A fissure or crack in a planet’s surface that gives way for the molten lava, gases, and ash to erupt from below is known as a volcano. The very word ‘volcano’ has been derived from the name of the Roman God of Fire ‘Vulcan’. Volcanoes are divided into three major categories, namely, active, dormant, and extinct. An active volcano is one that erupts frequently, though the lifespan may vary from months to several billion years. Mount St. Helens in United States, Mount Damavand in Iran, and Colima Volcano in Mexico are some active volcanoes. A volcano is said to be dormant when it has not erupted for many years but still has the potential to erupt anytime. Mount Kea in Hawaii was last seen erupting in 2460 BC and since then, it has been sleeping. The last category is the extinct volcano type that is unlikely to erupt again because of lack of lava supply. The Hawaiian – Emperor seamount chain in the Pacific Ocean, Hohentwiel, Shiprock and the Zuidwal volcano in the Netherlands are some examples of extinct volcanoes. However, knowing the categories and differentiating the volcanoes still does not solve a major question – how does a volcano erupt? Glance through the lines below to know how is a volcano formed and how does it erupt.

How Does A Volcano Erupt

The earth’s crust is just a small part of the total volume of earth. Beneath the continents that we live on, there lies a 30 km thick crust. This thickness reduces to 10 km below the ocean floor. Below the crust lies the earth’s mantle. Although this mantle is solid rock, it is under extreme high pressures and temperatures, that can reach to even more than 1000°C due to which the mantle can sometimes melt and start squeezing out of the cracks in the rock. This molten rock is called magma. This, then, collects into the vast chambers below the earth’s crust. Compared to the surrounding rock, the melted magma is less in density and hence, floats up to the surface peeping through cracks and fissures in the rock.

Gradually, this magma pushes upwards with intense force. As such, the intense heat melts more rock, thereby adding to the magma mixture. This magma, in turn, starts moving through the crust until the upward pressure exceeds the downward pressure of the surrounding solid rock. As a result, the magma starts collecting in the magma chambers just below the surface of the earth. When the magma pressure reaches to a sufficient high level, the crack opens up in the crust, thereby forcing the molten rock to explode through the earth’s surface. At this point, the magma flows out, which is known as lava, thus, forming a volcano. As a result, what we see spewing through the cracks is a volcanic eruption. The erupting lava is accompanied by ash and volcanic rocks.

The nature of volcanic eruption largely depends on the gas content and the viscosity of the magma material. In case the magma has a high viscosity, the gas bubbles will have a hard time escaping from the magma, thereby pushing up more material and leading to a bigger explosion. However, if the viscosity of the magma is low, the gas bubbles can escape from the magma easily and hence, the lava would not be able to erupt with intense pressure. To add on, this viscosity is often balanced off with the gas content. Say, for instance, if the magma contains more bubbles, the eruption will be violent. On the other hand, if it contains less gas, the lava will erupt calmly. While viscosity depends upon the proportion of silicon found in the magma due to its reaction with oxygen, gas content varies on what kind of material was melted to form the magma.

When the viscosity and gas levels are high, the eruptions from the magmas are highly explosive and destructive. Contrarily, the most subdued eruptions occur from magmas with low gas levels and low viscosity. However, volcanic eruptions never fall into easy categories. As such, eruptions depend upon several stages with varying amounts of destructions at each stage. When the viscosity and gas pressure is low, lava erupts slowly and gradually flows down the surface, thereby leading to minimum explosion. In such a situation, humans have enough time to move away due to the slow speed of such eruptions. However, if the gas has great amounts of pressure, the volcano results in an explosive launch, causing hot gas, ash, and pyroclastic rocks to spread all over.

This is how a volcano erupts and causes the lava to flow onto the surface of earth. Besides, there are different types of eruptions, namely, plinian eruption, Hawaiian eruption, strombolian eruption, vulcanian eruption, hydrovolcanic eruption, and fissure eruption.

Drinking a healthy amount of water is vital to your health You can never imagine just by drinking a healthy amount of water, you gain tremendous health benefits, and sometimes you can even throw away your migraine medicine or pain killer.

Functions of Water in The Body.

