Category: Did You Know

It’s Wikipeida’s Day

· Leave a comment ·

Wikipedia turns 8 today.

The free, multilingual encyclopaedia, launched in January 15, 2001, is currently the most popular general reference work on the Internet.

The articles, said to be about 12 million in count has 2.6 million in English.
The volunteers around the world have written collaboratively on these articles, and almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone who can access the Wikipedia website. They remain anonymous too. “Consequently, Wikipedia “makes no guarantee of validity” of its content.”

Wikipedia.org was opened on donated bandwidth and server and its first article appeared on January 16.

UuU, said to be the oldest article, contains the earliest surviving edit on the Wikipedia.

When Time recognized “You” as its “Person of the Year for 2006”, the magazine listed websites like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia as media that allowed users to interact with the web by uploading and publishing their own comments, videos, pictures and links.

According to studies Wikipedia is among the ten most visited websites worldwide. A good portion of the searches made on Internet is related to academic research and about 50 percent of search engine traffic to Wikipedia comes from Google.

No wonder, Wikipedia’s audience have shot up to 9.5 million from 6.3 million.

New Year Facts

· Leave a comment ·

A very Happy New Year…. Some facts that I found informative…

– January is named after the Roman god Janus (Latin word for door) who is said to have two faces that allows him to look both backwards into the old year and forward into the New Year at the same time.

– The Gregorian calendar as promulgated in 1582 did not specify that January 1 was to be either New Year’s Day or the first day of its numbered year.

– Traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s New Year’s Eve, the night of December 31, has become an occasion for celebration.

– In the United States, the common image used is that of Father Time (or the “Old Year”) wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year printed on it passing on his duties to the Baby New Year (or the “New Year”), an infant wearing a sash with the new year printed on it.

– The New Year’s Day Parade is the biggest New Year street event annually held on January 1 in London. The parade is used to raise funds for charities.

– The New Year Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra that takes place in the morning of January 1 in Vienna, Austria is broadcast around the world to an estimated audience of one billion in 44 countries.

– In Sydney, Australia, the world’s largest fireworks display draws 1-1.5 million people to the harbour.

– It is said that New Year is the most important holiday in Japan. Most businesses shut down from January 1 to January 3, and families typically gather to spend the days together.

– Interestingly, January 1 is the World Day for Prayer for Peace.

World AIDS Day

· Leave a comment ·

It was World AIDS Day on first December. In fact, 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. The theme for World AIDS Day (2007-08) was “Lead – Empower -Deliver”. It was promoted with the campaigning slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise”.

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS is a medical condition that is caused when the virus, called Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV), infects a healthy body.

“The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, every year UN agencies, governments and all sectors of civil society worldwide join together to campaign around specific themes related to AIDS.”

AIDS was first reported in 1981 in the United States (in homosexual men in Los Angeles); it is believed to have originated in sub-Saharan Africa.

A recent study states that HIV probably moved from Africa to Haiti, and then around 1969, entered the United States. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), extensive spread of HIV appears to have begun in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The disease did not have a name then. And the general press called it GRID, which stood for Gay-related immune deficiency. But the disease infected both men and women alike. Therefore, in 1982 a new name was coined. It was called AIDS.

– A for Acquired, means that, the disease develops after birth from contact with a disease causing agent (HIV). It is not hereditary.

– ID for Immunodeficiency, means that, the disease is characterised by a weakening of the immune system. In other words, the system in human body which fights diseases is weakened.

– S for Syndrome refers to, a group of symptoms that collectively indicate the disease, where in the infected human body will have a group of health problems.

In 2007, an estimated 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children.

According to our National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), out of a total of 27,332 people who committed suicide due to illness, 952 had AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases (STD).

Among AIDS or STD patients who committed suicide, 334 were women. The maximum number of people who took their life in this category was in the age group of 30 to 44 years.

Seven boys and three girls below 14 years also “committed suicide” as they had AIDS or STD, the report said.

There is still no report of a complete cure for AIDS. But the AIDS stigma around the world is something that can be worked upon and cured too.

Interesting Facts

· Leave a comment ·

Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh celebrate State Formation Day on November 1.

Here are some interesting facts that I came across about Kerala:

1. Kerala was named as one of the “ten paradises of the world” and “50 places of a lifetime” by the National Geographic Traveler magazine (In 2008).

2. Kerala is one of the few regions in the world where communist parties are democratically elected in a parliamentary democracy.

3. UNICEF and the World Health Organization designated Kerala the world’s first “baby-friendly state”.

4. Kerala’s road density is nearly four times the national average, reflecting the state’s high population density. Kerala’s annual total of road accidents is among the nation’s highest( Kumar KG (2003). ‘Accidentally notorious’, The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved on (2007)).

5. Interestingly, The Cochin International Airport at Kochi is the first international airport in India that was built without Central Government funds, and is also India’s first publicly owned airport