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| La Paz - The World's Most Dangerous Road |
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| YungasRoad |
Posted in: General NewsFriday, February 25, 2011
The Most Dangerous Road In the World
Posted in: General NewsWorld's Most Expensive Houses
The Updown court- most expensive house in the world
The Updown Court complex, housed at Windlesham, England is not only known as one of the most important residential complexes in and around London, it is also the worlds most expensive house floating in the market. Launched in the market for sale at 70,000,000 pounds ($110,684,000 US dollars) it is also the largest residential construction in the United Kingdom since the 19th century.
The history of the Updown Court has not been as vibrant as its present and near past. Originally, it was built in an area spanning 58 acres of land, with an in-built lake and woodlands. The initial building was completed in 1924 and was supposed to house the prince of Egypt- Sam Gaye. Unfortunately, the whole area was burnt and devastated in an ugly fire during 1987. It was Leslie Allen Vercoe, a designer by profession, who then went on to buy this burnt-out reminiscent of the original property. It was purchased by him for roughly $40 million at that time.
After purchasing the property, Vercoe had teamed up with John Scholz, and architect from Arizona and an Irish bank to reconstruct, re-design and fund the mansion. The bank has supplied funds to the tune of $60 million since then to Vercoe, which he has invested on beautifying the property further. From Guatemalan marble in the bathrooms to a dual natured staircase and trey slated rooftops, the house contains the best in modern contemporary designing. All these things have contributed a great deal in making Updown Court the worlds most expensive house. Up to this day the house remains unsold.
For now it seems that no one can afford this magnificent house. The house has been opened to the public very few times and there are a lot things that make the worlds most expensive house worth the money. The estate has more than 100 rooms, out of which each of the 24 bedrooms has their own marble laden ultra-luxurious bathrooms. You enter the house through a drive-way, which alone is said to be priced at $3 million.
The Updown Court has everything that is necessary for making the worlds most expensive house stand up to the expectations of its inhabitants. It has two bowling alleys, a tennis court which is floodlit, and five swimming pools with varying difficulty levels and a squash court also. The worlds most expensive house is also one of the safest, as it has an emergency panic room, designed to provide protection in the even of a terrorist or military attack. The underground garage with granite flooring can house up to eight limousines at a time.
The Updown Court also has a cinema hall, with a seating capacity of up to 50 people. Apart from these features and facilities, the worlds most expensive house has expensive terraces, covered with Italian flooring of at least 30 known kinds, a wine cellar and two separate penthouses, occupying a full section of the house. The main living area is said to be on the first floor, which contains eight tastefully appointed bedroom suits with lush terraces and great view.
The worlds most expensive house is not that cheap to maintain either. According to reports, the estimated cost of upkeep of this property amounts to 250,000 pounds per month. The Updown Court has had a lot of coverage from various magazines around the world, with the Business week giving it the title of being a “billionaire’s statement house”. Apart from all the hype and the publicity, relatively very less is known about the actual inhabitants of the house and their lifestyles. One can only infer that being the next-door neighbor of Elton John and the Duchess of York is not everybody’s cup of tea and therefore, the worlds most expensive house is bound to be a lavish extravaganza, nonetheless.
The history of the Updown Court has not been as vibrant as its present and near past. Originally, it was built in an area spanning 58 acres of land, with an in-built lake and woodlands. The initial building was completed in 1924 and was supposed to house the prince of Egypt- Sam Gaye. Unfortunately, the whole area was burnt and devastated in an ugly fire during 1987. It was Leslie Allen Vercoe, a designer by profession, who then went on to buy this burnt-out reminiscent of the original property. It was purchased by him for roughly $40 million at that time.
After purchasing the property, Vercoe had teamed up with John Scholz, and architect from Arizona and an Irish bank to reconstruct, re-design and fund the mansion. The bank has supplied funds to the tune of $60 million since then to Vercoe, which he has invested on beautifying the property further. From Guatemalan marble in the bathrooms to a dual natured staircase and trey slated rooftops, the house contains the best in modern contemporary designing. All these things have contributed a great deal in making Updown Court the worlds most expensive house. Up to this day the house remains unsold.
For now it seems that no one can afford this magnificent house. The house has been opened to the public very few times and there are a lot things that make the worlds most expensive house worth the money. The estate has more than 100 rooms, out of which each of the 24 bedrooms has their own marble laden ultra-luxurious bathrooms. You enter the house through a drive-way, which alone is said to be priced at $3 million.
The Updown Court has everything that is necessary for making the worlds most expensive house stand up to the expectations of its inhabitants. It has two bowling alleys, a tennis court which is floodlit, and five swimming pools with varying difficulty levels and a squash court also. The worlds most expensive house is also one of the safest, as it has an emergency panic room, designed to provide protection in the even of a terrorist or military attack. The underground garage with granite flooring can house up to eight limousines at a time.
The Updown Court also has a cinema hall, with a seating capacity of up to 50 people. Apart from these features and facilities, the worlds most expensive house has expensive terraces, covered with Italian flooring of at least 30 known kinds, a wine cellar and two separate penthouses, occupying a full section of the house. The main living area is said to be on the first floor, which contains eight tastefully appointed bedroom suits with lush terraces and great view.
