Did Arctic Warming Sink The Titanic?

Regular readers know that I like to keep an eye on the ebb and flow (or maybe I should say floe) of Arctic sea ice, an interest not widely shared among other financial advisers. But this week's centenary of the R.M.S. Titanic disaster has, for once, drawn attention to the far north's floating ice apart from the subject of climate change.

Vishu Festival

 

  Malayalees all over the world celebrate the Vishu as their new year. Since the mother tongue of the Kerala people is Malayalam, other people call them malayalees. This celebration is as per Malayalam calendar and usually falls on 14th or 15th of April.  Some other Indian states also celebrate the same day as their new year. For Example Tamil Nadu celebrates the same day as Tamil New Year and Bengalis celebrate the day as Bengali New Year.

Traditions:  Kerala astrologers are calculating Malayalam astrology as per rasi, which is calculated according to the position of sun related to the earth in different months. They will divide each year into different rasi as per sun's position. As per this calculation, sun enters into medam rasi by crossing equator on the 1st day of Medam month of regional Malayalam Calendar. Malayalees consider this day as New Year and celebrate it as vishu.  It is important to note that this is not the first day of the Malayalam calendar. Malayalam calendar begins from chingam (August 14th or 15th). Since Hindus are strong believers of Astrology, astrologers will do lot of predictions for the coming year. All Malayalam newspapers will publish these  predictions for each person as per their birth-dates and birth star. This prediction, which is prepared by leading astrologers of Kerala, is known as vishu phalam (predictions).

Vishu Celebrations:  This festival celebrations usually start with Vishu kani. After the kani, there will be Fire crackers, kaineettam and sadhya. People of most other Indian states use firecrackers for Diwali. However, in Kerala, main use of firecrackers is for this festival to welcome the New Year.  Lot of temporary firecracker stalls will be setup along the side of road.

Vishu Kani:  Kani is the most important part for this festival. People believe that seeing kani, at the dawn of this day will bring luck and prosperity for the next year. Kani is normally set in a circular metal plate or in circular brass vessel known as uruli.

Hindus believe that whatever one see first in the morning will decide the luck for that day and call it as kani. The same way they believe that, the New Year should start with seeing good and lucky objects, to bring luck and prosperity for the whole year. Senior lady of the house will set kani on the preceding night, so that she can also see kani at the early morning of the day.  The Vishu kani is made with auspicious items such as Rice, coconut, gold , money, new cloth, areca nut, betel leaves, fruits, vegetables like mangoes, yellow cucumber, and jack-fruit, along with the konna pove (Indian Laburnum). The entire above item will be set in the circular plate or in a uruli. Behind the kani plate, they will keep a mirror and a statue of garlanded Lord Krishna. She will also keep a Hindu prayer lamp called Nilavilakku, at the side of kani.

Kani Kanal:- In the early morning, senior lady of the house will get up and go directly to the room where she has kept the vishu kani. She will ignite the lamp Nilavilaku to see kani. Then she will take bath and will wake the other members of the house one by one by closing their eyes with her hands. She will guide them to the room where she has set the kani. Then she will remove her hands from their eyes so that they can see kani as the first thing on the morning. She will repeat this with every members of the house including kids. This tradition is kani kanal (Seeing Kani). After kani kanal all the kids and other junior members of house will get a small donation from their father, which is known as the vishu kaineettam. After kani kanal people will start bursting different firecrackers in front of the house.

Vishu sadhya:-  Vishu sadhya is the lunch of the day and it is served in the afternoon. In southern part of Kerala. This is a traditional pure vegetarian lunch served in banana leaf, where as in northern Kerala (Malabar area) it is a special non-vegetarian lunch prepared with fish and goat meat served in Banana leaf.

Vishu greetings:-Sending greeting cards to your friends and relatives for vishu has become a tradition for Malayalees. Lot of kerala theme cards is available for this festival, with various subjects like vallam kali (Boat race), katha kali, and sceneries from various parts of Kerala. Lot of online greeting card websites are also has lot of special greetings in their collection. 

Vishu - Festival of Kerala

Vishu is a New Year festival celebrated in the state of Kerala. This festival is celebrated with joy and mirth. This is the first day of Malayalese month of Medam. Vishu generally falls on April 14 of the Gregorian calendar. On the same day Punjab celebrates Baisakhi, Tamil Nadu celebrates Puthandu, Assam celebrates Ronagali Bihu and Bengal celebrates Naba Barsha. "Vishu" in Sanskrit means "equal". Thus Vishu denotes one of the equinox days.

The most important event in Vishu is the Vishukkani and is the first to be seen on the Vishu day. The festival is marked with offerings to the divine called Vishukkani. The offerings consists of a traditional arrangement in the puja room of auspicious articles like rice, linen, cucumber, betal leaves, metal mirror, holy text and coins in a bell metal vessel called uruli. Alongside a lighted bell metal lamp called "nilavilkku" is also placed. The arrangement is done by the women of the house on the previous night. The elder member of the house wakes up with is eyes closed and the first thing he sees in the morning is the Vishukkani. Later all members of the house are brought to the puja room with their eyes closed and they too see the Vishukkani. The elder member gives tokens of money to the children. This token is called "Vishukkaineetam" and is usually in the form of coins. Children wear new clothes on this day. It is believed that children will be blessed with prosperity in the future.