The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on body size. A rule of thumb, 2/3 of body is consists of water, and it is the main component of human body. Did you know that your tissues and organs are mainly made up of water? Here is the %:

Muscle consists of 75% water
Brain consists of 90% of water
Bone consists of 22% of water
Blood consists of 83% water

The functions of water in human body are vital. The water:

Transports nutrients and oxygen into cells
Moisturizes the air in lungs
Helps with metabolism
Protects our vital organ
Helps our organs to absorb nutrients better
Regulates body temperature
Detoxifies
Protects and moisturizes our joints

Every cell in your body needs water from head to toe. That is why it is so important to drink enough fluid. Take for example, brain consists of 90% of water, if you do not supply enough water to your body, your brain cannot function well, and you will get headache or migraine. Hence, next time, if you feel fatigue and headache, it may be the sign of dehydration.

The human body, which is made up of between 55 and 75 percent water (lean people have more water in their bodies because muscle holds more water than fat), is in need of constant water replenishment.

Your lungs expel between two and four cups of water each day through normal breathing – even more on a cold day. If your feet sweat, there goes another cup of water. If you make half a dozen trips to the bathroom during the day, that’s six cups of water. If you perspire, you expel about two cups of water (which doesn’t include exercise-induced perspiration).

A person would have to lose 10 percent of her body weight in fluids to be considered dehydrated, but as little as two percent can affect athletic performance, cause tiredness and dull critical thinking abilities. Adequate water consumption can help lessen the chance of kidney stones, keep joints lubricated, prevent and lessen the severity of colds and flu and help prevent constipation.

Health benefits of water
Water is crucial to your health. It makes up, on average, 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water.

Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body to carry on normal functions. Even mild dehydration – as little as a 1 percent to 2 percent loss of your body weight – can sap your energy and make you tired. Dehydration poses a particular health risk for the very young and the very old. Signs and symptoms of dehydration include:

Excessive thirst
Fatigue
Headache
Dry mouth
Little or no urination
Muscle weakness
Dizziness
Lightheadedness

How much water do you need?
Every day you lose water through sweating – noticeable and unnoticeable – exhaling, urinating and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you need to replace this water by consuming beverages and foods that contain water. So how much water, or more precisely fluid, do you need?

This isn’t an easy question to answer. A healthy adult’s daily fluid intake can vary widely. Most people drink fluid to quench thirst, to supply perceived water needs and “out of habit.” At least three approaches estimate total fluid (water) needs for healthy, sedentary adults living in a temperate climate.

Replacement approach. The average urine output for adults is 1.5 liters a day. You lose close to an additional liter of water a day through breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Food usually accounts for 20 percent of your fluid intake, so you if you consume 2 liters of water or other beverages a day (a little more than 8 cups), along with your normal diet, you can replace the lost fluids.

Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Another approach to water intake is the “8 x 8 rule” – drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The rule could also be stated, “drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day,” as all fluids count toward the daily total. Though this approach isn’t supported by scientific evidence, many people use this basic rule as a guideline for how much water and other fluids to drink.

Dietary recommendations. The Institute of Medicine recommends that men consume 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day. These guidelines are based on national food surveys that assessed people’s average fluid intakes.

You can choose any of these fluid intake approaches to gauge your fluid needs. But your current total fluid intake is probably OK if you drink enough water to quench your thirst, produce a colorless or slightly yellow normal amount of urine, and feel well.

Factors that influence water needs
You may need to modify total fluid intake from these recommended amounts depending on several factors, including how active you are, the climate, your health status, and if you’re pregnant or breast-feeding.

Exercise. If you exercise or engage in any activity that makes you sweat, you’ll need to drink extra water to compensate for that fluid loss. Drink 2 cups of water two hours before a long endurance event, for example, a marathon or half-marathon. One to 2 cups of water is also adequate for shorter bouts of exercise. During the activity, replenish fluids at regular intervals, and continue drinking water or other fluids after you’re finished. During intense exercise involving significant sweating, for example, during a marathon, sodium is lost in sweat, and you may need a sports drink with sodium rather than just water.

