a walk with rajinikanth

 How Did the T-Shirt Get Its Name?Who Invented the T-Shirt?

INTERSTING FACT TO BE KNOWN BY ALL OF US

Origin: 1919

The walking advertisement of late twentieth-century American culture got its start as a humble item of men's underwear and got its name because when spread flat it formed a stubby letter T. Its little sleeves and round collar distinguished the T-shirt from the standard sleeveless undershirt of the day. The sleeves may also have helped bring the T-shirt out of hiding in the 1930s and 1940s, since they offered a gesture toward modesty as well as a cache for a pack of cigarettes.

Once they were on view, T-shirts became canvasses for images and messages. In addition to basic white, they soon came in all shades; and equally important, they displayed first the emblems of schools and teams, and then every design or slogan imaginable. Today a public event is hardly complete without its accompanying T-shirt. Cold weather doesn't slow us down; we just cover the T-shirt with a sweatshirt, a 1925 American invention.

Though it must have been around at least a year earlier (hence our 1919 date), we first read of the T-shirt in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1920 This Side of Paradise. In the novel, a wealthy, self-absorbed 15-year-old boy from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, heads off to prep school in Connecticut with a wardrobe including "six suits summer underwear, six suits winter underwear, one sweater or T shirt, one jersey...." Exciting words of the Roaring Twenties--FLAPPER (1915), sheik, cat's pajamas--have faded into history, but the two informal garments we began to wear in those times, the T-shirt and the sweatshirt, hang in our vocabulary more prominently than ever.

A T-shirt (T shirt or tee) is a style of shirt. A T-shirt's defining characteristic is the T shape made with the body and sleeves. It is normally associated with short sleeves, a round neck line, and no collar. However, it may also include long sleeves, buttons, collars, or v-necks.

T-shirts are typically made of cotton fibers (sometimes others), knitted together in a jersey stitch that gives a T-shirt its distinctive soft texture. The majority of modern T-shirts have a body that is made from a continuously woven tube, so the torso has no side seams. This is accomplished with special weaving machines called circular looms, which produce seamless fabric for tube tops, stockings, and the like. Conventional stitching is used for the waist band, neck band, sleeves and to close the shoulders. The manufacture of T-shirts has become highly automated, and may include fabric cutting by laser or water jet.

T-shirt fashions include many styles for both men and women, and for all age groups, including baby, youth, teen, adult and elderly sizes.

The T-shirt evolved from undergarments used in the 19th century, through cutting the one-piece "union suit" underwear into separate top and bottom garments, with the top long enough to tuck under the waistband of the bottoms. T-shirts, with and without buttons, were adopted by miners and stevedores during the late 19th century as a convenient covering for hot environments.

T-shirts, as a slip-on garment without buttons, originally became popular in the United States when they were issued by the U.S. Navy during or following the Spanish American War. These were a crew-necked, short-sleeved, white cotton undershirt to be worn under a uniform. It became common for sailors and Marines in work parties, the early submarines, and tropical climates to remove their uniform "jacket", wearing (and soiling) only the undershirt.

Named the T-shirt due to the shape of the garment's outline, it soon became popular as a bottom layer of clothing for workers in various industries, including agriculture. The T-shirt was easily fitted, easily cleaned, and inexpensive, and for this reason it became the shirt of choice for young boys. Boys' shirts were made in various colors and patterns. By theGreat Depression, the T-shirt was often the default garment to be worn when doing farm or ranch chores, as well as other times when modesty called for a torso covering but conditions called for lightweight fabrics.

The truth is that the t-shirt has been around a long time, and no one knows its exact origins.

The following are two popular theories.

One idea is this: Men working on the docks at Annapolis, Maryland, in the late 1600s unloaded a great deal of tea.

The simple shirts they wore became known as “tea shirts,” later shorted simply to “T-shirts.”

The second theory comes from across the pond, in the Royal Navy.

Navy men wearing the equivalent of tank tops offended the British Royal Family who insisted they cover their arms enough to hide their armpits.

The shirts looked like “T’s” in comparison to the old tanks and so were dubbed “T shirts.”

