Fresh Knowledge Center

How to solve ads.txt file uploaded but still showing an error in the AdSense

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 04:26:00 +0000

If you are facing problem in Blogger regarding ads.txt error or warning in your AdSense account even after you have successfully updated it then this post is for you. In this post I will tell you how to solve AdSense warning step by step in detail. If you want to solve it then read this article carefully.

AdSense

AdSense is one advertising platform which shows/serves automatic text, image, display or video ads. It is Google's service and it's rules are very strict. To earn money through AdSense we need to follow it's guideline. In Ads.txt file we need to add our publisher ID is one of its rule, otherwise it will impact bad on our earnings.

What is Ads.txt?

In Simple words it is mechanism for publishers to list their authorized digital sellers. In order to fight against fraud or misrepresented domains. This will help to protect you from unauthorized account, unknown account and fraud account ads placement on your website or blog. Ads.txt file is available for Google AdSense DoubleClick and Adx exchange. When there is a problem with Ads.txt, the banner will show in red in your AdSense account.

You can clearly see the warning: "Earning at risk – One or more of your ads.txt files doesn't contain your AdSense publisher ID. Fix this now to avoid severe impact to your revenue." It will bad impact on your earning if you don't solve it early.

How to solve Ads.txt error on Blogger?

First you need to login to your Blogger account and go to dashboard. Then in dashboard go to Settings>Search preference. Under the monetization tab Click on edit for custom Ads.txt. Now past your code here from which file was downloaded from your AdSense account. I know up to this step you have done already!

After all this still showing an error!

I did the same at first but after doing all of this I waited 2-3 days to see if warning disappears. But you know after few days passed, Ads.txt warning was still there! So I went to Google and try to find out the solution. I found one solution that in blogger if we have custom domain redirect then www and non www domain creates an issue. If you are using root level domain then you can solve the problem immediately without an issue. But If you have domain name starts with www then you need to make sure it will successfully redirect your domain from non www to www. Because by default AdSense assume your Ads.txt file in your root level domain(non www). Let me explain in practical way.

I have my web site which has two type of domain one is with www and second is non www domain.

[1]www.freshknowledgecenter.com/ads.txt
[2]freshknowledgecenter.com/ads.txt

By default AdSense assumes second domain, it should be accessible with Ads.txt file along with it. But In my case first one was working but second one was not working! Even I did custom domain redirect in my Blogger settings. Now I found the root cause of the problem.

Steps to solve custom domain redirect in blogger

Now Go to your Blogger dashboard and then go to setting and do as directed.

1) Turn Off HTTPS REDIRECT if it's already Turned On
2) Wait 2 minutes
3) Turn Off HTTPS Availability if it's already Turned On
4) Wait 5 Minutes
5) Turn off Redirect domain if it's already Turned On
6) Wait 5 Mins
7) Turn ON Redirect domain
8) Wait 5 Minutes
9) Turn ON HTTPS Availability
10) Wait 2 Mins
11) TURN ON HTTP Redirect.
Reference: Google Support

After performing above steps verify the second domain is working as mentioned above:

yourdomain/ads.txt (without www).

Its should point to your Ads.txt file with proper redirect. In my case this solution worked! After this wait for 2-3 days to take changes in action and in your AdSense account you can see your site section will get the message Ads.txt>Authorized in green.

The God Particle

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 04:47:00 +0000

The God Particle
By C.R. Manmadhan
Digital image on canvas,
68x91 cm, 2012

Amid living matter and endless space, C.R. Manmadhan Juxtaposes Shiva and Parvati with a contrasting red spot that represents the enigmatic "god particle" of physics, after which this work is titled. Based in Kochi, Manmadhan, 65, took to art seriously after he retired in 2006 as News Editor of Mathrubhumi, the Malayalam daily. He says that his works, whether acrylics or digital, draw from all his resources, including his training as a journalist and his master's degree in zoology. Manmadhan recently held third solo exhibition at David Hall, Fort Kochi.

Be smart with your provident fund

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 05:39:00 +0000

Many younger employees complain that their take home salaries get reduced because of compulsory 12% cut that goes to their provident fund. Why brother, they'd think, retirement is 35 years away! But that's naïve thinking for several reasons and here's why.

The power of compounding. With compound interest, your Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) money grows surprisingly fast and the annual interest earned will become higher than your contribution after a while. Moreover, with your employer contributing an equal amount, it grows faster than any bank account. The longer you are in the fund, the better, since the power of compounding is maximized. So try not to withdraw any EPF money before you retire. And transfer your EPF to a new employer if you change jobs.

Add your own power. This is something people neglect and often don't know about. While 12% of your salary is compulsorily deducted, you may voluntarily add any amount you like from your salary. This will boost the power of compounding even more and leave you with a much larger amount when you retire.

EPF is tax free. Even under the new Direct Tax Code, which could become operational in a year, your EPF balance and any interest earned will remain tax free.

Retirement and price rise are certainties. Retirement doesn't always have to be with a send off on your 60th birthday. You could lose your job anytime before that, become ill or incapacitated. So EPF is the nest egg you must build for a future when medical expenses may be regular, prices would have multiplied 50 to 100 times, and you may not have a regular income.

Waterproof your device

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 05:49:00 +0000

Lots of cellphones die from drowning (raise your hand if you've dropped yours in a puddle, washing machine or the toilet). In the past, if you wanted to waterproof your phone, you had to buy a special plastic case or pray that the rice trick would revive it (see How to save a soggy phone, below).

But solution may be at hand. Tech research company Liquipel (see liquipel.com) has invented a new technique that covers devices, inside and out, in a razor thin, nearly invisible waterproof shell. When water hits the device, it beads up and rolls off, leaving the phone or tablet dry.

In a test, popular Science editors sent an iPhone 3GS to Liquipel for waterproofing. When they got the phone back a few days later, they turned it on and ran it under a tap for five minutes. The phone operated normally while under the faucet. Afterwards, the touch screen was slow to respond at first, probably because of water droplets on the screen that hadn't yet rolled off, but after few seconds, the phone worked as if nothing had happened.

The waterproofing costs Rs.3100 plus shipping. The company accepts iPhones, iPads, Samsung Galaxy handsets, Motorola Droids, and other brands and gadgets by mail to California offices.

How to save a soggy phone

Step 1: Remove the battery

Immediately, "I know it's tempting, but resist the urge to power up your phone to see if it works just turning it on can short out the circuits," writes Joel Johnson of of popularmechanics.com. Take out the SIM card, too, which may retain data, such as contacts, even if the phone itself id fried.

Step 2: Shorten drying time

If the phone stays wet for too long, it will start to corrode. Skip the hair dryer; it's too hot for this purpose. A better choice is a vacuum cleaner.

Step 3: Sop up remaining moisture

Submerge the phone in uncooked white rice for at least 12 hours. If you don't have rice handy, place the phone on paper towels, then put it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. Replace the battery and power up to see if the phone works. If it doesn't remove the battery, and stick the phone back in the freezer for another five to ten minutes. There's a good chance you'll have a working phone after a couple of tries.

Reference:
[1]popularmechanics.com
[2]ehow.com
[3]instructables.com

Bringing a pet into your home

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Sun, 04 Jun 2023 06:27:00 +0000

Dogs and cats live for between ten and twenty years. An animal is a source of joy but it also brings obligations: walks, grooming and healthcare, finding a pet-sitter when you're away.

Is my family prepared to help?

It's no good getting a pet simply because the children want one. Everyone will end up looking after it.

Do I have time?

A dog needs to be taken out 3 or 4 times a day. A cat despite its independent nature, likes having its master around.

"Tip: Birds love fresh fruit. Make sure to change the fruit every day so that the leftovers, breeding grounds for bacteria, don't lie rotting on the bottom of the cage."

Can I afford it?

Food, grooming, healthcare and vet's fees add up to significant expenditure. Be sure you can afford it.

Am I obsessively houseproud?

Even with regular brushing, dogs and cats shed hair which has to be wiped or vacuumed regularly.

Do I have sufficient space?

A cat or a couple of parakeets just about fits into a studio flat, but for certain breeds of dog a garden is essential.

Could I take my pet on holiday?

If the answer is 'no' then you have to be able to count on a friend or neighbor to feed the fish, mind the rabbit hutch, take out the doggy and look after Kitty in your absence.

Are we compatible?

Allergies or asthma make it impossible to keep a furry or feathered creature.

"Purr-fect" welcome!

In Vienna, cat lovers are in raptures! At Café Neko (Japanese for "cat") you can sip your drink while stroking one of the five in house cats. Set up by Takako Ishimitsu, a Japanese woman married to an Austrian, the tearoom was inspired by a new trend in the Land of the Rising Sun: cat cafés, where customers come to enjoy the relaxing company of feline hosts.

Night grinder

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 13:17:00 +0000

For some people, chronic grinding of their teeth causes major problems. Some patients are completely unaware that they clench or grind their teeth until a check-up shows damage, says Dr Peter Alldritt of the Australian Dental Association. "Sharp teeth like canine teeth may have worn flat, crack lines may be appearing in the enamel, or fillings may be starting to crack and break."

Teeth grinding medically known as bruxism can use facial pain, too. "People can wake up with a sore face or a bad headache because the muscle in the face have been activated all night while they have been clenching," he says. The ligament of the jaw joint just in front of the ear can also become very tender.

If you grind during sleep, a dentist can fit you with a night guard, says Alldritt. "It's a barrier separating the upper and lower teeth so they can't come together and cause further damage."

Beat the daily grind

First you must realize what you're doing, says Alldritt. Unless you are eating, "there should always be a small gap between your upper and lower teeth."

Acute episodes of grinding are usually driven by stress, so practice relaxation and focus on your jaw. "When sitting at your desk, touch the side of your cheek, gently clench your teeth, feel the muscle contract and then relax," says Alldritt. Repeat the exercise 2-3 times at intervals throughout the day.

How germ expert stay healthy

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 06:02:00 +0000

They're less paranoid than average folk, but what they worry about (airplanes, laundry!) will surprise you. Here are the result of a survey of health experts in the US.

71% don't clean hands after touching public surfaces

I'm just careful to wash my hands before eating. I didn't get a respiratory infection because I touched a door handle after a sick person touched it; I got it because I then touched my hand to my eye or nose.

- Michael Pentella, PHD,

clinical associate professor,

University of lowa College of Public Health

I press buttons with my knuckle especially the ground floor elevator button, because everyone touches that or I use my middle finger because I'm less likely to then touch my face with it.

- Charles Gerba, PHD,

Professor of microbiology, University of Arizona

29% carry hand sanitizer

I prefer soup and water. If that's not available, I'll use sanitizer but I'm not religious about carrying it.

