web directoire

games

2008-07-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

www.freegamepick.com
Four words that will bring a smile to any gamers’ face:
‘Free and fully downloadable’
A large collection of free games, slotted into categories such as action, racing, shooting, puzzle, sports, arcade, and flying.

trivia

2008-07-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

www.funtrivia.com
Some cool questions for trivia buffs:
Which famous actor started off as a child star in Steven Spielberg’s ‘ET’?
Who is the youngest Indian to captain the country’s test cricket side?
How old was the Nazgul in ‘Lord of the Rings’ when Eowyn and Merry slew him?
For such quizzes and more, on a variety of subjects, head over to this website.

eye tracker

2008-07-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

US psychologist Edmund Huey built what might be the first eye tracker, using a sort of contact lens with a hole for the pupil.
The lens was connected to an aluminum pointer that moved in response to the movements of the eye.
The first non-intrusive trackers were built in the 1930s by US professor G T Buswell, using beams of light that were reflected on the eye and then recording them on film.
He conducted systematic studies in to reading and picture-viewing.

travel

2008-06-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

www.thebackpackerco.com
For all the feeble-hearted whose dream of traveling the world has remained just a dream because of lack of information of just a fear of the unknown, enter the world of backpacking consultants with The Backpacker Co.
From setting you up with the cheapest hotel deals to ticketing and visa, scheduling your trip to time with a local festival to some local trivia, The Backpacker Co. helps you plan your trip, in exchange for a ‘small’ fee.
Don’t expect to be spoon-fed with tour guides or a minute-by-minute schedule of your trip; they want to keep the essence of backpacking alive.
The fee depends on the location you want to travel to and also the duration of the trip.

travel

2008-06-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

www.thebackpacker.net
This site serves you with a truly unique offering: a global database of bars, to keep you happy and high, wherever you go.
And since all the reviews are posted by fellow backpackers, it provides a candid and genuine account of the same.
Other than bars, it focuses on obvious places and stereotypical itineraries in cities around the world.

travel

2008-06-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

www.lonelyplanet.com
The veteran in this space manages to charm travelers across the globe with elaborate essence of cities and their distinct flavors that one should experience.
The site offers a sizeable list of things to do, with advice on when to visit, what should be included in your itinerary, a list of festivals, down to even peculiar details of tipping etiquette in the city.
The website sounds a bit preachy about dos and don’ts.

travel

2008-06-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

www.hostelworld.com
This site is a collective resource for accommodation across the globe.
It offers a list of hotels and hostels which offer lodging that is reasonable, close to places you would want to visit.
Another offering is the free pocket guides you can download, which have nuggets of info about the city and what you can do there.
The city-specific podcasts may be a handy option to carry in your iPod as you travel but the limited number of cities covered, restrains you from enjoying the facility to its complete potential.

travel

2008-06-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

www.couchsurfing.com
This site’s obvious edge over others is that it helps you find people who are willing to host you for free at a destination of your choice, across the world.
It is an unwritten rule that you promise to play host when fellow surfers decide to visit you.
Putting up with strangers may seem like a gamble at first.
But couch surfers on the site vouch for its advantages.
Being the largest community of travelers in the world, this one helps travelers bond across continents, based on their passions.
There’s not much for non-registered members browsing for information about a particular place.

You have to register and connect with fellow couch surfers to gain access to any travel-related information.
Apart from this, the site is not user-friendly.

travel

2008-06-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

www.i-escape.com
If exclusive travel is what you seek, this is the site for you.
So, if you want a rustic guest house, coupled with a lush garden in Brazil or if you desire to go fly-fishing in Slovenia, this site will help you find how to go about it in a matter of clicks.
Not for the average traveler who wants to catch up on the obvious must-visits of any place, as it caters to an audience who would want to plan a tailor-made trip to a non-tourist place.

books

2008-06-24T10:23:00.000-07:00

www.bookyards.com
A treasure trove for bookworms.
This website was created with the sole aim of being “the library of the world”.
Books, education materials, miscellaneous information, and other contents are freely available.
It boasts of a total of 2,583 biographies, 15,974 books, 39,801 external web links, 4,197 news and blog links, 384 videos, 21 e-book links, and access to hundreds of online libraries (800,000 e-books).

