Tips on drinking more water

Wikihow has an interesting article on how and why to drink more water. link.

My calculations in Metric are as follows

Weight in Kgs	Water in Litres
50	1.7
55	1.8
60	2.0
65	2.2
70	2.3
75	2.5
80	2.7
85	2.8
90	3.0

Myopic View of health

Fuel cell based torch

A Hydrogen Fuel Cell powers this torch (via). Called the Angstrom's A2, it gives out 24 hours of continuous light. The folks who make this product claim that it can be recharged in a couple of minutes as against hours for rechargable batteries used in conventional torches. The fine print is that it requires their proprietary "Refueling Station" and some hydrogen. No doubt a cool toy but the questions I want to ask is

1. Can I take on a plane?
2. What will it cost?
3. Where can I get Hydrogen? Not in the neighbourhood store for sure.

Myopic View of cool

Gist of the Proposed 2008 F1 regulations

Itv-f1 has a list of the proposed technical regulations. link.

Couple of interesting points.
1. Slicks are back. Slicks are part of the racing heritage, but there were number of non-racing arguments made in the late 90s when they were banned. What happened to those arguments today? Are they no longer applicable? Say hello to greater cornering speeds.
2. Weight Penalty for engine and gearbox changes. I for one, don't like the idea, but am willing to see how it works out. Its unlikely we would have a Kimi storming from the back of the grid if he has 15 kgs more.
3. No mention on the CDG that was proposed in October.

Myopic View of f1 formula1 news

Sepang 2006 GP Winners/Losers

Winners

1. Massa. Similar to KR's Drive in Bahrain. The thing that really interested me was that he finished ahead of M Schumacher.
   
2. Fisi. Good drive from pole. Deserves win. Flawless drive
3. Alonso. Amazing start and very good race
4. Jacques V. Good drive to get BMW's first points. Heidfeld drove better, but he didn't finish and that was the key
5. Renault. Excellent display of speed and reliability.

Losers

1. Williams. After starting in excellent positions, and showing promise all weekend, to have both cars out is not the way to go. The podium might have been difficult, but they should have had 3rd and 4th
2. M Schumacher. To be beaten by Massa who started way behind indicates that this is not the same ruthless MS we have seen over the years
3. Barrichello. They say he was overshadowed by MS in Ferrari. In Honda, he has disappeared. JB is has absolutely crushed him. No other team has 2 cars so far apart.
4. Kimi. I suppose one can blame Klein, but fact of the matter is that he didn't finish 1 lap. To be a champion I guess one needs a bit of luck as well.
5. Klein. Not only did he ruin Kimi's race, but he wasted his own opportunity to put one over DC.
   

Myopic View of f1 formula1 sepang winners losers

Above capacity

Every wondered how different vehicles look like when they are overloaded? This site has a number of hilarious examples. link. (via).

Couple of missing vehicles are overcrowed spacecrafts and filled to the brim boats. Pun intended!

Myopic View of funny

Rossi challenges Alonso

He suggests a sort of triathalon using MotoGP, Rally and F1 cars. link.

Apparently the aggregate of the times will decide whose the king of the jungle.
That reminds me of the time when Colin McRae challenged Micheal Schumacher for a two way fight on Rally and F1 cars. MS brushed off the challenge saying that he wasn't interested and its likely that Alonso would do as well.

If such a duel were to come about my money would be on Rossi. He has driven in Rally last year (not too successfully), and he has tested in F1 *and* he's a god on 2 wheels. The experiences themselves would give an edge. I'm not sure how close or how far alonso would be though.

Myopic View of f1 formula1 rossi alonso

free beer

Long long time ago, a Finn decided to give away his code using a license called GPL. This license was supposed to be "Free as in speech, and not Free as in beer". Flash-forward to today, and we get a story from neighbouring Norway about free beer. link.

It almost seemed like a miracle to Haldis Gundersen when she turned on her kitchen faucet this weekend and found the water had turned into beer.

A pint or two would be good!

Myopic View of funny

Bahrain 2006 GP Winners/Losers

Winners

1. Alonso. Driving during the second stint was really nice. Not spectacular but he was reeling in MS quite easily.
2. KR. He started dead last; he finished 3rd; finished higher than his teammate, both Hondas, one Ferrari and one Renault - Wow! If only the team can take care of the pre-race jitters...
3. MS. He's back, but doesn't quite look as mean as before. I doubt whether the MS of old would have let Alonso squeeze through.
4. Rosberg. Very impressive debut, bit slow in the first half of the race, but the in laps to the pits were pretty cool.
5. McLaren. 2 cars in the top 5. I don't remember when was the last time McLaren had 2 cars in the top 5 in the first race of the season

Losers

1. Toyota. To finish lower down isn't as bad as having to fight with Midland who use their engines - really underperformed
2. Massa. Podium chance squandered.
3. BMW. Both Williams and both Redbulls finished ahead, and they are using customer engines.
4. Button. He says that except for the first 3 seconds the rest of the afternoon was good. If that was really the case, then he should have finished 3rd.
5. JPM. Started 5th, and finished 5th as compared to KR who started 22nd and finished 3rd. The numbers speak for themselves.

