How did the formal system of issuing cheques originated?


As we might think, it was not a commercial enterprise which introduced the system of formal cheques but a quasi religious organization called knights templar. To give you a bit of background, Jerusalem, which is a top religious center for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, came under Muslim rule. Christian authorities then ‘liberated’ Jerusalem from the Muslims in what is now known as First crusade.

After that a new Christian Military Organization known as Knights Templar was formed to ensure the safety of the large numbers of European pilgrims who flowed toward Jerusalem after its conquest.The Order in 1150 began generating letters of credit for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land: pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar center before embarking, received an encrypted document indicating the value of their deposit, then used that document upon arrival in the Holy Land to retrieve their funds. This innovative arrangement may have been the first formal chequing system; it both improved the safety of pilgrims by making them less attractive targets for thieves, and further contributed to the Templar coffers.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar
http://home.gwi.net/ages/Main%20Body/History/Templar%20Origins.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade

Ramneek Maan Singh

Why you can't stop army ants from going across a river by dynamiting the bridges?

What do you do at home if you have bottle of some sherbet or sweet drink and ants keep crowding towards the top of that bottle so as to lick of droplets of sweet drink. Generally you keep the bottle in a bowl of water as ants can’t cross or swim across water. But you will be wrong if the ants in question are Army ants. Army ants cross rivers or bodies of water by climbing on top of each other and clustering together into a little ball that floats. Many of them fall off and sink, and naturally the ants on the bottom of the ball drown. The ones who are quick and vigorous enough to keep clawing their way to the top survive. A lot of them make it across, and that's why you can't stop army ants by dynamiting the bridges.

References:-
http://lib.ru/INOFANT/STEFENSON/snow_crash_engl.txt
http://www.angelfire.com/nc/isoptera/cretaceous.html

Ramneek Maan Singh

Most Expensive Photograph. A big irony.



This picture holds the record for the highest price paid for a photograph. This work "99 Cent" was sold for $3,346,456, February, 2007. It shows the cluttered interior of a discount store. The "99 Cent" images feature oversaturated colors and enough detail to overwhelm the viewer.

It is an irony that the picture which itself captures a discount store holds the record for highest price paid for a picture.

Ramneek Maan Singh

786

You must have noticed the number 786 on a green background prominently displayed on roadside dargahs or Muslim places of worship around the country side. What does it mean and what is it significance.

The opening verse or phrase of Quran is “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim”. Now according to an Arabic system of numerology, the sum of numbers assigned to letters of this verse amount to 786. Not all Muslims place emphasis on this numerological analysis; however, some — mostly in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh — use 786 as a substitute for Bismillah ("In the name of Allah" or "In the name of God"). They write this number to avoid writing the name of God, or Quranic verses on ordinary papers, which can be subject to dirt or come in contact with 'unclean' materials. This practice does not date from the time of Muhammad and is not universally accepted by Muslims.

Orthodox Muslims say that Islam does not believe in this numeral mumbo-jumbo and it associates it with pagan culture. There are various arguments given to impress upon Muslims that they should desist from using such numbers one being that '786' is also an aggregation of the numbers of Hindu 'Lord Hari Krishna'. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid using this number to avoid the danger of being indulging in infidelity.

Ramneek Maan Singh

Nomenclature/terminology associated with whiskey

Single malt whiskey, blended scotch whiskey, pure malt whiskey are some of the terms you might be acquainted with. They are prominently displayed on branded whiskies. But what do they mean. Read on:

What is a Single Malt Scotch whiskey?
A Single Malt Scotch Whiskey is the product of one specific distillery and has not been mixed with whiskey from any other distilleries. It is a 100% malted barley whiskey from one distillery.

What is a Blended or Pure Malt or Vatted whiskey?
A Vatted Malt will contain a number of single malt whiskies that have been skilfully blended together or "married," to create a consistent whiskey with its own distinct, identifiable character. Such a malt can also consist entirely of single malt whiskies of various ages from the same distillery. However, vatted malts will never contain any grain whiskey. A fairly uncommon type of whiskey, it is often well suited to those who prefer their whiskey to be less challenging, due to the fact that the blender's skill will more often than not produce an unvarying malt with highly definable traits.

What is a Single Grain Scotch whiskey?
A Single grain whiskey is the product of one Grain distillery and is usually made from wheat, corn or unmalted barley. It does not have to be made from a single type of grain.

What is a Blended Scotch whiskey?
A blended scotch whisky may contain a combination of whiskies from over 40 or 50 different malt and grain distilleries. The normal ratio of malt to grain is 60% grain 40% malt. The percentage of malt used will determine the quality and smoothness of taste and character. Each whisky used in the blending process will normally have been matured for about 5 years. However there are a number of higher aged blended scotch whiskies available.

