DDT - Anita

•  DDT stands for Dichloro - Diphenyl - Trichloro - Ethene. DDT is an insecticide used control insect borne diseases. Though it is banned for use in the United States, DDT is still used in other tropical region countries to prevent the disease the disease Malaria, a mosquito borne disease.
• During the World War II era, DDT was thought to be "a savior for mankind." The chemicals in the spray proved to kill diseases such as Typhus and Malaria. DDT was popular because of its cheapness, availability and so - called safety. Farmers also sprayed this chemical on their plants.
• After discovering that house flys were immune to DDT, several scientists became skeptical about the safety of DDT. Two scientists then published an article about the hazardous effects on animals and plants. 
• The end of DDT's reign in the US was due to Rachel Carson's book, Silent Springs, in which the author states effects of DDT upon wildlife. She says that DDT has reduced the population of birds of prey, such as eagles. The DDT caused the eagle eggshells to become thin. These eggs rarely survived to hatch. So, the eagle population plummeted. 
•  As a result to Rachel Carson's findings along with support from the scientific community, DDT was banned in the US and will only be used if there is ever a unusual public health issue, such as a sudden widespread outbreak of Malaria.

 

Amelia Earhart - Anita

• Amelia Earhart was a famous record breaking female pilot that was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas. When she was growing up, her father was a lawyer and she would always play with her little sister Muriel. While growing up, Amelia loved adventures. She would collect insects and frogs and play football and baseball. She even liked to hunt rats with a rifle! Amelia's first flight was when she was seven years old, but it didn't go well. Later on, at the age of eleven in 1908, Amelia went to the Iowa State Fair and saw many of the Wright brother's planes, but didn't find any interest in them.
• When Amelia graduated from high school, she wasn't sure what occupation to take on. At first she went to Ogontz School in Pennsylvania, but soon dropped to become a nurse for injured World War 1 soldiers. After that, she studied to become a mechanic, but went back to school to study for a career in medicine. That was until she started flying.
• On December 28, 1920 Amelia and her father went to an air show in California where she took her second flight. She loved it so much, she used her saved money to pay for flying lessons. Later on, she bought a small, bright yellow plane which she named the "Canary." She also got her pilot's license and set a new altitude record of 14,000 feet for female pilots.
• In 1928, Amelia took the plane "Friendship" across the Atlantic with pilot Bill Stultz and co - pilot Slim Gordon. Amelia was the navigator. On June 18, after twenty one hours of flying, they landed Wales. Amelia was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, but she didn't stop there. She wanted to go across the Atlantic again, but this time pilot the plane herself. On May 20, 1932, Amelia took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland in a small, bright red, one engine, Lockheed Vega Plane. She intended to land in Paris, France. The weather was very bad, from storm clouds to ice sticking to her plane. After fourteen hours of flight, Amelia crossed the Atlantic, but had to cut the flight short, landing in a cow pasture in Londonerry, Northern Ireland. This time she was the first woman to cross the Atlantic solo.
• But Amelia still wasn't satisfied. In June of 1937, Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off from Miami, Florida and were determined to fly across the world. They flew a number of flights, eventually reaching New Guinea, Africa. On June 2, they took off from New Guinea to fly to Howland Island in the Pacific, but they were never seen again.

Chromecast - Navo

One of the coolest things about Chromecast is that it can turn on your TV, and even change to the right HDMI input, when you start casting music or videos from your mobile device no TV remote required. Don’t have an Android phone, or maybe you’re stuck with a handset with an older version of Android? Then you should install the Google Cast extension for Google’s Chrome browser on your PC or laptop, which lets you mirror any website to the TV screen.

If you want to experience virtual reality without shelling out money for a headset you can, provided that you not only have Google’s cardboard app installed on your Android phone, but also a 3D TV in your living room. Chromecast shows you beautiful nature photos when you are not actively watching any videos and can even add your own photos to this slideshow.

Thanks to Chromecast’s miniature size, it makes for a great companion on the road, allowing you to watch all your favorite media at Grandma’s house, in a hotel on a long business trip, or even at a cabin on the lake. 

If you’re in a hotel and are looking for an inexpensive entertainment solution, Chromecast allows you to stream via mobile as hotel networks are quite secure.

