The music day is celebrated every year on June 21, over 120 countries including its country of origin France where it is known as ‘Fete de la Musique’ meaning ‘festival of music’ to honour both amateur and professional musicians. In cities across the word, musicians perform for free in public places. The best thing about World Music Day is that it is completely free to celebrate. You can enjoy any type of music you love with your family members. This day is celebrated to promote peace and spread goodwill through music.
Music is very beneficial for us and have a great importance in our lives. According to Author Victor Hugo, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.”
Apart from entertainment, according to experts music reduces the symptoms of anxiety, depression and other mood disorders. It lower stress and helps people to sleep better. According to Elton John, “Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours”. Music serves as meditation for great musicians.
Music is often used as a therapy for it’s soothing power. According to experts, music helps children with leaning disorder. Therapist use music to treat people with mental health issues. Music helps us to be happy. When you listen a particular song, it can bring a happy memory or make you feel energized. Studies suggest that music enhance your performance of exercise and it can also provide a huge amount of comfort. Music makes you feel happy. It also enhances your mind and creativity and helps in increasing your memory.
WAYS HOW MUSIC CAN BE THERAPEUTIC FOR YOUR BODY, MIND AND SOUL
It improves the quality of life for the patients who suffer memory loss i.e., if they are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
It reduces the side effects of cancer therapy. It reduces anxiety associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy and it also suppress nausea and vomiting for patients receiving chemotherapy.
It helps to restore lost speech.
It improves visual and verbal skills.
Music helps to alleviate your mood.
Music enhance learning.
Singing together bring us together.
Music can affect your judgements. It affect the way people feel about a situation or about other which impact their judgements.
Music can motivate people and even increase the productivity level.
So in thjs World Music Day, add music to your life and see how your life becomes awesome.
Velofel South Africa consists of all natural and herbal ingredients. They are of extremely high quality and purity. They are- Nettle root extract- it plays a major role in boosting testosterone levels. It stops the production of enzyme, aromatase, which is responsible for converting testosterone to oestrogen, thus, testosterone levels naturally increase as compared to oestrogen levels. Tongkat Ali- it is a type of antioxidant. Antioxidants are beneficial due to many reasons but here, it prevents experience of erectile dysfunction. Moreover, it increases the penal size and grants a long lasting erection. Horny goat weed- it increases sexual urges to a large extent primarily by boosting testosterone levels. Orchic substance- it is responsible for increasing libido. It also plays a role in increasing strength, energy and overall vigour of the body. Zinc- it plays a role in determining potency. It improves the sperm count and motility. Citrus fruits- citrus fruits improve the lasting time, which improves the sexual satisfaction experience. Muira Puama- it is an herbal ingredient which provides nutrients, vitamins and minerals to the body. It improves assimilation of Velofel readily in the body. Pomegranate- it is a type of a citrus fruit which increases excretion of toxins from the body. When the toxins flush out, the working efficiency of the supplement improves. Gingko Biloba- it is plant which is responsible for production of nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide releases all sort of sexual tension and makes your experience smoother and convenient. Tribulus terrestris- it aids in boosting testosterone by maintaining a good balance of all sexual nutrients. Boron extracts- these extracts prolong the ejaculation time, which makes you last longer in bed. Epimedium- it plays a key role in sex as it betters the flow of blood to the penis, this automatically solves the problem of erectile dysfunction. Bioperine- its origin is pepper extract. It absorbs nutrients and minerals in the intestinal wall and boost blood flow to the genital area.
Benefits
Let us know about the various benefits Velofel South Africa provides us with-
It produces nitric oxide which increases blood flow to the penis and helps keep it erect.
Best male enhancement supplement.
It causes no side effects as it only contains natural and herbal ingredients.
It consists of no chemical or toxic ingredients.
It increases the body’s stamina to perform longer and strenuous sessions.
It prevents occurrence of erectile dysfunction by improving blood flow to the penile area.
It controls early ejaculation.
It boosts libido levels, which promote the quality of experience.
It maintains an overall sense of energy and vigour in the body.
As it boosts testosterone, it empowers muscle building.
It increases self-confidence.
It improves sexual immunity by provision of nutrients.
It provides harder erections solving the problem of brokenness.
It provides a 100% satisfactory climax.
It increases length, girth and size of penis.
Strengthens relations with your partner.
Pros of Velofel South Africa
Quality sexual experience. Long lasting in bed. Natural enhancement of genitals. Boosts confidence.
Cons of Velofel South Africa
Not fit for teenagers. Not fit for females at all. Only available online for purchase.
Side effects
Men are inquisitive to know if Velofel South Africa causes any side effects. The answer is NO. This supplement causes no side effects as it is a composition of only natural and organic ingredients. It is free of all chemicals and toxins.
