Kinetic energy absorbers for road safety

Kinetic energy absorbers could be a revolutionary solution to road car safety. These absorbers can convert the linear kinetic energy produced by car crash into rotary energy to be used up in a fly wheel.

The system known as EPAR (Polish acronym for the energy accumulating-dispersing converter) is a polish invention that prevents physical objects against the damage caused by the collisions. It is thought to apply a simple method of transmitting the collision energy to mechanic accumulators instead of allowing it to destroy the object.

Highway crash barriers with EPAR fitted can absorb the energy from a collision at 110 km/h according to the company - who say they are in talks to implement their system on Sweden's road network and with Kuwait to protect their ports and docks.

EPAR fitted on road crash barriers can absorb the energy of a collision at 110 km/h according to the company.The company is also planning to be implement EPAR on Sweden’s road network to assist road safety.

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

Rin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television. “Big” is certainly the word for the sweeping story of the soulful German shepherd who was born on the battlefields, immigrated to America, conquered Hollywood, struggled in the transition to the talkies, helped mobilize thousands of dog volunteers against Hitler and himself emerged victorious as the perfect family-friendly icon of cold war gunslinging, thanks to the new medium of television.

Susan Orlean’s new book Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend is, like much of her previous work, a story that shines a light on obsession. Orlean delights in elegantly recasting fringe characters on their own terms, following them along narrative arcs from an exterior perspective, where they might seem strange or off-putting, to more sympathetic territory. The book more focuses on the owner Lee Duncan rather than the dog and explains owner and trainer Lee Duncan's extreme, almost romantic devotion to his dog.

Critics say, "It was fascinating to read about the 16 million animals deployed in World War I as scouts, messengers, carriers of medical supplies, and sentries. The insertion of the author’s personal reflections detracted from the more compelling story, but is a minor flaw in an otherwise extraordinary book".

Sri Lanka Achieves Record Breaking 750,000 Arrivals

This is for the first time even that the tourism industry has received number of arrivals exceeding 700,000 mark, in any given year making it a ground breaking figure in tourism records. They offered a special gift and a complimentary package to the tourist arrived today keeping its promise of rewarding the 750,000th tourist and similar rewards were available for the 250,000th 500,000th , 600,000th tourist who visited Sri Lanka in the year 2011.

Sri Lanka Tourism’s aim with this campaign was to amalgamate domestic and international markets alike into one cohesive platform to develop these products by the end of the year, promoting Sri Lanka as a destination that can offer refreshing experiences for anyone who visit it . All promotional activities and events in the next couple of years will be aimed at achieving the target number of 2.6 million tourists by 2016.

Happy feet "Two", 3-D

The movie is a sequel to the Academy Award winning animation "Happy Feet". Happy Feet Two returns audiences to the magnificent landscape of Antarctica in superb 3D. The film is directed by George Miller, who co-directed the original film Happy Feet, starring Elijah Wood and Mumble, Alecia Moore (P!nk) as Gloria and Ava Acres as their son Erik.

In the film Mumble's son, Erik, is struggling to realize his talents in the Emperor Penguin world. Meanwhile, Mumble and his family and friends discover a new threat their home, one that will take everyone working together to save them. Just when it begins to look as if all hope is lost, the penguin nation bands together to dance the darkness away. Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son Erik is chore-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven, a penguin who can fly. Erik learns of his father’s "guts and grit" as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures, from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals, to put things right.

Dr. D Studios in Sydney, Australia produced the film, and was released on November 18, 2011.

South Africa's waste powers homes

South Africa’s third largest city Durban now applies a new idea of generating electricity from unwanted waste thrown in landfills. The project is considered to be advantageous in many ways; Besides providing electricity to the household it helps in making landfills less smelly and giving employment to the unemployed.

The 'Gas to Electricity' project works to extract landfill gas from dumpsites-40 to 60 percent methane and converts it into electricity.The landfill can provide a large supply of electricity enough to light up almost 400 homes .

