ஆத்திசூடி

அறம் செய விரும்பு .....................Enjoy giving alms
ஆறுவது சினம் ...............................Anger is to be controlled
இயல்வது கரவேல் .......................Never stop learning
ஈவது விலக்கேல் ...........................Don't prevent charity
உடையது விளம்பேல் ..................Avoid injurious words
ஊக்கமது கைவிடேல் ..................Don't give up persevering
எண் எழுத்து இகழேல் ..................Don't despise learning
ஏற்பது இகழ்ச்சி ................................Accepting alms is despicable
ஐயமிட்டுண் ........................................Eat after donating
ஒப்புர வொழுகு ................................Act virtuously
ஓதுவது ஒழியேல் ...........................Don't give up prayers
ஒளவியம் பேசேல் ..........................Don't carry tales

America's First Newspaper-Scheme of a Lottery

An ad from the back page for a Scheme of a Lottery, which was created to sell 6000 tickets at $2 each to raise funds to pave the highway in Charlestown from the Ferry to the Neck. Of the $12,000 to be raised, according to the ad, $10,800 is earmarked for prizes and $1200 for paving the highway..

America's First Newspaper

America's first continuously-published newspaper, the Boston News-Letter published its first issue on April 24, 1704. John Campbell, a bookseller and postmaster of Boston, was its first editor, printing the newspaper on what was then referred to as a half-sheet. It originally appeared on a single page, printed on both sides and issued weekly.

In the early years of its publication the News-Letter was filled mostly with news from London journals detailing the intrigues of English politics, and a variety of events concerning the European wars. The rest of the newspaper was filled with items listing ship arrivals, deaths, sermons, political appointments, fires, accidents and the like.

One of the most sensational stories published when the News-Letter was the only newspaper in the colonies was the the account of how Blackbeard the pirate was killed in hand-to-hand combat on the deck of a sloop that had engaged his ship in battle.
Campbell relinquished his stewardship of the paper in 1722 to Bartholomew Green, its printer. As editor, Green devoted less space to overseas events and more to domestic news. When Green died after a decade as its editor, the News-Letter was inherited by his son John Draper, also a printer. Draper proved to be a better editor and publisher than his predecessors. He enlarged the paper to four good-sized pages, filling it with news from Boston, other towns throughout the colonies, and from abroad.

On view here is the May 14, 1761 issue of the News-Letter. The front page is displayed in its entirety. Notice the credit line Printed by J. Draper appearing under the masthead. As was the custom then, the front page was devoted to events overseas. This issue contains news from London, a speech by the King to the House of Commons, and various accounts from Westminster and Whitehall.

Also displayed from this issue is an ad from the back page for a Scheme of a Lottery. The lottery was created to sell 6000 tickets at $2 each to raise funds to pave the highway in Charlestown from the Ferry to the Neck. Of the $12,000 to be raised, according to the ad, $10,800 is earmarked for prizes and $1200 for paving the highway.

No such thing as "deleted" on the Internet

It's always fun to write about research that you can actually try out for yourself.

Try this: Take a photo and upload it to Facebook, then after a day or so, note what the URL to the picture is (the actual photo, not the page on which the photo resides), and then delete it. Come back a month later and see if the link works. Chances are: It will.

Facebook isn't alone here. Researchers at Cambridge University (so you know this is legit, people!) have found that nearly halfof the social networking sites don't immediately delete pictures when a user requests they be removed. In general, photo-centric websites like Flickr were found to be better at quickly removing deleted photos upon request.

Why do "deleted" photos stick around so long? The problem relatesto the way data is stored on large websites: While your personalcomputer only keeps one copy of a file, large-scale services like

Facebook rely on what are called content delivery networks to manage data and distribution. It's a complex system wherein data is copied to multiple intermediate devices, usually to speed up access to files when millions of people are trying to access the service simultaneously. (Yahoo! Tech is served by dozens of servers,for example.) But because changes aren't reflected across the CDN immediately, ghost copies of files tend to linger for days or weeks.
In the case of Facebook, the company says data may hang around until the URL in question is reused, which is usually "after a short period of time." Though obviously that time can vary considerably.

Of course, once a photo escapes from the walled garden of a social network like Facebook, the chances of deleting it permanently fall even further. Google's caching system is remarkably efficient at archiving copies of web content, long after it's removed from the web. Anyone who's ever used Google ImageSearch can likely tell you a story about clicking on a thumbnail image, only to find that the image has been deleted from the website in question -- yet the thumbnail remains on Google for months. And then there are services like the Wayback Machine, which copy entire websites for posterity, archiving data and pictures forever.

The lesson: Those drunken party photos you don't want people to see? Simply don't upload them to the web, ever, because trying to delete them after you sober up is a tough proposition.

போனால் போகட்டும் போடா-கவியரசு கண்ணதாசன்

Let the passions and bonds pass-by

Who has lived in this land forever?

Path of arrival is known - but

Path of departure and the route unknown.

If all who came opt to stay

Where's the space in this sphere?

Life is just a business -in which

the birth is credit and death is debit.

