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Hukou Waterfall: The Yellow Waterfall…….

December 1, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The Hukou Waterfall on China’s Yellow River has very modest dimensions. It’s just 30 meters wide, increasing to 50 meters during flood season, and only 20 meters tall. Despite these small figures, it is the largest waterfall on the Yellow River, and the second largest waterfall in the country. It is also unusual because of its yellowish but mostly brownish appearance due to the presence of silt and mud. Thousands of tourists come to see this waterfall and experience its thundering roar, especially during the floods when the waterfall is at its mightiest.

The waterfall is located at a place where the mighty Yellow River is squeezed through a narrow valley blocked by mountains on both sides. This valley is called the Jinxia Grand Canyon and it lies at the boundary of Shanxi Province and Shaanxi Province. The riverbed abruptly narrows down from 300 meters to less than 50 meters turning the placid water to rapids. The roaring waters then plunges over a narrow opening on a cliff forming a waterfall about 20 meters tall. The constricted opening and the turbulent waters apparently reminded people of boiling water being poured from a kettle or teapot, because Hukou literally means “flask mouth”.

Photo credit: Daily Mail

Photo credit: news.xinhuanet.com

Photo credit: Daily Mail

Photo credit: Jun Wang/Flickr

Source…..www.amusingplanet.com

natarajan

Bye, bye Dubai — the world’s tallest tower, costing about $3 billion, isn’t where you’d think it is !!!

December 1, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

When Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, opens in 2018, it will be the first building ever to exceed 1km.

DUBAI’S towering Burj Khalifa may have to give up its title as the world’s tallest building to Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower, now that funding has been secured for the last phase of its $AU3 billion construction.

A Saudi government press release on Sunday said Jeddah Economic Company and Saudi Arabia’s Alinma Investment had signed a financing deal of $A1.7 billion to complete the Jeddah Economic City project, including the Kingdom Tower, which is slated to be world’s tallest tower upon completion.

Kingdom Tower will have over 200 floors overlooking the Red Sea.

The Jeddah Economic City project also includes creating a new suburb of the city that officials hope will become a tourist destination.

The 1,000 metre skyscraper is scheduled to open in 2018 and building of the tower has already reached the 26th floor. The Burj Khalifa, by comparison, stands at 827 metres.

New York City’s Freedom Tower, currently the fifth tallest in the world, is dwarf-like at 546 metres.

http://www.news.com.au/video/id-5wdjZzYzqnj3rKOppBgQfGUVLv8VwUId/The-world’s-tallest-tower

The world’s tallest tower

“With this deal, we will reach new, as yet unheard of highs in real estate development, and will fulfil the company’s objective of creating a world-class urban centre that offers an advanced lifestyle, so that Jeddah may have a new iconic landmark that attracts people from all walks of society with comprehensive services and a multitude of uses,” Mounib Hammoud, chief executive officer of Jeddah Economic Company, said.

Saudis hope the new suburb and the tower will draw millions of pilgrims travelling to nearby Mecca and Medina.

The Kingdom Tower may not hold on to its record for long as Iraq’s southern Basra Province is planning to build a “mega tall” skyscraper.

Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture, a Chicago-based firm, created the design for the Kingdom Tower.

An urban community of more than 485 hectares overlooking the Red Sea will surround the tower, which will house the world’s tallest observation point, a Four Seasons Hotel, a massive shopping mall and residential apartments.

When it is complete, it will have over 200 floors.

But the Kingdom Tower may not hold on to its record for long. Iraq’s southern Basra Province is planning to build a 1,150 metre “mega tall” skyscraper, which will be taller than the Kingdom Tower.

The Bride Tower, proposed by AMBS Architects, will comprise of 230 storeys, will be topped by a 188-metre tall antenna and will comprise of four conjoined towers.

Plenty of space for paddling near Kingdom Tower.

Kingdom Tower will also have the highest observation deck in the world, which was first envisioned as a heliport.

Source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

Pilot explains what it really means when there’s turbulence during a flight….

November 30, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Turbulence is far and away the top concern of nervous flyers.

If you’re among those seeking reassurance, please refer to my earlier essay on the topic, a version of which also appears in chapter two of the my book. Many anxious passengers have found this discussion helpful.

READ IT HERE.

In the meantime, I’ll go ahead and reiterate some points:

Turbulence is far and away the top concern of nervous flyers.

