Entertainment Ki Duniya

Check your finger prints

2010-03-04T17:43:00.000+05:00

Check your finger prints

It is already an accepted fact that every single person in the world has a different set of fingerprints. The Chinese have devised a way to read personality & destiny traits by studying the waves and the circles that appear at the tips of everyone's fingers – indeed so convinced are they that in the old days the fingers of prospective daughters-in- law were carefully scrutinized by prominent families to ensure they did not unwittingly welcome women who had fingers that showed alternate circles and waves on their fingers, as it was commonly believed that such women would bring trouble into the family, being particularly difficult to control and usually very aggressive.

In this issue of FSW we bring you some indications of destiny & personality traits based on the circles and waves on the five fingers of each hand. Guys should examine their left hands while women should look at their right hands.
Here are the two different patterns of circles and waves seen on every finger. To make a reading, look at your thumb print first, then your index finger, your middle finger, your ring finger and then your little finger in that order. This is the sequence that offers clues to your destiny & fortunes of your life.
For ease of reference we shall refer to circles as Os and to waves as Ws.

Fingers: OOOOO (all whorls)

Means: This person is very confident, has a strong character and a hot temper. He/she is an independent person. The luck of this person changes dramatically in life from one period to the next. The undoing of this person will be his/her hot temper so it is vital that this person must learn to be patient and calm.

Shape: WWWWW (all waves)

Means: This person is a straightforward honest person who goes with the flow. The fingers indicate someone very sensitive, who is especially suited to design and creative work. People with these fingerprint patterns tend to be shy and uncomfortable in social situations, so are not suited to work in PR, politics or any kind of work requiring them to meet people.

Shape: OWWWO

Means: If you can choose a prestigious working career, you will be very successful. However, you should avoid the tendency to get big-headed and you must never take your career for granted. You should also watch your back, as you tend to attract jealousy into your life and could get betrayed. Always look for long-term benefits.

Shape: OWWOW

Means: You will need to work harder during the early days of your career. When you reach middle and older age, you will get recognition and wealth luck. So your life gets better the older you get.

Shape: OWOWW

Means: It is vital that you resist the tendency to be narrow-minded in your attitudes and in the way you think and work. Try to be humble and learn as much as possible. This is how you will get influential help that brings you to the peak of your business and career life.

Shape: WOOOO

Means: You are a very clear-minded person. As long as you work hard, you are guaranteed to be successful. Even though you tend to be in a hurry, there will be those who help you along. You are also a person with a kind heart.

Shape: OOOOW

Means: Because you are kind and have an in-built polite attitude, you will easily get help from older persons and friends. You will enjoy great success in your working life and your only weakness is you don't trust people too easily. This can make you too conservative.

Shape: OOOWW

Means: You have a tendency to be bad tempered, and rather quick to judge. This is a shallow attitude and could easily get you onto the wrong path. If you can correct this tendency of yours, you will have great success. The potential is in you, so try to be calm in your approach.

Shape: OWWWW

Means: You have good character but can only become really successful in older age. Be prepared to have to work really hard during your younger and middle age periods, but you will become a successful person in older years.

Shape: WOWWW

Means: You are very good in the social skills. No matter what industry you are in, you like to take risk and you will always face uncertainty. Be careful as the later years of your life could bring yet more challenges. Take less risk as you get older.

Shape: WWOWW

Means: You are a person who has high vision and heavy responsibility. Be careful. Your visions could get you into serious difficulty. Better to stay more grounded, then your life will have greater success.

Shape: WWWOW

Means: You are very intelligent and will enjoy a lot of scholastic honors. You will have a smooth life and benefit from wealth luck. If you can work hard, you will become a great and successful person.

Shape: WWWWO

Means: You will inherit a business or property from your parents or from an older person. Even though you are a capable person and can be successful in your own business, your tendency towards impatience could get you into a lot of difficulty.

Shape: OOWWW

Means: You have a tendency to be proud and snobbish, although deep inside you are a kind-hearted person. Your social skills however need improving. Your relatives tend to take advantage of you.

Shape: WOWWO

Means: You are a deep thinking person. At a young age, you are already thinking of your future. You will enjoy a smooth and peaceful life; you will be very happy in your old age.

Shape: WOWOO

Means: You are a very sociable person and you enjoy the carefree kind of life going out, partying and clubbing. When you reach middle and older age, you will rely on people to support you. Be warned, if you do not prepare yourself, you might have a hard time during your older years.

Shape: WOWOW

Means: You are not an easy person to control or to convince, as you are something of a rebel. If you can stay focused on what you want from life, you will be successful. The problem is that you can be fickle and vague in what you really want from life.

Shape: WWOWO

Means: Your whole life is full of ups and downs, successes and failures. However, if you can move steadily step-by-step, you can enjoy a peaceful life as you grow into maturity.

Shape: WWWOO

Means: You are very kindhearted person and there will be good people in your life, as you will attract these kinds of people towards you. Work hard and you will easily reap your just rewards. You will definitely become successful.

Shape: OWWOO

Means: You will get recognition and become famous. Even though your life appears unstable during your earlier years of working life and you need to work hard in your thirties, when you reach maturity, your life gets better and better.

Shape: WWOOW

Means: You are a very capable person, but you tend to lack good judgment. You also tend to start something and then lose interest. Stay focused if you want to succeed.

Shape: OWOOW

Means: You are a noble person with a good character. You tend to be very helpful towards colleagues and friends so you are a popular person. Because you can think in-depth and have sensitivity towards others, you will enjoy success in the creative fields.

Shape: OWOWO

Means: You are blessed with a fast and formidable intellect. You work very quickly and with great effectiveness. However, your character is very aggressive and people tend to be intimidated by you. If you can correct this trait, you can rise to great heights.

Shape: WWOOO

Means: You are a very straightforward person. But your thinking tends to be rather naïve and shallow. Even though your suggestions are good, if you don't think through what you say, you should not be surprised if people tend to ignore your views. Your speech tends to lack power.

Shape: OOWOW

Means: You are a high-minded person, able to see and grab opportunities. You are best suited to work in the financial and investment fields. Your luck gets better as you grow older.

Shape: OOWWO

Means: You are a very honest and reputable person. You have little urge to get rich or pursue material wealth. But watch it, if you don't know how to take care of yourself, you can easily get conned and taken advantage of by people.

Shape: OOOWO

Means: Your social skills are good, so you attract guidance and help from influential people. Many people help you in your rise to prominence, and your luck turns fabulous in later years.

Shape: OOWOO

Means: You are a very brave and hardworking person. A lot of people trust you when you are young. However, unless you work at preserving your reputation, you could make enemies on your rise up and find that life becomes harder as you get older.

Shape: OWOOO

Means: You are a kindhearted character and easily get along with others. You are not good at doing business, but you are good as a teacher or even as a spiritual master. You can enjoy success in the academic world.

Shape: WOOWW

Means: You are reputable and have a peaceful character. So you are definitely someone who can become successful and recognized. However, because of your tendency towards pride, you could end up offending the wrong people.

Shape: WOOWO

Means: You are a simple but logical person. If you can focus on the fundamentals of life and adopt a step-by-step approach in your climb up the success ladder and not be too impatient, you will benefit from wealth luck and be honored by people.

Shape: WOOOW

Means: You are a straight talking person who is forthright in your approach. You are strong in character, playful but you also easily offend people. But you are also lucky because when you reach middle age, you will rise to a prominent position and your luck really changes for the better

World Flag

2010-03-04T17:04:00.001+05:00

you will find almost all the flags
Click on the flags for large view

Interesting Facts About Blood

2010-03-04T16:16:00.000+05:00

Interesting Facts About Blood

There is no substitute for human Blood.
Blood makes up about 7% of your body's weight.
An average adult has about 14 to 18 pints of Blood.
One standard unit or pint of Blood equals about two cups.
Blood carries oxygen and nutrients to all of the body.
Blood carries carbon dioxide and other waste products back to the lungs, kidneys and liver for disposal.
Blood fights against infection and helps heal wounds.
One unit of donated whole Blood is separated into components before use (red Blood cells, white Blood cells, plasma, platelets, etc.)
There are four main Blood types: A, B, AB and O.
Each Blood type is either Rh positive or negative.
The three main types of cells making up our Blood are the White Blood cells, Red Blood cells and Platelets:
White Blood Cells (WBCs) are the largest of the three types of cells and are responsible for fighting infections or germs. White Blood cells have a rather short life cycle, living from a few days to a few weeks. One drop of Blood can contain from 7,000 to 25,000 white Blood cells. If an invading infection fights back and persists, that number will significantly increase.
Red Blood Cells (RBCs) make up approximately 40% of Blood volume, carry oxygen to the cells of your body and return to the lungs to excrete carbon dioxide.
Platelets, the smallest of the Blood cells; make up 5% to 7% of total Blood volume. Platelets form a 'mesh' net to form clots in the Blood to help stop bleeding.
There are five types of White Blood Cells (WBCs):
basophil - acts on smooth muscle and Blood cell walls; eosiniphil - acts against infestations of parasitic larvae; lymphocyte - recognizes surface markers on cells and targets them for destruction if foreign to the body; monocyte - formed bone marrow, monocytes migrate into connective tissue and become macrophages; and, neutrophil - the first line of defense, 100 billion mature neutrophils are released into the body everyday.
There are about one billion red Blood cells in a few drops of whole Blood.
Red Blood cells live about 120 days in our bodies.
Red Blood cells can be stored under normal conditions for up to 42 days.
Frozen red Blood cells can be stored for ten years, and more.
Platelets must be used within five days.
Platelets are small Blood cells that assist in the process of Blood clotting helping those with leukemia and other cancers, controlling bleeding.
Plasma, the fourth major component of Blood, is a sticky, pale yellow fluid mixture of water, protein and salts. It is 95% water. The other 5% is made up of nutrients, proteins and hormones.
Blood Plasma constitutes 55% of the volume of human Blood.
Plasma helps maintain Blood pressure, carries Blood cells, nutrients, enzymes and hormones, and supplies critical proteins for Blood clotting and immunity.
Plasma can be collected from a normal healthy donor twice weekly (max. every 48 hours) and is the most frequently donor paid-for component of Blood. Plasma is often referred to as "the college students beer money."
Type AB plasma has been considered as the universal Blood plasma type, and therefore AB plasma is given to patients with any Blood type.
Frozen Plasma can be stored for up to one year.

Human Blood; red Blood cells, white Blood cells, plasma and platelets are made naturally by the body in the bone marrow.

IQ Test (Quaestions & Answers)

2010-03-03T23:52:00.000+05:00

Please Read under below questions, write your answers(answer number and option ) on a paper and
after complete test see answers of following questions in the end of qustion list.

1) Which of the following rivers crosses the equator twice?

a) Amazon

b) Congo

c) Nile

d Tigris

2) Which is the longest river of America?

a) Missourl

b) Mississippi

c) Red

d) Colorado

3) Don is river of ?

a) Turkey

b) Russia

c) UK

d) USA

4) What is the length of khyber pass?

a) 52 km

b) 54 km

c) 56 km

d) 58 km

5) Longest glacier of the world is Lambert situated in Antarctica, what is it's length?

a) 320 Miles

b) 310 ===

c) 300 ===

d) 429 ===

6) Which of the following lake is most polluted lake in the world?

a) Lake mead

b) Lake victoria

c) Huron

d) Lake eire

7) Tugela water fall is present in?

a) Venezuela

b) South Africa

c) Canada

d) USA

8) Gota canal is the ship canal situated in ?

a) Italy

b) France

c) Sweden

d) USA

9) Kiel canal of Germany was opened in 1895 what is it's length?

a) 59.3 Miles

b) 60.3 miles

c) 61.3 miles

d) 65.1 miles

10) Erie canal is situated in ?

a) France

b) Austrailia

c) USA

d) canada

11) Houston and Delware canals are present in the country?

a) Austrailia

b) France

c) Italy

d) USA

12) Grand canal is oldest man made canal for shiping purpose situated in?

a) Iraq

b) China

c) France

d) India

13) Persian Gulf is located in?

a) Indian ocean

b) Arabian ocean

c) Red sea

d) None of these

14) Sutherland waterfall is present in?

a) New-Zealand

b) Canada

c) USA

d) Austrailia

15) Hudson Bay is situated in?

a) Northern China

b) Northern USA

c) Northern Canada

d) None of these

16) Which is the largest gulf of the world?

a) Gulf of Mexico

b) Gulf of Aden

c) Gulf of Riga

d) Gulf sian

17) Which is the largest bay of the world?

a) Hudson bay

b) Baffin bay

c) Bay of Bicay

d) None of these

18) Yosemite is a famous waterfall of ?

a) USA

b) Canada

c) Kenya

d) France

19) Strait of Bosporous connects?

a) Black sea and red sea

b) Black sea and baltic sea

c) Black sea and sea of marmara

d) None of these

20) It separates Italy from Sicily?

a) Palk strait

b) Sunda strait

c) Messina

d) Megellan

21) Strait of malacca separates?

a) Malaysia and chia

b) Malaysia and indonesia

c) Malaysia and Sri Lanka

d) None of these

22) Which of the following straits separate india From Sri Lanka?

a) Davis

b) Palk

c) Sunda

d) Johor

23) Which of the following straits separate Malaysia from Singapore?

a) Dover

b) Johor

c) Sunda

d) Palk

24) Budapest is the capital of Hungary situated on the bank of?

a) River spree

b) River volga

c) River Danube

d) River ob

25) Sea of Marmara and Aegean sea are connected by the strait?

a) Davis

b) Mozambique

c) Dardanelles

d) Malacca

26) Cook strait separates south New-Zealand from?

a) North Austrailia

b) North New-Zealand

c) Papua

d) None

27) Paris is the capital of France situated on the bank of?

a) Seine

b) po

c) Thane

d) Spree

28) English channel separates England from?

a) Italy

b) France

c) Germany

d) Sicily

29) Agra is very famous city of India due to Taj Mahal, it is situated on the bank of river?

a) Brabmputra

b) Ganges

c) Jumna

d) None

30) Great victoria desert is present in ?

a) New-Zealand

b) England

c) Australia

d) South Africa

31) Gulf of sidra is present in?

a) Libya

b) Liberia

c) Macedonia

d) None

32) Simpson desert is present in?

a) USA

b) UK

c) Morocco

d) Australia

33) The river volga pours it's water into the?

a) Black sea

b) Caspian sea

c) Baltic sea

d) Arabian sea

34) Which is the largest sea in the world?

a) South china sea

b) Mediterranean sea

c) Black sea

d) Red sea

35) One of the country throughwhich equator passes is?

a) Malaysia

b) China

c) Malta

d) Pakistan

36) The deepest point in the ocean is?

a) Mariana trench

b) Galathea deep

c) Bartholomew deep

d) Mindanao deep

37) Which is the longest mountain range in the world?

a) Himalayas

b) Andes

c) Rockies

d) Alps

38) The origin of earth dates back to approximately?

a) 3.6 billion years

b) 4.6 ========

c) 5.6 ========

d) 6.6 ========

39) The second largest continent is?

a) Asia

b) South America

c) North America

d) Africa

40) South pole was discovered by?

a) Cabot

b) Robert peary

c) Amundsen

d) none

41) The dates on which day and night is equal ar?

a) 21st march and 24th december

b) 14th January and 23rd september

c) 21st march and 23rd september

d) 14th January and 22nd june

42) Which is the deepest ocean in the world?

a) Arctic

b) Atlantic

c) Pacific

d) Indian

43) The important country close to international date line is?

a) Malaysia

b) Mauritius

c) New zealand

d) Surinam

44) Which of the following towns is situated at the highest altitude?

a) Lhasa

b) Kathmandu

c) Gartole

d) Thimpu

45) Which is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere?

a) 20th june

b) 21st june

c) 22nd december

d) 23rd december

46) What are the two seas linked bysuez canal?

a) The mediterranean and red sea

b) The red sea and the caspian

c) The Red sea and the black sea

d) The indian ocean and the Arabian sea

47) Where is the coldest place situated in the world?

a) England

b) Greenland

c) Russia

d) Antarctica

48) Which place in the world has the least rainfall?

a) Africa

b) Thar

c) Mt. Everest

d) Pamir

49) Which is the biggest fresh water lake in the world?

a) Chilka lake

b) Caspian lake

c) Dal lake

d) Lake superior

50) South pole is located in the continent of ?

a) Africa

b) Australia

c) Greenland

d) Antarctica

51) Which is the longest river in the world?

a) Nile

b) Amazon

c) volga

d) mississippi

52) Which is the deepest lake in the world?

a) Titicaca

b) Victoria

c) Baikal

d) Superior

53) Which is the largest lake in Africa?

A) Chad

b) Nyasa

c) Victoria

d) Tanganyika

54) Which is the largest desert in the world present in north Africa?

a) Atacama

b) Sahara

c) Gobi

d) Thar

55) On the banks of which river is the city of London located?

a) Severn

b) Thames

c) Avon

d) Humber

56) The rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Bea and sutlej are tributaries of which river?

a) Ganga

b) Indus

c) Yamuna

d) Brahmputra

57) Which among the following trees is considered the tallest in the world?

a) Cedar

b) Redwood

c) Eucalyptus

d) Date palm

58) Which of the following is a Kharif Crop?

a) Wheat

b) Rice

c) Gram

d) Mustard

59) Humidity in the river is maximum in ?

a) Winter

b) Summer

c) Monsoon

d) Autumn

60) World's largest river is?

a) Nile

b) Mississipi

c) Amazon

d) Tiber

61) The firs successful expendition to the Mount Everest was made in ?

a) 1962

b) 1965

c) 1968

d) 1953

62) Which one of the following is an ore of iron?

a) Bauxite

b) Haematite

c) LLmenitie

d) Gypsum

63) The shortest day is?

a) 25 december

b) 22 December

c) 15 June

d) 22 June

64) What is the duration of a day at the poles?

a) 3 months

b) 6 months

c) 9 months

d) 12 months

65) Which is the largest country in the Arabian penunsula?

a) Oman

b) Yemen

c) Saudi Arabia

d) Kuwait

66) Earth completes one rotation on its axis in?

a) 23 hours and 30 minutes

b) 23 hours 56 mints and 4.9 sec

c) 24 hours

d) 24 hours 1 mint and 10 sec

67) The "Roof of the world" is?

a) The alps

b) Andes

c) The Apinnes

d) The pamir plateau ( Tibet)

68) Which is the least populated country in the world?

a) antarctica

b) Australia

c) North America

d) none

69) Which of the following countries leads the world in the export of oil?

a) Iran

b) Iraq

c) Saudi Arabia

d) Venezuela

70) The Kalahari Desert, which stretches over 1,40,000 miles is in?

a) Australia

b) South Africa

c) East Africa

d) Saudi Arabia

71) The panama canal links?

a) Canada with greenland

b) North America with south America

c) Siberia with Greenland

d) None

72) Which, amongst the following countries, has the highest density of population per Sq km?

a) Bangladesh

b) Burma

c) Pakistan

d) Sri Lanka

73) Which of the following countries is in the continent of europe?

a) Albania

b) Algeria

c) Libya

d) Venezuela

74) Which is the smallest continent of the world area-wise?

a) Antarctica

b) Asia

c) Australia

d) Europe

75) Himaliya range is based in?

a) Europe

b) Asia

c) Africa

d) Australia

76) The word "Tsunami" belongs to which of the following languages?

a) English

b) Latin

c) Chinese

d) Japanese

77) Where is the largest coral reef located?

a) Germany

b) Australia

c) U.K

d) Canada

78) Which island was epicenter of Tsunami of 26, december 2004?

a) Jawa

b) Smatra

c) Bali

d) None

79) Which continent is without glaciers?

a) Asia

b) Europe

c) Africa

d) Australia

80) Which of the following gases is most predominant in the sun?

a) Helium

b) Hydrogen

c) Nitrogen

d) Ozone

ANSWERS

1)b

2)b
3)b
4)c
5)a
6)d
7)b
8)c
9)c
10)c
11)b

12)b
13)b
14)a
15)c
16)a
17)a
18)a
19)c
20)c
21)b

22)b
23)b
24)c
25)c
26)b
27)a
28)b
29)c
30)c
31)a

32)d
33)b
34)a
35)a
36)a
37)b
38)b
39)d
40)c
41)c

42)c
43)c
44)a
45)b
46)a
47)d
48)a
49)d
50)d
51)a

52)c
53)c
54)b
55)b
56)b
57)c
58)b
59)c
60)c
61)d

62)b
63)b
64)b
65)c
66)b
67)d
68)a
69)c
70)b
71)b

72)a
73)a
74)c
75)b
76)d
77)b
78)b
79)c
80)b

STORIES BEHIND FAMOUS NAME

2010-03-03T22:48:00.000+05:00

1- YAHOO

The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book Gulliver's Travels. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos.

2- XEROX

The Greek root "xer" means dry. The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product Xerox as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying.

3- SUN

Founded by four Stanford University buddies, Sun is the acronym for Stanford University Network.

