The solar powered aircraft, the Sunseeker II will fly over Europe following its featured presentation at the e-flight expo(April 2-5)). The tour will be the largest journey for the Sunseeker since 1990, when its predecessor, Sunseeker I, crossed the United States in 21 flights, with 121 hours in the air. The new Sunseeker II has improved for better performance, including wing modifications, an increase in surface area for solar cells, more powerful motor and new lithium polymer batteries. The tour will cover 8 countries: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, France and Spain. Designed by aircraft mastermind Eric Raymond. 06 more images after the break...
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Pamban Bridge — India
The Pamban Bridge is a cantilever bridge on the Palk Strait connects Rameswaram on Pamban Island to mainland India. It refers to both the road bridge and the cantilever railway bridge, though primarily it means the latter. It was India's first sea bridge. It is the second longest sea bridge in India (after Bandra-Worli Sea Link) at a length of about 2.3 km. The rail bridge is for the most part, a conventional bridge resting on concrete piers, but has a double leaf bascule section midway, which can be raised to let ships and barges pass through. The railway bridge is 6,776 ft (2,065 m) and was opened for traffic in 1914. The railroad bridge is a still-functioning double-leaf bascule bridge section that can be raised to let ships pass under the bridge.
The railway bridge historically carried metre-gauge trains on it, but Indian Railways upgraded the bridge to carry broad-gauge trains in a project that finished Aug. 12, 2007. Until recently, the two leaves of the bridge were opened manually using levers by workers. About 10 ships — cargo carriers, coast guard ships, fishing vessels and oil tankers — pass through the bridge every month. From the elevated two-lane road bridge, adjoining islands and the parallel rail bridge below can be viewed.
After completion of bridge metre-gauge lines were laid by them from Mandapam up to Pamban Station, from here the railway lines bifurcated into two directions one towards Rameshwaram about 6.25 miles (10.06 km) up and another branch line of 15 miles (24 km) terminating at Dhanushkodi. The section was opened to traffic in 1914. 09 more images after the break...
The noted boat mail ran on this track between 1915 and 1964 from Madras-Egmore up to Dhanushkodi, from where the passengers were ferried to Talaimannar in Ceylon. The metre-gauge branch line from Pamban Junction to Dhanushkodi was abandoned after it was destroyed in a cyclone in 1964.
According to Dr Narayanan, the bridge is located at the "world's second highly corrosive environment", next to Miami, US, making the construction a challenging job. The location is also a cyclone-prone high wind velocity zone. This Bridge consist of 143 piers and the centre span is a Schrezers rolling type lift span. It's 220 ft (67 m) long and each of 100 tonnes.
On 13 January 2013 the bridge suffered minor damages when a naval barge that went adrift close to the Pamban Rail Bridge has collided on the century old structure that's vying for UNESCO's heritage status.The ship that was towing a naval barge from Kolkata to a port near Mumbai first went aground hitting rocks on the January 10 following bad weather. Disaster followed as the vessel remained stuck just 50 metres away from the rail bridge. The barge that was afloat around 100 metres away hit the Pamban Rail Bridge.
A middle aged man was appointed to roll the wheels up and down when ships arrive. Once he saw a train slowly approaching, while he was pulling back the bridge after a ship quietly passed beneath. He had to pull back quickly or else there would be a fatal accident and thousands would have died. At that time his 9 year old son came with lunch. When he saw his father struggling with the wheels, he kept the lunch box down and started helping him to roll the wheels to put the bridge back. Suddenly his son's finger got caught inside the wheel and he started crying out. At this time if the father tries to save his son, the bridge could not be put back on time. He had no other option but to ignore his son's cry. With all his strength he kept on rolling the wheels to down the bridge. As the wheels rolled on, his son slowly started slipping away into the huge machine. Tears rolled down his father's cheeks, but he ignored his son's cry. If he tried to save him, the train will surely fall into the sea and thousands of people will die. Slowly the boy's whole body fell into the machine and his father could hear his bones breaking one by one, until with a loud sound, his head cracked.
The train with thousands of passengers slowly rolled on the rails, without knowing what had happened there. Though this man performed his duty honestly he lost his only loving son. With extreme lamentation, he pulled out his son's body parts from the machine and held it close to his chest and cried bitterly. British Government honored him greatly and in memory of this incident they placed the picture at the entrance of the bridge.
This story is highly scattered all around the internet although at various forum discussions it has been seen that the above story is false. The bridge requires twelve people, six on each side, to manually operate its moving sections. Also, there is no such picture at the entrance of the bridge. And neither is this story known to locals as fact or hearsay from previous generations. The story seems to have been entirely manufactured on the internet.
The earliest known version of the story appears as Christian propaganda, and since then the story has been spread in many Catholic schools. The propaganda attempts to draw a parallel between the father's alleged sacrifice of his son, and the sacrifice of the Christian God in sending his son Jesus down to Earth. The propaganda itself, created in 2008, was not original, and was based off an award-winning 2003 Czech film, Most.
The Largest Aquarium in the World — Georgia Aquarium
The world’s largest aquarium is located in Atlanta, Georgia. It houses more than 120,000 animals, representing 500 species in 8.5 million gallons of water. There are 60 different habitats with 12,000 square feet of viewing windows, and it cost $290 million to build.
Georgia Aquarium was the result of the vision of one enterprising businessman Bernard Marcus, who dreamed of presenting Atlanta with an aquarium that would encourage both education and economic growth. Marcus was so inspired by aquariums that after visiting 56 of them in 13 countries with his wife, he donated $250 million toward what was to become Georgia Aquarium. Additional $40 million came in as corporate donations. The land was donated by the Coca Cola Company. 10 more images after the break...
