cheerful attitude – Page 40 – Take off with Natarajan

India Has a New Eco Friendly Airport Terminal. And It Is More than Just Amazing! ….

September 25, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The new terminal at the Chandigarh international airport in Mohali, inaugurated recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the first airport in the country that is ‘totally green’, and can potentially change the way airports are built in the country henceforth.

Spread over 53,000 sq. m, the brand new terminal at the Chandigarh airport has been designed around the green building concept, right from the start. The terminal will handle both domestic as well as international flights.

The use of environment-friendly green technologies make this airport one of its kind, not only in India, but also in the world.

Airports all across the world cannot dazzle and amaze travelers without their huge displays of artificial lights — which add on to their maintenance and running costs, not to speak of environmental degradation. But this Chandigarh airport terminal is different. No artificial lights would be required to illuminate it during the daytime.

The terminal has achieved a 4-star GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) rating.

A transparent façade is the defining motif of this airport terminal. The glass that has been used on the façade is low-heat gain glass. This automatically reduces the need for a large amount of air conditioning, which is a bane associated with the glass-based architectural structures that have started mushrooming and dominating urban and emerging landscapes all over the country. Also, the air-conditioning is guided by the principal of thermodynamics, that is, if the sensors sense body heat, the air-conditioning starts working in that zone; otherwise it gravitates to a sleep mode.

Energy efficiency, in fact, has been another guiding motif in the construction of the airport.

The rooftop of the terminal has a 200KW solar plant which is enough to meet the major power needs of the building. Forty percent of the airport is illuminated with LEDs and the air-conditioning is fired by chiller efficient machines. There is also a lawn which has been laid out right inside the terminal.

Built by Larsen and Toubro (L&T), the terminal sets a new sustainability benchmark with green technologies like 55 lakh fly ash bricks, cavity walls, double insulated roofing, energy efficient chillers, and a sensor-based plumbing system to save water. Such an extensive use of fly ash bricks in a civil structure could serve as a shot in the arm for the progressive deployment of fly ash bricks in construction. And this can go a long way in indirectly serving the cause of the environment. Fly Ash bricks are made of fly ash, lime, gypsum and sand. Hence, the more we shift to fly ash, the less we use of the top layer of soil to make conventional bricks.

Besides, the airport has a sewage treatment plant with a capacity of 600 KLD, which is based on environment-friendly extended aeration technology.

Thus all the treated water will be reused for flushing and gardening. This idea of re-cycling water is again a major step forward towards environmental sustainability. –

While Punjab wishes to name it after Shaheed Bhagat Singh and append the name Mohali at the end, Haryana wishes to call it just Chandigarh airport. But, no matter what is finally decided, the new airport is a matter of pride not only for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, states that it will likely benefit, but for the whole country.

Photo Credits: Vikram Singh

Source….Nalin Rai in http://www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan

Few Tips For Preventing Heart Disease….

September 25, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Dr Manoj Kumar, Associate Director & Head, Cardiac Cath Lab, Max Balaji Super Specialty Hospital, Patparganj, New Delhi, gives practical tips to prevent heart diseases and strokes

Photograph: Ramon Rosati/Creative Commons

1. Control of blood pressure below 140/90

2. Control of blood sugar

3. Control of cholesterol level where bad cholesterol or low density cholesterol should be less 100 milligram per decilitre

4. Moderate physical activity: brisk walk for 30 to 45 minutes, at least five days a week or walk 10,000 steps everyday.

5. Quit smoking RIGHT NOW.

6. Maintain your ideal body weight, which means the body mass index or the BMI should be less than 30.

7. Abstinence from alcohol or moderate consumption of alcohol; MAXIMUM of 30 to 45 ml of whiskey per day can be consumed. This limit is for those who are already alcohol drinkers.

But if you don’t drink then please do not start if you want to keep coronary artery diseases at bay.

8. Intake of lot of fresh fruits and vegetables is advised. More colourful and green leafy vegetables should be included in your daily diet; at least three servings in a day.

9. The choice of nuts should be almonds or walnuts.

10. Avoid desi ghee, butter, saturated fats and go for plant oils like mustard oil or olive oil or sunflower oil.

Is desi ghee good for heart?