Coronavirus has made life very tough for us in real life. People from different fields are facing challenges in their own ways. Doctors and frontline health workers are facing the challenges head on to save the infected since day 1. There is no proper vaccine for cure. Police departments are fighting to keep public inside their houses and to make them wear masks. Workers are losing jobs and businessmen are facing losses. Migrant workers faced challenges while going back to their villages. Sellers in various markets have incurred huge loss due to lockdown for around three months. Students are yet to know when examinations and admissions will be held. The lockdown has also affected mental health of people for suddenly arrived stress in life. But the scenario is totally opposite in various social media platforms. The virtual world challenges are quite different from the real world.
People around the world have taken to social media to get over insecurity that comes with staying home for prolonged hours. It is known as the FOMO syndrome (Fear Of Missing Out). The insecurity arises out of a fear that I am being left out while others are coping with the challenges facing us. People have started showing off their artistic skills in varying domains like cooking, drawing, singing dancing, reciting. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter are being used for the performance. There are whole lot of creativity and innovations in social media as people do not have jam-packed schedule thanks to the pandemic. Celebrities have also joined the group to have fun with their fans. Some such virtual challenges are:
#DalgonaCoffee: It was the number one viral challenge in Facebook and WhatsApp in 2020. It seems everyone loves coffee and knows how to make it. It is a traditional way of preparation by beating the milk and coffee together for a few minutes and put it as cream on milk. But suddenly it became viral among people. Everybody participated and uploaded their ‘masterchef’-style videos and pictures to prove how good they were.
#UntilTomorrowChallenge: This was started in Instagram. People started posting their weird, funny or embarrassing pictures with this hashtag and nominated their pals. The picture were to be in their accounts for twenty four hours. In posting such pictures and sharing those around people would overcome the anxiety of being left behind.
#SareeChallenge & #DhotiChallenge: Girls in Facebook started putting their pictures wearing saree. After this went viral boys would also start sharing pictures in dhotis. One person has to upload his/her best picture and ‘nominate’ friends to do the same. Everyone’s account would be full of people in saree and dhoti. This challenge went on for a while.
#BingoChallenge / #ThisorThatChallenge/ #BucketlistChallenge: These three types of challenges became most viral in Instagram. Students and those working in offices made their personalized bingo challenge depicting the quality time spent in educational institutes and workplaces. People would have to tick activities done in a specified place or time. It is like a questionnaire template and answers must be given with stickers or check marks.
#GibberishChallenge: It is still now trending in Instagram among youth, celebrities and stand-up comedians with their personalized touch. This is a game where some gibberish words will be there and one has to mention the correct sentence or word or phrase. It is funny and interesting to play. It checks one’s mind and knowledge in an interactive way.
#PassTheBrushChallenge: This was again most common and viral challenge among girls in Facebook and Instagram. Here a person starts with a natural look without any makeup on and then she reveals a glamourous look after briefly covering the camera screen with a makeup brush. She has to pass the brush to the next participant in the challenge. They also made their own personalized themes like Bollywood style, Celebrations style, Comics style and many more. Artists also started this challenge while showing off their artistic skills in painting and drawing while passing the paint brush. Some of them passed food and snacks while feeding stray animals on roads.
One finds that TikTok has been the source of the highest number of fun challenges for people during the lockdown. Even with the Unlockdown 1.0 people are still participating in new challenges. The challenges have covered the world after becoming viral. They helped lot of people to remain active and escape boredom and insecurity to a certain extent. The challenges reveal that when physical mobility is restricted we can remain mentally alert by taking the virtual route.
In 2020, many locations will see a rare solstice annular solar eclipse on the same day as the June solstice. This will happen only twice this century, in 2020 and on June 21, 2039.
The Moon Eclipses the Sun
An eclipse of the Sun happens when the New Moon moves between the Sun and Earth, blocking out the Sun’s rays and casting a shadow on parts of Earth.
The Moon’s shadow is not big enough to engulf the entire planet, so the shadow is always limited to a certain area (see map illustrations below). This area changes during the course of the eclipse because the Moon and Earth are in constant motion: Earth continuously rotates around its axis while it orbits the Sun, and the Moon orbits Earth. This is why solar eclipses seem to travel from one place to another
Types of Solar Eclipses
There are 4 different types of solar eclipses. How much of the Sun’s disk is eclipsed, the eclipse magnitude, depends on which part of the Moon’s shadow falls on Earth.
Solar Eclipses Mainly Look Partial
Partial Solar Eclipses occur when the Moon only partially obscures the Sun’s disk and casts only its penumbra on Earth.