4- SONY

From the Latin word 'sonus' meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by Americans to refer to a bright youngster

5- RED HAT

Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found by anyone!

6- ORACLE

Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The code name for the project was called Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to give answers to all questions or something such)

7- MOTOROLA

Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola.

8- MICROSOFT

It was coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICRO computer SOFT ware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-was removed later on

9- LOTUS

Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from the lotus position or 'padmasana.' Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

10- INTEL

Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics

11- HEWLETT PACKARD (HP)

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett

12- HOTMAIL

Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing email via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for Hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casings

13- GOOGLE

The name started as a jockey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a Cheque made out to 'Google

14- CISCO SYSTEMS

The name is not an acronym but an abbreviation of San Francisco. The company's logo reflects its San Francisco name heritage. It represents a stylized Golden Gate Bridge

15- APPLE

Favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 o'clock

__________________

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength,not lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."

Albert Einstein

Link Partner

2010-03-03T21:37:00.001+05:00

Http://zulfiqaralii.webs.com/

7 Common Mistakes In A CV

2010-03-03T20:02:00.002+05:00

7 Common Mistakes In A CV

Your CV is one of the most important documents you would write in your career. Mistakes in your CV could therefore cost you dearly. Here are some common errors to be avoided while writing your CV:

• Typo errors: Spelling mistakes can leave a poor impression. So have your CV proof read by someone to remove such errors.

• Factual mistakes: Incorrect tenure in an organization, faulty name, chronology of experience, can all lead to misunderstandings.

• Long flowing sentences: This distracts the scanning eyes of a recruiter due to the limited time they allot to reading CVs.

• Formatting: The size & type of font chosen can have an impact on the readability.

• Incorrect contact information: This being the second most critical data after your experience & skills must be correctly presented. Mention both present & permanent addresses with direct contact numbers.

• Lack of objective/focus: Unclear objectives can leave a recruiter guessing which field or type of job you are interested in. A great objective statement clearly defines your career goal aligned with the job you are targeting for.

• Length: The CV should be descriptive enough to explain what your key skills are, yet short enough to retain interest of the recruiter.

Keep these tips in mind to develop a CV that gives you interview calls

To add this, you should also know that a Cover Letter adds a few stars to a great CV. It highlights your interest and summarizes your objective for applying for a particular profile. This can greatly increase your chance of getting an interview call. So, once you have worked on your CV, get working on your Cover Letter.

10 Unsolved Mysteries of the world

2010-03-03T19:56:00.000+05:00

10 Unsolved Mysteries of the world

Placebo Effect

The placebo effect is when a person takes something they believe is medicine for an ailment they are suffering (which is not really a medicine), and they get better. A placebo is an inert substance, and when taken (with the advice from others that it will cure them) the person get better, simply because they were expecting or believed that it would work. Something similar, called the nocebo effect, is when a person takes fake drugs and thinks they are experiencing problems that would have been caused by the real drugs. They have been known to reduce pain as well.. Why they occur is mysterious and they are only one of the many complicated things related to the body-brain connection. In fact, our own bodies hold many unsolved mysteries.

Panspermia

How did life on earth appear? Science suggests that life when the planet was favourable for habitation. Yet did microscopic organisms just pop out of nowhere? One hypothesis is panspermia, which suggests that ‘seeds of life’ exist everywhere around the universe, and that life on earth started when these ‘seeds’ came here, probably by a meteor. It also suggests that these seeds are taken to other habitable places in the universe. Something similar to this is exo-genesis. It suggests that life was brought to earth those billions of years ago, however it does not say that life is also taken to other habitable places. Some people believe aliens brought life to our planet, as suggested by the theories of Erich Von Daniken. Although some are sceptical as to how life could exist in space and get carried to other planets, there is substantial evidence that certain life forms, like spores and certain types of bacteria can actually exist in space, perhaps in a dormant state.

Mass extinctions

From the death of the dinosaurs, to the disappearance of the creatures in the Permian Era, mass extinctions are occurring even now. Sometimes, the cause is clear. We are destroying the biosphere and the atmosphere, and scientists predict that in the next 100 years, 50% of all species will become extinct. But sometimes, the real reason is unclear. It may have been due to competition from other species, dramatic climate changes, or the impacts from an asteroid/meteor (the last one being quite a popular one). Yet some questions remain unanswered. Why was it that some species died out, and others survived, some to this day (famous example: the coelacanth).

During the extinction of the dinosaurs, crocodiles and turtles were around, but they survived, even to this day, while the dinosaurs, the pterosaurs, the marine reptiles and others died out. While some people believe that those species were unable to cope with the (possibly) new surroundings, others are not convinced. To this day, they are a mystery, and without a machine, we may never know. Other popular theories include:- flood basalt events, smaller asteroid showers, global warming/cooling, sea level drops.

Zombies in Haiti

Haitan vodoo, part of their religious practices, has long been considered to be evil. And the base of this suspicion is that the vodoo is used to create zombies. Not zombies as in Hollywood zombies. Not animated brain ****ing zombies. Zombies like, sub-conscious humans who do everything they are told. Wade Davis, a Canadian ethno-biologist, uncovered a lot of info on this. Apparently, it originated in Africa, and two drugs (or poisons) are inserted into the victim’s bloodstream. One a deathlike trance, and one makes the victim seem like they have no brain of their own, thus rendering them able to do whatever they are told. 3 important facts Davis found was:- zombification is not random, it is not common, and it is used as a kind of severe punishment, most likely to those that have broken the sacred vodoo laws.

Intuition

Ever learned something without really understanding how you know it? That’s intuition. Sometimes called a sixth sense or gut feelings, intuition is the ability to acquire knowledge without a clear source or without reasoning it. Some people claim that they get a feeling that someone is watching them, and they look around and find that somebody is, or was, watching them. Or a police officer may look at some suspects for a crime and somehow know which one is guilty, and later discover they were right.

Though some people say that these things are all coincidences, others believe that the human brain has a special ability to get knowledge around them without conscious realization. It is another mystery of the human mind.

2012

What makes this so special? The fact that the Olympics are taking place in London? No. The ancient Maya civilization, from Central America, had a special calendar that was mind-blowingly accurate. And it predicted that the end of the human life cycle was on December 21st, 2012, the winter solstice. The Mayans were also good at math and astrology(they accurately predicted an eclipse that occurred hundred of years later). So people are guessing that they were right about the end of the world thing, too. Something else that has gotten scientists curious is that there are some major astronomical things happening in 2012. Apart from the occasional eclipse and comet, the entire solar system is supposed to pass through the center of our galaxy, something that happens only once every 26,000 years. And, there’s a risk of our planet’s poles switching. Sounds crazy, but scientists say this has already happened. Also, the Indian calendar, the Kali Yuga, ends at about the same time.

Coincidence? I think not.

Life on exoplanets

Exoplanets, short for extra-solar planets, are planets beyond the solar system. There are 277 recorded exoplanets to date. However, there is no confirmation that there is life on any of them, or in the universe, for that matter. However, it is still a mystery.

This is different from UFOs as UFO are unidentified flying objects, meaning something unidentified that has been seen on earth. Some likely candidates for supporting life are Gliese 581 d and HD 189733 b, the latter supposedly containing water vapour and organic matter. There are also questions as to whether there are moons orbiting these planets. Some people believe that there may even be life in our solar system that we don’t know of. Some moons, like Neptune’s Triton or Saturn’s Europa, may possible have, or had, life, and there is substantial evidence that water once flowed through Mars. Still, no one knows.

Nazca Lines

Etched into the earth on the Nazca Plains in Peru are giant symbols drawn perfectly straight. Some are hundreds of metres long. They look as if they were drawn by some giant hand two thousand years ago. And the strange thing is, they can only be seen from the air. So how did the ancient Nazcans draw them? Researchers say they could have created hot air balloon or kites to fly and view their work. Indeed, an experiment was carried out and it proved that the Nazcans could have made a working balloon. The symbols themselves are of animals and plants. Yet some are long strips of land without any direct meaning.. A writer named Erich Von Daniken believed that these were landing strips for alien spacecraft, and that aliens could have drawn them. They may also be for contacting these aliens. Maria Reiche, an astronomer, says that these lines may be used as a calendar, or to keep track of the stars and planets. There is a monkey drawing that has a coiled tail that looks similar to the orbital lines of our solar system. There are even more obscure theories that suggest that there were giant people 2,000 years ago. Yet, they are still a mystery.

Megalithic Structures

A megalithic structure is some thing big made of rock. It could be a statue, or just some rocks strewn around in a pattern. The truly mysterious thing about the ancients is, how were they able to create such enormous things? They did not have the technology needed to efficiently make them. Stonehenge is a good example.. A bigger one is the Great Pyramid in Giza, or the pyramids themselves. Sometimes, even their purpose is unclear (Stonehenge) , while other times, the structures in question are mysterious and seemingly supernatural (the pyramids). A megalith (I know, sounds like something from Di-Gata Defenders), a giant rock, is used most of the time, especially in the case of Stonehenge and the Carnac stones. Still, there are a few megalithic structures that are not mysterious (like Great Zimbabwe), but mostly it seems impossible that the ancients made these things themselves. Now, many would like to think aliens helped them. Yet even scientists say queerer things. They suggest that there may have been a lost ancient civilization that was extremely advanced, and they may have given later civilizations the knowledge to build such things. Yet there is no substantial evidence of either.. Other examples: Easter Island Heads, Pyramid of the Sun (in Mesoamerica) , other pyramids in central and south America, Colossus of Rhodes.

Creation of the Universe

The universe is vast and unknown. It holds many mysteries. And possibly the biggest mystery is how the universe was created. Scientists have suggested that there was a massive explosion billions of years ago called The Big Bang. That theory is now generally accepted, and scientists are looking for trails of energy left behind from the colossal explosion that created a trillion stars. Yet there is no absolute proof. But the creation of the universe is something too big to happen so simply. Religious folks will say God/Allah/Vishnu created the universe. But scientists will say that there was a Big Bang, and that there is energy from the bang moving through the universe, and they are trying to locate the epicentre. So, the debate continues. Religion vs. Science is probably the biggest conflict in the world. But what is religion? There are so many different types. And the difference between the Christian religion and Greek mythology? No one believes in Greek mythology anymore. But what is science?

And math? Things created by man. So before saying that man created God and science proves it, people should realize man created science as well. And maybe, the universe is just something made up in our minds.

77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better

2010-03-03T19:49:00.000+05:00

77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better

Health

1. Shake a leg. Lack of blood flow is a common reason for lack of concentration. If you've been sitting in one place for awhile, bounce one of your legs for a minute or two. It gets your blood flowing and sharpens both concentration and recall.

2. Food for thought: Eat breakfast. A lot of people skip breakfast, but creativity is often optimal in the early morning and it helps to have some protein in you to feed your brain. A lack of protein can actually cause headaches.

3. Food for thought, part 2: Eat a light lunch. Heavy lunches have a tendency to make people drowsy. While you could turn this to your advantage by taking a "thinking nap" (see #23), most people haven't learned how.

4. Cognitive enhancers: Ginkgo biloba. Ginkgo biloba is a natural supplement that has been used in China and other countries for centuries and has been reputed to reverse memory loss in rats. It's also suggested by some health practitioners as a nootrope and thus a memory enhancer.

5. Reduce stress + depresssion. Stress and depression may reduce the ability to recall information and thus inhibit learning. Sometimes, all you need to reduce depression is more white light and fewer refined foods.

Balance

6. Sleep on it. Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote about in his book Psycho-Cybernetics about a man who was was paid good money to come up with ideas. He would lock his office door, close the blinds, turn off the lights. He'd focus on the problem at hand, then take a short nap on a couch. When he awoke, he usually had the problem solved.

7. Take a break. Change phyical or mental perspective to lighten the invisible stress that can sometimes occur when you sit in one place too long, focused on learning. Taking a 5-15 minute break every hour during study sessions is more beneficial than non-stop study. It gives your mind time to relax and absorb information. If you want to get really serious with breaks, try a 20 minute ultradian break as part of every 90 minute cycle. This includes a nap break, which is for a different purpose than #23.

8. Take a hike. Changing your perspective often relieves tension, thus freeing your creative mind. Taking a short walk around the neighborhood may help.

9. Change your focus. Sometimes there simply isn't enough time to take a long break. If so, change subject focus. Alternate between technical and non-technical subjects.

Perspective and Focus

10. Change your focus, part 2. There are three primary ways to learn: visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. If one isn't working for you, try another.

11. Do walking meditation. If you're taking a hike (#25), go one step further and learn walking meditation as a way to tap into your inner resources and your strengthen your ability to focus. Just make sure you're not walking inadvertently into traffic.

12. Focus and immerse yourself. Focus on whatever you're studying. Don't try to watch TV at the same time or worry yourself about other things. Anxiety does not make for absorption of information and ideas.

13. Turn out the lights. This is a way to focus, if you are not into meditating. Sit in the dark, block out extraneous influences. This is ideal for learning kinesthetically, such as guitar chord changes.

14. Take a bath or shower. Both activities loosen you up, making your mind more receptive to recognizing brilliant ideas.

Recall Techniques

15. Listen to music. Researchers have long shown that certain types of music are a great "key" for recalling memories. Information learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled simply by "playing" the songs mentally.

16. Speedread. Some people believe that speedreading causes you to miss vital information. The fact remains that efficient speedreading results in filtering out irrelevant information. If necessary, you can always read and re-read at slower speeds. Slow reading actually hinders the ability to absorb general ideas. (Although technical subjects often requirer slower reading.) If you're reading online, you can try the free Spreeder Web-based application.

17. Use acronyms and other mnemonic devices. Mnemonics are essentially tricks for remembering information. Some tricks are so effective that proper application will let you recall loads of mundane information years later.

Visual Aids

18. Every picture tells a story. Draw or sketch whatever it is you are trying to achieve. Having a concrete goal in mind helps you progress towards that goal.

19. Brainmap it. Need to plan something? Brain maps, or mind maps, offer a compact way to get both an overview of a project as well as easily add details. With mind maps, you can see the relationships between disparate ideas and they can also act as a receptacle for a brainstorming session.

20. Learn symbolism and semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols. Having an understanding of the symbols of a particular discipline aids in learning, and also allows you to record information more efficiently.

21. Use information design. When you record information that has an inherent structure, applying information design helps convey that information more clearly. A great resource is Information Aesthetics, which gives examples of information design and links to their sources.

22. Use visual learning techniques. Try gliffy for structured diagrams. Also see Inspiration.com for an explanation of webs, idea maps, concept maps, and plots.

23. Map your task flow. Learning often requires gaining knowledge in a specific sequence. Organizing your thoughts on what needs to be done is a powerful way to prepare yourself to complete tasks or learn new topics.

Verbal and Auditory Techniques

24. Stimulate ideas. Play rhyming games, utter nonsense words. These loosen you up, making you more receptive to learning.

25. Brainstorm. This is a time-honored technique that combines verbal activity, writing, and collaboration. (One person can brainstorm, but it's more effective in a group.) It's fruitful if you remember some simple rules: Firstly, don't shut anyone's idea out. Secondly, don't "edit" in progress; just record all ideas first, then dissect them later. Participating in brainstorming helps assess what you already know about something, and what you didn't know.

26. Learn by osmosis. Got an iPod? Record a few of your own podcasts, upload them to your iPod and sleep on it. Literally. Put it under your pillow and playback language lessons or whatever.

27. Cognitive enhancers: binaural beats. Binaural beats involve playing two close frequencies simultaneously to produce alpha, beta, delta, and theta waves, all of which produce either sleeping, restfulness, relaxation, meditativeness, alertness, or concentration. Binaural beats are used in conjunction with other excercises for a type of super-learning.

28. Laugh. Laughing relaxes the body. A relaxed body is more receptive to new ideas.

Kinesthetic Techniques

29. Write, don't type. While typing your notes into the computer is great for posterity, writing by hand stimulates ideas. The simple act of holding and using a pen or pencil massages acupuncture points in the hand, which in turn stimulates ideas.

30. Carry a quality notebook at all times. Samuel Taylor Coleridge dreamed the words of the poem "In Xanadu (did Kubla Khan)...". Upon awakening, he wrote down what he could recall, but was distracted by a visitor and promptly forgot the rest of the poem. Forever. If you've been doing "walking meditation" or any kind of meditation or productive napping, ideas may suddenly come to you. Record them immediately.

31. Keep a journal. This isn't exactly the same as a notebook. Journaling has to do with tracking experiences over time. If you add in visual details, charts, brainmaps, etc., you have a much more creative way to keep tabs on what you are learning.

32. Organize. Use sticky colored tabs to divide up a notebook or journal. They are a great way to partition ideas for easy referral.

33. Use post-it notes. Post-it notes provide a helpful way to record your thoughts about passages in books without defacing them with ink or pencil marks.

Self-Motivation Techniques

34. Give yourself credit. Ideas are actually a dime a dozen. If you learn to focus your mind on what results you want to achieve, you'll recognize the good ideas. Your mind will become a filter for them, which will motivate you to learn more.

35. Motivate yourself. Why do you want to learn something? What do want to achieve through learning? If you don't know why you want to learn, then distractions will be far more enticing.

36. Set a goal. W. Clement Stone once said "Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve." It's an amazing phenomenon in goal achievement. Prepare yourself by whatever means necessary, and hurdles will seem surmountable. Anyone who has experienced this phenomenon understands its validity.

37. Think positive. There's no point in setting learning goals for yourself if you don't have any faith in your ability to learn.

38. Organize, part 2. Learning is only one facet of the average adult's daily life. You need to organize your time and tasks else you might find it difficult to fit time in for learning. Try Neptune for a browser-based application for "getting things done."

39. Every skill is learned. With the exception of bodily functions, every skill in life is learned. Generally speaking, if one person can learn something, so can you. It may take you more effort, but if you've set a believable goal, it's likely an achievable goal.

40. Prepare yourself for learning. Thinking positive isn't sufficient for successfully achieving goals. This is especially important if you are an adult, as you'll probably have many distractions surrounding your daily life. Implement ways to reduce distractions, at least for a few hours at a time, else learning will become a frustrating experience.

41. Prepare yourself, part 2. Human nature is such that not everyone in your life will be a well-wisher in your self-improvement and learning plans. They may intentionally or subconsciously distract you from your goal. If you have classes to attend after work, make sure that work colleagues know this, that you are unable to work late. Diplomacy works best if you think your boss is intentionally giving you work on the days he/she knows you have to leave. Reschedule lectures to a later time slot if possible/ necessary.

42. Constrain yourself. Most people need structure in their lives. Freedom is sometimes a scary thing. It's like chaos. But even chaos has order within. By constraining yourself — say giving yourself deadlines, limiting your time on an idea in some manner, or limiting the tools you are working with — you can often accomplish more in less time.

Supplemental Techniques

43. Read as much as you can. How much more obvious can it get? Use Spreeder (#33) if you have to. Get a breadth of topics as well as depth.

44. Cross-pollinate your interests. Neurons that connect to existing neurons give you new perspectives and abilities to use additional knowledge in new ways.

45. Learn another language. New perspectives give you the ability to cross-pollinate cultural concepts and come up with new ideas. As well, sometimes reading a book in its original language will provide you with insights lost in translation.

46. Learn how to learn. Management Help has a resource page, as does SIAST (Virtual Campus), which links to articles about learning methods. They are geared towards online learning, but no doubt you gain something from them for any type of learning. If you are serious about optimum learning, read Headrush's Crash course in learning theory.

47. Learn what you know and what you don't. Many people might say, "I'm dumb," or "I don't know anything about that." The fact is, many people are wholly unaware of what they already know about a topic. If you want to learn about a topic, you need to determine what you already know, figure out what you don't know, and then learn the latter.

48. Multi-task through background processes. Effective multi-tasking allows you to bootstrap limited time to accomplish several tasks. Learning can be bootstrapped through multi-tasking, too. By effective multitasking, I don't mean doing two or more things at exactly the same time. It's not possible. However, you can achieve the semblance of effective multitasking with the right approach, and by prepping your mind for it. For example, a successful freelance writer learns to manage several articles at the same time. Research the first essay, and then let the background processes of your mind takeover. Move on consciously to the second essay. While researching the second essay, the first one will often "write itself." Be prepared to record it when it "appears" to you.

49. Think holistically. Holistic thinking might be the single most "advanced" learning technique that would help students. But it's a mindset rather than a single technique.

50. Use the right type of repetition. Complex concepts often require revisting in order to be fully absorbed. Sometimes, for some people, it may actually take months or years. Repetition of concepts and theory with various concrete examples improves absorption and speeds up learning.

51. Apply the Quantum Learning (QL) model. The Quantum Learning model is being applied in some US schools and goes beyond typical education methods to engage students.

52. Get necessary tools. There are obviously all kinds of tools for learning. If you are learning online like a growing number of people these days, then consider your online tools. One of the best tools for online research is the Firefox web browser, which has loads of extensions (add-ons) with all manner of useful features. One is Googlepedia, which simultaneously displays Google search engine listings, when you search for a term, with related entries from Wikipedia.

