Mile sur mera tuhara...prasar Bharathi

Ek Anek aur Ektha

Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya... Its next to impossible to forget this song if you had a TV(and watched it too) in the early 80’s. May be 1985 - 1990 period. There were a bunch of ’short programs’ that would be aired every now and then on DD national - the one and the only channel!. This one was on unity. “Ek Anek aur Ektha” - The animated movie.

Vellore

I found this Video somewhere.. An intresting ride along the main streets of vellore and into the Vellore fort...

Don't Cry Joni

Don't Cry Joni (one of my favourite song)
http://www.ziplo.com/dontcry.html
Sung by Conway Twitty & Joni Lee

Jimmy please say you'll wait for me
I'll grow up some day you'll see
saving all my kisses just for you
signed with love forever true

Joni was the girl who lived next door
I've known her I guess 10 years or more
Joni wrote me a note one day
and this is what she had to say

Jimmy please say you'll wait for me
I'll grow up some day you'll see
saving all my kisses just for you
signed with love forever true

Slowly I read her note once more
then I went over to the house next door
her tear drops fell like rain that day
when I told Joni what I had to say

Joni, Joni please don't cry
you'll forget me by and by
you're just 15, I'm 22
and Joni I just can't wait for you

Soon I left our little home town
got me a job and tried to settle down
but these words kept haunting my memory
the words that Joni said to me

Jimmy please say you'll wait for me
I'll grow up some day you'll see
saving all my kisses just for you
signed with love forever true

I packed my clothes and I caught a plane
I had to see Joni, I had to explain
how my heart was filled with her memory
and asked my Joni if she'd marry me

I ran all the way to the house next door
but things weren't like they were before
my tear drops fell like rain that day
when I heard what Joni had to say

Jimmy, Jimmy please don't cry
you'll forget me by and by
it's been 5 years since you've been gone
Jimmy I married your best friend John.

CHILD ABUSE: How concerned are you?

I got a forwarded link from a friend of mine and I went to the site in all good intentions.

The site covers two main issues.
Child Pornography on the internet
Child abuse at home.

The means it says that it can eradicate it:
Get a million email addresses from all over the world and do —– —– —-.
Seriously, I have never seen a site that doesn’t say what it is planning to do with the list. Here are my options though.

The list would be submitted to all the technology vendors, ISPS, Governments throughout the world.

Those concerned will get to know that there exists an evil called ‘child pornography’ and would empathasize with the million others who submitted the petition.

It would stop all pornography sites on the internet.

It would send one military person per home to check on child abuse.

Child abuse at home would also stop.

The world would be a better place to live in. And everyone would live happily ever after.

But I know what is going to happen.

If you have been getting 10 spam mails till now, it might double.
Soon, people might be interested in offering you loans, degrees or even silicone breast implants.
Well, how plausible is my idea? Are these guys kidding? A search on light a million candles yielded me 535,000 links (mostly over enthusiastic blogs) pointing to this site in their attempt to save the world. But I can’t be ridiculing someone if I don’t have an answer to something. Isn’t it? And I say, Yes. I do have the answer to it.
Read this: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/18/tech/main784536_page3.shtml

From what I hear, the government is already concerned at this. It doesn’t need a million addresses to know that this happens and it needs to do something. If you really think that God sent you to this world to eradicate this, you would just need to do atleast one of the following.
Stop abusing children. (Learn to accept that anyone has modesty. This includes not looking at their private parts let alone touching them).

If you know that some neighbourhood kid is abused, call up the police.
If you find some porn site on the web, submit it to the concerned government cell.

Does this make sense?

The Legend of the Legends

MSS the IMMORTAL LEGEND LIVES ON WITHIN US.....NO MORE SORROW
the ever glowing Lamp that brightens the souls darkened by present day materialism

The ever young adventurous hero in everyone..

Tintin -The Red Sea Sharks part 1

Incredible machines

SIMPLE HOME MADE MACHINES WITH CRAZY TECHNIQUES

If you have seen Back to the future, you would have certainly not missed the breakfast making machine called "Rube Goldberg", these machines are complex devices that perform simple tasks like making a breakfast in very indirect and convoluted ways.

