10 Amazing Old Stuff That Still Works

World's Oldest Lightbulb – Working for 111 years

The world's oldest light bulb has been burning for 111 years - so little wonder it has a fan club with thousands of members and its own website. As EU rules deny householders the right to use traditional filament bulbs, the so-called 'Centennial Light' has been on almost constantly since 1901. It holds pride of place in Fire Station 6, in Livermore, northern California.

The longest time the Guinness World Record-holding bulb has ever been turned off for is just a week. Dangling above the fire engines, people come for hundreds and thousands of miles to see the diminutive symbol. The bulb was designed by Adolphe Chailet, who competed with the likes of the world-famous Thomas Edison to make the best bulb. (Link | Via)

Mr Universe champion as he celebrates his 100th birthday

Rippling his muscles and flashing a toothless grin a former Mr Universe known as the 'Pocket Hercules' celebrates his 100th birthday.

And what has been the key to long life for the super-fit centenarian who has battled poverty, a stint in prison and a minor stroke - not taking life too seriously.

The diminutive Manohar Aich, who is 4ft 11ins tall, overcame many hurdles to achieve his body building glory.

10 English Words Derived From Arabic

This is a list of English words whose origins can be traced back to Arabic. Some will be immediately recognizable, as they refer to phenomena and concepts directly associated with the Middle East. Other words will be so familiar in their contemporary sense that you may be surprised to find that they came to English from such a distant language. While some of the words in this list have more or less direct transfer from the source language to the target, others took a more circuitous route, arriving in various permutations after passing through third languages such as Spanish, Persian and Turkish. To the best of my knowledge the information here is correct, however I’d appreciate any insight and/or corrections.

A brief note on Arabic: the Arabic language is based on a trilateral root system, in which (most) words can be broken down into a three letter base. This root takes the form of the third person singular past tense. For this reason you will see these roots rendered in English as “he (performed action)”.

10

Jihad – جهاد

We begin the list with one of the terms most known to western audiences, as well as one the most semantically debated and controversial. The origin of the word is جهد (ja-ha-da) meaning “he made an effort.” In the religious context this type of effort can run the gamut from helping your neighbor, achieving an inner Zen-like devotion to God and, yes, violent struggle in defense of the faith. Due to Arabic’s position as the liturgical language of Islam we will see that many words which have transferred solely to other languages in a religious context can have a more mundane, day-to-day meaning in the original Arabic. For example, the word جهود (jahood), from the same root as ‘jihad” simply means “efforts” and is not necessarily religious in tone.

Instant America

Unfortunately today marks the end of Spring Break for a lot of us, meaning the fun is over and it is time to get back to work. This week meant South by Southwest was here in Austin and there was a lot to be seen and do. Today’s infographic seems appropriate considering a large portion of SXSW are the interactive days. Personally, I think Interactive is the most entertaining of the three (Interactive, Music, Film) it is full of people working on cool projects, handing out free stuff, and showing off their cool products. One of the cooler gadgets I saw at SXSW this year was a touch table I got to play air hockey on.

Interactive attracts exactly who today’s infographic covers, people who are impatient with load times. All through downtown Austin I heard people complaining about how slow the internet connection was on their phone, the frustration I saw was actually pretty entertaining. You don’t realize how real first world problems until you see people losing their cool because the internet on their phone is running a little slow.

According to today’s infographic Instant America 50% of mobile users abandon a page if it does not load within 10 seconds and 3 out of 5 will not return back to that page. With today’s infographic we also see the increasing trend of choosing mobile over tablets, laptops, or desktops to access the interwebs. [via]

हर आदमी मरने के बाद जॉम्बी

मौत के बाद आदमी भूत-प्रेत, ड्रेकुला या जॉम्बी बन जाता है, इस तरह के कई कहानी किस्से मशहूर हैं। फिर भी इंडोनेशिया के टोराजा गांव के आदिवासियों की ये परंपरा देखकर यकीन नहीं होता है। इसके अनुसार तो हर आदमी मरने के बाद जॉम्बी बन जाता है। इस गांव के कई लोगों के पास मुर्दों को चलाने की शक्ति है।



टोराजा गांव के अंतिम संस्कार के तौर तरीकों को देखकर लगता है कि यहां इसकी दो तरह की थ्योरी हैं, जिनसे यह परंपरा शुरू हुई। पहली तो ये की यहां माना जाता है व्यक्ति को मौत के स्थान पर नहीं बल्कि उसकी जन्मस्थली में दफनाया जाना चाहिए। ऐसे में पहले जो लोग अपने गांव से दूर हो जाते थे, उनके लिए शव को वापस अपने गांव पहुंचाना मुश्किल हो जाता था।

Do you Love Me?

One day, I woke early in the morning to watch the sunrise.

 

Ah the beauty of God’s creation is beyond description.

 

As I watched, I praised God for His beautiful work.