Environment. You need to drink additional water in hot or humid weather to help lower your body temperature and to replace what you lose through sweating. You may also need extra water in cold weather if you sweat while wearing insulated clothing. Heated, indoor air can cause your skin to lose moisture, increasing your daily fluid requirements. And altitudes greater than 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) also can affect how much water your body needs. Higher altitudes may trigger increased urination and more rapid breathing, which uses up more of your fluid reserves.

Illnesses or health conditions. Some signs and symptoms of illnesses, such as fever, vomiting and diarrhea, cause your body to lose extra fluids. To replace lost fluids, drink more water or oral rehydration solutions (Gatorade, Powerade, CeraLyte, others). When water loss can’t be replaced orally, intravenous water and electrolytes may be necessary. Increased water intake is nearly always advised in people with urinary tract stones. On the other hand, you may need to limit the amount of water you drink if you have certain conditions that impair excretion of water – such as heart failure and some types of kidney, liver, adrenal and thyroid diseases.

Pregnant or breast-feeding. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding need additional water to stay hydrated and to replenish the fluids lost, especially when nursing. The Institute of Medicine recommends that pregnant women drink 2.3 liters (nearly 10 cups) of fluids a day and women who breast-feed consume 3.1 liters (about 13 cups) of fluids a day.

Beyond the tap: Many sources of water
You don’t need to sip from your water bottle all day to satisfy your fluid needs. Your diet, including the beverages you drink, can provide a large portion of what you need. In an average adult diet, food provides about 20 percent of total water intake. The remaining 80 percent comes from beverages of all kinds.

Fruits and vegetables – besides being good sources of vitamins, minerals and fiber – contain lots of water. For example, oranges are 87 percent water, and cucumbers are 95 percent water. Milk, juice and other beverages also have large amounts of water. Conversely, dried fruits, nuts, grain products and baked goods generally contain less water.

Make it count: Meet your water needs through food and beverages
Alcohol – such as beer and wine – and caffeinated beverages – such as coffee, tea or soda – can contribute to your total fluid intake. But your best beverage is still water. Water is calorie-free, inexpensive when drawn from a faucet or fountain, and readily available in and out of your home.

Thirst not always a reliable gauge
If you’re healthy and not in any dehydrating conditions, you can generally use your thirst as an indicator of when to drink water. But thirst isn’t always an adequate gauge of your body’s need for fluid replenishment. The older you are, the less you’re able to sense that you’re thirsty. And during vigorous exercise, an important amount of your fluid reserves may be lost before you feel thirsty. So make sure that you’re sufficiently hydrated before, during and after exercise.

Increased thirst and increased urination, both in volume and frequency, can be signs and symptoms of diabetes. With diabetes, excess blood sugar (glucose) in your body draws water from your tissues, making you feel dehydrated. To quench your thirst, you drink a lot of water and other beverages and that leads to more frequent urination. If you notice unexplained increases in your thirst and urination, see your doctor. It may not necessarily mean you have diabetes. It could be something else. And some people consume large amounts of water and experience increased urine output not associated with any underlying disease.

Diabetes – Staying safely hydrated
Make a conscious effort to keep yourself hydrated and make water your beverage of choice. Nearly every healthy adult can consider the following:

Drink a glass of water with each meal and between each meal.
Take water breaks instead of coffee or tea breaks.
Substitute sparkling water for alcoholic drinks at social gatherings.

If you drink water from a bottle, thoroughly clean or replace the bottle often. Every time you drink, bacteria from your mouth contaminate water in the bottle. If you use a bottle repeatedly, make sure that the bottle is designed for reuse. To keep it clean, wash your container in hot, soapy water or run it through a dishwasher before refilling it.

Though uncommon, it’s possible to drink too much water. Drinking excessive amounts can overwhelm your kidneys’ ability to get rid of the water. This can lead to hyponatremia, a condition in which excess water intake dilutes the normal amount of sodium in the blood. People who are older, who have certain medical conditions such as congestive heart failure and cirrhosis, or who are taking certain diuretics are at higher risk of hyponatremia.

It was on this day a hundred years ago that the song was first sung at a public gathering Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. On Tuesday, the city celebrated the 100th year of the first public performance of the song that later became the national anthem of Independent India.

