Read and Chill

On the run again

2009-06-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

Scrounging around all over the place to get my docs done now.In the process ended up at the madhouse city of Ranchi!!! Which has now redeemed itself as the capital of Jharkhand.What struck me this time was the really good condition of the roads. Our driver never pulled below 80 !!
And guess what the city looks a lot better too with the Government Offices based out of the former Heavy Electricals Corp. offices, all painted up and tight security!!

The truck guys love the road too....and often bang each other as hard as they can !!!! with fatal results....we saw at least 3 bangs...1 still right in the middle of the road !!!

The pleasure of a road side dhaba brought back fond memories!!!....and nothing beats a solid chai early in the morning!!

The City Inn....very
much on the way out
of the city!! Location Location Location man....!!!
savesave

Understanding the Swine Flu

2009-05-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

The Swine Flu outbreak is on the verge of being declared a pandemic and a lot of parallels are being drawn with the 1918 Spanish Flu Outbreak. The reason being the strain is a direct descendant of the same virus.The Spanish Flu Outbreak of 1918 spread rapidly and affected nearly a billion people at the time which was more than half the worlds population.It threw the world into a depression and the year of peace after the Great War(World War 1) saw more than double the deaths due to the disease than due to War.

Two big reasons why this strain has reared its ugly head again is because the virus was never fully wiped out and because of human greed as usual.The virus continued to exist in pigs and minor variations have resulted in seasonal outbreaks of flu throughout the 20th Century. The variations often result from reassortment whereby swine or human cells infected by multiple flu viruses exchange RNA segments creating new variants which share the properties of both.This overwhelms antibodies which is our body's first line of defense. In roughly a decade the variations are quite large which enable pandemics like the Swine Flu to break out.In this case the virus combines the properties of one strain of human influenza virus, one strain of avian influenza virus, and two separate strains of Swine Influenza Virus(specific to pigs). Its apparently also mutated allowing it to pass easily among humans.

The second reason is unhealthy factory farming which serves as unchecked reservoirs for such viruses. Much as the idea may seem repulsive to some, factory farming keeps swine in close confinement and is the result of human greed for cheap meat.The outbreak does not surprise many health officials who were aware of such unhealthy practices and the impending disaster.

The Spanish Flu killed people who had healthy immune systems which were mostly young adults.When their immune system was faced with the unknown and virulent invader it released cytokines which signal certain cells like T-Cells to travel to the viral site to fight.But it also activates T-cells to release more cytokines.This loop can quickly go out of control if not checked by the body and cause massive damage to delicate tissues and organs.A healthy immune system proved a liability for the victims.The deadly affect is called a cytokine storm

Our best hope is that passive measures such as scanning people at airports and wearing masks etc buy us enough time and contain the virus to a sufficient extent to reach the height of summer when its transmission will be more restricted. Or to develop a vaccine in the 16 to 20 weeks it normally takes.Of course antiviral medicines were not available back in 1918. We are better prepared this time.

Single Crystal Blades for our Kaveri engine

2009-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Lot of discussion on Indian Defence forums surrounding the turbine development for the Light Combat Aircraft, after Aero India 2009. Gas Turbine Research Establishment(GTRE)has got most of the thrust out of the Kaveri indigenous engine but one of the reasons holding them back from getting the last few100 newtons seems to be single crystal blade technology.

Looks simple eh !

There are of course a few other factors, none of them in the least insurmountable. It seems that most efforts to develop a jet engine fail at the last few hurdles, most are able to make it up to getting the basic chassis and thrust going even making an airframe and flying it with a GE or Rolls Royce engine.But increasing the thrust to provide enough afterburner thrust for the airframe or making the airframe light enough for the weaker engine all require high-end materials science. The Chinese for example have failed to produce a powerful engine so far. This last step of optimization and blade technology is so high tech that no one wants to share it. Designing a jet engine from scratch isnt easy and all the powers which have one went through a significant development and design cycle plus had adequate funding.GTRE has done well to get it so far.They were faced with sanctions, almost no external aid and simply thrown aside when it came to funding. But now they have got the Kaveri to the initial specifications of the IAF. But it seems the LCA airframe is quite heavy to allow it to perform as well with the Kaveri as with other engines.

I am glad that they are prepared to take help from Snecma to speed up things. Especially since the LCA has now completed 1000 sorties and deserves to finally have its Indian legs in place.

Today conventionally manufactured aircraft turbine blades are the norm and the high temperatures inside a turbine of a jet engine can start problems at crystal boundaries of such aerofoils. Especially stress and slippage under load to increased chemical activity can weaken them quickly.

