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Temples are centres of discipline, where aspirants are guided step by step to attain a vision of truth. They are schools for training of the spirit, academies for promotion of scriptural studies, institutes of super-science, and laboratories for testing the values of life. They are hospitals for the treatment and cure not only of the ‘birth-death disease’, which has persisted for ages, but even the much more patent ‘mental disorders’ that trouble those who do not know the secret of acquiring peace. Temples are gymnasia where people are reconditioned and their hesitant faith, waning conviction, and the upsurging egotism is cured. The purpose of temple is to awaken the Divinity in humanity (Madhavatwa in manavatwa), inducing people to believe that the physical frames in which they live are themselves houses of God. Source…. http://media.radiosai.org/ Natarajan |
Author: Natarajan
Nightingale Floor: An Ancient Japanese Intruder Detection System…!!!
Squeaky floors are annoying, which is why when you search for “squeaky floors” in Google, you get hundreds of articles offering you tips and advice on how to make your floors squeak less. But in ancient Japanese societies, especially among royal families, squeaky floors were not hated but desired—because a floor that screeched and groaned with each step was an effective anti-burglar alarm system.
Some Japanese castles built during the Edo period had these kind of flooring in the hallways. They are known as uguisu-bari, where uguisu refers to the Japanese bush-warbler or the Japanese Nightingale—a very shy bird that prefers to stay hidden among the foliage, but its distinctive breeding call can be heard throughout much of Japan from the start of spring.
It is said that these specially designed creaking floors sound much like the bush warbler singing. In English, they are known as nightingale floors.
Inside Ninomaru Palace of the Nijo castle where nightingale floors are installed. Photo credit: Fran Sastre/Flickr
Nightingale floors were popular during the Edo period—a period stretching from the early 17th century to the mid-19th century, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Edo period was considerably peaceful with fewer wars and rivalry, but the threat from the shogun’s subordinate feudal lords and other enemies was always there.
When Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, built the Nijō Castle in Kyoto as his residence, he ordered his carpenters to install nightingale floors in its hallways so that any assassin trying to sneak into the castle will immediately alert his guards.
While dry boards naturally creak under pressure, nightingale floors have extra metal clamps located between the beams that support the floorboards of the corridor. Each clamp has two spike holesthrough which an iron spike goes through. When someone walks over the boards, the clamp moves up and down causing the spike to rub against the clamp, producing a shrilling noise.
Because it was impossible walk across these hallways without making their presence known, guards and sentries developed a special rhythm that they would use when walking over the boards so that other guards know that it’s one of them. If the guards heard the floors singing a different tune, they knew they had an uninvited guest, and that it was time to sound the alarm.
The two best places to see and experience nightingale floors are the Nijo castle in Kyoto, and Chion-in, a temple where the Tokugawa family used to stay.
Source…..kaushik in http://www.amusingplanet.com
Natarajan
Joke for the Day ….” What is this …? “
A guy goes to a girl’s house for the first time, and she shows him into the living room.
She excuses herself to go to the kitchen to get them some snacks and drinks.
As he’s standing there alone, he notices a cute little vase on the mantle.
He picks it up, and as he’s looking at it, she walks back in. He says, “What’s this?”
She says, “Oh, my father’s ashes are in there.”
He turns beet red in horror and goes, “Geez, oh . . . I . . .”
She says, “Yeah, he’s too lazy to go to the kitchen to get an ashtray.”
Source…. http://www.ba-bamail.com
Natarajan
The Ice Caves That Never Melt, Even In Summer….
In the mountains of the Shanxi province in China, is the country’s biggest ice cave—an 85-meter deep bowling pin shaped subterranean structure set into the side of the mountain. Its walls and floors are coated with thick layers of ice, while large icicles and stalactites stretch from the ceiling to floor. The Ningwu Cave has the unique ability to stay frozen throughout summer even when the outside temperature climbs into the high teens.
Across continental Europe, Central Asia, and North America are many such ice caves where winter lasts all round the year. The majority of these ice caves are located in cooler regions, such as Alaska, Iceland and Russia, where the year-long low temperature helps keep the caves naturally cool and frozen. However, ice caves also exist in warmer climates.
