Awesomeness!!!

Shrimpoluminescence! How Shrimp produce light with claws!

2011-09-30T15:05:00.001+05:30

Shrimps are no ordinary creatures! Why? Because they are awesome!

The method which they adopt to kill smaller creatures is no boring old catch-rip-consume, but is something you never dreamed of!

Read on to know more!

Snapping shrimp produce a loud crackling noise so intense that it disturbs underwater communication. It originates from the violent collapse of a large cavitation bubble generated under the tensile forces of a high-velocity water jet formed each time a shrimp's snapper claw snaps shut.

Here we report the experimental observation of a short intense flash of light emitted at bubble collapse. In light of the apparent similarity with sonoluminescence, we term this phenomenon shrimpoluminescence. The flash duration is extremely short, shorter than 10 ns. The total number of photons emitted from the hot bubble interior amounts up to 5^10⁴ photons, which is typically one to two orders of magnitude less than sonoluminescence from a single collapsing bubble. Shrimpoluminescence can therefore not be detected with the naked eye.

The light emission at bubble collapse may not be of biological significance, but rather represents a by-product of the bubble collapse, whose shock wave is utilized to stun or even kill prey animals. Nevertheless, the light emission highlights the extreme conditions in the hot bubble interior at collapse and therefore the violence of the event.

From: http://stilton.tnw.utwente.nl/shrimp/shrimpoluminescence.htm

The naming of Pringles!

2011-09-16T14:24:00.001+05:30

If you were trying to invent a potato chip that doesn't break when you ship it, wouldn't you have been ecstatic to come up with these magic little tasty treats. They all fit together so easily, and that in turn led to new packaging ideas.

But what do you call your new snacks?

Some people have said these are named after Mr Pringle. Well, that may be accidentally true in a round about sort of way, because the real story is as follows:

The marketing team were tired of working on naming, tired of beating their heads against the wall, and tired of trying to be creative enough to match the design of the chips. In desperation, someone reached for the nearest large phone book, opened it up, and first name that was unique and non-specific (so they could use it to brand anything) was Pringle.

So if your family name is Pringle, and you are in a mid-west phone book, then these chips are accidentally named after you. We all thank you for such a great and unique and fun-sounding name.

Notice that they never bother to call them potato chips. Pringles are so unique they don't need a descriptor. Plus in England these would be potato crisps - to the English chips are what Americans call French Fries.

Curtosy-

http://www.brighternaming.com/Pringles_name_story.html

Man Makes upma, wins $100,000 OMG!!!

2011-06-17T17:48:00.000+05:30

UPMA the dish that the new generation dreads, the boring evening tiffin, in fact the staple 'tiffin' of of most of south india sees its peak, with an Indian-origin chef Floyd Cardoz winning a $100,000 prize for making it in celebrated contest Top Chef Masters.
Well, all you Indian lads, you upma haters, it so happens that there is money even in UPMA!!!
As seen in http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/nri/us-canada-news/Up-Up-Upma-Indian-chef-wins-100000-prize-in-New-York/articleshow/8881462.cms

Up, Up Upma! Indian chef wins $100,000 prize in New York

BANGALORE/WASHINGTON: South of the Vindhyas where it is a breakfast and 'tiffin' staple, the humble upma is sometimes derisively dismissed as "fertilizer" by snobbish foodies. Its down-to-earth origin is evident in its Tamil etymology, the word upma coming from uppu (salt) and maavu (flour), hence uppuma(vu). Also known as uppindi in Telugu and uppittu in Kannada, there's nothing uppity about upma; it's utterly plebeian, something maamis crank out as fast food.

But in the hands of the New York's celebrated chef, Mumbai-born Floyd Cardoz, the unpretentious upma shot into international culinary limelight on Wednesday. Asked to prepare an item based on food memories, (or dishes that inspired them in their lives), in the final of the much-watched Top Chef Masters contest in Los Angeles, Cardoz whipped up an upma of semolina and mushroom to beat two other favorites and win the top prize of $ 100,000.
The result stunned food critics and viewers who had put the two other finalists, Mary Sue Milliken of Los Angeles' Border Grill and Tracy Des Jardins of San Francisco's Jardiniere, ahead of Cardoz, who co-founded and ran the upscale New Yorkeatery Tabla with restaurantur Danny Meyerbefore it closed last year. In fact, Cardoz had lost to Milliken several times in the recent past, and ahead of the finale had wishfully told viewers, "She's my friend, but I can't wait to beat her."