- Rima Khabbaz, MD,

director for infectious diseases at the [US] center for disease control

86% don't disinfect shopping carts

You'll find germs on shopping cart handles, but you'll also find them on meat and other food as well. After I leave the grocery store, I use an alcoholic wipe or gel on my hands. Then I wash them after I unload the groceries at home.

- Philip Tierno, PHD,

clinical professor of microbiology and pathology, Langone Medical Center, NYU

50% have special laundry hygiene habits

I do an underwear load last because an average pair contains about a hundred thousand fecal bacteria, and I don't want that transferring to other loads. About once a week, I put a half cup or a cup of bleach into the empty machine and run it with only water to kill any germs.

- Charles Gerba, PHD

I did a study on the ability to kill germs on fabric. I washed in hot water, washed on cold, and used standard detergents, and while the bacteria were decreased by washing, to get rid of them all, a hot dryer worked best. Dry your clothes well, and you'll kill germs.

- Michael Pentella, PHD

86% protect themselves on planes

I cover the tray with a napkin so I don't set food directly on it. I avoid putting things in the set pocket, because it may contain items from prior passengers.

- Michael Pentella, PHD

I never use water from plane toilet's sink because those water tanks form biofilms, which are replete with germs. So I use an alcoholic gel or towelette (I don this before eating too). I don't use headrest covers or blankets that aren't sealed.

- Philip Tierno PHD

67% steer clear of sick people

I stay at least a metre away. Most germs are spread by droplets; talking and sneezing produce droplets that fall within a two metre range.

- Michael Pentella PHD

86% sneeze into their elbow

Don't sneeze into your hands and then touch somebody; that transfers those viral particles. Even worse is when I see people just sneeze right out into the air the spray can hit dozens of people.

- Philip Tierno, PHD

Soothe your achy, breaky back

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 04:47:00 +0000

Back pain prompts millions of visits to the doctor ever year. A study suggests one way to improve on your doctor's result: listen to music.

Researchers from the University of Salzburg in Austria followed 65 patients with slipped discs or recent back surgery. All were given physiotherapy; half also spent 25 minutes a day listening to music while followed guided imagery relaxation exercises. After three weeks, the music listeners had pain levels much lower than the other group.

The researchers did not distinguish between the effects of music and of relaxation, but a previous study found the pain relieving effect of a music only group slightly greater than that of a guided imagery only group.

Music is thought to lower levels of chemicals that relay pain, says psychologist Franz Wendtner. Study subjects used a special CD. But, Wendtner says, "any relaxing music with quiet rhythm will do."

Are you sitting comfortably?

The slightly odd looking backstretcher chair is worth a try if sitting at a desk all day makes your back ache. It feels a bit uncomfortable at first, but the chair improves posture and reduces muscle tension and you can lean against the roller in the backrest for a mini shiatsu [Japanese for finger pressure] massage.

"The act of sitting is intrinsically damaging to the spine," inventor Neil Summers says, "but the backstretcher chair gives your back a siesta."

Lessons from the unlucky in Love

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Wed, 31 May 2023 11:07:00 +0000

Starting in 1986, psychologist Terri Orbuch, author of the recent book Finding Love Again, followed the lives of 373 married couples. More than two decades later, nearly half of them have split up. The good news? What they learnt during their divorces may help other couples stay together, says Orbuch. Here are top four takeaways.

"Divorced people open up about their biggest regrets"

1.Show your care

Fifteen percent of the divorced people said they regret not giving their spouse more affection. "You have to show your partner how you feel," says Orbuch.

2.Talk about money

Nearly half of the divorced individuals said they fought over money in their past relationship. "Talk money often - not just at tax time or when bills come along," Orbuch says.

3.Let the past go

Divorced people "realized that jealousy can eat away at the happiness in the relationship," says Orbuch. One way to let go of feelings for an old flame: Write but don't send a letter to him or her explaining your feelings.

4.Express yourself

Forty-one percent of divorced individuals say they wish they had communicated better. Says Orbuch, "Many people regretted not asking more questions and not revealing more about themselves."

Uncle Willy and the real great escape

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Fri, 26 May 2023 11:40:00 +0000

Late last year, I received an email from the Czech Republic. It contained an invitation from a total stranger. The sender, Michal Holy, explained that a memorial was to be unveiled to four men who had been secretly executed near the northern town of Most. The men where my uncle, World War II fighter pilot John "Willy" Williams, and three other Allied air force officers.

Official Military portrait of John

"Willy" Williams on joining the

RAF officers' program,

December 1937.

Michal, a commercial pilot and amateur historian with no direct connection to any of the dead men, was attempting to contact relatives of all four, hence the email that found me, my brother Richard and my mother. Michal wanted us to attend the unveiling, and then to join him in a very special journey. He planned to retrace these men's fateful last days on the run in Nazi controlled Europe. Their extraordinary exploits beginning with an audacious mass escape from a prisoner of war (POW) camp along with dozens of other officers had been celebrated in books, film and WWII folklore. Many know it best through the movie version The Great Escape (1963) staring Steve McQueen. But the real Great Escape was just as heroic and ultimately more tragic than Hollywood dared portray.

Why now, I wondered, nearly 68 years after the event? Like most of the surviving relatives of the escapees, Michal was far too young to remember the Nazi era. But, having stumbled across details of a brutal crime that had been committed near Most (then called Brux), he and his friends had vowed to do what they could to make amends.

I was stunned by the invitation at first. News of Uncle Willy's death had profoundly affected my dad, his youngest brother, and had devastated my grandparents and the wider family. As I grew up, I felt his ghostly presence. For years Dad took us, rain or shine, to swim at Manly, the Sydney beach where he had surfed with Willy before the war. But it didn't take long for me to realize that this invitation was a wonderful opportunity, not only to understand what really happened, but to finally help afford Willy the dignity and recognition he'd so long been denied.

A lifetime ago, Willy is believed to have been pushed out of a car into a lonely forest in Czechoslovakia by his Gestapo guards and shot in the back, or the back of his head. How a young Australian perished so deep behind enemy lines was part of sensational war story, and perhaps a visit to the Czech Republic could help me fill in the details. Along with my mother and brother, I told Michal we would be thrilled to accept his invitation.

In the movie The Great Escape, Steve McQueen's character, Captain Virgil "The Cooler king" Hilts survives the Nazi manhunt that followed the mass break-out of Allied airmen from the notorious and supposedly "escape proof" POW camp, Stalag Luft III. The film's characters are composites of the real men but many of the details of the escape are accurate. (The famous motorcycle chase, however, never happened; it was dreamed up by McQueen himself). The real life version goes something like this.

Steve McQueen as American POW

in The Great Escape.

On the night of 24-25 March 1944, my two hundred Allied airmen arrive in timed intervals at Hut 104 inside Stalag Luft III. They are disguised as businessmen, migrant workers, and there are even a few ersatz German soldiers. For a year or so, a massive operation has gone undetected by the German guards. Shifts of prisoners have been secretly digging and excavating an escape tunnel, 102 metres long and roughly 9 metres below ground level.

Australian POW in Stalag Luft III in 1943,

Photo taken by the Red Cross,

Willian is circled.

My uncle is a 24-year-old Royal Air Force (RAF) Commanding Officer; the air war had exacted a heavy toll on both sides and fighter pilots advanced alarmingly quickly through the ranks. Willy had earned a Distinguished Flying Cross fighting the "Desert War" over Libya and Egypt, flying in decidedly nonregulation baggy khaki shorts and sandals, and had a reputation as a clown. However, his weekly letters home, which my grandmother clung on to until her death in 1957, suggest a resolute and analytical young man behind the loutish grin.

Willy was shot down by friendly fire in 1942 in the Western Desert and sent to Stalag Luft III, near Sagan (now Zagan, Poland), 160 km south-east of Berlin. Ironically, the Nazis thought fencing the “best and brightest" Allied air force officers in one custom-built compound would thwart escape at tempts; instead it proves a remarkable opportunity for them to pool their extraordinary talents and plot. Inside Stalag Luft III, Willy is appointed the chief carpenter and supply officer for a mass escape via a hand- dug tunnel. Its code name is “Harry." He is responsible, among other things, for sourcing and fitting the thousands of bed boards and wooden planks used to shore up Harry.

Willy's schoolboy German allows him to beg the guards for the odd supervised stroll "outside the wire," where he can survey the terrain. When he is allocated his place-number 31-in the escapee line, his role is to lead the next 11 men out and onto a German train south. His group is to aim for Switzerland via German-occupied Czechoslovakia, where they hope to make contact with the Resistance.

Two hundred men wait for their turn to crawl on their elbows through the dank, narrow tunnel. But when the dark, moonless night they need finally arrives, unseasonal snow and an Allied air raid slows the queue down. Only 76 men make it "out of the bag" before a guard spots an escapee and sounds the alarm.

John Williams, 1935,

Manly Swimming Club,

New South wales champion

team; (below) with his

p-40 Kittyhawk in

Africa, circa 1942.

Michal guides our minibus as it pulls into the ruins of Stalag Luft III. On board are a handful of relatives, a Czech and an Australian TV crew, and several military experts. We are fresh from the unveiling of the memorial in Most; a moving formal ceremony complete with Czech honour guard and air force fly-past. I am astounded to stand alongside other families, with diplomats, military officers and even aged local Czech survivors of the war, to pay our respects.

All our lives we've heard versions of what happened on the fateful night. But then all of a sudden we are standing together on the exact spot where the men emerged into the freezing night to discover their tunnel was just short of the cover of the forest. Each escapee was momentarily exposed as he scrambled out; the remains of the guard tower make that point abundantly clear.

A couple of years ago, Michal tells me, he didn't know much more about the Great Escape than what he had picked up from the film.

But then, while helping friend Jan Zdiarsky, founder and director of an aviation museum, to research a WWII air battle that left the Czech Ore Mountains littered with downed US aircraft, Michal made a visit to Stalag Luft III. The US pilots who survived being shot down were imprisoned there.

He recalls that it was about zero degrees and there was nobody around. When he started to walk through the woods in the camp he became deeply affected by a strong sense of the courage and determination of those men.

A Gestapo picture of Williams in his

escape garb after his capture.

Michal immediately put his work on the US POWs on hold as his interest turned to the British POW compound where the escape plot was hatched.

When Michal discovered that some escapees had been executed in what is now the Czech Republic, he decided it was a trail he needed to follow. And, extraordinarily, that led to a thick dusty file that he dug out of the National Archives back in Prague that had been overlooked for decades. Inside were the original Gestapo cremation orders and post mortem records for the "Most Four": Willy; his escape partner and old school friend, Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Reginald "Rusty" Kierath; British RAF Lieutenant Leslie "Johnny" Bull; and Polish RAF Flight Officer Jerzy Mondschein.