But, this video of these incredible machines is going to make you and your physic professors sit up and say "whoa" because the physics concepts used in these machines, which make use of everyday house junk is awesome. It's a little long around 9min, so get ur cup of coffee before u press the play button. But, don't blame us if u spill ur coffee...

My Favourite song from Border

BORDER SANDASE AATE HAI

Some of my favourite Poems by Subramanya Bharathi

அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே


அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே
இச்சகத்து ளோரெலாம் எதிர்த்து நின்றபோதினும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

துச்சமாக எண்ணி நம்மைத் தூறு செய்த போதினும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

பிச்சை வாங்கி உண்ணு, வாழ்க்கை பெற்று விட்ட போதினும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

இச்சை கொண்ட பொருளெலாம் இழந்துவிட்ட போதினும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

கச்சணிந்த கொங்கை மாதர் கண்கள்வீசு போதினும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

நச்சை வாயிலே கொணர்ந்து நண்ப ரூட்டு போதனும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

பச்சை யூனினையந்த வேற்படைகள் வந்த போதினும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

உச்சிமீது வானிடிந்து வீழு கின்ற போதினும்
அச்சமில்லை அச்சமில்லை அச்சமென்ப தில்லையே

நெஞ்சு பொறுக்குதில்லையே

நெஞ்சு பொறுக்குதில்லையே - இந்த
நிலைகெட்ட மனிதரை நினைந்துவிட்டால்
கொஞ்சமோ பிரிவினைகள் - ஒரு
கோடியென் றாலது பெரிதாமோ ?

அஞ்சுதலைப் பாம்பென்பான் - அப்பன்
ஆறுதலை யென்றுமகன் சொல்லிவிட்டால்
நெஞ்சு பிரிந்து விடுவார் - பின்பு
நெடுநா ளிருவரும் பகைத்திருப்பார் (நெஞ்சு)

சாத்திரங்க ளொன்றும் காணார் - பொய்ச்
சாத்திரப் பேய்கள்சொலும் வார்த்தைநம்பியே
கோத்திரமொன் யிருந்தாலும் - ஒரு
கொள்கையிற் பிரிந்தவனைக் குலைத்திகழ்வார்
தோத்திரங்கள் சொல்லியவர்தாம் - தமைச்
சூதுசெயு நீசர்களைப் பணிந்திடுவார் - ஆனால்
ஆத்திரங் கொண்டே யிவன் சைவன் - இவன்
அரிபக்த னென்றுபெருஞ் சண்டையிடுவார் (நெஞ்சு)

எண்ணிலா நோயுடையார் - இவர்
எழுந்து நடப்பதற்கும் வலிமையிலார்
கண்ணிலாக் குழந்தைகள்போல் - பிறர்
காட்டிய வழியிற் சென்று மாட்டிக் கொள்வார்
நண்ணிய பெருங்கலைகள் - பத்து
நாலாயிரங் கோடி நயந்து நின்ற
புண்ணிய நாட்டினிலே - இவர்
பொறியற்ற விலங்குகள் போல வாழ்வார் (நெஞ்சு)

Another one..

தேடி சோறு நிதம் தின்று – பல
சின்னஞ்சிறு கதைகள் பேசி – மனம்
வாடி துன்பம் மிக உழன்று –பிறர்
வாட பலசெயல்கள் செய்து –நரை
கூடி கிழபருவமெய்தி –கொடுங்
கூற்றுக் கிரையென்ன பின்மாயும் – பல
வேடிக்கை மனிதரைப் போல் -நான்
வீழ்வெ னென்று நினைத்தாயோ….


He still lives...

Jesus died pinned to the cross;
Krishna by a swift arrow;
Even Rama yielded to death by water;
But I shall not die, 'tis certain.

we are human...but are we humane??

we are human...but are we humane??