Google started to give away $20 of Google Play credit for every Chromecast bought after December 7. Want to watch a movie on the TV, but not wake up your significant other who fell asleep on the couch? Then just pipe the audio track through your phone and listen to it with earbuds.

Madison Square Gardens - AJ

• The Madison Square Garden is a one of the biggest arenas that was created in New York City and is in the borough of Manhattan.
• The arena is home to the NBA New York Kicks team and home to the New York Rangers that is apart of the NHL.It has also had many concerts and college Basketball games.
• There have actually been four arenas withe the name of Madison in the three different sights in Manhattan.
• The current Madison square had been opened in 1968, but the first open air arena was built in 1879 and then 1890 it was tore down and was replaced.
•  The arena was named after the fourth president of the United states. The arena had different sections of seats for example the New York Rangers have the blue color row.

9/11 - Navo

• The New York Times wrote about every single 9/11 victim. Al Qaeda planned on targeting nuclear power plants on 9/11 but feared things would get out of control.
• A month before the 9/11 President George W. Bush was handed a letter saying "Bin laden is determined to strike in US" saying they would hijack planes and hitting the NYC.
• After the 9/11 the Maasai tribe of Kenya gave 14 of their most important cattle to the US as an aid. 18 people were resuced from the pile or rubble or the WTC after 9/11. Micheal Jackson had a meeting on the WTC on the 9/11 but overslept.
• 9/11 wasn't the first attack on the WTC, but in 1993 a bombing occured killing six people. In 2006 Russia gifted the USA a 9/11 memorial monument which was built in Bayonne, NJ.
• The Attack on 9/11 resulted in the Largest Loss of life by a foreign attack on American soil. The 9/11 attack destroyed $100 million including Pablo Picasso's Art!

   

Amazon-AJ

• Amazon is an online store that sells CD's, movies, games, books, and other things like the Amazon Kindle.
• Amazon has so far been the biggest online store in the world and it had actually been started by a man named Jeff Bezos in 1995 and the headquarters is in Seattle. 
• The store Amazon had actually been named after the second largest river that is in Brazil.On Amazon.com they change the price more than 2.5 million times a day.
• Jeff Bezos the creator of Amazon had Amazon right inside of his garage.The two books that were first sold on Amazon.com were Fluid concepts and Analogies by Douglas Hofstadte.
• As Amazon.com grew larger employees have been forced to work no less than 60 hours a week.The amazon fulfillment center in Phoenix, Arizona was larger than 1.2 million square feet.
  
   

AJ - Osama Bin Laden

• Osama Bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian who planned the attack on the two twin towers in New York in 1911.
• Osama Bin Laden was a terrorist who sent his partners in two planes and crashed into both of the twin towers, and then another plane was about to hit the White House and the passengers got aware of what was happening and steered the plane and crashed into to a field in Pennsylvania.
• As the plane crashed in Pennsylvania another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington D.C, this event was called the 911.
• Osama Bin Laden was 6 ft.4 to 6 ft. 6 and weighs 161 pounds or 73 kg and his religion was an Islam.
• Osama Bin Laden had been married to 5 of his wives and had about twenty children in all. Osama Bin Laden had died at age 54 and was killed by the U.S because he is the one who has created lots of damage in the U.S and has killed many american lives.

