Calvin and Hobbes

This is GIF animation of a favourite Calvin and Hobbes strip I made way back in 2002. It's absolutely amazing the way Bill Watterson creates expression and motion in this medium. If you just put it together, you can see it moving like magic.

J.M.S.D.F. HSS-1

From Wikipedia:

"The Sikorsky H-34 Choctaw (Company designation S-58) was a military helicopter originally designed by American aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky for the United States Navy for service in the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role.

Sikorsky H-34s have since served mostly as medium transports on every continent with the armed forces of twenty-five countries - from combat in Algeria, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and throughout Southeast Asia, to saving flood victims, recovering astronauts, fighting fires, and carrying presidents. As one of the last piston-powered helicopter designs before its replacement by turbine-powered types such as the UH-1 Huey and CH-46 Sea Knight, it would see a remarkably long run of 2,108 H-34s produced between 1953 and 1970.It would see extended use when adapted to turbine power as the Westland Wessex and the later S-58T. The British did not retire the Wessex until 2003 as the main transport helicopter; it was replaced by the Aérospatiale Puma."

Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) used these helicopters for rescue and anti-submarine purposes.

Here are the originals:





Here is what I made:

Mechanics of Solids

A cantilever beam
was once under load.
The expected behaviour
it clearly showed

The tip deflected
a small magnitude
An equation was derived
the assumptions were crude

Plane sections
remained plane
Hooke's stress
was proportional to strain

The boundary conditions
were well defined
the root didn't shift
The slope was aligned

perpendicular to the wall
At the other end
No shear and
No Moment to bend

The governing equation
had the order as four
It was ordinary
nothing more

The solution found
was real but complex
The load was involved
and also Ixx

It was a cubic function
of distance from root
The results of experiments
the theory did suit

That left everyone
happy for a while
Until FEM developed and brought
it back from exile

They computed and computed,
waited and waited
Results were same
Though the theory was dated

One thing to learn
from this small refrain
A Pen, paper,
and a little brain
are better than computers,
and cause a lot less pain.

Code Name Ginger

Book Review

Code Name Ginger

by Steve Kemper

Harvard Business Press (2003), Hardcover, 336 pages






Did you ever dream about being an inventor? Have an elaborate workshop of your own where you build gadgets and machines that solve the world’s problems. Sounds like Dexter’s Laboratory or the good old days, when Edison made the light bulb or when the Wright brothers built a flying machine in their bicycle shop. In today’s world, we are more likely to hear about Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos et al, the entrepreneurs who made it big. But its not the same as inventing a new thing, is it?



The name Dean Kamen may not strike any bells, but he is one person who has lived the inventor’s dream. This book, “Code Name Ginger” by Steve Kemper, has the tagline: “The Story behind Segway and Dean Kamen’s Quest to Invent a New World”. The book is all about the personality of one of the world’s most fascinating people, Dean Kamen. A self made millionaire from all his inventions and patents for wheelchairs, medical equipments to helicopters, he has his own island, private jets (which he flies himself) and even a few helicopters. Here is someone who wears jeans and a jacket all the time, whether he is meeting the President or in a dinner at a luxury restaurant. His pockets are filled with screwdrivers, spanners and tools, creating a nightmare for airport security. Hence he pilots his own jets, one of the very few people in the US who are allowed to fly without a co-pilot. But its not because he has the money, but because he has the skill. A down-to-earth person, who dreams big, and wants to change the world.



The book is an insiders account on the design and development of his most famous creation: the Segway Human Transporter which was kept under wraps as just ‘Ginger’ . It was a machine that was meant to change the world’s transportation system. Launched nearly a decade back, despite its technological advances and unique abilities, the invention can today be called a commercial failure. But that does not make the story any less interesting.



It started off as an idea on which he began working in his free time, and became one of the best kept secret projects in the world. Partly, because of his paranoia (or good sense maybe) that the Asian giants like Honda, might get the idea of making a cheap, efficient personal transportation that would make automobiles in urban areas redundant. A lot of critics have claimed the Segway to be ‘just a scooter’. But the magic of Segway is its engineering. It makes walking useless. Why walk, when you can stand on a Segway, go faster, have complete control by just adjusting your body weight, climb stairs, have a ‘zero’ turning radius! The book traces how the different features were put into the vehicle, starting from a large table with two wheels, on which one of his engineers sat and whizzed around the workshop (and crashed quite a few times).



To the readers with a technical bent of mind, this vehicle incorporates one of the most well known problem in Controls, balancing an inverted pendulum. But it is also much more than that, accelerating forward when the user shifts weight forward, turning, decreasing speed, not letting the user fall off and reading about it makes you realise the enormous complexity involved in our everyday activities. The dream Segway of Dean Kamen also incorporates a fuel cell, so you could be cleaning polluted water while you power your transportation! So you could solve the world’s transportation and drinking water problems at one go. This has tremendous promise for the developing countries where water as well as roads are a huge problem. But till now these prototypes have not been released commercially.



