Tamil Family relationship Chart ( தமிழ் உறவுமுறை படிவம்)

These relationship names are made from my own experience. Also I left some ? marks, because I am  not sure how they (?) where related. Also there might be some mistakes will be in this image. Please guide me through your comments I will update this Image.

The Fact behind supporting Jakkikattu

Hidden facts and agenda:

31% out of 1.52 billion are vegetarians in India and milk is one the source of protein + World Highest milk producer. Foreign countries are attracted to this market.

Just to make huge quantity of milk started cross breeding using artificial insemination imported to breed our cows..bringing jersey and other milk products..soy milk as vegan milk which is another genetic modified good. Same was done in the past in bringing modified rice and artificial fertilizers which killed the ground, forbidding the natural fertilization and its farming.

Another hided fact... even thought our country breed gives 2500 liter then Cross breed 4500 liter. In a lifetime our breed gives for 12 times rather then 4 time of cross breeds.

Marketing of there products isn't possible either as a a1 milk or a2 cross breed insemination unless our breed are available. Tamilnadu is one of the place where breed evolved for many decades is still preserved. Already introduction of tractors has diminished few of this breeds and rest are preserved via jallikattu game and banning is a one convenient way of diminishing them.

Facts on this Extincting bull breed:

Only around 6 breeds are capable enough to participate in jallikattu. Out of which "Aalambaadi" breed is already extincted. Others will be soon extincted due to this ban, besides there will be no purpose or someone to spend money and nourish those breeds.

A calve once selected for jallikattu is never allowed for bull cart or ploughing and always fed with nutritious food and swimming as part of its exercise.

Its part of the culture and not an entertainment...  its the govt. Who made it as an entertainment for encouraging tourism.

Why you shouldn't ban jallikatu:

There r only 15000 kangaeyan breed only left, where as 10 lakh were there in the past 

Days where 4 cows for a bull has became 8.

There are only 30 breeds left our of  130 cattle breeds.

With ban and no one there to nourish or maintain all this breed are forced to left out or sent to slaughter house and breed extincts.

Tamilnadu Jallikattu vs other parts of the world:

In spain they stab knives behind the back of the bull till its death. In other culture they pour than an lit it to melt to its face and let it die in order to consume its Flesh after that act to increase there fertility. In mexico they pour alcohol and move it in the water via boat and beat it to kill. In Africa breaking its neck is there sport.

Jallikattu was not even a percentage of that and how the peta intervened only in here.

Rules of Jallikattu:

At a time only 1 person can try to catch the hump and no where else or he will be disqualified.

Catching the tail disqualifued..

Both bull and player health is validated before the game..this is done before the collector and animal welfare board will be around.

All this year you would have heard about human fatality, and wont hear about any bulls injury.

If a bull is injured, whole event will be cancelled. Whole game is recorded and submitted to the govt.

That bull get frightened runs away is not the case. A bull is trained to reach its owner from the opposite end...

After 2009 jallikattu act. This game is well organized and monitored/played by its rules.

Before getting independence :

Indian king from Gujarat gifted few ghir breed to Brazil. Now in Feb 2016 india has spent 50 lakh and around for getting insemination from brazil.

The only reason why this problem has not raised in Tamilnadu is jallikattu. More then 1000 of years breed still kept.

Jersey imports and artificial insemination and other foreign milk marketting wont work out. Till our country breed exist.

From a health standpoint:

Indian breeds even though produces less qty of milk which is of a2 category which a cure for most of disease. Foreign marketed breed and products from a1 category which has a toxin for a1 Cassie resulting in dietetics, stomach and other diseases.

Please read about "devil in the milk"

Unfortunately the normal milk which we consume is part of this a1

Where things are slowly Moving Reality:

Tn govt has given 12000 jersey freely.

To promote.

Almost all the Indian breeds are almost  destroyed for the foreign sales and only few breeds are left... few from Tamil nadu which is preserved and breed is still kept active.only due to jallikatu.

Bringing jersey or other products will impact Indian rural economy.

68% of the cows are with small farmers in india. There are around 1 lakh milk co operative centres via which they sell milk. Introducing this jersey breed will be harder for farmers to maintain, which drinks 4 times more water and proper environment maintenance.

Eventually entire milk industry will go in the hands of mnc's. Then price fixed by them will be rate.

Types of jallikatu: 3

Jallikatu.. a sport of getting the tied coins from the bull.

Manju viratu-a person capable to catch the hump and travel to certain distance is a winner.

Velli viratu- a person who can able to tame the bull from an open ground

Vatta manju viratu-a person capable yo tame a bull tied within 15 feet rope radius.

History and country breed ratio :

Cross breeding started in 1950's where there was a demand for milk from 70 million liters to 120 million. But this was a less output for the 2 core cows at that time.

