Inside The Living Body

Yesterday, I watched "Inside the Living Body" a documentary on human body from birth to death. I first heard about it from my cousin brother who had listed it in his Watched Movies List. I was amazed that he had given it 5 stars; as he won’t give 5 stars to even really good movies. According to his rating system, 5 stars are for out of this world eye openers which come one in a blue moon. So, that day only I decided to watch it. I copied it from my brother and stored in my movies folder. But due to one reason or another, I was not getting the time to watch it. Now, around 3 years later I downloaded it from internet and finally watched it. The documentary is of 1 hour 30 minutes and explains the human body during different phases of life starting from birth, to being a toddler to puberty, adulthood and aged. The film shows live footage from the new imaging techniques which allow us to see the body from the inside. We are able to see how food is being transferred from mouth to digestive system and how it is digested. The movie shows many processes of the body in a simple way.

After watching the movie, I realised that how delicate is our body and the whole process of life is based on the intricate balances of chemicals. I wonder how the body is able to do all of these functions. It is nature at its best. Sometimes, I think how can there be so much detail, creativity in the body. It feels like the work of god, because creating such a complex thing and still keeping it simple is still centuries away from the reach of humans. It seems like everything in the body is created after giving a serious thought. Another surprising fact is that the despite being delicate in one sense, the body is so strong. The heart and other vital organs work non-stop for 80-90 years. This is nature at its best.

Another thought which springs to my mind is the undeniable fact of death. The movie explains that as per a theory, the body starts to age from the moment we are born, but in the beginning we have excellent repair mechanism which repairs damaged cells and new cells replace the old ones continuously. But with the age, our repair mechanism weakens and the damaged areas are not healed as fast as they should be. Another theory of aging is that while oxygen is required for us to survive, it also leads to our destruction. Oxygen produces antioxidants which damage our cells. So, the only thing which keeps us alive, also corrodes us from inside. If I have to conclude my feelings, I will say that it is je ne sais qua, its indescribable as I don’t know the words or the way to describe what I am feeling for the ingenuity of nature and our creator.

The Future of Space Exploration

Curiosity has always been the basic trait of humans. We humans have always loved to explore and have tried to answer the greatest mysteries of universe. These mysteries have fascinated millions of minds around the planet. But out of all these, space exploration is on my top priority. I believe that space exploration is not just a fancy program for nurturing human curiosity and inspiring future generations; but is a need for us. Space exploration and the permanent settlement of humans in other locations in universe will diversify the risk and lower the chances of extinction in case of a calamity. Moreover, the rate at which the resources are being consumed and the environment is being polluted, in order to survive we need to mine other planetary bodies.

In spite the importance of space exploration for us, the current efforts being put in it are very less. After a spike in the last half of the century, the innovation in space seems to be at a decline. The simplest example of this is that despite sending multiple crews to moon in the last century, USA the world's only superpower is now struggling to even send their astronauts to LEO. United States is now relying on the Russian Soyuz to send and bring back their crews from ISS. Currently only a few nations are having active space programs - USA, Russia, EU(few nations only), Japan, China and India. Out of these only Russia, China and US have the capability to send astronauts in space.

The future of space exploration also seems not so bright. After the cancellation of Constellation program, Obama launched a new space policy that is without a single goal and intends to develop a heavy lift launch rocket - SLS (Space Launch System) which will be then used to go to asteroids and Mars around 2035. The Russian Space Agency RosCosmos is developing a next generation rocket known as Angara which will be the mainstay of Russia for next decade. Other than this, they are only launching few probes on Moon and a probe on Mars. Indian Space Research Organisation is also sending a small probe 'Mangalyaan' to Mars Orbit this year. But all these efforts are small and don't achieve any ambitious goals that re required in this area. Many other space agencies have future plans, but none is having a plan that we can hope to revolutionize the future. CNSA(China National Space Administration) is a taking few steps in the correct direction. CNSA has launched multiple manned missions in space and has started an ambitious project called Project 921 to build a space station in earth orbit

Other than these public efforts to explore space, the last few years have seen private sector entering space sector. Most of these companies are located in US and are a result of NASA's programs like COTS, CRS and CCDev which fund private companies to develop capabilities in space. The main aim of NASA with this is to build a competition in private sector for LEO launches. This will lower the cost of launches,  build new capabilities in space, bring forth new innovative ideas and let NASA focus beyond LEO. I believe this is a master stroke by NASA. These programs have brought forward companies like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences which have developed some really innovative and powerful rockets. SpaceX has demonstrated its Falcon 9 rocket capabilities by flying multiple missions to space with its spacecraft Dragon berthing with ISS. On September 18, Orbital Sciences flew their Antares rocket which launched its Cygnus spacecraft in space which then docked with International Space Station. SpaceX has also won contracts for future satellite launches due to its low cost launches.