Rihanna Designs for "Emporio Armani"

The 23 year old fashion diva, Rihanna is now designing a Limited Edition collection for the Italian fashion house. She designed her first clothing collection as part of the Giorgio Armani fashion house. She created a casual range of t-shirts, jeans and some under-garments for the Emporio Armani and Armani Jeans lines of the designer label.

Rihanna said that the jeans, which are available in both boyfriend and skinny cuts are her favourite pieces in the collection, describing them as "a slightly rocky feel, fabulously sexy with a strong, masculine edge"

“Hugely talented and extremely feminine, Rihanna is known for her amazing verve and incredible energy. Qualities which make her the perfect choice to project and interpret the youthful, modern, and captivating spirit of Emporio Armani Underwear and Armani Jeans.” said an Armani spokesman.

Yelawolf, "Let's Roll"

Michael Wayne Atha, born on December 30, 1979, better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an White American Rapper, currently signed to Shady Records, Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment and Interscope Records. "Let's Roll" is the new single by Yelawolf featuring Detroit rocker Kid Rock and the Hip Hop inventor DJ Kool Herc.

Yela said Let's Roll music video will be a magic and expects the video will help define his career. "It's just one of those days that things came together the way they came together, and it'll be a pivotal video in my career," he said. "I know it's gonna really open up a huge door and open a lot of people up to the music."

Some might find Let’s Roll too corny for a roughneck hillbilly like Yelawolf, but we appreciate his sentimentality and his hometown pride. Overall, the beat hits harder than the Crimson Tide football team he proudly raps about on the song.

Evidence of Human Aggression in the Past

Two views of Maba Man's skull show the position (bottom) and closeup detail of the ancient human's head wound.

Researchers from South Africa studied a 126,000 year-old-human skull which, they found near Maba in Guangdong Province in 1958. Using CT scan techniques, they studied the skull in detail and carried out analysis of violence used against the man.

"The scans revealed a skull fracture caused by blunt force trauma. The victim was probably clubbed with a weapon such as a stone, heavy bone, or lump of wood, according to a new study...The blow likely caused bleeding and a concussion—inducing nausea, vomiting, and perhaps even brain damage—leaving the victim prone and helpless, ", reports National Geographic.

Interestingly, however , scientists were also able to see a more gentle side of our fellow ancient beings.With proper studies and analysis, they agreed upon the fact that this attack, although very swere and fatal, still was not the immediate cause of death. They therefore concluded that Mabaman was properly and genuinely cared for, after receiving the injury.

"He probably had to rest up and needed help with food and cooking,"  said Lynne Schepartz, of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa..
"In a hunting-gathering society of that sort, you would really be dependent on others to help you out."

All info as well as the photograph collected from National Geographic website

Great Dying" Lasted 200,000 Years

Long before the dinosaurs, a bleak environment of widespread fires and oxygen-poor coastal seawater killed off some 90 percent of all Earth's living species. The whole process took less than 200,000 years, according to a new study of the planet's most catastrophic mass-extinction event. 

 Researchers claim that the extinction occurred around 252.28 million years ago.This was supported by Analysis the fossils and studying the Earth's Carbon cycle in rocks from southern China to Tibet. While scientists are attributing incidents such as rapid deforestation , volcanic eruptions and low-oxygen waters,the exact causes of this (Permian)extinction remain a mystery.

"Whatever mechanism you invoke [as the cause of the mass extinction] can't be purely marine or purely continental.", said Sam Bowring of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Interestingly. the National Geographic leaves an important ponder-able point at the end. It says, "The researchers say it's tough to tell yet how the Great Dying's extinction rates compare with current rates, which scientists struggle to agree on but which some believe to be among the highest on record...But the past may still hold lessons."

All info as well as the photograph collected from National Geographic website

Facts

How High Can Butterflies Fly?

Some butterflies migrate and when doing so will quite happily fly a hundred or so meters up. It's been reported, for instance,that workers near the top of new York City's 443-metre-tall Empire State Building have seen Monarch butterflies flutter by their windows.
But that's not all. If caught in an updraught, butterflies can reach 3000 meters or more and survive.