The audience – that included governor M K Narayanan and chief minister Mamata Banerjee – at the historic Town Hall was taken down the memory lane as the life and times of Rabindranath Tagore, the composer of Jana Gana Mana, was depicted at a cultural programme organised and presented by filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh.

Renowned artists, including Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, Bickram Ghosh, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Srikanto Acharya and Jaya Seal Ghosh, had come together to make the presentation a memorable one.

“This was an outstanding presentation. Rituparno Ghosh has more than fulfilled the legend of the anthem. Witnessing the last audio-visual that had a very special group of children singing the national anthem was a very moving moment of my life,” said Narayanan.

Mamata too heaped praises on the participants. “The manner in which the culture of entire India was showcased was in keeping with the characteristics of Tagore’s works,” the chief minister said.

A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder’s promise to pay for these goods and services. The issuer of the card creates a revolving account and grants a line of credit to the consumer (or the user) from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the user.

A credit card is different from a charge card: a charge card requires the balance to be paid in full each month. In contrast, credit cards allow the consumers a continuing balance of debt, subject to interest being charged. A credit card also differs from a cash card, which can be used like currency by the owner of the card. Most credit cards are issued by banks or credit unions, and are the shape and size specified by the ISO/IEC 7810 standard as ID-1. This is defined as 85.60 × 53.98 mm (3.370 × 2.125 in) (33/8 × 21/8 in) in size.

The concept of using a card for purchases was described in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his utopian novel Looking Backward. Bellamy used the term credit card eleven times in this novel.

The modern credit card was the successor of a variety of merchant credit schemes. It was first used in the 1920s, in the United States, specifically to sell fuel to a growing number of automobile owners. In 1938 several companies started to accept each other’s cards. Western Union had begun issuing charge cards to its frequent customers in 1921. Some charge cards were printed on paper card stock, but were easily counterfeited.

The Charga-Plate, developed in 1928, was an early predecessor to the credit card and used in the U.S. from the 1930s to the late 1950s. It was a 2½” × 1¼” rectangle of sheet metal related to Addressograph and military dog tag systems. It was embossed with the customer’s name, city and state. It held a small paper card for a signature. In recording a purchase, the plate was laid into a recess in the imprinter, with a paper “charge slip” positioned on top of it. The record of the transaction included an impression of the embossed information, made by the imprinter pressing an inked ribbon against the charge slip. Charga-Plate was a trademark of Farrington Manufacturing Co. Charga-Plates were issued by large-scale merchants to their regular customers, much like department store credit cards of today. In some cases, the plates were kept in the issuing store rather than held by customers. When an authorized user made a purchase, a clerk retrieved the plate from the store’s files and then processed the purchase. Charga-Plates speeded back-office bookkeeping that was done manually in paper ledgers in each store, before computers.

In 1934, American Airlines and the Air Transport Association simplified the process even more with the advent of the Air Travel Card.[5] They created a numbering scheme that identified the Issuer of card as well as the Customer account. This is the reason the modern UATP cards still start with the number 1. With an Air Travel Card passengers could “buy now, and pay later” for a ticket against their credit and receive a fifteen percent discount at any of the accepting airlines. By the 1940s, all of the major domestic airlines offered Air Travel Cards that could be used on 17 different airlines. By 1941 about half of the Airlines Revenues came through the Air Travel Card agreement. The Airlines had also started offering installment plans to lure new travelers into the air. In October 1948 the Air Travel Card become the first inter-nationally valid Charge Card within all members of the International Air Transport Association.[citation needed]

The concept of customers paying different merchants using the same card was expanded in 1950 by Ralph Schneider and Frank McNamara, founders of Diners Club, to consolidate multiple cards. The Diners Club, which was created partially through a merger with Dine and Sign, produced the first “general purpose” charge card, and required the entire bill to be paid with each statement. That was followed by Carte Blanche and in 1958 by American Express which created a worldwide credit card network (although these were initially charge cards that acquired credit card features after BankAmericard demonstrated the feasibility of the concept).