The book is written by a journalist who was given insider’s access by Kamen, who felt that such a great invention ought to be documented well. The whole process of developing a new product is captured extremely well. Reading it, you realise how Venture Capitalists work, how new companies are made, hiring of staff, promotions, work atmospheres, designs and manufacturing techniques are developed. It is not a book for business people or entrepreneurs alone. It is essential to be read by scientists and researchers as well, because it gives you an idea that whatever discovery or invention you make, it needs to be practical and be able to be implemented well. The problems involved in manufacturing are unique and the way they are solved are extremely ingenious. For example, when assembling a part, the workers are supposed to screw in the nuts at different places. Very often the wrong nut is put in the wrong place. The assembly has to be done again. So manufacturers use different right-handed and left-handed screws for different places. So even inadvertently it is not possible to make a mistake. Of course procurement is also another issue. A part of the book tells the immense conflict that went behind choosing the right supplier for the gyroscopic sensors in the machine. Buying a sensor worth a few dollars more could cost the company a million dollars.



Another insight that this book provides you with is the dynamics of the workplace. The personality of Dean Kamen was the driving force of the project. He was the anarchic ruler of all he surveyed. But not without reason. He had a lot of great engineers and designers each with his/her own personality quirk. How they got on with each other, how they fought, settled, worked together and finally came out with a great product is very elegantly documented in this book. At the end of it you realise that in a team with plenty of disputes, the love of an idea unites them and inspiration coupled with hard work surely gets you results.



There are bad moments as well, when bad decisions are made and they are covered up. The author seems to be extremely clearly pointing out what all went wrong with Segway, which does make the book seem a little less objective. The high profile meetings with the great businessmen of today’s world tossing around millions of dollars to develop this machine is an incredible part of the book. And yet, Dean Kamen’s absolute commitment is evident of his faith in the power of invention. The author has done a great job in describing all facets of Kamen’s character and has not held back in pointing out where his idiosyncrasies led to the financial fallout for the machine. But it is not finger pointing but a well balanced view of the person.



The book is a must read for anyone who dreams of changing the world. There is a lot of work written about the beauty and aesthetics of pure sciences but a book such as this really promotes engineering itself to a greater height. How technology drives the world and how engineering drives technology is an extremely important issue for all young engineers and scientists in the world today. Segway might have been a failure, but the story behind it has a lot to teach and could guide a billion successes in the world tommorow.

The Ballad of Space Settlements

(Set on ‘All Star’ by Smash Mouth)

The Foundation Society
Once told us not so lightly
The world was coming to an end.
The UN got a warning
We’d die of Global Warming
The sun’s rays we need to fend.

Well the rays start coming
And they don't stop coming
Someone got an answer
And it was Northdonning
Build a solar shield at L One
We needed many people,
Not just some.
So made Alexandriat,
The first space colony
The UN, Capitalists
Paid all the money
T’ was Completed in 2024.
10 years aint all that slow.

Hey now we’ve got a start,
Space infrastructure’s now in place
Hey now we’ve got the power,
Space settlements we’re gonna make

And Space will be our new home
Earth will be its Rome

Written as a tribute to the 'scenario' for the International Space Settlement Design Competition.
http://www.spaceset.org/

How to Collect Money for your Society

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: NASA-MIT-IITK Aerospace Internship Programme 2010-11 (CPI no criteria!)
> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 14:50:38 +0530
> From: Society Of Aerospace Engineers [SAE]
> To: -------------------
> CC: -------------------

