Blooming Flowers - Motion enabled lamps

HQ Architects developed a public installation that offers an artistic aesthetic to the environment through playfully responsive design. The Warde project, located in Jerusalem's Vallero Square—an urban area that's in poor condition—is being given a set of towering flower sculptures, big enough to draw the gaze of the entire plaza. Rather than fighting against the marketplace's metropolitan nature, designers wanted to work in harmony with the municipality.

These giant blossoms are motion-activated, which means that they bloom when pedestrians walk by or when trolleys arrive. To perfectly describe their installation, HQ Architects says "The urban space suddenly reacts to the people using it." People can also utilize the flowers for shade from the sun or for light when nighttime approaches. And once the square is no longer bustling with people, the flowers wilt and close, their vibrant petals resting until the next surge of activity within their vicinity encourage them to bloom once more.

Website: HQ Architects

छुई मुई से बिजली पैदा करना - Justus Nwaoga, Solar Innovator

A way to manufacture solar energy using Touch Me Not

Nigerian-born Justus A. Nwaoga discovered a way to manufacture solar energy using the organic medicinal African weed, mimosa pudica. Called “kpakorukwu” or “kpakochuku” in Igbo, the plant is referred to in the English-speaking tropics as “Touch-me-not,” “Sensitive plant,” “Shameful plant,” and “Humble plant,” because of its reaction to touch.

Fascinated, Nwaoga, a researcher in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Pharm., wanted to find out why the leaves of the plant close when touched during daylight, only to open minutes later. He decided to investigate what happens to the mimosa leaves during the night and discovered that the leaves remain folded even when exposed to bright artificial light. They open up only to natural solar energy.

From these observations, Nwaoga concluded that the Mimosa Pudica had solar properties capable of producing solar cell electricity. He also concluded that the movement of the leaves when touched was related to some form of electrical transmission. “I look at the plant as a natural solar plant because it opens in the mornings and closes in the evenings,” he explained.

Nwaogo managed to isolate the active substance in the plant that responds to sunlight and made several attempts to show its electric power, using copper and other metals as electrodes, but these attempts failed. Copper/zinc electrodes did not work because the mimosa extract was so powerful that it corroded the zinc plate.

Once he understood the chemical makeup of the extract, Nwaoga and his team were able to generate a steady direct current to light a 4.5-volt lamp. The breakthrough allowed for the construction of a mimosa solar panel with the plant extract, designed in such a way that the electrical potential of the cells can be restored on exposure to direct sunlight after they have been discharged.  

Source- Patrick Crosset

A big salute to "SANTOSH MAHADIK"

Colonel Santosh Mahadik was the Commanding Officer of 41 Rastriya Rifals He was taking part in an operation that started on November 13, 2015 to flush out terrorists -- suspected to be from Lashkar-e-Taiba -- hiding in the dense forest of Haji Naka in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district. The militants had fled deep into the forests and the security forces continued to chase them.^[1]The encounter against the four terrorists had been on for a week in the Manigah forest area of border district of Kupwara in north Kashmir,when he was shot and grievously wounded on November 17, 2015 and later died in hospital on the same day.

Originally from the Special Forces, the he had earlier been awarded the Sena Medal for exhibiting gallantry and leadership in counter terrorist operations.

Son of a dairy farmer, Colonel Mahadik was proud of his roots and would often call himself a milkman’s son. His father still supplies milk and milk products to his alma mater, Sainik School, Satara in Maharashtra. Colonel Mahadik, 37, is survived by his wife and two children aged eleven and five years.

Col Mahadik, who became an "accomplished paratrooper and combat underwater diver" after being commissioned into the Army in December 1998.

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Northern Command Lt Gen DS Hooda expressed condolences saying "We owe a deep debt of gratitude to officers like Santosh who lead from the front and are willing to pay the ultimate price in the fight against terrorism

India-Pakistan border at night - Real image by Nasa

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this nighttime panorama while looking north across Pakistan’s Indus River valley. The port city of Karachi is the bright cluster of lights facing the Arabian Sea, which appears completely black. City lights and the dark color of dense agriculture closely track with the great curves of the Indus valley. For scale, the distance from Karachi to the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains is 1,160 kilometers (720 miles).

