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The oldest temple excavated in TN is saluvankuppam, is estimated as early as ~200 BCE by archaeological society of india experts (ASI). The temple was hit by Tsunamis and was rebuilt / renovated during pallava and chozha periods.To begin with I took a few satellite imagery and analysed them, as the site was connected to multiple Tsunamis that happened in this coastline.Located near mamallapuram, an UNESCO heritage site - around 150 meters from the coast line - high probably of impact from TsunamiMamallapuram shore temple is known for its reef bed extending into sea for about 1.9 km from the shore temple - saluvan kuppam is not with in this reef bedContinental shelf is located around 50 km from the temple - this 50 km land was engulfed by sea level rise during ice age melt down - around 2000 years ago the sea level could have been 1-2 meters lower in this areaASI findings from the site⦁ Archaeologists unearthed in 2005, post Tsunami, the exposed part of the rock showed an inscription regarding a temple at that site and a donation.Further 2 layers excavated: 1. a brick temple constructed during the Sangam period (as early as 200 BCE), 2. granite temple (800 CE pallava Structure) – built on top of the older brick shrineArchaeological Survey of India (ASI) team which conducted the excavation believe that brick temple could be the oldest of its kind to be discovered in Tamil NaduBrick temple could be dated to the Sangam period as the shrine faced north unlike modern temples which face either east or west (later period sirpa sasthiram)Brick shrine destroyed either by a cyclone or a tsunami during the sangam timeThe C-14 dating of a charcoal from the site points to ~300 CE and hence ASI opines that the brick structure must have been older than this (suggesting a sangam period worship structure 300 BCE - 300 CE).Also the laterite bricks used were found in other sangam sites such as uraiyur, poompukar etc.Second tsunami must have occurred ~1300 CE as the inscriptions excavated (that mention the shrine) have been dated to 1215 CEHindu Front Line: excavated brick sanctum - Dr. T. Satyamurthy, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, and his team.How did ASI decide this as a murugan temple?⦁ Inscription from the temple stating: “gifted gold was used by the villagers to celebrate a festival during Kaarthigai (tamil month where in murugan deity worship is at peak)”⦁ A pallava period granite ‘vel’ and a ‘kurathi dancing panel’ suggesting the deity was MuruganMain stream research on the sangam period brick work⦁ Sangam period bricks were made of laterite - similar bricks were found in other ASI sites such as uraiyur, pompukar etc - during later periods the same brick work was found to be used in angor cambodia.Taken From: Bhadreenath, S., Achyuthan, H., Haricharan, S., & Mohandas, K. P. (2011). Saluvankuppam coastal temple-excavation and application of soil micro morphology. Current Science, 100(7), 1071-1075.Pre-pallavar sangam society in this region – historian view• Close to a Sangam period port: Sathurangapattinam near Mahabalipuram is referred as ‘Sopatma’ in Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (50 AD)• The archaeology of Mahabalipuram commences from 1st century CE as a few Roman, Chinese coins were found (Ramaswami, N. S. (1980). Mamallapuram: An annotated bibliography. New Era Publications)• Carbon - 14 dating on the paleo-tsunami evidences (Reach Foundation) with sea shells and other debris: Deposition in different periods ~405 AD and 564 AD & ~ 1019 AD and 1161 ADEvidence in Sangam Verse - Festival for Murugan, the Kurinji LordIn the kurinji pattu poem, this mother is worried of her daughter’s restlessness and is clueless of the reason - therefore is calling for a festival to murugan to subdue her daughter’s unrest.“…அகலுள் ஆங்கண் அறியுநர் வினாயும்,பரவியும், தொழுதும், விரவு மலர் தூயும்வேறு பல் உருவில் கடவுள் பேணி,நறையும் விரையும் ஓச்சியும், அலவுற்று,எய்யா மையலை நீயும் வருந்துதிநல் கவின் தொலையவும், நறுந் தோள் நெகிழவும்,புள் பிறர் அறியவும், புலம்பு வந்து அலைப்பவும்…”- குறிஞ்சிப்பாட்டு Sangam Literature 300 BCEOther references to murugan in tamil literature“சேயோன் மேய மை வரை உலகமும்” - தொல்காப்பியம்“சேயோன் குன்றகத் திருப்பெறு கூடல்” - கல்லாடம்Note: The temple although may look like a trivial brick structure for untrained eyes, for archaeological explorers it is a delighting learning site.