As an Airbus pilot for Czech Airlines Michal understood that these young WWII fighter pilots were extraordinary; with only a few hundred hours of flying experience, men were sent into combat, forced to fly and shoot at the same time, while evading enemy fire.

And yet, there was nothing to mark where these four young pilots had died, and nothing solid to honour their memory.

But, as I stand in the forest, I can't help but wonder why a group of strangers in a nation that had suffered hundreds of thousands of its own causalities during the Nazi occupation and the austere Communist era that followed - every single individual loss just as important as ours would single out the "Most four"?

Michal explains it to me like this: "It's something which should have been done many years ago. It was like we [Czechs] had a debt to pay to the families of the men. This was deliberate, calculated murder, not death on a battlefield in war."

It has taken Michal almost a year to find us all, and he has used his own money to help pay for the memorial stone, a beautiful piece of rich red polished granite. It's carved by hand with the insignia of the men's squadrons, along with their names and ranks. Michal and Jan and some friends have installed it in the cemetery on a hill overlooking Most. It is here the families gather before we leave to travel north to where it all began.

From Left: Czech pilot Michal Holy; the

memorial at Most; Richard and Louise Williams

at the memorial ceremony.

Standing in the cold in the spot where the tunnel ended, I could finally put myself in Willie's place: the sheer joy of the moment, relishing the freedom of being on the other side of the barbed wire. Over the years, I've read several first-hand accounts of the moment the men emerged. And then some years ago I spoke directly with RAF Squadron Leader Bertram "Jimmy" James, who was in Willy's escape group. It had been snowing that late March of 1944-an unseasonal cold snap even for Central Europe. The cold, Jimmy had said, cut through them like a knife. As they headed off into the woods, a couple of jumpy escapees thought they heard sounds. Willy assured them that no one but other "kriegies," the nickname for POWs, would be out in the dark, But the snow crunching underfoot still seemed to make enough noise to wake dead.

Behind Willy was Rusty, a close friend from school. Now, beside me, Rusty's nephew, Peter, is riding the same roller coaster of emotions as I am. But we are also both realizing a deeper appreciation of the courage, determination and ingenuity it took to make it out.

The original POW compound is huge. There's the reservoir, apparently used by POWs for unauthorized skinny-dipping in summer and large enough for a strong surfer like Willy to race across. Then there's the theatre built by the POWs, with a void to hide the sand excavated from the tunnel, and exhibitions detailing the numerous sports matches and contests. Despite the physical deprivations, the POWs were determined not to let their spirits break behind the barbed wire.

I am humbled as I step inside the replica of Hut 104, reconstructed by the RAF in the men's honour. This is where the tunnel began. Willy's face, and the face of every man executed, stares out at us from the wall. We can feel the sheer determination and drive in their gaze.

The first stage of the escape goes surprisingly well. After slogging through the forest, Polish RAF Flight Officer Jerzy Mondschein purchases 12 train tickets south without arousing suspicion. His German is flawless. His daughter, Margaret, has told us she still remembers his letters home. " 'Eat up and stay well, so you will be strong and healthy when I get home,' he used to tell me." Jerzy was on his way.

A guard tower, Stalag Luft III, circa 1942.

It is a long, slow, nervous ride. But when the train reaches its final stop at Boberröhrsdorf, the Czech border is in distant sight, over the snow covered mountains. Of the 12, only Willy, Rusty, Jerzy and Leslie decide they can make it across on foot.

RAF Officers at Stalag Luft III lay the foundations

for a new hut, 1944.

On any other occasion this would be a magical journey. Our minibus winds around the mountain bends, at every turn a perfect picture postcard of snow, mountain chalets and fir trees bathed in spring sunshine comes into view.

But it must have been a near impossible trip for the escapees. When we stop at the border, every step is a hazard and we are soon thigh deep as the soft snow collapses underfoot. We know the spring melt forced the men back onto the road where they were most at risk. Somewhere near the spot we are standing, the four men are intercepted by a German alpine patrol.

Willy, Rusty, Jerzy and Leslie have survived the air war. They have survived being shot down. They have survived as POWs, often with little food and in terrible cold. They have survived the construction of an almost impossible tunnel and they have made it to the Czech border, the last 20 or so kilometres on foot.

The 76 escapees are officers and see it as their duty to escape. They have diverted the efforts of thousands of German troops and police to the manhunt, causing the "maximum disruption" anticipated in the Allies strategic handbook. Their mission, then, has been a remarkable success. The rules of engagement now require the Nazis to dispatch them back to a POW camp.

But this escape so humiliates Hitler that he flies into a rage and orders the execution of every one of the 73 POWs that have been recaptured. According to first-hand accounts that emerge after the war, some of Hitler's advisors counsel him against the murders; it is a blatant breach of the Geneva convention and will certainly draw ferocious Allied reprisals. A compromise sets the death list at 50. Willy, Rusty, Jerzy and Leslie are on the list.

I have always felt a great responsibility to honour Willy's wife. My father, Owen, died in 1989. When my uncle, David, the longest surviving Williams sibling, passed away in 2006, I became the custodian of Willy's story.

Williams, Sydney church

of England Grammar

School rugby team, 1936.

There was something incredibly poignant about the modest cardboard box of Willy's personal belongings and the pile of fraying clippings and document passed down to me by Uncle David. I had Polished the small silver surfing trophy Willy won in the summer of 1935 as a member of the Australian champion junior surf boat crew and the silver school napkin ring for athletics. I even put them both on display at my home in Sydney.

What happened after the four men were recaptured is partly conjecture. But the Nazis were obsessive record keepers. The orders for the crematorium that Michal found in the same file as the post mortem records claimed they had been shot "trying to escape" their guards, but a close examination of the dates shows that they were signed by the Gestapo before the escapees were killed.

"There was just something about this story that I had to follow," Michal says.

An eyewitness account from a young Czech suggests they were last seen alive in the Gestapo cells in the town of Liberic (then Reichenberg), the building now an unassuming bank. As with the other executions carried out on the escapees from Stalag Luft III, the four were then driven the considerable distance to be executed near Most-perhaps because there was a crematorium there.

I had always hoped that willy has died with his friend Rusty, and that he had not known he was being taken to be killed. But after reading accounts by Paul Brickhill, a fellow Stalag Luft III POW who wrote the original book on the escape, I now know that of the four, it may have been only Willy who knew they were being driven to their deaths.

After the war, war crimes investigation into the Great Escape execution resulted in 20 former Gestapo officers being sentenced to death and the jailing of many more. No one was brought to justice for the execution of the Most Four and, until now, the events leading to their deaths have been unclear.

In our bags we now had the closest thing to a complete dossier, including declassified British intelligence documents about the escape and haunting, final "mug shots" of the men taken by the Gestapo.

Sixty-eight years is a long time. Of the family members who had gathered in Most on 24 March 2012, on the anniversary of the escape, many had come carrying someone else's grief. My grandmother never recovered from Willy's death. She became chronically ill and sought out her eldest son at séances, as did many bereaved mothers of the era. For me, and my brother and mother, it is such an honour to attend the memorial ceremony; it is the funeral Willy never had.

I spend a long time trying to work out how to thank Michal for seeing it through, from the discovery of the cremation orders to such a magnificent day in the sun in Most. So many local people came, and brought with them such pure good will. I will never forget their kind faces and the reception; every cake, strudel and sandwich homemade.

So I think about my dad and the two things he had always kept close to him; a beautiful sepia portrait of his young, smooth-faced brother going off to war, and Willy's RAF wings. I present Michal with our gift at dinner with our unusual tour group after the long, emotional day at Stalag Luft III. Now, in Michal's home in Prague, hangs a framed sepia portrait of Willy and a set of his RAF wings.

Before I left Australia I had gone down to Manly, where my father's family had lived, and where the Williams boys had surfed, and filled a small container with Manly beach sand to Scatter around the base of the memorial at Most.

After the ceremony and surrounded by well-wishers, Michal presented a hand-made plaque to the family members of the "Most Four" who have made the special trip back to Most. On each plaque, he and Jan and their friends have etched the dates 24 March 1944 and 2012, and a drawing of Stalag Luft III. Behind a small glass pane, there is a pinch of sand, with this engraving: "This sand was dug up and removed during the construction of the tunnel Harry, which should have led the men to freedom."

It sits on my desk, just to the left of my keyboard, where I can look at it every day.

- Louise Williams

A taste of Macau

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Thu, 25 May 2023 12:19:00 +0000

With diamond rings on manicured hands (men included), my fellow passengers in the "super class" section of the hydrofoil boat appear to be native to this luxurious habitat. Women with glossy black hair and stiletto boots smile easily as their rotund companions accept food and drinks from smart dressed waitress.

St Domonic's Church, a tired 17th

century structure in Senado square

in the Historic District.

I, on the other hand, am here by accident; I intended to purchase an economy seat, but my inability to decipher Chinese characters landed me among the first class travellers.

I'm on my way to Macau, a special administrative region of China. A peninsula and two island connected by bridge lying across the Pearl River Delta from its bigger and better known Hong Kong, Macau was the first European colony in China when Portugal settled it in the 16th century and was also its last colony when handed back in 1999.

A lineup outside the Louis Vuitton store

at the popular Wynn Esplanada, a large shopping

complex.

In the past decade, Macau has transformed into China's premier gambling destination. The Las Vegas of Asia isn't exactly my idea of a dream vacation. But I'm here on a mission of curiosity. Macau surpassed Las Vegas as the largest gambling destination in the world in 2006 and continues to grow in lockstep with China's dizzying economic rise. Today, gaming revenues from Macau's casinos are about four times those of Las Vegas casinos. My main question: How does wealthy Chinese upper crust relax on the weekend?

Soon I'm in a taxi passing entrances to towering casinos. The taxi driver, a friendly middle aged man with whom I share no language whatsoever, calls his English speaking son on his cellphone to translate.

My thoughts are interrupted by him exclaiming enthusiastically "Qian!" He rubs his fingers together. "Ah! Qian means money," I say, and he nods happily. I've received my first mandarin lesson. Let's hope that when language fails in Macau, qian talks.

On the gaming floor of the Venetian Resort,

Which boasts more floor space than four

Empire State Buildings.

The next morning, I find none of the outlandish glitz and glam I expected. My hotel, located on a tree covered hill in the southern part of Macau's peninsula, is surrounded by three hundred year old colonial villas and churches. I follow a winding cobble stone street through a tunnel in a high, vine covered wall. On the other side I find myself in a brilliantly white fort built in 1629 to defend against pirates and hostile European traders.

