Prabhakar Kasi's Raptor.in

It was an interesting coincidence that I came to know about the Bio-Inspirated Engineering at Yahoo! Tech Pulse 2011 just before I watched MI4. The presentation was done by Professor Robert Full who is the “Principle Investigator and Director” of CiBER-IGERT at UC Berkeley. The theme for his presentation was about “How Engineering innovation is possible by the inspiration taken from nature!”. He terms this as “Bio-Inspired Engineering”. It was a very interesting presentation. He has studied the movement of cockroaches a lot and the findings help in building better robots. Had I known about these things before few years (4 or 5 years back) my career choices might have been different (I mean! It was so inspiring!). I would recommend this engineering to all those young-guns who are interested in building robots. During the presentation, he was talking about a reptile, Gecko Lizard. This science behind this lizards toe is the technology behind the MI4 claimed “Magic Glove”. Gecko has amazingly sticky toe that can adhere to any surface (without the use of liquids or surface tension).

The following video will explain what I trying to explain.

Stanford’s StickBot in 2006

Stanford’s StickyBot in 2007

Lyn Verinsky is know as Gecko Woman since she was the first one to try Gecko Glove

For More eager reader (a lengthy video)

Professor Robert Full at TED Talk

For more of this better search in yahoo/bing/google!

Popularity: 1% [?]

There are problems with Foradian fonts. When you send a document with “Rupee Symbol” in it to others and if they don’t have the font installed then the symbol will be replaced with its corresponding grave acent symbol.
A better solution has been formulated by Raju. He has introduced a font which will use “Rupee Symbol” if the font in you system supports it else it will be replaced by “Rs”.

All this problem will vanish once the new symbol is officially included in Unicode Character set. Then “Rupee Symbol” can be used everywhere: computers, mobile phones, internet etc. It will take 3-4months to include the symbol in the character set by Unicode Consortium. Until then this is good solution.

Usage

1. Download and Install the font

2. In office word use “insert symbol” option. Select “Indian Rupee” font and use the symbol.

3. Alternatively you can insert the symbol by holding alt key and typing 8360 in your numeric key pad.

Check more details at Raju’s Space

http://rajudasonline.spaces.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0&sa=793103837

Popularity: 7% [?]

After the announcement of Indian Rupee symbol one of the 1st question that came to the minds of many was which key will be used to insert the Rupee symbol. A font named Rupee Foradian has been released. The latest version is 3.0.

Their Official Blog is http://blog.foradian.com/. The blog claims that “We have made the first font with support for Indian currency symbol.”

You can find wallpaper, updated foradian font version and how to use the symbol in different office versions.

Usage

1) Download the font (version 3.0)

2) Install the font

3) Open office and select rupee foradian font
Type the Rupees Symbol in Microsoft Word through the grave acent symbol (`)
(the key just above “tab” button in your keyboard. Below Esc button).

4) If you keyboard does not have the specified key then press “Alt” and type “0096″ (zero-zero-nine-six) on your keyboard.

More details about usage can be found here

http://blog.foradian.com/

Jithin Jayanath

Popularity: 100% [?]

The Corporation is a canadian documentary film released in 2003. The documentary movie shows how business corporation evolved and associates it’s identity with different topics or themes (book-like chapter).

The list is as follows

• What is a corporation?
• Birth
• A Legal Person
• Case History
  • Harm to workers – layoffs
  • Harm to workers – union busting
  • Harm to workers – factory fires
  • Harm to workers – sweatshops
  • Harm to animals – Habitat destruction
  • Harm to animals – factory farming
  • Harm to animals – experimentation
  • Harm to animals – rBGB / rBST / Posilac
  • Harm to biosphere – clearcuts
  • Harm to biosphere – CO2 emissions
  • Harm to biosphere – Nuclear waste
  • Harm to biosphere – Corporate paradigm
• Personality Diagnosis
  • Callous unconcern for the feelings of others
  • Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships
  • Reckless disregard for the safety of others
  • Deceitfulness: repeated lying and conning others for profit
  • Incapacity to experience guilt
  • Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviours
• The pathology of commerce
• Monstrous Obligations
• Mindset
• Boundary Issues
• Basic Training
• Perception Management
• A Private Celebration
• Advancing the front
• Unsettling Accounts
• Expansion Plan
• Hostile Takeover
• Democracy LTD
• Psycho Therapies
• Prognosis

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Popularity: 3% [?]