The worlds most expensive house is not that cheap to maintain either. According to reports, the estimated cost of upkeep of this property amounts to 250,000 pounds per month. The Updown Court has had a lot of coverage from various magazines around the world, with the Business week giving it the title of being a “billionaire’s statement house”. Apart from all the hype and the publicity, relatively very less is known about the actual inhabitants of the house and their lifestyles. One can only infer that being the next-door neighbor of Elton John and the Duchess of York is not everybody’s cup of tea and therefore, the worlds most expensive house is bound to be a lavish extravaganza, nonetheless.
Other Expensive Houses Of The World
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| Anguilla |
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| Trump Most Expensive house Mansion Florida |
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| Villa Leopolda |
The house is owned by Lily Safra, widow of Edmond Safra, a Lebanese banker who was killed by an arsonist’s fire in Monaco in 2003. Within few years, the news came that the house was bought by Bill Gates and became the worlds most prized estate. The estate is spread over two guest houses across 20 acres of grounds with countless olive, cypress and lemon trees taken care by 50 gardeners.
Posted in: General NewsThursday, February 24, 2011
The crowd grew angry over the prolonged wait for tickets---World Cup cricket fans clash with police in India
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| World Cup cricket fans clash with police in India |
Fans queuing outside the Chinnaswamy stadium in the Indian city of Bangalore to buy tickets for the cricket World Cup have clashed with police.
Television pictures showed policemen hitting dozens of fans on their legs and backs.Many of the fans had been waiting since Wednesday night. Reports said they were angered by the shortage of tickets available for purchase at the venue.
Bangalore is to host Sunday's World Cup showdown between India and England.
According to reports, barely 8,000 tickets are up for sale at the stadium which can accommodate 40,000 people.
The BBC's Alison Mitchell, who is in Bangalore, says that there were chaotic scenes on Thursday - tickets for the match were on sale from early in the morning and people started queuing the night before.
Our correspondent says that the queues snaked around stadium, holding up traffic on a busy road outside.
Police used batons to control them and unconfirmed reports say that some suffered serious injuries in crushes by the ticket booths.
When the available tickets sold out in two-and-a-half hours, thousands of fans were disappointed, although the crowd dispersed quickly.
Mishandling The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that ticket sales have been a huge problem for the organisers - only a few thousand tickets are available for the general public because the bulk of them have been given away to sponsors and commercial partners.
There were chaotic scenes as the police struggled to restore order
The match was originally scheduled to be held in Calcutta's Eden Gardens but was later moved to Bangalore after the International Cricket Council (ICC) said it was with unhappy with the preparations.Karnataka State Cricket Association Secretary Javagal Srinath said that he had no regrets about the match being switched to Bangalore despite the disturbances.
"There were 7,000 tickets that were issued for sale today," he said.
"Also, we had to honour the Calcutta commitment. So in total we had 15,000 tickets available for sale through the gate.
"We are trying to cover as much as possible. But for a match of this magnitude, even if you double or triple [the capacity], it's not enough."
'Sporadic incident'
Mr Bidari said that no-one was hurt in the incident and that police only attempted to regulate an unruly section of a crowd numbering more than 20,000 people outside the stadium.
"They were jostling with each other. We had to use mild force to make sure that people did not fall over each other and injure themselves," he said.
"It was a sporadic incident and the situation was brought under control within three to four minutes."
The ICC has now written to the Indian organisers of the World Cup complaining about mishandling of ticket sales and distribution.
Police said that the disturbance was quickly dealt with
On Monday, an official website selling tickets for the final crashed after millions of people tried to log on. Many others who had bought tickets online up to six months ago have still not received them.The clashes on Thursday are the latest mishap to hit India's World Cup arrangements.
Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, the venue for the final, was only given clearance to host matches by the city's fire department earlier this week.
England fans were strongly critical when news of the venue change to Bangalore first emerged earlier this month. Many complained that they had been left out of pocket.
The 27 February showdown with India was switched to the city after it was ruled that Calcutta's iconic Eden Gardens would not be ready in time.
"They'd bought tickets, booked flights and accommodation and now it has been pulled last minute," England supporter Paul Burnham told the BBC at the time of the switch.
The match between 1983 champions India and three-time runners-up England at Eden Gardens was to be one of the highlights of the month-long World Cup group stage, with tickets first going on sale last June.
Eden Gardens, which held 90,000 people before its recent renovation, is a place of pilgrimage for international cricketers and fans, having first hosted a Test in 1934 and staged the 1987 World Cup final when Australia beat England.
Posted in: CricketHow To Insure Your Life trough World Wide
Life Insurance Basics – It's Not As Bad As You Think
The life insurance policy pays a death benefit to a named beneficiary (which is stipulated in the contract by the policy owner) upon the death of the insured.