The private efforts are still in the nascent stages, but hold the potential to shine in the future. But to carry on this momentum to the future, government needs to think ambitiously and plan a space policy which will revolutionize the industry like the Apollo missions. I am not an aerospace engineer, but a enthusiast who 

wants a great revolution in this field. So, I have thought a lot about these and finally I have planned a policy which I will start if I have the power to do so for NASA.

• First of all funding, like all other things exploring space needs money. The current budget of NASA is very less than what is required for such feats as we expect them to do. First of all the budget of NASA should be increased from the current 16 Billion dollars to 19 Billion dollars till 2020. Moreover, a frugal approach should be implemented to reduce the costs. Space agencies like ISRO and CNSA are a perfect example of what can be done even with low costs. We cannot reduce the costs at the level of these agencies, but we should learn where we can. Moreover, rather than becoming totally dependent of federal budget, NASA should focus to find some new avenues for money like funding drives and licensing some older technology etc.

• Second, the decision of Obama to continue the usage of International Space Station is a good move. US has spent billions of dollars to build the space station. Now, when the time has come to reap the benefits of the investment it should not be discontinued. In my opinion, the ISS should be continued till 2025 at least. These space stations are a first step for human settlement in the space in future. The International Space Station should be used to its fullest extent and a variety of new research experiments should be started. After this space station is retired, NASA should collaborate with private companies like Bigelow Aerospace to create private space stations.

• Meanwhile, learning from the success of ISS, NASA should give private contracts to start building a small space station in lunar orbit around 2020 which should be completed by 2027. This will create a new era and will allow the continuous monitoring of moon. Once such a space station is created, it will be very easy to conduct missions on Moon. The space station will allow crewed visits and is a pre-requisite for temporary settlement in Space. Private companies like SpaceX are already planning to build Falcon 9 Heavy rocket which can take huge payloads to the space. Morever, by this time the SLS will also be in its initial stages.

• The other logical step after/before building the space station in lunar orbit will be to create a propellant depot in the Lagrange point L1 around 2028. This will increase the reach of humans into space exponentially, the spacecrafts then can carry huge payloads into orbit and less fuel, which they can then refill at the depot. This depot should be an international effort and should take place as a collaboration between all the major space agencies of the world. The  embers can use this facility at a much cheaper rate than the non-member states.

• After this, the crewed landing on the moon can be much more frequent and much bigger experiments like moon mining can be performed.The lure of mining in space and federal incentives for that can pull the private companies from Earth easily. This can be followed up by a temporary moon colony by 2050.

The above points represent my view on the space policy which should be followed. The greater participation of private organisations will hep in further reduction in launch costs and these structures will further act as boosters for exploratory missions in deep space. Maybe, by 2100, we will have a permanent settlement on Mars and crewed mission on Europa and Titan take place. 

Lagrange Points

What I really want is to experience the moment, when one of my friend says that I cannot come for party next weekend, my uncle living on Moon are coming to attend the marriage of my relative's daughter with a guy working on Mars.  WOW !!

World War I : A Brief Overview

World War I or The Great War is one of the most important events in the world history. It changed the world forever in every aspect. Even though the war was fought in the European continent, the repercussions were felt throughout the globe. The Great war was fought between 1914 to 1918 between the Central Powers and the Allied Forces. The Central Powers were led by Germany and comprised of Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, while Allied Forces comprised of British Empire, France, Russia, United States and plethora of other small European nations. Even though the battle already looks skewed in the favor of Allies, Austria-Hungary only looked strong on paper and was weak in reality; While Ottoman Empire was already the Sick Man of Europe. So, the war was actually between the Allies and Germany with little inputs from other Central Powers.

The war was already inevitable in the beginning of century due to the resurgence of capitalism. Industrial Revolution came early in the western Europe and countries like England, France and Holland benefited heavily with that. These countries grew their industrial production rapidly and made colonies all over the globe as markets to sell these manufactured goods. Leading all these nations was the British Empire having Canada, Australia, Egypt and lot of other countries with India as its crown jewel. 

