What can we do to curb GLOBAL WARMING?

Can We Stop Global Warming?


Though scientists warn that global warming will likely continue for centuries because of the long natural processes involved, there are a few things we can do to decrease the effects. Basically, they all boil down to this: Don't use as much of the stuff that creates greenhouse gases. On a local level, you can help by using less energy. The electricity that operates many of the devices in our homes comes from a power plant, and most power plants burn fossil fuels to generate that power. Turn off lights when they're not in use. Take shorter showers to use less hot water. Use a fan instead of an air conditioner on a warm day.

Hydrogen-powered cars, the increased use of solar cells, and hydro-electric power plants are possible ways to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.

Here are some other specific ways you can help decrease greenhouse-gas emissions:

• Make sure your car is properly tuned up. This allows it to run more efficiently and generate fewer harmful gases.
• Walk or ride your bike if possible, or carpool on your way to work. Cars burn fossil fuel, so smaller, more fuel-efficient cars emit less CO2, particularly hybrid cars.
• Turn lights and other appliances off when you're not using them. Even though a light bulb doesn't generate greenhouse gas, the power plant that generates the electricity used by the light bulb probably does. Switch from incandescent light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs, which use less energy and last longer.
• Recycle. Garbage that doesn't get recycled ends up in a landfill, generating methane. Recycled goods also require less energy to produce than products made from scratch.
• Plant trees and other plants where you can. Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air and release oxygen.
• Don't burn garbage. This releases carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons into the atmosphere.

To really stem the emission of greenhouse gases, we need to develop non-fossil fuel energy sources. Hydro-electric power, solar power, hydrogen engines and fuel cells could all create big cuts in greenhouse gases if they were to become more common.

At the international level, the Kyoto treaty was written to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Thirty-five industrialized nations have committed to reducing their output of those gases to varying degrees. Unfortunately, the United States, the world's primary producer of greenhouse gases, did not sign the treaty.

An inconvenient truth:

Al Gore's book and documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" got a lot of people talking about global warming.

In March, 2007, former Vice President Al Gore testified in front of Congress and urged them to make some very challenging changes in national policy. These include:

• Freeze carbon production at the current level and create programs to reduce carbon production by 90 percent by 2050
• Shift taxation from employment and production to a taxation upon pollution
• Create an international treaty that would effectively comply with the Kyoto treaty without carrying the same perceived political baggage
• Halt the construction of all new coal-based power facilities unless they comply with restrictions on carbon production
• Increase emission standards across the board for both the automobile industry and power facilities
• Ban incandescent light bulbs

Gore admits that the decision to enact these and other proposed responses to global warming can be difficult. He also says that climate change is not just a crisis, but the most important crisis mankind has ever faced.

more>>>Earth Day Special

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Earth day special~~10 ways u can improve Earth's health!!

The post dedicated to 'THE PLANET EARTH'.The 10 ways to help u save our Earth.

1. Change light bulbs

Highly efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) last for years, use a quarter of the energy of regular bulbs and actually produce more light.

Look for the government's ENERGY STAR label, which means the bulb has been tested for quality and efficiency. While each ENERGY STAR qualified bulb will cost more initially—anywhere from $3 to $9 a piece—remember that there are two price tags: what you pay at the register and what you pay in energy costs to over the bulb's lifetime. So you may pay more up front, but you will actually save hundreds of dollars in your household budget over the long term because of their long life.

While CFLs were harder to find a few years ago, they're now widely available and much more affordable. You'll find them at major home improvement and hardware stores—even grocery and some convenience stores.

Here's the impact. If every household in the U.S. replaced a burned-out bulb with an energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent bulb, the cumulative effect is enormous. It would prevent more than 13 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere—which is like taking more than a million cars off the road for an entire year.

There are other, simple things with household lighting you can do to conserve: turn off unneeded lights, dim lights when you can and bring natural sunlight into your home when it is feasible.

But changing those old light bulbs and replacing them with ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescents that can last for a decade or more is by far the best thing you can do.

2. Drive differently, or drive a different vehicle

The sad truth is that your car emits as much carbon dioxide as your entire house. That's the bad news. The good news is that anything you can do to improve the fuel efficiency of your car will have an enormous impact on climate change. In fact, experts say that paying attention to fuel efficiency in your car may be the single biggest thing you can do to prevent global warming

Buying a fuel-efficient car (like a hybrid) is wonderful. In fact, replacing your gas-guzzling car with a fuel-efficient one is by far the best thing you can do, out of all your choices. But not all of us can do that—at least, not right now. Carmakers haven't sold enough hybrids in the U.S. yet to make them as affordable as they should be. That will change, but not for a few years.

So, in the interim, there are things you can do with the car you drive now to conserve energy and be more fuel-efficient.

Drive less. Every year, Americans as a whole drive more miles than they did the year before. Stop this trend, and we drive a stake in that trend. Telecommuting and public transportation are great options—once a week saves a ton of carbon dioxide a year—but even piling multiple errands into one trip helps. If you can walk instead of drive, even better.

Get your car tuned up. Just a simple tune-up often improves fuel efficiency by half. If 100,000 of us went out and got a tune up, we save 124,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Slow down, don't race your car's engine, and watch your idling. All of these save on gas (saving you money) and have a big impact on burning gasoline.

Horribly inefficient SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks now make up more than half of the cars on American roads. The real tragedy is that automakers could double the current average fuel efficiency of SUVs if they wanted to, which would save 70 tons of carbon dioxide per car. The technology exists. Unfortunately, consumer demand does not.

3. Control your temperature

The bad news is that half of your household energy costs go towards just two things—heating and cooling. The good news is that means you have lots of room for improvement, and even small changes make dramatic improvements in household fuel efficiency.

