Top 10 Most Sacred Places in the World

1) Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The holy city of Mecca also pronounced as makkah is located in Hejaz. It is the birthplace of Muhammad and marks the site of Muhammad’s first revelation of Quran. That’s why it is regarded as the holiest cities in the Islamic religion. More than 16 million people flock each year to Kabba, during the hajj period held in the twelfth Muslim lunar month, which is 8 times the number of original residents.

Kabba, the cube or the sacred house is described as the most sacred Islamic site; Muslims are expected to face the Kaaba during prayers, no matter which part of the world they are in. Followers from all over the world deem it as an obligation according to one of the five pillars of Islam to visit this center of the Islamic Universe. Non-muslims are however, prohibited from the city.

There are about 21 major world religions today and there exist a number of places which are considered to be the focal point and the center pieces of these religions. Some of these have been envenomed by the rise of conflicts and claims different belief holders have on these places, like Jerusalem, which is labeled as a city most prone to a future conflictual demise. Then there are some only accessible to the members of certain faith while others are absolute aesthetic wonders and see more than mere millions flocking each year to witness their spiritual magnificence.

2) Naritasan Shinshoji Temple, Japan

 

Narita-san or literally the “Narita Mountain” and Shinshō-ji or the “New victory temple”) is a Shingon Buddhist temple located in central Narita, Chiba, Japan. Founded in the year 940 by Kanchō Daisōjō, a disciple of Kōbō Daishi, this temple dedicated to Fudō myōō (“Unmovable Wisdom King”), often known as the fire god. What makes it all the more sacred and beautiful is the lush backdrop of Naritasan Park, which is a beauty to behold in its full bloom, during spring.

Narita is the first entry point to the beautiful city of Tokyo, thus more than 10 million (mostly Japanese) people visit this temple, many of whom drop by en route Tokyo. The Gion festival is one of the main attractions amongst all the festivities conducted in the Narita San Complex, it takes place every year in July.

3) Sultanahmet Camii , Istanbul

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is also known as the famous Blue Mosque because the interior especially the inaccessible upper floors are embellished with blue tiles. This exemplification of unmatched masonry and architecture accentuates the Istanbul skyline. The famous Ottoman architect Sedefkâr Mehmet Ağa took 7 tedious years to finish this marvel, during the rule of Ahmed I. Fascinatingly it also marks the site of The Great Palace of Byzantine and stand at par with the beauty of Hagia Sofia.

The design is a beautiful apogee of Ottoman church and Byzantine mosque development and the interior of the mosque which is accessible from the hippodrome is the finest example of the rarest aesthetic marvel. The mosque is active and can access up-to 10,000 visitors. 

4) Bodh Gaya, India

Bodh Gaya is the focal point of Buddhist faith as it’s here the famous tree ‘Bodhi Tree’, underneath which Gautama Buddha is said to have obtained Enlightenment (Bodhi mandala), is located. The modern location of this site is in Bihar, India. 250 years after Buddha’s enlightenment, this place was visited by Ashoka who by then had given on worldly pleasures and sought peace through Buddha’s teachings. He is considered the founder of Mahabodhi temple. He established the monastery and erected a diamond throne as a representation of Buddha’s asana.

Every year thousands of people adhering to Buddhist belief come here for the grand celebration of Buddha Jayanti from as far as Sri Lanka, Thailand, Maynmar, Bhutan and Japan. Many of these devotees dwell near the Bodhi compound for a prolonged period just to be near the place where Gautam Buddha attained Elightenment.

5) Tian Tan Buddha, China

Tian Tan Buddha is also known as the Big Buddha. This large statue of a Buddha Amoghasiddhi was completed in the year 1993 and has been a major Buddhist attraction ever since. It measures an astounding 112 feet, made entirely of bronze it weighs around 250 metric tons. One of the most famous features which set it apart from other Buddha statues around the world is that it houses inside is a relic of Gautama Buddha, consisting of some of his alleged cremated remains.

Each year thousands of visitors gather here, not just the ones belonging to Buddhist faith but people from all walks of life. Especially the days before the Chinese New Year are the busiest.

6) Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Notre Dame de Paris (our lady of Paris) or simply Notre Dame was popularized through Victor Hugo’s famous book ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ which was later adapted into a Disney movie of the same name. It is a Roman Rite Catholic Marian cathedral and the first gothic cathedral of its kind to encompass the flying buttress.

One of the many centerpieces of Catholic religion, the Notre Dame Cathedral echoes the footfall of more than 13 million pilgrims every year. No journey to the beautiful city of Paris is considered complete without a mandatory visit to Notre Dame.

7) Mount Kailash, Tibet

Contrary to the popular belief Mount Kailasa’s significance in Hinduism is tantamount to its religious importance in Jainism, Buddhism and Bon religion. According to Hindu religion Mount Kailasa is the heavenly abode of Lord Shiva, who is the destroyer of ignorance, evil and illusion. In Jainism the mountain is known as Meru Parvat or Mount Sumer,  where the first Jain Tirthankara, attained liberation. A sect of  Buddhists believe that Mount Kailash is the home of the Buddha Demchok or supreme bliss.

Every year thousands of pilgrims make their way to Mount Kailash from all three faiths. And owing to its elevation and prominence a pilgrimage to Mountain Kailash is considered one of the toughest across the world.

8) Tirupati, India

In a country that puts its faith in more than 33 Million gods, Tirupati is one of the major pilgrimage cities. It is famous for Venkateswara Swamy Temple dedicated to Lord Venkateswara. How relevant it is to the believers is clear from the fact that the place witnesses a footfall of more than 40 million devotees every year that is 50,00 every day.

It is the second richest pilgrimage (at an estimated 50,000 crores with an approx. annual income of 10 Billion INR) only second to the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala. The Tirumala hills are the second oldest rock mountains in the world. The word itself is constituted from two different words, Tiru means ‘holy’ or sacred and mala means chain i.e., the mountain chain.

9) Vatican City

Vatican City was established as an independent state back in the year of 1929. With only a citizen count of 800 this city welcomes more than 4 million visitors every year. It is an ecclesiastical or sacerdotal-monarchical state, ruled by the Bishop of Rome—the Pope. The Vatican is the administrative center of the Catholic Church. Half of the Vatican territory is occupied by lush green gardens, the countless fountains and the bulk of St. Basilica sometimes causes mists and dews. It is also the first carbon- neutral state in the world.

It owes it sanctity not just to being the home of Pope but also to its aesthetic grandeur, it is home to some of the most famous art in the world. Architects include Bramante, Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Maderno and Bernini have been the designer behind many cathedrals especially the famous St. Basilica. Thus Vatican City is also the only state to have made it to the UNESCO’s List of World Heritage Sites.

10) Jerusalem

Al-Quds is the Arabic name for the city of Jerusalem. The short form of Beit al-Quds, it originated from the word (qádusa) the literal meaning of which is; “to be holy”, “to be pure”. It is one of the oldest cities in the world and is the only one to be considered sacred by all the followers of three Abrahamic faiths- Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The city has been marred by the frequent clashes between the Isarelis and the Palestinians, both claim it to be their capital. Jerusalem has been sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam for almost 3000, 2000 and 1400 years respectively. Thus it has inevitably become a continuous source of fiction. Nevertheless this holy city witnesses an annual footfall of more than three and a half million followers from each of these faiths.

History of Computers

This chapter is a brief summary of the history of Computers. It is supplemented by the two PBS documentaries video tapes "Inventing the Future" And "The Paperback Computer". The chapter highlights some of the advances to look for in the documentaries.
In particular, when viewing the movies you should look for two things:

• The progression in hardware representation of a bit of data:
  1. Vacuum Tubes (1950s) - one bit on the size of a thumb;
  2. Transistors (1950s and 1960s) - one bit on the size of a fingernail;
  3. Integrated Circuits (1960s and 70s) - thousands of bits on the size of a hand
  4. Silicon computer chips (1970s and on) - millions of bits on the size of a finger nail.
  
  
• The progression of the ease of use of computers:
  1. Almost impossible to use except by very patient geniuses (1950s);
  2. Programmable by highly trained people only (1960s and 1970s);
  3. Useable by just about anyone (1980s and on).

to see how computers got smaller, cheaper, and easier to use.