In the meantime, I’ll go ahead and reiterate some points:

1. First and foremost, turbulence is, for lack of a better term, normal. Every flight, every day, will encounter some degree of rough air, be it a few light burbles or a more pronounced and consistent chop that sometimes gets your coffee spilling and the plates rattling in the galley. From a pilot’s perspective, garden-variety turbulence is seen as a comfort and convenience issue, not a safety issue per se. It’s annoying, but it is not dangerous.

2. In rare circumstances, however, it’s worse, to the point where a plane’s occupants can be injured or, even more uncommonly, aircraft components can be damaged. How rare? Put it this way: The type of encounter that United and Cathay ran into is the sort of thing even the most frequent flyer will not experience in a lifetime. And of the small number of passengers injured each year, the vast majority of them are people who did not have their seat belts on when they should have.

3. Can turbulence occur unexpectedly — or, as the news people have been embellishing it, “out of nowhere”? Yes. Pilots receive weather and turbulence forecasts prior to flight; once aloft we get periodic updates from our dispatchers and meteorologists on the ground. We have weather radar in the cockpit, as well as our eyes to see and avoid the worst weather. And perhaps most helpful of all, we receive real-time reports from nearby aircraft. With all of these tools at our disposal, we have a pretty good idea of the where, when, and how bad of the bumps. But every so often they happen without warning. Almost always it’s a mild nuisance, but the lesson here is to always have your belt fastened, even when conditions are smooth.

4. Do pilots keep their belts fastened in the cockpit? Yes, always. Is this one of those things that, well, hey, we sometimes ignore and get lackadaisical about? No, and neither should you.

5. For what it’s worth, thinking back over the whole history of modern commercial aviation, I cannot recall a single jetliner crash caused by turbulence, strictly speaking. Maybe there have been one or two, but airplanes are engineered to withstand an extreme amount of stress, and the amount of turbulence required to, for instance, tear off a wing, is far beyond anything you’ll ever experience.

6. During turbulence, the pilots are not fighting the controls. Planes are designed with what we call positive stability, meaning that when nudged from their original point in space, by their nature they wish to return there. The best way of handling rough air is to effectively ride it out, hands-off. (Some autopilots have a turbulence mode that desensitizes the system, to avoid over-controlling.) It can be uncomfortable, but the jet is not going to flip upside down.

7. Be wary of analogies. You might hear somebody compare turbulence to “driving over a rough road,” or to “a ship in rough seas.” I don’t like these comparisons, because potholes routinely pop tires, break axles and ruin suspensions, while ships can be capsized or swamped. There are no accurate equivalents in the air.

8. Be wary of passenger accounts in news stories. Not to insult anyone’s powers of observation, but people have a terrible habit of misinterpreting and exaggerating the sensations of flight, particularly if they’re scared. Even in considerably bumpy air — what a pilot might call “moderate turbulence,” a plane is seldom displaced in altitude by more than 20 feet, and usually less. Passengers might feel the plane “plummeting” or “diving” — words the media can’t get enough of — when in fact it’s hardly moving.

9. Will climate change increase the number of severe turbulence encounters? Possibly, but in the meantime remember there are also more airplanes flying than ever before. The worldwide jetliner fleet has more than doubled in the past 20 years, and it continues to grow. It stands to reason that as the number of flights goes up, the number of incidents will also go up, regardless of changes in the weather.

Source…….Patrick Smith…ask the pilot.com ….www.businessinsider .com

Natarajan

Moon expense claims, MacGyver moments and other interesting Buzz Aldrin facts…

November 30, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Former NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin is pretty clear with about his thoughts on travel to Mars.

AMERICAN astronaut Buzz Aldrin is best remembered for being the second man to set foot onto the surface of the moon during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.

However, there is much more to the famed astronaut than meets the eye.

Here are 10 facts about 85-year-old that might surprise you.

1. BORN TO WALK ON THE MOON

Buzz’s parents were Edwin Eugene Aldrin Sr and Marion Aldrin.

Nothing seems out of the ordinary here until you discover the mother of the man selected for the Apollo 11 mission was actually born Marion Moon.

So that means Buzz’s career choice was either destiny or a very big coincidence.

2. HIS OWN FIRST ON THE MOON

He may not have been the first man to set foot on the moon, but Buzz Aldrin does hold the dubious honour of being the first man to urinate there.

While making his way down the lander’s ladder, nature came calling and Buzz was forced to perform a lunar leak into a special bag in his space suit.

