A Peek at Next-Generation Agni-V... ...

Shrouded in secrecy for its political implications, the first visual impressions of India's most ambitious nuclear delivery system, the Agni-5 ballistic missile, are out. Officials with the Agni programme in Hyderabad confirmed the pictures were an accurate depiction of the in- development weapon.

On February 10, Agni programme director Dr Avinash Chander had told Headlines Today, "The Agni-5 looks similar to the Agni-3, except that it is longer as a result of an additional propulsion stage."

Still at least a year away from its first test-firing-an official estimate says February 2011- the Agni-5 has already acquired a formidable global reputation. In October last year, in its first ever reference to an Indian weapon programme, China's state-owned People's Daily newspaper pointed out that "India's Agni-5 missile is highly road-mobile, and effectively puts Harbin, China's northernmost city within striking range."

The Agni-5 is being built to deliver a nuclear warhead out to ranges of 5,000-6,000/ km. Sources reveal that 60 per cent of the first Agni-5 missile system is complete, with work now focused on the weapon's crucial third stage. Scientists are currently tweaking the missile's payload structure, introducing extra heating and making alterations to the re- entry mechanism.

The missile will also be India's first to be propelled by a composite rocket motor as opposed to a metallic one. With the 3,500-km-range Agni-3 to enter service with India's Strategic Forces Command- which governs all nuclear weapons- this year, the Agni-5 will be put through a similar four-flight trial between 2011-2013.

Dinosaur Country....... ..

India has turned out to be agold mine of clues - from an abundance of eggs to tell - tale dung - to the lives of dinos.
The discovery of an ancient dinosaur-eating snake species from a Gujarat village that made international headlines this past week was not a chance discovery. It was one more piece, a significant one at that, in the slowly unfolding jigsaw puzzle of India's fascinating fossil heritage.
Most Indians may not know that the geological history of Indian dinosaurs spans the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous ages - spanning from about 230 million to 65 million years ago. In fact, some of the first fossils that were recognised as those of dinosaurs were found in India way back in 1828. The fossils - discovered by a British army officer William Sleeman, who was better known for wiping out the 'thuggee' menace, in Jabalpur - were described by the Scottish missionary Stephen Hislop in scientific literature in 1859. The species was later named Titanosaurus indicus.
Since that discovery, scientists with the Geological Survey of India ( GSI) have found remains of dinosaurs belonging to different ages of the "era of reptiles" which is believed to have come to an end some 65 million years ago. In popular psyche, dinosaurs are invariably connected with the Jurassic period - the middle age of the geological times - scale - made famous in sci- fi movies.
But the Triassic period extended from 250 to 200 million years ago, followed by Jurassic, which spanned from 145 to 200 million years. It was followed by the Cretaceous period extending from 145 to 65 million years ago. This is supposed to have been the golden age of dinosaurs, which came to an end with a massive asteroid hitting the planet. Indian dinosaurs are believed to have been wiped out by the Deccan volcanic eruption.
Though fossils found in India belong to all three ages, most of them are from the late Cretaceous period. Over the years, GSI scientists have found bones, skeletons, well- preserved eggs, egg shell debris, dung and other fossil fragments in western and central India, and even in the south. Fossilised footprints, or trackways, of the gargantuan creatures have not been found in any dinosaur- bearing sediments in India.
The earliest discovery of dinosaurs eggs were made from the Lameta sediments in the Kheda district of Gujarat in 1981.
Scientists were exploring the region for fossils in the area near Balasinor village, which had limestone quarries operated by the cement company, ACC. "A big boulder fell apart when the mine was blasted. I noticed that it contained seveneight spherical pieces. It was almost as if some eggs had been kept in a basket," recalls Dhananjay M. Mohabey, senior paleontologist with the GSI. "We did not know how dinosaur eggs looked like. This was the first time we were seeing something like this."
This discovery led to a resurgence of dinosaurs research in India, leading to a spate of finds belonging to the Late Cretaceous period in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in the past three decades. A sole occurrence of a single egg has been recorded from the Ariyalur area in Tamil Nadu - the only record of an Indian dinosaur egg from marine sediments.
As many as 10,000 dinosaur eggs have been found at different nesting sites in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Scientists believe that there could be up to 30,000 eggs at different locations. Most of these eggs belong to the titanosaurus. Eggs, nests and nesting sites provide an insight into the social and nesting behaviour of this class of dinosaurs.
These animals used to bury their eggs in soft sands near riverbanks and in a few rare nests, eggs have been found arranged in circular or linear patterns.
From dung found around Pisdura village near Nagpur, scientists have inferred what the herbivore dinosaurs used to eat. An analysis of this dung, in fact, revealed the remains of a grass family which turned out to be the oldest record of grasses found anywhere in the world.
"Evidence suggests that the environment during the Late Cretaceous period in India provided an ideal habitat for breeding and nesting of dinosaurs. But these reptiles were struggling to survive the initial onslaught caused by the Deccan volcanic eruption near the end of the Cretaceous period," explains Mohabey, who first found a complex set of fossils at Dholi Dungri village in Gujarat in 1987. It has now turned out to be that of an ancient snake along with fossils of crushed eggs and dino hatchlings. The Indian dinosaur eggs and plant- bearing dung are unique in the world for their diversity and abundance and offer promising material for future research on dinosaurs.
Most eggs found in India belong to the plant-eating sauropod dinosaurs, but the country was also home to carnivore dinosaurs as well. The most remarkable discovery of a carnivore is that of Rajasaurus narmadensis - a new species found at Rahioli village in the Narmada basin of Gujarat. The discovery represents the first skull ever assembled of a dinosaur of any kind in India.
Rajasaurus narmadensis - which means "regal dinosaur from the Narmada" - was a significant predator that was related to species on continental Africa, Madagascar and South America.
The discovery of this 65-millionyear-old was a joint effort of Suresh Srivastava of GSI, Ashok Sahni of Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Jeff Wilson of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor ( USA). The stocky, 30-foot dinosaur had an unusual head crest and would have pursued a diet that included the long-necked sauropoddinosaurs that roamed the Narmadaregion. F INDING A dinosaur fossil, reconstructing the evidence and then presenting the find to scientific community is a long, torturous process that could sometimes take decades. Geologists look for dinosaur fossils in different rock sediments which have already been mapped. Systematic excavation of such areas is undertaken and when fossils are found the location is carefully mapped before the fossils are labeled and removed from there.
The rocks are scanned to see presence of bones. Then the rock sediments are removed through mechanical and chemical processes.
This prepares the fossils for reconstruction, body part by body part such as skull, jaw, limbs, pelvis, and so on. Fossils of associated including plants, flowers and animals are also studied in detail.
Only after this long process can anyone claim to have found a dinosaur fossil. Many a times false announcements are made. GSI scientists, for instance, clarify that the egg fossils reported last year from Tamil Nadu didn't belong to dinosaurs. The science of paleontology isn't as exciting as they make it out to be in the sci- fi movies.

