Celebrating Yalda Night

Celebrating Yalda Night  

Iranians around the world celebrate Yalda, which is one of the most ancient Persian festivals. The festival dates back to the time when a majority of Persians were followers of Zoroastrianism prior to the advent of Islam.

On Yalda festival, Iranians celebrate the arrival of winter, the renewal of the sun and the victory of light over darkness.

Considered the longest night of the year, Yalda eve is the night when ancient Iranians celebrated the birth of Mithra, the goddess of light.

Yalda, which means birth, is a Syriac word imported into the Persian language. It is also referred to as Shab-e Chelleh, a celebration of winter solstice on December 21--the last night of fall and the longest night of the year.   

English Language Facts

• English is one of six official languages of the United Nations, as well as French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese Mandarin.

• English has a huge vocabulary, with over 250000 different words listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.

• English incorporates words from a large number of different languages. Many of these words have French, Old Norse or Dutch origins.

• Many scientific words used in the English language come from Latin or Greek.

English is written in the Latin alphabet (also known as the Roman alphabet).

Leaf Quotes

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.

Walt Whitman

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.
Albert .sh

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/leaf.html#gm3Gwglz1zA8PXHU.99

Rio Tinto

www.sosbluewaters.org

Rio Tinto

Rio Tinto is located in south-western Spainand originates from Sierra Morena mountains of Andalusia. The area around the river has been mined since ancient times, so a lot of minerals can be found into the water, especially iron, which makes the water red. Even some bacteria enjoy its life there, “exploiting” the iron. However, the weirdness of this river comes from its high acidity, which made some scientists say that it is very similar to the underground waters of Mars

http://urbantitan.com/10-weird-and-mysterious-places-on-earth/.

Geyser

A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase (steam). The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb itself from Old Norse.

The formation of geysers is due to particular hydrogeological conditions, which exist in only a few places on Earth, so they are a fairly rare phenomenon. Generally all geyser field sites are located near active volcanic areas, and the geyser effect is due to the proximity of magma. Generally, surface water works its way down to an average depth of around 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) where it contacts hot rocks. The resultant boiling of the pressurized water results in the geyser effect of hot water and steam spraying out of the geyser's surface vent (a hydrothermal explosion).

About a thousand known geysers exist worldwide, roughly half of which are in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States. A geyser's eruptive activity may change or cease due to ongoing mineral deposition within the geyser plumbing, exchange of functions with nearby hot springs, earthquake influences, and human intervention.

Jet-like eruptions, often referred to as geysers, have been observed on several of the moons of the outer solar system. Due to the low ambient pressures, these eruptions consist of vapor without liquid; they are made more easily visible by particles of dust and ice carried aloft by the gas. Water vapor jets have been observed near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus, while nitrogen eruptions have been observed on Neptune's moon Triton. There are also signs of carbon dioxide eruptions from the southern polar ice cap of Mars. In the latter two cases, instead of being driven by
geothermal energy, the eruptions seem to rely on solar heating via a solid-state
greenhouse effect.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geyser

Why Are Clouds White?

The clouds:

A cloud is defined as a mass of little drops of water, also known as droplets, and water crystals (ice) in the atmosphere. There are always thousands of water droplets hanging in the atmosphere but when their amount crosses a certain threshold mark; they become visible as white-colored clouds. They scatter light and help keep the earth remain cool. They acquire the color of their background i.e. the background affects the color of the clouds.

The reason:

The sun light comes onto the surface of the planet passing through the clouds hanging in between. When white light falls on the water droplets in the clouds it breaks up into its constituent colors – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. But, there are a lot of water drops in the clouds so in the next stage that broken up light falls on more water drops and get combined again! The final result of this is when light comes out of a cloud, it is all combined i.e. it is white light. At higher altitudes, there are also very small ice crystals present in the clouds and they do the same job as water droplets do.

So why do some of them look grey or black?

A simple answer is: both the quality and the quantity matter! Let’s see it this way: Black or grey clouds are the thickest among clouds so when light falls on them, in addition to repeated reflections, they also soak up the light and thus appear dark in color.

Moreover, even this is a relative phenomenon. If one looked at the same clouds from an airplane or by some other means from higher altitudes, he would find them white! Because there, he/she would be in the clouds and thus the thickness of clouds that are above him would be lesser.

What other colors are clouds?

During the sunset one can find clouds with a red or an orange ting. The reason is: during sunset/sunrise the sunlight has to travel a longer distance through the atmosphere and the dust particle scattered in the atmosphere scatter red light i.e. the background becomes red thus the clouds appear red. And if there is a lot of red or orange light falling on a cloud with a lot of water droplets, the cloud would appear green to us.

Source: thegeminigeek.com

http://www.tebyan.net/newindex.aspx?pid=211508

The Bermuda Triangle

 The Bermuda Triangle

www.kaotic.ro

The question about the triangle that swallows ships, planes and all the people with them still waits for its answer. So many ships and planes have disappeared and so many disasters have happened in the area between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Miami, and many theories have appeared as well. From compass variations, gulf streams, rogue waves to human errors and conspiracy theories – anything is possible, but none of them is proved yet. However, it’s still one of the most traveled routes in the world.

http://urbantitan.com/10-weird-and-mysterious-places-on-earth/

Takbir

 

The Takbīr or Tekbir (تَکْبِیر) is the Arabic term for the phrase Allāhu Akbar (الله أکبر). It is usually translated "God is [the] Greatest," or "God is Great". It is a common Islamic Arabic expression. It is used in various contexts by Muslims: in formal prayer, as an informal expression of faith, in times of distress, to express celebration or victory, and to express resolute determination or defiance. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takbir