After that 150 more tons would be required after 10 years was the assessment made by national dairy dept. Foreign countries which saw the Indian market size... started making deal with Indian govt. For cross breeding.

Those who allowed for this was given royal treatment with foreign trips and allowance for there kids education in foreign universities.

In 1962 they brought live stock act in Kerala. That no one should have the bull breed and bulls were infer-tilled if it get caught by the agri inspector.

After this... slowly Kerala farmers accepted in cross breed via artificial insemination. Which slowly spread-ed across. In PUNJAB of 1 lakh cattle 80 thousand are cross breeds.

Only reason in tamilnadu original breed is still alive is via jallikattu.

Foreign companies gave advise on the benefits of cross breed. Indian national dairy brought 400 foreign breeds on its expense and kept a expert group committee board for the results, which released that this will extinct our breeds and will cause health issues, which govt didn't cared about.

Cross breed was projected for giving 4500 liters of milk where as our breed off 2500 liters. But hidden the fact, in a life time our breed gives 12 times where as the other only 4 times.

Our Indian breeds in a life time gives 25 to 30 thousand liters.

Indian govt. Never shared the breed wise sen sex reports to hide this. There has been no sen sex on type if breed cattle made and maintained. Even now in 11th 5 year plan... Indian boarded in 40 million sperm doze as part of artificial insemination. Destroying our breeds.#justiceforjallikattu #pmindiatamilnaduneedsyou

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21 pygmy hog nests found in Manas National Park

Sushanta Talukdar

The smallest and rarest wild pig has been listed as critically-endangered

A survey conducted by the Assam Forest Department in the Manas National Park (MNP) has detected an estimated 21 nests of the critically-endangered pygmy hog (Porcula salvania).

The nests of pygmy hog — the smallest and rarest wild pig — were found in three separate locations. The survey also found pellets of the Hispid hare (Caprolagus hispidus) in almost all of 17 camp site locations, where the study was conducted for grassland species from March 18 to March 22.

Deputy Director of Manas Tiger Reserve Sonali Ghosh told The Hindu that Manas is known to be the last remaining wild habitat of the pygmy hog in the world.

“The finding of the survey is highly encouraging as the number of pygmy hogs was thought to be declining in number at the Park. Both Pygmy hog and Hispid Hare are Schedule I species. The pygmy hog nests were live with indications of the activity of this highly-endangered species, including droppings of the species,” said Dr. Ghosh, who was also a member of the survey team. Schedule I and Schedule II species are given absolute protection under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and offences against them attract heavy penalties.

Dr. Ghosh said pygmy hogs captured from Manas and captive-bred at Pygmy Hog Conservation Centre at Basistha in Guwahati had been released into the Orang National Park, Sonai Rupai wildlife sanctuary and Nameri Tiger Reserve in the State.

Other members of the survey team included grassland experts — Dr. Bibhuti Lahkar from Aaranyak, Dr. Gitanjali Banerji from Zoological Society of London, and Dr. Kaushik Deuti from the Zoological Survey of India besides researchers working in the World Heritage Site.

GPS-based method used

Dr. Ghosh said that GPS-based sign survey method was used in Bansbari and Bhuyanpara ranges of MNP to look for indirect signs such as pygmy hog droppings, nests and Hispid hare pellets and feeding signs.

Dr. Bibhuti Lahkar stated that wet alluvial grasslands dominated by Barenga (Saccharum narenga), Ulu (Imperata cylindrica) species under the two ranges were critical for survival of pygmy hog. These grasses must be protected by taking suitable measures such as early mosaic burning and systematic removal of anthropogenic pressure such as grazing domestic animal from nearby villages and the spread of invasive species, Dr. Lahkar said.

During the rapid survey, direct evidence was also obtained for other grassland species such as hog deer (Hyelaphus porcinus), swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii), and Bengal florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis), he added.

Weird ‘chicken from hell’ dinosaur discovered

the skeleton of the dinosaur Anzu wyliei.

Scientists have discovered a weird sharp-clawed bird-like dinosaur that roamed the Earth with the dreaded T-rex 66 million years ago and is being described as a “chicken from hell”.

The beaked dinosaur, Anzu wyliei, was almost 5 feet tall at the hip, measured 11.5 feet long and weighed up to 300 kg and had very sharp claws.

“It was a giant raptor, but with a chicken-like head and presumably feathers. The animal stood about 10 feet tall, so it would be scary as well as absurd to encounter,” said Emma Schachner from the University of Utah, a co-author of study.

“We jokingly call this thing the ‘chicken from hell,’ and I think that’s pretty appropriate,” said Matt Lamanna of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, the study’s lead author.

