Earth

“” Burn Ego…Not just Crackers…Be Sweet …not just eat Sweets …Wear New Values…not just new clothes…”

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da8d8-baba2Celebrate Life ..Not just Diwali day…
Burn Ego..Not just Crackers…
Be Sweet ..Not just eat Sweets…
Meet and greet Hearts..Not just People…
Wear new Values ..Not just clothes …
Experience Joy and Peace..Not just Play and Fun…
Light Self Knowledge..Not just Lamps…
BE HAPPY…HAVE A GREAT DAY!
 4th Day of DIWALI
“NEW YEAR ”
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The Fourth day is called Padwa or VarshaPratipada that marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya and Vikaram-Samvat was started from this Padwa day.
The day after the Lakshmi Puja, most families celebrate the new year by dressing in new clothes, wearing jewellery and visiting family members and business colleagues to give them sweets, dry fruits and gifts.
On this day, Goverdhan Pooja is performed. As per Vishnu-Puran, the people of Gokul used to celebrate a festival in honour of Lord Indra and worshipped him after the end of every monsoon season. But one particular year the young Krishna stopped them from offering prayers to Lord Indra who in terrific anger sent a deluge to submerge Gokul. But Krishna saved his Gokul by lifting up the Govardhan Mountain and holding it over the people as an umbrella.
This day is also observed as Annakoot and prayers are offered in the temples. In temples especially in Mathura and Nathadwara, the deities are given milkbath, dressed in shining attires with ornaments of dazzling diamonds, pearls, rubies and other precious stones.

 source::::http://debu7370.blogspot.com/ 

natarajan

On Diwali Day Think of Young Kids of Sivakasi who Swelter in the Heat to Make Your Diwali Sparkle!!!!

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Reblogged from my earlier Post dated  12 Nov2012

Diwali: Spare a thought for children of Sivakasi

source:::::: Article by Sriram Balasubramaniam in IBN lIVE Blog…

Natarajan

One of the first things that we would be looking in a yearly calendar is the day Diwali would be celebrated. The Indians living in India would be itching to celebrate while the Indians living abroad would make sure their Indian holiday plans are in sync with Diwali time. Joy derived from triumph of good over evil is the hallmark of Diwali. However, there are certain sections of people who need to be remembered, the same people who are the catalyst for making your Diwali as colourful as you want to be.

Every year, 90 per cent of the crackers for Diwali are made from a small place called Sivakasi in South India. This is the capital of the fireworks industry in India and one of the leading centers across the world. After Lui Yang, the Chinese city which is leader in the world production of crackers, Sivakasi is the next hub for global fireworks industries. This is something that we should be proud about, however, this empire has been built on a model of extreme low wages and high casualty rates. According to the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association (TNFAMA), 237 lives have been lost over the last 12 years in fireworks manufacturing plants. In September this year, 39 people lost their lives in a fire at Om Shakti Fireworks in Sivakasi due to lack of adherence to safety norms and regulations in the town. The flouting of safety norms is a norm rather than an aberration in the fireworks industry especially amidst the unorganized and small companies operating across the sector. Even though there has been widespread condemnation by civil society over the state of affairs in Sivakasi, year after year you see a similar situation unfolding. While accidents could happen in any city which produces firecrackers, it rarely happens with the sheer consistency and magnitude of Sivakasi in recent times. Besides the issue of safety, the issue of child labour has plagued the industry for long.

Lets come to terms with this fact; most of the crackers that you are bursting today have had involvement of child labour at some level or the other. Though this is alarming, it is not surprising considering the magnitude of child labour in the fireworks industry across the country. Child labour is regrettably rampant as much in many other industries but the exploitation of children to make crackers that are dangerous is simply unacceptable. According to a UN study published in the mid 1990’s there were 30,000 people employed in the match industry and 3,000 people employed in the fireworks industry in Sivakasi; all in between the age of 6-14. Some estimates suggest that the daily wage for these workers is less than 150 Rupees a day; an abysmal reality that makes it almost on par with the minimum wage for workers in the fireworks industry which has been set at Rs 99.98 per day. Besides the economics, the question is why should the children be doing what they are doing? Shouldn’t they be taken care of by the society and the state? What happened to the self acclaimed goal of education to all? All of these questions point to a greater role needed to be played by both the state and the society at large.