Older heating and cooling systems are a third less efficient than the new systems. So replacing the old with the new is a wonderful idea, but not very practical for most of us. Things you can do right now to make sure you're setting the right temperature in your house include:

Tune up your heating system. This one thing every couple of years can reduce your heating costs by 10 percent a year.

Clean vents, close unused vents, and change filters in the vents. Again, just these simple things will save you 10 percent.

Buy a programmable thermostat, which can regulate different temperatures at different times of the day. And if you have one, use it! Right now, three-quarters of people who have programmable thermostats don't use them at all.

Add two degrees to the AC thermostat in summer, and two degrees in winter. If everyone did this, the cumulative impact is significant.

Make sure windows and doors are sealed. Again, this will dramatically improve your household fuel efficiency.

Of course, if you can stand it, by far the best approach is to avoid air conditioners at all. Ceiling fans, instead of AC, can reduce your cooling costs by more than half.

4. Tame the refrigerator monster

Did you know that your friendly refrigerator has a voracious energy appetite? It is, by far, the single biggest consumer of electricity in the average household, responsible for 10-15 percent of the electricity you use each month.

Older refrigerators, as a rule, are far less efficient than the newest ones—as much as 50 percent more efficient in many cases. But buying a brand-new, energy-efficient refrigerator is almost certainly not in the cards for most of us. Fortunately, other things will help.

Don't set the thermostat too high. Even 1 degree will make a big difference.

If your refrigerator is near a heating vent, or always in the sun, then change the location, cover up the heat vent near it or drape the window.

Turn on your "energy saver" switch near the thermostat.

Clean the condenser coil. This one, very simple thing can improve the efficiency of your refrigerator by a third!

Get rid of your second refrigerator. If you don't need it, don't waste the energy.

Make sure the doors seal properly, and keep the cool in.

5. Twist some knobs

The other big users of energy in your household are your hot water heater, your washer and dryer, and your dishwasher. Each, in its own way, can be inefficient. Here are some things to try:

Either turn the hot water heater down a couple of degrees, or turn on the "energy conservation" setting.

Buy insulation for your hot water heater at a local store and insulate the pipes as well.

Install a timer on your water heater to turn off at night and just before you wake up in the morning.

When possible, wash a few dishes by hand. Over time, that will save a few loads in the dishwasher, conserving energy.

Don't pre-rinse dishes. Today's detergents are powerful enough to do the job.

Wait until you have a full load to run the dishwasher.

Wash clothes in warm water, not hot. The clothes will be just as clean, and you'll cut energy use by 50 percent.

Don't over-dry your clothes. That will save 15 percent.

6. Plant smartly

While it is true that planting more trees will help in the short term because they essentially soak up carbon, they also release carbon dioxide when they die. So it just postpones the problem. But there are other reasons to plant trees—as wind breaks to save energy, and as shade to lower cooling costs. And even the short-term help while we get our act together is a good thing.

As for plants, do everything you can in your yard and garden to create ways in which plants use less water. Choose hardier plants, plant things in groups that need more water and put in mulch to help keep moisture in. When you mow your grass, make sure you do it smartly—with sharp blades, and only when the grass needs cutting. Finally, make sure you water your lawn sparingly. All of these will conserve energy.

7. Invest in green energy

Imagine if we ran out of fossil fuels tomorrow, what would we do? Well, we'd get our electricity from renewable sources—solar panels, geothermal and wind power sources. Many utilities now give consumers the option to buy "green power." Ask for it!

Learn the truth about nuclear power and natural gas as viable "green" options. They aren't. Radioactive waste will be a problem for tens of thousands of years into the future, and natural gas kicks out almost as much carbon dioxide as coal and oil. Natural gas can help us make a transition, but it isn't the solution.

Finally, if you invest, invest in green stocks and renewable energy companies through socially responsible funds. They perform just as well (if not better) than all of the unfiltered funds.

8. Go organic

Even with our vast reservoir of scientific knowledge about farming, most American farmers still spray a billion pounds of pesticides to protect crops each year.

Now here's the kicker: when chemical pesticides are used to kill pests, they also kill off microorganisms that keep carbon contained in the soil. When the microorganisms are gone, the carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. And when those organisms are gone, the soil is no longer naturally fertile and chemical fertilizers become a necessity, not a luxury.

But besides going organic—thereby saving the carbon release from soil—there are other simple things you can do with food that will also make a difference:

Eat locally grown food. If the food doesn't have to travel far, there's less carbon dioxide from the trucks that ship it.

Eat fruits and vegetables in season. Again, that saves the enormous transportation costs.

9. Buy recycled

This may sound simple, but it takes less energy to manufacture a recycled product than a brand new one. So if you and every other consumer buy recycled, you'll help create a market, and conserve energy along the way.

Because many manufacturers don't go out of their way to tout their recycled products, you should know that aluminum and tin cans, glass containers, and pulp cardboard have a fair amount of recycled content. So buy away!

Recycled is often considerably cheaper than non-recycled, so it's cost-effective as well as conservation-minded. For instance, recycled paper can be as much as a third cheaper than non-recycled paper.

Finally, before you buy, check to see if the product or its packaging can be recycled. The recyclable logo (three arrows forming a triangle) is fairly common now.

Plant your own vegetable garden. It's not as hard as you might think.

10. Be a minimalist

We know it's difficult, but in today's consumer economy, an easy way to conserve energy is to simply use—and buy—less. Every time you buy something, energy has gone into getting that product to you. So the less you buy, the more you save energy-wise. It's a simple equation.

This last item on our Top Ten list may, in fact, be the single biggest way to make a dent in the global warming problem. Again, we know it sounds obvious, but buying less things—some of which you just don't need—changes the energy equation across the board, on every single consumer product. If everyone used less, the impact would be large indeed.