  During World War I in Europe, American soldiers made a discovery. While they sweated and sweltered in their wool uniforms, European soldiers took off their heavy jackets and wore a light-weight cotton shirt. They called them undershirts because they wore them under their clothing. News of this comfortable addition to the male wardrobe returned to the U.S. after the war.
    When World War II was declared, the U.S. military decided to take the hint from its European allies. It issued the same type of cotton shirt to U.S. soldiers. This shirt was to be worn under the fighting uniforms. It was designed to keep the body cooler during battles. When the soldiers were doing heavy labor between battles, many decided to take off their uniform shirts and wear only the olive drab cotton shirts they had been issued. In those days, it wasn't polite to be seen in public wearing underclothes, but due to the circumstances, it was allowed. Newspaper and movie news photographers often took pictures of the soldiers wearing just their uniform pants and the cotton shirt.
   The T-shirt got its name from its shape. If you flatten the shirt out from neck to waist and pull the arms out to the side, it forms the letter T. The T-shirt became a regular issue to all military men and women during the early 1940s. Many branches wanted to make sure that the T-shirts were easy to keep track of. They printed their unit names on the shirt. Some soldiers even had their names printed on the shirts so they didn't get lost in the laundry. You might have seen a T-shirt imprinted with "Air Corps Gunnery School" on it to show that the soldier had attended training at a specific school.

REFERENCE: WIKIPEDIA

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 ARAVINDAN

 a collection of strange and stupid BRITISH law

Every county in the world seems to have a collection of strange laws that are bizarre, outdated or just plain wrong, even to the people who live there. Britain is no exception and it quite probable that you may have already heard of some of these as the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) held a competition some years ago to see which of these laws the public felt were the most stupid.

Sadly, the time has come to sort out the wheat from the chaff. (truth from the nonsense) There are many lists circulating on the internet that claim to be true but are not but are the result of one website just repeating another. The truth is that some of the laws are now repealed, others have twisted the actual law to make it more interesting and some are simply urban myths. This is what we found out but we're still open to correction if you have hard evidence.

THESE ARE REALLY STILL ILLEGAL IN 2010




 
MP’s are not allowed to wear armour in parliament.

It turns out that this a true. The 1313 Statute [Coming armed to Parliament]: The Act forbids the wearing of armour by members of Parliament when attending in the House and has never been repealed.

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It is still an offence to beat or shake any carpet rug or mat in any street in the Metropolitan Police District, although you are allowed to shake a doormat before 8am.

Strangely, this law actually turned out to be true under the Metropolitan Police Act 1839, section 60 and for other districts; Town Police Clauses Act 1847, section 28. The following five laws were also initiated by the same section 28 and are still in force.



 
It is illegal to keep a pigsty in front of your house (Unless duly hidden).



 
It is illegal to erect a washing line across any street.



 
It is illegal to sing any profane or obscene song or ballad in any street.



 
It is illegal to wilfully and wantonly disturbing people by ringing their doorbells or knocking at their doors

Even if it has a cute name like Ding Dong Ditch, Knock Knocky or Ring and Run.



 
It is illegal to order or permit any servant to stand on the sill of any window to clean or paint it.



 
It is an offence for the keeper of a place of public resort to permit drunkenness in the house. Further, under the Licensing Act 2003, section 140, it is an offence to allow disorderly conduct and under section 141 it is an offence to sell alcohol to an intoxicated person. (LCSLPR*)
However, urban myth often describes this law as: It is illegal to be drunk in a public house. No ... you're allowed to get drunk it's actually the pub owner who is liable to get into trouble. Well that's a relief.

 


 
The Easter Act 1928 provides that, in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, Easter Day shall be a fixed day in each year, viz. the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. The Act has been on the statute book for 62 years but has never been brought into force. (LCSLPR*)



 
Under the Metropolitan Police Act 1839 no person (other than persons acting in obedience to lawful authority) is to discharge any cannon or other firearm of greater calibre than a common fowling-piece within 300 yards of any dwelling house to the annoyance of any inhabitant thereof. Maximum penalty: £200 fine. (LCSLPR*)



 
An employer cannot give a (subjective) bad reference as this may constitute libel. They can choose not to give one at all or be non committal, but they can't give a bad one.
This is largely true but more complicated than the legal shorthand that often gets quoted. An employer can provide whatever reference they like but should not say anything that is negative that they would not be prepared to defend in court-of-law as the recipient of the reference has the right to sue for defamation of character or plain libel. As the libel laws of Britain are quite strict, employers often opt for the simple don't say anything bad approach.