> Hi!
>
> We have just received a collaboration proposal from Massachusetts
> Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass. for a 8 week undergraduate
> internship programme at MIT and 2 week training at NASA Goddard institute
> of Space Studies, New York.
>
> Ten undergraduate students from Aerospace/Aeronautical Departments of the
> Indian Institutes of Technology will be selected based on an aptitude and
> ability test. Free boarding, lodging and travel will be provided to the
> interns apart from a stipend of $400 per week. On successful completion of
> the programme, selected participants will be given an opportunity for
> spending a semester at MIT as exchange students.
>
> The tentative dates provided for the programme are as follows:
> 1. Deadline for applications: 30 August 2010
> 2. Aptitude and Ability test: 15 September 2010
> 3. Results of Test: 15 October 2010
> 4. Video Conference Interviews: 1-5 November 2010
> 5. Final Declaration of Results:29 November 2010
> 6. MIT Internship Duration: 2 May 2011 - 24 June 2011
> 7. NASA Goddard Training Period: 27 June 2011 - 8 July 2011
>
> The application forms will be emailed to you soon, however we would like
> all the IITK Aerospace students to prepare well for the test which will be
> conducted on campus soon. Following are some sample questions :
>
> INTEREST
> 1. How actively do you participate in the activities of student run bodies
> promoting Aerospace Engineering such as Society of Aerospace Engineers?
>
> RESPONSIBILITY
> 2. How long does it take you to deposit your compulsory contribution of
> Rs.150/- to the Society of Aerospace Engineers so that they are able to
> proceed with their work smoothly?
>
> ATTITUDE
> 3. Describe the contradiction in your behaviour observed when you
> criticise the members and the working of SAE and when you are always
> present for any internship related talk or for lunch/Snacks/Dinner .
>
>
> As you have guessed by now, there is no NASA MIT internship programme. You
> might have big dreams but none of you deserve anything even close with the
> kind of interest, attitude and responsibility you have towards the
> department. There are students who are extremely interested and are unable
> to do something for all of you because of your holier than thou behaviour.
> This is a last warning and reminder. Please be assured that all those who
> do not pay the money by 16 August 2010 (Tommorow), you will be barred from
> applying in the AIMS (Aerospace Internship Management System), which
> automatically prevents you from getting internships in HAL, NAL,Texas A&M
> etc. The professors will be notified and no recommendations for interns
> including SURGE will be signed without approval of AIMS.
>
> I hope that this strong reminder will not be ignored this time.
>
> ---
> Society of Aerospace Engineers

This had serious reprcussions as follows

Hi

The previous mail was just a means to wake you up guys

" you will be barred from applying in the AIMS (Aerospace Internship
Management System), which automatically prevents you from getting
internships in HAL, NAL,Texas A&M etc. The professors will be notified and
no recommendations for interns including SURGE will be signed without
approval of AIMS."

mentioned in the mail would NOT be brought into practice.

Even though such actions wont be taken you should come up and make your
contribution towards SAE.

Thanks
Puneet Singh

The Reverse Evolutionary Paradigm

At the Zoo, Ray entered the Aviary. He was unable to spot any bird, only the call of the Kookaburra among the foliage was proof of presence.
Moving on to the monkey cage, he saw only one among the branches.

"The rest all have dysentery", claimed the keeper.

"How come this one is okay?".

"The monkeys, like most animals, ostracise the runt, the weakling. So he never got the spoilt bananas to eat."

This paradigm of evolution struck him. The fittest not necessarily survive. Natural Disasters can perform alchemy for weak genes. They are an ambulance disposing off the strong.


Meander Contest
100 Word Short Story
(Word Limit: 100 words)

We will give you 6 words. You have to write a 100 word story which must
include ALL six of them at least once. The remaining 94 words are of your
choosing. The story may be less than 100 words or equal, but not more. It
should be consistent and coherent when read at a stretch.

Also, the story should have a title which must have at least one word from
the given six. The length of the title is NOT INCLUDED in the 100 words.
The six words, with their meanings are:

a)Kookaburra: A large kingfisher (Dacelo novaeguineae) of southern and
eastern Australia, having brown and white plumage and a call resembling
raucous laughter.

b)Paradigm: One that serves as a pattern or model

c)Dysentry: is an infection of the digestive system

d)Alchemy: A medieval chemical philosophy having as its asserted aims the
transmutation of base metals into gold, and the preparation of the elixir
of longevity.

e)Ostracize: to expel from a community or group

f)Ambulance: A specially equipped vehicle used to transport the sick or
injured.

An Out of the World Experience

Good Morning

On the 10th of this January, nine students of our school: Avneet Khurmi, Binaydeep Singh, Karishma Sekhon, Leela Raina, Puneet Singh, Sainipreet Singh, Surya Jain, Shahbaz Sekhon and Vikhyat MAhajan accompanied by Mukul Sir, Yogeshwer Sir and Mrs. Parminder Duggal got an oppurtunity to talk to Sunita Williams, the Indian origin Astronaut, currently onboard the International Space Station. The students had qualified for the 2006 Asian Regional Space Settlement Design Competition.

We arrived at the American Center in New Delhi where we got another lifetime opportunity to interact with Rakesh Sharma, India's first man in space. Before the main event started, however, we had some sessions with Rakesh Sharma, Robert Mulford (The US ambassador to India) and the competition organisers. I would like to share with you what Rakesh Sharma told us. He said that, on the first day in space, you feel very Indian, you look up to your motherland, you salute it, you say 'Saare Jahhaan se Accha.' On the next day, you realise that there are no boundaries. All the borders are manmade. You feel like a global citizen. The next day you look beyond the Earth. You realise that there is nowhere else to go, nowhere to relocate. What we have here must be preserved and taken care of. You become environmentally, politically conscious. Remember Mahatma Gandhi's words that Nature has enough for everyone's need but not for greed. Another interesting fact was that Space was a ground that unites the world together. He remembers a moment which was being treated by the team doctor. He said, here was an Indian Astronaut in a Soviet ship being treated by a Russian Doctor with a Tibetan Medicine while flying over Italy.

