I have never enjoyed reading anything more that this article.
http://www.ajax-sc.nl/voetbal/kuper.html
Miles ahead at the top of my pyramid of respect.
No wonder I was a fan of the Dutch throughout the 90s. But then Zizu caught
my attention and I rooted for the French team, not that I stopped rooting for
the Dutch. But now Zizu has retired, so Im back with the Dutch:)
I want to find a documentary on Total Football and Johan Cruyff. Let me google.
ps: When I watched the movie Austin Powers Goldmember, I couldnt understand
why the Dutch were shown to be hated/despised. I asked an English lad and he
didnt have a clue.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
garbage processing
Garbage
I am obsessed with garbage.
Everyday I walk to my office I see the garbage truck and the workers who pick up garbage from local dumps with their bare hands. As I walk past them I wonder how much these guys are paid, I am not sure but I think they are paid the absolute minimum, they are not even permanent workers and probably work on a daily contact basis, they don't have protective gear and it probable that they don't even have a second set of clothes. I daydream of opening up a garbage collection company and setting up a great infrastructure of collecting and recycling, and paying these guys exorbitantly, I daydream of becoming a dictator and setting up an efficient resource usage system:p.
Every time I use something or buy something or throw something, I ask myself where did this come from and where will this end up?
I cannot resist and draw an analogy to programming in C, where I have to keep account of every piece of memory I have allocated for my use and I am responsible for restoring that piece of resource that I have no furthur use, I need to make sure that I dont leave behind garbage(a resource that nobody has any use of), it is my responsibility. If I dont take care of the garbage in real life, nature takes care of it in most cases and through the slow process of decomposition, the garbage is processed and is returned back to its origin, but in a computer hardware, there is no such natural decomposition, memory leaks will lead to accumulative memory usage and soon the computer will crash.
Fortunately Nature is more hardy, more robust, but for how long will it suffer the ever-growing demands of the human kind.
Unfortunately Nature does not have a reset button and is infinitely complex to debug and fix memory leaks, the only way is to have a good initial design.
Fortunately the design process used by nature is perfect:-). Its called Evolution.
Unfortunately humans have found a way to disrupt it, with insane consumption of resources and bio-engineering.
Fortunately as I said before, Nature's design is perfect, so it will have the last word! So all you environmentalists, keep up the good work, never fear and never despair, there may not be a reset button, but the Phoenix shall rise again from the ashes and Earth shall be beautiful and wondrous once again.
Processing waste
Nature has been doing efficient garbage processing long before baba adam(before man).
Whenever I see ants roaming about the kitchen picking up pieces of food or something that was left over I dont twist my face in dismay at the mess, rather a sense of wonder crosses my mind, these guys are cleaning up for me, free of cost. I used to look at pigs with disgust when they would eat from garbage dumps, but not anymore. I have new-found respect for Vultures, in fact if I recall correctly there is a community somewhere near Lahaul/Ladakh which leaves its dead to the vultures, thats a great way to decompose:p
Man the smartass has tried to clean up his shit and failed:
I recently came across an article where the Chinese used a certain kind of fish to clean up the pollution in one of its great lakes and then selling those fish, an appropriate time for the sayings sone pe suhaga or sanp bhi mar gaya aur laathi bhi nahi tooti or ek teer se do shikaar:p. Haha, they effectively moved the toxins up the food chain to the people, yup we at the top of the food chain will gloriously gobble up the very toxins we created, how responsible. Sarcasm apart, this is what happens when toxins in the form of pesticides move up the food chain - Biomagnification(if you puke, its not my fault, so be forewarned, its the most sickening thing you will read, especially if you live here).
On reddit.com another interesting comment by mjd, was how scientists were using brussel sprouts as botanical vaccum cleaners to sucks up poisonous metals and toxins from the soil. But as the commenter asks, what of the sprouts, where do we dispose them. We just moved the problem around. Seems like the only solution is to go to the source of the problem and fix it.
I am a Greenpeace follower and you can find more about their efforts to fight toxins and e-waste here. So the next time you are planning to throw away your computer, think carefully where it will end.
Googling on garbage processing got me some interesting results:
1. Super article on Bio-Degradable materials by Jantar mantar - a science magazine for children based out of IIT Madras. Must read. Here are the average times taken to bio-degrade by some products:
For the lazy I will copy/paste the foll para:
This makes me wonder how is garbage processed here? I have to find out. I have seen Landfills in Delhi though: huge heaps of trash, vultures/hawks flying low, rag-picker silhouettes, large bulldozers and the setting sun, all in the same visual frame. A terrible sight.