The dreaded dish, the epitome of cooking, upma is a clear winner(apparently)!!!

I guess the upma gods must be thrilled!

Want to Read about Aliens? Click here!

Loony Eclipse?

2011-06-15T23:04:00.000+05:30

A Lunar eclipse is an astronomical phenomenon. It occurs when the moon passes through the shadow of the Earth. Lunar eclipses occur about twice a year, much more often than solar eclipses. They also last longer than solar eclipses.

During a lunar eclipse, the Moon appears a reddish-brown color. You would probably think that the moon would be completely black because of Earth's shadow, but the reddish-brown color is due to the fact that the Sun's light reflects off Earth, and is barely visible on the Moon.

Like solar eclipses, there are different types of lunar eclipses. There are total eclipses, where all of the moon appears reddish-brown, and partial ones, where only part of the moon appears reddish-brown.

Lunar eclipses are not as rare as solar eclipses and are sometimes called the 'Yellow Moon' although it does not look as yellow.

-http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse

Ok... thats the science of it... but lets see what India and its religious practices think of it!

At the time of a solar or lunar eclipse, instantly stop all activities and chant the name of God in a purified state. After the eclipse, householders should bathe with the clothes they are wearing and then make donations according to their means. - Bhagwan Swaminarayan

http://www.swaminarayan.org/faq/eclips.htm

Lunar eclipse may be associated with exacerbation of mental illnesses. In an Institute of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Goa study a significant trend was observed for greater numbers of patients with non-affective psychoses on full moon days and on days of visible lunar eclipse, but no pattern was observed for mania or depression. - http://www.freshface.itimes.com/public/people/iti475269/blog/Sould-one-take-precautions-in-Lunar-Eclipse

Apparently,

The Chinese once believed that an eclipse was caused by an invisible dragon eating the Sun. They believed that if they created a great commotion with drummers drumming and archers shooting arrows in the sky, the dragon would be frightened away and daylight would return.

-http://www.kidseclipse.com/pages/a1b3c5d0.htm

In Japan, the people once believed that poison drops from the sky during an eclipse. To prevent the poison from dropping into their drinking water, they covered all the wells during an eclipse.

- http://www.kidseclipse.com/pages/a1b3c5d0.htm

Well, looney eclipse, a bit! :)

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Want to read about being Green, and the Green Day? Click here!

8 6s!!! 77 runs in an over! WOW!!! :D

2011-05-09T08:48:00.000+05:30

When people are asked what is the most number of runs to come off one over, thoughts turn to Tilak Raj and Malcolm Nash, who both conceded 36, to Ravi Shastri and Garry Sobers respectively and now Chris Gayle's 37. But in February 1990, Bert Vance went for more than twice that number in what ranks as one of first-class cricket's oddest overs.

The incident took place on the final day of Wellington's Shell Trophy match against Canterbury in Christchurch. It was Wellington's last game of the season and they needed to win to ensure that they secured the title. On the final morning they declared their second innings, leaving Canterbury to chase 291 in what turned out to be 59 overs.

Canterbury lost early wickets, and as John Morrison, the former New Zealand batsman and at the time Wellington's coach, remembers, they "put the shutters up very early in a run-chase that was very feasible and we just couldn't remove them in the normal way".

Although Canterbury had looked like losing when they slumped to 108 for 8, Lee Germon and Roger Ford had stopped the rot and seemed set to hold out for a draw.

Although when the penultimate over started Canterbury were eight wickets down, Germon, their wicketkeeper and no dunce with the bat, was still in and on strike. Morrison and Erv McSweeney, Wellington's captain-wicketkeeper, hatched a plan and Bert Vance, the New Zealand batsman who was nearing the end of his career and so had no bowling figures of any note to worry about, agreed to help them.

The idea was to feed Canterbury enough runs so that they would get close enough to the target and then perhaps risk their last two wickets going for glory. They began the over on 196 for 8 with Germon 75 not out.

Vance proceeded to bowl a succession of no-balls, and of his first 17 deliveries only one - the second - was legitimate. Full-toss after full-toss was lobbed down from two or three yards down the track - "Bert overdid it somewhat," recalled Morrison - and each one was cracked to the boundary past motionless fielders.

