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Sunday, November 29, 2009

Stadium

The word originates from the Greek word "stadion" a Greek measure of length roughly 180 - 200m. The oldest known stadium is the one in Olympia, in western Peloponnese, Greece, where the Olympic Games of antiquity were held since 776 BC. Initially 'the Games' consisted of a single event, a sprint along the length of the stadium. Therefore the length of the Olympia stadium was more or less standardized as a measure of distance (approximately 190 meters or 210 yd). The practice of standardizing footrace tracks to a length of 180-200 meters (200-220 yd) was followed by the Romans as well. Greek and Roman stadia have been found in numerous ancient cities, perhaps the most famous being the Stadium of Domitian, in Rome.Dome stadia are distinguished from conventional stadia by their enclosing roofs. They are called stadia because they are large enough for, and designed for, what are generally considered to be outdoor sports. Those designed for what are usually indoor sports are called arenas. Some stadia have partial roofs, and a few have even been designed to have moveable fields as part of the infrastructure.
The term "stadium" tends to be used mostly in connection with games like association football, American football, Baseball, Gaelic football, Cricket, Hurling, Rugby, and other large field games. Exceptions include the basketball arena at Duke University, which is called Cameron Indoor Stadium and the now-demolished Chicago Stadium, former home of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL and Chicago Bulls of the NBA.Different sports require fields of different size and shape. Some stadia are designed primarily for a single sport while others can accommodate different events, particularly ones with retractable seating. Stadia built specifically for football are quite common in Europe however Gaelic games Stadia would be most common in Ireland, while ones built specifically for baseball or American Football are common in the United States. The most common multiple use design combines a football pitch with a running track, a combination which generally works fairly well, although certain compromises must be made. The major drawback is that the stands are necessarily set back a good distance from the pitch, especially at the ends of the pitch. The Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin is being remodelled to remove the running track after persistent complaints from fans of Juventus F.C. In the case of some smaller stadia, there are not stands at the ends. When there are stands all the way around, the stadium takes on an oval shape. When one end is open, the stadium has a horseshoe shape. All three configurations (open, oval and horseshoe) are common, especially in the case of American college football stadia. Rectangular stadia are more common in Europe, especially for football where many stadia have four often distinct and very different stands on the four sides of the stadium. These are often all of different sizes and designs and have been erected at different periods in the stadium's history. The vastly differing character of European football stadia has led to the growing hobby of ground hopping where spectators make a journey to visit the stadium for itself rather than for the event held there. In recent years the trend of building completely new oval stadia in Europe has led to traditionalists criticising the designs as bland and lacking in the character of the old stadiua they replace. In North America, where baseball and American football are the two most popular outdoor spectator sports, a number of football/baseball multi-use stadia were built, especially during the 1960s, and some of them were successful.

Cobra snake


A is a venomous snake, which is a member of the family Elapidae (elapids). The name is short for cobra de capelo, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood," or "hood-snake." When disturbed, most of these snakes can rear up and spread their neck (or hood) in a characteristic threat display. However, not all snakes referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family.
Cobra may refer to any member of the genus Naja, also known as typical cobras (with the characteristic ability to raise the front quarters of their bodies off the ground and flatten their necks in a threatening gesture), a group of venomous elapids found in Africa and Asia.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Globe

A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth (terrestrial globe) or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon. It may also refer to a spherical representation of the celestial sphere, showing the apparent positions of the stars and constellations in the sky (celestial globe). The word "globe" comes from the Latin word globus, meaning round mass or sphere.A globe is the only geographical representation that has negligible distortion over large areas; all flat maps are created using a map projection that inevitably introduces an increasing amount distortion the larger the area that the map shows. A typical scale for a terrestrial globe is roughly 1:40 million.
Sometimes a globe has relief, showing topography; in the case of a globe of the Earth the elevations are exaggerated, otherwise they would be hardly visible. Most modern globes are also imprinted with parallels and meridians so that one can (if only approximately due to scale) tell the coordinates of a specific point on the surface of the planet.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Mountain Bike


