Rains expected in city today: Met

Good morning friends.  There will be an expected rain today.  So if you don’t have any important to do outside your house.  Just stay there and do some other important things.  Or if not really can’t stop to go somewhere, just bring all the precautions so that you will not be sick.

The weather department has forecast moderate to heavy rainfall in south Gujarat and parts of Gujarat on Thursday. Officials said they were hopeful that Ahmedabad will get its maiden showers. “The monsoon activity is expected to give good rainfall in south Gujarat and region including parts of north Gujarat. We are also hopeful that city will get rains on Thursday,” said Kamaljit Ray, director of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Gujarat said.

Ray said that the low pressure system that had formed over Jharkhand has now become a circulation but it is still expected to give rainfall over the state for the next three days. On Wednesday, heavy rains lashed numerous parts of south Gujarat. In Vadodara, 10 cm rainfall was recorded. –The Times of India

Garbage collection trucks to go hi-tech with GPS

Good morning friends.  There is this saying that cleanliness comes within us.  Some of us were not giving importance to it. That is wrong.  As like in our garbage,  we should make sure that it will be In a proper place to put it.  Some people just throw their garbage anywhere or just even leave it in one corner of the road.  Not only will ourselves be affected on that kind of doings, but also with the environment.  We should always be responsible in our daily life even if it is in small way.

Garbage collection is all set to go hi-tech. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) plans to install Global Positioning System (GPS) in at least 35 hydraulic dumper trucks to be bought at a price of Rs 4.67 crore from Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) funds.

The GPS-installed trucks will operate in the new west zone as pilot project, besides a private contractor will be given responsibility of collecting door-to-door trash. The contractor will be paid Rs 950 per ton of garbage collected.

After buying the GPS trucks, the AMC plans to tender out the operation and maintenance of the vehicles to another private contractor.

Every day, the AMC collects 2,100 metric ton of garbage. In the first phase, the AMC plans to buy 400 hydraulic trucks as per plans under JNNURM but will first run a pilot project in the new west zone with 35 trucks before implementing the scheme throughout the city.

“The GPS will help us pinpoint the exact location of a dumper vehicle and the number of trips it has conducted. There are two contractors who collect door-to-door garbage, which would soon be operated by one contractor called Jigar Transport. The contractor does the same job for Surat and Vadodara municipal corporations,” said a senior AMC official. – The Times of India

 

Bridge Across the Sea

Good morning friends.  This will be a great news. Just imagine you will be enjoying through passing the first bridge that built over the sea in India.  As I love to drive, I’m sure I will be having a good ride while passing there. This is great.

There is Bandra Worli Sea Link Project has been one of the most highly recommended project of all the transport studies done for the metropolitan region during the last forty years.

At present, Mahim causeway is the only link connecting western suburbs to island city of Mumbai. The existing north south western corridor is highly congested and during the peak hours results in a bottleneck at Mahim Causeway.

Vehicular traffic admeasuring about 1,20,000 PCU travels on the Mahim causeway everyday and during peak hours and it takes about forty minutes to travel from Mahim causeway to Worli, a distance of about 8 km.

Construction of the project link will provide an additional fast moving outlet from the island city to the western suburbs & thereby providing much needed relief to the congested Mahim Causeway. This link will also form a part of the western freeway.

 MSRDC, as a part of this project has appointed M/s Dar Consultants (U.K) Ltd. & M/s Dar Consultants (India) Pvt. Ltd. to design, proof check and supervise the various components of the project.

     Project Location

• Express Highway and Swami Vivekanand road at Bandra and connects to Worli at Worli end with overall length of 5.6 kms for the entire project.
• A cloverleaf interchange at Mahim intersection and a flyover at the Lovegrove intersection have been proposed as part of this project to enhance the faster and safe traffic dispersal. – bandraworlisealink

Photo courtesy:  gulf-times

City ready for date with total solar eclipse (2)

On July 22, the shadow of moon will pass over a narrow corridor through northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, central China and the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century. It will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132.

A seminar on Solar Eclipses-2009 for college and school teachers’ was organized by Gujarat Science City recently.

Former PRL scientist Narendra Bhandari said, “I am planning to go to Surat or Indore depending on the climatic conditions. Monsoon can play spoilsport on the visibility of the eclipse in Gujarat.”

“A series of experiments can be conducted during the eclipse as it is going to last six minutes 39 seconds,” added Bhandari.

About the month-long popularization activities, senior scientist Narottam Sahoo said, “The activities aim at reinforcing links between science education and careers related to it. This will stimulate a long-term increase in student enrolment in the fields of science and technology.” – The Times of India

City ready for date with total solar eclipse (1)

Good morning friends.  I’m sure many of you are waiting to see the solar eclipse.  We have 24 days to go to see it.  Ahmedabad is ready for date with the total solar eclipse.  Those who still don’t experience to see how such eclipse this is your chance.  Don’t miss it. 

A trip to China, a shadow band experiment and scores of programmes to sensitize people. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

With hardly a month to go for the total solar eclipse, scientific community and enthusiasts have started popularizing activities in the city for one of the rarest celestial activity.

Director of Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) JN Goswami said, “The total solar eclipse which falls on July 22 has created immense interest and curiosity among citizens. PRL scientists will be conducting shadow band experiment during the event and many other awareness and educational programmes are lined for to mark the day.”

“A team from Udaipur Solar Observatory, under PRL, will also be flying to China to closely study the eclipse,” added Goswami.

Many are planning to go to places from where total solar eclipse will be visible in Gujarat. Dhananjay Rawal, an amateur astronomer, has organized a live workshop on total solar eclipse at Surat. He said, “We have got more than 200 registrations. People will be coming from Vijaywada, Chennai and New Delhi to see the eclipse from here.”

“We have located a place 35 km from Surat city, surrounded with lakes and a beautiful landscape, to closely monitor the changes during the time of eclipse,” Rawal added.– The Times of India

My Tribute to Michael Jackson on his Golden Years of Life (2)

Jackson’s rented home was roped off after paramedics arrived to transport the King of Pop to the hospital.

Born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana Jackson was a child star with the Jackson 5 and became one of the most successful recording artists of all time with the release of the album ‘Thriller’ in 1982 – the best selling album of all time. His successful songs redefined the modern music video and forced MTV to start showing black performers, and paved the way for the acceptance of rap and hip-hop as mainstream musical styles.

Elevated to the stardom level of the Beatles and Elvis, he also introduced a new level of mega-stardom through his music and clothes, his dance moves, and his massive live concert tours.

‘Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of colour – way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama,’ said black leader Al Sharpton. ‘Michael did with music what they did in sport politics and music. No controversy will erase his impact.’

He raised consciousness about the plight of Africa with the supergroup recording ‘We Are the World’ in 1985. But after that most of his headlines were dogged by scandal – from his marriages to Lisa Presley and former nurse Debby Rowe, to his eccentric lifestyle behind the gates of his fantasy childhood estate, named Neverland, after the setting of the book Peter Pan.

He managed to settle an allegation that he molested a boy there in 1993, but was forced to face a sensational ‘trial of the century’ 10 years later. He was ultimately acquitted of the charges, but the exposure caused huge damage to his career and financial situation.

At the time of his death he had been preparing for a 50-concert run in London that was meant to represent his comeback and secure his financial future. – yahoo

photo courtesy: hiphoprx

My Tribute to Michael Jackson on his Golden Years of Life (1)

Good morning friends.  Everybody are shocked about the new to Michael Jackson.  The King of Pop, the legend, the singer.  I’m sure everybody were feeling bad.  Michael Jackson was already dead.

Los Angeles, June 26 (DPA) Pop star Michael Jackson died Thursday following a cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles, officials said. He was 50.

The King of Pop, whose life of stardom and scandal kept him permanently in the headlines, was found unconscious at his rented Bel Air mansion and was rushed to the UCLA Medical Centre.

‘We were notified by LAPD that Michael Jackson was transferred from his house to the hospital,’ said Los Angeles County Coroner Fred Corral. ‘He was unresponsive and pronounced dead at approximately 2.26 this afternoon.’

Corral said an autopsy would be performed to check for toxicology and other problems. The results are to be released Friday.

A large crowd formed outside the medical centre and his home, playing Jackson’s music, as news crews and reporters jostled for stories and as news helicopters hovered overhead.

Corral said that he had suffered a cardiac arrest and local media reported Jackson had not been breathing when paramedics reached him. Reports from hospital first said he was in a coma, before numerous media reported his death.

‘We are just stunned – I can’t tell you what has taken place but everyone is just stunned,’ family spokesman Brian Oxman told CNN. Referring to reports that Jackson was in ill health, Oxman said he ‘feared and warned about’ the level of medication that Jackson was taking, though he stressed that ‘he was in fine condition. We have never seen him in any kind of weakened condition’.