squirrel

2008-06-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Squirrels belong to the order ‘Rodentia’, with 1,650 species; it is the largest group of living mammals.
It also comprises 40% of all present day mammal species.
There are over 365 species of squirrels in 7 families.
They include the tree squirrel, ground squirrel, and flying squirrel.
Plus many squirrel-like mammals such as the gopher, ground hog and prairie dog.

asteroids

2008-06-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Asteroids – also called minor planets or planetoids – are a class of non-comet, solid astronomical objects.
The word ‘asteroid’, meaning ‘star-like’ (from the Greek word ‘aster’ meaning ‘star’ and ‘eidos’ meaning ‘form or shape’), was coined in 1802 by British astronomer Sir William Herschel.
The first asteroid to be named, ‘Ceres’, was discovered in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi; it is the largest-known asteroid to date, but is now classified as a dwarf planet.

asthma

2008-06-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

The word ‘asthma’ is derived from the Greek ‘aazein’, meaning ‘sharp breath’.
The word first appears in Homer’s Iliad.
The Greek physician Hippocrates was the first to use it in reference to the medical condition in 450 BC.
Six centuries later, his compatriot Galen wrote much about asthma, noting that it was caused by partial or complete bronchial obstruction.

bats

2008-06-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

It is estimated that there are around 1,100 species of bats, accounting for about 20 percent of all mammal species.
About 70 percent of bats are insectivores.
Most of the rest are fructivores, with a few species being carnivorous.
Bats are present throughout most of the world, including Alaska.

body odor

2008-06-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

Body odor is widely, and mistakenly, believed to be caused by sweat.
But body odor, or Bromhidrosis, is the smell of the bacteria growing on the body.
While these bacteria multiply considerably in the presence of sweat, the latter itself is almost totally odorless.
And individual’s body odor is also influenced by diet, gender, genetics, health, medication, and even mood.

breath

2008-06-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

The air we inhale is roughly 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.96% argon and 0.04% carbon dioxide, helium, water, and other gases.
The gases we exhale are roughly 78% nitrogen, 15% to 18% oxygen, 4% to 5% carbon dioxide and 0.96% argon.
Additionally, vapors and trace gases are present: 5% water vapor, several parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, 1 ppm of ammonia and less than 1 ppm of acetone, methanol, ethanol, and other volatile organic compounds.

carbon footprint

2008-06-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.
It is meant to be useful for individuals and organizations to conceptualize their impact in contributing to global warming.

chocolate

2008-06-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

Part of the pleasure of eating chocolate is due to the fact that its melting point is slightly below human body temperature: it melts in the mouth.
A study reported by the BBC indicated that melting chocolate in one’s mouth produced an increase in brain activity and heart rate that was more intense than that associated with passionate kissing, and also lasted four times as long after the activity had ended.

DNA

2008-06-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Forensic scientists can use DNA in blood, semen, skin, saliva, or hair at a crime scene to identify a perpetrator.
This process is called DNA profiling.
DNA profiling was developed in 1984 by British geneticist Sir Alec Jeffreys, and first used in forensic science in 1988 to convict a certain Colin Pitchfork for the murder of two girls in Leicestershire, UK.

earth

2008-06-14T07:14:00.000-07:00

In early times European navigators believed that compass needles were attracted either to a “magnetic mountain” or “magnetic island” somewhere in the far north, or to the Pole Star.
The idea that the Earth acts as a giant magnet was first proposed in 1600 by Sir William Gilbert, a courtier of Queen Elizabeth I.
He was also the first to define the North Magnetic Pole as the point where the Earth’s magnetic field points vertically downwards.

circulatory system

2008-06-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Among the ancient Greeks, the arteries were considered to be responsible for the transport of air to the tissues.

In medieval times, it was recognized that arteries carried a fluid, called “spiritual blood”, considered to be different from the contents of the veins.

But it was William Harvey who described and popularized the modern concept of the circulatory system and the roles of arteries and veins in the 17th century.

cocaine

2008-06-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

In the 19th century, cocaine was being considered for medical purposes.

Sigmund Freud supported the use of cocaine as an anti-depressant, even publishing a manuscript detailing its virtues, although he later changed his position and came out against the drug.

In fact, the only person to stand against the use of cocaine then was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who depicted its destructive qualities in his fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.

cockroaches

2008-06-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

It is popularly suggested that cockroaches will “inherit the Earth” if humanity destroys itself in nuclear war.

