Bermuda Triangle: the science behind the mystery

SCIENCE
A long list of air crashes and shipwrecks show that at least something is wrong in so-called Bermuda Triangle (in my humble opinion, his name is more marketing than literal). For worshipers lament supernatural phenomena there is a scientific theory that could explain this phenomenon: mega-submarine deposits of methane gas hydrate (yes, the same we use in our kitchen, but basically in solid state).
The Bermuda Triangle is a geographic area with an equilateral triangle about 1600 or 1800 km across, located in the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale (Florida).
It is famous because in the mid-twentieth century writers published several magazine articles about the alleged dangers of the area. However, statistics from the Coast Guard of the United States do not indicate that in this area there are more disappearances of ships and aircraft than other areas in the same traffic.
Ever since the era of sailing ships traveling to Europe continuously passed through this area to take advantage of prevailing winds and the Gulf Stream. Then, with the development of steam engines and boats with internal combustion engines, much of the North Atlantic traffic continued crossing (and still does) through the area called "Bermuda Triangle". The Gulf Stream, an area with a very unstable time (known for its hurricanes), also passes through the Triangle after leaving the Caribbean Sea. The combination of heavy maritime traffic and tempestuous weather makes it possible for some boats put out into storms and be lost without a trace, especially before the development of telecommunications, radar and satellites in the late twentieth century.
Despite popular belief, the U.S. Coast Guard and other sources cite statistics indicating that the number of incidents involving lost ships and aircraft is no larger than elsewhere in the world just as busy. While it has been shown that many of the cases were such mysteries to analyze in detail, taking inaccuracies circulating for decades, few have no explanation yet.
What scientific theory then attempts to unravel the mystery?
An explanation of some of the disappearances points to the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental plates. In 1981, the United States Geological Survey reported the appearance of these hydrates in the Blake Ridge area. Periodic methane eruptions may produce regions of frothy water or gas giant bubbles could not give enough support to the ships. If an area is formed around such a ship, it would sink very quickly without warning. Laboratory experiments have proved that the bubbles can actually sink a scaled boat, because it lowers the density of water. Methane gas could also bring down airplanes. The thinner air would support the aircraft lost in flight.
Furthermore, the plane's altimeter (which measures the altitude) measures the density of air. Because methane is less dense, the altimeter would indicate that the aircraft is climbing. The driver traveling at night or in clouds (where you can not see the ground), would mean that the aircraft is climbing, descending and react, causing the plane to crash.
Would you believe?

Abraham Lincoln: the power used in good faith

HISTORICAL CHARACTERS
There is a fine line between those who use power for personal fulfillment or a few, of those who use them for the common good. Pobrably there is no absolute example of any of the two cases, but Abraham Lincoln is perhaps one of the best examples to follow. He had the power to persecute, arrest and impose magnanimous ideals that today would agree, but wake in his time more of an annoyance. He paid for his boldness with the highest price that could impose: his own life.
Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States and the first by the Party Republicano.Como a strong opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States, Lincoln won the Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that year. During his term, he helped preserve the United States by the defeat of the secessionist Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. He introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865.
Lincoln closely supervised the outcome of the war until it ended, especially the selection of top generals, including Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln successfully mobilized public opinion through his rhetoric and speeches, his Gettysburg Address is but one example of this. After the war, Lincoln established the reconstruction, trying to quickly gather the country through a policy of generous reconciliation. His assassination in 1865 was the first assassination in the United States.
During his presidency, Lincoln is recognized as having freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation, but this release only in areas of the Confederacy not controlled by the Union. However, the proclamation made the abolition of slavery in the rebel states were an official war goal. This gave impetus to the adoption of the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery and established the federal civil rights enforcement. During the Civil War, Lincoln received Congressional powers that no previous president had exercised; managed funds without control of Congress and suspended habeas corpus. Thus Lincoln was able to arrest political opponents (many Democrats) and members of antiwar groups without prior court orders, in addition to censor these groups in the press (something contrary to freedom of expression).
His murder: at the time of reconstruction, and Mary Todd Lincoln left to attend a performance at Ford's Theatre. The play was Our American Cousin, a musical comedy. When Lincoln sat in the balcony, John Wilkes Booth, an actor from Maryland, Virginia resident and Southern sympathizer, appeared from behind fired a single shot with a bullet Deringer pistol round to the president's head and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis " (Latin expression meaning "Thus always to tyrants"), killing the "beloved" president. Booth jumped from the balcony to the stage, the audience thought that was incorporated bowing, but the truth is that he had broken a leg.