However, until 1958, no one had been able to create a working revolving credit financial instrument issued by a third-party bank that was generally accepted by a large number of merchants (as opposed to merchant-issued revolving cards accepted by only a few merchants). A dozen experiments by small American banks had been attempted (and had failed). In September 1958, Bank of America launched the BankAmericard in Fresno, California. BankAmericard became the first successful recognizably modern credit card (although it underwent a troubled gestation during which its creator resigned), and with its overseas affiliates, eventually evolved into the Visa system. In 1966, the ancestor of MasterCard was born when a group of banks established Master Charge to compete with BankAmericard; it received a significant boost when Citibank merged its proprietary Everything Card (launched in 1967) into Master Charge in 1969.

Early credit cards in the U.S., of which BankAmericard was the most prominent example, were mass produced and mass mailed unsolicited to bank customers who were thought to be good credit risks. But, “They have been mailed off to unemployables, drunks, narcotics addicts and to compulsive debtors, a process President Johnson’s Special Assistant Betty Furness found very like ‘giving sugar to diabetics’.”[6] These mass mailings were known as “drops” in banking terminology, and were outlawed in 1970 due to the financial chaos they caused, but not before 100 million credit cards had been dropped into the U.S. population. After 1970, only credit card applications could be sent unsolicited in mass mailings.

The fractured nature of the U.S. banking system under the Glass–Steagall Act meant that credit cards became an effective way for those who were traveling around the country to move their credit to places where they could not directly use their banking facilities. In 1966 Barclaycard in the UK launched the first credit card outside of the U.S.

There are now countless variations on the basic concept of revolving credit for individuals (as issued by banks and honored by a network of financial institutions), including organization-branded credit cards, corporate-user credit cards, store cards and so on.

Although credit cards reached very high adoption levels in the US, Canada and the UK in the mid twentieth century, many cultures were more cash-oriented, or developed alternative forms of cash-less payments, such as Carte bleue or the Eurocard (Germany, France, Switzerland, and others). In these places, adoption of credit cards was initially much slower. It took until the 1990s to reach anything like the percentage market-penetration levels achieved in the US, Canada, or UK. In some countries, acceptance still remains poor as the use of a credit card system depends on the banking system being perceived as reliable. Japan remains a very cash oriented society, with credit card adoption being limited to only the largest of merchants, although an alternative system based on RFIDs inside cellphones has seen some acceptance. Because of strict regulations regarding banking system overdrafts, some countries, France in particular, were much faster to develop and adopt chip-based credit cards which are now seen as major anti-fraud credit devices. Debit cards and online banking are used more widely than credit cards in some countries.

The design of the credit card itself has become a major selling point in recent years. The value of the card to the issuer is often related to the customer’s usage of the card, or to the customer’s financial worth. This has led to the rise of Co-Brand and Affinity cards – where the card design is related to the “affinity” (a university or professional society, for example) leading to higher card usage. In most cases a percentage of the value of the card is returned to the affinity group.

How credit cards work

Credit cards are issued by a credit card issuer, such as a bank or credit union, after an account has been approved by the credit provider, after which cardholders can use it to make purchases at merchants accepting that card. Merchants often advertise which cards they accept by displaying acceptance marks – generally derived from logos – or may communicate this orally, as in “We take (brands X, Y, and Z)” or “We don’t take credit cards”.

When a purchase is made, the credit card user agrees to pay the card issuer. The cardholder indicates consent to pay by signing a receipt with a record of the card details and indicating the amount to be paid or by entering a personal identification number (PIN). Also, many merchants now accept verbal authorizations via telephone and electronic authorization using the Internet, known as a card not present transaction (CNP).

Electronic verification systems allow merchants to verify in a few seconds that the card is valid and the credit card customer has sufficient credit to cover the purchase, allowing the verification to happen at time of purchase. The verification is performed using a credit card payment terminal or point-of-sale (POS) system with a communications link to the merchant’s acquiring bank. Data from the card is obtained from a magnetic stripe or chip on the card; the latter system is called Chip and PIN in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and is implemented as an EMV card.

For card not present transactions where the card is not shown (e.g., e-commerce, mail order, and telephone sales), merchants additionally verify that the customer is in physical possession of the card and is the authorized user by asking for additional information such as the security code printed on the back of the card, date of expiry, and billing address.

