FACT # 235

Navratri

The celebration of the Indian festival, Navratri or the �nine nights� goes on for nine days.
The nine-day long festival starts on the first day of Ashwina (the bright fortnight). It usually occurs in October.

The nine Goddesses worshipped during the nine days are Durga, Bhairavi, Amba, Bhadrakali, Sarvamangala, Bhavani, Lalita, Chandika and Annapurna.

Significance Of Navaratri

The first day of Navratri witnesses the sowing of barley seeds into a small mud bed. Three days are each devoted to the worship of Maa Durga (the Goddess of Valor), Maa Saraswati (the Goddess of Knowledge) and Maa Lakshmi (the Goddess of Wealth). A yagna (holy fire) is performed on the 8th day.

The celebration culminates in Mahanavami, when the Kanya Puja is performed. This day witnesses the worship of nine young girls depicting the nine forms of Goddess Durga. Each of the nine forms of Durga creates the part of a new creation on each of the nine days of Navaratri.

Celebration During Navaratri

During Navratri, the Gujaratis are engaged in traditional dances like the Dandiya-Raas and Garba.

The women dance in a circle and sing the traditional songs or Garba. The Dandiya Raas is played with �dandiyas� or wooden sticks. Many cultural societies, youth social groups and housing committees play the dandiya and garba. For this, adorned mandaps are set up. Garbas are also performed at Mumbai. Navratri is the largest Hindu festival of Nepal.

There is color all around during Navratri. Certain parts of India perform the �Ram-Leela�, which is a stage play of Ramayana (the saga of Lord Rama) during the festival.

The tenth day that falls after the nine-day celebrations is the �Vijaya Dashami�, the victory day over all evil. It is believed by the Hindus that Lord Rama killed Ravana, the demon on Dassera. This day is marked with the burning of the effigies of Ravana all through India.

There are devotees who observe fasts on Navratri. Prayers are also offered for the protection of property and health. This entire festive period is a time for purification and introspection. This can be an auspicious time for beginning new ventures. The festival generates happiness to all. Navratri is an exciting festival for the youth and is full of devotion for the old.

 

FACT # 234

SOME FACTS ON NAVARATHRI FESTIVAL

The festival of NAVARATHRI is celebrated in different forms and names in our country.In Tamilnadu it is celebrated as NAVARATHRI GOLU
Here the dolls are arranged in steps on Puratasi Amavasai.This festival is also known as SHARADHA NAVARATHRI.The nine days are divided into sets of three days to adore three different aspects of the Goddess.

The first three days is for Goddess DURGA ,the next three days for Goddess LAKSHMI and the last three days for Goddess SARASWATHI .The tenth day on which the goddess kills MAHISHASURA is celebrated as VIJAYADASAMI,as the victory of good over the evil.

In Tamilnadu the tenth day is known as AYUDHA POOJA .On this day people worship books,instruments,machineries,vehicles….On VIJAYADASAMI it is considered auspicious to start anything new.Here we can find lot of children joining schools,music classes and dance classes.

The 10 DIVINE FORMS of the Goddess are known as

1.Kali
2.Thirupurasundari
3.Thirupurabairavi
4.Thumavathi
5.Bhuvaneswari
6.Chinnamastha
7.Rajamathengeswari
8.Tharambigai
9.Balamugi
10.Kamalatharini

In India the NAVADURGA TEMPLES are found in Tamilnadu and North India

1.Siva Durgai-Pateeswaram,Tanjore
2.Vishnu Durgai-Thirukovilur,Cuddalore
3.Raagukala Durgai-Thiruvarur,Tanjore
4.Vana Durgai-Kadhiramangalam,Tanjore
5.Kanaga Durga-Vijayawada,Andra Pradesh
6.Sulini Durga-Kollur,Karnataka
7.Rawthra Durga-Kolkata,West Bengal
8.Saantha Durga-Chandigarh,Punjab
9.Mangala Durga-Ujjaini,Madhya Pradesh

All the above informations are my collections from religious magazines and books.Iam indeed very happy to share it with you all.

