Raag's Corner

Everything's Cool - Trailer

2008-08-30T17:54:00.004-07:00

Saw this movie yesterday. It's a pretty good presentation of controversies surrounding Global Warming (unfortunately this has become politically uncorrect word today).

It has a good historical background of this issue which will be helpful for the people who hate Global Warming issue just because it was raised by Al Gore, a political leader.

Cheers
~Raag

We Indians are very proud of you Abhinav!!! And now more medals

2008-08-10T22:57:00.004-07:00

India Challenge - India@Beijing - Beijing 2008 Olympics - The Times Of India

EDIT: India won another bronze medal on Aug 20. This time in wrestling by Sushil Kumar. There is another medal confirmation by Indian pugilist Vijendar. He is in semis. These medals are more so appreciated as they are won not only against the strong opponents at Olympics, but they are won againts lax system, poor resources, and pathetic politics. This Olympic will be a record as "most won medals won by India in any Olympics", three.

Abhinav Bindra won first ever individual Olympic gold medal for India. This is a gold medal for India after 28 years. He won it in 10 m air rifle event. This is a really proud day for India.

~Raag

"You look familiar, I think I have seen you in Cisco"

2008-08-10T14:27:00.002-07:00

Me: "No, I do not work in Cisco. I work at Company 'ABC'."

Mr. India: "O sorry! By the way, I am Mr. India. Where are you from?"

Me: "Oh, I am from Jhumari Talaiyya!"

Mr. India: "Great, I have a friend from that place too. So what work do you do?"

Me: "I just lay eggs."

Mr. India: "Fantastic, lets meet up some time. May I have your number please?"

Me: "Uh, it is XXX-XXX-XXXX."

Mr. India, calls and checks, if I get the ring.

Mr. India: "Ok, see you later."

Exactly two days later.

Ring Ring.

Mr. India: "Hey hi, Mr. Jhumari Talaiyya, this is Mr. India here."

Me: Hi.

Mr. India: "How are you doing?"

Me: "I am fine, how about you."

Mr. India: "Great, Thanks for asking. Hey listen, I have an e-commerce business. It's a partnership based business. You look very enterprising and I think it would be a good utilization of your spare time."

Me: "Is it related to Quixtar, Amway?"

Mr. India: "Uh, why did you ask?"

Me: "Get the heck out of here. Do not call me again, and I am not interested."

This is a very familiar conversation, many Indians could relate to. Walmart, Malls, Target, Ross, anywhere you go, you get constantly cornered by fellow Indians trying to talk you into their "e-commerce" business. Bay area and Silicon Valley is very badly infected by these menace. It is scary to talk to any other Indian whom you do not know. Either they will be interested to sign you up to this business, or they will think that you are looking for to sign them up.

It has made difficult to make new Indian friends in the Bay area as you are always doubtful of other person's intention. I am sure, many of my friends have their share of horror stories with these people.

Although, I have not been very succesful to avoid all of these attacks, I can give you some tips to avoid them. Do not stray around an Indian couple who are formally dressed in a location, where other people are casually dressed. Be especially away from Indian couple who appear to do shopping at these places, but have empty shopping carts. If somebody wants to talk to you out of blue, just do not give your phone number. And if you do, save them as "Do not pick" in your phone book.

I hope keeping these tips in mind will save you some harrassment from the e-commerce business people.

~Raag

Our Cross-Country Drive

2008-04-17T08:43:00.006-07:00

Finally, we left Blacksburg for good in February 2008, to go to Bay area, CA. We decided to drive our Toyota Camry all the way. It was 2700 miles drive and we were excited. We started our drive on a Sunday morning and planned to drive about 750 miles each day. Visually, the travel was as the following map.

View Larger Map

When we started in Blacksburg there was snow all around and wind chills. However, we were lucky to have sun that day. Beautiful, sunny Blacksburg reminded us of the wonderful years we spent here.

We entered into Tennessee in just few hours. The Tennessee welcome center was quite big and designed artistically. The landscape of Tennessee was not much different from Virginia, but it was definitely flatter. We drove about 490 miles in Tennessee.

We entered Arkansas in the night. I have been here few times but it was first time for Vinny. We booked a hotel on phone and then called Dr. Saraswat. Dr. Saraswat is my senior from my undergrad college. Well, it was a mistake to call them after booking the hotel and we realized that after we got some nice scolding, and a great welcome from Dr. Saraswat and his wife in Little Rock, Arkansas. They cooked a really nice dinner for us. Too bad, we forgot to click a picture at their house.

We started from a place called Conway in Arkansas, which is very near to Little Rock in the morning. The time zone change was showing its effect and we got up a little early. On the I-40 in Arkansas, we got a chance to catch a scenic view in our camera.

We did not have to travel much in Arkansas and we were in Oklahoma by early noon. They really had a nice welcome center. Oklahoma welcome center displayed some interesting examples of some skills of Indian's craftsmanship. I found an interesting quote in the Oklahoma Welcome center as well.

Oklahoma was mostly flat, and pretty much deserted on Interstate 40. We reached Tulsa, in the afternoon. We wanted to eat at a nice Indian restaurant, but we didn't know address of any restaurant. So we tried the GOOG 411 service for the first time. Those who do not know about it, it is a service to find out local businesses by dialing 1 800 GOOG 411. We ended up at an amazing restaurant Gopuram at Oklahoma City. We had a nice buffet.

