It is not one's ability, but one's willingness, that is important!!

Watching a baby sea turtle struggle out of the nest and make it's way to the water is an emotional experience. Everything from footprints to driftwood and crabs are obstacles.

In this photograph, the photographer captured not just a single heart-touching moment, but also the trails of trillion such moments that show the efforts made by a baby turtle in order to reach to the shore.

How many real heroes?

The kind of remuneration Indian actors draw from their film projects is mind boggling. Here is a list of some of the highest paid actors in India (Price in millions of Indian Rupees approximately):

Name : Aamir Khan
Price : 400

Name : Shah Rukh Khan
Price : 250

Name : Salman Khan
Price : 300

Name : Hrithik
Price : 200

Name : Amitabh Bachchan
Price : 200

Name : Rajinikanth
Price : 350

Name : Pawan Kalyan
Price : 200

Name : Mahesh Babu
Price : 150

Name : Kamal Hassan
Price : 200

Name : Suriya
Price : 250

Now the point is, how many actors in India are really willing to spend a part of their income for charity??? Of course there are some actors who are generous, but how many?

Someone said it well, "I think the best actors are the most generous, the kindest, the greatest people and at their worst they are vain, greedy and insecure."

True nobility does not lie in being highest paid, but in being a little generous. That is what differentiates 'Heroes' from actors.

Indian Prodigy: A "Human Computer"

Indian mathematics genius and astrologer Shakuntala Devi, who passed away after brief illness on April 21, 2013 at the age of 83, was dubbed "human computer" for her swift numerical calculation abilities.

A household name in India, Devi cast a spell adding a 16-digit number with another one and multiplying the result with an equal array of numbers almost instantaneously, finding the cube root of the resultant and pops up with an answer in just about the time taken for a wink.

Devi, who had no formal education and who simply picked up reading and writing, had the ingenous ability to tell the day of the week of any given date in the last century in a jiffy.

In 1977 in Dallas she competed with a computer to see who could give the cube root of 188132517 faster. She won.

Rated as one in 58 million for her stupendous mathematical feats by one of the fastest super-computers ever invented-the Univac-1108, Devi believed in using grey cells to silicon chips. At an American university she was asked to give the 23rd root of 

916748676920039158098660927585380162483106680144308622407126516427934657040867096593279205767480806790022783016354924852380335745316935111903596577547340075681688305620821016129132845564805780158806771
She answered in 50 seconds. Her answer of 546372891 took a UNIVAC 1108 computer a full minute (10 seconds more) to confirm that she was right after it was fed with 13000 instructions.

In 1977, Shakuntala Devi discovered the 23rd root of a 201-digit number mentally. 

On June 18, 1980, she demonstrated the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers 7,686,369,774,870 x 2,465,099,745,779 picked at random by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London. She correctly answered 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730 in 28 seconds. This event is mentioned in the 1995 Guinness Book of Records.

She wrote a number of books on mathematics and astrology including "Fun with Numbers", "Astrology for You", "Puzzles to Puzzle You" and "Mathablit".

She had also set up an educational foundation public trust to promote studies in maths, astrology, philosophy and astronomy.

Shakuntala Devi was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Mumbai last month.

The Birds of Paradise

     The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species in this family are found on the island of New Guinea and its satellites, with a few species occurring in the Moluccas and eastern Australia.

     The family has 39 species in 14 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of the sexually dimorphic species (the majority), in particular the highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings, tail or head. For the most part they are confined to dense rainforest habitat. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods.

     The family is of cultural importance to the inhabitants of New Guinea. The trade in skins and feathers of the birds-of-paradise has been going on for two thousand years. The birds have also been of considerable interest to Western collectors, ornithologists and writers.

    A number of species are threatened by hunting and habitat loss.

Submarine launched Brahmos Missile

BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile that can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land. It is a joint venture between Republic of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroeyenia who have together formed BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. The name BrahMos is a portmanteau formed from the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia. It is the world's fastest cruise missile in operation.

India successfully test-fired its submarine-launched version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile for the first time on 20th March, 2013 in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of the southern port city of Visakhapatnam, a top official said.

"The submarine-launched version of BrahMos was successfully test-fired from an underwater pontoon near Visakhapatnam in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. This is the first testfiring of an underwater supersonic cruise missile anywhere in the world and the missile traveled its complete range of over 290 km," Head of BrahMos A. Sivathanu Pillai told the media.

With the test-firing, India became the world's first country to have this capability. The country has already successfully test-fired the ship and ground-launched versions of the missile for the Indian Navy and the Indian Army respectively. "BrahMos missile is fully ready for fitment in submarines in vertical launch configuration which will make the platform one of the most powerful weapon platforms in the world," Pillai added.