So how about some specific things? Here are a few:

Buy in bulk. In short, bulk items use less packaging, which translates into less energy.

Buy one of something, not 21 of something. You don't need 21 pairs of shoes, if one pair works just as well.

Go through your closet. Donate or recycle what you really don't need, then make a pledge not to replace everything you just got rid of.

Buy quality products that will last longer. Over time, you'll obviously buy fewer products that way.

Be creative in what you use for work, play and leisure. You don't always have to buy new products for activities. Re-use in creative ways.

Extracted from livescience n edited by Youngistan

Strive for our planet Earth, spread the awareness of Global warming, Save our Ozone,Recycle n Reuse,Encourage Eco-friendly,Say No to plastics---A Youngistan initiative.

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Was the Taj Mahal a Vedic Temple?

The following is an interesting topic or rather controversy raised following the research done by Prof.P. N. Oak which provided evidences that Taj was a Hindu temple.V shall here post the contents of an e-mail explaining the same...

"The Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal built the Taj Mahal. It was built in 22 years (1631 to 1653) by 20,000 artisans brought to India from all over the world! . Many people believe Ustad Isa of Iran designed it." This is what your guide probably told you if you ever visited the Taj Mahal" but what about the following....

No one has ever challenged it except Prof. P. N. Oak, who believes the whole world has been duped. In his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, Oak says the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz's tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya). In the course of his research Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai SIngh for Mumtaz's
burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur still retains in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for surrendering the Taj building. Using captured temples and mansions, as a burial place ! for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Humayun,Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. Oak's inquiries began with the name of Taj Mahal. He says the
term "Mahal" has never been used for a building in any Muslim countries from Afghanisthan to Algeria. "The unusual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal was illogical in atleast two respects. Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani," he writes. Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters 'Mum' from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the building."Taj Mahal, he claims, is a corrupt version of Tejo Mahalaya, or Lord Shiva's Palace. Oak also says the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story. Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era, and was a temple dedicated to Shiva, worshipped by Rajputs of Agra city. For example, Prof. Marvin Miller of New York took a few samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan. European traveler Johan Albert Mandelslo,who visited Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs. But he makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built. The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest the Taj was a noteworthy building well before Shah Jahan's time.

Oak now hopes that the government should open the sealed rooms so that more research can be done under the UN supervision and let international experts investigate the hidden truth which he claims to have discovered and he adds some photographic proofs supporting the same [...]

visit stephen knapp's home page for visual proofs n much more

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Why is Google algorithm so Important?

Google's search engine gets more traffic than any
other Web site. So what's the company's secret
algorithm? No one can be sure.

The GOOGLE algorithm

Google's algorithm does the work for you by searching out Web pages that contain the keywords you used to search, then assigning a rank to each page based several factors, including how many times the keywords appear on the page. Higher ranked pages appear further up in Google's search engine results page (SERP), meaning that the best links relating to your search query are theoretically the first ones Google lists.

For Web page administrators, being listed prominently on Google can result in a big boost in site traffic and visibility. In 2007, Google surpassed Microsoft as the most visited site on the Web

Are You Down with ODP?The Open Directory Project (ODP) is a Web directory maintained by a large staff of volunteers. Each volunteer oversees a category, and together volunteers list and categorize Web sites into a huge, comprehensive directory. Because a real person evaluates and categorizes each page within the directory, search engines like Google use the ODP as a database for search results. Getting a site listed on the ODP often means it will show up on Google.

Google's keyword search function is similar to other search engines. Automated programs called spiders or crawlers travel the Web, moving from link to link and building up an index page that includes certain keywords. Google references this index when a user enters a search query. The search engine lists the pages that contain the same keywords that were in the user's search terms. Google's spiders may also have some more advanced functions, such as being able to determine the difference between Web pages with actual content and redirect sites -- pages that exist only to redirect traffic to a different Web page.

Keyword placement plays a part in how Google finds sites. Google looks for keywords throughout each Web page, but some sections are more important than others. Including the keyword in the Web page's title is a good idea, for example. Google also searches for keywords in headings. Headings come in a range of sizes, and keywords in larger headings are more valuable than if they are in smaller headings. Keyword dispersal is also important. Webmasters should avoid overusing keywords, but many people recommend using them regularly throughout a page.

PageRank system

The Google algorithm's most important feature is arguably the PageRank system, a patented automated process that determines where each search result appears on Google's search engine return page. Most users tend to concentrate on the first few search results, so getting a spot at the top of the list usually means more user traffic.

So how does Google determine search results standings? Many people have taken a stab at figuring out the exact formula, but Google keeps the official algorithm a secret. What we do know is this:

• PageRank assigns a rank or score to every search result. The higher the page's score, the further up the search results list it will appear.
• Scores are partially determined by the number of other Web pages that link to the target page. Each link is counted as a vote for the target. The logic behind this is that pages with high quality content will be linked to more often than mediocre pages.
• Not all votes are equal. Votes from a high-ranking Web page count more than votes from low-ranking sites. You can't really boost one Web page's rank by making a bunch of empty Web sites linking back to the target page.
• The more links a Web page sends out, the more diluted its voting power becomes. In other words, if a high-ranking page links to hundreds of other pages, each individual vote won't count as much as it would if the page only linked to a few sites.
• Other factors that might affect scoring include the how long the site has been around, the strength of the domain name, how and where the keywords appear on the site and the age of the links going to and from the site. Google tends to place more value on sites that have been around for a while.
• Some people claim that Google uses a group of human testers to evaluate search returns, manually sorting through results to hand pick the best links. Google denies this and says that while it does employ a network of people to test updated search formulas, it doesn't rely on human beings to sort and rank search results.

