GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Pen

Lewis Waterman patented the first practical fountain pen in 1884. Writing instruments designed to carry their own supply of ink had existed in principle for over one hundred years before Waterman’s patent.
For example, the oldest known fountain pen that has survived today was designed by a Frenchmen named M. Bion and dated 1702. Peregrin Williamson, a Baltimore shoemaker, received the first American patent for a pen in 1809.
John Scheffer received a British patent in 1819 for his half quill, half metal pen that he attempted to mass manufacture. John Jacob Parker patented the first self-filling fountain pen in 1831. However, early fountain pen models were plagued by ink spills and other failures that left them impractical and hard to sell.
The fountain pen’s design came after a thousand years of using quill-pens. Early inventors observed the apparent natural ink reserve found in the hollow channel of a bird’s feather and tried to produce a similar effect, with a man-made pen that would hold more ink and not require constant dipping into the ink well.
Filling a long thin reservoir made of hard rubber with ink and sticking a metal ‘nib’ at the bottom was not enough to produce a smooth writing instrument.
Lewis Waterman, an insurance salesman, was inspired to improve the early fountain pen designs after destroying a valuable sales contract with leaky-pen ink. Lewis Waterman’s idea was to add an air hole in the nib and three grooves inside the feed mechanism.
A mechanism is composed of three main parts. The nib, which has the contact with the paper. The feed or black part under the nib controls the ink flow from the reservoir to the nib. The round barrel that holds the nib and feed on the writing end protects the ink reservoir internally.
All pens contain an internal reservoir for ink. The different ways that reservoirs filled proved to be one of the most competitive areas in the pen industry. The earliest 19th century pens used an eyedropper; by 1915, most pens had switched to having a self-filling soft and flexible rubber sac as an ink reservoir.
To refill these pens, the reservoirs were squeezed flat by an internal plate, then the pen’s nib was inserted into a bottle of ink and the pressure on the internal plate was released so that the ink sac would fill up drawing in a fresh supply of ink.

Venus

Venus is known as Earths’ twin sister because of its similar size and proximity to each other.
Its atmosphere is made up mostly of carbon dioxide.
Venus rotates so slowly that it orbits the sun faster than it can make one whole rotation on its axis. In other words, Venus has a longer day than year.
It takes 243 days for Venus to make a rotation.
And it takes 224 days for Venus to orbit around the sun.
Venus is the most widely explored planet aside from our own Earth. Numerous space probes have been sent to Venus to gather data and some have landed on the surface.
It is believed that Venus used to have bodies of water similar to Earth, but dried up over a period of 300 million years when the sun began admitting more solar energy after the sun’s infancy stage.
The clouds of Venus is filled with sulfuric acid.
Venus has mountains that are higher than Earth. Maat Mons is more than 5 miles high.
Venus is the brightest planet viewed from Earth.
The planet rotates from East to West. The only other planet that does this is Uranus.

Strange Facts

The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark.

A crocodile’s tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth.

Giraffes are unable to cough.

Sharks are immune to cancer.

Despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight.

Cheetah’s can accelerate from 0 to 70 km/h in 3 seconds.

A giraffe’s neck contains the same number of vertebrae as a human.

The heart of giraffe is two feet long, and can weigh as much as twenty four pounds.

On average, Elephants sleep for about 2 hours per day.

Lobsters have blue blood.

Shark’s teeth are literally as hard as steel.

A mosquito has 47 teeth.

Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body.

Ants do not sleep.

Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over 1 million descendents.

Hummingbirds can’t walk.

Batu Caves Murugan Temple

Name: Batumalai Sri Subramaniar Swamy Devasthanam
Country: Malaysia
State: Selangor
District: Gombak
Locale: 13 km north of Kuala Lumpur
Primary deity: Murugan
Architectural styles: Dravidian Architecture
Date built: 1891
Creator: K. Thamboosamy Pillai

Batu Caves, is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, located in Gombak district, 13 kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.

History

The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people.

As early as 1860, Chinese settlers began excavating guano for fertilising their vegetable patches. However, they became famous only after the limestone hills were recorded by colonial authorities including Daly and Syers as well as American Naturalist, William Hornaday in 1878.

Batu Caves was promoted as a place of worship by K. Thamboosamy Pillai, an Indian trader. He was inspired by the ‘vel’-shaped entrance of the main cave and was inspired to dedicate a temple to Lord Muruga within the caves.

In 1890, Pillai, who also founded the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur, installed the murti (consecrated statue) of Sri Subramania Swamy in what is today known as the Temple Cave. Since 1892, the Thaipusam festival in the Tamil month of Thai has been celebrated there.

Remote Control

General History

The first machines to be operated by remote control were used mainly for military purposes. Radio-controlled motorboats, developed by the German navy, were used to ram enemy ships in WWI. Radio controlled bombs and other remote control weapons were used in WWII.