No. Desi ghee is also an animal fat. People think that everything from cow is good for health but desi ghee made from cow’s milk is not good for the heart.

People must understand that it is animal fat and so fully saturated fat, especially if you consume it in the form of butter ormakkhan, which contains butyric acid and that is very, very bad for the heart.

How can one achieve a blood pressure count of below 140/90?

Lifestyle modification, control of body weight and if it (hypertension) doesn’t come down to desired level then addition of drugs (medicines) as prescribed and with consultation of a doctor is important.

Hypertension is a silent killer.

It is the most prevalent cardiovascular disease in our country. Every third Indian is suffering from high blood pressure. And because it is an asymptomatic disease you require proper screening, regular check ups so that you can diagnose this silent killer early and change your lifestyle and add drugs, if necessary, to control hypertension.

Remember that diabetes and hypertension are the most important risk factors for coronary artery diseases.

Diabetes is a disease that affects your heart and brain.

High blood pressure is a very common cause for stroke and can cause hemorrhagic strokes.

Diabetes can cause thrombotic strokes as well as hemorrhagic strokes.

Diabetes can affect your brain, eyes, kidney and heart.

How does one control the blood sugar level?

By regular exercise and by avoiding obesity, especially central obesity that is a pot belly. Insulin resistance is very high in people with central obesity.

If central obesity is not controlled or if there is a history of diabetes in your family then get periodic check ups and test you HbA1c, that is the Glycated Hemoglobin is very important to detect early onset of diabetes.

HbA1c or Glycated Hemoglobin should be less than six because if it is higher than this level then even if your blood sugar level is normal, there could be a mild variation in your blood sugar level, which can be detected using the HbA1c test.

Also See: World Heart Day Special

Source….www.rediff.com

Natarajan

Watch Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s Message For PM Modi, Before His Visit To Silicon Valley…

September 24, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Sundar Pichai is a name known to most Indians these days. Ever since he took a prestigious position in Google, Indians have been proud of him for inspiring so many ambitious children to dream big.

As per a report by Reuters, on September 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the Silicon Valley. He will also pay a visit to the Google campus and Facebook headquarters and discuss the pressing issues that can lead to further technological development in India.

As a result, Sundar Pichai in his present capabilities as CEO of Google has extended a warm welcome to Mr. Modi. In this video shared by Google India, we see him inviting the prime minister. He also expressed that the team is very excited to meet him.

He strongly feels that PM’s visit will energize people in the Silicon Valley as well as people in India. He highlights Google’s upcoming plans and illustrates how they will help India.

Even we are looking forward to Mr. Modi’s visit to Google and we hope that it leads to many productive results!

Source….Shubhi Dixit in http://www.storypick.com and http://www.youtube.com

Natarajan

Tiny Toddler Gives Impromptu TED Talk on World Peace, Being Nice….

September 24, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Six-year-old Tiana Sherry is the latest lifestyle guru to launch her platform via viral video. Are you seeking guidance on matters of the heart? You’ve come to the right place; the guru will see you now.

Sherry, dressed modestly in a T-shirt and leggings, begins with a simple question: “Are you ready to be his friend?” It doesn’t matter who the friend is. It just matters if you are ready.

The tiny leader continues to issue challenges: “Do you think that all of us can be nice to each other?” Are you, like the Tiny Relationship Guru, “trying to do best in [your] heart”? One must desire for everyone to be friends in order for everyone to be friends. She foresees a terrible outcome if niceness is in short supply. “If we live in a world where everyone is being mean, then everyone is going to be a monster in their future.”

The endgame for our teacher is peace for all. It starts with you. “Can you smile? Can we stop being mean to each other?” she pleads. She is in this with us. “I think if I can be nice, then I think all of us can be nice, too.”

Please keep this in mind as you go about your day. The TRG must rest now, for it is her bedtime. Her book, website, and speaking tour will launch in the morning.

Source…..By Dayna Evans…in http://www.stumbleupon.com and video clip credit http://www.youtube.com

Natarajan

MY STORY: “The Day I Saw Children Paint & the Blind Play Cricket on Bengaluru Streets” …….

