Gazdoc's BLOG

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They can be as common as table salt, as numerous as grains on a beach, or as rare as diamonds. They are crystals.

The smallest particle of any substance is called a molecule. Each molecule, in turn, is composed of one or more atoms. Atoms are the smallest particle of an element. An element is one of a hundred or so materials that can be combined with other elements to make all the substances in the universe. For example, a sodium atom (one element) bound to a chlorine atom (another element) makes a molecule of sodium chloride, a substance commonly known as table salt.

The molecules in a gas or liquid bounce or flow around each other freely. When the material changes into a solid state, the molecules lock together. As they do, they link to one another in a uniform pattern that is repeated over and over. The result is known as a crystal.

Crystals often appear as strange and beautiful geometric shapes. Quartz, perhaps the most common of the mineral crystals, always grows as......

Johann Ludwig Burckhardt decided he wanted to be an explorer. Born in Switzerland in 1784, he was twenty years old when he managed to get himself hired by the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa. As part of his preparation to explore the western parts of that continent, the Association decided to have him spend two years in Syria preparing for the trip by learning the Arabic language. Burckhardt hoped that if he could master the language and customs there, he might be able to pass himself off as an Arab and avoid the suspicions and mistrust that western visitors to that region often encountered.

By 1812 he felt ready to take a three-month journey to Cairo in Egypt, traveling in disguise. While wandering through Jordan, he heard of a wondrous set of ruins only a day's travel off his path and decided to visit it. Knowing that admitting to want to see the location out of mere curiosity would raise the suspicions of his guide that he was not an Arab,......

Males are very fascinated by the glands situated on the front of the chest of the female of our species, these glands are the reason our species comes under Mammalia, I dont know the reasons for this fascination but maybe it is because these are the first things in life he feels and that give him satisfaction, anyway whatever the reasons, I found these pics on the net and am posting them here, hope none of our lady friends get offended.

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History

The disc of Phaistos is the most important example of hieroglyphic inscription from Crete and was discovered in 1903 in a small room near the depositories of the "archive chamber", in the north - east apartments of the palace, together with a Linear A tablet and pottery dated to the beginning of the Neo-palatial period (1700- 1600 B.C.).

The exact location of Phaistos was first determined in the middle of the 19th century by the British admiral Spratt, while the archaeological investigation of the palace started in 1884 by the Italians F. Halbherr and A. Taramelli. 

After the declaration of the independent Cretan State in 1898, excavations were carried out by F. Halbherr and L. Pernier in 1900-1904 and later, in 1950-1971, by Doro Levi, under the auspices of the Italian Archaeological School at Athens

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Near the northeast corner of Wyoming is a striking mountain of igneous rock that looks like a gigantic tree-stump. A tree stump over a thousand feet high. Columns run vertically up the top part of the rock like giant scratches. The name given to the mountain by the white man was "Devils Tower." The Indians had many names for it. One of them was "Bear Lodge."

Because it is so unusual in its appearance the tower has figured into many Native American legends and in 1977 it was used as the location for the finale of Steven Speilberg's film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Perhaps the most widely-known legend the Native......

 Absolut Vodka´s advertising campaign is the world´s longest ever uninterrupted one. To this date, it comprises 1,450 original ads, with more added each month. This gallery offers just a fragment of the total and although it will never be complete it will, I hope, give you an idea of the variety and scope of imagination of the staff of the TBWA advertising agency over the past 25 odd years.

Here are some of the ads

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Sacsayhuaman (Saqsaywaman)

This site is located north of the city of Cusco, at an altitude of about 3555 meters above sea level, between the districts of Cusco and San Sebastian, both of them within in the province and department of Cusco. The archaeological park covers an area of 3094 Hectares and contains more than 200 archaeological sites. Leading to Saqsaywaman there are two paved roads, one starts in the old and traditional neighbourhood of San Cristobal and is about 1.5 kilometers long and the other road begins at Avenida Collasuyo and is 4 kilometers long.

When the Spanish conquerors arrived first to these lands; they could not explain themselves how Peruvian "Indians" (ignorant, wild, without any ability of logical reasoning, one more animal species according to conquerors) could have built such a greatness. Their religious fanaticism led them to believe that all that was simply work of demons or malign spirits. Still today, many people believe in the inability of......

Introduction

Ajanta and nearby Ellora are two of the most amazing archaeological sites in India. Although handcrafted caves are scattered throughout India's western state of Maharashtra, the complexes at Ajanta and Ellora - roughly 300 kilometres northeast of Mumbai (Bombay) - are the most elaborate and varied examples known. The caves aren't natural caves, but man-made temples cut into a massive granite hillside. They were built by generations of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain monks, who lived, worked, and worshipped in the caves, slowly carving out elaborate statues, pillars, and meditation rooms. 

Kailasa Temple

Although all of the caves at Ellora are stunning architectural feats, the Hindu Kailasa Temple is the jewel in the crown. Carved to represent Mt. Kailasa, 
the home of the god Shiva in the Himalayas, it is the largest monolithic structure in the world, carved top-down from a single rock.  It contains the largest cantilevered rock ceiling in the world.&nbs......