Alchemy

Alchemy which comes from the Arabic word called al-kimia which means, 'Egyptian art'. Before Chimestry, there was Alchemy. Alchemyis both a philosophy and an ancient practice which is focused on the attempt to change ordinary metals into gold, and achieving ultimate wisdom, involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of several substances described as possessing unusual properties. Alchemy is a blend of pseudoscience, magic, and mystical philosophy. Some alchemists were only fakes. But others were learned people who had more philosophical goals. They felt that if they learned how to make gold from lesser metals, they could also perfect other things. They considered gold the perfect metal because of its beautiful luster and its resistance to rusting. They also tried to find the elixir of life (a substance that would cure disease and lengthen life). They failed to find it, but their work in preparing and studying chemical substances helped the science of chemistry develop. Astrology is concerned with man's relationship to "the stars" (including the members of the solar system); alchemy, with terrestrial nature. It was considered that god/dess did not desire that man as a whole know the secrets of alchemy, but that the alchemist must leave behind at least one pupil that knew the secrets. Many books on alchemy began with "my dear son" in the hopes that the alchemists son could somehow decode what he had said. Alchemists that had no son, considered their pupils their sons.

Alchemy has been practiced in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), India, Persia (mordern Iran, China, Japan, Korea, the classical Greco-Roman world and the medieval Islamic world, and then medieval Europe up to the 20th and 21st centuries.

Some alchemy was practiced in China and Islam. But it developed into a major system in Egypt during the next 300 years. The Greek-speaking scholars of Alexandria used it in trying to explain how Egyptian artisans made things. Greek-Egyptian alchemy spread through Syria and Persia to the Arabs. It spread to Western Europe during the 1100’s and 1200’s.

Lead (atomic number 82) and gold (atomic number 79) are defined as elements by the number of protons they possess. Changing the element requires changing the atomic (proton) number. The number of protons cannot be altered by any chemical means. However, physics may be used to add or remove protons and thereby change one element into another. Because lead is stable, forcing it to release three protons requires a vast input of energy, such that the cost of transmuting it greatly surpasses the value of the resulting gold. Transmutation of lead into gold isn't just theoretically possible - it has been achieved! There are reports that Glenn Seaborg, 1951 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, succeeded in transmuting a minute quantity of lead (possibly en route from bismuth, in 1980) into gold. There is an earlier report (1972) in which Soviet physicists at a nuclear research facility near Lake Baikal in Siberia accidentally discovered a reaction for turning lead into gold when they found the lead shielding of an experimental reactor had changed to gold.

The most famous alchemical text is the Emerald Tablet, written around 500BC and attributed to the mythical Egyptian figure of Hermes Trismegistus. Among its twelve lines are the essential words - “as above, so below". They capture the essence of alchemy, that the heavens mirror the earth and that all things correspond to one another. Alchemy was taken up by some of the most extraordinary people in our intellectual development, including Roger Bacon, Paracelsus, the father of chemistry, Robert Boyle, and, most famously, Isaac Newton, who wrote more about alchemy than he did about physics. It is now contended that it was Newton’s studies into alchemy which gave him the fundamental insight into the famous three laws of motion and gravity.

Alchemists drew their theories of matter from the ancient Greeks. They believed that all matter was made up of a single, formless substance. Alchemists thought this substance became the four elements–earth, air, fire, and water–when combined with hot or cold and wet or dry. They thought they could change one substance into another merely by changing the balance of these elements, a process called transmutation. This theory led them to try producing gold from other metals. In the early 1500’s, Swiss scientist Paracelsus tried to substitute sulfur, mercury, and salt for earth, air, fire, and water. Alchemists also searched for the philosopher’s stone (a magical substance that was supposedly able to make the transmutation process easier).

Yellow

Yellow is a colour associated with sun, warmth, happiness, fun, friendship, caution, intelligence, lemons, bananas, electricity, hope and curiosity.



Yellow is a primary colour, along with red and blue. The word yellow comes from the Old English word geolu.


In Japan, yellow is the colour of courage.


In Egypt, it is the colour of mourning.


In American slang, a coward can be said to be yellow or yellow-bellied.


Yellow is a colour that is easily visible, this is why it is commonly used to indicate caution, for example, on a set of traffic lights, yellow divides the red light and green light, meaning drivers can go, but be cautious.