 

As I sat there, I felt the Lord’s presence with me.

 

He asked me,

 

“Do you love me?”

 

I answered,

 

“Of course, God! You are my Lord and Savior!”

 

Then He asked,

 

“If you were physically handicapped, would you still love me?”

 

I was perplexed. I looked down upon my arms, legs and the rest of my body and wondered how many things I wouldn’t be able to do, the things that I took for granted.

 

And I answered, “It would be tough Lord, but I would still loveYou.”

 

Then the Lord said,

 

“If you were blind, would you still love my creation?”

 

How could I love something without being able to see it? Then I thought of all the blind people in the world and how many of them still loved God and His creation.

 

So I answered, “Its hard to think of it, but I would still love you.”

 

The Lord then asked me,

 

“If you were deaf, would you still listen to my word?”

 

How could I listen to anything being deaf? Then I understood.

 

Listening to God’s Word is not merely using our ears, but our hearts. I answered,

 

“It would be tough, but I would still listen to Your word.”

 

The Lord then asked,

 

“If you were mute, would you still praise My Name?”

 

How could I praise without a voice?

 

Then it occurred to me: God wants us to sing from our very heart and soul. It never matters what we sound like. And praising God is not always with a song, but when we are persecuted, we give God praise with our words of thanks. So I answered,

 

“Though I could not physically sing, I would still praise Your Name.

 

And the Lord asked,

 

“Do you really love Me?”

 

With courage and a strong conviction, I answered boldly,

 

“Yes Lord! I love You because You are the one and true God!”

 

I thought I had answered well, but God asked,

 

“THEN WHY DO YOU SIN?”

 

I answered, “Because I am only human. I am not perfect.”

 

“THEN WHY IN TIMES OF PEACE DO YOU STRAY THE FURTHEST?

 

WHY ONLY IN TIMES OF TROUBLE DO YOU PRAY THE EARNEST?”

 

No answers. Only tears.

 

The Lord continued:

 

“Why only sing at fellowships and retreats? Why seek Me only in times of worship? Why ask things so selfishly? Why ask things so unfaithfully?”

 

The tears continued to roll down my cheeks.

 

“Why are you ashamed of Me? Why are you not spreading the good news? Why in times of persecution, you cry to others when I offer My shoulder to cry on? Why make excuses when I give you opportunities to serve in My Name?”

 

I tried to answer, but there was no answer to give.

 

“You are blessed with life. I made you not to throw this gift away. I have blessed you with talents to serve Me, but you continue to turn away. I have revealed My Word to you, but you do not gain in knowledge. I have spoken to you but your ears were closed. I have shown My blessings to you, but your eyes were turned away. I have sent you servants, but you sat idly by as they were pushed away. I have heard your prayers and I have answered them all.”

 

“DO YOU TRULY LOVE ME ?”

 

I could not answer. How could I? I was embarrassed beyond belief. I had no excuse. What could I say to this? When the tears had flowed, I said, “ Please forgive me Lord. I am unworthy to be Your child.”

 

The Lord answered,

 

“ That is My Grace, My child.”

 

I asked, “ Then why do you continue to forgive me? Why do You love me so?”

 

The Lord answered,

 

“ Because you are My creation. You are my child. I will never abandon you.

 

When you cry, I will have compassion and cry with you.

 

When you shout with joy, I will laugh with you.

 

When you are down, I will encourage you.

 

When you fall, I will raise you up.

 

When you are tired, I will carry you.

 

I will be with you till the end of days, and I will love you forever.”

 

Never had I cried so hard before. How could I have been so cold? How could I have hurt God as I had done? I asked God,

 

“How much do You love me?”

 

The Lord stretched out His arms, and I saw His nail-pierced hands.

 

I bowed down at the feet of Christ, my Savior.

 

And for the first time, I truly prayed.

10 Documentaries You Haven’t Seen But Should

Documentaries are probably the most unappreciated film genre, even as the viewing public seems increasingly enamored with every flavor of reality television. Even worse is when high profile, rabble-rousing pieces from people like Michael Moore or Al Gore discredit documentaries as a whole and steal publicity from smaller, more honest, and more interesting movies.  This article will give some well-overdue attention to less famous docs that would, in a fairer world, be better known than all the blockbuster fiction movies or the Ken Burns-type movies.

10. Sunshine Hotel (2000)

A short film about the closing down of New York City’s last flophouse.  The sight of mostly old men, in some cases driven somewhat crazy by their standards of living and addictions, shuffling through lives most of us would consider a living hell is predictably depressing.  But there are many surprising sparks of life in these people, especially Bruce, a guy who makes alcohol runs for the other tenants and takes time to make a succinct and surprisingly inspiring speech about how “work works.” This documentary is available on Volume 1 of the DVD series Full Frame: Documentary Shorts which you can get with several other excellent but not quite as good documentaries on Netflix here.