Daily News Online
   

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Home

 | SHARE MARKET  | EXCHANGE RATE  | TRADING  | OTHER PUBLICATIONS   | ARCHIVES | 

dailynews
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

Glossary


* Penultimate - next to last. Usually a complement that someone or something is nearest to perfection

* Quixotic - taken from the hero Don Quixote. An impractical romantic.

* Etymology - the science of tracing the origin of words and the changing meaning applied by different cultures in specific time periods.

* Aphelion - the point in the path of a celestial body that is farthest from the sun

* Perihelion - the point in the path of a celestial body that is nearest to the sun

* Quicksilver - unpredictable, mercurial (volatile)

* Netizen - a citizen of the Internet

* Zyme - diseased germ


You would be surprised what a group of owls are called? A parliament! This just goes to prove that there are so many things about the English language that we know very little about. Here are some mind boggling collective nouns for animals.

Giraffes - tower
Rhinoceroses - crash
Squirrels - scurry
Crows - murder
Eagles - convocation
Larks - exaltation
Owls - parliament
Parrots - company
Peacocks - ostentation
Plovers - congregation
Ravens - unkindness
Starlings - murmuration



Gases emitted from burning matter ignite simultaneously

Flashover - a flashover occurs when gases emitted from burning matter in a confined space, reach their flash point, what is referred to as auto-ignition temperature and ignite simultaneously.

In a confined space, such as a closed room ceiling and walls can heat up respectively, emitting any flammable gases from material in the room, such as furniture, fabric, giving rise to a superheated smoke cloud. Because this develops in a confined space a flashover maybe stalled due to lack of oxygen, but can explode and develop into a full blown fire with a new source of oxygen, for example someone opening the door.

 

 

 

 



Dugong – the gentle giant of the sea

Dugong - they were recently in the news, two having been killed by dynamite fishing off Mannar. This gentle giant has a spindle-shaped body, wider in the middle and tapering toward the ends. It has no dorsal fin or hind limbs, instead possessing paddle-like forelimbs used for manoeuvring.

They are large marine mammals, one of four living species of Sirenia. Its range spans 37 countries throughout the Indo-Pacific. The Dugong is the only strictly-marine herbivorous mammal, as all species of manatee - another Sirenia species - utilize fresh water to some degree.

Dugongs have been hunted for meat for over thousands of years. The IUCN lists the Dugong as vulnerable to extinction, while the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) bans the trade of products derived from the animals. Specially in seas around Sri Lanka they are under threat from dynamite fishing.

 

 

 



Global dimming makes earth’s atmosphere more reflective

Global dimming - although many people are oblivious of this phenomena, it is happening as we speak! As its name suggests it refers to the reduced availability of sun and is considered to be caused by an increase in sulfate aerosol particles, due to human activities.

Aerosol particles that accumulate in the atmosphere reflect sunlight before reaching the earth. Moreover these particles act as nuclei for cloud droplets, forming extra cloud cover, in turn making the earth's atmosphere more reflective.

These clouds intercept both heat from the sun and heat radiated from the earth. During the day this creates a cooling effect, but during the night this heat reflecting mechanism impedes earth'sheat loss, making it warmer. The cooling effects associated with global dimming may have reduced the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming.

 

 



Ballast water poses a threat to marine coastal environments around the world

Ballast water - Ballast water is carried in tanks of ships to provide stability and adjust trim, stress and torsion for optimal steering and propulsion. However these ballast tanks are filled with water from ports and coastal environments, rich in plankton and other marine life.

The major problem created by ballast water is the introductions of undesired alien species, while ballast water is released from one marine environment to another. The ballast water circulation around the world is estimated to reach 10 to 15 billion metric tonnes annually, and about 3,000 species are circulated with this water.

Many developed countries have ballast water management techniques.

 

 

 



Typical sea surface temperature during La Niña conditions

El Ni¤o and La Ni¤a - aka or ENSO are irregular climate patterns that take place in the Pacific Ocean, in average within five year intervals. It involves a variation in the surface temperature of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. An increase in temperature is known as El Ni¤o and decrease, known as La Ni¤a.

