Chanced upon something very interesting and rather, path breaking -

http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/12/electricity-generated-traffic-alternative-energy-system/

Well it could be very early days and lot depends on execution and its feasibility.

But, the mind does wonder of the immense possibilities ahead.

Bravo guys ! (to the folks @ Innowatech – the company behind this ingenious idea)

Also, visit http://www.innowattech.co.il/index.aspx to be further amazed

A tribute to the Mahatma may not always be on lavishing infinite praise on him or drawing parallels in history that relegate him to levels of surreality and even, disbelief.

I have come across many who scorn @ Bapu –  staunch believers of an incredible loss, deceit and conspiracy that scripted our country’s birth and plague it even today. I have spent many a lunches, dinners and uncomfortable walks debating their line of thought, without much success. Their conviction is as strong as my belief and it’s hard to find a winner.

But now I debate no more. Because its not as important as to believe in the goodness of Bapu as it is to believe in the veracity of things he stood for. As long as we continue to build a world on non violence, truth, love and human dignity, there can be no greater tribute, no truer talisman.

So give this a thought -

• close to 80% of the world today lives in countries that are ‘third world’
• death due to poverty and hunger every year is many a times more than accidents, terrorism, catastrophes, world wars and all of them put together
• diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and small pox have been eradicated from the developed world but continue to rampantly kill in Asia and Africa
• over 100 billion pounds of food is wasted in America alone every year. This would be sufficient to feed close to 700 million hungry people across the world
• the top 10 corporate tax payers in India paid close to Rs 35000 crores in 2007-08. It takes a person to earn Rs 25000 per year to be above the poverty line. Put this together, the taxes from the top 10 corporates could have brought 1.4 cr Indian families above the poverty line.

Every where we look, there is so much that needs to be done. So much of change we all wish to see. But will we ever move a muscle to create a change? When will we shun our arm chairs, look beyond ourselves and bring about a change? What have we done to make this world a better place?

Put starkly,  do we have the balls ‘to be the change we wish to see‘

One man did. He needs no intro and no ode.

Suppose you are seated in a dark room and on the table in front of you are placed ten coins – 3 heads up and 7 tails up.

The task @ hand is to separate these coins into two piles such that both piles have the same number of heads up coins.

Instructions : The room is dark. So obviously you cant see if a coin is heads up / tails up. Neither can you tell the difference by touching the coin. But to make your task a tad simpler – flipping the coins is always allowed.

That’s it. All set. Let’s flex that mind !

Solution:

Separate the coins into two piles of 3 and 7 each. We obviously don’t know of the number of heads / tails in each pile.

Take the smaller pile of 3 coins. Flip all the coins in this pile.

Now, both the piles will have the same number of heads.

How? It’s like this…

Let’s say the pile with 3 coins has ‘h’ heads. The total number of heads-up coins being three, the pile with 7 coins will have ‘3-h’ heads up. Hence, number of heads in the 3 coins pile is ‘h’ and number of coins in the 7 coins pile is ‘3-h’.

Now, take the smaller pile of 3 coins. Here, number of heads-up coins is ‘h’ and number of tails up coins is ‘3-h’ (because total number of coins in the pile is 3 and if ‘h’ of them are heads-up, only ‘3-h’ of them can be tails-up). When you flip all the coins here, all the coins which were previously heads become tails and vice versa. Hence, now the number of tails up coins here would be ‘h’. Therefore, number of heads up coins would be ‘3-h’.

Now, both piles have same number of heads up coins i.e. ‘3-h’.

Hence, problem solved !!

From where I stand…

What meets the  eye is what went by

Pain is to harbor a loss and nurse it everyday.

The rudder’s gone missing and the sails got ‘em wrong,

Listless, aimless, I am drifting along.

My ship cant sink and am not ready to perish

Estranged from the shores I left

I know not of the shores I’ll reach.

But everytime the anchor goes down,

My world halts for a moment,

And I hear murmurs of memories.

Transient is triumph, Indelible is a loss.

To come to terms with my loneliness,

I wake up to the rage of the seas.

And set sail again.

From where I stand, what I leave is a trail in time

The tear that trickles knows how I rue,

Of the day that I sailed past you.

The past two days have been momentous in terms of news.

Bandra – Worli sea link finally opened after over a decade of expectations and ofcourse, it’s cost a fortune.

Babri masjid report was finaly tabled. It took 17 years for a report. Just a few insignificant  developments happened over this passage of time. The incumbent premier has moved on to his heavenly abode and the main protagonist is meandering listlessly in what seems the twilight of his life and career. And ofcourse, we have had quite a score of riots and carnage in the meanwhile.

These two events – one that held a promise of skyrocketing a city’s aspirations and the other, that had the questions an entire nation’s conscience had to come to terms with – have prolonged themselves to obscurity and insignificance.

Mumbai has changed. India has moved on. The sea link will become an opportunity that was lost to time. The report will become a political placard that will get lost with time.

Once again, we are late in time. And once again, we are celebrating it.

What’s with us? Till when will we defend our mediocrity. And revel in it too.

In pursuit of peace,

Wars I wage.

Its the irony of my times,

I seek a better world by taking lives.

I search for love but I can trust no more.

I build roads to get closer.

Then I make walls to keep me safer.

I only mean well but how do I know…

On yonder side, is it love thats sown or rage thats grown?

Every day I live a lie.

Of finding a better world before I die.