Three partial skeletons of the dinosaur — almost making up a full skeleton — were excavated from the uppermost level of the Hell Creek rock formation in North and South Dakota — a formation known for abundant fossils of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops.

Anzu is also “one of the youngest oviraptorosaurs known, meaning it lived very close to the dinosaur extinction event” blamed on an asteroid striking Earth 65 million years ago, Schachner said.

The researchers believe Anzu, with large sharp claws, was an omnivore, eating vegetation, small animals and perhaps eggs while living on a wet floodplain. The dinosaur apparently got into some scrapes.

“Two of the specimens display evidence of pathology. One appears to have a broken and healed rib, and the other has evidence of some sort of trauma to a toe,” Schachner said.

Having a nearly complete skeleton of Anzu wyliei sheds light on a category of oviraptorosaur theropod dinosaurs named caenagnathids, which have been known for a century, but only from limited fossil evidence.

Like many “new” dinosaurs, Anzu wyliei fossils were discovered some years ago, and it took more time for researchers to study the fossils and write and publish a formal scientific description.

The finding was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

A Tibetan mastiff puppy has been sold for $2 million

A Tibetan mastiff puppy has been sold in China for almost $2 million, a report said Wednesday, in what could be the most expensive dog sale ever. 

A property developer paid 12 million yuan ($1.9 million) for the one-year-old golden-haired mastiff at a "luxury pet" fair Tuesday in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the Qianjiang Evening News reported. 

"They have lion's blood and are top-of-the-range mastiff studs," the dog's breeder Zhang Gengyun was quoted as telling the paper, adding that another red-haired canine had sold for 6 million yuan. 

Enormous and sometimes ferocious, with round manes lending them a passing resemblance to lions, Tibetan mastiffs have become a prized status symbol among China's wealthy, sending prices skyrocketing.

The golden-haired animal was 80 centimetres (31 inches) tall, and weighed 90 kilograms (nearly 200 pounds), Zhang said, adding that he was sad to sell the animals. Neither was named in the report.

"Pure Tibetan mastiffs are very rare, just like our nationally treasured pandas, so the prices are so high," he said. 

One red mastiff named "Big Splash" reportedly sold for 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) in 2011, in the most expensive dog sale then recorded. 

The buyer at the Zhejiang expo was said to be a 56-year-old property developer from Qingdao who hopes to breed dogs himself, according to the report. 

The newspaper quoted the owner of a mastiff breeding website as saying that last year one animal sold for 27 million yuan at a fair in Beijing. 

But an industry insider surnamed Xu told the paper that the high prices may be the result of insider agreements among breeders to boost their dogs' worth.

"A lot of the sky-high priced deals are just breeders hyping each other up, and no money actually changes hands," Xu said. 

Owners say the mastiffs, descendants of dogs used for hunting by nomadic tribes in central Asia and Tibet, are fiercely loyal and protective.

Street named after A R Rahman in Canada

Oscar-winning music composer A R Rahman gets a street named after him in Markham, Ontario, Canada and the board having the street's name reads 'Allah-Rakha Rahman st'. A delighted Rahman posted a picture of him holding the board and tweeted "Welcome to my street! (In Markham, ON, Canada)."

 

The ace composer has won two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, four National Film Awards, fifteen Filmfare Awards and thirteen Filmfare Awards South in addition to numerous other awards and nominations. The hard work he has done has earned him the nickname 'the Mozart of Madras' (born in Chennai) and is also nicknamed Isai Puyal (Music Storm).

15th-century English monarch "Richard III" skeleton found underneath a council car park

The 500-year-old mystery surrounding the remains of Richard III, the controversial 15th-century English monarch portrayed by Shakespeare as a hunchbacked tyrant, has been finally solved with archaeologists confirming that a battle-scarred skeleton found underneath a council car park in Leicester was his. 

Richard III

 “Beyond reasonable doubt it’s Richard,” Richard Buckley from the University of Leicester, who had led a team of researchers, declared on Monday, bringing down the curtains on a subject that had intrigued generations of Britons. 

Leicester University described it as “one of the most ambitious archaeological projects ever attempted”. “Richard III, the last Plantaganet King of England, has been found,” said its deputy registrar, Richard Taylor. 

The Richard III Society, which believes the monarch had been unfairly reviled by historians, said the discovery of his final resting place would “spark a lot more interest” and “hopefully people will have more open mind toward Richard”. 

Until now, all that was known was that the king was buried in an unmarked grave in the church of Greyfriars in the centre of Leicester following his brutal death in battle in 1485 at the age of 32, after only two years on the throne that he had been accused of usurping.

