarre, but they are not all than usual.

Life After Death

Pam Reynolds learnt she had a life-threatening bulge in an artery in her brain. Neurosurgeon Robert Spetzler told the 35 year old mother of three that in order to operate he would have to stop her heart. During that time her brain function would cease. By all clinical measures, she would be dead for up to an hour.

While Reynolds was under anesthesia, leads from a machine that emitted a clicking sound were plugged into her ears to gauge her brain stem function (the brain stem plays a part in controlling hearing as well as other involuntary activities). Additional instruments tracked heartbeat, breathing, temperature and other vital signs. Her limbs were restrained her eyes were lubricated and then taped shut.

As Spetzler powered the surgical saw to open the patient's skull, something occurred that never registered on any of the sophisticated monitoring devices. Reynolds felt herself "pop" out of her body. From a vantage point just above Spetzler's shoulders, she looked down on the operation. She "saw" Spetzler holding something that resembled an electric toothbrush. A female voice complained that the patient's blood vessel were too small. It appeared to Reynolds that they were about to operate on her groin.

That couldn't be right, she thought. This is brain surgery. Reynolds then assumed that whatever they were doing inside her skull had triggered a hallucination.

But even though her eyes and ears were effectively sealed shut, what she saw perceived was actually happening. The surgical saw did resemble an electric toothbrush. Surgeons were, indeed, working on her groin: Catheters had to be threaded up to her heart to connect to a heart lung machine.

Spetzler gave the order to bring Reynolds to "standstill"- draining the blood from her body. By every reading of every instrument, life left Reynold's body. And she found herself traveling down a tunnel towards a light. At its end, she saw her long-dead grandmother, relatives and friends. Time seemed to stop. Then an uncle led her back to her body and instructed her to return. It felt like plunging into a pool of ice water. After she came to, Reynolds told Spetzler all that she'd seen and experienced.

"You are way out of my area of expertise," Spetzler said. And twelve years later, he still doesn't know what to make of it.

SAVE YOURSELF IF YOU CAN ......FROM ......TSUNAMIS

Tsunamis have reached the heights of more than 100 feet. As the waves approach shallow coastal waters, they appear normal and the speed decreases.
In addition to undersea earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and meteorites can also create tsunamis.
Tsunamis can come from thousands of miles away.
If you live somewhere in the United States where earthquakes occur, be smart! People who are near the sea shore during a strong earthquake should listen to a radio for a Tsunami warning.
If the ocean is rising and falling quickly while you're near the sea shore then you should leave the water immediately.
Tsunami waters arrive as a series of crests and troughs. These crests and troughs can be anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes apart
Most people think of earthquakes as the most dangerous natural disaster, but more damage is caused through tsunamis.
Unfortunately, most people who are killed during a tsunami die from drowning. The water comes in so quickly.
There are tsunami warning centres in Hawaii and also in Alaska that monitor disturbances that trigger tsunamis.
In 1946, a tsunami with waves 32 feet high in height crashed into Hilo, on the big island causing the complete island to drown.

Earth has started giving signals.....is it the end?.. or beginning of the End?

Suddenly the occurrence of natural disasters has increased. What is it? Is our Earth giving us signals? Are we ready to face the reality.
There have been 1348 quakes in the past 4 months in the Indian subcontinent.
The movement of the tectonic plates has increased.

Today we are going to learn some facts about TORNADOES

Spring and summers are fun, but they are also the tornado season !. If you live in the Mid west, March through August is the time to look out
Tornadoes have increased in number since the year 1925.
The size of a tornado is not always an indication of how much damage it will cause. Large tornadoes can be weak, and small tornadoes can be very violent.
In 1995, the town of Pampa, Texas, there was a little tornado. This "Little guy" took six new cars from the parking and pulled them inside its funnel.
The scale used for measuring tornadoes is called the Fujita- Pearson scale. The scale starts with a gale tornado, which has 40mph winds.
It goes upto six more degrees - moderate tornado, significant tornado, severe tornado, incredible tornado, devastating tornado and inconceivable tornado.
If a tornado of sixth degree ever struck then it will be difficult for anyone to imagine the amount of destruction it will bring.
People who study tornadoes are called storm chasers or weather observers.
Devastating tornadoes are capable of destroying a well built home.

10 things you must know about EARTHQUAKES....You can survive but can not hide...

