Home...
Thursday, April 24, 2008

Okay... so Home... I got thinking about this in class today (class is that magical time of day when I get to do absolutely nothing)... Anyway... So I got thinking about how London is starting to feel more like home... and then I started to think about every place I've called home for the 17 years I've been alive... and how every place I've ever lived in was a home, and not a house... even though it was a home for a terribly short period of time and it's someone else's home now...

I've never ever really had a constant "home" like you hear about in the movies, books and normal person lives... Homes that people can't bear to leave because they have memories woven into the thread of their house... of growing up... where they have a special feeling for every little bit of the house and home is always a place that is constant... that exists always at that one spot.. and where you will always be welcome...

So home for me has been everywhere on that map you see... all the red dots...
The earliest memory I had of a Home was in Kanpur, UP, India... UP stands for Uttar Pradesh, which means Northern State in Hindi.... Which is fine because it it a northern state. I remember we had this huge house (or maybe I was just tiny)... and it was all on one floor and we had an apple tree or something in the garden and I used to just lie under it and watch clouds go by... I don't even remember how old I was then (1st grade or less)... but it's this one memory that stands out... And this other one about when my dad was teaching me how to ride a bicycle... He would never allow me trainer wheels.. so yeah.. I finally got the hang of it and I started going.. but no one ever told me where the brakes were... No... I wasn't dumb enough to go crashing into cars or brick walls... I just jumped off the bike... with very Spiderman like agility... Although I wouldn't hear about spiderman for several years...

See, you might not understand how I was able to do all of this, but the reason I could also has to do with the reason I never stay at one place for more than two years... My dad's a pilot in the Air Force... and that's the reason I am how I am... A defense base is a very... secluded trusty sort of place... I love that I've lived inside Air force bases or colonies all my life... There's something so different about it...

You'll never know unless you're an Defense Officer's Child.. notice the capitals... There's a difference to such an upbringing.. I'm not saying I'm better than you or anything.. I just happen to take pride in where I'm coming from... all that I've learnt... the fact that I have to hold my head up high, keep my back straight and my shoulders wide... The fact that respecting women is second nature and the woman is always first... How everything is so organised and people are being people to each other... The parties at the officer's mess and the visits to the Officer's library where any self respecting kid always took out an Asterix or a Tintin... Respecting my parents no matter what, and always considering their word as the last word... Service is a pleasure rather than a pain and respect defines what I do every step of the way...

I don't think any of you will get this... Anyway... this has gone on quite long... To be continued... :)

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Physics 101: Flight
Friday, April 18, 2008

Well, I thought it was about time that I did some good with my blog, so here's the good... Physics was pretty much my favorite science subject in high school, and you'd be amazed at all the things Physics controls and how incredibly interesting it can be...

So your first Physics 101 lesson... Flight... And if you've always wondered how airplanes fly, well, I'm here to tell you that it's NOT because of the engine, although the engine plays a role... Think of it this way, if you took a great massive engine, and you bolted it onto, say a barn door... You wouldn't have an airplane so much as a mess...

So the secret to flight? The wing... It's all in the wing of the airplane, and the rest is just simple aerodynamics and laws of motion... Contrary to what you may have thought, the wing of an airplane is not flat, and neither is it symmetrical (except for a few exceptions)... It looks more like the picture on the left...

So from the picture on the left, you can see that the top of the wing is curved lots, while the bottom is predominantly flat... Of course there are a great many variety of wings, and you'll find symmetrical ones too (on aerobatic planes)... But for the purpose of this discussion (and to cover all modern airliners) we'll talk about the flat bottom wing... So flight needs to be based on a theory... And that theory is Bernoulli's Theorem...

Bernoulli's Theorem states that the greater the velocity of air, the lower the amount of pressure it exerts... Basically, the faster air moves, the lower pressure it has on objects around it... I must say here that the picture is not entirely accurate... Specifically, the first bit, where it says "...greater distance to travel, and must move faster.." The thing is, air does not actually do any such thing... The air on the bottom is actually slower than the air on top because the air on top creates a vortex that works against the air at the bottom... But for now, just know that the air at the bottom is slower than the air that is going above the wing... So now, because of the shape of the wing, the air under the wing travels at a slow speed, and thus the pressure is higher than the pressure of air on top of the wing. So we have a high pressure zone below the wing, and a low pressure zone above the wing... There's a blanket of air under the wing, and no blanket above it... So the wing rises... An interesting fact is that if you increased the throttle of an airplane sitting on the runway, and did nothing else at all, then after a while the airplane would automatically lift of the ground... no hands :)

So again, Why is the wing important? Because when you get in an airplane, you generally want to be moving in one or both of two directions, namely, forward... and up... GENERALLY i said... don't start giving me crap about landing patterns and helicopters... So there are four forces acting on an airplane... And the picture pretty much explains it... The wing produces lift, against gravity... While the engine (the other important bit) produces thrust to move the plane forward, against drag, which is created by air particles and acts upon anything except itself...