September 23, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Bengaluru has more than 50 lakh vehicles on the street daily. Like any other metropolis, the city needs to cut back on personal modes of transport and educate its citizens to encourage public transport, cycling, and walking. For this reason, the recent open streets initiative held in all seven sectors of HSR layout was a fantastic attempt to reduce pollution caused by motorized personal vehicles.
On September 20^th, the movement of all personal vehicles was banned in the HSR layout neighborhood in Bengaluru. Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) provided additional local bus services to support the travel needs of the residents. I live in the second sector, and I think the event was a great initiative. I’d love to see more such events organised in different parts of the country.

Here are five reasons why I think the event was a great success:

Open Streets Brochure

It was a great public awareness initiative. There were public buses that were plying to and from common destinations. They were also taking people back and forth towards the main roads – where they could get other public transport, or a cab/auto, or have their friends pick them up. Ambulances, fire engines and other emergency vehicles were allowed to ply without interruption. –

Various events and activities being held on the streets

I’m sure there will be government or non-government organizations that will calculate the pollution levels and enumerate them, but according to me all the levels of pollution were noticeably lower wherever I went. The air felt and smelled cleaner. The noise pollution was lower too – we are so used to cars honking and loud noises as motorbikes and autos accelerate that the quiet was quite unnerving at times.

We saw a street art competition. Children were sitting on the road, doing their art and colouring their books and they looked so happy. It felt really good – giving them a safe road – one day a year. We saw some children playing carrom and chess on the road. Others stood by watching and cheering.

On 19^th Main, we witnessed a match of Awareness Blind Cricket. It was the first time I saw the blind play cricket with a ball that was filled with ball-bearings that jingled when it was thrown – so they could hear it and play the game with their enhanced sense of hearing. It was definitely heartwarming and a learning experience for many of us watching the match.

Art Competition

Yes, there were few cars and motorized two wheelers on the road. But, we mainly saw empty roads. We heard virtually no honking. And, we saw little kids walking with parents and grandparents – without holding hands. Can you imagine that? How liberating must it be for a two-year-old to not have his hand tightly clutched in an adult’s hand when he is out on the street. How stress free must that adult be feeling too?

We saw little children and their older siblings cycling (training wheels and all), skateboarding, and walking.

For the first time since we’ve lived here – we walked to a restaurant for lunch. Together. As a family. And, I loved that experience too. We were chatting all the way to the restaurant. And chatting all the way back. It felt so good to reconnect with my family and we were also happy that we burned a few of the calories we had collected at lunch.

I think most of HSR layout was just a little bit healthier and happier on the night of 20th September. But, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the downsides that we noticed, both personally and from some of the HSR groups on Facebook.

Doctors and other emergency medical personnel were being continuously stopped and questioned. This made them late to get to their patients and clinics and that should not happen. Many of them were very upset and quite vocal about this on Facebook.

Solution: These cars could get special stickers or stick a paper on their windshield with ‘Emergency Vehicle’ written in bold. Yes, I do realise some people might misuse this – but I believe most educated people would shy away from being shamelessly dishonest.

Some people who were coming back from out of town were stopped. They had to park their cars and walk in the rain with their luggage and their cranky children. That must have been quite tedious and irritating and they would certainly not appreciate the reason behind the initiative.

Solution: An initiative like ‘Open Streets’ cannot be blindly imposed on the people without reason.

The authorities/volunteers need to be empowered to make decisions based on the situation at hand. They need to have the freedom to decide whether a situation calls for bending the rules a little.

Friends and relatives of patients who were coming into HSR to donate blood were not allowed to enter the layout in their vehicles, causing flared tempers and delays.

Solution: As stated above, the authorities need to be sensitive in different situations. Some roads could allow vehicles, so as to prevent a complete shutdown of traffic.

There were also complaints of vehicles being stopped multiple times after they had already explained their situation and secured entry of their vehicle into the layout.

Solution: Once a vehicle is allowed to pass it could be given an identifying marker (like a sticker or placard that hangs from the rear-view mirror) to prevent being stopped multiple times. People who need their vehicles to get to and from work could get a special pass in advance.

