Bye bye Fossil fuels?

Many products are now available online from companies like First Solar, Evergreen Solar and GoGreensolar that will reduce our carbon footprint. Cheap easy to install solar panels, wind turbines can be used to generate a percentage of our energy use and with the expected implementation of a smart grid (which I will talk about at another time) any excess energy can be sold to electric company. Not only will we reduce our dependence on environmentally costly fuel but also have the opportunity to reduce the dependence of others.

A case study: This was reported in the economist last year. Farmers on a small island of the coast of Denmark, were encouraged by the government to place wind turbines on their farms. I am not aware if any subsidies were provided, but the farming community invested in the several turbines over the last few years and have succesully generated enough power to be able to sell it to the electric company which then supplies it to the main land. Denmark now generates 15% of it power from wind,(17000 megawatts of electricity) which was made possible by encouraging schemes such as these.

I don't want to lecture but this is an opportunity for each one of us to make a difference. So approach your local community organization, city or town hall to implement applicable clean energy technology. If thats not possible you can buy panels or turbines for your home and reduce your footprint.

What tragedy of commons?

A bit dated this article might be, but it will be relevant until we overcome the tragedy that is staring us in the face. At the expense of sounding like a broken record, I will once again talk about global warming and the urgency of taking steps to combat this phenomenon.

Elinor Ostrom, a political scientist, won the Nobel Prize for Economics recently. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized her "for her analysis of economic governance," saying her work had demonstrated how common property could be successfully managed by groups using it thus debunking the tragedy of commons. Each of us working in groups can compromise for the conservation and thereby the rejuvenation of resources.

Renewable energies are getting cheaper by the day. The problem so far has been that coal was extremely cheap to use compared to the energy obtained through Solar and Wind technologies. In Jan 2009, First Solar announced that they had beaten the industry milestone of $1 per watt of solar energy. Compared to the prices per watt of coal this is still expensive. While the renewable energy companies work on the innovation, we can lend a hand by driving demand. It has always been the case that demand leads to innovation. Kinda like necessity and invention.

Hard work

GIVING 103% AT WORK

We have all been to those meetings where someone wants over 100% Here's to achieving 103%. Here's a little
math that might prove helpful in the future!

What makes life 100%?

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

equals:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

then:
H A R D W O R K
8 1 18 4 23 15 18 11 = 98 % Only

K N O W L E D G E
11 14 15 23 12 5 4 7 5 = 96 % Only

But:
A T T I T U D E
1 20 20 9 20 21 4 5 = 100 %

However:
B U L L * * * T
2 21 12 12 19 8 9 20 = 103%

Urgent Changes to the UNSC

It has been over 60 years since WWII. The victors granted themselves a special position on the geo political arena by creating the UNSC and giving themselves the power of the veto. This veto power has been used on many instances to thwart progress and also as a tool to instigate peace or war. I am not arguing against the veto power, but against limited number that it has been granted to. It is important now to acknowledge that the UNSC permanent membership is outdated and does not truly represent the interests of the globe. It only represents the vested interest of the few powerful nations.

England and France: As the EU becomes more organized and stable its only fair that the position that these two countries hold in the UNSC be handed over to the EU as it truly represents the interests of Europe and not just those of the two countries.

Russia, China and USA: No changes here

Expansion of the UNSC: To be truly democratic the UN needs to expand the UNSC. There is nor representation of South America, Africa, South Asia. It important that every continent is represented in the council and also important that a large population like that of South Asia be given a place in the council. The BRIC countries Brazil and India would be the ideal candidates for this purpose. Brazil is the largest country in South America and India has a population of more than 1 billion.

There is no way that the current council will allow an expansion. Who would want to share power or be interfered with by more than what they already face. China will oppose India’s entry and Brazil will be opposed by the Venezuela, Bolivia among others. For this purpose the UNSC should be temporarily stripped of the veto power, a vote with equal weight from each country taken, the UNSC expanded and then the UNSC be handed back the veto.

The cap and trade story

I cannot tell you about the what the cap and trade will achieve better that this video. While the best of the solutions available right now, the control over the cap and trade should rest with individual governments completely.The trade should be regulated, somewhat, to ensure fair play.

Its easy to be satisfied with what we have right now but as the video will show you, and history has constantly proved, businesses will try to serve themselves, not the planet.

Link to video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA6FSy6EKrM

Possibilan-ism

To expand out horizons we must first admit ignorance. -Olivia Judson

Everybody seems to be dealing in certainties, even in this age. Religious institutions and cults are certain that their book explain everything and only that is the truth, Atheists are certain that the path science has adopted is the best way forward and both are at each throats. I was, until recently, a part of the latter.

David Eagleman introduced Possibilan-ism. "Possibilans are those that celebrate the vastness of our ignorance, are unwilling to commit to any particular made-up story, and take pleasure in entertaining multiple hypotheses." This is the simplest yet the best definition. There is no church, no principles to adhere to -only a recognition of our ignorance and an adaptation of the middle path. David Eaglemen presented this view in his book and SUM and will follow up in his 2010 book "Why I am a possibilan".

