Symbols – Units of Measurement..… 29 December 2007

The other day I saw a signboard announcing `XYZ Factory: 12 KM ahead’. KM surely meant kilometers. But is KM the correct symbol for kilometers?

SI (Système International d’unités, meaning International System of Units) is the modern metric system of measurement and symbols. It is founded on seven base units. See Table below:

	SI base unit
length	meter	m
mass	kilogram	kg
time	second	s
electric current	ampere	A
thermodynamic temperature	kelvin	K
amount of substance	mole	mol
luminous intensity	candela	cd

As per SI convention, only those symbols that abbreviate the name of a person start with a capital letter. The one exception is litre whose symbol is L, the reason being symbol l (lowercase of L) was getting confused with numeral 1 (one).

It should have been `km’ and not `KM’ on the signboard. Similarly we see lot of incorrect symbols in product packaging and even in scientific and technical literature.

When we do not like our names misspelt, why do we allow ourselves to use incorrect symbols?

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling

Ethical dilemma… Buyer vs. Seller… 28 December 2007

(around 350 words)

I give below two short definitions of Ethics:

· a discipline dealing with what is good and what is bad, and with moral duty and obligation

· a branch of philosophy, encompassing right conduct and correct way of living

While talking of Ethics in Business, a term that usually comes up is Caveat emptor, a Latin term which means “Let the buyer beware”. Under this doctrine, the buyer can not recover from the seller for the defects on the product that have rendered the product unfit for use. This term seems to have evolved from the basic suspicion that a seller is an unethical person always out to rob you and therefore you- the customer- should be alert and careful.

Let me give this a twist. I give below two scenarios.

· A seller offers you a discount of ten percent on the price of a product (let us assume the price is Rupees 100.00). The seller prepares a bill for Rupees. 85.00. You make the payment, collect the product and sneak away quickly from the showroom while fully knowing that discount of ten percent means Rupees 90.00 and not 85.00.

· You buy a product for Rupees 92.00. You give the seller Rupees 100.00. He returns Rupees 18.00. You simply pocket the money and vanish from the scene with the full knowledge that he has paid you Rupees 10.00 extra.

Now the questions are:

· Should you have alerted the sales person about his mistake and paid him the correct contracted price (or returned to him the extra amount that you received)?

· If you did so, will you be branded by the Society as a stupid person who is not `worldly-wise’?

· If you didn’t do so, is your behaviour unethical (a term usually reserved for the seller)?

Think it over. Over the weekend, if you do not have anything else to do.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Romance of Science…… 27 December 2007

(more than 300 words)

Top ten space stories of the year 2007 (copied from the World Wide Web)

1. Dazzling new images reveal the ‘impossible’ on the Sun

Japan’s Hinode telescope revealed the restless frothing of the Sun’s surface in astonishing detail.

2. Strange Martian feature not a ‘bottomless’ cave after all

An extremely dark feature on Mars was found to be just a pit, not the entrance to a deep cavern that future astronauts could call home.

3. Could black holes be portals to other universes?

A study suggested that the objects thought to be black holes could instead be wormholes leading to exotic cosmic locales.

4. Mars probe may have spotted lost rover

In 1997, NASA lost contact with its Pathfinder lander and tiny Sojourner rover, but a decade later, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s eagle eyes spied them both.

5. Satellites solve mystery of low gravity over Canada

A satellite pair called GRACE answered a weighty question: why does Canada have such low gravity?

6. Do black holes really exist?

A controversial study suggested that matter might never collapse completely into a black hole, an idea that would solve a troubling quantum paradox.

7. Satellite snaps first images of mysterious glowing clouds

NASA’s new AIM satellite took its first data on silvery blue ‘noctilucent’ clouds, which may be linked to global warming.

8. Strange alien world made of ‘hot ice’

The smallest planet known to pass in front of its host star was found. Intriguingly, it may be made of exotic hot ice and shrouded in steam.

9. Satellite could see shadow of extra dimensions

Researchers calculated if our 3D universe is floating in a higher dimensional space, the shape of those extra dimensions might be detectable by Europe’s Planck satellite, set to launch in 2008.

10. Atom smasher may give birth to ‘Black Saturns’

Physicists said tiny, ringed black holes resembling Saturn might be produced at the Large Hadron Collider, set to open in 2008.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Blessing in Disguise.. 26 December 2007

(more than 300 words..)