Sunita Williams had similar thoughts to share. She answered the first question by the audience on the same lines. In the world of terrorism and unrest, the ISS a collaboration of 16 countries was a great example. She emphasised that there were no boundaries, it all existed in our minds. The next question about India was answered with great enthusiasm. She congratulated the country on the success of the PSLV launch on the same day and said that India's colourful culture reflected on its beautiful red mountains, green fields, white Himalayas among yellow desert visible from space.

A question on whether she would like to live permanently there brought out the fun you can have in space. She felt like Mary Poppins, who could fly anywhere and she enjoyed having her liquid food floating around the station.

Vivek High School posed the question, how her stay in space had changed her perception about Earth and the Universe. She inspired us all by her insightful answer that the world was but one planet. From space, it seemed hard to imagine that anyone was arguing down there.

I would like to thank everyone at school who have been involved with the project one way or another. Especially Duggal Ma'am and Renu Ma'am for giving us this opportunity and being there at midnight scouting News Channels for our footage. :-)


Presented in the school assembly in January 2007

Boarding a Train

Waiting at the station
Hustle bustle everywhere
Vendors selling popcorn
Smell of Fryums in the air

At last the train has come
People looking out from windows
Porters running to get customers
People ready to get on, in rows

The train slows down and stops
A rush of people, a stampede
Shouts of relations are heard
O' look at the stall, a fat man's greed

Board the train quickly
a hasty father says
"Give me two cups of tea please"
A husband asks a vendor and pays

We climb the train after all
The porters bring the luggage in
We find our seats to sit on
While a man takes along all his kin

The signal man gives the signal
The train starts to move
As the power comes from he line above
The wheels move on the track's groove


Written during Winter holidays in Class 6. Went on a family trip to Nanded, Maharashtra and Bidar, Karnataka. On a long train journey of course.

Halifax Bomber

This kit was a gift from Sunny Didi and Jasdeep Jijaji. They are some of the nicest people I know. I made a Thank You collage for them:

My Hot Rod

International Year of Astronomy (Editorial)

"Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature." - Tom Robbins


The International Year of Astronomy is here and is now about to go as well. It celebrates the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations from a telescope by Galileo and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia Nova. To the layman, it may seem that this is all well and good but what impact does it have in his life? Why not have the International Year of Pencils, to celebrate the first time a pencil lead broke, and the need to create a sharpener was observed. After all, a pencil is more widely used than a telescope.

A telescope was what gave Galileo the power to observe the night sky in greater detail. Humanity, for ages, has been fascinated by the stars that speckle the glorious dark velvet black sky. Ancient civilizations made meticulous observations, recorded them, saw patterns and made calenders. What Galileo did with his telescope was much more than that. He supported Copernicus' Heliocentric theory (the sun is the center of the solar system) with his data and challenged the Roman Catholic Church. He was opposed, brought to trial and denounced. He argued and proved, but was put to house arrest where he ultimately died. What is very important is that he fought for what he believed was true, and his adhesion to his belief was strong. He went against the Church although he was himself a pious Roman Catholic. Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."

If you thought your Advanced Engineering Mathematics textbook was dry, don't attempt to read Astronomia Nova. This work made Kepler the first astronomer to prove the heliocentric theory with rigorous scientific arguments. Kepler made sure that he was correct and clear (maybe even dull) in each one his sentences that led the reader from Tycho Brahe's astronomical observations to his own famous Laws. Yet his patience is unmatched, systematically analysing orbital motion data and generating physical laws is not a mean feat. His second law, that areas swept by a planet are proportional to the time taken, gave birth to Kepler's Paradox which prompted the discovery of Calculus.

Their discoveries are important, but more important is the fact that they were able to break the bonds of conventional scientific wisdom. The earth is the center of the universe, a circular orbit is the only stable orbit. We might laugh at these today, but it also represents the fact that we may feel we are at the pinnacle of science and technology, yet there is a lot more to know. And who knows, maybe what we do know could still be completely and utterly wrong. And that is the principle driving science. As Michael Crichton once said,"Science is nothing more than a method of inquiry. The method says an assertion is valid-and merits universal acceptance-only if it can be independently verified. The impersonal rigour of the method means it is utterly apolitical."

