Friday, September 14, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Top 10 Mysteries of the Universe
Top 10 Mysteries of the Universe
The Universe… The incredible difference in scale between the tiny world we live in every day and the vastness of all time and space begs the question of whether we will ever be able to grasp the fullness of the cosmos. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. In fact, contemplating the great unknowns must be one of the oldest hobbies in human experience. The pursuit
The Universe… The incredible difference in scale between the tiny world we live in every day and the vastness of all time and space begs the question of whether we will ever be able to grasp the fullness of the cosmos. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. In fact, contemplating the great unknowns must be one of the oldest hobbies in human experience. The pursuit
has given rise first to religion, then to philosophy, then to people who make fun of religion and philosophy.
10. Extraterrestrial Intelligence
This is really a simple mystery. Is there other intelligent life out there in the universe? Carl Sagan reminds us that if we exist, then, no matter how rare intelligence is in the universe, given how huge the universe is, we must have many neighbors out there somewhere. Frank Drake, an astrophysicist, created an equation that helps figure out how much intelligent life there is in the universe, and estimated that if only one in a billion planets has intelligent life, then there must still be over 6 billion planets with intelligence on them. Enrico Fermi, however, pointed out that if life is that common, then it is virtually impossible that we haven’t yet detected any signs of other intelligent life in the universe. So, the real mystery is this: what is it about Earth that makes no one want to play with us?
9. The Tunguska Explosion
On the 30th of June, 1908 (or the 17th, at the time; the calendar has been revamped since then), at 7:17 am (local time), something exploded over a region of forest in the Tunguska River Valley in Siberia, Russia. Locals many miles away saw something bright blue streak toward the area and explode with incredible force, sufficient to register on instruments in England. Later examination of the site showed that trees had been knocked down in a radial pattern from a central point, indicating an air burst of some kind. To this day, scientists aren’t sure what it was, and generally figure that it was a meteor or a fragment of a comet. Why did it explode in the air? Why haven’t we found any pieces? The mystery has kept UFO aficionados up at nights since then.
8. Rare Antimatter
Matter and antimatter are, in theory, created at the same time by the same event. When a normal baryonic particle is created, an antiparticle of the same mass and opposite charge is also created. However, while we have created antimatter in laboratories on Earth, we don’t see it in the universe around us. No one seems to know what happened to all the antimatter that should be there…
7. Consciousness
What is the mind? Behaviorists say that it is just conditioned responses. But it’s hard to deny that our ability to reflect on our own thoughts is something distinct and interesting. Is it a mere side-effect of the way our brains work? If so, how long will it be before a computer becomes self-aware and asks for equal rights? How can you tell true consciousness from something designed to simulate it? Can consciousness survive the death of the brain that carries it? There are a lot of questions, but until we can have an equal conversation with either a robot or a ghost, there really won’t be any answers.
6. Dark Matter / Dark Energy
Current models of the universe, and observations made by high-tech instruments, point to there being an enormous amount of matter in the universe beyond what we can actually see. In fact, we can only seem to perceive about 4% of the stuff in the universe directly. The rest is invisible, or “dark matter,” a term that just means that we have no idea what it is. Accompanying this dark matter is some type of energy that, like dark matter, we can’t perceive directly. We call this, in a moment of inspiration, “dark energy.” Apparently, there’s even more of this than there is dark matter. Different theories abound, but perhaps, as mentioned in #10 above, most of the universe is just avoiding us.
5. Time
You think you know what time is? Okay, try defining it without using any terms that rely on time. Time is… well, it’s time. It’s what keeps every event from happening simultaneously, and it’s what distinguishes something that happened in the past from something that will happen in the future. Is it a dimension, like space? Is it a quality of matter? Is it merely an illusion, possibly created to boost sales of digital watches? The smartest guys in the world get headaches from this one.