Annular Solar Eclipses take place when the Moon’s disk is not big enough to cover the entire disk of the Sun, and the Sun’s outer edges remain visible to form a ring of fire in the sky. An annular eclipse of the Sun takes place when the Moon is near apogee, and the Moon’s antumbra falls on Earth.
Total Solar Eclipses happen when the Moon completely covers the Sun, and it can only take place when the Moon is near perigee, the point of the Moon’s orbit closest to Earth. You can only see a total solar eclipse if you’re in the path where the Moon casts its darkest shadow, the umbra.
Hybrid Solar Eclipses, also known as annular-total eclipses, are the rarest type. They occur when the same eclipse changes from an annular to a total solar eclipse, and/or vice versa, along the eclipse’s path.
Solar eclipses are only visible from within the area on Earth where the Moon’s shadow falls, and the closer you are to the center of the shadow’s path, the bigger the eclipse looks.
Solar eclipses are usually named for their darkest, or maximum, point. The exception is the hybrid eclipse.
The darkest point of solar eclipses is only visible from a small area. In most places and for most of the duration, total, annular, and hybrid eclipses look like a partial solar eclipse.
There are so many facts about camels that make them a unique animal. All we know about camels is only limited till that they are found mostly in deserts and they carry weight.
Here are some interesting facts about camels that not many of us know.
Camels are of two types viz. One humped or “dromedary” camels and two humped Bactrian camels.
Dromedary or one humped is of enormous size. That is because their weight ranges from 400 to 650 kilograms, height is easily over two meters and the body length measures more than three meters. The hump is an adaption of the desert life and stores fatty tissues which is used for their nourishment as they travel long distances. Some people believe that the hump of the camel is used to store water which is not true. Their lifespan is about 40 years. They do not have thick coat of fur. Dromedaries naturally range in the North and North-Eastern Africa through the Middle East countries up to Pakistan and India. They do not have any subspecies.
Two humped Bactrian camels have subspecies. They have long thick coat of fur. camels (especially Bactrian camels) together have a natural range in the Central Asian regions of China and Mongolia.
Water Storage
Even though camels do not store water in their hump but they have sufficient amount of water in their body for their survival in the desert. they can go without drinking water for nearly a week. This is partly because of the unique shape of their blood cells, which are oval. Oval-shaped blood cells allow camels to consume large amounts of water (up to 30 gallons in one go ) since the cells are more elastic and can change shape more easily. This shape also allows their blood to flow more easily when water is scarce, which is common in a desert.
A camel’s humps is very important for its survival in a desert. Without its humps, a camel would be more likely to overheat and produce sweat but it’s the oval-shaped blood cells that help the camel retain so much water, not the humps.
Nostrils
The design of the nose of the camel is very efficient for their survival in the desert. The loss of body water is minimized due to their nostrils. Their nose acts as humidifier and dehumidifier both in one. When an animal breathes, they exhale air along with water vapor. In the dry areas like desert, water is scare and the water loss through breathing increases. This happens because dry desert air that is inhaled is exchanged for the moisture-laden air that is exhaled causing loss of body water. When the large amount of water vapor is exhaled, it is trapped by the nostrils and returned to the body fluids. Therefore, the cooler the air is, the less moisture it will absorb.
Camels can completely shut their nostrils during sandstorms.
Mouth
The lips of the camel are fat, the mouth is very sturdy that makes them able able to chew thorny desert plants.
Eyes
Camels have three sets of eyelids and two rows of eyelashes. Two of the eyelids have eyelashes that protect their eyes from sand. The third is a very thin lid which works as a sort of “windshield wiper” to clean off their eyes. It opens and closes sideways instead of up and down. So in a sandstorm or otherwise windy day where sand is being stirred up, they can close that lid to protect their eyes from the sand, but still see where they are going.
Temperature Tolerance
Camels have thick pads of skin on their chest and knees, camels can comfortably sit in very hot sand. Its thick coat reflects sunlight instead of absorbing it. A shaved camel has to sweat 50% more to avoid overheating. It also insulates them from the intense heat that radiates from hot desert sand. Camels are able to withstand changes in body temperature and water content that would kill most other animals. Their temperature ranges from 34°C (93°F) at night up to 41°C (106°F) in the day and only above this threshold will they begin to sweat. This allows them to preserve about five liters of water a day. Camels can withstand at least 25% weight loss due to sweating.
Legs and feet
The long legs of the camel keep them further from the hot ground. Camels have tough feet so that they can endure the scorching desert sands. Camel have been known to swim if given the chance. The foot of a camel is made up of a large leathery pad, with two toes at the front, the bones of which are embedded in the foot. Camels can travel at up to 40 miles per hour.
