August 24, 2006, was an important day in the history of planetary science. It was absolutely the first day when official scientific definition of the word “planet” is explained. It was also the famous day as Pluto was propelled out of the planetary family. Pluto is a tiny, solid, icy world in a more lengthened orbit unlike other planets, which move closely in circular paths. Another abnormality about Pluto is the inclination of its orbit. All the other planets follow paths in a confined band within the limits of the constellations, we call the zodiac, but Pluto’s orbit deviates from this and takes the path above and below that band. Another deviation is Pluto does not dominate its neighborhood i.e., Charon, its large “moon,” is only about half the size of Pluto, while all the true planets are far bigger than their moons. So officially, Pluto is not a planet and considered as dwarf planet. Pluto is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-largest body noticed, directly revolving around the Sun. Before 2006, there were nine planets, they Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Now, there are only eight planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
December 1, 2009
Tsunami in Indonesia Left Many People Deserted
On 17th July, 2006, an earthquake of 7.7 magnitude was experienced for more than a minute in the vicinity of Christmas Island, Tasikmalaya, Bandung, and Jakarta. The powerful earthquake generated tsunami and sent huge waves shattering into a 175-kilometer stretch of Java’s southern coast, destroying houses, restaurants, hotels, cars, motorbikes, and boats were left ruined with fishing nets, furniture and other debris. The toll reached to 659 dead with more than 280 missing and more than 74,000 people displaced, either because of their homes were destroyed or out of fear of living next to the sea. Nearly three foreigners from Japan, Belgium and Sweden were killed and five Saudi Arabians were severely injured. At first glance, rescuers met with the sight of bodies in the branches of trees, and in the remains of destroyed hotels and houses. Body bags and other important items arrived, and relief aid such as tents and food were sent for the thousands of people who had got deserted and escaped from their homes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred due to fault in the thrust on the boundary between the Australia plate and the Sunda Plate. Many people have been living in the hills since the disaster.
Google Acquisition of YouTube to Increase its Power in Online Advertising
On Monday, October 9, 2006, Google Inc. the Internet’s leading search engine declared its decision to purchase YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, for $1.65 billion in stock (assets). YouTube, which was started in February 2005, has quickly become the most famous of several online video sites. According to Internet research firm Hitwise, YouTube has approximately a 46 percent share of the online video market. 100 million videos are watched on the YouTube’s flash based site every day, including movie, TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content. While Google has been riding away huge profits from the prospering search market, it could not become a major player in online video. The combination of Google and YouTube could increase Google’s power in online advertising, giving it an advantage over rivals such as Yahoo! (Charts), Microsoft’s (Charts) MSN and News Corp (Charts)., which owns the social networking site MySpace. Google had taken this decision speculating that the popular video-sharing site will favor it an increasingly advantageous marketing hub as more viewers and advertisers are migrating from television to the Internet. Google announced that two companies would be operated independently. As the Youtube’s agreement with Google appeared to be success, it announced new partnerships with Universal Music Group, CBS Corp. and Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Italy Won FIFA World Cup for Fourth Time
The 18th FIFA world cup 2006 was held from 09th June 2006 to 09th July 2006 in Germany. Sixty Four matches were conducted between 32 teams of different nations. The month of football in Germany attracted not only 3,359,439 spectators attending matches in the 12 wonderful stadiums (and Fan Fest millions) but also worldwide audience of more than 30 billion people. The World Cup was won by Italy by defeating France and clinched their fourth World Cup title. The winner of Adidas Golden Ball was Zinedine Zidane (France). Playing his last game before retiring, Zinedine Zidane’s career ended with bad reputation, as he was sent off for crazily colliding his head with Marco Materazzi (Italy) chest. He was expelled many times from matches for his violent conduct. He is one among the four persons who made three goals in World cup final matches. The winner of Adidas Golden Shoe is Miroslav Klose (Germany) as he had done five goals. Portugal’s flying winner Cristiano Ronaldo was another individual to flash as his team entered the last four for the first time since 1966.
Iraq War had Severe Impact on Environment
Even though there was serious opposition from millions of people around the world, and without the support of the United Nations, American and British troops invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003. The reasons for the preemptive attack by allied forces were Iraq’s failure to participate in UN-administered disarmament (reduction of weapons) agreement and the possible threat it posed to international security. However, the WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) report stated that the two credible reasons for invading Iraq are to take control over oil and to protect the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. This situation worsened in 2006. In 2006, there were many roadside bombings, military funerals, shattered mosques, wounded children, and prevailing violence, which feared people of Iraq. Many people of America are against to the war. Never in U.S. history there was such a huge military struggle, it spent $150 million a day, more than 2,300 American soldiers died and more than 17,000 U.S. soldiers were wounded. Many people in Iraq were dead and many were injured badly. The war in Iraq treated as War on Terrorism caused poverty and developed many environmental problems. There are both long term and short-term problems on many categories. Military movements and weapon application result in land degradation. The demolition of military and industrial machinery released heavy metals and other harmful substances and created air pollution. The radioactive substance Uranium was dumped in River Tigris and created water pollution.
Suggested Reading:
Rise in Food Prices Created imbalance in Poor and Developed Countries
BPO Companies in India Provide Awareness on Substance Addiction
India to Set Up More De-Addiction Centres
Know About the Substance Abuse Facts in America
Swine Flu detected in March 2009
13,722 Affected by Swine Flue