ThinkerViews – Views And Reviews Personal views and reviews for books, magazines, tv serials, movies, websites, technical stuff and more.
The latest issue of the knowledge magazine Safari hit the market and here is our briefing about the same. The cover with a butterfly is not so attractive but the content is of course. Turn over the page and the inside of the cover page has a fascinating picture of a leopard with the facts that they are also en route to disappear (at least in India) – one of the reason, around 180 leopards were killed in 2011 itself. We all need to remember that till the balance between various factors of the Earth is not played with, the entire world is alive, if the stuff will be imbalanced beyond the tolerable limit, it will destroy it and the existence of humankind will also be in danger.
We all know that Mount Everest is the highest peak of the world, but do you know the fact that the height of the same is not the fixed figure! It changes over time. There were several attempts to measure the same and it produced different results! As it is (especially the top area) filled in with ice, the effect of warming affects the same in addition to some seismological changes underground. This time the government of Nepal took the project in hand to measure the height of the Mount Everest with absolute care and the task will complete in around two years! In addition to use barometer for the purpose, other technological advancement will also be utilized here, which will give us the best current figure for the same. Know more about the same in FYI segment.
Watching the advertisement hoardings with lighting and effects, in the night, is a joy in its own. Especially when it is reflected in the water of a pond or a river or even sea or ocean bank, it adds a lot of artistic value to the same. But do you know how much of electricity is consumed by those boards? Is it worth taking into consideration for the ratio of production-usage of the electricity, does it add to global warming too? What is India’s situation here? FYI segment have informative stuff about the same as well.
We are using several solutions to fight mosquitoes, from repellents to the incense stick and more. The reason is quite simple, it is not only mosquitoes irritating behavior and biting, but the tendency to spread dreaded infection is what we fear. What about the other species? How they cop up with the situation? Read about Millipedes: Capuchin monkey’s natural mosquito repellent in the same FYI segment.
Art is, well, Art. It can not be defined as anything else. Having artistic skills is definitely a special gift of God which is not received by all. These exceptional skillset includes aerobics, music, singing, painting and many more skills. Paintings are even used for color-therapies and its existence have a unique effect on us psychologically too. So in additional to make the home or office look better, it adds to our persona too. Do you know that thousands of mongooses are killed over India every year to meet the global demand of paint brushes made from mongoose hair?! Make-up artists, painters and even children uses the brush made from the same. PETA and other wild life saving agencies have their own take there. Read the details about this stuff in an article by B. M. Purohit.
A century ago, the first airmail was sent. It is interesting to note that India witnessed the historical event. The article with the photographs of the plane used for the same, including factual information about the incident(s), and the people associated with the same gives us the better idea about the same. The map is also included to give the readers the better idea about the same, which is nice.
Mushrooms are eatable, well, not all but some of them. Be careful to try mushroom eating if you don’t know what spices it belongs to, some of them are deadly too. Anyway, do you know what can be considered as costliest food? Rs. 100 a KG? $100 a KG? $1,000 a KG?… Well Truffle are the kind of mushrooms which are costlier than you can think, it is $2,20,000 per KG!!! It is not a typographic error and you didn’t make a mistake when read, it rally costs that much! A very detailed article by Samarth Vyas with added quality photos makes it a must read.
Recently there was a news, which was not good. Kodak company completed 100 years and it is closing their shutters (literally). Shutterbug word refers to Camera and Cameraman and who can forget the contribution of Kodak in the segment. The entire photo-filmography era is based on the technological advancements in Camera, film, technology and more. “You press the button, we do the rest” was the punchline in the earlier advertisements of Kodak. Off the mark, do you know the meaning of the word Kodak? No worries, there is no such word! George Eastman was a ‘K’ letter fan (remembering some TV and Film producers right?) , he wanted a word which start and end with K and there got the word ‘Kodak’ birth. There are some nice to know details about Kodak, in a summarized two page article.
A marathon have just begun it is taken note in the magazine! It is no ordinary marathon by the way. It is 3200 KM long marathon where participants are Monarch Butterflies. Every year millions of monarch butterflies migrate between North American and Maxico. Without using any navigational aid they reach to their destination accurately. How did they draw their path? What makes them find their destination? These are the questions beyond the knowledge. A study article about the same by Ravindra Acharya explores the details with illustrations and maps.
As usual there is the Fact Finder (Q/A) section which contains answers to the following questions:
- When hair dye is applied to the hair, how does its color manage to hold on to the hair?
- How the sailors sail their sailboats or yachts against the wind?
- Some people eat quite a lot but remain lean and thin. On the other side there are people who eat little but accumulate wads of fat. What is the reason behind this puzzling phenomenon?
- Is it true that scorpion sting is more painful than snake bite?
- How long can a person remain wide awake without falling asleep?
- Do the people living in vicinity of mobile phone towers run the risk of microwave radiation?
- How long did the beneficiary of the world’s first-ever successful human heart transplant carried out by Dr. Christian Bernard survive?
- It is said that freezing cold temperature of minus 500 Celsius always pervades at the altitude of 10,000 meters (32,800 feet) above the sea level which is also the normal cruising altitude of the passenger jet airliners. Why the effect of such extreme cold is not felt inside the airplances?
- Is it true that snake can locate its prey in total darkness from the prey’s body temperature?
- Why do the things made of iron rust rapidly in salt water or on exposure to salty atmosphere near the seashore?
- How much increase can be obtained in a combat aircraft’s flying range by attaching auxiliary fuel tank?
- What is the weight of the lightest element, Hydrogen?
The super quiz section of the month concentrates on “National Animals Of The World”. Reading the Q/A will give you important information about various animals and their habits.
Why so serious? All study and no play makes one a dull boy right?! Well the gags are there don’t worry! Cheers!
Also must to mention is “All about paper making” article. It brings you the in-depth knowledge about the process.
Overall a worth read. Especially much better than the skin-show oriented magazines, whose useless content sometimes cross the limit toward vulgarity.