Cockroaches have a much higher radiation resistance than vertebrates, with the lethal dope perhaps 6 to 15 times that for humans.

However, research has shown that other insects, such as the fruit fly, have a much higher resistance to radiation than cockroaches.

coffee

2008-06-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

The word ‘coffee’, which first came to be used in the 1600s, comes from the Italian, ‘caffe’.

The term was introduced to Europe via the Ottoman Turkish ‘kahveh’ which is in turn derived from the Arabic ‘qahweh’.
The origin of the Arabic term is uncertain – it is either derived from the name of the Kaffa region in Ethiopia, where coffee was cultivated, or by a truncation of ‘qahwat al-bu-nn’, meaning ‘wine of the bean’ in Arabic.

computers

2008-06-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Osborne 1, released in April 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation, is credited as being the first commercially available portable microcomputer.

It weighed 10.7 kilograms and featured a tiny 5-inch display screen, a 4 MHz CPU, 65 kilobytes main memory and a single-sided, single-density floppy disk drive.

contact lenses

2008-06-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

French philosopher and scientist Rene Descartes was among the first to propose an idea for contact lenses.

In 1636, he talked of a glass tube filled with liquid, placed in direct contact with the cornea.

The protruding end was to be composed of clear glass, shaped to correct vision.

However, the idea was impracticable, since it would make blinking impossible.

crocodile

2008-06-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

The crocodile gets its name from the Greeks who observed them in the Nile river.
The Greeks called them ‘krokodilos’, a compound word from ‘kroke’, which means pebble, and ‘drilos’, meaning worm.
To the Greeks, this ‘worm of the stones’ was so named because of the crocodiles’ habit of basking in the sun on gravel-covered river banks.

dentistry

2008-06-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

Evidence of dentistry has been found in teeth dating from around 5500 BC to 7000 BC.

The teeth, showing evidence of holes from dental drills, were found in people of the Indus Valley Civilization.

A Sumerian text from 5000 BC describes a “tooth worm” as the cause of dental caries.

Evidence of this belief has also been found in India, Egypt, Japan, and China.

DNA

2008-06-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

earth

2008-06-04T07:08:00.000-07:00

electricity

2008-06-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

In 1600, English physician William Gilbert made a careful study of electricity and magnetism, distinguishing the loadstone effect from static electricity produced by rubbing amber.
He coined the new Latin word ‘electricus’, meaning ‘like amber’, to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed.
This association gave rise to the English words ‘electric’ and ‘electricity’.

earth

2008-06-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

The earth orbits the sun at an average distance of about 150 million kilometers every 365.25 days.
The orbital speed of the planet is around 30 kilometers per second (108,000 kilometers per hour), which is fast enough to cover the distance to the moon (384,000 kilometers) in four hours.

electronic paper

2008-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

Electronic paper was first developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre in the US.
Called Gyricon, it had the same properties as paper: it was flexible, contained an image, and viewable from a wide angle, but it could be erased and written thousands of times.

endoscope

2008-05-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

The first endoscope – an instrument that allows us to peek inside the human body – has been credited to German doctor Philip Bozzini, who in 1805 created a tube he called Lichtleiter (light guiding instrument) to examine the urinary tract, rectum and pharynx.
In 1853, Antione Jean Desormeaux of France developed an instrument specially designed to examine the urinary tract and the bladder.
He named it “endoscope”. And it was the first time this term was used in history.

greenhouse gases

2008-05-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

A United Nations report states that cattle farming is ‘responsible for 8 percent of greenhouse gases’.
Some of the microbes in a cow’s gut respire by an anaerobic process that produces the gas methane – a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, having a warming effect 23 times greater.
Cattle emit a large amount of this methane – 95 percent of it through belching.

Goldilock's phenomenon

2008-05-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

In astronomy, the Goldilocks phenomenon refers to the necessity that planetary conditions such as size or temperature be “just right” in order to sustain life.
The term derives from Goldilocks, the story of a girl who prefers porridge which is “not too hot and not too cold”.
Our solar system’s habitable zone, which is likewise neither too hot nor too cold for life to exist, is where the earth is found.
Astronomer Lames Lovelock is credited with coining the term.