There has to be a systematic response from the government in terms of legislation that tightens the safety norms and action on the ground with more investment in safety monitoring systems. A report from the BBC states that Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) had just 4 officers overseeing over 1,000 companies and factories in Sivakasi over the last year. Is this good enough? There has to be an increase in manpower in monitoring mechanisms and enhanced law and order which cracks down vehemently on the firecracker owners who are flouting rules. Though there have been raids on companies flouting the law, the issue requires more investment and action. Legislation such as the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 could be revamped to discourage children from working in family owned businesses etc. In addition, there has to be a sustained effort to educate the public, especially the people in the rural areas, on the impact of this on the children’s future in the years to come.

Society needs to stand up and address these concerns. I am not suggesting we boycott crackers but why not contribute to the upliftment of communities in the Sivakasi belt in the form of public private partnership? Why not work on evolving the best practices that the world’s leading fireworks manufacturing city Lui Yang has? Why not try and provide education tools to these young kids who are sweltering in the heat with their lives on the line? Why not just think about all that we could do to mobilize non governmental resources for this cause? Why not start thinking about all this during an auspicious day such as Diwali?

As you celebrate this Diwali, spare a thought for the people of Sivakasi; after all, they are the ones who make your Diwali sparkle

Wish you a very Happy Diwali!!

 source:::::: Article by Sriram Balasubramaniam in IBN lIVE Blog…
 Natarajan
25th OCT 2016

வாரம் ஒரு கவிதை….” ஜன்னல் நிலா ” !!!

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My Tamil Kavithai in Dinamani Kavithaimani  on 24th oct 2016
 

வாரம் ஒரு கவிதை … “மனம் என்னும் மாயப் பேய் !!!”

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மனம் என்னும் மாயப் பேய் !!!
……………………
மனம் ஒரு குரங்குதான் …இல்லை என்று சொல்லவில்லை  நான் !
இங்கும்  அங்கும் அலையும் மனக் குரங்கை அடக்கி வைக்கும் ஒரு
குரங்காட்டியாக  நீ இருக்கலாம்… தவறில்லை !
மனக் குரங்கு தறி கெட்டு நெறி தவறி அடங்கா குரங்காட்டம்
போடும் நேரம் உன் மனமே ஒரு பேயாக மாறும் ,உன்னை தன்
மாய வலையில்  சிக்கவைத்து ..! உன்னையும்  மாற்றும்
அந்த மாயப் பேய்  தன் கூட்டத்தின்  ஒரு அங்கமாக !
சிக்கவும்   வேண்டாம் அந்த  மாய வலையில் …மாயாவியாக
நீ மாறவும் வேண்டாம் !…  ஒரு நல்ல குரங்காட்டியாக மட்டும்
நீ இருந்தால்!   உன் மனக் குரங்கும்  ஒரு குரங்காக மட்டுமே
அலையும்  என்றைக்கும்…  நீ போடும் “கோட்டை”  தாண்டாமல் !
நல்லன ஏற்று  அல்லன ஒதுக்கி உன் மன சிற்பம்  நீ செதுக்கினால்
அல்லல் என்றும் இல்லை உனக்கு  தம்பி !  உன்
மனம் என்றும் நல்ல மனமாக மணக்கும் …உன் வாழ்வும் இனிக்கும் !
இந்த ஊரும்  நாடும் உன்னைப்  போற்றி  வணங்கும் !
Natarajan
http://www.dinamani.com  on 17th oct 2016

ELEPHANTS REALLY DO HAVE EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD MEMORIES…!

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It is obviously impossible to say that elephants never forget anything- and it seems likely they do forget things- but studies have shown that elephants do have exceptionally long memories for certain types of things.

For instance, in 1999, an elephant named Jenny was living at The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee. When she saw an Asian elephant named Shirley, who was new to the sanctuary, she became excited and anxious. After they were given a bit of time together, Shirley also became animated. Founder Carol Buckley described “an emotional reunion” between “two seemingly old friends.” The two elephants began trumpeting, and Buckley said she had never witnessed something that intense unless it was aggression.

Turns out, the two elephants really were old friends. They had both performed together for a few months in Carson & Barnes Circus. The clincher? They had last seen each other twenty-three years before their reunion at the sanctuary.

This excellent recall power, whether it be remembering a face or events that happen in the wild, is thought to be a huge part of how elephants survive outside of captivity. Elephants typically live up to eighty years in the wild and form family structures headed by a matriarch. The matriarch is typically one of the oldest female elephants in the group and is thought to have the best memory—though she also could simply be the most experienced.