When have knives weeded out hatred,

Or bullets built trust?

I am searching for a world I killed.

And why am I still gunning my neighbour for it?

Well.. its all a maze of time. Living it every day makes it more confusing. I keep walking, thinking I know the way or else, I’ll make my way. Somedays, I seem to win. But most days, I seem so lost… 

Seems like there is something we know about ourselves. Somedays it feels like a strong intuition. And some other days, nothing more than a stupid self belief. Without reason, without evidence, why do we believe in ourself? What makes us think we can make it, when we don’t even know the road ahead…

Life in itself is a flurry or images and emotions captured in time. But there must be a reason to this motion picture we live everyday. Or atleast, should we not be finding a reason to live? A life of purpose… A purposeful life. 

Thinking of life, makes us dream. Dream of all that we wish to create. Through these dreams, we tend to see our purpose. Our raison d’etre.

Dreams lead us to expectations. And expectations are almost always met with failures. Most times, repeated failures.

Failures build frustration and we question ourselves. The same very questions we started out with: The purpose, The reason, The maze and the road ahead.

Let life roll. Let dreams fail. Let failures grow and frustration build. 

And even there is that voice that says – Keep walking… And we live to walk an other day in the maze of time.

There seems scant reason for self belief. Little chances of success. 

After all Fermat’s last theorem took three centuries to be proven. But it was true ever since it was written.

Think of knowing something that is true but not knowing how to prove it. Sometimes that’s what this journey of life looks like.

Time will bring along a proof, an evidence. Hopefully it wont take three centuries to finally justify our life. Hopefully it might just take a lifetime.

Here is an adaptation of the famous puzzle – Russian Roulette.

A scene from the movie ‘Sholay’.

‘Gabbar Singh’ (the dacoit) is furious at his accomplice ‘Kalia’. Gabbar loads his revolver with exactly two bullets in continuous slots (of the six possible slots) and points the muzzle @ Kalia’s head. Gabbar says ‘I am going to kill you’. And saying this, triggers the revolver.

But no bullet is fired. Kalia is alive and also a lot confused.

Gabbar, amused by the turn of fate, gives Kalia an option, ‘There are exactly 2 bullets in here and I am going to take only one more shot. You have a choice – 1. Either I spin the cylinder (of the revolver) again and then take a shot. 2. Or I go ahead and take another shot. Whatever now happens is your destiny. And your destiny is in your hands. What do you want me to do – Spin the cylinder and shoot OR Take another shot?’

Considering that Kalia really wants to live another day, what option should he be suggesting?

(I came across the russian roulette puzzle online. Also read in a book called ‘How would you move Mount Fuji?’ by William Poundstone. You could also read about the Russian Roulette on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_roulette)

Answer

Option 2: Go ahead and take another shot.

Case 1: Revolve the cylinder again and shoot.

In this case, the no of cases where Kalia will survive is 4 (if any of the 4 empty slots gets selected again). Total no of slots is 6 (4 empty + 2 with bullet each).

Hence, Probability of Survival, P(S) = Favourable cases / Total no of cases = 4/6 = 66.66 %

Case 2: Take another shot.

In this case one empty slot has already been exhausted (as the first shot did not fire any bullet). Now to survive, the next shot must also land up on one of the remaining empty slots. Remaining empty slots = 3. Hence, favourable cases = 3.

From the total no of possible slots that can be considered, one empty slot has already been exhausted.

Also the bullets are loaded continuously. Hence, the second continuous bullet slot also has to be excluded. Because the only way that the second bullet slot can now be selected is if the first shot would have landed on the first bullet shot. But that cannot be the case, since the first shot did not fire any bullet.

Hence Total no of possible slots = 6 – 1 (empty slot that was selected for the first shot) – 1 (the second continuous bullet slot which cannot be selected) = 4

Hence, Probability of Survival, P(S) = Favourable Cases / Total Possible Cases = 3/4 = 75%

This case has a higher Probability of Survival.

Hence, Kalia must select this option.

There are 8 iron balls. All are of equal weight except one. And you are given a weighing balance. What is the minimum no of times you need to use the weighing balance to find the heavier ball?

Ans : 2 times

Three times is what is the most common response you’ll come across.

But you can spot the heavier one by using the balance just two times.

Keep three balls on each side of the balance.

Case 1: Both the sides are equally balanced. Which would mean that heavier ball is one of the two left out. Now put each of those two on either side of the balance. One of them would be heavier and the corresponding side would be lowered.

So, for case 1, you can spot the heavier ball by using the balance only two times.

Case 2: Both the sides are not equally balanced. This would mean that the heavier ball is one amongst the three balls, for which the balance is lowered. Next task is to spot which of the three is the heavier one.

So for this, take any two of the three and place them on the scale on either side.

If both of them are of same weight (i.e the balance stays balanced), the heavier one is the third ball which has been kept out.

Else if the heavier ball is one of these two, the corresponding side will be lowered.

So, in case 2 also, we can spot the heavier ball in just two attempts.

Hence, minimum no of times you would need to use the balance is 2.

Some statements need not be explained.

They are thumb rules written in stone. They will stand there and stare into your face.

You can choose not to see them or respond to them. But you cannot ignore them.

And this is one such rule – Mediocrity will take you down.

Struggle and strive. You’ll fail or succeed.

Don’t just walk through life. As if you have no drive or pride.

Mediocrity is a crime…