Sunday, November 30, 2014

Method to prepare raita

This raita's preparation I watched on TV. This can be served with pulao.


Required Ingredients ------


Curd - 3/4 cup
Chopped onions and tomato - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves
Kharada pudi - 1 table spoon



Method ----

Add onions , tomato , coriander leaves , kharada pudi , salt to curd. Mix them well. Now raita is ready to serve .

Friday, November 28, 2014

Why do house flies rub their legs always ?

This is the latest thing I observed . As I always sit on chair and stare at opposite wall and table ( according to mother , I am killing time ! ) , I observed that the house fly which was sitting on table was rubbing its forelegs continuosly . I wondered why ?

Flies rely on their compound eyes and antennae and hairs over them to sense the world around them .


They have to keep these sense organs clean so that they can fly with precision to find food and also to escape from its enemies.

Flies spend most of the time in cleaning their body . They not only clean their legs but they run their legs over the whole body , head and wings too .


Particles of dirt from body are picked up by its legs as it cleans and then the dirt is rubbed down the legs and thrown away .

Thursday, November 27, 2014

World's largest desert

This fact I have recently came to know . World's largest desert is Antarctic desert which is in South Pole .

What is a desert ?

Deserts are the areas that are extremely dry . They don't get much rain . The areas which have less than 10 inches of precipitation in a year are called desert . Deserts need not be hot always . They could be cold too . In general , deserts are the dry and barren places .


Antarctic desert which is situated in south pole is considered as world's largest desert . Both poles i.e. south and north are deserts .

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

How does aluminium foil keep things warm ?

Heat can be transformed by 3 mechanisms.

1. Conduction ( in solids )
2. Convection ( in fluids , either liquid or gas )
3. Radiation ( in gases)

When food is covered by aluminium foil , the air next to the food is trapped there.

Because of this , heat is reflected back to the food by the foil than dissipating heat to surroundings . Thus , it keeps the food warm.

Monday, November 24, 2014

KD as prosecution lawyer ...

Yesterday's " adaalat " serial had a sudden and pleasant transformation of lawyer KD . He had played the role of a prosecution lawyer instead of his usual role of defence lawyer .


Story goes like this ---- KD's friend got murdered . KD knew who is the murderer . The main problem in the case is beheaded body . Without knowing who's body it is , i.e. without tracing the head which is cut , law will not permit to move further.

Murderer knew this point . He challenged KD to prove him as culprit . He was so confident of his drafted murder plan that he wished to be his own lawyer !

But as each and every bad thing has to meet its end , KD was successful in cracking the case and to give the known murderer , the maximum punishment he deserves .

What is dry mouth syndrome ?

Dry Mouth Syndrome is a dry , uncomfortable feeling in the mouth that is because of decrease in the amount of saliva in the mouth.

Dry mouth syndrome is symptom of a underlying disease . A steady flow of saliva keeps the mouth moist in all times. The decrease in the amount of saliva in the mouth can result in tooth decay .

Many conditions can disrupt the production of saliva. Dehydration , drugs and medications , salivary duct infections , nerve problems are some of the reasons.

This problem can be treated by tooth examination or physical examination. 

Friday, November 21, 2014

How do painkillers work ?

I have got a joint break in my foot . Because of this , it is very painful to take steps . Doctor prescribed paracetamol type painkiller . Just in half an hour , I could take steps without pain .

But doctor had advised me to take complete rest as only the sensation of pain got subsided , not the pain itself . I was curious to know the working of it .

How did painkiller come to know , I am having pain in my foot ? I didn't tell !






Narcotics are also used to treat severe pain . But paracetamol type painkillers actually go to the source of pain and stop it .


HOW ?????????

When cells are damaged , they produce large quantities of an enzyme called " cyclooxygenase - 2 " . This enzyme in turn produces chemicals called " prostaglandins " . These chemicals send pain signals to brain and also responsible for swelling in that area .


Now , let's see what happens when we take painkillers orally or through an injection . Painkiller travels throughout body along with blood .

They target that area where the enzyme is produced and binds with them . Painkillers inhibit the enzymes from producing pain causing chemicals .

No pain causing chemicals means " no pain signal " !



But remember , the cells in damaged site are still damaged . Medications are required for healing the damage .

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

What is viscosity ?