We reached Texas around evening. The welcome center for Texas was just a welcome sign. They didn't have any rest rooms there. We saw quite a few windmills as soon as we reached Texas. The size of these windmills were really huge.

We reached Amarillo, Texas in the evening. Interstate 40 passed though the Amarillo, so we were able to see that city. We in fact did some shopping at Kohl's there. Having interstate in the city is positive as the people passing buy can actually see the city and may be visit it as well. Amarillo, however, like many other US cities is also made for cars, not people. You cannot walk between two showrooms if they are just 20-30 feet apart. That rant some other time though.

Around the time we were going to pass Texas, we saw a beef farm right beside the interstate which was more than a mile long. All the beef in the farm were waiting to get butchered. I hadn't seen animal agriculture at that scale before, it was overwhelming. At the end of Texas, severe wind was blowing which was shaking our car badly. We entered New Mexico after dark, and the time zone changed as well. We stayed in Tucumcari, New Mexico that night in a Super 8 Motel. Actually, that was first time I stayed at a Super 8, it was pretty good. Tucumcari looked like a small beautiful town. I could see Route 66 from my room in motel. Route 66 is considered were scenic.

We started from Tucumcari in the morning and reached Albequrque, NM during lunch time. My cell phone was having problems, so I had to go to a verizon wireless showroom in NM. Albequrque, NM is situated in a valley with mountains surrounding it. Its a beautiful place. I talked to four people in NM, two verizon wireless representatives, one hotel receptionist, and one native Indian at the roadside. They were not only very nice, they had a very special warmth as well. May be that's a characteristic of NM people? There was a village situated right beside Interstate on a dormant volcano. I think I forgot its name, but some Indians were on the road and one of them told me about it. The nearby areas had black earth due to that volcano which erupted few hundred years back. New Mexico had some snow by that time, and the surrounding areas were looking very beautiful. Enjoy some other pictures from new Mexico as well.

Arizona had a nice welcome center. It was based on the theme of an Indian village.

The interstate in Arizona had some big statues of dinosaurs which appeared to be running towards the interstate.

Arizona was looking really beautiful and we entered California by night in the pacific time zone. California didn't have any welcome centers, although California welcomed us by checking our cars. I think they do not allow import of agriculture products and live animals. We stayed in Needles, CA that night.

We still had to travel about 550 miles in California and reach our apartment in Fremont before 5 to get the keys. Thankfully, time zone change helped us wake up by 5 and leave Needles by 6. This was our fourth day of driving, but we were as excited as we were on day one. We were less than half a tank of gas when we left Needles and were planning to get it filled before moving forward, but we forgot and realized when we were in the desert of Mojave national park. That area was dry and deserted as in the pictures below and you could easily see small wild animals (fox, rabbit, deer etc.) running around .

We tried to call 411 (couldn't call 1800GOOG411 as my phone was discharged and another phone was out of minutes), but that was not of much help, as we didn't know the name of city or county where we were. We had no other option than to drive as far as we could. We finally found a place called Ludlow, out in the desert, which had only two gas stations in total and nothing else as far as one could see (one could see for miles actually there). We could have been in serious trouble if that place was couple of miles away. Once we got the gas, we started again. California had the most varying landscape, changing from desert, to snow covered mountains to huge agricultural farms to concentrated cities. You can see the varying landscape of CA in pictures below. We found amazingly big wind mill farms near Mojave as well.

We had lunch in Bakersville, CA. We were able to reach Fremont, CA before 5, and we got the keys. In few minutes, we left for Ikea to buy the bed. We took the picture below couple of days later to show how dirty our car was after so much driving.

I always wanted to do a cross country travel like this, and I am glad I did it with my better half. It was an amazing experience. The visual panorama we experienced for four days will always be in our minds and heart like a treasure. All of that cannot be illustrated in the pictures or in my shoddy writing, but hopefully you liked them.

Raag

Encouraging people to buy and use reusable grocery bags

2008-02-02T08:00:00.001-08:00

I haven't written in a long time, but those of you who followed my Global Warming: An issue or just politics will remember that I had committed 10 hours for community service as part of VT-ENGAGE program. I wanted to spend these hours to encourage people to buy reusable grocery bags and use them as often. One of the grocery stores in Blacksburg OASIS WORLD MARKET agreed to help me in doing it.

The OASIS owner was very enthusiastic towards this project and she ordered 500 reusable bags from 1 bag at a time for this project. She also committed to sell those bags at the cost price. The process took a little longer as we had trouble finding a reliable and cheap place to buy those bags. Finally, everything went well and I was able to do it yesterday, couple of days before I am leaving Blacksburg for good. A colleague from my department also helped me for couple of hours. She is Chinese, so she was able to convince some Chinese customers. I was at the grocery store for about 4 hours and was able to sell about 35-40 bags. As percentage wise I was able to sell the bags to 20% of customers during that time frame.

Some people don't care about this issue at all. They do not want to think or even talk about it. Some people said that they have bags but forget to use them. I requested them to remember it everytime they come for shopping, and develop a guilt if they don't. I hope I was able to bring some change into the society.

Below are some pictures of the event.

I am leaving for Mountain View from Blacksburg, tomorrow and will be driving the 2700 miles distance. I hope I will be able to post some pictures from the way.

-Raag

PS: By the way, I had gifted these kind of reusable bags to my friends in Christmas as well.

