Electric Microbes

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's all about power; power generation, power transmission, power storage and power consumption. The most useful form of power in our modern electronic world is electricity, it can drive technologies that move us, assist us, inform us and ultimately protect us. With such a bright future for electricity shouldn't we be laser focused on finding better ways to generate it.

A couple of years ago I read an article about a naturally occurring bacteria that produced electricity by eating pollution. Given the modern energy and pollution situation, it seemed like a potentially important new avenue for energy research. Since that initial article I have seen a few follow-up articles, like this R&D one on bacteria based fuel cells, but nothing about the commercialization of the science. Even if they haven't been productized yet, the approach probably will eventually get to the commercial markets (kidding aside, products like mud batteries could give another revenue stream to chicken and pig farmers as they sell power to the grid while detoxifying all that waste).

Of further interest is the recent discovery of other bacteria, at Yellowstone National Park, that convert light to electricity. Using photosynthesis to create electricity, these bacteria are sure to become an important research and discovery tool.

For the future, all of these bacterial generators could become important for energy independence, not just national independence, but personal independence as well. With the prospect of inexpensive alternative energy generation from sunlight, waste disposal and other readily available sources, along with intelligent power storage systems, shouldn't we expect to someday generate enough energy for our own individual needs? If not completely then what about partially?

With so much attention dedicated to research on batteries, power management and alternate power sources shouldn't there be some system thinking going on that would bring it all together? How about self-contained on-site power systems for our homes? If Apple produced one it could be called iPower and it would be launched with a very hip and expensive ad campaign. As for me, I’ll be waiting in line on launch day.

DeMockerAcy

Democracy ???

Democracy is widely established as the optimal governance mechanism. This is mainly due to the distribution of power among various institutions (rather than individuals) and the checks and balances against abuse of this power.

But the way the system has managed to beat itself in this game amazes me. If there's anything I've learnt in my diploma institute, its that a system can be adjudged to be a good one only if it does so when all players act in a self-interested ( a sophisticated way of saying 'selfish') manner. Hence I refuse to lay blame on the politicians' door for being selfish. When they find no incentive to lead their respective constituency on the path of development, why would they? When there is an easier and surer way to cling to power than carry out developmental work, why would they care to develop their people?

The least one should expect in a good system of governance is for performance to be linked to rewards/punishment. Instead, there is significant proof that one's misdeeds does not necessarily mean defeat in the next election. Well, we have a live example where a person needs less than 1500 days to make a trillion dollar deficit from a surplus state, gets the energy corporations to decide energy policy and of course, run a war to settle scores with the guy who tried to kill his father, and then win an extra four years to continue his service to his nation. A little before Lok Sabha elections in India this year, India Today reported a survey in which people displayed a remarkably high negative correlation between their preferred candidate choice and his performance.

Political parties seem to consciously avoid issues of importance and would rather debate non-issues. If, in India, it is Mandir / Mandal / Foreign origin etc, in US it is abortion, gay rights, Vietnam War and of course the War on Terror. Whatever happened to good ol' poverty, increasing divide between the wealthy and poor, poor infrastructure etc?!

Even if at a later date, a political party does decide to take up issues of development, by then the public is fixated over the non-issues to the extent that any vote for this new political party will probably be based on its perceived stand on the non-issues.

In other words, the current set of political parties benefit by changing the rules of the game so that the ideal winner is destined to lose.

So what is the way out of this mess? My answer is rather simple - I have no clue whatsoever. I just hope there exists some person who can creatively and intelligently play the game of electoral politics to break this impasse.

Well, the only reason I can think of for democracy to be considered a good system is that every other conceivable system is worse.

In any case, I just hope that out of all this churning will emerge a better system of governance. Hope is good - Andy in Shawshank. Indeed it is.

The Great Indian Dream By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

BANGALORE, India

Nine years ago, as Japan was beating America's brains out in the auto industry, I wrote a column about playing a computer geography game with my daughter, then 9 years old. I was trying to help her with a clue that clearly pointed to Detroit, so I asked her, "Where are cars made?" And she answered, "Japan." Ouch.

Well, I was reminded of that story while visiting an Indian software design firm in Bangalore, Global Edge. The company's marketing manager, Rajesh Rao, told me he had just made a cold call to the vice president for engineering of a U.S. company, trying to drum up business. As soon as Mr. Rao introduced himself as calling from an Indian software firm, the U.S. executive said to him, "Namaste" — a common Hindi greeting. Said Mr. Rao: "A few years ago nobody in America wanted to talk to us. Now they are eager." And a few even know how to say hi in proper Hindu fashion. So now I wonder: if I have a granddaughter one day, and I tell her I'm going to India, will she say, "Grandpa, is that where software comes from?"

