FACT # 214

Independence Day in India
Quick Facts
India’s Independence Day is an annual gazetted holiday on August 15 to commemorate the day India became an independent nation.
Name
Independence Day
Independence Day 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012

India celebrates Independence Day on August 15 each year. India became an independent nation on August 15, 1947, so a gazetted holiday is held annually to remember this date.
Happy Indian Independence day…August 15th 1947

India’s Independence Day is celebrated nationwide on August 15. ©iStockphoto.com/Anantha Vardhan
What do people do?

Independence Day is a day when people in India pay homage to their leaders and those who fought for India’s freedom in the past. The period leading up to Independence Day is a time when major government buildings are illuminated with strings of lights and the tricolor flutters from homes and other buildings. Broadcast, print and online media may have special contests, programs, and articles to promote the day. Movies about India’s freedom fighters are also shown on television.

The president delivers the ‘”Address to the Nation” on the eve of Independence Day. India’s prime minister unfurls India’s flag and holds a speech at the Red Fort in Old Dehli. Flag hoisting ceremonies and cultural programs are held in the state capitals and often involve many schools and organizations.

Many people spend the day with family members or close friends. They may eat a picnic in a park or private garden, go to a film or eat lunch or dinner at home or in a restaurant. Other people go kite flying or sing or listen to patriotic songs.
Public life

Independence Day is a gazetted holiday in India on August 15 each year. National, state and local government offices, post offices and banks are closed on this day. Stores and other businesses and organizations may be closed or have reduced opening hours.

Public transport is usually unaffected as many locals travel for celebrations but there may be heavy traffic and increased security in areas where there are celebrations. Independence Day flag raising ceremonies may cause some disruption to traffic, particularly in Dehli and capital cities in India’s states.
Background

The struggle for India’s Independence began in 1857 with the Sepoy Mutiny in Meerut. Later, in the 20th century, the Indian National Congress and other political organizations, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, launched a countrywide independence movement. Colonial powers were transferred to India on August 15, 1947.

The Constituent Assembly, to who power was to be transferred, met to celebrate India’s independence at 11pm on August 14, 1947. India gained its liberty and became a free country at midnight between August 14 and August 15, 1947. It was then that the free India’s first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave his famous “Tryst with Destiny” speech. People across India are reminded of the meaning of this event – that it marked the start of a new era of deliverance from the British colonialism that took place in India for more than 200 years.
Symbols

The sport of kite flying symbolizes Independence Day. The skies are dotted with countless kites flown from rooftops and fields to symbolize India’s free spirit of India. Kites of various styles, sizes and shades, including the tricolor are available in the marketplaces. The Red Fort in Dehli is also an important Independence Day symbol in India as it is where Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru unveiled India’s flag on August 15, 1947.

India’s national flag is a horizontal tricolor of deep saffron (kesaria) at the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom in equal proportion. The ratio of the flag’s width to its length is two to three. A navy-blue wheel in the center of the white band represents the chakra. Its design is that of the wheel which appears on the abacus of the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka. Its diameter approximates to the white band’s width and it has 24 spokes.

 

FACT # 213

50 Interesting . . .

Facebook Facts

 

