Friday, August 12, 2005
Food For thought
LORD MACAULAY'S ADDRESS TO
THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT
2 FEBRUARY, 1835
"I have travelled across the length and breadth of
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Trip to Shivsamudram
Red Planet Mars
NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN.
The Red Planet (MARS) is about to be spectacular! This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.
The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.
The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of - 2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. By August 27, Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot.
At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12: 30a.m. That's pretty convenient to see something that no human being has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively
brighter and brighter throughout the month.
Ambulances
And needless to say, seeing an Ambulance in the thick of this traffic is not an unusual sight. What bugs me here is that , none of the vehicles which are infront of the Ambulance budge. For each and everyone , reaching to ones respective destination is of primary importance.
Again there is another problem. The Sirens used by these Ambulances especially the Maruti Omni's is very very feeble and the vehicles infront will not be able to know that there is a Ambulance behind.
My Solution to this problem would be
[1] Make the sirens very very loud so that even from far away they should be heard, and the very sound of them should make the vehicles move ahead.
This will also help the cops at the traffic junctions ,that a Ambulance/Fire Engine is coming and they need to clear the way for them.
This action they only do for the VIP's and VVIP's.
[2] Create an awareness among Vehicles Drivers, that, when there is a Ambulance/Fire Engine all vehicles should move towards left hand side of the road and clean the right hand side for these vehicles . In the US these rules are told while applying for the Driving license itself so that every one knows about these basic rules.
From my point of view, these should be mandatory questions that should be asked during the Driving Test . Then people will read them atleast and hence know about these.
It should help....