What is Nordic Walking?

Have you see the sticks that are also called 'poles' used by skiers? Well, if you use such poles while walking on any other surface apart from snow is called 'Nordic' walking.

This exercise is considered very good when compared to normal walking because you apply pressure with your arms on the poles you are carrying and this burns more calories. Other benefits include increase in overall body strength and fluidity in the joints.

What is important is the height of the poles which should be about 2/3 of the height of the user. Real Nordic Walking Poles utilize special Nordic Walking Straps - kind of like a fingerless glove, allowing power transmission through the strap and eliminating the need to uncomfortably grip the poles.

These Nordic walking poles come with removable rubber tips for better grip on hard surface and and hardened metal tips for trails, the beach, snow and ice. Most poles are made from lightweight aluminum, carbon fiber, or composite materials.

Image courtesy: Exel

Medicines information on PDA.

Most patients don’t view their doctor as a tech-geek and I am one among them. The reason for this impression is I don’t find them using computers in their clinic.

Their cubicle is always empty but for a steel stool and the ubiquitous bed for examining patients.

Now, I think I must change my impression. Physicians now are hi-tech and are always connected to the latest medical news and information. Thanks to Epocrates, the world’s leading medical software company, more than 50% of doctors own a PDA that is loaded with drug reference guide, a medical software with which clinicians can immediately access the information needed to make prescribing decisions – such as drug dosing, side effects and health plan coverage.

I think PDA itself is becoming obsolete and iPhone is taking its place. And Epocrates is quick to see this change in trend and they allow physicians to access medical information through m.epcorates.com on their Safari web browser.

This announcement was paid for by Epocrates.

Heaven look up.

Want to find out the Saturn among billions of stars? SkyScout has brought out an amazing gadget which when aimed at the sky, will take you to the planet of your choice. All with just a click of a button.

If you want to regale your friends and family with your knowledge of stars and planets, SkyScout has full of information for you.

SkyScout includes entertaining and educational audio and text descriptions on most celestial objects. It makes stargazing easy—and learning fun. Its database includes more than 6,000 stars, planets and constellations. Built-in celestial calendar helps you find objects and events every day of the year.

Have you seen the magnetic field?

We have all been reading about magnetic field since our school days. We have seen and participated in conducting experiments on magnetic field, took a few readings on a gauge and graphed the map of showing the magnetic field but..

But we have never really seen a magnetic field with our eyes-right?

Now are you ready to see it?

Warning!
After seeing this video clip and reading the comments, it is likely to develop doubts over the authenticity of it. I just took it in my stride and enjoyed it.

View here..

Do you know the history of Barbie?

Barbie-the most adorable of all toys that the history has ever seen and recorded is an all time favorite of kids and adults.

Tell me honestly, can you take your eyes off this picture after just a glance?

I was asked by brother's daughter long back abut the history of Barbie. I learnt something about it only today. But I am afraid I can't share my knowledge with my brother's daughter as she is a full grown woman now.

Do you know that the original inspiration for Barbie dolls comes from dolls developed by German propagandists in the late 1930s to impress young girls with the ideal notions of Aryan features? The proportions for Barbie were actually based on those of Eva Braun.

To bring Barbie to America, we must credit Ruth Handler. Another interesting fact about Barbie is the doll's design was inspired by a German doll called Bild Lilli.

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

Source: Wikipedia

Do you know Scent marketing?

I don't think so! All we do is pick up our wallet and ensure that the plastic cards are safely intact and off we go the mall.

We head straight to the section where our intended purchase goods are stacked, pick up off the shelves in hurry and drop them in the shopping cart and rush to the checking out counter indecently pushing aside a few to stand in the queue first.

We hardly relax, take a few deep breaths to smell what is in store.

Scent marketing is the latest frontier in an advertising landscape that has nearly exhausted the possibilities of auditory and visual marketing. Even stores that sell shoes try to shoo way the fresh smell of leather and perfume the store with other scents that will make us enter their shop.

True?

How may marks of silver?

I was once a paid subscriber to a website that helped me to identify the various hallmarks given to silver. Do you know that there more than 40 different kinds of hallmarks in as many shapes and characters?

I am sure many are not aware of this fact. Most of us don’t even ask the owner of the precious metals shop about the quality of silver or gold we purchase. All we are concerned about the price and appearance of what we buy.

Prior to my subscription, I too was not aware silver hallmarks. There are a few websites that teach us the basic things free of cost. Now I have stopped my subscription because I have bookmarked my source of purchase of precious metals to Monex, the number one dependable precious metals dealer in the U.S.

From Monex, whatever I buy, I don’t take delivery; I request them to arrange for convenient and safe storage at an independent bank or depository.