1. Facebook has over 350 million active users. More than 35 million users update their status each day, with more than 55 million status updates each day.
2. More than 2.5 billion pictures are uploaded to Facebook each month.
3. The average Facebook user has 130 friends and sends eight friend requests per month.
4. Among children under 18, Facebook was ranked third in the top 100 searches of 2009, behind YouTube and Google. Sex and porn rounded out the top five searches.
5. A recent survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admissions officers acknowledged looking at social networking sites such as Facebook to evaluate applicants. Thirty-eight percent of admissions officers said that what they saw negatively affected the applicant
6. Facebook is not only beating MySpace traffic, but it is also the second-ranked site overall in the U.S. behind Google.
7. Americans spend 13.9 billion minutes a year on Facebook and five billion minutes on MySpace.
8. In 2003, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg created Facemash, where he placed photos of undergraduates side by side so viewers could rank which one was “hotter.” Zuckerberg would later turn Facemash into the now ubiquitous Facebook.
9. In 2008, a 23-year-old woman named Lauren Michaels created a group titled “I Need Sex” on Facebook. Within 10 minutes, she had 35 members and soon attracted 100—50 of whom she eventually slept with. Facebook has since removed her page.
10. An 18-year-old Wisconsin man posed as several different girls on Facebook to blackmail underage male teens into performing sexual favors by coaxing them to send nude photos of themselves. He could be facing up to 300 years in prison.
11. Beacon, part of Facebook’s controversial advertisement system that broadcasted information about a user’s shopping activity on other sites, was the target of a class action lawsuit in 2009. The resulting settlement required Facebook to pay $9.5 million into a settlement fund.
12. If Facebook were a country, it would be the fifth-largest country in the world, after China, India, the U.S., and Indonesia.
13. In 2009, an EMT at the crime scene took a cell phone picture of the body of a New York woman who had been strangled and beaten and then posted it on his Facebook profile. He was later arrested on charges of official misconduct and was fired from his job.
14. The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales warned that Facebook and MySpace can lead children to commit suicide because such sites encourage teens to build transient relationships and dehumanize community life.
15. Facebook includes eating disorder groups such as “Get Thin or Die Trying,” and “Quod me nutrit me destruit” (“What nourishes me destroys me”). While such eating disorder sites were typically anonymous on the Web, their growing presence on Facebook makes them more public and accessible to more people.
16. The New Oxford Dictionary announced that the 2009 Word of the Year was “unfriend,” as in “to remove someone as a friend on a social networking site” such as Facebook. However, there is some debate whether the word should be “defriend” rather than “unfriend.”
17. A 39-year-old Pennsylvania father was arrested for openly asking his 13-year-old daughter for sex over Facebook.
18. While stressing that correlation does not equal causation, a recent poll suggested that Facebook users have lower overall grades than non-users.
19. While initially created for college students, Facebook users over the age 26 now represent 60% of the total U.S. Facebook population.
20. The average Facebook users spend more than 55 minutes a day on the site. They use the Like button nine times a month and write 25 comments each month.
21. Approximately 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States.
22. Forbes dubbed 25-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, the creator/owner of Facebook, as the world’s youngest billionaire, worth 1.5 billion.
23. Syria, China, Vietnam, and Iran have banned Facebook.
24. In December 2009, there were over 250 million active users on Facebook, up from 1 million active users in December 2004.
25. Tim Sparapani, director of public policy at Facebook, stated that hundreds of millions of people had never stopped and thought about the consequences of sharing information online.
26. Information deemed public—such as profile pictures, names, cities, and networks—are available to developers of any applications that Facebook users or their Facebook friends use on the site.
27. The first person to invest in Facebook was the cofounder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, who invested $500,000 in June 2004.
28. In 2005, East Asia’s richest man, Li Hu Shing, invested $120 million dollars in Facebook.l
29. In September 2009, Zuckerberg announced for the first time that Facebook was cash flow positive, meaning Facebook made more money that it spent.
30. Lamebook.com is a regularly updated site that reposts “lame” and funny Facebook user posts.
31. In Florida, the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee ruled that Florida judges and lawyers should no longer “friend” each other on Facebook.
32. Facebook’s fastest growing segment in the United States is women 55 years and older.
33. In May 2009, a Russian investment firm, Digital Sky Technologies, invested $200 million in Facebook in return for a 1.96% stake in the Web site.
34. Twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss claim Zuckerberg stole their idea after they hired him to do programming for their own site, Harvard Connect (ConnectU). The case was settled for an undisclosed sum. Others, such as fellow student, Aaron Greenspan, also claim they invented Facebook.
35. Named after a Harvard student directory that included student photos and profiles, Facebook was originally called “thefacebook” and was limited to only Harvard students. In 2005, the site was renamed “Facebook.”
36. When Facebook changed its privacy setting in December 2009, Zuckerberg’s previously private photos—in which he was seen shirtless, holding a teddy bear, and looking “plastered”—became public.
37. Both citizens and police departments are increasingly using Facebook to catch suspected criminals.
38. A “gaydar” software program developed at MIT can reportedly identify gay men on Facebook, private profile or not.
39. In January 2009, an advertising campaign from Burger King titled “WHOPPER Sacrifice” rewarded Facebook users a free “Angry Whopper” for publicly deleting 10 friends, who would then receive a blunt message informing they were deleted for a free hamburger.
40. Eleven percent of Facebook’s 100 million U.S. users are African-American, 9% are Latino, and 6% are Asian, which is a fairly accurate reflection of the U.S. general population.
41. A 20-year-old IBM employee in Canada lost sick leave benefits from her insurer because her Facebook page showed “cheerful” photos while she was on paid sick leave for depression.
42. Girls can be prone to anxiety and depression by talking too much to their friends on Facebook. Called “co-rumination,” frequently discussing the same problem can lead to an unhealthy obsession.
43. On July 1, 2009, shortly after Michael Jackson passed away, his page became the most popular page on Facebook. Previously, the most popular person on Facebook was U.S. President Obama with just over 6 million fans.
44. In Australia it is valid protocol to serve court notices to defendants on Facebook. A summons posted on Facebook is legally binding.
45. A site called Usocial offered to sell Facebook friends and fans to customers. Even after receiving a Cease and Desist from Facebook, Usocial said it will not shut down the service completely.
46. A Facebook post in December 2009 led to a kidney donation.
47. The ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation contend that Facebook’s new “recommended” privacy settings serve Facebook more than they serve the user.
48. Farmville boasts more than 60 million players on Facebook. Zynga—the maker of Farmville, Mafia Wars, and other Facebook games—boasts an annual revenue of more than $200 million.
49. In the United States, 54.7% of people ages 13 to 17 have a Facebook account.
50. There are more than 800,000 developers building applications for Facebook.