Viscosity is a measurement of how resistant a fluid is ,in attempting to move through it .

A fluid with low viscosity is said to be " thin " and a fluid with high viscosity , " thick " .

Example -----

Water has low viscosity as compared to honey , which is higher in viscosity .

That's  why when both are made to flow on ground , honey takes long time to cover the distance as was covered by water at the same time.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Wife of Indrajit

Indrajit is the son of Ravan of Ramayana . But his actual name is " Meghanaada " as clouds made sounds of thunder when he was born .

But Meghanaada got the name as " Indrajit " since he defeated king of devas , Indra . In Sanskrit , Indrajit means conqueror of Indra.

Article is about Indrajit 's wife . She is Sulochana . She has another name too , and it is Prameela . Sulochana was very brave.

She was the daughter of King of Serpents , Shesha Naaga . When she came to know that her husband i.e. Indrajit is going to fight with Laxman , who is the brother of Ram in battle ; she did not cry or tried to stop her husband from going to battle field.

She had expected the death of Ravan in battle field . When her husband died fighting in battle , she went Sati with her husband's funeral fire . There were films too named after her by the name Sati Sulochana. 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

The solution which surprised everyone

It is a village. Somanna was living in the village with his family consisting of his wife and 9 year old son. Son was very sharp minded .

Somanna has a shop in which he sell eggs. But now he is worried as he is not getting the profit by selling eggs. But it is not the same case with other shop keepers who are in same business.

Somanna tried to figure out reason. But he didnt find any. Because of this , he became more worried and restless.

One day , he was talking about his problem with his wife. His son overheard it and he asked his father to employ his mother to sell eggs.

As Somanna had no other choice , he decided to check this plan. To his surprise , plan worked and his business was going well.

Surprised Somanna asked for the reason with his son. Son replied " It is very simple. Your palm size is big . So the egg which is having normal size , looked small when you are selling it . But mother's palm size is small. So , the same egg looked big when she was selling it. Customers were happy thinking that they have bought a bigger egg ".

Somanna was happy for his son's keen observation.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Why can't an ostrich fly , eventhough it is a bird ?

I always wondered about it.

Ostrich , it is always referred as a bird . But it can not fly.

As the ages of Dinosaurs came to an end , some flying birds ( such as ostrich which was flying then ) , swooped in and took up the newly available niches  , preferred to stay on ground , growing larger over the generations , eventually losing the ability to fly .

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Why did Gandhari blindfolded herself?

As we have seen in Mahabharat serial, Gandhari was always seen blindfolded herself. It is a very great act of her.

Bhishma wanted Gandhari to marry Dhritrashtra who was blind by birth. Now Gandhari took a decision.

Dhritrashra will never come to know how do Gandhari look like. Thats why even Gandhari blindfolded herself with a view not to see how Dhritrashtra look .

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Umbrella Revolution

This is the name given to the protest by the students demanding more political freedom in the city of Hong Kong , China .

Till 1997 , United Kingdom had control over Hong Kong . They had developed the city in a democratic way . But China is a communist country . After getting control over Hong Kong , China began to curb the rights of common people .

This made people angry , specially students . They decided to show political disobedience . So , clashes between protesters and police are common .

Police are using " pepper spray " to disperse and arrest protesters . If a person comes in contact with this spray , he will experience burning sensation all over his body .

To protect themselves , protesters are using umbrellas to cover themselves . Thus , umbrellas have become the symbol of revolution and the name stuck.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Krishna cursed his own son

This is the new story I have recently came to know.

Krishna and Jambavati had a son named Samba. Samba misbehaved so much that his father , Krishna became too angry with him. He wanted to tell in a good manner but Samba continued his bad behaviour. Krishna could not tolerate any more.

Finally Krishna told to his son , " I am so disgusted with you that I am cursing you . You will contract leprocy ".

Samba immediately started suffering with the disease. His body became disfigured. He was crying with pain.

His mother Jambavati was also present at that time. She could not see her son suffering. She pleaded with Krishna for mercy.

Finally , Krishna said to Samba " You go to river bank. Take bath and pray to Sun god. Again dip in river. You will get cured ."

At this time, Samba had realised his fault. Now he cant even get up . He pleaded with Krishna for pardon.

Finally Krishna became soft on his son and carried his son in his own arms to the river bank. He helped Samba to take the dip in the river.