 

FACT # 233

History of Navratri

Navratri is a very important Hindu festival celebrated in India, which is devoted to Goddess Durga. The festival is celebrated with great reverence and faith across the country. It stretches over a period of nine days, with each of the nine days being dedicated to one of the nine forms of the Goddess. Talking about the history of Navratri festival, it can be explained through the stories mentioned in the Hindu scriptures. In case you want to know more about them, explore the information given below

History & Origin Of Navratri
In different parts of India, different legends describe the history of Navratri:

North India
The legend in North India goes that Mahishasura, the mighty demon, worshipped Lord Shiva and obtained the power of eternity. Soon, he started killing and harassing innocent people and set out to win all the three lokas. The gods in swargaloka appealed to Lord Shiva, to find a way to get rid of the demon. To protect the world from the atrocities of Mahishasura, the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva united their powers and created a divine female warrior, known as Goddess Durga. Mahishasura, when he saw the divine beauty of Goddess Durga, got mesmerized.

So fascinated was Mahishasura by Goddess Durga’s beauty that he approached her with the intention of marriage. The goddess agreed to marry him, but put forth a condition – Mahishasura would have to win over her in a battle. Mahishasura, proud as he was, agreed immediately! The battle continued for 9 nights and at the end of the ninth night, Goddess Durga beheaded Mahishasura. The nine nights came to be known as Navratri, while the tenth day was called Vijayadashmi, the tenth day that brought the triumph of good over evil.

Eastern Belief
As per the legend prevalent in East India, Daksha, the king of the Himalayas, had a beautiful and virtuous daughter called Uma. She wished to marry Lord Shiva, since her childhood. In order to win over the Lord, she worshipped him and managed to please him as well. When Shiva finally came to marry her, the tiger-skin clad groom displeased Daksha and he broke off all the relationships with his daughter and son-in-law. One fine day, Daksha organized a yagna, but did not invite Lord Shiva for the same.

Uma got so angry at her father’s rude behavior, towards her husband, that she decided to end her life by jumping into the agnikund of the yagna, where she was united with eternity (since then, she came to be known as Sati). However, she took re-birth and again won Shiva as her groom and peace was restored. It is believed that since then, Uma comes every year with Ganesh, Kartik, Saraswati and Laxmi and two of her best friends or ‘sakhis’, called Jaya and Bijaya, to visit her parent’s home during Navratri.

Another Legend – Ram and Ravana
Yet another legend of Navratri relates to the Hindu epic Ramayana. It goes that Lord Rama worshipped Goddess Durga in nine aspects, for nine days, in order to gather the strength and power to kill Ravana. He wanted to release Sita from the clutches of powerful demon king Ravana, who had abducted her. Those nine nights became to be known as Navratri and the tenth day, on which Lord Rama killed Ravana, came to be called Vijayadashmi or Dusshera, signifying Rama’s (good) triumph over Ravana (evil).

 

FACT # 232

Friendship Day

PEOPLE around the world celebrate friendship day to show their care for friends. This article offers interesting facts about friendship day, origin of it, how it started, how it is celebrated in many countries of the world and many more.

The concept of friendship has been discussed for thousands of years. Friendship is an in-depth relationship. Friendship is an in-depth relationship combining trust, support, communication, loyalty, understanding, empathy, and intimacy. You don’t really need a special day to make your friends feel loved and cared about. But Friendship Day offers you the opportunity to give your friends extra attention and honor your friendships with others.

Friendship is the only relationship that has survived on earth since its existence and it is not merely a relationship rather a unique blend of affection and trustworthiness. A relationship that cares for us and helps us when we are in trouble.