In some countries, taxi's are commonly yellow. This practice began in Chicago, where taxi entrepreneur John D. Hertz painted his taxi's yellow based on a University of Chicago study alleging that yellow is the color most easily seen at a distance. This idea has also been used with school buses and road warning signs.

Yellow is an appropriate colour for a room used for studying because it has a stimulating effect on the mind.


There is a type of woodpecker called the Yellow-shafted Flicker (Colaptes auratus). They have yellow shafts on their wing and tail feathers – also they have a rather funny name :)


Yellowtail is the general name for loads of different species of fish that have yellow tails or a yellow body.


Coldplay achieved worldwide fame with their 2000 single "Yellow". It is a song that associates things the singer sees with the color yellow.


Yellow cards are shown by a referee in football/soccer to indicate that a player has been officially cautioned because they have committed a foul or have wasted time.

Why were Post-it Notes originally yellow?

A person managed to get an answer from the creators of post-it notes via mail, here's their answer:

"We were in the labs and if you imagine, this is my lab here, and then there's a corridor, and then there’s another lab. They happened to have some scrap yellow paper – laughs – it's absolutely true."

"They had some scrap yellow paper – that's why they were yellow; and when we went back and said 'hey guys, you got any more scrap yellow paper?' they said 'you want any more go buy it yourself', and that's what we did, and that's why they were yellow."

"To me it was another one of those incredible accidents. It was not thought out; nobody said they'd better be yellow rather than white because they would blend in - it was a pure accident."

Rainbows

Rainbows are beautiful multicoloured arcs of light in the sky. They appear when it is raining in one part of the sky and sunny in another. Most people think the only colors of a rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. This is normally memorized by mnemonics for example “Roy G. Biv” – each letter represents the first letter of the main seven colours of the rainbow.

 Rainbows occur when it's both raining and the sun is shining simultaneously. To see a rainbow, you must stand with your back to the sun, otherwise it will not be visible. When you see a rainbow it is after rain. The sun is always behind you and the rain in front of you when a rainbow appears, so the center of the rainbow's arc is directly opposite the sun.  Most people think the only colors of a rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, but a rainbow is actually made up of an entire continuum of colors—even colors the eye can't see!

“It was Sir Isaac Newton who discovered that sunlight falling upon a prism could split into its component colours. Newton named the component colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Most of these are easy to distinguish except for indigo. Legend has it that Newton included indigo because he felt that there should be seven rather than six colours in a rainbow due to his strong religious beliefs.”


We are able to see the colors of a rainbow because light of different colors is refracted when it travels from one medium, such as air, and into another- -in this case, the water of the raindrops. When all the colors that make up sunlight are combined, they look white, but once they are refracted, the colors break up into the ones we see in a rainbow.

People have been asking questions about rainbows since the beginning of time. One question frequently asked is, how far away is that rainbow? That is a tough one. How far away are the raindrops that produce it? It is hard to judge how far away a rain cloud is; especially if it's moving. The rainbow's distance extends from the nearest to the farthest raindrops that contribute any part of the colored light. The closest of these raindrops may be miles away. In the case of water spray from a lawn sprinkler in which a rainbow appears, you can reach right in and "touch it"....or so it seems. Many questions are unique to one's cultural history. Where is that pot of gold? That is a good question too.

The idea that a pot of gold can be found at the rainbow's end originated somewhere in old Europe. In Silesia, an obscure area of eastern Europe, it was said that the angels put the gold there

Can you go under a rainbow's arch and come out the other side? Not according to the laws of physics. A rainbow is all light and water. It is always in front of you while your back is to the sun.

Do two people ever see the same rainbow? No. As the eyes of two people cannot occupy the same place in space at the same time, each observer sees a different rainbow. Why? Well, because the raindrops are constantly in motion so its appearance is always changing. Each time you see a rainbow, it is unique in its own spectacular way! Many people consider rainbows to be an omen of some kind. It is an ancient desire rooted in our cultural mythologies.

The legends of many cultures see the rainbow as a kind of bridge between heaven and earth. One of the most beautiful sights in nature, the rainbow has become in western culture a symbol of renewed hope; something lucky to look upon. To Iranian Moslems, even the brilliance of the colors in a rainbow have significance. A prominent green means abundance, red means war, and yellow brings death. The Arawak Indians of South America recognize the rainbow as a fortunate sign if it seen over the ocean, while tribes in northeastern Siberia see it as the tongue of the sun. The North American Catawba Indians of the Southeast and the Tlingit of the Northwest both regard it as the bridge between the living and the dead.