Do you know Wile E. Coyote?

Wile E. Coyote is considered as one of the best inventors of our era.

The cartoon character that will never catch the road runner is simply known as Coyote. Man, am I mad about this greatest cartoon film ever made. Road runner is the favorite of billions of people of all ages.

Here is a character that has been blown up, smashed, electrocuted, run over by a train, truck, a steam roller, cut in half, set on fire, fallen from every known height, been shot out of a cannon, clung to a speeding rocket sled, tied rockets to his back, his shoes, and faced countless other dangers all to attain his goal, catching the Road Runner.

I could very well image or am I thinking so his creativity setting his Brian ablaze with possibilities after possibilities in the cartoon to make you wish the road runner escapes always.

Source: Wikipedia and Inventor spot

Do you know yoga balls?

Well, these are called yoga balls or balance balls.


They are made to take in 600lbs of pressure, so one never need to worry if their weight will cause damage to the colorful balls.

These yoga balls also known as Swiss Balls, Physio Balls, Exercise balls or PE Balls, are used in Yoga, Pilates, and fusion exercise programs to strengthen and firm abs, back and buttocks. Made from durable vinyl, they are designed to support up to 600lbs of pressure. The balls are easily inflated with the included foot pump.

A trivia for you:
Swiss Ball was developed in 1963 by Aquilino Cosani, an Italian plastics manufacturer.

Do you know Bottle watch?

Bottle watch is a niche web site on beers, beers and beers. I deliberately mentioned the beers thrice to denote Wheat Beer, Amber Beer and Blonde Ale.

I am sorry, I have only seen the regular Amber beer and the rest is only from a borrowed knowledge.

Steve Johnson, the webmaster of Bottle watch says that Bottle Watch reports on the newest wines, spirits, beers and other alcoholic beverages entering the marketplace.

I wonder from where he gathers all those information! Man, it is mind boggling. Is it possible that he had tasted all the beers he wrote about? (smile)

I will ask my husband to collaborate with Steve. My husband is a lover of beer and he sure could use a few free samples.(smile)

Trivia:
Snow Cap is a rich, full-bodied ale crafted in the British tradition of holiday beers.

Following river Nile.

Foe me, the most interesting and engrossing thing to do is to follow the trails of rivers. This will reveal to me unexplored and unvisited geography. Miles of solitude and silence is the best thing that can happen to me.

I was following the river Nile, Africa's enigmatic river and Egypt's two headed pride. Haven't we all read about the sorrow of Egypt whenever the river Nile simply yielded to the nature's whims?

Nile was the most important mode of transport in ancient times to carry the agricultural products to various parts of Egypt.

The rise and fall of the Nile's life-giving waters inspired the ancient Egyptians to view it as a cycle of death and rebirth. It is a known historic fact that the ancient Egyptian civilization thrived on the shores of Nile like many civilizations in the world evolved on the banks of rivers.

Image: Google images.

Do you know the Forbidden Library?

Probably, most of us didn't know that such a thing as Forbidden Library exists! In this library, you can search and find books that are banned for various reasons.

In news papers, I have come across several incident where a book is banned for public reading mostly because some ethnic group has felt offended by a sentence or a word contained in that book.

But, browsing through the Forbidden Library, I was shocked to find so many books that are either challenged or banned. The books are listed by title and by author.

Do you know that "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was banned in China in 1931? We are also allowed to purchase the books that are in the banned list.

But then it is not banned-right?

The website sites American Library Association as one its resources.

Have you tasted an Abalone?

The name Abalone sure invokes fear in me. And when I heard that it is an edible shellfish, it is even more fearsome. Hi hi, I am a staunch vegetarian.

Well, that won't hold me writing about Abalone. The image you see here is the raw meat of Abalone. For more images of Abalone, here is a search I made in Google Images.

Other names of Abalone:
Abalones are also called ear-shells, haliotis, sea-ears and Venus's-ears, as well as muttonfish or muttonshells in Australia, ormer in Jersey and Guernsey, perlemoen in South Africa and pāua in New Zealand.

I read in a travel related web site long ago that Hawaii is often visited to taste the Abalone. Hawaii's big island is famous for Abalone. The farm uses pure, nutrient-rich cold seawater from 3,000 feet below the Kona Coast to raise the mollusks. Guests are able to hold, taste, and purchase the live abalone Monday through Friday.

For more information on Abalone please Wikipedia and Offbeat Travel.

Do you know Soylent Green?

Soylent Green-an odd name when you first come across-right? You can't make out anything from it; I mean it doesn't suggest anything.

Actually, to my mind, it meant a sort of dye. But I am nowhere near the meaning.