A hypersonic version of the missile is currently under development with speed of Mach 7 to boost aerial fast strike capability. It is expected to be ready for testing by 2017, according to sources.

From Camouflage to Quantum Stealth

Quantum Stealth is a material that renders the target completely invisible by bending light waves around the target. The material removes not only your visual, infrared (night vision) and thermal signatures but also the target’s shadow.

Two separate command groups within the U.S. Military and two separate Canadian Military groups as well as Federal Emergency Response Team have seen the actual material so they could verify that  it was not just a manipulated video or photo; These groups now know that it works and does so without cameras, batteries, lights or mirrors. It is lightweight and quite inexpensive. Both the U.S. and Canadian military have confirmed that it also works against military IR scopes and Thermal Optics.

 The picture on the right side is mock-up of the "Quantum Stealth" material with a girl behind it. No cameras and no projectors are used. These photos are to show the Media the concept. With the real material - you would only see about 5% of the shadow on her and the ground as they have determined a 95% reduction of shadow in testing.

This stealth technology can do wonders when implemented in the war planes. The picture on the left is an imagination of how a war plane goes invisible by using quantum stealth. The pilot can enter into the enemy territory without being seen by the radars, detectors and even by naked eye. The enemy will realize the presence of the alien war plane only after all of a sudden a bomb is dropped or a missile is fired from nowhere.

Michio Kaku's 'The Universe in a NutShell'

♥ Mom ♥

Your Mother carried you inside of her womb for nine whole months, she felt sick for months with nausea, then she watched her feet swell and her skin stretch and tear.

She struggled to climb stairs, she got breathless quickly and even a simple task like putting her shoes on was a huge struggle for her. She suffered many sleepless nights while you kicked and squirmed inside of her and while you demanded that, she scoffed junk at 3 am, she then went through EXCRUCIATING PAIN to bring you into this world.

She became your nurse, your chef, your maid, your chauffeur, your biggest fan, your teacher, your agony aunt and your best friend. She's struggled for you, cried over you, fought for you, put herself second for you, hoped the best for you.

She has driven herself insane with worry for you but never has she asked for anything in return because she loves you and did it all on love alone!

Most of us take our Mums for granted but there are people who have lost or have never even seen theirs. If you have a loving Mother who did all of this for you, you are very lucky, never devalue her worth because one day, you'll wish you hadn't!

The Father of Rocket Science

Wernher von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and, subsequently, in the United States. He is credited as being the “Father of Rocket Science”.

In his 20s and early 30s, von Braun was the central figure in Germany’s rocket development program, responsible for the design and realization of the V-2 combat rocket during World War II. After the war, he and select members of his rocket team were taken to the United States as part of the then-secret Operation Paperclip. Von Braun worked on the United States Army intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) program before his group was assimilated by NASA.

Under NASA, he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. According to one NASA source, he is “without doubt, the greatest rocket scientist in history”.

In the photo above, Dr. von Braun stands by the five F-1 engines of the Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The engines measured 19-feet tall by 12.5-feet at the nozzle exit and burned 15 tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene each second to produce 7,500,000 pounds of thrust.

We are not alone!

The Wow! signal was a strong narrow band radio signal detected by Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of The Ohio State University then located at Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory, Delaware, Ohio. The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-Solar System origin. It lasted for the full 72-second duration that Big Ear observed it, but has not been detected again. The signal has been the subject of significant media attention.

Amazed at how closely the signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal in the antenna used, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment "Wow!" on its side. This comment became the name of the signal.

Determining a precise location in the sky was complicated by the fact that the Big Ear telescope used two feed horns to search for signals, each pointing to a slightly different direction in the sky following Earth's rotation; the Wow! signal was detected in one of the horns but not in the other, although the data was processed in such a way that it is impossible to determine in which of the two horns the signal entered. There are, therefore, two possible right ascension values:

19h22m24.64s ± 5s (positive horn)

19h25m17.01s ± 5s (negative horn)

This region of the sky lies in the constellation Sagittarius, roughly 2.5 degrees south of the fifth-magnitude star group Chi Sagittarii, and about 3.5 degrees south of the plane of the ecliptic. Tau Sagittarii is the closest easily visible star.

The Big Ear telescope was fixed and used the rotation of the Earth to scan the sky. At the speed of the Earth's rotation, and given the width of the Big Ear's observation "window", the Big Ear could observe any given point for just 72 seconds. A continuous extraterrestrial signal, therefore, would be expected to register for exactly 72 seconds, and the recorded intensity of that signal would show a gradual peaking for the first 36 seconds—until the signal reached the center of Big Ear's observation "window"— and then a gradual decrease.