M.F. Hussain's Paintings... Judge Yourself...... ..

If a person dresses like a Sikh Guru, thousands of Sikhs gather and destroy their establishments , threaten to kill him, announce a bounty on his head - Sikhs are not criticised for being communal and intolerant.

If a Danish journalist depicts the Prophet of the Muslims , Muslims all over the world rise in anger, there is violence, a booty on the head of the Journalist - Muslims are not criticised for being communal and intolerant.

If MF Hussain draws paintings depciting Hindu Gods and Goddesses positions (which relations are not borne out by ancient texts at all ) and Hindus merely protest , they are called communal, intolerant and taught lessons in secularism by one and all.

The problem apparently is not with Sikhs and Muslims, it is with us, the Hindus, because we are not violent, we accept whatever is dished out to us , we do not have the guts to say that this is wrong , we seek acceptance from outsiders rather than from our conscience. We worship the same Gods and Godesses but don't stand up for them when the time comes.

Be a judge of Hussain' s paintings below.











Goddess Durga ######### union with Tiger











Prophet ' s Daughter Fatima fully clothed











Goddess Lakshmi naked on Shree Ganesh ' s head











M.F. Hussain ' s Mother fully clothed
Naked Saraswati






















Mother Teresa fully clothed











Naked Shri Parvati











Hussain ' s Daughter well clothed











Naked Draupadi











Well clothed Muslim Lady










Naked Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita sitting on thigh of Ravana










Muslim poets Faiz, Galib are shown well-! clothed











Full Clad Muslim King and naked Hindu Brahmin. The above painting clearly indicates Hussain ' s tendency to paint any Hindu as naked and thus his hatred











Naked Bharatmata - Hussain has shown naked woman with names of states written on different parts of her body. He has used Ashok Chakra, Tri-colour in the painting. By doing this he has violated law & hurt National Pride of Indians. Both these things should be of grave concern to every Indian irrespective of his religion









Out of the four leaders M. Gandhi is decapitated and Hitler is naked. Hussain hates Hitler and has said in an interview 8 years ago that he has depicted Hitler naked to humiliate him and as he deserves it ! How come Hitler ' s nudity cause humiliation when in Hussain ' s own statement nudity in art depicts purity and is in fact an honour ! This shows Hussain ' s perversion and hypocrisy

Not Quite Up In the Air.. ...

After people around the world reacted strongly to American low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines giving director Kevin Smith the boot because he was 'too fat to fly', it has now emerged that Air Canada Jazz deplaned a passenger earlier this month for being 'too smelly'. The flight was waiting for takeoff when some passengers complained about the odour. Efforts were made to isolate the man from other passengers, but flight officials eventually decided to ask him to get off the plane. The man in question apparently lost his stink overnight and was allowed to fly the next morning.