Asperger's syndrome

2008-05-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

Asperger’s syndrome is named after Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger who, in 1944, described children in his practice who lacked non-verbal communication skills, failed to demonstrate empathy with their peers, and were physically clumsy.
However, like in other forms of autism, people suffering from Asperger’s are known to display extraordinary mental abilities including feats of memory, arithmetic, and sometimes unusual abilities in art or music.

comics

2008-05-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

www.toonwalk.com
Reading comics, or rather graphics novels, has captivated people from Japan to the US for decades now.
From comics that range from humor (MAD and Archie) to adventure (Tintin and Asterix), this website has a good collection of varied comics.
Although the site does not have the most comprehensive archive of comics, it does have an easy-to-use interface.

argentine horned frog

2008-05-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Argentine Horned Frog from the rain forests of South America is a voracious eater.
It will attempt to swallow anything that moves close to its wide mouth; earning the nickname ‘Pac-man frog’.
In fact, it has such a big appetite that it has often been found dead, asphyxiated by its own meal.

travel

2008-05-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.killerpeanut.com/
If you are a frequent traveler and suffer from allergies to certain food items, don’t miss out on this site.
It provides a free translation service for people who react adversely to some foods.
Choose from the 22 food items and 20 languages, and you will be provided with an emergency card and helpful translations for restaurants, doctors and airport security.

fonts

2008-05-24T04:54:00.000-07:00

www.fonttester.com

A free font comparison tool, meant for web designers and creators of online properties.
It allows you to preview and compare different fonts by placing them besides each other with various CSS font styles and colors applied to them.
To use the tool:
Enter the text you would like to preview
Modify the various CSS properties until you find a style you like
Then click on the ‘Get CSS Code’ button to generate all the necessary code to reproduce those styles in your web page.

alligators

2008-05-23T04:36:00.000-07:00

Although the muscles that close an alligator’s jaws are exceptionally powerful, the muscles for opening jaws are relatively weak.

As a result, an adult man can hold an alligator’s jaw shut with his bare hands.

In general, a strip of duct tape is enough to prevent an adult alligator from opening its jaws, and is one of the most common methods used when alligators are to be captured or transported.

harry potter

2008-05-22T04:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.drawfluffy.com/
For Harry Potter fans.
Provides online tutorials on how to draw the magical animals from the world of the boy wizard.
From Fluffy – the three-headed dog, to gryphons and unicorns, this site has them all.

human brain

2008-05-21T04:07:00.000-07:00

The human brain contains roughly 23 billion neurons, each linked to as many as 10,000 other neurons.
These require a lot of energy.
Although the brain represents only 2 percent of the body weight, it receives 15 percent of the cardiac output, 20 percent of total body oxygen consumption, and 25 percent of total body glucose utilization.

jet engine

2008-05-20T04:05:00.000-07:00

The first aircraft to incorporate the principles of the jet engine was the Coanda-1910, piloted by its Romanian inventor Henri Coanda in 1910.
The engine of this aircraft, unlike the modern jet engine, used a piston engine rather than a turbine to drive its compressor.
The aircraft crashed during its first and only demonstration but remained intact.

heart

2008-05-19T04:10:00.000-07:00

The heart has a claim to being a muscle that performs the largest quantity of physical work in the course of a lifetime.
Estimates of the power output of the human heart range from 1 to 5 watts.
Although this is less than the maximum power output of other muscles, the heart does its work continuously over an entire lifetime without pause, and thus ‘outworks’ other muscles.

Michelangelo's David

2008-05-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

Although touted for being an anatomical marvel, Michelangelo’s David has a ‘hole’ in the back.
Computer measurements of David’s body taken by Italian scientists at Florence University showed a hollow instead a muscle on the right side of the back, between the spine and the shoulder blade.
However, Michelangelo was aware of the mistake, and wrote in a letter that a defect in the marble block made it impossible to reproduce the muscle.

mirrors

2008-05-17T03:53:00.000-07:00

During the early Renaissance, European manufacturers perfected a method, albeit expensive, of making mirrors by coating glass with a tin-mercury amalgam.

But what led to greater availability of mirrors – and ultimately the process used in modern production – was the invention of cheaper silver-glassed mirror by German chemist Justus von Leibig in 1835.

His process involved the deposition of a thin layer of metallic silver onto glass.

moon

2008-05-16T03:47:00.000-07:00

The Earth’s moon is the fifth largest natural satellite in the solar system, with its diameter of 3,474 kilometers measuring a little more than a quarter of the Earth’s.
The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 kilometers – about thirty times the diameter of our blue planet.

web designing

2008-05-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.free-css-templates.com/
Handy resource for web designers.

