Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Unsolved Puzzle...

Oh Earth! How huge are you?
So beautiful in every view
From space you look so blue
Who made you?
We have no clue !

Nostalgia !!! Gone are the days Will they ever come back....

At times i wonder if i could live atleast a minute of those days... How precious they are now... all we have is the memories of those days which atleast fills our thoughts.

Gone are the days, but not the memories.

Gone are the days
When the school reopened in June, and we settled in our dusty desks and chairs.

Gone are the days
When we queued up in the book depot, and got our new books and notebooks.

Gone are the days
When we chased one another in the corridors during Interval, and rushed back before the next class commenced.

Gone are the days
When we had lunch in classrooms, corridors, playgrounds, under the trees and the unforgettable canteens.

Gone are the days
When a single Games period in the week's Time Table, was awaited more eagerly than the monsoons.


Gone are the days
Of Sports Day, and the annual School Day, and the one-month long preparations for them.

Gone are the days
Of the stressful Quarterly, Half Yearly and Annual Exams, and the most enjoyed holidays following them.

Gone are the days
Of fights but no conspiracies, Of Competitions but seldom jealousy.

we enjoyed, we played, we won, we lost, we laughed, we cried, we fought, we thought (We learnt ???)

Gone are the days, but not the memories, of our most cherished school days which will linger in our hearts for ever and ever.

Clear the BLUES

So here's an effort to cheer up my spirits and probably yours too....

There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren't the way you had hoped they would be. That's when you have to reassure yourself that things will get better soon.

There will be times when people will disappoint you and let you down. But those are the times when you must learn to trust your own judgements and opinions.

There will be challenges to face and several changes to adapt to, and it is upto you to accept them.

Constantly keep yourself headed in the right direction, for it may not be easy at times, but in those tough times of struggle, you'll find a stronger sense of who you are.

So, when the days come that are filled with frustration & unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all that you want your life to be.

Because challenges & changes will only help you find your goals that you know are meant to come true for you.


The higher the goal,
The harder the climb.
But taken each day one step at a time;
The goal is accomplished.
The dream is attained.
And the prizes??
The Wisdom and Strength that are gained.



As Rascal Flatts puts it in Stand.....

You feel like a candle in a hurricane
Just like a picture with a broken frame
Alone and helpless
Like you've lost your fight
But you'll be alright, you'll be alright


Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand, Then you stand
Life's like a novel
With the end ripped out
The edge of a canyon
With only one way down
Take what you're given before its gone
Start holding on, keep holding on


Everytime you get up
And get back in the race
One more small piece of you
Starts to fall into place

Memories of the past.... Still reminiscing those good old days....

In memory of all those students who were waiting for the bell to ring.....

The brain is such a complex thing to understand.
It functions 365 days in a year
7 days a week
24 hours everyday
but
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
stops functioning the moment we enter the examination hall.

Cricket: Indian Premier League 2008: Bowling Stats




Data Source: Cricinfo

• UI Credits: Google Motion Chart Gadget
Notes:

  • Bowlers with no averages are assigned a default average of 5 more than the highest.
  • The other variation of visualizing the same data is here.
    There are some features of that API that are absent in Google Motion Chart and would be very useful here.
  • Currently, the data for this motion chart has to be manually updated in the Google Spreadsheet. (Google Docs API may be able to automate this).
    I will do my best to update it daily.

    I have access to data from 07 May 2008 only. If you how to get the data from Cricinfo as of a particular previous date, please let me know.

Cricket: Indian Premier League 2008: Batting Stats




Data Source: Cricinfo
UI Credits: Google Motion Chart Gadget
Notes:

  • The other variation of visualizing the same data is here.
    There are some features of that API that are absent in Google Motion Chart and would be very useful here.
  • Currently, the data for this motion chart has to be manually updated in the Google Spreadsheet. (Google Docs API may be able to automate this). I will do my best to update it daily
  • I have access to data from 07 May 2008 only. If you know how to get the data from Cricinfo as of a particular previous date, please let me know.

Intel® 2008 Awards: Teen Winners Make Amazing Contributions To Their Fields!


The three young women who won top awards for their "science projects" for the 2008 Intel® Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) each won $50,000 scholarships from the Intel Foundation as part of their awards. They are already at the level of Eve Curie! Take a look at their "science projects!"


1. Sana Raoof (left) contributed mathematics research that assists in solving classic biochemistry problems.

Raoof's research provided new insight into how a better understanding of mathematical knot theory could help resolve classic biochemical problems. Specifically, her work focused on the Alexander-Conway polynomial invariant for chord diagrams to help prove how to classify molecules on a structural basis.

Sana Raoof, 17, is from Muttontown, NY.


2. Yi-Han Su (center) identified a way to make methanol convert to hydrogen with greater efficiency.

Su was awarded for her efforts to identify a high-activity catalyst that could improve methanol reforming reactions in order to generate hydrogen more efficiently.