Burial site of Richard III (now car parking)

But after the church was demolished in the 16th century the exact location of where he was buried became uncertain, triggering the search for the “lost king”. Then, in a dramatic breakthrough in August last year, the excavation of the car park led archaeologists to the buildings connected to the church. And within days they were looking at “a battle-scarred skeleton with spinal curvature”.

The skeleton was in good condition with its feet missing. Its hands were crossed over the front of the pelvis and there was no evidence of a coffin or shroud found with it, media reports said.

“The analysis of the skeleton proved that it was an adult male but was an unusually slender, almost feminine, build for a man. Taken as a whole the skeletal evidence provides a highly convincing case for identification as Richard III,” said Dr. Jo Appleby, an osteoarchaeologist.

 

Researchers said the bones were subjected to “rigorous academic study” and carbon dated to a period from 1455-1540. The remains were compared with, and found to match a 17th-generation descendant of Richard’s sister.

Alien-like skulls found at 1,000 year old cemetery in Mexico

A number of alien-like skulls have been discovered in a 1,000 year old cemetery in Mexico.

The finding initially stunned the researchers, however, upon closer inspection the skulls were found to be human skulls warped into strange, alien-like shapes.

Scientists said the practise of deforming skulls of children as they grew was common in Central America, and these findings suggest the tradition spread farther north than had been thought.

The cemetery was discovered by residents of the small Mexican village of Onavas in 1999 as they were building an irrigation canal, ‘LiveScience’ reported.

The site, referred to as El Cementerio, contained the remains of 25 human burials. Thirteen of them had deformed skulls, which were elongate and pointy at the back, and five had mutilated teeth.

Dental mutilation involves filing or grinding teeth into odd shapes, while cranial deformation involves distorting the normal growth of a child’s skull by applying force.

“Cranial deformation has been used by different societies in the world as a ritual practise, or for distinction of status within a group or to distinguish between social groups,” said researcher Cristina Garcia Moreno, an archaeologist at Arizona State University.

“The reason why these individuals at El Cementerio deformed their skulls is still unknown,” said Garcia.

“The most common comment I have read from people that see the pictures of cranial deformation has been that they think that those people were ‘aliens’

I could say that some say that as a joke, but the interesting thing is that some do think so. Obviously we are talking about human beings, not of aliens,” Garcia added.

Of the 25 burials, 17 were children between 5 months and 16 years of age. The high number of children seen at the site could suggest inept cranial deformation killed them due to excessive force against the skull.

Researchers suggest the people at El Cementerio had been influenced by recent migrants from the south.

However, it remains uncertain why some of these people were buried with ornaments while others were not, or — another mystery — why only one of the 25 skeletons was woman.

World’s youngest grandmother – aged just 23 ( Uber Fact)

• She gave birth at 12 to daughter who fell pregnant at 11
• She says marrying young is ‘tradition’ in Romanian gypsy circles

A gypsy wife has become the world’s youngest grandmother – aged just 23. Rifca Stanescu, from the village of Investi, Romania, told how she gave birth to her daughter, Maria, while only 12. Despite her mother’s pleas to stay in school, Maria gave birth to son Ion at the age of 11. Rifca, now 25, told the Sun: ‘I am happy to be a grandmother but I wished something else for Maria – and something else for me. ’Ion is a good boy – and he is already engaged to a girl aged 8. Boys are always good to have – they don’t have to suffer as much girls I think.’

Born in 1985, Rifca defied her family’s wishes and ran away with jewellery seller Ionel Stanescu when she was 11 and he was 13.

A year after they were married, Rifca fell pregnant with Maria.

She said: ‘I wanted to marry him, so I agreed, and of course after we had spent the night together then there was no way anyone could separate us. I had been promised to another boy’s family since I was two years old but I didn’t want that.’

In gypsy culture virginity is greatly prized and women are married young so that new husbands can be sure their new wives are virgins who affect a good dowry from the families of prospective husbands. Loss of virginity means a deal is cancelled.

She added: ‘Before that there was a lot of fighting – once my father had even attacked my husband with a knife. He wanted him to pay 500,000 lei in compensation. My family even took me home but after three days I ran away again to be with him.’

After Maria’s birth, Ionel’s family paid Rifca’s father a dowry and all was settled. Maria’s birth made Rifca’s mother a grandmother aged 40. Rifca said she begged daughter Maria to stay in school and finish her education. Maria decided to follow in her footsteps and marry herself. Within six months she too had fallen pregnant with Ion.  She told how in Romanian gypsy community it is common for couples to marry young. Rifca added: ‘I did not try to stop my daughter getting married because this is the tradition, it’s what happens.’ The youngest British grandmother was an unnamed 26-year-old from Rotherham, Yorkshire whose 12-year-old daughter gave birth in 1999.