El Ni¤o, accompanies high air surface pressure in the western Pacific, while the cold phase, La Ni¤a, accompanies low air surface pressure in the western Pacific. These anomalous conditions cause extreme weather such as floods and droughts, observed in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries in the past few weeks.

In fact the recent spell of La Ni¤a increased the amount of rain received by 100 percent in Sri Lanka, triggering anomalous weather patters. With temperatures plummeting to 18. 80 Celsius in the City of Colombo for the first time in 60 years. La Ni¤a is Spanish for 'little girl' El Ni¤o means 'the boy' and refers to the Christ child, because periodic warming in the Pacific near South America usually occurs during Christmas.

There is always a price to pay for one's own sins:

Grandmaster of caper thrillers

[Red Reviews]


Director: Jules Dassin

Writer: Jules Dassin, Ren‚ Wheeler, Auguste Le Breton
Stars: Jean Servais, Carl M”hner, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin, Marie Sabouret, Janine Darcey
Genre: Thriller
Length: 118 minutes
Original: 1955
Screening: 16 August 2002
Country: France


If you like a noir movie that move like a game of chess, slow and witty at the beginning, tensed and exciting at the centre, fast and serious at the end , French Caper classic Rififi is the movie to watch. The film was originally released in 1955 as Du rififi chez les homes.

Often referred to as the grand master of all heist movies, the French caper thriller Rififi has influenced the likes of Mission Impossible, Reservoir Dogs and Ocean's Eleven.

French police banned the movie on account of its central robbery sequence in 1955 stating that it could serve as a primer for would- be jewel thieves to carry out complicated robberies.

The movie was carefully and intelligently crafted by American expert director Jules Dassin. Blacklisted by post-war anti-Communist witch hunt in Hollywood at the time, Dassin fled to Paris to embark on this masterpiece which later became an international hit despite it being shot on a modest budget of US $ 200,000.

Rififi earned him the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. The movie stands out for its seminal robbery sequence played out in the middle that runs for about 30 minutes without dialogue or sound track. You will only hear the sounds of breathing, tapping, some plaster falling into an umbrella that was set to catch it and the patter of footsteps and random coughing by the men in action.

This was done to perfection by directorial choice to intensify suspense in the movie as Tony and his prot‚g‚, young father Jo the Swede (Carl Moehner) and Cesar (played by Dassin himself as Perlo Vita) break through a concrete ceiling, enter a highly surveiled jewellery store and immobilize the alarm with foam from a fire extinguisher. Although this is the pinnacle of the movie, it takes a new turn with Cesar giving a several millions worth diamond ring to a nightclub chanteuse despite their agreement to lay low for a while.

This sets human element into the movie with a chain of renewed violence. Cesar's stupidity leads to a situation of culprits being found out by the night club boss Pierre (Marcel Lupovici) who sends his men after the jewels. He kidnaps Jo's son and demands that stolen jewellery be handed over to him in return for the boy.

But Tony knows better about the rules of the underworld and the chances of the boy being returned by Pierre. The boy is a witness. The last section of the movie is centred on the kidnapping of Jo's son. How ex-con Jo panics as a father while Tony tries to save the boy from criminals using his talents, unfolds on the screen. Meanwhile, the writing is on the wall for Cesar for betraying the crime. Tony says to Cesar (Dassin) in a scene, "I like you, Macaroni.

But you know the rules." Cesar nods in affirmation. But there is always a price to pay for one's own sins in crime. Rules apply. The plot of the movie revolves around a burglary at a jewellery shop but the director has craftily used his mastery in film making to bring each character into full play rather than killing each character on the basis of their figurative criminal appearance through scenes of die hard killing.

Rififi mirrors what makes a great movie with its cascading twists. Rififi is also noted for its dark humour.

It was nominated by the National Board of Review for Best Foreign Film. It was re-released theatrically in 2000 and is still highly acclaimed by modern film critics as one of the greatest works in French film industry.

EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

ANCL TENDER for CTP PLATES
www.lanka.info
www.news.lk
www.defence.lk
Donate Now | defence.lk
www.apiwenuwenapi.co.uk
LANKAPUVATH - National News Agency of Sri Lanka
www.army.lk
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)

| News | Editorial | Business | Features | Political | Security | Sport | World | Letters | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2011 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor