What is a Moonbow?
A rainbow is produced when sunlight is refracted by water droplets in the atmosphere, but what happens if water droplets reflect and refract moonlight? We get a moonbow.
Moonbows are much fainter than rainbows because of the lower intensity of moonlight (which is of course, reflected sunlight), and their colours are too faint to be perceived by the human eye. They appear a ghostly white. However, the colours can be seen through photography.
Thomas Stevens
The first man to cycle around the world was Thomas Stevens who set out on his journey on 22 April, 1884 from San Francisco, at the age of 29.
He rode a penny-farthing, a cycle with a huge front wheel. Arriving in New York some months later he boarded a ship that took him across the Atlantic to Europe. Disembarking at Liverpool, he began the second leg of his journey which was to take him through England, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and finally to Istanbul, gateway to Asia. In Turkey, he had to outrun mobs of people who wanted him to teach them cycling.
Arriving in India, through Afghanistan, he cycled down the Grand Trunk Road in scorching heat. Admirers and well-wishers helped him along the way with cooling drinks till he reached Calcutta where he took a ship for HongKong.
His journey through China was a nightmare because the Chinese distrusted foreigners, especially whites. Chased by mobs and hit by stones, he arrived shaken but in one piece at Shanghai. From there he took a ferry to Nagasaki, Japan.
His bicycle journey ended when he reached the port of Yokohama on 17 December, 1886. A ship took him across the Pacific back to San Francisco from where he had started. He had circumnavigated the globe on his penny-farthing!
Who is the ‘Davis Cup’ named after?
The Davis Cup is a prestigious international men’s tennis championship, run by the International Tennis Federation.
An extremely popular tournament, it is described by its organizers as ‘the World Cup of tennis’. It is named in honour of American politician, Dwight F. Davis (1879–1945), one of its founders, who designed the original tournament format and contributed the first trophy.
The tournament originated over a century ago as a contest between the USA and Great Britain. It was conceived in 1899 by four students of Harvard University, including Dwight F. Davis, who challenged the British to a tennis competition.
The first match (between USA and Britain) was held at the Longwood Cricket Club in Massachusetts in 1900. Although conceived as a two nation contest, within the next 5 years the tournament expanded to include Belgium, Austria, France and Australia.
Originally called the International Lawn Tennis Challenge, it soon came to be known as the Davis Cup, after Dwight Davis’s trophy. The toppers in the Davis Cup are the USA, who have won it 32 times, and Australia (the winner on 28 occasions). India has never won the tournament till date, but has been the runner-up thrice, in 1966, 1974, and 1987.
Why me?
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was a First-ranked professional tennis player and the only African-American male, ever to win the US Open, the Australian Open, and the Wimbledon - the three Grand Slam singles titles.
Arthur started his game with a puny physique and his coach Johnson helped fine-tune Ashe's game and taught him the importance of racial socialization through sportsmanship, etiquette and the composure that would later become an Ashe hallmark.
To have hailed from times when racial discrimination was at its peak, it is no normal 'attitude' that Ashe carried along to become the inspiring Superhero. In 1979, despite his active lifestyle, Ashe suffered a heart attack and underwent quadruple-bypass surgery. His return to tennis was stalled by the onset of recurring chest pains, causing him to officially retire in April 1980.
In 1983, Ashe had to undergo a second round of heart surgery, during which he received a blood transfusion to expedite the recovery process. In 1988, Ashe was hospitalised once more, this time after experiencing paralysis in his right arm. After much testing it was discovered that Ashe was HIV positive, the belief being that he contracted the virus during the second heart bypass surgery in 1983.
Wanting to be the master of his own destiny, he chose to reveal the news himself rather than let the newspapers do it for him. From all over the world, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: “Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease”? Ashe's spontaneous reply to the “WHY ME” was:
“The world over, 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi-final, 2 to the finals… When I was holding a cup, I never asked GOD 'Why me?' And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?"
No wonder that this attitude of 'Why me' for all the right reasons put Ashe truly on a different league. Ashe became a vocal campaigner for AIDS awareness. He set up both the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. He died on 6th February 1993 from AIDS-related pneumonia when he was just 49. The US Open honoured him in 1997 by naming their new primary show-court, and it is still the largest tennis stadium in the world, in his honour. Ashe was truly unstoppable and certainly an only one of his kind.
Kangaroo Rats
Water is an essential for the survival of humans. Without it, we cannot stay alive for a long time. However kangaroo rats have a unique ability to stay without water for years, almost their entire lifetimes. These fascinating creatures are found in the deserts of North America and are 8 to 14cm long with a large head, short forelimbs, long hind limbs. Their tail is as long as their body, and they spend most of their time in burrows to avoid sweating. They have a pouch on their cheeks to avoid store sweating.