Business establishments that rely on outsiders coming in to avail of their services — for example, grocery stores, petrol pumps, beauty salons, restaurants, etc. — may have seen lower revenue compared to other Sundays.

Solution: These businesses could get involved by sponsoring an activity or event. This would increase their visibility and serve as a marketing tool. The stores may also consider offering home delivery of necessities on cycles – thus bolstering their revenues a bit.

The event was an amazing initiative and should be explored in different cities all over the country.

Looks like it was the start of something beautiful

I am extremely proud that HSR was chosen as the neighborhood to pilot this event because of its “vibrant and open-minded residents,” and look forward to more days like this one. The event was definitely a success, and by fixing the issues and problems mentioned, it can move forward to becoming a successful, regular and city-wide event.

– Niharika Jadeja

About the author: Niharika Jadeja is a sixteen year old who recently graduated from Ebenezer international School. She is an avid reader and enjoys writing as well as playing the piano –

Source….www.thebetterindia.com

Natarajan

Is Shital Mahajan India’s most unknown sportsperson even with five world records…?

September 23, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

There comes a moment in every person’s life that changes the way people look at them. Skydiver Shital Mahajan is also an idol of such heroism. Holder of five world records, 14 national records and bestowed upon with Padam Shri in 2011, but Shital is still an unknown figure in India.

She is well known internationally for her skills but what hurts Shital the most is the lack of recognition in her own country. Having performed more than 655 jumps, adventure sports enthusiast Shital is a skydiving coach too. United States Parachuting Association has certified her with A, B, C and D licenses and coach ratings, which makes her eligible for skydiving all over the globe. But she still excessively depends on sponsors to stay in the sport and continues to plead the government for support.

She is known internationally for her skydiving achievements and even bestowed upon with a Padma Shri, but still Shital has no prominence among the Indian sports fraternity.

In an exclusive chat with IBNLive, the adventure-loving Shital shared her sentiments and aspirations to do her country more proud.

When and how you thought of starting skydiving? And how you turned professional in this adventure sport?

I started skydiving in the year 2002. I deliberately wanted to do something different. In our society, there is a taboo that a girl can’t do this and that. I wanted to erase that stereotypical image of a woman from people’s mind. They think a woman is supposed to serve her family, raise kids and only do household work. When I started to face similar challenges, I decided to break barriers.

Then I happened to meet one of my friends’ brother, Air Force officer Kamal Singh. I came to know about skydiving from him only. Then I took coaching from him. I wanted to do skydiving so I asked him how can I start. His answer was “since you are a civilian, you need to go abroad for skydiving as it cannot be done in India.”

Then I decided if I have no choice than to go abroad to learn, then why not at a special place like the North Pole.

Does your family support you since it involves a lot of money and one has to risk his/her life?

My parents didn’t support me initially but later on I convinced them. When I asked them I want to do skydiving, their answer was “have you gone mad! In our family no one has even travelled in an aircraft and you want to jump from it!” They said girls can’t do such dares. But I had a strong determination, so I convinced them. I clearly said, it’s my life and if I were to die, it will solely be my responsibility. They said “we can’t allow you to risk your life”. Then I started blackmailing tactics (laughs) by threatening to leave home. Girls leave their home for marriage, but I wanted to leave to sky-dive.

Tell us something about your awards and records.

Presently I have 14 national and 5 world records in my name. On 18th April 2004, I became the first woman in the world to execute a sky-dive from North Pole, and that too without any prior training. There wasn’t any land for my landing, so I had to land on an ice slope in a freezing temperature of minus 37 degrees, from a height of 2400 feet. Following my first world record, in the year 2006, I became first woman to perform sky fall from both South Pole and North Pole. Chasing achievements and records, the biggest accolade in my career came my way in the year 2011 when I was awarded the fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, from the then President Pratibha Patil.

We heard that your meeting with former President Late Late APJ Abdul Kalam had a touch of both sorrow and happiness attached to it.

After my North Pole achievement, the Russian government approved me with a certificate recognising my feat, but the Indian government didn’t accept my accomplishment.