Driving around Bangalore you might think so. The Pizza Hut billboard shows a steaming pizza under the headline "Gigabites of Taste!" Some traffic signs are sponsored by Texas Instruments. And when you tee off on the first hole at Bangalore's KGA golf course, your playing partner points at two new glass-and-steel buildings in the distance and says: "Aim at either Microsoft or I.B.M."

How did India, in 15 years, go from being a synonym for massive poverty to the brainy country that is going to take all our best jobs? Answer: good timing, hard work, talent and luck.

The good timing starts with India's decision in 1991 to shuck off decades of socialism and move toward a free-market economy with a focus on foreign trade. This made it possible for Indians who wanted to succeed at innovation to stay at home, not go to the West. This, in turn, enabled India to harvest a lot of its natural assets for the age of globalization.

One such asset was Indian culture's strong emphasis on education and the widely held belief here that the greatest thing any son or daughter could do was to become a doctor or an engineer, which created a huge pool of potential software technicians. Second, by accident of history and the British occupation of India, most of those engineers were educated in English and could easily communicate with Silicon Valley. India was also neatly on the other side of the world from America, so U.S. designers could work during the day and e-mail their output to their Indian subcontractors in the evening. The Indians would then work on it for all of their day and e-mail it back. Presto: the 24-hour workday.

Also, this was the age of globalization, and the countries that succeed best at globalization are those that are best at "glocalization" — taking the best global innovations, styles and practices and melding them with their own culture, so they don't feel overwhelmed. India has been naturally glocalizing for thousands of years.

Then add some luck. The dot-com bubble led to a huge overinvestment in undersea fiber-optic cables, which made it dirt-cheap to transfer data, projects or phone calls to far-flung places like India, where Indian techies could work on them for much lower wages than U.S. workers. Finally, there was Y2K. So many companies feared that their computers would melt down because of the Year 2000 glitch they needed software programmers to go through and recode them. Who had large numbers of programmers to do that cheaply? India. That was how a lot of Indian software firms got their first outsourced jobs.

So if you are worried about outsourcing, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that a unique techno-cultural-economic perfect storm came together in the early 1990's to make India a formidable competitor and partner for certain U.S. jobs — and there are not a lot of other Indias out there. The bad news, from a competition point of view, is that there are 555 million Indians under the age of 25, and a lot of them want a piece of "The Great Indian Dream," which is a lot like the American version.

As one Indian exec put it to me: The Americans' self-image that this tech thing was their private preserve is over. This is a wake-up call for U.S. workers to redouble their efforts at education and research. If they do that, he said, it will spur "a whole new cycle of innovation, and we'll both win. If we each pull down our shutters, we will both lose."

Pulavar - Tamil Kavidai - Anonymous

Enough !!!!

I am sitting in a little cubicle at work, ( such a joke that, work) and for some reason, I decided what had been bothering me ever since I stopped to consider how I was doing, three minutes ago.

Enough, really, my life has deteriorated into some nothingness, mostly conflicted decisions and loss of sleep and major unproductivity.

It pains me.

No really, damn it, I think I have over the course of the last tow years asked more people for help, advice, support and chocolate than I had in the previous happy existence. I definitely have whined more more more than I thought was possible, perhaps as an experiment in pushing the limit.

Also profund inabilities to write in paragraphs less than three sentences baffle me.

I know, I know, I've reached similar conclusions about state of afairs before, but none of them have been very helpful.

Shall therefore vow to:

1) be an arrogant snob
1) not whine that much
1) do more more with life
1) not hate myself in anyway
2) read more ( and stop trying to finish the bloody wheel of time series - it is painful.)
2) be happy
2) go on vacation - must.
2) get_____
2) not guilt trip oneself. no. not your fault, not yours not yours (raguvaran style)

and lastly, and yell at me if i dont stick to this, but not to make this a personal diary space - uh huh - well atleast not too overtly.

yes. there. new me.

new me is proud to report fresh explorations in the fields of music, ledzepplin come to lifelike. If you live close by, come n have a look :) .

Quote of the day

Each Step ...“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect.

There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions.

