November 25, 2011

Photo Collection -2

Hi Guys,

I found some newly grown chilies in my garden yesterday and took my Camera to shoot them. To my dismay, there was no charge in the batteries and hence I had to charge my batteries. Today morning when I woke up it was raining and the climate was awesome. I took some pictures and here I present them.

White flower with water droplets.
A single flower!
To me, it seems to be some sort of formation, but don't know if I am imagining too much!
Water droplets on a leaf
A left over part from coconut tree
Light from a lamp
Chilies hanging
Here's the link to the album in Picasa Web Albums

Happy Viewing!!!

November 17, 2011

A Special Series - Fibonacci Series!


Hi Guys,

I hope all of you know about Fibonacci Series in mathematics. If not in math, all of you would have heard about this number while learning computer languages as writing a program to generate a Fibonacci Series (I learnt it this way from my brother 7-8 years back). For a few days, a video has been roaming in Facebook portraying the specialty of Fibonacci Series.

So, what is a Fibonacci Series? It was Leonardo of Pisa (who was known as Fibonacci) in 1202. The series is got by adding 0 and 1, followed by the result and the previous number.

0+1=1; 1+1=2; 1+2=3; 2+3=5…. The series is 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34………..

Fibonacci Numbers also form Golden Ratio. Golden ratio is a set of very special numbers. Consider two quantities a,b (and a>b). If a+b:a is equal to a:b, then it is said to be Golden Ratio. All the Fibonacci Numbers are in such a ratio.

55/34 = 34/21 = 21/13 = 13/8 = 8/5 and so on.

A rectangle formed by two consecutive Fibonacci numbers is known as a perfect rectangle or golden rectangle. This rectangle can be divided into squares until the square of size 1*1 is formed.

A Fibonacci Spiral or Golden Spiral can be formed by connecting two ends of a square starting the 1*1 to the largest square.

So, what is special in this? We are able to find this spiral in lot of nature’s applications. A lot of medieval artists have used the Golden Ratio to construct the buildings or statues.

If you consider flowers, the petals are having Fibonacci Numbers. One and 2 petalled flowers are not common. Some flowers have 3 (lily), many have 5 (hibiscus, rose), some have 8. After that there are only 13, 21, 34,55… petalled flowers. It is interesting that these flowers have the same number of petals as found in a Fibonacci Series. Why is that there are no other number of petals? Similarly the head of sun flower, the cone of a pine tree, the diagonal of pine apple all have the same number as that corresponds to a number in Fibonacci Series.

One possible explanation given is that Fibonacci numbers fill the space effectively without leaving any gap. In any other pattern, spaces will be left, but in this type of pattern, there will be no spaces (see reference site for more details).

Human Hand is also said as an example. There are 5 fingers, divided into three parts separated by 3 knuckles (to me it appears as coincidence).

Common Shells have the same shape as that of a Fibonacci Spiral. Similarly Human Ear also has got a shape of Fibonacci Spiral. Similarly lot of other natural elements has got the shape of Fibonacci Spiral. Check the reference site to gather more information.

Some people say that as Fibonacci Series is found everywhere on Earth, it is a symbol of God and it is the unique touch of God. If these people want to prove that there is God, then I think they need not go too far. Everything in Earth is symmetrical. Isn’t that enough to say that God created everything in symmetry. If there is man, then there is woman. Heaven – Hell, Day – Night, summer – winter, etc. (just a reflection from Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons)

Happy Reading!!!

References:
  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number
  2. http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html#rabeecow
  3. http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_17.htm


November 12, 2011

Revival of Cricket's Craze!


Hi Guys,

I was quite busy for the past few days and it has been really difficult to think about a topic to write and I was also not able to read my follower’s blogs. It feels so good to be writing something again. Also, I am going to write about Cricket after a long time.

Last time, I cherished watching the match was the 2011 World Cup Final, when Dhoni sealed the Cup with a six. There was no time for celebration and within a week, the players were in IPL. It turned out to be very boring and people hated to see players in different teams. Gayle’s blitzkriegs lighted the tournament towards the end and the last few days were much better than the first few.