Then Sports Minister, Late Sunil Dutt, said: “There is no value of such certificates in India”. They weren’t ready to recognise my achievement. The government asked me to contact the Air Force and they sent me back to the Sports Ministry that said skydiving is not considered a sport in India.

I was heartbroken, so I decided to meet the then President, APJ Abdul Kalam. I showed him all my certificates and told him how the Sports Ministry is refusing to recognise my achievement. He said “I, the President of India, recognise your world record. Now whose recognition do you need?”

APJ said: “My secretary Ashish is here. If you get stuck in any situation, give him a call. We are always here to support you.” He was an amazing personality.

Where do you mostly practice skydiving?

I usually practice skydiving in Spain, Finland, California and Arizona (USA). There are still no proper rules and regulations for skydiving in India. I want to make all this possible in India one day.

What safety measures you take for skydiving?

FAI (Federation of Aeronautics International) is the world regulatory body for skydiving. It has set up some rules and safety measures that every skydiver has to follow. Special suits are used for skydiving that are wind proof, even protect the body in negative temperature, where body contact with open air can lead to blood clots.

When you perform a jump from 11,000 feet, only 40 seconds are there to open the parachute as you fall with a speed of 230 kmph. At this speed in a temperature like -38 degrees, hypothermia may take over the body. Our suits protect us from all this. Beneath that we wear four T-shirts and four pants, besides a helmet, two face covers and medical tapes all over the body. Only the nostrils are left open to breathe.

What runs through your mind when you are in mid-air?

In skydiving, you have just a 40-second timeframe mid-air. Either you can think or you can land safely. I give all the credit of safe landings to my subconscious mind.

While in the air, even 4-5 seconds are precious and it can affect badly. Therefore, only subconscious mind works at that point of time.

Tell us about your institute – the Phoenix Skydiving Academy.

The Maharashtra Government suggested me to open a skydiving institute in Pune. It had my roots, where I could teach and perform skydiving. So I started the Phoenix Skydiving Academy. We are active in four states – Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

What is the average expense one needs to bear for skydiving?

The expense of one jump is 20 dollar in US but in India it costs 20-22 thousand rupees. We, at our institute, are trying hard to bring it to a nominal price of 9-10 thousand rupees.

What are your aspirations regarding skydiving?

I am planning for a sky fall from Australia along with hundred plus Indians. I want to associate more and more people with skydiving in India so that we can come up as a big powerhouse. I want to popularise skydiving as a sport in India.

Who do you consider as your inspiration? And how do you see future generation’s interest towards skydiving?

Current generation is very active and they are ready for adventure sports. A lot of enthusiasts want to get trained for skydiving. My inspiration is Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld (world skydiving champion, coach, author, speaker), and I feel good when my students seek inspiration from my achievements.

Source…Akash Khanna …www.ibnlive.com

Natarajan

Odisha girl wins top award at Google Science Fair……..

September 23, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Lalita Prasida, 13 used corn cobs to clean waste water, for which she won ‘The Community Impact’ Award at 2015 Google Science Fair.

A 13-year-old girl from Odisha won the 2015 Google Science Fair, ‘The Community Impact’ Award on Monday, September 21 hosted by Google in Mountain View, California in partnership with the Scientific American that sponsored the Community Impact award, LEGO Education, National Geographic and Virgin Galactic.

Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai , a 9th grader at the Delhi Public School in Damanjodi, Odisha received $10,000 and will get a year of mentoring from Scientific American for her project that makes a practical difference in the community by addressing an environmental, health or resources challenge.

Her project, ‘Low Cost Bio- Adsorbent’ aims to clean waste water by flowing through different layers of Corn cobs which is a cost-effective and simple technique of cleaning water.

She uses corn cobs in her project.

Corn cobs, she says, are useful for immobilising the contaminants in domestic and industrial effluents, and in ponds,reservoirs and water tanks as well.

Her experiment (diagram below) shows that Corn cobs could clean water up to 70 to 80 per cent because they are suitable adsorbents and have high mechanical strength, rigidity and porosity.