Can't Buy Me (Google) LoveGoogle says that it won't sell prime search results spots. Every site you see in the results section on a Google SERP is there because of the PageRank system. Google does sell space for sponsored links above and next to the search results, but it uses shaded boxes and borders to alert users to the difference between normal search results and sponsored links.

more info here>>>A Little piece of Google Algorithm-Revealed

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Nostradamus & his Prophecies!!

Michel de Nostredame (14 December 1503 or 21 December 1503 – 2 July 1566), usually Latinized to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous world-wide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties, the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Since the publication of this book, which has rarely been out of print since his death, Nostradamus has attracted an enthusiastic following who, along with the popular press, credit him with predicting many major world events.

In contrast, most academic sources maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus's quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine predictive power. Moreover, none of the sources listed offers any evidence that anyone has ever interpreted any of Nostradamus's quatrains specifically enough to allow a clear identification of any event in advance.

Nevertheless, interest in the work of this prominent figure of the French Renaissance is still considerable, especially in the media and in popular culture, and the prophecies have in some cases been assimilated to the results of applying the alleged Bible Code, as well as to other purported prophetic works.[more...]

Works:

The Prophecies. In this book he compiled his collection of major, long-term predictions. The first installment was published in 1555. The second, with 289 further prophetic verses, was printed in 1557. The third edition, with three hundred new quatrains, was reportedly printed in 1558, but nowadays only survives as part of the omnibus edition that was published after his death in 1568. This version contains one unrhymed and 941 rhymed quatrains, grouped into nine sets of 100 and one of 42, called "Centuries".

Given printing practices at the time (which included type-setting from dictation), no two editions turned out to be identical, and it is relatively rare to find even two copies that are exactly the same. Certainly there is no warrant for assuming – as would-be "code-breakers" are prone to do – that either the spellings or the punctuation of any edition are Nostradamus' originals.

The Almanacs. By far the most popular of his works, these were published annually from 1550 until his death. He often published two or three in a year, entitled either Almanachs (detailed predictions), Prognostications or Presages (more generalized predictions).

Nostradamus was not only a diviner, but a professional healer, too. It is known that he wrote at least two books on medical science. One was an alleged "translation" of Galen, and in his so-called Traité des fardemens (basically a medical cookbook containing, once again, materials borrowed mainly from others), he included a description of the methods he used to treat the plague — none of which, not even the bloodletting, apparently worked. The same book also describes the preparation of cosmetics.

A manuscript normally known as the Orus Apollo also exists in the Lyon municipal library, where upwards of 2,000 original documents relating to Nostradamus are stored under the aegis of Michel Chomarat. It is a purported translation of an ancient Greek work on Egyptian hieroglyphs based on later Latin versions, all of them unfortunately ignorant of the true meanings of the ancient Egyptian script, which was not correctly deciphered until the advent of Champollion in the 19th century.

Since his death only the Prophecies have continued to be popular, but in this case they have been quite extraordinarily so. Over two hundred editions of them have appeared in that time, together with over 2000 commentaries. Their popularity seems to be partly due to the fact that their vagueness and lack of dating make it easy to quote them selectively after every major dramatic event and retrospectively claim them as "hits".

Interpretations:

Most of the quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles — all undated and based on foreshadowings by the Mirabilis Liber. Some quatrains cover these disasters in overall terms; others concern a single person or small group of persons. Some cover a single town, others several towns in several countries. A major, underlying theme is an impending invasion of Europe by Muslim forces from further east and south headed by the expected Antichrist, directly reflecting the then-current Ottoman invasions and the earlier Saracen (that is, Arab) equivalents, as well as the prior expectations of the Mirabilis Liber. All of this is presented in the context of the supposedly imminent end of the world, a conviction that sparked numerous collections of end-time prophecies at the time, not least an unpublished collection by Christopher Columbus .Some scholars believe that Nostradamus wrote not to be a prophet, but to comment on events that were happening in his own time, writing in his elusive way — using highly metaphorical and cryptic language — to avoid persecution. This is similar to the Preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation.

Nostradamus - The Prophecy Sept. 11 2001 - More amazing video clips are a click away
Alternative Views

A range of quite different views are expressed in printed literature and on the Internet. At one end of the spectrum, there are extreme academic views such as those of Jacques Halbronn, suggesting at great length and with great complexity that Nostradamus's Prophecies are antedated forgeries written by later hands with a political axe to grind. Although Halbronn possibly knows more about the texts and associated archives than almost anybody else alive (he helped dig out and research many of them), most other specialists in the field reject this view.At the other end of the spectrum, there are numerous fairly recent popular books, and thousands of private websites, suggesting not only that the Prophecies are genuine but that Nostradamus was a true prophet. Thanks to the vagaries of interpretation, no two of them agree on exactly what he predicted, whether for our past or for our future.There is a consensus among these works, however, that he predicted the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, both world wars, and the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is also a consensus that he predicted whatever major event had just happened at the time of each book's publication, from the Apollo moon landings, through the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997, and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, to the events of 9/11: this 'movable feast' aspect appears to be characteristic of the genre.

Source: wikipedia

Did Nostradamus predict the 9/11 attack--Was it a hoax?? review

The sudden rise in sales of Nostradamus’ books has been apparently fuelled by an email message which promoted the idea that the French seer foretold the destruction of the twin towers.

The New York Times newspaper recently noted:

‘One email message that was widely circulated… combines… fragments from different passages in Nostradamus' writings with words that were not his, to create a provocative text…’

The collage states the following:

‘In the year of the new century and nine months / From the sky will come a great King of Terror… The sky will burn at forty-five degrees. Fire approaches the great new city / In the city of York, there will be a great collapse/ 2 twin brothers torn apart by chaos/ while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb / third big war will begin when the big city is burning.’’

bbc news

Further Info

Postdiction
The Nostradamus
Nos'mus W.War3 predictions
Complete English translation of his prophesies
Nos'mus END OF THE WORLD

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Knock Nevis~~World's largest ship!!