The fort, now the Pousada de Sao Tiago hotel, is chaotic collection of stone walls, elegantly curving wrought iron terraces and spiral staircases. "This is one of the only places left where I feel the true old Macau," says Jose Leal, executive assistant manager of the hotel, as he seats me for lunch on a tiled terrace shaded by a hundred year old mulberry tree.

From a part of the terrace, there is a view of the majestic white Macau Taipa bridge, which connects Macau's peninsula to the Cotai Strip, the city's answer to Vegas' main drag. A decade ago developers reclaimed a 5.6 square kilometer section of swampland, fusing two islands into one and creating space for the Strip. But from this historical fort, Cotai feels worlds or at least centauries, away.

Next to me, Chinse tourists dig into their first course. I sip a coffee then a glass of pinot gris, a white wine, but the stream of dishes arriving at their table - lobster paella, rack of lamb, Iberico pork, foie gras - shows no sign of slowing. When I taste my own order, caldo verde soup with chorizo and olives, I immediately understand that my fellow tourists flock from Main land China not only to gamble but also for Macau's cuisine.

Macau's mix European and Asian food, with a dash of African spice, reflects its colonial history, explains Christine Sun, a twenty something local I meet later that afternoon in the peninsula's central district. Today is Christine's day off from her casino job and yet she's spending it chatting with tourists at the Macau Museum. "If you love Macau like I do, you work hard to show off its culture," she says.

When Portugal established Macau in the 1500s, the prosperous port handled most trade between China and Japan. However, after China ceded Hong Kong to the British in the early 1840s, Macau relinquished its trade dominance to its neighbor. By the late 19th century, the forgotten colony had developed a reputation for prostitution, violence and criminal - and, of course gambling.

To get a taste of that rough and tumble Macau, I walk towards down town but I keep getting sidetracked. I gaze at the ruins of the Church of St Paul, a four storey stone facade that was hailed the greatest Christian monument in the Far East when erected in 1602. I can't help but linger at the beautiful Senado Square and marvel at Children walking on stilts and dancing in elaborate costumes. The launch of my Asian gambling career will have to wait for tomorrow.

When China opened the gambling industry to competition in 2002, Hong King billionaire Stanley Ho set out to claim dominance by creating the most extravagant accommodation Macau had ever seen. The result? The dramatic and colorful Grand Lisboa, a 58 - storey golden lotus of flashing lights which marks the bull's eye of downtown Macau.

In the lobby thousands of crystals glitter from the ceiling, black, gold and ivory marble floors shine and pillars of gleaning brass are studded with red jewels. Kathy Wong, public relations coordinator for the hotel. Leads me to reserved elevators where exclusive guests make their way to the VIP reception desk for check-in. Their plushly appointed guest rooms feature full dining rooms and kitchens, remote controlled window shades Turkish steam baths and even an "in-mirror" television so guests can watch while fixing their hair.

I'm afraid to even sit down in such a room. But when Wong shows me to Don Alfonso 1890, sister restaurant to the highest Michelin starred venue in southern Italy, my mouth waters. I tell Wong that I'll take lunch.

Head sommelier Roberto Gallotto brings me the encyclopedic wine list, and I immediately realize that I'm in over my head. Seeing my deer - in - head lights expression, Gallotto laughingly pulls out an iPad and easily peruses the 8600 wines that give his restaurant bragging rights as having one of the largest wine lists in the world.

The lobby of the dramatic and

colorful 58-storey Grand Lisboa

Hotel.

To attract the big spenders, casinos need prestige, explains Gallotto, recalling a guest who recently purchased a bottle of wine for HK$88,000 (about Rs. 5.98 lakh). "He bought the best vintage not because he knew what he was drinking but because he had guests and wanted to show them that he could afford it."

Across the Macau-Taipa bridge, the massive casino resorts on the Cotai Strip are testament to how much gambling revenue flows through this city. At the mammoth Venetian Resort, which boasts more floorspace than four Empire State Buildings, a young man wearing a black - and - white striped shirt, red sash and straw hat - an apparent nod to the gondoliers of Venice's canals - welcomes me into an opulent lobby with soaring arched ceilings adorned with Renaissance-themed murals.

People loudly betting, cheering and laughing crowd into one section of the casino. Melissa Chan, my guide and the casino's gaming shift manager, explains that they favor this area because images of red dragons, a symbol many Chinese people consider lucky, are disguised in the kitschy Italian carpet and ceiling.

But I'm not here to watch regular gamblers; my mission, after all, is to find out how the Chinese elite spend a weekend in Macau. So after a little prodding and a promise not to take photos, Chan leads me through three doorways guarded by intimidating men checking identification.

"These rooms are for our very special customers," She whispers, as we enter a sombre wood-panelled lobby with a well-stocked bar where people lounge on red velvet couches. In adjoining small rooms that seem plain in contrast to the main casino, men and women quietly play baccarat at a handful of tables.

I ask how the casino attracts the big spenders. Chan purses her lips. "We can't tell you that." But if I wanted to experience how the real high rollers gamble, Chan advises, I'm looking in the wrong place. "Most people betting big want people to see it, so they play in the main casino," she says.

Outside the private gaming rooms, a swell of whoops erupts as a large man with multiple rings reveals his cards. He's playing a type of poker. The casino is abuzz with the story of how someone won a US$60,000 jackpot at very table the previous week.

In preparation for my own gambling debut I grab a pint of beer at McSorely's Pub, located next to the resort's Venetian Theater and I'm suddenly struck by the absurdity of this mock-Irish setting. Just a few Kilometers away, Coloane Village offers a glimpse of old world China, complete with mist-shrouded hills, incense offerings at the foot of banyan trees and squid drying on racks in the street. Yet people instead come to the Venetian's shopping mall to stroll alongside indoor canals and listen to fake singing gondoliers.

Of course, like most vacationers, those coming to Macau are here to escape real life. The vacationer allows his imagination to temporarily supersede the banalities of his own life. For a few moments, he is the luckiest guy in the casino, being oohed and ahed at by the crowd at the baccarat table.

I re-enter the casino and join uproarious group playing sic bo, a dice game. I ask middle aged man next to me the rules and he responds with a wide smile and fast Chinese I don't understand. Remembering my first night in Macau, I hope qian can get me out of this language fix, so I purchased HK$1000 (Rs. 6800) worth of chips. The man enthusiastically shows me how to place my chips on the board. I can bet on whether the sum of three dice will be small (between 4 and 100) or big (between 11 and 17), or on specific numbers or dice combinations.

Knowing the odds are against me I start with conservative bets, but soon I'm swept away by the drama of the game. Despite losing two plays in a row, my imagination is overruling the reality of the odds, and I feel as if I'm smarter than the dice.

Forty-five minutes after purchasing my chips I bet my last two - and lose, of course. The crowd groans. And the dealer speaks to me directly for the first time. With a smirk and a wink he says, "Thank you very much" in perfect English and he sweeps away my chips.

- Erin Millar

Improve your Eyesight with an App

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Wed, 24 May 2023 06:27:00 +0000

Hate reading glasses? A new app called Glasses Off might let you drop them by training your brain to better interpret that fuzzy print in the newspaper. Users play quick games that employ special wavy images to stimulate connections in the visual part of the brain. In a recent small study, people could read paper without reading glasses after three months of training (15 minutes three times a week), and their reading speed increased by 17 words per minute. The developers plan to launch the app for iPhones and iPads by early 2013, followed by an Android version.

Calculate your Heart Rate with your face

Cardiio, a new app for iPhone and iPad developed by Harvard and MIT researchers, can calculate heart rate by merely gazing at your face. It uses your device's camera to measure tiny changes in blood flow in your face that occur when your heart beats. Simply line up your image with the displayed target, and the app reports your heart rate in seconds; when use in a well lit environment, it's accurate to within three beats per minute of devices used by doctors. You can track heart rate over time and get info about your fitness level and estimated life expectancy. The app is available now on iTunes.

A better drug for Diabetics

Metformin has been the first line medicine for type-2 diabetes. When patients are unable to maintain blood sugar levels with metformin, sulphonylureas are added, but side-effects include too low blood sugar and weight gain, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. That may change with linagliptin, anew once a day pill. Clinical trials over two years in 16 countries, including India, showed that linagliptin produced relative weight loss and lesser risk of too low blood sugar compared to sulphonylureas. There were fewer heart attacks and strokes too, but longer studies are needed.

Tolkien 'bout a Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Mon, 22 May 2023 02:58:00 +0000

It's the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit - just 36 years short of Bilbo Baggins' fabled eleventy-first birthday! The occasions is, of course, being celebrated by Tolkien fans all over the world, and will culminate in the release of the first of director Peter Jackson's three over $500 million Hobbit films at Christmas. It's a remarkable achievement for a book that was written for the literature professor's personal amusement and sneerily dismissed by many of his Oxford University colleagues.

"How J.R.R and his merry band of hobbits changed our world"

With total sales of his novels estimated at around 300 million, Tolkien remains a publishing powerhouse, but his influence stretches far beyond the world of books. From music to green politics, he's had a surprisingly broad impact on our lives.

- Danny Scott

The godfather of film epics

Most experts agree that the movie blockbuster was born with Jaws in 1975. But Tom Craig, senior lecturer in film at Derby University, UK, argues that Tolkien's books pre-empted most modern blockbuster conventions years before they made it to the big screen.

"Concepts like an emphasis on action, set piece battles, variety of locations and clearly defined heroes/villains still provide the principal structure of such films," says Craig.

George Lucas, the man behind Star Wars, has said Tolkien was an influence. "both stories feature an evil overload, a savior and a universe in peril," explains Craig. "But what Lucas and Tolkien also share is a depth of detail and mythology. Most cinema is very superficial but Lucas created intricate worlds with their own language, customs and history. I'm not sure he'd have done that without Tolkien."

Rocking all over middle earth

Though originally published in the mid 1950s, the success of the Rings trilogy built slowly through the 1960s. By 1968, sales of The Lord of the Rings had reached three million, and its mixture of magic and morality appealed to the spot-smoking rockers of the Summer of Love, a 1960s hippie gathering. Tolkien references soon appeared in songs by likes of Led Zeppelin, black Sabbath and Uriah Heep.

The Canadian band Rush even wrote a song called Rivendell. "Back then, almost every young musician I met was reading The Lords of the Rings," remembers lead singer Geddy Lee. "A lot of us were hippies and believed we were going to change the world. We wanted peace and love, an end to the Vietnam war. No wonder we found solace in a place of beauty like Rivendell."