This photograph shows one of the few places on Earth where an international boundary can be seen at night. The winding border between Pakistan and India is lit by security lights that have a distinct orange tone. Another night image (click here) shows the border zone looking southeast from the Himalaya. A daylight view shows the vegetated bends of the Indus Valley winding through the otherwise desert country.

More than two millennia ago, Alexander the Great entered the Indus plains in 327 BCE from the northwest. He then spent many months leading his army and navy down the length of the Indus valley shown in this view. From near Karachi, he then began the desert march back to Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). By contrast, it takes the space station just three minutes to travel this distance.

Astronaut photograph ISS045-E-27869 was acquired on September 23, 2015, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using a 28 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 45 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. TheInternational Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Caption by M. Justin Wilkinson, Texas State University, Jacobs Contract at NASA-JSC.


Instrument(s): 
ISS - Digital Camera

Source - http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=86725

Turkey issues special stamp featuring PM Narendra Modi

A personalised postage stamp featuring Prime Minister Narendra was issued by Turkey in remembrance of the  G20 Leaders Summit here. 

The stamp bears a picture of Modi and the Indian national flag. It has 'Narendra Modi - Prime Minister of Republic of India' written at the bottom. 

Personalised stamps of G20 Turkey Summit Leaders were presented by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in remembrance of G20 Turkey Leaders Summit, the official twitter handle of G20 Turkey Leaders Summit tweeted. 

Modi attended the Summit in this Turkish resort town on November 15 and 16, 2015. 

Other world leaders featured include US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, UK Prime Minister David Cameroon, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Brazilian President Dilma Roussef, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Sinzo Abe and European Council President Donald Tusk. 

Even though French President Francois Hollande cancelled his visit to the Summit due to the Paris killings, a stamp in his honour too was issued.

Jayee Rajguru - First martyr against British rule in India

Jayakrushna Rajguru Mohapatra (29 October 1739 – 6 December 1806) popularly known as 'Jayee Rajguru' was born in Puri District of Odisha .He was the Royal Priest, Commander-in-Chief of the king of Khurda, Gajapati Mukundadev-II. He was the first martyr of India against the British.
After occupying andhra from Nizam of hyderabad British wanted to capture khurda(in odisha) for for purpose of transportation between this region and midnapur(WB).The District Magistrate of Ganjam Col. Harcourt made an agreement with the king of Khurda for the communication of Ganjam and midnapur. It was agreed that the British would pay one lakh Rupees (₹ 1, 00,000) towards compensation to the king and to return the four Praganas which were under the control of the Marathas . But, they cheated in both the ways.
Filled with rage Jayee Rajguru arranged his army and occupied the four Praganas on his own . But, the British tried to capture Khurda by force. As a result the King of Khurda was deprived of the traditional rights of Jagannath Temple which was a serious shock to the  people of Odisha. Consequently in October 1804 a group of armed Paiks attacked the British at Pipili. 

Finally, the historical fight occurred between the military of Khurda and the Britishers. Fight continued for a long period and Jayee Rajguru was arrested . He made his all out effort to keep his king safe but finally, Mukunda Dev-II was arrested in 3 January 1805. Then Jayee Rajguru and the King were sent to Midnapore Jail.Jayee Rajguru was declared guilt for waging a war "against the lawfully established Govt. of the land". He was ordered to be hanged till death; but was killed on 6 December 1806 in a procedure in which executioners tied his legs to the opposite branches of a tree and left the branches.His body got teared into two pieces.

The Paika rebellion was the first struggle for freedom against British.

Proud of Bangalore City Traffic Police who amidst doing his duties helped a woman in medical emergency

Sri Gopalakrishna, PSI of Baytarayanapura Traffic, while on duty managing heavy traffic near Gali Anjaneya Junction on Mysore road noticed a woman delivering a baby by roadside without any attendants @ 9.15 hours on 19/11/15. He attended to her immediately with the help of staff & public, immediately arranged for an ambulance. The said lady is identified as Smt Selvi w/o late Raju, 23 yrs, a native of Kallukurchi, Tamilnadu. Both mother & girl baby are safe & healthy in Vani Vilas hospital now.

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