I recently read this most wonderful book - A Short History of Nearly Everything. Bill Bryson(the author) has covered possibly all events of historic importance, including those in the fields of physics, chemistry, geology and biology. Surprisingly, its not boring. It talks about events as they happened and Bryson shares so many incidents from the lives of the scientists that we read about in our classrooms. Very well writen and a must read, to say the least.
By the way, if it matters (i think it does, from how Smith has put it) I am Nishaad Rao from The Galaxy International School. I won't go into details right now. Maybe some other day...
Monday, 31 December 2007
Sunday, 25 November 2007
The History of The Universe in less than 200 Words
Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Strong nuclear interaction. Particle-antiparticle annihilation. Deuterium and helium production. Density perturbations. Recombination. Blackbody radiation. Local contraction. Cluster formation. Reionization? Violent relaxation. Virialization. Biased galaxy formation? Turbulent fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Compression. Opaque hydrogen. Massive star formation. Deuterium ignition. Hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen depletion. Core contraction. Envelope expansion. Helium fusion. Carbon, oxygen, and silicon fusion. Iron production. Implosion. Supernova explosion. Metals injection. Star formation. Supernova explosions. Star formation. Condensation. Planetesimal accretion. Planetary differentiation. Crust solidification. Volatile gas expulsion. Water condensation. Water dissociation. Ozone production. Ultraviolet absorption. Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction. Fossilization. Land exploration. Dinosaur extinction. Mammal expansion. Glaciation. Homo sapiens manifestation. Animal domestication. Food surplus production. Civilization! Innovation. Exploration. Religion. Warring nations. Empire creation and destruction. Exploration. Colonization. Taxation without representation. Revolution. Constitution. Election. Expansion. Industrialization. Rebellion. Emancipation Proclamation. Invention. Mass production. Urbanization. Immigration. World conflagration. League of Nations. Suffrage extension. Depression. World conflagration. Fission explosions. United Nations. Space exploration. Assassinations. Lunar excursions. Resignation. Computerization. World Trade Organization. Terrorism. Internet expansion. Reunification. Dissolution. World-Wide Web creation. Composition. Extrapolation?
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
You know that English Can be Funny?
Let me tell you how...
We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of 'cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly,
Boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea
nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all But one of them,
what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop,
How come Mother's not Mop?
---
I'm sorry to say that I don't know who wrote it, but those are some nice poetic
observations, right?
We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of 'cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly,
Boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea
nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all But one of them,
what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
And in which an alarm goes off by going on.
And, in closing, if Father is Pop,
How come Mother's not Mop?
---
I'm sorry to say that I don't know who wrote it, but those are some nice poetic
observations, right?
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Breathing Earth, and a few other things
Lately, I managed to StumbleUpon (literally) a rather diligent flash-based simulation of Planet Earth. If you could be so kind as to take a peek, I displays, to a certain degree of accuracy, the extent of exponential population growth as well as the extent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaking of greenhouse gas, It's helpful if you calculate your own Carbon Footprint: The measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or CO2 emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an organization, business or enterprise, as part of their everyday operations; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives etc.
A handy footprint calculator can be found here; it will also give you suggestions on how to reduce it.
An integral part of Global Warming countermeasures is YOUR footprint. It applies especially to lifestyles in developed countries, which can be made a little more sustainable by all of us.
- - -
Now, moving on to other things; I'm demoralized to know that many people are riddled with misconceptions about complex scientific concepts. These conceptual errors are due to the fact that not everyone has a firm understanding of the physical and mathematical background required in order to comprehend such alluring facts.
Although it's popular, and undoubtedly quintessential in today's information lifestyle, Wikipedia is an unreliable reference source, although this applies to complex topics only, where it is often better to look at dedicated publications for the facts and the understanding. A lot of people seem to turn off their brains when reading these articles and they will stop all forms of critical thinking, which is what I don't understand. In fact, most of the internet, unless cautiously explored, leads to misinformation.
Some reliable sources, like MIT's OpenCourseWare are often undercited.
- - -
Inconsiderate though we all can be sometimes, It's an assertion of common nature, I guess. Primeval instincts are difficult to substitute with rationality, but it's really worth the effort, I suppose.
Speaking of greenhouse gas, It's helpful if you calculate your own Carbon Footprint: The measure of the amount of carbon dioxide or CO2 emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an organization, business or enterprise, as part of their everyday operations; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives etc.
A handy footprint calculator can be found here; it will also give you suggestions on how to reduce it.
An integral part of Global Warming countermeasures is YOUR footprint. It applies especially to lifestyles in developed countries, which can be made a little more sustainable by all of us.
- - -
Now, moving on to other things; I'm demoralized to know that many people are riddled with misconceptions about complex scientific concepts. These conceptual errors are due to the fact that not everyone has a firm understanding of the physical and mathematical background required in order to comprehend such alluring facts.
Although it's popular, and undoubtedly quintessential in today's information lifestyle, Wikipedia is an unreliable reference source, although this applies to complex topics only, where it is often better to look at dedicated publications for the facts and the understanding. A lot of people seem to turn off their brains when reading these articles and they will stop all forms of critical thinking, which is what I don't understand. In fact, most of the internet, unless cautiously explored, leads to misinformation.
Some reliable sources, like MIT's OpenCourseWare are often undercited.
- - -
Inconsiderate though we all can be sometimes, It's an assertion of common nature, I guess. Primeval instincts are difficult to substitute with rationality, but it's really worth the effort, I suppose.