Human race is to which we all belong..
there had to be a unity very strong..
instead what is found everywhere...
is hatred and attitude of why-should-i-care.

we take pride in being the most intelligent race..
arrogance is writ all over human face..
but why am i writing "we"
its now all about you and me.

constantly engaged in mass killing..
in a manner that is mostly spine-chilling..
pogroms and massacres are order of the day..
and bleeding humanity by bombing it away..

when one's agony and plight..
becomes other's delight..
when a nation's power and pelf
using the God's name itself..

as if the God belongs to them only..
on promises of after-life heavenly..
youths are lured into killing innocents.
with a feeling of victory rather than repents..

it doesn't matter if a mother cries..
they seek jihad in her hopeless eyes..
its not enough if her only son goes..
their motive is to add to her woes..

they wont mind blowing her away as well..
as if they seek fragrance in this gory smell..
it may be a son,mother,father or daughter..
they dont blink an eye and just slaughter..

and slaughter they do in a manner dastard..
for fellow humans they have just utter disregard..
they may justify it by wearin a jihadi mask..
but the crying mother,the orphaned childask..

have you lost your sanity..are you insane..
you may be human..but are you humane??

Partying Chuppandi Style

Partying Does it really cheers u???

Suddenly this strange thing filled all my mind. What we've accomplished in life worth partying for. Just turning an year older and being stabbed by yet another milestone ??? Naah... I never find any reason worthwile to party. But as like in most of my things, i've been pushed to my limits these days. When I've got my confirmation order, all my dept. colleagues started askin for the party. Obviously I've agreed to it to..

I did not felt much that day but the other day when one of my fellow colleague gave his treat for his promotion, it all suddenly filled my thought for which i began choking and decided to party never again..

I was told by my dad that Mother Terasa when attending a christmas dinner went on to see a pile of cake being wasted and all she asked was to pack them. There are lot of people starving even for a single bun a day and i could atleast make some of them happy today instead of wasting these..

what do we gain by partying ??? Or is there anything that we accomplished that worth celebrating for?? these are the questions that turn to me when i think of celebrating. And obviously the reason one might say is that when you've done or accomplished something or attained some stage that u were longing for. Obviously you feel like celebrating. Thats the Human nature I agree. But we the humans being the sixthsensed creatures should think of the co-existing creatures too..

If you have an excess meal for the day or if you have enormous money for ur lifetime donate them to some for who starve even for a days meal and there are even worst people around the world who does not even have the comfort of wearing clean clothes,eating food atleast once in a day, without drinking water, much more....

Don't we being the fellow humans have some sense of concern for the other fellow human beings ??

Its so sad to tell u none of us including me really care. There are even lot of victims of the natural hazards who's parents bros sisters... lost their lives to the monstres like Tsunami, Earthquake etc.., Do we really have time to care about these... I dont know about any other person except im "SHAME ON MYSELF" for being such a crook leading a selfish life.

Let me tell u one such incident which fuelled this thing again in me..

One day we all got a message which was broadcasted throughout the comp. i work for. the one who sent the mail is a top level manager who has forwarded the message with a foot note saying we should do something about it. The content of the message is that, Our CEO's (who advocates all indian youths should have patriotism and work for the indian multinationals,who work for the good of the india rather working abroad) son who studied in USA and works there in some state i hardly know about. This guy claiming he is in a prestegious comp. the son of our CEO has given birth to a new child and the saddest part is that they've found shez having likeumia on bone marrow . and needs a replacement surgery for which they need some sample from someone who matches her and theirs hardly matches and there are few indians out there they can ask for. This guy wants us to inform the friends and relatives of the recipients who live in USto help them out.

I asked him only one question replying to his message. Aren't there any in India who suffer from much worse diseases?? How many neonetal cases were pending for causes like these??? How many people are dying to live out here day and night??? How many people suffer from the natural calamities?? aren't these seems to be worth worrying for ??Coz they're not CEO's relatives huh.. Shame on our race.. atleast this is what the fact is.