Features a never-before-seen collection of free Cascading Style Sheets downloadable in zip format.

All the templates come complete with public domain photos provided by Wikipedia Commons and PDPhoto.org

ears

2008-05-14T01:03:00.000-07:00

Only vertebrate animals have ears, although many invertebrates are able to detect sound using other kinds of sense organs.

For example, arthropods such as spiders and cockroaches have hair on their legs, used for detecting sound.

Caterpillars may also have hair on their body that perceive vibrations and allow them to respond to the sound.

main-belt asteroids

2008-05-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

The region known as the Main-belt – lying between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter – is home to numerous irregularly-shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets.
These could not coalesce into a planet due to the gravitational influence of Jupiter.
5178 Pattazhy, named after Indian environmentalist Sainudeen Pattazhy, is a Main-belt asteroid.

photography

2008-05-12T00:21:00.000-07:00

www.pixalo.com
A community-based website on photography.
A large collection of articles and tutorials on the art of photography, reviews of cameras and equipment.
And a vibrant forum to interact with fellow lens-men.

history

2008-05-11T00:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.indhistory.com/
The history of India – from the Indus Valley Civilization of 3000 BC to attainment of independence in 1947 AD.
It divides the historical timeline into three parts – ancient, medieval and modern.
It also boasts of individual sections on Hinduism and its Gods, temples and festivals, the caste system, Aryans, Ramayana, Vedas, Upanishads and Puranas.

bears

2008-05-10T23:45:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular notion, bears do not go into true hibernation.
During a bear’s winter sleep state, the degree of metabolic depression is much less than what is observed in smaller mammals.
The bear’s body temperature remains relatively stable – depressed from 37 degrees Celsius to approximately 31 degrees Celsius, and it can be easily aroused.
In contrast, hibernating ground squirrels may have core body temperatures as low as -2 degrees Celsius.

bats

2008-05-09T23:53:00.000-07:00

Contrary to what is widely believed, it is incorrect to assume that bats are blind.
Although the eyes of most bat species are small and poorly developed, vision is used as an aid in navigation – especially at long distances, beyond the range of echolocation.
It has even been discovered that some species are able to detect ultraviolet light.

raindrops

2008-05-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Falling raindrops are often depicted in art as ‘teardrop-shaped’ – round at the bottom and tapering towards the top; however’ this is incorrect.

Only drops of water dripping from some sources are tear-shaped at the moment of formation.

Small raindrops are nearly spherical.

Larger ones become increasingly flattened on the bottom, like hamburger buns; and very large ones are shaped like parachutes.

rodents

2008-05-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Rodents have two incisors in the upper as well as in the lower jaw which grow continuously and must be kept worn down by gnawing; this is the origin of the name, from the Latin ‘rodere’ (to gnaw) and ‘dens’ or ‘dentis’ (tooth).

These teeth are used for cutting wood, biting through the skin of fruit, or for defense.

saliva

2008-05-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

A common belief is that saliva in the mouth has natural disinfectants, which leads people to think that it is beneficial to “lick their wounds”.
Research has not shown that human licking of wounds disinfects them, but it could help clean the wound by removing larger contaminants such as dirt, and directly brushing away infective bodies.
So, licking would be a way of washing; useful if pure water isn’t available.

solar cells

2008-05-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

In 1954, US-based Bell Laboratories found that silicon doped with certain impurities was very sensitive to light.

This resulted in the production of the first practical solar cells with a sunlight-energy conversion efficiency of around 6%.

This innovation led to Russia launching the first artificial satellite using solar cells in 1957.

stroke

2008-05-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

In 1658, Swiss pathologist Johann Jacob Wepfer identified the cause of hemorrhagic stroke when he suggested that people who had died of apoplexy had bleeding in their brains.
He also identified the main arteries supplying the brain, and identified the cause of strokes when he suggested they might be caused by a blockage to those vessels.

surround sound

2008-05-03T16:11:00.000-07:00

One of the first documented uses of surround sound was implemented in 1940 for Disney’s classic animation, Fantasia.

Dubbed ‘Fantasound’, it consisted of three audio channels which were diffused (panned – initially live by an engineer) around the cinema over up to 54 speakers.

telephone

2008-04-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

Although it is disputed whether it can be called a telephone, the first form of voice communication apparatus was developed by Italian inventor Antonio Meucci in 1856.