 
The Metropolitan Streets Act 1867 prohibits the driving or conducting of any cattle through any street between the hours of 10.00 in the morning and 7.00 in the evening (except with the permission of the Commissioner of Police). The maximum penalty is a £200 fine for each head of cattle. (LCSLPR*)



It is illegal to eat Mute Swan unless you're the Queen of Great Britain. The Queen and two livery companies (Vitners and Dryers) own all the Mute Swans in England and only the Queen and her invited diners may actually eat them as can guests of St. John's College Cambridge.
This is strictly speaking true but much more complicated than it seems and has a great deal to do with which swans are marked and which are unmarked. In particular, the Mute Swan is officially a protected species and therefore nobody is legally allowed to kill them for the purpose of eating them. Mute swans are protected under the wildlife and countryside act of 1981. Anyone found guilty of killing them faces a £5,000 fine or up to six months in prison. We're not sure if this law applies to the ruling monarch of the United Kingdom.

 
It is illegal to use a television in Britain without a license.

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is a state-based entity that provides a national and international broadcasting service. It is largely funded by the license fee which allows it to put standards of programming ahead of purely commercial interests and makes possible the production of programmes that would not be otherwise financially viable. Even so, the question of whether there should be a license fee remains a hotly debated topic.



 
It is an offense to be intoxicated (drunk) and in charge of a cow in Scotland. 
The law is part of the (alcohol) Licensing Act of 1872 and actually also includes horses and steam engines. It allegedly carries a penalty fine of up to 1,200 GBP excluding the costs of looking after the cow, horse, etc.



 
Under the terms of the Protection of Wrecks Order 2003: A person shall not enter the hull of the Titanic without permission from the Secretary of State.



 
Under the terms of the Polish Potatoes (Notification) in England Order - 2004: No person shall, in the course of business, import into England potatoes which he knows to be or has reasonable cause to suspect to be Polish potatoes.



 
It is apparently an offense to activate your burglar alarm and leave the property if you haven't nominated a key-holder who can access your house to switch off your siren should it go off.

This is apparently a fairly recent addition to British law and was established under the terms of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act - 2005 / Part 7.



 
Under the terms of a bye-law it is illegal to "Jump" the queue in the tube ticket hall. Any person directed by a notice to queue (or when asked to queue by an authorised person) shall join the rear of the queue and obey the reasonable instructions of any authorised person.

 
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All beached whales and sturgeons must be offered to the reigning monarch.

The original law which is now largely defunct stated: "The King shall have throughout the realm, whales and great sturgeons taken in the sea or elsewhere within the realm, except in certain places privileged by the King."

This clearly included any of these creatures that were stranded or found dead on a beach that was not exempt from this ruling (for example private land). The rule was taken to mean that whales and sturgeons should first be offered to the king who could then decide what should be done with them. Naturally, the Monarch was often busy and it fell to the "Receiver of Wreck" to decide on his behalf.
In practice the Receiver of Wreck no longer offers the whale to the Monarch and doesn't expect to have beached whales reported to his office. However, he still does offer all sturgeons. In reality all beached whales or strandings should be reported to the Natural History Museum - although in practice you are likely to get a faster response from the local police.
This should not be confused with "Sturgeon's Laws" which are similar to some of the "Murphy's Laws" and states: (1) "Nothing is always absolutely so" and (2) "Ninety percent of everything is crud" or "Ninety percent of everything is crap."



 
A horn should not be sounded when stationary on a road at anytime, other than at times of danger due to another vehicle on or near the road.
While this is true it only makes this list because it is quoted so often. In fact, a car horn should only ever be sounded in the case of an emergency whether or not the car is parked. This is a standard requirement in many countries. https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q406.htm



 
In London, it is illegal for a person (knowingly) with the plague to flag down a taxi or try and ride on a bus. (Sort of True)
This is somewhat true as the law prohibits any person who knows that they have a notifiable disease (including the plague) from entering any form of public conveyance (taxi) without first telling the driver of the conveyance. Actually, the taxi driver can then still agree to transport them so long as he (or she) then has the taxi immediately disinfected. This is part of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, sections 33 and 34: Public Conveyances. Some of the other notifiable diseases listed do indeed include, plague, rabies, food poisoning and leprosy.
However, when it comes to notifiable diseases and busses just forget it as it is against the law for a bus driver to allow you onboard. We're not sure if it infringes his or her human rights to try and stop you as by doing so will knowingly expose him or her to your disease? Curious law!