4. The Beginning of the Universe
How did the universe begin? Did the universe ever begin? If the universe includes everything that we know, including time, could there possibly even be a “before” before the beginning of the universe. Current theories generally talk about a “Big Bang,” which is a massive expansion of all matter and energy from a single point, which is still continuing through the present day. What started the bang? Where did all the energy and matter come from? Are these questions even meaningful? What about creationism, if that is for you? If God created the universe and all the physical laws in it, what is he doing now that it is running itself?
3. End of the Universe
Following the question of the end of the universe is the question of the end of the universe. Opinions vary on whether we can expect the universe to ever expire. There are several possibilities. One is that the universe will continue to expand, and eventually become so spread out that all matter and energy is just a homogeneous cloud of thin, lukewarm dust. Another is that gravity will eventually catch up with all the matter, and the universe will slow down and fall back into a single point, which may spark another big bang. Yet another theory notes that baryons and protons, the building blocks of matter, don’t seem to be being created naturally anymore, and if they decay (as some other particles do), the universe will simply fade out as all the particles just cease to be. In general, nothing untoward is expected to happen to the universe for many billion years, which will probably be a relief to those with long-range investments.
2. Multiple Universes
Current quantum physics raises the possibility that there are many universes besides our own, existing in the same space and time, but only interacting in certain limited ways. These universes may have their own separate histories and futures, and even their own laws of physics. This is all vague theory for the moment, but some day it may be possible to travel to the universe where your favorite singer won American Idol or visit with evil Spock.
1. Grand Unification Theory
For decades, physicists have been trying to make sense of the difference between Isaac Newton’s classical physics (you know, what you use to play pool) Einstein‘s relativistic physics, that involve very large or massive things at enormous velocities, and Heisenberg’s (and others’) quantum physics, which concerns things so small that you can’t even measure them without changing the result. These three sets of physical laws seem to play by their own rules, largely ignoring each other, and yet they all relate to the same universe. And so physicists have hunted for the Grand Unification Theory, which would substitute for all of these incomplete sets of laws and make sense of it all. Perhaps it doesn’t exist. Or perhaps it’s just too complex for human minds to grasp. One way or the other, it’s going to keep scientists arguing for some time to come. Cartoon property of Berkeley Breathed.
10. Extraterrestrial Intelligence
This is really a simple mystery. Is there other intelligent life out there in the universe? Carl Sagan reminds us that if we exist, then, no matter how rare intelligence is in the universe, given how huge the universe is, we must have many neighbors out there somewhere. Frank Drake, an astrophysicist, created an equation that helps figure out how much intelligent life there is in the universe, and estimated that if only one in a billion planets has intelligent life, then there must still be over 6 billion planets with intelligence on them. Enrico Fermi, however, pointed out that if life is that common, then it is virtually impossible that we haven’t yet detected any signs of other intelligent life in the universe. So, the real mystery is this: what is it about Earth that makes no one want to play with us?
9. The Tunguska Explosion
On the 30th of June, 1908 (or the 17th, at the time; the calendar has been revamped since then), at 7:17 am (local time), something exploded over a region of forest in the Tunguska River Valley in Siberia, Russia. Locals many miles away saw something bright blue streak toward the area and explode with incredible force, sufficient to register on instruments in England. Later examination of the site showed that trees had been knocked down in a radial pattern from a central point, indicating an air burst of some kind. To this day, scientists aren’t sure what it was, and generally figure that it was a meteor or a fragment of a comet. Why did it explode in the air? Why haven’t we found any pieces? The mystery has kept UFO aficionados up at nights since then.
8. Rare Antimatter
Matter and antimatter are, in theory, created at the same time by the same event. When a normal baryonic particle is created, an antiparticle of the same mass and opposite charge is also created. However, while we have created antimatter in laboratories on Earth, we don’t see it in the universe around us. No one seems to know what happened to all the antimatter that should be there…
7. Consciousness
What is the mind? Behaviorists say that it is just conditioned responses. But it’s hard to deny that our ability to reflect on our own thoughts is something distinct and interesting. Is it a mere side-effect of the way our brains work? If so, how long will it be before a computer becomes self-aware and asks for equal rights? How can you tell true consciousness from something designed to simulate it? Can consciousness survive the death of the brain that carries it? There are a lot of questions, but until we can have an equal conversation with either a robot or a ghost, there really won’t be any answers.