Territories of British Empire atone time or another.

British Empire around the time of World War I  

The newly industrialized nations felt cheated that there were no colonies left for them to exploit. The only colonies left were not as valuable as ruled by British or French Empires. In contrast to them, Germany only had three colonies in Africa. Even despite this disadvantages, Germany grew rapidly and became an industrialized nation. German army became one of the strongest armies in the world. On some social indicators, it even beat England. In England, the resentment against Germany started growing. So, in the first decade of twentieth century, almost all the countries of Europe started war preparations internally; nations were stockpiling ammunition as the war was inevitable in near future.

The spark to this bubble of gas was provided on 28 June 1914, when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was assassinated while his tour of Bosnia. The assassination was done by a Serbian student, and thus Austria blamed Serbia; Serbian apologies were unaccepted and an ultimatum was given to Serbia to accept 10 unacceptable demands drafted in a way to provoke war. Still Serbia accepted 9 out of 10 demands. But this was not enough, and one month later on 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. The Russian Czars didn't wanted to lose the influence in Balkan States and ordered  a partial mobilization of troops one day later. Germany saw this mobilization of troops as a threat to herself and launched attacks on France and Russia on 30th July. Between the two hostile nations of France and Germany was a neutral land of Belgium. Germany asked Belgium to allow German troops to pass through so that they can attack France. Belgium refused; Germany attacked Belgium on 3rd August. Britain took advantage of this and used this violation of neutrality pact by Germany as a reason to launch war against it. So, the World War stared with The Triple Entente of UK, France and Russia against the Germany and Austria-Hungary. Italy kept watching and joined the Allied Forces next year. Both the groups tried to take other nations into their sides by offering them promised territories once the war is over.

Allies(Green) Vs Central Powers (Orange)

Germany gained quickly on the French troops and took control of important industrial regions. But after initial success, French were able to stop them 70 km from Paris. This turned out to be a major turn in the war as after this the trenches were formed and trench warfare kept on going on for 2 years. It led to stalemate with no side gaining any territory. The Germans used chemical weapons like Chlorine gas and mustard gas, but still the stalemate remain so. The war also led to introduction to technological improvements in warfare with tanks and aircraft's introduced in war front.

Meanwhile, another battle was being fought in the seas. The British Navy was the biggest and strongest navy in the world and it started a blockade of Germany in order to starve her and force her to surrender. While a counter offensive was launched by Germany to blockade Britain who was dependent heavily on imports for food supplies. German submarines hunted in the international waters to block ships entering into British waters. In 1917, Germany was tired and the British blockades were making a serious dent on Germany. So, they changed their strategy to attack even neutral ships coming to Britain with supplies. On 6 April, 1917 US declared war on Germany after Germany sank 7 US merchant ships and tried to cajole Mexico in joining the war against US. But these were not the only reason why US came into war. The another reason was money.

Every war needs money, lots and lots of money. In the beginning, France financed the Allied war, but by 1915, France was done. So, Britain stepped in and started financing the whole war. Britain financed for one year. But by the year of 1916, Britain also got broke. Then, both Britain and France went to USA for help and asked them to finance the war. USA agreed and started lending heavy amounts to Allies for their war. US had invested so much money in the war that if Allies had lost the war, US economy had gone into a recession. So, to save its own skin, US jumped into the war. The entry of US changed the dynamics of war totally. 

But there was one more major event left to happen. This was to happen on Eastern Front. The Russian armies fought with the Austrian - Hungary armies and were pushing them back easily. Then, Germany sent her troops and they were able to turn the tides. The superior German army - better led, better trained and better supplied were terrifyingly effective against the ill-equipped Russian forces. Moreover, the burden of war was too much for the common man of Russia and this increased the anger of people against the Tsars. Various strikes and demonstrations started against the Russian king. The biggest of this revolt started November 7 1917 as the October Revolution by Lenin. This led to the coming of Bolsheviks to the power. Bolsheviks led by Lenin had a socialist agenda and they wanted peace at any cost. Thus, the treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between two, with Russia paying a heavy cost.