A great way to reduce the waste you send to some landfill is Composting (Nature's own recycling program).
I found a super site explaining this process nicely. There's also a startup in Bangalore selling home-compost products. Although their website design is awful, I hope their products are nice and wish them success.
And now for some history:), Composting as you might have guessed is an age-old process.
There, like my fellow countrymen I have fallen into the trap of attributing all age-old traditional historical practices to indian origin:p. Joking, I am sure this was a standard practice in many places.
Is there a God for the environmentalists:p, how I wish I could change history and add a chapter in the Puranas where Mahadev Shiv punishes the polluters and destroyers of nature. More recently I wonder why dont the so called relegious fanatics protest the pollution of Ganga, how could they let anybody build a dam on our holiest of rivers.
But seriously I pray that people own up their garbage and be more responsible. Respect every particle in the Universe. Isnt this the most important of Upanishadic sayings -
Tat Tvam Asi
===========================================================================
ps: No, I am not comparing automatic garbage collection to natural decomposition. This is not that strong an analogy, apologies to Dijkstra.
pps: I like ants, but I don't like cockroaches, yes I am a hypocrite.
ppps: Ujjwal baby just pointed out to me that Vultures will soon be extinct in S.Asia. WTF!!!!!!!!!
I am obsessed with garbage.
Everyday I walk to my office I see the garbage truck and the workers who pick up garbage from local dumps with their bare hands. As I walk past them I wonder how much these guys are paid, I am not sure but I think they are paid the absolute minimum, they are not even permanent workers and probably work on a daily contact basis, they don't have protective gear and it probable that they don't even have a second set of clothes. I daydream of opening up a garbage collection company and setting up a great infrastructure of collecting and recycling, and paying these guys exorbitantly, I daydream of becoming a dictator and setting up an efficient resource usage system:p.
Every time I use something or buy something or throw something, I ask myself where did this come from and where will this end up?
I cannot resist and draw an analogy to programming in C, where I have to keep account of every piece of memory I have allocated for my use and I am responsible for restoring that piece of resource that I have no furthur use, I need to make sure that I dont leave behind garbage(a resource that nobody has any use of), it is my responsibility. If I dont take care of the garbage in real life, nature takes care of it in most cases and through the slow process of decomposition, the garbage is processed and is returned back to its origin, but in a computer hardware, there is no such natural decomposition, memory leaks will lead to accumulative memory usage and soon the computer will crash.
Fortunately Nature is more hardy, more robust, but for how long will it suffer the ever-growing demands of the human kind.
Unfortunately Nature does not have a reset button and is infinitely complex to debug and fix memory leaks, the only way is to have a good initial design.
Fortunately the design process used by nature is perfect:-). Its called Evolution.
Unfortunately humans have found a way to disrupt it, with insane consumption of resources and bio-engineering.
Fortunately as I said before, Nature's design is perfect, so it will have the last word! So all you environmentalists, keep up the good work, never fear and never despair, there may not be a reset button, but the Phoenix shall rise again from the ashes and Earth shall be beautiful and wondrous once again.
Processing waste
Nature has been doing efficient garbage processing long before baba adam(before man).
Whenever I see ants roaming about the kitchen picking up pieces of food or something that was left over I dont twist my face in dismay at the mess, rather a sense of wonder crosses my mind, these guys are cleaning up for me, free of cost. I used to look at pigs with disgust when they would eat from garbage dumps, but not anymore. I have new-found respect for Vultures, in fact if I recall correctly there is a community somewhere near Lahaul/Ladakh which leaves its dead to the vultures, thats a great way to decompose:p
Man the smartass has tried to clean up his shit and failed:
I recently came across an article where the Chinese used a certain kind of fish to clean up the pollution in one of its great lakes and then selling those fish, an appropriate time for the sayings sone pe suhaga or sanp bhi mar gaya aur laathi bhi nahi tooti or ek teer se do shikaar:p. Haha, they effectively moved the toxins up the food chain to the people, yup we at the top of the food chain will gloriously gobble up the very toxins we created, how responsible. Sarcasm apart, this is what happens when toxins in the form of pesticides move up the food chain - Biomagnification(if you puke, its not my fault, so be forewarned, its the most sickening thing you will read, especially if you live here).