Which brings us to the indisputable fact that our brains are capable of unravelling the mysteries of the universe, provided we exercise them to the limit. Think outside the box. Play around with ideas. Question everything and anything. As said in the opening, be playful, rebellious and immature. Maybe not when your mom's around, but you do get the message, don't you? Astronomy played that part for science, and opened up the scientific renaissance. We at NERD aim to cultivate the same scientific spirit and inspire,motivate,nurture a similar revolution in our Academic Institutions. You have our second issue of this year in your hands, you have the choice to go beyond just reading it. Become the next big thing in Science. Do the impossible.


Written for the editorial of NERD Volume 2 Number 2 in August 2009. Was never published. Issue finally came out 4 months later.

My Scientoons

Thanks to Dr. Pradeep Srivastava for the inspiration and help.
Scientist E-II
Medicinal & Process Chemistry Division
Central Drug Research Institute
(Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi)
Lucknow-226001, India

Winner of "THE OUTSTANDING YOUNG PERSON OF THE WORLD" award given by JUNIOR CHAMBER INTERNATIONAL (USA) to 10 selected persons of the world, annually.

Tel: (O) +91-522-2612411-8 Ext. 4321 Fax: +91-522-2623405/2623938 Tel: (H) +91-522-2746188 Mobile: +91-9415117548,
E-mail: pkscdri@gmail.com, pkscdri@rediffmail.com, pk_srivastava@cdri.res.in
Website: www.scientoon.com

Scientoon

Published on Backcover of NERD Volume 2 Number 1. Orginally made for Scientoon Competition in Takneek 2009

Scientoon

Got the idea from Jay Leno. Published on Page 17, NERD Volume 2 Number 2

Scientoon

Published on Page 5, NERD Volume 2 Number 2

Scientoon

Published on Backcover of NERD Volume 2 Number 2

Scientoon

Published on Backcover of NERD Volume 2 Number 3




Published on Backcover of NERD Volume 3 Number 1

The Ig Nobel Prize

780 individuals and 20 organizations have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Since 1901, the Nobel Foundation has been awarding the most prestigious prizes in the world to people who have conferred great benefit to mankind in Peace, Literature, Chemistry, Medicine and Physics. Since 1968, Sweden’s central bank has awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. However, in 1991 a different kind of awards was constituted by the scientific humor magazine, Annals Of Improbable Research, called The Ig Nobel Prizes. (ignoble – ‘Not noble’). Perhaps you have been lucky enough to win one. It is not as improbable as it sounds, many of the 976 cowinners of the 1993 Ig Nobel Literature Prize may still be unaware of their good fortune. It's not clear whether these individuals, who coauthored a paper that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 329, no. 10), ever exchange information or hellos, or have even heard each others' names spoken. Their paper, by the way, was remarkable for having 100 times as many authors as pages - that is what won them the prize.

These awards are given to discoveries "that cannot, or should not, be reproduced." They honour ten achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think." It says nothing as to whether a thing is good or bad, commendable or malicious. The Ig, as it is known, honors the great muddle in which most of us exist much of the time. Life is confusing. Good and bad get all mixed up. Yin can be hard to distinguish from yang. Most people go through life without ever being awarded a great, puffy prize to acknowledge that, yes, they have done something. If you win one, it signifies to one and all that you have done some thing.

Except for 3 awards in 1991 and one in 1994, the Ig Nobels honour genuine achievements in science. For example in Physics in 1991, Thomas Kyle was awarded for discovering Administratium, the heaviest element in the universe. (This was fictional; don’t check your periodic table.)

The formal ceremony takes place at Sander’s Theater in Harvard University. Genuine Nobel Laureates present the prize to the winners. Professor Emeritus (Actor Russel Johnson) from the TV series Gilligans Island also once presented the awards. The Ig Informal Lectures are held at MIT a few days later where the winners get their chance to explain the research and its relevance to the masses. These lectures often become long winded and an eight year old girl Miss Sweety Poo interrupts the proceedings by repeatedly crying out in a high pitched voice, “Please Stop. I’m Bored”.
Throwing Paper planes on the stage was a long standing tradition and the ‘Keeper of The Broom’ physics professor Roy Glauber swept the stage clean. In 2005, he was absent from the ceremony as he was on his way to accept a genuine Nobel Prize in physics.
Art and Science go hand in hand, so at the Ig Nobels, delegates from the Museum of Bad Art display pieces from their collection.

This year’s Ig Nobel winners were awarded in Physics for proof that heaps of hair or string will inevitably tangle, in Peace to the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology and the citizens of Switzerland, for adopting the legal principle that plants have dignity and a team of biologists who ascertained that dog fleas jump farther than cat fleas. Two research teams were jointly awarded the Ig Nobel in Chemistry, one discovering Coke as an effective spermicide and the other for proving it is not. The Ig Nobel for Cognitive Science went for the discovery that slime moulds can solve puzzles. Feeling sick? The Ig Nobel in Medicine went for demonstrating high-priced placebos work better than cheap fake medicine.

