live your life as it never ends

The Meaning Of Life

2011-04-16T17:39:00.001-07:00

The meaning of life constitutes a philosophical question concerning the purpose and significance of life or existence in general. This concept can be expressed through a variety of related questions, such as "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", and "What is the meaning of it all?" It has been the subject of much philosophical, scientific, andtheological speculation throughout history. There have been a large number of theories to these questions from many different cultural and ideological backgrounds.

The meaning of life is deeply mixed with the philosophical and religious conceptions of existence, consciousness, andhappiness, and touches many other issues, such as symbolic meaning, ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil,free will, conceptions of God, the existence of God, the soul, and the afterlife. Scientific contributions are more indirect; by describing the empirical facts about the universe, science shifts the question from "why?" to "how?" and provides some context, while setting parameters of usefulness, for conversations on related topics. An alternative, human-centric, and not a cosmic/religious approach is the question "What is the meaning of my life?" The value of the question pertaining to the purpose of life may coincide with the achievement of ultimate reality, or a feeling of oneness, or a feeling of sacredness.

Krakatoa, The Volcanic Island in Indonesia

2011-04-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

The most violent volcanic eruption in recorded history took place on the island of Krakatoa on August 27, 1883.

At the beginning of that year, Krakatoa seemed an ordinary volcanic island, lying in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra in what was then the Dutch East Indies and is today Indonesia.

Measuring 28sq.km (11sq.mi) in area, the island was dominated by a central peak 820m (2,700ft) high. Few islanders worried about the volcano - there had been no sign of activity since the mountain had erupted two centuries earlier, in 1681. Some even thought that the volcano was extinct.

On May 20, 1883, the mountain's cone burst into life, hurling hot ash into the sky but dying down soon afterward. As the summer advanced, several other small eruptions followed.

Still there were few who worried - such minor eruptions happened all the time in the islands. As August passed, loud groans were heard deep underground like a giant beast awakening.

Early in the evening of August 26, a deafening explosion rocked the island. The central cone erupted violently, throwing a column of dense ash and smoke 27km (17mi) into the air.

By the early hours of the next morning, many of the islanders had taken to sea.

At 10 a.m. on August 27, a cataclysmic explosion ripped the entire island apart. Two-thirds of Krakatoa simply ceased to exist. More than 19cub.km (4cub.mi) of rock were pulverized to dust and thrown into the air.

300 villages were destroyed and 36,000 people were killed. Houses were cracked open 160km (100mi) away.

The sound was heard thousands of miles away. The shock wave in the air blasted around the globe seven times. Bodies and wreckage were seen floating in the sea for days afterward.

Dust and stones were catapulted 55km (34mi) upward into the stratosphere. Within minutes, the sky went dark around the island. Before long, an area 280km (180mi) across had been plunged into total darkness.

In Batavia, nearly 160km (100mi) away on the north coast of Java, people in the street were temporarily deafened.

The islanders of Celebes (the modern Sulawesi), nearly 1,600km (1,000mi) to the east, thought they heard distress rockets and launched their sea rescue services.

On the island of Rodriguez, more than 4,800km (3,000mi) to the west in the Indian Ocean, the people imagined a naval battle was being fought just beyond the horizon.

The gaping crater left by the blast was 6.4km (4mi) across, but had been plunged 275m (900ft) beneath the sea. The surroundng waters rushed in with such force they created a massive tidal wave, or tsunami, more than 30m (100ft) high.

The wave sped outward from the island at 1,120km (700mi) per hour, almost the speed of sound. It crashed ashore on neighboring islands and coasts sweeping everything before it.

The dust remained in the atmosphere for many months afterward, creating beautiful sunsets and blue moons. All around the globe fantastic shades of red, purple and pink illuminated the night sky. It took three years for the dust to settle completely.

Most of the original island of Krakatoa disappeared, and several islets and islands appeared in its place.

Son of Krakatoa

In 1927, another island was formed beneath the sea surface as a result of renewed volcanic activity. The new volcanic island, which was named Anak Krakatau, or "Son of Krakatoa," soon began to rise above the sea. Anak Krakatau is still active.

source: www.earthfacts.com

The Dead Sea

2011-04-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Dead Sea is the saltiest body of water on Earth.

It is eight times as salty as normal seawater. While normal seawater has a salt content of 3.5 percent, the Dead Sea is 28 per cent salt.

In comparison, the Great Salt Lake in Utah is six times as salty as normal seawater.

The Dead Sea's saltiness is responsible for the lake's best known feature: its buoyancy Sinking and diving are impossible, but it is far easier to swim or float here than in any other stretch of water.

The River Jordan, together with many small streams, feeds the Dead Sea with water and minerals from the surrounding hills. However, the lake has no outlet; its water escapes exclusively by evaporation, leaving behind a concentrated solution of salts, especially magnesium chloride, sodium chloride and potash.

