Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is a mass pilgrimage centered on the ritual of riverside bathing, it is variously called the ‘the Great Indian Bathing Festival’, ‘the Urn Festival’, ‘the
Pitcher Festival’ and so forth. It occurs four times every twelve years rotating between
Allahabad/Prayaga at the confluence of the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Jamuna (Yamuna) and the
concealed Saraswati, Haridwar (Hara Dwar) on the river Ganga (Ganges), Ujjain on the
river Kshipra (Shipra), and Nasik on the river Godavari (Gomati)
Bathing in these rivers during the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is considered an endeavour of
great merit, cleansing both body and spirit. The Allahabad and Haridwar (Hara Dwar)
festivals are routinely attended by five million or more pilgrims; the Kumbha (Kumbh)
Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It may also be the oldest
Singer Debbie Gibson marks decades of service by returning to the Philippines to advocate on behalf of poor children with Children International, a U.S.-based humanitarian organization.
According to the Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board, one in four families lives in poverty. Gibson, who has supported Children International since 1990, visited Manila to raise awareness for the issue of child poverty and her personal experience with the charity.
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Hollywood, sports and music stars brought the public along for the ride as they raced 6,000 miles in four days to find the millions of people who may be at risk for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which kills one person every four minutes. Through Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, tens of thousands of people followed the celebrities as they traveled to 14 cities to screen thousands of people for this relatively unknown top cause of death.
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A Chopped event like no other, Chopped All-Stars features unbeatable drama, a $50,000 charitable cash prize and 16 celebrated chefs familiar to Food Network fans. In this fierce five-part competition hosted by Ted Allen, premiering Sunday, March 6th at 9pm ET/PT, four chefs go head-to-head in each round with an unthinkable array of mystery basket ingredients. The champion from each round advances to the finale for a chance at taking home the prize and coveted title. From teething biscuits and rabbit kidneys to dried hibiscus flowers and cobia, these chefs must crank up the heat and get creative to avoid the chopping block. Competitors include Food Network stars like Anne Burrell and Duff Goldman, former contestants from The Next Food Network Star, recurring Chopped judges, and renowned chefs like Anita Lo and Jacques Torres. Judges for this special series include Chopped favorites Alex Guarnaschelli, Marcus Samuelsson, Marc Murphy, and Chris Santos.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/46436-Food-Network-Chopped-All-Stars/
OfficeMax® Incorporated (NYSE: OMX), a leader in office products and services, today announced that its free popular holiday eGreeting website powered by JibJab, ElfYourself.com, will be brought to life as a featured themed float in the historic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade® on November 25, 2010. OfficeMax’s float titled “Elves Raise the Roof” will feature a whimsical, imaginative design where dancing elves will take over the rooftops of Victorian-era houses performing ElfYourself dances from Disco to Hip-Hop to Classic. To celebrate this memorable event, OfficeMax is launching a special text-to-win contest called the OfficeMax Thanksgiving Day Sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip for four to Disney World® or one of 100 OfficeMax $25 gift cards.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/officemax/46656/OfficeMax® Incorporated (NYSE: OMX), a leader in office products and services, today announced that its free popular holiday eGreeting website powered by JibJab, ElfYourself.com, will be brought to life as a featured themed float in the historic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade® on November 25, 2010. OfficeMax’s float titled “Elves Raise the Roof” will feature a whimsical, imaginative design where dancing elves will take over the rooftops of Victorian-era houses performing ElfYourself dances from Disco to Hip-Hop to Classic. To celebrate this memorable event, OfficeMax is launching a special text-to-win contest called the OfficeMax Thanksgiving Day Sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip for four to Disney World® or one of 100 OfficeMax $25 gift cards.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/officemax/46656/
Jay Wright, head coach of the Villanova University men's basketball team, and Jamie Dixon, University of Pittsburgh head coach, traded in their playbooks for aprons today at the LG Coaches' Cook-off™ during NCAA® Final Four® weekend. LG Electronics USA, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, hosted the competition and donated $5,000 in the participating coaches' names to Coaches vs. Cancer, a program that unites the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches in the fight against cancer.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/lg/49014/
LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:LF), today unveiled LeapPad™, a personalized learning tablet designed for kids ages four and up. As the leader in educational entertainment, LeapFrog has combined the latest technology, enhanced educational curriculum, and most entertaining characters to fuel a child’s learning in a durable form factor that mirrors popular adult tablets. LeapPad, now available for pre-sale, is revolutionizing the way children learn by offering the next generation in learning, digital reading and personal creativity. Designed with best-in-class educational curriculum and featuring endless and fun ways to play, this new tablet will be on every family’s wish list this year.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/leapfrog/50860/
Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is a mass pilgrimage centered on the ritual of riverside bathing, it is variously called the the Great Indian Bathing Festival, the Urn Festival, the Pitcher Festival and so forth. It occurs four times every twelve years rotating between Allahabad/Prayaga at the confluence of the rivers Ganga (Ganges), Jamuna (Yamuna) and the concealed Saraswati, Haridwar (Hara Dwar) on the river Ganga (Ganges), Ujjain on the river Kshipra (Shipra), and Nasik on the river Godavari (Gomati)
Bathing in these rivers during the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is considered an endeavour of great merit, cleansing both body and spirit. The Allahabad and Haridwar (Hara Dwar) festivals are routinely attended by five million or more pilgrims; the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela is the largest religious gathering in the world. It may also be the oldest
Two traditions are in circulation regarding the origin and timing of the festival: one that stems from ancient texts known as the Puranas, and the other that connects it with astrological considerations. According to the Puranic epic, the gods and demons had churned the milky ocean at the beginning of time in order to gather various divine treasures including a jar containing a potion of immortality - Ambrosia. As the jar emerged from the ocean the gods and demons began a terrific battle for its possession. During the battle, which according to one legend the gods won by trickery, four drops of the precious potion fell to earth, when Jayantha (Jayanth) the son of the chief deity Indra carried the jar (Kumbha/kumbh) that held the ambrosia in the form of a giant bird - these places became the sites of the four Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals, according to another legend he ran away with the jar and hid them on twelve locations on earth where few drops of ambrosia fell, four of these places are known and identified as the four sites for the Kumbh (Kumbh) Mela, the other eight locations are being researched by our team
The astrological tradition (ascribed to a lost Puranic text and not traceable in extant editions) seems to stem from a very ancient festival called the Kumbha Parva, which occurred at Hardwar every twelfth year when Jupiter was in Aquarius (the Indian name being Kumbha/Kumbh) and the sun entered Aries
At some later time the term 'Kumbha (Kumbh)' was prefixed to the Melas held at Prayaga, Ujjain, and Nasik and these four sites became identified with the four mythical locations of the immortality potion - Ambrosia. In theory the Kumbha (Kumbh) Mela festivals are supposed to occur every three years, rotating between the four cities. In practice the four-city cycle may actually take eleven or thirteen years and this because of the difficulties and controversies in calculating the astrological conjunctions. Furthermore the interval between the Kumbha Mela at Nasik and that at Ujjain is not of three years; they are celebrated the same year or only a year apart. This deviation in practice is intriguing and cannot be fully explained by either astrological or mythological means.
kalpavasi.com
While the state of the economy and high unemployment are still top of mind for most Americans, it is the majority of the country’s young adults—not their parents—who are more optimistic and determined to improve their personal finances in 2011. The Chase Slate-U.S. News Consumer Monitor, released today by Chase Card Services, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co. [NYSE: JPM], and U.S. News & World Report, found that young adults (ages 18-34) are most likely to want to save more and spend less money, pay down debts, and develop a budget in 2011 compared to others. In fact, while one in four Americans set a personal financial goal as their main New Year’s resolution, four in five Americans – including 98% of Americans aged 18-34 – indicated they will try to save more money and three in five will try to develop a budget in 2011.
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