IBNU BATTUTA

Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, was a Moroccan Muslim scholar and traveler. He is known for his traveling and going on excursions called the Rihla. His journeys lasted for a period of almost thirty years. This covered nearly the whole of the known Islamic world and beyond, extending from North Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance readily surpassing that of his predecessors. After his travel he returned to Morocco and gave his account of the experience to Ibn Juzay.

Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, was born in Tangier, Morocco, on the 24th of February 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra) during the time of the Marinid dynasty. He was commonly known as Shams ad-Din. His family was of Berber origin and had a tradition of service as judges. After receiving an education in Islamic law, he chose to travel. He left is house in June 1325, when he was twenty one years of age and set off from his hometown on a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, a journey that took him 16 months. He did not come back to Morocco for at least 24 years after that. His journey was mostly by land. To reduce the risk of being attacked, he usually chose to join a caravan. In the town of Sfax, he got married. He survived wars, shipwrecks, and rebellions.
He first began his voyage by exploring the lands of the Middle East. Thereafter he sailed down the Red Sea to Mecca. He crossed the huge Arabian Desert and traveled to Iraq and Iran. In 1330, he set of again, down the Red Sea to Aden and then to Tanzania. Then in 1332, Ibn Battuta decided to go to India. He was greeted open heartedly by the Sultan of Delhi. There he was given the job of a judge. He stayed in India for a period of 8 years and then left for China. Ibn Battuta left for another adventure in 1352. He then went south, crossed the Sahara desert, and visited the African kingdom of Mali.
Finally, he returned home at Tangier in 1355. Those who were lodging Ibn Battuta’s grave Western Orient lists could not believe that Ibn Battuta visited all the places that he described. They argued that in order to provide a comprehensive description of places in the Muslim world in such a short time, Ibn Battuta had to rely on hearsay evidence and make use of accounts by earlier travelers.
Ibn Battuta often experienced culture shock in regions he visited. The local customs of recently converted people did not fit his orthodox Muslim background. Among Turks and Mongols, he was astonished at the way women behaved. They were given freedom of speech. He also felt that the dress customs in the Maldives and some sub-Saharan regions in Africa were too revealing.



Source 

Amazing Place

Riomaggiore (Rimazùu in the local Ligurian language) is a village and comune in the province of La Spezia, situated in a small valley in the Liguria region of Italy. It is the first of the Cinque Terre one meets when travelling north from La Spezia.

Houses on the rocks

The village, dating from the early thirteenth century, is known for its historic character and its wine, produced by the town's vineyards. Riomaggiore is in the Riviera di Levante region and has shoreline on the Mediterranean's Gulf of Genoa, with a small beach and a wharf framed by tower houses. Riomaggiore's main street is Via Colombo, where numerous restaurants, bars and shops can be found.
The Via dell'Amore is a path connecting Riomaggiore to its frazione Manarola, also part of the Cinque Terre.
Riomaggiore is the most southern village of the five Cinque Terre, all connected by trail. The water and mountainside have been declared national parks.
Riomaggiore inspired paintings by Telemaco Signorini (1835-1901), one of the artists of the Macchiaioli group.


Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riomaggiore

DEWA ATHENA

Last saturday we didn't have english class, cause our school had an event, DEWA ATHENA.

Dewa Athena is an events staged by our schools in which people take part in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of winning trophies or prizes

Games that are played on Dewa Athena are soccer for boys and girls, basketball, badminton, and tug of war.

Last saturday was the opening ceremony. We had to gather on Lapbal to join the ceremony. Everyclass wore their jersey. I really love my jersey. Its colour was red and black with white writing.

On the first day there was a soccer match between girls on class X and XI. Many of my friend played the soccer. But sadly, our class lose.... With 4-0 score.

Meanwhile people busy practice for the match, our class just do took many picts, singing, and do silly things....

HOLIDAY EXPERIENCE

I spent my holiday mostly on home. I had no interest to go somewhere. I just slept, watching TV, on-line, did movie marathon. But even though it sounds boring, I really enjoyed my holiday.