He constructed what could be termed the first electromagnetic telephone as a way to connect his second-floor bedroom to his basement laboratory, and thus communicate with his wife who was an invalid.

transplant

2008-04-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

American surgeon Dr Joseph Murray performed the first successful transplant in 1954 – a kidney transplant between twins, which was successful because no immunosuppression is necessary in genetically identical twins.

In the late 1940s, British scientist Peter Medawar improved the understanding of rejection, becoming the first to suggest use of immunosuppressive drugs.

water

2008-04-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

The area of the world’s ocean is 361 million square kilometers, its volume is approximately 1,300 million cubic kilometers, and its average depth is 3,790 meters.

The total mass of all the water on the planet is about 1.4x1021 kilograms, which is about 0.023% of the earth’s total mass.

Less than 2% is fresh water; the rest is saltwater, mostly in the ocean.

water

2008-04-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

The area of the world’s ocean is 361 million square kilometers, its volume is approximately 1,300 million cubic kilometers, and its average depth is 3,790 meters.

The total mass of all the water on the planet is about 1.4x1021 kilograms, which is about 0.023% of the earth’s total mass.

Less than 2% is fresh water; the rest is saltwater, mostly in the ocean.

virtual reality systems

2008-04-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Among the first virtual reality systems was the Aspen Movie Map, created at MIT in 1997.

The program was a crude simulation of the US city map of Aspen, in which users could wander the streets in one of the three models: summer, winter, and polygons.

The first two were based on photographs – the researchers actually photographed every movement through the city’s street grid in both seasons – and the third was a basic 3-D model of the city.

virtual reality systems

2008-04-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Among the first virtual reality systems was the Aspen Movie Map, created at MIT in 1997.

The program was a crude simulation of the US city map of Aspen, in which users could wander the streets in one of the three models: summer, winter, and polygons.

The first two were based on photographs – the researchers actually photographed every movement through the city’s street grid in both seasons – and the third was a basic 3-D model of the city.

water

2008-04-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

The scientific explanation for humans not being able to drink seawater is this:

The amount of sodium chloride, or salt, in human blood and urine needs to be constant.

Drinking seawater temporarily increases the concentration of salt in the blood, so the only way to excrete through urine is by sacrificing internal water from cells to dilute salt.

The cells eventually give so much water that they die from dehydration, quickly followed by organs and the organism.

windmill

2008-04-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

A windmill operating an organ was described as early as the 1st century AD by engineer Hero of Alexandria, marking probably the first instance of a wind-powered machine.

Vertical axle windmills were first used in eastern Persia by the 9th century AD.

Horizontal axle windmills of the type generally used today were invented in Europe in the 1180s.

water

2008-04-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

The need for clean water has been recognized since ancient times.

For example, the Greek ‘father of medicine’ Hippocrates, who lived from 460-354 BC, was among the first to note how water could be purified.

Using what later came to be known as “Hippocrates’ sleeve”, which was a cloth bag, he instructed his follower to strain rain water after it had been boiled.

Without this treatment, he warned that the water would have a bad smell and cause hoarseness.

tuberculosis

2008-04-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

The Persian physician Ibn Sina is credited with being the first to have studied tuberculosis, back in the 11th century.

He identified it as a contagious disease, and developed the method of quarantine in order to limit its spread.

The bacillus causing tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, was identified in 1882 by Robert Koch.

He received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1905 for this discovery.

tobacco

2008-04-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tobacco had already long been used in the Americas when European settlers arrived and introduced the practice to Europe.

Indigenous American tribes would carry large amounts of tobacco in pouches as a readily accepted trade item, and would often smoke it in pipes, either in defined ceremonies that were considered sacred, or to seal a bargain; and they would smoke it at such occasions in all stages of life, including childhood.

tattoo

2008-04-29T12:32:00.001-07:00

The word tattoo is said to be a borrowing of the Samoan word “tatau”, which means to mark or strike twice, the latter referring to traditional methods of applying the designs.

The first syllable “ta”, meaning hand, is repeated twice as a reference to the repetitive nature of the action, and the final syllable “u” translates to color.