53. Get necessary tools, part 2. This is a very niche tip, but if you want to learn fast-track methods for building software, read Getting Real from 37 Signals. The Web page version is free. The techniques in the book have been used to create Basecamp, Campfire, and Backpack web applications in a short time frame. Each of these applications support collaboration and organization.

54. Learn critical thinking. As Keegan-Michael Key's character on MadTV might say, critical thinking takes analysis to "a whole notha level". Read Wikipedia's discourse on critical thinking as a starting point. It involves good analytical skills to aid the ability to learn selectively.

55. Learn complex problem solving. For most people, life is a series of problems to be solved. Learning is part of the process. If you have a complex problem, you need to learn the art of complex problem solving. [The latter page has some incredible visual information.]

For Teachers, Tutors, and Parents

56. Be engaging. Lectures are one-sided and often counter-productive. Information merely heard or witnessed (from a chalkboard for instance) is often forgotten. Teaching is not simply talking. Talking isn't enough. Ask students questions, present scenarios, engage them.

57. Use information pyramids. Learning happens in layers. Build base knowledge upon which you can add advanced concepts.

58. Use video games. Video games get a bad rap because of certain violent games. But video games in general can often be an effective aid to learning.

59. Role play. Younger people often learn better by being part of a learning experience. For example, history is easier to absorb through reenactments.

60. Apply the 80/20 rule. This rule is often interpreted in dfferent ways. In this case, the 80/20 rule means that some concepts, say about 20% of a curriculum, require more effort and time, say about 80%, than others. So be prepared to expand on complex topics.

61. Tell stories. Venus Flytrap, a character from the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, once taught a student gang member about atoms, electrons, and protons by saying that an atom was one big neighborhood, and the protons and neutrons had their own smaller neighborhoods and never mixed. Just like rival gangs. The story worked, and understanding sparked in the students eyes.

62. Go beyond the public school curriculum. The public school system is woefully lacking in teaching advanced learning and brainstorming methods. It's not that the methods cannot be taught; they just aren't. To learn more, you have to pay a premium in additional time and effort, and sometimes money for commercially available learning tools. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, but what is taught in schools needs to be expanded. This article's author has proven that a nine-year old can learn (some) university level math, if the learning is approached correctly.

63. Use applied learning. If a high school student were having trouble in math, say with fractions, one example of applied learning might be photography, lenses, f-stops, etc. Another example is cooking and measurement of ingredients. Tailor the applied learning to the interest of the student.

For Students and Self-Studiers

64. Be engaged. Surprise. Sometimes students are bored because they know more than is being taught, maybe even more than a teacher. (Hopefully teachers will assess what each student already knows.) Students should discuss with a teacher if they feel that the material being covered is not challenging. Also consider asking for additional materials.

65. Teach yourself. Teachers cannot always change their curricula. If you're not being challenged, challenge yourself. Some countries still apply country-wide exams for all students. If your lecturer didn't cover a topic, you should learn it on your own. Don't wait for someone to teach you. Lectures are most effective when you've pre-introduced yourself to concepts.

66. Collaborate. If studying by yourself isn't working, maybe a study group will help.

67. Do unto others: teach something. The best way to learn something better is to teach it to someone else. It forces you to learn, if you are motivated enough to share your knowledge.

68. Write about it. An effective way to "teach" something is to create an FAQ or a wiki containing everything you know about a topic. Or blog about the topic. Doing so helps you to realize what you know and more importantly what you don't. You don't even have to spend money if you grab a freebie account with Typepad, Wordpress, or Blogger.

69. Learn by experience. Pretty obvious, right? It means put in the necessary time. An expert is often defined as someone who has put in 10,000 hours into some experience or endeavor. That's approximately 5 years of 40 hours per week, every week. Are you an expert without realizing it? If you're not, do you have the dedication to be an expert?

70. Quiz yourself. Testing what you've learned will reinforce the information. Flash cards are one of the best ways, and are not just for kids.

71. Learn the right things first. Learn the basics. Case in point: a frustrating way to learn a new language is to learn grammar and spelling and sentence constructs first. This is not the way a baby learns a language, and there's no reason why an adult or young adult has to start differently, despite "expert" opinion. Try for yourself and see the difference.

72. Plan your learning. If you have a long-term plan to learn something, then to quote Led Zeppelin, "There are two paths you can go by." You can take a haphazard approach to learning, or you can put in a bit of planning and find an optimum path. Plan your time and balance your learning and living.

Parting Advice

73. Persist. Don't give up learning in the face of intimdating tasks. Anything one human being can learn, most others can as well. Wasn't it Einstein that said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"? Thomas Edison said it, too.

74. Defy the experts. Dyslexia, in a nutshell, is the affliction of mentally jumbling letters and digits, causing difficulties in reading, writing and thus learning. Sometimes spoken words or numbers get mixed up as well. In the past, "experts" declared dyslexic children stupid. Later, they said they were incapable of learning. This author has interacted with and taught dyslexic teens. It's possible. Helen Keller had no experience of sight, sound, or speech, and yet she learned. Conclusion: There is more than one way to learn; never believe you cannot.

75. Challenge yourself. People are often more intelligent than they realize. In a world that compartmentalizes and categorizes everything, not everyone is sure where they fit in. And genius can be found in many walks of life. If you honestly suspect that there's more to you than has been "allowed" to be let out, try an IQ test such as the one offered by MENSA. It's unlike the standardized IQ tests given in many schools. You know the kind — the ones which traumatize many young students into thinking they are stupid, simply because the tests don't really assess all student's knowledge and learning ability. And the ability to learn is far, far more important than what you already know.

76. Party before an exam. Well, don't go that far. The key is to relax. The worse thing to do is cram the night before an exam. If you don't already know a subject by then, cramming isn't going to help. If you have studied, simply review the topic, then go do something pleasant (no more studying). Doing so tells your brain that you are prepared and that you will be able to recall anything that you have already learned. On the other hand, if you didn't spend the semester learning the ideas you need, you might as well go party anyways because cramming at the last minute isn't going to help much at that point.

77. Don't worry; learn happy. Have a real passion for learning and want to share that? Join a group such as the Joyful Jubilant Learning community [via LifeHack].

World War

2010-03-03T19:32:00.000+05:00

1871 - Following the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War, Germany is unified as an Imperial federation of states, led by the King of Prussia (Kaiser Wilhelm I). This spurs a new era of population growth and rapid industrialization. The Germans also forcibly annex the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine from France.

1882 - Germany, Austria-Hungary (Hapsburg Empire) and Italy form the Triple Alliance.

1891 - The Russian Empire and France form their own alliance in reaction to the Triple Alliance.

1898 - Germany begins to build up its navy to challenge the British Navy's long-standing global supremacy.

January 1902 - Britain and Japan form a naval alliance.

April 1904 - The British reach a strategic agreement with France which includes mutual military support in the event of war.

January 1905 - Troops of Russian Czar Nicholas II fire upon peaceful demonstrators in St. Petersburg killing hundreds in what comes to be known as Bloody Sunday.

May 1905 - Russia suffers a military defeat at sea by newly industrialized Japan, thwarting Russia's territorial ambitions toward Manchuria and Korea.

October 1905 - Continuing political unrest in Russia, including a general strike, results in the creation of a national legislative assembly (Duma) by the Czar.

February 1906 - H.M.S. Dreadnought is launched by Britain, marking the advent of a new class of big-gun battleships. The Germans follow suit and begin building similar battleships as an all-out arms race ensues between Germany and Britain.

August 1907 - The British reach a strategic agreement with Russia.

October 1908 - Austria-Hungary, backed by Germany, annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina. Neighboring Serbia, with the backing of Russia, voices its objection in support of the Serbian minority living in Bosnia.

March 1909 - Germany forces Russia to endorse the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary.

1910 - Germany surpasses Britain as the leading manufacturing nation in Europe. The United States remains the world leader, surpassing all of the European manufacturing nations combined.

October 1912 - The Balkan War erupts in southern Europe as Serbia leads an attack by members of the Balkan League (Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece) against the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire to drive the Turks out of Europe.

May 1913 - The Balkan War ends with the Turks driven out of southern Europe. A peace settlement is then drawn up by the major European powers that divides up the former Turkish areas in southern Europe among the Balkan League nations. However, the peace is short-lived as Bulgaria, desiring a bigger share, attacks neighboring Greece and Serbia. Romania then attacks Bulgaria along with the Turks. This Second Balkan War results in Bulgaria losing territory and the Serbians becoming emboldened, leaving the Balkan region of southern Europe politically unstable.

1914

June 28, 1914 - Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, visit Sarajevo in Bosnia. A bomb is thrown at their auto but misses. Undaunted, they continue their visit only to be shot and killed a short time later by a lone assassin. Believing the assassin to be a Serbian nationalist, the Austrians target their anger toward Serbia.

July 23, 1914 - Austria-Hungary, with the backing of Germany, delivers an ultimatum to Serbia. The Serbs propose arbitration as a way to resolve dispute, but also begin mobilization of their troops.

July 25, 1914 - Austria-Hungary severs diplomatic ties with Serbia and begins to mobilize its troops.

July 26, 1914 - Britain attempts to organize a political conference among the major European powers to resolve the dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. France and Italy agree to participate. Russia then agrees, but Germany refuses.

July 28, 1914 - The Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Serbia.

July 29, 1914 - Britain calls for international mediation to resolve the worsening crisis. Russia urges German restraint, but the Russians begin partial troop mobilization as a precaution. The Germans then warn Russia on its mobilization and begin to mobilize themselves.

July 30, 1914 - Austrian warships bombard Belgrade, capital of Serbia.

July 31, 1914 - Reacting to the Austrian attack on Serbia, Russia begins full mobilization of its troops. Germany demands that it stop.

August 1, 1914 - Germany declares war on Russia. France and Belgium begin full mobilization.

August 3, 1914 - Germany declares war on France, and invades neutral Belgium. Britain then sends an ultimatum, rejected by the Germans, to withdraw from Belgium.

August 4, 1914 - Great Britain declares war on Germany. The declaration is binding on all Dominions within the British Empire including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa.

August 4, 1914 - The United States declares its neutrality.

August 4-16, 1914 - The Siege of Liege occurs as Germans attack the Belgian fortress city but meet resistance from Belgian troops inside the Liege Forts. The twelve forts surrounding the city are then bombarded into submission by German and Austrian howitzers using high explosive shells. Remaining Belgian troops then retreat northward toward Antwerp as the German westward advance continues.

August 6, 1914 - The Austro-Hungarian Empire declares war on Russia.

August 6, 1914 - French and British troops invade the German colony of Togo in West Africa. Twenty days later, the German governor there surrenders.

August 7, 1914 - The first British troops land in France. The 120,000 highly trained members of the regular British Army form the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) commanded by Field Marshal John French.

August 7-24, 1914 - The French desire to score a quick victory ignites the first major French-German action of the war. The French Army invades Alsace and Lorraine according to their master strategy known as Plan XVII. However, the French offensive is met by effective German counter-attacks using heavy artillery and machine-guns. The French suffer heavy casualties including 27,000 soldiers killed in a single day, the worst one-day death toll in the history of the French Army. The French then fall back toward Paris amid 300,000 total casualties.

August 8, 1914 - Britain enacts the Defense of the Realm Act (DORA) granting unprecedented powers to the government to control the economy and daily life.

August 12, 1914 - Great Britain and France declare war on Austria-Hungary. Serbia is invaded by Austria-Hungary.

August 17, 1914 - Russia invades Germany, attacking into East Prussia, forcing the outnumbered Germans there to fall back. This marks the advent of the Eastern Front in Europe in which Russia will oppose Germany and Austria-Hungary.

August 20, 1914 - German troops occupy undefended Brussels, capital of Belgium. Following this, the main German armies continue westward and invade France according to their master strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan. It calls for a giant counter-clockwise movement of German armies wheeling into France, swallowing up Paris, and then attacking the rear of the French armies concentrated in the Alsace-Lorraine area. Under the overall command of Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the German General Staff, the Germans seek to achieve victory over France within six weeks and then focus on defeating Russia in the East before Russia's six-million-man army, the world's largest, can fully mobilize.

August 23, 1914 - Japan declares war on Germany. The Japanese then prepare to assist the British in expelling the Germans from the Far East. German possessions in the South Pacific include a naval base on the coast of China, part of New Guinea, Samoa, and the Caroline, Marshall and Mariana Islands.

Battle of Tannenberg

August 26, 1914 - On the Eastern Front, German troops in East Prussia under the new command of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff oppose the Russian 2nd Army. Aided by aerial reconnaissance and the interception of uncoded Russian radio messages, the Germans effectively reposition their troops to counter the initial Russian advance. Five days later, after surrounding the Russians, the battle ends with a German victory and the capture of 125,000 Russians. Following this success, the Germans drive the Russians out of East Prussia with heavy casualties. The impressive victory elevates Hindenburg and Ludendorff to the status of heroes in Germany.

August 30, 1914 - German possessions in the Far East are attacked as New Zealand troops occupy German Samoa. Three days later, Japanese forces land on the coast of China, preparing to attack the German naval base at Tsingtao (Qingdao). A month later, the Japanese begin their occupation of the Caroline, Marshall and Mariana Islands.

Battle of the Marne

September 5-12, 1914 - On the Western Front, Paris is saved as French and British troops disrupt the Schlieffen Plan by launching a major counter-offensive against the invading German armies to the east of Paris. Six hundred taxi cabs from the city help to move French troops to the Front. Aided by French aerial reconnaissance which reveals a gap has developed in the center of the whole German advance, the French and British exploit this weakness and press their advantage. The Germans then begin a strategic withdrawal northward as the Allies pursue. Each side repeatedly tries to outmaneuver the other and gain a tactical advantage as they move northward in what becomes known as the Race to the Sea.

September 7, 1914 - In the Far East, a German naval squadron, commanded by Graf von Spee severs the British Pacific communications cable.

September 8, 1914 - The French government enacts nationwide State of War regulations which include total control over the economy and national security, strict censorship, and suspension of civil liberties.

September 17, 1914 - On the Eastern Front, Austrian forces steadily retreat from the advancing Russian 3rd and 8th armies fighting in southern Poland and along the Russian-Austrian border. The Germans then send the newly formed 9th Army to halt the Russians. This marks the beginning of a pattern in which the Germans will aid the weaker Austro-Hungarian Army.

September 22, 1914 - The first-ever British air raid against Germany occurs as Zeppelin bases at Cologne and Düsseldorf are bombed.

First Battle of Ypres

October 19-November 22, 1914

October 19, 1914 - Still hoping to score a quick victory in the West, the Germans launch a major attack on Ypres in Belgium. Despite heavy losses, British, French and Belgian troops fend off the attack and the Germans do not break through. During the battle, the Germans send waves of inexperienced 17 to 20-year-old volunteer soldiers, some fresh out of school. They advance shoulder-to-shoulder while singing patriotic songs only to be systematically gunned down in what the Germans themselves later call the "massacre of the innocents." By November, overall casualties will total 250,000 men, including nearly half of the British Regular Army.

October 29, 1914 - The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) enters the war on the side of the Germans as three warships shell the Russian port of Odessa. Three days later, Russia declares war on Turkey. Russian and Turkish troops then prepare for battle along the common border of the Russian Caucasus and the Ottoman Empire.

October-November, 1914 - Germans and Austrians launch a combined offensive against the Russians on the Eastern Front. The German 9th Army targets Warsaw, Poland, but is opposed by six Russian armies and withdraws. The Austrians attack the Russians in Galicia (a province in northeast Austria) with indecisive results. However, the Russians fail to press their advantage at Warsaw and instead begin a split counter-offensive moving both southward against the Austrians in Galicia and northward toward Germany. The German 9th Army then regroups and cuts off the Russians at Lodz, Poland, halting their advance and forcing an eastward withdrawal by the Russians.

November 1, 1914 - Austria invades Serbia. This is the third attempt to conquer the Serbs in retaliation for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This attempt fails like the two before it, at the hands of highly motivated Serbs fighting on their home ground. The Austrians withdraw in mid-December, after suffering over 220,000 casualties from the three failed invasions.

November 1, 1914 - The British Navy suffers its worst defeat in centuries during a sea battle in the Pacific. Two British ships, the Monmouth and Good Hope, are sunk with no survivors by a German squadron commanded by Admiral Graf von Spee.

November 3, 1914 - Kaiser Wilhelm appoints Erich von Falkenhayn as the new Chief of the German General Staff, replacing Helmuth von Moltke who is sacked due to the failure of the Schlieffen Plan.

November 5, 1914 - France and Britain declare war on the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.

November 6, 1914 - In the Persian Gulf, a major British offensive begins as the 6th Indian Division invades Mesopotamia. The objective is to protect the oil pipeline from Persia. Two weeks later they capture the city of Basra.

November 7, 1914 - In the Far East, the German naval base at Tsingtao is captured by the Japanese, aided by a British and Indian battalion.

Trench Warfare Begins

December 1914 - The Western Front in Europe stabilizes in the aftermath of the First Battle of Ypres as the Germans go on the defensive and transfer troops to the East to fight the Russians. The 450-mile-long Western Front stretches from the Channel Coast southward through Belgium and Eastern France into Switzerland. Troops from both sides construct opposing trench fortifications and dugouts protected by barbed wire, machine-gun nests, snipers, and mortars, with an in-between area called No Man's Land. The Eastern Front also sees its share of trenches as troops dig in after the Russians hold off the Germans in Poland and the Austrians hold off the Russians at Limanowa. The 600-mile Eastern Front stretches from the Baltic Sea southward through East Prussia and Austria to the Carpathian Mountains.

December 8, 1914 - The Battle of Falkland Islands occurs as British Navy warships destroy the German squadron of Admiral Graf von Spee in the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina. Von Spee and two sons serving in his squadron are killed.

December 10, 1914 - The French begin a series of attacks along the Western Front against the Germans in the Artois region of northern France and Champagne in the south. Hampered by a lack of heavy artillery and muddy winter conditions, the French fail to make any significant gains and both offensives are soon suspended.

December 16, 1914 - Britain suffers its first civilian casualties at home in the war as the German Navy bombards the coastal towns of Whitby, Hartlepool and Scarborough, killing 40 persons and wounding hundreds.

December 25, 1914 - A Christmas truce occurs between German and British soldiers in the trenches of northern France. All shooting stops as the soldiers exit their trenches, exchange gifts, sing carols and engage in a soccer game. This is the only Christmas truce of the war, as Allied commanders subsequently forbid fraternization with orders to shoot any violators.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1915 : A Global Conflict

January 17, 1915 - The initial Turkish offensive into Russia is thwarted as the Turkish 3rd Army suffers a defeat by the Russian Army of the Caucasus near Kars. The Russians then begin a multi-pronged invasion of the Ottoman Empire from the Caucasus.

January 19, 1915 - Germany begins an aerial bombing campaign against Britain using Zeppelins.

January 31, 1915 - Poison gas is used for the first time in the war as Germans on the Eastern Front attack Russian positions west of Warsaw. Although the Germans fire 18,000 gas shells, they have little effect on the Russians as frigid temperatures prevent the gas from vaporizing.

February 1915 - The Turks begin forced deportations of Armenians. Over the next two years, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians will either starve to death, die of thirst in the Syrian Desert, or be murdered by Turkish troops and bandits, during the Armenian Genocide.

February 3, 1915 - Turkish troops launch an unsuccessful attack against the British-controlled Suez Canal, which is regularly used by the British to ferry Dominion troops from Australia, New Zealand and India to European battle grounds.

February 4, 1915 - Germany declares the waters surrounding British Isles to be a war zone in which ships can be sunk without warning.

February 7-22, 1915 - On the Eastern Front in Europe, the German 8th and 10th Armies wage a successful offensive against the Russian 10th Army in the Masurian Lakes region of East Prussia, pushing the Russians eastward into the Augustow Forest where they are decimated.

February 16, 1915 - On the Western Front, the French launch their second offensive against German defense lines in Champagne. Once again they are hampered by the muddy winter weather and a lack of heavy artillery. After a month of fighting, suffering 240,000 casualties, the exhausted French break off the offensive.

U-Boat Warfare Begins

February 18, 1915 - The first German U-Boat campaign of the war begins with unrestricted attacks against merchant and passenger ships in the waters around the British Isles. Within six months, Allied shipping losses at sea surpass the number of new ships being built. However, the unrestricted attacks also arouse the anger of the neutral United States as Americans are killed.

March 1915 - The British Navy imposes a total sea blockade on Germany, prohibiting all shipping imports including food.

March 10, 1915 - British and Indian troops in the Artois region of northern France attack the Germans around the village of Neuve Chapelle. The attack takes the outnumbered Germans by surprise. The British achieve their initial objective but fail to capitalize on the narrow breach they create in the German lines. After three days of fighting, with over 11,000 casualties, the British offensive is suspended. The Germans suffer over 10,000 casualties.