First Computers

Eniac Computer

The first substantial computer was the giant ENIAC machine by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator) used a word of 10 decimal digits instead of binary ones like previous automated calculators/computers. ENIAC was also the first machine to use more than 2,000 vacuum tubes, using nearly 18,000 vacuum tubes. Storage of all those vacuum tubes and the machinery required to keep the cool took up over 167 square meters (1800 square feet) of floor space. Nonetheless, it had punched-card input and output and arithmetically had 1 multiplier, 1 divider-square rooter, and 20 adders employing decimal "ring counters," which served as adders and also as quick-access (0.0002 seconds) read-write register storage.
The executable instructions composing a program were embodied in the separate units of ENIAC, which were plugged together to form a route through the machine for the flow of computations. These connections had to be redone for each different problem, together with presetting function tables and switches. This "wire-your-own" instruction technique was inconvenient, and only with some license could ENIAC be considered programmable; it was, however, efficient in handling the particular programs for which it had been designed. ENIAC is generally acknowledged to be the first successful high-speed electronic digital computer (EDC) and was productively used from 1946 to 1955. A controversy developed in 1971, however, over the patentability of ENIAC's basic digital concepts, the claim being made that another U.S. physicist, John V. Atanasoff, had already used the same ideas in a simpler vacuum-tube device he built in the 1930s while at Iowa State College. In 1973, the court found in favor of the company using Atanasoff claim and Atanasoff received the acclaim he rightly deserved.

Progression of Hardware

In the 1950's two devices would be invented that would improve the computer field and set in motion the beginning of the computer revolution. The first of these two devices was the transistor. Invented in 1947 by William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain of Bell Labs, the transistor was fated to oust the days of vacuum tubes in computers, radios, and other electronics.

Vaccum Tubes

The vacuum tube, used up to this time in almost all the computers and calculating machines, had been invented by American physicist Lee De Forest in 1906. The vacuum tube, which is about the size of a human thumb, worked by using large amounts of electricity to heat a filament inside the tube until it was cherry red. One result of heating this filament up was the release of electrons into the tube, which could be controlled by other elements within the tube. De Forest's original device was a triode, which could control the flow of electrons to a positively charged plate inside the tube. A zero could then be represented by the absence of an electron current to the plate; the presence of a small but detectable current to the plate represented a one.

Transistors

Vacuum tubes were highly inefficient, required a great deal of space, and needed to be replaced often. Computers of the 1940s and 50s had 18,000 tubes in them and housing all these tubes and cooling the rooms from the heat produced by 18,000 tubes was not cheap. The transistor promised to solve all of these problems and it did so. Transistors, however, had their problems too. The main problem was that transistors, like other electronic components, needed to be soldered together. As a result, the more complex the circuits became, the more complicated and numerous the connections between the individual transistors and the likelihood of faulty wiring increased. In 1958, this problem too was solved by Jack St. Clair Kilby of Texas Instruments. He manufactured the first integrated circuit or chip. A chip is really a collection of tiny transistors which are connected together when the transistor is manufactured. Thus, the need for soldering together large numbers of transistors was practically nullified; now only connections were needed to other electronic components. In addition to saving space, the speed of the machine was now increased since there was a diminished distance that the electrons had to follow.