The Ningwu Ice Cave in China. Photo credit: Zhou Junxiang/Image China
Most of these caves are what is known as “cold traps”. These caves have conveniently located chimneys and exits that allow cold air to enter during the winter, but not the warm air in summer. In winter, the cold dense air settles into the cave, displacing any warmer air which rises and exits the cave. In summer, the cold cave air remains in place as the relatively warm surface air is lighter and cannot enter.
The ice inside the cave also acts as a buffer that helps stabilizes the temperature inside the cave. Any warm air entering the cave is immediately cooled by the ice before it can cause any significant warming of the cave’s inside. Sure, it melts some ice, but the ambient temperature inside the cave stays pretty much constant. The reverse is also true: in winter, when very cold air cascades in, any liquid water in the cave freezes, releasing heat and stopping the cave’s temperature from plummeting too low.
For ice caves to form there must also be sufficient quantities of water available over the right period of time. In winter the climate must be such that the mountains are sufficiently covered in snow, and in summer the temperature should be high enough to cause the snow to melt but without significant warming of the air which streams into the caves. There needs to be a delicate balance between all these factors for an ice cave to form and maintain itself.
The largest ice cave in the world is Eisriesenwelt, located in Werfen, Austria, about 40 km south of Salzburg. The cave stretches for more than 42 kilometers. Photo credit: Michael & Sophia/Flickr
The Decorah Ice Cave in Iowa, the US, is one of the largest caverns containing ice in the American Midwest. The cave remains relatively ice free during fall and early winter. During this period, chilly winter air enters the cave and lowers the temperature of the rock walls. When snow starts to melt in spring, the melt water seeps into the cave and freezes upon contact with the still-cold walls, reaching maximum thickness of several inches in May-June. Ice often remains inside the cave until late August, while outside temperature breaks into the high thirties (high nineties for Americans).
A similar phenomenon is seen at Coudersport Ice Mine in Pennsylvania. It’s a small pit, where ice forms only during the summer months, and melts away in winter
The Booming Ice Chasm in the Canadian Rockies in Alberta is known for its incredible acoustics. It is said that as rocks tumble down and crash to the cave floor, 140 meters below, it causes booming echoes. The cave was discovered only in 2005 on Google Earth. Photo credit: Francois-Xavier De Ruydts
Source….Kaushik in http://www.amusingplanet.com
Natarajan
Traveling by air? Watch for a glory….
Joke of the Day… ” Sir…Can you keep an eye on my car please …’ ?”
A tourist climbed out of his hire-car in downtown Washington, D.C.
He was intent on visiting the White House and take in the city’s other world-famous sights, but he felt hungry so he decided to pop into a store to buy himself a snack.
As he pulled up to the curb outside the store, he saw a well-to-do man standing on the sidewalk.
He said to him: “Listen, I’m going to be only a couple of minutes. Would you watch my car while I run into this store?”
“What?” the man huffed. “Do you realize that I am a member of the United States Senate?”
“Well no,” the tourist said, “I didn’t realize that. But it’s all right. I’ll trust you anyway.”
Source…..www.ba-ba mail.com
Natarajan
The Pigeons who took Photos ….
At the turn of the last century, when aviation was still in its infancy, a German named Julius Neubronner submitted a patent for a new invention—a miniature camera that could be strapped to the breast of a pigeon so that the bird could take flight and snap pictures from the air.
Julius Neubronner was an apothecary who employed pigeons to deliver medications to a sanatorium located near his hometown Kronberg, near Frankfurt. An apothecary is one who makes medicines. A pharmacist is a more modern word, but in many German speaking countries, such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland, pharmacies are still called apothecaries. 
Apothecary was Julius Neubronner’s family profession. His father was an apothecary, and so was his grandfather. In those days, homing pigeons were used extensively to carry messages and small supplies. It was Julius’s father’s idea to use pigeons to receive prescriptions from the sanatorium and send out medicinal supplies in a hurry—a practice that continued for more than half a century until the sanatorium closed.
One day, Neubronner let out a pigeon on an urgent errand but it didn’t return. When several days passed and there was still no sign of the bird, Neubronner assumed the pigeon was lost, or it got caught and killed by predators. A month later, the lost messenger showed up unexpectedly at Neubronner’s place. The bird appeared well fed, which got Neubronner into thinking. Where had he gone? Who had fed him?