I do not know if there is an expression in Hindi or Tamizh which can adequately convey the emotion of the English term `Blessing in Disguise’. But I have seen it in action many times. One happened yesterday.

It was good that I sprained my ankle. The doctor advised me to keep indoors and not to strain my leg. So the proposal to go out and have lunch at a restaurant was dropped.

I was spared of

• eating that same old naan, paneer ka sabzi, daal makhani, mixed vegetable curry, aaloo-matar rasedhar and the like
• paying a hefty bill for that
• spending some indecisive minutes to work out what amount of tip will not make us look like some ghatees (uncultured village folks)
• having to `look’ for a parking lot and stll having to walk around a kilometer or more
• popping a Digene tablet after returning home

Instead, our taste buds were lovingly delighted with

· Dahi-vada (the real ones, not the soaked-in-water types)

· Bhel Poori

· Gaajar ka halwa (the red variety)

· Mini poories, one and half inches in diameter

· Aaloo khara curry (not the very spicy type)

· Mixed vegetable rice

· Rasam Saadam (Ready-to-eat) *

· Curd rice (Ready-to-eat) *

· Freshly fried papads

· Pickles

* to suit lazy people like me who don’t like wasting energy and hand-movements to mix rice with other ingredients.

Super tasty food. Cooked at home. No waiting at the table. Served on time. Items appetisingly laid out on the table. All crockery in place. The three-in-one chef-cook-butler goading you to have one more helping of the dish you like. No payment to be made. No tips, either.

Sorry, folks. You missed it. If there is one reason why you should relocate to Bangalore, here it is!

Thank you, Radha.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Statistician’s delight..… 25 December 2007

(about 600 words; more the merrier this festive season)

Disclaimer from Penumbra

I warn you that the message you see below contains a lot of wisdom. However, you can freely copy it and send it to anybody you wish. No acknowledgment is required. But please own authorship of the same so that I am freed of any legal hassles. If cops get at you, that’s your problem. If you have received this message by mistake, for heaven’s sake please do not delete it. Read it fully and pass it on to your friends, girl-friends or boy-friends of your friends, relatives, neigbours, their pet dogs, and the cows on the next street (Send it to animal activists as well, but at your peril!), If you send me an email confirming that you have read my message, I promise to acknowledge it in my next piece of writing. Photographs welcome. Thanks in advance for your co-operation. Merry Christmas.

Penumbra S.Gopal

————————————————————————–

Yesterday I went to Brigade Road in Bangalore. I went by an autorickshaw. The Sun was shining brilliantly. It was around 1 pm. I was wearing a grey pant and a dark brown shirt (what a combination? Fashion designer’s nightmare, I thought). To add to the style I was sporting a brand new brown colour BATA laceless shoe with a slightly (?) wornout green colour socks. On reaching Brigade Road, I realised that I was the most well-dressed (or dressed, let me say) individual among the call centre crowd. Sure, that was the cause of my distraction!

While crossing the road, I put my right leg into a small wrong pothole. The new tight shoe did the rest. My ankle got sprained. It started paining, but not too much. I met the person with whom I had an appointment.

In the evening I visited a doctor, got the paining portion examined and X Rayed. `No damage’, said the doctor with a morose face, `Just paste a belladonna plaster on the ankle. Take rest for three days. You should be okay’. I didn’t give him sufficient revenue to enable him purchase a bigger cake for Christmas. That was the reason for his facial expression!

On my way back home, I met a senior and experienced (32 years, 4 months, and 22 days into his profession) about-to retire-looking-for-job-opportunities-post-retirement specialist working in the statistics department of the government. When he asked me why I was limping, I had to tell him the truth. You can’t guess when these senior government officers will turn nasty. They can slightly nudge their colleagues in the City Corporation and they can come to your house in hordes with a digital measuring tape with a least count of 0.0001 inch and book you for deviations from the approved building plan.

Well, he analysed quickly as to why I sprained by ankle. He said today he will issue a government report (White Paper) to the Press on how to avoid spraining an ankle. Since there are no politicians in Karnataka to take credit for his intellectual exercise (as you may know, the state of Karnataka is under President’s rule); he was elated that he met me at this juncture.

He gave me a sneak preview of his report. Here it goes.

· Never go to Brigade Road wearing a brown shoe with soiled (even slightly) socks of whatever colour.

· Don’t go out at 1 pm when the Sun is shining. You can go to Brigade Road at 1 am, if the Sun is shining.

· Avoid autorickshaws when going to Brigade Road.

· While crossing the road, please concentrate on walking rather than looking here and there!.