Honourable East India Company: Take control of Asia

HISTORY
During a time whoever controlled the seas dominated trade and politics, at least in the colonial territories. Golden Age of sailors (and pirates?) English, took to conquer the route linking the riches of the East with the insatiable demand of the old continent. However, this was not a company anyone incumbency had political, economic and even military for over 200 years. The Honourable East India Company was undoubtedly the star of world colonial history.
The Honourable East India Company was a society of investors who won the December 31, 1600 Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I of England with the intention of guaranteeing trade privileges in India . The royal charter gave the new company the artificial monopoly of all trade in the East Indies.
The first point of trade in India was established in the port of Surat in 1608. The next two years, the Company built its first factory in Machilipatnam, in the Bay of Bengal. Traders were often involved in confrontations with the Dutch and Portuguese who were in the Indian Ocean area. However, the company soon eclipsed the Portuguese who had established bases in Goa and Bombay (which was later ceded to the British). In 1647, the British company had 23 factories and 90 employees in India. In 1634, the Mughal emperor extended his hospitality and allowed the British trade in the Bengal region.
The company's business is focused on cotton, silk, indigo and tea. Also initiated some inroads in the business of spices, hitherto monopolized by the Dutch. A mid-nineteenth century, the control of the Company spread across most of India, Burma, Singapore and Hong Kong, a fifth of the world's population was under his authority.

Easter Island: awe in the ocean

NATURAL WONDERS


We asked many times as did the Egyptians to build such large pyramids with a few Chinese sinless perfection or worked in more than 8,000 km. wall that extends across the width of your country. This time, we were amazed of the legacy left by an ancient population in a small, isolated island of the Pacific Ocean: Easter Island and its sympathetic and enigmatic moai.Easter Island is a Chilean island located in Polynesia, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It has an area of ​​163.6 km ², making it the largest island of the insular Chile, and a population of 5,034 inhabitants, mainly concentrated in Hanga Roa, existing capital and only town on the island.
The island is one of the main tourist destinations because of its natural beauty and its mysterious ancient culture of ethnic Rapanui, whose most notable trace corresponds to huge statues known as moai. To preserve these characteristics, the government Conaf administered through the Rapa Nui National Park, while UNESCO declared the park as a World Heritage Site in 1995.5
According to oral tradition, the Rapa Nui people have come to this island from a mythical island called Hiva, being led by Hotu Matua, the first ariki, or king, by the fourth century. According to archaeological research, the origin of this ethnic group come from Polynesia, possibly from the Marquesas Islands. Recent theories postulate that Rapa Iti would be the legendary Hiva which allegedly came from the ancestors of the Easter Island natives as Rapa Nui mythology. In the coastal centers established religious, political and ceremonial (as in Anakena and Akahanga) and worshiped almost deified ancestors represented by the moai. Still do not know how this was done construction and displacement from these sculptures, of which there are about a thousand.
In 1887, Chile wishes to annex the island to the Chilean territory, for which commissions the captain of the Chilean Navy Policarpo Toro, who conducted negotiations through the purchase of land on the island at the request of the Bishop of Valparaíso, owner of 600 acres , together with the brothers Salmon, Dutrou-Bornier and John Brander, of Tahiti, that even though, according to tradition, the land could not be sold.
Then, on September 9, 1888, Chile was able to sign a treaty, represented by Atamu Tekena. Document was drafted in Spanish and one in Rapanui mixed with Tahitian. The Spanish text speaks of transfer of sovereignty to Chile, while reserving to the chiefs who attended the agreement, the titles of which were invested and they enjoyed at the time, without referring to the land.