Disc Golf - Navo

• The first known instance of anyone playing golf with a flying disc occurred in Vancouver BC in 1926. A group of school age kids played a game with tin lids, which they dubbed Tin Lid Golf. They played on a fairly regular basis on a disc golf course they laid out on their school grounds.
• As they got older and into the more standard school sports, the Tin Lid Golf play faded out of the picture, only to be remembered many years later by one of the participants when they heard of the organized disc golf play of today.
• Disc Golf became popular because of modern day Frisbee. In 1965 George, a famous Frisbee player contacted Wham-O MFG to test out his new idea, Frisbee golf contest. Apparently disc golf didn't fit into the promotional plans that Wham-O had for its Frisbee brand flying discs at that time.
• But the game of disc golf did indeed exist. A small group of people from Rochester, NY who had never heard of the IFA or Goldy Norton's Handbook of Frisbee had been playing disc golf as a competitive sport on a regular basis; tournaments, league play and all. They had started in August of 1970, and by 1972 had promoted the Second Annual City of Rochester Disc Golf Championship.
• In 1973, this group of avid disc golfers found out about the IFA newsletter, and was amazed to hear of the Frisbee culture that existed beyond their little sphere of disc golf activity. They decided to make their annual City of Rochester Disc Golf Championship a big national tournament to see just how many other people were playing disc golf or would be interested in trying the game. They called the event the American Flying Disc Open put up a brand new 1974 Automobile to be awarded to the winner so as to attract the attention of the Frisbee community.
• Many players shared the dream of national tournaments and organized play. They got together and formed the PDGA to help oversee and guide the rapid growth of the sport. The game grew too fast to call it evolution; it was a revolution! The PDGA is now a worldwide force and is growing faster than ever. The sport of disc golf is becoming every bit as professional as its older brother the PGA and its traditional ball and club golf.
• LINKS : HOW TO PLAY DISC GOLF  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjo8k3ACFL4
• LINKS : HOW TO PLAY DISC GOLF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GwdghSH4rk

Samsung S6 & Samsung S6 Edge - Navo

• The Samsung Galaxy S6 & Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge are know for its stunning features and design. Both of the phones were in 20 countries on April 10, 2015. The S6 Edge is a bigger verison of the Samsung Edge. One of the best features are that both phones have a 1440p display!
• Many people say that the Samsung S6 is a Iphone 6 Plus and Iphone 4 because the S6 has aluminium which the Iphone 6 and 6 Plus have and it has a the same glass back as the Iphone 4.
• When both phones were released with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop, Android 6.0 Marshmallow was released too. However the disapointing thing about both phones are it's battery life but the good thing is that Samsung improved their finger-print scanner. 
• A month later Samsung releases the Samsung S6 active, Shock proof, Water proof and Scratch Proof. Most people consider this phone as the Ugly Phone! Most people use this phone as an underwater camera. The rear camera uses a Canon ESI while the other 2 phones use a Sony Exmor RS.
• Another dissapointing thing that people found the that the back isn't removable due to the glass back! 

Edge

7 Things you didn't know about dust.

• Dust is universal: It’s dry, powdery soil or any other material made up of tiny particles, whether that’s in a pile under your bed or the plume of a volcano.
• Many mammals and birds take dust baths as part of their grooming routines or social rituals.
• Chickens dust-bathe so devotedly that caged hens sometimes act out “sham” baths on the floors of their cages, without any dust.
• Humans, on the other hand, go to great lengths to keep dust away. One of the first motorized vacuum cleaners, patented by English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth in 1901, was nicknamed “Puffing Billy” after a famous steam locomotive. Huge, horse-drawn and powered by gasoline, it had to be parked outside, and its hoses were deployed through doors and windows to clean establishments such as Westminster Abbey.
• And no wonder we try so hard. When Dutch naturalist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek peered at items from his household through the microscope lens he invented, he found tiny spider-like animals - mites - living everywhere.
• Allergies and asthma are only the start of how dust can harm humans. Miners are at risk of silicosis, pneumoconiosis (black lung) and other diseases from coal dust. Breathing asbestos dust can lead to the cancer mesothelioma.
• Dust pneumonia killed thousands during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. A recent study found that 1934 brought the most severe North American drought in a millennium. An unlucky atmospheric circulation pattern may have been made worse by poor farming practices.

Discipline - Navo

• Children do not always do what parents want. When a child misbehaves, the parent must decide how to respond. All children need rules and expectations to help them learn appropriate behavior.
• Once rules have been established, parents should explain to the child that broken rules carry consequences. For example, a parent could say, "Here are the rules. When you follow the rules, this will happen and if you break a rule, this is what will happen." Parents and the child should decide together what the rewards and consequences will be. Parents should always try to acknowledge and offer positive reinforcement and support when their child follows the rules.
• For many parents, the word discipline refers to punishment intended to decrease child misbehavior. In truth, the word is derived from disciplinare,referring to a system of teaching or instruction (Howard 1996). Although few would dispute the value of teaching children, the topic of parental discipline has long been controversial, even among experts. In the leading parenting book of the 1930s, Psychological Care of Infant and Child (1928), John B. 
• Discipline — it’s a word that once had a pretty good reputation. Parents instinctively knew that discipline was something kids needed. It was good for them. It taught them the basics of living: character, morals, responsibility, respect. 
• But in the last generation or two, discipline has received a spanking. Some experts proclaim that really savvy parents shouldn’t have to discipline much. They can talk and reason children into cooperating instead. The media bombard parents with all the latest theories on psychological correctness. And the culture relentlessly echoes the attitude that words such as “authority,” “limits” and “control” are old-fashioned concepts we need to throw off.