March 22, 1915 - The Russians capture 120,000 Austrians at Przemysl in Galicia. This marks the culmination of a series of winter battles between the Austrians and Russians to secure the strategic Carpathian Mountain passes and opens the way for a Russian invasion of Hungary. Realizing this, the Germans and Austrians make plans to combine their troops and launch a major spring offensive.

April 11, 1915 - British troops in Mesopotamia fend off a large attack by the Turks against Basra. The British then branch out to protect their position at Basra, and proceed up the Tigris Valley toward Baghdad.

Second Battle of Ypres

April 22-May 25, 1915

April 22, 1915 - Poison gas is used for the first time on the Western Front as the German 4th Army attacks French positions around Ypres in northern Belgium. As they attack, the Germans release chlorine gas from over 5,000 cylinders forming poisonous green clouds that drift toward two French African divisions. Lacking any protection, the French quickly retreat. Although this creates a five-mile-wide gap in the Allied lines, the Germans fail to capitalize due to a lack of reserve troops and cautious frontline troops hesitant to venture too close to the gas clouds. British and Canadians then plug the gap but are unable to regain any ground taken by the Germans. The British then withdraw to a second line of defense, leaving Ypres in Allied hands but virtually surrounded. Casualties in the Second Battle of Ypres total 58,000 Allies and 38,000 Germans.

April 25, 1915 - Allied troops land on the Gallipoli Peninsula in an attempt to unblock the Dardanelles Straits near Constantinople (present day Istanbul, Turkey) to reopen access to Russia through the Black Sea. The landing comes after a failed attempt by British and French warships to force their way through the narrow Straits. The 70,000 landing troops include 15,000 Australians and New Zealanders. The peninsula is heavily defended by Turkish troops, supplied and trained by Germans. Within two weeks, a stalemate develops as the Allies fail to gain any of their objectives and the Turks begin a series of costly attacks attempting to drive out the Allies.

May 1, 1915 - German U-Boats sink their first American merchant ship, the tanker Gulflight, in the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily.

May 2, 1915 - On the Eastern Front, a combined Austro-German offensive begins against the Russian 3rd Army at Tarnow and Gorlice in Galicia. The attack is preceded by a massive artillery bombardment with over 700,000 shells. This breaks down the defenses of the weakened Russians who now suffer from shortages of artillery shells and rifles. Within two days, the Austro-Germans break through the lines and the Russians begin a disorganized retreat.

Lusitania Sunk

May 7, 1915 - A German U-Boat torpedoes the British passenger liner Lusitania off the Irish coast. It sinks in 18 minutes, drowning 1,201 persons, including 128 Americans. President Woodrow Wilson subsequently sends four diplomatic protests to Germany.

May 9, 1915 - Following six days of artillery bombardment by over a thousand French guns, the French 10th Army attacks German defense lines in the Artois, advancing toward Vimy Ridge. The French achieve their initial objective, but fail to capitalize on the narrow breach they create in the German lines. The next day, Germans counter-attack and push back the French.

May 9, 1915 - Complementing the French offensive at Vimy, British and Indian troops launch their second attack against the Germans around Neuve Chapelle in the Artois. However, without sufficient artillery support to weaken the German frontline defenses, the advancing soldiers are decimated by German machine-gun fire. The attack is called off the next day with 11,000 casualties.

May 15, 1915 - British and Indian troops launch another attack against Germans in the Artois, this time at Festubert, north of Neuve Chapelle. The attack is preceded by a 60-hour artillery bombardment. But the troops advance just 1,000 yards while suffering 16,000 casualties.

May 23, 1915 - Italy enters the war on the side of the Allies by declaring war on Austria-Hungary. The Italians then launch offensives along the 400-mile common border between Austria and Italy. The better equipped Austrians take advantage of the mountainous terrain to establish strong defensive positions all along the border. The Italians then focus their attacks on the mountain passes at Trentino and the valley of the Isonzo River.

May 31, 1915 - The first aerial bombing of London occurs as German Zeppelins kill 28 persons.

June 12, 1915 - After pausing to regroup, Austro-German troops resume their offensive in Galicia on the Eastern Front. Within five days, they break through the Russian lines and push the Russian 3rd and 8th Armies further eastward. Russian casualties soon surpass 400,000.

June 16, 1915 - The French 10th Army launches its second attempt to seize Vimy Ridge from the Germans in the Artois. This time the troops encounter an intensive artillery bombardment from the improved defenses of the German 6th Army. The French achieve their initial objective, but then succumb to a German counter-attack, just as they did in the first attempt at Vimy. The French call off the Vimy offensive with 100,000 casualties. The Germans suffer 60,000.

June 23, 1915 - The First Battle of Isonzo begins as Italian troops attack Austrian defenses. Initial gains by the Italians are soon repulsed by the Austrians with heavy casualties for both sides. Three additional battles are fought through the end of 1915 with similar results, totaling 230,000 casualties for the Italians and 165,000 for the Austrians.

July 1, 1915 - Russia creates a Central War Industries Committee to oversee production and address a severe shortage of artillery shells and rifles on the Front. Russian soldiers in the field without rifles can only get them from fellow soldiers after they are killed or wounded.

July 9, 1915 - In Africa, the German Southwest Africa colony (present day Namibia) is taken by the Allies following 11 months of fighting between the Germans and South African and Rhodesian troops loyal to the British.

July 13, 1915 - On the Eastern Front, the next phase of the combined Austro-German offensive against the Russians begins in northern Poland, with the Austro-Germans advancing toward Warsaw. The Russian Army now gets weaker by the day due to chronic supply shortages and declining morale. Once again, the Russians retreat, and also order a total civilian evacuation of Poland. This results in great hardship for the people as they leave their homes and head eastward, clogging the roads and hampering the movement of Russian troops.

August 1, 1915 - The Fokker Scourge begins over the Western Front as German pilots achieve air supremacy using the highly effective Fokker monoplane featuring a synchronized machine-gun that fires bullets through the spinning propeller. Although the technology was pioneered by French pilot Roland Garros, the Germans copied and improved the synchronized gun idea after capturing his plane. The Fokker Scourge will last nearly a year, until Allied aerial technology catches up.

August 5, 1915 - Warsaw is taken by Austro-Germans troops. This ends a century of Russian control of the city. After taking Warsaw, the Austro-Germans move on to capture Ivangorod, Kovno, Brest-Litovsk, Bialystok, Grodno, and Vilna. By the end of September, Russian troops are driven out of Poland and Galicia, back to the original lines from which they had begun the war in 1914. For the time being, the battered Russian Army has effectively been eliminated as an offensive threat on the Eastern Front, freeing the Germans to focus more effort on the Western Front.

August 6, 1915 - Hoping to break the stalemate at Gallipoli, British renew the offensive. An additional 20,000 troops are landed but their attack is hampered by poor communications and logistical problems. The Turks, led by Mustafa Kemal, respond by rushing in two divisions and the British offensive fails.

September 5, 1915 - Russian Czar Nicholas II takes personal command of the Russian Army, hoping to rally his faltering troops. Losses to the Czar's army from the Austro-German offensives in Galicia and Poland include over 1,400,000 casualties and 750,000 captured. Russia is also weakened economically by the loss of Poland's industrial and agricultural output. Additionally, the ongoing mass exodus of Russian troops and civilians from Poland, called the Great Retreat, spurs dangerous political and social unrest in Russia, undermining the rule of the Czar and his Imperial government.

September 6, 1915 - Bulgaria enters the war on Germany's side with an eye toward invading neighboring Serbia. Thus far in the war, Austria-Hungary has tried, but failed, three times to conquer Serbia in retaliation for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Now, the Austrians, aided by Germany and Bulgaria, plan to try again. With the addition of Bulgaria, Germany now has three allies in the war including Austria-Hungary and Turkey. This alliance is called the Central Powers due to their geographic location, primarily in central Europe.

September 18, 1915 - The Germans announce an end to their first U-Boat campaign, begun in February, which had targeted ships around the British Isles. This comes in response to increasing protests from the United States following American civilian deaths at sea. The U-Boats are then sent by the Germans to wreak havoc in the Mediterranean Sea, away from American shipping lanes in the Atlantic.

September 25, 1915 - On the Western Front, the British use poison gas for the first time as they launch an attack against the German 6th Army in the Artois. Chlorine gas is released from over 5,000 cylinders, creating a poisonous cloud that drifts toward the Germans, opening a gap in their front line. The British advance and quickly seize their objective, the town of Loos, but then fail to capitalize on the four-mile-wide breach in the German lines. The Germans regroup and when the British resume the attack the next day they are mowed down in the hundreds by well-placed German machine-gunners. In all, the British suffer 50,000 casualties during the Loos offensive. British Army Commander John French is then sacked, replaced by Douglas Haig.

September 25, 1915 - The French 2nd Army in Champagne attacks the weakest part of the German lines, creating a six-mile-wide breach that is three miles deep. The German 3rd Army then rushes in reinforcements, regroups its defense lines and plugs the gap. Facing strong resistance, the French break off the attack.

September 26, 1915 - The French launch their third attempt to seize Vimy Ridge from the Germans in Artois, and this time they secure the ridge.

September 26-28, 1915 - In the Middle East, a British victory occurs at the Battle of Kut al-Amara in Mesopotamia as they defeat the Turks. The resounding victory spurs an ambitious move by the British to venture onward to quickly capture Baghdad. However, that attempt fails and the troops return to Kut-al-Amara and dig in.

October 6, 1915 - The invasion of Serbia begins as Austro-German troops attack from the north. Five days later, the Bulgarians attack from the east. The outnumbered Serbs have their poorly supplied troops stretched too thinly to defend both fronts. Belgrade then falls to the Germans and the Bulgarians capture Kumanova, severing the country's north-south rail line. This leaves the overwhelmed Serbian troops no option other than to retreat westward through the mountains into Albania.

December 5, 1915 - Hoping to overcome their earlier defeat at Kut al-Amara in Mesopotamia, Turkish troops lay siege to the town, surrounding the British garrison there, cutting them off completely.

December 19, 1915 - The Allies begin an orderly evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula. This comes after months of stalemate in which Turkish troops contained all breakthrough attempts while inflicting 250,000 casualties. The British Navy successfully evacuates 83,000 survivors by sea as the Turks watch without firing a shot, glad to see them leave.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1916 : The Blood Letting

January 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson begins an effort to organize a peace conference in Europe.

February 18, 1916 - In West Africa, the German colony of Cameroon falls to the French and British following 17 months of fighting. This leaves only one German colony remaining in Africa, known as German East Africa. There, 10,000 troops skillfully commanded by General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck prove to be an elusive but deadly target, as they are pursued by a British-led force ten times larger.

Battle of Verdun

February 21-December 18, 1916

February 21, 1916 - On the Western Front, the German 5th Army attacks the French 2nd Army north of the historic city of Verdun, following a nine-hour artillery bombardment. The Germans under Chief of the General Staff, Erich Falkenhayn, seek to "bleed" the French Army to death by targeting the cherished city. At first, the Germans make rapid gains along the east bank of the Meuse River, overrunning bombed out French trenches, and capture lightly defended Fort Douaumont four days later without firing a shot. However, the German offensive soon stalls as the French rush in massive reinforcements and strengthen their defenses, under the new command of Henri Petain, who is determined to save Verdun. An early spring thaw also turns the entire battlefield into mud, hampering offensive maneuvers.

March 6, 1916 - Germans renew their Verdun offensive, this time attacking along the west bank of the Meuse River, targeting two strategic hills northwest of Verdun that form the main French position. However, by the end of March, the heavily defended hills are only partially in German hands.

March 18, 1916 - On the Eastern Front, the Russians oblige a French request to wage an offensive to divert German resources from Verdun. Although the Russians greatly outnumber the Germans in the northern sector of the Eastern Front, their poorly coordinated offensive around Vilna and at Lake Naroch is swiftly defeated by the Germans with 70,000 Russian casualties.

April 9, 1916 - The Germans attack again at Verdun, now along a 20-mile-wide front on both the east and west banks of the Meuse River. Once again the attack only yields partial gains in the face of stiff French resistance.

April 18, 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson threatens to sever diplomatic ties between the United States and Germany following the sinking of the passenger ferry Sussex by a U-Boat in the English Channel. The attack marked the beginning of a new U-Boat campaign around the British Isles. But in response to Wilson, the Germans call off the U-Boats.

April 29, 1916 - In the Middle East, the five-month siege at Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia ends as 13,000 British and Indian soldiers, now on the verge of starvation, surrender to the Turks. The largest-ever surrender by the British Army comes after four failed attempts by British relief troops to break through to the surrounded garrison.

May 3, 1916 - At Verdun, the Germans begin another attack on the west bank of the Meuse. This time they gain the advantage and within three days capture the two French hills they had been striving for since early March, thus achieving a solid position northwest of Verdun.

May 15, 1916 - Austrian troops attack Italian mountain positions in the Trentino. The Italians withdraw southward, forcing the Austrians to stretch their supply lines over the difficult terrain. The arrival of Italian reinforcements and a successful counter-attack then halts the Austrian offensive completely.

May 25, 1916 - The era of the all-volunteer British Army ends as universal conscription takes effect requiring all eligible British men between the ages of 19 and 40 to report, excluding men working in agriculture, mining or the railroads.

Battle of Jutland

May 31, 1916 - The main German and British naval fleets clash in the Battle of Jutland in the North Sea, as both sides try, but fail, to score a decisive victory. Forward battle cruisers from the British Grand Fleet are initially lured southward toward the German High Seas Fleet, but then turn completely around, luring the entire German fleet northward. As they get near, the British blast away at the German forward ships. The Germans return fire and the two fleets fire furiously at each other. However, the Germans, aware they are outgunned by the larger British fleet, disengage by abruptly turning away. In the dead of the night the Germans withdraw entirely. The British do not risk a pursuit and instead head home. Both sides claim victory. Although the Germans sink 14 of the 151 British ships while losing 11 of 99 ships, the British Navy retains its dominance of the North Sea and the naval blockade of Germany will remain intact for the war's duration.

June 1, 1916 - Germans at Verdun try to continue their offensive success along the Meuse River and now attack the French on the east bank, targeting Fort Vaux and the fortification at Thiaumont. Eight days later, both objectives are taken as the French suffer heavy casualties. The Germans now push onward toward a ridge that overlooks Verdun and edge toward the Meuse bridges. The entire nation of France now rallies behind their troops in the defense of Verdun as French generals vow it will not be taken.

June 4, 1916 - Four Russian armies on the Eastern Front, under their innovative new commander, General Alexei Brusilov, begin a general offensive in the southwest along a 300-mile front. Brusilov avoids the style of predictable narrow frontline attacks used previously, in favor of a sweeping offensive over hundreds of miles that is harder to pin down. Thinly stretched Austro-Hungarian troops defending this portion of the Front are taken by surprise. Realizing their distress, the Germans pull four divisions from Verdun and send them east. By the end of summer, the Germans will send 20 more divisions and merge the surviving Austro-Hungarian troops into the Germany Army.

June 22, 1916 - Germans resume their offensive near Verdun, targeting Fort Souville which overlooks the city and the Meuse bridges. Using poisonous phosgene gas at the start of the attack, they initially take the village of Fleury just two miles north of Verdun, but further advance southward is halted by a strong French counter-attack. Verdun has now become a battle of attrition for both sides with a death toll already approaching 500,000 men.

Battle of the Somme

July 1-November 18, 1916

June 24, 1916 - The Allies begin a week-long artillery bombardment of German defensive positions on the Somme River in northern France, in preparation for a major British-led offensive. Over 1.5 million shells are fired along a 15-mile front to pulverize the intricate German trench system and to blow apart rows of barbed wire protecting the trenches. British Commander Douglas Haig believes this will allow an unhindered infantry advance and a rapid breakthrough of the German Front on the first day of battle.

July 1, 1916 - The British Army suffers the worst single-day death toll in its history as 18,800 soldiers are killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The losses come as 13 attacking divisions encounter German defenses that are still intact despite the seven-day bombardment designed to knock them out. The British also attack in broad daylight, advancing in lines shoulder-to-shoulder only to be systematically mowed down by German machine-gunners. The Somme offensive quickly becomes a battle of attrition as British and French troops make marginal gains against the Germans but repeatedly fail to break through the entire Front as planned.

July 10, 1916 - The Germans attack again at Verdun, using poison gas, and advance toward Fort Souville. Four days later, the French counter-attack and halt the Germans.

July 13, 1916 - The British launch a night attack against German positions along a 3.5-mile portion of the Somme Front. After advancing nearly 1,000 yards, the advance is halted as the Germans regroup their defenses. Two days later, the British once again penetrate the German line and advance to High Wood but are then pushed back.

August 27, 1916 - Romania declares war on the Central Powers and begins an invasion of Austria-Hungary through the Carpathian Mountains. The Romanians face little opposition initially and advance 50 miles into Transylvania.

August 28, 1916 - Kaiser Wilhelm appoints Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as Germany's new Chief of the General Staff, replacing Erich Falkenhayn following the disappointment at Verdun and recent setbacks on the Eastern Front.

August 28, 1916 - Italy declares war on Germany, thus expanding the scope of its military activities beyond the Italian-Austrian Front.

August 29, 1916 - Germany's entire economy is placed under the Hindenburg Plan allowing the military to exercise dictatorial-style powers to control the labor force, munitions production, food distribution and most aspects of daily life.

September 1, 1916 - Romania is invaded by the newly formed Danube Army, consisting of Germans, Turks and Bulgarians under the command of German General August von Mackensen. This marks the start of a multi-pronged invasion of Romania in response to its aggression against Austria-Hungary.

September 15, 1916 - The first-ever appearance of tanks on a battlefield occurs as British troops renew the Somme offensive and attack German positions along a five-mile front, advancing 2,000 yards with tank support. The British-developed tanks feature two small side-cannons and four machine-guns, operated by an eight-man crew. As the infantry advances, individual tanks provide support by blasting and rolling over the German barbed wire, piercing the frontline defense, and then roll along the length of the trench, raking the German soldiers with machine-gun fire.

September 20, 1916 - On the Eastern Front, the Brusilov Offensive grinds to a halt. Since its launch in early June, four Russian armies under the command of General Alexei Brusilov had swept eastward up to 60 miles deep along a 300-mile front while capturing 350,000 Austro-Hungarian troops. But by the end of summer, the Germans brought in 24 divisions from the Western Front and placed the surviving Austro-Hungarian troops under German command. The Russian attack withered after the loss of nearly a million men amid insufficient reserves. The humiliating withdrawal from the hard-won areas wrecks Russian troop morale, fueling political and social unrest in Russia.

September 25, 1916 - British and French troops renew their attacks in the Somme, capturing several villages north of the Somme River, including Thiepval, where the British successfully use tanks again. Following these successes, however, heavy rain turns the entire battlefield to mud, preventing effective maneuvers.

October 8, 1916 - The German Air Force (Luftstreikrafte) is founded as various aerial fighting groups are merged.

October 10, 1916 - Romanian troops return home after being pushed out of Hungary by two Austro-German armies. The Austro-German 9th Army then invades Romania and heads toward Bucharest.

October 24, 1916 - At Verdun, the French under General Robert Nivelle, begin an ambitious offensive designed to end the German threat there by targeting Fort Douaumont and other German-occupied sites on the east bank of the Meuse River. The attack is preceded by the heaviest artillery bombardment to-date by the French. Additionally, French infantry use an effective new tactic in which they slowly advance in stages, step-by-step behind encroaching waves of artillery fire. Using this creeping barrage tactic, they seize Fort Douaumont, then take Fort Vaux further east, nine days later.

November 7, 1916 - American voters re-elect President Woodrow Wilson who had campaigned on the slogan, "He kept us out of war."

November 13, 1916 - British troops stage a surprise attack and capture the towns of Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt at the northern end of the Somme Front.

November 18, 1916 - The Battle of the Somme ends upon the first snowfall as the British and French decide to cease the offensive. By now, the Germans have been pushed back just a few miles along the entire 15-mile front, but the major breakthrough the Allies had planned never occurred. Both sides each suffered over 600,000 casualties during the five-month battle. Among the injured German soldiers is Corporal Adolf Hitler, wounded by shrapnel.

November 20, 1916 - Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary dies at age 86. He is succeeded by Archduke Charles who wants to take Austria-Hungary out of the war.

December 6, 1916 - Bucharest, capital of Romania, falls to the Austro-Germans. This effectively ends Romanian resistance to the Austro-German invasion and places the country's entire agricultural and industrial resources, including the Ploesti oil fields, in German hands.

December 7, 1916 - LLoyd George becomes Britain's new Prime Minister. His new War Cabinet immediately begins to organize the country for "total war."

December 12, 1916 - Joseph Joffre resigns under pressure from his position as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, replaced by General Robert Nivelle.