An interesting argument for deciding the course of action whether there is Global Warming or Not!

2008-01-06T10:58:00.001-08:00

Two nice articles for Global Warming Skeptics

2007-11-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

They are both published in BBC and I am just providing the links. They are fairly short and you must be able to read them quickly. Some of the points covered in these articles are the ones I have already covered in my previous articles on environment.

Unravelling the sceptics

Climate scepticism: The top 10

I still have to write in details on the effects of individual contributions on reducing Global Warming and other numerous environmental benefits. Keep checking this place.

Raag

Diwali 2007 at Virginia Tech

2007-11-07T09:54:00.001-08:00

See this video for what Indian Students Association has to offer this year at Diwali celebration!

Raag

Global Warming: An issue or just politics?

2007-10-27T19:41:00.001-07:00

Background: Virginia Tech has come up with a campaign where each Virginia Tech member, faculty, staff and alumni will promise 10 hours of community service as a tribute to the victims of April 16, 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. Different people have promised community work in several organizations in and around Blacksburg and elsewhere. I also promised 10 hours of community work. To utilize these 10 hours, I wanted to set up a stall in a grocery shop talking to people about buying reusable grocery bags and stop using petroleum based plastic grocery bags. I also wanted to use that occasion to talk to people one to one about several environmental issues as well.

Now what happened: I chose Kroger grocery store for this place as they have started selling reusable bags recently and it generally has crowds of lots of young students. I went to talk to the Kroger Manager today and he outrightly rejected the proposal. He did not like the fact that I was being supported by Sierra Club. He said the organization was too political. He added on to that I will be talking about environmental issue specifically "Global Warming" which is a political issue. He said this might (or definitely will) annoy some of their customers and he didn't want his customers to complain.

"Global warming, a political issue?" I was really surprised to hear that. I have always considered that to be an environmental issue. As per as normal IQ goes global warming is a phenomena by which the greenhouses gases absorb heat which makes this planet inhabitable. The balance of greenhouses is delicately maintained by several natural processes. However, several human activities increase these greenhouses gases in atmosphere and are causing the increase in global temperature. There are several serious repercussions of this increase in temperature and I have discussed some of them in my previous posts related to environment.

I have followed several discussions and read several articles but I am not convinced that global warming is a political issue and it should not be taken that way. It's an issue of screwing up the mother nature which inhabits us.

On a positive note, a grocery store at Blacksburg agreed to my proposal instantly. They will get reusable grocery bags so that I will use this occasion and convince people to use them. The grocery bags will be sold at cost price as well. The store manager also gave me several ideas to organize that stall. At the end of the day I was able to convince one store of my idea. I will let you know how that goes.

Let me know what do you think,

Raag

When technology pulls us backward

2007-10-17T22:03:00.001-07:00

Couple of years back wireless Internet became ubiquitous and it became available on airports, hotels, restaurants, cafes everywhere. With the widespread availability of Internet, businesses took it as opportunity and started to sell the usage of Internet at these public places.

Now, to get access to wireless Internet at most of these public places, you need to sign up for some monthly service or pay exorbitant amount of money through credit card. So, you have to pay upwards of $7 if you want to check your mail real quick on an airport or even Starbucks. In the hotels also, the Internet is getting extremely costly. We went to a conference in Minneapolis, MN in summers and the rate of Internet was as high as $15.00 per day. Although we are in highly advanced world most of the people were not using Internet until they really really had to. On a sidenote, however, there are still couple of places with free Internet without any registration and sanity. One of them is Denny's restaurants. You can find them on almost all the highways in US.

At Virginia Tech, we can buy licenses for many software to work. I wanted to buy the server edition of MATLAB but its annual license expires in couple of months. So whether I buy the software in Jan or Dec, I pay the same amount and need to renew it in January. How is that for technology? Now many a software are server edition, that means they will work only if I have Internet. So, if I get stuck in an airport or I am staying in a hotel with costly Internet and I want to work on my laptop, I have to pay for that costly internet just for my software to work.

To me technology means efficiency. If something is not efficient, its not advanced, whether its a car or a computer system. We have recently experienced many popular software like MS Windows, ESRI (ArcGIS), are getting bloated and inefficient.

Anyway, I went to a Starbucks few days back. Besides the fact that they did not have Internet at all, that place was supercold. I asked if they could do anything about it, they told me that the temperature was controlled by a central unit and they cannot do anything about it. Besides the fact that temperature outside was in upwards of 80, workers in that place were wearing warmer clothes, and I was not able to sit there for long because of that cold temperature. This technology of air conditioning is supposed to make us feel comfortable, or uncomfortable and blatantly waste huge amounts of energy. I have felt this central AC crap many a times before as well. I know in some offices people keep heaters to counter the cold AC. The most stupid way to waste energy.

In Virginia Tech library last week, the temperature inside was too high in the evening as it became a little colder outside. And since it was controlled automatically, people had no option than to feel hot. In my department there is a classroom with special air conditioning unit. And the AC switches on as soon as somebody enters in it. It also makes it colder than that starbucks. The whole time in that class you wait for it to get over, get out and feel better. How is that for technology?

Raag

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Al Gore and IPCC won the Nobel prize for peace, for their efforts in raising awareness about Global Warming. I take this space to congratulate IPCC and Al Gore both and I hope it will raise some more awareness.

