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Archive for January, 2009

Watching the Grand National race has become a favorite past time for millions of enthusiastic fan. The Grand National is the most popular National Hunt racing in the world. It is also one of the most exciting and controversial races due to the high number of injuries and death of the horses while competing in the race. To date, a jockey had died from injuries that was sustained during the race.

The event is a Grade 3 event for horses that are above 6 years old. It is usually conducted on a Saturday, in Liverpool. The circuit requires the horse to jump over a total of 16 fences. Only The Chair and the Water Jump will be jumped over once. The rest of the fences will be jumped over twice. The circuit is dangerous to negotiate because of the severity of some of the fences. It is while jumping over those fences that accidents happen. However, in recent years, due to immense pressure from animal activists, the severity of these fences have been reduced.

The beginnings of the Grand National dated so far back that it was unclear when it actually started. Some argued that the first race took place in 1836, while others insisted that the race started in 1837 or even 1838.

Over the years, the Grand National had produced many spectacular stories. In the 1950s, the National Grand was dominated by a certain Irish by the name of Vincent O’Brien. Vincent was a horse trainer, and he successfully trained horses that won the National Grand in 1953, 1954, and 1955.

Year 1967 was also an interesting time. Rank outsider, Foinavon, managed to came in first at the odds of 100 to 1. It was ridden by Johnny Buckingham. What happened was that two loose horses managed to put off the leading pack. The horses either stopped or refuse to continue, and had to be remounted. Foinavon was so far behind that he managed to avoid the incident altogether, and overtook 17 horses to come in as the winner.

The most famous horse of the Grand National was undoubtedly Red Rum. It is the only horse that won the Grand National three times. It won in 1973, 1974 and 1977.

The Grand National is a rather unpredictable race. From history, all kinds of unexpected or unforseen circumstances can cause even the best horses to lose the race, or the unpopular horses to win the race. Perhaps that’s why millions of people are hooked to the Grand National. Even highly accomplished jockeys like Terry Biddlecombe, Stan Mellor, and Jonjo O’Neill never won the race.

The unexpected twists and turns of the Grand National provide tons of entertainment for its audiences. Even mares (female adult horses) can win this race. To date, a total of 12 mares managed to become a winner. Who would have expected that?

Author: For more Grand National thrill and excitement and Grand National Odds, please visit our website.

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Bangles hold great value in Hinduism and tradition. It is considered inauspicious for a woman to have bare arms. Traditionally, married Hindu women always weary bangles around their wrists. Nowadays, women may not wear bangles on a daily basis with regular attire. Bangles are more reserved for occasions and festivals, because they still hold sentimental value. Indeed to the Hindu woman, the bangle is not simply a beautiful ornament; it also symbolizes her womanhood and honor.

Vzag, an area in India, holds a special relationship in regards to bangles. The streets of Makavanipalem, a small village near Narsipatam, once bustled with the craft of bangle making. The village drew skilled workers from across India. This business stalled for some time. Today, however, the bangle industry is booming in all shops in Vizag. Business is conducted daily, dealing with a variety of bangles.

Ultimately, August and September equate to a very important time in the Hindu calendar. Called Shravanamasam, it is the Hindu month in which the highest density of festivities occurs. This time of the year sees the most sales of bangles in India. So, it is evident that bangles are still important in the lives of Hindu women. For them, it represents pride and tradition, as well as femininity.

In India, many traditional ceremonies connect with bangles. The South Indian ceremony called Valaikaapu occurs during the seventh month of a woman’s pregnancy. The family celebrates, and bangles of all colors and designs are stacked on the woman’s wrists. Once the ceremony is completed, the woman goes to her mother’s residence. There, she will deliver her child.

Bengalese woman wear ‘lohas’ to symbolize their marriage; they are bangles that are alternately known as the iron ‘kada.’ Brides are also presented with beautifully crafted, white conch bangles and red lac bangles.

In Gujarat and Rajasthan, the bride’s mother will gift a pair of ivory bangles. With these ivory bangles, a young couple performs the ‘Saptapati;’ without these ornaments, the ritual cannot occur. (The Saptapati consists of seven steps around the fire. Without this ritual, a Hindu marriage is considered incomplete)

Bangles today are made from a variety of materials. They also widely range in color, design and shape. They can be plastic, glass, kundan, lac or composed of beads. In semi-precious or precious metal form, bangles are often black metal, silver and even gold. The most durable of bangles are gold, of course. Glass bangles are the least durable, and may break with carelessness. Because of this, many women prefer gold bangles for everyday wear, and reserve glass bangles for special occasions.

For centuries, women throughout India and Pakistan have been wearing bangles as decorative ornaments. Consequently, bangles have come to hold great cultural, religious and historical significance. Its glorification in literature resulted in bangles representing feminine grace.

Author: Bead ‘N Shop is an online bead store which provides wholesale bangles and has a collection of many beautiful designs of bangles.

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When you are a child, have you ever been mystified by the vast number of stories about monsters? You may be exposed to all kinds of stories about scary monsters. But most of those monsters usually come from fairy tales or your own imagination. As you grow up, you learn that they are not real. Still, for some, the nagging question on the existence of monsters still exist. So they carry on the search for monsters.

Monsters myths and legends.

There are so many stories from so many different sources that sometimes, it’s hard to tell what is real, and what is unreal. Usually, stories about monsters start from unusual sightings. It could be a sighting of a rare animal, or even a sighting of the silhouette of an animal. These sightings are commonly described as frightening, and they are weaved into interesting stories and reports and shared with others.

Here, we have a potential myth or legend in the making. Over time, as the stories get passed down from generation to generation, they become real. People start to believe in the myths and legends. Often, the myths become more powerful as storytellers add their own figments of imagination to the stories. So as the stories get passed on from, they become distorted and skewed to such a stage that it’s impossible to separate fact from fiction.

Many of these stories take place in destinations that are remote and desolate. For example, you often hear stories about monsters in thick forests, snow mountains, etc. Remember the Yeti, or bigfoot? These monsters roam such places. And these also happen to be places where human investigations are almost impossible to take place.

There was a documentary that showed a man traveling to these remote areas to investigate myths on monsters such as vampires and werewolves. Their work brought them to some of the most remote places in Asian countries. When they reached the destination, they set up camp and put out their monitoring equipment. Their equipment included cameras and lights. The place was deserted, with no human beings living in the area.

In fact, the experience was a scary one for the entire investigation team. They had to monitor their surroundings in pitch dark, using only their torch lights for visibility. They stayed up all night, taking turns to monitor the cameras and scouting the surroundings for movements.

One member caught sight of an animal darting across his path. He caught in on his video camera, and he immediately chased after it. But in the dark, they quickly lost the animal.

When they went back to the labs, they approached professionals to show them footages of their video. All they saw was an immensely huge furry animal darting across the path. It was so quick that they couldn’t even take a good look at the animal. It could have been a werewolf, or it could have been a very big dog.

The documentary ended leaving the viewer guessing. After all, that’s how myths have always worked. The search for monsters never ends.

Author: Read more about Monsters and Myths and Cryptozoology

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