Happy New Year 2009

Here's wishing all the denizens of this wonderful planet a very happy 2009 AD.

May this year bring more happiness and less turmoil than the last.

Tweeting Now

Hey visit my tweeter page @ http://twitter.com/shrirambr

Who murdered the financial system?

An excellent but brief article which tries to identify just who is to blame for the US and now global financial crisis.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3628394,flstry-1.cms

Chandrayaan I Successfully Launched

Chandrayaan I, India's first Mission to the Moon, was successfully launched earlier today. The 1380 kg unmanned spacecraft was launched via the 316 tonne PSLV C11 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at exactly 0622 hrs IST.

Chandrayaan I is expected to reach the moon around Nov 8 and has a life span of 2 years. Costing 80 M USD, Chandrayaan is carrying payloads for 11 scientific experiments including five from India, two from U.S. and one each from Germany, Britain, Sweden and Bulgaria.

Some of the specific areas of study to be conducted (Taken from the ISRO Website)

• High resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north and south polar regions
  

• Search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the moon, specially at lunar pole
  

• Identification of chemical end members of lunar high land rocks
  

• Chemical stratigraphy of lunar crust by remote sensing of central upland of large lunar craters, South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR) etc., where interior material may be expected
  

• To map the height variation of the lunar surface features along the satellite track
  

• Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the moon's surface with 5 m resolution, to provide new insights in understanding the moon's origin and evolution

This is truly a momentous occasion for every Indian and every member of the scientific community. Three Cheers.

Indian Press Steals Images

Came across a blog today which chronicles all thieving done by the Indian press. Seems like Times of India (TOI) leads the pack.

For the complete story: visit http://indianpressarethieves.blogspot.com/

Also came across a cartoon for the same: :)
http://bellurramki18.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/blog-cartoon-60/

Sad Facts Indeed...

BARCAMP CHENNAI 2 in October

BarCamp Chennai 2 is scheduled to happen on Oct 18/19.

Looking forward to my first BarCamp. :)

For further details visit http://barcampchennai.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

Indian Sports post the Beijing Olympics

As most of you may know, India finished with its highest medal tally in the Olympics ever... Three Medals (One Gold after 28 years and Two Bronzes) @ the Beijing Olympics. WOW i am elated 3 medals for a billion people while china ran away with the top of the medals tally leaving perennial powerhouse USA far behind in second.

What will it take for us to sit up and realize that there are sports other than cricket where we can develop in? There are few teenie weenie bright spots though.

* Emergence of boxing/wrestling and shooting.
* No. 1 in Cue sports in the world (Though cue sports are not part of the olympics)
* Emergence of Saina Nehwal as a truly good badminton player
* Chess perhaps

Hopefully these spots will be allowed to flourish rather than fade away... Fingers Crossed!!!

PS: For a Nice reality check, here's our performance in the olympics

Year G S B
1900 0 2 0
1928 1 0 0
1932 1 0 0
1936 1 0 0
1948 1 0 0
1952 1 0 1
1956 1 0 0
1960 0 1 0
1964 1 0 1
1968 0 0 1
1972 0 0 1
1976 0 0 0
1980 1 0 0
1984 0 0 0
1988 0 0 0
1992 0 0 0
1996 0 0 1
2000 0 0 1
2004 0 1 0
2008 1 0 2

GOT MARRIED

Got married a few days back... Whew! Hectic stuff and Happy tidings :)