The colour of their skin is sandy for them to camouflage in the desert to protect themselves from the predators which other than humans, are only tigers. The kidneys of a camel are very efficient. Urine comes out as a thick syrup. The female camels can carry their calves for upto 14 months before giving birth to them.
When a camel is angry they spit. So whenever you are around a camel and if they spit, consider it as a threat.
All these characteristics makes a camel very efficient for survival in desert areas and unique from other animals.
Solar Eclipse 2020: The moon covering the sun formed a celestial event “Ring of Fire” today, 21 June, being the longest day of year.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the earth. When this happens, the moon blocks the light of the sun from reaching the earth. The shadow of the moon falls on the earth.‘The solar eclipse of 21 June, however, is an annular eclipse.This happens when the moon is farthest from the earth, according to NASA blog ’.
What is Ring of Fire?
When solar eclipse occurs, a bright light of Sun is observed around the moon at the height of annual solar eclipse that beautiful ring is called “Ring of Fire”. “ Annular solar eclipse is a particular case of the total solar eclipse. Like the total solar eclipse, the moon is aligned with the sun. However, on that day, the apparent size of the moon happens to be a wee smaller than the sun. Hence the moon covers the central part of the sun, and the rim of the sun appear like a ‘ring of fire’ in the sky for a very brief moment” Samir Dhurde of The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics said.
“Ring of Fire”
Today, a beautiful celestial event, an annular solar eclipse, which is popularly known as the “ring of fire” eclipse, was visible on Sunday in parts of India.It has been spotted in Delhi, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Social media and TV news channels were flooded with pictures of beautiful ring by sunlight. This was the first solar eclipse of 2020 which coincided with the Summer Solstice, being the longest day. The eclipse started around 10:30 am and ended at 3:05 pm. .
‘Ring of Fire’ observed at Dehradun (Uttrakhand) ‘Ring of Fire’ at Kurukshetra (Haryana)
Due to covid-19 pandemic, a large number of people could not able to observe this event at planetariums as large gatherings are banned.
People looking for Solar Eclipse with masks on face, due to covid-19
Observing Solar eclipse event, one must have proper eye protection because looking directly at the Sun can cause permanent damage to the eye’s retina. However many people could not step out and watch the eclipse, many watched it online on their YouTube using NASA tracker. The eclipse was also visible in other countries such as Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman.
The country is witnessing a rare celestial event, annular solar eclipse today. The annular ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse, wherein the Sun appears like a ring of fire, is visible in different parts of the country. This solar eclipse coincides with the summer solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere has the longest day.
The solar eclipse is taking place on the summer solstice, which is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere.
AIR correspondent reports that this rare celestial event occurs, when Moon comes between the Sun and Earth and the shadow falls on the surface of the Earth.
The Sun is entirely covered by the Moon for a brief period. Those places that are engulfed by the dark, dense umbral shadow of the Moon experience the total solar eclipse. In all solar eclipse the Sun, Moon and Earth may not be perfectly aligned, and then there is a partial eclipse. When the three celestial bodies happen to be in a straight line, people witness a Total solar eclipse.
People in different places of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand are able to see the annular phase and people in rest of the country are witnessing a partial eclipse. Ministry of Science and Technology has urged people not to use sunglasses, goggles, exposed x-ray sheet or lampblack over a glass as they are not safe. It said, viewing the Sun’s image on the surface of the water is also not safe. The Ministry said, welders glass 13 or 14 can be used to see the Sun directly with naked eyes.
In the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir three terrorists have been gunned down in an encounter that broke out between terrorists and security forces at Zadibal area in Srinagar district today.
According to Police sources a joint team of security forces launched a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) based on a specific input about the presence of terrorists in the area.
As a joint team approached towards this suspected spot, hiding terrorists fired upon them which was retaliated triggering an encounter and resulted in the elimination of three terrorists. The identity of the slain terrorists is being ascertained.
As a precautionary measure, internet service in Srinagar district has been snapped. Meanwhile, in another encounter at Likhdipora area of Nehama in Kulgam district one terrorist has been killed.
One AK-47, magazines and one pistol has been recovered from the encounter site. Operation is in progress. further details are awaited.
India has said that attempts by the Chinese side to now advance exaggerated and untenable claims with regard to Line of Actual Control are not acceptable. It said, the position with regard to the Galwan Valley area has been historically clear.
In response to queries on the statement issued by the Chinese Spokesperson on the events in the Galwan valley area, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Anurag Srivastava said such claims are not in accordance with China’s own position in the past.
He said, Indian troops are fully familiar with the alignment of the LAC in all sectors of the India-China border areas, including in the Galwan Valley.
They abide by it scrupulously and the Indian side has never undertaken any actions across the LAC. In fact, they have been patrolling this area for a long time without any incident.