The Knock Nevis is a Norwegian owned supertanker, formerly known as Seawise Giant, Happy Giant, and Jahre Viking. She is 458.45 m (1,504 ft) in length and 68.9 m (226 ft) in width, making her the largest ship ever constructed (However, by gross tonnage measure, she is fifth, 236,710, behind the four Batillus class supertankers- 274,838-275,276 tons gross). She was built between 1979 and 1981, damaged during the Iran-Iraq War, and refloated in 1991, but is now used as an immobile offshore platform for the oil industry.

Specifications

Knock Nevis has 564,763 metric tons of deadweight (DWT) and a summer displacement of 647,955 t when laden with nearly 650,000 m³ (4.1 million barrels) of petroleum. The ship has a draft of 24.6 m (81 feet) when fully loaded, which makes it impossible for her to navigate even the English Channel, let alone man-made canals at Suez and Panama.

History

The supertanker was built at Sumitomo Heavy Industries's Oppama shipyard in Japan for a Greek owner who refused to take delivery of the vessel due to extensive vibration issues related to faulty gear design. Following an unsuccessful arbitration against the yard, the vessel was sold to Chinese interests. The unfinished ship was bought by a Hong Kong shipping magnate Tung Chao Yung (shipping line OOCL) who had the ship extended by several metres, thus increasing her load-carrying capacity and making her the largest ship ever built. The vessel was finally floated two years later and named Seawise Giant. This is a pun on the name of the owner, who abbreviates his name as C. Y. Tung (hence C.Y.'s Giant). Tung Chao Yung experienced significant financial difficulties as a result of the lengthening and was eventually supported through contacts with the government of the People's Republic of China.

At first, the ship operated between the Middle East and the USA but from about 1986 she was used as a floating storage ship and transshipment terminal in Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. In May 1988, the ship was attacked and heavily damaged by bombs dropped from Iraqi jets while lying at the Iranian Hormuz terminal in the Strait of Hormuz the end of the Iran-Iraq War in late 1989, the wreck (which had by then been towed to Brunei) was bought by a Norwegian limited liability partnership ("KS-company") managed by Norman International. They had the wreck repaired by the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, and renamed Happy Giant. However in 1991, before the repairs were completed, the KS-company became managed by Norwegian shipping company Jørgen Jahre, and the vessel was delivered from Keppel Shipyard as the Jahre Viking. During the late 1990s, the majority of the KS-company was bought by Norwegian shipowner Fred Olsen through his company First Olsen Tankers.

Some facts regarding Nevis:

• KNOCK NEVIS is so huge that when fully laden she cannot pass through the 32 mile wide English channel because it cannot manoeuvre, as travelling in a straight line is its best forte.
• Fully laden, she sits 24.5 meters deep in the sea, a depth great enough to stop her from accessing most of the world’s major ports.
• The cargo of oil she normally carries is worth $122 million - separated from the sea by just 3.5cm of steel plate!
• The holds could swallow St Pauls Cathedral four times over. It has a crew of 35 to 40, which means it only needs two lifeboats. It takes 5.5 miles to stop with a turning circle of over 2 miles.

Further Info:

List of the largest ships ever built

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Top 10 Killler Tornadoes

Tornadoes kill dozens and sometimes hundreds of people every year in the United States. Warning systems have improved dramatically, however, so some of the deadliest tornadoes were recorded many decades ago. In some cases, a single tornado caused hundreds of deaths. Following are the 10 deadliest on record, based on data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)


10. The Waco Tornado(May 11 1953) in Texas destroyed 200 business buildings and damaged another 400, including a six-story furniture store that collapsed.Deaths: 114 ? Injuries: 597 ? F-Scale F5. [more]

9.The Flint Tornado(June 8 1953) destroyed homes on both sides of Coldwater Road and killed multiple family members of at least 20 families in Michigan.Deaths: 115 ? Injuries: 844 ? F-Scale F5. [more]

8.The New Richmond Tornado(June 12 1899) in Wisconsin began as a waterspout on Lake St. Croix, then moved northeast in the direction of New Richmond. The massive amount of flying debris result in multiple deaths and a 3,000 pound safe was carried a block by the winds. More than 300 buildings were damaged or destroyed.Deaths: 117 ? Injuries: 200 ? F-Scale F5 [more]

7.The Amite/Pine/Purvis Tornado(April 24 1908) hit Louisiana, Mississippi. It was reported to be two miles wide. Only seven of 150 homes in Purvis County were reported left standing.Deaths: 143 ? Injuries: 770 ? F-Scale F4. [more]

6.The Woodward Tornado(April 9 1947) hit Gray, Roberts, Hemphill, Lipscomb counties in Texas, Ellis, Woodward and Woods counties in Oklahoma and Barber and Kingman counties in Kansas. Along much of its path, the tornado was reportedly one to two miles wide. The entire town of Glazier and most of Higgins was destroyed.Deaths: 181 ? Injuries: 970 ? F-Scale F5
[more]

5.The Gainesville Tornado(April 6 1936), actually a pair of tornadoes, hit at the start of the work day. The funnel clouds took different paths into the city, but converged in a four-block area that was destroyed. Debris filled the streets up to 10 feet deep and about 750 houses were destroyed. The Cooper Pants Factory, a multi-story building, collapsed and caught fire, killing about 70 workers.Deaths: 203 .. Injuries: 1600 .. F-Scale F4. [more]

4.The Tupelo Tornado(April 5 1936) began near Coffeeville, Yalobusha County. It leveled hundreds of houses and killed entire families. A movie theater was turned into a hospital with the popcorn machine used to sterilize instruments. One hundred-five box cars were brought into town to serve as temporary housing.Deaths: 216 ? Injuries: 700 ? F-Scale F5.[more]