Global Warming and so called severe effects on our life style

2007-09-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

I wrote following article for Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech. The articles was published in its edited form and the online version was not published either. Following is the original letter.

It has been amusing to see how Collegiate Times chooses its article and letters. I wrote one article for Collegiate Times on “Global Warming and Scientific Uncertainty,” which talked about how a familiar term in scientific literature is constantly being abused by people who want to negate the concept of global warming. I wrote another article about how Oil and Gas companies are using the Global Warming in their benefit by starting to drill in pristine Arctic. Later, I published both of them in my blog. Collegiate Times didn’t find both of them worthy enough to publish, but they definitely found the article by Tim Edison “Global Warming doesn’t tell the whole truth.” I am not expecting this article to publish in Collegiate Time either, but it might be worth a try.

There are several holes in Tim’s article, but I want to discuss the most ridiculous statement by Tim Edison “..before enacting policies which will inexorably alter our way of life and damage our economy.” I cannot understand how anything you do to reduce global warming can affect your life style and American economy. I am trying to list some changes which I did in my life and want you as a reader to analyze if it can affect anybody negatively. I am listing their positive effects except their effect in reducing global warning.

1. Recycle: I recycle most of the waste generated in house and office, (although feel bad that there is not good way to recycle biologically decomposable waste in Blacksburg). By recycling I feel happier for needing lesser space in land fills, lower number of cut trees, and reduced pollution.

2. Reduced Wastage: I have called the companies to stop sending me mail marketing offers and catalogs. That saves some trees, my time, space and wastage.

3. Using less electricity: By switching off devices when they are not required, using low power bulbs, increasing AC temperature by couple of degrees, making my apartment complex to replace my windows with double pane glasses, I save something on electricity. I feel good for lower electricity bills, lower coal usage, cleaner air and lower pollution. I hope it will result in future generations with lower breath related problems and other side effects.

4. Reusable grocery bags: I got them from Kroger, and feel very great to use less petroleum based grocery bags. Again they are product of petroleum and we all know its story. In last month, I think I avoided about 100 grocery bags by using reusable canvas bags.
5. Higher mileage car and maintaining it properly Lower gas bills, cleaner air, reduced dependence on non-renewable energy source and I hope not another war for oil (Hold your breath for Iran and Arctic area).

These and several other small things, I and some of my friends practice and I don’t think these are affecting our life style severely. These changes in life style will definitely give positive feeling and help you solve several global problems. Reducing wastage is the key to survive. These adjustments in your life style can at least save you some money, and in the time where every American is born with a debt of $8000, I think it is wise to save a little bit of money. Not changing the life style will only affect the economy of those companies who do not want their consumers to get intelligent and want them to consume and waste as much as they can.

Raag

Story of Bhasmasur

2007-09-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

In Hindu scriptures, there is a story of a person who became demon named Bhasmasur.That person did a lot of praying to “Lord Shiva” (a Hindu God) for long time.Lord Shiva became happy and asked him what he wished for. The person requested for a power to destroy (Bhasma) anybody he wished for, just like we want to have more and more arms and weapons. Lord Shiva fulfilled his wish and said he can destroy anybody by putting his hand over their head, and that person’s name became “Bhasmasur” (Bhasma = Destroy, Asur = Demon). Just like we can aim and shoot anybody whom we like using guns, airplanes, may be satellites.

Since Bhasmasur had power to destroy anybody he grew stronger and stronger and in the lust for more power he planned to destroy Lord Shiva himself to become more powerful. Just like when we arm another country or group who comes back to us after some years. Anyways, Lord Shiva got scared and ran to another God “Lord Vishnu” and requested his help. Lord Vishnu said Bhasmasur has become very strong and now he can be killed with his own power only. So Lord Vishnu made a plan and disguised himself as a beautiful seducing woman and went to Bhasmasur.

As soon as Bhasmasur saw this woman he proposed her. The woman (Lord Vishnu) said that for her to accept his invitation, he will have to dance with her. Bhasmasur accepted and started dancing with the woman. While dancing, the woman kept her hand over head, Bhasmasur - lost in the intoxication of extreme power and lust, in an attempt to copy her, kept his hand over his own head and destroys himself.

I have heard this story from my parents a few times since childhood, and it’s interesting to see so many of its live practical examples everywhere. We can relate it to the amount of weapons on Earth which can destroy all life on earth multiple times, we can relate it to arming the groups or countries who come back to us, we can relate it to a concept of arming each and every person with a handgun, or rifle as a measure to protect human life (we forget that the soldiers in Iraq are far more equipped, still close to 4000 of them have died and many after Iraq lost the war), we can relate it to the amount of pollution human being has created to destroy Earth’s natural processes (and not accept it) and so forth.

The story has been repeated since human civilization for ages and being repeated again. One of the latest example is the "mistaken" flight of nuclear bomb all over the US in B52 bomber. Although, the science and knowledge has improved a lot since human being appeared on this earth - our dressing style has changed, we use internet, we fly airplanes, but have we become really civilized since then? I wrote an article in Collegiate Times long back and said that may be it’s a right time to watch an old movie called “Gandhi,”I think it will always be right to time watch it once more.