 
A person shall be guilty of an offence if he uses for trade an automatic rail-weighbridge to which there is affixed a disqualification sticker.
Seriously, who cares!



 
It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.
See point 22 for the section on rabies. However it is worth adding that where this occurs the responsibility becomes that of the dog's owner assuming that he or she doesn't yet have rabies themselves in which case whether or not the dog (dead or alive) becomes irrelevant.

On the subject of corpses this law is unclear. There are many cases of a person dying while travelling in a taxi but no known cases of the taxi driver suddenly stopping and dragging the poor recently deceased person out of the taxi and tossing them onto the pavement. This sounds like a twisting of the facts. There may be some laws that corpse that haven't died in transit may have to be moved only in a special vehicle such as a hearse or an ambulance. We'll look into it.



 
It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing.
Again ... this is somewhat true but the actual law has had its wording twisted to make it seem funnier. The actual law require a person to disclose schemes that are deliberately designed to avoid tax which would otherwise be due to the HM Customs and Revenue. It is an oversimplification of the Tax Avoidance Scheme 2006, S.I. 2006 No 1543. (LCSLPR*)



 
It is illegal under the terms of the Prohibition and Inspections Act of 1998 to cause a nuclear explosion.

Damn Right! But ... why it had to be a special law though is a mystery


PRESENTED BY
ARAVINDAN

RISING OF BUDDHA IMAGE

 RISING OF BUDDHA IMAGE

Today India is known for Idol Worship. All religions in India have in Form worship, either as symbols, letters, pictures or Idols. But this was not the case 2000Years ago. Any form of Form in Faith was not considered. In some places like Karnataka not even name of the dead Jain persons written on the Graves even until 400 AD. Hinduism , Jainism and Buddhism did not support gods in human form. So how did this extreme swing took place , from nothing everything in human forms. This explains the lack of Inscriptions, temples, Idols before 5th century BC. Classic study in this transformation is Buddhism. This was the religion at the prime when this transformation occurred. So Let us see how we got the Image of Buddha. Which will explain the transformation. Let us see if Image in Indian religion and the Origin of Buddha Image and associate controversies.

Vedic Hinduism.

Vedic religion says Absolute or Trancendental can be realized in diverse ways. Co-existence of Sakara(diety with Form) and Nirakara(Diety without Form) in the same household , with men with different Intellectual and moral denominations aspiring for spirituality in their respective ways. Kena Upanishad says man cannot comprehend God with his sense organs. That is God cannot be seen with Eyes. Svetasvatara upanishad says that Great one has not likeness to form. In Bhagavat Gita Arjuna asks Krishna in what forms and objects the Great one should be meditated. In response Krishna first Enumerated all phenomenal objects , all flora , all fauna and so on. Then Krishna gives Arjuna supernatural Eye , in which he sees entire universe, process of creation and process of destruction. Arjuna beholds God is identical with Cosmos. Later Supplements of Gita say God can be worshipped by Agni by Brahman, Devata(divinity) worshipped in the heart of Muni,Pratima(Image) is adored by men of Low intellect. While one whose sight is not limited can see God everywhere. Adi shankara preferred Formless and Ramanuja said he is prefers both Formless and With Form.

Jainism

Jainism says In the theist world the loftiest entity is The God. It has thousands of names like Paramatma (the ultimate soul), Bhagavan (the most glorious one), Siddha (the liberated), Buddha (the enlightened), The God, etc.

In the Jain tradition there are two forms of this entity-

(1) The formless God or Siddha (the liberated) and

(2) The God with a form or Tirthankar / Arihant.

The Tirthankar is a detached individual who is the ultimate altruist and benefactor of not only mankind but every living being. He propagates the religious path and preaches about it for their benefit. His benevolent voice promotes happiness, peace, and infinite bliss for every being.In the Jain tradition there have been twenty-four Tirthankars during the current descending cycle of time, Bhagavan Rishabhdev being the first and Bhagavan Mahavir being the last. For every Jain these Tirthankars are the entities to be worshipped and revered. The ultimate goal of Jainism is to tread the path shown by them and acquire infinite powers and virtues.