Circuit Board	Silicon Chip

Mainframes to PCs

The 1960s saw large mainframe computers become much more common in large industries and with the US military and space program. IBM became the unquestioned market leader in selling these large, expensive, error-prone, and very hard to use machines. A veritable explosion of personal computers occurred in the early 1970s, starting with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak exhibiting the first Apple II at the First West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. The Apple II boasted built-in BASIC programming language, color graphics, and a 4100 character memory for only $1298. Programs and data could be stored on an everyday audio-cassette recorder. Before the end of the fair, Wozniak and Jobs had secured 300 orders for the Apple II and from there Apple just took off.
Also introduced in 1977 was the TRS-80. This was a home computer manufactured by Tandy Radio Shack. In its second incarnation, the TRS-80 Model II, came complete with a 64,000 character memory and a disk drive to store programs and data on. At this time, only Apple and TRS had machines with disk drives. With the introduction of the disk drive, personal computer applications took off as a floppy disk was a most convenient publishing medium for distribution of software.
IBM, which up to this time had been producing mainframes and minicomputers for medium to large-sized businesses, decided that it had to get into the act and started working on the Acorn, which would later be called the IBM PC. The PC was the first computer designed for the home market which would feature modular design so that pieces could easily be added to the architecture. Most of the components, surprisingly, came from outside of IBM, since building it with IBM parts would have cost too much for the home computer market. When it was introduced, the PC came with a 16,000 character memory, keyboard from an IBM electric typewriter, and a connection for tape cassette player for $1265.
By 1984, Apple and IBM had come out with new models. Apple released the first generation Macintosh, which was the first computer to come with a graphical user interface(GUI) and a mouse. The GUI made the machine much more attractive to home computer users because it was easy to use. Sales of the Macintosh soared like nothing ever seen before. IBM was hot on Apple's tail and released the 286-AT, which with applications like Lotus 1-2-3, a spreadsheet, and Microsoft Word, quickly became the favourite of business concerns.
That brings us up to about ten years ago. Now people have their own personal graphics workstations and powerful home computers. The average computer a person might have in their home is more powerful by several orders of magnitude than a machine like ENIAC. The computer revolution has been the fastest growing technology in man's history.

Timeline

If you would like more detail, visit this annotated timeline with pictures and paragraphs on the important advances in computers since the 1940s.

Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603)

Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603)

Elizabeth I - the last Tudor monarch - was born at Greenwich on 7 September 1533, the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Her early life was full of uncertainties, and her chances of succeeding to the throne seemed very slight once her half-brother Edward was born in 1537. She was then third in line behind her Roman Catholic half-sister, Princess Mary. Roman Catholics, indeed, always considered her illegitimate and she only narrowly escaped execution in the wake of a failed rebellion against Queen Mary in 1554.

Elizabeth succeeded to the throne on her half-sister's death in November 1558. She was very well-educated (fluent in six languages), and had inherited intelligence, determination and shrewdness from both parents.

Her 45-year reign is generally considered one of the most glorious in English history. During it a secure Church of England was established. Its doctrines were laid down in the 39 Articles of 1563, a compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

Elizabeth herself refused to 'make windows into men's souls ... there is only one Jesus Christ and all the rest is a dispute over trifles'; she asked for outward uniformity.

Most of her subjects accepted the compromise as the basis of their faith, and her church settlement probably saved England from religious wars like those which France suffered in the second half of the 16th century.

Although autocratic and capricious, Elizabeth had astute political judgement and chose her ministers well; these included Burghley (Secretary of State), Hatton (Lord Chancellor) and Walsingham (in charge of intelligence and also a Secretary of State).

Overall, Elizabeth's administration consisted of some 600 officials administering the great offices of state, and a similar number dealing with the Crown lands (which funded the administrative costs). Social and economic regulation and law and order remained in the hands of the sheriffs at local level, supported by unpaid justices of the peace.

Elizabeth's reign also saw many brave voyages of discovery, including those of Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert, particularly to the Americas. These expeditions prepared England for an age of colonisation and trade expansion, which Elizabeth herself recognised by establishing the East India Company in 1600.

The arts flourished during Elizabeth's reign. Country houses such as Longleat and Hardwick Hall were built, miniature painting reached its high point, theatres thrived - the Queen attended the first performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Composers such as William Byrd and Thomas Tallis worked in Elizabeth's court and at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.

The image of Elizabeth's reign is one of triumph and success. The Queen herself was often called 'Gloriana', 'Good Queen Bess' and 'The Virgin Queen'.

Investing in expensive clothes and jewellery (to look the part, like all contemporary sovereigns), she cultivated this image by touring the country in regional visits known as 'progresses', often riding on horseback rather than by carriage. Elizabeth made at least 25 progresses during her reign.

However, Elizabeth's reign was one of considerable danger and difficulty for many, with threats of invasion from Spain through Ireland, and from France through Scotland. Much of northern England was in rebellion in 1569-70. A papal bull of 1570 specifically released Elizabeth's subjects from their allegiance, and she passed harsh laws against Roman Catholics after plots against her life were discovered.