Tungsten: a metal as rare as family

MATERIALS
Rarely let's hear a guy running and screaming "I want a Tungsten bike" or a young adult satisfied with the new Tungsten wheels he bought. That's not to say that among the materials that make up our lives, the tungsten is not present among us, for example, in the filaments of incandescent lamps.
Is a chemical element with atomic number 74 that is in group 6 of the periodic table of elements. Its symbol is W.
It is a rare metal in the earth's crust is in the form of oxide and salts in certain minerals. It is steel-gray, very hard and dense, has a melting point highest of all metals and boiling highest of all known elements.
And where can we find this "rare" metal? In its pure state is used in the manufacture of filaments for electric lamps, electric ovens resistance to reducing or neutral atmosphere, electrical contacts for car dealers, also as anti-tank projectile (arrow) due to its high melting point and density anodes X-ray tubes and television.
It has important uses in alloys for cutting tools at high speed, such as strawberries for dental instruments (W2C), in the manufacture of spark plugs and in the preparation of varnishes (WO3) and mordant in dyeing, in the tips of the pens and the production of alloy steels and harder.
For TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) is to use non-fusible electrode (not melted), for electric arc between the workpiece and the machine, as it supports 3410 ° C when pure (used for welding aluminum or magnesium, alternating current).
In the military, was a strategic material and has been on the list of most coveted products from the Second World War (used to shield the tips of anti-tank missiles, such as AP ammo, and in the breastplate of the armor ). For example, the U.S. government maintains a national reserve of six months with other products considered necessities for survival.

Bobsleigh: Adrenaline on Ice

SPORTS
Gliding with a sled a sunny day in winter in Park Hill around grandma is definitely fun. One mistake, one wrong move and the soft snow makes the job of cushioning the blows. But at 150 km / h in the cold, hard ice, the story changes. Adrenaline is triggered, the senses are defendants peak and any mistake could be your last mistake. Like everything mortally dangerous, many people choose it, enough so that the bobsleig be considered a winter Olympic sport. Here his presentation:
Like the luge and skeleton, its origin is in the Swiss Alps in the late nineteenth century. Specifically the first world bobsleigh club was founded in 1897 in St. Moritz, Switzerland and from there spread to other parts of Europe. The first official competitions can consider dating from 1914.
In the early decades of the bobsleigh had little to do with what is at present, as the materials, the design, the tracks have completely changed almost beyond recognition. Major breakthroughs came in the field of materials, in two respects: the new sleds steel and fiberglass manufacturing of which utilize the latest technological advances in aerodynamics, and not least, the artificial slopes in which you can achieve truly amazing speeds with which they had never dreamed the first practitioners of the sport. The ice rinks are narrow passages, tortuous and stilted, with a number of left and right turns.
The key in the bobsleigh is normally at the start. It is critical that these first few meters the crew get the highest possible speed pushing the sled in those initial meters, so they should also be fast, strong people, and that usually depends on the initial explosion the result. The differences between participants rarely exceed a few hundredths so any little mistake is impossible to recover. Although the sled has a brake, this is only used when passing the finish line. Speeds often exceed 150 miles per hour and runners support up to 4 or 5 forces "G".

The Galapagos Islands: a place where nature and science meet

NATURAL WONDERS
It is no coincidence that the most exotic species, rare and antique still survive in remote islands where the main historical predator (man) took many many years to conquer. The cases are perhaps the most recognized of kangaroos and koalas in Australia, the New Zealand Kiwi or the Komodo dragons on the island that bears his name in Indonesia. An example, one of the most beautiful is that of iguanas and giant tortoises of the Galapagos Islands. Another legacy of Latin America to the world.
The Galapagos Islands (Galapagos islands also and officially archipelago of Columbus) are an archipelago located in the Pacific Ocean 972 km off the coast of Ecuador. It is composed of 13 large islands with an area greater than 10km2, five medium-sized islands with an area of ​​1km2 to 10km2 and 215 other small islands of rocky promontories plus few square meters distributed around the line of Ecuador land.
The Galapagos Islands are famous for its numerous endemic species such as the giant tortoises, land and marine iguanas, hammerhead sharks and birds. They are called by tourists, the "Enchanted Islands" as the flora and fauna found there is virtually unique and it can not be found anywhere else in the world. So many people visit and enjoys meeting the unique animals and plants.
A little history ... Galapagos Islands were discovered by chance on March 10, 1535, when the Dominican friar Tomás de Berlanga, Bishop of Panama, went to Peru in compliance with an order of the Spanish king Carlos V, to arbitrate in a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and his subordinates after the conquest of the Inca Empire. The first maps to include the islands were prepared by Abraham Ortelius and Mercator around 1570. The islands were described as "the Galopegos Insulae" (Turtle Island).
The Galapagos were used as a hideout for English pirates on their trips to plunder Spanish galleons carrying gold and silver from America to Spain. The first known pirate who visited the islands was Richard Hawkins, in 1593. From then until 1816 many pirates came to the archipelago. Finally, Ecuador annexed the Galapagos Islands February 12, 1832 under the government of General Juan José Flores, baptizing as Colon Archipelago.