3. EXPENSE CLAIM

For many, being able to set foot on the moon would be a prestigious honour, but for Buzz it wasn’t enough.

Once returning to Earth, he submitted an expense claim for the Apollo 11 mission, which asked to be reimbursed $AU46.33.

The claim was very accurate in its depiction of “points of travel” with Buzz detailing his travels from Houston to Cape Kennedy to the moon to the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and then back to Houston.

As the documents show “government meals and quarters” were provided throughout the July 1969 mission, Buzz did not place a claim for those.

However, he did claim for the use of a car for travel between airports on his way to the launch at Cape Kennedy.

The claim was paid by NASA.

4. COOL AS A CUCUMBER

After exploring the surface of the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their way back into the lander so they could start their return journey to Earth.

However, once inside, Buzz discovered a broken circuit breaker lying on the floor of the module.

Following a brief search, it was discovered the circuit breaker was from the ascent engine — a vital component required to lift the lander off the moon.

After phoning mission control for advice, the astronauts were to told they would have to wait overnight for a solution.

So with the possibility of an indefinite stay on the moon surface looming, Buzz did something strange.

He spread out on the floor of the landing module and went to sleep, obviously completely unfazed by the hiccup.

5. MOVE OVER MACGYVER

The following morning, Buzz was told getting the breaker pushed back in was the only solution to getting the lander back into space.

With the component being electrical and his fingers being too large to do the job, Buzz began searching for a tool to use.

The solution came in the form a felt-tipped pen he had in the shoulder pocket of his space suit.

After successfully pushing the circuit breaker in with his pen, the lander was ready for takeoff.

Even more impressive was the fact Buzz still has the very same pen sitting in his home.

6. CUSTOMS DECLARATION

If you think being on the first mission to the moon excludes you from filing those pesky customs declarations, you are sadly mistaken.

Upon returning to Earth, all of the astronauts on board Apollo completed and signed customs forms declaring they were brining “Moon rock and Moon Dust” back.

7. BECOMING BUZZ

Buzz Aldrin was born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr on January 20, 1930 in Montclair, New Jersey.

However, his family wasn’t all that keen on the name and ended up nicknaming him Buzz.

The nickname evolved from his younger sister who struggle to pronounce “brother” and would often say “buzzer”.

He legally changed his name in 1988.

8. FLYING HIGH

Long before he was an intergalactic traveller, Buzz had an interest in flying.

This saw him being a test pilot for US Navy and also serving a stint as a fighter pilot.

While on combat missions in Korea, Buzz earned the Distinguished Flying Cross medal for destroying two MIG’s and damaging another.

9. THOSE BLACK MARKS

There is iconic picture of Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon, but closer inspection shows there are two mysterious black marks on the front of his spacesuit.

These are the result of Buzz’s failed attempt to reboard the lander on the surface of the moon.

When trying to jump up to the lander, Buzz didn’t provide enough force and collected his shins on the button rung of a ladder.

Buzz Aldrin has a completely white suit, except for the marks on his shins.Source:News Corp Australia

10. ALL YOU NEED IS A PUNCH IN THE FACE

There are many conspiracy theories floating around questioning the legitimacy of the moon landing.

It is fine to speculate, just don’t approach Buzz Aldrin with your suspicions because if you call him a fraud, he might just punch you in the face.

Matthew Dunn news.com.au

Source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

Prithvi-II, India’s Indigenously Developed Missile, Successfully Test Fired in Odisha….India

November 27, 2015Natarajan1 Comment

Prithvi-II, India’s indigenously developed nuclear capable missile was successfully test fired on Thursday. The missile has a strike range of 350 km, and it is capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads.

The test was a part of a user trial by the Army and was conducted from a mobile launcher at launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) located at Chandipur, in Baleswar District of Odisha.

Source: Wikimedia

Prithvi-II is surface to surface missile thrusted by liquid propulsion twine engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit the target. The navigation aid, inertial navigation system (INS), uses a computer, motion sensors and rotation sensors to calculate the position and velocity of a moving target without any external references.

Prithvi-II is the first missile to be developed by Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under India’s Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP).

Source: Twitter

It can operate with both liquid and solid fuels and can carry both conventional as well as nuclear payloads.

The trial data was conducted by Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which is part of India’s Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). It is responsible for management of India’s strategic nuclear weapons stockpile.