DRAVIDIAN TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE-SERIES-01

DRAVIDIAN TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE"The following works of art ...are among the most remarkable contributions of the Tamil creative genius to the world's cultural treasure and should be familiar to the whole world and admired and beloved by all in the same way as ... the cathedrals of France and the sculptures of Greece ...... Dravidian temple architecture, of which the chief representatives are perhaps the temples of Tanjore, Chidambaram and Madurai....." (Tamil Contribution to World Civilisation - Czech Professor Dr. Kamil Zvelebil in Tamil Culture - Vol. V, No. 4. October, 1956)

"...The plan of a temple closely resembles the plan of a human body in which the Sanctum Sanctorum (garbha gudi) is the head and the outer gate is the lower limb. The spine (gopuram) on the outer gate is the foot of the Lord. Even if a visitor does not enter the temple, he can as well contemplate on the gopuram and derive the benefit of a darshan. Temple architecture developed in two streams, Saiva style and Vaishnava style. Silpa is the architecture and Agama is the mode of worship. Agama of the Saivas is different from that of the Vaishnavas. The Vaishnava worship is again in two different styles, the Vaikasana and the Pancharatra. .." Architecture of a Hindu Temple - Sthapathi

From T.V.Mahalingam, Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Madras on Tamil Art & Architecture paper presented at Second International Conference Seminar of Tamil Studies, January 1968

"Before sketching in outline the evolution of architecture it is necessary to acquaint ourselves with the major types of extant structures. These basic shapes are fivefold, viz., square (caturasra), rectangular (ayatasra), elliptical (vrittayata), circular (vritta) and octagonal (astasra). Generally speaking the plan of the temple was conditioned by the nature of the consecrated deity. The shrine of the reclining Ranganatha, for example, can only be rectangular.

The basic shapes are amply reflected in the superstructure of the vimas . Though square and rectangular shrines are frequently met with, circular and octagonal shapes are very rare. However these forms are represented in the sikhara of the vimana. The apsidal form, a derivative from Buddhist architecture, was popular up to the 10th century in the

Tondaimandalam, after which it declined in usage.
Mention should also be made here of the temples which have more than one shrine in the vertical order. This is to be found in a handful of Vaisnava temples as those at Kanchipuram, Uttiramerur, Madurai, Tirukkostiyur etc. Three shrines, one above the other, are found in these and are intended for the seated, standing and reclining forms of Visnu.
Unlike other parts of India the architectural history of the Tamil country starts only with the beginning of the seventh century A.D., the monuments built before that period having perished. In early Tamil literature we hear of such structures as koyil, maddam, nagaram, palli, pali. etc., which are apparently references to temples or religious edifices. Presumably they were built of impermanent materials which have succumbed to the ravages of time.

The earliest extant monuments in the Tamil country are the rock-cut caves scooped out under the Pallavas, and following them by the Pandyas, Muttaraiyars, and Atiyas. In his inscription in the cave of Laksitayatana at Mandagappattu, South Arcot district, Mahendravarman I (610-630 A.D.) declares that he caused the construction of the temple for Siva, Visnu and Brahma without the use of conventional building materials like brick, timber, metal and mortar; and the tenor of the language has been taken to indicate that the king was introducing a new mode of architecture by scooping out the cave.

Many other cave temples are definitely attributable to Mahendravarman on the authority of his inscriptions in them. These include the excavations at Pallavaram, Mahendravadi,
Mamandur, Tiruchirapalli, Slyamangalam and Dalavanur. The Vasantesvaram at Vallam was also excavated in Mahendravaraman's reign by a feudatory of his.

Besides these caves of definite authorship, those at Kuranganilmuttam, Vilappakkam, Aragandanallur and the Rudravahsvara cave at Mamandur are stylistically attributable to the period of Mahendravarman. These caves of Mahendra are simple in plan and consist of a mandapa with one or a few shrines. The sculptural decoration of the caves is inconspicuous. The pillars in them are equidistant and have square sections both on base and top with the portion in between chamfered octagonally. In the square section are seen delicate carvings of lotus medallions. The pillars and pilasters carry on top massive corbels with beams.

This 'Mahendra style' was continued by his son and successor Mamalla, the famous Narasimhavarman I, who, however, introduced certain variations in some of his caves. In these the entablature is almost completely finished, unlike in those of the Mahendra variety. Besides kudu arches in the cornice, it carries salas, karnakutas and alpanasikas. The pillars in Mamalla's caves are not only taller but also more slender than those of his father. The strutting figure of a lion ro vyala as the base of the pillar is a notable feature. Again in Mamalla's caves one can also find large bas-reliefs on walls in striking contrast to their plain nature in all but one of Mahendra's caves. The Konerimandapam, Varahamandapam, Mahisamardanimandapam,

Trimurti cave, Adivaraha cave, Ramanujamand. apam, etc. - all at Mahabalipuram - are typical examples of the Mamalla types of rock architecture.

The Pandyas, who were ruling in the extreme south of the Tamil country, appear to have soon adopted the rock-cut technique and developed certain interesting variations in their excavations. It is possible that the cave at Pillaiyarpatti is one of the earliest Pandya attempts in the rock medium as evidenced by the archaic palaegraphy of the inscription in Vatteluttu characters in it. The Siva cave shrine at Malaiyadikurichi is assignable on the basis of an inscription to the second half of the seventh century and the Narasimha cave at Anamalai and the Subrahmanya cave at Tirupparankunram are on the same ground datable respectively to 770 to 773 A.D.

At Tiruttangal, Piranmalai, Kudumiyamalai and Sittannavasal are to be found other caves of the Pandyas. Though similar to Pallava caves in plan and design, the Pandya examples differ from them in their adoption of certain Calukyan features such as the introduction of the rock-cut linga and Nandi and sculptural representations of Ganesa and Saptamatrkas. The pillars are large and reminiscent of those of the Mahendra variety with corbels generally with a plain level.

In this movement of scooping out live rocks for divine abodes minor dynasties like the Atiyas and Muttaraiyars also participated, though stylistically their excavations are much akin to those of their political master. The cave at Namakkal is evidently an Atiya enterprise while Muttaraiya involvement may be seen at Tiruvellarai, Narttamalai, Kunrlandarkoil etc.

Door Without Glass-Fun