Interesting facts and information about Howrah Bridge

Interesting facts and information about Howrah Bridge

Howrah Bridge also known as Rabindra Setu is a suspension type balanced cantilever bridge located in West Bengal, India. It connects Howrah and Kolkata. The Bridge is made over the river Hooghly (a branch of River Ganga).

Howrah Bridge

• The design of the bridge was made by Rendel, Palmer and Tritton and the bridge was constructed by Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company. The bridge is maintained by Kolkata Port Trust.

• Howrah Bridge ranks 6^th among the cantilever suspension type bridges. At the time of construction its rank was 3^rd.

• The construction of bridge was started on 1936 and ended in 1942. It was opened for the public transport on 3 Feb 1943.

• After the name of Rabindranath Tagore (first Asian Nobel laureate), On 14 June 1965 the bridge was renamed to Rabindra Setu.

• The bridge was made by steel and one of the suppliers of steel was Tata Steel. It consumed about 26,500 tons of steel. An amazing thing about the bridge is that no bolts and nuts were used in this bridge. The structure was made by riveting the steel.

• The length of the bridge is 705 meter and width is 71 ft with two footpaths of 15 ft on either side.

• It carries a large number of traffic daily. About 1 million vehicles and 1.5 pedestrians use it. It is the busiest cantilever bridge in the world. Though the first vehicle to use it was a tram, from 1993 trams were stopped from using it to reduce the load.

Facts and Information about Nalanda University: Indias first University

Facts and Information about Nalanda University: Indias first University

Nalanda University

Nalanda was an ancient Indian university. It was one of the famous universities of the world. It was the first Indian residential university.

• Nalanda University was located at Bihar. It was about 88 kilometers away from Patna.

• Nalanda University was established during the Gupta Dynasty. It remained as a best university for a long time until Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed it.

• The information about Nalanda University is known to us because of Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (Hiuen-Tsang). He visited the university and left much information about the university in his writing.

• About 10,000 students and 2000 teachers were there in the university. Students were come from all over the world (Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, and Persia). The admission process of the university was very strict. Students have to go through different tests to prove their ability.

• The university covered a large area about 14 hectares. University had 10 temples, many classrooms and meditation centers and a big library. Many people even today get astonished by the architecture of the building.

• Library of the Nalanda University was divided into three buildings- Ratnasagara, Ratnadadhi and Ratnaranjaka. Among this building, Ratnasagara was nine storeyed building. The library did not only contain religious manuscripts but it had a large collection of books on literature, astrology, astronomy, and medicine. Vastness of the library can be understand from the fact that it took three months to burn down when invaders set fire to it.

• The Nalanda University had a great influence of Buddhism. Many Buddhist taught at Nalanda. It is believed that Buddha was stayed at the university many times.

• It is reported that India with other countries planning to revive the university and A P J Abdul Kalam is helping in that.

Master plan for reviving Nalanda University

PTI

SHARE  ·   PRINT   ·   T+  

A group of architecture students from Singapore have put together ideas for the reconstruction.

To its past glory:A file photo of the ancient Nalanda University.

A group of architecture students here have drawn a master plan for the revival of ancient Nalanda University in India which had students from East Asia and China during its functional period from 5th Century CE to 1197 CE.

“We will present the draft plan to the Nalanda University directors later this year and hope to participate in the final competition for Nalanda campus master plan,” Ng Si Jia, the group leader of the architecture students from the National University of Singapore (NUS), told PTI.

Architecture students, researchers, academics and diplomats met yesterday at the Nalanda - Siriwijaya Centre at NUS to discuss and review the plan, ‘The Nalanda University: A Mother Plan for the 21st Century Campus'

The plan was put together by a group of 14 architecture students from China and includes two students from the Nanjing University of China who are in Singapore on a student exchange programme.

The modern building concept-based plan stresses on including local farming on the 150-ha of the 180-ha site to make it self-sufficient in food supplies and incorporating the contribution of the community within the vicinity as has been the case at the ancient centre when 200 villages supplied food to the campus residents.

The plan also emphasizes on inculcating local cultural, environmental and ecological elements in the campus though the revived university would draw international students, including from China, according to the presentation.

Singapore's top architect and NUS Adjunct Professor Tay Kheng Soon took the students on a week-long tour of India and visited the ruins of Nalanda in Bihar as well as the site for the new university. International students would join the Nalanda University, which was scheduled to be functional from 2013.

Singapore, India, China and Japan are leading the main sponsors for reconstructing the University, estimated to cost USD 1 billion.

More donations were being sought for the university project.PTI

---

The plan stresses on including local farming on the 150-ha of the 180-ha site to make it self-sufficient in food supplies.

Emphasises inculcating local cultural, environmental and ecological elements in the campus.

---

https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Little-CHEF/182027225326481

Multi-touch desktop is a (miserably) failed product due to the fact that hands could get very tired with prolonged use, but Leap Motion wants to challenge this dark area again with a more advanced idea. It lets you control the desktop with fingers, but without touching the screen.

                   

It’s not your typical motion sensor, as Leap Motion allows you to scroll the web page, zoom in the map and photos, sign documentss and even play a first person shooter game with only hand and finger movements. The smooth reaction is the most crucial key point here. More importantly, you can own this future with just $70, a price of a premium PS3 game title!

If this device could completely work with Oculus Rift to simulate a real-time gaming experience, gaming is going to get a major make-over.

Eye tracking has been actively discussed by technology enthusiasts throughout these years, but it’s really challenging to implement. But Eye Tribe actually did this. They successfully created the technology to allow you to control your tablet, play flight simulator, and even slice fruits in Fruit Ninja only with your eye movements.


               

It’s basically taking the common eye-tracking technology and combining it with a front-facing camera plus some serious computer-vision algorithm, and voila, fruit slicing done with the eyes! A live demo was done in LeWeb this year and we may actually be able to see it in in action in mobile devices in 2013.

Currently the company is still seeking partnership to bring this sci-fi tech into the consumer market but you and I know that this product is simply too awesome to fail.

iOS and Android are great, but they each have their own rules and policies that certainly inhibit the creative efforts of developers. Mozilla has since decided to build a new mobile operating system from scratch, one that will focus on true openness, freedom and user choice. It’s Firefox OS.

Firefox OS is built on Gonk, Gecko and Gaia software layers – for the rest of us, it means it is built on open source, and it carries web technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3.

Developers can create and debut web apps without the blockade of requirements set by app stores, and users could even customize the OS based on their needs. Currently the OS has made its debut on Android-compatible phones, and the impression so far, is great.

You can use the OS to do essential tasks you do on iOS or Android: calling friends, browsing web, taking photos, playing games, they are all possible on Firefox OS, set to rock the smartphone market.