“The missile was randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed SFC and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of training exercise…The missile trajectory was tracked by DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located along the coast of Odisha,” a defence scientist told PTI.

The teams on the other side were on board a ship near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal. They monitored the splashdown and the terminal events. The last user trial of Prithvi-II was successfully conducted on February 19, 2015 from the same test range.

The Indian government had launched the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program in 1983 with the view making the country self-sufficient in terms of development and production of wide range of Ballistic Missiles, Surface to Air Missiles and more.

Source………..Tanaya Singh….www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

” I’m Going to Antarctica to Find How Climate Change, Penguins & Food Are Inter-Connected”…Says Tejaswi Subramanian

November 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

My first brush with environmental consciousness took place when I was 13. I came across the Fourth Assessment Report by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) in 2007, which said that human actions could be held responsible for the climate degradation and change that was visible in various parts of the world. I started thinking about it, and that report affected me very deeply. That’s when and how I became interested in environmental activism. Right from school, I was an active environmentalist. I helped form the eco-club there and was always associated with different activities like selling handmade carry bags to the school cafeteria and nearby shops, organizing awareness events, observing environment day and more.

Growing up, I also gained interest in clean eating habits.

This was about three years ago – I was living alone, was working 8-10 hours a day, was cooking for myself – and amidst all this, I was hit by the realization that I always felt less energetic. I never seemed to have enough energy to do everything. But I was only 20, and I thought, ‘this cannot be right’.

“Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.” – It was then that this quote by Hippocrates changed my life. I had started reading up on healthy eating and came to know about Primal Diet, which advises people to avoid grains and emphasizes on a protein-rich diet that contains healthy fats and is low in carbohydrates. It introduced me to the idea that eating fresh and organic food can heal the body and help us connect with nature. And I witnessed genuine change. I had been suffering with the problem of acne since my early teens, but with my new eating habits, it cleared up in just three months. It was like a miracle. I also witnessed an increase in my energy levels. This lifestyle change fit perfectly with my interest in environmental protection, which further encouraged me to carry on with it.

Additionally, I came across another body of research that motivated me to purchase sustainably-sourced food. It was about Antarctica, one of the last places in the world that remains untouched by rampant human urban settlement and industrialization.

Source: 2041 Foundation

But even in that beautiful place, traces of our irresponsible behaviour towards the environment are clearly visible – in the form of a pesticide. DDT, a chemical pesticide, was banned worldwide because of the harmful effects of the chemicals on the environment. This was done decades ago. However, its traces are found till today in the fatty tissues of Adelie penguins. This is due to the chemical pesticide being washed away and getting drained into the coastal waters, which then finds its way to the ocean. In this consumerist era, our choice to purchase reflects our voice in the systems that support societal norms. What is happening in Antarctica shows that a common thread runs through the universal fabric of our economy and society.

Thus, in the coming months, I plan to research about this issue at the grassroots. I will also be preparing for my expedition to Antarctica, which will host the ‘Leadership on the Edge’ program by Robert Swan, OBE (Order of the British Empire). Through this expedition, I intend to gather first-hand knowledge of the effect that we are having on the ecosystem of Antarctica, despite setting up shop several thousand miles away. Robert Swan is the first person to walk to both Poles. He will be our lead and Chief Guide and will be mentoring us on how we may be able to do our bit in spreading awareness and creating movements toward sustainability back in our homelands.

The idea is to work with like minds in order to spur a sustainable food movement that permeates our food chains and markets.

Source: 2041 Foundation

At a personal level, I am trying to work with sustainably sourced, organic as well as locally grown food. And this program will give me a good idea of how things are being done around the world.

Through this campaign, I am trying to raise funds for the expedition. I strongly believe that we can recreate the health of our bodies, the environment, and the Adelie penguins in Antarctica if we focus on the singular issue of how we source our food. Please support me in my journey. The tentative dates are March 13-25, 2016. Prospective itinerary can be found here. I hope to raise Rs. 12,30,000.

Here’s a break-up of the planned budget.

Source….– Tejaswi Subramanian for http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

Image of the Day…” Beginning of the Winter …”

November 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Winter is coming to northerly latitudes … A beautiful look at an early snowfall.

Phil Koch posted this photo to EarthSky Facebook this week. He calls it ‘Horizons.’

A record snowfall fell in Wisconsin over this past week. Phil Koch of Milwaukee captured an image and wrote to EarthSky:

And so winter begins in Wisconsin.

Source…..www.earthsky.org

Natarajan

Boy pens letter to airline, is thrilled at the response……

November 23, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

A YOUNG plane enthusiast received a welcome surprise from an airline executive after sending in a series of suggestions on how to improve safety in the event of a crash.

Laura Treider and her son Ben, 8, were watching a show about how planes mysteriously disappear, which included a segment about the disappearance of Malaysia’s MH370.

“I felt a little sad,” Ben told FoxNews.com. But right away this young inventor got to work, designing an emergency aircraft system he believes would make it easier to locate planes in the event of an ocean crash.

Treider helped her son pen a letter to Delta CEO Richard Anderson.

“We could have a system that has neon orange balloons that rise up to the surface when the plane crashes in the sea,” reads the letter. “And there would be stones at the bottom so they would stay there. The balloon wouldn’t be light enough to float up into the air, and it would have reinforced rubber to withstand a lot of pressure.”

The letter penned by Ben. Picture: Consumerist

His design. Picture: Consumerist

Treider, who served in the air force with her husband, says her son has been fascinated with planes from an early age.

“He’s always been interested in aviation, particularly in the design of military aeroplanes,” she said.

Treider says Ben also enjoys meeting pilots when the family flies. And when they do take a trip, Delta is their airline of choice.

A few weeks after Ben sent out his letter he received a special package from John E. Laughter, Delta’s Senior Vice President of Safety, Security and Compliance. In addition to sending two model aeroplanes — which Ben says he quickly assembled — the young inventor got branded pencils and pens and a personal note commending his design.

“ … I work with many Delta people, The Federal Aviation Administration, and aeroplane manufactures to solve problems such as airline tracking in an emergency. There are lots of experts thinking about ideas just like you send us. I will make sure to share your planes with them!” wrote Laughter.

Treider says her son was ecstatic with the executive’s response.

“At first we thought it was a birthday gift because he’s turning nine next week but when he saw who it was from he started jumping up and down saying “I got Delta! I got Delta!”

This story originally appeared on Fox News.

Source…..www.news.com.au

Natarajan

The ” World Map” on the banks of Lake Klejtrup , Denmark …

November 22, 2015November 22, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The World Map on the banks of the Lake Klejtrup in Denmark is a 4,000-square-meter walkable map of the world built out of soil, stones and grass. It’s the work of only one man — Søren Poulsen, who spent the last 25 years of his life building it.

Søren Poulsen, the creator of “The World Map”, was born in Denmark in 1888. Having spent part of his life in America, he returned to the village where he was born by the lake in Klejtrup. In 1943, Søren Poulsen was working on the drainage of the surrounding meadows when he found a stone shaped like Jutland, inspiring him to create a small world of his own. The following year, with the help of primitive tools and a wheelbarrow, Poulsen started laying big stones on the ice on the lake, and slowly the World Map took shape.

Photo credit: Frank Vincentz/Wikimedia

Søren Poulsen continued building his map until his death in 1969. The final map measures 45 meters by 90 meters, and was built entirely to scale —one 111-kilometer degrees of latitude corresponds to 27 centimeters on the map. Today, the Verdenskortet ved Klejtrup Sø (Danish for “World Map at Lake Klejtrup”) is a popular attraction in the Viborg area.

Photo credit: Frank Vincentz/Wikimedia

Sources: Wikipedia via Atlas Obscura http://www.amusingplanet.com

Natarajan

Image of the Day…Northwest Australia From the Space Station’s EarthKAM…

November 21, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

This stunning image of the northwest corner of Australia was snapped by a student on Earth after remotely controlling the Sally Ride EarthKAM aboard the International Space Station. The EarthKAM program allows students to request photographs of specific Earth features, which are taken by a special camera mounted on the space station when it passes over those features. The images are posted online for the public and students in participating classrooms around the world to view.

EarthKAM is the only program providing students with such direct control of an instrument on a spacecraft orbiting Earth, teaching them about environmental science, geography and space communications.The project was initiated by Dr. Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space, in 1995 and called KidSat; the camera flew on five space shuttle flights before moving to the space station on Expedition 1 in 2001. In 2011, NASA and Sally Ride Science installed a new camera system in a downward-pointing window on the station. This camera system is responsible for taking and downloading student image requests.

Image Credit: NASA/EarthKAM.org

Source…www.nasa.gov

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