All infrastructure built by the Indian side is naturally on its own side of the LAC.
The Spokesman said that since early May this year, the Chinese side has been hindering India’s normal, traditional patrolling pattern in this area.
This had resulted in a face-off which was addressed by the ground commanders as per the provisions of the bilateral agreements and protocols.
The Spokesman said, the two sides are in regular touch and early meetings of military and diplomatic mechanisms are currently being discussed.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today held a high-level meeting with The Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and three service chiefs on the situation in Ladakh. AIR correspondent quoting sources reports, after review meeting, Armed forces were given full freedom to deal with any aggressive behaviour by China’s PLA along the LAC.
The meet also discussed to adopt a different tactical approach in guarding the border with China henceforth. Top military brass also told to ensure strict vigil on Chinese activities around land border, airspace and in strategic sea lanes.
The 6th International Day of Yoga is being celebrated today. The celebrations commenced with a message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a televised message, Mr Modi said Yoga brings people together and gives a message of universal brotherhood. He said, Yoga has emerged as a force for unity and it does not discriminate and goes beyond race, colour, gender, faith and nations.
Mr Modi said, Yoga enhances our quest for a healthier planet and it has emerged as a force for unity and deepens the bonds of humanity. Prime Minister said Yoga helps in strengthening our respiratory and immune system which plays a crucial part in dealing with diseases.
He said, Yoga gives us not only the physical strength, but also provides mental balance and emotional stability to confidently face the challenges before us. Prime Minister said, Yoga gives us the confidence and will power to overcome challenges in life and it also gives us peace of mind.
Mr Modi said, World is realising the potential of Yoga in this Corona virus pandemic and people affected with corona virus are taking the benefit of Yoga. He said, Corona virus hits our respiratory system and several breathing exercises like Pranayam and Anulom Vilom strengthen our respiratory system. He said, taking part in the My Life-My Yoga video blogging contest during the corona virus pandemic, shows that enthusiasm for Yoga is increasing.
Prime Minister said, this year the theme of Yoga day is, Yoga at home, Yoga with family and when family members perform yoga, an energy flows into the house. Therefore, this time, Yoga day is also a day of emotional Yoga and it is a day to increase our family bonding.
He said, anybody can embrace Yoga and day is not far away when the world will witness the success of health and happy humanity and Yoga can definitely help us make this happen.
He appealed to the people to embrace Yoga as a daily routine activity.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that Yoga is a medium of establishing harmony between body and mind, action and thought and man and nature. In a tweet, he said, this precious gift of Indian culture has been given global acceptance by the efforts of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The observation of International Day of Yoga in the past years has been marked by mass demonstrations of Yoga in public places. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this year, the main focus is on encouraging people to do Yoga at their homes with participation of the entire family.
Yoga is found to be a significant activity in the current pandemic situation as its practice leads to both physical and mental wellbeing and increases the individual’s ability to fight diseases in an effective manner.
To promote Yoga, My Life, My Yoga-video blogging contest with attractive prizes is also being organized by Ministry of Ayush in which the people are being encouraged to post their short video clips performing different Yogasanas.
India boycotting Chinese products has been trending these days . And it has been observed that civilians are reacting to the recent act which happened on the Indo-China border. The loss of our 20 brave soldiers is hitting the minds of people across the country. Defence and our political leaders are finding the best way out to fight these back. But current happenings arise, the big question which needs to be addressed which is to continue trade with them. Losing lives of our country men and still continuing trade with the same country is a shame for us as a response to those brave souls. Common man is filled with anger and in the steps to take revenge and show their aggression, they have decided to boycott these products and their import.
But “How difficult and how bad it could be for us to stop trade with these Chinese companies right away”. The major area to focus before discussing the Chinese products and their usage in India would be the export and import of products in and by India. The import percentage is almost double the amount of export we generally do.This surely defies our dependencies not only on China but also on other countries for more of our products. India lacks in their productivity growth which means the lack of raw material for manufacturing any product. Thus India is dependent on other countries for even the raw material. India along with that does not have better skilled labour due to lack of literacy around the country. This leads to rise of manufacturing cost of products and surely rise in their sale cost also. Which countries like China, have a plus point with. They have highly skilled labour, and due to high populations , work is a priority so they hire these skilled people at much lower cost and thus earn better profits than other international companies.
Comparing China and also enlisting India’s dependency on it. India is dependent on china for most of its products and components which include:
Automotive parts
Electronic material and parts
Pharmaceutical ingredients
Consumer durables
And many more raw materials.
These components and their share is hide in importing from other countries and especially china for cost effectiveness. Along with that all the countries are shifting towards sustainable forms of energy and one of the forms is solar energy, but the interesting fact is that most of the components in it are made in China.