But this brought an advantage to Germany, that now they can shift their entire focus on the Western Front. At this time, Germany was strong enough to fight with the France and Britain and win. Thinking on the same terms, Germany launched the Spring Offensive in 1918 and thought to win the war before US forces make any major contribution. But the Russian Revolution was impacting German people also. Now, people of Germany were also tired after fighting such a long battle, they wanted peace.Anti-war protests started in Germany and the soldiers shifted from Eastern front told other soldiers of the Russian Revolution. Thus, Germany started to weaken. Moreover, the Spring Offensive did not provided her with any major gains as due to improper supply lines and lack of tanks and artillery, Germany was not able to consolidate any considerable gains.

In response to the German Spring Offensive, Allies launched a counter - offensive named as Hundred Days Offensive. It began on August 8 1918 with the Battle of Amiens. This became a successful strategy and the Allies were able to gain considerable areas in the war. The weak Germany with a blockade leading to starvation at home, talked for armistice, but the Allies refused and demanded abdication of Kaiser. Thus, the Imperial Germany was no more and a new Republic Germany was formed.  But, the British did not removed the blockade till 8 months of peace treaty signed. The blockade led to starvation in Germany. The Blockade was not removed till 12 July 1919 when the the Treaty of Versailles was signed between Allies and the Central Powers. These times became one of the most devastating periods for the German people and it was claimed that 100,000 Germans died due to the continuation of blockade. German Chancellor Hollweg sayed that "and our children, and children's children, will bear traces of the blockade that England enforced against us, a refinement of cruelty nothing  less than diabolic."

Thus, the Great war ended in 1918, and the world was changed entirely. New nations were formed. Many old were no more. The industry, economy and politics of the world was never the same. The treaties done by Allies were very harsh and sowed the seeds for the World war II. Whatever happens, the World War I will be always remembered for the impact it had on earth.

The Mobile Timeline

Till now, I have had a number of mobiles, this post is a collection to just remember the best gadget known in 21st century. 

• Motorola T190: This was my first mobile phone which I started using around 2003. It was of a white color and the body was sleek and sturdy. There was a small antenna protruding from the top right corner, but overall the design was good. The best feature of the phone was the small size of the mobile. Today, I may be using any smartphone, but the feeling I got after using this phone was amazing. It did not had any features of today's smartphones, but truly your first mobile phone has a je ne sais qua which binds you with it. 

Motorola T190

• Nokia 2300: Nokia's 2300 was my second mobile. I got it from my sister in 2006. It was then the new kid in town and was a head turner with its sleek design and eccentric keypad. It was of greyish color. The display was much better than the Motorola and it also had FM Radio. I still love this phone. I still remember the nights I wasted playing Snake II, Opposite and Space Impact + on it. I made huge high scores on it. It also had polyphonic ringtones and a composer where one can build one's own ringtones. I remember how I used to play with composer and trying to build a new tone.

Nokia 2300

• LG KS 360: The next phone in line was the LG's KS 360. It was a blue color slider phone with QWERTY keypad and touch screen only on keypad. This was a little weird feature as the touchscreen only worked while dialing numbers. I used this phone a lot during my college. It also had a small camera, but the quality was moderate only. I bought this phone from my cousin around 2009 for 4000 bucks, but totally loved it.

LG KS 360

• Nokia E63: This phone I got in 2011 from my brother. It was a red color candy bar shaped phone with a qwerty keyboard and other advanced features like Wi-Fi. I used this phone during my last year of college and the first year of my job. E63 also supported Symbian app store and I watched countless videos on YouTube on this phone.Other apps which I used a lot on this phone were Whatsapp, Word and few Java games. As of now, the phone is horrible situation. The back cover is fully cracked and is going to break. The keyboard has lot its luster and the battery life is pathetic. But, I cant remember the moments I had with this phone.

Nokia E63

• Samsung Galaxy Note: This was the first mobile phone which I bought with my own money for myself in May 2012. I was so excited to buy it. Never before I had the chance to buy something for myself. It was a top end Android phone with all the best features of the time. It was like a dream come true. I spent 1.5 times my monthly income on this phone. Now, I believe how naive I was. It got stolen at a bus stop one month later; even before I had the chance to pay the first EMI.

Samsung Galaxy Note

• Nokia Lumia 720: The latest smartphone still with me is the Lumia 720 powered with Windows Phone 8. It is a gorgeous phone with great look and smart features. I am loving it even more than the Note. There are very few apps in comparison with Android or iOS, but it feels good to use. My phone is yellow colored and to truly say, I am still in fear that it is not stolen again. Don't know when I will overcome this feeling.

This is the list of phones till September 2013. Lets see who's next...