These are his main recommendations. Several advisories will soon follow. Please wait for the final report.

Merry Christmas.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

I met a young (?) scientist… 24 December 2007

Day-before-yesterday, I had the rare privilege of meeting this young scientist at a lecture session in Bangalore.

He is Dr. T. Ananda Rao, the botanist, who

• is a veritable treasure house of eco-information.
• is actively engaged in environmental and ecological projects.
• is the author of several books and research papers.
• is a specialist in orchids (He has collected more than 140 of the 175 orchid species that are seen in Karnataka. Orchid is a collective term for a set of flowers which have a great ability to survive and grow on biological wastes which often feed themselves just by sucking moisture from the air).
• lost his wife in 1992, and who finds solace in his botanical passion.
• used to employ a friendly monkey (who would go with him on his scientific tours) to climb up tall trees to pick up orchids; he only had to bribe his friend with bananas.

He is ONLY 97 years Young…

S. Gopal …..Keying in is better than idling

Units of Measurement and Morons..II 23 December 2007

When a cricket commentator in Australia announces the score as `2 for 3’, he means 2 wickets lost for 3 runs. In other parts of the cricketing world, it would mean 3 wickets lost for 2 runs. Well, this is not much of a problem; in a few more overs matters would become clear. But such ambiguity can lead to disasters in some other situations.

The American Mars Climate Orbiter was lost due to a miscalculation caused by an undetected mismatch between metric and English units of measurement. The use of metric units was specified in a navigation software interface. Despite this, the scientists at the Lockheed Martin company provided impulse data in English units of pound-force seconds rather than newton seconds resulting in the orbiter descending too low into the atmosphere of Mars. These values were incorrect by a factor of 4.45 (1 lbf = 4.45 N). The mix-up caused erroneous course corrections. The vehicle either burned up or bounced off into space resulting in a loss of a few million dollars.

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Units of Measurement and Morons…… 22 December 2007

The sales man who took us around the flats said:`this flat is 1 600, that is 1 400’. After some time he said referring to the same two flats: `this flat is 2 500 and that 2 600’. Of course, the intelligent (that excludes me) prospective buyers amongst us understood. Of course, 1 600 and 1 400 meant floor area of the flat in square feet; 2 500 and 2 600 meant the sale price in Rupees per square foot of floor area. Coming to the area of sites (in some places they are referred to as plots), 4 000 would mean 4 000 square feet in Bangalore and 4000 square yards (which is equal to 36 000 square feet!) in Hyderabad.

When a shop keeper tells you the price of the product is two fifty, it can mean Rupees two hundred and fifty or Rupees two and paise fifty.

Unenlightened, nitpicking morons like me would prefer units of measurement expressed clearly along with any value. Thankfully, such tribe is a small minority!

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Building Bridges….. 21 December 2007

Recently somebody forwarded to me pictures of a dozen complicated and neat road bridge clusters from different cities of Europe and the Gulf region and contrasted the same with our own Indian roads.

On yet another day an Indian immigrant from the US, who was on a visit to Bangalore, remarked that India can never even dream of building in next fifty years, such good roads and bridges as in the US.

Let me emphasise that I am not against urban roads and bridges. I am concerned with the fixation of the rich with such structures and equating the same with development. We must understand that there is a larger country beyond our limited urban vision.

The need of the times is to build bridges of the other kind, many small ones that remove the urban-rural disconnect. These have to be physical structures as well as emotional ones. Let’s not forget the Indian rural underprivileged and the disadvantaged, who form the majority and who feed the nation. The earlier we realise this, the better it is!

S .Gopal ….Keying in is better than idling

Students and Satellites…… 20 December 2007

Two groups of students – one in Anna University, Chennai and the other in the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai – are designing amd building micro satellites.

Both the satellites would be launched into low Earth orbit (800 -1000 km above the Earth’s surface) by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the help of their Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

ISRO encourages young blood to be a part of the space programme. The overall objectives are to foster interest in Earth observation and space technology among students and faculty and to provide hands-on training in all aspects of spacecraft building and operations.

The satellite being built by the Integrated Systems Laboratory of Anna University is known as ANUSat. It will carry a digital store and forward payload for amateur communication designed to conduct experiments on message transfer across the country. It will have a mass of 50 kg.

The equipment being made at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai will have a mass of 10 kg and is designed for studying high-energy particles in space and Greenhouse Effect.

S .Gopal
….Keying in is better than idling