Kangaroo rats search for food only when the temperature falls, which usually happens in the evening or at night. They eat seeds, leaves and other vegetation growing around them and the water that is needed for their body is received through the food they eat.
Interestingly, Kangaroo rats have larger kidneys compared to other rat species. Kidneys help in taking out the waste from the blood and transforming it into urine. Also, kidneys remove the extra water from their waste and pump it back into their body, thus allowing them to survive without drinking water for an extended period.
Everything you need to know about the last major festival of the year
Why is Christmas celebrated?
Christmas is an annual Christian festival celebrated on December 25. It is celebrated to honour the birth of Jesus Christ. It is the time of the year when Christians as well as believers of other faiths, decorate their homes with Christmas trees, build creative cribs, prepare sweets and share gifts with family and neighbours. People come together and sing Christmas carols and greet one another a 'Merry Christmas'.
Christmas is celebrated differently in different places around the world. Some parts of the world celebrate the festival in a quiet, solemn manner while other places have big celebrations with carnivals and festivities.
Where does the word 'Christmas' come from?
The word 'Christmas' comes with a combination of two words, 'Christ' and 'mass' from the old English words, 'Cristes maesse'. Christmas was also known as Yule. In Spanish, the festival is referred to as Navidad, in Italian it is better known as Natale and the French refer to it as Noel; all these words are related to the nativity or the birth of Jesus Christ.
Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25?
The exact date of Jesus' birth is not specified in the Bible. There are disagreements among scholars as to when exactly Jesus was born, but most believe it was between 6 and 4BC. The first recorded date when Christmas was celebrated December 25, 336, during the time of the Roman emperor Constantine, who was the first Roman emperor. It is believed that December 25 was chosen as it is exactly nine months after Jesus was immaculately conceived on March 25. Christmas was also celebrated by the early church on January 6, which is celebrated as the Epiphany, the Baptism of Jesus or Three Kings Day. January 6 is still referred to as Old Christmas.
What is a Christmas crib?
The Christmas crib, also called the nativity scene, shows baby Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem. Building a crib is a tradition that was started in 1223 by St Francis of Assisi at Greccio in central Italy. He created a live manger scene that was enacted by real humans and animals. It showed Jesus Christ born in a hay-filled stable surrounded by animals and shepherds as described in the Bible. The nativity scene also shows the three Kings- Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar- with their camels following a star, which points to the north. They passed through fields and mountains to pay their respects to baby Jesus.
Crib building is now a common Christmas activity and cribs are displayed in churches, homes, shopping malls and on streets during Christmas.
What is midnight mass?
The Christmas mass service was the only service that was allowed to take place after sunset and is held on midnight of December 24. The Christmas midnight mass dates back to the early church; it was believed that Jesus was born at midnight, although there is no proof of this. It is also believed that the midnight mass tradition started in the western world in 430AD in Rome, Italy, and it became widely popular by the 12th century.
What are the symbols that we often see on Christmas trees?
Have you ever wondered why people hang things around an evergreen Christmas tree? Most of these decorations Have a special meaning. In the 16th century, Germans decorated their trees, which they called paradise trees, with real apples, nuts and berries. Some of the other decorations that go up on a Christmas tree include:
Stars: The Christmas star, which is placed right on the top of the tree, symbolises the star of Bethlehem. According to legend, a star guided the three kings or wise men to the stable where Jesus was born. The star also symbolises shining hope for humanity.
Gifts with bows: The three wise men who brought gifts to honour the birth of Jesus inspired the concept of exchanging gifts on Christmas. The ribbons tied around the gifts represent how people should be bonded together in unity.
Candy canes: The Christmas candy cane is originally a concept from Germany and it dates back to some two and a half centuries ago. Candy canes represent the shape of a shepherd's crook and are supposed to remind children of the shepherds that came to visit baby Jesus. Jesus himself was also referred to as the Good Shepherd. The candy cane is red and white in colour, where red represents blood and white represents Jesus' purity.
Lights and candles: The lights around the tree and the candles lit near it bring warmth and brightness to the season. Candles are lit on the eve of Christmas. They represent the light of the star that appeared at the birth of Jesus. Candles were also used as decorations on Christmas trees before electric lights were invented.
Bells: Bells are rung on Christmas Eve to proclaim the birth of Jesus and to announce the arrival of the Christmas season. On the eve of Christmas, church bells are rung while choirs sing hymns to proclaim the birth of Jesus.
Red and green colour: For hundreds of years, red and green have been used as the traditional Christmas colours. The colour red represents the blood of Jesus when he died on the cross and the colour green signifies light and life. It also represents the evergreen trees that remained green right through the winter when Jesus was born.
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