How does this help in survival? One study by researchers from the University of Sussex showed that when presented with a stranger, elephants with a 55-year-old matriarch were more likely to huddle in a defensive position than elephants with a 35-year-old matriarch. The older elephants were more likely to have had an experience with a stranger who had started a conflict with a herd before and remembered what needed to be done to warn the stranger off or defend themselves.

In 1993, researchers studied three herds of elephants in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park during a particularly severe drought. Two herds left the park when the resources dried up—each of those groups had matriarchs aged between 38 and 45. The herd that stayed in the park had a matriarch aged 33. Of the sixteen calves who died during the drought, ten were in the third, younger group alone. It was discovered that there had been another severe drought in the area in 1958-1961, meaning the two older matriarchs would have been at least five years old at the time and likely remembered the event and where to go when the usual food and water sources dried up, while the younger matriarch wasn’t old enough to remember and didn’t know where else to go.

Scientists haven’t been able to measure exactly how smart an elephant is, but they have been able to measure an elephant’s EQ, or encephalization quotient. This measures the size of an animal’s brain against the size scientists project it would be based on body weight. Elephants have one of the biggest brains, coming in at an average of 10.5 pounds, dwarfing a human’s 3-pound brain. However, humans typically have an EQ around 7, while elephants have an EQ of around 1.88. To compare, chimpanzees usually score around 2.5, and pigs have the low score of .27.  Using this method, elephants rank among the smartest creatures in the animal kingdom.

Elephants are also among an exclusive circle of animals that recognizes their reflections in a mirror. Further, the olfactory region of their brains—the one that recognizes smells—is particularly active (those big noses must be good for something, right?). Using their sense of smell alone, elephants have been tested to recognize as many as thirty female relatives based on the scent of their urine, regardless of the amount of time it’s been since they last saw, or in this cases, smelled them- which is saying something for creatures that live so long. Similarly, elephants show signs of grief when they encounter the corpse or bones of a deceased relative. In one study, scientists presented an array of objects to a family of elephants; they reacted most when presented with the bones and tusks of a deceased relative.

The smell and face of family members and the locations of feeding grounds are the most prominent things that an elephant seems to remember, among other survival skills. And, it is clear their memories can stretch over decades, aiding in their ability to survive for their relatively long lifespans. So to say an elephant “never forgets” is an exaggeration, but they do seem to have exceptional memories for certain things nonetheless.

Bonus Elephant Facts:

  • Elephants eat a huge amount of food each day—between 160 and 350 pounds! As they are herbivores, that’s an awful lot of plant material. Think about eating 160 pounds of salad in a day.
  • For day-to-day communication, elephants use over 70 vocalizations and 160 signals—kind of like elephant sign language. Very social creatures, elephants can often be seen touching each other with their trunks, which is considered a sign of affection.
  • If a calf is orphaned, it will usually be adopted by another member of the herd. Elephants show concern for other members of their family and will take care of the weak and injured. They also appear to grieve over dead family members.
  • One way elephants can locating another elephant is through their feet, using Pacinian corpuscles- nerves that sense seismic vibrations in the ground.
  • Herds of elephants are made up of a matriarch, her daughters, and her granddaughters. Male elephants leave the herd when they reach sexual maturity around the age of 14, called “being in musth.” Males will either join other groups of bachelor elephants or travel by themselves, meeting up with females only to mate.
  • When presented with harsh weather like a drought, herds will often band together to share resources rather than develop an “every elephant for herself” mentality.
  • Elephants are a “threatened” species, largely due to humans hunting them for their tusks. Though the practice is now illegal, it hasn’t yet been eliminated. Human poaching is a huge reason for young matriarchs in herds—older matriarchs tend to have some of the biggest tusks, making them the most appealing targets. A younger matriarch then has to step up to the position, but her youth and inexperience can often be detrimental to the herd.

Source……www.today i found out .com

Natarajan

A train journey and two names to remember….

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Of two co-travellers who surprised the writer with their graciousness, 24 years ago

It was the summer of 1990. As Indian Railway (Traffic) Service probationers, my friend and I travelled by train from Lucknow to Delhi. Two MPs were also travelling in the same bogie. That was fine, but the behaviour of some 12 people who were travelling with them without reservation was terrifying. They forced us to vacate our reserved berths and sit on the luggage, and passed obscene and abusive comments. We cowered in fright and squirmed with rage. It was a harrowing night in the company of an unruly battalion; we were on edge, on the thin line between honour and dishonour. All other passengers seemed to have vanished, along with the Travelling Ticket Examiner.