Rainbows can also be seen during night time! Moonlight can produce enough light to create a rainbow at night. “This is a lunar rainbow or 'moonbow'. Moonbows are rare because moonlight is not very bright. A bright moon near to full is needed, it must be raining opposite the moon, the sky must be dark and the moon must be less than 42º high. Put all these together and you do not get to see a moonbow very often! To the unaided eye they usually appear without colour because their light is not bright enough to activate the cone colour receptors in our eyes. Nonetheless colours have been reported and might be seen when the moon is bright.”

When view from the ground, a rainbow appears as all or part of a great arc of colour. When viewed from a plane it is possible to see an entire circle as you can look down on raindrops as well as up to them!

The rainbow further has a place in legend owing to its beauty. In Greek mythology, the rainbow was considered to be a path made by a messenger between Earth and Heaven. In Chinese mythology, the rainbow was a slit in the sky sealed by goddess Nüwa using stones of five different colors. In Hindu mythology, the rainbow is called Indradhanush, meaning "the bow of Indra", the god of lightning, thunder and rain. Rainbows have held great fascination throughout the journey of humanity.

I would like to end this essay with a quote, 'A rainbow is born of the shower and coloured by the sun'.

Poem: Goodbye Friend

The hardest part of any friendship

is when it is time to say goodbye,

and even though I wished I could make you stay,

I know I got to let you spread your wings and fly.

For life is a journey that needs to be travelled

and I am certain you'd make it through,

I just want you to know and never forget

that I will surely miss you.

S0 follow your heart and never give up,

as dreams and wishes do come true,

for I know that someday we'll meet again,

so never forget I will be praying for you.

“Why does it take a minute to say hello and forever to say goodbye?” Saying goodbye was never easy, but it becomes all the more difficult in case of friends. They are only ones, apart from your family members, who understand you the best. They have been with you through thick and thin.


The hardest part of any friendship is when it's time to say goodbye. As much as we might like things to stay the same, change is an inevitable part of life. The universe may seem huge and the rift between friends on opposite side of the world may seem a great distance. There are many tools available with which we can communicate, but even without these tools there is a secret that only real friends know, and it is this. All the mountains and valleys in the world cannot separate friends whose hearts are as one.

“We part, only to meet again!” So, make sure that you say goodbye to your old friends in the best way, so that the joy of meeting again gets doubled. If you don’t know how to do it, make use of the tips given below.


Saying Goodbye to Your Best Friend


First of all, let the news sink in. Accept the fact that it is not necessary that best friends stay together forever. Goodbyes are the harsh realities of life.


If your friend is moving out because his dad found a new job or his mum needs to shift, do not end up blaming them. It is possible that your friend is also doing the same, so don’t aggravate the problem.


If you feel like crying, indulge in it as much as you want. Pain, if nor released in the form of tears, might give way to bitterness or even anger.


Spend as much time with your friend, as possible, and cherish the moments together. You will remember them when you friend is not there with you.


Make a card for your friend. Write all your feelings in the card, how much you love him/her, what he/she means to you and the fact that he/she will remain your friend forever.


Give a nice, thoughtful present to your friend. One of the best gifts is a photo frame, fitted with a picture of both of you together.


Go for a day-trip together. It will give you pleasant memories for the time when you are not together and also bring you closer.


Include your friend in your orkut list, messenger list, facebook list, mail address book, and so on (if you have not done so already). This will help you stay in touch, despite the distance.


Last, but not the least, remember that “distance only makes the heart grow fonder”. Goodbye does not mean that you are losing your friend. He/she will still be there for you. Only the physical distance has increased, but your hearts are as close as ever.

What do u call a male ladybird?

What does waka waka mean?

Waka Waka is a popular song sung by Shakira. The song is in a Cameroonian language. Zaminamina means 'come'. Waka waka means 'Do it' - as in perform a task. In Nigerian Pidgin Waka Waka means 'walk'. Zaminamina zangalewa means 'who asked you to come?' Wana means ‘it is mine'. Zambo means 'wait'