Norwegian painter Edvard Munch's iconic work ‘The Scream,' considered one of the most recognisable in the art realm, sold for more than $119 million, creating a new record for the highest price ever paid for a work of art at any auction. 

The painting, depicting the image of a man holding his head and his mouth wide open, sold for $11,99,22,500, which includes the premium paid to Sotheby's at the auction held here on Wednesday. 

Bidding via phone

 

The auction house didn't release the name or any details of the buyer. The bidder was participating in the auction through phone. 

“A seminal image of the pulsating anguish of modernity, ‘The Scream' is among the most recognisable images in the history of art,” Sotheby's said. 

Till now, Pablo Picasso's ‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust' was the most expensive painting ever sold. It was bought for $106.5 million at a Christie's auction in 2010. 

At over $119 million, Munch's 1895 painting has become the highest-priced artwork to ever sell at an auction. The painting was estimated to sell for at least $80 million. 

Bidding at the Sotheby's auction started at $40 million with bidders from the U.S. and China competing for the sunset-coloured portrait, which is in its original frame. 

One of 4 versions

 

The painting is one of the four versions that Munch created, and the only one still in private hands. The other three are housed in the National Gallery of Oslo, and the Munch Museum in the Norwegian capital. 

The painting is being sold by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father is believed to have been Munch's friend and neighbour. 

Sotheby's said the pastel-on-board version of the painting is the most colourful and vibrant of the four, and the only version whose frame was hand-painted by the artist to include his poem, in which he talks of the inspiration for the painting.

In describing his inspiration for the image, Munch had written: “I was walking along a path with two friends — the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence — there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

Like Leonardo da Vinci's ‘The Mona Lisa,' ‘The Scream' is among the best-known images in modern art.

The image is of a bald man in a blue shirt with sunken cheeks, standing on a road believed to be a suicide spot on Oslo's horseshoe-shaped bay. 

He is holding his head, his eyes and mouth wide open, against a streaked blue and bright red background — an image which has been reproduced on paraphernalia like mugs, T-shirts and posters.

Given its immeasurable value, versions of the painting were twice stolen, first in 1994 when two thieves took one version from the National Gallery of Norway. It was stolen again in 2004, when gunmen stole the 1910 version from the Oslo-based Munch Museum. 

The paintings were later recovered. 

Sotheby's spokesman David Norman said few pieces of art have crossed the $100-million mark at a public auction. 

“‘The Scream' has really entered the collective conscience, whatever nationality, whatever country, whatever attitude or age, it really sort of speaks to that sort of existential terror that everyone experiences,” Mr. Norman said. 

Towards new museum

 

Sotheby's said proceeds from the sale are expected to go toward building a new museum, art centre and hotel in Norway, where Olsen's father and Munch were neighbours. 

The Impressionist and Modern Evening sale at Sotheby's also included a series of modern masterpieces from the collection of noted businessman and philanthropist Theodore Forstmann, including a brilliant wartime portrait by Picasso inspired by his muse, Dora Maar, and one of Chaim Soutine's most magnificent portraits, “Le Chasseur de Chez Maxim's.”

Huge penguin once roamed New Zealand

Fossilised remains of one of the largest penguins ever, an ‘elegant' giant standing 1.3 metres (52 inches) tall, have been found in New Zealand, scientists said recently.

The penguin lived 27-24 million years ago, when New Zealand was mostly underwater and consisted of isolated, rocky outcrops that offered protection from predators and plentiful food supplies, researchers said. The first traces of the penguin, dubbed Kairuku — Maori for diver who returns with food — was found embedded in a cliff at Waimate in the South Island by University of Otago paleontologist professor Ewen Fordyce in 1977.

Over the years, Fordyce discovered more complete remains and invited University of North Carolina specialist Dan Ksepka to help reconstruct the lost giant in 2009.

They determined the bird was much larger than the biggest modern penguin, the Emperor, which grows up to 1.0-metres, and weighed in at 60 kilograms (132 pounds), twice as much as the Emperor.

Fordyce said the bird's large size was an adaption that allowed it to swim further and dive deeper than its modern-day counterparts.

12 kg 'monster lobster' caught off U.S. coast

A ‘monster lobster’, weighing over 12 kg and a metre long, caught off the coast of Maine, U.S., by a fisherman has been released into its Atlantic home on Friday after spending exactly a week in an aquarium.

Robert Malone, from Cushing, U.S., caught the crustacean, named ‘Rocky’, in his nets last Friday. He turned over the lobster to the aquarium at Boothbay Harbour, the Daily Mail reports.

Elaine Jones, from the U.S. Department of Marine Resources, said, “All its weight is in the claws. It would break your arm.”