Life insurance was originally designed as a way to help pay for burial costs. However, today, life insurance is used for a wide variety of purposes both personal and business including insuring the life of business owners (to keep the business operating after the owner's death), key employees, supplemental retirement income, defined benefit plans, to protect an individual's pension benefits (i.e. "pension max"), and traditional income replacement (in the event of the death of either spouse).
Today's life insurance contracts also include suicide provisions to prevent insurance companies from having to pay claims on policies where the insured has committed suicide within the first two years of the policy. Insurance companies also require that there be an "insurable interest" between the policy owner and the insured (to help prevent a conflict of interest between the owner of a policy and the person being insured).
While not technically accurate, financial advisers and insurance agents tend to divide insurance contracts into the two different "types": term insurance (temporary) and cash value insurance (permanent).
Term insurance is temporary or "pure" insurance. The policy owner pays a defined amount of money for a specific amount of death benefit. When payments stop, the insurance ends. Term policies tend to be very inexpensive when the insured is very young, and are guaranteed to get more expensive as the insured becomes older. Due to expected mortality rates, term policies also tend to have a very low payout ratio which is estimated to be between 1% – 3%.
Cash value policies are often defined by insurance companies as "a death benefit with a savings component". This "savings component" is actually a cash reserve that is designed to grow in value until the reserve equals the death benefit. In the beginning, the policy owner pays for the death benefit and an additional amount of money is set aside in a cash value account which is part of the insurance contract. With each premium payment, the costs associated with mortality and other expenses are either guaranteed to decrease every year – in the case of whole life – or is expected to decrease every year – in the case of universal life (if the level death benefit option is elected).
A unique feature of cash value policies is that the cash value is allowed to grow income tax deferred. The money can then be withdrawn or a loan can be taken against the cash value if it is ever needed. The interest credited (earned) to a cash value policy is normally comparable to other competing savings instruments such as bonds, bank CDs, or high yield savings accounts. The major difference is that life insurance cash values grow tax deferred inside the policy and can be accessed on a tax-free basis unlike other savings options.
A Word About Buying Life Insurance
Many individuals attempt to use online calculators or quoting software or simply pick an arbitrary amount of life insurance that they "feel" is the right amount. However, they could be purchasing too much or too little insurance.
For example, such factors as personal financial goals, age, annual income, when an individual plans on retiring, total debt (including mortgage debt), number of children, the investment experience of the other spouse, expected pension benefits, expected social security benefits, and so on must all be taken into account when purchasing life insurance.
Even after all of this analyzing is done, the advice of a good financial professional can be invaluable in helping you figure out how to comfortably afford your new policy.
Posted in: Life InsuranceWhole life insurance--History ,Terms,Types,Requirements, Guarantees And Liquidity.
Whole Life Insurance, or Whole of Life Assurance (in the Commonwealth), is a life insurance policy that remains in force for the insured's whole life and requires (in most cases) premiums to be paid every year into the policy.
| History |
All life insurance was originally term insurance. However, because term life insurance only pays a claim upon death within the stated term, a number of term insurance policy holders became upset over the idea that they could be paying premiums for 20 or 30 years and then wind up with nothing to show for it.
In response to market pressures, actuaries conceived of an insurance policy with level premium payments that were higher than traditional term insurance contracts. These contracts would offer a "cash value", which was designed to be a cash reserve that would build up against the known claim - the death benefit. These policies would also credit interest to the cash value account and upon maturity of the contract (usually at age 95 or 100), the cash value would equal the death benefit.
This produced a benefit to both the policy owner and the insurance company. By guaranteeing the death benefit, the policy owner was assured that insurance coverage would be in force when the insured died. The insurance company benefited because with every premium payment made, 30% is overcharge and pure profit, and thus the cost of insurance, is able to increase, while premiums remain the same.
Types
There are several types of whole life insurance policies. New York State defines six traditional forms: non-participating (aka "non par"), participating, indeterminate premium, economic, limited pay, and single premium. A newer type is known generally as interest sensitive whole life. Other jurisdictions may classify them differently, and not all companies offer all types. There are as many types of insurance policies as can be written in their contracts while staying within the law's guidelines.
Non-Participating
All values related to the policy (death benefits, cash surrender values, premiums) are usually determined at policy issue, for the life of the contract, and usually cannot be altered after issue.
This means that the insurance company assumes all risk of future performance versus the actuaries' estimates. If future claims are underestimated, the insurance company makes up the difference. On the other hand, if the actuaries' estimates on future death claims are high, the insurance company will retain the difference.
Participating
In a participating policy (also par in the USA, and known as a with-profits policy in the Commonwealth), the insurance company shares the excess profits (variously called dividends or refunds in the USA, bonus in the Commonwealth) with the policyholder. Typically these refunds are not taxable because they are considered an overcharge of premium. The greater the overcharge by the company, the greater the refund/dividend. For a mutual life insurance company, participation also implies a degree of ownership of the mutuality.
Indeterminate Premium
Similar to non-participating, except that the premium may vary year to year. However, the premium will never exceed the maximum premium guaranteed in the policy.