On reddit.com another interesting comment by mjd, was how scientists were using brussel sprouts as botanical vaccum cleaners to sucks up poisonous metals and toxins from the soil. But as the commenter asks, what of the sprouts, where do we dispose them. We just moved the problem around. Seems like the only solution is to go to the source of the problem and fix it.
I am a Greenpeace follower and you can find more about their efforts to fight toxins and e-waste here. So the next time you are planning to throw away your computer, think carefully where it will end.
Googling on garbage processing got me some interesting results:
1. Super article on Bio-Degradable materials by Jantar mantar - a science magazine for children based out of IIT Madras. Must read. Here are the average times taken to bio-degrade by some products:
Cotton rags -------------------------- 1-5 months2. Another is a canadian environmental site explaining how garbage gets processed in landfills and its failure. The solution is to install the 4 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover into our daily routine.
Paper --------------------------------- 2-5 months
Orange peels ------------------------ 6 months
Cigarette butts ---------------------- 1 to 5 years
Plastic-coated paper milk cartons ------ 5yrs
Leather shoes ---------------------- 25 to 40 years
Nylon fabric ----------------------- 30 to 40 years
Tin cans ---------------------------- 50 to 100 years
Glass bottles ---------------------- 1 million years
Plastic bottles --------------------- FOREVER
For the lazy I will copy/paste the foll para:
Reducing the amount of waste we produce is by far the most effective way to battle the flow of garbage into the landfill. Packaging makes up about half our garbage by volume, one-third by weight.
- When you shop, try to find products that have little or no packaging.
What we cannot Reduce we should try to Reuse.
- Repair you old radio rather than buying a new one.
- Use jars, tins, and plastic containers to store leftovers, bulk foods and household items.
- Buy durable, good quality products that will last.
Materials and packaging that cannot be reused should be recycled at home, work and school. You can contribute to recycling by purchasing recycled and recyclable products.
- At the store, ask yourself these questions: can this product or its packaging be reused or recycled? Was it produced form recycled materials? Whenever possible, choose products that meet these criteria.
Finally, Recover energy from wastes that cannot be used for something else. This fourth R is difficult to put into practice by individuals, and is geared more toward industry.
This makes me wonder how is garbage processed here? I have to find out. I have seen Landfills in Delhi though: huge heaps of trash, vultures/hawks flying low, rag-picker silhouettes, large bulldozers and the setting sun, all in the same visual frame. A terrible sight.
By the way these landfills are nothing compared to our beaches and the greatest garbage collector award goes to the North Pacific Gyre.
A great way to reduce the waste you send to some landfill is Composting (Nature's own recycling program).
I found a super site explaining this process nicely. There's also a startup in Bangalore selling home-compost products. Although their website design is awful, I hope their products are nice and wish them success.
And now for some history:), Composting as you might have guessed is an age-old process.
As a natural process, "composting" has been taking place since the initiation of plant life on earth. Early man no doubt learned to use manures and planted in soil enriched by natural decay. Historians have traced composting and the use of compost in Europe to the Roman Marcus Cato over 2000 years ago.
The first important advance in the practice of composting was made by Sir Albert Howard almost 75 years ago in India. He systemized the traditional procedure into a composting method he called the Indore process. This process involved stacking alternate layers of animal mature, sewage sludge, garbage, organic matter, such as straw, leaves, and municipal refuse. The material was stacked to a height of about 5 feet or was placed in specially constructed pits 2 to 3 feet deep.
There, like my fellow countrymen I have fallen into the trap of attributing all age-old traditional historical practices to indian origin:p. Joking, I am sure this was a standard practice in many places.
Is there a God for the environmentalists:p, how I wish I could change history and add a chapter in the Puranas where Mahadev Shiv punishes the polluters and destroyers of nature. More recently I wonder why dont the so called relegious fanatics protest the pollution of Ganga, how could they let anybody build a dam on our holiest of rivers.
But seriously I pray that people own up their garbage and be more responsible. Respect every particle in the Universe. Isnt this the most important of Upanishadic sayings -
Tat Tvam Asi
===========================================================================
ps: No, I am not comparing automatic garbage collection to natural decomposition. This is not that strong an analogy, apologies to Dijkstra.
pps: I like ants, but I don't like cockroaches, yes I am a hypocrite.
ppps: Ujjwal baby just pointed out to me that Vultures will soon be extinct in S.Asia. WTF!!!!!!!!!
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