In fact, the instrument used to pierce the skin in Polynesian tattooing is called a hahau, where “ha” means to “strike or pierce”.

sunlight

2008-04-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

Concentrated sunlight has been used to perform useful tasks from the time of ancient China.

Notably, Leonardo Da Vinci is credited with using large scale solar concentrators to weld copper in the 15th century.

In 1866, Auguste Mouchout successfully powered a steam engine with sunlight, the first known example of a concentrating solar-powered mechanical device.

spacecraft

2008-04-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft mission was first conceptualized in 1982, when two European scientists suggested a paired Saturn orbiter and Titan Probe as a possible joint mission with NASA.

Now, it consists of two main elements: the NASA Cassini orbiter, named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini, and the ESA Huygens probe, named after the Dutch astronomer, mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens.

spacecraft

2008-04-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft mission was first conceptualized in 1982, when two European scientists suggested a paired Saturn orbiter and Titan Probe as a possible joint mission with NASA.

smallpox

2008-04-29T12:27:00.001-07:00

The first attempts to prevent smallpox were made in India as early as 1000 BC and involved either nasal insufflations of powdered smallpox scabs, or scratching material from a smallpox lesion into the skin.
If successful, the procedure produced lasting immunity to smallpox.
The smallpox vaccine was eventually perfected in 1796 by British doctor Edward Jenner, who discovered that immunity could be produced by inoculating a person with material from a cowpox lesion.

rose

2008-04-29T12:25:00.003-07:00

Depressed women might not be able to smell them, but in ancient Rome, a wild rose would be placed on the door of a room where secret or confidential matters were discussed.
The phrase ‘sub rosa’ or ‘under the rose’, means to keep a secret – derived from this ancient Roman practice.

Paintings of roses on the ceilings of Roman banquet rooms were also a reminder that things said under the influence of wine (sub vino) should also remain ‘sub rosa’.

rat

2008-04-29T12:25:00.001-07:00

The laboratory white rat is actually an albino, derived from selective breeding of the common brown rat.

In 1895, Clark University in the US established a population of domestic albino brown rats to study the effects of diet, and for other physiological studies.

Since then, these rats have been used in experiments because they grow quickly to sexual maturity and are easy to keep and to breed in captivity.

pong

2008-04-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

The popular table-tennis arcade video game ‘Pong’ was created as a test exercise.

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell wanted to make a racing game for arcades and hired Allan Alcorn, an electronic engineer who had recently finished college.

Concerned that this project would be too complex for his new employee, Bushnell’s first request to Alcorn was to create a ping-pong game.

The rest, as they say, is history.

polymer

2008-04-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

A polymer is a substance composed of molecules with large molecular mass made up of repeating structural units.

The word is derived from the Greek ‘polu’ meaning ‘many’ and ‘meros’ meaning ‘part’.

Well-known examples of polymers include plastics, DNA and proteins.

Natural polymer materials such as shellac and amber have been in use for centuries.

A variety of other natural polymers exist, such as cellulose, which is the main constituent of wood and paper.

Parkinson's disease

2008-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease – characterized by impaired motor skills and speech – have been known and treated since ancient times.

However, it was not formally recognized and its symptoms were not documented until 1817 in ‘An Essay On The Shaking Palsy’ by the British physician James Parkinson.

paranasal sinuses

2008-04-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Paranasal sinuses are air-filled spaces, communicating with the nasal cavity, within the bones of the skull and face.

These are joined to the nasal cavity via small orifices called ostia.

These become blocked relatively easily by allergic inflammation, or by swelling in the nasal lining which occurs with a cold.

If this happens, normal drainage of mucus within the sinuses is disrupted, and sinusitis may occur.

paralysis

2008-04-29T12:13:00.001-07:00

An interesting use of paralysis in the natural world is the behavior of some species of wasp.

In order to complete the reproductive cycle, the female wasp first paralyses a prey item such as a grasshopper and then places it into her nest.

Eggs are then laid on the paralyzed insect, which is devoured by the larvae after they hatch.

nematodes

2008-04-29T12:09:00.000-07:00

Nematodes are the most abundant multicellular lifeforms on earth.

They have successfully adapted to nearly every niche, from marine to fresh water, from the polar regions to the tropics, as well as the highest to the lowest of elevations.

They represent, for example, 90% of all life on the seafloor.