Yi-Han Su, 17, is from Chinese Tapei.

3. Natalie Sarange Omattage developed a biosensor to screen for contamination in foods.

Omattage developed a more efficient and less expensive way to screen for food additive contaminants, including those responsible for the recent deaths of many pets. By developing biosensors based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), Omattage's research provides a new way for ports and warehouses to more thoroughly screen for food additives and other contaminants that could be found in food imported into the United States.

Natalie Sarange Omattage, 17, is from Cleveland, MS

Wow! It's hard to believe that these women are still in high-school and I'm reporting the winners of the ISEF and not of the Nobel Prize!

Congratulations to Raoof, Su, and Omattage for your accomplishments and thank you for setting the bar high for teens who aspire to the ISEF. There were 500 other ISEF winners in grade school, middle school, and high school categories; congratulations to you all!

press release

Picture it - thousands of Mickey Mouse heads floating over Orlando, Florida. That is the plan for later this month when Walt Disney Co. uses a new invention to promote Disney World. Now picture the Nike logo or the Apple Logo or even your logo taking to the air. How? Flogos!

What is a Flogo? It's lighter than air foam, made from proprietary surfactant (fancy word for soap), and pressed into the shape of a logo.

Source: WTPOP News

Flogos have a life expectancy of minutes to an hour or more, depending on wind speed and direction. They travel slowly, can go twenty to thirty miles in distance and as high as twenty-thousand feet in the air.

Source: ABC News

First conceived of in the 1990s by Francisco Guerra and Brian Glover, two international special effects inventors, it takes about ten days for the in-house Flogo art department to create your Flogo stencil, then a certified Flogo tech will place a Flogo generator in the optimum location, and Presto, Flogo! Sky trash or innovative ads that really soar?

Source: Armageddon

One great thing is they are a Green product, 100% environmentally safe. Currently available in white, in 2009 they will launch a line of colored Flogos. Maybe one day, they'll even figure out how to write messages in the foam.

Source: MSNBC

Flogos come in 24-inch and 36-inch models, but a new 48-inch generator is in development. While the most intricate design I could find was the Olympic circles (picture unavailable) the possibilties seem endless.

What do you think of these innovative soap bubble ads?

Sources: The Denver Post and Flogos



Engineers Build First Self-Replicating 3D Machine

As biologists are busy working on cloning living organisms, engineers are working on a mechanical counterpart - creating non-living things that can replicate themselves.

Recently, more than 100 researchers from around the world have been working on a project called RepRap (Replicating Rapid-prototyper), which started in 2004. At the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK, the team displayed their creation: the world's first 3D printer than can print pieces which can be assembled by hand to make an exact copy of the original printer.

The replica is no mule, either - it can also print another copy of itself.

So far, RepRap can only reproduce its plastic parts, and not its metal or electronics. It takes a human a few hours to assemble the copied pieces into another printer.

Nevertheless, RepRap is the first 3D printer that can reproduce its own components. And, with its pieces costing around $600, the printer is much less expensive than other 3D printers (which cost around $50,000). Besides replicating itself, it can also print plastic 3D objects including coat hooks, water-filter insects, children's sandals, and much more.

The RepRap collaborators hope that the printer can be useful for reproducing plastic objects of just about any shape, especially for hobbyists and communities in the developing world.

People already "run their own CD burners, printing presses and photographic laboratories", said Adrian Bowyer, the University of Bath mechanical engineer who launched the RepRap project. "There's no reason they shouldn't run their own factories as well."

At RepRap.org , you can find more information, including instructions for building your own replicating RepRap printer.

via: New Scientist

The real heroines of Indian History...

IT was a real pleasure to go through the profiles of women like Dr. Lakshmi Sehgal, who was a medical graduate way back in 1938 and who joined the Indian National Army; Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, who took a stand against child marriage and the abhorrent devdasi system, then widely prevalent; K.P. Janaki, the “Amma” of the poor; Mallu Swarajyam, the brave leader of the Telangana armed struggle; Ahilya Rangnekar, one of the founders of the All Indian Democratic Women’s Association; Suseela Gopalan, once tipped to be the Chief Minister of Kerala; K.R. Gouri Amma, the longest serving member in the Kerala Assembly; and Mrinal Gore, fondly called “Paniwali Bai” (Cover Story, June 6).


These women, who carved out a space for themselves in the public sphere at a time when it was much more difficult for women to do so than it is today, are the real heroines of our country.



Frontline has really made a mark by unearthing these stories of the real heroines of india...

Read about The Pioneers:
Dr. Lakshmi Sehgal
Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy
K.P. Janaki
Mallu Swarajyam
Ahilya Rangnekar
Suseela Gopalan
K.R. Gouri Amma
Mrinal Gore