Soylent Green is a movie, a science fiction that was released in the year 1973. It is about the planet earth and it's bleak future because of threats to our environment due to growing population and global warming.


This film tell you how people will be living in the year 2022. Yes, the word 'bleak' is the apt word because of the living conditions that are going to worsen over the years.

Would like to know more? Then, read the review of this film "Soylent Green' at Unlikely Stories.

Can you shop by a condition?

You have a particular physical condition that prevents you from being normal. Let us assume that you want to find the latest remedies for constipation. You might have already tried out several medicines but over a period of time, your body has turned immune to all of them. So, you want to find out if there is anything new in the market. How do you search for it?

Just go to AllegroMedical.com and key in ‘constipation’ in the search box and you get what you want. Isn’t this facility to search and shop by a condition of your body, fantastic?

This useful website Allegromediacl.com was founded in 1996 and is now being used by more than a million customers. It is the first eCommerce website in the medical equipment field and now stocks about 55,000 products that are conveniently cataloged under 50 categories and hundreds of subcategories.

This is the first website I have come across where I can shop by condition, shop by brand and shop by category.

Can you search with a picture?

Let us say that you have a picture of a rare bird. Thats all you have. You don't know its name. You don't know where can it be found. But you want to know the answers to all these questions.
Where can you ind the answers?

It is only at Yahoo answers can you find. It is more than an encyclopedia because you get a personal answer.

Here is an example:
Question: How do I search about a flower using it's picture?
Answer: Go to landscape solutions.

Obviously, there is more to than just 'Go to'. It is answered by a person named Kimberly C.

Do you know that Yahoo answers has more than 150 million answers? But are we using Yahoo answers at all?

The hanging monastry.

Well, it looks like the monastery is just hanging on to the rocks at the edge of a cliff.

This monastery is in Bhutan, a neighbor of India. This monastery is called 'Tiger's Nest Monastery'
due to a legendary belief that the Guru Rinpoche flew there on the back of a tiger.

The monastery is said to house seven temples in it. It can be accessed only by foot or on a mule. But will the mule climb the 10,200 feet?

This Taktshang monastery is the most sacred for Buddhists all over the world. I am scared certainly to look at its location. May be that is why it is not for ordinary people like me and only for Buddhist monks.

I had an encounter with three Buddhist monks several years ago. But I don't remember anything out of it.

Machu Picchu-rare photo.

Look at this stunning but rare photo of Machu Pichu and tell me does it deserve to be included in any one's rare picture album.

Just following an urge, I wanted to find the best natural picture yesterday and I found this on my second search.

Machu Picchu in Dawn Mist, Cordillera de Vilcabamba, Sacred Valley, Perú.

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 7,875 ft above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 km northwest of Cuzco. Machu Picchu is also known as "The Lost City of the Incas".

Machu Picchu is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There is something spiritual about this place and its existence even today is a proof that there is a spiritual strength lies here. Peruvian history should be read by you to know what I am talking about.

Another interesting observation by me is, wherever I read about Machu Picchu, it is backed by beautiful photographs of Machu Picchu. That place must have God's residence.

If you are mad about beautiful pictures and if you know the power of appreciation, you will visit this web site now: http://www.kennethparker.com/

Take Government permit to smoke.

I am not joking folks but I am reporting a news I read in 'Guardian" dt 15th Feb 2008.

The Ministry of Health in England has proposed to implement a ban on selling cigarettes to anyone who has not procured a permit from the British Government by paying 10 Pound Sterlings.

"Oh, it only 10 bucks, come on let us go and get it"-knowing this would be the response from Britain citizens, they are going to make the procedure of getting the permit very cumbersome and annoying says Julian Le Grand, who is a professor at the London School of Economics and was Tony Blair's senior health adviser.

Oh, well, so be it. In my state too, a health minister is going to make the state smoke free in the next two years.

Can it be all a rumor? Who knows but I know only this much; there is no smoke without fire!

Upcoming Tamil film in Wikipedia!

I was not actually searching for a proper article in this blog. I have a ton of material to blog for the pleasure of me.

Something told to write something for which I have no interest. I browsed through Wikipedia's home page and was surprised to something about a Tamil film called 'Aegan'. The name evoked my interest as this is the first time I am coming across this word 'Aegan'.

Someone took the pains of writing about this upcoming movie in Wikipedia. I read the article and noted that Tamil film hero Ajith Kumar is starring in this film and he is paired with Katrina Kaif-the famous Bollywood celebrity.

The film is directed by Raju Sundaram-his debut directorial venture.

BTW what is the meaning of 'Aegan'? Oh, I read that it is one of the names of Lord Siva.