Germon brought up his hundred off the sixth ball, and in all he took 70 off the over, including eight sixes and five fours. Ford faced two balls midway through the carnage and scored five.

The real problems, however, were off the pitch, where the bewildered scorers and scoreboard operators lost track of what was happening and at one point resorted to consulting with spectators to try to resolve the chaos. Even the umpire was left bewildered, only allowing five legitimate deliveries before calling an end to proceedings.

The situation had not been resolved when Evan Gray bowled the final over. Unbeknown to both sides, Canterbury had moved to within 18 of victory, and another 17 from Germon off the first five balls levelled the scores.

But with the scoreboard rendered inactive as the scorers still battled to make sense of Vance's over, Ford blocked the last delivery of the match. Only when the players returned to their changing rooms did the position become clear.



	"I nearly had heart failure when I learnt a little time after the game that Canterbury only needed one to win and we had Vance bowling to a very leaky fieldJohn Morrison

The arguments continued long after the match. "There was all sorts of debate discussing this outrageous situation," recalled Morrison. "Howls of protest and the like, but in the end we were not docked any points, and through a couple of other very fortuitous results we won the championship. As you can imagine I copped a fair bit of flack, but winning the championship took most of the sting out of that... I quickly went from the outhouse to the penthouse!"

But the hastily conceived plan had almost backfired. "I nearly had heart failure when I learnt a little time after the game that Canterbury only needed one to win and we had Vance bowling to a very leaky field," Morrison explained. "It was also very possible because of the confusion that he may have bowled yet another no-ball.

"I decided that the tactic, while being innovative, was definitely a once only! But it's now a noted game and lives on whereas if the conventional tactics had been used the game would have faded completely and anonymously into the past."

Much like Steve O'Shaughnessy's 35-minute hundred in 1983, Vance's over is consigned to being a footnote in the record books, although the 182-run ninth-wicket stand remains a Canterbury record.

The over went as follows (the ballsthat are highlighted are the legitimate ones) - 0444664614106666600401

Bibliography

Wisden Cricket Monthly April 1990

-http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/451716.html

2011-05-04T12:45:00.000+05:30

~~Osama Bin Laden~~

Following is the dramatic sequence of events that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

- August 2010: US President Barack Obama is briefed on a 'possible lead' about Osama's location. Residence of a courier with close ties with Osama is found in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.

- September 2010: CIA works with Obama on a set of assessments that leads it to believe that Osama may be at the mansion in Abbottabad.

- February 2011: US officials conclude there was a 'sound intelligence basis' for pursuing Osama at the location.

- March, April 2011: Obama holds series of National Security Council (NSC) meetings 'to develop a course of action to bring Osama bin Laden to justice'. There were five NSC meetings between March 14 and April 28.

- April 2011: Obama believed there was enough credible intelligence about Osama's whereabouts, setting in motion US military operations.

- April 29, 2011: Obama gives final order to pursue the operation.

- May 1, 2011: Obama signs 'kill order' after getting intelligence confirmation.

- US Navy Seals fly to Islamabad to launch operation Sunday night.

- Navy Seals raid the compound. Launches assault in which three men - two of them Osama's couriers and one his son - are killed. A woman being used as a human shield is also killed.

- Osama bin Laden is shot dead.

- Operation lasts about 40 minutes. There is no US casualty. Loss of a helicopter due to mechanical failure.

- US troops carry out Osama's body to a helicopter.

- Osama buried at sea.

- http://www.sify.com/news/sequence-of-events-leading-to-osama-s-death-news-international-lfcuunaiacc.html

Who are aliens? Well, humans are! Extraterrestrial - The Times of India

2011-04-25T20:23:00.000+05:30

Got this off the paper... check it out!!! :-o

Is God an alien? Were humans genetically engineered by an advanced alien species to work their gold mines on earth?

Are governments, around the world, hiding information on extraterrestrial life? These and some other waxing questions were raised by C B Scott Jones, president, Peace and Emergency Action Coalition on Earth (PEACE), in a talk at theIndia International Centre in Delhi.

Jones said that Planet Earth faces a threat from Planet X, a yet-to-be identified, 10th planet of the solar system. He says: " a highly evolved extraterrestrial culture developed on Nibiru or Planet X. They colonised Earth 432,000 years ago with the purpose of obtaining large quantities of gold. They were intimately involved in the genetic creation and evolution of humankind in Africathat subsequently spread throughout the world.The Anunnaki — Sumerian word for those who descended from the heavens — established and accelerated rapid development of the world's first great civilisation, Sumer."