Lake Natron - Navo

• Lake Natron covers an area of 85,000ha, the lake basin is approximately 65 km long although on average only 20% of this is ever covered by water. The water is highly saline (ph 10) and most of the Lake an extremely inhospitable environment. Whilst Lake Natron is not aquatically diverse, is has some very ecologically dependant species. 
• For example, the fish species Oreochromis alcalicus appears to be endemic to (only occurs within) Lake Natron and Kenya’s Lake Magadi.O.alcalicus, like the majority of the lakes resident and migratory biological diversity, is concentrated on the margins of the lake where spring water or seasonal river inflow creates a unique but fragile environment. 
• It is upon this fragile ecotone along the edges of the lake that the human population as well as the biological diversity depends. Any development projects would require well-designed management and mitigation techniques, especially with the use and management of the limited fresh water resources.
• What do we know about Lake Natron? Evidence suggests that approximately 10,000 years ago, the lake was 60 metres higher than it is now and contiguous with Lake Magadi in Kenya, at this time the water was less saline. There are 16 wetland sites that are important for migratory and resident birdlife that I group into three general areas, most easily defined by the water sources that sustain them. The southern two areas, ‘east south’ and ‘west south’, show variation in their water compositions, and have many different aquatic plant and animal species.
• There is then a gap of approximately 60 km between the southern lagoon and Shompole, which is at the northern end of the lake. The Shompole area is a complex of wetland systems, which vary considerably during the year. The Ewaso Ngiro river which feeds these northern wetlands is the largest freshwater inflow into the lake. The northern and southern areas are known to join in extreme rainfall events, otherwise they are isolated from one another.
• These complex wetlands on the edge of the lake form extensive areas of regularly burnt edaphic grassland, such as that characterised by Sporobolus spicatus are found in the basin (you cross these driving from Ngare Sero to Pinyinyi) and on areas at the base of Gelai. 

The Glowing Ocean - Navo

• Whether seen from the beach or from the seat of a kayak, the glowing ocean is a phenomenon that, once experienced, is not soon forgotten. What causes this strange glow in the ocean’s water? And what purpose – if any – does it serve?
• The phenomenon of the glowing ocean has fascinated sea travelers for a long time. Folklore from northern Europe, southeast Asia, and the South Pacific include reference to it. Aristotle (3^rd century BCE) wrote his observations about the phenomenon in his work De Anima. During the Renaissance, when European explorers set sail across the world’s oceans, observations of bioluminescent organisms became even more widespread. Even Charles Darwin made note of the phenomena in his written journals from his time on the HMS Beaglein the 1830s.
• The creatures behind the mysterious bluish-green glow in the ocean’s surface waters are tiny organisms called dinoflagellates. These single-celled organisms range in size from 30 µm to 1 mm and can be found in waters around the globe. While an individual dinoflagellate’s glow is typically too dim to be seen by the naked eye, when their populations swell to high concentrations, their presence is unmistakable.  Along the coastlines of the United States, dinoflagellate populations typically grow to high concentrations during the summer to late fall months, when water temperatures are warmer and the seas are calmer.
• Whether on land or sea, however, bioluminescence is another in the long list of those curious traits of our planet’s organisms; traits that, while only a byproduct of some other adaptation, come to serve the organism in other practical – and fascinating – ways.