Neubronner decided that he would start tracking his pigeons’ future travels.
Julius Neubronner with one of his pigeons.
Being a passionate do-it-yourself amateur photographer, it didn’t take long for Neubronner to fashion a miniature wooden camera which he fitted to the pigeon’s breast by means of a harness and an aluminum cuirass. A pneumatic system in the camera opened the shutter at predetermined intervals and the roll of film, which moved along with the shutter, took as many as thirty exposures in a single flight. The entire rig weighed no more than 75 grams—the maximum load the pigeons were trained to carry.
The pictures turned out so good that Neubronner started making different models. One system, for instance, was fitted with two lenses pointing in opposite directions. Another one took stereoscopic images. Eventually, Neubronner applied for a patent, but the patent office threw out his application citing that such a device was impossible as they believed a pigeon could not carry the weight of a camera. But when Neubronner presented photographs taken by his pigeons, the patent was granted in 1908.
Aerial photograph of Frankfurt.
Neubronner exhibited his photographs in several international photographic exhibition gaining him accolades. In one such exhibition in Dresden, spectators watched as the camera-equipped carrier pigeons arrived at the venue, and the photos were immediately developed and turned into postcards which they could purchase.
The technology was soon adapted for use during the First World War, despite the availability of surveillance aircraft then. Pigeons drew less attention, could photograph enemy locations from a lower height, and were visibly indifferent to explosions on a battlefield.
Neubronner’s avian technology saw use in the Second World War too. The German army developed a pigeon camera capable of taking 200 exposures per flight. The French too claimed they had cameras for pigeons and a method to deploy them behind enemy lines by trained dogs. Around this time, Swiss clockmaker Christian Adrian Michel perfected a panoramic camera and an improved mechanism to control the shutter. Pigeon photography was in use as late as the 1970s, when the CIA developed a battery-powered pigeon camera, though the details of the camera’s use are still classified.
Today, aerial photography has been replaced by aircrafts, satellites, and more recently, by affordable drones. But the legacy of Julius Neubronner’s pigeon photography lives on in these images which are among the very early photos taken of Earth from above.
Bonus fact: So what happened to Neubronner’s pigeon who stayed away from the owner for a month and returned fattened up? It had flown away to Wiesbaden, some twenty kilometers away, and was taken care of by a restaurant chef.
Source…..Kaushik in http://www.amusingplanet .com
Natarajan
How do flocking birds move in unison?
Message for the Day…. ” True devotion lies in performing actions that will sanctify time. I am not asking you to serve the whole world in a big way. It is enough if you keep God in your heart and serve as your capacity permits you with love.”
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I don’t want your devotion; I only want your transformation. You should understand that the purpose of this human body is to serve others (Paropakarartham Idam Shariram). Involve yourself in such activities which will benefit others and give them happiness. Resolve to tread the path of service. Scriptures teach that neither by penance nor by pilgrimage nor by study of scriptures nor by devotion can one cross the ocean of life. You can achieve liberation only by serving the pious. The path of service is superior to all other spiritual practices like japa, dhyana and yoga. Only through service can you please God. Some people indulge in meaningless activities in the name of devotion and waste their time. True devotion lies in performing actions that will sanctify time. I am not asking you to serve the whole world in a big way. It is enough if you keep God in your heart and serve as your capacity permits you with love. Source…. http://media.radiosai.org/ Natarajan |
Message for the Day…” May you all have steady devotion, and sacred, long, and happy life! May all your difficulties be removed! May you experience unalloyed bliss! May you have all this!”
What message can I give you for the day? As I see you, My heart overflows with love. When I see so many of you expressing your love for Me, there is no limit to My joy. I have not sent out invitations to any one of you. My love has drawn you to Me. Your love for God and God’s love for you is the true message and exchange that can happen between God and His devotee. Be happy and blissful. Increase your spiritual dimensions. My love is your greatest wealth and good fortune. This is My greatest gift to you. Take good care of this precious gift. This is My blessing to you on this day. Live with the firm conviction that there is one Divinity resident in all. May you all have steady devotion, and sacred, long, and happy life! May all your difficulties be removed! May you experience unalloyed bliss! May you have all this!
Source…. http://media.radiosai.org/
natarajan
Take off with Natarajan 