This kind of attitude should change. And cannot be changed unless the culture changes. Everyone should think of the other as a fellow human being. Afterall the money they have, the position they posses, the society they belong to, the race they were in... all these hardly matters when u die. What accounts in the real life is just a heart to feel for others.

My request is this. Whenever u feel like partying go the needy people. Celebrate with them. U can find lot of ashrams for aged,Homes for Orphans,Poor kids longing for education, people who suffer from diseases, victims of calamities.... it goes on. Atleast you can get some satisfaction.

ANBE SIVAM !!!

One fine evening at the College Library

Just another strange thing occured during my college days which i think would bring nothing less than a laugh.

Not every time when I go to a Library, I go there with any urgency or purpose. Mostly, I go there either to kill time or to look out whether there are any more additions to Crichton's or Archor's titles. But my latest visit to the library was much different.

I wanted to make note of certain things regarding CFD studies from a known reference book. Late on a Saturday afternoon, I realised that I had to collect the information before the day end since the library would be closed on Sundays. It was two hours before the closing time when I rushed in to the library. There was a reasonable crowd in the library and while browsing through the computerised catalogue, I wondered about the number of people in the library on a Saturday evening. I located the rack where the book would be and hurried there. As luck would have it, the book wasn't there.

Since the book was a 'reference' book, I knew it for sure that the book must be within the library. But, there was a chance that some person who used the book might have kept it in a different rack. I myself have done that couple of times before inadvertently and felt bad about it. Unmindful of the numerous racks, I scanned the library for that big red volume. It is not a wise way to search a book but at that point of time, common sense got over-ruled. Feeling tired and disappointed, I came near the 'Reading Desks' at the far corner of the library and there it was. It was indeed the book I was searching for frantically for the past several minutes but it was in the hands of another person.

Not wanting to sit idle and watch the faces, I picked up some book from the nearby shelf and sat down at the other end of the long reading desk. I made sure that the guy who was having the book I wanted was visible from where I was sitting. Minutes ticked by and by that time, I was simply turning the pages of the book that was in my hand. It was a book on Geo Engineering and though I do not know anything on the subject, I was glad that I picked up some book with lot of flashy and interesting pictures.

For a few moments, I was lost in the Geo-Eco stuff and when I looked up to see the guy who was having 'my book' :-) ! To my horror, that person had left and one another guy in a red-shirt was flipping through the pages. By that time, I had just 45 minutes left before the closing time. While one's patience was running out, weird thoughts come in to mind. I was wondering why this guy didn't have the courtesy to check whether anyone is desperately waiting for the book before taking the same. :-)

Anyhow, I decided to remain seated at the same place and was doing the same thing as what I was doing before. But this time, I was careful enough not to concentrate too much on that book. Every now and then, I was looking at the red-shirt guy very often to ensure that the book he was holding didn't escape my view. It appeared to me that the red-shirt guy wasalso looking at me with a sarcastic smile. On closer observation, I found that the guy wasn't serious about reading the book but was just flipping through the pages. I thought of going up to him and ask whether he was serious about reading the book, atlest he could give it to me. But I dismissed that idea in the thought that since I am eager to get my hands at the book, I am assuming something strange. Further, I convinced myself with the question, "What for would a person come to the library?" Another 20 minutes passed on and my patient had dried up. I thought that there is no point in waiting further and decided to leave the library. So I put down the 'GIS' book on the desk and was about to turn back.

As soon as I had put it down, the red-shirt guy came running to the place where I sat and almost pounced on the book. Taking that, he said, " All along I was waiting for you to finish this book. Just for killing time, I was flipping through that Automobile book. Thank you, Sir". :-)

Incredible India - Google Video

Incredible India !

Thunbam Nergayil - My all time favourite

Blended with Desh raaga, this song sends Vibrations to the soul.

துன்பம் நேர்கையில் யாழ் எடுத்து நீ
இன்பம் சேர்க்கமாட் டாயா? -- எமக்
கின்பம் சேர்க்கமாட் டாயா? -- நல்
அன்பிலா நெஞ்சில் தமிழில் பாடிநீ
அல்லல் நீக்கமாட் டாயா? -- கண்ணே
அல்லல் நீக்கமாட் டாயா? துன்பம்...