So what. Get started now.With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”

- Mark Victor Hansen

A Poem Agains War - by Leslye Layne Russell

Iraq

dark

dark eyes

dark eyes of the children

say no

say no don't

say no don't do it

again

say no don't do it

say no don't

say no

dark eyes of the children

dark eyes

dark

© January 2003 Leslye Layne RussellThis poem was published in Black Spring Online in 2003 andin Black Spring (print) Winter 2004. It was also published in poets against war in 2003 and was included in the collectiongiven to the White House by Sam Hammill.

Thatz the spirit :)

The dead lock Concept... NEVER GIVE UP !!!

Corny joke - I'm warning you!

Q. What did baby corn say to mama corn?

A. Where's popcorn ????

Joke was found at AJokeADay

Funny isn't it !!!

Flying Economy : Q1 9.3% Growth

Indian economy grows surprise 9.3 percent in Q1

NEW DELHI — India's economy accelerated by a surprise 9.3 percent in the first quarter as industry and services grew strongly but a slowdown loomed, analysts warned Friday.

The quicker pace of growth in the April to June period in South Asia's largest economy exceeded analysts' expectations of around 8.9 percent and outpaced the 9.1 percent expansion in the previous quarter, data showed.

"The GDP figures have come in strong," said Manika Premsingh at Edelweiss Capital, but she warned of slower expansion in coming quarters as a result of a steady tightening of monetary policy to curb inflation.

India's economy grew by 9.4 percent in the financial year to March 2007, buoyed by an increasingly affluent middle class, and is the second-fastest growing after China.

Finance minister P. Chidambaram said he was "confident GDP growth will remain close to nine per cent this year" even though first-quarter growth was "a shade below" the 9.6 percent expansion logged in the year-ago period.

Other data Friday showed inflation slipped just below four percent for the first time in over 15 months for the week ended August 18, down from 4.10 percent the previous week and well under central bank targets.

But economists said the fall in the wholesale price index, India's closest watched inflation measure, was mainly due to a high year-ago base effect when inflation was 5.12 percent.

"For now, it does not seem likely the central bank will loosen rates in a hurry... (as) the economy continues to grow at an above trend pace," said Premsingh.

The latest growth figures reflected a robust performance by manufacturing, which grew by 11.9 percent year-on-year. Services accelerated by 10.6 percent.

Agriculture, which the government is hoping to stimulate to boost overall growth, expanded by 3.8 percent.
"Construction has surprised on the upside and agriculture has turned out a bit stronger than expected," said Soumitra Choudhury, economic advisor at credit rating agency ICRA.

The growth data helped to lift India's benchmark Sensex index by 1.30 percent or 196.86 points to 15,318.60, for its sixth straight day of gains.

"The GDP numbers were strong in absolute terms, it was a good indicator for the market," said Naresh Garg, chief investment officer at Sahara Mutual fund.

The better growth data prompted some economists to boost full-year forecasts.

But the economy would still expand more slowly this year than last, when growth was the fastest in nearly two decades, according to their predictions.

Monetary tightening may already be cooling the economy. Sales of cars, motorbikes and trucks have dropped as interest rates have surged to five-year highs. Consumer durables spending has also fallen.

JP Morgan said it would likely hike its full-year growth forecast to around 8.6 percent from 8.0 percent earlier. India's central bank has forecast 8.5 percent growth.

"Growth in the remainder of the year will moderate slightly owing to the combined impact of monetary tightening and recent rupee appreciation," said JP Morgan economist Rajeev Malik, who forecast a "pronounced" slowdown in consumer spending.

The rupee is trading at around eight-year highs against the dollar after hitting close to decade peaks earlier this year.

Many analysts said India was relatively protected from the US subprime crisis, noting the direct exposure of domestic banks to the credit woes is limited.

But some analysts warned the subprime turmoil could cause a "significant" slowdown if it persists for more than a few months, for instance if it staunches foreign investment flows into India.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the economy needs to grow by at least 10 percent annually to address widespread, crushing poverty.

Musings !!

Today's feelings are yesterday's past
Yesterday's feelings are lost in time
Tomorrow's feelings would be nothing
In time, all this would be no more

 

Success - Musings...

Ask these Four Questions to yourself if you want to suceed...

 

Why?

Why Not?

Why Not Me?

Why Not Now?

 

Most of us are very poor critics of ourselves. We can easily criticize others and discover what is wrong with them, and we can easily build up an argument of our own side of the situation; but it is a far more difficult thing to be a self-critic-to take the situation that comes into our life and sit down with it frankly and say: "What did I do, or what have I said, that has contributed to this situation?"