One such plot involved Mary, Queen of Scots, who had fled to England in 1568 after her second husband's murder and her subsequent marriage to a man believed to have been involved in his murder.

As a likely successor to Elizabeth, Mary spent 19 years as Elizabeth's prisoner because Mary was the focus for rebellion and possible assassination plots, such as the Babington Plot of 1586.

Mary was also a temptation for potential invaders such as Philip II. In a letter of 1586 to Mary, Elizabeth wrote, 'You have planned ... to take my life and ruin my kingdom ... I never proceeded so harshly against you.' Despite Elizabeth's reluctance to take drastic action, on the insistence of Parliament and her advisers, Mary was tried, found guilty and executed in 1587.

In 1588, aided by bad weather, the English navy scored a great victory over the Spanish invasion fleet of around 130 ships - the 'Armada'. The Armada was intended to overthrow the Queen and re-establish Roman Catholicism by conquest, as Philip II believed he had a claim to the English throne through his marriage to Mary.

During Elizabeth's long reign, the nation also suffered from high prices and severe economic depression, especially in the countryside, during the 1590s. The war against Spain was not very successful after the Armada had been beaten and, together with other campaigns, it was very costly.

Though she kept a tight rein on government expenditure, Elizabeth left large debts to her successor. Wars during Elizabeth's reign are estimated to have cost over £5 million (at the prices of the time) which Crown revenues could not match - in 1588, for example, Elizabeth's total annual revenue amounted to some £392,000.

Despite the combination of financial strains and prolonged war after 1588, Parliament was not summoned more often. There were only 16 sittings of the Commons during Elizabeth's reign, five of which were in the period 1588-1601. Although Elizabeth freely used her power to veto legislation, she avoided confrontation and did not attempt to define Parliament's constitutional position and rights.

Elizabeth chose never to marry. If she had chosen a foreign prince, he would have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as in her sister Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow countryman could have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth used her marriage prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic policies.

However, the 'Virgin Queen' was presented as a selfless woman who sacrificed personal happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was, in essence, 'married'.
Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the so-called 'Golden Speech' of 1601 when she told MPs: 'There is no jewel, be it of never so high a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your love.' She seems to have been very popular with the vast majority of her subjects.

Overall, Elizabeth's always shrewd and, when necessary, decisive leadership brought successes during a period of great danger both at home and abroad. She died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603, having become a legend in her lifetime. The date of her accession was a national holiday for two hundred years.

World War II

World War II, also called Second World War,  conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allies—France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The war was in many respects a continuation, after an uneasy 20-year hiatus, of the disputes left unsettled by World War I. The 40,000,000–50,000,000 deaths incurred in World War II make it the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in history.

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Along with World War I, World War II was one of the great watersheds of 20th-century geopolitical history. It resulted in the extension of the Soviet Union’s power to nations of eastern Europe, enabled a communist movement to eventually achieve power in China, and marked the decisive shift of power in the world away from the states of western Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union.

Axis initiative and Allied reaction

The outbreak of war

By the early part of 1939 the German dictator Adolf Hitler had become determined to invade and occupy Poland. Poland, for its part, had guarantees of French and British military support should it be attacked by Germany. Hitler intended to invade Poland anyway, but first he had to neutralize the possibility that the Soviet Union would resist the invasion of its western neighbour. Secret negotiations led on August 23–24 to the signing of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in Moscow. In a secret protocol of this pact, the Germans and the Soviets agreed that Poland should be divided between them, with the western third of the country going to Germany and the eastern two-thirds being taken over by the U.S.S.R.

Having achieved this cynical agreement, the other provisions of which stupefied Europe even without divulgence of the secret protocol, Hitler thought that Germany could attack Poland with no danger of Soviet or British intervention and gave orders for the invasion to start on August 26. News of the signing, on August 25, of a formal treaty of mutual assistance between Great Britain and Poland (to supersede a previous though temporary agreement) caused him to postpone the start of hostilities for a few days. He was still determined, however, to ignore the diplomatic efforts of the western powers to restrain him. Finally, at 12:40 pm on August 31, 1939, Hitler ordered hostilities against Poland to start at 4:45 the next morning. The invasion began as ordered. In response, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, at 11:00 am and at 5:00 pm, respectively. World War II had begun.