We reached Delhi the next morning without being physically harmed by the goons, though we were emotionally wrecked. My friend was so traumatised she decided to skip the next phase of training in Ahmedabad and stayed back in Delhi. I decided to carry on since another batchmate was joining me. (She is Utpalparna Hazarika, now Executive Director, Railway Board.) We boarded an overnight train to Gujarat’s capital, this time without reservations as there wasn’t enough time to arrange for them. We had been wait-listed.

We met the TTE of the first class bogie, and told him how we had to get to Ahmedabad. The train was heavily booked, but he politely led us to a coupe to sit as he tried to help us. I looked at the two potential co-travellers, two politicians, as could be discerned from their white khadi attire, and panicked. “They’re decent people, regular travellers on this route, nothing to worry,” the TTE assured us. One of them was in his mid-forties with a normal, affectionate face, and the other in his late-thirties with a warm but somewhat impervious expression. They readily made space for us by almost squeezing themselves to one corner.

They introduced themselves: two BJP leaders from Gujarat. The names were told but quickly forgotten as names of co-passengers were inconsequential at that moment. We also introduced ourselves, two Railway service probationers from Assam. The conversation turned to different topics, particularly in the areas of History and the Polity. My friend, a post-graduate in History from Delhi University and very intelligent, took part. I too chipped in. The discussion veered around to the formation of the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League.

The senior one was an enthusiastic participant. The younger one mostly remained quiet, but his body language conveyed his total mental involvement in what was being discussed, though he hardly contributed. Then I mentioned Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s death, why it was still considered a mystery by many. He suddenly asked: “How do you know about Syama Prasad Mookerjee?” I had to tell him that when my father was a post-graduate student in Calcutta University, as its Vice-Chancellor he had arranged a scholarship for the young man from Assam. My father often reminisced about that and regretted his untimely death [in June 1953 at the age of 51].

The younger man then almost looked away and spoke in a hushed tone almost to himself: “It’s good they know so many things …”

Suddenly the senior man proposed: “Why don’t you join our party in Gujarat?” We both laughed it off, saying we were not from Gujarat. The younger man then forcefully interjected: “So what? We don’t have any problem on that. We welcome talent in our State.” I could see a sudden spark in his calm demeanour.

The food arrived, four vegetarian thalis. We ate in silence. When the pantry-car manager came to take the payment, the younger man paid for all of us. I muttered a feeble ‘thank you’, but he almost dismissed that as something utterly trivial. I observed at that moment that he had a different kind of glow in his eyes, which one could hardly miss. He rarely spoke, mostly listened.

The TTE then came and informed us the train was packed and he couldn’t arrange berths for us. Both men immediately stood up and said: “It’s okay, we’ll manage.” They swiftly spread a cloth on the floor and went to sleep, while we occupied the berths.

What a contrast! The previous night we had felt very insecure travelling with a bunch of politicians, and here we were travelling with two politicians in a coupe, with no fear.

The next morning, when the train neared Ahmedabad, both of them asked us about our lodging arrangements in the city. The senior one told us that in case of any problem, the doors of his house were open for us. There was some kind of genuine concern in the voice or the facial contours of the otherwise apparently inscrutable younger one, and he told us: “I’m like a nomad, I don’t have a proper home to invite you but you can accept his offer of safe shelter in this new place.”

We thanked them for that invitation and assured them that accommodation was not going to be a problem for us.

Before the train came to a stop, I pulled out my diary and asked them for their names again. I didn’t want to forget the names of two large-hearted fellow passengers who almost forced me to revise my opinion about politicians in general. I scribbled down the names quickly as the train was about to stop:Shankersinh Vaghela and Narendra Modi.

I wrote on this episode in an Assamese newspaper in 1995. It was a tribute to two unknown politicians from Gujarat for giving up their comfort ungrudgingly for the sake of two bens from Assam. When I wrote that, I didn’t have the faintest idea that these two people were going to become so prominent, or that I would hear more about them later. When Mr. Vaghela became Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1996, I was glad. When Mr. Modi took office as Chief Minister in 2001, I felt elated. (A few months later, another Assamese daily reproduced my 1995 piece.) And now, he is the Prime Minister of India.