TL;DR: $66 billion per year for maintenance and upgrade.Great question - the more i looked into it, the more disconnected figures from a variety of sources have become. The most reliable answer is at The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The figure for 2014 is $40.9 billion that Federal Government alone dedicated to Highway maintenance and upgrade. Spending is part of “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century” or MAP-21 program.Furthermore, according to CDMSmith the costs are growing every year, and growing exponentially as the system ages. In addition as of 2013 Federal Highway Administration expects the 50 states to collectively spend more than $25 billion per year on interstate maintenance, reconstruction and expansion. (The Aging Interstate Highway System: Our Biggest Funding Challenge).How are we paying for this?A large portion comes from Federal Motor Fuel surcharge. At a tax rate of 18.4 cents per gallon, consumers paid an average of $97.52 in federal gasoline taxes for each vehicle they owned. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average American household owns 1.75 vehicles, which means the average household pays $170.66 in federal motor fuel taxes in 2011, or about $3.28 per week. This adds up to roughly $21 billion dollars per year.The rest comes from highway and bridge tolls, state specific gas surcharges, and general government budget allocations from other programs.Here are a few more useful / fascinating facts:Ninety percent of Americans spend at least $1 out of every $7 earned on transportation. The average family now spends $7,600 every year on transportation, more than is spent on food and twice what it spends on health care.An estimated $85 billion annual investment over the next 20 years is necessary to bring highways and bridges to a state of good repair.America invests less in transportation than other developed nations. We currently spend only 2 percent of GDP on transportation infrastructure, compared to 9 percent in China and 5 percent in Europe.The U.S. ranked 13 out of 32 OECD nations in our satisfaction with the public transportation system.Some large sections of Interstate Highways that were planned or constructed before 1956 are still operated as toll roads. Others have had their construction bonds paid off and they have become toll-free, such as in Connecticut (I‑95), Maryland (I‑95),Virginia (I‑95), and Kentucky (I‑65).Heaviest traveled: 374,000 vehicles per day: I‑405 in Los Angeles, CaliforniaHighest: 11,158 feet (3,401 m): I‑70 in the Eisenhower Tunnel at the Continental Divide in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.[69]Lowest (land): −52 feet (−16 m): I‑8 at the New River near Seeley, California.[69]Lowest (underwater): −103 feet (−31 m): I-95 in the Fort McHenry Tunnel under the Baltimore Harbor.[70]Longest (east-west): 3,020.54 miles (4,861.09 km): I‑90 from Boston, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington.[71][72]Longest (north–south): 1,920 mi (3,090 km): I‑95 from the Canadian border near Houlton, Maine, to Miami, Florida, not counting the gap in New Jersey to be completed in 2017.[71]Most states served by an Interstate: 15 states plus the District of Columbia: I‑95 through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.[71]Most Interstates in a state: 29 routes: New York, totaling 1,674.73 mi (2,695.22 km).[71]Most Interstate mileage in a state: 3,233.45 mi (5,203.73 km): Texas, in 17 different routes.[71]Early planning dates back to Franklin Roosevelt who envisioned a system of self-liquidating highways financed through a combination of tolls and the sale of surplus property rights. However, a federal study, titled “Toll Roads or Free Roads,” concluded that tolls could not generate sufficient revenues to pay for large portions of the system, especially in more sparsely developed areas. So the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 funded the fledgling system through a federal gas tax increase and the establishment of the Highway Trust Fund.The U.S. government largely paid for the system’s original construction, but owns virtually none if it today. States are generally left “holding the bag” to pay for the next 50 years of this vital system. What is worse, government expenditures today average less than 45 percent, and the Highway Trust Fund has run dry at least three times in the last 4 years.The national average fuel economy for cars and light trucks was 21.4 miles per gallon, which means the average vehicle used 530 gallons of motor fuel.P.S. Other than Suresh Korada's source from 2009, "maintenance" and "improvement" costs have always been quoted as a combined figure.Sources:The Aging Interstate Highway System: Our Biggest Funding ChallengeTransportation FAQsU.S. Treasury report outlines need for road maintenance, transit investment, and alternatives to drivingInterstate Highway System