 

The Red Crab Immigration - Navo

• The red crab is a Christmas Island, Australia, original found nowhere else in the world. But on its home turf it is a very significant species—some 120 million individuals cover the rain forest floor and play a major role in determining the structure of the ecosystem.
• These large crabs are active during the day but prefer to stay in the shade and can die in the moisture-robbing heat of direct sunlight. They scavenge on fallen leaves, seedlings, fruits, and flowers, recycling nutrients and helping to determine the spread and composition of native flora.
• Most of the year red crabs are solitary dwellers of the burrows they dig throughout the forest. During the dry season they retreat into these shelters to retain body humidity and essentially remain there for two to three months.
• But when wet season returns in October or November they begin a legendary mass migration to their seaside breeding grounds, moving in colorful waves that wash over all obstacles including roads (necessitating crab tunnels and road closings) and even seaside cliffs. 
• The annual trek is also intimately tied to the lunar schedule. The crabs arrive at the coast and mate at such a time that the females can produce eggs and develop them in burrows for a dozen or so days before releasing them into the sea precisely when high tide turns between the last quarter and new moon. During this period sea level on the beaches varies the least and offers an easier approach, a factor so important that if weather delays the migration crabs will put off spawning until the next lunar month.
• Red crab eggs hatch right away, and young live as larvae in the sea for a month before returning to the shoreline, molting into air breathers, and slowly returning inland to begin the cycle anew.

Lake Retba - Navo

• Less than an hour away from the capital city of Senegal there is an unusual lake that will surely catch the unsuspecting visitor’s eye because of its unusual yet vivid pink color.
• Lake Retba (or Lac Rose as it is known by locals) is separated only by some narrow dunes from the Atlantic Ocean and, as expected its salt content is very high. Its salinity content compares to that of the Dead Sea and during the dry season it exceeds it.
• Its distinct pink color is caused by the Dunaliella salina bacteria, which is attracted by the lake’s salt content. The bacteria produces a red pigment in order to absorb the sunlight, thus giving the lake its unique color. Its color is especially visible during the dry season (which lasts from November to June) and less during the rainy season (July-October).
• Not many living organisms are able to survive in Lake Retba because of its high salt content, so it serves mainly as a tourist point and for salt production.
• In fact, if you decide to visit the lake, you will constantly see salt collectors working at the lake and the shores of Lake Retba are full of piles of collected salt. This salt is extracted by locals from the bottom of the lake using their hands, then placed into baskets it is transported to the shore where it is used mainly to preserve fish. 
• The lake is only 3 square kilometers big (about 1,1 square miles) and there is no major town developed along its shores.
• When visiting the lake, you will be amazed by the contrast of the mountains of salt packed up next to the lake’s shore, the pink color of the lake’s water and the gold sand dunes on the other side of the Lac Rose.
• Lake Retba has the same type of salt the Dead sea has.

Ahhhhhh......

The Hurricane that came from space, Hurricane Arthur - Navo

This Hurricane lasted to July 2 - 3, 2014 (Thursday, Friday)

• A stunning photo snapped by astronauts aboard the International Space Station shows Hurricane Arthur churning off the coast of Florida, heading north.
• The storm was invisible once it hit the earth's atmosphere but in a few hours you could see big white clouds.
• Robotic eyes are keeping tabs on Arthur from orbit as well. NASA's Aqua satellite took a picture on Wednesday afternoon as it passed over the storm.
• The storm is expected to be a Category 2 hurricane when it passes over or near the North Carolina coast, NHC officials said in an advisory Thursday. (Meteorologists classify hurricanes based on wind speed from Category 1, the weakest, to Category 5, the most powerful.)
•  Arthur was about 70 miles (113 kilometers) south-southwest of Cape Fear, North Carolina and featured maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 km/h). The National Hurricane Center (NHC), which is run by the U.S. National Weather Service, has issued a hurricane warning for areas from Surf City, North Carolina north to the Virginia border.
• Arthur is the first tropical storm of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season. It took shape off southern Florida on Tuesday (July 1) and is currently heading north off the East Coast.

Abdul Kalam - Navo

1. Once, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam rejected the suggestion to put broken glass on the wall of a building that needed protection. Why? Because broken glass would be harmful for birds!

This happened when Dr. Kalam was with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and his team was discussing options to secure the perimeter of a building that needed protection. Dr. Kalam reportedly said: “If we do that, birds will not be able to perch on the wall.”

2. When youngsters & teenagers requested a meeting with President Kalam, the President not only obliged and gave the kids his precious time, but he also listened carefully to the ideas the kids had.