Experts believed and documented the fact that African Grey Parrots one of the most intelligent animal species capable of imitating other species. Dr. Irene Pepperbergs have researched for many years and says  that they posses the ability to associate human words with meanings and intelligently apply the abstract comcepts of shape, color, number, etc. They are also claimed to perform cognitive tasks at the level of dolphins, chimpanzees, and even human toddler. In 2004 a bird named N’kisi had a vocabulary of 900 words and was noted for creative use of language. For example, when Jane Goodall visited N’kisi in his New York home, he greeted her with “Got a Chimp?” as he’d seen pictures of her with chimpanzees in Africa. Because of their social interest Grey Parrots are considered excellent pets.

About Specific Gery Parrots

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Popularity: 5% [?]

Some justify and support LTTE’s act. Some hate them. Some feel that the death of V.Prabhakaran is the only way forward.

I strongly feel Velupillai Prabhakaran might have used the worst scenario in the best possible way to bring a resolution between Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. With Rajapakshe Government in Srilanka and Congress in India nothing progressive could have happened for LTTE in near future and with his declining army and resources the sensible act “Live today Fight tomorrow” would have been the only option. If he is known to have escaped then some might mistake him for a betrayer or a coward. To put a stop to these claims his son Charles has stepped up and given his life for the Tamils. Probably Charles might have tried surrendered(to buy time) but the always clueless Srilankan army killed him.

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Popularity: 12% [?]

Credits – The week

By Anita Pratap

Precisely because he is many things to many people, LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran’s death has been greeted with joy by the Sinhalese, grief by his Tamil supporters, and relief by many who hope his death will bring peace to Sri Lanka.
But is he really dead? I was sceptical of the first report, which said he was killed while fleeing the war zone in an ambulance. No way. Prabhakaran would not do something so idiotic. Remember, the Sri Lankan army told us that Prabhakaran and his cadres were surrounded in a tiny patch of land, less than 1 sq.km. The area was so small and so well surrounded that anyone coming out on a bicycle would be spotted and stopped. So logically, what chance would an ambulance have of sprinting past unnoticed? If he had to flee from such a tiny war zone, he would have scurried out through an underground tunnel.

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Popularity: 10% [?]

Ravi is a street kid who sells peacock fans to tourists outside the hanging gardens in Bombay. He can speak as many as 11 languages. He is just awesome.  Hanging Gardens in Bombay is where one could find him….bet me.. If i go there I will look out for him.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Dhoni cooly said that if Superstar Rajini bats he can score 10 runs in 1 ball. This article was posted in Dina Malar, a tamil daily newspaper on January 2009.

When Dhoni visited Haryana state he had an opportunity to talk with few National Security Gaurds. One of the Comando’s asked Dhoni, “Whether it possible to hit 10 runs in one ball?”. Dhoni was puzzled for a second, then he with a cool head said, “Actor Rajinikant bats with a style. He smacks the ball. The balls splits into two. One half goes over the boundary for a Six and another rolls over the boundary for a four. So ten runs in 1 ball is a definite possiblity”. This was said with humour and fans of Rajini should not take this in the wrong sense.

People in Nothern parts of India believe Rajini as someone who can do impossible things. Dhoni’s comments is a reflection of this image of Rajini. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 26% [?]

Mallya saves Bapu’s legacy, buys belongings for Rs 9 cr.

Interesting Tag to consider  - “miracle” liquor baron Vijay Mallya

Mahatma Gandhi’s memorabilia went under the hammer at the Antiquorum Auctioneers early on Friday morning (India time) in New York after hours of high drama.

Lot 364, featuring effects of Mahatma Gandhi, had a reserve price between $20,000 and $30,000.

After frenzied bidding, the lot drew a bid of $ 1.8 million, for a total cost of $2.1 million including the buyer’s premium.

Tushar Gandhi’s sigh of relief

Tushar Gandhi was really worried before the bidding but now he says getting Bapu’s items back is miracle.

Mallya has a reputation

The last time a piece of Indian heritage went under the hammer, Mallya paid up Rs 4 crore (Rs 4 million) for the Sword of Tipu Sultan and got it back to India.

The controversy over Tipu Sultan’s legendary sword involving industrialist Vijay Mallya brings into sharp focus the issue of import and export of antiques. Check more details here on “Rules on import/export of antiques & about the show-cause notice to Mallya by the Customs department”.

http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/may/31antique.htm

Controversies & Drama Behind

The auction went off despite the consignor of the lot, James Otis, saying he had decided not to sell the items in the light of the controversy.

Just a day after making specific demands of the government of India in return for withdrawing the items, Otis said he wanted the auction house to take the lot off the block.

“Amidst the controversy, I decided not to sell the items. I have personally requested the Antiquorum to remove it from auction list,” Otis said.

But the auction went ahead anyway.

But in the end, it appears that the Indian Government had good reason to be satisfied with the final result of the day.

Popularity: 3% [?]