The Chemistry of Fireworks Colors

Chemistry is a fascinating subject and is happening around us every day. When you understand how chemistry is involved in everyday life you will have a deeper understanding of all the processes that occur around you. We've all seen fireworks in lovely colors and effects but have you ever stopped to think how those wonderful colors are produced? To understand the chemistry of fireworks colors you will need knowledge of the structure of atoms and how electrons behave when they absorb energy. Are you ready to learn about how the colors are produced when a firework is ignited?

New Year and Christmas Wallpapers

With almost everything under the sun becoming techie, New Year and Christmas celebrations are one of them. From greetings to wishes, gifts and many more related to both New Year and Christmas have become tech oriented. With just a click of a mouse, you can now wish and greet each other on Christmas and New Year with the help of internet connection. Decorations form the integral part of the celebrations of both New Year and Christmas. In this case, it must be mentioned that during these principal festivities, the desktops and laptops also go by the celebration theme. One of the foremost examples of decorating desktops and laptops during these festivals is the wallpapers. New Year and Christmas Wallpapers is the most common way of getting in with the theme of the celebrations. And with both these festivities around the corner, wallpapers of New Year and Christmas have already started making rounds in the internet. Visit Christmas wallpapers for some beautiful Christmas wallpapers.

spring wallpaper 2

The Best Top Desktop Spring Wallpapers in all kind of resolutions and sizes. For your computer or laptop with Windows XP or Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS. High resolution Spring backgrounds, widescreen, 4:3, 16:9 and HD wallpapers. With these nice wallpapers you can feel Springtime the whole year!

Desktop hd wallpaper with purple crocuses and green grass in the white snow

Background for pc with a picture of a backyard in the spring with green grass, butterflies, birds and flowers

Spring wallpaper with a hd photo of two little lambs in the green meadow

spring wallpaper in the mountain

Desktop wallpaper of spring in the mountains purple flowers

A bee on a branch in the spring 

Spring wallpaper with a nice view down the mountain

Body Dragon Tattoos

Dragon Tattoo Art - Finding Printable Designs For Your Dragon Tattoos
By Peter Brat

Dragon tattoo art has been one of the most sought after designs especially among male tat enthusiasts. The creature, although mythical and non-existent has strong symbolism attached to it, not to mention the artistic appeal it has when inked on one's body.

Dragon tattoos can represent two different meanings depending on how they are portrayed. In the West, they are regarded as an evil and mean winged creature who breathes fire and guards caves with golds and jewels. Those who want to get these treasures have to slay the dragon first. In this case, dragon tattoos can mean fearless, power, courage and strong will.

The other symbolism of dragon tattoo art is good luck, fortune and wisdom as how they are look upon in the East. In China, they are the main symbol during the celebration of Chinese New Year as they are believed to bring prosperity, benevolence and good will. As a tattoo design, they can mean intelligence, protection, balance and harmony.

Dragon tattoo designs are very adaptable and flexible body art and looks great on large areas of the body such as the arm, rib cage, chest, back and shoulder blade. They can be seen inked in colors such as red and green while others opt for the plain black ink with some tribal touch. They can be portrayed as terrifying or monster-like, charming and kind and even small and innocent. It all depends on what kind of message the person sporting the tattoo wants to portray.

Black Dragon Tattoos

Black Tribal Dragon Tattoos - Where to Find the Best Tribal Designs
By Tatum Tyler

Black tribal dragon tattoos make a bold statement. A dragon tattoo alone can be very forceful. Combine that with tribal influences in black and you have the making of a much talked about tattoo. A black dragon tattoo expresses something entirely different than a colored dragon. Everything can depend on the design that you choose and you can find great designs online. I'll tell you how.

Are you thinking about a large tattoo? Black tribal dragon tattoos will make a great tattoo going down an arm or along the shoulders. Because of the detail of the dragon design and adding the tribal influences, a large tattoo would be good because you would be able to see all the details. How will you decide on the type of tattoo?

An online tattoo gallery is where you need to go. As you're browsing through thousands of designs you can get some idea of where you want to place the tattoo as well as the type of designs you want to incorporate. This hs your tattoo on your body. Use your imagination and come up with a unique tattoo design. The best thing to do is to print out several designs that you like and put the best pieces together like a puzzle and come up with your unique tattoo.

Take your time. Don't rush with something as important as a tattoo that whll be with you for life. Black tribal dragon tattoos are a good choice. Find a design that will make a statement. Use an online gallery to design your own tattoo and show some of your personality through the tattoo.

Choosing a t`ttoo can be a hard decision. It will be with you for life so you want it to be unique and imaginative. Stop wasting time looking at website after website. Find great black tribal dragon tattoos by looking through thousands of the best tattoo designs all in one place.

Yakuza Tattoos

It's usual within yakuza circuits to tattoo themselves, usually is it their clan's badges that they have all over their body. The origin of the yakuza tattoo comes from the Bakuto. They usually tattooed a black ring around the arm for each crime they committed. Finally it became a symbol of strength. It can take over 100 hours to do an entire back tattoo. The tattoo was to illustrate you were unwilling to accommodate yourself to societies rules and norms. Now is it to illustrate your clan affiliations.