Indians haven’t done well in the Nobel prizes but this is not the case here.
The most famous one is of Lal Bihari, of Uttar Pradesh, India, who won the prize for Peace in 2003 for a triple accomplishment: First, for leading an active life even though he has been declared legally dead; Second, for waging a lively posthumous campaign against bureaucratic inertia and greedy relatives; and Third, for creating the Association of Dead People. Lal Bihari overcame the handicap of being dead, and managed to obtain a passport from the Indian government so that he could travel to Harvard to accept his Prize. However, the U.S. government refused to allow him into the country. His friend therefore came to the Ig Nobel Ceremony and accepted the Prize on behalf of Lal Bihari. Several weeks later, the Prize was presented to Lal Bihari himself in a special ceremony in India. [NOTE: Filmmaker Satish Kaushik will be making a film about the life (and death and life) of Lal Bihari.]
L. Mahadevan, an alumnus of IIT Madras was awarded the Ig Nobel 2007 in Physics for studying how sheets become wrinkled.
Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won the Ig Nobel 2005 for Economics for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring that people DO get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday.
Ramesh Balasubramaniam of the University of Ottawa, and Michael Turvey of the University of Connecticut and Haskins Laboratory, for exploring and explaining the dynamics of hula-hooping won the Ig Nobel 2004 in Physics.
The Vatican won the Economics prize 2004 for ‘outsourcing’ prayers to India.
The Ig Nobel in Mathematics 2002 went to K.P. Sreekumar and the late G. Nirmalan of Kerala Agricultural University, India, for their analytical report "Estimation of the Total Surface Area in Indian Elephants."
The Ig Nobel 2001 for Public Health went to Chittaranjan Andrade and B.S. Srihari of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, for their probing medical discovery that nose picking is a common activity among adolescents.
In 1998, the Ig Nobel prize for Peace went to Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan, for their aggressively peaceful explosions of atomic bombs.
The 1998 Ig Nobel for physics went to Deepak Chopra of The Chopra Center for Well Being, La Jolla, California, for his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness.
Ravi Batra of Southern Methodist University, shrewd economist and best-selling author of "The Great Depression of 1990" ($17.95) and "Surviving the Great Depression of 1990" ($18.95), for selling enough copies of his books to single-handedly prevent worldwide economic collapse won the Ig Nobel in Economics in 1993.

Clearly, Indians are blazing a trail everywhere. Summing up, as the awards ceremony traditionally is:
"If you didn't win a prize — and especially if you did — better luck next year!"

Written for NERD magazine in October 2008. This was published.

The Louse and The Mosquito

One night when Tim went to bed,
As he laid down his head,
A louse jumped down from his hair,
Even though the shampoo had said ‘All Clear’
He hopped down from the pillow
And greeted the bedbugs with a hello
Until one bug begged his pardon
“Sir, why are you heading towards the garden?”
“I’m visiting my cousin you see”,
Said the louse jumping with glee.

Once he reached the window ledge
A voice came out from the garden hedge
“I’m here cousin, come right down”,
Said a mosquito with a big frown
“Why are you so depressed?
You sound as if you are stressed.”
The louse came down to the twig
And saw his cousin’s family ,ever so big.

The two old mosquitas and their mosquities,
On the bed eating old worn cheese
Four little moskits running around
And a fifth one, which had, fell on the ground
The cousin’s wife was standing in front
And told her husband with a grunt
“You and your cousin alore,
If they are coming, tell me before!
You know we’re poor and the blood stocks are flat
Ever since Timmy got that wretched mosquito mat”
“That would explain the frowns on your faces”
said the louse and tightened his laces.

“Come brother mosquito let us go”
The louse jumped ahead and the mosquito flew
They both reached the wall and then they saw
The wall was cracked it had a flaw
The louse had taken a glowworm along
And saw where things had really gone wrong
The vapourizer was under the bed with a switch
T’was the mosquito’s problem the big HITCH

The louse leaped towards the socket
And took out a wire from his pocket
He short-circuited the whole house
He sure was a clever louse
The mat had lost its utility
The mosquito yelled “Fiddle-de-Dee!!”
They both sucked blood out of Tim
And filled their reserves up to the brim
The louse and the mosquito lived happily ever after
In their houses was now bubbly laughter
They both said, “With every drop we suck
We wish the humans some engineering luck!!”

