Archives August 2013

“... this [invention] enables good sight and is one of the most useful of arts... the world possesses." Fra Giordano da Rivalto, sermon (1305) In the first century the Roman philosopher and dramatist Seneca used a glass sphere full of water resting on his reading material to magnify the letters, and this method was certainly used by farsighted monks a millennium later. Glass blowers in Venice produced lenses that were used as magnifying glasses, and in Europe in the late thirteenth century these were being used in pairs, one for each eye, the holding frame being made of wood or horn. Salvino D’Armate of Pisa (1258-1312) and the friar Alessandro da Spina (d. 1313) of Florence are often given the credit for the invention of spectacles, in the year 1284, but Marco Polo, in 1270, saw elderly Chinese using spectacles and, when asked, they credited the invention to Arabs in more...

More than fifty years: before the Wright brothers flew almost an entire minute in the world's first airplane, French engineer Henri Giffard (1825-1882) traveled 17 miles (27 kilometers) from Paris to Trappes in a lighter- than-air aircraft. Inspired by the streamlined model airship unveiled by.his compatriot Pierre Jullien in 1850, Giffard built his'"'143 feet (44 meter) long, cigar-shaped dirigible and got it off the ground two years later. With its three-bladed propeller driven by a 3-horsepower (2.2 kilowatt) steam engine, it was the first passenger-carrying, powered, and steerable airship in history. The world's .most famous airship, the twentieth century zeppelin, was rigid with a shape determined by a skeletal structure. Giffard's design was non-rigid. Like a balloon, the envelope's shape depended on the pressure of the hydrogen inside that lifted the airship. The dirigible's maiden flight took place on September 24, 1852, when Giffard—sitting in a gondola hanging, from a. more...

There are cinema halls in almost every town. But there is circus hall anywhere. They are possible in big cities like Bombay Calcutta and Delhi. Going to cinema has become a habit. But it is not so with circus. Once there arrived a company to my town. The company announced its arrival to the people by loud-speakers and distribution of hand-bills, t was glad because I had not seen a good circus before. I reached the circus ground in the evening before the time of the show. There were many other students of my school. We went together in a party to the manager and requested him to give us tickets at the concessional rate. He agreed. So, inspire of the great rush we bought our tickets before the start of the show. The circus hall was very big. It had been erected on beams and was covered with thick more...

Dr. Chandra Shekhar Venkata Raman, popularly known as C.V. Raman, is one of the most distinguished scientists of the 20th century. It was he who during a long sea voyage to Europe in 1921 as the representative of the Kolkata University, at a science meet, wondered why the water in Mediterranean sea was such a dark shade of blue. And the time came when he gave the answers to this apparently simple question and won the world's most prestigious award-the Noble Prize in 1930. Dr. C.V. Raman was born on November 7, 1888 in an orthodox South Indian Brahmin family in tirchurappalli, Tamilnadu. His father's name was Chandra Shekhar Aiyer who had special interest in science and mathematics. His mother Parvati was a pious lady. Raman was a very brilliant student since his early childhood. He passed his matriculation at the age of 11 and at 15 graduated from the more...

I live near the Jamuna River in a small village. There are forty families in our village. Every year during the rainy season our village is surrounded by Jamuna water. We have built our houses on the rocky ground. It is much above the level of the surrounding earth.  Last year heavy rains caused flood. We had to vacate our village. We saw big sheet of water all round. Boats were playing in the Jamuna. Many houses were surrounded by angry water and it was a horrible site. Ultimately we were compelled to vacate our houses and we went to our farm where we were safe. The farm was situated at about fifteen kilometres away from our village in the interior. I saw that many other villages were submerged in water. The people were carrying their luggage in the boats. The Government had called the police. The police helped those more...

A parrot is the most popular of all the birds kept as pets. It is of different colours.  A parrot has a strong curved bill and sharp and powerful claws. It builds nests in the hollow of old trees. It is often found flying in flocks. It lives on fruits and seeds. Green chilly is its favorite food. A parrot is better known as a talking bird. It can be tamed and trained to talk. A parrot can imitate people's voices quickly. It is caught and caged young and taught to talk. It can imitate our words by listening to them again and again. Then it can go on talking. The grey African parrot is the best talker. A talking parrot can call a person by his name or can recite the names of gods or goddesses. It sounds really nice when one hears a parrot talking in the house. more...

One day I was travelling by Kalka Mail from Allahabad to Tundla. I started from Allahabad at 3 o'clock in the night. There was a great rush in the train. But somehow I managed to get a seat in the train. The train started. It had hardly gone two kilometre when we felt a sudden jerk. I fell down upon a man who was sitting on the floor.  e had just begun to rebuke me when another man also fell down, The next moment a box fell upon a woman and she became unconscious. In only a few moments men and bundles lay in disorder one upon another. The passengers had their head struck against the windows and other heavy things. I was also wounded. As soon s I was able to stand up, I realized the whole situation. The train had collided against another train. My carriage was lying more...

"Be he 'live, or be he dead I'll grind his bones to make my bread." Jack and the Beanstalk, English Fairy Tales (1890) As humankind ceased to live as nomadic hunter- gatherers and began to settle down and raise crops, a different style of tool became necessary. People were now able to grow grain. However, grain had to be ground into flour in order to make bread. To accomplish this task an early form of mill, called a quernstone, eventually emerged. Approximately 4,000 years ago, humans worked out that they could place one rough stone on top of another and use the two of them to grind grain into small particles. Early versions consisted of a rough rock base, or quern, and a smaller rock that could be ground over the top of it, often referred to as a rubbing stone. A major advance occurred when the top stone was more...

Work is Worship'. This is a very old proverb which means there is no better way to worship God except to be hardworking. And this is fully justified what man has achieved during the course of his development is a result of hard work over long periods of time. He owes all his greatness to hard work. Hence, it is the root of all success. There is no alternative of hard work. Today man has conquered nature, he has set foot on the moon, he has travelled in the space, he has invented so many life saving drugs-all became possible because he never avoided work. We see wonderful progress in field of agriculture and industry. The methods of agriculture have been improved which has resulted in the growth of production. Now the farmers are enjoying better days than what they had to face previously. This is again the result of more...

Press (newspaper) occupies an important place in our society. It plays a significant role in making the destiny of a nation. A newspaper in the present time makes us familiar with the up-date current news of our nation. It also brings news of the world and the news of the masses to us. It tells us the general opinion of the public through Readers' Columns, articles and suggestions. Press enjoys great powers in the society. Press comments and criticizes the laws and working of the government's affairs. It also suggests important amendments. Press educates the people's mind on legal, educational, historical, economic, political and social topics. It makes democracy a true success by rightly directing the public. Press is one of the important means of communication and a channel to link the government with the people. Government places its policies, laws and programmes only through press. Then it seeks the more...