"In 1968, the Beatles talked to Stanley Kubrick about making a film version of The Lord of the Rings."

Even the Beatles wanted to pay artistic homage to Tolkien. In 1968, they approached Director Stanley Kubrick with the idea for a film version of the Lord of the Rings. But Tolkien wasn't keen on Fab Four Hobbits, and killed it.

The lads were lined up for the roles of Gandalf, Frodo, Samwise and Gollum... but can you guess which Beatle was was linked to which character? Answers at the below.

John: Gollum, Paul: Frodo, George: Gandalf, Ringo: Samwise.

Tolkien's influence on music remains strong today, with hundreds of artistes having recorded Middle earth themed tunes. They include everyone from numerous mythology obsessed metal bands to Annie Lennox, who sings two songs on the 2003 Return of the King film sound track.

Fan Male: Dave Myers, Hairy biker TV chef

"I First read The Hobbit when I was about 15, that strange age betwixt boy, man and, well, hobbit. It was more than a book to me - I lived it! Brought up near the Lake District, England Grizedale Forest became my Mirkwood. I turned my bedroom into a Hobbit-hole, and I even took to smoking a church warden pipe - though, try as I might, I never could blow a smoke ring. Obviously, I could identify with the hobbits... having several meals a day and spending lots of time sleeping. Oh, and my feet were hairy! Even when I went to art school, I still wore red kickers and green velvet cord trousers. The book so fired my imagination that I began The Lord of the Rings with almost religious reverence. I never finished it. Maybe my passion stayed at home... in Hobbiton."

Elvish Takes on English

"Having an effect on an entire language is an awful lot to ask of any writer," says peter Gilliver, an associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary and co-author of The Rings of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary. "But I've counted 44 words or meaning of words on the OED database for which Tolkien is given as the first authority. One of the most obvious ones is 'hobbit'. If you describe someone as 'hobbit-like', people know what you mean. There was a semantic gap for that type of person, and Tolkien filled it."

"Elf" is another example of Tolkien's philological influence. "Not that many years ago, an elf was rather twee creature that lived at the bottom of your garden, but Tolkien changed all that, and we now think of them as being bit like humans, but higher, nobler."

Other words and phrases Tolkien invented include "sun-shy," "orc," "overweight," "tree-peo-ple," and "slag-mound," " He was famously obsessive about language," says Gilliver. "I'm sure it would put a smile on his face to know that all these words are still being used."

Tolkien also, of course, had a huge impact on literature. "There were fantasy novels before him, but nothing that reached that global success," says the British book retailer Waterstones spokesman Jon Howells. "He transformed the genre from something that occupied dark corners in bookshops into big business. The Hobbit's sold out first publishing run of 1500 copies was considered a success. Las year, George R R Martin's A Dance with Dragons sold 298,000 copies in one day!"

Fan male: Alice Cooper, Rock legend

"Of course I read the books... loved'em! However if I'm being totally honest, I've always been an orc sympathizer. Even when I was a kid, I was always drawn to the bad guys. Which is probably why I ended up singing songs like killer and Street Fight."

"Granted, the orcs' personal hygiene wasn't always great, and some of their eating habits left a little to be desired, but I still feel they got a raw PR deal. Plus, you gotta admit that, if you were in a war with full on, hand to claw combat, you'd want them on your side."

"To show my support for them, I've actually hired a murderous mob of orcs for my UK tour this year. Well, you might call them orcs-we call them the road crew."

Bilbo's big society

British Prime Minister David Cameron's notion that local groups and communities, not politicians, should take control of community affairs and good causes is an idea that Tolkien would have been very familiar with, says Alison Milbank, associate professor of literature and theology at the University of Nottingham, and author of Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians.

"From what we know about Tolkien, he certainly believed in local governance and, as a devout Catholic, he would also have been aware of the faith's social teaching - the importance of craft, guilds and class collaboration; the value of community and localized, family run businesses. The shire seems to operate by doing things at the most basic and local level possible. And the Rings trilogy concludes with different races and different classes banding together for the common good - which in their case was the defeat of tyranny."

Nature boy

There was no such thing as "green politics" when Tolkien began creating Middle-earth in the 1930s. But his vision of a bucolic, pre-industrial world - where giant trees fought back against the evils of mankind - provided impetus and ammunition for the nascent environmental movement of the 1960s.

"The Lord of the Rings has industrial overtones, and what shines through in the travels of Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves in The Hobbit is Tolkien's affinity with the British landscape," says Tim Atkinson, network developer at Friends of the Earth, a grassroots environmental network. "His world is full of creatures that cherish nature, from the elves' connection to their woodland home, to Bilbo's adventures through awe - inspiring scenery.

"The Hobbit certainly played its part in inspiring my environmental action. It's everyday heroism like Bilbo's that we encounter in people finding their voice for the first time by supporting wind farms or opposing airport expansion."

Thanks to Shaun Gunner and the Tolkien Society for their help with this feature. Visit tolkiensociety.org

Fan female: Shelagh Fogarty, BBC Radio 5 live presenter

"The Hobbit was the first prize I got at grammar school, and I still have that book. The certificate glued to the inside front page says, 'Awarded to Shelagh for the consistent effort.' I received it at the school's annual prize giving, and the sense of occasion meant the book has always felt like something special to me."

"As a child, the story was just a great adventure full of fantasy characters and scary imaginary worlds. I read it again quite recently, and it had a whole new meaning, Bilbo leaves home to find treasure and faces all kinds of challenges. Don't we all! The choices he has to make, and the characters that help or hinder him, chime with the myriad people any of us come across in life. I loved it all over again."

Fan male: Daniel Sloss, comedian

"When I was a kid, being a nerd was a big problem. If you played Warhammer [a table top miniature war game, set in a science-fantasy universe] and read sci-fi books, you had to be careful about who you told, or your classmates could make your life a living hell."

"All that changed in 2001, when I was 11, with the release of the first Lord of the Rings film. I thought, hang on... wizards, dwarves and magic? This is a nerd's film. Afterwards, I went up to a couple of cool kids and said, 'have you seen The Lord of the Rings?', fully expecting to get punched in the face. But no! To my surprise, everyone loved it! Tolkien undoubtedly changed the lives of millions of people like me. For the first time in my life, I could say, 'I'm proud to be nerd'."

Why do they do that?

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Sun, 21 May 2023 03:30:00 +0000

You know all those jumbo shrimp you just ordered at the restaurant? Chances are they're prawns. But put the word jumbo in front of anything and customers are bound to buy it. Similarly, dry cleaning isn't really dry. Instead of using water to clean the fabric, the launderer uses an equally wet solvent called perchloroethylene. Does "dry cleaning" sound so much better than "wet cleaning"? Some launderer thought so. In this article, we'll demystify a few more intriguing business practices. We'll reveal the magic employed, the common sense practiced, the manipulation perpetrated and arm you with facts you can use to protect yourself.

Why do wafer companies put so much air in their bags?

To dupe us into thinking the foil bags are filled with chips? Actually, no. In fact, the bag don't contain oxygen. They're filled with nitrogen. Oxygen would quickly turn the chips rancid. The nitrogen preserves the freshness of the chips, prevents combustion, and creates sufficient cushioning during shipping so the chips don't get crushed. Still feel ripped off? Here's a consolation: NASA reports that bags of potato chips taken aboard super modified jets respond to the sudden change in air pressure soon after takeoff by exploding. Cool!

Why does Walt Disney World seem larger than life?

Walt Disney ingeniously used an optical illusion called forced perspective to enhance the magic of Magic Kingdom, its theme park in Florida. For example, when you enter the park, the street narrows into the distance, creating the impression that the shops stretch forever towards the enormous castle. When you walk back down Main Street, USA to leave, the reversed perspective of the widening street makes Walt Disney World train station appear closer, tricking your brain into thinking the walk in short.

Likewise, the buildings lining Main Street, USA look several stores tall because the windows, awnings, signs, and fixtures higher up are significantly smaller than those on the ground level. The same goes with the castle. It stands a mere 58 meters high and yet appears almost Empire Stateesque. That's because the windows, turrets, and fake bricks decrease in size as they near the rooflines. Disney also designed the top spire nearly half the size it should be to seem twice as tall. After all, as with shrimp, bigger is better.

Why do supermarkets have greeters?

Because shoppers like saying hello back? Well, sort of. In 1980, the manager of the Walmart store in Crowley, USA, had problems with shoplifters. So he hired a woman to stand by the front door to greet customers and ask them if they needed any help. The greeter's mere presence intimidated any potential shoplifters. After visiting the Crowley store, company founder Sam Walton quickly instituted greeters as a trademark of all Walmart stores. The benefit to customers? Less shoplifting means lower prices, which help you "Save money, Live better."

Why does Facebook encourage me to post my photos online?

Because pictures are prettier than text? While that might be true, that's not the reason. By posting your photos on Facebook, you've granted the company the license to use it. Theoretically, they can use them any way they want, whether it's for corporate promotional material or advertisements, unless you know to opt out. They also allow business that you've "liked" to use your profile photo on ads shown on your friend's pages. Most people fail to read the user agreements, which clearly says that "you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub licensable, royalty free, worldwide license to use any IP [intellectual property] content that you post on or in connection with Facebook" (snore! Is it any wonder people skip this?) unless you and every one with whom you've shared your photos, deletes them. Occasionally, third party advertisers have used photos without the user's or Facebook's consent. A few years ago, a man logged on to his account and stumbled upon an ad for online dating service. Who was the star of said ad? His wife! Awkward! Turns out the service lifted her profile photo from her page.

Why do watch advertisements show the time at 10:10

Because office starts at 10 and you shouldn't be more that 10 minutes late? No, but it actually serves two ends. By keeping the hands at 10:10, they don't cover a watch's brand name or other text printed on the dial. But then, you might argue, why not use any of several other positions that don't cover the text? That's because 10:10 also frames the brand name symmetrically between the two hands. Indeed, the "opposite" position, 8:20, was used in ads long ago, but the industry realized that it resembled a face with a frowning mouth, while 10:10 looks much like a smiley. Why would you buy frown when you can just as well get a smile?

How to delete sitemap from Bing webmaster

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Sat, 20 May 2023 03:30:00 +0000

Adding sitemaps to Bing webmaster is best way to tell Bing search engine about your website and all of its URLs and newer updates available to your website or blog. But in some cases you want to delete the sitemap from Bing Webmaster just because your sitemap URL no longer working or it may be changed. Here are steps to quickly remove it.