What is a Malt ?
Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate and then are quickly dried before the plant develops. The resulting grain is, thereafter, called malt.

Brands:
Notable blended Scotch whiskey brands include Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, etc. Out of the Johnnie Walker stable, only the green label brand is vatted. Else all are blended scotch whiskies.

Ramneek Maan Singh

A Real Time capsule


















Well you might have heard of time capsules in science fiction stories. They contain information intended for people in future. One of most scientifically made time capsule with information for extra terrestrial beings sent out from earth is the Voyager Golden Record. It contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. It is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, that may find it. The Voyager spacecraft will take about 40,000 years to come near another star, 'near' meaning in this case within around 1.7 light-years' distance; hence, if other beings do not come in the direction of the spacecraft to meet them, it will take at least that long for the Golden Record to be found.

Its contents: 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and animal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earthlings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is audio, designed to be played at 16⅔ revolutions per minute. It contains spoken greetings beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect. A total of 55 languages have used for spoken greetings included in the Golden Record.

Instructions for playing the record look like:




Now the big question is: How will a extra terrestrial being be able to assimilate the information encoded for him on the record. The instructions to play the record or to build a record player are in English which is very much a language on planet earth. But English probably wont be the language of communication for extra terrestrial beings ( as much as English language chauvinists would say ). How will that dilemma be solved? I don't know.

Any way this was the second but most comprehensive attempt for a time capsule by NASA, the first one being the Pioneer plaques which were placed on board the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 spacecraft. The Pioneer plaque looked like this:-



Read more at:
Voyager Golden Disc
Pioneer plaque

Ramneek Maan Singh

Alexander VI: The pope who indulged in sexual orgies and kept mistresses

Can you imagine sexual orgies in Vatican City and that too being organized by the greatest torch bearer of Christian religion, the pope himself? It indeed is true and the pope in question was Alexander VI. His two dominant passions were greed of gold and love of women and he had many mistresses.He led an immoral life, and indulging in the chase, dancing, stage plays and indecent orgies with prostitutes.

The most famous of these sexual orgies was Banquet of Chestnuts. In these orgies the servants kept score of each man's orgasms, for the pope greatly admired virility and measured a man's machismo by his ejaculative capacity.

Read more about it at:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banquet_of_Chestnuts

Antonov An-225:-World's largest and heaviest flying airplane


This photograph shows the Antonov AN-225 carrying the Buran Space shuttle piggyback.

Tid bits about it:-

1. Built to transport the Buran space shuttle.
2. Weight of 640 tonnes.
3. Larger than the Airbus A380 airliner.
4. Maximum speed: 850 km/hr

More on it at:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225

Ramneek Maan Singh

MTT Turbine SUPER BIKE :-Fastest, most powerful, and most expensive street-legal production bike in the world


Its specifications:-

1. Cost US$185,000
2. Proven top speed of over 227 mph (365 km/h)
3. World's second wheel driven motorcycle powered by a turbine engine.
4. Engine produces 320hp power (usually the engine is used to power Bell 206 helicopters!!)
   
5. "Push a button on the handlebars and the turbine spools up with a ferocious wooossshhh! It sounds like a junior 747"-- Jay Leno
   
6. Power-to-weight ratio better than a Formula One car's.
7. Mileage. Well don't ask. It is 2 Km/liter.

More on it at:-
http://www.marineturbine.com/motorsports.asp
http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/
jay_leno_garage/1302876.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTT_Turbine_SUPERBIKE

Ramneek Maan Singh

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 :-Fastest, most powerful, and most expensive street-legal production car in the world


Its specifications:-

1. Cost 1.66 million US $
2. Proven top speed of over 400 km/h (407.5 km/h or 253.2 mph)
3. World's second super car with 16 cylinders
4. It has a 8.0 L (7,993 cc) engine
5. Reaches 100 km/h (62 mph) in an estimated time of 2.5 seconds
6. consumes more fuel than any other production car, using 40.4 L/100 km. So that means it average is 2.4 Km/liter.

More on it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugatti_Veyron

Ramneek Maan Singh

Update on trickster and fraud called sai baba

I had posted a video on You Tube showing this person called "sai baba" cheating by producing gold necklace out of air, which actually was done by using sleight of hand. This video was widely published in Indian press and was "withdrawn" by PM Narasimha Rao's influence…..
This guy is a fraud and to cover up his acts he issued a copyright infringement notice to You Tube to remove the video i had posted. And You tube duly complied.

And i notice this has been done to all the videos that were critical of him on the You Tube. The only ones left now are the ones singing praises of him.So why are not those videos which sing praises of him removed from the site. Don't they infringe the copyright by the same logic.

But you can watch that video and many more exposing this trickster, claiming to be god, on http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/engels/movies.html

Also read the guest book messages on
http://home.hetnet.nl/~ex-baba/

Ramneek Maan Singh

Information system, not an Education system!!!