Raag

Oil and Oil everywhere

2007-08-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

EDIT on Sep 12, 2007: Arctic sea ice cover at record low

It has been amusing to see several lobbies trying to make us believe that Global Warming is a hoax, and it is more amusing to see many of these lobbies are partially or fully funded by Oil Giants. Their effort against the concept of Global Warming and the impact of human being on Global Warming did show some results and there is still a good amount of confusion regarding this concept. As a result of this confusion, many people do not take this concept seriously and some who started conservation as a part of their life are not so serious about it or are dubious about it. Although there is a good amount of people who are trying their best to reduce their footprints on Earth, this problem needs attention from each one of us.

There has been news for quite sometime regarding the conflict we are starting to see in Arctic Circle of Earth. Arctic is on extreme North of Earth and it used to be covered by ice mostly until recently. As a side-effect of Global Warming though, the ice in the Arctic area is melting. Due to the melting and reduction in ice cover of this area more and more sunlight is being absorbed instead of reflecting back to atmosphere, which is further increasing the rate of melting of ice. The temperature in this area is increasing at double the rate of rest of the Earth.

So what?

Arctic is extremely rich in oil and gas. And now that the ice is melting fast it is feasible to extract these resources from Arctic area. But who owns Arctic? Russia always claimed it to be its part, Canada is there too, USA always had an interest in Arctic and then we have Denmark. The thirst for Oil is deadly, and we have already seen it in the form of Iraq war. And to get an idea of the amount of the resources in Arctic for which the world is thirsty, "It contains about 40% of the world's requirement of Energy."

Also, now that companies are trying to fetch the resources from Arctic, they are going to ruin that place as well. God Forbid, if we see a war for that area then I don't think we will have the Earth or Environment to save.

Let’s hope for some sane policies for the whole humanity in coming days. Do your best to save the environment and pray that these companies do not spoil some more of Earth's pristine areas in Arctic.

Raag

Relevant Links:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0731/p01s01-woeu.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10217691/site/newsweek/
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp

My Letter to Blacksburg Mayor - Ban Plastic Bags

2007-05-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

As a resident of Blacksburg, I wrote the following mail to Mayor of Blacksburg. The vice mayor promised me to look into the matter. I hope they do. I would suggest you to do the same in your home town and city and country. Its the pressure from common people like us that will help in tackling the issues like this.

Letter Starts here---

Mr. Ron Rordam
Blacksburg Mayor
Blacksburg, VA.
Dear Mr. Rordam:

I have been a proud resident of Blacksburg for nearly 5 years now. The town has long had a reputation of being technology savvy, and has been quite ahead of its time in many ways. The town boasts a wealth of educated people from diverse backgrounds, one of its major strengths.

I recently stumbled upon a CNN news article that described how San Francisco has banned the usage of plastic grocery bags. They estimate saving more than 450,000 gallons of oil, as well as the massive waste of grocery bags that are not recycled--it's a known fact that less than 2% of grocery bags are recycled. I feel it is important for Blacksburg to follow this idea as well. This would definitely be a great service to the earth, and contribute to reducing our carbon footprint. Blacksburg has residents from all around the world, and anything positive in Blacksburg will definitely affect the thinking of people around the world.

I have also noticed that several Blacksburg showrooms, banks, and shops have a lot of their lights switched on even after they are closed. I believe that these commercial places must be somehow regulated or requested to use only a small and specific amount of electricity when they are closed. Reducing this wastage at idle hours will definitely affect the environment, and I believe that it would be easy to convince businesses to do that.

It would be great to see the town of Blacksburg coming with some other initiatives as well (like phasing out incandescent lamps in the next two years, planting extra trees on a monthly basis or having an aggressive recycling program). It's important for us to act today as we are damaging the environment every day.

Regards

Anurag

--Letter Ends here

Relevant News Articles
English Town Bans Plastic Bags
Paper or Plastic

"What are you waiting for?"

Global Warming and Scientific Uncertainty

2007-05-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

Recently with the global warming issue getting hotter and hotter, a term which is being used and misused a lot to prove or mostly disprove the global warming concept is "Scientific Uncertainty." This term has been in use in the scientific world ever since scientist started to predict anything. Mathematical models are very popular tools to simulate most of the physical processes. These simulations are conducted to predict how a system will behave in future under different conditions. Now, these predictions always have some amount of uncertainty in them and it is very different than being wrong or inaccurate. There are several reasons for this uncertainty but the major reasons can be classified as knowledge uncertainty and stochastic variability. The knowledge uncertainty is due to the improper understanding of the system and stochastic variability is the natural property of the system being modeled.

The knowledge uncertainty can be decreased with improved understanding of the system, whereas stochastic variability can only be quantified. In the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, we work on several hydrologic and water quality models. The predictions from all of these models have some inherent uncertainty due to above stated reasons. The scientific community acknowledges this uncertainty and a lot of research are conducted to reduce it and/or quantify it. The truth however is that a scientist, especially working with natural systems, cannot take into account all possible reasons of uncertainty. In spite of this uncertainty in predictions from these models, these predictions are widely used. For example, the predictions from hydrologic models are used in designing hydraulic structures, the predictions from water quality models are used in preparing watershed management plans and so forth. The hydraulic structures help in water management, flood control, water supply and so forth. Watershed management plans help in reduction of pollution, improved ecological conditions, increased productivity in watershed etc. If we start giving more thought to the uncertainty in modeling and stop building these structures and making plans, where would world be? As an example, if we had given more weight to the concept of scientific uncertainty than its worth then the waters in United States would be still be polluted.