The Georgia Aquarium has five separate galleries arranged around a central atrium. They are Georgia Explorer, Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold-Water Quest and River Scout. Tanks within the galleries house a diverse population of animals, including whales, sharks, penguins, otters, electric eels, rays, seahorses, sea stars, crabs and a variety of fish of all sizes.
The Ocean Voyager tank, the largest habitat, holds three-fourths of the aquarium's water and the aquarium's central attraction – the whale shark. A slow-moving conveyor belt takes visitors through a 100-foot acrylic tunnel under the tank, letting them view the fish from below. Other aquarium exhibits include the 800,000 gallon beluga whale enclosure, smaller tanks and multiple touch tanks where visitors can get hands-on experience with aquatic animals.
- Building and running such a huge complex is no easy task. The organization employs hundreds of staff that take care of everything from feeding the animals to cleaning the tanks, assisted by many dozens of computers that monitors tank levels, temperatures and pumping flow, all of which are critical to animal health and system operation.
- Below are some statistics that will give you an idea of the scale of operation in this gigantic facility:
- To fill the tanks, the aquarium pipes 8 million gallons of ordinary tap water mixed with 1.5 million pounds of salt to make it saline.
- 218 pumps, 141 sand filters and 70 protein skimmers keep the tank waters clean and habitable. These pumps move 261,000 gallons of water per minute. The tank turnover time -- the amount of time it takes for all the water in a tank to be filtered and cleaned – is two hours.
- To store food for the animals, the aquarium has a freezer that holds 20,000 pounds of food as well as a refrigerator that holds 6,000 pounds.
- To treat sick animals, the Georgia Aquarium has a veterinary services and conservation medicine facility in a 5,800 square foot unit with 15 people on staff, and it houses 26 treatment tanks (think hospital beds). The unit is fully equipped with a surgery and radiography unit with endoscopy, ultrasound and x-ray machines.
गौरैया की कहानी
बचपन की सबसे सुखद स्मृतियों में गौरैया जरूर आती है, क्योंकि सबसे पहले बच्चा इसी चिड़िया को पहचानना सीखता था। पड़ोस के लगभग हर घर में इनका घोंसला होता था। आंगन में या छत की मुंडेर पर वे दाना चुगती थीं। बस अड्डों और रेलवे स्टेशनों पर ये झुंड के झुंड फुदकती रहती थीं। प्राचीन काल से ही हमारे उल्लास, स्वतंत्रता, परंपरा और संस्कृति की संवाहक वही गौरैया अब संकट में है। संख्या में लगातार गिरावट से उसके विलुप्त होने का खतरा मंडरा रहा है। इसको बचाने के लिए दिल्ली सरकार ने पिछले साल इसे राजकीय पक्षी घोषित किया है :
सहचरी:
-घरों में धार्मिक कार्यक्रम और समारोहों में दीवारों पर चित्रकारी करने में फूल-पत्ती, पेड़ के साथ गौरैया चिड़िया के चित्र उकेरे जाते हैं।
-कई आदिवासियों की लोक कथाओं में गौरैया चिड़िया का वर्णन मिलता है। महाराष्ट्र की वर्ली व उड़ीसा की सौरा आदिवासी (रामायण और महाभारत में इसका उल्लेख सावरा के नाम से मिलता है) की लोक कलाओं में गौरैया चिड़िया के चित्र बनाने की परंपरा मिलती है।
-उत्तर भारत की संस्कृति में यह चिड़िया इस तरह रची बसी है कि प्रसिद्ध लेखिका महादेवी वर्मा ने कहानी गौरैया में कामना की है कि हमारे शहरी जीवन को समृद्ध करने के लिए गौरैया चिड़िया फिर लौटेगी।
Sparrow Chick |
संकट:
-बगीचों से लेकर खेतों तक हर जगह इनकी संख्या में गिरावट को देखते हुए इनको पक्षियों की संकटग्रस्त प्रजाति की रेड सूची में शामिल किया गया है।
-आधुनिक घरों का निर्माण इस तरह किया जा रहा है कि उनमें पुराने घरों की तरह छज्जों, टाइलों और कोनों के लिए जगह ही नहीं है। जबकि यही स्थान गौरैयों के घोंसलों के लिए सबसे उपयुक्त होते हैं।
-शहरीकरण के नए दौर में घरों में बगीचों के लिए स्थान नहीं है।
-पेट्रोल के दहन से निकलने वाला मेथिल नाइट्रेट छोटे कीटों के लिए विनाशकारी होता है, जबकि यही कीट चूजों के खाद्य पदार्थ होते हैं।
-मोबाइल फोन टावरों से निकलने वाली तरंगों में इतनी क्षमता होती है, जो इनके अंडों को नष्ट कर सकती है।
चिड़िया एक, नाम अनेक :
-अलग-अलग बोलियों, भाषाओं, क्षेत्रों में गौरैया को विभिन्न नामों से जाना जाता है।
-वैज्ञानिक नाम-पेसर डोमिस्टिकस।
उर्दू: चिरया
सिंधी: झिरकी
पंजाब: चिरी
जम्मू और कश्मीर: चेर
पश्चिम बंगाल: चराई पाखी
उड़ीसा: घराछतिया
गुजरात: चकली
महाराष्ट्र: चिमनी
तेलुगु: पिछुका
कन्नड़: गुबाच्ची
तमिलनाडु और केरल: कुरूवी
बचाव के उपाय:
-घर की छत या टेरेस पर अनाज के दानों को डालें।
-यदि घर में स्थान है, तो बागवानी करें।
-साफ जल रखें।
-घोंसले के स्थान पर पात्र में कुछ खाद्य पदार्थ रखें।
-स्वस्थ पर्यावरण में रहें, जिससे चिड़िया भी रह सकें।
-घर में कीटनाशक का छिड़काव न करें।
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)