As President, often Dr. Kalam’s office would receive requests from youngsters for a meeting with the country’s first citizen. Not only would Dr. Kalam meet the kids in his personal chambers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, but he would also give them his precious time, “listen” to their ideas and 

3. Soon after it was declared that Dr. Kalam would be the next President, he visited a modest school to deliver a speech. His security detail was minimal, and he didn’t mind taking control of the situation when the power went off.

Speaking to around 400 students, Dr. Kalam ensured the power cut didn’t cause any interruption. He walked right in the middle of the crowd and asked the students to surround him. He then spoke to 400 students with his bare voice and delivered, like always, an inspiring keynote.
 

4. President Kalam has given up all his life savings and salaries to a trust he founded named PURA (Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas).

The government takes care of the President of India as well as of all the former presidents. Knowing this, Dr. Kalam during his tenure as President decided to give away all his wealth and life savings towards a fund that works towards providing urban amenities to rural population. Apparently, Dr. Kalam called up Dr. Verghese Kurien, the founder of Amul, and asked: “Now that I have become the President of India, the government is going to 
look after me till I am living; so what can I do with my savings and salary?”

5. President Kalam is known to write his own thank you cards.

As humble and generous the man is, President Kalam is known to sign his own thank you cards. One instance is when Quora user Naman Narain drew a sketch of Dr. Kalam and sent it to the President. To his surprise, the President sent him a thank you card, with a short handwritten message and personalised with his signature.

Salva Dut - Navo

• Millions died. Millions more were displaced, fleeing for their lives to refugee camps in Ethiopia, Kenya, and other neighboring countries. Finally, in 2005, after over two decades of war, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed. A truce was declared and the semi-autonomous Government of South Sudan (GOSS) was established for that region.  On July 9, 2011 the Republic of South Sudan celebrated its independence, becoming the newest nation on earth.
• Salva Dut was one of those boys. As an 11-year old Dinka from Tonj in southwest Sudan, Salva fled first to Ethiopia. Then later, as a teenager, he led 1500 "Lost Boys" hundreds of miles through the Southern Sudan desert to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. That courage and heroic perseverance continue to this day. Relocated to the United States in 1996, he now leads Water for South Sudan, Inc., the non-profit organization he founded in 2003.
• The organization is based in Rochester, New York and South Sudan.  Salva holds dual citizenship as an American and South Sudanese. He now spends most of the year in South Sudan overseeing Water for South Sudan’s drilling operations. During his travels to the US and other countries, he works to educate people about South Sudan and fund-raise for the work of Water for South Sudan.
• Salva’s knowledge of local cultures, his contacts within the South Sudan government and other non-governmental organizations enable Water for South Sudan to operate effectively in ways that few development organizations can.
• Salva was starred in a book called The Long Walk To The Water.

Is the Sun shrinking?

• Does the size of the sun change over the years? Recently, "John A. Eddy (Harvard -Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and High Altitude Observatory in Boulder) and Aram A. Boornazian (a mathematician with S. Ross and Co. in Boston) have found evidence that the sun has been contracting about 0.1% per century…corresponding to a shrinkage rate of about 5 feet per hour. The diameter of the sun is close to one million miles, so that this shrinkage of the sun goes unnoticed over hundreds or even thousands of years. There is no cause for alarm for us or for any of our descendants for centuries to come because the sun shrinks so slowly. Yet the sun does actually appear to shrink. The data Eddy and Boornazian examined spanned a 400-year period of solar observation, so that this shrinkage of the sun, though small, is apparently continual.
• What does the shrinkage of the sun have to do with creation and evolution? The sun was larger in the past than it is now by 0.1% per century. A creationist, who may believe that the world was created approximately 6 thousand years ago, has very little to worry about. The sun would have been only 6% larger at creation than it is now. However, if the rate of change of the solar radius remained constant, 100 thousand years ago the sun would be twice the size it is now. One could hardly imagine that any life could exist under such altered conditions. Yet 100 thousand years is a minute amount of time when dealing with evolutionary time scales.
• How far back in the past must one go to have a sun so large that its surface touches the surface of the earth? The solar radius changes at 2.5 feet per hour, half the 5 feet per hour change of the solar diameter. The distance from the sun to the earth is 93 million miles, and there are 5,280 feet in one mile. One must remember that the 20 million year B.C. date is the extreme limit on the time scale for the earth's existence. The time at which the earth first emerged from the shrinking sun is 20 million B.C. A more reasonable limit is the 100 thousand year B.C. limit set by the time at which the size of the sun should have been double its present size.
• A further word of explanation is needed about the assumption that the rate of shrinkage of the sun is constant over 100 thousand years or over 20 million years. The shrinkage rate centuries ago would be determined by the balance of solar forces. Since the potential energy of a homogeneous spherical sun varies inversely with the solar radius, the rate of shrinkage would have been greater in the past than it is now. The time at which the sun was twice its present size is less than 100 thousand B.C. The time at which the surface of the sun would touch the earth is much less than 20 million B.C. Therefore, the assumption of a constant shrinkage rate is a conservative assumption.
• The shrinkage of the sun greatly alters what we believe to be the energy source within the sun. The sun shrinks because of its own self-gravitational attraction. As it compresses itself, it heats itself. This heat is then liberated in the form of solar radiation.