1. Friendship Day was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1919, and intended on first sunday of august to be a day where people celebrated their friendship.
2. The idea of a World Friendship Day was first proposed on 20 July 1958 by Dr. Artemio Bracho during a dinner with friends in Puerto Pinasco, a town on the River Paraguay about 200 miles north of Asuncion,Paraguay.
3. On 27 April 2011 the General Assembly of the United Nation declared 30th July as official International Friendship Day.                                                                       
4. The day has been celebrated in several southern South American countries for many years, particularly in Paraguay, where the 30th July was first proposed as World Friendship Day in 1958.
5. Traditionally , the Day takes place on the first Sunday of August.But there is no specific date for friendship day celebration in some countries.
6. Initially created by the greeting cards industry, evidence from social networking sites shows a revival of interest in the holiday that may have grown with the spread of the Internet, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.
7. Those who promote the holiday in South Asia attribute the tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends to have originated in the U.S. in 1935, but it actually dates from 1919.
8. The exchange of Friendship Day Gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.
9. In 1935, the United States Congress announced the first Sunday of August as the National Friendship Day and declared it to be a holiday in honor of friends.
10. Women’s Friendship Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of September.
11. Best Friends Weekend is an occasion established by the Best Friends Animal Society. It is celebrated every year from June 23 – June 25 to honor and protect the rights of animals. The first day of the weekend is called Best Friends’ Day.
12. ‘D del Amigo’ (The Spanish Friend’s Day) is a celebration of friendship, held annually on July 20, mainly in Argentina and Uruguay.                                                     
13. Old Friends, New Friends Week is the third week of May.
14. The whole of February is designated as the International Friendship Month.
15. In 1997, the United Nations named Winnie – the Pooh, the famous cartoon character as the world’s Ambassador of Friendship.
16. The immortal song “With a Little Help from My Friends” by Beatles, that deals with the theme of friendship, was released in 1967.
17. In some countries, the Friendship Day celebrations take place on the first Sunday of August, and several Friendship Day celebrations on other dates are held by a range of countries.
18. A popular custom include giving pink and yellow roses to your friends who’ve been there when you needed them.
19. Social and cultural organization too celebrates the occasion and mark Friendship Day by hosting programmes and get togethers.
20. The Bible, the primary text of the western civilization, reflects upon friendship as the bond that forms the foundation to human faith, trust and companionship.

 

FACT # 231

Some weird/scary facts about 9/11

 

I am not saying this is true or anything but I just thought this was kinda interesting/weird/scary all at the same time. I just recieved this in an email the other day and thought I’d share.

1) New York City has 11 letters

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.

3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.

4) George W Bush has 11 letters.

This could be a mere coincidence, but this gets more interesting:

1) New York is the 11th state.

2) The first plane crashing against the Twin Towers was flight number 11.

3) Flight 11 was carrying 92 passengers. 9 + 2 = 11

4) Flight 77 which also hit Twin Towers, was carrying 65 passengers. 6+5 = 11

5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11 as it is now known. 9 + 1+ 1 = 11

6) The date is equal to the US emergency services telephone number 911. 9 + 1 + 1 = 11.

Sheer coincidence..?! Read on and make up your own mind:

1) The total number of victims inside all the hi-jacked planes was 254. 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

2) September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year. Again 2 + 5 + 4 = 11.

3) The Madrid bombing took place on 3/11/2004. 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 11.

4) The tragedy of Madrid happened 911 days after the Twin Towers incident.

Now this is where things get totally eerie:

The most recognized symbol for the US, after the Stars & Stripes, is the Eagle. The following verse is taken from the Quran, the Islamic holy book:
“For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for
the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah and there was peace.”

That verse is number 9.11 of the Quran.

Still uncovinced about all of this..?! Try this and see how you feel afterwards, it made my hair stand on end: Open Microsoft Word and do the following:

1. Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers.

2. Highlight the Q33 NY.

3. Change the font size to 48.

4. Change the actual font to the WINGDINGS

I don’t really know what to think about this. I have since done a little research and there seems to be other of these kinds of things floating around the internet.

 

FACT # 230

Indian henna tattoo facts

Henna is a plant best known for its use to color and condition the hair naturally. The henna plant, famous for Rajastan, India, grows in warm climates. The leaves from the plant are crushed and make into a paste to safely draw a design directly on the skin. The result of this temporary tattoo, traditionally reddish brown in color, will last any where from a few days to several weeks. The application process is painless and in no way harms the skin.

Frequently recognized as Henna Tattoos, Mehndi, as it is known in India, is the latest craze yet its roots are centuries old and its practices, symbolism and traditions have been passed down through the ages by women. Traditionally the designs are placed on hands and feet, but now the modern generation has changed it all. They are now very popular on all visible areas of the body including the belly, forehead, neck arms, back and shoulders.

How long does it last?
The design will look good for 1 to 2 weeks, fading gradually within that time.
Factors determining this are:

• depth of the stain
• part of the body it is applied to
• exposure to water, chemicals and rubbing

What is the color of the henna stain?
After the paste comes off, the stain color ranges from orange to a dark reddish brown.
The darkness depends on the following:

• part of the body it is applied to (the hands and feet stain the darkest)
• quality of the henna powder
• quality of the application
• amount of time the paste is left on (best to leave it on for at least 4 hours)

What about black henna?
Henna alone does not produce a black stain. There are several authentic additives or mixtures that give a black-dying henna, especially in north Africa. However, these formulas could be toxic and unhealthy for the body.

Why do so many photographs of henna look black?
These photos were taken with the henna paste freshly applied or still on the skin. When the paste is removed after 6 to 12 hours, the stain color will initially be a orange red and will darken over the next couple of days to a rich red-brown.

How long does it take to do?
The length of sitting time ranges from 5 to 10 minutes for a simple design up to several hours for a large body area painted with an intricate deign. Although the painting itself may take only a few minutes, the paste needs to be preserved with a lemon-sugar solution which the artist applies after the paste becomes firm on the skin about 15 minutes later.

How does it feel to have it done?
Unlike tattoos, henna does not hurt because there are no needles used and the skin is not broken. Henna is applied to the top of the skin with an applicator (the traditional cone or plastic bag or with a bottle with a fine silver nozzle tip). Many people enjoy the coolness of the paste as it is painted on along with the further cooling of the lemon-sugar solution. The henna paste is an all natural soothing, aromatic mixture that conditions the skin.

 

FACT # 229

Firefox Facts

All over the world, the net users are familiar with Mozilla Firefox, a free and open source web browser. It came from Mozilla Application Suite managed by Mozilla Corporation, formed originally by Netscape Communications (AOL Corporation). In the beginning the company faced financial problems but soon the problem got resolved through donations and deals with Google and other search engines. Once Mozilla was established they decided to split the foundation in two. One is the Mozilla Foundation dealing with non-profit organization (donations from Firefox community) and other is Mozilla Corporation dealing with profits from search engines.

In 2010, Mozilla’s revenue was $123 million, with $103 million that came from Google (to be default search in Firefox). Till date Firefox is the second most used web browser with 30% of usage share of web browsers. In 2008 Firefox made a Guinness Record of more than eight million downloads of the Firefox 3 version on the same day when it was released. People worldwide accepted the Firefox 12.0 version and waits for more to come. The project had to change its names many times due to trademark issues, birth name being ‘Phoenix’ was changed to ‘Firebird’ but finally on February 9, 2004 it was renamed to ‘Mozilla Firefox’. Firefox is number one choice for web developers because of its powerful extension directory and debug capabilities.

 

FACT # 228

Gmail Doesn’t Differentiate Between the Usernames “My.Id” And “M.Yid”

 

Why Google’s Gmail system regard all username with different positions of period/dot (.) as a single email id only.

When the company launch Gmail, they have made a decision that all mail which is sent to your username would go to your mailbox, regardless of whether any dots were added.

This way, users who do not need to memorize whether their email id is bhavin.shah or bhavinshah or bha.vin.sh.ah — they will get all their emails sent to those id into a single mail box only.

Dots for Gmail are like punctuation in phone numbers, it doesn’t matter whether you write +1-234-555-6789, or 1.234.555.6789, or 1 (234) 555-6789, and are still the same phone number.

In Addition, for example, if you give out rahuls.smith@gmail.com to marketing lists, you can have those emails go into a particular folder. If you give rahul.s.smith@gmail.com in a job search, you can have those emails go into a different folder, etc.

Try Yourself:

If your email id is e.g.: first.last@gmail.com, send email to firstlast@gmail.com, fi.rst.las.t@gmail.com or place dot (.) at any position and send mail. All are delivered to a single inbox.

What Does It Conclude – that once u obtains a Gmail id, it will be yours irrespective of any dots present or not. No one else can comprehend the same id with any number/position of dots in between that username. In addition, if you use filters and/or labels in Gmail this could be useful.

 

FACT # 227

Gmail is Google’s free web-based email service. Considered in beta testing status since its public release in 2004, the Gmail service has become famous for the rapid development of new features. Thus, the beta status of the service is not expected to change. Also, the beta status has given Google cover for numerous slip ups with the service, including accidental deletion of user’s accounts. Software in beta status is not to be considered fit for critical applications, and users are warned to back up their data frequently.

Storage space has been Gmail’s “killer feature” since its inception. Introduced with 1 GB of storage in an era when few web-based email providers offered more than 25 megabytes, Gmail was an immediate success. As other email service providers added storage to compete, Gmail added other features such as chat, draft auto save, keyboard shortcuts, and of course continually increasing the available storage space. Many of these features relied on JavaScript and AJAX methods, which rendered the service incompatible with older web browsers, screen readers, and security-conscious surfers who disable such features. In response, Gmail introduced a plain HTML interface that works in all web browsers.

An early criticism of the Gmail service concerned the Adwords advertisements displayed in the interface when viewing a message. The advertisement content was relevant to the text of the email message, leading some to believe that Google was reading user’s email. In fact, a computer was parsing the email for keywords and displaying relevant advertisements. No human has ever had access to user’s email other than the account holder himself. Other common criticisms of the Gmail service include the slow rate at which requested features are added, yet innovative unneeded features are being added weekly. For instance, all dates are presented in the American MM-DD-YYYY format, which is confusing to users in the rest of the world who expect DD-MM-YYYY. Instead of adding an option to specify date format, which is a rather trivial feature, Gmail engineers have added HTML formatting to email, RSS feeds, and a chat feature.

 

FACT # 226

Did you know that Whatsapp has several security concerns?

 I just found some interesting facts about Whatsapp and why you as a business user should avoid using whatsapp on you Business BB’s

1. In May 2011 there was a security hole reported in WhatsApp which left user accounts open for hijacking.[7] According to some sources, it is believed that this hack was performed, and later fixed by helping WhatsApp reproduce it on Android and Symbian, by Liroy van Hoewijk, CEO of CoreISP.net

Ok this might got fix but if there is one hole there might be more

2. Since May 2011 it has been reported that communications made by WhatsApp are not encrypted, and data is sent and received in plaintext, meaning messages can easily be read if packet traces are available.[10] In May of 2012 security researchers noted that new updates of WhatsApp no longer sent messages as plaintext

This means IF you use it update it!

3.In September 2011 a new version of the WhatsApp Messenger application for iPhones was released. In this new version, the developer has closed a number of critical security holes that allowed forged messages to be sent and messages from any WhatsApp user to be read.

4.On January 6, 2012 an unknown hacker published a website (WhatsAppStatus.net) which made it possible to change the status of an arbitrary whatsapp user, as long as the phone number was known. To let it work it only required a restart of the app. According to the hacker it is only one of the many security issues in Whatsapp. On the 9th of January Whatsapp reported to have implemented a final solution. In reality the only measure that was taken was blocking the website’s IP-address. As a reaction a Windows tool was made available for download providing the same functionality. This issue has not been resolved until now. The first notification of this issue has been reported to Whatsapp in September 2011.

5. On January 13, 2012, Whatsapp was pulled from the iOS App Store. The reason was undisclosed. The app was added back to the App Store 1 week later.

6. German “Stiftung Warentest” which is testing all kinds of products reported that Whatsapp is sending the whole addressbook unencrypted to a US server where it gets stored.

So if you have contacts that you do not want to share with ever company – you should block whatsapp or think about to rely on SMS and BBM.