 

 

There is not a person reading this page including me who is living up to his or her own possibilities. If you feel in a pretty much of a chaos, frustrated, lots of trouble and worry, just turn the searchlight on yourself and you will discover an available source of power. When you open up the channels and the avenues for that power, it will flood your soul and you will find yourself developing strength and poise, a solidarity, a feeling of security, that nothing on earth can shake!

 

 

Is there jealousy in your heart? Is there envy? Opposition? Don't expect a miracle if you retain an obstacle. There is some disciplining you must do. You have got to clear out the old festering sores of your heart. Perhaps you have lied about someone; perhaps you have been unkind; perhaps you have been slandered and gossiped. Perhaps you have been "little" when you should have been "big".

 

 

How can we transmit our ideals into action so that these ideals can have sway in our lives? Well, we have to begin in our own hearts. When we clear away all the clutters up the channels, the heart and mind are cleansed, the head becomes rarified and the old jealousies, animosities and hatreds are uprooted, and then, though trouble may come in and flood and encompass our lives, there still is a power that reveals our own possibilities. The mere fact that none of us is living up to his best does not predicate that we never can.

 

 

What do we do then??? God knows.... Well if it sounds like me pholosophizing well may be iam... Let me conclude with one note by someone...

 

You Have Ambition ??
You have a Goal ??
Now you have a way,
to make it Happen !!

Off you go beyond the boundaries..

Sail on the rays of the sun...

 

The right to speech. And no speech at all!

There's been much ado about the freedom of expression right from the time of constitutional evolution
the world over. But sometimes being quiet is more important than being vocal about an issue. So how
come nobody thought of the freedom to shut up?

 

Spiritual teachers have time and again emphasised the need to be alone with yourself to achieve inner
peace. But somebody who wants to stay mum has no legal backing to do so in our world! Friends and
well-wishers around you will force you to speak up, tell them what you're thinking, try to force
you out of your solitude by cajoling, persuasion and emotional blackmail. The message is loud and
clear: you have no right to shut up when you want to, especially if you're the gregarious types
most of the time.

 

The only occasion when the law gives you the choice to keep quiet is when they're arresting you for
an offence: 'Whatever you say or do can be and will be held against you'. But not all of us get
the opportunity of committing so grave a crime when such a privilege could be accorded to us. So
we're stuck with the freedom of speech for most parts of our lives, having to make the right sounds
forever! And because our society does not comprehend the Right to Silence, we're bound to make most
gaffes throught incorrect speech and suffer the repercussions of bad Karma. Tragic, don't you think?!

 

 

Like the Boyzone would put it, It's only words and words are all I have....

 

 

Kinda Quotes...

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.

- Ambrose Bierce

 

Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.

- Bible

 

The man who acts humble in order to win praise is guilty of the lowest form of pride.

- C. S. Lewis

Is total transparency good?

*** an interesting article by someone ***

I'm finally catching up on some backed up reading, including a month-old Wired magazine with the titillating cover story "Get Naked!".No, it's not what you think. The main story and some ancillary ones are about corporations who become totally transparent (naked) in relation to their staff, their board, their customers and their stockholders. Well worth the read. It's issue 15.04.

The stories range from coming out a bit, to total transparency and the resulting benefits. All of this led to some long discussions with people I respect, and some careful thoughts about this concept.

I've long advocated sharing much, much more information internally, including all of your financials with all of your staff (unless you have a union). I've told dozens of clients to share their draft strategic plan with their community. I tell everyone to post a link to their current 990 and most recent audit on the first page of their website.

But share everything? Nah. As a former ED, I can tell you that sharing MOST of my thoughts got me in trouble at times. Imagine this: income is down, you are thinking about a long term restructuring, and you muse about this in your blog. The action is 10-15% likely and perhaps a year away. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERY ONE on the staff will immediately assume that they will lose their job in the next 37 minutes. Same for the people you serve.


Some stuff you just have to keep to yourself.In one article, a CEO blogged and dissed his peers and some subordinates. Ohhh, bad idea. Have your dissing face to face, and keep the arguments inside the family. And, think of the HR implications!Bottom line for me: sharing--good. Lots of sharing--better. Financial transparency--essential.Get naked? Could get ugly. Fast.

MIT Demonstrates "Wireless Electricity"

The ability to direct and transmit electrical power through the air, without wires, took a further step from the theoretical to the practical in June when a group of MIT researchers demonstrated their "WiTricity" concept.

The technology works by transmitting electricity as a magnetic field oscillating at a specific frequency. Through "magnetically coupled resonance," the "receiver" can capture the electricity, making for an efficient and safe method of over-the-air transfer.