A mountain bike or mountain bicycle (abbreviated MTB or ATB (all terrain bicycle)) is a bicycle created and made for off-road cycling, including jumps, and traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines, on dirt trails, logging roads, and other unpaved environments — activities usually called mountain biking. These bicycles need to be able to withstand the stresses of off-road use with obstacles such as logs and rocks. Most mountain bikes use wheels with rims which are 559mm in ISO sizing, colloquially referred to as "26-inch", although the term is inaccurate as it covers too many rim and tyre sizes to be meaningful. Wheels used on mountain bikes usually use wide, knobby tires for good traction on uneven terrain and shock absorption. In the current century front wheel suspension has become the norm and full front and rear suspension has become increasingly common. Some mountain bikes are also fitted with bar ends on the handlebars to give extra leverage for hill-climbing.
Since the development of the sport in the 1970s many new subtypes of mountain biking have developed, such as cross-country (XC) biking, all-day endurance biking, Freeride-biking, downhill mountain biking, and a variety of track and slalom competitions. Each of these place different demands on the bike requiring different designs for optimal performance. MTB development has included an increase in gearing, up to 30 speeds, to facilitate both climbing and rapid descents. Other developments include disc instead of cantilever or V-brakes.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Jungle

Jungle refers to the most dense, more or less impenetrable regions within a tropical rainforest with an abundance of animal and plant life. The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which refers to uncultivated land, among other meanings. The term is prevalent in many languages of the Indian subcontinent and particularly Urdu and Hindi.
The term jungle may still be used in technical contexts to describe the rainforest biome, a forest characterised by extensive biodiversity and densely tangled undergrowth including the young trees, vines and lianas, and herbaceous plants.About 6% of the Earth's land mass consists of the ecosystems that could qualify as jungle under the common usage of the word. 57% of all species live in jungle environments. In common usage, forests of northern Thailand or southern Guangdong in China would qualify, but scientifically, these are "monsoon forests" or "tropical deciduous forests" but not "rain forests".
As a forest biome, jungles are present in both equatorial and tropical climatic zones, and are associated with preclimax stages of the rainforest. In another technical context, jungle is distinguished from tropical rainforest in that the former is a profuse thicket of tropical shrubs, vines, and small trees growing in areas outside the light-blocking canopy of a tropical rainforest. Hence, jungles are often found at the edges of climax rain-forests, where human activity may increase sunlight penetration.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

sky

The sky is the part of the atmosphere or of outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons. During daylight, the sky of Earth has the appearance of a deep blue surface because of the air's scattering of sunlight.The sky is sometimes defined as the denser gaseous zone of a planet's atmosphere. At night the sky has the appearance of a black surface or region scattered with stars.
During the day the Sun can be seen in the sky, unless covered by clouds. In the night sky (and to some extent during the day) the moon, planets and stars are visible in the sky. Some of the natural phenomena seen in the sky are clouds, rainbows, and aurorae. Lightning and precipitation can also be seen in the sky during storms. On Earth, birds, insects, aircraft, and kites are often considered to fly in the sky. As a result of human activities, smog during the day and light radiance during the night are often seen above large cities (see also light pollution).
In the field of astronomy, the sky is also called the celestial sphere. This is an imaginary dome where the sun, stars, planets, and the moon are seen to be traveling. The celestial sphere is divided into regions called constellations.See skies of other planets for descriptions of the skies of various planets and moons in the solar system.

Ganga Dasahara



"Festivals connected with rivers are essentially bathing festivals. Ganga Dussehra is celebrated on the tenth day of Jyeshtha. River Ganga is worshipped as a mother as well as a Goddess, particularly by people of Uttara Pradesh, Bihar, and Bengal through which the river flows. On this day, if a devotee is unable to visit and bathe in the river Ganga, then Ganga jal (water) kept in most Hindu homes is used for purification. A bath in the river is said to purify the bather of all sins. The Ganga is revered all over India even in places far from its course. Initially, river Ganga flowed in the heavens. She was brought down to earth by the severe penances of the sage Bhagiratha and that is why she is also called Bhagirathi. According to the story, of the descent of the Ganga, once a number of demons were harassing the hermits by disturbing them in their ascetic duties. During the day, they would be chased into the ocean. But in the darkness of the night, they would emerge from the ocean and start harassing the hermits again. In desperation the hermits appealed to Rishi Agastya. Agastya, known for his gastronomic powers, drank all the water of the ocean. Though this was done in good faith, it resulted in depriving the world of the water needed for sustenance and the earth became parched and dry. Bhagiratha brought this drought to and end.