| links for 2008-07-04 Indian-inpired Fashion at Armani … Luxury Fashion for South DelhiArmani showing Indian-inspired fashion for their men’s show isn’t just another trend. India is a serious emerging market for luxury brands as evidenced in the soon-to-be-opening 5-story Emporio Mall in South Delhi which will boast Indian fashion brands as(tags: fashion india(n) luxury)No Tags niralimagazine.com |
The Daily Delicious for July 8, 2008 Balle Balle D-O-Double-G?Bolly-Dogg … Snoop to Shoot a Bollywood Video“The hip-hop legend has teamed up with Indian superstar Akshay Kumar to make a music video for the theme song of a new movie, “Singh Is Kinng.” Dear God, please let this be true. —Priya(tags: gossip bollywood hiphop)No Tags niralimagazine.com |
The Workings of an Ancient Nuclear Reactor Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2005 issue of Scientific American.In May 1972 a worker at a nuclear fuel–processing plant in France noticed something suspicious. He had been conducting a routine analysis of uranium derived from a seemingly ordinary source of ore. As is the case with all natural uranium, the material under study contained three isotopes-- that is to say, three forms with differing atomic masses: uranium 238, the most abundant variety; uranium 234, the rarest; and uranium 235, the isotope that is coveted because it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. Elsewhere in the earth’s crust, on the moon and even in meteorites, uranium 235 atoms make up 0.720 percent of the total. But in these samples, which came from the Oklo deposit in Gabon (a former French colony in west equatorial Africa), uranium 235 constituted just 0.717 percent. That tiny discrepancy was enough to alert French scientists that something strange had happened. Further analyses showed that ore from at least one part of the mine was far short on uranium 235: some 200 kilograms appeared to be missing-- enough to make half a dozen or so nuclear bombs. [More] pheedo.com |
Updates: Whatever Happened to the Risk for Another Indian Ocean Tsunami? No Relief from Tsunami ThreatIn the devastating wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, scientists rushed to investigate its cause and the potential for another killer wave [see “Tsunami: Wave of Change”; SciAm, January 2006]. They found that the tsunami resulted from a magnitude 9.2 earthquake off Sumatra’s western coast--specifically, at the Sunda megathrust, where one tectonic plate is diving below another. Scientists had conjectured two strong earthquakes there in 2007 might have relieved pent-up energy, thereby preventing another major quake. [More] pheedo.com |
Hurricane Katrina slams into Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, as a Category 4 hurricane on this day in 2005. Despite being only the third most powerful storm of the 2005 hurricane season, Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. After briefly coming ashore in southern Florida on August 25 as a Category 1 hurricane, Katrina gained strength before slamming into the Gulf Coast on August 29. In addition to bringing devastation to the New Orleans area, the hurricane caused damage along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as other parts of Louisiana.New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city on August 28, when Katrina briefly achieved Category 5 status and the National Weather Service predicted "devastating" damage to the area. But an estimated 150,000 people, who either did not want to or did not have the resources to leave, ignored the order and stayed behind. The storm brought sustained winds of 145 miles per hour, which cut power lines and destroyed homes, even turning cars into projectile missiles. Katrina caused record storm surges all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The surges overwhelmed the levees that protected New Orleans, located at six feet below sea level, from Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River. Soon, 80 percent of the city was flooded up to the rooftops of many homes and small buildings.Tens of thousands of people sought shelter in the New Orleans Convention Center and the Louisiana Superdome. The situation in both places quickly deteriorated, as food and water ran low and conditions became unsanitary. Frustration mounted as it took up to two days for a full-scale relief effort to begin. In the meantime, the stranded residents suffered from heat, hunger, and a lack of medical care. Reports of looting, rape, and even murder began to surface. As news networks broadcast scenes from the devastated city to the world, it became obvious that a vast majority of the victims were African-American and poor, leading to difficult questions among the public about the state of racial equality in the United States. The federal government and President George W. Bush were roundly criticized for what was perceived as their slow response to the disaster. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Michael Brown, resigned amid the ensuing controversy.Finally, on September 1, the tens of thousands of people staying in the damaged Superdome and Convention Center begin to be moved to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, and another mandatory evacuation order was issued for the city. The next day, military convoys arrived with supplies and the National Guard was brought in to bring a halt to lawlessness. Efforts began to collect and identify corpses. On September 6, eight days after the hurricane, the Army Corps of Engineers finally completed temporary repairs to the three major holes in New Orleans' levee system and were able to begin pumping water out of the city.In all, it is believed that the hurricane caused more than 1,300 deaths and up to $150 billion in damages to both private property and public infrastructure. It is estimated that only about $40 billion of that number will be covered by insurance. One million people were displaced by the disaster, a phenomenon unseen in the United States since the Great Depression. Four hundred thousand people lost their jobs as a result of the disaster. Offers of international aid poured in from around the world, even from poor countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Private donations from U.S. citizens alone approached $600 million.The storm also set off 36 tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, resulting in one death.President Bush declared September 16 a national day of remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. history.com |