Facts and Figures-3: New Energy and Wind Energy in India

Globally, India is fifth in production of new energy and fourth in the production of wind power.

Tamil Nadu is the leading producer of wind energy in the country. More than 50% of wind energy produced in India is from Tamil Nadu.

Current installed capacity of renewable energy in India is around 10,600 MW.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt of India, has set an ambitious target of producing 14,000 MW in addition to the existing capacity.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, Sep.27, 2007.

Grateful thanks to The Hindu.

Websites to Watch-4 : Top Ten Lists by Subha Venkateshan, Education Express

There is always a fundamental sense of comparison among people in all walks of life and we are always looking for the best. A recent trend has been to rank the top 10 of everything we can think of. The website http://listverse.com does this and has the ‘Top Ten’ of many categories including art, entertainment, humour, literature and even ‘bizarre’.

It lists the top 10 mad scientists, 10 unresolved mysteries and top 10 true stories, 10 strangest rock and roll lebels, the top 10 errors in Da Vinci code, the top 10 pre-3D video games, the top 10 horror movies and 10 movies that have the best twists, top 10 incredible recordings, top 10 populated nations etc.

Excerpt from "Top Ten Lists by Subha Venkateshan", Education Express, Supplement to The New Indian Express, Madurai, Sep.28, 2007,

Grateful thanks to Ms Subha Venkatesan and The New Indian Express.

Facts and Figures-2: Growth of Knolwedge-based Industries in Karnataka

Karnataka's biggest success story in recent years has been the growth of knowledge-based industries : Information Technology (IT) and Biotechnology. It accounts for approximately 37% of India's IT and IT-enabled Services (worth Rs.50,000 crore). Around 40% of the country's biotech firms are located in Karnataka. (Excerpt from 'Soaring Economy' (Special Feature on Karnataka) by Ravi Sharma, Bangalore, in 'Frontline', Sep.7, 2007)(Grateful thanks to Mr Ravi Sharma and Frontline).

A Thought for Today-78: September 11, 2007

You can have anything you want if you want it desperately enough. You must want it with an exuberance that erupts through the skin and joins the energy that created the world - Sheila Graham

Facts and Figures-1: Taj Mahal Tourists and Cell Phone Market

As I read somewhere during my college days, "Statistics is like a bikini; what it reveals is interesting but what it conceals is signficant." Maybe right. Still I thought as long as it is interesting I can use it in my blog. So here is a series: Facts and Figures and the first two entries are -

(1) 26,03,571 tourists visited the Taj Mahal in 2006-07, according to the
tourism ministry.

(2) 6 million users are being added every month to India's cell phone market.

Courtesy: Facts & Figures, The Week, Sep.2, 2007.

Grateful thanks to The Week.

Blogs to Watch-11: "Desire to Inspire"

Authors:

Midcenturyjo and Kim. It is listed at Blogger Buzz as a Blog of Note. Contains a lot of beautiful and fascinating designs and some pretty photos. One can pick up a lot of ideas for colorfully decorating interior of one's home.

Link: http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/

A Thought for Today-77: September 10, 2007

The problem is our mind is so busy we can't hear the wisdom of our Heart.

- Dr. Paul Pearsall

A Thought for Today-76: September 10, 2007

Think highly of yourself, for the world takes you at your own estimate - Source Unknown

A Thought for Today-75: September 9, 2007

A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist — Louis Nizer

A Thought for Today-74: September 8, 2007

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do - Johann von Goethe

A Thought for Today-73: September 7, 2007

When we accept tough jobs as a challenge and wade into them with joy and enthusiasm, miracles can happen - Arland Gilbert

A Thought for Today-72: September 6, 2007

"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think. " - Benjamin Disraeli

A Thought for Today-71: September 5, 2007

"Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on you." - L. Thomas Holdcroft

Self-Improvement: Take the time to live!!!

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight, and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop,"The devil's name is Depression.
4. Enjoy the simple things. When the children are young, that is all that you can afford. When they are in college, that is all that you can afford.When you are on retirement, that is all that you can afford.
5. Laugh often, long, and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. Laugh so much that you can be tracked in the store by your distinctive laughter.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be alive while you are alive, don't put out a mailbox on the highway of death and just wait in residence for your mail.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Go to the mall, the next county, foreign country, but not to guilt country.
10. Tell the people you love, that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
May today, there be peace within you. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
"I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."

Author Unknown

A Thought for Today-70: September 4, 2007

I learned that courage was not absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear - Nelson Mandela

Websites to Watch-3 : 'Online Photo Editor'

Online Photo Editor is a site that can come in handy whenever your regular photo editor is not handy. Simply upload a photo (or point to the photo's url), edit the photo with some easy to use photo tools (crop, rotate, sharpen, color balance, convert to black and white etc). Phixr actually has a nice selection of tools! To finish, either save your photo or email it.

Courtesy: 'Insite Info', Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, Sep.24, 2007.

Grateful thanks to Deccan Chronicle.