3.The St. Louis Tornado(May 27 1896) touched down six miles west of Eads Bridge. Buildings and homes along the river were swept away or damaged, although the steel span bridge was largely undamaged.Deaths: 255 ? Injuries: 1,000 ? F-Scale F4. [more]

2.The Natchez Tornado(May 7 1840) touched down in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, and Adams County, Mississippi. Most of the deaths occurred on the Mississippi River, since the tornado tracked for some time directly over the waterway. The death toll from the tornado is undoubtedly higher than officially listed, as many slave deaths were probably not included in the total.Deaths: 317 ? Injuries: 109 ? F-Scale Unknown. [more]

1.The Tri-State Tornado(March 18 1925) was by far the worst in U.S. history. It wreaked havoc for more than three hours. Records were set for both speed and path length. Tornado damage stretched from Reynolds, Iron, Madison, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Perry counties in Missouri, through Jackson, Williamson, Franklin, Hamilton, and White counties in Illinois and Posey, Gibson and Pike counties in Indiana. The worst devastation was in Illinois, where the town of Gorham was destroyed. In Murphysboro, 25 deaths occurred in three schools, with students crushed under falling brick and stone walls.Deaths: 695 ? Injuries: 2027 ? F-Scale F5.
[more]

Slideshow:
Click on the image and then click on 'open in a new window' link to download.

Extracted from Livescience and slideshow by Youngistan

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Did Americans really landed on Moon???

Friends, in this post i'm about to deal with one of the most controversial topic since the last 5 decades-Apollo Moon Landings by Americans .Believe me being a youngistani it's worth knowing considering that so much of politics, mystery and technology involved.This one is the best post(collecting the info n abridging-a hectic task) i had worked upon till now.

Apollo Moon Landing hoax accusations are claims that some or all elements of the Apollo Moon landings were faked by NASA and possibly members of other involved organizations. Some groups and individuals have advanced various theories which tend, to varying degrees, to include the following common elements:

• The Apollo Astronauts did not land on the Moon;
• NASA and possibly others intentionally deceived the public into believing the landing(s) did occur by manufacturing, destroying, or tampering with evidence, including photos, telemetry tapes, transmissions, and rock samples;
• NASA and possibly others continue to actively participate in the conspiracy to this day.

Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong in NASA's training mock-up of the Moon and lander module. Hoax proponents say the entire mission was filmed on sets like this training mock-up.

Predominant Hoax Claims:

A number of different hoax theories have been advanced. No one has proposed a complete narrative of how the hoax could have been perpetrated, but instead believers focus on perceived gaps or inconsistencies in the historical record of the missions. Several of these ideas and their most readily identifiable proponents are described below:

1.Complete hoax — The idea that the entire human landing program was faked. Some claim that the technology to send men to the Moon was insufficient or that the Van Allen radiation belts, solar flares, solar wind, coronal mass ejections and cosmic rays made such a trip impossible.

2.Partial hoax / unmanned landings — Bart Sibrel has stated that the crew of Apollo 11 and subsequent astronauts had faked their orbit around the Moon and their walk on its surface by trick photography, and that they never got more than halfway to the Moon.

3.Manned landings, with cover-ups -William Brian believes that the astronauts may have used "a secret zero gravity device" derived from technology found on a "captured extraterrestrial spaceship," but that NASA was compelled to cover up these facts and others relating to the gravity and the presence of atmosphere on the moon in order to maintain secrecy surrounding the alien space ship

4.Actual lunar landing - faked filming –Advocates of this theory state that the equipment used to photograph (Hasselblad cameras privately modified by NASA) had no protection for the film against radiation nor intense lighting conditions present on the moon and in space

One of the earthrise photos. The Flat Earth Society used these photos as evidence of a faked landing, since they show a spherical Earth.

Critiques of hoax accusations

Click here to know about the conspiracy surrounding the independent evidence for apollo moon landings

Technological capability of USA compared with the USSR

At the time of Apollo, the Soviet Union had five times more manned hours in space than the US. They had achieved:

1. First manmade satellite in orbit ,First living creature to enter orbit
   
2. First to safely return living creature from orbit, two dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats
   
3. First man in space
   
4. First man to orbit the Earth
   
5. First to have two spacecraft in orbit at the same time
   
6. First woman in space
   
7. First crew of three cosmonauts on board one spacecraft
   
8. First spacewalk
   

On January 27, 1967, the three astronauts aboard Apollo 1 died in a fire on the launch pad during training. The fire was triggered by a spark in the oxygen-rich atmosphere used in the spacecraft test, and fueled by a significant quantity of combustible material within the spacecraft. Two years later all of the problems were declared fixed. Bart Sibrel believes that the accident led NASA to conclude that the only way to 'win' the moon race was to fake the landings

Missing data

Photo of the high-quality SSTV image before the scan conversion.

Photo of the degraded image after the SSTV scan conversion

To know more about these suspicious images click here

Evidence by Photographs and Films

1. Crosshairs appear to be behind objects.
2. Crosshairs are sometimes misplaced or rotated.
3. The quality of the photographs is implausibly high
4. There are no stars in any of the photos. The Apollo 11 astronauts also claimed in a press
conference after the event to have not remembered seeing any of the stars.
5. The color and angle of shadows and light are inconsistent.
6. Identical backgrounds in photos are listed as taken miles apart.
7. The number of photographs taken is implausibly high. Up to one photo per 50 seconds
8. The photos contain artifacts like the two seemingly matching 'C's on a rock and on the
ground.
9. A resident of Perth, Australia, with the pseudonym "Una Ronald", said she saw a soft
drink bottle in the frame.
10. The book Moon Shot contains an obvious composite photograph of Alan Shepard hitting a
golf ball on the Moon with another astronaut.
11. There appear to be "hot spots" in some photographs that look like a huge spotlight was
used at a close distance.
12. Footprints in the extraordinarily fine lunar dust, with no moisture or atmosphere or
strong gravity, are unexpectedly well preserved, in the minds of some observers – as if made
in wet sand.