So Pratt & Whitney set out in the early 1960s, to eliminate grain boundaries from turbine airfoils altogether, by inventing techniques to cast single-crystal turbine blades and vanes. Here is what a single crystal looks like:

Here is a single crystal blade..there are supposed to be no boundaries:

The beige single crystal blades on this GE 9H turbine

As I understood it...manufacturing them isnt easy as expected(or China would have its own GE & Rolls Royce engine at 1/5th the price out in the black market by now) It involves solidifying the crystal from a special alloy solution gradually so the solidification front gradually advances from top to bottom and the solid part is gradually pulled out of the vessel.

Well Godspeed GTRE !

Some serials many of us grew up with

2009-05-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hey there....I was just looking back to younger days(sigh!) today and wondering how many of us remember all those serials we grew up with...you know the ones that used to come on DD...those innocent "kid-dish" ones till cable came along and told us what we were missing.

So here goes my reminisces:
First there was Mowgli based on Rudyard Kipling's jungle book.Can't ever forget the tune.Never came across the name of the guy who sung it but I remember hearing the voice in many places.Luckily the original book had Indian names for the characters so you don't see a bunch of ridiculous names here.

Then there was that amazing pair Duck Tales and Tales Spin...personally I liked Tales Spin better because of those amazing dogfights and aerial maneuvers Baloo could make his Conwing L-16 seaplane do. The English intro is not even half as good as the Hindi one but here goes:

But some days it would be hard to choose...both had some fabulous adventure stories that never failed to draw us in on Sunday 10:00 !

Here is Duck Tales:

and the music was superb which promised of fast paced adventure.Was confused for a long time afterward between Uncle Scroodge and Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens Christmas Carol!! Uncle Scroodge always seemed to be a nice duck, when did he turn into a miser!!!

Then we had The Sword of Tipu Sultan airing in DD too which had amazing battle scenes and a rousing intro.

Another was Dekh Bhai Dekh which was actually funny in those days because the characters were so well chosen. I doubt any of the current comedies airing these days come even close to it in terms of quality.The intro says it all :

I think even Batman the animated series aired for some time in DD...had one hell of a kick ass opening:

I personally thought this series was more darker and closer to the latest batman movie - The Dark Knight than any of the live actors series that came on Star TV later.

On Cozy Fireplaces...

2009-03-15T09:24:00.001-07:00

Came back all exhausted and dusty! from a friend's wedding reception yesterday. No matter what the time of year Chennai will always make you feel one with the Earth by shoving dust up your nose and eyes. But.... filled myself to the brim with some great food! and Gajar Ka Halwa with Ice Cream ! Yo!

The first thing that struck me when I got back was how nice it would be ...to return instead to one of those typical English Houses with a roaring fireplace and a glass of chocolate ...and beat this...snow drifting past your window as you cuddle up with a warm book !!!! ...one has to admit there is something very endearing and comforting in the warmth of a fireplace. But you can't have fireplaces here...you will get roasted alive !!!! So lets delude ourselves and imagine we are in colder climes for as long as you are wasting time here .

Fireplaces have long gone out of fashion..or been replaced with gas fireplaces, as wooden ones were rather inefficient. I guess the charm of a fireplace lies in the soft crackling of wood and the hypnotising dance of flames like in a camp fire. The urge to poke the fire mischievously is too great to put up with a gas stove!!!...and then there is that light smell of burning wood !.

Victorian fire poker...looks deadly eh!

That reminds me of the scene in the Chronicles of Narnia..the one where that Tumnus goat head tries to lull Lucy into a sleep with a hypnotic fire..now thats one setting which not just looked but felt soothing too with flute music and a cup of hot tea and all...with the freezing weather safely locked out ...

Then what else...ah! Harry Potter and his Floo network involved fireplaces too !! Fireplaces appear all over Hogwarts...Proff Mc Gonagall has one in her study. Take this scene from the upcoming Half Blood Prince movie for example..what a splendid addition a fireplace would make to it. Harry and Ginny in deep discussion with Professor Horace Slughorn and a wholesome lay of cookies being wasted on the table.

Fireplaces remind me of foggy and mysterious London nights and guess who ??....why Sherlock Holmes of course!!!...imagine Holmes lying back in those comfortable victorian armchairs with his Stradivarius Violin across the arm fiddling his favorite tune, while Dr. Watson relives their latest adventure. Perhaps the study had a fireplace like this :

Nah!! Seems a bit too bright for my tastes, perhaps more sombre colors...

And hey!..check out these ornate fireplaces :

and this one :

and this one too....probably Swiss!!

and the awesome Christmas Fireplaces !!

But my dream home would have this one....beats the others hands down !

or this one !!

..but the perfect supplement to a cosy fireside evening would be the snow flakes drifting past the window ...and of course ...the company of a pretty woman.

Black is back !

2008-04-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody. Started my new blog today. Decided to make it black. Well if for nothing else, it will certainly be relief for tired eyes and cost you less power on your monitor,

More interesting things coming up soon. Be sure to keep coming by.....like good ol' friends !