December 15, 1916 - The last offensive in the Battle of Verdun begins as the French push the Germans out of Louvemont and Bezonvaux on the east bank of the Meuse River. Combined with other ground losses, the German withdrawal ends the immediate threat to Verdun and both sides now focus their efforts on battles elsewhere along the Western Front. Overall, the French and Germans suffered nearly a million casualties combined during the ten month battle in which the Germans failed to capture the city of Verdun.

December 18, 1916 - President Woodrow Wilson caps off a year-long effort to organize a peace conference in Europe by asking the combatants to outline their peace terms.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1917 : The Rage of Men

January 19, 1917 - The British intercept a telegram sent by Alfred Zimmermann in the German Foreign Office to the German embassies in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City. Its message outlines plans for an alliance between Germany and Mexico against the United States. According to the scheme, Germany would provide tactical support while Mexico would benefit by expanding into the American Southwest, retrieving territories that had once been part of Mexico. The Zimmermann telegram is passed along by the British to the Americans and is then made public, causing an outcry from interventionists in the U.S., such as former president Teddy Roosevelt, who favor American military involvement in the war.

February 1, 1917 - The Germans resume unrestricted submarine warfare around the British Isles with the goal of knocking Britain out of the war by cutting off all imports to starve the British people into submission.

February 3, 1917 - The United States severs diplomatic ties with Germany after a U-Boat sinks the American grain ship Housatonic. Seven more American ships are sunk in February and March as the Germans sink 500 ships in just sixty days.

February 25, 1917 - In the Middle East, newly reinforced and replenished British troops retake Kut al-Amara in Mesopotamia from outnumbered Turks. The British then continue their advance and capture Baghdad, followed by Ramadi and Tikrit.

Russian Revolution

March 8, 1917 - A mass protest by Russian civilians in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) erupts into a revolution against Czar Nicholas II and the war. Within days, Russian soldiers mutiny and join the revolution.

March 15, 1917 - The 300-year-old Romanov dynasty in Russia ends upon the abdication of Czar Nicholas II. In his place, a new democratically minded Provisional Government is established. Great Britain, France, the United States, and Italy rush to recognize the new government in the hope Russia will stay in the war and maintain its huge presence on the Eastern Front.

March 15, 1917 - Germans along the central portion of the Western Front in France begin a strategic withdrawal to the new Siegfried Line (called the Hindenburg Line by the Allies) which shortens the overall Front by 25 miles by eliminating an unneeded bulge. During the three-week long withdrawal, the Germans conduct a scorched earth policy, destroying everything of value.

April 1917 - British combat pilots on the Western Front suffer a 50 percent casualty rate during Bloody April as the Germans shoot down 150 fighter planes. The average life expectancy of an Allied fighter pilot is now three weeks, resulting from aerial dogfights and accidents.

America Enters

April 2, 1917 - President Woodrow Wilson appears before the U.S. Congress and gives a speech saying "the world must be made safe for democracy" then asks the Congress for a declaration of war against Germany.

April 6, 1917 - The United States of America declares war on Germany.

April 9, 1917 - The British Army has one of its most productive days of the war as 3rd Army, supported by Canadian and Australian troops, makes rapid advances north of the Hindenburg Line at Arras and Vimy on the Western Front. The expansive first-day achievement in snowy weather includes a 3.5 mile territorial gain and the capture of Vimy Ridge by Canadians. However, similar to past offensives, the inability to capitalize on initial successes and maintain momentum gives the Germans an opportunity to regroup and further gains are thwarted. The British suffer 150,000 casualties during the offensive, while the Germans suffer 100,000.

Nivelle Offensive

April 16, 1917 - The French 5th and 6th Armies attack along a 25-mile front south of the Hindenburg Line. The new offensive comes amid promises of a major breakthrough within 24-hours by the new French Commander-in-Chief, Robert Nivelle, who planned the operation. Nivelle once again utilizes his creeping barrage tactic in which his armies advance in stages closely behind successive waves of artillery fire. However, this time it is poorly coordinated and the troops fall far behind. The Germans also benefit from good intelligence and aerial reconnaissance and are mostly aware of the French plan. Nivelle's offensive collapses within days with over 100,000 casualties. French President Poincaré personally intervenes and Nivelle is relieved of his command. He is replaced as Commander-in-Chief by General Henri Petain, who must deal with a French Army that is now showing signs of mutiny.

April 16, 1917 - Political agitator Vladimir Lenin arrives back in Russia, following 12 years of exile in Switzerland. Special train transportation for his return was provided by the Germans in the hope that anti-war Lenin and his radical Bolshevik Party will disrupt Russia's new Provisional Government. Lenin joins other Bolsheviks in Petrograd who have already returned from exile including Joseph Stalin.

May 18, 1917 - The Selective Service Act is passed by the U.S. Congress, authorizing a draft. The small U.S. Army, presently consisting of 145,000 men, will be enlarged to 4,000,000 via the draft.

May 19, 1917 - The Provisional Government of Russia announces it will stay in the war. A large offensive for the Eastern Front is then planned by Alexander Kerensky, the new Minister of War. However, Russian soldiers and peasants are now flocking to Lenin's Bolshevik Party which opposes the war and the Provisional Government.

French Mutiny

May 27-June 1, 1917 - The mutinous atmosphere in the French Army erupts into open insubordination as soldiers refuse orders to advance. More than half of the French divisions on the Western Front experience some degree of disruption by disgruntled soldiers, angry over the unending battles of attrition and appalling living conditions in the muddy, rat and lice-infested trenches. The new Commander-in-Chief, Henri Petain, cracks down on the mutiny by ordering mass arrests, followed by several firing squad executions that serve as a warning. Petain then suspends all French offensives and visits the troops to personally promise an improvement of the whole situation. With the French Army in disarray the main burden on the Western Front falls squarely upon the British.

June 7, 1917 - A tremendous underground explosion collapses the German-held Messines Ridge south of Ypres in Belgium. Upon detonation, 10,000 Germans stationed on the ridge vanish instantly. The British then storm the ridge forcing the surviving Germans to withdraw to a new defensive position further eastward. The 250-foot-high ridge had given the Germans a commanding defensive position. British, Australian and Canadian tunnelers had worked for a year to dig mines and place 600 tons of explosives.

June 13, 1917 - London suffers its highest civilian casualties of the war as German airplanes bomb the city, killing 158 persons and wounding 425. The British react to the new bombing campaign by forming home defense fighter squadrons and later conduct retaliatory bombing raids against Germany by British planes based in France.

June 25, 1917 - The first American troops land in France.

July 1, 1917 - Russian troops begin the Kerensky Offensive attempting to recapture the city of Lemberg (Lvov) on the Eastern Front. The Germans are lying in wait, fully aware of the battle plans which have been leaked to them. The Russians attack along a 40-mile front but suffer from a jumble of tactical problems including a lack of artillery coordination, poor troop placement, and serious disunity within the ranks reflecting the divisive political situation back home. The whole offensive disintegrates within five days. Sensing they might break the Russian Army, the Germans launch a furious counter-offensive and watch as Russian soldiers run away.

July 2, 1917 - Greece declares war on the Central Powers, following the abdication of pro-German King Constantine who is replaced by a pro-Allied administration led by Prime Minister Venizelos. Greek soldiers are now added to the Allied ranks.

Third Battle of Ypres

July 31-November 6, 1917

July 31, 1917 - The British attempt once more to break through the German lines, this time by attacking positions east of Ypres, Belgium. However, by now the Germans have vastly improved their trench defenses including well-positioned artillery. Although the British 5th Army succeeds in securing forward trench positions, further progress is halted by heavy artillery barrages from the German 4th Army and rainy weather.

August 10, 1917 - The British resume their attack at Ypres, focusing on German artillery positions around Gheluvelt. The attack produces few gains as the Germans effectively bombard and then counter-attack. Six days later, the British try again, with similar results. The entire Ypres offensive then grinds to a halt as British Army Commander Douglas Haig ponders his strategy.

September 1, 1917 - On the Eastern Front, the final Russian battle in the war begins as the Germans attack toward Riga. The German 8th Army utilizes new storm troop tactics devised by General Oskar von Hutier. Bypassing any strong points as they move forward, storm troop battalions armed with light machine-guns, grenades and flame throwers focus on quickly infiltrating the rear areas to disrupt communications and take out artillery. The Russian 12th Army, under General Kornilov, is unable to hold itself together amid the storm troop attacks and abandons Riga, then begins a rapid retreat along the Dvina River, pursued by the Germans.

September 20, 1917 - A revised British strategy begins at Ypres designed to wear down the Germans. It features a series of intensive, narrowly focused artillery and troop attacks with limited objectives, to be launched every six days. The first such attack, along the Menin Road toward Gheluvelt, produces a gain of about 1,000 yards with 22,000 British and Australian casualties. Subsequent attacks yield similar results.

October 12, 1917 - The Ypres offensive culminates around the village of Passchendaele as Australian and New Zealand troops die by the thousands while attempting to press forward across a battlefield of liquid mud, advancing just 100 yards. Steady October rains create a slippery quagmire in which wounded soldiers routinely drown in mud-filled shell craters.

Attack at Caporetto

October 24, 1917 - In northern Italy, a rout of the Italian Army begins as 35 German and Austrian divisions cross the Isonzo River into Italy at Caporetto and then rapidly push 41 Italian divisions 60 miles southward. By now, the Italians have been worn down from years of costly but inconclusive battles along the Isonzo and in the Trentino, amid a perceived lack of Allied support. Nearly 300,000 Italians surrender as the Austro-Germans advance, while some 400,000 desert. The Austro-Germans halt at the Piave River north of Venice only due to supply lines which have become stretched to the limit.

October 26, 1917 - At Ypres, a second attempt is made but fails to capture the village of Passchendaele, with Canadian troops participating this time. Four days later, the Allies attack again and edge closer as the Germans slowly begin pulling out.

October 31, 1917 - In the Middle East, the British led by General Edmund Allenby begin an attack against Turkish defensive lines stretching between Gaza and Beersheba in southern Palestine. The initial attack on Beersheba surprises the Turks and they pull troops away from Gaza which the British attack secondly. The Turks then retreat northward toward Jerusalem with the Allies in pursuit. Aiding the Allies, are a group of Arab fighters led by T. E. Lawrence, an Arab speaking English archeologist, later known as Lawrence of Arabia. He is instrumental in encouraging Arab opposition to the Turks and in disrupting their railroad and communication system.

November 6, 1917 - The village of Passchendaele is captured by Canadian troops. The Allied offensive then ceases, bringing the Third Battle of Ypres to an end with no significant gains amid 500,000 casualties experienced by all sides.

October Revolution

November 6-7, 1917 - In Russia, Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky overthrow the Provisional Government in what comes to be known as the October Revolution (Oct. 24-25 according to the Russian calendar). They establish a non-democratic Soviet Government based on Marxism which prohibits private enterprise and private land ownership. Lenin announces that Soviet Russia will immediately end its involvement in the war and renounces all existing treaties with the Allies.

November 11, 1917 - The German High Command, led by Erich Ludendorff, gathers at Mons, Belgium, to map out a strategy for 1918. Ludendorff bluntly states he is willing to accept a million German casualties in a daring plan to achieve victory in early 1918, before the American Army arrives in force. The goal is to drive a wedge between the British and French armies on the Western Front via a series of all-out offensives using Germany's finest divisions and intensive storm troop tactics. Once this succeeds, the plan is to first decimate the British Army to knock Britain out of the war, and then decimate the French Army, and thus secure final victory.

November 15, 1917 - Georges Clemenceau becomes France's new Prime Minister at age 76. Nicknamed "The Tiger," when asked about his agenda, he will simply answer, "I wage war."

British Tank Attack

November 20, 1917 - The first-ever mass attack by tanks occurs as the British 3rd Army rolls 381 tanks accompanied by six infantry divisions in a coordinated tank-infantry-artillery attack of German trenches near Cambrai, France, an important rail center. The attack targets a 6-mile-wide portion of the Front and by the end of the first day appears to be a spectacular success with five miles gained and two Germans divisions wrecked. The news is celebrated by the ringing of church bells in England, for the first time since 1914. However, similar to past offensives, the opportunity to exploit first-day gains is missed, followed by the arrival of heavy German reinforcements and an effective counter-attack in which the Germans take back most of the ground they lost.

December, 7, 1917 - Romania concludes an armistice with the Central Powers due to the demise of Imperial Russia, its former military ally.

December 9, 1917 - Jerusalem is captured by the British. This ends four centuries of its control by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.

December 15, 1917 - Soviet Russia signs an armistice with Germany. With Russia's departure from the Eastern Front, forty-four German divisions become available to be redeployed to the Western Front in time for Ludendorff's Spring Offensive.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1918 : A Fateful Ending

January 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson outlines an elaborate peace plan to the U.S. Congress containing Fourteen Points as the basis of its establishment.

March 3, 1918 - At Brest-Litovsk, Soviet Russia signs a treaty with Germany formally ending its participation in the war. Harsh terms imposed by the Germans force the Russians to yield a quarter of their prewar territory and over half of Russia's industries.

German Spring Offensives

March 21, 1918 - Germany's all-out gamble for victory begins upon the launch of the first of a series of successive spring offensives on the Western Front. The Saint Michael Offensive, named after Germany's patron saint, begins after a five-hour 6,000-gun artillery bombardment as 65 divisions from the German 2nd, 17th and 18th Armies attack the British 3rd and 5th Armies along a 60-mile front in the Somme. At first it seems destined to succeed as the thinly stretched British 5th Army is quickly overrun and wrecked. Using effective storm troop tactics, the Germans recapture all of the ground they lost in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and press forward. However, during the two week offensive, the British 3rd Army manages to hold itself together and prevents the Germans from taking Arras and Amiens, key objectives of the offensive.

March 26, 1918 - At a strategic conference in Doullens, France, the British and French agree to appoint an Allied Supreme Commander on the Western Front, in place of the separate commanders they had been using, to better coordinate their efforts. Ferdinand Foch, Petain's highly regarded chief of staff, accepts the position.

April 1, 1918 - Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) is founded upon the merging of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service. By now, the British aviation industry has become the world leader.

April 9-29, 1918 - The second offensive in Germany's victory gamble, the Georgette Offensive, begins as 46 divisions from the German 6th Army attack the British 2nd Army around Ypres. The Germans push the British back three miles to the outskirts of Ypres, even taking back the hard-won Passchendaele Ridge. However, the arrival of British, French and Australian reinforcements from the south breaks the German momentum and the offensive halts. Georgette, similar to Michael, is only a partial success. General Ludendorff's goal of first separating the British and French armies via Michael and then destroying the British via Michael and Georgette is not achieved. Additionally, the Germans suffer 330,000 casualties in the two offensives and lack sufficient reserve troops.

April 21, 1918 - Germany's Red Baron (Manfred von Richthofen) is shot down and killed by the British. The German Ace was credited with shooting down 80 Allied aircraft. He is buried with military honors by the British.

May 27-June 3, 1918 - The Blücher-Yorck Offensive, Germany's third in a row, begins with the goal of bogging down the Allies in central France, thus preventing further reinforcements from reaching British positions in the north. Forty-one divisions of the German 1st and 7th Armies successfully attack the inadequate defenses of the French 6th Army along a 25-mile front east of the Aisne River. After a highly effective artillery barrage, German storm troops roll over the decimated 6th Army. This startling success emboldens General Ludendorff to change his overall strategy. He decides to make a run for Paris, hoping to draw the Allies into a final climactic battle that will decide the war. Within two days, the Germans cross the Aisne River and rapidly advance westward, coming within 50 miles of Paris. But the troops have been pushed to the limit for too long and soon succumb to exhaustion, unable to maintain the breakneck pace. The advance sputters to a halt as Allied reinforcements, including Americans, pour in to the region.

First American Action

May 28-29, 1918 - Troops of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division capture the village of Cantigny from the Germans and hold it. The American Expeditionary Force (AEF) is commanded by General John Pershing who is determined to maintain all-American fighting units, rather than parcel out American troops to the British and French armies. By now, 650,000 American soldiers have arrived in France, with the number growing by 10,000 per day.

June 6, 1918 - The Battle of Belleau Wood involving the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division begins. During the three-week fight against the Germans, Americans experience their first significant battlefield casualties with 5,000 killed.

June 9, 1918 - The Germans launch their fourth offensive, once more with an eye toward Paris. In the hastily arranged Gneisenau Offensive the German 18th Army attacks in a southwest direction toward Paris. However, the Germans are stopped as French and American troops successfully counter-attack and the new offensive withers after just four days.

June 15, 1918 - Austrian troops begin an offensive along the Piave River in Italy, at the urging of the Germans. Although suffering from a lack of food, horses and supplies, they cross the river and establish a 12-mile front, but then realize they can not hold it against the now-revitalized Italian Army and withdraw after suffering 150,000 casualties. Following this, Austrian soldiers in Italy begin deserting.

Mid 1918 - Soldiers from all sides begin to succumb to a deadly strain of influenza. Troop losses from the flu epidemic soon exceed combat casualties, especially weakening the hard-pressed German Army. The worldwide epidemic lasts for about a year, killing an estimated 20 million persons, then vanishes as strangely as it had appeared.

July 15-17, 1918 - The last German offensive of the war, the Marne-Reims Offensive, begins with a two-pronged attack around Reims, France, by 52 divisions. The Allies have been anticipating this battle and lie in wait. The German attack to the east of Reims is crushed that day by the French. To the west of Reims, the advance is blocked by the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, followed by a successful French and American counter-attack.

July 17, 1918 - Russian Bolsheviks murder former Czar Nicholas and his entire family. By now, an all-out civil war has erupted in Russia that features indiscriminate killings of civilians and captured fighters. Amid the chaos, disease and starvation envelop Russia. The fighting between Bolsheviks and their opponents will last three years, ending with a Bolshevik victory amid a Russian death toll estimated at 15 million persons.

Allied Counter-Offensives

July 18, 1918 - A combined French and American attack along the Marne marks the first in a series of coordinated Allied counter-offensives on the Western Front. Three French armies accompanied by five American divisions cross the Marne River. In the face of this assault, the German 7th and 9th Armies begin a withdrawal from the Marne.

August 8, 1918 - Germans in the Somme experience the "Black Day of the German Army" as later described by General Ludendorff. This occurs as the British 4th Army using 456 tanks attacks German positions east of Amiens. Six German divisions quickly fall apart and 13,000 prisoners are taken during the rapid 7-mile advance. The attack is only slowed when the Germans rush in nine divisions, their last reserves on the Western Front.

August 20, 1918 - The French 10th Army takes 8,000 prisoners at Noyon and captures the Aisne Heights.

August 21, 1918 - The British 3rd Army begins an attack along a 10-mile front south of Arras, while the adjacent 4th Army resumes it attack in the Somme, as the Germans continue to fall back.

September 12, 1918 - The first stand-alone attack by Americans occurs as the U.S. 1st Army attacks the southernmost portion of the Western Front in France at St. Mihiel. The offensive is supported by an unprecedented 1,476 Allied aircraft used as part of a coordinated air-ground attack. Within 36 hours, the Americans take 15,000 prisoners and capture over 400 pieces of artillery as the Germans withdraw.

September 15, 1918 - The Allies push the Bulgarians out of Serbia as French, Serbian and Italian troops make rapid gains, advancing nearly 20 miles northward from Greece in three days. Bulgarian troops attempting to redeploy westward through the narrow Kosturino Pass are relentlessly bombarded by airplanes and overall troop morale collapses. Meanwhile, political turmoil strikes at home as anti-war riots erupt in Bulgaria's cities along with Russian-style revolutionary fervor that results in the proclamation of local soviets.

September 19, 1918 - In the Middle East, the Allies launch a cavalry attack to push the Turks out of Palestine. Australian and Indian cavalry divisions smash through the Turkish defenses around Megiddo on the first day and gallop northward, as British infantry follow, while the RAF and Arab fighters disrupt communication and supply lines. As the Turkish armies collapse, they withdraw northward toward Damascus with the Allies in pursuit.

September 26, 1918 - The U.S. 1st Army and French 4th Army begin a joint offensive to clear out the strongly defended corridor between the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest. Here, the Germans do not fall back and the battle soon resembles action from earlier years in the war. Amid a steady rain, the troops advance yard-by-yard over the muddy, crater-filled terrain with 75,000 American casualties suffered over six weeks of fighting.

Hindenburg Line Broken

September 27, 1918 - The British 1st and 3rd Armies, aided by Australians and the U.S. 2nd Corps, break through a 20-mile portion of the Hindenburg Line between Cambrai and St. Quentin.

September 28, 1918 - Belgian and British troops push back the Germans in the Fourth Battle of Ypres. Unlike the previous drawn-out battles, this one lasts just two days as the Belgians take Dixmude and the British secure Messines.

September 28, 1918 - Confronted by the unstoppable strength of the Allies and faced with the prospect of an outright military defeat on the Western Front, General Ludendorff suffers a nervous collapse at his headquarters, losing all hope for victory. He then informs his superior, Paul von Hindenburg, the war must be ended. The next day, Ludendorff, accompanied by Hindenburg, meet with the Kaiser and urge him to end the war. The Kaiser's army is becoming weaker by the day amid irreversible troop losses, declining discipline and battle-readiness due to exhaustion, illness, food shortages, desertions and drunkenness. The Kaiser takes heed from Hindenburg and Ludendorff, and agrees with the need for an armistice.