Facts of Life, RD Asia

December 2004

Corporate reversal: AOL Time Warner Merger

The blunder: In a $164 billion deal during the 2000 dotcom frenzy, old line media company Time Warner merged with portal AOL—at one point the door to the Internet for 30 million consumers. The idea was to cross-market Time Warner content, like movies and magazines, to AOL subscribers, and deliver it all using Time Warner’s cable pipes. The timing was terrible—just months before the bursting of the dotcom bubble. Time Warner veterans dragged their feet about working with AOL, and the expected synergies never materialized.

What might have been: Time Warner and Yahoo were discussing a merger in 1999. Yahoo decided not to pursue it.

The reversal: In May 2009, Time Warner said it would spin off AOL . The divorce became official in December that year.(Reuters)

Air cleaning machine—a new hope for asthmatics

Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the air passage that is mostly caused by an allergy to dust or pollen. In 2010, 300 million people got affected worldwide and the number is afraid to rise. 

As a part of the ongoing solution claims for asthma sufferers a new study introduced a new purification device .It is said to provide an effective relief to the sufferers by cleaning the air around them while they are asleep.

The asthma sufferers can now enjoy a sound sleep with the bedside air filter while its effects would also last for the next day long.

Protexo is a drug-free air flow treatment that is said to filter the surrounding air of all allergenic agents like dust, pet hairs and all particles causing inflammation of lungs. The findings published online in journal Thorax reported, Protexo controls the inflammatory agents in the surrounding via displacing warmer air with slightly cooled air at night.

The study found a significant fall in nitric oxide and a smaller increase in another inflammation causing chemical known as IgE (immunoglobulin E), with the use of protexo.

Prof John Warner, a consultant pediatrician at St Mary's Hospital and professor of pediatrics at Imperial College London who led the study regarded it as an effective and quality treatment.

According to the European study of aged patients from seven to 70, patients using the device attained 15 per cent better quality of life scores after a year than those who did not use the machine.

The machine uses the same energy as a light bulb and costs around £2,000 for six months' use but its cost is claimed to pay for itself owing to its quality.

Playing Music Alters the Processing of Multiple Sensory Stimuli in the Brain

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics recently studied the way a musicians brain responds to simultaneous stimuli. They experimented on a significant sample size and used the functional MRI to support their results. The latter were compared with those coming from non-musicians. It was concluded that while pianists' synchronous music and hand movements'  perception increases with (piano) practicing, they are no better in judging the synchronicity of lip movements and speech than any ordinary person.

"For this study, we availed of the fact that the pianists specifically train in an activity, in which several sensory stimuli, that is visual and auditory information, movement and the striking of the piano keys, have to be connected... explains Uta Noppeney," explains Uta Noppeney from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.

Read the SD article for complete study of how the pianists were studie and how the results were co-related with  MRI to analyse the sensory nerves in their brains.

World Robot Olympiad in Dubai

Almost 400 teams of high-school students travelled from as far afield as Russia, South Africa, Denmark and the Philippines to participate at the event in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

"The first international event was held in 2004 in Singapore," says Kerry Bailey, an event co-ordinator.

"This is the first time this event has been held outside the Far East."

But hosting the World Robot Olympiad in Abu Dhabi is not simply about expanding its footprint around the globe. It is also about boosting robotics in the Middle East. And so far, it seems to be working.

Pensive:Be Mindful Of Your Duties

Helping your mom around the kitchen, your dad with his car washing, your younger brother with his Math problems, your friend with an assignment, in addition to all that you already have to do would certainly increase your workload. But have you ever realized that it would also help you become a better person? A person who is mindful of his duties towards others and is neither selfish nor self-centered.

Every relationship demands sacrifice, sometimes of one's enjoyment, sometimes of one's free time and sometimes simply of one's material possessions. If you value any relationship and yet remain unwilling to give it its due, then beware -- the relationship might last but with a bitterness that not even the sweetest of the sweets could overcome!

Newcastle hold Manchester United, Chelsea beat Wolves 3-0

Vermaelen's late goal leveled the score 

November 26: Chelsea beat Wolverhampton 3-0 in a much needed win after losing against Liverpool and Leverkusen.