India technology as compared to China lacked in the time-period along the years as they invested most of their resources in creating resources which India focused on just importing and buying them. Many schemes like Make in India and a recent Atma Nirbhar bharat as launched by Prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi, which purely focuses on developing their product and manufacturing most of them india. The main area we lack is raw material, India to manufacture products has to import most if raw material from other countries especially china. So India should try to shift to some other source for their raw material and on coming years must focus on there technology and production of these raw material and ingredients in our country only.
It’s hard to believe and accept but yes India is dependent on china for most of its product and boycotting them and this stage could result in high lack of these resources especially in pharmaceutical industry, as many medicine especially paracetamol and ingredients used in it comes from china, so boycotting chinese product and its use could be harmful especially in today’s era if pandemic.
“India should surely learn from this and focus and initiate more towards encouraging people to come up with their ideas of startup which include manufacturing and production of products within the country only, relying less on foreign imports rather focused on foreign exports in near future. India can develop its own market of products and raw material by focusing more on the inputs available in the country itself, and surely in future, India would see a hike with its products being exported all over the world, leaving with us a higher economy and growth capacity and independence from major exports from other countries”.
As a Mac IOS user I use Siri extensively, what a wonderful companion. I am sure many of you would even talk to her when you feel lonely because I do that a lot, especially in these quarantine days when I am bored and want to have a conversation with some one ,Siri is there for me. Though a short conversation but yes I do enjoy it. One day I realized that I don’t know any thing about this friend of mine , how she was made and developed so in the search of that I ended up learning many things about her.
The full form of Siri is speech interpretation and recognition interface. It is a virtual assistant rather an intelligent virtual assistant developed and released by apple on 2010, in iPhone 4S . Siri enables users to give sound commands and it gives audible confirmation. There are many uses of Siri like
Set reminder of your meetings
search things
post something on facebook or twitter using sound commands
Instruct Siri to book a restaurant seats for you
Ask siri for the live scores of the match
create a contact book and ask to add people
Find how your stocks are going. and many more……… voice of siri is given by Susan Bennett, after some years the company gave many other accents to the Siri voice. Susan Bennett is the American accent voice for Siri then they developed British, Australian,Irish and South African voices of Siri, Also male voices were made available. When Siri was released in 2010, it got mixed reviews, some thought it was good but some thought it can be improved more , like it could not perceive different accents of the language. Also it interprets many commands wrongly, like if the users asks about the locations of abortion centres rather it gave the locations of NGO’s which counsels pregnant women. These problems lead the consumers to file complaint against Siri, but as it was just a beta version when it was first introduced Siri had the room to actually upgrade its qualities and to get better in the next versions of the upcoming Apple product. Siri is now 10 years old and many other virtual assistants have been developed like google assistant and Amazon’s Alexa which is said to be much more user friendly than Siri. If we made the comparison between three of these assistants, then according to the surveys Google assistant is the smartest as it understood 90% of the commands and also navigated rightly most of the time. Surprisingly though Alexa claimed itself to be the most user friendly but the survey said that Siri was better than Alexa. As Alexa lagged much more than siri not only that the navigation system is actually something to be worked upon. If you ask about reliability, Siri has the least because Google assistant and Alexa gets better overtime but siri updates only with the release of new iPhone product that means only once in a year. It is time that Apple actually uPdates Siri throughout the year. Though many virtual assistants would be created in the future but Siri was revolutionary which as it enabled this idea of virtual assistants so it would always be an important part in the history of technologies and its development .
First ebook was created by Michael Hart in the year 1971 while proceeding to establish Project Gutenberg. The first eBook created by Michael Hart was downloaded by six people, the title focused on the declaration of independence.
A past couple of years have seen an upsurge in presence of eBooks and the number of prints is decreasing though registering its presence in the reading fraternity. The youth of today prefer eBooks in digital format and prefer to read them at the same time some of us are still in love with the printed books. The authors and publishers want to explore the niche of eBooks. The eBooks offer flexibility of reading the way you like it.
Print books can be given as gifts that can be cherished for over a long period and becomes a memory for lifetime. The underlining with the colour of our choice makes it more personal. The eBooks also promote reading with different fonts and highlighting the sections for reading them later i.e. they add to the uniqueness of the eBooks. The print books smell good and establish a personal bond with the reader.
The print books have a longer life compared to that of eBooks because the regular digital upgrade over an interval time makes the older version of digital content obsolete. Hence, the life of the gadget holding the eBooks and the readability options of eBooks always are at a disadvantage due to this factor. We have seen the development of many eBook readers like Kobo, Kindle, Nook and Sony to name a few, and all these had undergone major developmental changes within a short period rendering older versions obsolete.