Steps:

1. Sign in to Bing webmaster here: https://www.bing.com/webmasters/about

2. Go to Sitemaps.

2. Select Website you want to remove. And click on Delete at the right bottom.

3. Final popup will appear: "Are you sure you want to delete sitemaps?" Then click on Delete.

4. Done!

How to remove a website or blog from the Google Search Console

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Fri, 19 May 2023 03:30:00 +0000

Owner can remove property of their own list of websites. Similarly Users can also delete property from their own list. Removing property will have some effects: You will not get any notification for deleted property. You can not see any information regarding property and settings as well. Your message history for particular property will be saved. If you are owner of a property, then all the users of the property will lose the access to the property in Google Search Console or Google webmaster.

Steps:

1. Login to your Google Search Console.

2. Go to settings or click on this link: Property setting page

3. Click on Search property.

4. Select website.

5. Scroll down and click on Remove Property.

6. A final popup will appear: click on remove property.

7. Done!

Reference:https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9357768

An Eye for business

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Thu, 18 May 2023 08:52:00 +0000

The ancient Romans believed that Vulcan, their god of fire, lived deep inside a fire-breathing mountain where he practiced his skill in forging weapons and armor and bolts of lightning flung by Jupiter, the father of the gods. Although local people and tourists won't find these sorts of military goods at the Vulcano Buono (The good Vulcano) shopping center near Naples (picture below), the artificial crater designed by top architect Renzo Piano does contain shops, a supermarket, restaurants, cinemas, a gym and a hotel. The Italian got his inspiration for the shape of the complex from nearby Mount Vesuvius. Perhaps he chose the location near Nola because the little town survived when the volcano erupted in 77AD.

Not a good idea

The central motif of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lords of the Rings is that Rings of Power can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo played in the film by Elijah wood achieves the almost impossible. But the suggestion which frequently appears on the Internet that active volcanoes should be used for dumping nuclear waste will have to remain in the realms of pure fantasy. According to experts, this enduring problem would come back to haunt us sooner or later in the form of radioactive clouds and lava.

The ultimate price

Some volcanologist dedicate their lives to developing more reliable methods of predicting eruption and to understand the physical phenomena involved in them. The French husband and wife team of Katia and Maurice Kraft, for example, fired people's enthusiasm for the beauty of volcanoes through the spectacular photographs and film footage for which they risked everything. They were killed on 3 June 1991 during an eruption of Mount Unzen in Japan.

Timeline

79AD Pliny the younger describes the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In his Honor, explosive eruption are known as Plinian eruptions.

1815 The eruption of mount Tambora in Indonesia is the most violent since records began. It is estimated that 80,000 people starved to death as a result of their crops being destroyed.

1912 The theory of German researcher Alfred Wegener that the continents shift as a result of the movement of tectonic plates is falsely rejected.

1952 American scientist discover the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which was created by magma, pouring from the earth's interior and solidifying to form a range of mountains on the ocean floor. This proves that tectonic plates shift and that Wegener's theory is correct.

1980 Volcanologists raise the alarm weeks before Mount St Helens erupts in the USA. Their instrument showed that the volcano was active again.

2010 In April, Eyjafjalla Jökull on Iceland spews out gigantic clouds of ash, causing European airspace to be closed for days.

Volcanoes!

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Wed, 17 May 2023 09:46:00 +0000

Volcanoes can change the course of history. On 24 August 79 Ad the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were laid waste by eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which cost many thousands of lives. In April 1815, Indonesia's Mount Tambora erupted with such force, fine particles floated into the northern hemisphere by the next year and caused "the year without a summer" in parts of North America and Europe, leading to crop failure and starvation. On 27 August 1883 the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa literally blew its top, causing the deaths of around 36,000 people. And the threat to human life from these types of events happening in the future remains the same. That's because there's no way of preventing volcanic eruptions. The forces lying dormant in the earth are too powerful. The only way of protecting people is to evacuate them in time. Luckily, most eruptions give us some degree of advanced warning.

"The heat is on. Beautiful and terrible in equal measure -- volcanic eruptions demonstrate the power of nature"

By the numbers

Magma shoots out the ground at temperatures as high as 1200 degree Celsius.
In 1815 the eruption column from Mount Tambora in Indonesia reached a height of about 60 kilometers. There was complete darkness for three days afterwards within a 500 kilometer radius of the eruption.
Approximately 260,000 people have died over the last 400 years as a result of volcanic activity.
Lava flows have been recorded at speed of up to 75 kmph.
On average, there are about 60 volcanic eruptions every year, many of which area in Asia.
The sound of the Krakatoa eruption in Indonesia in 1883 could be heard more than 3000 kilometers away in Australia.

Excess pressure

The earth's mantle on which we're standing may seem solid but is in fact floating on a sea of hot, molten rock. In places where the earth's crust is torn apart by the shifting of continental plates, magma can force its way upwards, leading to the birth of a volcano. During major eruptions several cubic kilometers of rock are brought to the surface.

The Riddle of Pandit Nehru

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Tue, 16 May 2023 07:46:00 +0000

In some respects, America's best friend in Asia is Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India. This view is so contrary to general belief that I must explain it. For six weeks I travelled across India talking to people about Nehru. Peasants, land lords, shopkeepers, maharajas advanced their theories. Here are the facts that help to explain the man who rules India.

Pandit Nehru is an aristocrat.

He was born a Brahmin and although he has discarded the Brahmin religious customs, he continue to to think like one. He believes that a few superior people must rule a partly illiterate, unformed nation like India.

As a child Nehru knew substantial wealth servants, big homes, influential friends. He was a typical Indian aristocrat. A friend points out, "He is the kind of man Communists shoot when they take over".

Nehru is like an Englishman.

He was born in India, Of Indian blood, but he grew up an Englishman. His governess was English. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge, and he studied law at the inner Temple. He knows English literature, constitutional history, law and social philosophy. Nehru himself points out that spiritually he hangs suspended between India and England. "They are both part of me and create in me a feeling of spiritual loneliness. I am a stranger and alien in the West. But in my own country also, sometimes, I have an exile's feeling."

Nehru spent many years in jail.

As a result of his revolutionary activities, Nehru was eight long prison sentences. He formulated his basic philosophy in jail, and the hardness of his character and his determination to succeed derive from his dreary years of imprisonment, some of them in solitary confinement. Also, one of Nehru's weaknesses is his tendency to appoint men to office because they have been in jail.

Nehru is a scientist.

In spite of his affection for poetry and his brilliance in the political field, Nehru was trained at Cambridge as a scientist and remains primarily concerned with the scientific development of his country. He wants to industrialize India as quickly as possible. A friend says, "Laboratories fascinate him, not legislatures, and vast hydro-electric schemes are an absolute mania with this man."

Nehru is probably a socialist.

As a young man he was lionized by the Fabian (non-revolutionary) socialists of England, who convinced him that a socialist world was inevitable. He was happy when his family, because of revolutionary activities, lost its large fortune, and often boasts that he has few worldly goods. Karl Marx, the source of this philosophy, also preached that British society must collapse a doctrine reassuring to Nehru, who was trying to hurry the collapse of that same society in India.

A foreign diplomat who has studied Nehru for 20 years and says, "More than most leaders he is willing to experiment with new forms of government and ownership if they show any chance of producing a better life for his people." Nehru himself recently summarized his position: "We take steps, one by one, consolidate them and prepare for the next step. We don't talk too much about nationalizing or socializing everything; we talk only in terms of the steps we are taking.

Is Nehru a communist?

While I travelled in India, Nehru nationalized life insurance, and a Calcutta business man told me, "Airlines and the biggest bank have already been grabbed. Shipping companies will probably be next, and we expect more banks and heavy industry to follow." I also experienced the backlash of the visit by Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulganin, which convinced millions of Indians that Russia is now their only foreign friend and also their protector against "war mongering Western democracies." And the main reason, for this trust of Russia was that Nehru personally appeared as stage manager for the burly, brazen gunmen from north.

From this and other evidence, many Americans conclude that Nehru must want a Communist form of government. I believe this conclusion is wrong. I believe Nehru honestly wants to keep India free, and that he has a fair chance of doing so. Here are my reasons:

Throughout his writings Nehru constantly affirms that he is not a Communist. He claims that the various steps he has taken in nationalizing property were unavoidable if India is to build a society strong enough to resist Communism. Most reassuring, he has been openly and firmly hostile to the Communists of his own country.

Dr Telford work, a young Rockefeller Foundation doctor, relates his experiences among the communists of the south in the 1955 elections: "These characters were sure they would win and, as I travelled through hundreds of villages where red flags outnumbered the blue 12 to one, I concluded the reds would win a sweeping victory. Then Nehru appeared. He talked forcefully. Said he wanted no Communist in office. When he left, he sent his lieutenants in. Result? Nehru's anti Communist party won a smashing victory."

It seems to me that this is the situation: To save India from ruin, Nehru must take economic steps which in certain countries would be communistic. But in India they are steps of prudence, of conservatism even. An Indian capitalist told me, "Think of an American village. If you want a new water supply, you vote on it. If the vote is favorable, your citizens are taxed and you get the water. Well, in India we have 100,000 villages that want water. If we held a vote everybody would be in favour of water. But there is no money in the villages to be taxed, and only some kind of state socialism can save us from going completely Communist." For the present, the principal bulwark in India against Communism is Jawaharlal Nehru.

Nehru, the man.

Nehru is 66 and in vigorous health thin, agile and cat like in his motions. As a boy he ate a typical British diet, including a lot of meat, but in later years he became a vegetarian. His father served cocktails, but Nehru is abstemious.

Nevertheless, when fanatics wanted to impose total prohibition throughout Indian he resisted them. Nehru's wife, with whom he had an extraordinarily tender relationship, died in 1936. Since then he has remained one of the world's most eligible widowers. His clever and attractive married daughter, Indira, is his hostess and personal advisor.

Nehru is an intellectual, and is proud of it. When a critic accused him of not being one with the masses, Nehru replied, "He is absolutely right." As a dedicated aristocrat he often berates his people in sharp words, accusing them of being tied to "a cow dung society." He has uncontrollable outbursts of temper, and chides himself in public speeches for this failing.

He has many of the attributes of a dictator, but he does not behave like one. He could have swept into Nepal when that country was having trouble, but he acted with scrupulous propriety. Similarly in Goa: when Indian armies could have swamped Portuguese defences here, Nehru restrained them. That was to change, In December 1961, however, Nehru's Indian troops took over Goa.

And within India there are the great basic freedoms: papers print sharp criticism of the government; courts issue writs of habeas corpus; there is an almost startling freedom of speech. Indians often object to things that US newspapers write about Nehru, but nothing said outside India can equal the harshness of a book freely circulated within the country: D.F Karaka's Nehru: The Lotus Eater From Kashmir. Nehru, who must despise every word in the book, has made no move to ban it.

