Nanotechnology in Indian Cosmetics

Carbon Nano Tubes (CNTs) are the next thing in nanotechnology and are one of the most seriously considered options for implementing the next generation high density memories and processors. They also have a host of applications ranging from computer engineering to biotechnology. The plant to manufacture CNTs even on an experimental basis costs more than USD 20,000 and the process does not have a very high yield.

What will you think if I say that the fashion world is using these CNTs in - get this - Cosmetics? And the country which is doing this is India. You think - has fashion become such a major force in India - well get this - women have been using this for centuries!

Now that I have (hopefully) heightened the expectation let me explain. Dr. Sabyasachi Sarkar from IIT K, has discovered the existence of CNTs in Kaajal, the Indian equivalent of Kohl - obtained by burning oil in a lamp and scraping and using the deposited soot. Apparently 40% of these CNTs can be extracted without any fancy equipment. Agreed that this method may not be useful for building CNTs of specified geometry, still the CNTS form Kohl can be used for a few applications.

Surprising! Read more about it here.

Of Cows in California

I accept that the title of this post is somewhat pretentious - but believe me it is not. This is about one funny incident which happened when I went to attend a house-warming (Grihapravesam) in California.

In South India house warming is an elaborate ceremony with lots of rituals. There is the boiling of the milk (Paal Kaachal), which is then served to the guests - symbolizing a flourishing domestic life - and also ensuring your guests don’t get pissed off - slightly different but essentially the same as the salt and bread of the western culture. There are prayers offered to every deity for ensuring good health of the residents of the house, success in all their endeavors and peace and harmony. There is also a prayer to the earth goddess - very important in California. There is a prayer to the god of fire - a small fire is lit and offerings of rice and ghee (clarified butter) are made.

Anyways, one of the important rituals is bringing a cow and its calf into the house - to symbolize the flourishing of the progeny. Now obviously this is one thing difficult to replicate in CA. Not so for this enterprising vadyar (priest) who brought along a cow and a calf into the second floor living room of the apartment - a small figurine of a cow and calf made out of silver. It was so funny that it took all I had not to burst out laughing - and the vadyar was very serious about the whole thing.

Also the vadyar had brought along some "smokeless wonder" - no, not weed - it was the usual material which would be burnt to make the fire - but in a highly powdered form so that there was no smoke during combustion. As I and my friends would say back in the good old days - "Technology da machi".

Amazon.com customer service numbers

Have you tried searching for the customer service number of Amazon.com? Pretty sure, you would not have found it on their webpages. Actually, the only place it is displayed, so I am informed, is the page that appears immediately after you make a purchase.

I had a frustrating experience trying to find their phone number and googled it up. I found that there are lots of people out there who have had the same problem and have posted the service number on their sites. So I did some backtracking and found out this website http://reachdotcom.com, which lists the customer service numbers of many such Internet based outfits.

On a brighter side, the Amazon customer service reps are quite happy to help you out, once you managed to track their number and call them.

For many frustrated users' comments, take a look at http://clicheideas.com/amazon.

Return of the Ring

So I have been reading a lot of the master - "Plum" Wodehouse, for the nth time. One thing which recurs in his books is some chump like Bertie getting engaged and wanting to break it off, but scared to do so, fearing an action for " breach", till Jeeves comes along with scarfing down phosphorous filled fish and saves the day.

But I was intrigued by what this "breach" was all about - I mean, I understand it is for breaching the engagement but it sounds quite funny - like breaching a contract. So I did some search on this and ascertained that my guess was indeed correct. The lady would sue the man because her chances of getting engaged/married had gone down significantly after the guy broke off the engagement.

But I came across a more interesting legal question - "If an engagement is called off, who gets to keep the ring?". There are three popular directions taken by judges - oh yes- such cases have been tried in the Supreme Court.

1) The ring is a gift and if the receiver can prove the donors intent of gifting it, the actual giving it and the receivers accepting it, then the receiver is entitled to keep it.

2) The ring is a conditional gift hinging on the marriage and doesn’t get transferred to the receiver till the marriage is completed - that is, the contract for which the ring is a token is completed.

3) It was bought by the donor and hence belongs to the donor.

Anyway, isn’t it interesting that the Supreme Court has to arbitrate in matters, which seem silly to me? Who was that who said. "The law is an ass"?. For a complete article on this issue look up the link on “Who gets to keep the ring?”.

Kiddie movies

This is about movies for kids like Home Alone and animated movies.
I love such movies. It is quite simple to follow the plot - Lord Emsworth of Blandings would not loose the thread. Absolutely ridiculous things happen and everything is accepted. There is not gross violence. See - so many good things.

But in spite of this I remain, among the group of my other gradus friends, one of the very few who accept liking such movies. The people who don’t like, or say they don’t like, these movies think it is not fitting for an adult to like such movies. I contest this on two points. One - I am not an adult - I am still a kid because I sure do want to exploit the privileges that kids get. But secondly, and more serious point, what’s wrong about adults seeing kids movies? It is never bad to be reminded of how things should be. Now I accept that the world will never be the way it is in these movies, but something that cuts across the layers of cynicism and practicality that we have around us, once in a way is, in the word of Bat Jarvis, "Its to da goot".

Anyway, as a test, we screened three of the best movies in this genre and everyone who watched them, including the hard -core-dont-like-kiddie-movie contingent cried. See - all their talk was nothing but superheated air.