Lobsters that make it to the dinner table are usually between 450 to 900 grams in weight. Fishermen in Maine hauled in a record 100 million pounds or 45.3 million kg of lobster last year, due in part to overfishing of predators such as haddock, cod and monkfish.

Two Earth-like planets spotted around distant star

Scientists have found two Earth-sized planets orbiting a star outside the solar system, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere.

The discovery shows that such planets exist and that they can be detected by the Kepler spacecraft, said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They’re the smallest planets found so far that orbit a star resembling our sun.

Scientists are seeking Earth-sized planets as potential homes for extraterrestrial life, said Mr. Fressin, who reported the new findings in a paper published online by the journal Nature.

One planet’s diameter is only 3 per cent larger than Earth’s, while the other’s diameter is about nine-tenths that of Earth. They appear to be rocky, like our planet.

But they are too hot to contain life as we know it, with calculated temperatures of about 760°C and 425°C, he said.

Any life found on another planet may not be intelligent; it could be bacteria or mould or some completely unknown form.

Since it was launched in 2009, NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler telescope has found evidence of dozens of possible Earth-sized planets.

But Mr. Fressin’s report is the first to provide confirmation, said Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington. He’s a member of the Kepler science team but not an author of the paper.

The researchers ruled out a possible alternative explanation for the signals that initially indicated the planets were orbiting the star Kepler-20. The star is 950 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra.

The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are part of a five-planet system around the star, and their location challenges current understanding of how planets form, scientists said.

In our own solar system, the small rocky planets are closest to the sun, while gaseous giants are on the periphery.

But the five-planet system has no such dividing line; big and small planets alternate as one moves away from the star.

That’s “crazy,” and unexplained by current understanding of how planets form around stars, said study co-author and Harvard scientist David Charbonneau.

Earlier this month, scientists said they’d found a planet around another distant star with a life-friendly surface temperature of about 22°C. But it was too big to suggest life on its surface. At 2.4 times the size of Earth, it could be more like the gas-and-liquid Neptune with only a rocky core and mostly ocean, scientists said.

World's Cheapest Car Covered In Gold

When it comes to questionable marketing moves, this one may rank up there with Marie Antoinette’s infamous suggestion that her bread-less citizens should simply eat cake.

In an effort to spur flagging sales of its Nano micro-car, Indian automaker Tata has decided to take a jewel-encrusted version of the $3,000 two-door People’s Car worth $4.6 million yes, buy just one for the price of 1,533 Nanos and trot it around a country where a third of the world’s poor live on about 50 cents a day. By way of explanation, Tata chairman Bhaskar Bhatt said, “It’s only meant to travel around to showcase the Indian karigar’s (craftsmen’s) expertise.”

This particular Nano, commonly referred to as the world’s cheapest car, certainly does that. Artisans associated with the company’s chain of GoldPlus jewelry stores lavished the automobile with 194 pounds of hard-crafted 22-karat gold, 33 pounds of silver and 10,000 precious and semi-precious stones. The end result is a blinding chariot out of modern Bollywood, an automotive paean to some of India’s most iconic designs, colors and inherent beauty.

The micro bling machine was fittingly unveiled in a theater in Mumbai, and will go on a six-month tour of towns where Tata has manufacturing plants. The GoldPlus Nano is dazzling to the point of distraction, which is perhaps some of the point. Originally launched in 2008 with a 100,000-customer waiting list, the Nano has been plagued by Ford Pinto-like incidents of spontaneous combustion, the result of which were electrical system and exhaust safety upgrades for 70,000 owners. Sales have flagged markedly since that launch; August saw 1,200 sales, an 88 percent drop from 10,000 in April. Some analysts argue that the reason for the Nano’s sales decline may have less to do with safety issues and more to do with Indian consumers not taking well to the notion of owning the world’s least expensive vehicle.

Although Tata is well-known in its native land, particularly for commercial vehicles, the 66-year-old Mumbai-based company’s Western profile was raised in 2008 with its purchase of Jaguar/Land Rover. And now again, with the GoldPlus Nano — surely a car that no one ever asked for, but one that nonetheless is almost impossible to take your eyes off of, astronomical price aside. King Midas would have approved.

Roman Gladiator school discovered now in Austria

A virtual video presentation of the former Roman gladiator school that was found
by underground radar is provided by the Ludwig Bolzmann institute for archaeology
in Carnuntum, Austria, on September 5, 2011

A team of archaeologists has ‘sensationally’ discovered the ruins of a Roman gladiator school on the outskirts of the Austrian capital Vienna.

The find is one of the 100 hundred schools that the Romans built to train the fighters before they got involved in a brutal combat with each other.

The group from the Ludwig Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Vienna discovered the school, which contains sleeping cells, a bathing area and a training hall with heated floors and a cemetery.