Therefore, both the length of the Wow! signal, 72 seconds, and the shape of the intensity graph may correspond to a possible extraterrestrial origin.

Anti-Frost & Anti-Fog Coating For Glass

In an advance toward glass that remains clear under the harshest of conditions, scientists are reporting development of a new water-repellant coating that resists both fogging and frosting. Their research on the coating, which could have uses ranging from automobile windshields to camera lenses, appears in the journal ACS Nano.

Michael F.Rubner, Robert E.Cohen and colleagues point out that anti-fogging coatings that absorb water have been the focus of attention lately because of their ability to reduce light scattering and the distortion caused by condensation.

However, under extreme fogging conditions, these surfaces may frost and become foggy. They set out to make a better coating to withstand the aggressive conditions.

Their report describes development and testing of a new coating that rapidly absorbs water molecules that cannot freeze in the coating. At the same time, the coating has a water-repelling or hydrophobic effect to larger water droplets. The hydrophobic character means that water droplets do not spread extensively on the coating but essentially remain as flattened droplets.

Space vehicles, military planes, submersibles and even commercial transport planes, where even small errors have fatal consequences, need this kind of glass in their windows.

Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle (Missiles)

A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is a ballistic missile payload containing several warheads each capable of hitting one of a group of targets. By contrast a unitary warhead is a single warhead on a single missile.

In a MIRV, the main rocket motor (or booster) pushes a "bus" into a free-flight suborbital ballistic flight path. After the boost phase the bus maneuvers using small on-board rocket motors and a computerized inertial guidance system. It takes up a ballistic trajectory that will deliver a reentry vehicle containing a warhead to a target, and then releases a warhead on that trajectory. It then maneuvers to a different trajectory, releasing another warhead, and repeats the process for all warheads.

Accuracy is expressed as circular error probable (CEP). This is simply the radius of the circle that the warhead has a 50 percent chance of falling into when aimed at the center. CEP is about 90–100 m for the Trident II and Peacekeeper missiles.

MIRV launch sequence: 1. The missile launches out of its silo by firing its first stage boost motor (A). 2. About 60 seconds after launch, the 1st stage drops off and the second stage motor (B) ignites. The missile shroud (E) is ejected. 3. About 120 seconds after launch, the third stage motor (C) ignites and separates from the 2nd stage. 4. About 180 seconds after launch, third stage thrust terminates and the Post-Boost Vehicle (D) separates from the rocket. 5. The Post-Boost Vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares for reentry vehicle (RV) deployment. 6. While the Post-Boost Vehicle backs away, the RVs, decoys, and chaff are deployed (although the figure shows this happening during descent, this may occur during ascent instead). 7. The RVs and chaff reenter the atmosphere at high speeds and are armed in flight. 8. The nuclear warheads detonate, either as air bursts or ground bursts.

Life of Pi (Movie)

Life of Pi is a 2012 American 3D Adventure drama film based on Yann Martel's 2001 novel of the same name. Directed by Ang Lee, the film is based in an adapted screenplay by David Magee, and stars Suraj Sharma, Irfan Khan, Gerard Depardieu, Tabu and Adil Hussain.

The storyline revolves around a 16-year old boy named Piscine Molitor Patel, often shortly called as "Pi", who survives a shipwreck in which his family dies, and is stranded in the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

Every time in life one comes across a crossroads, he is left behind by someone or something. After watching this movie we feel that no one is left behind unceremoniously, because there is no way the nature can say Good Bye.

The movie won four Oscars at the 85th Academy Awards 2013, in the categories of Best Director, Best Original Score, Best Visual effects and Best Cinematography.

The Alchemist (Novel)

The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Ceolho first published in the year 1988. Originally written in Portuguese by its Brazilian-born author, it has been translated into at least 56 languages as of September 2012. The book has gone on to become an international bestseller.

The Alchemist follows the journey of an Andalusian shepherd boy name Santiago. Santiago, believing a recurring dream to be prophetic, decides to travel to a Romani in a nearby town to discover its meaning. The gypsy tells him that there is a treasure in the Pyramids in Egypt. The rest of the story is about the adventurous journey of the boy in the sands of Egypt, meeting the Alchemist  and finding the treasure with his help.

The core theme of the book is that, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

The book has a lot of inspiring quotes. One of which goes something like "Disinter your dream, use the power of Love to nurture it, spend years living with scars and feel yourself worthy of the thing you fought so hard to get. Then you become an  instrument of God and you understand why you are here".