Shuttle Cocks

While trying to order shuttle cocks online, I came across a couple of interesting factoids.

One - each shuttle cock will have 16 feathers, and the best shuttle cocks are made from feathers in left wings of geese.

Two - prices of good quality shuttle cocks went up steeply in recent years due to Avian Flu. Thick and heavy feathers of northern Chinese geese were the source of premium shuttle cocks. Due to Avian Flu scare, millions of these geese were slaughtered, causing the scarcity of shuttle cocks.

Homing Bumble Bees

Photo - Irishviews.com

I find homing abilities of some insects and birds amazing. Experiments show that Bumble Bees can navigate themselves back to their hives from as far as 8 miles (13 kilometers) away. For us to match this feat (on comparing our body length to that of a bee), we need to be able to find our home from 700 miles away!

What if bees are lost and can't find their way back home? Apparently, queen bees will likely start their own colony. Where as for worker bees, if they get lost and try to enter a strange colony, they will likely be killed by the workers in that colony.

Life on Mars Explained

Mystery of man on Mars is apparently solved.

Based on analysis of the stereo imagery, the best explanation is that the feature was indeed sculpted - not by a Martian hand, but by the Martian wind.

Some folks make a habit of looking for strange features in the pictures that have come from the Mars rovers over the past four years - features like "bunny ears" (bits of fabric left behind by the rovers), or the "Martian footprint" (the imprint of a wheel tread), or "rover rotini" (a mysterious curlicue that might be a mark left behind by a drill).

To begin with, on the zoomed out version of the photo, our Mars man is shown in the red circle.

Now, in the stereo image below, our man is shown as a dark speck in the upper left portion of the photo. We can see rocks of many shapes in the same color around our (imaginary) man.

Sab Kaa Maalik Ache!

I noticed that many (people on third rock from the sun in general - excluding a minority of folks) find it painful if others try to share their beliefs with us. Case in point? A recent experience of one of my relatives (a Hindu, in India) who is an excellent, warm-hearted, loving, caring, and highly-principled person (but, is a human just like you and me).

During Christmas'07, one of his Hindu colleagues wished him a merry Christmas in his office. He was terribly upset about this, and he blatantly told that colleague never to wish him on Christmas again. He is concerned that more and more Hindus are forgetting about our cultural heritage, and are following the west indiscriminately. I see his angle, but I would have reacted differently. To me, the basics are:

(1) That poor guy is wishing us well, even out of his idiocy in the worst case. I just would reciprocate in kind.

(2) At least some teachings of Hinduism say: (a) do things in the name of God (b) God is one, you can call Him (Her/It) by any name of your choice. So, what was this well-wisher's crime? He called the God with a wrong name?! Didn't he just do me a favor by reminding me of God, Who I am supposed to be thinking of anyway? I fail to see a reason for not being elated on this wish.

Imagine Hindus hugging each other on Ramadan and Muslims doing likewise for Diwali? Wouldn't it be nice? Just because there are radicals on the other side, we shouldn't strive to be one on our's. We must remember that there are both good things and bad things in any religion (Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam are no exceptions) or practice; we just have to be picky.

When we go to a grocery store, we just don't buy only oranges, do we? We buy oranges and apples and whatever else we like. And if we find some nasty fruits on display, we tell the store manager about them! Why shouldn't it be the same with religion? If we come across something we like in any religion, why not use it? We don't have to wait till we go to Varanasi and verify if the manuscript of Mandukya Upanishad agrees with it or not!

Embracing (good parts of) other cultures is a reflection of our strength, not of our weakness by any measure. If we are on Indo-Pak border and we are not fortunate enough to have the luxury of equanimity, it is slightly a different story. For the rest of us who are far removed from the mayhem, there is no need to build grudges. I know, it is not practical and all that. Also, I can hear a faint sound of a few axes grinding!

NASA Photo Show Man on Mars

Again, news with some entertainment value!

Images beamed back from Mars (see one above) would suggest that there is alien life on the red planet, although many skeptics are saying it is “just an odd-shaped rock”.

The longer you look at the photo the more it looks like a real person/alien, these images were sent back four years ago from NASA’s Mars Explorer Spirit.

It is only now after studying the images for some time that they have found what appears to be an alien figure walking downhill…what do you make of it?

May be the guy below finally decided to wake up:-)


I don't buy this kind of stuff, but it's fun to read!

Brigands Mistook Bread for Bread!

How often will this happen? - someone mistaking one thing for another synonymous thing!

Two Australian robbers thought they were hauling away a big sack of cash from the Cuckoo Restaurant, but it turned out to be bread rolls — and one of them accidentally shot the other in the buttocks during the heist.

Benjamin Jorgensen, 38, and his accomplice Donna Hayes, 36, were sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to robbing the restaurant in the southern Australian city of Melbourne on April 1 last year.

During the April Fools Day holdup, Jorgensen grabbed what he believed was a bag with the Cuckoo's daily take of about U.S. $26,000 in cash, but later found it was full of bread rolls, the Victorian County Court heard.

MLK Day

I thought of spending at least few minutes commemorating MLK Junior on this holiday.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a United States holiday marking the birthdate of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, January 15. It is one of four United States federal holidays to commemorate an individual person.

While studying at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, King heard a lecture on Mahatma Gandhi and the nonviolent civil disobedience campaign that he used successhifully against British rule in India. King read several books on the ideas of Gandhi, and eventually became convinced that the same methods could be employed by blacks to obtain civil rights in America. He was particularly struck by Gandhi's words: "Through our pain we will make them see their injustice". King was also influenced by Henry David Thoreau and his theories on how to use nonviolent resistance to achieve social change.

BTW, Gandhi was also inspired by Thoreau and he cited Thoreau as one of the fore most influences in his life. Here are a few MLK quotes I loved.

- Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.

- Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.

- Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Better than a Bear Hug!

This women probably can find a job in Vegas without much difficulty.

UFO Sighting in Stephenville, Texas

In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people -- including a pilot, county constable and business owners -- insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

''People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times,'' said Steve Allen, a freight company owner who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide.

''It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts.''

While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane.

They also said the object's lights changed configuration. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.

This story reminded me of the following image (unrelated to this story) I came across a month or so ago. I wonder if Iraq (this photo was apparently taken in Baghdad) has an environmental protection agency? The guy (or a company) that owns that smoke stack with black smoke oozing out will be in big trouble in the West. I noticed last month that stacks with black smoke coming out is not an unfamiliar site in Vizag area also:-(

Cry Baby Clinton

I was surprised, like rest of the common folk AND political pundits, when I heard of Clinton's victory in New Hampshire. Every major poll in the US predicted that Obama was going to win. They got it all wrong. I am not a big fan of Clinton as she does appears pretty cold, calculated, and insincere to me.

I think her almost tearful response to a women's question on TV, "how do you do it" (how do you stay upbeat under all the stress of campaigning?) had a big role in causing Bradley Effect to kick-in, resulting in her victory with a narrow two-point margin. Her response didn't make any sense to me. She said:

It's not easy, and I couldn't do it if I didn't passionately believe it was the right thing to do. You know, I have so many opportunities from this country just don't want to see us fall backwards.

Well, if she believes in her message so passionately, shouldn't it be easier for her to be upbeat? Besides, such a soft side is not an asset to a Commander-in-Chief.

Also, rumors on Obama probably didn't help him, to say the least.

Google Not So Lucky?

On getting lucky (i.e., found what I was looking for in one click, that's all!) with "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google (which is dubbed by some as "Wiki Link"), I remembered hearing Sergey Brin's confession on NPR that he rarely uses that button!

Google cofounder Sergey Brin told public radio's Marketplace that around one percent of all Google searches go through the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Because the button takes users directly to the top search result, Google doesn't get to show search ads on one percent of all its searches. That costs the company around $110 million in annual revenue, according to Rapt's Tom Chavez. So why does Google keep such a costly button around?

"It's possible to become too dry, too corporate, too much about making money. I think what's delightful about 'I'm Feeling Lucky' is that it reminds you there are real people here," Google exec Marissa Mayer explained, or at least tried to.

Lord of the Wings

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, here is one sure way for flying abroad.

Lord Balaji is one of the most-worshiped local incarnations of the Hindu Lord Vishnu. His adherents flock to his many temples to pray for things like happiness, prosperity and fertility.

Lately, the deity has grown particularly popular at the once-quiet Chilkur Balaji temple here, where he goes by a new nickname: the Visa God. The temple draws 100,000 visitors a week, many of whom come to pray to Lord Balaji for visas to travel or move to the U.S. and other Western countries.

Mohanty Dolagobinda is one of the Visa God's believers. Three years ago, a U.S. consulting company applied for a visa on his behalf. It was rejected. When the company tried again the following year, Mr. Dolagobinda's friends told him to visit the Chilkur Balaji temple ahead of his interview at the U.S. consulate. Weeks later, he sailed through the interview. "I've never heard of anyone who's gone to the temple whose visa got rejected," says Mr. Dolagobinda.

In the late 1990s, this small temple on the outskirts of Hyderabad -- the capital of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh -- drew just two or three visitors a week.

C.S. Gopala Krishna, the 63-year-old head priest of the Chilkur Balaji Temple, wanted more people to come. So he gave Lord Balaji a new identity. "I named him the Visa God," he says. Now, Mr. Gopala Krishna's temple is a hot spot. Billboards on the dirt road to the temple advertise English-language schools and visa advisers. Next to the parking lot, vendors hawk souvenirs and fruit.

Mid-night Runs

During our 16-hour non-stop flight from Mumbai, I was wondering about a couple of things about air travel between India and the US:

(1) Why do flights from India leave around midnight, which is an inconvenient departure time? and,

(2) Why did the direct flight from Mumbai to Newark bypass Arabian Sea all together, and flew over Denmark Strait (to the north of Iceland) close to Arctic Circle instead? Intuitively, I felt that flying over middle east and southern part of Europe would be a shorter route.

I found the following answers.

(1) Reason for odd departure times for flights to the US from India was bothering me for few years. I caught hold of a flight attendant on my return trip to Austin, and asked him this question. He said that they do this primarily for three reasons: (a) day time temperatures in India are usually very high. Take-off during hot weather wouldn't be as smooth as in moderate weather, esp. for jumbo jets (b) planes consume more fuel for take-off during hot weather and (c) leaving India close to midnight would enable passengers to reach the US at a reasonable hour (i.e., during business hours). Makes sense to me, but did not verify this information against a published source.

(2) Using Google, I found that Great Circle distance is the answer to my second question. I used Great Circle Mapper to plot the flight path for a better understanding. I am still a little confused as the mapper shows that the shortest distance between Newark and Mumbai as 7,800 miles, while our flight traveled ~ 8,300 miles (about 6.5% more than the Great Circle distance). Perhaps this is due to slight deviations from the course (to avoid turbulence, navigational equipment limitations etc.).

Finally, while we were flying at ~ 37,000 feet over Greenland Sea, outside temperature was -90 degrees Fahrenheit (~-68 degrees Centigrade). Sitting in a metal tube 11 kilometers above ground, with temperature = -90F a few feet away, 50,000 gallons of fuel on fire 15 feet below, watching TV and eating hot food, totally oblivious of the deadly surroundings? What would Wright brothers think if they were brought back to life today?! Our technological progress is amazing.