THE ONE RING - J.R.R. Tolkien

Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for the Mortal men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the land of Mordor where there shadows lie.

One ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

Outside My Window

Sometimes I sit and think and sometimes I just sit.

Outside My Window...

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm,
but to add colour to my sunset sky.
Rabindranath Tagore

FACTS I FOUND

Here's a bunch of facts I found on some playing cards. I don't know the source they came from but logically, they seem pretty reasonable.

• 20% of the population in the developed nations consume 86% of the world's goods.
• Russia has twice as many chess Gandmasters as its nearest competitor, Germany.
• Canadians drink more fruit juice than the citizens of any other nation.
• In Germany and Italy, every second person owns a car.
• In many countries, more than 25% of the deaths are attributable to cancer.
• Canada lays claim to more water than any other nation.
• Red is the most popular colour used on national flags, and is found on 74% of all the flags of the world.
• Russia has over 25% of the world's proven gas reserves.
• 9 out of 10 Scandinavians would fight for their country.
• Over 35% of young people in Poland are unemployed.
• The total area of Australia's coral reefs is greater than the total area of some 130 individual countries.
• More than a third of the world's airports are in the United States of America.
• THe UK and USA are both in the top ten for Gross Domestic Product - and for child poverty.
• The average person in UK drinks as much tea as 23 Italians.
• Venezuela is the happiest and one of the most murderous places in the world.
• 32.6% of the world's roller coasters are located in the USA.
• Indonesia contains the most known mammal species - and them most mammal species under threat.
• People in Germany, Belgium, Hungary and Sweden have to pay almost half their salaries in tax.
• The women of Iceland earn two-thirds of their nation's university degrees.
• France is the top destination in the world for tourists, accounting for 11% of all tourist arrivals worldwide.
• As many as 90% of infants who lose their mothers in delivery will die by their first birthday.
• The 5 countries with the highest coffee consumption are the ones whose citizens trust one another the most.
• In Kenya, 9 out of 10 children from poor households fail to complete their basic education.
• 82% of Americans feel safe walking in the dark. Yet more crimes happen in America than anywhere else.
• Humans have destroyed more than 30% of the natural world since 1970.
• If someone you know died from falling out of a tree, you're probably Brazilian.
• Women make up more than 10% of the prison population in only 6 countries.
• From a scale of 1 to 10, Swiss are giving their satisfaction of life and awesome 8.
• 62% of Bulgarians describe themselves as either "not very" or "not at all" happy.
• Without prevention efforts, 35% of children born to an HIV positive mother will become infected with HIV.
• Danish workers strike 150 times more than their German neighbours.
• Considering teaching as a profession? Salaries in Switzerland start at $33,000 per annum.
• Love cities? Guadeloupe, Nauru, Monaco, Singapore, Gibralter and Bermuda are 100% urbanized.
• Andorra has zero unemployment, and zero broadcast TV channels. Coincidence?
• Sick of crowds? Move to Greenland! Greenlanders have 38 square kilometres of land per person.
• Luxembourgers are the world's richest people - and the most generous.
• The United States has the world's highest marriage rate - as well as the world's highest divorce rate.
• Mexican women spend 15.3% of their life in ill health.
• It is estimated that 80% of the reported global shark catch is caught by only 20 countries.
• Almost half (44.8%) of the total number of movie goers worldwide, are from India.
• The Mall in Washington DC is 1.4 times larger than the Vatican City.
• Australians are the most likely to join charities, educational organisations, sports groups and unions.
• Sri Lanka has the lowest divorce rate in the world and the highest rate of female suicide.
• 1 out of 100 young women between the ten and twenty are starving themselves, sometimes to death.
• 61.5% of Swedes work more than 40 hours per week.
• The United States spends more money on its military than the next twelve nations combined.
• More than 90% of the tiger population disappeared in the 20th century: today apporximately 5000 remain.
• United States, followed by Mexico top the world in plastic surgery procedures.

MY GODPUPPIES

They're growing up so fast!

PUPPIES FOR ADOPTION

Vivek's dog Juno gave birth to these puppies on 6th October 2010. We're desperately looking for homes for them so if you happen to read this and know anyone who will give them a good home, please let me know. They are mutts and so you'll find they don't fall sick often and are extremely intelligent. All 4 are male.

Art Trivia

I found this stuff in a newspaper clipping I'd saved. I finally decided to get rid of all that paper but since this is interesting, I'm typing it out here so I don't lose this information.

Leonardo Da Vinci spent 12 years painting the Mona Lisa's lips.

When the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1912, 6 replicas were sold as the original, each at a huge price, in the three years before the original was discovered.

In 1495, Da Vinci designed a pyramid shaped parachute and began painting The Last Supper

Paul Gauguin worked as a labourer on the Panama Canal but was dismissed within 2 weeks. About 25,000 workers died during its construction.

French sculptor Auguste Rodin died due to extreme cold in 1917 when the French government refused him financial aid for a flat. However they kept his statues warmly housed in museums.

The sculpture below is called Gates of Hell and is based on Dante's Inferno


Here's an incredibly useful video on the sculpture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pgZwJ7RJFk

During his entire life, artist Vincent Van Gogh sold just one painting; Red Vineyards at Arles

'Gothic' was originally a term of criticism among the Italian Renaissance artists who coined it. The term implied that, compared to superior classical buildings, the Gothic medieval cathedrals were so crude that only a Goth could produce them.

The word cartoon originally comes from painting terminology. It relates to a preliminary but fully worked sketch from which the outlines could be transferred to be the basis of a design or a fresco or painting.

During World War II the Nazis stole more than 600,000 works of art making this the largest organised theft of art in history.

The Louvre Museum and Art Gallery in Paris was built in 1190 and was used as a fortress.

Pablo Picasso could draw before he could walk and his first word was the Spanish word for pencil.