louas iris policies

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Sun

100 The Sun is the VIP at the centre of our Solar system. It is infrequently referred to as Sol to distinguish it from other "suns". Planet Earth orbits the Sun, as do a lot of other bodies, including other planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and dust. Its heat and light support almost all life on Earth.

The Sun has a mass of about 2×1030kg, which is not at all higher than that of an average star. About 74% of its mass is hydrogen, with 25% helium and the respite made up of trace quantities of heavier rudiments. It is thought that the Sun is about 5 billion years old, and is about half way through its key sequence evolution, during which nuclear fusion reactions in its core fuse hydrogen into helium. In about 5 billion years time the Sun will turn into a planetary nebula.

Although it is the bordering star to Earth and has been intensively studied by scientists, many questions about the Sun remain unanswered, such as why its outer atmosphere has a temperature of over 106 K when its able to be seen surface has a temperature of just 6,000 K.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Radio clock

A radio clock is a clock that is synchronized by a time code bit stream transmitted by a radio transmitter associated to a time standard such as an atomic clock. The picture shows a type of radio controlled digital clock. With special mechanism, radio controlled analog clocks are also available.
A radio controlled clock consists of an antenna for intercepting the RF time code signal, a receiving circuit to exchange the time code RF signal into digital time code, and a controller circuit to decode the time code bit streams and to drive an output circuit which can be LCD in case of digital clocks or stepping motors in case of analog clocks.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Orange

Orange refers to a citrus tree and the fruits of this tree. It is a hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo and tangerine. It is a small tree, growing to about 10 m tall, with thorny shoots and evergreen leaves 4-10 cm long. The fruit originated in southeast Asia, in either India, Vietnam or southern China. The fruit from the species Citrus aurantium are also called oranges, varieties of C. aurantium are more bitter than C. sinensis.
Cultivation and uses
'Ambersweet' orangesOrange cultivation is a major business and an significant part of the economies of the US, Florida and California, many Mediterranean countries, Romania, South Africa, China, and the Riverina district around the Murray River in Australia.
Oranges are generally grown in warm climates worldwide, and the flavors of orange vary from sweet to sour. The fruit is generally peeled and eaten fresh, or squeezed for its juice. It has a thick bitter rind that is usually discarded, but can be processed into animal feed by removing water using pressure and heat. It is also used in certain recipes as flavoring or a garnish. The outer-most layer of the rind is grated or thinly veneered with a tool called a zester, to produce orange zest which is popular in cooking because it has a similar flavor to the fleshy inner part of the orange. The white part of the rind, called the pith, is almost always discarded. Oranges also can be used to create citrus oil, which is used in aromatherapy to uplift and relieve stress.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Cold River (Maine)

The Cold River is a 16.4 mile long (26.5 km) river placed in western Maine in the United States. It very briefly enters New Hampshire as well. It is part of the Saco River drainage basin.

The Cold River begins at the height of land in Evans Notch, a pass through the eastern White Mountains. Maine Highway 113, a narrow two-lane road, passes through the notch, subsequent the Cold River on the south side and Evans Brook, a tributary of the Androscoggin River, on the north. The Cold River, flowing south, picks up the Mad River, a short stream with waterfalls that flows off the southern faces of East Royce and West Royce mountains, then reaches the southern base of Evans Notch at the junction of Basin Brook, coming out of a large glacial cirque to the west, where the Cold River national forest campground is located.

South of Basin Brook, the Cold River briefly enters New Hampshire near the village of North Chatham, then veers back into Maine, flowing south-southwest in the town of Stow through an ever-widening valley. The Little Cold River enters from the west near the village of Stow. The Cold River ends at Charles Pond in the northern corner of Fryeburg. Water flows from Charles Pond via the short Charles River, entering the Old Course of the Saco River and finally the Saco itself south of Kezar Pond.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Rameswaram

Rameswaram (Chennai to Rameswaram 572 km) is a small island in the Gulf of Mannar, is a major pilgrim centre. It is linked to the mainland by road and railway bridges. Rameswaram is a holy place because Sri Rama, on his return from Sri Lanka, offered his thanks to Lord Shiva and performed pooja to wash away his sin in killing the Demon King, Ravana.
Rameswaram is known for its 22 theerthas or wells in and around the main temple. This place is evenly sacred to both Vaishnavites and Shaivites. According to Hindu Mythology, if one visits Rameswaram and prays to Lord Shiva one will be relieved of one’s sins. It is 197 metres long.
The Ramanathaswamy temple is famous for its magnificent corridors and massive sculptured pillars. The third corridor of Ramanathaswamy temple is the longest one in the world.
Besides pilgrimage, Rameswaram Island has some places, which are ideal picnic spots. There are beautiful beaches at Olaikuda, Dhanushkodi and Pamban. The Olaikuda beach is 1 km from the main temple and s engulfed by coral reefs, which makes bathing in the sea safe and enjoyable. With diving glasses and respiration tubes, scuba diving is safe and possible. Flamingos, sea gulls and a variety of birds travel to the Rameswaram Island during winter.
Rameswaram is a main fishing centre of Tamil Nadu. Variety of fishes with export quality fish like prawns, sea cucumber, and lobster are available here. Rameswaram is also famous for its dry fish.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is known as the Red Planet due to its reddish look as seen from Earth. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. A terrestrial planet, Mars has a thin atmosphere and surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth. It has the peak mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons and the largest canyon, Valles Marineris. Mars' turning period and seasonal cycles are also related to those of the Earth.
Mars has two tiny natural moons, Phobos and Deimos, which orbit very close to the planet and are attention to be captured asteroids.
Both satellites were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall, and are named after the characters Phobos (panic/fear) and Deimos (terror/dread) who, in Greek mythology, accompanied their father Ares, god of war, into battle. Ares was known as Mars to the Romans.
From the surface of Mars, the motions of Phobos and Deimos appear very different from that of our own moon. Phobos rises in the west, sets in the east, and rises another time in just 11 hours. Deimos, being only just outside synchronous orbit—where the orbital period would match the planet's period of rotation—rises as expected in the east but very slowly. Despite the 30 hour orbit of Deimos, it takes 2.7 days to set in the west as it slowly falls behind the rotation of Mars, then just as long once more to rise.
Because Phobos' orbit is under synchronous altitude, the tidal forces from the planet Mars are slowly lowering its orbit. In about 50 million years it will either crash into Mars' surface or break up into a ring structure around Mars.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Spice

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food preservative for the purpose of flavoring.
Many of the same substances have other uses in which they are referred to by different terms, e. g. in food preservation, medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery or as vegetables. For example, turmeric is also used as a preservative; licorice as a medicine; garlic as a vegetable and nutmeg as a recreational drug.
Spices are illustrious from herbs, which are leafy, green plant parts used for flavoring purposes. Herbs, such as basil or oregano, may be used fresh, and are normally chopped into smaller pieces; spices, however, are dried and usually ground into a powder.