Similarly, if we give more weight to uncertainty of ten, twenty or thirty percent in the predictions of global warming then we will miss the big picture। The truth is "Globe is Warming," and there are higher chances of humans to be responsible for that. I would go for that higher chance and act as if I am responsible for Global Warming, and I need to fix it no matter how miniscule my effect may be. Moreover, whatever needs to be done to reduce our carbon footprint in nature falls in the purview of common sense as well. Doesn't it?

Raag

Accessibility to Guns: Lets Talk About It

2007-05-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

This is the copy of my article published in Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech. To read the article in collegiate times, click here.

After the tragic incident of shooting at Virginia Tech, I heard lots of views in support and against of "Gun Control". As an international student at Virginia Tech, my view is affected by this incident as well as my background. In any case, I think whenever the discussions regarding Gun Control starts, people try to be in support or against of it, the focus of discussion moves to counter other person’s argument and the main issue stays unresolved. While still shocked with the incident, I was listening to a radio show where the host very aggressively said that, if more people had gun in the campus, they would have shot the killer before he could wreak such havoc. Such kind of argument influenced by one line of thought without proper analysis is extremely disturbing.

The major point to discuss here is that Gun Control doesn't mean snatching the gun from every person who has it, it rather means that how to make sure that a weapon like gun which can kill so many people stay with only those people who really have concerns regarding their safety. The current gun law allows the citizens to bear arms for their safety and to fight against tyrannical government. Most of us know today that citizens cannot fight their government today with the kind of weapons citizens can get hold of. As far as safety is concerned, it is a valid point.

Now, to be able to drive a vehicle, a person has to demonstrate his/her ability to handle the car by theoretical and practical tests, because improper use of a vehicle can be dangerous to the person using it and other on the road as well. However, to get the gun you just need a state ID, and you do not have to demonstrate your ability to handle the gun. To get a hunting license, a person needs to pass a test, but to get a gun you do not need to go through any of these formalities. As far as background checks are considered, they are conducted only if you buy gun from a shop, but not if you buy it from a gun fair or from your neighbor.

The guns for hunting and guns for safety should be segregated completely and also the kind of ammunition that can be used in each case. The next point of talk is the availability of ammunition. You all have the idea of the amount of ammunition the killer could buy for this Virginia Tech rampage. For safety, the amount of ammunition needs to be rationed, and extra ammunition should only be supplied if approved by the police. For shooting practice, a person should be able to buy ammunition only at the shooting range and unused ammunition must be returned back to the facility where shooting practice is done.

Now when somebody says that everybody should have gun and that way the society will be safe is a baseless argument Picture this, how safe all the international community and small kids (who cannot have gun, legally) will feel if everybody in Blacksburg had a gun. Now extrapolate it for the whole country. There is a brawl in downtown every other weekend, what would the end result be if everybody had a gun? Personally, I would not like to carry a gun, because I will have to take care of gun's safety more than the safety it will provide to me.

There could be several more arguments in support and against of gun law, but most of the argument are manifestation of people's personal opinion and experience. I think its time to move towards a more non-violent society and enjoy the comfort of safety in non-violence.

I think this is the right time to watch an old movie "Gandhi."

Anurag

Mumbai Deluge: Are we going to see more of that in future

2007-04-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Yes!

Not probable, but a definite yes.

The current IPCC report mentions that due to rising sea levels drainage in Mumbai will become a big problem, which will result in more floodings with smaller storms. The groundwater is expected to become saline as well. The exceprt from a report in NDTV are below.

"It could be a city of catastrophe with 30 years from now the sea could begin its reclamation of Mumbai."Water in the city will become more saline, especially ground water. The drainage system will also bear the brunt. We have seen in the past during the Mumbai floods that the drains were completely clogged, because of which there was serious damage to life and property," said Dr R K Pachauri, Chairman, IPCC."

Link to the report

The effects of global warming are becoming more and more certain but we cannot do anything, because we "CANNOT" change our lifestyle. We don't have time to recycle, don't have patience to reuse the paper printed on one side, we do not have enough time to bike, or go by bus or walk, we cannot change our bulbs to CFLs, we cannot wash our clothes with warm water rather than hot water, we cannot put proper insulations in our house, we cannot switch off appliances when not needed, we cannot carry cloth bags to grocery store and there are so many things we cannot do.

Still, if you are one of few who would like to reduce your waste contribution to the environment, there are number of things you can do. Need ideas, visit http://change.org, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6532323.stm

Lets not be "So Much" responsible for screwing our only Mother Earth.

Raag

BPD ready to contest election in UP

2007-03-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Edit: This is the announcement on BPD's site regarding UP elections.

Bharat Punarnirman Dal contesting election for more than 20 seats in UP
Some of you might know that BPD launched somewhere this year as a new political party with fresh ideas and young blood. I took an interview of Its Vice President and acting spokesperson Mr. Ravi Kishore. During the interview we discussed a lot of things from the meaning of name of BPD, its vision, IIT Tag, inspiration and so forth.

The party recently announced their plans for upcoming elections in UP. I am really hopeful of their good show during these elections. I hope to see a fresh breeze especially for UP. The current and last few governments at UP (mostly true for whole India as well) have worked on small objectives driven by smaller interests. The state and country needs some radical changes in its thinking, expectations, vision and consequently its work.

The new party may not have a panacea for every problem out there but an overhaul of the work culture, missions and objectives will definitely solve majority of the issues for India. Following are some quotes by Ravi during the interview, I thought were interesting.

"The country itself has not really evolved very strategically from the beginning."
--Answering the question regarding the meaning of the name of BPD

"Its not difficult to get inspired to get into active politics .............The inspiration to get into politics comes very easily. This is a one billion population country, and you just see the profile of the 543 people sitting in the Indian parliament or you look at the profile of any assembly of any state in India. It is easy to convince yourself that we definitely can put a far better kind of individuals in those houses."
--When asked about inspiration to get into politics

"That the system is corrupt and nobody is doing anything about it is probably also a factor that contributes to our inspiration."
--When asked about the motivation about fighting into a rotten system.

Could you please switch off your computer monitor when not in use?

2007-03-05T10:40:00.001-08:00

I asked my colleague few days back. In response, he immediately changed the settings on his computer such that, his monitor switches off after five minutes of inactivity. Convincing a colleagues to do a little to save energy and hence environment was quite easy. It took my two minutes only.

People in general want to save energy and environment whenever possible but they are generally careless. We have to be really careful and make sure that we do our best to save energy (which helps environment) whenever possible. If you want to change the settings of your Windows computer to save energy, follow these steps.

Right click on your desktop --> Click Properties --> Click on Screen Saver --> Click on Power -->
On this tab you can do several things to save power. You can time switching off monitor, switching off hard disks, system standby, and system hibernation at set times. Choose what is best for you, and feel happy for saving energy and environment. Its that simple.

Anurag

India: Students getting ready to revolutionize the political system

2007-02-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

Some of you must have heard about a new political party being floated in India, called "Bharat Punarnirman Dal." In this post I want to tell you about this new political party and why I am excited about its formation.

The view of the party is that the the root of the problems in the country is corrupt politics, which I believe as well. It is a common occurrence that a common man with visions for his country generally do not opt for politics. A common man generally doesn't see politics as an option for his career at all. Even if somebody is really interested in politics, he would not attempt to get into it due to dirty nexus with criminals.

The primary reason I am excited about its formation is that it has been formed by students, and students from reputed institutes of India. Students who are young, educated and with visions can do wonders for their country. As far as I see the party is not being covered in media very much, because it's new and the media might not find enough "masala" to talk to them, but I hope they get their due. It is important for us to encourage these students. Following are couple of links of their media coverage.
CNN-IBN
The Times of India

I am planning to invite them on my radio show so that I can introduce these students and new politicians to you as well. They also interact through several communities in Orkut, unofficially.

EDIT: I have invited Mr. Ajit Shukla, President of BPD on my radio show for Feb 17. The details will be updated in couple of days.

History proves that major revolutions and changes in the system always start from Students. Enjoy the clipping below which proves the point.

Anurag

जनवरी 27 रेडियो पर हिन्दी चिट्ठाकारी

2007-01-21T12:03:00.000-08:00

जनवरी 27 को अपने रेडियो कार्यक्रम में मैं हिन्दी चिट्ठाकारी पर चर्चा करूँगा। यह कार्यक्रम यूएस में दोपहर 1 बजे और भारत में रात के 11 बजे सुना जा सकेगा। इन्टरनेट पर सुनने के लिए इस पते पर जाएँ http://www.wuvt.vt.edu/main.html और "Listen Online" पर चटका लगाएँ। फिर "Available Web Streams" में जैसा आपका कनेक्शन हो उस हिसाब से चटका लगाएँ।

इस कार्यक्रम में मैं श्रोताओं को हिन्दी चिट्ठाकारी के कुछ खास लोगों से मिलवाना भी चाहूँगा। मैं प्रयास करूँगा कि skype से मैं कुछ लोगों से उस दिन जुड़ सकूँ। मेरा skype प्रयोक्ता नाम है mishranurag । यदि आप मुझसे उस दिन जुड़ना चाहते हैं तो कृपया मेरे स्काइप नाम को अपने मित्रों में जोड़ लें और मुझे सूचित करें।

आशा है आपकी प्रेरणा से ये कार्यक्रम सफल होगा।

अनुराग
रेडियो के भारतीय कार्यक्रमों के बारे में मेरा चिट्ठा यहाँ है।

न्यूयॉर्क और न्यू जर्सी की एक दिन की यात्रा

2007-01-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

पिछले रविवार को एक दिन के लिए न्यूयॉर्क और न्यूजर्सी की यात्रा पर जाना हुआ। ब्लैक्सबर्ग जैसे छोटे शहर में रह कर न्यूयॉर्क और न्यूजर्सी जैसे बड़े शहर एक अलग ही अनुभव होते हैं। पहले आठ घंटे की कार यात्रा भारी लग रही थी, लेकिन अपनी पत्नी और बहन का साथ और रास्ते भर बकर बकर में रास्ता पता ही नहीं चला। हमारा पड़ाव मुख्यतः न्यू जर्सी था जहाँ हम शाम चार बजे कार से पहुँचे। होटल से हम पास के ट्रांज़िट स्टेशन कार से गए। कार से जाने का लिए सड़क मानचित्र एसी जगह पर बहुत ही ज़रुरी होता है। आश्चर्यजनक रुप से होटल में मुफ्त मानचित्र नहीं थे, तब समझ आया कि यहाँ कुछ भी मुफ्त नहीं मिलता। होटल की दुकान से मानचित्र खरीदने की कोशिश की तो सेल्स गर्ल का मानचित्र दिखाने से पहले दाम बताने का, और बात करने का रवैया अच्छा नहीं लगा और फिर हमने एसे ही सबवे स्टेशन जाने की कोशिश की जो कि न्यूजर्सी में एक बड़ी गलती है। एक और दुकान में खैर मानचित्र खरीदा मगर अनुभव वही रहा। लगा कि न्यूजर्सी में लोग खुश हो के बात करना नहीं चाहते। खैर ये भ्रम भी बड़ी जल्दी टूट गया जब कुछ लोगों ने बड़े उत्साह के साथ पूछने पर रास्ता बताया। वैसे न्यूयॉर्क और न्यूजर्सी पहुँचने से पहले मानचित्र ले लेना चाहिए, सस्ता भी पड़ता है।