Each month, the credit card user is sent a statement indicating the purchases undertaken with the card, any outstanding fees, and the total amount owed. After receiving the statement, the cardholder may dispute any charges that he or she thinks are incorrect (see 15 U.S.C. § 1643, which limits cardholder liability for unauthorized use of a credit card to $50, and the Fair Credit Billing Act for details of the US regulations). Otherwise, the cardholder must pay a defined minimum proportion of the bill by a due date, or may choose to pay a higher amount up to the entire amount owed. The credit issuer charges interest on the amount owed if the balance is not paid in full (typically at a much higher rate than most other forms of debt). In addition, if the credit card user fails to make at least the minimum payment by the due date, the issuer may impose a “late fee” and/or other penalties on the user. To help mitigate this, some financial institutions can arrange for automatic payments to be deducted from the user’s bank accounts, thus avoiding such penalties altogether as long as the cardholder has sufficient funds.

The lure of spices brought every European nation to India. Portugal, Holland, France, England — they came one by one. Did you know that Denmark, too, was on that list? The little-known alcove of Tharangambadi, on Tamil Nadu’s eastern coast, became Tranquebar to the Danish, who set up base there. One part of the Danes’ mission was to evangelize the Protestant faith. Another was to colonize the island of Nicobar. Tharangambadi in Tamil means ‘place of the dancing waves.’ Today, time and tide dance in step among the ruins of Tranquebar.
The Governor’s House in Tranquebar being restored by INTACH.The Zion Church in Tranquebar is India’s oldest Protestant church and was built by Danish settlers in 1704.The cannons on the ramparts of Fort Dansborg in Tranquebar have long been silent and were probably never used, except ceremonially.The New Jerusalem Church in Tranquebar was established in 1718 by Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg, the first Protestant Missionary and first Royal Missionary from Denmark to India. Ziegenbalg landed at Tranquebar, then a Danish colony, on July 9, 1706.The Ziegenbalg Spiritual Center in Tranquebar, Originally the residence of the Lutheran missionary Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg, this building now houses offices that carry on his evangelical work.
Fort Dansborg by the beach in Tranquebar. The fort was constructed after the first Danish trading expedition arrived in India. A treaty regulating trading rights was signed between Nayak Raghunatha in Thanjavur and the Danish East India Company in 1620. Today the fort houses a small museum.

Etymology
Earlier known as the Periyar dam as it was basically meant to dam the Periyar river,the present name Mullaperiyar is derived from a portmanteau of Mullayar River and Periyar River, at the confluence of which the dam is located below.
Purpose
The Periyar river which flows westward into the Arabian Sea was diverted eastward to flow towards the Bay of Bengal to provide water to the arid rain shadow region of Madurai in Madras Presidency which was in dire need of a greater supply than the small Vaigai River could give.[7] The dam created the Periyar Thekkady reservoir, from which water was diverted eastwards to via a tunnel to augment the small flow of the Vaigai River. The Vaigai was dammed by the Vaigai Dam to provide a source for irrigating large tracts around Madurai. Initially the dam waters were used only for the irrigation of 68,558 ha (169,411 acres).Later, the Periyar Power Station in the lower Periyar, Tamil Nadu was built which generates hydro-electricity from the diverted waters.

Currently, the water from the Periyar (Thekkadi) Lake created by the dam, is diverted through the water shed cutting and a subterranean tunnel to Forebay Dam near Kumili (Errachipalam) in Tamil Nadu. From Forebay dam, hydel pipe lines carry the water to the Periyar Power Station in Lower Periyar, Tamil Nadu. This is used for power generation (175 MW capacity) in the Periyar Power Station. The Lower Periyar Power Sation was constructed in 1956.