The average annual rainfall is 10cm (4in). However, almost 2m (6.6ft) of water is lost in evaporation.

Lowest Point on Earth

The lowest point on the Earth's land surface, the shores of the Dead Sea are 396m (1,300ft) below the level of the Mediterranean Sea, only 75km (47mi) away. The depression in which these waters sit lies near the northern end of the Great Rift Valley.

This rift system is an immensely long trench that zigzags its way 6,500km (4,060mi) from Syria to Mozambique. It began to form around 25 million years ago when movements in the Earth's crust caused the land to subside.

Dead Sea Life

Almost no forms of life can survive in the Dead Sea, because of its high level of salinity. However, a few microorganisms do flourish there.

A single-celled organism, known as Heliobacterium halobium, is so dependent on the Dead Sea's salt concentrations that if the Dead Sea were diluted to only three times the strength of seawater, it would die.

Heliobacterium halobium contains a unique purple pigment, called bacteriorhodopsin, that traps sunlight in a way similar to the chlorophyll of green plants.

Pillars of Salt

Around two million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea covered the region around the Dead Sea. Rock salts were deposited in enormous quantities and, as the Mediterranean receded, these were laid down in the hills and mountains.

The Jebel Usdun, a range of hills at the Dead Sea's southern end, is composed of almost solid rock salt. A cap of gypsum and chalk has prevented the infrequent rains from washing away the salt completely.

Rising to a height of 150m (500ft), the Jebel Usdun runs for nearly 9km (5.6mi), its steep sides furrowed and chiseled by wind and water.

Freestanding pillars of salt are a characteristic of the Jebel Usdun. In Genesis 19, the Bible says that Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt after turning to view the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Legend says that the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah lie under the waters of the Dead Sea's southern basin.

source: www.earthfacts.com

Atlantis, The Lost Civilization

2011-04-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Atlantis - the lost civilization! Has there ever been a myth so tantalizing to our romantic fancies? Over the years the land of the noble and artistic people who disappeared suddenly beneath the sea has been located by overactive imaginations in several places: the Bahamas, Indonesia, the North Sea, South America, Spain.

The most enduring version of the legend can be traced to the Greek philosopher Plato, who described Atlantis as a sizable country and placed it beyond the "Pillars of Hercules" - present-day Gibraltar - as indicated in the map below.

Newer investigations show, however, that Plato misread data in Egyptian manuscripts and multiplied both the age and the dimensions of Atlantis by a factor of ten.

A drastically smaller and more recent Atlantis could have been located easily at the site of the cataclysmic 15th century B.C. Santorini explosion, and many scientists are convinced that this is the answer to the mystery.

Indeed, surveys undertaken of the past 30 years have established that the size of Santorini before the explosion matches the Egyptian specifications, and excavations have turned up remains of an advanced civilization on the last rocky remnants of the island.

source: www.earthfacts.com

The Great Age of European Discovery

2011-04-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

The Great Age of European Discovery began in 1492, with the journeys of Columbus to the Western Hemisphere, and ended in 1620, when the Pilgrims settled in North America.

During this time, Europeans discovered and explored the American continents, discovered and navigated the Pacific Ocean (the Polynesians had done this earlier), and established a passage to the East Indies around the Cape of Good Hope.

European voyagers had to endure many hardships, including extreme weather conditions and illnesses such as cholera and smallpox, which were contagious, and scurvy, which came from a lack of fresh food.

Navigation was much more difficult than it is today.

Although navigators could use astrolabes and quadrants, they did not have the ability to calculate longitude exactly. This meant that nobody knew exactly how big the Earth was or how far they had to travel.

Why were these explorers willing to suffer through such difficult conditions?

While some were motivated by curiosity, others were in search of wealth.

In the 16th century, there were many legends of wealthy mythical kingdoms in foreign lands. These included the golden Kingdom of El Dorado, the seven golden cities of Cibola, and the Fountain of Youth, which was thought to be located in Florida.

A lost Christian king named Prester John was supposed to rule over a land of riches in the Orient. Hy-Brazil was a mythical island in the Atlantic, thought to be cloaked in mist.

The European powers themselves wanted to lay claim on overseas possessions and to control trade in spice and minerals.
Christian missionaries wanted to convert the foreign "heathens" to the worship of Jesus. The bible said that Christ's Second Coming would take place only after God's Word had been spread everywhere in the world.

source: www.earthfacts.com

Agriculture and Food

2011-04-11T09:28:00.001-07:00

About 75 per cent of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean. Of the remaining 25 per cent, most is too cold, too dry or too steep for agriculture.

Only about 11 per cent of the land area is sufficiently warm, moist and level to be used for arable farming, and about twice as much is under permanent pasture or meadow.

The actual proportions vary from continent to continent and from country to country, with Europe being the best endowed with agricultural land. But even though in countries such as Denmark the percentage of arable land is more than 60, other parts of Europe suffer from aridity or permanently frozen ground, and only about one-third of the continent is arable.