The school, which is the only one of its type to have been discovered outside Italy, has been mapped by the use of ground penetrating radar, but the ruins still remain underground.

According to officials, the find can compete the famous Ludus Magnus — the largest of the gladiatorial training schools in Rome — in its structure.

Radar scans show that outside the walls of the school, what archaeologists believe was a cemetery for those killed during training.

"This is a world sensation, in the true meaning of the word,” the Daily Mail quoted lower Austrian provincial Governor Erwin Proell as saying. The team now hopes to unearth a wealth of artefacts, including body armour, weapons, eating utensils and money from the site where warriors trained and lived 2,000 years ago.

Apple reserve cash is more than US government

While the world's most powerful government has just $73.76 billion in its reserves, the world's top technology company has a neat cash pile of $75.87 billion Thursday.

The US Treasury Department Thursday warned that it has now only this much operating budget as Republicans and Democrats fight over raising the nation's debt ceiling. With only that much reserve at its disposal, the Obama White House has warned the Republicans that the US government won't be able to meet its obligations as of Aug 2.

Facing a government default, Obama can definitely turn to Steve Jobs to give him a very brief breathing space.

The failure by the Republicans and Democrats to come to a compromise to raise the current $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug 2 could lead to a hike in interest rates. The already battered dollar may also plunge further.

With its market capitalisation of $363.25 billion, Apple is the second largest company on the planet after American oil giant Exxon Mobil. The Cupertino-based Apple started rising suddenly in 2007 when it entered the smart phone market with the launch of its first version of the iPhone.

Within three years, Apple went on to overhaul BlackBerry company Research In Motion (RIM) which invented the smart phone and dominated the market.

But its fortunes skyrocketed last year with the launch of the iPad tablet which has sold in millions. In fact, the iPhone and the iPad have made Apple the czar of mobile computing technology as rivals play up catch-up.

The stock of the company, which doesn't pay dividends, has now touched $400.

After Apple, another non-financial company sitting on a huge cash reserve is Microsoft whose own pile is about $40 billion.

Coffee reduces liver cancer risk: Study

The hindu

A study involving ethnic Chinese residents of Singapore found that drinking three or more cups of coffee a day could reduce the risk of liver cancer by 44 per cent, The Straits Times newspaper reported Saturday.

Researchers at the Department of Epidemiology of the National University of Singapore suggested two oils found in coffee beans, cafestol and kahweol, have liver—protecting properties.

The research — begun in 1993 and involving more than 63,000 ethnic Chinese men and women aged 45 to 74, populations considered at higher risk of liver cancer — added to a growing body of evidence contradicting the long—held notion that coffee is bad for the health.

Associate professor Koh Woon Puay, who was involved in the study recently published in the US journal Cancer Causes and Control, said the finding meant coffee drinkers could now worry less about liver cancer.

“Coffee has often had to fight its bad image, compared with tea, which is often portrayed very positively,” Koh was quoted as saying.

But a study by her team on green tea drinking found that it had delivered no protection against the disease.

A 2008 coffee—drinking study found that drinking four or more cups a day might lower the risk of diabetes by 30 per cent.

Bullet train between Beijing-Shanghai with 300 kmph

Builders of China's fast-growing bullet train network conducted a test run of its showcase Beijing-to-Shanghai line Monday amid controversy over the prestige project's high cost.

A train carrying government officials, managers of the companies that built the line and reporters left Beijing for the 1,318-kilometer (824-mile) trip. It was due to take about five hours, or half the time of conventional rail.

The communist government is building thousands of miles (kilometers) of high-speed rail to link together China's far-flung regions and show off its rising wealth and technological prowess.

The multibillion-dollar plan has provoked complaints that it is too expensive for a country where millions of people still live in poverty. The government announced in April the top speed of the fastest lines would be reduced from 350 kph (220 mph) to 300 kph (190 mph) and ticket prices would be cut.

Official plans call for the network to expand to 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) of track this year and 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

China's trains are based on Japanese, French and German technology but its manufacturers are trying to sell to Latin America and the Middle East. That has prompted complaints Beijing is violating the spirit of licenses with foreign providers by reselling technology that was meant to be used only in China.

Monday's test run comes ahead of celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party on July 1.

In a statement, the Ministry of Railways said it made extensive preparations for safety and security. They include plans for daily inspections of tracks and other facilities and an earthquake monitoring system.

The Beijing-Shanghai line crosses seven provinces that include some of China's most densely populated and economically developed areas.

The railway ministry says the line will run 63 pairs of trains a day at 300 kph (190 mph) and 27 at 250 kph (155 mph). Ticket prices range from 1,750 yuan ($269) for a business class seat on the fastest train to 410 yuan ($63) for second-class on slower trains.