From the Periyar Power Station, the water is let out into Vairavanar river and then to Suruliyar and from Suruliyar to Vaigai Dam.
Design
The Mullaperiyar Dam is a gravity dam made with limestone and surkhi (a mixture of crushed brick, sugar and quicklime). Gravity dams use their weight and the force of gravity to support the reservoir and remain stable. The main dam has a maximum height of 53.6 m (176 ft) and length of 365.7 m (1,200 ft). Its crest is 3.6 m (12 ft) wide while the base has a width of 42.2 m (138 ft). It consists of a main dam, spillway on its left and an auxiliary dam (or “baby dam”) to the right. Its reservoir can withhold 443,230,000 m3 (359,332 acre·ft) of water, of which 299,130,000 m3 (242,509 acre·ft) is active (live) storage.

Type of dam     Masonry gravity dam irrigation
Height (foundation)     53.66 m (176 ft)
Length     365.85 m (1,200 ft) (main)
Crest width     3.6 m (12 ft)
Base width     42.2 m (138 ft)
Impounds     Periyar River
Spillways     13
Spillway capacity     3,454.62 cubic metres per second (121,999 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
Capacity     443,230,000 m3 (359,332 acre·ft)
Active capacity     299,130,000 m3 (242,509 acre·ft)
Max. water depth     47.2 m (155 ft)

When the telephone was introduced in 1876, a Western Union internal memo noted: “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is of no value to us.” In 1879, W. H. Preece, a Post Office engineer, testified to a House of Commons Committee that Britain had little use of the telephone because: “Here we have a superabundance of messengers, errand boys and things of that kind”

Even Alexander Graham Bell, who was awarded the patent for the invention of the telephone, disliked telephones so much that he refused to have one in his office. But that should not come as a surprise because both his mother and wife was deaf and perhaps Bell – who also was a speech teacher to the deaf – was only considering them.

When Bell passed away in 1922, every telephone served by the Bell system in the USA and Canada was silent for one minute.

How many telephones in the world?

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) there are some 1.4 billion fixed lines phones and about 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions.

More calls are made on Mother’s Day than any other day but more reverse charge calls (collect calls) are made on Father’s Day than any other day.

Almost 2 billion people (of the almost 7 billion world population) use the Internet, either via computer or a mobile phone.

What is correct: “cell phone” or “mobile phone” phone? Same thing. The word cell is short for cellular and has been used since Bell Laboratories set up the first wireless telephony system in 1947. It consisted of a network of low-powered transmitters, each placed to cover a small region or cell. The first public cell phone call was made on April 3, 1973 by Martin Cooper of Motorola. Commercial cell phones were introduced in Chicago in 1978 and in Europe in 1981. The first portable cell phone available to the public, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, was launched in 1984 and weighed 2 lbs. If you’re surprised to learn that mobile telephony has been around so long, here’s another surprise: Bell Laboratories invented the videophone in 1927.

Numbers

Most numbers on a phone keypad have letters assigned to them. For instance, the letters for the number 2 are a, b and c. But there are no letters assigned to the numbers 1 and 0. These numbers remain unassigned because they are so-called flag numbers, kept for special purposes such as emergency or operator services. Previously, Q and Z were not included on the keypad, meaning that you could not dial a word such as Quincy. Q is now assigned to the number 7, and Z to number 9.

What is a SMS?

Text messaging is a SMS (Short Message Service) that can be made from a mobile phone (cell phone) to another mobile phone or from and to web based services such as IQC [where you don't need a phone to send an SMS]. SMS generally allows the sending and receiving of a maximum of 160 characters although some providers allow more. You can also send non-text messages such as ringtones, logos, cards, calendars, clipart and WAP. More than 20 billion text messages are sent per month. In some regions text messaging is referred to simply as TXT and in others as SMS.

And MMS?

Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) is a step up from SMS. MMS use next generation networks to send pictures and video clips between subscribers.

(Travel + Leisure) — From digital check-ins to shipping baggage, these tips will help you avoid unnecessary airline fees.

Travel with an elite flier. Gaining tier status in a frequent-flier program gets you a host of fee waivers, but it’s not easy logging all that sky time. The next best thing: traveling on the same reservation as a high-status passenger. Your bags will fly free, and some programs will allow you to tag along through priority boarding without paying extra.

Travel + Leisure: How to buy lost luggage bargains

Get the right credit card. Chase’s OnePass Plus MasterCard offers one free checked bag and complimentary priority boarding on all Continental and United flights. The Delta SkyMiles card from American Express (the parent company of Travel + Leisure) grants one free checked bag for the cardholder and up to nine companions.