Buddhism

Thervada ban on Buddharupa( Buddha Image) is well known. An old Disciple of Buddha Vakali was eager to see Buddha before he died. One day buddha came and said to him “ O vakkali why do you crave to see this body of impure matter, one who perceives Dharma Perceives me. One who perceives me perceives Dharma” On different occasions through dialogues and sermons Buddha spoke against adoration of his Rupakaya or Buddha Rupa.

What does faith say?

The Trinity Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism say that God is formless ,but it does not go against worship of forms , saying that is done by lower intellectuals. So the form is also present in Indian Dharma along with Formless, which is the basic or ultimate. Now let us see how Buddha Image developed.

Origin of Buddha Image

Buddhist followers remained faithful to Buddha teaching of non-worship of buddha Image. The first to break the rule King Udyana of Vatsa or Kausambi, who was very devoted, The story goes that he was worried that Buddha would not return. Buddha's disciple Maudgalyayana used magic to send an artist (some say 32 of them) up to heaven to capture the likeness of the Buddha in a 5-foot figure carved out of sandalwood. This image was so accurate and imbued with devotion, that when Shakyamuni returned, it rose up to greet him. The Buddha acknowledged then, the power of the rupa to inspire and to teach the dharma to future generations. This story is not accepted by most Buddhists. For Five centuries after Buddha until 1st century BC , Buddha was represented by Symbols. Until 1st century AD he was never represented in Human Form. Immediately following this period the Graeco-Buddhist or Indo-Hellenistic or Ghandara period presents us with enormous anthromorphic images. Immediately we have suggestions from western world that the images were introduction from west , particularly from Greece. The present Image developed after the 5th century AD. Our main debate of the article comes here, Was the Concept of Image of God came from West (Persia, Middle east , Greece, Rome , etc).

Image or Icon in Indian Religions – History Debate.

In the First two decades of this 20th century Western scholars like Albert Foucher and John Marshall has concluded that Image or Icon was not the characteristic of Indian religions till the advent of Persians , West Asians and Greek. This Western Idea was supported by Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj and Prarthana Samaj. They maintained that Worship of Image was un - Vedic, Un - Brahminical and was the later development in Puranic age. Thervada buddhist also accepted this theory.

Other Hindus who held Pratima(Likeness = Image) was an Indigenous element nothing was foreign. Kashiprasad Jaiswal and Anand Coomaraswamy contended that Rupa (form) is integral part of the Vedic religion. At this time Indus Valley civilzation was unearthed, Archeologist R.P chanda found earliest representation of SivaPasupathi and Yogi in the Indus valley. Also scholars pointed to Tibetans traditions and showed that Image was used before Mauryas. Also aborignals(Not Aryan and Dravidian) like Veddas and Nagas have their dieties and symbols of worship. So the worship of symbols and dieties is not totally absent.

Image worship in India

• Image worship as we have seen in the Formless debate was accepted and prevalent.
• Images of Shiva, mother Goddess,Yogi and wide variety of Terrocotta statues representing Human and Animal like forms. in Indus valley have proved beyond doubt that Image worship was prevalent.
• Aboriginal like Yaksha and Naga have dieties. We find numerous dieties in their settlements since earliest times. Which show that Idol worship was prevalent before vedic times(7000BC)
• Sakya, the clan Buddha was born in, had its own Yaksha deity, the Yaksha Sakyavardhana, the benevolent guardian of Sakyas. As prevailed the custom, soon after his birth, the child Buddha was presented to Yaksha Sakyavardhana for child's long life and glory.

So from the above points the worshipping of Forms and images was widely prevalent and the Idea is not Import from west. Let us move to the next point. Was the Buddha image creation due to influence of the west.

Foreign Influence.

Foucher argued that the Buddha Image is a eurasian one or Greek one. Let us analyse the facts.Before the Gandhara buddhist images there were Mathura Buddhist Images which were Indian in look and Indigenous. So there is no question of Gandhara images being the first buddhist images. Infact Gandhara images are continuation of mathura Images. Let us see the if there is any influence of Greek or western on the Gandhara images. Let us see one by one

Image

• The Asanas are all Indian. The early art shows five sitting postions with hands showing mudras (Dharmachakra Mudra, Dhyna Mudra, Bhumisparsa Mudra, Varada mudra, Abhaya Mudra)
• The Dress worn by Boddhisattvas are Indian.
• Physical attributes: Protuberance(usnisa) on the crown is evident, urna or turf in the fine hair between the brows is evident, Fingers are webbed, The Ears are elongated by wearing the ear rings before monastic robes.
• The Boddhisattvas represented in less rigid position holding attributes in the hands(vajra pani in Vajra, Padmapani by roselotus , Avalokitesvara by blue lotus, Maitreya Amrta Flask) These attributes can be held in any hand, but they are always held in Right hand by Indian Tradition.
• The Dieties are either seated or Standing on traditional Indian lotus Flower.