So open up and explore this possibility.

Bhopal: 25 years later

When the Yes Men declared that Dow chemicals would further compensate victims of Union Carbides negligence, everybody cheered (except Dow stockholders), when it was revealed that this declaration was a scam not everybody jeered. The people of Bhopal after losing all hope were happy that they have not been forgotten, often the case with the tragedies brought about by the west onto the rest. The western media castigated these proponents of justice, upon the revelation, as if they had caused the tragedy in Bhopal.

25 years of demonstrations, of watching loved ones die, of deformed infants, of polluted water and most of all of absolutely no justice. The paltry grand that some of the victims received has long been spent. Dow chemicals compensated 4 individuals with 4 billion dollars and a city with 470 million dollars. Assuming 1 million people were affected in Bhopal, according to the equation of the American Judiciary and Dow, 1 American life is equal to 250K lives of Indians. Cynical and preposterous, yes I will be. The action of Dow and America force me to be. Not one single high level person was prosecuted for the travesty in Bhopal. All Bhopal got was a grand/person, a hospital after 7 years of legal battle. The audacity of Union carbide to fight this case for 7 years and the human element advertisements only serve to anger. This was not an accident, it was negligence.

Wanted: A Leader

There are numerous organizations raising awareness about global warming all around the world. Europe has taken greater initiative among the west and the rest. The prime minister and presidents of the world have pledged to reduce their carbon output/intensity. But these are only pledge. It remains to be seen how many countries actually live upto this. It might end up like the land-mine initiative that many countries signed onto, but only Rwanda finished on schedule.

Whats is missing is a global leader, a true leader not the constituent pleasing politicians that are guiding us right now. A leader that is ready to do away with the myopic agendas of politicians, and put forth the simplest of arguments .i.e if we don't do something, we are going to become extinct. Yes extinct. Think Dinosaurs or the Dodos.

There is currently no such leader on the horizon. Al gore could have been it. But he seems the weak willed type, lot of talk less do. He has the potential but is not utilizing it. Ban ki Moon, well UN heads can and have achieved too little. Hu Jintao, yes the Chinese president. He wield a lot of influence in China and can therefore lead by example. Tony Blair, another Al gore and a liar.

The new EU president, ummm his name...ahhhh. Obama, Obama, Obama. Way too much on his hands. Musharaff, ok i am getting desperate. Well I cant think of anyone. (please comment if you can).

A crude experiment for Global warming skeptics

A simple experiment for the global warming skeptics. This experiment can be performed using household equipment.

Reagents & Equipment:

A 4 liter bottle with about 3 liter of water.

About a liter of dye in a plastic bag ( Pick a dark color)

A stand to hold the dye above the bottle.

A needle

Experiment:

Setup stand over the bottle of water, with the dye bad

Poke a tiny hole into the bag of dye

Let dye drip into bottle of water.

Observation:

Over a period of time(depending on volume of each drop) the water in the bottle takes up the color of the dye

Inference:

Dye makes water colorful

Well that was an analogy if u will. 50% of the global warming problems is from CO2 (crude dye example). As the amount of CO2(dye) increases in a finite environment it begins to affect that environment. Yes plants and algae take up CO2 and release O2. But as we dump more and more Co2 into the atmosphere and cut down billions of trees we are seriously disturbing the balance. There was no equivalent to the plants in the experiment, it was not necessary. The experiment was only to demonstrate a point and, I u can carry it out if you want. The pollutant cannot go anywhere and will affect the environment they are in.

Now, for those of you who say that this is a natural cycle of the earth to warm up a few degree every few 100,00 years, another experiment is necessary which is beyond my scope for now. But I will tell you this, even if this is a cycle that the earth is going through, do you people think that it is healthy to pollute. To not do anything about the CO2 and to continue using dirty energy as we do will only spell doom for the planet. The end date will be postponed but its possibility is still definite.

Let not delude ourselves anymore and believe what is easy to live with, but take the hard medicine to ensure the a healthy future for mother.

Indian Army in Afghanistan

The Indian Government should take the current crisis in Afghanistan as an opportunity for garnering support from the west. This will, of course, mean that it deviate from its ideology of Non alignment. This ideology has only served India to be deemed hypocritical so far, and has not yielded any political weight for herself. The NAM is a total failure. A failure that has to be now rectified. In order for India to gain any political muscle she has to chose sides. The middle path is not an option anymore.
I will not go into details of why the NAM is a failure, but only point out the positive aspects of India's involvements in Afghanistan. There are many in India who would not dare to propose such an idea citing India's need to be involved more in her internal problems and any such intervention by her in a foreign country would serve only to distract her. Its true that India faces many economic and social problems but solutions to these problems require a very long time and cannot be expedited by the resources India currently possess.
One of the biggest threats that India faces is terrorism. By being involved in Afghanistan the Indian army will have a closer proximity to the terrorists in Kashmir most of whom are being supported by the ISI and the extremists entrenched in the Afghan, Pakistan territories. The Taliban and Al Qaeda and the myriad of terrorist organizations present in the tribal areas of Pakistan are unresolvably intertwined, providing each other with tactical and probably financial support. Getting closer to the terrorist dense tribal areas will provide better intelligence to India along with anti-terrorist training for the army. This will of course come at a great expense for the Indian government but not more than the billions she has already spent to keep Kashmir and other disputed areas peaceful. There is an opportunity to disrupt the networks of those who are bent on ending India's governance of Kashmir.