Eyecatchers-31 : 'Tagore, Nazrul Songs Enchant Chinese Crowd' - IANS

Dhaka: A renowned Chinese ethnomusicologist who trained and researched in India is introducing the songs of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and Qazi Nazrul Islam to the people of China with help from Bangladeshi artists.

The styles and techniques of the two great subcontinental greats were presented by Adity Mohsin and Anup Barua, renowned artists from Bangladesh who performed eight songs each at a program recently organized in Beijing by the Central Conservatory of Music (CCM), China.

"Tagore and Nazrul (who set their poems to music) were Asia's greatest musicians," said Professor Chen Zi Ming, president of the China World Music Association. He said he had been looking for an opportunity to introduce the music of the two maestros to his students in the Chinese mainland and beyond.

Bangladesh eagerly responded to his interest and Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Ltd, the Chinese company with a growing presence in the country's telecommunication sector, sponsored the program.

The Bangla Lanugage Department of China Communications University and China Radio International, Bangla Service, also contributed.

Courtesy: IANS/Deccan Chronicle, Chennai, Sep.24, 2007.

Grateful thanks to IANS and Deccan Chronicle.

Eyecatchers-30 : 'Wi-Fi Dreams Fading Fast' - AFP

Plans for Wi-Fi networks to provide free or low-cost wireless Internet access are being abandoned or scaled back by U.S. cities as the economics is turning out to be challenging.

San Francisco and Chicago in recent weeks abruptly halted plans to set up municipal Wi-Fi networks while Internet giant, Earthlink, a partner for a number of cities, begun a reorganisation that would limit new projects.

Cities and companies are finding the economics more difficult, with many expensive access points needed and relatively small numbers of subscribers signing on.

Analysts however says that despite the problems of municipal Wi-Fi programs, wireless Internet access is growing and more networks will be coming in some form.

Courtesy: AFP/The Hindu, Chennai, of Sep.24, 2007

Grateful thanks to AFP and The Hindu.

Eyecatchers-29 : 'The Earth is a borderless entity: Sunita Williams'

The Indian-origin American astronaut, Sunita Williams, arrived at Ahmedabad on Thursday, the September 20, 2007, for a six-day visit to her native Gujarat, the first since she returned from her historic six-month sojourn at the International Space Station.

She was accorded a tumultuous reception by people who turned up in large numbers at the Ahmedabad airport.

She began her visit by paying homage to the 'Father of the Nation' at the Sabarmati Ashram. There she attended a prayer meeting. She interacted with a large number of school students. She told them about her experiences in space an d how the earth looked like from the window of the space station.

Ms Williams told the gathering that "borders" between the nations were all "creations of the mind" of the people and from outer space, the earth was a single "borderless" entity. She said India looked the "most beautiful" from space.

Excerpt from the news report of Manas Dasgupta in The Hindu of Sep.21, 2007.

Grateful thanks to Manas Dasgupta and The Hindu.

Websites to Watch-2 : 'The Nobel Prize : Offical Website'

The Official Nobel Prize Website

This is another interesting website which I like. I am reproducing information about the website from the website itself ('About Nobelprize.org and Nobel Web').

Nobelprize.org is the official web site of the Nobel Foundation. Here you will find information for every Nobel Prize since 1901, including the Nobel Laureates' biographies, Nobel Lectures, interviews, photos, articles, video clips, press releases, educational games and more.

Nobelprize.org (http://nobelprize.org/) is a registered trademark, and is produced, managed and maintained by Nobel Web. Nobel Web AB is a Swedish corporate entity and subsidiary of the Nobel Foundation Rights Association, a non-profit association managing the rights of the Nobel Foundation. Alongside its own productions, Nobel Web AB processes and publishes information from the Nobel Foundation, the Nobel Prize-Awarding Institutions, the Nobel Laureates and other Nobel Prize-associated entities. Its dedicated staff is assisted by advisers, whose knowledge and expertise about Nobel Prize topics and the Nobel Laureates' achievements ensure the reliability and quality of the information presented at Nobelprize.org.

Nobelprize.org provides comprehensive, first-hand information about the Nobel Prize and Nobel Laureates in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace starting in 1901, as well as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel and the Economics Laureates starting in 1969. Visitors to the site also get to know about Alfred Nobel, the man behind the Nobel Prize.

As the official online information source for the Nobel Prize, visitors learn about the names of the year's Nobel Laureates just seconds after the prize announcements are made by the Nobel Prize-Awarding Institutions in October. Aside from the press releases, information about the Nobel Laureates and their work is made available through interviews, Nobel Lectures, speeches, articles, and more.

In December, as the Nobel Laureates arrive in Stockholm and Oslo to receive the Nobel Prize Medal, Diploma and prize amount, Nobelprize.org follows their activities and presents them online. Visitors can also watch the Nobel Laureates present their Nobel Lectures, and experience the magic of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies through live web casts. Those who have missed these events can watch them afterwards through on-demand videos.

Through the assistance of foundations, corporate sponsors and educational bodies, Nobel Web AB produces interactive, multimedia documents aimed at inspiring young people to learn more about the achievements of the Nobel Laureates. These are rapidly becoming extremely popular resources for teachers and students.