Tornadoes: Maximum Destruction winds

SCIENCE
Anyone who has seen the movie "Twister" will know that the force of nature is not a childs game, that has the power of creation and destruction and manages to balance on Earth. Tornadoes are a unique and extraordinary ... to watch on TV ... for being in the middle of one can be very fierce and destructive.
A tornado is a weather phenomenon that consists of a funnel of air violently broken, the lower end is in contact with the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud top or, exceptionally, with the base of a cumulus cloud is This is the most intense atmospheric phenomenon known.
Tornadoes come in many sizes and shapes but generally have the shape of a funnel cloud, whose narrow end touches the ground and is usually surrounded by a cloud of debris and dust. Most tornadoes have winds reaching speeds between 65 and 180 km / h, measured about 75 meters wide and move several miles before disappearing. The most extreme wind speeds may have to be rotated to 450 km / h or more, measuring up to 2 km wide and remain touching the floor along more than 100 km of recorrido.2 April 3
Tornadoes are detected by pulse Doppler radar and visually by storm chasers. They were observed on every continent except Antarctica. However, the vast majority of the world's tornadoes occur in the U.S. region known as Tornado Alley. They also occasionally occur in south-central and eastern Asia, northern and east-central South America, Southern Africa, northwestern and southeast Europe, western and southeastern Australia and New Zealand.
There are several different scales to rate the strength of tornadoes. The Fujita scale evaluates by damage caused, and has been replaced in some countries by the Enhanced Fujita scale, an updated version of the previous one. F0 or EF0 tornado, the weakest category, cause damage to trees but not structures. F5 or EF5 tornado, the strongest category, rips buildings off their foundations and can produce significant structural deformations skyscrapers.
You had some experience with tornadoes? Write to nuevoculturaen10@gmail.com and will gladly publish your story!

The Pisco: One of the favorite legacies from Peru to the world

FOOD&DRINKS
Since the beginning of civilization there was no party without a good banquet and a shameful amount of alcohol. The man discovered and developed the fermentation process of any fruit or vegetable from its sugar can form an alcoholic beverage. The Scots are proud of their whiskey, Cuban rum and its Russian boasts the power and flavor of the best vodka in the world. Peru, one of the cradles of the development of Latin America, could not fail to have their famous drink, derived from one of the most famous vine in the world: the Pisco.
In Peru and other countries, pisco is an appellation of origin that is reserved for the alcoholic beverage belonging to a variety of grape brandy produced in Peru since the late sixteenth century. Distillate is typical of this country, wine made from certain grapes fermented (Vitis vinifera), whose value has crossed its borders, as evidenced by the records of shipments made through the port of Pisco to Europe and other parts of Latin since the seventeenth century, such as England, Spain, Portugal, Guatemala, Panama, and the United States of America, from the mid-nineteenth century.
Products is one of the Peruvian flag and only occurs on the coast (to 2,000 m) in the departments of Lima, Ica, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna. Peru's pisco is made from pure grape juice and is completely different from the grape brandies made in other parts of the world. Johnny Schuler, pisco in history, says: "Peru is the only manufacturer that uses the juice and must, as all others use them to produce their wines, re-hydrate, ferment and distill the residual (marc, marc .) The Italian grappa, marc tzipouro Spanish or Greek, are made with skins. Herein lies the character of pisco in Peru. Their aromatic structure and complexity in the mouth. features that differentiate it from other grape spirits world "
The birth of pisco
Initially, grape production was destined only to wine making, but gradually also made its way brandy. According to Peruvian historian Lorenzo Huertas, the grape brandy production in Peru would have begun in late sixteenth century
In the Archivo General de Indias is a request made by Jerome Loaysa and others to "people in the Pisco valley under certain conditions," which was approved by the Spanish Crown on February 10, 1575 and was the first time an official document that shows the name "Pisco"
Anecdotally, Emilio Romero Peruvian researcher notes that in 1580, Sir Francis Drake (English privateer known) entered the port of Pisco and demanded a ransom for the prisoners who took her, the villagers to complete the ransom was paid with 300 jars of liquor in the area.
The first identification of the place brandy - "Pisco brandy" - it would have been done in 1630 by the Spanish peninsular Francisco Lopez de Caravantes, to exhibit on their "Relationship" manuscript is preserved and is dated in 1630, that " Pisco Valley, remains the most abundant of excellent wines from all over Peru.