(Silly)Poem written as an assignment in Class 10

SAVING MOTHER NATURE: RELIGION OR SCIENCE

“We must daily decide whether the threats we face are real, whether the solutions we are offered will do any good, whether the problems we're told exist are in fact real problems, or non-problems.” Michael Crichton

"Take nothing for granted. Question every belief of yours". Today, Environmentalism is known to be a scientific discipline and a person is considered to be modern and educated only if he is aware of Environment Issues and does his bit to save Mother Nature. We would like to challenge this widely held opinion. Interpretation of any belief or perception depends on one's philosophy. Everyone responds to the same situation differently. One may believe environmentalism as science or a religion. We are not debating which one is correct. What we say is that one should be aware of different beliefs regarding it, and then make a decision! We now define the important terms.

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment.

A religion is a set of beliefs regarding cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, creation of a supernatural agency or agencies, devotional and ritual observances, and a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Religious knowledge, according to religious practitioners, may be gained from religious leaders, sacred texts (scriptures), and/or personal revelation.

Science, in general is a systematic evidence based technique used to provide explanations for natural phenomena. It aims to provide correct predictions for such things. Science acquires knowledge through the scientific method, which seeks to explain the events of nature in a reproducible way. This is done through controlled experiments or analysis of observed data and is used to test hypotheses. Once a hypothesis has survived testing, it becomes part of scientific theory. Any hypothesis is falsifiable at any time, if a counterexample is observed. Scientific theory thus differs from mathematical theory as it is empirical and falsifiable (based on ‘a posteriori’ knowledge). An extremely important principle is that observations must be reproducible in both space and time, coherent and independently verifiable by various researchers. Philosophically, science is materialistic, believing that there are real existing objects, whose properties we can measure directly and quantitatively. Methodological naturalism maintains that scientific investigation must adhere to empirical study and independent verification as a process for properly developing and evaluating natural explanations for observable phenomena.

Environmentalism as Science

The various chemical, physical and biological aspects of environment are all explainable and based upon scientific phenomenon and have to be seen as per science. Us take the case of Global Warming.

Scientists, dig down snow cores in Antarctica. When snow falls, it traps CO₂ from atmosphere and through isotopes of O₂, the temperature can also be estimated. By plotting temperature vs. time and CO₂ vs. time, an exact correlation between the two graphs is seen which shows the two are directly related even against a time scale of 650,000 years.

Scientists such as Tim Bell, Ian Clark, Piers Corbyn, Patrick Michaels, and Fredrick Singer consider Al Gore and others as naive, they claim that from 1940-60 during slow economic growth, temperature increased while CO₂ decreased and the vice versa happened in 1960-90.

Also they claim that though the two graphs correlate but it’s quite the reverse and it’s the temperature that determines CO₂ content and not the reverse. Another argument is that CO₂ lags behind temperature at least 100 years on the graphs on time scale.

It is very disturbing to note as a believer of science, that the results of climate studies are manipulated for political gains, as in the case of Dr. James Hanson, Director, NASA Goddard Institute in an inquiry set against him.

Environmentalism as Religion

Many facets of religion are similar to features found in today's environmentalism. For example, religions claim their holy books to be ultimate sources of knowledge and they debate over the metaphorical or literal meaning of the words contained therein. Similarly, environmentalists have their 'data' as the source and have their own interpretations to explain them. This is humorously unveiled by the parody religious movement of the 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' which claims that the increase in global temperatures correlates exactly with the decrease in number of pirates in the world. Religions tend to use fear of hell/cycle of births/apocalypse etc to motivate their followers while similarly environmentalists are constantly propagating scenarios such as global warming, mass flooding, extinctions, ice ages, resource depletion etc (even when they have been wrong before). Rituals play a huge role in religion, and in environmentalism, turning off lights for World Earth Day is no less a ritual. Religions believe in an ideal, for example attaining Heaven, Nirvana etc. Environmentalists believe in a perfect state known as 'Sustainability'. Extreme religious fundamentalism has led to terrorism and so has radical environmentalism led to 'eco-terrorism' where coal power plants, oil rigs have been attacked.

To support the institution of religion, the following argument is often used; “Faith was to supply the beliefs that reason could not supply, beliefs which were vitally needed as the only way to provide an effective sanction backing the moral law and so stabilize society” Similarly, environmentalism is supported by many scientists just because of the fact that it instils 'good' human virtues such as taking care of our surroundings, reducing waste, being frugal or prudent. Hence the utility of environmentalism gives it support of a consensus of scientists, rather than the questionable scientific methods it uses.

