The dispute between India and Pakistan regarding the territory of state of Jammu and Kashmir is the oldest and longest surviving dispute on earth. India claims that Kashmir is an integral part of India. Pakistan claims that people of Kashmir are the ones that should determine their own future. Both countries refuse that region should be independent. The dispute has consumed millions of lives on both sides apart from trillions of dollars since 1947. The Kashmir dispute is now registered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest militarized territorial dispute currently on the planet
TEMPORARY MARRIAGE IN IRAN
Anonymous in the West, temporary marriage is, basically, a contractual deal between a man and a woman who decide to be married for an agreed period of time varying from one hour to 99 years. This custom is practiced among the Shiites of Iran and Iraq, although not a part of Quranic teachings. In Iran, a man - bachelor or married, and a woman - virgin, divorced, or widowed, can, at any time enter into a temporary marriage contract, commonly known as sigheh or nekah-e-monghate'e.
In a temporary marriage contract, no registration or witness is required. As per the proponents of this arrangement, it is considered as a means of curbing free sex and control prostitution. Also, the arrangement allows a man to have 'sigheh' wives to an extent that is affordable by him. But a woman, on the other hand, is allowed to enter only one such relationship at a point of time. Moreover, the woman is also paid the compensation amount before entering the contract.
However, no couple can enter another contract before completing a waiting period of three months or an elapse of two menstrual cycles. This waiting period is referred as 'edda'. The trend of temporary marriage is, conversely, not liked by the educated middle class families. Also, some women are predisposed to think it as legal prostitution and, therefore, oppose the trend. This trend is, therefore, practiced more commonly by women who are either divorced or widowed. Additionally, the trend is also popular among theological seminaries and the clergy.
FACTS ABOUT VAMPIRES
Vampires are generally associated with bats, dragons and beautiful woman. The word vampire is believed to have been derived from either Hungarian vampire (witch) or Turkish upior (witch) or from Greek nosophorus (plague- carrier). A group of vampires is termed as clutch, coven, or a clan.Some common ways people follow to keep the vampires away are: they put mustard seeds on the threshold or hang fishing net on their window to keep the vampires busy counting the seeds or the fishing net’s holes till the sun rise. In ancient times in the Europe, stone monuments were commonly called dolmens were built on the graves to stop vampires from coming back. Vampires are not always dead; they are live people suffering from a type of disease. This disease is called porphyria or in common words as “vampire disease” or “Dracula disease”. The general symptoms of this disease are discomfort in sunlight or hair in large quantity all over the body. In severe cases the patient might have reddish brown stains on the teeth and finally goes mad. This medical disorder is generally due to haematodipsia, hemeralopia or sensitivity to sunlight termed as day blindness.
The famous vampires known of are Count Dracula, Muppet Vampires etc. The true vampire known for its beauty and attraction was Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Vampires have different tastes and habits. They are fond of blood, skin, flesh, nails and bones. Some grow white hair; change appearances and can even fly.
Before Christianity evolved garlic, bells, iron, seeds, spades, rowan trees, hawthorn branches, salt, peppermint, running water etc. were used to keep the vampires away but after the advent of Christianity the vampires’ repellent included holy water, crucifixes and Eucharist wafers.Literature in form of folk tales, short stories, comics using mermaids all talk of vampires including movies and serials.
BEAUTIFUL PSYCHEDELIC RIVER
Rivers are commonly known to be good sources of water for irrigation. Sometimes the rivers also play as very good sites to view. They may be calm or very rough. One of the rivers that play as a good tourist attraction would be the Cano Cristales. This river is found in Colombia's sierra de la Macarena. The river is known to be the most psychedelic river in the world. It is as moody as it is beautiful.
In the dry season the river dries up and all one finds is a cracked up river bed. In the wet season the river will be flooded and accessing it is practically impossible. However, when you go there at the beginning of the wet season you will be able to witness a magnificent spectacle. There will be rainbow colors on the river bed. This is the reason that the river has been termed as the most beautiful river in the world.
Due to this features, the river attracts many tourists who come to witness for themselves this amazing site. It's the only river in the world that will give you this amazing spectacle.
The river flows through many wonderful sites too. Thus if you are a tourist coming to see the river you will also have the privilege of getting to see other sites too. The river flows from the plateau of Sierrania de la Macarena. This happens to be a park and a mountain range that is a sanctuary for many plant and animal species.The rugged terrain is coupled up with many archaeological sites and caves that have not been explored. The archaeological sites have pictograms and petroglyphs that date as far back as the pre-Colombian times. The river is the parks central feature.During the wet season the river displays a spectacular array of colors. The colors range from deep red, yellow and pink to blue black and green. These colors can be attributed to the mosses and algae that grow on the river bed during the dry season. During the wet season they get enough moisture to be able to unfold the spectacular array of colors.However, as the wet season progresses, it is not possible to view that many colors. This is because the depth of the river does not allow for the algae to get enough sunlight. For those that love rugged rivers this would be the time to view the river.