Earthquakes can happen at any time of day. Even though we never know when an earthquake will happen and we can't keep them from happening, we can build roads and buildings that are Earthquake safe.
We can measure these shaky quakes as they happen. Have you ever heard of the richter scale? we cant feel earthquakes that measure below 2.0 on the richter scale, and those that measure below 4.0 do not usually cause damage. The worst earthquake ever recorded in the United States reached 8.9.
The richter scale is a mathematical formula used with the help of a seismometer. A seismometer has a needle or a pen suspended in the air that makes a mark on a moving roll of paper. When the needle shakes, the pen makes a squiggle on the paper; the greater the shaking, the larger the squiggle.
When an earthquake happens, it can create problems not only at the point along the fault line but also thousands of miles away! the rumbling from the 1964 Alaska quake caused the ocean to create 20-foot waves that hit the shores of California, Oregon, and Washington.
One earthquake near San Francisco, California, lasted only 15 seconds, but 62 people were killed and were 4000 injuries.
One of the strongest and most powerful earthquakes in the United States was in April 1906 measuring 8.25 and lasted for 40 seconds.
The most violent earthquake to be measured on the Earth was in 1960 measuring 9.5 and it created a tsunami with waves that were more than 30 feet high. It caused damage from California to Japan.
The San Andreas fault in California which is more than 600 miles long, is a single line which parts into several branches covering more than half of US.
The most dangerous area in present time for earthquakes in considered to be The Himalayas. Its seems that Indian subcontinent is sinking beneath them at a fast pace.

Seismic zones of the Earth

The recent earthquake in Nepal has proved that we should always be prepared for any disaster. It made the Indian subcontinent shift beneath the Eurasian plates for about 3.5 metres.

Unknown facts about our galaxy----MILKY WAY

Mercury moves around the Sun faster than any other planet. It travels about 30 miles per second, and goes around the Sun every 88 Earth days.
Mercury's brightness and size change as it orbits the Sun.
Temperature on Venus is a nice warm 867 degrees Fahrenheit. This is hot enough to melt lead.
The air pressure on Venus would be enough to crush a human being, a building or an entire city.
The winds on Venus average 240 miles per hour. In comparison, the worst hurricanes on Earth can produce winds that are 150 miles per hour.
There are two cores inside Earth- the outer core and the inner core. The temperature in the inner core is 9000 degrees Fahrenheit.That is hotter than the Sun's surface.
In the Southern Hemisphere of Mars, there is also a basin that is deep enough to swallow Mount Everest.
It would take over 1000 Earths to fill up Jupiter.
A person who weighs 100 pounds on Earth would weigh as much as 240 pounds on Jupiter.
1 year on Saturn equals 29 Earth years.
The rings of Saturn are created as the planet moves. Gases, dust, ice water and boulders spin around and create the rings. The major rings can measure 180,000 miles across.
It takes 84 Earth years for Uranus to orbit the Sun.
The coldest in our solar system is on Triton which gives of a chilly temperature of -390 degree Fahrenheit.
Pluto has a moon Charon, the moon is of the same size as Pluto. Many people refer to Pluto and Charon as twin planets.
It takes Pluto about 248 Earth years to make it around the Sun.

Want to know more about our solar system?? Yes?? Then do read Black Holes and The Big Bang.

Funny Facts About Reptiles

FROGS-

The Golith frog of Africa is the biggest frog in the world. It weighed 8 pounds and was the size of a three year old child.
The Cuban arrow poison frog is only about half an inch long.
Frogs' tongues have lots of taste buds. They spit out food that tastes bad.
Frogs' soak up all the water they need through their skin.
A frog sheds its skin few times a year.
The golden poison dart frog is the most poisonous member of this family.
The barking frog sounds like -----a barking dog.
The wood frog quacks like a duck.
Eastern narrow mouthed toads bleat like lambs.
The mexican tree frog makes a noise like a car.
Carpenter frogs sound like someone is hammering nails.
The northern cricket frog calls, "gick, gick, gick" once a second.

SNAKES-

Most snakes do not need to eat very often. One big meal can last for many months.
The spitting cobra squeezes poison out through holes at the tip of its fangs.
The rattles on the snake's tail are made up of the same material as your fingernails.
King cobras strike and kill about 10,000 people a year in India.
Just one ounce of poison from king cobra call kill upto 4000 people.
The country of Myanmar leads the world in snakebites.
Sea snakes are among the most poisonous snakes of all.
Blind snakes dig tunnel in the soil.

LIZARDS-

The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard in the world.
The least Gicko is only about half an inch long.
A six linned racerunner was clocked speeding at an amazing speed of 18 miles an hour.
Chameleons tend to turn darker when frightened.
Lizards can grow new tails when they loose one.
Chameleons can change colours- yellow, green, white, red, or brown. They do not change colour according to their surroundings.

TURTLES-

The huge leather backed turtle is the biggest turtle in the world.
The eastern mud turtle is the smallest member of this family.
The turtles can swim 1200 miles each way.
The shell of an alligator snapping turtle is the same color as the muddy river water where it lives.
The stinkpot turtle gives out a disgusting smell.
The people of Madagascar love and respect the radiated tortoise.

Do read more about dogs and cats and animal behaviour

A place for discounts and deals