Samba prayed to Sun God and apologised for his misbehaviour. He again took a dip in river and when Samba emerged , he was cured of disease.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Tulu funny saying ....

It seemed funny to me ....

kopo battandnd guvelgu laitanda aapunda ?!

ಕೋಪೊ ಬತ್ತಂಡ್ ನ್ದ್  à²—ುವೆಲ್ಗು ಲೈತಂಡ ಆಪುಂಡ ?! 



Translation --

kopo =  à²•ೋಪೊ  = anger
battansnd = ಬತ್ತಂಡ್ ನ್ದ್   = anger comes to mind
guvelgu =  à²—ುವೆಲ್ಗು   = to earthen well
laitanda =  à²²ೈತಂಡ     = if we jump
aapunda =  à²†à²ªುಂಡ     = will it be OK ?



Summary -----

According to me , it is a funny saying . But it also gives us an advice . NOT TO TAKE DECISIONS IN A HASTE !

What we must do if we are angry ? We must sit in a cool environment , calm our mind . But this saying gives us an example of a person who in anger , ( unable to control his emotions or not knowing what to do ) , he just jumps to a well .!

Anger is a moment at which we lose control over ourselves . We do things which we are not supposed to do. But without taking decisions in a haste , if we sit silently we can clear things out .

Thursday, November 6, 2014

What is combustion ?

Combustion or burning can be defined as a chemical reaction that occurs between a fuel and the oxidising agent ; produces the energy in the form of heat and light.

We can write it as ,

Fuel + Oxidising agent ------- >  Heat ( light ) + combustion products

However , complete combustion is impossible to achieve .

I said oxidising agent , which need not be oxygen everytime . Even hydrogen will act as an oxidising agent.




Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Myth about crocodile tears

We often hear the phrase " crocodile tears " or ಮೊಸಳೆ ಕಣ್ಣೀರು in Kannada.

The term is used to say about cheating of people when they ask for help saying their problems with tears in their eyes.

Not all but nowadays many people follow the same strategy .

Now we will look at whether and when a crocodile cries?

Crocodile produce tears when they eat. They tear apart flesh and eat large part of meat at once. They cry because they swallow too much air. The air touches the glands which produce tears and forces tears to flow down.

They swallow some stones to ensure fast grinding of food in their stomach.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Talking puppet

Yes , yesterday's " Adaalat " serial featured a talking puppet .

In the beginning , it was getting scary giving the feeling of a supernatural power inside the puppet . But later , puppet mystery is solved scientifically by lawyer KD .

The reason for writing this article is Manipal engineering college was mentioned in the serial !

First , I thought I heard it wrong . But KD mentioned the name twice . I felt very proud as I too studied in that college .

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Whom to follow?

Long ago, there was a man. He was very lazy. He was staying with his parents. Because of his lazy nature ,his old parents were worried. They were trying to change his mind by talking to him. But lazy son was unhappy and he left the house.

He reached the forest. As he was tired, he wanted to take rest. With fear of wild animals, he climbed the tree.

From top of the tree, he spotted a fox who had lost his both legs. Fox was crawling for its small works. It can not hunt and always at one place, hiding.

At that time, a tiger came with its dead prey and started eating it. Soon , his stomach was full and he left the remaining part on the ground and left the place.

Handicapped fox slowly came out of his hide out and started eating the left over meat. By seeing that,lazy man thought one need not work, food will come by its own.

He again went to his village and sat under a tree , hoping his food is on its way!

Time passed. People were passing infront of him but no one had paid attention to him nor they asked about his problem.

Hungry and thirsty , lazy man started blaming God for the injustice he was doing. God has given food for the fox but for him, nothing.

God replied " Fox was unable to feed itself as he was handicapped. It is MY duty to feed the fox. But you are able to do work. Dont compare yourself with fox. Compare yourself with tiger who has helped the disabled fox by sharing his food. "

Lazy man understood the teaching.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Coconut crab or palm thief

This type of crabs are associated with coconuts.

They can climb coconut trees to pick coconuts , which it then uses and  opens to eat the flesh of coconut ! Adult coconut crabs feed on fruits , nuts , seeds .

They can not swim and will drown if forcibly put into water . It has adopted itself to live on ground .

Humans are the biggest threat to their lives  as people hunt them .