A flophouse is a place of cheap lodging. It’s normally an apartment where some occupants pay rent while others are unemployed and do nothing with their lives except party and abuse drugs. They generally share bathroom facilities and reside in very cramped quarters. The people who use these places are often called transients, although some people stay in them for …

A fish pedicure is performed by a special kind of fish known as garra rufa or doctor fish. The feet are immersed in a tub of warm water which has several of these tiny fish. They nibble on the toes and eat away dead skin making the feet clean and smooth. This treatment originated in Turkey.

A dry port, also called sometimes an inland port or multimodal logistics centre, is an inland terminal connected to a seaport by rail or road. It serves as a transhipment point in the transport of export/import goods. A dry port is called so because it is very similar to a seaport in the services it offers, except that it is …

The Cyrus Cylinder is a clay cylinder on which a declaration issued by the emperor Cyrus II of Persia is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform. It has been described as the world’s first charter of human rights, predating the Magna Carta by more than one millennium.

You have probably noticed ‘cuttlebone’ pushed between the bars of a budgerigar’s cage, or washed up on the beach. This ‘bone’ is not really bone at all but the shell of a cuttlefish, which is not a fish but a mollusc. The cuttlefishes, squids and octopuses belong to a group of mollusks called cephalopods and most characterized by a very …

It is an account a person sets aside which has no demands of monthly expenses on it, and is used as an emergency or luxury fund. A few business people set aside cushion funds to help their business grow, and for stability. The word ‘cushion’ is used as it gives a certain level of comfort to the person.

It is part of the Paris-Roubaix cycling race over 257 km, from Paris to Roubaix, near the Belgium border. Of this distance, nearly 53 km is over cobblestones, which is the most dangerous part. It is an annual race that started in 1896 and is one of the oldest. It is also called the ‘Hell of the North’. The winner …

A cloud burst is a form of torrential rainfall accompanied by hail and thunder. It is usually observed in high altitude areas and occurs due to the formation of a low pressure area on the top of a mountain. The low pressure zone attracts clouds to the top of the mountain with great force. When they hit the peak, the …

For many species of caterpillar, the first meal is their own egg shell. It is thought that the shell contains vital food substances.

A carrotmob is an event where environmentalists queue up to buy goods from a shop which goes green. This is a sort of incentive for their intentions. The concept uses the carrot and stick method, hence ‘carrot mob’. Environmentalists mob a ‘green’ store for mass purchases as a reward. This is planned in advance and executed as an event.