September 29, 1918 - Bulgaria signs an armistice with the Allies, becoming the first of the Central Powers to quit the war.

October 1, 1918 - In the Middle East, Damascus is captured by Australian troops and Arab fighters.

October 2, 1918 - A military representative sent by Ludendorff to Berlin informs the legislature the war is lost and that armistice discussions should begin immediately. The German politicians are shocked by the news, having largely been kept in the dark by the General Staff and the Kaiser till now.

Germans Request Armistice

October 4, 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson receives a request from the German government, sent via the Swiss, asking for armistice discussions on the basis of his Fourteen Points. The Germans have bypassed the French and British in the hope of negotiating with Wilson who they perceive as more lenient. They are disappointed, however, when Wilson responds with a list of demands as a prelude to discussions including German withdrawal from all occupied territories and a total halt of U-Boat attacks.

October 5, 1918 - The Allies break through the last remnants of the Hindenburg Line.

October 6, 1918 - A provisional government proclaims the state of Yugoslavia, signaling the beginning of the breakup of the old Hapsburg (Austro-Hungarian) Empire in central Europe which had existed for six centuries.

October 7, 1918 - Poland, formerly part of the Russian Empire, proclaims itself as an independent state.

October 8, 1918 - The British 3rd and 4th Armies take 8,000 German prisoners while advancing toward Cambrai and LeCateau.

October 13, 1918 - The Germans engage in a general retreat along a 60-mile portion of the Western Front in France stretching from St. Quentin southward to the Argonne Forest, as French and American armies steadily advance.

October 14, 1918 - Germans abandon positions along the Belgian coast and northernmost France as the British and Belgians steadily advance.

October 17, 1918 - King Albert of Belgium enters the city of Ostend on the Belgian coast.

October 23, 1918 - Under pressure from the French and British, President Wilson informs the German government that armistice negotiations can not ensue with the current military or Imperial war leaders still in place. An outraged General Ludendorff then disavows the negotiations as 'unconditional surrender' and is forced to resign by the Kaiser. In the face of such turmoil, the armistice negotiations are conducted principally by civilian members of Germany's government. This will become the basis of a postwar "stab in the back" claim by German militarists asserting their troops at the Front were sold out by the politicians back home.

October 24, 1918 - In southern Europe, the Allies cross the Piave River to push the Austrians out of Italy as seven Italian armies, incorporating British, French and American divisions, attack the four remaining Austro-Hungarian armies from the Trentino westward to the Gulf of Venice. In its final battle of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Army sees 30,000 soldiers killed and over 400,000 taken prisoner.

October 29, 1918 - The Czechs declare their independence from Austria. Two days later, Slovakia declares independence from Hungary. Czechoslovakia is subsequently formed.

October 30, 1918 - Turkey signs an armistice with the Allies, becoming the second of the Central Powers to quit the war.

November 1, 1918 - Belgrade is liberated by French and Serbian troops.

November 1, 1918 - After pausing to regroup and resupply, Allied armies resume their eastward march as the U.S. 1st Army and newly formed U.S. 2nd Army attack remaining German positions along the Meuse River near southern Belgium, while the Belgians and British move toward Ghent and Mons in Belgium.

November 3, 1918 - Mutiny strikes the German Navy at the ports of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven as sailors refuse orders to put to sea to engage in a final colossal battle with the British Navy. Along with this, revolutionary fervor and Bolshevist-style uprisings erupt in German cities including Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin. The extent of the unrest stuns German leaders, and even the Allies, who fear Germany might now succumb to a violent Bolshevist revolution in the manner of Russia. This brings a stark urgency to the armistice negotiations.

November 3, 1918 - The only remaining ally of Germany, Austria-Hungary, signs an armistice with Italy, leaving Germany alone in the war.

November 5, 1918 - The Germans are informed by President Wilson that armistice discussions can begin on the basis of his Fourteen Points as they requested, but that an armistice must be secured through France's Marshal Foch, the Allied Supreme Commander.

November 8, 1918 - At Compiègne, France, six representatives of the German government, with Matthias Erzberger as spokesman, are brusquely presented with armistice terms by Marshal Ferdinand Foch. The terms include German evacuation of all occupied territory, an Allied occupation of Germany west of the Rhine River, surrender of weaponry including all subs and battleships, and indefinite continuation of the naval blockade.

November 9, 1918 - The Kaiser's Imperial government collapses in ruin as a German republic is proclaimed with Friedrich Ebert heading the new provisional government. Kaiser Wilhelm then seeks refuge in Holland amid concerns for his safety after his generals warn him they may not be able to adequately protect him from the volatile situation in Germany.

Armistice Ends Fighting

November 11, 1918 - At 5:10 am, in a railway car at Compiègne, France, the Germans sign the Armistice which is effective at 11 am--the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Fighting continues all along the Western Front until precisely 11 o'clock, with 2,000 casualties experienced that day by all sides. Artillery barrages also erupt as 11 am draws near as soldiers yearn to claim they fired the very last shot in the war.

November 12, 1918 - A final action occurs as Germans in Africa under the command of the elusive General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck encounter British troops in Northern Rhodesia, where news of the Armistice had not reached the Germans.

January 6, 1919 - An attempt to overthrow Germany's provisional government occurs in Berlin as several buildings are seized by members of the communist Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht. The revolution is violently thwarted by bands of Freikorps composed of ex-soldiers led by former German Army officers and Liebknecht is killed.

January 18, 1919 - The Paris Peace Conference opens with delegates from 32 nations invited. President Woodrow Wilson attends, marking the first-ever visit to Europe by a sitting president.

January 19, 1919 - The first-ever nationwide election in Germany results in pro-democracy political parties getting 75 percent of the vote.

February 6, 1919 - The newly elected German Assembly meets in Weimar and begins work on a new democratic constitution.

April 28, 1919 - The League of Nations is founded, championed by President Wilson as a means of peaceably resolving future conflicts. Germany is excluded for the time being. Despite Wilson's intentions, the United States never joins as an isolationist-minded U.S. Senate subsequently rejects membership to avoid further European entanglements.

June 21, 1919 - The Germans sink 74 of their own warships in anticipation of being forced to yield them to the Allies.

Treaty of Versailles

June 28, 1919 - At the Palace of Versailles in France, a German delegation signs the Treaty formally ending the war. Its 230 pages contain terms that have little in common with Wilson's Fourteen Points as the Germans had hoped. Germans back home react with mass demonstrations against the perceived harshness, especially clauses that assess sole blame for the war on Germany.

July 31, 1919 - The Weimar Republic is born in Germany from a new constitution which provides for a liberal democracy. The government consists of two houses of Parliament (Reichstag) and a president elected by the people. The president can dissolve the Reichstag and rule by decree in the event of an emergency.

September 1919 - Corporal Adolf Hitler is ordered by the German Army to investigate a small political group in Munich called the German Workers' Party. Hitler soon joins the group and begins to build it up, later changing its name to the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party. The anti-democratic group vehemently opposes the Treaty of Versailles and claims the German Army was not defeated on the battlefield but was betrayed by a "stab in the back" wrought by disloyal politicians on the home front.

March 1920 - Freikorps groups attempt but fail to overthrow Germany's democratic government during the Kapp Putsch.

April 1921 - The Reparations Commission announces Germany must pay the Allies $28 billion over 42 years, via annual payments of cash and goods such as coal and timber.

April 1922 - Germany and Soviet Russia conclude the Treaty of Rapallo allowing for economic collaboration. Secret clauses in the treaty provide for German military activities prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles, including weapons manufacturing, to be done in Soviet Russia.

January 1923 - After Germany falls behind on its war reparation payments, French and Belgian troops occupy the Ruhr industrial region inside Germany. Workers there react by walking off the job. In a defiant show of support, the German government sends money to the out-of-work protestors. However, this soon leads to ruinous inflation and devaluation of the German deutsche mark--eventually four billion to the dollar--as the government prints an unlimited amount of money to satisfy its needs.

November 9, 1923 - Three thousand Nazis led by Adolf Hitler, and aided by former General Erich Ludendorff, attempt but fail to overthrow Germany's democratic government by staging an armed Putsch in Munich. Hitler is then sentenced to prison where he composes Mein Kampf a book outlining his racial, political and military philosophies, including the need for Germany to forcibly expand its borders eastward into Russia. The Nazis remain a fringe group until the worldwide economic collapse of 1929 causes political turmoil in Germany that generates popular support for Hitler, resulting in the election of Nazis to the government.

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Time

2010-03-03T00:43:00.000+05:00

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Time

1 “Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so,” joked Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Scientists aren’t laughing, though. Some speculative new physics theories suggest that time emerges from a more fundamental—and timeless—reality.

2 Try explaining that when you get to work late. The average U.S. city commuter loses 38 hours a year to traffic delays.

3 Wonder why you have to set your clock ahead in March? Daylight Saving Time began as a joke by Benjamin Franklin, who proposed waking people earlier on bright summer mornings so they might work more during the day and thus save candles. It was introduced in the U.K. in 1917 and then spread around the world.

4 Green days. The Department of Energy estimates that electricity demand drops by 0.5 percent during Daylight Saving Time, saving the equivalent of nearly 3 million barrels of oil.

5 By observing how quickly bank tellers made change, pedestrians walked, and postal clerks spoke, psychologists determined that the three fastest-paced U.S. cities are Boston, Buffalo, and New York.

6 The three slowest? Shreveport, Sacramento, and L.A.

7 One second used to be defined as 1/86,400 the length of a day. However, Earth’s rotation isn’t perfectly reliable. Tidal friction from the sun and moon slows our planet and increases the length of a day by 3 milliseconds per century.

8 This means that in the time of the dinosaurs, the day was just 23 hours long.

9 Weather also changes the day. During El Niño events, strong winds can slow Earth’s rotation by a fraction of a millisecond every 24 hours.

10 Modern technology can do better. In 1972 a network of atomic clocks in more than 50 countries was made the final authority on time, so accurate that it takes 31.7 million years to lose about one second.

11 To keep this time in sync with Earth’s slowing rotation, a “leap second” must be added every few years, most recently this past New Year’s Eve.

12 The world’s most accurate clock, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Colorado, measures vibrations of a single atom of mercury. In a billion years it will not lose one second.

13 Until the 1800s, every village lived in its own little time zone, with clocks synchronized to the local solar noon.

14 This caused havoc with the advent of trains and timetables. For a while watches were made that could tell both local time and “railway time.”

15 On November 18, 1883, American railway companies forced the national adoption of standardized time zones

16 Thinking about how railway time required clocks in different places to be synchronized may have inspired Einstein to develop his theory of relativity, which unifies space and time.

17 Einstein showed that gravity makes time run more slowly. Thus airplane passengers, flying where Earth’s pull is weaker, age a few extra nanoseconds each flight.

18 According to quantum theory, the shortest moment of time that can exist is known as Planck time, or 0.000000000000000000 00000000000000000000 00001 second.

19 Time has not been around forever. Most scientists believe it was created along with the rest of the universe in the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago.

20 There may be an end of time. Three Spanish scientists posit that the observed acceleration of the expanding cosmos is an illusion caused by the slowing of time. According to their math, time may eventually stop, at which point everything will come to a standstill ......

10 Tips for Successful Career Planning

2010-03-03T00:38:00.002+05:00

10 Tips for Successful Career Planning

Career planning is not an activity that should be done once -- in high school or college -- and then left behind as we move forward in our jobs and careers. Rather, career planning is an activity that is best done on a regular basis -- especially given the data that the average worker will change careers (not jobs) multiple times over his or her lifetime. And it's never too soon or too late to start your career planning.

Career planning is not a hard activity, not something to be dreaded or put off, but rather an activity that should be liberating and fulfilling, providing goals to achieve in your current career or plans for beginning a transition to a new career. Career planning should be a rewarding and positive experience.

Here, then, are 10 tips to help you achieve successful career planning.

1. Make Career Planning an Annual Event

Many of us have physicals, visit the eye doctor and dentist, and do a myriad of other things on an annual basis, so why not career planning? Find a day or weekend once a year -- more often if you feel the need or if you're planning a major career change -- and schedule a retreat for yourself. Try to block out all distractions so that you have the time to truly focus on your career -- what you really want out of your career, out of your life.

By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more secure in your career choice and direction -- and you'll be better prepared for the many uncertainties and difficulties that lie ahead in all of our jobs and career.

2. Map Your Path Since Last Career Planning

One of your first activities whenever you take on career planning is spending time mapping out your job and career path since the last time you did any sort of career planning. While you should not dwell on your past, taking the time to review and reflect on the path -- whether straight and narrow or one filled with any curves and dead-ends -- will help you plan for the future.

Once you've mapped your past, take the time to reflect on your course -- and note why it looks the way it does. Are you happy with your path? Could you have done things better? What might you have done differently? What can you do differently in the future?

3. Reflect on Your Likes and Dislikes, Needs and Wants

Change is a factor of life; everybody changes, as do our likes and dislikes. Something we loved doing two years ago may now give us displeasure. So always take time to reflect on the things in your life -- not just in your job -- that you feel most strongly about.

Make a two-column list of your major likes and dislikes. Then use this list to examine your current job and career path. If your job and career still fall mostly in the like column, then you know you are still on the right path; however, if your job activities fall mostly in the dislike column, now is the time to begin examining new jobs and new careers.

Finally, take the time to really think about what it is you want or need from your work, from your career. Are you looking to make a difference in the world? To be famous? To become financially independent? To effect change? Take the time to understand the motives that drive your sense of success and happiness.

4. Examine Your Pastimes and Hobbies

Career planning provides a great time to also examine the activities you like doing when you're not working. It may sound a bit odd, to examine non-work activities when doing career planning, but it's not. Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can give you great insight into future career paths.

Think you can't make a hobby into a career? People do it all the time. The great painter Paul Gauguin was a successful business person who painted on the side. It actually wasn't until he was encouraged by an artist he admired to continue painting that he finally took a serious look at his hobby and decided he should change careers. He was good at business, but his love was painting.

5. Make Note of Your Past Accomplishments

Most people don't keep a very good record of work accomplishments and then struggle with creating a powerful resume when it's time to search for a new job. Making note of your past accomplishments -- keeping a record of them -- is not only useful for building your resume, it's also useful for career planning.

Sometimes reviewing your past accomplishments will reveal forgotten successes, one or more which may trigger researching and planning a career shift so that you can be in a job that allows you to accomplish the types of things that make you most happy and proud.

For more about accomplishments, read: Tracking and Leveraging Accomplishments.

6. Look Beyond Your Current Job for Transferable Skills

Some workers get so wrapped up in their job titles that they don't see any other career possibilities for themselves. Every job requires a certain set of skills, and it's much better to categorize yourself in terms of these skill sets than be so myopic as to focus just on job titles.

For example, one job-seeker who was trying to accomplish career planning found herself stuck because she identified herself as a reporter. But once she looked beyond her job title, she could see that she had this strong collection of transferable skills -- such as writing, editing, researching, investigating, interviewing, juggling multiple tasks, meeting goals and deadlines, and managing time and information -- skills that could easily be applied to a wide variety of jobs in many different careers.

For more about transferable skills, read: Transferable Skills.

7. Review Career and Job Trends

Everyone makes his or her own job and career opportunities, so that even if your career is shrinking, if you have excellent skills and know how to market yourself, you should be able to find a new job. However, having information about career trends is vital to long-term career planning success.

A career path that is expanding today could easily shrink tomorrow -- or next year. It's important to see where job growth is expected, especially in the career fields that most interest you. Besides knowledge of these trends, the other advantage of conducting this research is the power it gives you to adjust and strengthen your position, your unique selling proposition. One of the keys to job and career success is having a unique set of accomplishments, skills, and education that make you better than all others in your career.

For more about researching careers, review our Career Research Checklist.

8. Set Career and Job Goals

Develop a roadmap for your job and career success. Can you be successful in your career without setting goals? Of course. Can you be even more successful through goal-setting? Most research says yes.

A major component of career planning is setting short-term (in the coming year) and long-term (beyond a year) career and job goals. Once you initiate this process, another component of career planning becomes reviewing and adjusting those goals as your career plans progress or change - and developing new goals once you accomplish your previous goals.

9. Explore New Education/Training Opportunities

It's somewhat of a cliche, but information really does lead to power and success. Never pass up chances to learn and grow more as a person and as a worker; part of career planning is going beyond passive acceptance of training opportunities to finding new ones that will help enhance or further your career.

Take the time to contemplate what types of educational experiences will help you achieve your career goals. Look within your company, your professional association, your local universities and community colleges, as well as online distance learning programs, to find potential career-enhancing opportunities -- and then find a way achieve them.

10. Research Further Career/Job Advancement Opportunities

One of the really fun outcomes of career planning is picturing yourself in the future. Where will you be in a year? In five years? A key component to developing multiple scenarios of that future is researching career paths.

Of course, if you're in what you consider a dead-end job, this activity becomes even more essential to you, but all job-seekers should take the time to research various career paths -- and then develop scenarios for seeing one or more of these visions become reality. Look within your current employer and current career field, but again, as with all aspects of career planning, do not be afraid to look beyond to other possible careers.

Final Thoughts on Career Planning

Don't wait too long between career planning sessions. Career planning can have multiple benefits, from goal-setting to career change, to a more successful life. Once you begin regularly reviewing and planning your career using the tips provided in this article, you'll find yourself better prepared for whatever lies ahead in your career -- and in your life.

Principles for Successful Life

2010-03-03T00:34:00.000+05:00

Principles for a Successful Life

A successful life is a satisfying life. It is one where you are healthy, happy and fulfilled in your existence. Most people would like to lead such a life, but many think it is not easy to do. In fact, it is not that difficult. Much of what happens to you in your life is a result of your philosophy or way of thinking and the principles you follow, as well as your attitude toward things.

Questions you may have include:

What type of philosophy do I need to have?
How do attitude, health and wealth fit in?
What do I need to do to get started?
This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.
Have a positive philosophy
In order to lead a good, well or satisfying life, you need a positive philosophy toward the major components in your life. These components are your:

Attitude

Health: Physical, Emotional and Spiritual
Communications: Sensing the world and Social interactions

Knowledge

Activities: Vocation and Leisure

Be good in each

You can be good and attain satisfaction in each of these items, leading to a happy and healthy life.

Attitude

Your attitude can make your life satisfying, if you:

Enjoy life

Be accountable for your own well being
Think in terms of taking care of your whole person
your body
mind and spirit

Health

The following are ways to attain wellness in the different types of health.

Physical health

Good physical health can make your life satisfying, if you:
Are physically active

Eat frugally

Minimize medical invasiveness

Emotional health

Good emotional health can make your life satisfying, if you:
Handle stress well
Are aware of your feelings
Appreciate the talents you have
Spiritual health
Good spiritual health can make your life satisfying, if you:
Are forgiving
Are grateful
Are at peace
Communication
The following are ways to attain wellness in the areas of communication.
Sensing the world
Effective sensing of the world around you can make your life more satisfying, if you:
Are observant
Are curious

Use all your senses

Social interactions

Good social interactions can make your life satisfying, if you:

Have respect for other people

Try to have everyone win

Live for today

Intellect

Good intellect can make your life satisfying, if you:

Think mindfully

Are creative

Continually grow

Vocation

A good vocation can make your life satisfying, if you:

Have a purpose

Help others

Are concerned about future generations

Summary

By taking care of your attitude, physical health, emotional health, spiritual health, social interactions, intellect, and vocation, you should lead a good life.

General Knoledge

2010-03-03T00:21:00.004+05:00

Top Ten Intelligence Agensies in the world..

Number 1

CIA

Location: United States

Founded in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has three stated functions: 1) Obtaining and analyzing information about foreigners; 2) Propaganda and public relations; and, 3) Covert operations at the direction of the president. The CIA was given enormous leeway to operate during the Cold War, as the American government felt that such free reign was necessary to successfully combat the USSR's agency, the KGB. As a result, the CIA was engaged in many coups and assassination attempts overseas, both successful (Chile, Congo) and unsuccessful (Cuba).
Claim to fame: The Bay of Pigs invasion may be more notorious, but Project BLUEBIRD is more shocking. From 1951 to 1953, the CIA conducted mind-control experiments in order to explore the creation of new identities, multiple personalities and false memories. The research entailed placing brain electrodes in people and controlling their behavior with remote transmitters, administering daily dosages of LSD-25 to children for extended periods of time, and using electroconvulsive therapy to erase memories.