Symbols

All the Symbols used in the Art are indian such as bull, Sacred Tree,Mountain, River , many Solar ,Nandipada, Trishul, Swastik, Lotus , Bow and Arrow Etc. These are Hindu, Jain and Buddhist or Indian.

Art form

In Indian art (abstract) the emphasis is laid on the significance of the object not the appearance. In Greek art (naturalistic) the emphasis is laid on the object and its looks. Every art is a compromise between the abstract and naturalistic, but what we see in Gandhara and other Indian art is continuos concept of Abstract(whether one finds a sacred tree or Buddha Figure) , no swing from one style to another as seen during 19th century when there were wild swings to European art. The Gandhara artforms are infact reproduction of early mathura artforms.

Technology

The Technology , Craftsman were already present , when the need for buddha arise and they had no problem in making the images.

Conclusion

So we cannot say that the Buddha got the Image due to Western Influence. The Gandhara art shows lot of Influence of Hellenistic artform, but the Image is originally Indian. Hinduism , Jainism and Buddhism embodied accomodation of non-believers into their fold as they are , without losing anything. Unlike in Europe when pre-christian gods were banished once christianity took hold, Indian faith accepted aboriginal Yaksha and Naga dieties and symbols and absorbed them. This process continued and Buddhist and Jain elements were absorbed into Hindu fold. So the Image and Deity worship are essentially Indian , though they were not part of Hindu, Jain or Buddhist Dharma initially.

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ARAVINDAN

An ‘Ideal’ Year has 360 or 365 Days : The Ancient Standard




As a result of modern day astronomical observations it is well established that the current earth year is about 365.2421897 days in length. This fact of the modern age noted however, from the study of many civilisations from the distant past, it has come to light that there was once a widely held belief that in some very remote age, the earth possessed a yearly orbit of precisely 360 days. 

Indeed, many such past cultures widely separated from one another actively established calendar systems based upon a 360-day year, including the ancient Egyptians, the Maya, and the Babylonians to name but a few. And yet, they did this even though their astronomers were well able to determine that the earth did not in fact possess 360 days per year. Their own measurements were accurate enough to inform them of the fact that it was indeed about 365 ¼ days.

 Even so, they still used 360 alongside the observed period. Both years were thus recognised and acknowledged, almost suggesting a wilful desire to retain the memory of what was once an ‘ideal’ earth orbital period. For to their minds truly, the earth had indeed at some point in the past made an actual physical transition from one measure to the other. One of the most well known examples of the story of the transformation of the earth orbit, encoded in mythical form and surviving even down to this present day, comes from Egypt; a tale involving various ‘gods’, whose actions are held directly responsible for the increase in the length of the year:

A long time ago, Re, who was god of the sun, ruled the earth. During this time, he heard of a prophecy that Nut, the sky goddess, would give birth to a son who would depose him. Therefore Re cast a spell to the effect that Nut could not give birth on any day of the year, which was then itself composed of precisely 360 days. To help Nut to counter this spell, the wisdom god Thoth devised a plan. Thoth went to the Moon god Khonsu and asked that he play a game known as Senet, requesting that they play for the very light of the moon itself. Feeling confident and that he would win, Khonsu agreed. However, in the course of playing he lost the game several times in succession, such that Thoth ended up winning from the moon a substantial measure of its light, equal to about five days. With this in hand, Thoth then took this extra time, and gave it to Nut. In doing so this had the effect of increasing the earth’s number of days per year, allowing Nut to give birth to a succession of children; one upon each of the extra 5 days that were added to the original 360. And as for the moon, losing its light had quite an effect upon it, for it became weaker and smaller in the sky. Being forced to hide itself periodically to recuperate; it could only show itself fully for a short period of time before having to disappear to regain its strength.

As can be seen from the above noted myth, (paraphrased from various sources) the ancient Egyptians were thoroughly of the mind that an increase to the earth year by some 5 extra days was an event that had indeed truly happened at some point in the past. Moreover, this was not something that was held to be good either, for in fact, the extra days were viewed as ‘unlucky’. A 360-day year was thought harmonious, whilst the current year was in some strange sense held to be ‘deficient’.