Nehru is a sharp, impatient man because his time is running out. He sees a wilderness of work to be done, and only a few years in which to accomplish it. If he could count on 30 more years of leadership, he could completely reorganize India. But time is not available, so he must drive all things forward in a hurry.

Fortunately for free peoples throughout the world, the way Nehru wants to take India is the way they would like to see her go.

Is Nehru neutral?

Philip Deane, the brilliant Greek journalist says, "I have been studying Nehru closely for three years and have watched him undergo a subtle change. He used to preach neutrality, but in recent months his entire vocabulary has changed. He once defended NATO and other pacts; now he condemns them as American aggression. He used to protest to any nation that experimented with nuclear weapons, but during the Russian visit he implied that they kept theirs for defence. Finally, he openly praises Russia's overtures to peace, but accepts in complete silence peaceful aid from America."

Nehru's apologist reply: "Of course our leader will condemn the US as long as it gives military aid to our mortal enemy, Pakistan. And as long as it supports the SEATO [Southeast Asia Treaty Organization] pact, which encircles us in a rim of steel." In recent months Nehru has increased his attacks on these two points, and some Americans sympathize with him.

More difficult to understand is Nehru's growing friendship with Russia and Red China. A scholar explained, "We are three peasant countries, burdened with ancient systems that must be swept away. We are three revolutionary peoples, newcomers on the stage of nationalism. And we are Asians." He was reflecting the soviet propaganda line that Russia is primarily an Asian power.

I do not think that Nehru is much impressed by these reasons, for he is a fine historian. He knows that most of the great invasions of India have arisen because masses of Central Asians were on the move north of the Himalayas and slopped over through the Khyber pass. Most of all, he knows that India today is relatively weak should Red China, or Russia, decide to attack. He knows that, throughout history, almost every determined aggressor who wanted to invade India succeeded, and that India's only defence has always been persuasion and the Himalayas. And now, with Communist het planes crowding the airstrips in Tibet, even the Himalayas have fallen.

Nehru hopes that Communist aggression can be forestalled through friendship with china and a division of Asia into spheres of influence: north of the Himalayas to china; south to India.

To safeguard India, Nehru will do practically anything. He will support China's claims to Formosa [the historical name for Taiwan]. He will buy arms from Russia. If China and Russia growl at the United States, he will growl too. He will never willingly antagonize china. As a clever Indian said, "We know that, no matter how angry we make America, she will never do anything about it. But if we make China angry..."

This policy is difficult for Americans to understand, but it makes sense to Indians. To a surprising degree it makes sense to most Westerners who live in Asia. A leading American expert on India confided, "We constantly demand that Nehru declare himself openly to be on our side. But look at his position. Along the 2500 kilometer northern border, Communists hover, ready to attack. Suppose Nehru told us tomorrow, 'All right America, I'm on your side. Now you defend that border!' To defend that border would cost nearly $5000 million annually."

Nehru has decided to defend his interminable and shaky border by diplomacy, depending not upon arms but upon friendship with Russia and China. He may not succeed, but his efforts are in the best interest of the free world. Indeed, China attacked India, as Michener feared, in late 1962.

Nehru's importance to India.

Whether we like his strategy or not, we must understand his importance to India. Tall, witty J.J Singh, a good friend to America, warns, "Nehru is India. India is Nehru. The only approach to India today is through this man, and when you idly attack him, you stab to the heart every Indian."

Nehru is not only the sentimental symbol of India. He is also the head of many government departments, and without him India would stagger and perhaps collapse. His work load is enormous; in addition he makes more speeches, attends more gatherings, is more accessible to his people and is seen more often by them than the leader of any other nation.

The most diverse elements of Indian national life rally behind Nehru. Ratan Lal, a Bombay businessman, who might be expected to fear Nehru's socialism, says "By 1937 we knew that Gandhi had selected Nehru to lead Free India. Here was a man who could have lived in luxury. Instead he dedicated himself to our cause, and even if he does incline a little towards socialism, we will follow him. For he is not mere politician. He has become the soul of India."

The Rani of Jasdan, who would now be a princess with almost absolute power if Nehru had not decreed the end of such medieval rule, says: "Even though it was Nehru who swept away people like us, I remain a profound admirer. I think that 95 percent of people like me think the same way."

Ram, a leather worker, one of India's untouchables, told me, "Gandhiji started to help us. Now we trust Nehru. If he lives long enough, we shall have better days."

But Nehru's prime importance is shown by the Indians who hate him. And those who hate him most are the Communists. During an agitation in Bombay, huge Communist signs read: "Death to Nehru, Murderer of Democracy." India's Communist think they have a good chance of capturing the country, but not until Nehru dies.

Nehru's importance to the world.

In recent years I have talked with the heads of many governments either bordering India or intimately connected to her. All told me how they prayed that Nehru could continue in office. A Pakistani in high office: "We have constant border troubles, but I feel certain there will be no war... as long as Nehru lives."

The Governor-General of Ceylon [now Si Lanka]: "At present we are engaged in troublous disputes with huge neighbor, India. But we feel secure. Our differences will be solved amicably... if Nehru lives."

An afghan politician: "The entire Himalayan border is in delicate balance, but it will be maintained.. as long as Nehru lives." And finally, a high American official: "Recently we've had nothing but trouble in American-Indian relations, but we'll be able to maintain intelligent... as long as Nehru lives." These are the reasons I believe that pandit Nehru, though often a difficult man for Americans to live with, is the best friend they have in Asia.

"Pandit Nehru lived until 27 May 1964."

- James A, Michener

Weight loss myths you're falling for

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Mon, 15 May 2023 02:19:00 +0000

Editors and Yahoo! health teamed up to pull your knowledge and attitudes about dropping kilos. We discovered many of you hold onto cherished but erroneous belief that could sabotage your effort to slim down.

Myth: You believe exercise is your best weight loss weapon

Of those surveyed, 71% of adults agree that the best way to lose weight permanently is through exercise. Only 41% believe restricting calories is the best way.

The truth: Exercise alone leads to a very modest reduction in total body weight: less than 3%. To achieve effective weight loss, you have to pair exercise with the right diet plan.

Myth: You think cardio exercise burns the most fat

While a healthy 71% of people who responded do cardio workouts, 56% believe cardio workouts burns the most fat.

The truth: Doing aerobic exercise at the same intensity isn't nearly an effective at fighting fat creep as surprising your body with interval training or strength training. In one study, as few as three 11-minut of calories burned during sleep. The key is to alternate intense bursts of activity with short periods of rest.

Myth: You think a simple walk will do

Only 29% of people push themselves "a lot" when they exercise, while 59% push themselves only a little, and 13% not at all.

The truth: A growing body of research suggest that bursts of intense activity, where you really get your heart pumping, are the most effective way to burn calories and get fit.

And here's the kicker: If you wrongly perceive you are working out harder than you really are, research shows that you're more likely to regain weight. A good indicator that you're going all out? You will find it hard to carry on a conversation during your exercise routine.

12 delicious ways to release fat

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Sun, 14 May 2023 06:06:00 +0000

After an exhaustive review of weight loss research, editors learnt a fascinating things: not all foods are created equal when it comes to shedding kilos. These 12 contenders seem t have special abilities to thwart your body's desire to hold on fat.

Image by Racool_studio on Freepik

Calcium

Your mum told you to drink milk because calcium was good for your bones. What she may not have known is it also helps control your hunger. Research shows people who don't consume enough have a greater fat mass and less control of their appetite. Women under 50 (and men under 70) should aim for 1000mg a day. Over those ages? push your intake up to 1200mg if needed.

Dairy

Yes, dairy is an excellent source of calcium, but even more excitingly, studies have found that dairy sources of calcium are markedly more effective in accelerating fat loss than other sources. Researchers theorize that other ingredients in dairy act synergistically with the calcium.

In one study from the university of Tennessee, USA researchers showed that eating three serving of dairy product a day significantly reduced body fat in obese subjects. And if calories were restricted at the same time, fat loss and weight loss accelerated.

There's more! A study done in 2010 indicated that drinking fat free milk immediately after whole body resistance training and again one hour after the workout allowed participants to increase fat loss, gain greater muscle and strength, and strengthen bones by reducing bone cell turnover. Have at least three servings of fat free dairy products each day. Time it with your exercise to maximize weight reducing effects.

Resveratrol

Many studies clearly show that a small glass of wine a day is good for your health. Researchers credit the anti aging properties of resveratrol (found in red grapes, mulberries, and peanuts) in red wine. Now cutting edge research suggests this antioxidant is a fat releaser too.

In one study of more than 19000 women who were initially of normal weight, light to moderate drinkers had less weight gain and less risk of becoming overweight than those who drank no alcohol over the near 13 year study period. In several animal studies, researches have demonstrated that moderate alcohol consumption doesn't promote weight gain. And in a separate animal study from 2006, researchers found resveratrol improved exercise endurance as well as protected against obesity and insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.

A small glass of red win each day won't hurt your weight loss efforts. In fact it may help.

Coconut oil

While saturated facts often get a bad rap, one source sits at the top of the "should enjoy" list: coconut oil. why? This oil was shown to do pretty nifty things for abdominally obese women in a 2009 study from Brazil, including decreasing their waist circumference, increasing beneficial HDL (High density lipoprotein) cholesterol and improving the ration of "bad" LDL (Low density lipoprotein) to "good" HDL cholesterol. And in populations where coconut oil is commonly eaten, high cholesterol levels and heart disease aren't common.

Limit saturated fat content to 10 percent of your total calorie intake each day, but make coconut oil or milk one of your top picks.

Vitamin C

You've heard for years to stock up on your vitamin C to fend off colds, but are you aware of its reputation as a weight loss aid? Research suggests that bodies of folks who are deficient in vitamin C cling more stubbornly to fat. In 2008, researchers in Canada reviewed a stack of studies to find what they called "unsuspected determinants of obesity" Their review linked less than ideal intakes of particular micronutrients to an increased likelihood of being overweight, and identified deficiencies in zinc, vitamin C, magnesium, and vitamin E as risk factors for having a higher percentage of body fat and belly fat. Women should aim for 75mg a day; men for 90mg.

"FAT Releasers vitamin C: strawberries, citrus fruits, kiwifruit, muskmelon, red capsicum."

PUFAs and MUFAs

There's a huge buzz around mono unsaturated fatty acids, or MUFAs, which seem to help people store less belly fat. They're found in olives, olive oil, nuts and seeds, dark chocolate, and avocado, and serving with each meal is recommended.