Click here for more detailed description of these 12 evidences


Following is a Slideshow of photographic evidences their description is given below:

Click on the slideshow and open the image in a new window to see a HQ image


Photo5: Photo of the Earth taken from behind the Apollo 11 Lunar Module.
Photo4: The original Buzz Aldrin photograph.
Photo3: The photo mockup made for the book Moon Shot. The second astronaut is located in the 'fold' in the middle of the scanned photo.
Photo2: TV image of the actual scene.

The order of photos may be different for different browsers. Please check out.

Challenges and Responses:

Ionizing Radiation and Heat

An example:The astronauts could not have survived the trip because of exposure to radiation from the Van Allen radiation belt and galactic ambient radiation (see Radiation poisoning). Some hoax theorists have suggested that Starfish Prime (high altitude nuclear testing in 1962) was a failed attempt to disrupt the Van Allen belts.

Click here to know more about challenges and responses posed by Ionization and Heat factors on whether the Landings are fake or not?

Transmissions

An example:The lack of a more than two-second delay in two-way communications at a distance of a 400,000 km (250,000 miles). The round trip light travel time of more than two seconds is apparent in all the real-time recordings of the lunar audio, but this does not always appear as expected. There may also be some documentary films where the delay has been edited out. Principal motivations for editing the audio would likely come in response to time constraints or in the interest of clarity.

The relative sizes of, and distance between, Earth and Moon, to scale, with a beam of light travelling between them at the speed of light.

Click here to know more about challenges posed by Transmissions

Mechanical issues:

An example: The astronauts were moving the flag into position, causing motion. Since there is no air on the Moon to provide friction, these movements caused a long-lasting undulating movement seen in the flag. There was a rod extending from the top of the flagpole to hold the flag out for proper display (visible under the fabric in many photographs). The fabric's rippled appearance was due to its having been folded during flight and gave it an appearance which could be mistaken for motion in a still photograph. The top supporting rod of the flag was telescopic and the crew of Apollo 11 found they could not fully extend it. Later crews did not fully extend this rod because they liked how it made the flag appear. A viewing of the videotape made during the Moonwalk shows that shortly after the astronauts remove their hands from the flag/flagpole, it stops moving and remains motionless. At one point the flag is in view for well over thirty minutes and it remains completely motionless throughout that period (and all similar periods).See the images below:

Cropped photo of Buzz Aldrin saluting the flag (Note the fingers of Aldrin's right hand can be seen behind his helmet).

Cropped photo taken a few seconds later, Buzz Aldrin's hand is down, head turned toward the camera, the flag is unchanged

Dark side of the Moon-a documentary

Dark Side of the Moon is a French mockumentary by director William Karel which originally aired on Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the CIA with help from director Stanley Kubrick. It features some surprising guest appearances, most notably by Donald Rumsfeld, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, Buzz Aldrin and Stanley Kubrick's widow, Christiane Kubrick.

Deaths of Key Apollo personnel

In a television program about the hoax allegations, Fox Entertainment Group listed the deaths of ten astronauts and of two civilians related to the manned spaceflight program as having possibly been killed as part of a cover-up.
Ted Freeman (T-38 crash, 1964)
Elliott See and Charlie Bassett (T-38 accident, 1966)
Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (Apollo 1 fire, January 1967). His son, Scott Grissom said the accident was a murder.Bill Kaysing also makes this claim
Ed White (Apollo 1 fire, January 1967)
Roger Chaffee (Apollo 1 fire, January 1967)
Ed Givens (car accident, 1967)
C. C. Williams (T-38 accident, October 1967)
X-15 pilot Mike Adams (the only X-15 pilot killed during the X-15 flight test program in November 1967 - not a NASA astronaut, but had flown X-15 above 50 miles).
Robert Lawrence, scheduled to be an Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory pilot who died in a jet crash in December 1967, shortly after reporting for duty to that (later canceled) program.
NASA worker Thomas Baron (automobile collision with train, 1967 shortly after making accusations before Congress about the cause of the Apollo 1 fire, after which he was fired.) Ruled as suicide. Baron was a quality control inspector who wrote a report critical of the Apollo program and was an outspoken critic after the Apollo 1 fire. Baron and his family were killed as their car was struck by a train at a train crossing.[
Lee Gelvani said he almost convinced James Irwin, an Apollo 15 astronaut whom Gelvani referred to as an "informant", to confess about a cover-up having occurred. Irwin was supposedly going to contact Gelvani about it; however he died of a heart attack in 1991, before any such telephone call occurred.

Click here for Apollo hoax in popular culture and parody

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ISKCON~~Krishnology!!!

Wondering as what dis post has to do with Youngistan???. Well I had recently been to one of the ISKCON temples and found out that its an International Organization which strives for Krishna Consciousness. What that struck my eye was the temple's Architecture and Incredibly pleasing environment.It was terribly awesome!!!

Know more, go through the post.......

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also known as 'the Hare Krishna' movement, was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. ISKCON has since developed into a worldwide confederation of 10,000 temple devotees and 250,000 congregational devotees.

Better known as the Hare Krishna movement, ISKCON is comprised of more than 350 centres, 60 rural communities, 50 schools and 60 restaurants worldwide.The mission of this nonsectarian, monotheistic movement is to promote the well being of society by teaching the science of Krishna consciousness according to Bhagavad-gita and other ancient scriptures.

