Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Kerala

Kerala is a state on the Malabar shore of southwestern India. To its east and northeast, Kerala boundaries Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; to its west and south lie the Indian Ocean islands of Lakshadweep and the Maldives, correspondingly. Kerala envelops a coastal exclave of Pondicherry. Kerala is one of four states that create the linguistic-cultural region known as South India.

First settled in the 10th century BCE by speakers of Proto-South Dravidian, Kerala was prejudiced by the Mauryan Empire. Later, the Cheran kingdom and feudal Namboothiri Brahminical city-states became major powers in the region. Early contact with abroad lands culminated in struggles between regal and native powers. Finally, the States Reorganization Act of November 1, 1956 elevated Kerala to statehood. Social reforms enacted in the late 19th century by Cochin and Travancore were prolonged upon by post-Independence governments, making Kerala along with the Third World's longest-lived, healthiest, most gender-equitable, and most educated regions. However, Kerala’s rates of suicide, joblessness, and violent crime rank among India are highest.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Tree

A tree is a large, perennial, woody plant. Though there is no spot definition regarding minimum size, the term normally applies to plants at least 6 m high at development and, more important, having secondary undergrowth supported on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical power. Compared with most other plant forms, trees are long-lived. A few kinds of trees grow to 100 m tall and some can live for several thousand years.

Trees are important components of the usual landscape due to their prevention of wearing away and significant elements in landscaping and agriculture, both for their aesthetic appeal and their orchard crops. Wood from trees is a common building material. Trees also play a close role in many of the world's mythologies.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Plastic

Plastic covers a variety of artificial or semi synthetic polymerization products. They are composed of organic concentration or addition polymers and may contain other substances to improve performance or economics. There are few natural polymers generally measured to be "plastics". Plastics can be formed into objects or films or fibers. Their name is resulting from the fact that many are malleable, having the belongings of plasticity. Plastic can be classified in many ways but most commonly by their polymer backbone. Other classifications include thermoplastic vs. thermo set, elastomer, manufacturing plastic, addition or condensation, and Glass conversion temperature.

Plastics are polymers: elongated chains of atoms bonded to one another. These handcuffs are made up of many repeating molecular units, or "monomers". The vast bulk of plastics are composed of polymers of carbon alone or with oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine or sulfur in the backbone. The backbone is that part of the chain on the main "path" connecting the multitude of monomer units jointly.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the walls of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. They were both evidently built by Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. The green Hanging Gardens are extensively documented by Greek historians such as Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, but otherwise there is little evidence for their existence. In fact, there are no Babylonian records of any such gardens having existed. Some incidental evidence gathered at the excavation of the palace at Babylon has accrued, but does not completely substantiate what look like fantastic descriptions. Through the ages, the location may have been confused with gardens that existed at Nineveh, since tablets from there clearly show gardens. Writings on these tablets describe the possible use of something similar to an Archimedes' screw as a process of raising the water to the required height.
The Hanging Gardens probably did not really "hang" in the sense of being balanced from cables or ropes. The name comes from an inexact conversion of the Greekord kremastos or the Latin word pensilis, which means not just "hanging” but "overhanging," as in the case of a terrace or balcony.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Architecture

Architecture is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. A wider description would include within its scope also the design of the total built environment, from the macro level of town scheduling, urban design, and landscape architecture to the micro level of creating furniture. Architectural design usually must address both possibility and cost for the builder, as well as function and aesthetics for the user.
Designed architecture often manipulates space, volume, surface, light, shadow, or theoretical elements in order to achieve pleasing aesthetics. This distinguishes it from applied science or engineering, which usually concentrate more on the practical and feasibility aspects of the design of constructions or structures.
In the field of construction architecture, the skills demanded of an architect range from the more complex, such as for a hospital or a stadium, to the apparently simpler, such as planning residential houses. Many architectural works may be seen also as educational and political symbols, and/or works of art. The role of the architect, though changing, has been central to the successful design and completion of pleasingly built environments in which people live.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Jewellery

