Most likely it was an Egyptian cobra, although the asp has been implicated. An asp is a type of viper and would mean a pretty painful death.
Read More »What kind of farming is the most productive?
When land is scare, farms must be as productive as possible. For example less than 15 percent of Japan is suitable for farming. But through intensive farming, using fertilizers, irrigation, machinery and improved plant varieties yields are high, and Japan produces 70 percent of the food it needs.Another example of intensive agriculture is market gardening the production of flowers, fruit …
Read More »What is zorbing?
Zorbing is an extreme adventure sport involving a ball made of PVC, also called the zorb. The person, or persons, in case of ‘group zorbing’, gets inside and the ball is closed. The ball is then rolled down a hill, and it picks up speed as it goes. There are two ways to zorb: one involves getting wet and one …
Read More »What is windfall tax?
Windfall tax is what’s imposed on windfall gains, an abnormal increase in the profits of any organization in the normal course of its business due to certain circumstances. An example would be the increase in the price of oil over the world. In this case, the oil exploration and production (E&P) companies will make huge gains if they sell oil …
Read More »What is VIX?
The VIX is calculated and disseminated in realtime by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). It’s a weighted blend of prices for a range of options on the S&P 500 index. The formula uses a kernelsmoothed estimator that takes as inputs the current market prices for all out-of-the-money calls and puts forth front month and second month expirations. The goal …
Read More »What is vertical farming?
Farming indoors is not a new concept, per se, as greenhouse-based agriculture has been in existence for some time. Numerous commercially viable crops (e.g., strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs, and spices) have seen their way to the world’s supermarkets in ever increasing amounts over the last 15 years. Most of these operations are small when compared to factory farms, but …
Read More »What is Vedic?
Vedic literature is the sacred literature of the Hindus. Its four main works are the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. Each Veda contains collections of hymns called Samhitas, most of which were composed by unknown holy men as long as 4,000 years ago. Ancient Vedic wisdom is recorded on palmleaf books.
Read More »What is urban mining?
Urban mining is the European fancy name for the process of making money out of garbage using sophisticated machinery. Urban mining is the process of reclaiming precious and minor metals from old electronic equipment. With the soaring price of metals, such recycling of previously mined metals is lucrative — 1 tonne of ore from a gold mine produces just 5 …
Read More »What is unusual about lemmings?
The strange thing about lemmings is the way they, apparently, commit mass suicide. These grey or reddish-brown rodents look like mice, but are slightly larger. They live in large areas of the northern world, including Alaska, north-west Canada and Scandinavia. But, in fact, only the Scandinavian lemmings stampede in such a suicidal manner. Now and then thousands of them travel …
Read More »What is unique about the production ‘Dralion’?
‘Dralion’ is an entertainment show produced by Montreal-based company Cirque du Soleil Inc, well known for its circus-based dance dramas. The show ‘Dralion’, which has already toured different parts of the world, is currently located at Sydney and been seen by seven million people. It’s main theme is to project human life as an integral part of nature, and, specifically, …
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