6. Dark Matter / Dark Energy
Current models of the universe, and observations made by high-tech instruments, point to there being an enormous amount of matter in the universe beyond what we can actually see. In fact, we can only seem to perceive about 4% of the stuff in the universe directly. The rest is invisible, or “dark matter,” a term that just means that we have no idea what it is. Accompanying this dark matter is some type of energy that, like dark matter, we can’t perceive directly. We call this, in a moment of inspiration, “dark energy.” Apparently, there’s even more of this than there is dark matter. Different theories abound, but perhaps, as mentioned in #10 above, most of the universe is just avoiding us.
5. Time
You think you know what time is? Okay, try defining it without using any terms that rely on time. Time is… well, it’s time. It’s what keeps every event from happening simultaneously, and it’s what distinguishes something that happened in the past from something that will happen in the future. Is it a dimension, like space? Is it a quality of matter? Is it merely an illusion, possibly created to boost sales of digital watches? The smartest guys in the world get headaches from this one.
4. The Beginning of the Universe
How did the universe begin? Did the universe ever begin? If the universe includes everything that we know, including time, could there possibly even be a “before” before the beginning of the universe. Current theories generally talk about a “Big Bang,” which is a massive expansion of all matter and energy from a single point, which is still continuing through the present day. What started the bang? Where did all the energy and matter come from? Are these questions even meaningful? What about creationism, if that is for you? If God created the universe and all the physical laws in it, what is he doing now that it is running itself?
3. End of the Universe
Following the question of the end of the universe is the question of the end of the universe. Opinions vary on whether we can expect the universe to ever expire. There are several possibilities. One is that the universe will continue to expand, and eventually become so spread out that all matter and energy is just a homogeneous cloud of thin, lukewarm dust. Another is that gravity will eventually catch up with all the matter, and the universe will slow down and fall back into a single point, which may spark another big bang. Yet another theory notes that baryons and protons, the building blocks of matter, don’t seem to be being created naturally anymore, and if they decay (as some other particles do), the universe will simply fade out as all the particles just cease to be. In general, nothing untoward is expected to happen to the universe for many billion years, which will probably be a relief to those with long-range investments.
2. Multiple Universes
Current quantum physics raises the possibility that there are many universes besides our own, existing in the same space and time, but only interacting in certain limited ways. These universes may have their own separate histories and futures, and even their own laws of physics. This is all vague theory for the moment, but some day it may be possible to travel to the universe where your favorite singer won American Idol or visit with evil Spock.
1. Grand Unification Theory
For decades, physicists have been trying to make sense of the difference between Isaac Newton’s classical physics (you know, what you use to play pool) Einstein‘s relativistic physics, that involve very large or massive things at enormous velocities, and Heisenberg’s (and others’) quantum physics, which concerns things so small that you can’t even measure them without changing the result. These three sets of physical laws seem to play by their own rules, largely ignoring each other, and yet they all relate to the same universe. And so physicists have hunted for the Grand Unification Theory, which would substitute for all of these incomplete sets of laws and make sense of it all. Perhaps it doesn’t exist. Or perhaps it’s just too complex for human minds to grasp. One way or the other, it’s going to keep scientists arguing for some time to come. Cartoon property of Berkeley Breathed.