John Terry headed on Juan Mata's cross to score the opening goal on the 6th minute. Daniel Sturridge added on 29th minute through a left footed shot from very close range, again on Mata's cross. Just before the break Mata scored the 3rd goal from the centre of the box converting Ashley Cole's cross from 12 yards.

Thomas Vermaelen scored at both ends as the match between Arsenal and Fulham ended in a 1-1 draw. A own goal from Vermaelen on 64 minutes put Fulham in the lead but headed the equaliser just eight minutes from time.

Newcastle hold Manchester United to draw as the Red Devils drop more points for the title race.

The champions edged in front on 49 minutes when Steven Taylor's clearance struck Javier Hernandez and came back, into the net. Demba Ba converted the penalty given away by Rio Ferdinand on 64 minutes to level the score.

Newcastle went down to 10 men and the last few minutes became unbelievably thrilling. Young striking the post, Hernandez header magnificently cleared off the line by Danny Simpson and in the last minute Henandez found the net but was flagged offside.

Tottenham now stand on the 3rd slot after beating West Brom 3-1. Totenham showed brilliant game as they came from behind and Adebayor scored two goals for his side.

Professionals required in Public Sector Organization Islamabad

A government sector company based in Islamabad requires the services of  qualified, energetic and self-motivated candidates. 
Deputy Director (Urban Planning) - BPS 18
REQUIREMENTS:

• B.Sc City/Urban/Regional Planning from any recognized university.
• Having a working experience of minimum five years.
• In case of Master Degree in City/Urban/Regional Planning from an international university 2-3 years relaxation in the length of experience would be admissible.
• Computer knowledge would be considered as an extra skill.

Public Relation Officer ( PRO) - BPS 16

REQUIREMENTS:

• Master Degree in Mass Communication and minimum of two years of working experience in media affairs.
• Excellent inter personal and communication skills.
• Be proficient in MS-Office Including word and excel.

Contact: Rehan Ali Cheema, Assistant Director (Admin-III) (F.G.E.H.F) Ministry of Housing and works Government of Pakistan, 10-Mauve Area, G-10/4, Islamabad.

Ph: 051-9106075

Last Date: December 8, 2011    

India vs West Indies: scores level draw, Tendulkar missed his ton

Tandulkar again missed his 100th century

Tandulkar once again missed his ton after being caught on 94 runs in the 3rd test match against West Indies that ended in a score-level thrilling draw. This is 2nd time in the cricket history that a test match has ended with level score.

India required 243 runs to win in 64 overs in the last innings. They looked set to win when they were at 101-1 but wickets started to fell and they went short of the batsmen and overs.

Ashwin was the Man of the Match and the Series but failed to bring his team victory when he was run out while taking the second run on the last ball.

Earlier, both West Indies and India scored big scores in their first innings before West Indies was all out for 134 in their 2nd innings.

Headline Nov 27,2011

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING 

ANGELS

THE USE

---

The software you use is for ordinary mortals.

Word processors, Data bases are useful but no more than a nit wit. Say unintelligent.With these tools you can crunch and organize data, but these tools are dumb. They just can't learn how to interpret data.

Worse still, these tools can never learn everything intuitively like the humans mind to use the material. No thanks what you do !!!
To sum this all up in just one wise statement : what you are actually doing is preparing operations on information even raw data. And this concept will carry you forward no more !
This is a dead-dumb-end.

So software is now going thru a total paradigm shift. One scientist discovered that Angels use software that performs operations on knowledge. (HA HA HA)

Imagine a process that would enable experts in a given field to apply their expertise in a way that could create software programs quickly and automatically.

Most important, these experts could process their knowledge without being able to write software code.

And by making knowledge processing more efficient, software development is less error prone and much cheaper.

Therefore , Students of software Engineering who care to become scientists and inventors need to consider this concept.

Great inventions usually have inauspicious beginnings. Just one student amongst you may just change the world and take mankind forward.
It could be you, me or anyone. Should we give it a shot ?!

SAM Daily Times "The Voice of the Voiceless"

Smart Girls More Vulnerable To Drugs!!