Number 2

MI6

Location: United Kingdom

MI6 or, as it is known formally, the Secret Intelligence Service, was created just prior to World War I primarily to keep a close eye on the activities of the Imperial German government. Since then, MI6 has been heavily engaged during the major conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries. Even before the 9/11 attacks, MI6 actively collaborated with their American counterparts in order to share intelligence and carry out particularly dicey covert ops. The MI6, in conjunction with the CIA, effected the toppling of several regimes, most notoriously in the Congo in 1961 and Iran in 1953.
Claim to fame: Aside from the time Bond bedded Pussy Galore, MI6's most successful solo mission in recent years was the quelling the hostage-taking of Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s. Specifically, MI6 agents triggered an internal conflict between Lebanese paramilitary groups, effectively distracting them from further hostage-taking.

Number 3

GRU

Location: Russia

When one thinks of Russian intelligence, they usually think of the KGB. But the KGB was disbanded by Boris Yeltsin in 1995, while the even older Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije (GRU) -- which means "Main Intelligence Directorate" -- has continued on, unaffected by the fall of the USSR. The GRU was created in 1918 by Vladimir Lenin, and given the task of handling all military intelligence. Since then, the GRU has taken part in significant anti-nationalist activities in Eastern Europe and according to a former agent, has infiltrated the U.S. to the extent that secret-arms caches are available for use in America by Russian agents, if necessary.
Claim to fame: The GRU doesn't cop to much, but they were purported to be behind the assassination of formerChechen President Zelimkhan Abdumuslimovich Yandarbiyev, who was living in Qatar in 2004 and was accused of having links to Al-Qaeda by Russia and the United Nations. The former president was assassinated when a bomb ripped through his SUV in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Number 4

DGSE

Location: France

The Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) was formed only recently, replacing the older Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage (SDECE) in 1982, and was quickly made responsible for gathering intelligence, as well as preventative work detecting and finding external espionage activities directed against French interests. The agency has generally kept a low profile, but that was not the case with 1985's Greenpeace protests against French nuclear testing, which involved the bombing of the Greenpeace fleet. New Zealand law enforcements uncovered the plot and arrested two DGSE agents who plead guilty to manslaughter in the death of a journalist who drowned in the incident.
Claim to fame: The DGSE quickly proved its worth in the early 1980s, when they revealed a Soviet spy network that allowed the USSR to gather info about important Western technical advances without the knowledge of Western intelligence agencies. It's still the most extensive technological spy network ever uncovered in Europe and the United States.

Number 5

ISI

Location: Pakistan

The weak performance in the sharing of intelligence between the army, navy and air force during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 led to the creation of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) by the Pakistani government in 1948. Since then, the agency's influence has waxed and waned according to the whims/powers of Pakistani leaders. Since 9/11, ISI has actively worked with the CIA in engaging in counter-terrorism against both Al-Qaeda, Taliban militants and tribal/sectarian terrorists in Pakistan (though they have been somewhat stifled by domestic factors). The ISI is a deceptively active and powerful agency and is known for operating in an "invisible" fashion.
Claim to fame: In 1980, the ISI intercepted a plot to assassinate the President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, during a national parade. The plotters, which included high-ranking military officials, planned to launch a bloody coup to depose the government and install an extreme Islamic government in its place. The ISI arrested the would-be assassins and their backers prior to the date of the planned assassination.

Number 6

BND

Location: Germany

The Bundesnachrichtendienst's (BND) predecessor agency was created prior to World War II in order to spy on the Soviet Union. Today, it allegedly acts as an early warning system to alert the German government of threats to its interests from overseas, depending very heavily on wiretapping and electronic surveillance of international communications. The annual budget of the BND is very big, exceeding 430,000,000 Euros. The BND has been embroiled in several recent domestic scandals relating to the alleged wiretapping and surveillance of journalists, and the use of reporters as spies against other journalists.
Claim to fame: In the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, the German government resisted President Bush's efforts to get Germany to provide troops to the coalition. But the BND scored for the U.S. when two German agents in Baghdad managed to obtain a copy of Saddam Hussein's plan to defend the Iraqi capital. A German official passed the information on to American commanders one month before the invasion.

Number 7

Mossad

Location: Israel

Israel's extremely active intelligence agency, Mossad, is responsible for intelligence collection, counter-terrorism and various covert operations. Its director reports directly to the head of state, the Prime Minister. Mossad is a civilian service, and does not use military ranks, although most of its staff have served in the Israeli defense forces as part of the country's compulsory draft system. Mossad's most notorious wing is the "Special Operations Division" or "Metsada," as it's also known. The Metsada has been involved in several assassinations, paramilitary operations, sabotage, and psychological warfare.
Claim to fame: In 1960, the Mossad discovered that Adolf Eichmann, a notorious Nazi war criminal, was living in Argentina under the name of Ricardo Klement. He was captured by a team of Mossad agents and smuggled in to Israel where he was tried and executed.

Number 8

R&AW

Location: India

India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) was created in 1968 as a response to the country's poor intelligence performance in recent wars against Pakistan and China. Unlike most Western agencies, the R&AW is installed as a wing of the federal cabinet and is not answerable to the Indian Parliament in any way. Much of the R&AW's recent energies have been focused on its neighbor, Pakistan. During the Kargil War in Kashmir in 1999, the R&AW was able to unearth links between Pakistani intelligence and terrorist groups, and to infiltrate militant groups in the Kashmir valley.
Claim to fame: The R&AW had a big hand in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. The agency helped sow discord among the disgruntled populace of Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan), which led to the creation of a guerrilla Bangladeshi army. Under its cover, R&AW operatives infiltrated into East Pakistan for covert operations, helping defeat the Pakistani army.

Number 9

ASIS

Location: Australia
Created in 1952, the Australian Secret Intelligent Service (ASIS) agency is responsible for collecting intelligence, undertaking counter-intelligence activities and, especially, coordinating with other agencies overseas. The Australian government recently passed a controversial bill which allowed ASIS to work with other organizations like the CIA in paramilitary operations, provided ASIS agents were not personally involved in carrying them out. ASIS has been the subject of some sensational exposes over the years, including one in 1994 which claimed that the agency was secretly holding thousands of secret files on ordinary Australian citizens.
Claim to fame: In 1983, the normally low-profile agency garnered some unwanted attention during a training operation held at the Sheraton Hotel in Melbourne, Australia. What was intended as a mock surveillance and hostage rescue of foreign intelligence officers turned into an overzealous free-for-all, as trainees used considerable force, distressed hotel staff and guests, and physically assaulted the hotel manager while carrying out their "mission.

Number 10
CSIS
Location: Canada

The Canadian Security Intelligent Service (CSIS) was created in 1984, previous to which Canadian intelligence was handled through the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). CSIS is patterned after the CIA and MI6, in that it is a civilian agency which is unconnected to the military or police. Canadian intelligence agents work both domestically and internationally in an effort to monitor and counter threats to Canadian security. CSIS came under enormous criticism from the Canadian public for their investigation of the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985, a tragedy that claimed the lives of 280 Canadians. CSIS officials reportedly erased key wiretaps and made several strategic investigatory errors. To this date, no one has been held responsible for the bombing.
Claim to fame: From 1988 to 1994, CSIS agent Grant Bristow infiltrated the Canadian white-supremacist movement, becoming security chief of the Heritage Front, the most prominent white-supremacist organization in Canada. Bristow's activities led to several arrests and prevented certain incidents of planned violence. His cover was blown by a Toronto journalist in 1994.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Paleontology is the science of history of life.

* Mahavira(founder of jainism)and gautama buddha (founder of buddism) were contemporaries and flourished in india in the 6th century B.C.

* The three pyramids of eqypt were built from 2700 to 2500 B.C.,these are tombs of khufu,khafra and menkaura.

* The great wall of china was completed in 204 B.C.it is 1500 miles long.Its average height is 25 feet and about 12 feet wide at the top.

* The city rome was founded in 753 B.C. by romolus.

* Christianity emerged as the distinct sect in the second half of the first century A.D.

* The light of islam dawned in the 7th century A.D. when in 611 A.D. The Holy Prophet of Islam Muhammad (P.B.U.H) announced the revelation from the one true Allah.

* The muslim rule of spain lasted from 711 to 1492 A.D.

* The earth is calculated to b 4540 million years old.

* The statue of liberty (newyork) was installed in 1886.It is 151 feet one inch high from the base to torch.

* The world is divided into 24 time zones,each 15` longtitude wide. the longitudinal meridian passing through greenwich,England is the starting point and is called the prime meridian.

* Christopher columbus discovered bahamas on 12 oct 1492 A.D.

* Ostrich is the largest bird in the world.

* Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world.

* The world famous golden gate bridge is located in San francisco(usa).

* Russia invaded afghanistan on dec 27,1979.

* Hongkong was returned to china on july 1,1997.

* Eritrea became an independent state on may 24,1993.

* The normal temperature of human body is 98.6 F.

* A billion contain 1000 million. It has 9 zeroes. similarly a trillion has 12 zeroes,a quadrillion 15 zeroes,a quintillion 18 zeroes and a decillion 33 zeroes.

* One inch is equal to 2.5400 cms and one mile is equal to 1.6093 kms.

* About half of the world population speaks indo-european languages. The Indo-European branch to which english belongs is germanic.

* Air is composed of nitrogen (78.08%),oxygen (20.95%),argon (0.94%) and carbon dioxide (0.03%).

* The original inhabitants of USA are known as Red Indians.

* Out of the 193 sovereign independent nations of the world 147 are republics and other 46 are under personal rules (14 kings,1 emperor,3 queens,7 hereditary sheikhs,1 grand duke,2 sultans,1 constitutional monarch etc).

* Gwadar became a part of pakistan on september 9,1958.

* All india mulim league was formulated on december 30,1906 and first president was Sir Agha Khan.

* Hygrometer is instrument used for measuring humidity of air.

* Heliscope is used for viewing the sun.

* Asian development bank was established in 1966 with headquarter located at manila(philipine)

* China has the largest population,russia has largest land area and vatican city has smallest population and land area in the world

* Afghanistan got independence on 19th aug 1919.

* Lord clive was the first and lord mountbatten was the last british ruler of india.

* Air conditioner invented by "willis H. carrier"u.s. in 1902.

* Camera(photographic) has been invented by "Joseph N. Niepce"france in 1822.

* Largest continent of the world is "asia" and smallest is "australia".Largest ocean of the world is "pacific ocean"and smallest ocean is "indian ocean".The Sahara is the largest desert of the world.

* Kazakhstan is the largest muslim country in landarea in the world.it has an area of 1,049,000 sq.miles.Maldives is the smallest muslim country in land area of 115 sq. miles.

* Indonesia is the most populous muslim country and maldives is less populous muslim country.

* Antarctica is the uninhabited continent of the world which is without any regular population.

* Seoul (south korea) is the most populous city of the world.

* The lake baikal of russia has the maximum depth of 5315 feet.
The largest tides of the world occur in Bay of fundy (canada).

The earth is the densest planet of universe .It has density of 5.515 time that of water.

Kilauea situated in Hawaii (US) is the most active volcano of the world

Nauru, an island located in western pacific ocean, is the smallest republic of the world.

La Paz,capital city of Bolivia (south america), is situated at an altitude of 3631 metres (12087 feet) from the sea level.

The panch pokhri lake situated in the himalaya mountains is the highest lake in the world.

The himalaya mountain range (asia) is the greatest mountain range in the world.

Mount Everest (2759 N 8656 E) is the highest mountain peak which is located on nepal-tibet border in the himalayas.

New Cornelia tailings on ten mile wash Arizona USA with a volume of 209500 million cubic metres is the world,s largest volume dam.

Petronas tower-I is the tallest building in the world which is located in kuala lumpur (malaysia).

USA is the largest nuclear electric power producing country in the world.It produces 98784 MW electricity which is about 30% of the total nuclear electricity generated in the world.

Dalol Danaki depression in ethiopia with an average annual temperature of 35c (95f) is the hottest place on earth and Plateau station,in antaretica with an average annual temperature of -56.7c (-71.7f), is the coldest place of the globe.

The Atacama desert in chile is the driest place of the world and Masynram in Assam (india) is the wettest place in the world.

Canada has the longest coastline which is 151,489 miles in the length and Monaco`s coastline measures only 3.5 miles in length.

The present palace of sultan of brunei in the capital city of bandar seri begawan consisting of 1788 rooms is the largest palace.

Grand central terminal of new york is the largest railway station.it covers an area of 48 acres.

The seikan railway tunnel in japan is the longest railway tonned in the world,it s length is 33.50 miles (53.9 km)

the yellow stone national park (USA) is the largest national park.It has an area of 3350 sq miles.

The california university (USA) is the biggest university of the world..

King khalid international airport,riyadh (saudi arabia) is the largest airport in the world.

The port of new york and new jersey (USA) is the largest seaport in the world.

Mandarain (chinese) is the most spoken language of the world.It is estimated that a total number of 999 million ppl speak it.

The nobel prize is the largest prize.Each prize carries an amount of one million dollars.

Shah faisal mosque located in islamabad (pak) is the largest mosque
* The asian development bank established in 1966 with headquarter located at MANILA (philipines).

* Eqypt , Iraq , jorden , Lebanon , Saudi Arab , Syria and Yemen are the founder nations of the arab league.

* First world war was began on 1914 A.D. and second world war started in 1939 when germany attacked on poland, it is also considered as Greatest war.

* Columbus discovered america on 1492 A.D.

* The Royal Majesty ship Queen Elizabeth (UK) is the largest pessenger ship in the world.It is 314 metres long and 36 metres wide.

* The cambodian language is a language which has a total number of 74 alphabets.

* The Sumerian civilization is considered to be the oldest civilization of the world.

* Jericho,situated in the Jorden valley is the oldest town of the world.

* The maximum ever temperature of 136.4 F was recorded on september 13,1922 in the city Azizia (Libya) and The minimum temperature of -129.6 F was recorded in the town of Vostok near Antarctica on 24th august , 1960.

* The highest rainfall for one month was recorded at Indian town of Cherapoonje. 366,14 inches rain fell there during the month of july 1861.

* Robert E. Peary (1856-1920) an American explorer reached North Pole on 6th April,1909 for the first time in human history.

* Sierra Leone has the lowest GDP per capita of 510 US dollars and Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita of 36,400 US dollars.

* The UNO originated during the second world war.Its charter was drawn up from 25th april to 26th june,1945 at San francisco which was signed by 51 countries.

* The umayyad Dynasty (661-750 A.D) was the first muslim dynasty.

* Light is the fastest thing in the universe.It travels at a phenomenal speed of 187,000 miles per second.

* According to the Forbcs magazine, There were 311 individual billionaires in the world.out of these, 108 belonged to USA,44 belonged to germany and 34 were japanese.

Biological sciences

* For growth,viruses requires "Living Host".

* The deficiency of "Boron" micronutrients causes the death of the stem and root apices.

* Plant development is influenced by Quality,Quantity and Duration of light.

* Lettuce,wheat and spinach are the long day plants and Sugarcane, Soyabean and tobacco are short day plants.

* ATP is a molecule containing high energy bonds.

* Edible part of tomato is whole fruit.

* The primary producers of organic matter in nature are Green plants.

* The total weight of a cell in a leaf or a petal,water constitutes about 90%.

* The primary plant body consist of 3 tissue systems.

* A tissue is a group of cells having similar structure and function.

* The edible portion of mango is Mesocarp.

* The rice grain is a seed.

* Ethylene is a hormone concerned with Ripening of fruits.

* Bamboo is Grass.

* Cork cells are impervious to water because of the presence of Suberin.

* The biotic relationship between insects and plants with reference to pollination is called Mutualism.

* Historically, Joseph Priertley , recognized in 1727 A.D. that sunlight and air are important for the growth of plants.

* Opium is obtained from seed capsule of opium poppy.

* Carbon dioxide is required during photosynthesis process in addition to sunlight and water.

* The cavity of Ascaris is known as Coelom.

* The membranous labyrinth of the ear is filled with Endolymph.

* Crura-cerebri is found in Mid-brain.

* Man is Homoiothermic.

* The compound eye of insect produces Mosaic vision.

* The post embryoniv stages in the life history of cockroach is known as Nymphs.

* Ptyalin is present in the saliva.

* Central nervous system control the reflex action in the body.

* The terminal part of vertebral column in man is called Coceyx.

* Beingn tertain malaria is caused by plasmodium vivax.

* The life history of human malarial parasite in Anopheles was first described by Sir Ronald Ross.

* The mouth parts of anopheles are adapted to piercing and sucking type feeding.

* The "Urinary system" of the body consists of 3 organs.

* Haryersion canals are present in Bone.

* The heart bear is initiated and regulated by nodal tissue made of specialized cardiac muscles called Purkinje tusse.

* The gestation period of human being is Nine months.

* Amoebic dysentery in man is caused by Entamoeba histolytica.

* The first heart sound is produced when Diastole begins.

* Kari Landsteiner discovered the blood groups of man.

* Prothrombin which helps in clotting of blood is released by Blood platelets.

* Glycogen is mainly stored in Liver and muscles.

* Pepsin converts protein into peptides in acid media.

* The most important function of perspiration is to regulate the body temperature.

* The main function of white blood cells in the body is to protect the body against diseases.

* The number of chromosomes in the human body is 46.

* One micron is equal to One-thousandth of a millimeter.

* Solar eclipse occurs at the new moon and not on the full moon and atleast one & seven is maximum no of solar eclipse in a year

* The highest earth quake severity on richter scale has been recorded at southern chile in 1960 which was 9.5.

* Hally's comet will return in the year 2062.

* The speed of light is nearly 300,000 km/sec.

* Our solar system has about 50 satellites.

* Blue colour has shortest wavelength.

* Bacteria ,fungi,virus are Non-green plants.

* LASER stands for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation".

* Brazil covers nearly half of south america

* The constitution of 1973 was enforced on 14th aug,1973.It is comprises of twelve parts consisting of 280 articles.

* Mian nawaz sharif inaugurated Lahore-islamabad Motorway (M-2) on 26th nov 1997 which is 339 km long and 33 metre wide.

* Mrs.Benazir bhutto reserved as prime miniter of pakistan twice viz.from 2 december 1988 to 6 aug 1990 and from 19th oct 1993 to 5th nov 1996.

* WAPDA (water and power development authority) is responsible for the generation and distribution of electricity.

* Indus water treaty was signed by india and pakistan in 1960 to resolve the outstanding canal water dispute bw 2 countries.

* The govt of pakistan convened a convention of Ulema from 21-24th jan 1951 at karachi. The convention was attended by 31 muslim religious scholars belonging to all sects of Islam.The Ulema agreed on 22 points.

* The miracle of a pregnant female camel was sent to the nation of samood.

* The soap was made by Hazrat Salih (AS) first of all.

* The nation of Hazrat Loot (AS) was destroyed by a rain of stones.

* In six days (Surah Yunus,Verse no three) Allah had created the earth and the heaven.

* 22 times along with namaz ,Zakat has been mentioned in the Holy Quran.

* Hajj made compulsory In the year 9 A.H.

* Hazrat Hamza (RA)was the first commander of Islamic Army.

* There are 114 surahs , 30 Paras and 6236 Ayats in the holy Quran.Surah-e-Fatiha is the first surah and Surah-e-Nas is the last Surah of the holy Quran.

* Seven stages are there in the Holy Quran.

* A shooting star is a meteor that comes from space,burning out in the earth`s upper atmosphere.

* The total number of star visible with the naked eye can not be more than 6000.

* Star twinkle for two main reasons, The intensity of the stars decreases and increases because of line-of-sight effect and there are disturbance in the gases of the atmosphere.

* One light year is equal to 9461,000 million km ( 5875,000 million miles ).

* The earth is about three million miles closer to the sun in january.

* An engine which could do work equal to lifting 550 pounds one foot per second,is said to work at rate of one horsepower.

* The essential parts of radio are: Vacuum tubes, transistors , Amplifier and Oscillator.

* If you look at sky from the moon,It appears completely black because the moon has no atmosphere.

* FM stands for Frequency modulation.

* THere is no colour of the sky but it is the blue part of the white light of the sun which gets scattered by the dust particles hanging in the atmosphere.

* Kilowatt hour (kWh) is a bigger unit of energy used in addition to SI unit.

* Mitosis and meiosis are two types of cell division.

* Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per sec.

* The volcanoes of HAWAII are the most common and thoroughly studied in the world

* Acre-foot is a unit of volume and is used to measure irrigation water, runoff volume and reservoir capacity.

* Heme is Ferrous Protopo

* There is about 340 million cubic miles of liquid water on the surface of the earth

* Ducts are small tubes which transfer the secretion of glands.

* Borneo, sumatra , kenya ,uganda, brazil , colombia and equadore are some countries through which the equator passes.

* Computer virus has created from pakistan

* The dead sea is the world lowest sea.Its surface is 400 metres below the mediterranean.

* MegaWatt is a unit of power equal to 1000 kiloWatts.

* There are 15 main tectonic plates which makes the dynamic crust of the earth.

* Northern edge of the Atlama desert in Chile is richest with the desposits of copper.

* Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide at a temperature of -80 C.

* Hydro-electric power means production of electricity by making Dams.

