Capacity of the sun a a virtually limitless source of energy

"I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that."
~Thomas Edison (1847~1931)

Buildings as Power Stations: a new vision for the built environment

"Every day we get enough energy from the sun to power our planet for 27 years...yet nearly all of this goes to waste."
~Research project SPECIFIC by Swansea University

Solar light for the base of the pyramid

"Did you know that breathing kerosene fumes is the equivalent of smoking two packets of cigarettes a day and two-thirds of adult females with lung cancer in developing nations are non-smokers.Yet globally, an estimated 500 million households still rely on kerosene or other liquid fuels for lighting." By yours trully

Energy: A multifaceted divide

“ Access to electricity is fundamental to opportunity in this age. It’s the light that children study by, the energy that allows an idea to be transformed into a real business. It’s the lifeline for families to meet their most basic needs, and it’s the connection that’s needed to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy.”
US President Barack Obama

Sustainability development

"In a few decades, the RELATIONSHIP between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace"
~Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011)

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Facebook

Today I decided to deactivate my facebook account.I just want to find out how long I can stay without accessing facebook.I realized that I spend tons of time on facebook,a time I could use doing some thing helpful.
God help me stay away from fb

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Binomials

Today I want to talk about binomials.Rarely do I use this binomial.But first,what are binomials?Binomials are expressions(often Idiomatic) where two words are joined by a conjunction usually "and".The order of the words are usually fixed.It is best to use them only in informal situation,with one or two exceptions.
odds and ends:small,unimportant things,e.g.let's get the main things packed;we can do the odds and ends later
give and take:a spirit of compromise,e.g. Every relationship needs a bit of give and take to be successful.
other examples
part and parcel[part of/belong to ]
ranting and raving[shouting/very angry] The boss was ranting and raving at us.
rack and ruin[ruined/decayed] the old cottage has gone to rack and ruin
Prime and proper[rather formal and fussy] He's so prim and proper at work
rough and ready[poor standard]The hotel is a bit rough and ready
ifs and buts: the reasons why someone doesn't want to do something; their objections
 Whenever we try to change the work routines, the workers have so many ifs and buts that we never manage to change anything.
hustle and bustle: a lot of noise and activity
 I love the hustle and bustle of city life. I'd get bored in the countrysidewine and dine
pick and choose 
leaps and bounds 
peace and quiet
rest and recreation
first and foremost 
all or nothing
down and out 


 Wikipedia gives detailed list of all the binomials.
Being the fact that I am mathematician.When I saw this binomial thing ,what came to my mind was the binomials we have in Mathematics.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Schrodinger`s cat

Have you heard of Schrödinger's Cat ?
One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts.  
This can be applied to real life situation.Not just quantum mechanics.Suppose you are faced with something lets take for example you wanna date someone and you are not sure whether he/she is the right person for you..Just like Schrödinger's cat being alive and dead at the same time, the date with the person has both  “good and bad” probabilistic outcomes. The only way to find out is to “open the box”, in other words collapse the wave-function of an uncertain date into a specific outcome. kapish!