Once the wars were over, United States scientists experimented to find nonmilitary uses for the remote control. In the late 1940′s automatic garage door openers were invented, and in the 1950′s the first TV remote controls were used.

History of the TV remote control

Zenith began playing around with the idea of a TV remote control in the early 1950′s. They developed one in 1952 called “Lazy Bones,” which was a long cable that was attached to the TV set. Pushing buttons on the remote activated a motor that would rotate the tuner in the set. This type of remote wasn’t popular for long considering that, at the time, there were very few channels to choose from.

In 1955, the Flash-o-Matic was invented. A flashlight was shined toward light sensitive cells in each of the four corners of the TV. Each corner had a different function. They turned the TV on and off, changed the channel, and controlled the volume. However, people often forgot which corner of the TV operated which control. Also, if the set was in sunlight, the sun’s rays would affect the operations of the TV.

In 1957 a group of engineers developed the Zenith “Space Command,” a wireless remote control using ultrasonic waves. The problem with the ultrasonic control was that clinking metal, such as dog tags, could affect the TV set.

High frequencies sometimes also made dogs bark. The ultrasonic remote was used for two decades until engineers discovered a better way to operate TV’s, the infrared remote control.

On the infrared control, each button has it’s own command, and is sent to the TV set in a series of signals. There is a digital code for each button, and in the TV there is a tiny sensor called a photodetector that identifies the infrared beam, and translates the code into a command.

Manufacturers used to only make remote controls that operated one TV set. However, they’ve recently begun making universal remote controls that can operate any TV set.

Experts predict that someday remote controls will control almost every device in the home.

THE NEXT BEST THIN IS COMING IS GESTURE CONTROL.

North Pole

North Pole definition

North Pole is situated in the norther hemisphere where the Earth’s axis of rotation meets the Earth’s surface. There is a big difference between Geographic North Pole and Magnetic North Pole.

The Earth’s North Magnetic Pole is the point on the Earth’s surface at which the Earth’s magnetic field points vertically downwards. Magnetic north pole location moves constantly with time. The location of magnetic north pole was defined at 82.7°N 114.4°W in 2005.

James Clark Ross was first who reached the North Magnetic Pole in June 1, 1831. The fact is that the Magnetic North Pole is physically a magnetic field south pole.

North Pole location

The North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean which constantly covered with shifting sea ice. The North Pole latitude is 90° North.

At the North Pole all lines of longitude converge there, so North Pole longitude can be defined as any degree value. Greenland is the closest land to geographic north pole (700 km / 440 mi away).

North Pole climate

North Pole weather is much warmer than in South Pole. It is situated in Polar climate zone. The average north pole temperature during winter time is -34°C (-30°F) and average North Pole summer temperature is 0°C (32°F).

The temperature of North Pole changes during last 20 years. Many scientists consider it as a result of global warming. The thickness of ice at the north pole is 3-4 meters.

History of North Pole exploration

The exploration of North Pole has a long history. It is known North Pole fact that the first man who cross Arctic Circle was Greek geographer and explorer Pytheas of Massilia at about 320 BC. So he is considered a first Polar explorer.

The first North Pole map was made by D. Gerasimov, Russian sailor, in the first half of XVI century. But nevertheless the main steps of North Pole discovery were made much later – in the beginning of the last century.

Explorers and enthusiasts tried to achieve North Pole using all possible ways – dog sleds and planes, dirigibles and nuclear icebreakers, skis and parachutes.

It is considered that the first person in the North Pole was Robert Peary. He claimed that he reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909 together with Matthew Henson and four Inuit men. However, it is still controversial north pole fact.

People, who accompanied Peary during the journey, weren’t trained in navigation and couldn’t independently confirm his own navigational results. The other American explorer Frederick Albert Cook stated to have reached the North Pole on April 21, 1908, but he didn’t provide the convincing proof.

Crows

As members of the corvid family, crows are considered to be among the most adaptable and intelligent birds in the world.

Crows are generally black, with black beaks and legs, but they can also be black with white, gray, or brown coloring.

Crows have a varied and evolved language. They can mimic the sounds made by other animals, and they learn to associate noises with events, especially with the distribution of food.

Well-adapted to diverse habitats, crows are found across North America. They thrive in cities and suburban areas where they live in close association with humans.

Crows roost at night in large flocks of up to several thousand during the winter. During the day, smaller groups may fly up to fifty miles in pursuit of food.

Crows are omnivorous. They eat whatever is available to them in their habitat including insects, small amphibians and snakes, earthworms, eggs and nestling birds, and clams, mussels, and other salt-water invertebrates. They also scavenge carrion, garbage, and eat wild and cultivated fruit and vegetables.

With a preference for coniferous trees, crows build their nests in woods or isolated trees at least sixty feet above ground. Nests are solidly built of branches and twigs, and are lined with bark, plant fibers, mosses, twine, and other found materials.

Crows nests are bulky structures built in trees or bushes. They are made of twigs, lined with bark, grasses, and rootlets.