Phototherapy with soft lasers are still in the beginning of cancer clinic evaluations. For pain control laser therapy is well established. But to kill cancer cells is a more challenging problem. Nevertheless below I have collected a few cases that Dr. Weber in Germany has treated.Here is part of a blog that I published on that. At the end I provide the link to the whole blog.Laser treatment of a group of melanoma patientsIn Ref. 2 Dr. Weber described a report by Dr. M.A. Kaplan that was presented at the 2008 international laser conference in Helsinki. 76 patients with metastasizing melanomas were treated with Chlorin E6 (a natural photo-sensitizer) and intravenous laser for activation. 45% had reduced pain and improved life quality, in 22% of the cases lymph nodes with metastases either disappeared or became smaller; in 33% the metastases stopped spreading for 6 to 12 months.Photodynamic therapy of a patient with duodenal cancer and liver metastasesDr. Michael Weber who is a specialist for internal medicine and the inventor of the Weber low-dose laser machine has treated cancer patients with photodynamic therapy (PDT) where his laser machine was used. I have described the Weber low-dose laser system before in a previous blog with uses for pain control.One such cancer case was a female patient with a duodenal cancer (described in Ref.2). She had a primary duodenal tumor removed in 2009 using the Whipple procedure. At that time 4 liver metastases were noted. She saw Dr. Weber in 2010 because of two rapidly emerging liver metastases. A first photodynamic therapy (PDT) was done in May 2010. She felt much better. In June 2010 a second PDT course was given. An MRI scan of the liver in July 2010 no longer showed any metastases. However, in December 2010 metastases reappeared in her liver, which were treated with 3 more sessions of PDT in January of 2011. The metastases were still growing slowly. Dr. Weber decided to do a combination treatment with systemic PDT involving Chlorin E6, a photosensitizer and treating the metastases at the same time with interstitial laser therapy. Red light was used to stimulate the Chlorin E6. Miraculously the liver metastases became necrotic two weeks after this 20-minute treatment. Subsequently a surgical team from the University of Göttingen, Germany did a partial liver resection. At this point she appeared stable and cancer free.Photodynamic therapy of a group of inoperable prostate cancer patients20 patients with prostate cancer were treated with PDT between May and September 2014 (Ref.3). 20% of them had a complete remission of their cancers. 35% experienced a partial remission; another 35% had no further tumor progression. In 10% the tumors progressed. These patients were given the following photosensitizers: 80 mg Chlorin E6, 10 mg Hypericin and 150 mg Curcumin intravenously. Three hours after the intravenous photosensitizers had been given photodynamic laser therapy (PDT) was administered through a transparent, permanent catheter that allowed admission of the laser instrument up to the level of the prostate. With this approach the low-dose laser light penetrated the entire prostate gland. Three frequencies were employed that corresponded to the absorption peaks of the three photosensitizers, red light (658 nm) to activate Chlorin E6, yellow light (589 nm) to activate Hypericin and blue light (405 nm) to activate Curcumin.In addition to PDT patients also received an immunostimulator preparation, called Gc protein-derived macrophage activating factor (GcMAF). Finally, in order to take advantage of the minimal differences regarding poor oxygenation of cancer cells versus good oxygenation of normal tissues intravenous oxygen was given with the oxygenation system of the German company Oxyven. This strengthened the normal tissue and weakened the cancer tissue.The German researcher, Dr. von Ardenne did extensive research about the effects of oxygenation on healthy tissue versus cancer tissue. He postulated for instance that it would be possible to prevent cancer from metastasizing, if a person would exercise regularly while breathing oxygen through a mask. However, at this point this thought is not universally accepted.When all the effects are taken together, the photodynamic therapy with photosensitizers and specific laser frequencies, the immune therapy and the oxygen therapy, the above successes in treatment outcomes can be explained as a synergistic effect: cancer cells are dying off from the PDT, macrophage activating factor stimulates the immune system and healing can start to occur.See the rest of this blog here: can cancer be beatenReferences:Ref.1: Þ. Lukðienë and P. De Witte: “Hypericin-based Photodynamic Therapy:I. Comparative Antitumor Activity and Uptake Studies in Ehrlich Ascite Tumor” Acta medica Lituanica. 2002. T. 9, Nr. 3, p. 195-199.Ref.2: Michael Weber, MD: “New options of interstitial and intravenous laser therapy in oncology” The Intern.J. Med. Laser Applic. Vol1, July 2011, p.66Ref. 3: Michael Weber, MD: ”Intravenous and interstitial photodynamic laser therapy: New options in oncology.” To be published 2015.