Of course, in the modern age, the very idea that the earth did once truly possess 360 days to one orbit about the sun is regarded as preposterous and a nonsense by most scientists. It is dismissed out of hand as being something that cannot be proven. That is, until now. Indeed, it so transpires that a new proof has recently come to light that decisively demonstrates that the earth did indeed once possess a 360-day year. The ancients would seem to have been right, and modern astronomers wrong.


The Nature of the Proof

The essential nature of the actual proof that the earth once possessed 360 days per year rests upon an apparent connection between the basic units of angular measure, which include degrees, minutes, and seconds of arc, and the outward dimensions of the physical form of the earth, including also the orbit of the moon. There are thus two aspects to the proof as a whole, each of which combined, are found to strongly support the idea that the earth did indeed once possess a 360 day orbit. And indeed, as was mentioned in the previous essays concerning the link, underlying support for the proof itself, rests upon the work of Johannes Kepler; upon his own unique discovery of the validity of laws of proportion operative within the universe.

The following links reveal then the decisive proof of a once existent 360-day year, and should be read each in turn:


An Earth Year of 360 days (Part 1) 
An increased Earth tropical year and an expansion of the physical size of the planet. 


An Earth Year of 360 days (Part 2) 
An increased Earth tropical year and a shift in the orbit of the Moon.

presented by
aravindan

Mona Lisa mysteries

New images uncover 25 secrets about the Mona Lisa, including proof that Leonardo da Vinci gave her eyebrows, solving a long-held mystery.

The images are part of an exhibition, "Mona Lisa Secrets Revealed," which features new research by French engineer Pascal Cotte and debuts in the United States at the Metreon Center in San Francisco, where it will remain through the end of this year. The Mona Lisa showcase is part of a larger exhibition called "Da Vinci: An Exhibition of Genius."

Cotte, founder of Lumiere Technology, scanned the painting with a 240-megapixel Multi-spectral Imaging Camera he invented, which uses 13 wavelengths from ultraviolet light to infrared. The resulting images peel away centuries of varnish and other alterations, shedding light on how the artist brought the painted figure to life and how she appeared to da Vinci and his contemporaries.

A zoomed-in image of Mona Lisa's left eye revealed a single brush stroke in the eyebrow region, Cotte said.

"I am an engineer and scientist, so for me all has to be logical. It was not logical that Mona Lisa does not have any eyebrows or eyelashes," Cotte told LiveScience. "I discovered one hair of the eyebrow."

Another conundrum had been the position of the subject's right arm, which lies across her stomach. This was the first time, Cotte said, that a painter had rendered a subject's arm and wrist in such a position. While other artists had never understood da Vinci's reasoning, they copied it nonetheless.

Cotte discovered the pigment just behind the right wrist matched up perfectly with that of the painted cover that drapes across Mona Lisa's knee. So it did make sense: The forearm and wrist held up one side of a blanket.

"The wrist of the right hand is up high on the stomach. But if you look deeply in the infrared you understand that she holds a cover with her wrist," Cotte said.

Behind a painting

The infrared images also revealed da Vinci's preparatory drawings that lie behind layers of varnish and paint, showing that the Renaissance man was also human.

"If you look at the left hand you see the first position of the finger, and he changed his mind for another position," Cotte said. "Even Leonardo da Vinci had hesitation."

Other revelations include:

• Lace on Mona Lisa's dress
• The transparency of the veil shows da Vinci first painted a landscape and then used transparency techniques to paint the veil atop it.
• A change in the position of the left index and middle finger.
• The elbow was repaired from damage due to a rock thrown at the painting in 1956.
• The blanket covering Mona Lisa's knees also covers her stomach.
• The left finger was not completely finished.
• A blotch mark on the corner of the eye and chin are varnish accidents, countering claims that Mona Lisa was sick.
• And the Mona Lisa was painted on uncut poplar board, contrary to speculations.

In the larger picture, Cotte said when he stands back and looks up at the enlarged infrared image of Mona Lisa, her beauty and mystique are apparent.

"If you are in front of this huge enlargement of Mona Lisa, you understand instantly why Mona Lisa is so famous," Cotte said. He added, it's something you have to see with your own eyes

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