வன்பும் எளிமையும் சூழும் நாட்டிலே
வாழ்வில் உணர்வு சேர்க்க -- எம்
வாழ்வில் உணர்வு சேர்க்க -- நீ
அன்றை நற்றமிழ்க் கூத்தின் முறையினால்
ஆடிக் காட்டமாட் டாயா? -- கண்ணே
ஆடிக் காட்டமாட் டாயா?
துன்பம்...

அறமி தென்றும்யாம் மறமி தென்றுமே
அறிகி லாத போது -- யாம்
அறிகி லாத போது -- தமிழ்
இறைவ னாரின் திருக்குறளிலே ஒருசொல்
இயம்பிக் காட்டமாட் டாயா? -- நீ
இயம்பிக் காட்டமாட் டாயா?
துன்பம்...

புறம் இதென்றும் நல்லகம் இதென்றுமே
புலவர் கண்ட நூலின் -- தமிழ்ப்
புலவர் கண்ட நூலின் -- நல்
திறமை காட்டி உனை ஈன்ற எம் உயிர்ச்
செல்வம் ஆகமாட் டாயா? -- தமிழ்ச்
செல்வம் ஆகமாட் டாயா?
துன்பம்...

MISTAKES- WATS WRONG???

Mom: Arent u ashamed of committing this mistake?
Son: I m sorry, i ll see to it that it doesnt happen again.

I guess making mistakes forms the integral part of one's life. Right from the time we were born we have made mistakes all through, day in and day out...then why is that we r pushed to our maximum limit of patience when we commit a mistake....i have always wondered why most of the parents today do not see committing mistakes in the right spirit.Life is simply time given to man to learn how to live. Mistakes are always part of learning. The real dignity of life consists in cultivating a fine attitude towards our own mistakes and those of others.I have always felt that sucess very easily comes to people who learn from others mistakes... It is the fine tolerance of a fine soul. Man becomes great, not through never making mistakes, but by profiting by those he does make.Mistakes should always be seen as an oppurtunity for building better to-day because of one's poor yesterday. Sometimes mistakes teach you a lot more than what success does.I do not write this to say that u should keep commiting mistakes, but jus an opinion to say that if at all one does a mistake, do not make a fuss out of it. Genrally when people commit mistakes they get a little discouraged, but the tend to recover fast if their near and dear one's encourage them to move forward...

Mistakes are the biggest strenght when one after realization learns from it by rising with renewed strength, finer purpose and freshened courage every time he falls.

And here goes the conclusion with a closing note of Edison.

"Its not that I've failed 999 times.. Its that i've learnt 999 times how not to make a Bulb"

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2006

John C. Mather & George F. Smoot

The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2006 is awarded to John C. Mather and George F. Smoot for their discovery of the basic form of the cosmic microwave background radiation as well as its small variations in different directions. The very detailed observations that the Laureates have carried out from the COBE satellite have played a major role in the development of modern cosmology into a precise science.

Well, im not here to argue about the american bias in the Nobel prize or about the credentials of their research. But didn't i tell you b'fore with a video of Richard Feynman and his passion about finding the truth of the universe and the Big Bang ofcourse ??? But i don't think either that we can compare any normal scientists with such a legend. My views apart.. Just have a look at their research and the prespective with which they've tried to answer the Big Bang... Its truly awesome and if you were not aware of it b'fore, here's some for you...

The blackbody origin of the Universe

According to the Big Bang-scenario, our Universe developed from a state of intense heat. There are as yet no well-established theories about this primordial condition of the Universe, but immediately afterwards it appears to have been filled with an incredibly intensive radiation. Radiation emitted by such a glowing “body” is distributed between different wavelengths (light colours) in a specific manner, where the shape of the spectrum depends only on the temperature. Without knowing anything about the radiation apart from its temperature it is possible to predict exactly what the spectrum is going to look like. The somewhat contradictory term used to describe this kind of radiation is blackbody radiation. Spectra like these can also be created in a lab, and the German Max Planck – who received the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1 918 – was the first to describe their particular shape. Our own sun is in fact a “blackbody”, even though its spectrum is less perfect than that of the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Wanna more details about this ???

