Friday, October 26, 2007

General Knowledge

Hey again,
Thought I'd share a concept of why 1 is one and 2 is two and so on... Not sure of the source, but got it as a forward through mail.

It's all about angles !

It's the number of angles. If one writes the numbers down (see below) on a piece of paper in their older forms, one quickly sees why. I have marked the angles with "o"s.

No 1 has one angle.
No 2 has two angles.
No 3 has three angles.

etc.


Thursday, October 25, 2007

Holy Smokes!!!

San Diego Fire: A picture from the skies above (Satellite images)
Dated: 22/Oct/2007

Can just imagine the plight of people at Ground Zero!!! Here are a few snapshots... This must be what hell is like...without the firefighters of course...

Snapshots from Hell


Just wondering how would the satellite images be over Mumbai, Delhi and a few other cities during Diwali!!!

Happy Diwali in advance

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Harassment

Just when I thought that respect for women in India was at an all time high given the number of women in top positions in the corporate world, NGOs, the President of India and so on, the common Indian man does not have seem to recognized it.

My personal experience a couple of days back replaced my belief and saw that man has not changed although women may be doing well in the country.

A married man, about 35-40 years of age, was allegedly harassing a young lady sitting in front of him. The trip from Mangalore to Bangalore was not pleasant in the first place after a hectic weekend and that too this act from a man who was married added to my mental agony. To top it all, this happened in a Volvo bus in which supposedly only ‘decent’ people travel…

After a fierce 15 minutes of verbal duel, the person received a well deserved slap from on of the co-passenger. This continued and after 45 minutes of begging and pleading, saying his career was at stake, his wife would leave him and stuff. Later, he was handed over to the police at a town near Bangalore.

God knows what has happened of him as I write this, but he should have thought of his career, his wife all that when he was committing the act. It was a good move by the young lady that she spoke out, else there would be many who would just avoid complaining and the guy would give a slip, only to continue making it a habit.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Illusion

Leaning Tower Illusion



The two images of the Leaning Tower of Pisa are identical, yet one has the impression that the tower on the right leans more, as if photographed from a different angle. The reason for this is because the visual system treats the two images as if part of a single scene. Normally, if two adjacent towers rise at the same angle, their image outlines converge as they recede from view due to perspective, and this is taken into account by the visual system. So when confronted with two towers whose corresponding outlines are parallel, the visual system assumes they must be diverging as they rise from view, and this is what we see.

Click here for more illusions

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Power

The evergreen problem of India - Power. Here, I mean Electricity.

India currently has an installed capacity of 1,27,000 MW and already we are facing electricity shortages and blackouts. There is an estimate of 11 to 18 percent shortage in the near future. While China adds appox. 70,000 MW every year, India has added hardly 22,000 MW in the last 5 yrs. Let us not get into the reasons, mainly being political.

A recent article on Deccan Herald talked of using small measures to save electricity from being spent. This spoke of saving electricity rather than generating new power. The concept called 'negawatts' uses the theory of efficient management of energy. From switching to sunlight during the day to turning off TVs when on standby, such was the concept.

Of course, I believe in small droplets making an ocean, but looking at the current level of growth both in the economy, with more and more industries being setup, and the never ending population spurt, the ocean needs a downpour and not drops. Electricity needs to be produced.

But how? Thermal Power?
A recent debate on the Nagarjuna thermal plant near Udupi shows that the ash from the burnt coal pollutes the aquatic life in the sea (being the waste disposed into the sea) or the ground water of the surrounding areas get polluted. If they get released into the air, the Amazon of India, the Western Ghats would be affected. Not to forget, the western ghats have the rarest species of flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the country.

Are we ready to compromise mother nature in the name of development? Or due we take a cue from Nature herself, just like a small place like Malavalli Biomass Power plant has done?

Yes, I believe that nature has answers to all our questions. Malavalli Biomass plant is located in rural Karnataka in Mandya district. This plant locally accumulates crop residues which are otherwise burnt by the farmers which obviously add to environment pollution. Malavalli itself is reported to have a capacity to generate 5000 MW of power. Come to think of it, India produces approximately 100 million tonnes of crop and mill residues which can be used by biomass plants!!

So if we can think out of the box, with a little bit of will and partnership from both from the government and private entities we can end up in a much brighter scenario faster than expected. What can we being laymen do? We can help by efficient usage and management of power and there will hardly be a necessity to cry for power again.

For more details you can check the following references:

Monday, June 25, 2007

Something different

Hi again all of u.... we meet again, after a long break...

I had nothing special to write in a long time, no personal memorable incidents, no excitement, nothing... seemed as though life had come to a standstill... Damn, this corporate world...

People go on rampage just like untamed Bulls (no hard feelings) with me not posting anymore... Hence I've decided to do something different this time on...

I will try capturing some stuff / news on the net and use them here (for everyones' perusal), will try and give personal, probably unbiased opinions and I hope to get suggestions, good or better ;) ... either will work for me and help me make this blog a better place...

Until then
Ciao

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Wish life was a tape

The last week has been really nostalgic, has been a mixed bag of feelings. Its not just me, but I am sure that all my batchmates feel the same.

The day we were waiting for, for which countdown was set since placements, is here. Yes, the two years of MBA at TAPMI is coming to an end. These 2 years may have taught us all the things that perhaps any book could teach. But the experience gained, the fun time that was enjoyed, the friends made may never happen again in life.

A mix in the feeling of elation and sorrow fills me up. I cannot imagine my roomie or one of my neighbors not waking me up in the morning reminding me of class within the next ten mins!!! Nor can I hear Harsha's cacophonic voice in the...uh um...BATH... God knows from where will I source all the movies and even if I do, will I be able to start watching them at 1:30 in the night?? Where will I go at midnight if I feel hungry?

All the small things that made my day (and night) will be gone in a flash. At this point in time, I wish life was a tape... You can watch and do things all over again. Fast forward moments that you didn't like, esp. classes, go slow on some and pause some moments that you cherish forever....

But alas, life goes on and there's no turning back... We take it in our stride and continue to surge ahead with renewed energy and motivation thinking that tomorrow would be a better day...