What we have in India is not an "Education system" but what we can call an "Information system". Information is being fed into the minds of students and nothing else. We can't necessarily call a informed person an Educated individual. There is an subtle difference between them.So the term education system is somewhat a misnomer if we see it in Indian context. Think for yourself.

This pic (Pultizer prize winner) is from Sudan where Kevin carter had gone to photograph a civil war and famine.
The girl was going to the feeding centre and collapsed on the way due to starvation.
And vulture behind is just waiting for her to die. Chilling!!!!!!

Ramneek Maan Singh

Communism, Fascism and Nazism

What is the difference between Communism, Fascism and Nazism?

These are the three main ideologies for which major wars have been fought in the last 100 years or so (World War II, Cold War). But how do they differ.

Well communism has socialist and leftist leanings. Communism is associated with the soviet regime (But the base ideas of this ideology were of Karl Marx, a German).

Nazism has socialist and rightist leanings. Nazism is associated with Hitler regime in Germany.

Fascism also has socialist and rightist leanings. Fascism is associated with Mussolini regime in Italy.

 

 

So what is the difference between Fascism and Nazism if both are socialist and rightist?

Wikipedia tells us that Nazism is generally considered a form of fascism. But there are some subtle differences. More on that at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazism#Nazism_and_Fascism

Ramneek Maan Singh

Cheating by a person called Sai Baba

Sai Baba is observed to allegedly manifest vibuthi (holy ash) and small objects (rings, necklaces and watches) daily.But it nothing but cheating and is done through sleight of hand.This video shows his method of cheating the public in which he produces a gold chain out of air.but watch carefully.This is the footage shot by Indian TV in Hyderabad, in August 1992. This footage created a storm in the Indian press, and later was "withdrawn" by PM Narasimha Rao's influence. Sai Baba's assistant brings the memento to Sai Baba , which Sai Baba holds with both hands, the assistant is still holding the memento with both hands too. Now the devotee does namaskar to Sai Baba, and comes forward to receive the memento. From this point watch Sai Baba's right hand closely. After the devotee accepts the memento, as Sai Baba instead of releasing his right hand, moves it further towards the assistant's hand under the memento, we can clearly see Sai Baba's right hand and the right hand of Sai Baba's assistant making contact as if in a "handshake" at the moment the devotee has got the memento in both hands. Particularly note the way the assistant's right hand moves away after contacting Sai Baba's right hand... it is released in the typical manner after "putting something" with a cupped hand.


Ramneek Maan Singh

second foundation party

dexterra mcc party

Ramneek Maan Singh

second foundation party chandigarh

Dexterra MCC Party

Ramneek Maan Singh

what is cancer and chemotherapy?

Cancerous Tumor

What is cancer?

Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion or by implantation into distant sites through blood or lymph (the clear fluid that bathes body cells).

Tumor or tumour literally means "swelling". However, the term is now primarily used to denote abnormal growth of tissue. This growth can be either malignant or benign.Cancer spread from the primary tumor through the lymph nodes to other sites.

Origins of cancer

Cell division or cell proliferation is a physiological process that occurs in almost all tissues and under many circumstances. Normally the balance between proliferation and programmed cell death is tightly regulated to ensure the integrity of organs and tissues. Mutations in DNA that lead to cancer disrupt these orderly processes. The uncontrolled and often rapid proliferation of cells can lead to either a benign tumor or a malignant tumor (cancer). Benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body or invade other tissues, and they are rarely a threat to life unless they extrinsically compress vital structures. Malignant tumors can invade other organs, spread to distant locations and become life-threatening.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that damages cancerous cells, causing them to stop dividing.Chemotherapy also affects normally dividing cells in the body, such as those in the skin, digestive tract and blood. For this reason, a patient may become quite sick as a result of chemotherapy treatment.

This treatment commonly has adverse side effects that may include the temporary loss of the body's natural immunity to infections, hair loss, digestive upset, and a general feeling of illness. Chemotherapy may be taken by mouth or it may be put into the body by a needle inserted into a vein or muscle.

Chemotherapy may be given in many forms including: pill, injection, or by catheter. The drugs enter the bloodstream and travel through the body killing mostly cancer cells, but also some healthy cells.

Ramneek Maan Singh

U-2 crisis during cold war

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-2_Crisis_of_1960
A search about this on internet get lots of readable material.

Ramneek Maan Singh

Sigmund Freud's Electra complex and Oedipus complex from his interpretation of dreams

The male child is attracted sexually towards his mother and the female child towards her father, albeit subconsciously.

Read more about it at these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_complex (Attraction of male child towards his mother)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra_complex (Attraction of female child towards her father)

And who was Sigmund Freud? Well he is regarded as the father of psychoanalysis….

More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

Ramneek Maan Singh