Jackson is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince ‘Blanket’ Michael Jackson II.

Jackson had appeared increasingly frail and financially-challenged in recent years. Despite earning hundreds of millions of dollars he was reported to be $500 million in debt thanks largely to his eccentrically extravagant lifestyle. - yahoo

photo courtesy: contactmusic

Few teachers in Gujarat colleges

Good morning friends.  We know that teachers has a very important role in our children.  They are like the second parents of our children while our kids were in the school.  With that they should also give their best to have our kids know everything.  Teachers should teach the way that they are caring about their kids, and give them the best of what they have. The student teacher ratio in higher education in Gujarat is among the worst in the country. This is amply highlighted in a recent study conducted by professor Rakesh Basant of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). The data used in the study reveals that Gujarat has the second lowest teacher-student ratio. Where the national average is 23 students per teacher, Gujarat has 41 students per teacher. Only Uttar Pradesh with 46 students per teacher fares worse. Co-authored by Partha Mukhopadhyay, the working paper titled ‘An Arrested Virtuous Circle? – Higher Education and High-Tech Industries in India’, which was published in May this year, says 34 per cent of Gujarat’s colleges were rated below average — a high number considering Kerala has only 11 per cent and Punjab 17 per cent in this category. One of the main reasons for the low rating of Gujarat’s colleges is the absence of teachers. – The Times of India

Countdown begins for solar eclipse on July 22

Good morning friends.  For those who will first time see the eclipse,  you have to begin the countdown.  It will be seen on the 22^nd of July.  So for those who never seen any solar eclipse yet this is the time for you to experience that.  It’s amazing.  You may just think really God is wonderful.  He created all this kind.  So be there to watch the solar eclipse.  It will be an experience. 

Get ready for the most-awaited total solar eclipse on July 22. The eclipse marks the celebration of International Year of Astronomyglobally. The Gujarat Council of Science City on Sunday kicked off a month-long Countdown Awareness Programme for safe observation of solar eclipse in the city.

As part of the programme, a workshop at GSC was organised on Sunday to orient amateur astronomers, science communicators and youth on the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) to be seen on July 22. The total solar eclipse will last nearly four minutes in India and the sun will not be visible at all.

During the workshop, Vishnu Reddy of astronomy faculty at University of North Dakota, US, said, “The sky has no limit and boundaries. Anyone with strong interest and right type of training can explore the night sky and observe many fascinating asteroids, comets and novas.”

“The geographical situation of India on the globe makes it an ideal place to explore astronomy and space,” added Reddy. GSC has planned a series of activities to popularise the solar eclipse. The visitors to Science City will be oriented with the eclipse observation activity through workshops, interactive sessions with scientists, radio talks and hands-on activities to ensure that those interested can have a safe viewing of the rare celestial event.

On preparation for the eclipse day, senior scientist, GSC, Narottam Sahoo said, “We are spreading the science about solar eclipses to eradicate so called superstitions related to them prevailing in the society in our month-long programme.”

The TSE on July 22 will be the longest one that will occur in the 21st century and will not be surpassed in duration for the next 123 years. Honorary scientist with Indian National Science Academy Prof Narendra Bhandari at Science City said every solar eclipse has been different and provides a variety of scientific stuff for study and future exploration.

Solar eclipse is a natural phenomenon and has some effect on birds, animals, plants, humans and the entire environment. Students should take up some scientific studies and spread the science of eclipse in the society, added Bhandari. – The Times of India

Math is now all song and dance for these kids (2)

“We started with only 15 volunteers and 10 children; we are now over 70 volunteers and 250 children. We work with these children on the Basic English and Math. It is surprising that some of the children here, who are in class IV do not know anything beyond writing their name,” said Vyas. He added, “It is time that aware and sensitive citizens of the country start taking things in their hand. Cribbing about the system will not help. The biggest motivation should be the want of a better world for your own self. Spending a few hours a week for that is not much”.

“Every day with these children is special. When we first started going to the village, the villagers treated us as aliens and we did not get much support from them. After working for one day, once a week for over one year, finally, we have been accepted by the parents, teachers and even the children in the village,” said Mehta.

Vishal Shah, an entrepreneur based in US and a volunteer with Avbodh said, “The best part about being attached with this organization is that I can contribute in whichever way possible. I thought I was not good enough to teach; I go there and serve water to these children, spread their mats and simply play with them. After going there for around five Sundays, I feel I have wasted so many Sundays of my life”. – The Times of India