Economic
A blending of participating and term life insurance, wherein a part of the dividends is used to purchase additional term insurance. This can generally yield a higher death benefit, at a cost to long term cash value. In some policy years the dividends may be below projections, causing the death benefit in those years to decrease.
Limited Pay
Similar to a participating policy, but instead of paying annual premiums for life, they are only due for a certain number of years, such as 20. The policy may also be set up to be fully paid up at a certain age, such as 65 or 80.The policy itself continues for the life of the insured. These policies would typically cost more up front, since the insurance company needs to build up sufficient cash value within the policy during the payment years to fund the policy for the remainder of the insured's life.
Single Premium
A form of limited pay, where the pay period is a single large payment up front. These policies typically have fees during early policy years should the policyholder cash it in.
Interest Sensitive
This type is fairly new, and is also known as either excess interest or current assumption whole life. The policies are a mixture of traditional whole life and universal life. Instead of using dividends to augment guaranteed cash value accumulation, the interest on the policy's cash value varies with current market conditions. Like whole life, death benefit remains constant for life. Like universal life, the premium payment might vary, but not above the maximum premium guaranteed within the policy.
Requirements
Whole life insurance typically requires that the owner pay premiums for the life of the policy. There are some arrangements that let the policy be "paid up", which means that no further payments are ever required, in as few as 5 years, or with even a single large premium. Typically if the payor doesn't make a large premium payment at the outset of the life insurance contract, then he is not allowed to begin making them later in the contract life. However, some whole life contracts offer a rider to the policy which allows for a one time, or occasional, large additional premium payment to be made as long as a minimal extra payment is made on a regular schedule. In contrast, Universal life insurance generally allows more flexibility in premium payment.
Guarantees
The company generally will guarantee that the policy's cash values will increase regardless of the performance of the company or its experience with death claims (again compared to universal life insurance and variable universal life insurance which can increase the costs and decrease the cash values of the policy).
Liquidity
Cash values are considered liquid enough to be used for investment capital, but only if the owner is financially healthy enough to continue making premium payments (Single premium whole life policies avoid the risk of the insured failing to make premium payments and are liquid enough to be used as collateral. Single premium policies require that the insured pay a one time premium that tends to be lower than the split payments. Because these policies are fully paid at inception, they have no financial risk and are liquid and secure enough to be used as collateral under the insurance clause of collateral assignment.)Cash value access is tax free up to the point of total premiums paid, and the rest may be accessed tax free in the form of policy loans. If the policy lapses, taxes would be due on outstanding loans. If the insured dies, death benefit is reduced by the amount of any outstanding loan balance.
Posted in: Whole Life InsuranceWednesday, February 23, 2011
Volunteering in Mexico and Central America
An Overview, Top Tips, and Recommended Organizations
Many international volunteers, especially those from North America, find Mexico and Central America to be inviting and exciting places to serve. Easier and cheaper to get to than Africa and Asia, this region offers a huge range of volunteer opportunities from working with street children in Mexico City to counting butterflies in the rainforests of Cost Rica.
I first volunteered in Central America in 1986, and I still recall the feeling in my muscles while mixing cement with a shovel on a sister city project in Nicaragua; the sound of Mayan mothers patting homemade tortillas into shape; and the taste of fruit juice served in little plastic bags from a corner street vender in Managua. In Mexico and Central America, I fell in love with Spanish, Latin food, and the Meso-American approach to life.
Since then, I have interviewed dozens of volunteers who agree with me. Mexico and Central America are inviting, culturally rich places to volunteer.
Popular options for volunteers in Mexico and Central America include:
Working with children. Due to the tourism industry and economic globalization, there is a demand for volunteers to teach English. Throughout Latin America, vibrant nonprofit and faith-based communities provide a plethora of opportunities to work with young people in orphanages, afterschool programs, and cultural centers.
Providing health services. Many clinics and hospitals in the region are underserved and volunteers in the health sector, especially doctors, nurses, PAs, and physical therapists are in demand.
Promoting environmental conservation. From sea turtle conservation to promotion of fair trade coffee and sustainable agriculture, there are abundant opportunities to volunteer to help protect the environment.
Here are some top tips for volunteering in Latin America:
Study the language: Your ability to volunteer effectively in Mexico or Central America will be greatly enhanced if you speak at least some Spanish. Consider making language study part of your volunteer experience -- take a Spanish class before leaving home, start off your volunteer experience with a Spanish language program, or volunteer with an organization that offers language training as part of the volunteer experience.
Of course, Spanish is not the only language spoken in the region. In Belize and the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua, most locals speak English or English-based Creole. Among indigenous communities in Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama, Spanish is widely but not universally spoken.
Consider regional differences: In Mexico and Central America, regional differences within countries are almost as wide as between countries. For example, in Mexico, you could volunteer with impoverished communities just south of the Rio Grande, a sophisticated cultural center in the underappreciated capital Mexico City, an indigenous community in Oaxaca, or an environmental organization in Baja.