Malala Yousafzai - Navo

• In 2009, Malala started blogging about living under Taliban rule for the BBC. She later became a national figure in her country, appearing on television as a spokesperson for girls’ education.At 17 years old, Malala is is the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace.
• Malala was aboard a bus in 2012, campaigning for education of girls in Pakistan, when the Taliban reportedly hijacked the bus and singled her out, shooting her in the head and the neck.She has been living in England since being treated for her gunshot wounds.
• Since her increased visibility, Malala has changed her career focus to politics. Ziauddin Yousafzai ran one of the last schools to defy the Taliban’s orders to not educate girls. He has reportedly encouraged his daughter to be outspoken from a young age.
• Malala will be splitting the prize money, $1.1 million, with her 60-year-old co-recipient, Kailash Satyarthi, a human rights advocate from India.
• Malala was shot on October 9th, 2012. She was reported to be in critical condition and not expected to survive.

Easter Island - Navo

• Easter Island, a Chilean territory is remote to a volcanic island in Polynesia. It is famed for the astonishing monuments it has, including the 900 man made statues.
• Easter Island covers roughly 64 square miles in the South Pacific Ocean, and is located some 2,300 miles from Chile’s west coast and 2,500 miles east of Tahiti. Known as Rapa Nui to its earliest inhabitants, the island was christened Paaseiland, or Easter Island, by Dutch explorers in honor of the day of their arrival in 1722. 
• It was annexed by Chile in the late 19th century and now maintains an economy based largely on tourism. Easter Island’s most dramatic claim to fame is an array of almost 900 giant stone figures that date back many centuries.
• The statues reveal their creators to be master craftsmen and engineers, and are distinctive among other stone sculptures found in Polynesian cultures. There has been much speculation about the exact purpose of the statues, the role they played in the ancient civilization of Easter Island and the way they may have been constructed and transported.

Rose - Navo

• The rose is the official National Floral emblem of the United States. President Ronald Reagan signed this legislation into law on October 7, 1986. The rose is also the state flower selected by Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Dakota and the District of Columbia.
• Three separate nationally conducted public opinion polls, dating from 1975-1986, found the rose to be the number-one choice of over 85% of those individuals surveyed. George Washington, our first President, was also our first U.S. rose breeder! 
• In 1994, U.S. flower buyers purchased over 1,200,000,000 roses. This works out to a per capita consumption of 4.67 roses per person.  
• The rose is native to the United States. The oldest fossilized imprint of the rose was left on a slate deposit found in Florissant, Colorado. It is estimated to be 35 million years old. 
• There are nearly 900 acres of greenhouse dedicated to the production of fresh-cut roses in the U.S. One acre of greenhouse rose production in the U.S. is valued at about one million dollars, which includes the value of the plants, greenhouse structure and land.  About 60% of the roses grown in the U.S. are produced in California. 
• The most popular rose holidays in the U.S. are Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Christmas.

