Blog@GraceJunction

On my way to work, I have to always pass through a railway crossing (a.k.a. level crossing). Mostly, regardless of the time that I go for work, I encounter a closed gate bringing a sudden stop to my usually fast journey.

When the train is passing by, every one has to stop. Regardless of who is in the vehicle, all have to wait till the train passes. Regardless of what the vehicle is, none of the vehicles is now as important as the train. Though the train maybe carrying only ordinary people, less important than the ones waiting in their cars et cetera, yet the only thing they can do is- to wait. However urgent and important the work on the other side of the gate maybe, the gate will not open. Be it a matter of crores or even a matter of life and death. (more…)

It was mid April when I read about the elaborate plans of the Chinese government, on how they are preparing themselves for the upcoming Olympics. Frankly, I was quite impressed about the level of thought & effort they are putting in, to make the event a success. If you’ve ever been to China and if you had a glimpse of what they have built it to be, you would surely bow down to their achievements. In everything that they did, they’ve shown it to the world.. what sheer human grit could achieve!

The news article read something like this “The Chinese government hopes launching shells containing silver iodide pellets into clouds will curb rainfall and ensure clear skies for the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing. According to the plan, 100 staff at 21 stations surrounding the city will have 10 minute window to blast away at the clouds so that they can be dispersed before they come near the stadium. Three aircrafts will also be on stand-by to drop catalysts on the clouds…!! (more…)

Three weeks before Christmas 1993, Wolfgang Dircks died while watching television. Neighbors in his Berlin apartment complex hardly noticed the absence of the 43-year-old. His rent continued to be paid automatically out of his bank account.

Five years later, 1998 the money ran out, and the landlord entered Dircks’ apartment to inquire. He found Dircks’s remains still in front of the tube. The TV guide on his lap was open to December 3, the presumed day of his death. Although the television set had burned out, the lights on Dircks’s Christmas tree were still twinkling away.

It’s a bizarre story, but it shouldn’t surprise us. Each year thousands of people are found accidentally days or weeks after their solitary deaths in the affluent cities and suburbs of the world. If a person can die in such isolation that his neighbors never notice, how lonely was he when alive? (more…)

Is that all that a life can be valued at? Just Rs 2.25 lakhs?

That was the question which came to my mind over and over again after I read about an incident which happened in Delhi High Court recently.

A story was told about a man named Shambu who hails from Madhubani district in Bihar, who after a silly quarrel with his father Kailash Chaudhary left his home and traveled 1000 km to Delhi to become a vegetable vendor. He was the only son of his father.

On that tragic night of September 26, 1999, as Shambu was sleeping in West Patel Nagar in Delhi, the building collapsed and he died under a pile of brick and mortar. Forensic reports of samples taken from the building debris found that a disproportionate ratio of cement, gravel and sand had been used. A probe by the Special Crime Cell of the Delhi Police ended with a sessions court charging the builders under Section 304 A (death caused by negligence) in August, 2003. (more…)

Today morning’s newspaper declared with great awe about the achievement of one man, whose glamorous life and inheritance is anybody’s envy. Modern India’s greatest entrepreneur, son of Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh is all set to complete his flashy 27 storey house, costing $2b, world’s largest and costliest home! When this house gets completed it will be 550 feet high, with 400000 square feet of interior space. The Forbes report titled ‘Inside the World’s first billion dollar home’ says “The only remotely comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the 70 million dollar triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York, designed to resemble a French chateau, and climbing 525 feet in the air.”

Reading further, the report says that the house will be unlike any other livable hotel or home where the layout, measurements and material used will be custom made and not replicated on any floor. (more…)

Now, I am writing this in continuation with the article that I wrote earlier- Creating Artificial Life.

When Craig Venter announced that he was going to unravel the human genome, it sparked one of the most bitterly contested races in the history of science and compelling me to pen down a article. Now, the same Craig Venter who had once contended with the United States government and led the private effort to map the human genome, is back again hitting the headlines and savouring the attention given to his pursuit in the genetic field. Here, in an extract from his new memoir, he describes the acrimonious sprint to the finish. (more…)

The economy is troubled. The US Fed has cut interest rate by another 25bp to 2%. Markets worldwide are worried by this trend. Prices of food and gas are rising. But a growing population is almost oblivious to these realities.

They are looking forward to the release of “Grand Theft Auto IV”, a fourth generation videogame release of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series, known to have sold 70 million copies since its launch in 1997! And GTA 4 is expected to be the biggest videogame debuts ever. I know this is news to many of us! But the videogame market is excited, as it has countered the general negative economic trend of the US and infact the industry has registered a 63% growth in softwares and 46% in equipments! I mean, salary or not, increment or not, let’s game! (more…)

The latest buzz in the field of science, technology and particularly robotics is: Will machines overpower man?

Recently while watching NDTV, I saw about robots possessing human emotions of “love” being created! The highlighted question was: Now that the robots are being advanced to the extent of being capable of expressing human emotions, along with superpower, strength and intellect, will robots replace humans?

So man does seem a bit bothered about whether machines will overpower and replace him. Ironic as it is, the existence of man is under question, and that too by his own creation! (Can I take the liberty to imagine God saying, “Now man will know how it feels.”) (more…)

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression….” States the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a declaration that was later adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

Also known as Article 19 of UDHR, it permits freedom to hold opinion without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. It extends not only to books, theatrical works and paintings, but also to posters, television, music videos and comic books - whatever the human creative impulse produces.

A Yale art major, Aliza Schvarts wants to make a statement. Beginning today i.e. 22nd April 2008, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process. (more…)

The 80’s to the early years of the 21st century has seen the most happening time in history and I am privileged to have witnessed it all. Mankind has seen many changes in and around him. We have seen rapid strides being taken in education, technology and research. Communication has become faster and information is flying. Things which looked impossible in history are a reality today, what could not be achieved in centuries is getting achieved in a short span of time. Everything is measured in speed and size. Gone are the days, when parents used to tell their children that slow and steady wins the race, the fast and furious have taken over. The rabbit is worth emulating and he wins over the tortoise every time, or so it is believed to be!

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