In most parts of Guatemala you’ll experience the indigenous majority which has kept Mayan languages and cultures alive despite centuries of repression, but in the capital you will find significant pockets of Mestizo communities with connections to Europe. In Panama you can experience African influenced communities as well as Kuna and other indigenous communities that have preserved their land, art, and language. Consider these regional differences as you plan your experience—are you most excited by the idea of living in the rainforest in Costa Rica or working with Mayan children in a Guatemalan school?
Know the history. The best volunteer programs in this region will provide not only opportunities for meaningful service you opportunities to learn about the culture, history, and politics of the country where you are volunteering. Especially in Central America, the United States has a history of intervention as well as international citizen solidarity. It will serve you well to learn the context of international volunteering in the region.
Protect your health. Dengue fever, hepatitis, and intestinal disease are common throughout Latin America. Make sure to get all recommended shots and evacuation insurance before you leave home. To avoid serious stomach troubles, I always travel with acidophilus and a back up pre-filled prescription for antibiotics. Do not assume you can get a prescription filled away from home. In an emergency, call your embassy and get an embassy- recommended doctor. Don’t swim outside of designated areas and even then only after you know about local currents.
If you prepare yourself well, chose the right volunteer program, and make an effort to stay safe, volunteering in Mexico or Latin America can be a transformational experience that enriches your life with new skills, heightened cultural understanding, and deep friendships.
Recommended Organizations
Here are top organizations to consider for Mexico and Central America based on six years of research for the book I co-wrote, How to Live Your Dream of Volunteering Overseas.
For professionals with more money than time: Cross Cultural Solutions is a reputable organization with short-term opportunities in Guatemala and Costa Rica. Earthwatch Institute offers opportunities to help scientists gather data with researchers ranging from counting caterpillars in Costa Rican forests or tagging conches in Belize.
For high school students: Amigos de las Americas has decades of experience providing meaningful service and leadership opportunities. Global Routes combines overseas travel and service for young people.
For college students. Institute for Central American Development Studies (ICADS) provides summer language study and internships. Break Away is a wonderful resource for students interested in alternative spring breaks.
If you want to learn Spanish while you serve: I recommend Pop Wuj, a language school in Guatemala run by indigenous Mayan teachers. Most language schools offer opportunities to volunteer, but at Pop Wuj, volunteering is an integral part of the language experience. ICADS, mentioned above, also does a great job of integrating the two.
For family or intergenerational trips: Global Volunteers provides family opportunities in Mexico and Costa Rica and Exploritas, formerly Elderhostel offers special intergenerational trips for folks volunteering with their grandchildren, including Chocolate and the Maya: A Service Adventure in Belize.
For medical professionals: I suggest Health Volunteers Overseas.
For longer term volunteer options: Visions in Action offers programs in Mexico that are appropriate for progressive and independent volunteers who do not need much support. World Teach offers more support and provides opportunities to teach English in Costa Rica.
International Volunteer Programs Association (IVPA), www.volunteerinternational.org, is an alliance of non-governmental organizations involved in international volunteer work and internship exchanges.
In many parts of the region, if you already speak Spanish, you could consider setting up an independent volunteer experience. Posted in: SocialTuesday, February 22, 2011
Top Quotes---Love quotes
Anthony Robbins
I think there is something, more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren’t enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision.
Good actions give strength to ourselves
and inspire good actions in others.
Plato
Great effort springs naturally from a great attitude.
Pat Riley
Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
Brian Tracy
“An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist sees only the red stoplight…
The truly wise person is colorblind.”
Albert Schweitzer
“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt
The man who has no imagination has no wings. Mahummad Ali
“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”
Albert Camus
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas Edison
Love Quotes plays very important part in the life of every couple whether it’s a Boyfriend-Girlfriend, Husband-Wife, Beloved etc.
Here are few Top most love quotes of all time which you can share with your beloved.
1. “A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous.”
Ingrid Bergmen
2. “If you love me only in my dreams, let me be asleep forever.”
–Unknown
3. “My night has become a sunny dawn because of you.”
–Ibn Abbad
4. “In real love you want the other person’s good. In romantic love you want the other person.”
5. “In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.”
–Janos Arnay
6. “The soul that can speak with its eyes can also kiss with a gaze.”
–Unknown
7. “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
–Aristotle
8. “Each moment of a happy lover’s hour is worth an age of dull and common life.”
–Aphra Behn
9. “Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.”
–Sarah Bernhardt
10. “In my wildest dreams, you always play the hero. In my darkest hour of night, you rescue me, you save my life.”
–Bliss and Cerney
11. “Come live with me and be my love, and we will some new pleasures prove, of golden sands, and crystal beaches, with silken lines and silver hooks…”
–John Dunne
12. “What I do and what I dream include thee, as the wine must taste of its own grapes…”
–Elizabeth Barret Browning
13. “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach…”
–Elizabeth Barrett Browning
14. “Take away love, and our earth is a tomb.”
–Robert Browning
15. “But to see her was to love her, love but her, and love her forever.”
–Robert Burns
16. “She walks in Beauty, like the night
Of cloudness climes and starry skies,
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes…”
–Lord Byron
17. “Like music on the waters is they sweet voice to me.”