सबवे स्टेशन पर मैं और मेरी पत्नी विनीता

सबवे स्टेशन पर मैं और मेरी बहन रूपल

खैर नेवार्क शहर के पेन्न स्टेशन से हमने पाथ ट्रेन पकड़ी और वर्ल्ड ट्रेड सेंटर (न्यू यॉर्क) पहुँचे। उस जगह पाथ का स्टेशन था और 9/11 हादसे का स्मारक भी। हादसे के कई सारे चित्र वहाँ लगे थे। वहाँ से हमने सबवे पकड़ी और टाइम्स स्क्वायर गए। सब वे में बैठना अपनेआप में एक अनुभव है। एक के उपर एक कई तलों पर कई दिशाओं में चलती हुई ट्रेनें आश्चर्यचकित करती हैं। खैर, टाइम्स स्क्वायर की भव्यता चकाचौंध करने वाली थी। बड़े बड़े चमकदार डिजिटल होर्डिंग, बेहतरीन कैफे, थियेटर, खूबसूरत पोशाकों में सजे हुए खूबसूरत लोग। वहाँ के शोरूम और कैफे दैखने लायक थे। बग्घी में बैठने की इच्छा थी, मगर बारिश होने वाली थी। खैर एक बेहतरीन रेस्तरां (BOND 45) में बहुत महँगा और स्वादिष्ट खाना खाया, और बढ़िया कॉकटेल पी। रात को फिर सबवे से वापिस। यहाँ कार से चलना ठीक नहीं है, कई वन वे और भूल भलैया रास्तों में खोने से बेहतर है सस्ती सबवे में निश्चिंत घूमना।

टाइम्स स्कवायर में मेरी बहन रूपल

सबेरे नेवार्क में नेवार्क एवेन्यू गए, जो कि देसी इलाका है। एक बढ़िया मीठा पान खाया और दो तीन बार चाय पी। पकौड़ों और बटाटे बड़े से पेट भरा। घर के लिए सस्ते देसी सामान खरीदे। नेवार्क भी काफी बड़ा और व्यस्त शहर है और वहाँ घूमना भी अच्छा लगा। समय कम था अन्यथा लिबर्टी पार्क भी जाते। शाम साढ़े पाँच बजे निकल कर ब्लैक्सबर्ग पहुँचे रात साढ़े बारह बजे। चित्र संलग्न हैं।

अनुराग

नए साल की शर्मनाक शुरुआत

2007-01-02T19:41:00.000-08:00

बहुत दिन पहले मैंने हम हिन्दुस्तानियों के विनय और आत्मसम्मान की कमी के बारे में चिट्ठा लिखा था। हर कुछ दिन बाद कुछ ना कुछ एसा होता है जो कि मेरी बातों को सच करता है। अब ये मुम्बई की ताज़ातरीन घटना देखिए। नये साल के स्वागत की पार्टी और शराब के नशे में धुत्त लोगों ने एक महिला के लाथ अभद्र व्यवहार किया। कारण कभी क्षणिक उत्तेजना या किसी महिला के भड़काऊ वस्त्र नहीं होते, बल्कि कारण समाज, कानून और महिलाओं के प्रति घटिया और छोटा नज़रिया होना होता है।

जिनमें आशावादिता अब भी है, "उनको नया साल मुबारक हो।"

Trying to search news in the newspaper

2006-12-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

I was trying to find news in the newspaper below. Let me know if you find it...

मेरा भारत महान

2006-12-03T16:25:00.000-08:00

तरनतारन में तलवारबाजी, आगरा में पत्थरबाजी, सूरत में आगजनी ये सब हुआ एक दिन में। पूरे हफ्ते को जोड़ लें तो ट्रेनें फुकीं, महाराष्ट्र में सो अलग। सासाराम में एक दंपत्ति को जिंदा फूँक दिया। गैरजिम्मेदारी, लापरवाही, और निकम्मेपन का उदाहरण बना भागलपुर का पुल।

क्या हो गया है हमें? कितने खाली और बेकार हैं हम? सामाजिक जिम्मेदारी और नैतिकता से कितने दूर होते जा रहें हैं हम। कितना भी पैसा आता रहे, देश लोगों से बनता है, जिम्मेदार नागरिकों से बनता है, बात बात पर मार कुटाई करने वालों से नहीं।
कुछ कहने को नहीं है इस चिट्ठे में बस हताशा है, और बेबसी...

अनुराग