Started five years ago the Google Science Fair is a an annual global online competition for students ages 13 to 18, and honours a project that makes a practical difference in a community by addressing anenvironmental, health or resources challenge.

The grand Google Science Fair prize of $50,000 was won by an Americanstudent Olivia Hallisey, 16 to detect Ebola.

Also partners of annual Google Science Fair Awards are LEGO Education, National Geographic and Virgin Galactic and offer mentoring to the winners year round.

Anurudh Ganesan15, of United States, won the Lego Education Builder award.

The award is given to a student who uses an innovative, hands-on approach to solve some of the greatest engineering challenges.

His project titled ‘Vaxxwagon: An Innovative eco-friendly No Ice, No electric, active refrigeration system for last-leg vaccine transportation’ is about vaccine transportation to remote locationsthat requires both ice-packs and electricity which is a major problem in developing countries.

His existing prototype costs less than $100.

He has also applied for its patent and was placed 3rd at National Geography Bee in Maryland.

Ganesan will travel the LEGO Group headquarters in Billund, Denmark and will have access to work with a LEGO Education executive for six months as a mentor to learn how to launch a business and the art of entrepreneurship.

Deepika Kurup 17, of United States won the National Geographic Explorer Award given to a a project in the natural sciences.

Her project was focused on to find solution for the world’s clean water problem.

According to the World Health Organization, one-ninth of the global population lacks access to clean water, and 500,000 children die every year because of water related diseases.

Kurup, a senior at Nashua High School South in Nashua, New Hampshire, will travel on a 10-day National Geographic Expedition to the Galapagos Archipelago, ‘Darwin’s living laboratory’ and home to an abundance of wildlife.

Kurup project titled, “Novel photocatalytic previous composites for removing multiple classes of toxins from water,” shows that the photocatalytic water purification technology developed in her research is safe and environmentally-friendly, as it does not produce any toxic byproducts.

The purification process uses only solar energy, so it’s cost effective.

Pranav Sivakumar 15, United States, received the Virgin Galactic Pioneer Award given for innovation in the area of space and physics.

Sivakumar’s project focuses on an automated search for gravitationally lensed quasars in theSloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).

In his report he said, “I report an automated method for finding and characterising gravitationally lensed quasars in the SDSS.”

The survey data was utilised to examine the properties of target quasars and their neighbours to determine whether these two SDSS objects were images of the same quasar.

The algorithm not only identified 56 lensed quasars reported in the literature but alsoidentified 109 new high-probability candidates.

Krtin Nithiyanandam , 14, United Kingdom, won the Scientific American Innovator Award, honoured for a project in the pure sciences.

He received $25,000 and a year of mentoring.

Nithiyanandam through the project shows the developing and earlier diagnosis of minimally-invasive diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

He has developed a quantum dot probe that can potentially cross the blood-brain barrier and be used as a more sensitive, non-invasive diagnostic tool for the earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

Girish Kumar 17 of Singapore, won the Google Technologist Award for helping improve learning through auto-generated study questions.

For the project, Kumar developed an algorithm that would pick sentences from an assigned text and convert them to questions.

This, he evaluated with a group of students for its effectiveness before submitting to Google.

All images courtesy: Google Science Fair

Source……www.rediff.com

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Image of the Day…” Upside-down Rainbow…”

September 22, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Brief, beautiful circumzenithal arc

Circumzenithal arcs are sometimes referred to as “upside-down rainbows” or “a smile in the sky.”

Amanda Cross in Lancashire, UK, submitted these photos to EarthSky. They show the beautiful sky phenomenon known as a circumzenithal arc. Amanda wrote:

Sun halo spotted on the school run, dashed home for camera then the circumzenithal arc appeared above, smiling. Worth dashing home for! Smiling in the sky, upside down rainbow 🙂

Only lasted 10 minutes then it was gone, brief but beautiful.

Les Cowley of the great website Atmospheric Optics says of these graceful and colorful arcs:

The circumzenithal arc, CZA, is the most beautiful of all the halos. The first sighting is always a surprise, an ethereal rainbow fled from its watery origins and wrapped improbably about the zenith …

Look straight up near to the zenith [overhead point in your sky] when the sun if fairly low and especially if sundogs are visible. The center of the bow always sunwards and red is on the outside.