Paired male and female crows share in the incubation of four to six eggs which hatch in eighteen days. Young first fly when they are about one month old. Frequently, at least one young bird will remain with its parents through the next nesting season to assist in the care of new nestlings by bringing them food and guarding the nest.

The female crow lays 4-7 eggs in the nest, and the male helps incubate them. These eggs are greenish or bluish, and blotched with brown. Once hatched, the young remain in the nest 6 – 8 weeks, and in their early life they eat almost half of their weight per day in food, which the parents bring to them.

They are migratory, and will assemble in large flocks in the fall, to travel south.

They eat a number of pests which are harmful to those same crops, including cutworms, wireworms, grasshoppers and even noxious weeds.

Strange Facts

The largest flying animal was the pterosaur which lived 70 million years ago. This reptile had a wing span of 36-39 feet (11-11.9 meters) and weighed 190-250 pounds (86-113.5 kilograms).

The greatest tide change on earth occurs in the Bay of Fundy. The difference between low tide and high tide can be as great as 54 ft. 6 in. (16.6 meters).

The highest temperature produced in a laboratory was 920,000,000 F (511,000,000 C) at the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor in Princeton, NJ, USA.

The heaviest human brain ever recorded weighed 5 lb. 1.1 oz. (2.3 kg.).

The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) deep and occurs in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. At that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms) per square inch.

The largest cave in the world (the Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia) is 2,300 feet (701 meters) long, 980 feet (299 meters) wide, and more than 230 feet (70 meters) high.

The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 F (462 C).

The ears of a cricket are located on the front legs, just below the knee.

The first electronic digital computer (called ENIAC – the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was developed in 1946 and contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes.

Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air.

Boron nitride (BN) is the second hardest substance known to man.

The seeds of an Indian Lotus tree remain viable for 300 to 400 years.

Velcro was invented by a Swiss guy who was inspired by the way burrs attached to clothing.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

Dreams

1. You Forget 90% of Your Dreams
Within 5 minutes of waking half of your dream is forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone.

2. Blind People also Dream
People who became blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion.

3. Everybody Dreams
Every human being dreams. If you think you are not dreaming – you just forget your dreams.

4. In Our Dreams We Only See Faces That We already Know
Our mind is not inventing faces – in our dreams we see real faces of real people that we have seen during our life but may not know or remember.

5. Not Everybody Dreams in Color
A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color.

6. Dreams are Symbolic
If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. Whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself.

7. Emotions
The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety. Negative emotions are more common than positive ones.

8. You can have four to seven dreams in one night.
On average you can dream anywhere from one or two hours every night.

9. Animals Dream Too
Studies have been done on many different animals, and they all show the same brain waves during dreaming sleep as humans. Watch a dog sleeping sometime.

10. Body Paralysis
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a normal stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes. REM sleep in adult humans typically occupies 20-25% of total sleep, about 90-120 minutes of a night’s sleep.

11. Dream Incorporation
Our mind interprets the external stimuli that our senses are bombarded with when we are asleep and make them a part of our dreams. This means that sometimes in our dreams we hear a sound from reality and incorporate it in a way.

12. Men and Women Dream Differently
Men tend to dream more about other men. Around 70% of the characters in a man’s dream are other men. On the other hand, a woman’s dream contains almost an equal number of men and women.

13. Precognitive Dreams
Results of several surveys across large population sets indicate that between 18% and 38% of people have experienced at least one precognitive dream and 70% have experienced déjà vu.

14. If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.
This fact is repeated all over the Internet, but I’m a bit suspicious whether it’s really true as I haven’t found any scientific evidence to support it.

Tortoise

Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. They evolved before mammals, birds, crocodiles, snakes, and even lizards.

The earliest turtles had teeth and could not retract their heads, but other than this, modern turtles are very similar to their original ancestors.

Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica.

Turtles will live in almost any climate warm enough to allow them to complete their breeding cycle.

While most turtles do not tolerate the cold well, the Blanding’s turtle has been observed swimming under the ice in the Great Lakes region.

Turtles range in size from the 4-inch Bog Turtle to the 1500-pound Leathery Turtle.

North America contains a large variety of turtle species, but Europe contains only two species of turtle and three species of tortoise.

The shell of a turtle is made up of 60 different bones all connected together.

Most land tortoises have high, domed carapaces that offer protection from the snapping jaws of terrestrial predators.

Most turtle species have five toes on each limb with a few exceptions including the American Box Turtle of the Carolina species that only has four toes and, in some cases, only three.

Turtles have good eyesight and an excellent sense of smell. Hearing and sense of touch are both good and even the shell contains nerve endings.

Some aquatic turtles can absorb oxygen through the skin on their neck and cloacal areas allowing them to remain submerged underwater for extended periods of time and enabling them to hibernate underwater.

Turtles are one of the oldest and most primitive groups of reptiles and have outlived many other species. One can only wonder if their unique shell is responsible for their longevity.