–Lord Byron
18. “I love you, not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you.”
–Roy Croft
19. “You’re nothing short of my everything.”
–Ralph Block
20. “The only true gift is a portion of yourself.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
21. “Thou art to me a delicious torment.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
22. “Love distills desire upon the eyes, love brings bewitching grace into the heart.”
–Euripides
23. “I love her and that’s the beginning of everything.”
–F. Scott Fitzgerald
24. “I wished for nothing beyond her smile, and to walk with her thus, hand in hand, along a sun-warmed, flower-bordered path.”
–Andre Gide
25. “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
–Robert Heinlein
26. “Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”
–Oliver Wendell Holmes
27. “What I feel for you seems less of earth and more of a cloudless heaven.”
–Victor Hugo
28. “It’s so easy, To think about Love, To Talk about Love, To wish for Love, But it’s not always easy, To recognize Love, Even when we hold it…. In our hands.”
–Jaka
29. “Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.”
–John Keats
30. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
–Helen Keller
31. “… See there’s this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It’s the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me.”
–Gretchen Kemp
32. “When you came, you were like red wine and honey, and the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.”
–Amy Lowell
33. “Make me immortal with a kiss.”
–Christopher Marlowe
34. “Oh, thou art fairer than the evening air Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.”
–Christopher Marlowe
35. “Love is the enchanted dawn of every heart.”
–Alphonse Marie de la Martine
36. “In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.”
–Mignon McLaughlin
37. “We came by night to the Fortunate Isles, And lay like fish Under the net of our kisses.”
–Pablo Neruda
38. “The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain signing to it…you and you alone make me feel that I am alive…Other men, it is said, have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough.”
–George Moore
39. “In love there are two things: bodies and words.”
–Joyce Carol Oates
40. “I become a waterwheel, turning and tasting you, as long as water moves.”
–Rumi
41. “I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal.”
–Vita Sackville-West
42. “Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery
43. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
–Antoine de Saint-Exupery
44. “There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.”
–George Sand
45. “Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away; and all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart.”
–Robert
46. “My heart is ever at your service.”
–William Shakespeare
47. “The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”
–William Shakespeare
48. “Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.”
–Alexander Smith
49. “I am my beloved, and my beloved is me.”
–Song of Solomon
50. “Her breath is like honey spiced with cloves, Her mouth delicious as a ripened mango.”
–Srzgarakarika
Posted in: QuotesMonday, February 21, 2011
Environmental Pollution ,And Forms,Sources And Causes,And Effects Of Pollution
Air pollution from World War II weapon production in Alabama
Ancient cultures
Air pollution has always been with us. According to a 1983 article in the journal Science, "soot found on ceilings of prehistoric caves provides ample evidence of the high levels of pollution that was associated with inadequate ventilation of open fires." The forging of metals appears to be a key turning point in the creation of significant air pollution levels outside the home. Core samples of glaciers in Greenland indicate increases in pollution associated with Greek, Roman and Chinese metal production.Modern awareness
Pollution began to draw major public attention in the United States between the mid-1950s and early 1970s, when Congress passed the Noise Control Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.
Bad bouts of local pollution helped increase consciousness. PCB dumping in the Hudson River resulted in a ban by the EPA on consumption of its fish in 1974. Long-term dioxin contamination at Love Canal starting in 1947 became a national news story in 1978 and led to the Superfund legislation of 1980. Legal proceedings in the 1990s helped bring to light Chromium-6 releases in California--the champions of whose victims became famous. The pollution of industrial land gave rise to the name brownfield, a term now common in city planning. DDT was banned in most of the developed world after the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
The development of nuclear science introduced radioactive contamination, which can remain lethally radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. Lake Karachay, named by the Worldwatch Institute as the "most polluted spot" on earth, served as a disposal site for the Soviet Union thoroughout the 1950s and 1960s. Second place may go to the area of Chelyabinsk U.S.S.R. (see reference below) as the "Most polluted place on the planet".
Nuclear weapons continued to be tested in the Cold War, sometimes near inhabited areas, especially in the earlier stages of their development. The toll on the worst-affected populations and the growth since then in understanding about the critical threat to human health posed by radioactivity has also been a prohibitive complication associated with nuclear power. Though extreme care is practiced in that industry, the potential for disaster suggested by incidents such as those at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl pose a lingering specter of public mistrust. One legacy of nuclear testing before most forms were banned has been significantly raised levels of background radiation.
International catastrophes such as the wreck of the Amoco Cadiz oil tanker off the coast of Brittany in 1978 and the Bhopal disaster in 1984 have demonstrated the universality of such events and the scale on which efforts to address them needed to engage. The borderless nature of atmosphere and oceans inevitably resulted in the implication of pollution on a planetary level with the issue of global warming. Most recently the term persistent organic pollutant (POP) has come to describe a group of chemicals such as PBDEs and PFCs among others. Though their effects remain somewhat less well understood owing to a lack of experimental data, they have been detected in various ecological habitats far removed from industrial activity such as the Arctic, demonstrating diffusion and bioaccumulation after only a relatively brief period of widespread use.