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2006/info.pdf

The PCR Method - a DNA Copying Machine

PCR is a method by which a few fragments of DNA can be duplicated into millions in a couple of hours. This makes PCR a very useful method in forensic science, as it means that very small amounts of DNA could be enough to identify a person. PCR was invented by Kary Mullis, one of two Nobel Laureates in Chemistry in 1993. If you play the game below, you will be able to learn more about PCR!

This is a game crated with the support of Aventis for better understanding of the PCR method. Check this out its really breathtaking discovery in chemistry retold in our terms as a story.

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/chemistry/pcr/game/index.html

Physicists seek to put one thing in two places

Sounds Quizzy isn't it.. But seems to be quite intresting invention to watch... and move objects :-)

Physi­cists say they have made an ob­ject move just by watch­ing it. This is in­spir­ing them to a still bold­er proj­ect: put­ting a small, or­di­nary thing in­to two places at once.

It may be a “fan­ta­sy,” ad­mits Keith Schwab of Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty in Ith­a­ca, N.Y., one of the re­search­ers. Then again, the first ef­fect seemed that way not long ago, and the sec­ond is re­lat­ed.

The gray sliv­er reach­ing from top to bot­tom, slanted in the im­age, is a na­no­me­chan­i­cal re­s­o­na­tor, a sub-mi­c­ro­s­co­pic de­vice that can vi­brate like a pia­no string. The im­age was tak­en with a scan­ning el­ec­tron mi­cro­scope and col­or­ized. (Cour­te­sy Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty)

The re­search comes from the edge of quan­tum me­chan­ics, the sub­mi­cro­sco­pic realm of fun­da­men­tal par­t­i­cles. There, things be­have with to­tal dis­re­gard for our com­mon sense.

They can show signs of be­ing in two places at once; of be­ing both waves and par­ti­cles; of tak­ing on some cha­r­ac­ter­is­t­ics on­ly at the mo­ment these are meas­ured; and of act­ing syn­chro­nous­ly while far apart, with no ap­par­ent way to com­mu­ni­cate.

Al­though these ti­ny build­ing blocks of our uni­verse do this, the re­l­a­tively huge things we see eve­ry day don’t. The un­can­ny be­hav­ior fades the big­ger a thing be­comes.

This is be­cause when quan­tum en­t­i­ties are com­bined to make or­di­na­ry ob­jects, the rules go­vern­ing each com­po­nen­t’s be­ha­v­ior add up to pro­duce new rules. These in­c­rea­s­ing­ly re­sem­ble the laws of our fa­mi­l­iar re­a­li­ty as more ad­di­tions take place.

But just how big can some­thing be and still show signs of slip­ping back in­to its quan­tum-me­chan­i­cal na­ture?

Schwab and his col­leagues de­cid­ed to find out. In work de­s­cribed in the Sept. 14 is­sue of the re­search jour­nal Na­ture, they built a de­vice co­los­sal by quan­tum stan­dards: about nine thou­sandths of a mil­li­me­ter long, con­tain­ing some 10 tril­lion atoms.

The ob­ject was a sliv­er of alu­mi­num and a type of ce­ram­ic, fixed at both ends but free to vi­brate like a gui­tar string in be­tween. To meas­ure its move­ments, the sci­en­tists set near­by a ti­ny de­tec­tor called a su­per­con­duct­ing sin­gle elec­tron tran­sis­tor.