Jewellery is factually any piece of fine material used to decorate oneself. Although in earlier times jewellery was created for more convenient uses, such as wealth storage and pinning clothes together, in recent times it has been used almost completely for beautification. The first pieces of jewellery were made from likely materials, such as bone and animal teeth, shell, wood and engraved stone. Jewellery was often made for people of high importance to show their status and, in many cases, they were covered with it.Jewellery is made out of almost every material recognized and has been made to garnish nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings and many more types of jewellery. While high-quality and artistic pieces are made with gemstones and valuable metals, less pricey costume jewellery is made from less-valuable materials and is mass-produced.Form and function Kenyan man exhausting tribal beads.Over time, jewellery has been used for a number of reasons: Currency, wealth display and storage, purposeful Symbolism Protection and Artistic display Most cultures have at some point had a practice of observance large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures move wedding dowries in the form of jewelry, or create jewelry as a means to store or display coins. on the other hand, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good; a mostly poignant example being the use of slave beads.
In creating jewellery, a variety of gemstones, coins, or other valuable items can be used, often set into precious metals. Common expensive metals used for modern jewellery include gold, platinum or silver, although alloys of nearly every metal known can be encountered in jewellery -- bronze, for example, was common in Roman times. Most gold jewellery is made of an alloy of gold, the purity of which is affirmed in karats, indicated by a number followed by the letter K. For example, ordinary gold jewellery ranges from 10K (41.7% pure gold) to 22K (91.6% pure gold), while 24K (99.9% pure gold) is considered too soft for jewellery use. Platinum alloys variety from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). The silver used in jewellery is usually sterling silver, or 92.5% fine silver.Other generally used materials include glass, such as merged glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; natural clay, polymer clay, and even plastics.
Jewellery and society
One universal issue is control over who could wear what jewellery, a point which indicate the powerful symbolism the wearing of jewellery evoked. In ancient Rome, for instance, only convinced ranks could wear rings; later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewellery; again based on rank. Cultural dictate have also played a important role; for example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered "effeminate" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. on the other hand, the jewellery industry in the early 20th century launched a crusade to popularize wedding rings for men — which caught on — as well as appointment rings for men , going so far as to make a false history and claim that the practice had Medieval roots. By the mid 1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. feature a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s.Religion has also played a role: Islam, for instance, consider the wearing of gold by men as a social taboo,and many religions have edicts against extreme display.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Flower

A flower, also famous as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive organization found in flowering plants. The flower structure contains the plant's reproductive organs, and its function is to make seeds through imitation. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, and serve as the primary means by which individuals of a species are dispersed across the landscape. After fertilization, portions of the flower develop into a fruit containing the seeds.
Although the floral construction described above is considered the "typical" structural plan, plant species show a wide variety of modifications from this plan. These modifications have significance in the evolution of blossoming plants and are used expansively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species. For example, the two subclasses of flowering plants may be well-known by the number of floral organs in each whorl: dicotyledons typically having 4 or 5 organs in each whorl and monocotyledons having three or some multiple of three. The numeral of carpals in a compound pistil may be only two, or otherwise not related to the above generalization for monocots and divots.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

New Economic Policy

The New Economic Policy was an ambitious and controversial socio-economic restructuring affirmative action program launched in 1971 under then Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak. The NEP ended in 1990, and was succeeded by the National Development Policy in 1991.
The NEP targeted a 30% share of the economy for the Bumiputra, but according to official government statistics, the NEP did not succeed in reaching this target. Although the policy ended officially in 1990, Malaysians often refer to the NEP in the present tense because many of the tangible economic benefits it offered the Bumiputra are ongoing. In 2005, called for the restoration of the NEP as part of the New National Agenda.
During British colonial rule, Malays were given certain privileges over their non-Malay counterparts, such as quotas for public scholarships and employment in the civil service. When the Federation of Malaya declared independence in 1957, its Constitution contained a provision called Article 153 that provided special rights for the Malays.