Growing evidence of local and global pollution and an increasingly informed public over time have given rise to environmentalism and the environmental movement, which generally seek to limit human impact on the environment.
Forms of pollution
The Lachine Canal in Montreal Canada, is polluted.
- Air pollution, the release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere. Common gaseous air pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles. Photochemical ozone and smog are created as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons react to sunlight. Particulate matter, or fine dust is characterized by their micrometre size PM10 to PM2.5.
- Light pollution, includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical interference.
- Littering
- Noise pollution, which encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, industrial noise as well as high-intensity sonar.
- Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground leakage. Among the most significant soil contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy metals, MTBE, herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons.
- Radioactive contamination, resulting from 20th century activities in atomic physics, such as nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons research, manufacture and deployment. (See alpha emitters and actinides in the environment.)
- Thermal pollution, is a temperature change in natural water bodies caused by human influence, such as use of water as coolant in a power plant.
- Visual pollution, which can refer to the presence of overhead power lines, motorway billboards, scarred landforms (as from strip mining), open storage of trash or municipal solid waste.
- Water pollution, by the release of waste products and contaminants into surface runoff into river drainage systems, leaching into groundwater, liquid spills, wastewater discharges, eutrophication and littering.
Pollutants
A pollutant is a waste material that pollutes air, water or soil. Three factors determine the severity of a pollutant: its chemical nature, the concentration and the persistence.Sources and causes
Air pollution comes from both natural and man made sources. Though globally man made pollutants from combustion, construction, mining, agriculture and warfare are increasingly significant in the air pollution equation.
About 400 million metric tons of hazardous wastes are generated each year. The United States alone produces about 250 million metric tons.Americans constitute less than 5% of the world's population, but produce roughly 25% of the world’s CO2, and generate approximately 30% of world’s waste. In 2007, China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest producer of CO2.
In February 2007, a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), representing the work of 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries, said that humans have been the primary cause of global warming since 1950. Humans have ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the consequences of global warming, a major climate report concluded. But in order to change the climate, the transition from fossil fuels like coal and oil needs to occur within decades, according to the final report this year from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Some of the more common soil contaminants are chlorinated hydrocarbons (CFH), heavy metals (such as chromium, cadmium--found in rechargeable batteries, and lead--found in lead paint, aviation fuel and still in some countries, gasoline), MTBE, zinc, arsenic and benzene. In 2001 a series of press reports culminating in a book called Fateful Harvest unveiled a widespread practice of recycling industrial byproducts into fertilizer, resulting in the contamination of the soil with various metals. Ordinary municipal landfills are the source of many chemical substances entering the soil environment (and often groundwater), emanating from the wide variety of refuse accepted, especially substances illegally discarded there, or from pre-1970 landfills that may have been subject to little control in the U.S. or EU. There have also been some unusual releases of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, commonly called dioxins for simplicity, such as TCDD.
Pollution can also be the consequence of a natural disaster. For example, hurricanes often involve water contamination from sewage, and petrochemical spills from ruptured boats or automobiles. Larger scale and environmental damage is not uncommon when coastal oil rigs or refineries are involved. Some sources of pollution, such as nuclear power plants or oil tankers, can produce widespread and potentially hazardous releases when accidents occur.
In the case of noise pollution the dominant source class is the motor vehicle, producing about ninety percent of all unwanted noise worldwide.
Effects
Human health
Adverse air quality can kill many organisms including humans. Ozone pollution can cause respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, throat inflammation, chest pain, and congestion. Water pollution causes approximately 14,000 deaths per day, mostly due to contamination of drinking water by untreated sewage in developing countries. An estimated 700 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian children die of diarrhoeal sickness every day. Nearly 500 million Chinese lack access to safe drinking water.656,000 people die prematurely each year in China because of air pollution. In India, air pollution is believed to cause 527,700 fatalities a year. Studies have estimated that the number of people killed annually in the US could be over 50,000.
Oil spills can cause skin irritations and rashes. Noise pollution induces hearing loss, high blood pressure, stress, and sleep disturbance. Mercury has been linked to developmental deficits in children and neurologic symptoms. Older people are majorly exposed to diseases induced by air pollution. Those with heart or lung disorders are under additional risk. Children and infants are also at serious risk. Lead and other heavy metals have been shown to cause neurological problems. Chemical and radioactive substances can cause cancer and as well as birth defects.
Environment
Pollution has been found to be present widely in the environment. There are a number of effects of this:- Biomagnification describes situations where toxins (such as heavy metals) may pass through trophic levels, becoming exponentially more concentrated in the process.
- Carbon dioxide emissions cause ocean acidification, the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans as CO2 becomes dissolved.
- The emission of greenhouse gases leads to global warming which affects ecosystems in many ways.
- Invasive species can out compete native species and reduce biodiversity. Invasive plants can contribute debris and biomolecules (allelopathy) that can alter soil and chemical compositions of an environment, often reducing native species competitiveness.
- Nitrogen oxides are removed from the air by rain and fertilise land which can change the species composition of ecosystems.