Travel + Leisure: T+L’s most dangerous U.S. airports

Avoid human interaction. Airlines are increasingly imposing fees for doing anything in-person or on the phone that can be done online, such as checking in or printing boarding passes. SmarterTravel executive editor Anne Banas recommends reaching out via social media if you have a thorny issue and don’t want to pay a surcharge for an agent’s help.

Choose your airline carefully. Southwest is best not only for travelers who can’t pack light (you get your first two bags checked free) but also for those with uncertain plans, since it doesn’t impose a ticketing change fee. The legacy carriers all have a $150 change fee on domestic flights.

Plan ahead. If you’re traveling with excess baggage, UPS or FedEx Ground may be more economical than checking. Want to book an award ticket? Do it at least three weeks ahead of time so you can avoid the rush fee that airlines tack on: it can add as much as $165 to an international ticket.

Experts believe as much as 80% of what we perceive as the signs of skin ageing — including fine lines, wrinkles, age spots and loss of firmness — are triggered by free radical damage. The best way to combat free radicals is with antioxidants. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, putting a halt to damage that can result in premature ageing.

Antioxidants have been proven to be one of the keys to preventing debilitating diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and macular degeneration. Because  pomegranate juice has antioxidants more than the ever-popular green tea and red wine, this means that the health benefits of pomegranate juice are worth considering. Pomegranates are packed with antioxidants. These beautiful red fruits contain all the beneficial antioxidants, including tannins, anthocyanins, and polyphenols.

Health benefits of pomegranate:

Fights cancer: Studies claim that pomegranate juice helps in the fight against breast, lung and prostate cancer. If consumed regularly, studies show that it can even help inhibit the development of cancer.

Buffers free radical damage: Free radicals are produced by functions within the body and elements outside the body. Since we can’t stop its occurrence, it become important to consume foods that can help neutralize the damage. Pomegranates contain a high content of antioxidants, which helps fight against the damage that free radicals do to your cells.

Prevention of Alzheimer’s disease: Research shows that regular consumption of pomegranate can significantly reduce accumulation of amyloid plaque, which puts you at lesser risk of Alzheimer’s.

More oxygen: Recent studies reveal that eating pomegranate seeds and drinking pomegranate juice can increase oxygen levels, which mean your blood will be better oxygenated – and you will be healthier.

Can treat erectile dysfunction: Did you know that pomegranates might help treat erectile dysfunction? A research published in the International Journal of Impotence Research showed that drinking 8 ounces of pomegranate juice every day can help treat erectile dysfunction.

Protects the neonatal brain: Many advocate consumption of pomegranate juice during pregnancy. Latest research shows that it is indeed good, because drinking pomegranate juice during pregnancy might help protect neonatal brain from damage after injury.

For arthritis: If you’re suffering from arthritis, then this wonder fruit may be good for you. Pomegranates are known to reduce inflammation of arthritis by slowing down the enzymes that break down cartilage, thereby preventing cartilage deterioration.

Protects arteries: Pomegranates help prevent plaque build-up in you arteries and may even help reverse plaque build-up, and is therefore, good for you heart health.

Reduces cholesterol: Pomegranates help lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and raise HDL (good cholesterol).

Lowers blood pressure: One study indicated that consumption of 1.7 ounces of pomegranate juice per day, lowered systolic blood pressure by as much as 5%.

Dental protection: Want good, healthy teeth? Then pomegranates can come to your rescue. A natural way to prevent dental plaque might be drinking pomegranate juice daily.

Fortunately, nature provides us with many antioxidants to fight free radicals. Among the most powerful of these is Pomegrante Extract.
Recent studies and research show that the potential health benefits of pomegranate juice are absolutely amazing. Pomegranate fruit has long been seen in art, mentioned in writings, and hailed by many major religions throughout the years as a symbol of fertility and health. Within the last two years or so, pomegranate juice has become wildly popular and is seen not only in juice and pure fruit form, but also in many products across the board. “Pomegranate” seems to be the new “buzz” word for healthy drinking and eating.