Les says that the most ideal time to see a circumzenithal arc is when the sun is at a height of 22 degrees in the sky. Look here to see Les Cowley’s illustration of the various kinds of halo phenomena, related to circumzenithal arcs.

Bottom line: Photo from September, 2015 – Lancashire, UK – of a circumzenithal arc. They’re sometimes called upside-down rainbows, or “a smile in the sky.”

Source…..www.earthskynews.org

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IT hub wakes up to traffic, pollution woes…..

September 22, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

10,000 vehicles off the roads; 2 lakh man hours and 1 lakh litres of fuel saved

he IT industry is known for its innovative, time saving, efficient solutions for a wide variety of challenges.

Now it appears that the sector has woken up to another challenge – traffic and environmental pollution that diminishes the quality of life of its employees.

The industry in Hyderabad employs 3.5 lakh and the city is among the top-5 in the country that accounts for $100 billion worth of IT exports.

But it has just realised the pressure it’s exerting on the city traffic and the impact of the additional carbon emissions to the environment.

A survey found that about one lakh man hours are being wasted each day with employees struggling to get to the offices, negotiating tough traffic.

So, as a start, about 11,000 IT employees are now taking public buses on Thursday to get to their offices in the Hi-Tec City-Gachibowli IT Hub of Hyderabad. Thousands of others car-pool, walk or cycle to their offices as part of an initiative by HYSEA, which represents firms that export IT services worth $10 billion.

“About 40,000 litres of fuel is being wasted each day, resulting in 96 tonnes of additional emissions of carbon dioxide. The numbers are staggering considering the small area,” Ramesh Loganathan, President of HYSEA (Hyderabad Software Exporters’ Association), told BusinessLine. And what it achieved over the month is encouraging.

Benefits aplenty

Most companies in the IT corridor reported reduction of up to 20 per cent of cars. Over 10,000 motor vehicles are off the roads each Thursday. The city is free of about 273 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Enthused by the response to the Car-Free-Thursday initiative, the association is now planning to expand the scope.

It is going to ask companies to discourage staff coming in cars on Thursdays. It wants them to introduce parking fee and introduce a system of allowing cars with even or odd numbers.

The association has decided to lend its voice to the World Car Free Day that is slated to happen on September 22.

Hyderabad is among the 1,000 cities across the world that consented to join the movement.

In association with the Cyberabad police, Road Transport Corporation and other stakeholders, the HYSEA has come out with a vision document ‘Re-imagining Transport in Our Cities’.

“The idea is to promote sustainable transport and make Hyderabad a congestion-free and pollution-free smart city,” the document said.

The industry, with the help of the IT department of Telangana, is planning to develop necessary infrastructure to encourage the staff to use cycles.

“To begin with, we are asking hundreds of Car-Free-Thursday initiative volunteers to use cycle at least for a day or two to get to their offices,” Loganathan said.

Source…K.V.Kurmanath …www.thehindubusinessline.com

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Image of the Day….Best Seat in the World…!!!

September 22, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The central bugle of our Milky Way galaxy shines brightly above the vast ocean of lights of Yaqing Temple in China.

View larger. | Jeff Dai submitted this photo of the Yaqing Temple, Sichuan, China. He calls it ‘Lights or Stars.’ Visit his Flickr page.

Jeff Dai submitted this photo to EarthSky – taken September 9, 2015 – and wrote:

Lights or Stars? Today most city skies have become virtually empty of stars. But there is someplace beyond your imagination. Pictured above, the central bugle of our Milky Way galaxy shines brightly above the vast ocean of lights of Yaqing Temple. Located at Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province of China, Yaqing temple lies in an isolated valley with 4,000 meters above sea level. The monastery is associated with the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. With more than 30,000 Sangha members now, it’s the largest concentration of nuns and monks in the world.

This is a single exposure image, No photo montage, additional filter and black card.

Read more about the Yaqing Temple and Monastery

Posted by Deborah Byrd …www.eathskynews.org

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