Jones bases his presentation on the works of Sitchin Zecharia, a Sumerian-mythology scholar and on his interpretation of Mesopotamian iconography and symbology, outlined in his book The 12th Planet and its sequels. In the book, Zecharia gave the hypothesis that there is an undiscovered planet beyond Neptune that 'follows a long, elliptical orbit, reaching the inner solar system roughly every 3,600 years.' This planet is called Nibiru. But Zecharia was criticised for inaccuracies and lack of proper scientific research.
"We have identified a number of different alien cultures that have tried to establish contact with Earth," said Jones. There have been many cases of UFO sightings which were covered up by governments of countries where sightings were reported. Jones mentioned three major cover-ups: "The general alien situation, its existence and contact; our history as a genetically modified alien species; and Planet X, its existence and cover up from general public. He cited the example of Roswell Army air base, where a UFO crash was discovered. An Army air corps lieutenant released a press statement titled 'flying disc captured by Air Force.' Twenty-four hours later, he released a correction: The flying disc actually was a weather balloon. "Lt Haut's family later released another correction. It was Haut's written deathbed statement that said in addition to seeing wreckage of the craft, he also saw the bodies of the crew members. It was an extraterrestrial event."

Jones wants "India to lead the world in a finer concept of ahimsa with the cosmic species as they begin to reveal themselves."

Green Day! V Rock.

2011-04-20T17:20:00.001+05:30

Save the earth from the humans, for humans!

Earth day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. Founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in it was first held on April 22, 1970.Then on, it has spread greatly and is now celebrated in more than 175 countries every year.The World Earth Day witnessed the dual issues of global warming and clean energy being brought into focus.

Why Celebrate Earth Day?Earth Day reminds us we all share the same planet. Sharing Earth means taking responsibility for what we use and how we use it. It is a day to think of the environmental challenges we face and how to solve them. Protecting Earth is every person’s and every country’s responsibility. It is the only planet in our solar system teeming with incredible biodiversity. Everything that we see today is because of the earth. We are here solely because of the earth. The clothes we wear, curtosy earth. The water we drink, curtosy earth. The food we eat, curtosy earth. othr person says Finger licking good. Precisely!When we don’t use resources in a responsible way, we may create pollution that can damage water, soil, air, and other parts of the environment. For instance, certain types of air pollution have already created a hole in our planet’s ozone layer.The ozone layer helps keep us safe from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. What do we do on this day?i have no idea what we do... :-/ GET IDEA! Plant trees. what an idea sirji! I get the logic...Planting trees helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cleans pollution, secures soil in place to prevent erosion, and provides homes for a lot of biodiversity. Reuse, Reduce and Recycle Reduce, reuse and recycle all day long. Buy as little as possible and avoid items that come in lots of packaging. Support local growers and producers of food and products - these don't have to travel as far and so reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Im lovin it! but can this make a change? Yes it will if you Do your bit !! but it doesn't seem as complicated as the problem seems... that is because individual effort of lots of individuals can make a huge difference... Total recorded number of extinct species: 905 but all is not lost... there still are 6,775,235,741 humans who can help to make the world a better place... one step at a time.....hm... keep it simple silly! :) :)

I Thought, Why Not!

2011-04-04T08:55:00.001+05:30

I Thought, Why Not!

I thought, I thought why I should not;

Sleep under my cot,

I tried, I tried but only to race,

When spiders and catterpillers slide to my side,

back to the top with sweat glistening on my face.

I thought, I thought why I should not;

Have burgers for breakfast,

Lunch and supper,

I tried I tried but only to find,

The tummy ache made me suffer.

I thought, I thought why I should not;

Take my brother’s bike out,

I tried, I tried but only to slide,

Into the big dirty gutter,

With one huge splutter.

I thought, I thought why I should not;

Grow my hair nice and long,

I tried, I tried but to no avail,

Often making contact with scalp and nail,

ending up with a mission fail.

KV IISc Class 9!!!!

2011-03-30T09:07:00.000+05:30

Me? Who me?

2011-03-15T20:37:00.000+05:30

Hi i'm Vedant, Indian. This is my blog in construction. Genre unspecified. Thats because it is a BIG WIDE world out there...
Best,
Admin,
Vedant!