Michelle Obama puts on her dancing shoes on TV
Los Angeles: US First Lady Michelle Obama was seen shaking a leg on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on the song “Uptown Funk” by Mark Robinson and Bruno Mars.
The 51-year-old was appearing on the show to mark the fifth anniversary of her Let’s Move! campaign, which aims to encourage people to get out and do some exercise for healthy living, reports eonline.com.
She grooved with the host of the show and also revealed that her organisation involved many celebrities like Beyonce Knowles, Nick Jonas and Ryan Seacrest and thanked them for their participation in the initiative. (IANS)
Scientists, math lovers celebrate Pi Day
Washington: If you like numbers, you will love March 14, 2015. When written as a date, it reads as 3/14/15 and corresponds to the first five digits of pi (3.1415) – a once-in-a-century coincidence!
Make sure to note when the date and time spell out the first 10 digits of pi: 3.141592653.On 3/14/15 at 9.26.53 a.m., it was literally the most perfect “pi” time of the century.Pi Day, which is also the 136th birth anniversary of Albert Einstein, is celebrated to appreciate how important the number pi is to math and science, NASA said in a statement.Pi is useful for all kinds of calculations involving the volume and surface area of spheres, as well as for determining the rotations of circular objects such as wheels.That is why pi is also important for scientists, who work with planetary bodies and the spacecraft that visit them.
Pi is the ratio of circumference to the diameter of a circle.If you want to find out the distance around a circle when you have the distance across it, you will need this formula.
Despite its frequent appearance in math and science, one cannot write pi as a simple fraction or calculate it by dividing two integers (…-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3…).For this reason, pi is said to be “irrational”. Pi’s digits extend infinitely and without any pattern, adding to its intrigue and mystery.”On Pi Day, I will think about the nature of a day, as Earth’s rotation on its axis carries me on a circle 34,000 km in circumference, which I calculated using pi and my latitude,” said Marc Rayman, chief engineer and mission director for NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Dawn went into orbit around dwarf planet Ceres on March 6.
Rayman uses a formula involving pi to calculate the length of time it takes the spacecraft to orbit Ceres at any given altitude.Steve Vance, a planetary chemist and astrobiologist at NASA, also frequently uses pi.
Lately, he has been using pi in his calculations of how much hydrogen might be available for chemical processes, and possibly biology, in the ocean beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. (IANS)
Famous Egyptian dynasty tombs unearthed in Luxor
London: A team working near the historic city of Luxor has found two ancient tombs.
Both tombs feature astonishing murals, which are believed to date back to the 18th Dynasty of the Egyptian New Kingdom – the most famous of ancient Egypt dynasties.
This means the tombs were likely created sometime between 1543-1292 BC, Daily Mail reported.
The first tomb belonging to Amenhotep, guard of the temple of Egyptian deity Amun, was discovered in the southern city of Luxor by an American research team, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.
The tombs were found earlier this month near the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna dig site, situated at the feet of the Theban mountains, between the famed valleys of the Kings and Queens over the town of al-Qurna.
The photographs distributed by the ministry showed a tomb with bright green and brown paintings with hieroglyphics with murals that depict both celebrations and everyday activity, and despite their age are still remarkably vibrant and colourful.Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said in a statement that the tombs do sadly appear to have been looted at some point and the sarcophagi containing the bejewelled mummies were missing.”The tomb contains many stunning scenes with bright colours painted on plaster,” Eldamaty was quoted as saying.”Many of scenes represent the tomb owner and his wife in front of an offering table and a view of a goddess nursing a royal child as well as scenes of the daily life,” he added. The second tomb is believed to be that of Sa-mut and his wife, Ta-Khaeet. (IANS)
New Japan bullet train links Tokyo with ancient Kanazawa
Tokyo: Japan launched a new Shinkansen bullet train service linking Tokyo with the ancient city of Kanazawa, which is famed for its huge castle and traditional food and crafts.
Operating at speeds of to 160 miles per hour, it cuts travel time to Kanazawa, in the central region facing the Sea of Japan (East Sea), by more than an hour to just two hours and 28 minutes. Japan already operates bullet train lines from northern Aomori through to southwestern Kyushu. But the coastal Hokuriku region was not connected with the network, and travellers had to switch trains or fly between both sides of the main island of Honshu. With the final section to Kanazawa now completed more than 40 years after it was planned, the coastal region hopes to attract more tourists and businesses. Japan launched its first Shinkansen service between Tokyo and Osaka in 1964, the year of the Tokyo Olympics. (AFP)
US sanitation worker jailed for collecting garbage too early
WASHINGTON: In a bizarre case, a sanitation worker in the US state of Georgia has been jailed for 30 days for collecting rubbish too early in the morning, violating an ordinance aimed at keeping workers from waking up residents.Kevin McGill, who works for Waste Management Inc, pleaded guilty to violating an ordinance in Sandy Springs, a famously wealthy suburbnorth of Atlanta, which bans collections prior to 7am.The city of Sandy Springs says he violated an ordinance aimed at keeping workers from waking up residents.The city solicitor said he has tried everything to get sanitation workers to stop coming to communities before 7 am.The city solicitor said he has tried fining the companies they work for, but it does not work and so now he has decided to haul them off to jail.”The solicitor said it’s automatic jail time. He didn’t want to hear nothing I had to say. I said it’s my first time,” sanitation worker McGill told WSB-TV.The Sandy Springs ordinance says sanitation workers must haul trash between the hours of 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening.McGill was cited for picking up trash just after 5 am one morning. When he went to court, chief prosecutor Bill Riley asked the judge to sentence him to 30 days in jail.”I was stunned. I didn’t know what to think. I was shocked,” McGill said.Riley does not apologise for locking up sanitation workers.”Fines don’t seem to work. The only thing that seems to stop the activity is actually going to jail,” Riley said.He said 911 lights up when trash haulers come before 7 am.McGill, who did not have an attorney with him when he was sentenced, is serving his time on the weekend.His new attorney, however, is not convinced why he is being punished.”Give him a warning. I mean he’s the employee. He’s not the employer. Sentencing him to jail is doing what?” attorney Kimberly Bandoh asked.McGill reported to a local prison on Saturday after opting to serve his time on weekends so that he is still able to work and support his wife and two children. (Reuters)