* Chronic disease usually begins slowly and persists over a longer time.
* Pakistan Railway & german Company agreed on a fisiblity report of 750 km line

* Pakistan to Manufacture mobile phones from May 2007

* Abu Dhabi to Set-up Oil Refinery in Pakistan

* Salt production in Pakistan reaches One Mln Tonnes per Year

* Pakistan to increase Oil Output upto 100,000 Barrels Per Day

* Pakistan GDP in 2006 was estimated approximately $ 439.7 billion

* Fiscal budget for revenue and expenditure is targetted $ 19.8 billion and $ 25.7 billion respectively

* GDP growth rate is 6.6 %

* Population of pakistan is 165,803,560

* Population below poverty line is 25%.

* Export target for the year is estimated $18 billion and Import target is estimated $28 billion

* Privatisation target for the year is 75 billion

* $13 billion is reserved amount of pakistan

GDP (purchasing power parity): $427.3 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate): $124 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 6.5% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP): $2,600 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 22%

industry: 26%

services: 52% (2006 est.)

Labor force: 48.29 million

note: extensive export of labor, mostly to the Middle East, and use of child labor (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 42%

industry: 20%

services: 38% (2004 est.)

Unemployment rate: 6.5% plus substantial underemployment (2006 est.)

Population below poverty line: 24% (FY05/06 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 4.1%

highest 10%: 27.6% (FY96/97)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 41 (FY98/99)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7.9% (2006 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 15.6% of GDP (2006 est.)

Budget: revenues: $20.55 billion

expenditures: $25.65 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

Public debt: 55% of GDP (2006 est.)

Agriculture - products: cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; milk, beef, mutton, eggs

Industries: textiles and apparel, food processing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, paper products, fertilizer, shrimp

Industrial production growth rate: 6% (2006 est.)

Electricity - production: 80.24 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 68.8%

hydro: 28.2%

nuclear: 3%

other: 0% (2001)

Electricity - consumption: 74.62 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004)

Oil - production: 63,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption: 324,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - exports: NA bbl/day (2004)

Oil - imports: NA bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves: 358.9 million bbl (2006 est.)

Natural gas - production: 27.4 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 27.4 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 759.7 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

Current account balance: $-5.486 billion (2006 est.)

Exports: $19.24 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Exports - commodities: textiles (garments, bed linen, cotton cloth, yarn), rice, leather goods, sports goods, chemicals, manufactures, carpets and rugs

Exports - partners: US 24.8%, UAE 7.8%, Afghanistan 6.6%, UK 5.7%, Germany 4.5% (2005)

Imports: $26.79 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Imports - commodities: petroleum, petroleum products, machinery, plastics, transportation equipment, edible oils, paper and paperboard, iron and steel, tea

Imports - partners: Saudi Arabia 11.1%, UAE 10.3%, China 9.2%, Japan 6.4%, US 6%, Kuwait 5%, Germany 4.5% (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $13.29 billion (2006 est.)

Debt - external: $42.38 billion (2006 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $2.4 billion (FY01/02)

Currency (code): Pakistani rupee (PKR)

Currency code: PKR

Exchange rates: Pakistani rupees per US dollar - 60.5 (2006), 59.515 (2005), 58.258 (2004), 57.752 (2003), 59.724 (2002)

Fiscal year: 1 July - 30 June

Really inspirational Work...Well done Sureshlasi, let me share a lil from my side too

The only fish that can blink with both eyes is a shark.

The Niagara falls froze solid as it was so cold in winter of 1932.

Tigers don't have striped fur but striped skin.

Compared to men, women blink nearly twice.

Its not possible to keep your eyes open and sneeze.(Don't try it) ;-)

An average American spends 6 months in his whole life at red lights.

The scissors was invented by Leonardo Da Vinci.

When we are born our nose and ears keeps growing but the size of our eyes remains the same.

The longest word typed with the left hand is stewardesses and with the right is lollipop. (Don't try others) ;-)

56% of the average typing work is done with the left hand.

In every two weeks if the stomach does not produce a new layer of mucus it will digest itself;-)

The words read left to right or right to left in the words racecar kayak and level are the same.

When a chocolate bar melted in the pocket after a researcher walked by a radar tube, he invented the microwave.

The brain of the Ostrich is smaller than its eyes.

Vocal sounds of a dog are 10 and that of a cat are over one hundred.

In each ear of the cat there are 32 muscles.

Life span of a dragonfly is 24 hours.

A snail can sleep for three years.

* Bill gates (USA),founder and chairman of microsoft corporation, is currently the richest person in the world and Liliane Bettencourt (france) is the richest woman in the world.

* People`s republic of china has the largest army of the world.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Strange Mathematical and Scientific Facts"

1. 10 percent of all human beings ever born are alive at this very moment.

2. 10% of human dry weight comes from bacteria.

3. 11 % of the world is left-handed

4. 111, 111, 111 X 111, 111, 111 = 12,345, 678, 987, 654, 321.

5. 1200 equals 1 pound (72 rupees)

6. 123,000,000 cars are being driven on highways in the United States.

7. 166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the United States.

8. 1959’s A Raisin in the sun was the first play by a black woman to be produced on Broadway.

9. 2 and 5 are the only prime numbers that end in 2 or 5.

10. 203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.

11. 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank accounts in the next hour.

12. 25 % of a human’s bones are in its feet.

13. 259200 people die everyday.

14. 27% of Americans believe we never landed on the moon.

15. 27% of U.S. male college students believe life is “a meaningless existential hell.”

16. 3% all mammals are monogamous.

17. 315 words in the 1996 Webster’s dictionary were misspelled.

18. 4 tablespoons of ketchup has about the same amount of nutrition as a ripe tomato.

19. 40% of all people who come to a party snoop in your medicine cabinet.

20. 40% of McDonald’s profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

21. 43.7% of all statistics are made up right on the spot.

22. 48% of astronauts experience motion sickness.

23. 52% of American drinks coffee.

24. 55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses.

25. 56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball games each year.

26. 67 million pounds of pesticides and about 3 million tons of fertilizer are used annually on lawns in the US.

27. 78 rpm albums, used prior to 1948, were only capable of recording for four minutes. It wasn’t until later that year that Columbia Records introduced 33 rpm albums capable of playing 23 minutes per side.

28. 80% of animals on earth are insects.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Religions of the World.

01 Islam.

Founder: ProphetMohammad PBUH (570-632 AD) born in Mecca

Founded in: 622 AD

Followed in: West coast of Africa which includes Tanzania, Southern part of Russia and China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. Also parts of Northern Africa

Sacred texts: Quran (words of God), Hadis (collection of Prophet's sayings)

Sacred places: Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia

Place of worship:Masjid (mosque)

Important sects:Sunnis and Shias

02 Buddhism

Founder: Gautam Siddhartha Buddha (563-483 BC) born in Nepal

Founded in: 525 BC

Followed in: China, Tibet, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Japan,Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Bhutan and Vietnam.

Sacred text: The Tripitaka (Collection of Buddha's teachings) also called Sutras

Sacred places: Lumbini (Nepal) where Buddha was born, Bodh Gaya (Bihar)

where he received Enlightenment and Kusinagara (UP) where he attained. 'Nirvana'.

Place of worship:Vihar (temple) and Monstery (where Monks reside)

Sects: Mahayana and Hinayana

03 Confucianism

Founder: Kung Fu Tsu, better known as Confucius (551-479 BC) born in the state of Lu in China.

Founded in: 500 BC

Followed in: China, Taiwan, South Korea, Nauru and Vietnam

Sacred text: The Lun Yu, The Analects

Sacred place: Peking (Beijing) in China

Place of worship:No church or temple

04 Christianity

Founder: Jesus Christ (5 BC to 30 AD) born in Judea, also called Jesus of Nazareth.

Founded in: 2000 years ago

Followed in: Spread all over the world

Sacred text: Holy Bible consisting of the Old Testament (before Christ) and the New Testament (during and after Christ).

05 Hinduism

Founder: Not Known

Founded in: 1500 BC

Followed in: Concentrated in India and Nepal and also found in Bhutan, Fiji, Guyana, Indonesia, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Bali.

Sacred text: The Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita and the epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana

Place of worship:Temple

06 Judaism

Founder: Moses, born in Egypt

Founded in: 1300 BC

Followed in: Worldwide with concentration in Israel and United States

Hal's, found particularly in the five books of Bible, commentary on Torah known s Talmud and Midrash.

Sacred Places: Jerusalem

Place of worship:Synagogue

07 Shintoism

Founder: Began with Japanese culture and developed out of tradition

Founded in: Antiquity

Followed in: Japan

Sacred texts: No specific text

Sacred Places: Central Shrine of Ise (central Japan) and the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

08 Sikhism

Founder: Guru Nanak (1469-1539)

Founded in: 1500 AD

Followed in: India

Sacred texts: Guru Granth Sahed

Sacred Places: The Golden Temple of Amritsar

Place of worship: Gurdwara

09 Taoism

Founder: Lao-tse, a Chinese philosopher

Founded in: 6th century BC

Followed in: China, Taiwan, Nauru, Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam

Sacred texts: Tao-te-Ching

10 Zoroastrianism

Founder: Zoroaster, Born in Medea (modern Iran) about 660 BC

Founded in: Around 500 BC

Followed in: Iran and north-west India. The Zoroastrians who fled to India during the eight century are the ancestors of the present Parsi Community in India

Sacred texts: Zend vesta

Place of worship:Fire temple

WORLD RELIGIONS --- IN FIGURES

Religion Percentage of world population

Muslims 22

Christians 32.91

Hindus 14

Sikhs 0.34

Jains 0.07

Buddhists 5.99

Jewish 0.33

Religion 5.99 Percentage of world population

Non-religious 14

Atheists 4.46

Chinese folk religionists 4

New religionists 2.44

Tribal religionists 1.75

Shintoists 0.06

Shamanists 0.21

Bahais 0.09

Confucionists 0.11

Other religions 0.22
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01 The first Prime minister of Bangladesh was Mujibur Rehman

02 The longest river in the world is the Nile

03 The longest highway in the world is the Trans-Canada

04 The longest highway in the world has a length of About 8000 km

05 The highest mountain in the world is the Everest

06 The country that accounts for nearly one third of the total teak production of the world is Myanmar

07 The biggest desert in the world is the Sahara desert

08 The largest coffee growing country in the world is Brazil

09 The country also known as "country of Copper" is Zambia

10 The name given to the border which separates Pakistan and Afghanistan is Durand line

11 The river Volga flows out into the Caspian sea

Question : Who was the favourite daughter of Shakespeare's King Lear?

Answer : Cordelia

Question : Which is the brightest star?

Answer: Sirius

Question : Which star has collapsed into itself? Answer : Black Hole

Question : Which is the heaviest star?

Answer : HDE 269810 IN Magellanic Cloud

Question : Which Australian city includes the suburbs of Cottesloe and Subiaco? Answer : Perth

Question : Who discovered Oxygen in 1774?

Answer : Joseph Priestly

Question : Name the author of A Town Like Alice

Answer : Nevil Shute

Question : How many Earth years does it take Pluto to orbit the sun?

Answer : 248

Question : What name is given to the central part of a fleshy fruit, containing the seeds?

Answer : The core

Question: What letter appears to the right of Y on a keyboard?

Answer : U

Question : What is it that makes soda water fizz?

Answer : Carbon Dioxide

Question : What disease is the Sabin Vaccine used to prevent?

Answer : Polio

__________________

01 The first Prime minister of Bangladesh was Mujibur Rehman

02 The longest river in the world is the Nile

03 The longest highway in the world is the Trans-Canada

04 The longest highway in the world has a length of About 8000 km

05 The highest mountain in the world is the Everest

06 The country that accounts for nearly one third of the total teak production of the world is Myanmar

07 The biggest desert in the world is the Sahara desert

08 The largest coffee growing country in the world is Brazil

09 The country also known as "country of Copper" is Zambia

10 The name given to the border which separates Pakistan and Afghanistan is Durand line

11 The river Volga flows out into the Caspian sea

Question : Who was the favourite daughter of Shakespeare's King Lear?

Answer : Cordelia

Question : Which is the brightest star?

Answer: Sirius

Question : Which star has collapsed into itself? Answer : Black Hole

Question : Which is the heaviest star?

Answer : HDE 269810 IN Magellanic Cloud

Question : Which Australian city includes the suburbs of Cottesloe and Subiaco? Answer : Perth

Question : Who discovered Oxygen in 1774?

Answer : Joseph Priestly

Question : Name the author of A Town Like Alice

Answer : Nevil Shute

Question : How many Earth years does it take Pluto to orbit the sun?

Answer : 248

Question : What name is given to the central part of a fleshy fruit, containing the seeds?

Answer : The core

Question: What letter appears to the right of Y on a keyboard?

Answer : U

Question : What is it that makes soda water fizz?

Answer : Carbon Dioxide

Question : What disease is the Sabin Vaccine used to prevent?

Answer : Polio

__________________

01 The first Prime minister of Bangladesh was Mujibur Rehman

02 The longest river in the world is the Nile

03 The longest highway in the world is the Trans-Canada

04 The longest highway in the world has a length of About 8000 km

05 The highest mountain in the world is the Everest

06 The country that accounts for nearly one third of the total teak production of the world is Myanmar

07 The biggest desert in the world is the Sahara desert

08 The largest coffee growing country in the world is Brazil

09 The country also known as "country of Copper" is Zambia

10 The name given to the border which separates Pakistan and Afghanistan is Durand line

11 The river Volga flows out into the Caspian sea

Question : Who was the favourite daughter of Shakespeare's King Lear?

Answer : Cordelia

Question : Which is the brightest star?

Answer: Sirius

Question : Which star has collapsed into itself? Answer : Black Hole

Question : Which is the heaviest star?

Answer : HDE 269810 IN Magellanic Cloud

Question : Which Australian city includes the suburbs of Cottesloe and Subiaco? Answer : Perth

Question : Who discovered Oxygen in 1774?

Answer : Joseph Priestly

Question : Name the author of A Town Like Alice

Answer : Nevil Shute

Question : How many Earth years does it take Pluto to orbit the sun?

Answer : 248

Question : What name is given to the central part of a fleshy fruit, containing the seeds?

Answer : The core

Question: What letter appears to the right of Y on a keyboard?

Answer : U

Question : What is it that makes soda water fizz?

Answer : Carbon Dioxide

Question : What disease is the Sabin Vaccine used to prevent?

Answer : Polio

__________________

World

Geography:

The surface of the earth is approximately 70.9% water and 29.1% land. The former portion is divided into large water bodies termed oceans (the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Arctic Ocean).

The land portion is generally divided into several, large, discrete landmasses termed continents. Depending on the convention used, the number of continents can vary from five to seven. The most common classification recognizes seven, which are (from largest to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia. Asia and Europe are sometimes lumped together into a Eurasian continent resulting in six continents. Alternatively, North and South America are sometimes grouped as simply the Americas, resulting in a continent total of six (or five, if the Eurasia designation is used).

North America is commonly understood to include the island of Greenland, the isles of the Caribbean, and to extend south all the way to the Isthmus of Panama. The easternmost extent of Europe is generally defined as being the Ural Mountains and the Ural River; on the southeast the Caspian Sea; and on the south the Caucasus Mountains, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean. Africa's northeast extremity is frequently delimited at the Isthmus of Suez, but for geopolitical purposes, the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula is often included as part Africa. Asia usually incorporates all the islands of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The islands of the Pacific are often lumped with Australia into a "land mass" termed Oceania or Australasia.

Area:

Total: 510.072 million sq km

Land: 148.94 million sq km

Water: 361.132 million sq km

Area - comparative:

Land area about 16 times the size of the US.

Land boundaries:

The land boundaries in the world total 251,060 km (not counting shared boundaries twice); two nations, China and Russia, each border 14 other countries.

45 nations and other areas are landlocked, these include: Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe; two of these, Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, are doubly landlocked.

Coastline:

(The total length of the boundary between the land area (including islands) and the sea.)

356,000 km.

94 nations and other entities are islands that border no other countries, they include: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Baker Island, Barbados, Bermuda, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Comoros, Cook Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Greenland, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Howland Island, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jan Mayen, Japan, Jarvis Island, Jersey, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Federated States of Micronesia, Midway Islands, Montserrat, Nauru, Navassa Island, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Paracel Islands, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spratly Islands, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands, Wake Island, Wallis and Futuna, Taiwan.

Climate:

A wide equatorial band of hot and humid tropical climates - bordered north and south by subtropical temperate zones - that separate two large areas of cold and dry polar climates.

Terrain:

The greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean.

Elevation extremes:

Lowest point: Bentley Sub glacial Trench -2,540 m

Highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m.

Natural resources:

The rapid depletion of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address.

Natural hazards:

Large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions).

Environment - current issues:

Large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion; global warming becoming a greater concern.

Geography - note:

The world is now thought to be about 4.55 billion years old, just about one-third of the 13.7-billion-year age estimated for the universe.

People

Population:

6,677,563,921 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure:

0-14 years: 27% (male 933,716,943/female 877,734,429)

15-64 years: 65% (male 2,205,342,972/female 2,153,959,605)

65 years and over: 8% (male 222,346,221/female 284,463,751) (2008 est.)

Median age:

(This is the age that divides a population into two numerically equal groups; that is, half the people are younger than this age and half are older).

Male: 27.4 years

Female: 28.7 years (2008 est.)

Population growth rate:

1.159% (2008 est.)

Birth rate:

19.97 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death rate:

8.32 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Sex ratio:

At birth: 1.07 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female

Total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

Infant mortality rate:

(The number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year; included is the total death rate, and deaths by sex, male and female).

Total: 42.64 deaths/1,000 live births

Male: 45.42 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 39.67 deaths/1,000 live births (2008 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:

(The average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year, if mortality at each age remains constant in the future).

Total population: 66.12 years

Male: 64.18 years

Female: 68.2 years (2008 est.)

Religions:

Christians 33.32% (of which Roman Catholics 16.99%, Protestants 5.78%, Orthodox 3.53%, Anglicans 1.25%), Muslims 21.01%, Hindus 13.26%, Buddhists 5.84%, Sikhs 0.35%, Jews 0.23%, Baha'is 0.12%, other religions 11.78%, non-religious 11.77%, atheists 2.32% (2007 est.)

Languages:

Mandarin Chinese 13.22%, Spanish 4.88%, English 4.68%, Arabic 3.12%, Hindi 2.74%, Portuguese 2.69%, Bengali 2.59%, Russian 2.2%, Japanese 1.85%, Standard German 1.44%, Wu Chinese 1.17% (2005 est.)

Literacy:

Age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 82%

Male: 87%

Female: 77%

Over two-thirds of the world's 785 million illiterate adults are found in only eight countries (India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Egypt); of all the illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are women; extremely low literacy rates are concentrated in three regions, South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab states, where around one-third of the men and half of all women are illiterate (2005 est.)

Communications

Telephones - main lines in use:

1,263,367,600 (2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

2,168,433,600 (2005)

Internet users:

1,018,057,389 (2005)

Transportation

Airports:

Total airports - 49,024

Top ten by passengers:

*Atlanta - 84,846,639

*Chicago - 77,028,134

*London - 67,530,197

*Tokyo - 65,810,672

*Los Angeles - 61,041,066

*Dallas/Fort Worth - 60,226,138

*Paris - 56,849,567

*Frankfurt - 52,810,683

*Beijing - 48,654,770

*Denver - 47,325,016

Top ten by cargo (metric tons):

*Memphis - 3,692,081

*Hong Kong - 3,609,780

*Anchorage - 2,691,395

*Seoul - 2,336,572

*Tokyo - 2,280,830

*Shanghai - 2,168,122

*Paris - 2,130,724

*Frankfurt - 2,127,646

*Louisville (US) - 1,983,032

*Singapore - 1,931,881 (2006)

Heliports:

1,359 (2007)

Railways:

1,370,782 km (2006)

Roadways:

Total: 32,345,165 km

Paved: 19,403,061 km

Unpaved: 12,942,104 km (2002)

Waterways:

671,886 km (2004)

Ports and terminals:

Top ten container ports (TEUs):

*Singapore - 24,792,400

*Hong Kong - 23,539,000

*Shanghai - 21,710,000

*Shenzhen (China) - 18,468,890

*Busan (South Korea) - 12,030,000

*Kaohsiung (Taiwan) - 9,774,670

*Rotterdam - 9,603,000

*Dubai (UAE) - 8,923,465

*Hamburg - 8,861,545

*Los Angeles - 8,469,853 (2006)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Link Exchange

2010-03-02T00:26:00.003+05:00

For Link Exchange Type your Name In Name Box And Your Email Address In Email BOx And Aslo Type You Web Site Address In Your Website Address Box And Press Send Button...Your Web Is Add After You Add http://whitemafiya.blogspot.com/ on Ur Website... After you Add link of http://whitemafiya.blogspot.com/ in your website Your Website Is Show Here...

Get your own free form like this one.

Name:
Email Address:
Your Website Adress
Comments