- Smog and haze can reduce the amount of sunlight received by plants to carry out photosynthesis and leads to the production of tropospheric ozone which damages plants.
- Soil can become infertile and unsuitable for plants. This will affect other organisms in the food web.
- Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain which lowers the pH value of soil.
Environmental health information
The Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP) at the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) maintains a comprehensive toxicology and environmental health web site that includes access to resources produced by TEHIP and by other government agencies and organizations. This web site includes links to databases, bibliographies, tutorials, and other scientific and consumer-oriented resources. TEHIP also is responsible for the Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET®) an integrated system of toxicology and environmental health databases that are available free of charge on the web.TOXMAP is a Geographic Information System (GIS) that is part of TOXNET. TOXMAP uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory and Superfund Basic Research Programs.
Posted in: EnvironentGeographic information system
A geographic information system (GIS), geographical information system, or geospatial information system is any system that captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that are linked to location(s). In the simplest terms, GIS is the merging of cartography, statistical analysis, and database technology. GIS may be used in archaeology, geography, cartography, remote sensing, land surveying, public utility management, natural resource management, precision agriculture, photogrammetry, urban planning, emergency management, landscape architecture, navigation, aerial video, and localized search engines.
As GIS can be thought of as a system, it digitally creates and "manipulates" spatial areas that may be jurisdictional, purpose or application oriented for which a specific GIS is developed. Hence, a GIS developed for an application, jurisdiction, enterprise, or purpose may not be necessarily interoperable or compatible with a GIS that has been developed for some other application, jurisdiction, enterprise, or purpose. What goes beyond a GIS is a spatial data infrastructure (SDI), a concept that has no such restrictive boundaries.
Therefore, in a general sense, the term describes any information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information for informing decision making. GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries (user-created searches), analyze spatial information, edit data, maps, and present the results of all these operations. Geographic information science is the science underlying the geographic concepts, applications and systems.
Applications
GIS technology can be used for: earth surface based scientific investigations; resource management, reference, and projections of a geospatial nature—both manmade and natural; asset management and location planning; archaeology; environmental impact study; infrastructure assessment and development; urban planning; cartography, for a thematic and/or time based purpose; criminology; geospatial intelligence; GIS data development geographic history; marketing; logistics; population and demographic studies; prospectivity mapping; location attributes applied statistical analysis; warfare assessments; and other purposes. Examples of use are: GIS may allow emergency planners to easily calculate emergency response times and the movement of response resources (for logistics) in the case of a natural disaster; GIS might be used to find wetlands that need protection strategies regarding pollution; or GIS can be used by a company to site a new business location to take advantage of GIS data identified trends to respond to a previously under-served market. Most city and transportation systems planning offices have GIS sections.History of development
In 1854, John Snow depicted a cholera outbreak in London using points to represent the locations of some individual cases, possibly the earliest use of the geographic method. His study of the distribution of cholera led to the source of the disease, a contaminated water pump (the Broad Street Pump, whose handle he had disconnected, thus terminating the outbreak) within the heart of the cholera outbreak.
E. W. Gilbert's version (1958) of John Snow's 1855 map of the Soho cholera outbreak showing the clusters of cholera cases in the London epidemic of 1854.
While the basic elements of topography and theme existed previously in cartography, the John Snow map was unique, using cartographic methods not only to depict but also to analyze clusters of geographically dependent phenomena for the first time.
The early 20th century saw the development of photolithography, by which maps were separated into layers. Computer hardware development spurred by nuclear weapon research led to general-purpose computer "mapping" applications by the early 1960s.
The year 1960 saw the development of the world's first true operational GIS in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by the federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. Developed by Dr. Roger Tomlinson, it was called the "Canada Geographic Information System" (CGIS) and was used to store, analyze, and manipulate data collected for the Canada Land Inventory (CLI) – an effort to determine the land capability for rural Canada by mapping information about soils, agriculture, recreation, wildlife, waterfowl, forestry, and land use at a scale of 1:50,000. A rating classification factor was also added to permit analysis.
CGIS was the world's first such system and an improvement over "mapping" applications as it provided capabilities for overlay, measurement, and digitizing/scanning. It supported a national coordinate system that spanned the continent, coded lines as "arcs" having a true embedded topology, and it stored the attribute and locational information in separate files. As a result of this, Tomlinson has become known as the "father of GIS," particularly for his use of overlays in promoting the spatial analysis of convergent geographic data.[5] CGIS lasted into the 1990s and built a large digital land resource database in Canada. It was developed as a mainframe based system in support of federal and provincial resource planning and management. Its strength was continent-wide analysis of complex datasets. The CGIS was never available in a commercial form.
In 1964, Howard T Fisher formed the Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (LCGSA 1965-1991), where a number of important theoretical concepts in spatial data handling were developed, and which by the 1970s had distributed seminal software code and systems, such as 'SYMAP', 'GRID', and 'ODYSSEY' -- which served as literal and inspirational sources for subsequent commercial development—to universities, research centers, and corporations worldwide.
Posted in: Education