Government plans call for spending 700 billion yuan ($106 billion) on railway building this year. The railway ministry says the Beijing-Shanghai line cost 215 billion yuan ($32.5 billion).

Critics say railway officials have diverted too much money to high-speed rail and should be expanding lower-cost traditional rail.

During the Lunar New Year holiday in February, working class travelers complained they couldn't afford high-speed tickets and regular trains were sold out. A migrant worker became an Internet sensation when he stripped to his underwear to protest outside a ticket office after he waited 14 hours in line but couldn't get tickets for his family.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection said earlier this year that construction of one line and operation of another already completed, both in China's east, must stop until they receive environmental approval.

5 Ways TV Can Hurt Your Health:: By Lisa Collier Cool

By Lisa Collier Cool

Couch potatoes beware: Watching the tube for two to three hours a day or more is linked to higher risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and higher rates of early death from all causes, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The culprit is the couch potato lifestyle that frequently accompanies excessive viewing, the researchers report. With the average American logging five hours a day in front of the tube, sitting is replacing exercise.

TV viewing is associated with unhealthy eating, setting the stage for weight gain, the study indicates. Packing on pounds, in turn, boosts risk for diabetes, heart attacks, and a shorter life. Studies also link excessive tube time to sleep deprivation (another heart health hazard) and even nearsightedness in kids. Don’t blame the TV - it can’t shove you onto the couch or serve up a fast food meal. If your main form of physical activity is pushing buttons on the remote, take a look at how these habits can impact your health:

Follow these type 2 diabetes tips to help manage your blood sugar level.

1. Type 2 Diabetes. About 26 million Americans have diabetes, which quadruples risk for heart attack and stroke. The main risk factors for type 2 diabetes include being overweight, a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet (too many fried foods, too much processed meat and sugar-laden beverages), and family history. The JAMA study, which pooled results from earlier studies of 175,938 people, found that two hours of TV viewing daily ups risk by 20 percent.

Best prevention strategies: If you’re heavy, dropping even a few pounds can make a dramatic difference. In a study of people who already had pre-diabetes, those who shed 5 to 7 percent of their body weight (10 to 14 pounds for a 200-pound person) and exercised 150 minutes per week trimmed risk of progressing to full-blown diabetes by 58 percent. Exercise and weight loss also improve insulin resistance, the problem that leads to diabetes.

2. Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). This includes heart attacks, high blood pressure, angina (chest pain due to reduced blood supply to the heart), stroke and heart failure. The JAMA study found a 15 percent increased risk for fatal or nonfatal CVD among those who watched TV two hours a day. A recent Australian study found that the more screen exposure kids get, the higher the risk that arteries in their eyes will narrow, which could mean CVD later in life.

Best prevention strategies: Avoid smoking, exercise at least 30 minutes for five or more days a week, have your cholesterol and blood pressure checked, and if they’re high, get them under control via diet, exercise and, if necessary, medication. Maintain a healthy weight and reduce stress (exercise helps with both).

Try these 10 surprisingly simple ways to burn calories - without even leaving the house.

3. All-Cause Mortality. The JAMA study found that watching two hours of TV daily boosted risk of death from all causes during the study period by 13 percent. Worse: the risks appeared to rise with TV viewing of more than three hours daily, due to the couch potato lifestyle linked to excessive screen time.

Best prevention strategies: The same healthy habits listed for fighting diabetes and CVD.

4. Sleep Deprivation. We need between seven and eight hours of sleep daily but most adults don’t get that much. According to a National Sleep Foundation study watching the tube in bed or near bedtime is partly to blame. Skimping on slumber lifts risk for obesity, heart attacks, and car accidents. Multiple studies show that light at night, including light from the TV, boosts women’s risk of breast cancer.

Best prevention strategies: Turn off the TV at least one hour before bedtime, since the bright light from the screen stimulates the brain, making it harder to doze off. Develop good sleep hygiene.

5. Nearsightedness in Kids. Myopia (nearsightedness) affects 1.6 billion people globally. By 2020, the number is expected to hit 2.5 billion. Rates are highest in countries where kids watch the most TV and play computer games instead of playing outdoors. In Tokyo and Hong Kong, 30 to 50 percent of kids are myopic, versus 20 percent in the US. Myopic kids spend an average of 4.3 fewer hours per week outside than kids with normal vision and logged about four more hours of TV time weekly, a 2009 study found.

Best prevention strategies: Spending two hours a day outdoors reduces kids’ risk of nearsightedness by encouraging them to focus on objects in the distance, which helps strengthen their eyesight. Outdoor play also helps kids maintain a healthy weight.