DNA art

DNA art. When I came across this idea/business I had a "Why did I not think of this?" moment.These images are something that I see everyday in my life. Now there is some smart ass making a ton of money of this. Well done sir
The idea is simple. Take someones DNA, cut it up at specific places, Run it through a gel using electricity, take a high quality picture, blow it up and sell it as art. Its the coolest thing ever.It not only does it look good but also has the "cool" factor of having you own DNA as art.

Vaccine Myths

I am going to try and convince the skeptics and the conspiracy theorists about the importance of vaccine. No they are not tools for controlling people minds. Vaccination is one of the most important discoveries made by man. It gives every person the ability to ward of diseases, from the simple flu to the dealy small pox, Polio and maybe sometime in the future HIV.
Vaccination was used in India and China for about 2000 years to prevent small pox. But it was Edward Jenner who first observed the immunity against smallpox in people working with cows. He used scabs from cowpox and inoculated humans. To his surprise he found that those inoculated with cowpox were resistant to small pox. Vacc = cow
Thats the history on vaccines. These days vaccines are touted as the best way to decrease incidence of most diseases. Prevention is better than a cure. Smallpox, MMR, Polio, HPV are but a few examples of diseases that have effective vaccines developed.
Vaccines can cause a some slight sickness after being administered. But the immunity that develops far outweighs this short term "risk". When a vaccine is administered, your body mounts an offensive against it by producing antibodies. When the real infectious agent enter the body they are destroyed by the already present antibodies. Therefore, vaccines prevent diseases.
Now the myths. The most insane of all the myths is that the government uses vaccines to control your minds. This is impossible, those who think this, need to understand we barely know anything about the human body. Mind control is not possible via vaccines.
Kids can become autistic because of vaccines. Its only a coincidence that autism is diagnosed around the time kids are vaccinated for the plethora or diseases that their immune system is not equipped to handle. Mercury in vaccines was wrongly believed to cause autism in children. Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, was removed from vaccines in 1999, but the autism myth never went away.
Vaccine can make me/my kid sick. As is said earlier this is just a short term "risk". "Risk" because vaccines can cause a short lived low rise in temperature.
To reiterate, vaccines are one of the most important discoveries made by man. It decreases infant mortality, prevents debilitating diseases, and gives you super human strength. Just kidding about the last one.

OPEC- Its time you invest more in alternative fuels

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which was formed after Venezuela felt that its position as a profitable oil exporting nation was threatened by American policies way back when. After the 1973 oil crisis OPEC emerged as a formidable political force and has since been at the helm of world affairs. As the world spiraling into its oil addiction the wealth in these countries exploded. For more info go to Wikipedia.
The OPEC countries generate plenty of wealth from the black gold. With the supply of oil fixed, peak oil seems to be on everyones mind. Research into alternative energy is being given a lot of priority in west, as their dependence on oil is higher than the developing world. By exploring the peak oil scenario , the oil exporting countries will eventually run out of their immense profit yielding commodity. This will leave them in the unenviable position that the rest of the world finds itself in right now, i.e. dependence on foreign powers and their whims for vital energy needs. With all the disposable income at their fingertips OPEC should start programs that invest in alternative fuel, thereby ensuring their position int he future.
Brazil understood this during the oil crises in the 70's and has set an amazing example in demonstrating oil alternatives. In 2007 72% of the cars in Brazil ran on ethanol. The steps Brazil took almost 40 years ago are yielding high dividends.

Adi's Fault

Yes, I am Adi. I have been hearing "Adi's fault" I decided to start a blog about it. Since I will not have enough material to fill the blog up with why its my fault, I am going to end up ranting about other random, unconnected, sometimes original but sometimes unoriginal, some myths some mythbusters, rants and raves and just about anything under the sun.

This is something i discovered over the last year. There a a million get rich schemes on the web. Most and by most i mean 99% of them are scams, trying to swindle you out of money on a monthly basis. "$400 dollars a day" is a like carrot on a stick. Most schemes require you to buy a subscription-type service where you are regularly sent information that will only frustrate you and get you no where. Those schemes that do work, need you to work you ass off to make the money that they promise. I could go on and on about the tecniques used by these con artists.

Here are a few ways differentiate the what works and what does not. The easiest way is to google "[scheme name] scam". This will almost always (apologies Mrs Mansurkani (my English teacher) for using almost always) result in you finding a page on which some would write about their experience with that scheme. There will be pages setup by the company trying to sell you the scheme, writing in favor of the scheme. Watch out for those.

Another, more laborious, way is to check with the Better Business Bureau. Check to see if there are any complaints against the parent company

Hope this helps. My advice to those trying to get rich quick. Give up trying to get rich quick.

http://www.scamfreezone.org/spot.htm