 

FACT # 212

 

FACTS ABOUT JANMASTAMI

 

Janmashtami facts are quite interesting to know. People all over the world would find these facts informative and exciting. Know about the different Janmashtami facts on this page of fact file. It will provide you most fascinating information on Janmashtami and its celebrations. This page will serve as a snapshot of information for you. Check out some of informative Janmashtami facts here:

Janmashtami is celebrated on ashtami of Krishna Paksh or the 8th day of the dark fortnight in the month of Bhadon. According to some scholars, Krishna was born on 19th July 3228 B.C.E. The term Krishna in Sanskrit means ‘black’. Lord Krishna belonged to the clan of Yadavas. Janmashtami is celebrated around eight days after Raksha Bandhan. South India celebrates Gokulashtami with fruits, ‘prasadam’ and devotional songs. Maharashtra celebrates the festival by breaking of ‘dahi handi’. Janmashtami is also known as Gokulashtami and Krishnastami Lord Krishna with Radhaji is worshipped on this day. Besides, some people also worship Shri Krishna’s brother Balaram as well as sister Subhadra on the day of Janmashtami. Lord Krishna was born in Mathura but was brought up in Gokul Mathura has around 400 temples dedicated to Nandgopal. Lord Krishna is known by around 108 names in the world. Raas Leela is the most famous dance performance of Lord Krishna that is still observed in India. Krishna’s teachings are world famous and can be found in the book called Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna assisted Arjuna one of the Pandavas for the battle of Krukshetra. Since 1966, the devotion of Lord Krishna spread to other countries like America, Europe, Africa, Russia and South America. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was instrumental in creating awareness among people. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was founder of the ISKCON movement. In fact, his guru— Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura instructed him to write about Shri Krishna in English and to share the philosophy of ‘Gaudiya Vaishnava’ with people in the Western world.

 

FACT # 211

Shocking Facts About Bottled Water
By Quickeasyfit.com | At Home – Mon, May 21, 2012 11:03 AM EDT

Bottled WaterBottled WaterToday, in the United States, an average person drinks

about 30 gallons of water a year. It is the second beverage with the highest

consumption in the US, unfortunately; the first one is soda. However, bottled

water has no better use than tap water. It is sold because of the jargons like

“spring” and “mineral” on its label.

Our Expectations From Bottled Water

What do we expect to get when buying a water bottle? The following are the

typical reasons that come in your mind: More minerals than tap water.

1- Healthier water from a pure spring
2 – Enhanced taste
3- Portability

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Facts
Unfortunately, recent tests and surveys show that, you barely get what you

expect. Portability is the only thing you are getting, but on the cost at which it

comes, it is better to fill up a bottle from the tap into your home. Here are the

facts:

No Better Taste
A study was published in the Journal of Sensory Studies. The study included a

survey of six different bottles of water and six different types of tap water. Water

samples were tasted by hundreds of people, and their remarks were noted. As a

result, it was found that water bottles didn’t taste any different or better. All what

people cared about was cooler and tasteless water. Reason: The taste is not

affected by the purity of water. It is the mineral concentration that matters, and it

is not hugely different in both types of water.

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Contamination
In a test by Natural Resources Defense Council, it was found that about 22% of

water bottles contain chemical contaminations that could be dangerous for

health. In another test by California State University, six water bottles were tested

for purity. All the bottles failed the test for arsenic even though they cleared all

other tests. Reason: When subjected to heat, water bottles leach their chemical

components from the water. Exposure to heat in the form of sunlight, body heat

and storage is common. The heat may be supplied when a water bottle is stored in

your garage.

Read- 4 Health Rules that No Longer Matter

It is Processed Tap Water.

25% of all bottled waters sold in the US, is filled from the municipal water supply.

Although exotic words and pictures of waterfalls on their labels don’t tell that it is

nothing more than further processed water. Even brands like Coca Cola’s Dasani

and Pepsi’s Aquafina use municipal water sources.

Bad for Earth

Most water bottles are made up of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This plastic

can cause the following two crucial problems:

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High Consumption of Oil

A research by University of Louisville tells that 17 million barrels of oil is used to

make water bottles every year. This is the main reason why the costs of water

bottles are high.

Non-Biodegradable

A research by the Container Recycling Institute tells that 90% of 30 billion water

bottles are dumped and not recycled. Knowing that it takes 400 to 1000 years for a

PTE water bottle to disintegrate, it certainly is a danger to the earth’s

environment.