A study shows that the girls with high IQ in their school days are more prone to becoming drug addicts in their adulthood. Exact reason of this relationship between IQ and drug addiction is not discovered yet but researchers justified their work with the reason that people with high IQ are more likely to accept and enjoy new experiences.

Pensive: Staying Clean

Although previously I have been discussing different attitudes and behaviours that we ought to adopt in order to live a more contented life, the topic today's a little different in that it focuses on matters related to our physical self. 


Hygiene, as Wikipedia puts it, "refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living." Personal hygiene therefore concerns those practices that one adopts to keep one's own self healthy.


Why should these be important? I am doing wonderfully well at college, am a budding technologist, have a loving family, why on earth should I be concerned about keeping myself clean? Well, because it really is something that you should be giving priority to. Fine, I get the fact that Steve Jobs wasn't much of a 'shower person' but then you probably have not been reading my earlier "Pensives' with much attention. Keep the inspiration where it should be (read: keep it to technology!) 


Giving attention to your shower habits, your brushing routine, your hand-washing practices, besides the obvious school-grades-parties-movies list should be another one of your main concerns. It helps in curbing the spread of germs and diseases. Besides, staying clean gives you an edge of self-confidence over others and is a major motivating factor for them to like you even better. (Leave that out, how can you stand being dirty?)


So the next time you feel like you could do without a shower for a couple of days, try feeling dirty. Might just help!

Spouse Violence In Russia Higher Than America

Every third woman in Russia suffers from violence from their spouse. The probability for a Russian woman to be killed by her partner is 2.5 times higher than that of an American woman and 5 times higher than of a female resident of Western Europe.

Russia is open to solving this problem and crisis centers are very common to help such women. 

German Drugmaker Begins Legal Action Against Facebook

German drugmaker Merck has started legal action against Facebook after the former's US rival Merck and Co. started using its Facebook page. 


The German company said that it had obtained exclusive rights to the page after entering into an agreement with Facebook. However, when it had logged onto the site on 11 October this year, the page was already being controlled by the US company. Lawyer for the German firm, Robert Horowitz said that he had sent multiple emails to the Facebook staff questioning what had happened. The respondents however "either did not understand the problem," or were "intentionally giving unresponsive answers".


Facebook says that it is "looking into" the problem.


Both companies are offshoots of the same German firm set up in Darmstadt in 1668, which was split into two after World War I.

Secret Message Broadcast By BBC During WorldwarII

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was the most famous station during the World War II .It had its high reputation because of its honest approach in world event news. Many people throughout Nazi occupied Europe possessed self-made radios secretly as in those days possessing radios was illegal  while the Germans  used jammers to prevent the broadcast of radio orange-broadcasted via BBC.

BBC played its role by broadcasting “personnel messages” in the news and often in the start of certain programs. These were encrypted messages broadcasted to secret agents and resistance groups in occupied Europe .To the common listeners these messages meant nothing but for resistance groups they were quite meaningful. These messages may contain information regarding authentication of agents for assistance in fields or blowing up any place.

The messages also had D-Day plans leaked out to secret agents to make them aware of any important event. One of the most awaited messages was from first two lines of Paul Verlaine couplet

The first that was sent on June 1 "The long sobs of the violins of autumn”-this was an alert message in which resistance groups were told to prepare. The second was "Soothes my heart with a monotonous languor”- this was an action message sent to call all resistance groups throughout France to come for fight.

Shoppers Fights On Black Friday In USA

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving Day in the USA and falls on the Friday after the fourth Thursday in November. It is a busy shopping day and is a holiday in some states. Black Friday is not actually a holiday, but many non-retail employers give their employees the day off, increasing the number of potential shoppers.

Yesterday: One of the most outrageous incidents of the day was in the Los Angeles area, where up to 20 people were injured after a woman at a Walmart used pepper spray to get an edge on other shoppers in a rush for Xbox game consoles.

Walmart seemed to have a worse day than many other retailers as shoppers screamed, shoved and elbowed each other to save a few bucks.

Largest Human Synthesized Protein

The newly designed protein, built by Vanderbilt chemists contains 242 amino acids.