Every time I see him on TV, I remember that warm meal, that gentle courtesy, caring and sense of security that we got that night far from home in a train, and bow my head.

(The author is General Manager of the Centre for Railway Information System, Indian Railways, New Delhi. leenasarma@rediffmail.com)

A Priceless Lesson From A.P.J. Abdul Kalam On The Power Of Change…

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Excerpted from a book by A.P.J Abdul Kalam:

Dear friends, I strongly feel that no youth today needs to fear about the future. Why? The ignited mind of the youth is the most powerful resource on the Earth.

Let me give you some examples of those who made a change in their lives and became true ignited minds.
A unique experience happened when I went to Madurai to inaugurate the Paediatric Oncology Cancer unit at Meenakshi Mission Hospital on 7 January 2011. After I completed the task, suddenly one person from the audience approached me and his face looked familiar. When he came closer, I found out that he was once my driver when I was the Director of Defence Research and Development Lab (DRDL) at Hyderabad in 1982–92. His name is V. Kathiresan, and he had worked with me day and night for those ten years. During that time, I noticed, he was always reading some books, newspapers and journals during his waiting time in the car. That dedication had attracted me and I asked him a question. ‘Why do you read during your leisure time?’ He replied that his children used to ask him lot of questions. Since he didn’t always know the answer, he would study whenever time permitted in order to give them the best answers. The spirit of learning in him impressed me and I told him to study formally through distance education and gave him some free time to attend the course and complete his 10+2 and then to apply for higher education. He took that as a challenge and kept on studying and upgraded his educational qualifications. He did B.A. (History), then he did M.A. (History) and then he did M.A. (Political Science) and completed his B.Ed and then M.Ed and he worked with me up to 1992. Thereafter he registered for his doctoral studies and got his PhD in 2001. He joined the Education Department of Tamil Nadu government and served there for a number of years. In 2010, he became an assistant professor in the Government Arts College at Mellur near Madurai.

When I was invited to address the students of UPMS School, Kovilpatti, I again met Professor Kathiresan who was sitting on the dais. I introduced Professor Kathiresan to the gathering and brought out how he, a native of that same town, has transformed himself, earned a doctorate and was teaching in a college after two decades of hard work. This incident cheered the entire young audience.

Friends, I visualize a scene. A school having about 50 teachers and 750 students. It is a place of beauty and for fostering creativity and learning. How is it possible? It is because the school management and the Principal selected the teachers who love teaching, who treat the students as their children or grandchildren. The children see the teachers as role models not only in teaching but how they conduct their lives. Above all, I see an environment in which there is nothing like a good student, average student or poor student. The whole school and teacher system is involved in generating students who perform to their best. And above all, what should be the traits the teacher should possess based on teachers’ life both inside the class room and outside the school? When good teachers walk among them, the students should feel the heat of knowledge and the purity of their lives radiate from them. This race of teachers should multiply.

As a child moves towards teenage and then adulthood, his carefree attitude is slowly taken over by many pressures. What will I do after my education? Will I get a proper employment?

Teachers and parents should preserve the happy smiles on the faces of their children even when they complete their school education. The student should feel confident that ‘I can do it’. He or she should have the self-esteem and the capability to become an employment generator. This transformation can only be brought about by a teacher who has the vision to transform.

I have always liked to sit in a class. When I visit schools and colleges in India and abroad, I like to see how teachers teach and students interact in the classroom. Recently, I was in Andhra Pradesh, in a one-teacher school classroom. The school had classes only up to the fifth grade. I was with the students and the teacher was teaching. How happy were the children? The teacher was telling the young students, ‘Dear children, you see the full moon, the beautiful scene in the sky brings smiles and cheers. Remember, as you smile the family also smiles. How many of you keep your parents happy?’ The whole class lifted their hands. They said, they would do it. I also lifted my hand along with the students.