Now a small study from the Netherlands suggests that we should also enjoy polyunsaturated fatty acids, or PUFAs, found in fish and in many nuts and seeds. In this study, consumption of high ratio of PUFAs to saturated fast led to a higher resting metabolism, as well as a greater diet induced calorie burn. PUFAs are also burned faster than saturated fats in the body, another win win.

Our diets generally have more than enough n-6, or omega-6, PUFAs, so focus on long chain n-3 PUFA's commonly known as omega-3s. These are found in flaxseeds, walnuts, beans, salmon and olive oil.

Researchers theorize that the weight loss benefits of omega 3-s may be result of their anti inflammatory effects (inflammation in the body has been strongly linked to obesity). These healthy fats are further associated with protection from cardiovascular disease, and enhanced mood. Women should aim for 1.1g of omega 3s daily, men 1.6g.

Protein

This is macronutrient powerhouse for so many reasons: It promotes healthy skin, hair, nails, bones, and muscle. It's also a fabulous weight loss aid, according to a 2002 study from Arizona State University. Protein increased satiety (satisfaction and feelings of fullness) and increased after meal calorie burn. In other words, eating protein rich meals, rather than higher carbohydrate ones, leads to more satisfaction, less hunger, and more fat burn three benefits in one. Earlier research also found that people following higher protein diets generally decrease their food intake by an average of 10 percent (about 200 kilocalories). Expert recommend around 40g daily for women; 56g for men.

"Eating protein rich meals leads to more satisfaction, less hunger, and more fat burn"

"Fat releasers protein: beans, nuts, meat, eggs, lentils, poultry, seafood such as tuna, mackerel, sardines and lobster."

Honey and Cocoa

What do the two share? All may lead to less fat deposition in our bodies.

Honey: This natural sweetener has shown great promise in animal studies for reducing weight gain and body fat when substituted for sugar. Known to have antibacterial, anti viral, and antifungal properties, honey boasts wide ranging health benefits. It may Improve blood sugar control and immunity, and it's an effective cough suppressant.

Cocoa: We all welcome any excuse to add more chocolate to our lives. Cocoa contains more phenolic antioxidants than most foods. Just look at this list of benefits from a recent study done at the US's Yale Griffin Prevention Research Center by Dr David Katz and his colleagues: "Cocoa can protect nerves from injury and inflammation, protect the skin from oxidative damage from UV radiation. And have beneficial effects on satiety , cognitive function, and mood." Enjoy these foods regularly and slow down fat creep.

"With cocoa, honey, nuts, fruits and cheeses all shown to help weight loss, good health can also be delicious."

Fibre and vinegar

Throughout the years, many weight loss researchers have recommended starting a meal with a salad to stave off hunger and ensure that you don't overeat. But why does this work so well? One reason is that salads are a great source for fibre: Lettuce greens, carrots, tomatoes, and the like all have plenty of this macronutrient. Fibre's effect on increasing feeling of satiety are well documented.

The surprise here? The vinegar that comes along for the ride in salad dressing also helps you feel full. Research has shown that vinegar can lessen the glycemic effect of a meal (meaning it tends not to spike your blood sugar), an effect that has been linked to satiety which reduces your food intake. Vinegar may also prevent body fat accumulation, according to a 2009 animal study by Japanese researcher. Mice that were fed acetic acid, the main component of vinegar, for six weeks accumulated up to 10 percent less body fat that the control mice in the study.

Whether you combine fibre and vinegar or not, know that they are great tools to have on hand whenever you feel the need to tame your appetite and turn on fat burning controls. If you're not a fan of salad, there are plenty of other sources.

Women under 50 need at least 25g of fibre a day. Over 50 they should get 21g. Men under 50 need 38g; over 50 need 31g. Aim to get a daily dose of vinegar in your salad dressing or in another recipe.

"Fat releasers fibre: carrots, artichokes, radishes, lettuce, raspberries, legumes such as peas, and oats."

Help an accident victim!

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Sat, 13 May 2023 03:59:00 +0000

The faster an accident victim is rushed to hospital, the greater his or her chances of survival. Do not worry about getting involved in legalities or about being harassed by the police, as feared by the army man in the story here.

Legally, you can not be harassed for being the Good Samaritan in a road accident. The supreme Court of India has made this very clear following a 1989 public interest case (Parmanand katara vs. The Union of India) There will be no legal impediment on your part, whether you are an ordinary citizen, doctor, lawyer or policeman who happens to be connected with, or who happens to notice such an accident. Indeed, in 2004, the central ministry concerned with road transport and highways reiterated this in a circular to police chiefs in all states.

Recently, Maharashtra went one step further when the state's home minister announced rewards of Rs.50,000 to 1.5 lakh for those who help accident victims, depending on the level of help provided.

If you find an accident victim, consider yourself, or loved one in the same situation. Would you need help? So never hesitate to offer assistance. Call an ambulance or have the victim carefully taken to hospital as fast as you can.

One story:

The Good Conductor

It was that fateful night of 21 May 1991. My wife, our then three year old daughter Krithika and I were in a bus from Bangalore to Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. At about 2am, half an hour away from the Andhra temple town of Tirupati, a group of unruly men blocked our bus from going further. It seemed like the middle of nowhere and it was pitch dark, except for the bus headlights.

"Get out of the bus!" the mob ordered.

The passengers began to alight, even as some of the men threw stones at the bus, shattering its windshield. One shard of glass hit me in my right ear and it started to bleed. My wife lost her temper. "Why do you have to be violent?" She yelled at the men. "Can't you see we're all getting out?"

Other frightened passengers asked for the reason for such behaviour. We were told that Rajiv Gandhi had just been assassinated in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, about 100 km away.

Anyhow, some members of the mob pity on seeing my plight and asked all of us to board the bus again, " Go to Tirupati," they ordered the driver. At Tirupati, the bus depot was overcrowded with many more buses held up there. And we soon learnt that all the town's hotel and lodges were full.

We were not just stranded, but being Tamilians we were also scared of reprisals, since Rajiv Gandhi had been murdered in Tamil Nadu. We simply stood wondering what to do when a middle aged bus conductor came to us and enquired about my bloodstained clothes.

"Come with me," he said, after we told him what had happened. Conductor Ashok Rao took us to his tiny house and asked us to stay. His family also helped me dress my wounds, served us food, and offered me their only cot while they slept on the floor. As it was summer vacation time, a few visiting relatives had also come to stay. Ashok's wife, their children and the others took very good care of us for the next two days, Only after things returned to normal did they let us leave. Back home, I wrote a thank you note to Raos.

Today, two decades on , we often recount the day and think of the bus conductor who went far beyond his call of duty. - M.S. Raju, Kumbakonam, TN

How to solve Blogger search widget error: This form is not secure Autofill has been turned off

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Thu, 11 May 2023 18:30:00 +0000

In blogger if you are using very old template then it might be possible that you are using old widget as well. At that time blogger does not supported https. But now blogger supports https and you will get this error on search widget of your blog. This error mostly occurs in Google chrome web-browser. Here are are steps to quickly resolve it by editing search widget.

Steps:

1. Open blogger and login to your account.

2. Go to Layout.

3. Edit search widget.

4. Find your blog URL with HTTP.

5. Replace your Blog URL HTTP with HTTPS as shown in below image.

Make sure you find your blog URL and replaced HTTP with HTTPS correctly. After update click on save and check your update on your blog.

Kindness of strangers: If you have a heart, you can help anybody

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Thu, 11 May 2023 05:46:00 +0000

It was well past midnight when I got a phonecall from an acquaintance, a well heeled lady: "I saw your father lying severely injured on the highway," she said excitedly, "We were driving by. It's a hit and run!" She explained that her son who was driving their car, had just been commissioned in the army. They decided to leave, since they didn't want him dragged into any medico legal case. Besides her anguish and information on the accident spot, she had nothing more to offer me by way of help. I put the phone down. I couldn't afford to lose my cool as time was ticking away. I had never handled such a crisis. The only other person at home was my mother, but I said a little prayer and drove off alone.

On reaching the spot, all I found was Papa's dented scooter and a short tail of blood. Hoping some Good Samaritan must have rushed him to the nearest government medical college hospital, I reached there. I asked at the reception, checked admission records and went frantically from bed to bed but Papa wasn't there. I then stood by the Emergency entrance not knowing what to do. I could here the wailing of people who had lost their dear ones. I too expected the worst.

Just then a very exhausted man arrived, a construction labourer perhaps, pushing a handcart with Papa, unconscious and bleeding, bundled on it! The man was out of breath, his body drenched in sweat. As he beckoned paramedics, I noticed Papa's fractured ribs. His heart was pounding away. I signed the necessary consent papers for emergency surgery, and called up close relatives to donate blood. After the operation and several hours in the ICU, the surgeon spoke: "He's responding, but remains critical."

A retired Army officer, Papa recovered and resumed riding his scooter not long after the incident and, today at age 76, the only remnant of his trauma is a small depression on the left side of his chest. He now drives a car and loves to indulge his four grandchildren.

Looking back, amid all the drama and anguish, I missed thanking or finding out about the man who'd picked up my father and pushed his handcart for nearly four kilometers that night and helped save a life. After delivering Papa at the hospital, all he must have done was leave quietly. In doing so the poor man would have transcended all his daily worries, the summer's heat, exhaustion, fear of the law and the indifference of so many others who drove past, including a recently commissioned Army officer.

People like the man with the cart are true soldiers. He had little but could give so much. - Dr Anita Sharma, Jammu

How actor Anthony Hopkins simply relaxes and enjoys his job

noreply@blogger.com (Freshknowledgecenter) — Wed, 10 May 2023 05:08:00 +0000

He doesn't feel comfortable with great admiration people feel for him. Throughout the interview, Anthony Hopkins seems uneasy about such enthusiasm. He says again and again that his job as actor has to do merely with learning a script and repeating in correctly in front of a camera. At age 74, with an Oscar for his stunning performance of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of Lambs, and three other nominations, Hopkins actually Sir Anthony Hopkins since he was knighted in 1993 is one the world's most respected film actors.

In 1965, this Welshman conquered the London theater scene and since 1968 has had a constant presence in the movies, but he seems far more interested in other things. He has become a brilliant abstract painter and a classical music composer.

Hopkins is married to his third wife, Stella Arroyave, a Colombian woman who is 20 years younger than him. He admits that Stella was the reason for his new artistic interests. This includes the making of a surrealist film, Slipstream shown at the Sundance Film Festival five years ago.

He took the acting role of Odin, father of Thor, in Thor, a 2011 film based on a Marvel comic book character. The film also starred Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. A sequel, Thor 2, has been announced for 2013.