Myopic View of f1 formula1 bahrain 2006 winners losers

Swimming ants

I've heard of Fire Ants, Army Ants, Black Ants and Red Ants, but here's a new species - polyrhachis sokolova. link.

They can swim too.

Myopic View of ants

Does the Ferrari's Wing Wobble?

That's what Pat Symonds says, and he believes that it gives the Ferraris an unfair advantage. link.

This presumably means that other teams will adopt the same systems in the future as if something is legal on a Ferrari, it is presumably legal on other F1 cars as well.

Only a few hours to go before we get to know more about that. There's nothing unusual of Micheal Schumacher being on pole, after all this is his 65th, equal to the one and only Aryton Senna.

Myopic View of f1 formula1 ferrari news

Is it important to appear busy?

Is looking busy more important that actually doing work? That's the question asked by this post.

Myopic View of funny

100 Greatest Guitarists

This list of 100 greatest rock guitarists suggests that the greatest of them all is Jimi Hendrix. Can't argue against that, but putting Santana at 28 is debatable.

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Silly Season jumps on Raikkonen and Ferrari

Rumour has it that Raikkonen will move to Ferrari in 2007. Sources - grandprix.com and itv-f1.com

Myopic View of f1 formula1 news raikkonen ferrari

iPod Hi-Fi

What does it take to convert an iPod into a stereo system? Apple has introduced its new iPod Hi-Fi but a better option seems to be Onkyo's Docking Station.

It may take sometime for the Apple Hi-Fi to come to India, but the Onkyo component is available right here, right now.

Myopic View of ipod accessory

A Geeky list on parenthood

Here's a really funny list. Top ten reasons why geeks make good fathers. link.

But lets leave the list aside for a minute. What exactly make some a good dad or a good mom?
Is it what their children feel about them, esp. as the years roll on? Is it how society judges them based on their childrens' actions? Or is it something internal, when a good parent looks at his children and proudly shouts- that's my boy or that's my girl.

Myopic View of geek parenting

Actual pictures of the McLaren crew uniform

Due to the change in McLaren Livery, the crew uniforms also have to change. The shiny, chrome coloured car would require a equally shiny chrome coloured uniform. Pitpass has the pics here.

Oh! We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.

How heartless. (sic)

Myopic View of f1 formula1 mclaren funny

Higher Education

According to the SF Chronicle, Men are slowly becoming a minority in US colleges. The only courses bucking the trend are Engineering and Computer Science related. link.

This is quite different from colleges in India, where all courses are still dominated by men. However there is a curious trend, especially in South India. Amongst the Middle Class and Upper Middle class in South India there is a strong preference towards either Engineering or Medicine.

A number of my friends chose engineering more out of peer and parental pressure rather than any real interest. The result? Most of them have moved out the field and into fields that they are more interested in.

The question to ask is, why is there so much pressure to do engineering? The answer is simple - Engineers and Doctors are perceived to have higher incomes. Within the different fields of engineering too there is higher preference to Computer Science and Electronics - again due to the perception that these fields have higher incomes.

Lesser importance is given to personal interests.

Myopic View of education

Pilgrims Throng

The Hindu reports of the steps the temple authorities at Tirupati plan to take to tackle the huge number of pilgrims who throng the temple. link.

The interesting figure is the number 2 crore or 20 million. Think about it. 20 million people visit Tirupati each year and they all walk in a single file past the idol of Venkateshwara, and get only a few moments in front of the idol. That's equal to the population of Australia and much more than the population of either The Netherlands or Switzerland and almost the size of the population of The United Kingdom, France or Italy.

Imagine the entire population of Australia visiting one single temple or church or mosque each year. It boggles the mind because that's around 50000 people each day. That's more than the population of Monaco, The Vatican put together - every single day.

A story goes that when the West Indian Cricket team toured India in the early 80s, some of the of cricketers remarked that the crowds they saw in the stadium were more than the entire population of some of their home island countries. Needless to say, the Indian cricket team lost all the test matches to the all conquering West Indians. Many say that Cricket is the religion of most Indians though officially its Hinduism. Perhaps, not enough prayers are answered given the shockingly low quantity of Silverware with the Indian Cricket team's name on it.

Myopic View of tirupati

McLaren's New Clothes

McLaren have a new livery. Pictures here and here. Official pics from McLaren are here and here.

Quoting Kimi Raikkonen -

"I have only seen illustrations of the new livery until now but they do it no justice. It looks fantastic and should create a bit of a stir when we drive it on tracks around the world. If we can make the car as fast as it looks then we will be in good shape."

Hmmm.

Myopic View of f1 formula1 mclaren news

Smile - You are on Google Maps

A Giant Smiley can be seen from Google Maps here. (via)

Not quite a smiley, but still the corridors of power is the Vidhana Soudha, seen from Google Maps here. What amazes me, is that till now I always thought of the place as a huge building with endless corridors where political skullduggery was always afoot. Seeing the gardens, the High Court across the road, and Cubbon Park nearby, the Vidhana Soudha almost seems harmless.

Whats even more surprising are the fountains inside the Vidhana Soudha.

Myopic View of google maps bangalore