Monday, 5 November 2007
r v just left with wikimania???
if you d look at this u would propably be amazed regarding the advances of wiki. now check out this.......The operation of Wikipedia depends on MediaWiki, a custom-made, free and open source wiki software platform written in PHP and built upon the MySQL database. The software incorporates programming features such as a macro language, variables, a transclusion system for templates, and URL redirection. MediaWiki is licensed under the GNU General Public License and used by all Wikimedia projects, as well as many other wiki projects. Originally, Wikipedia ran on UseModWiki written in Perl by Clifford Adams (Phase I), which initially required CamelCase for article hyperlinks; the present double bracket style was incorporated later. Starting in January 2002 (Phase II), Wikipedia began running on a PHP wiki engine with a MySQL database; this software was custom-made for Wikipedia by Magnus Manske. The Phase II software was repeatedly modified to accommodate the exponentially increasing demand. In July 2002 (Phase III), Wikipedia shifted to the third-generation software, MediaWiki, originally written by Lee Daniel Crocker
Wikipedia runs on dedicated clusters of Linux servers in Florida and in two other locations.[37] Wikipedia employed a single server until 2004, when the server setup was expanded into a distributed multitier architecture. In January 2005, the project ran on 39 dedicated servers located in Florida. This configuration included a single master database server running MySQL, multiple slave database servers, 21 web servers running the Apache HTTP Server, and seven Squid cache servers. By September 2005, its server cluster had grown to around 100 servers in three locations around the world.
Wikipedia won two major awards in May 2004.[83] The first was a Golden Nica for Digital Communities of the annual Prix Ars Electronica contest; this came with a €10,000 (£6,588; $12,700) grant and an invitation to present at the PAE Cyberarts Festival in Austria later that year. The second was a Judges' Webby Award for the "community" category.[84] Wikipedia was also nominated for a "Best Practices" Webby. In September 2004, the Japanese Wikipedia was awarded a Web Creation Award from the Japan Advertisers Association. This award, normally given to individuals for great contributions to the Web in Japanese, was accepted by a long-standing contributor on behalf of the project.
In a 2006 Multiscope research study, the Dutch Wikipedia was rated the third best Dutch language site, after Google and Gmail, with a score of 8.1.[85] On January 26, 2007, Wikipedia was also awarded the fifth highest brand ranking by the readers of brandchannel.com, receiving 15% of the votes in answer to the question "Which brand had the most impact on our lives in 2006?"[86] Jimmy Wales was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine in 2006.[87] In 2006, the Russian Wikipedia won the "Science and education" category of the "Runet Prize" (Russian: Премия Рунета) award, supervised[88] by the Russian government agency FAPMC.
In November 2006, Turkish Wikipedia was nominated under the Science category for the Altın Örümcek Web Ödülleri (Golden Spider Web Awards), which are commonly known as the "Web Oscars" for Turkey. In January 2007, Turkish Wikipedia was given the award for "Best Content" in this competition. The award was given in a ceremony on January 25, 2007 at Istanbul Technical University.
Saturday, 3 November 2007
An Obligatory Introduction
As much as the human race is fascinating; we all know that each one of us is genetically, ideologically, physically and intellectually different. Regarding this view, I can see that a personal introduction is my obligation.
I'm Smit Dixit AKA EarthBorn. My nickname has a little history behind it, although my real name is a mere consequence of fate although I whole heartedly accept it.
As of now, my chronological age is Fifteen Years, Six Months and Three Days less. I will leave the interpretation of my maturity and intellectual level to whoever is interested in interpreting it.
Now, as may be demanded, my resolve for being on Planet Earth is {CONTENT DELETED BY THE FBI}.
My height and weight are variable, so I do not consider it essential to post. The skin color is fair, and unless genetically modified, my eyes are deep brown: giving the illusion of black.
Interestingly or not, my fundamental interest apart from those required to sustain my vital metabolic activities and civil duties, are computers (everything related to them), Physics, Music (mainly of the Progressive Kind), Table Tennis, Modern English literature, and indulging in constructive endeavors. The totality of the list cannot be fully described, as the mind is, as rightly said, an immensely complicated and many layered thing.
Although it may seem that this post is professionally generated, the true nature and subtlety of this pronouncement is hidden behind it's inner meaning.
I'll leave you decrypting the post and move on. Lastly, I thank Anil Sir for the genesis of this monumental blog, and to the other members of it's robust faculty, no doubt eager to contribute/
I'm Smit Dixit AKA EarthBorn. My nickname has a little history behind it, although my real name is a mere consequence of fate although I whole heartedly accept it.
As of now, my chronological age is Fifteen Years, Six Months and Three Days less. I will leave the interpretation of my maturity and intellectual level to whoever is interested in interpreting it.
Now, as may be demanded, my resolve for being on Planet Earth is {CONTENT DELETED BY THE FBI}.
My height and weight are variable, so I do not consider it essential to post. The skin color is fair, and unless genetically modified, my eyes are deep brown: giving the illusion of black.
Interestingly or not, my fundamental interest apart from those required to sustain my vital metabolic activities and civil duties, are computers (everything related to them), Physics, Music (mainly of the Progressive Kind), Table Tennis, Modern English literature, and indulging in constructive endeavors. The totality of the list cannot be fully described, as the mind is, as rightly said, an immensely complicated and many layered thing.
Although it may seem that this post is professionally generated, the true nature and subtlety of this pronouncement is hidden behind it's inner meaning.
I'll leave you decrypting the post and move on. Lastly, I thank Anil Sir for the genesis of this monumental blog, and to the other members of it's robust faculty, no doubt eager to contribute/
Friday, 2 November 2007
Orkut Lovers
All are invited
Invite your friends to share thier views
Comment on what other students think
Make it your Most Trusted Spot
YOUR OWN WORLD WHERE YOU ARE THE BOSS
Invite your friends to share thier views
Comment on what other students think
Make it your Most Trusted Spot
YOUR OWN WORLD WHERE YOU ARE THE BOSS
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
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