They designed and successfully synthesized a variant of a protein that nature uses to manufacture the essential amino acid histidine. It is more than twice the size of the previous record holder, a protein created by researchers at the University of Washington in 2003.

This protein has helped in finding a potential treatment strategy for HIV by using designed protein vaccines in mice. Engineers have designed artificial proteins that mimic antibodies in broadly neutralizing flu infections. The technique developed at Vanderbilt promises to expand the scope of these efforts substantially.


 “We now have the algorithms we need to engineer large proteins with shapes that you don’t see in nature. This gives us the tools we need to create new, more effective antibodies and other beneficial proteins,” says Jens Meiler, an associate professor of chemistry, who led the effort.

JFK Assassination Witness Dies At 85

Tom Wicker, the New York Times reporter who chronicled the events of JFK's death after witnessing them, has died of a heart attack aged 85. 


Laden with factual and precise statements, Wicker's account of the incident filled more than two pages of the newspaper the day after Kennedy was assassinated and was one of the most detailed ones the American readers were to receive.Wicker was present in the JFK convoy when the former president was shot dead in Dallas in November 1963. 



He later served as the Washington bureau chief, became a political columnist for 'The Nation' and has 20 books to his credit.

Worst Drought Hits Mexico In Last 70 Years

Drought hits Mexico, worst in 70 years, effecting 70% of the country. 

Changing climate and lack of rains have caused this drought.
Lorenzo Contreras is the mayor of Ocampo in the northern state of Durango MAYOR OF OCAMPO, LORENZO CONTRERAS SAYING: "We are going through the worst (drought) in recent years. A far as agriculture, we have crops covering 13,900 hectares and at about 9,000 are affected. In regards to the agrarian industry of the municipality, we have 30,000 heads of cattle and up to now we have reports of 1,200 heads of cattle dead." Carcases litter the ground and waters have receded in once full reservoirs. The drought is affecting almost 70 percent of the country Deborah Gembara, Reuters.
Social Development Secretary Heriberto Felix stimates farmers have lost 2.2 million acres (900,000 hectares) of crops this year.

Joan of Arc

Saint Joan of Arc

(1412-1431)
French heroin, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans", who lead the armies when no other man had enough courage to step forward and lead. She lead many army missions, brought victories and paved ways.

Lost Pieces of Continent Found in Deep Sea

Giant, Dinosaur-Age Islands Found in Deep Sea

Scientists have found two giant pieces of land deep in ocean, which they claim to be "micro continents". Their prediction is that these are lost/leftover pieces of the super continent Gondwana (of which India, Austrailia and Antarctica were a part of ).

NatGeo reports that the scientists actually explored the seabed till 8200 feet below and found chunks of granite, gneiss, and sandstones. These are rocks normally found on continents. Scientists were highly amazed at this finding. They concluded that the pieces were leftovers of continent from the era of dinosaurs.


"As for whether dinosaurs might have once roamed the two plateaus, that depends on whether the features ever extended above sea level, and if so, when.
"Who knows?  said Joanne Whittaker , a marine geophysicist at the University of Sydney in Australia.. At the moment, "anything's possible."

Why, when you look at old photos,is there never anyone smiling?

Subjects in many old photos are not smiling at the camera for two reasons. Ann Thomas, curator of photographs at The National Gallery of Canada, says, "In the early days of photography, there existed a tradition of formality-handed down from portrait painting- in which posing for a photograph was considered a solemn occasion".

The second reason, according to Thomas, is that "prior to the 1880s, photographs required long exposures- so depending on the process, it could involve 20 minutes or more. This necessitated the subject remaining still, and since maintaining a smile  for such a period was difficult, it was discouraged." The arrival of smiling faces in photos came after the invention of the snapshot in the 1880s with the introduction of the Kodak dry-plate camera.

Facts of Life, RD 2005

Researches in Yale University reconstructed the color of 47 million years old moth.



This discovery will help scientist make many interesting findings of determining original colors of old and extinct plants creatures like birds, insects, fishes.
It will also help determine many things on evolution of species. This fossil of moth was found in the Germany.