During the holiday I've watched many films. I've watched WWZ, Bling Ring, 3 Idiots, Resident Evil : After Life, and many more. I really loved WWZ, I've watched it hundred times but it still interesting. Okay I'm gonna tell you the review of some films I've watched during the holiday

1. World War Z

This is my favorite! I really like zombies film. I have no idea why I wanted zombie apocalypse to be true.... This movie is about United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself.
Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.

 2. Resident Evil : After Life

Woaaaaaaaah, this is my favorite too! My favorite pasrt is when Alice had to jump from a building. It was cool! The story is about  a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice (Jovovich), continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead takes them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead - and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap.

 

And this is my favorite part :

Okay I think that's enough. I'l write later guys!

FIRE WHIRLS

Imagine a twelve-foot wide, hundred story tall fire spinning at speeds more than 100 miles per hour.  Sounds like a scene from a science fiction movie, right?  But these fire whirls, also called “fire tornados” or “fire devils” actually occur all around the globe.  They range in height and width, and there are certain conditions that must be in place for a fire whirl to form.  There are four main types of fire whirls [1]:
Thermally driven fire whirls: Occur when high levels of wind come into contact with fire.  They    are the most common type of fire whirl.
Lee side fire whirls: Thermally driven fire whirls that are formed on the downward side of     ridges.  Fire whirls that develop on ridges pose as a higher threat because they are able to spread down the ridge at much faster rates.
Wake type fire whirls: Caused by airflow around an obstacle, such as a tree or rock.  They are comparable to an F2 tornado on the Fujita Scale (roofs torn off frame houses; mobile homes demolished; boxcars pushed over; large trees uprooted).  They are sometimes called leading edge fire whirls because they develop at the front, or “leading edge” of a fire.
Convection column vortex: Start out high and touch down to the ground.  They can spread well outside the range original fire and are the tallest kinds of fire whirls.

Like tornados, fire whirls vary in size and speed.  They can range from less than one foot in diameter to several dozen feet wide. And from only a few stories to over 100 stories tall.  The speed at which they travel varies as well, from 20 mph to more than 100 mph [2].  The duration of fire whirls usually last for less than one minute, but there are accounts on record that lasted for almost an hour.  Fire whirls used to be thought of as an extremely rare occurrence, but with new technology and communication, fire whirls are being reported much more frequently.
There are several factors that contribute to fire whirls.  While it seems that fire whirls would form in high wind conditions, they actually cannot form if the winds are too high.  Fire whirls typically occur in areas with atmospheric instability.  Fire whirls, unsurprisingly, develop in drought conditions and in high heat.  Cloudless skies, low humidity, bare soil, and direct sunlight all increase the chance of a fire whirl.

Fire whirls can be extremely dangerous.  The most devastating one on record occurred in 1923 during Japan’s Great Kanto Earthquake.  It is estimated that it killed 38,000 people in less that 15 minutes [2].  Fire whirls are especially dangerous because not only can they destroy objects in their path, but also because  they shoot debris which can set additional fires [3].  Fire whirls are not very well known, but they are a powerful, and sometimes deadly, natural hazard.

Summary of "The Old Man, The Boy and The Donkey"

1. There was an old man, a boy and a donkey. They were going to town and it was decided that the boy should ride.
2.  As they went along they passed some people who thought that it was a shame for the boy to ride and the old man to walk.
3.  They changed positions
4. Later, they passed some more people who thought that it was a real shame for that man to make such a small boy walk
5.  The two decided that maybe they should both walk.
6.  Soon they passed some people who thought that it was stupid to walk when they had a donkey to ride
7. Them both to ride the donkey
8. Soon, they passed a group who thought that it was a shame to put such a load on a poor helpless animal.
9. They decided to carry the donkey.
10.  They lost their grip on the animal, and they lost the donkey

The Old Man, The Boy and The Donkey.

A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said:

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

Moral of Story: Please all, and you will please none