While some classified it as a new religious movement, its core philosophy is based on scriptures such as the Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, both of which date back more than two millennia. The distinctive appearance of the movement and its culture come from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, which has had adherents in India ever since the late 1400s. Early converts to the movement were dated to early 1930s.

Non-sectarian in its ideals , ISKCON was formed to spread the practice of 'Bhakti yoga' (The Yoga of Devotion); wherein aspirant devotees (Bhaktas) dedicate their thoughts and actions towards pleasing Supreme Lord, Krishna.

History

According to Hare Krishna devotees Krishna is the origin of Vishnu. They worship Krishna as the highest form of God, and often refer to him as "the Supreme Personality of Godhead" in writing, which was a phrase coined by Srila Prabhupada in his books on the subject. Devotees consider Radha to be Krishna's divine female counterpart, the embodiment of love. An important aspect of their philosophy is the belief that the individual soul is an eternal personal identity which does not ultimately merge into any formless light or void as suggested by the monistic (Advaita) schools of Hinduism.

Hare Krishna devotees specifically follow a disciplic line of Gaudiya, or Bengali, Bhagavata Vaishnavas which comes under the general description of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Vaishnavism means 'worship of Vishnu', and Gauḍa refers to the area where this particular branch of Vaishnavism is practiced and is widespread, among other places, such as Rajastan and Vrindavana. Gaudiya Vaishnavism has had a continuous following in India, especially West Bengal and Orissa for the past five hundred years. Srila Prabhupada disseminated Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology in the Western world through extensive writings and translations, including Bhagavad Gita, Srimad and Chaitanya Charitamrita and other scriptures. These works are now available in more than seventy languages and serve as the canon of ISKCON. Many of these books are now available online from a number of websites.

Early western conversions to monotheistic Krishna vaisnavism or Bhagavata Vaishnava line, that forms the basis of ISKCON philosophy, were recorded by the Greeks and survived as archeological monuments.

The Maha Mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Rama Hare Rama

Rama Rama Hare Hare

The Seven purposes of ISKCON

When Srila Prabhupada first incorporated ISKCON, in 1966, he gave it seven purposes.

• To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all peoples in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace in the world.
• To propagate a consciousness of Krishna, as it is revealed in the Bhagavad-gita and the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
• To bring the members of the Society together with each other and nearer to Krishna, the prime entity, thus to develop the idea within the members, and humanity at large, that each soul is part and parcel of the quality of Godhead (Krishna).
• To teach and encourage the sankirtana movement, congregational chanting of the holy names of God as revealed in the teachings of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
• To erect for the members, and for society at large, a holy place of transcendental pastimes, dedicated to the personality of Krishna.
• To bring the members closer together for the purpose of teaching a simpler and more natural way of life.
• With a view towards achieving the aforementioned purposes, to publish and distribute periodicals, magazines, books and other writings.

Preaching Activities

ISKCON is actively evangelistic. Members try to spread Krishna consciousness, primarily by singing the Hare Krishna mantra in public places and by selling books written by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Both of these activities are known within the movement as 'Sankirtan'. According to the doctrine of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one does not need to be born in a Hindu family to take up the practice of Vaishnavism. This philosophy places ISKCON in strong contrast to many other branches of Hinduism, which may stress hereditary lineage and are non-missionary by nature. There are ISKCON communities around the world with schools, restaurants and farms. In general, funds collected by ISKCON are treated as communal property and used to support the community as a whole and to promote the preaching mission.Many temples also have programs (like Food for Life Global) to provide meals for the needy. Also, ISKCON has recently brought the academic study of Krishna into western academia as Krishnology.[more...]


Slideshow:

You don't find more pictures of ISKCON temples on the web because their beauty can be enjoyed with your naked eyes only.



Links:

Indian Temple Architecture - A concise description of the diverse temple architectural styles seen in Indian temples, styles that have been in existence for over a millennium.

Click here for world-wide centers

Click here for official worldwide website

Krishna.com-the bhaktivedanta book trust

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Whats the upcomin Bond film???

Quantum of Solace is the 22nd spy film in EON Productions' James Bond film series, due for release in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2008.It is the sequel to the 2006 film Casino Royale, which rebooted the series. It is directed by Marc Forster, and features Daniel Craig's second performance as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Casino Royale's Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade returned as writers, alongside newcomer Joshua Zetumer. In the film, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist, who intends to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply. Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, and is assisted by Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who also wants to kill Greene. The title was chosen from an unrelated short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only (1960).

Producer Michael G. Wilson created the film's story whilst Casino Royale was shooting. The film was originally scheduled for a 2 May 2008 release, but it was pushed back to allow more time when Roger Michell dropped out as director. Second unit filming began in August 2007 at Siena and Madrid, before principal photography began in January 2008 at Pinewood Studios. Production designer Dennis Gassner took over from Peter Lamont, who retired after working on eighteen Bond films. He designed the five major Pinewood sets, which stand in for Siena, Bolivia and the MI6 headquarters. Gassner's designs are close to the modernism of Ken Adam, the first Bond production designer. Location filming will take place at Panama, Chile, Italy and Austria, before moving back to Pinewood in June. There will be more gadgets than in Casino Royale, though they will still aim to be realistic.[more...]

Quantum of Solace Theme Song

The Cast

Daniel Craig as James Bond
Mathieu Amalric as Dominic Greene, the main villain
Olga Kurylenko as Camille, a Russian-Bolivian agent
Gemma Arterton as MI6 Agent Fields
Judi Dench as M.
Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter
Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis
Anatole Taubman as Elvis.
Joaquin Cosío as General Medrano,
Neil Jackson as Mr. Slate
Jesper Christensen as Mr. White
Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner
Tim Pigott-Smith as the British Foreign Secretary.

Expected Trailor


Learn more about History behind James Bond by Youngistan

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