All book lovers take pride in showcasing their books in possession, it is like a treasure for them and they enjoy showing it to their friends and families. Sometimes we may find the bookshelves in the kitchen too. The collection of books is a hobby of many and they are always in search of new print in the market.
Readers get attached with the print books and develop an emotional bond with it. Building a library at home or sometimes at the workplace is the dream of many and that can be achieved through print books. However, due to long term storage of books at one place the quality of the book gets deteriorated and here the advantage of having books in digital format cannot be overruled.
Though it is easy to share and show the print text to the guests visiting the homes, sharing your digital gadget to allow them to explore the books that you have read has to come in vogue for acceptance. The question that arises is as to why the people tend to prefer one mode of reading over the other, this aspect can be addressed if we see the aim of the reader and his requirement of satisfying his need of reading a book.
The answer to learning more about the preference of reading through eBooks or printed text can be related to economics as has been noticed the eBooks are less expensive compared to that of the printed ones. Readers nowadays are more exposed to media and have developed a knack of skimming through the books by turning over the sample pages provided to the readers.
The online websites selling books are hosting books in digital format and print ones for selling and thus are offering a choice to the readers to choose the books they want. Parents prefer printed books over eBooks for their kids as it does not strain their eyes and are also cost-effective over purchasing a gadget first and then going for eBooks.
We are accustomed to reading printed books over a period now and love to feel the text and the paper. Carrying of books is a difficult task and requires some or the other support if we want to carry several books at a time, whereas the eBook readers don’t require much of the carrying cost expenses as one eBook reader can accommodate thousand of books. It makes life easier when we are going out of the station.
The publishing industry also has got an opportunity to reduce the cost of editing, printing and making books available at remote places. Hence, it is confirmed that the eBooks help in cutting the cost of publication for the publishers as many processes get reduced. The e-readers also pose certain disadvantages like we keep on recharging them regularly, screen glare and visibility issues are present which restricts the reader to use it in daylight.
The digital book store provides an opportunity for the reader to download certain good titles without even paying a penny and at the coziness of home. The portability factor gives more freedom to the reader while purchasing the eBooks. The inbuilt dictionaries add to the reading and grasping speed of the reader. Access to the books of various languages also helps the reader in achieving a variety of reading the overview.
The increase in the sale of eBooks has also extended the opportunity to the authors who want limited publishing and need some cost-effective publishing by doing away with the formalities and processes involved. This is essential for them as these budding authors have less number of titles and the material that is to be published is less. The eBook can be read during the night with ease if the e-reader has a backlit option.
Nowadays the eBooks are also released along with the print one and digital launches of books are becoming a trend of the town. The companies selling the books also offer a huge discount on the eBooks to promote their widespread reading. The eBooks can be stored in a device, which makes carrying of eBooks easy that saves the precious space of the bookshelves at home and office. The cloud feature offered by some companies like Amazon provides real-time sharing possible.
Audio books are also catching the sale speed in the market that makes all the books easily accessible to visually and hearing challenged people. The environment friendliness can be enhanced by protecting the cutting of trees for producing paper, reduction in transportation cost. Adapting to new technology would create new avenues for readers. The eBooks are going to stay and print books though have a section of readers present today can avail a variety of reading experience.
The annular solar eclipse, popularly known as the “ring of fire” eclipse, has become visible in India, with social media flooded with pictures from the rare celestial event. This is the first solar eclipse of 2020. Skywatchers living within a narrow band covering parts of Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttarakhand will be able to see the “ring of fire” with much clarity.
The first solar eclipse of this year which coincides with the summer solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere has the longest day, will be an annular eclipse. Apart from India, the eclipse will be visible in Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, and China. The eclipse started around 10:20 am and is expected to ended around 2:20 pm. It is also known as Surya Grahan in India. Annular solar eclipse is a particular case of the total solar eclipse. Like the total solar eclipse, the moon is aligned with the sun. However, on that day, the apparent size of the moon happens to be a wee smaller than the sun. Hence the moon covers the central part of the sun, and the rim of the sun appear like a “ring of fire” in the sky for a very brief moment”.
Total solar eclipses occur when the New Moon comes between the Sun and Earth and casts the darkest part of its shadow, the umbra, on Earth. A full solar eclipse, known as totality, is almost as dark as night. Eclipses are normally named after their darkest phase. If a solar eclipse is total at any point on Earth, it is called a total solar eclipse, even though it’s seen as a partial solar eclipse in most areas.However, there is an exception, the hybrid solar eclipse. This type of eclipse is also known as an annular-total eclipse because it changes from an annular to a total solar eclipse, and/or vice versa, along its path.