MYSTERY MISSING DATES
Did you know the days/dates between 2nd and 14th September in 1752 did NOT exist? This is because this was the year that the calendar changed from the Julian (Julius Caesar) to the Gregorian (Pope Gregory XIII) calendar and because the Julian calendar did not have leap years, they had to cut out dates to make the years correct for the new calendar. So the days went 1, 2, 14, 15, 16....30. But the month still ended with 30 so people worked for 11 days less but got paid for 30 days. This is how paid leave started. England was the last country to adopt this system.
SMALLEST COUNTRY MOLOSSIA
One of the oldest micronations, the republic of Molossia It is located in Dayton, Nevada. It is inhabited by only four citizens, one of whom, Kevin Baugh is the president. It was founded in May 1977 by Baugh when he was aged fourteen and was formerly known as the republic of Vuldnstein. It has its own space program, has a railway and issues currency (valora) as well. Relations with the neighboring Muchistan have been troubled of late. In 2000, Molassia staged the first ever Micronation Olympic games in tune with the Sydney Olympics.
HAWAIIN ALPHABET
The Hawaiian Alphabet only contains 12 letters: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p and w. Every word ends with a vowel. A glottal stop is also used, called an 'okina (meaning cutting, 'oki meaning cut and na meaning -ing). It used to be called an 'u'ina (meaning snap).
THE PYRAMIDS WERE WHITE
The stereotypical vision of the Egyptian Pyramids are large mountain like brown piles of stone uprooting from the desert having a rough contour. Though when first constructed around 2500 BC. The pyramids were paper white and as smooth as glass, toping the pyramid was a golden capstone that gleamed in the desert sun. It was an amazing spectacle. The pyramids somewhat stayed in this state until the Arab invasion of Egypt around AD 500. The Arab invaders stripped the pyramid of it's smooth limestone and built a huge section of Cairo. Many of the Mosques and Palaces of Cairo consist of the Ancient stones of the pyramids. Quite sad actually
NUMBER THIRTEEN FACTS
The fear of number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia and it was derived from treiskaideka, the Greek word for thirteen and phobia. There were thirteen people at Christ's Last Supper before his captivity, it is recorder that Christ was crucified on Friday. Routine mission to the moon goes drastically wrong on Apollo 13. Some hotels skip number thirteen when numbering rooms. In Formula 1, there is no car with the number 13.
THE GREAT WALL MYTH
It is common mistake to say that The Great wall of China is visible from outer space. It is too thin to be noticed from such a great distance. There are no man made structures that are visible from space or moon. Man made objects start to disappear after 300 miles up. From that distance you can barely see the outline of the Great China Wall. If we consider that distance from Earth to Moon is around 384,403 kilometers/238,857 miles then we can draw reasonable conclusion that it would be impossible to see any man-made structures from such a distance. Astronaut Alan Bean said: "The only thing you can see from the moon is a beautiful sphere, mostly white (clouds), some blue (ocean), patches of yellow (deserts), and every once in a while some green vegetation. No man-made object is visible on this scale. In fact, when first leaving earth's orbit and only a few thousand miles away, no man-made object is visible at that point either."
2012 INTERESTING FACTS
2012 is expected to be year of great positive change. It is not the end of the world! Back in 1899 something was identified called Schumann Cavity Resonance. It is the heart beat or frequency of the Earth. Since its discovery till 1986 this heart beat frequency was constant 7.8 Hertz per second. From 1986 it started to raise dramatically and in 1998 it was reported to be 10 hertz per second. On other hand magnetics of the earth are dropping dramatically and it is expected they will reach zero point in 2012. Maya calendar and other calendars end in 2012, but it is not the end of the world just beginning of the new one since every 26000 years Earth goes through grand cycle of evolution
FACTS ABOUT INDIA
The name India is derived from the river Indus. The game of chess originated from India. The decimal code along with the place value system was an original Indian development. The highest cricket ground of the world is in Chail, approximately 2444 meters above sea level. Budhayana an Indian mathematician was the first to calculate the value of "pi" mathematically and explained the concept of Pythagorean Theorem in the 6th century. The Indian railway is the largest employer in the world, over a million people work for it. The game of snake and ladders was discovered in India by Gyandev in the 13th century.