 

Oymyakon - Navo

• Winter temperatures in Oymyakon, Russia, average minus 50 C ( minus 58 F). The remote village is generally considered the coldest inhabited area on Earth. Oymyakon is a two-day drive from Yakutsk, the regional capital which has the lowest winter temperatures of any city in the world.
• If that kind of climate is hard to wrap your brain around, such a temperature is so cold that people here regularly consume frozen meat, keep their cars running 24/7.
• The highest in summer is 52 degrees. Crops don’t grow in the frozen ground, so people have a largely carnivorous diet—reindeer meat, raw flesh shaved from frozen fish, and ice cubes of horse blood with macaroni are a few local delicacies.
• Most people use outhouses, because indoor plumbing tends to freeze. Cars are kept in heated garages or, if left outside, left running all the time.
• Every Morning a small digger digs up fresh coal to provide heat for the village

Car in the beginning of summer 

Venice slowly sinks - Navo

• Sea-level rise isn't the only thing that has Venice's famous canals rising ever-so-slightly every year: The city is also sinking, a new study shows, in contrast to previous studies that suggested the city's subsidence had stabilized.The study's findings also showed that the Italian city is slowly tilting slightly to the east, something scientists had never noticed before.Venice's subsidence was recognized as a major issue decades ago, when scientists realized that pumping groundwater from beneath the city, combined from centuries of building, was causing the city to settle. But officials put a stop to the groundwater pumping, and subsequent studies in the 2000s indicated that the subsidence had stopped.
• The team use data from 2000 to 2010 to track changes in the elevation of Venice and its surrounding lagoons and found that the city of Venice was subsiding on average about 1 to 2 millimeters a year (0.04 to 0.08 inches per year). The patches of land in Venice's lagoon (117 islands in all) are also sinking, with northern sections of the lagoon dropping at a rate of 2 to 3 mm (0.08 to 0.12 inches) per year, and the southern lagoon subsiding at 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 inches) per year.
• The team also found that the area was tilting a bit, about a millimeter or two eastward per year, something never noticed before. That means the western part — where the city of Venice is — is higher than the eastern sections.
• The forces causing the subsidence now are likely natural ones that have been impacting the area for a long time, particularly plate tectonics. The Adriatic plate, on which Venice sits, is subducting beneath the Apennines Mountains and causing the city and its environs to drop slightly in elevation. The compaction of the sediments beneath Venice also remains a factor.
• In the next 20 years Venice will be a underwater city. Soon every continent will be underwater. 

Venice during Winter

Mercedes Benz - Navo

• Mercedes is a German car company that produces trucks, cars, vans, and buses. Mercedes is a luxury car company.
• In 1926 its first name was Daimler - Benz. Mercedes-Benz is part of the "German Big 3" luxury automakers, along with Audi and BMW, which are the best-selling luxury automakers in the world.
• Mercedes Benz has a slogan that says "The best or NOTHING". In 2013 it was announced that after the last year with Mercedes contract with McLaren, Mercedes would be dropped and be replaced by Honda, with whom McLaren had world championship wins in the past together.
• Mercedes Benz has stopped production of the SLS and started a new class called GT, GT-S, priced at 129,000.

 

West Point - Navo

• The United States Military Academy at West Point, also known as West Point, Army, The Academy or simply, The Point, is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in West Point, New York.
• In southeast New York State, is the site of the U.S. Military Academy (founded 1802). It is also the site of remains of two military posts, Forts Clinton and Putnam, built by the Continental army during the Revolution.
• West Point is the oldest military academy and has over 16,000 acres. West Points nickname is Black Knights and it's Mascot is the Black Knight.
• Each Fall, Winter and Spring every cadet (Student) has to compete in a sport. West Point is also the best military academy.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower the 34th President of the US and was a West Point graduate and was rated as a 5 star general and fought in WW II. West Point's fight song is "On Brave old Army Team".

What is the Future of Trash?

• Humans today create a lot of garbage. In times past, there was less. People owned fewer things and used things longer. In the United States trash goes to the junkyard or a landfill, while in the past trash was decomposed. Currently in the United States there are more recyclable products.
•  Some areas of the planet face some extreme waste disposal, like Antarctica surprising right? Antarctica has about 70 waste sites that contain chemicals and heavy metals.
• Today, trash has staying power that will be intact when we no longer are. Charged chemical compounds that trap pollutants have shown some success and may have some applications in similar habitats, such as northern Russia and Alaska.  
• Landfills receive about 55 percent of all garbage in the United States. Researchers are investigating ways to turn trash to fuel, such as extracting cellulosic ethanol from paper refuse. Trash increases every minute because an area of a tropical forest as large as 50 football fields is destroyed every minute.