Friday, September 7, 2012
ICC T20 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE
| Date and Time | Match Details and Series |
| Thu Sep 13 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 1st T20 - Ireland vs Zimbabwe Moors Sports Club Ground, Colombo |
| Thu Sep 13 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 2nd T20 - Sri Lanka vs West Indies Nondescripts Cricket Club, Colombo |
| Sat Sep 15 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 3rd T20 - Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka A Moors Sports Club Ground, Colombo |
| Sat Sep 15 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 4th T20 - Australia vs New Zealand Nondescripts Cricket Club, Colombo |
| Sat Sep 15 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 5th T20 - Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe Colts Cricket Club Ground, Colombo |
| Sat Sep 15 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 6th T20 - India vs Sri Lanka P Sara Oval, Colombo |
| Mon Sep 17 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 7th T20 - Australia vs England Nondescripts Cricket Club, Colombo |
| Mon Sep 17 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 8th T20 - Bangladesh vs Ireland Moors Sports Club Ground, Colombo |
| Mon Sep 17 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 9th T20 - New Zealand vs South Africa Colts Cricket Club Ground, Colombo |
| Mon Sep 17 14:00 local | 08:30 GMT | Warm Up : 10th T20 - Afghanistan vs West Indies P Sara Oval, Colombo |
| Mon Sep 17 14:00 local | 08:30 GMT | Warm Up : 11th T20 - India vs Pakistan R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Wed Sep 19 09:30 local | 04:00 GMT | Warm Up : 12th T20 - England vs Pakistan P Sara Oval, Colombo |
| Tue Sep 18 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group C : 1st T20 - Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota |
| Wed Sep 19 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Group B : 2nd T20 - Australia vs Ireland R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Wed Sep 19 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group A : 3rd T20 - India vs Afghanistan R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Thu Sep 20 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group C : 4th T20 - South Africa vs Zimbabwe Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota |
| Fri Sep 21 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Group D : 5th T20 - New Zealand vs Bangladesh Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Fri Sep 21 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group A : 6th T20 - England vs Afghanistan R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Sat Sep 22 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Group C : 7th T20 - Sri Lanka vs South Africa Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota |
| Sat Sep 22 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group B : 8th T20 - Australia vs West Indies R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Sun Sep 23 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Group D : 9th T20 - New Zealand vs Pakistan Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Sun Sep 23 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group A : 10th T20 - England vs India R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Mon Sep 24 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group B : 11th T20 - West Indies vs Ireland R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Tue Sep 25 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Group D : 12th T20 - Bangladesh vs Pakistan Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Thu Sep 27 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 1 : 13th T20 - TBC vs TBC Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Thu Sep 27 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 1 : 14th T20 - TBC vs TBC Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Fri Sep 28 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 2 : 15th T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Fri Sep 28 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 2 : 16th T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Sat Sep 29 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 1 : 17th T20 - TBC vs TBC Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Sat Sep 29 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 1 : 18th T20 - TBC vs TBC Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Sun Sep 30 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 2 : 19th T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Sun Sep 30 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 2 : 20th T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Mon Oct 1 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 1 : 21st T20 - TBC vs TBC Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Mon Oct 1 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 1 : 22nd T20 - TBC vs TBC Pallekele Cricket Stadium, Kandy |
| Tue Oct 2 15:30 local | 10:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 2 : 23rd T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Tue Oct 2 19:30 local | 14:00 GMT | Super Eights, Group 2 : 24th T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Thu Oct 4 19:00 local | 13:30 GMT | 1st Semi Final T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Fri Oct 5 19:00 local | 13:30 GMT | 2nd Semi Final T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
| Sun Oct 7 19:00 local | 13:30 GMT | Final T20 - TBC vs TBC R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo |
Monday, September 3, 2012
Real fact behind the name of Orange Fruit
Have you ever wondered whether the fruit orange was named after the color orange or was it the other way around? The word orange comes from the Spanish word ‘naranja’. ‘naranja’ is derived from the Sanskrit word nāraṅga which means ‘orange
tree’. This particular word changed when it came to the English language over time and became orange. Around the sixteenth century, this particular word not only referred to the fruit but also to the color. So there you have it, the color was named after the fruit itself.
An Interesting tree with fruits in the shape of Women
There is an amazing tree found in Thailand. It is called as "Nareepol". Nareepol Tree is an amazing tree that grows fruit in the shape of women show the tree in Thailand. The meaning of Naree is "girl or woman" and Pol means plant or tree in Malay. You can find these trees in reality near Petchaboon province which is 500 Kms from Bangkok. The Nareepol tree in Thailand is drawing the attention of people all over the world. This is an amazing tree which grows fruits in the shape of a woman.
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