Complete Solar Eclipse Has 5 Phases
There are 5 stages in a total solar eclipse:
Partial eclipse begins (1st contact): The Moon starts becoming visible over the Sun’s disk. The Sun looks as if a bite has been taken from it.
Total eclipse begins (2nd contact): The entire disk of the Sun is covered by the Moon. Observers in the path of the Moon’s umbra may be able to see Baily’s beads and the diamond ring effect, just before totality.
Totality and maximum eclipse: The Moon completely covers the disk of the Sun. Only the Sun’s corona is visible. This is the most dramatic stage of a total solar eclipse. At this time, the sky goes dark, temperatures can fall, and birds and animals often go quiet. The midpoint of time of totality is known as the maximum point of the eclipse. Observers in the path of the Moon’s umbra may be able to see Baily’s beads and the diamond ring effect, just after totality ends.
Total eclipse ends (3rd contact): The Moon starts moving away, and the Sun reappears.
Partial eclipse ends (4th contact): The Moon stops overlapping the Sun’s disk. The eclipse ends at this stage in this location.
Unique Sights around Totality
Certain phenomena can only be seen during a total solar eclipse:
Shadow bands: About 1 minute before totality, moving wavy lines of alternating light and dark can be seen on the ground and along walls. These shadow bands are the result of Earth’s turbulent atmosphere refracting the last rays of sunlight.
Diamond ring: Seen about 10 to 15 seconds before and after totality, the solar corona (the outer atmosphere of the sun) becomes visible; seen together with a single jewel of light from the sun, this creates a diamond ring effect.
The Sun’s corona: As the diamond ring fades, the Sun’s corona becomes more prominent and is visible as a faint ring of rays surrounding the silhouetted Moon. The corona is the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, and it is around 200–300 times hotter than the Sun’s surface. The corona’s temperature can reach over 1 million °C (1.8 million °F).
Baily’s beads: About 5 seconds before totality, Baily’s beads appear. They are little bead-like blobs of light at the edge of the Moon. They are created because gaps in the mountains and valleys on the Moon’s surface allow sunlight to pass through in some places but not others.
The Sun’s chromosphere: A lower layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, the chromosphere, gives out a reddish glow which can only be seen for a few seconds after totality sets in.
Baily’s beads: The beads grow and merge into a crescent as the Moon continues to move away.
Diamond ring and corona: As the diamond ring grows brighter, the corona fades.
Shadow bands: The moving wavy lines reappear on the ground shortly before the crescent Sun becomes visible again and nature recovers.
The Science of Total Solar Eclipses
The Sun, Moon, and Earth are aligned
Only viewers located in the path of the Moon’s full shadow, its umbra, can see a total solar eclipse. The Moon’s umbra travels eastward at about 1,700 km/h (1,056 mph).
A total solar eclipse can last for several hours. Totality can range from a few seconds to 7.5 minutes. The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century took place on July 22, 2009 when the totality lasted 6 minutes and 39 seconds.
On average, there’s approximately one total solar eclipse every 18 months, when:
It is New Moon.
At the same time, the Moon is at (or very near) a lunar node, so the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun are aligned in a straight (or nearly straight) line.
The Moon is near perigee.
Not Every New Moon
Lunar nodes are the locations where the Moon crosses the Earth’s orbital plane.
The Moon’s orbital path around Earth is inclined at an angle of approximately 5° to the Earth’s orbital plane around the Sun (ecliptic). Without this slant, we would be able to see two eclipses per lunar month—a solar eclipse at every New Moon and a lunar eclipse at every Full Moon. In reality, solar eclipses happen only about 2—5 times a year.
For a solar eclipse to take place, the New Moon must be at or very close to one of the two points where the orbital planes meet. These locations are called lunar nodes.
If the Moon is not near a lunar node during New Moon, the Sun, Moon, and Earth do not align in a straight or almost straight line and a solar eclipse cannot take place. Seen from Earth, the Moon passes just above or just below the Sun (see image).
Moon Phases
Near Lunar Perigee
The Moon’s path around Earth is elliptical, with one side of the orbit closer to Earth than the other. The side closest to Earth is called the perigee and the side farthest from Earth is known as the apogee.
Earth’s orbit around the Sun is also elliptical, with the Sun closer to one end, the perihelion of the orbit than the other aphelion.
Earth’s and the Moon’s elliptical orbits mean that Earth’s distance from the Sun and the Moon’s distance from Earth varies throughout the year. It also means that from Earth, the Sun’s and Moon’s apparent sizes change during the year.
When the Moon is about 400 times closer to Earth than the Sun, the Moon’s and the Sun’s apparent sizes roughly match. Because of this, total eclipses of the Sun can only occur when the Moon is near perigee – it is the only time when the disk of the Moon looks big enough to cover the entire disk of the Sun.
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