Another experience was during my visit to UAE. I inaugurated an Indian school in Dubai. When the preparation was going on for the inaugural function, I was moving from place to place in the school. I visited classrooms where students from class five and six were being taught. As soon as the teacher saw me, she asked me to take the class. So I started interacting with the students. Instead of loading them with the lessons. I asked them how many planets does our sun have? Many hands went up. One girl said, there are nine planets and some students said, there are eight planets. I said the right answer is eight planets, since the ninth planet Pluto has been removed from the list of planets, because it does not meet the criteria of a planet, in size, weight and orbital motion. I asked, ‘Tell me, which is our planet?’ There was a chorus in reply, ‘Earth’. Then I asked, ‘Who will talk about the Earth?’ One sixth class student got up and said, ‘Our Earth rotates on its own axis.’ Many students said, ‘It takes 24 hours for one orbit that’s how we get day and night.’ I was very pleased with the knowledge of the young on the solar system. Then I asked the class, what does the Earth do, there was pin drop silence. Again a fifth class student said, ‘Earth orbits around the sun.’ How much time it takes to complete the one orbit? Many hands went up, they said 365 days. Our sun belongs to which galaxy? Only one boy responded, ‘Milky Way’. How much time our sun takes for one orbit of our galaxy? No response. Of course, it is difficult. I gave the answer: 200 million years. The children had a great surprise. I was impressed with the class and greeted them and left.

I am giving you these examples to illustrate, how students can be encouraged to build their self-confidence. I am sure teachers may adopt several methods to make the class dynamic and creative for promoting sustained interest among the students.

(From Address at Villa Nazreth English Medium School and other schools, Aryanad, Thiruvananthapuram, 22 February 2015 and Address and interaction with the students of CRPF Public School, Hakimpet, Telangana, 20 March 2015)

 

Source….http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2016/10/apj-abdul-kalam-life-lessons-for-youth/

Natarajan

WHY WE SAY “O’CLOCK”…?

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The practice of saying “o’clock” is simply a remnant of simpler times when clocks weren’t very prevalent and people told time by a variety of means, depending on where they were and what references were available.

Generally, of course, the Sun was used as a reference point, with solar time being slightly different than clock time. Clocks divide the time evenly, whereas, by solar time, hour lengths vary somewhat based on a variety of factors, like what season it is.

Thus, to distinguish the fact that one was referencing a clock’s time, rather than something like a sundial, as early as the fourteenth century one would say something like, “It is six of the clock,” which later got slurred down to “six o’clock” sometime around the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries. In those centuries, it was also somewhat common to just drop the “o’” altogether and just say something like “six clock.”

Using the form of “o’clock” particularly increased in popularity around the eighteenth century when it became common to do a similar slurring in the names of many things such as “Will-o’-the wisp” from “Will of the wisp” (stemming from a legend of an evil blacksmith named Will Smith, with “wisp” meaning “torch”) and “Jack-o’-lantern” from “Jack of the lantern” (which originally just meant “man of the lantern” with “Jack,” at the time, being the generic “any man” name. Later, either this or the Irish legend of “Stingy Jack” got this name transferred to referring to carved pumpkins with lit candles inside).

While today with clocks being ubiquitous and few people, if anybody, telling direct time by the Sun, it isn’t necessary in most cases to specify we are referencing time from clocks, but the practice of saying “o’clock” has stuck around anyway.

Bonus Fact:

  • The word “clock” is thought to have originally derived from the Medieval Latin “clocca,” meaning “bell,” referencing the ringing of the bells on early town clocks, which would let everyone in a community know what time it was.
  • Contrary to popular belief, the clock tower in London commonly called “Big Ben” is not named “Big Ben.”  Rather, it is named “Elizabeth Tower,” after Queen Elizabeth II; named such during her Diamond Jubilee (the 2012 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne).  Before that, it was just called “Clock Tower.” So why is it so often called “Big Ben”?  That is due to the great bell inside the tower that chimes the hour out and goes by that name.  Over time this has morphed into many calling the clock tower itself that even today, despite the recent, very public, name change.
  • The Tower of the Winds in Athens, which lies right under the Acropolis, is thought to be the first clock tower in history, constructed sometime between the 2nd century BC to 50 BC.  It contained eight sundials and a water clock, along with a wind vane.
  • If you’ve ever wondered what a.m. and p.m. stand for, wonder no more: a.m. stands for “ante meridiem,” which is Latin for “before midday”; p.m. stands for “post meridiem,” which is Latin for “after midday.”
  • The International Space Station orbits about 354 kilometers (220 miles) above the Earth and travels at approximately  27,700 km/hr (17,211 mph), so it takes about 92 minutes to circle the Earth once. For this reason, every 45 minutes the astronauts on-board see a sunrise or a sunset, with a total of 15 – 16 of each every 24 hours.

Source…..www.today i foundout .com

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