A bonsai starts with a small tree. This tree can be grown from a seed, or can be found already growing in a yard or a park or the forest. It can also be bought from a plant store.
To make the bonsai, the small tree is taken out of the ground. Its roots are carefully cleaned of dirt. The roots may be trimmed (cut) a little to help them fit in a small pot. The branches may also be trimmed to make the tree smaller. Then it is put in a bonsai pot, which has low sides. Fresh soil (dirt) is put in the pot to cover the bonsai tree's roots. Then it is watered and put outdoors to live.
Good trees to make into bonsai have small leaves (pine tree needles are leaves too). If the leaves are too big, the bonsai will not look like a small tree. A good bonsai tree will have old-looking bark and old-looking roots too.
The art of bonsai began in Japan over one thousand years ago. It was brought to Japan from China around the year 800 A.D. At first, bonsai were planted in large pots like the Chinese used. But the Japanese later put them in very low, almost flat pots. This change made the tree itself the most important thing in the art form, not the fancy pot or small houses or statues of people which other nations used with their small trees in pots.
At first only the rich and noble people of Japan had bonsai. One family could have many bonsai, which would grow in pots in the garden outside of the house. A servant might take care of all the bonsai and would learn a lot about how to grow bonsai. The rules about how to grow a bonsai properly were not well known and were not shared with other people. Later more people began to grow bonsai. Some were holy people, like monks. Some were Japanese families who were not noble or really rich, but who had enough money and time to grow one or two bonsai in their gardens or house yards. This larger group of people began to share what they learned about the rules of bonsai and so more people could join in growing bonsai. By the twentieth (20th) century, the rules of bonsai were very well known in Japan and many people could afford to grow their own bonsai.
A tree that could be used for bonsai is not small in nature. If left to grow in the open soil, a bonsai tree would grow as big as any other tree. But in a pot, the tree will not grow very big. To help keep it small, the owner of the bonsai trims (cuts) its leaves and branches every year. Every two or three years, the bonsai owner lifts the bonsai out of its pot and trims the roots. Then the owner puts the bonsai back in its pot with some new soil.
A bonsai grower checks the soil of every bonsai pot once every day. If the soil is nearly dry, the grower waters it until it is wet from the top of the soil to the bottom of the pot. Every few weeks the grower adds a little fertilizer to each bonsai tree's soil. In the winter this happens less often.
A bonsai can live to be older than a large tree of the same species if it is grown with care. A bonsai needs good care, and a bonsai with poor care will not be healthy and might die. To keep a bonsai strong, it must grow outdoors like a real tree. It must never get too dry or stay too wet. It must never get too hot or too cold. If it gets a plant sickness like a fungus, it must be cured quickly. If it gets bugs like aphids the bugs must be cleaned off or killed quickly.
In the art of bonsai a sense of beauty, patience, and good care are all needed. The plant, the shape of the plant, as well as the arrangement of soil and the kind of pot used are important.
Each bonsai has a shape, partly the shape and direction of the trunk and partly the shape of the whole tree with its branches and leaves. The most common shapes are known as "styles", including
The upright style has a straight trunk that points up. Its branches are big at the bottom and small at the top.
The informal style has curves in the trunk. Its branches are also larger at the bottom and smaller at the top.
The slanted-style bonsai trunk does not point straight up like the upright style. The trunk comes out of the soil at an angle and points to the left or right.
The cascade-style bonsai look like trees that grow out over water or on the sides of mountains. The tip of the tree is low, and may even fall below the base of the pot.
The broom style has a trunk that is straight and upright. Branches stick out in all directions from about 1/3 of the way up the trunk.
The or "group planting" has several trees in one pot or on a flat slab of rock.
There are many other known styles for Japanese bonsai. When bonsai are shown to the public, or when they appear in a catalog to be sold to people, the style that best matches the bonsai will often be put in the tree's description. This allows the person looking at the bonsai to understand the plan or goal of the person who made the bonsai.
Chastity belt
A chastity belt is a device locked around the wearer's genitals to prevent sexual intercourse. Chastity belts for women were introduced into Europe from Italy, and saw some limited degree of use during the Renaissance period.
They were not used until the 16th century, and then only rather rarely. They first became widely available as 19th-century anti-masturbation medical devices. Many of the belts on public display in museums have now been tested to determine their correct age, with the earliest found to originate in the early 1800s.
In modern times, belts for both men and women are used in BDSM.
Mount Arafat
Mount Arafat or Mount Arafah ( transliterated "Jabal ‘Arafāt") is a granite hill east of Mecca in the plain of Arafat. Arafat is a plain about southeast of Mecca. Mount Arafat reaches about in height and is also known as the Mount of Mercy ("Jabal ar-Rahmah"). According to Islamic tradition, the hill is the place where the Islamic prophet Muhammad(SAW) (PBUH) stood and delivered the Farewell Sermon to the Muslims who had accompanied him for the Hajj towards the end of his life.
On the 9th of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah pilgrims go to Arafat from Mina, for the most important part of the Hajj. The Khutbah of Hajj is narrated and Zuhr prayer and Asr prayer are prayed together. The pilgrims spend the whole day on the mountain to supplicate to Allah to forgive their sins and to pray for personal strength in the future.
Arafah rituals end at sunset and pilgrims then move to Muzdalifah for a shortened Maghrib Prayer and Isha prayer and for a short rest.
The level area surrounding the hill is called the Plain of Arafat. The term Mount Arafah is sometimes applied to this entire area. It is an important place in Islam because during the Hajj, pilgrims spend the afternoon there on the ninth day of Dhul Hijjah (ذو الحجة). Failure to be present in the plain of Arafat on the required day invalidates the pilgrimage.
Since late 2010, this place is served by Mecca Metro. On a normal Hajj, it would be around to walk.
Ariel Sharon
Ariel Sharon (February 26, 1928 – January 11, 2014) was an Israeli politician of Likud and later Kadima. Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel from 2001 to 2006.
Sharon was born on February 27, 1928 in Kfar Malal, British-Palestine. Sharon was in the Israel Army for many years. He fought in numerous battles, and in 1974 he left the army as General. After the army he decided to go to politics.
In 1977, he became Minister of Agriculture. In 1981 he became the Minister of Defence. In 1983, he was sent away from the government as Minister of Defence after he was found to be guilty for not preventing a massacre in Lebanon where many hundreds of civilians were killed by other civilians.
In 2001, he was elected for Prime Minister after the war between Israel and Palestine started. In 2004, he surprised many people when he said that Israel will get out of the Gaza Strip, which is the place where many Palestinian people live.
In December 2005, Sharon was taken into hospital. On January 4, 2006, Sharon was again taken to the hospital. He had a big stroke (bleeding in the brain).