A clean place is selected for the Havan. Participants should shower, wear clean clothes and sit in easy postures. After prayers, fire is lit and Vedic Mantras are chanted and offerings are made to God. Singing of Aarti symbolizes the end of the ceremony and Prasad is offered to the participants. Fire or agni is one of the five manifestations …

Humans spend about eight hours in every twenty-four hours asleep. Cats sleep a great deal longer than that. They spend sixteen out of every twenty-four hours asleep-they are awake for only one-third of their lives.

Reveal the dragon thro’ the human; coursing swift as fire To the close hall of counsel, where his Angel form renews. In a sweet vale shelter’d with cedars, that eternal stretch Their unmov’d branches, stood the hall; built when the moon shot forth, In that dread night when Urizen call’d the stars round his feet; Then burst the center from …

Humans have invented new and advanced ways of communicating with each other. Television, radio, telephones and of course email. You will be surprised to know that animals who seem to have very simple methods of communication – using their bodies and voices – are also capable of long distance communication. Foot stomping and low frequency rumbling created by elephants can …

Unless you are a young child, you need have no real fears about the effects of an adder bite. Adders are vipers and so have efficient venom, but it is only really effective on small prey – lizards, mice and shrews. Adders rarely bite humans unless they are frightened by being trodden on or deliberately provoked. Many people try to …

When we describe someone as being slothful, we mean that they are lazy and sleepy. But does the sloth really live up to this name? Is it as lazy as the term suggests? I’m afraid that the answer is yes, although it would be unfair to say that the sloth sleeps all the time. The main characteristic of sloth is …

Experts have a divided opinion about this. Part of reality television’s appeal is due to its ability to place ordinary or ‘real’ people in extraordinary situations. These shows have an element of drama in which some characters are seen as heroes while others become villains. These aspects, along with the element of conflict make them entertaining. Supporters of this genre, …

No, all venomous snakes are not dangerous to humans. Bites from copperheads are common along the eastern part of the United States, but no one has died of a copperhead bite.

Stories of great attacking and eating explorers are very much in the realms of fiction, for gorillas are strictly vegetarian. Despite their huge size they eat mainly twigs and leaves. The fearsome-looking canine teeth which they possess are used for threat displays, and for setting disputes among their own kind. On the whole, gorillas are shy, retiring creatures which have …

Wynton Marsalis — Wynton Learson Marsalis on born October 18, 1961 to Dolores and Ellis Marsalis, Jr., a New Orleans-based music teacher and pianist. He is the second of six sons. He is an American jazz and Western classical virtuoso trumpeter and composer. He is Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted the appreciation of Classical and …