So it's pretty obvious that drag is much less for a smaller leading cross section. That's why airplanes have noses and look cool :) Because their shapes are designed to minimize drag... Consider this... If you put your hand out the window of a fast car, the only way you'd meet the least resistance from air was if you made it flat.. just like an airplane.. try it otherwise... much harder isn't it?

Right-o... So what's the need for the rest of the stuff on the plane? Like the flaps, slats, air brakes (i think that one's obvious), ailerons, elevators (again.. obvious) and the tail? Well, it's all quite simple and every single little thing is important and quite extraordinary... But I'm afraid that's pretty much all I can type out right now... So Await your next installment of Physics 101...

And let me know if you want to hear about all the other crap... And I promise I will write.. not like the other stuff I've promised (*cough*India*cough*)...

And tell me if this is a crap idea!! :)

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Ideas, Inc.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Now who's idea was it that an "Idea" should be represented as a lightbulb?

So I'm doing this IT course... Let's just leave it at that... Already warning flags start going off in your head that "Oh, you know why he's in IT"... but no, I'm into computers.. not IT.. a subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless...

I'm also studying a unit called Information Systems, or MIS, which basically deals with how organisations (almost all sorts), need a good structure to manage their information flow (stop snoring damnit!) so that, well, they minimize its cost and maximize the output obtained from it. Quite simply, MIS is how to milk data for all it's worth... MIS also happens to cover different departments in an organization and how they interact, and every time my tutor highlights various different "obvious" department, I always wonder why there's no "Ideas" department...

Sorry about that, I just needed to show you where I was coming from. An Ideas department, not a Creative department, or an Advertising department... Just an ideas department...

This brings me to a much more general... well, musing... Where do ideas come from? What inspires an idea, and what makes them so strong that they will prevail in the face of continual barrages of logic? In fact, who gave Thomas Edison the idea of a lightbulb in the first place, and why wouldn't he quit after his first two hundred tries??

I see an Idea as a positive energy of the world... Even a horrible idea, or a "negative" idea... Every idea is positive, because it takes its roots in the human mind in the form of hope... And HOPE.. as we all know, is always positive... It's a sad theory, but it's pretty good (and it's mine, so don't you dare..) But where do they come from? I know I've asked you questions before, and this may seem really stupid anyway... I mean, who cares where they come from? They just come right? Before you start thinking that, remember that every single thing that you see around you was an idea in someone's head before that someone had to do something about it...

Beautiful really... the idea of an idea... the idea of a universe of ideas...

Oh, and my patent is pending on "Ideas, Inc."... So no stealing...

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User-Friendly
Monday, April 07, 2008

17 Days to go for Hardy Heron!!! Yay? Nay?

I've always wondered what it would be like if I came out with blogs that had utter gibberish that no one was interested in... Not that I don't do that already, but I'm talking about complete gibberish... Like the sentence above.. or the banner alongside >>

Most of you have no idea what I'm talking about do you? Exactly... And I'm not going to explain either... I mean, sure, I could be this lone messiah for Linux amongst all you Microsoft infidels, but then you still wouldn't care... You don't have the time

I love differences... It's what makes everything so interesting and explosive... It's sort of what makes us human or animal or just somewhere in between, and it's what sets off anger, passion, hatred and trust... Imagine a world filled with a million YOUs... Yep.. pretty boring... Nobody to talk to because you could just talk to yourself...

The reason I got to thinking about differences was another blog... You probably already know which one that is... I'm not sure about trackbacks on this thing, so you'll know if I figure out... damnit you don't know what I'm saying again... So yes... Why am I different?? Airplanes and Computers interest me more than Cars and Bikes... The hottest girl on the planet would bore me in a day or two unless she was smart/interesting enough... Really... Looks do matter... but only for the first twenty four hours or so... sort of like when you get a new toy... the sheen lasts for twenty four hours... I am crazily possessive about my things... You are not allowed to touch anything that belongs to me... I will start freaking out if you hold it/'admire it' for more than five seconds...


Wow... I think my head is about to fall off... Let me tell you... five hours of need for speed is not good for you...

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Goin' Places
Wednesday, April 02, 2008


That's a picture from Heathrow International.

It's quite staggering. The number of people who are traveling or going somewhere at any given time on any given day. New York, Dubai, Miami, Copenhagen, Mumbai, Oslo, Chicago, Hong Kong. Everywhere.. People just keep going and coming...

And they're so organised at it... Everything happens so smoothly and no one thinks twice about it... The airports, the seaports, the buses, taxis, cars and horses... they're all always so full. People are always arriving somewhere or are departing to somewhere.

Life is really just about that isn't it... departing from where you are right now... and arriving someplace better while making sure no one steals your bag, and you don't sit next to an "unattended" bag... I guess things used to be a lot simpler... you didn't have to worry about that unattended bag crap... Risks are like plane tickets... they cost a hell of a lot... but you never know what you might find at your destination... It sucks to fly solo...

Anywhere is okay... I'm not very intent on arriving anywhere...

I love this song... 'Sitting on the dock of the bay'... It's the laziest song in the world... Perfect for a slow sunday afternoon :)

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