To conclude, environmentalism, like religion, is based on the strongest human emotions and not on concrete verifiable facts as a science should be. The climate change debate has been around for quite a while now. In the late 1970's there was speculation of a coming ice age, and that temperatures would drop considerably if people didn’t act fast. That of course didn’t happen and within a matter of five years with rising population and industrialisation this fear was effortlessly and rather conveniently replaced by fears of global warming. The predictions made by environmentalists have failed consistently. The earth is a complex dynamic system and there are bound to be changes, many species have come and gone out of existence, we are just one such species. If there was no life to start off with, then it might as well end up that way. Environmentalism is one of those mock purposes that we have invented for ourselves to keep us busy so that we would not find life utterly meaningless. What business does this species, that has no clue of the meaning of its own existence, have to save the planet? (If it really needs the saving in the first place)

Presentation for PHI141 Introduction to Philosophy along with Sumit Bhagwani, Devesh Kumar, Aavishkar Patel, Raj Kishen RK.

Book Review: ZOOM

Zoom: The Global Race to fuel the Car of the future by Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaaitheeswaran is an insight into the Car and Oil Industry. Although this book was written in 2007, several developments in the past year have made this book seem more relevant and increased the importance of the issue many fold.

But that does not make this a must read or a great book. In fact, reading this book has made me become vary of the dangers of spreading false or misleading information.
"Oil is the problem. Cars are the solution." That's what the back cover says. Do not expect a true scientific study and analysis of the energy crisis here or an insightful overview of alternate energy cars.

It is pretty clear from the start that the authors dislike the oil barons of the world deeply. They describe the immense wealth of the Arabs, the share values of the companies and supposedly unethical practices of OPEC etc. Oil is running out. Fast they say. The companies are in trouble and have dug far enough down the ground. And then they mention that Oil was running out fast in the 70s too and experts claimed that it will hardly last the century. And three decades later, we are in the same situation. Just like fusion technology, oil depletion is always only 30 years away. They show criticism against new technologies which could develop fuel from natural gas, coal and tar fields. And show no respect for these oil companies which are funding and pursuing these technologies with enthusiasm. The book mentions that oil prices are rising and will never reach the levels during 90's. They were right in 2008 when oil prices touched $150 a barrel and showed no sign of going down. But only until they went below $40 in December. Economists should by now realize that predictions about the world markets will always be invariably wrong. The book discusses the men that led the Oil Giants in the past years. It shows their commitment and hard work to the cause of their companies. And then demeans it all with the failures. The book spends more time discussing the people than the ideas, clearly being mediocre.

When it comes to the Cars part of the book, this book has failed. It spends a lot of time demonizing Detroit and the Big Three, Ford, GM and Chrysler. They say that these 3 are down and out. And it seems all right too today considering the big loans deft out by governments to save the auto mobile industry. The book glorifies the Asian companies like Honda and is full of immense praise of Toyota. It shows the misguided path of cars running on oil followed by the American Giants. What's wrong with the claims, is the simple fact that Toyota and Honda today are in as much soup as the rest of the companies. The book pinpoints the weaknesses in the history of the Car giants but in Toyota and Honda's case, puts down failures as their stepping stones. It claims that these companies are great because of their involvement into alternative energy. The only car on alternate energy they have discussed with significant detail is the Toyota Prius. They have also mentioned the Tata Nano. The book claims a lot of future in ethanol fuels and cites the example of Brazil. What it fails to mention is how the sugar cane for ethanol is grown in huge plantations, destroying the rainforest. Sugar cane is an intensive crop and very quickly depletes the soil of nutrients. It is destroying the food economy of nations. Is that the answer?

They do not back their claims with any sustainable evidence. Air Pollution they say? Levels are way down today compared to those in the 80s-90s. And they still grumble that the companies haven't done enough to make their cars efficient and non polluting. It mentions hydrogen fuel, air powered cars, electric cars. But cannot promise a solution. And then it blames the Oil Cartel, Auto Industry, and the Government. When the technology does not exist, or is not viable, efficient or commercial, then what do the authors expect?

They praise China for intensifying technology development and creating strict controls in their road traffic. Forgetting that the Beijing Olympics were almost called off by athletes complaining about the air pollution. Forgetting their blasphemous economisation of technology by compromising safety. Remember the lead in children's toys?

Their writing style is not suitable to discuss a topic of such great value. Throughout the book they describe in great detail palatial homes, conference halls and board rooms. Maybe it is to show off their own high contacts and visits or maybe it is just their correspondent style. The use of clichés, original and not so original, has been overused obscenely. "Can Dinosaurs Dance", "Big Oil" and many more burst out ever so often in each line. They show great faith in the Green Revolutionaries creating the new cars while slightly mentioning of the failed prototypes built. But count out the models under research by the actual Auto mobile Industrialists.

In the end, this book has not lived up to its name. By carelessly tossing out terms like Global Warming, Oil Economy, Pollution, alternative fuels etc.. the authors are trying to lose their credibility. Books like these tend to gather a lot of popularity on their government/industry bashing approach. But in the hands of the aware reader, it is bound to reveal its true nature.

Written in January 2009 for NERD Magazine. With such a critical attitude, it was bound not to be published