They found that ran­dom mo­tions of charge-carrying par­ti­cles, elec­trons, in the de­tec­tor em­a­nat­ed forc­es that af­fect­ed the me­tal­lic sliv­er. When the de­tec­tor was tuned for max­i­mum sen­si­tiv­i­ty, these forc­es slowed down the sliv­er’s shak­ing, cool­ing it as a re­sult. This ef­fect, Schwab said, is a ba­si­cal­ly quan­tum-me­chan­i­cal phe­nom­e­non called back-action, in which the act of ob­serv­ing some­thing ac­tu­al­ly gives it a nudge.

Back-action in quan­tum me­chan­ics al­so makes it im­pos­si­ble to know a par­ti­cle’s ex­act lo­ca­tion and speed si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly. This lim­i­ta­tion is called the un­cer­tain­ty prin­ci­ple. A com­mon ex­am­ple: meas­ur­ing place and speed re­quires some de­tec­tor that can “see” the par­ti­cle. But this in­volves bounc­ing a light wave off it, which gives it a ran­dom push.

“We made meas­urements of po­si­tion that are so in­tense—so strongly cou­pled—that by look­ing at it we can make it move,” said Schwab. Nor­mal­ly, such mo­tion would­n’t cool an ob­ject. But the mo­tion can be such as to op­pose on­go­ing move­ments and slow them down. This re­duces an ob­ject’s heat, which is just the jig­gling of par­ti­cles in it.

If back-action ap­plies such a large item, Schwab rea­sons, may­be that can al­so be true of oth­er quan­tum-me­chan­i­cal rules. Particularly in­tri­guing, he said, is the superpo­si­tion prin­ci­ple, which holds that a par­ti­cle can be in two places at once.

A classic ex­am­ple is the shoot­ing of light par­ti­cles, called pho­tons, through two slits in a bar­rier. Past the slits, they will be­have as if they were waves. This alone is no sur­prise: it’s a well-known quan­tum me­chan­i­cal phe­nom­e­non that par­ti­cles can par­a­dox­i­cal­ly act like waves in some sit­u­a­tions. The pho­tons’ wav­i­ness then makes them “in­ter­fere” with each oth­er. In oth­er words, they make pat­terns like those seen when you toss two peb­bles in a pond, and the rip­ples they make overlap.

When the waves passing the two slits mu­tu­al­ly in­ter­fere, the pat­tern be­comes vi­si­ble if you set up anoth­er wall where the pho­tons can land. There, al­ter­nat­ing bright and dark stripes ap­pear.

But bi­zarre­ly, this works even if you fire just one pho­ton at a time through the slits. You can see the ef­fect then by put­ting pho­to­graph­ic film on the land­ing wall, so each pho­ton leaves a last­ing mark. Keep fir­ing pho­tons, and the marks grad­u­al­ly add up to make the stripes again.

It’s as if each pho­ton is in­ter­fer­ing with it­self—that is, go­ing through both slits si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly. This al­so works for big­ger par­ti­cles, up to a point. But what point? Schwab wants to know. “We’re try­ing to make a me­chan­i­cal de­vice be in two places at one time. What’s real­ly neat is it looks like we should be able to do it,” he said. “The hope, the dream, the fan­ta­sy is that we get that superpo­si­tion and start mak­ing big­ger de­vices and find the break­down.”

In a com­men­tary in the same is­sue of Na­ture, Mi­chael Roukes of the Cal­i­for­nia In­sti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy in Pas­a­de­na, Calif., wrote that Schwab’s work with the cool­ing is part of an emerg­ing field, quan­tum electrome­chan­ics. This, he added, fo­cus­es on sub­mi­cro­scop­ic de­vices called nanome­chan­i­cal sys­tems, “poised mid­way be­tween two seem­ingly an­ti­thet­i­c do­mains” of size: fun­da­men­tal par­ti­cles at one end, the ob­jects of eve­ryday life at the oth­er.

Dude, your Dell is on fire

Although we enjoy ogling mangled electronics as much as the next person, if you should ever find yourself at a conference and someone's laptop happens to burst into flames, kindly seek out a fire extinguisher before reaching for your cameraphone.The first time iam happy not owning a Dell... :-) [or anyother for that matter he he he...]