The Rice Terraces: Agriculture as an object of beauty

NATURAL WONDERS
When nearly 2,000 years ago, the original Balinese inhabitants created the technique of terraced rice agriculture for its fertile lands never imagined that his legacy will transcend the centuries and continue today as agribusiness system and how the cult of beauty of nature. The rice terraces in Bali, are a natural spectacle that deserves its place in our culture generally.

The rice terraces of Bali are perhaps the most iconic image of the island, a bright green postcard in fields ranging scaled on volcanic slopes. There are also numerous rice fields on the island, flatter and less showy, but also picturesque. Rice cultivation is very important to the Balinese as it represents the mainstay food on the island.

The rice fields of Bali have a history dating back 2000 years back in time. Even today, the Balinese make offerings to the rice goddess Dewi Sri when cooked, before harvesting of the fields or before planting rice offerings are also prepared for special occasions and holidays.

Tupac Amaru II: First emancipatory spirit of America

HISTORICAL CHARACTERS
The struggle for American independence came long before Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar. As always, a man was born "mestizo", educated and wealthy class but in this particular case with indigenous past. Their desires unlike (advanced?) Europeans were not based on greed, power and conquest, but on the return of freedom for ancient people who had shown to be more civilized than the European barbarians. Tupac Amaru II, first emancipatory spirit of America.
José Gabriel Condorcanqui Noguera, mostly known as Tupac Amaru II, was the son of Miguel Condorcanqui and Rosa Noguera, a descendant of Tupac Amaru I, the last Inca of Peru, who was executed by the Spanish in the sixteenth century. José Gabriel for Indian status Noble studied at the Colegio San Francisco de Borja in Cusco and he had a good education. He led the so-called Great Rebellion began on November 4, 1780 with the capture and subsequent execution, the corregidor Antonio de Arriaga by Jose Gabriel and his men.
He was a mestizo origin in the blood that converged Sapa Inca Tupac Amaru with the Creoles. In fact, for a large part of his life, having been raised to 12 years by the native priest Antonio Lopez de Sosa and then at Colegio San Francisco de Borja, showed a preference for the Creole and came to dominate Latin and refined using Hispanic clothing, but later dressed as a noble Inca and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
He was the first to demand the release of all American of any dependence of both Spain and its monarch, implying not only mere political separation but the elimination of various forms of indigenous (mita mining, freight distribution, mills). Also decreed the abolition of black slavery in America first. His movement was a watershed, due to which the colonial authorities to indigenous class eliminated noble and increased the repression against the Andean, for fear that something repeated again.He was the first to demand the release of all American of any dependence of both Spain and its monarch, implying not only mere political separation but the elimination of various forms of indigenous (mita mining, freight distribution, mills). Also decreed the abolition of black slavery in America first. His movement was a watershed, due to which the colonial authorities to indigenous class eliminated noble and increased the repression against the Andean, for fear that something repeated again.