South America and Australasia suffer from much more severe limitations, and only about 15 per cent of their land area is suitable for growing crops.

Population and Increased Farming

Large new areas of farmland in the North American prairies and the Argentinean pampas were brought under agriculture during the late 1800s and early 1900s. These regions were used mainly for growing wheat and for raising livestock.

European settlement there and in other parts of the world such as Australia and New Zealand, where a large dairy and sheep industry was established, led to a rapid expansion of the total farmed area and in food production. Sugar cane, cocoa, rubber, tea and coffee were among the products exported from the new colonial plantations in the tropics.

In countries with large populations and small surface areas, such as the Netherlands, reclaimed land has also been farmed. The arable area of the world doubled during the hundred years before 1970. In 2005 China was recorded as being the world's largest agricultural country, accounting for almost one-sixth of the world agricultural output, followed by the EU, India and the USA.

Climatic and Physical Factors

The climate and physical environment impose limitations on agriculture. Huge areas of Africa, Asia, Australia and America, for example, are desert or semi-desert.

Irrigation can overcome the difficulties that arise from aridity in some regions, but the extent of irrigation is restricted in turn by the availability and distribution of fresh water. Therefore, most large perennial irrigation schemes are found in riverine plains such as the Indus valley in Pakistan.

As crop breeders produce new fast-maturing strains of plants, the growing of crops may be extended into higher latitudes and altitudes, and into drier regions. In Alberta, Canada, for example, strains of wheat have been grown successfully in the short three-month summer season. Some of the extensions of growth areas have been substantial at the local level, but dramatic expansion on a global scale is less likely because many of the climatic limitations on agriculture are unyielding and beyond our control, especially with doubts being cast on genetically modified foods.

Deficiencies in the soil may sometimes be rectified by, for example, the use of artificial fertilizers and the application of trace elements. Rapid loss of soil from steep mountain slopes can also be overcome - at great expense and in small areas - by terracing. This solution is not practicable for large areas, however, and is worthwhile only if enough water is available.

Increasing areas of arable land are suffering from soil erosion, or from the accumulation of salt or insoluble minerals, as a side-effect of irrigation. Soil is eroded from most cropland faster than it forms and is therefore a wasting asset.

The rate of soil loss varies from area to area and in some places poses a real threat to continued cropping. The amount of land lost to salinization or alkalinization is usually small but significant, because such irrigated regions often produce high yields. In Pakistan, 60,000ha of irrigated land is estimated to have been affected by salinization.

Arable land is being lost mainly as a result of the growth of towns and cities. It is thought that around two per cent of the arable area was built over between 1970 and 2000, and this area, assuming average yields, was capable of feeding nearly 85 million people.

In addition the land lost in the vicinity of urban areas increasingly has to be replaced, if it can be replaced at all, by the recovery of marginal land in remote areas where until recently there was insufficient demand to bring the land under cultivation.

Because the area of land used to grow crops can be increased only slightly and slowly, increased yields will be necessary if the growing world population is to be fed.

Higher yields may be achieved by advances in plant breeding (to produce crops that mature sooner and yield more), by the increased and improved use of fertilizers, and by the greater use of natural pesticides to safeguard crops. But fertilizers are expensive and their widespread use is sometimes detrimental to wildlife.

In developed countries yields have quadrupled since World War II, but agricultural systems have required a great deal of capital and fossil fuel, which in the poorer developing countries are not always assured. The outlook for the world food supply is therefore uncertain. The arable area is probably incapable of great expansion because of environmental limitations and because of other demands for land.

source: www.earthfacts.com

Fact About Earth

2011-04-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

EarthFacts.net holds a collection of facts about the planet Earth and some of the lifeforms living on it, as well as some creatures that no longer exist on Earth.

We know more today than ever before about our planet Earth and what’s going on around us.

Science is always continuing to connect the dots through Earth research, study, and experimentation.

As technology advances, we continue to learn and find more out about our planet Earth.

Here are some quick Earth facts, browse our Earth Facts categories to see more.

Age: 4.6 billion years old.

Position: 3rd planet from the sun.

Size: 5th largest planet in our solar system.

Surface Area: 197 million square miles, about 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water..

Diameter: The Earth has an average diameter of 12,742 kilometers. (7,926 miles)

Average Temperature: The temperature at the Earth's core is estimated to be between 5000 and 7000 degrees Celsius.

Length of Year: 365.25 days

Inclination of Axis: The Earth's axis has a tilt of about 23 ½ degrees. It is this tilt which causes the seasons.

Chemical Composition: The Earth is made mostly of iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, nickel and sulfur: 34.6% Iron, 29.5% Oxygen, 15.2% Silicon, 12.7% Magnesium, 2.4% Nickel, 1.9% Sulfur, 0.05% Titanium

source: www.earthfacts.net