Then India went to West Indies and… Well, what happened there? I don’t remember exactly. Many of the key players were down with injuries and some were given rest and young Indian team managed to win the ODi series and test series.

Then came India’s worst ever performance in the last 10 years. A team, that was performing well in overseas failed miserably and didn’t even come close to the performance of the English. Except Rahul Dravid (and occasionally Sachin Tendulkar) no one else seemed comfortable. Contrastingly English Players were so comfortable against our bowling. Even their tail Enders batted well and Indians came back without winning a match.

Then England came back here for an ODI series. I think Champions League was conducted in between. I was expecting some tough competition, but English surrendered without fight. It was tough to believe that the same team thrashed India two months back. So, the hunter became the hunted.

So, slowly my cricketing interests were diminishing and then came the India vs West Indies series. I had no interest in the series. I thought India would be comfortable. But, life is full of surprises.

Indians were trailing by 95 runs in the first innings. I thought, it was tough and Indians may lose. But, then our spinners bundled out the West Indies batsmen and after a long time our top order clicked. Everyone contributed and India won.

Then, it was day before yesterday. I was seeing some video in Facebook, when my friend pinged, ‘Karthi, watching SA vs Aus match?’ I replied no and thought something interesting was going. I just then checked the score and OMG! Aussies were 21-7. I started to type a message to send to my friends and now they were 21-8. I started sending and now they were 21-9.

I had checked the scores in the starting of the day and Clarke was batting brilliantly. So, I was confused how Aussies were playing their second innings. Then, I came to know SA was all out for 96. 17 continuous batsmen (SA’s last 9 and Aussies first 8) were having single digit. It was heaven for bowlers and hell for batsmen (or, was it?)

I thought in the conditions, it was difficult for SA and Aussies had an upper hand. But, then I didn’t know Smith was always brilliant in fourth innings. He hit his fourth consecutive century in fourth innings and increased his fourth innings average to 85. The match was over by the third day. What a match!

Both the matches have some similarities. The team that batted first had a huge lead and then collapsed in the second innings (though the magnitude was different). Both team’s batsmen failed miserably in first innings and came back strong in the second innings. Two debutant bowlers (Aswin and Philander) collapsed the opposition batsmen in the second innings and both of them got Man of the Match awards (only third player in their respective countries to do so).

So, Cricket has again become an interesting game to watch!

Happy Reading!!!

November 1, 2011

Things that crossed my way!


Hi Guys,

I was busy for the last few days and I was not able to observe and follow lot of things, including my favorite F1 race held at India for the first time.
A mixed post in my blog after a very long time.

7am Arivu – My View
I watched the movie 7am arivu today morning. The reviews I heard before were mixed. People who watched it first day said it was very poor (due to the over promotions). But in the following days, the movie started to get good responses and I went with a neutral mind. I found the movie interesting. The movie had quite a huge number of flaws, but it was compensated by a good story line. With 3 songs less and better back ground music, the movie would have been much better. Comparing to the current commercial movies, the movie was better in many ways. I would rate this movie higher than many of this year’s hit commercial movies.

Auto Up gradation in Trains
Whenever I used to book train ticket, there would be an option known as Auto Up gradation. Passengers booking in lower classes will be updated to higher classes if the higher class seats are unoccupied. I often think why this option is there as all the seats are occupied generally. Last Sunday I travelled with my friend from Chennai and when I booked, the status was RAC. When I checked the chart, to my surprise the ticket was updated to First Class from Sleeper. I never expected it and out of nearly 100 confirmations, only 3 were updated. It is interesting when something that we never expect to occur, occurs.

Vigilance Awareness Week (Oct 31 – Nov 6)
On October 30th, we were celebrating the success of Indian Grand Prix and it was a proud moment for us. On the other hand, October 31st marked the beginning of Anti corruption week, a phenomenon in which India has been at the bottom of the table for a very long time. It is probably one of the worst weeks celebrated. Government officials (who are also citizens of this country) must have a social responsibility and it is shame that they have to be remembered by creating awareness for a week. This week is observed for the past 10 years and I see no difference (or rather to say, the corruption has only increased).

That’s it for now.

Happy Reading!!!