Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts

Saturday, April 28, 2018

"No, I don't ever give up. I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated.”


Back in 2011, I heard of the electric car maker Tesla for the first time. One of the first thing I felt was - how dumb was I - to not know of this car maker before. Ever since then, I have always been smitten by Tesla and Elon Musk. Smitten is probably not the right word but inspired by the mission of Tesla:
Electric sports car --> Expensive Electric family car & SUV --> Mass Market electric car.

More than Tesla, Elon Musk's vision is bold and outlandish and that is putting it mildly. However, he has already changed the face of many industries and is likely all set to alter the trajectory of humanity and human race, possibly. 

Tesla, SpaceX, Solarcity, HyperLoop - are some of the most impactful entrepreneurial bet of Elon Musk that will play more important role in days to come. 

And, like him, as much as I'm excited about the prospect of AI, I'm also fearful of the it. I have always had this fear since I watched Terminator 2 - Judgement day movie.


Although I'm no where in sam league as him in terms of his drive or the work he is doing, but on things I want, as he says at the end of the above video, "I don't ever give up. I'd have to be dead or completely incapacitated."

Oh, and early this february, something incredible happened - SpaceX landed the falcon boosters - synchronized - after sending this heaviest rocket since Moon landing. You thought I was mentioning something else ? 

The thing is, SpaceX was about to go bust in 2008-09 (so was Tesla) due to various factors & reasons, including global financial crisis. Yet, in 2018, they were landing two rockets back to earth successfully. 



Hmmm....

Saturday, February 7, 2015

We are dead stars


Who are we ? What is our existence ?

The answer:

WE ARE DEAD STARS looking up at the sky :)



Such a wonderful video that took me back to my basic thoughts about universe, science and time. After a long long time, probably after my 11th or 12th standard, when I was so engrossed by Universe and the space, I have found a video that took my mind away in to a spiral of thoughts.

Such a wonderful video :)

Monday, October 13, 2014

Nature doesn't need people. People need nature.




A very good campaign on nature and how humans are abusing it - I hope we wake up now and realize the responsibility each of us are having towards mother nature. 

Links:

http://natureisspeaking.org/
https://www.facebook.com/conservation.intl


It starts with our food, travel options and living standards - we are over exploiting all of these.



















Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Allergies and diseases - Thanks to GMO food

What are GMO [Genetically modified organisms] or GE [Genetically engineered food] ?  

In an earlier blog, Organic and Organic only, I attempted to explain the fundamental ways in which genetic modification or engineering of seeds are done by the so called food companies, who are in reality, chemical companies, and their actual motive. Contrary to the perception they create about the need for GM or GE food, it is not about feeding the world but driving the profits for few misguided bio-technology companies.


Please watch the below Ted video by Robyn o Brien - a mother and a food activist, whose plea about the state of food economics in US, along with the persuasion in the form of facts and evidence from around the world makes this one of the best videos on this important subject. We must address this malaise at this stage and prevent the same from happening in other parts of the world too. 




While I agree correlation between increasing allergies and health issues with the increased use of GE technology in farming doesn't mean causation, it will be foolish to turn a blind eye to the converging nature of evidence and observations.

Recent example: 

http://news.yahoo.com/study-links-pesticide-exposure-pregnancy-autism-123742370.html


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Edward Snowden


Edward Snowden - a man, who is same age as me, has assumed far greater risks for the sake of openness and privacy of world citizens.






Edward Snowden gives a TED talk in Canada, TED2014 - via telepresence robot - Here's how we take back the internet

"We don't have to give up our privacy to have good governance. We don't have to give up our liberty to have security. We can have both open government and private citizens " - Edward Snowden

http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet#

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Shanghai Tower Climbers





Crazy but salute the daredevilry spirit of these climbers - WOW !!  If this isn't an adventure, what is ? Moreover, they did all this without any safety harness - crazy, insane but daring !!! Some moments in the video are so palpable that it will bring out the feeling of actually climbing those cranes take the viewers. 650 meters in all and above the cloud level in the city of Shangai, China.

Oh, btw, if you are scared of heights, you shouldn't even watch this video.


Saturday, January 25, 2014

The play of stars


Time Lapse video add a different dimension to otherwise mundane subject or context. If your subject is as magnificent and expanse as the sky, the resulting time lapse video is breathtaking.


With the wonderful galaxy as our jewel, do we really need diamonds to decorate us ?

I saw this spectacular two and half minute video and was completely bowled over by the beauty of our galaxy and solar system. I can assure you it is well worth your time. This video made me appreciate what a beautiful palette the galaxy is and that we should cherish and consume every moment of this spectacle called life.




Captured by Nicholas Buer [http://vimeo.com/nicholasbuer], this video is called Ancients and is shot in Chile. For more detailed information on the stars and galactic activities that you can observe in this video, please check out
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/01/25/time_lapse_video_ancients.html

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Drones




When drones can be used for wonderful activities like this, why use it for killing ?

May be it was invented for the purpose of inflicting maximum damage, but it can surely be used for other varied functionalities for the betterment of humanity.

Here is another one - Amazon Prime Air.