Wireless transmission of electricity has been understood in theory since the work of Nikolai Tesla in the 19th Century. Safe, efficient and cost-effective wireless electricity could hold countless beenfits, from eliminating the need to install costly copper wiring to lowered reliance on batteries for small devices. However, despite the success of WiTricity, the technology has a long way to go before it is deployed commercially... not to mention the need to better understand side effects such as interference and possible effects on health and the environment.

Source: Self Service World

Stranded on the Streets - Nala Damayanti

One of my favourite song from Nala Damayanti.. Found somewhere in blogosphere..

Stranded on the streets (NALA DAMAYANTHI)

yaethaedhoa paesi maatti konda
en kaNNae mookkae kaadhae...
vaendaadha vambae........

Stranded on the streets
Got to know where to go
Don't know what to do
I don't know what to know

Broken in the dark
I'm searching for the light
I don't know what is wrong and
I don't know what is right

Nowhere to belong
Missing my home town
Some of them here
Baby thing I'm going down

Think about the blues
I'm feeling down to low
I need someone to know
Why I'm feeling so

Why can't I be?
The way I meant to be...
Why can't they see?
Everything the way I see

What could be so wrong?
In the way I've been so long
Tell me my friend
Tell me where we all belong

Its the long and lonely night
I think someone got to held me tight
Give me a brand new start
Before i fall apart
Chase away my bluesAmong this broken heart

(Stranded on the streets.....)

Mr. Moon wants to tell me now
La la lai lai la la lai
How you feeling alone about
La la lai lai la la lai
If you looking for some company
La la lai lai la la lai
Just look down and smile on me
La la lai lai la la lai

Why can't I be?
The way I meant to be...
Why can't they see?
Everything the way I see

What could be so wrong?
In the way I've been so long
Tell me my friend
Tell me where we all belong

Its the long and lonely night
I think someone to held me tight
Give me a brand new start
Before i fall apart
Chase away my blues
Among this broken heart

(Stranded on the streets...)

Mr. Moon tell me what you care
La la lai lai la la lai
Hear my story that i got to share
La la lai lai la la lai
Tell me why life is so unfair
La la lai lai la la lai

You know better cause you're sitting out there
La la lai lai la la lai
Why can't I be?
The way I meant to be...

Why can't they see?
Everything the way I see
What could be so wrong?
In the way I've been so long

Tell me my friend
Tell me where we all belong
It's the long and lonely night
I think someone to held me tight

Give me a brand new start
Before i fall apart
Chase away my blues
Among this broken heart
(Stranded on the streets...)

How you look ...

Everything in this world can be seen as you wish to.

Good or Bad; Simple or Complicated; Easy or Difficult.

Its not how things are; its about how you look up to them.

...and how you look up to them is all up to you.

Well, Choose Yours...

EASY	DIFFICULT
Easy is to judge the mistakes of others	Difficult is to recognize our own mistakes
Easy is to talk without thinking	Difficult is to refrain the tongue
Easy is to hurt someone who loves us.	Difficult is to heal the wound...
Easy is to forgive others	Difficult is to ask for forgiveness
Easy is to set rules.	Difficult is to follow them...
Easy is to dream every night.	Difficult is to fight for a dream...
Easy is to show victory.	Difficult is to assume defeat with dignity...
Easy is to admire a full moon.	Difficult to see the other side...
Easy is to stumble with a stone.	Difficult is to get up...
Easy is to enjoy life every day.	Difficult to give its real value...
Easy is to promise something to someone.	Difficult is to fulfill that promise...
Easy is to say we love.	Difficult is to show it every day...
Easy is to criticize others.	Difficult is to improve oneself...
Easy is to make mistakes.	Difficult is to learn from them...
Easy is to weep for a lost love.	Difficult is to take care of it so not to lose it.
Easy is to think about improving.	Difficult is to stop thinking it and put it into action...
Easy is to think bad of others	Difficult is to give them the benefit of the doubt...
Easy is to receive	Difficult is to give
Easy to read this	Difficult to follow
Easy is keep the friendship with words	Difficult is to keep it with meanings

LAW OF THE JUNGLE !!! CORPORATE WORLD !!!!!

Two guys were hiking through the jungle when they spotted a tiger that looked both hungry and fast. One of the guys reached into his pack and pulled out a pair of Nike.

His friend looked at him "Do you really think those shoes are going to make you run faster than that tiger?"

I don't have to run faster than that tiger, his friend replied. "I just have to run faster than you".

Welcome to the corporate world!!