Though 20,000 species have been classified, it is estimated that this number might be upwards of 500,000 if all were known.

pronunciation

2008-04-16T23:28:00.004-07:00

www.howjsay.com
A dictionary with a twist: it’s all about pronunciations here.
If you are wondering how to correctly say a certain word aloud, simply key it in.
When your entry appears in pink, move your mouse over it to hear the right pronunciation.

wallpapers

2008-04-16T23:28:00.003-07:00

www.earthwallpapers.org
Images from Google Earth to use as wallpapers.

video sharing

2008-04-16T23:28:00.002-07:00

www.startyourtube.com
Let’s you make a custom version of video-sharing services like YouTube for yourself.

At Start YouTube, you can create your own video-sharing site for free, complete with a unique address.

Share your site with your friends, and you have your own video community!

Perfect for making a family album with far-apart relatives.

unwords

2008-04-16T23:28:00.001-07:00

www.unwords.com
This website maintains a collection of words that individuals have made up to describe things that aren’t associated with a term in the English language – or to describe things for which they don’t know the real term.

In any case, the ‘unwords’ do not normally exist in the English dictionary.

Take for example, Mandals: Open-toe sandals worn by men.

So if you like making up words, go on, add to the repository that’s already on the site.

tweaking

2008-04-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

www.exelib.com
Tweak your computer to make sure it is running in peak condition. The more ‘.exe’ files you are running on your system, the slower it gets. This is because each of those ‘.exe’ files is consuming valuable processor “attention”.
Exelib provides you with an accurate database of executable programs. Each program is stored with information such as the file name, description, the effects, the risk factor, etc. You can therefore check your system’s task manager, and then look up the executables on the site to figure out which you need, which you don’t need on the computer.

Lesser ‘.exe’ = faster computer.

resolutions

2008-04-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

www.43things.com
Lets you create a list of goals that is available for public viewing, letting people cheer you on, and share their experiences.

You might also find others with the same aim as yours.

A good way to keep track of your resolutions and work towards them.

quotations

2008-04-13T23:49:00.004-07:00

www.quotegarden.com
A quote for every occasion.

Quotable quotes segregated into more than 400 subgroups

quotations

2008-04-13T23:49:00.003-07:00

www.literary-quotations.com
Famous quotes to start off essays and speeches.

A collection of literary quotations from a variety of books.

Browse according to: authors (such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde), books (such as Hamlet, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), topics (such as love, evil, fear).

An ideal bookmark for students and writers.

poems

2008-04-13T23:49:00.002-07:00

www.poetseers.org
A collection of spiritual poems by famous writers from around the world, such as Shakespeare, Tagore, Sri Arubindo, Emily Dickinson and more.

Well categorized providing easy navigation.

A new poem updated daily.

pictures

2008-04-13T23:49:00.001-07:00

www.picanswers.com
Click and upload a photograph of anything that puzzles you – an object, a character in a movie, an interesting painting, etc.

Once uploaded, the site’s community will try and answer your picture-related query.

An interactive and cool way of getting your questions solved.

pictures

2008-04-13T23:49:00.000-07:00

www.bestpicsaround.com
A ‘collection of pictures’ page.

It takes a theme, or a photographer, and displays a set of images accordingly.

PC diagnostics

2008-03-21T21:18:00.002-07:00

www.pcpitstop.com
Diagnose and fine tune your PC.

Full of diagnostic tools which quickly and automatically diagnose most common PC ailments.

If you have a technical issue, you can get in touch with the site owners through its forums.

You can also browse for problem solutions in the frequently asked questions section.

A good resource to bookmark – complete with useful articles, and PC tips and tricks.

open source software

2008-03-21T21:18:00.001-07:00

gug.sunsite.dk
Gimp – the free photo-editing tool used to process digital graphics and photographs, create logos, remove unwanted image features, etc. can be downloaded from http://www.gimp.org/.

If you already have Gimp, visit this website – Gimp User Group – for the largest collection of Gimp art and tutorials.

A superb site to learn all about image manipulation using the world’s best free image-editing tool.

makeover

2008-03-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.taaz.com/
Thinking of a makeover?

This website lets you take a sneak peek at the result.

Simply upload your photo and go wild with the thousands of make-up products from a wide range of brands; experiment with new hair-styles, colored contacts, lipsticks, etc. and once you are done, a friend’s opinion is always important – so just email you new image or upload it on your social networking site.

Get set for a ‘taaza’ look.