Where is Timbuktu?

Timbuktu or Timbuctoo is an ancient West African city on the southern edge of Sahara a settlement in the 11th century developed as a mart for gold, salt, ivory and slaves. European travellers in the 19th century converged on Timbuktu looking for wealth and splendour. However, the golden age of the city was over and it entered a long period of decline. Different tribes governed until the French took over in 1893, a situation that lasted until it became part of the current Republic of Mali in 1960. Presently Timbuktu is impoverished and suffers from desertification. Several initiatives are being undertaken to restore the historic manuscripts still kept in the city. Meanwhile, tourism forms an important source of income. In modern times, Timbuktu means any faraway place.

Why is it harmful to see solar eclipse with naked eye?

Doctors always warn people, especially children, against watching the solar eclipse, either directly or through smoked glasses or even in shallow water as in a utensil. The harmful rays in the sunlight (infrared rays) are at the maximum during the eclipse and it burns the most sensitive part of retina, forea and macula, leading to irreversible loss of eyesight.

The surface of the Sun is about four times as hot as a furnace. The lens or cornea in our eyes act like a burning-glass. If one looks straight at the Sun, the lens will be destroyed for life. Even if we look at the Sunthrough smoked glass, the Sun may look dim, but the dangerous heat rays can still pass through. Whneever there is an eclipse of the Sun, some people are blinded because they take foolish risks of this sort.

What is a solar cooker?

A solar oven or cooker is a device which uses sunlight as its energy source, and costs nothing to run. Solar cookers are used so as to save wood and end the desertifiction of the Earth. A solar
sooker can be used in outdoor cooking drying and pasteurisation. Primarily, it is one of the many inventions aimed at utilising solar power.

Solar energy is fast becoming the best renewable source of energy. In cities across the world, the practice of heating water and lighting up homes with solar energy is gaining currency rapidly. People around the world are actively cutting down on usuage of the Earth's precious fossil fuels and are restoring to alternative forms of energy.

When was the Olympic flag Created?

The Olympic flag, created in 1913 at the suggestion of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, was solemnly inaugurated at Paris in June 1914, but it was raised over an Olympic stadium for the first time at the Antwerp games in 1920. There is also a second flag, which is used for Winter Games. The Olympic flag is made of white silk and contains five intertwined rings. From left to right the  rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red. The rings are meant to present the five continents. Atleast one of these colours is found on the flag of every country.

Why can we see ourselves in a mirror?

You can see yourself in a mirror because light rays bounce off its shiny surface. Light rays come from everything you can see, including you. You see things when the light rays from them enter your eyes. Some of the light rays that come from yourself strike the mirror. The mirror reflects the rays