So are airlines correct in refusing passengers who in their view cause inconvenience to fellow travelers? Opinion seems to be divided. Some sympathise with the deplaned passengers. They feel they don't deserve to be humiliated in such a manner. After all, economy seats in most airlines are barely big enough to comfortably seat someone who weighs 60 kgs. So isn't it then the airlines' onus to provide decently sized seating options to all passengers? Echoing this one Facebook status message says that 'Airlines need to make seats that will fit at least 85% of the population.'

On the 'smelly' passenger matter, some netizens feel that if the person concerned had a medical issue, then the treatment meted out by airline staff was definitely too harsh. On the other hand, some believe that well-being of the group is always more important than that of an individual, and that if the passenger actually smelt that bad then the action taken by the authorities was correct.

What do you think? What should Airline policy be towards passengers like Smith or the Air Canada Jazz passenger?

Renault's New Concept Car Unveiled.. ..

• Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday inaugurated the Twizy Z.E. Concept, a new electric car from the stables of Renault, which will be out on Indian roads by 2011.This blue and white coloured car is a two-seater car, which works on the green technology principle.

Welcoming Renault's new car with enthusiasm, Dikshit said that Delhi roads would be much better off with electric cars as this."They are developing this new technology; Renault is introducing this at the automobile exhibition.They are still developing it. It is very beautiful to look at and they are saying it will take them one or one and a half year more to come out, then we will give as many incentives as we can to such cars to run on Delhi roads which do not contribute to the pollution." said Dikshit.

The twizy is classified as a quadracycle and does not need to comply with the full panoply of safety regulations. Since the car does not have doors it minuses the need of an air conditioner. The twizy is a rear wheel drive and weighs 420kg.

It is powered by a 15kW engine that Renault claim produces 20PS of power. The electric motor has range of 100kmph with a top speed of 75kmph. The four wheeled scooter is due for production in late 2011.

The model of the Renault's Twizy Z.E. Concept will be displayed at the 10th edition of the Auto Expo

Sky Gazers in for Celestial Treat.. ..

Sky gazers can look forward to an exhibition of celestial fireworks as the night sky will be lit up by Geminid meteor showers that are expected to peak Monday.
A rare celestial event, the Geminid meteor shower will be visible across most of India and people can see over 100 shooting stars every hour for the next couple of nights with the largest number early on Monday.
'People can watch out for the meteor showers from late Sunday to dawn on Monday morning. There will be fireballs in the sky,' said N. Rathnashree, director of the Nehru Planetarium here.
Explaining the method to observe the meteorites, Rathnashree said: 'Look up at the sky between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. and you could see beautiful fireworks in the sky as the new moon is providing ideally dark viewing conditions.
'You need a simple telescope to watch the meteor showers. People in the capital should move to the outskirts to have a clear look as the morning skies these days are covered with fog,' she said.
A meteor shower occurs when the earth passes through debris left behind by a passing comet or asteroid. In the present case, it's an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon.
As the earth moves around the sun, the debris gets pulled by the earth's gravitational force and falls with its long bright tails visible to the naked eye.
The celestial movement is called Geminid showers, as they will seem to emanate from the Gemini constellation.

Cause of Air France Crash May Remain Mystery - Sources.. ..

French investigators are unlikely to establish the exact cause of a fatal Atlantic plane crash in a report this week but may recommend ways to help locate black boxes more easily, sources familiar with the incident said.
France's BEA accident investigation authority is due on Thursday to issue its final report into the Air France crash in which 228 people died.
Flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic on June 1 after flying into stormy weather.
The 'black box' flight recorders remain missing and only small parts of the wreckage have been found of the Airbus A330.
"I don't expect much new concrete information on the cause of the crash," a source familiar with the investigation said.
A second source familiar with the incident concurred, saying the report would add little to an inconclusive preliminary report issued in July.
The new report's conclusions are currently being finalised, the sources added.
The BEA declined to comment.
The July report identified problems in handing responsibility for the aircraft between controllers but said it was too early to say what caused the plane to hit the ocean.
Speculation has focused on possible icing of the aircraft's speed sensors, which appeared to give inconsistent readings and may have disrupted other systems.
Safety authorities ordered checks on the sensors known as 'pitot probes' and restricted the use of the type installed on the plane, made by France's Thales.
But investigators are not expected to pin the blame on any one issue, one source close to the investigation said.
Instead, the BEA is expected to make at least three recommendations on general aircraft safety, this source said.
These include extending the life of locator beacons attached to the flight recorders to 90 days from 30 days.
Regulators could also be asked to consider ordering further beacons to be attached to important parts of the aircraft structure to assist in locating wreckage in the event of a crash. Such beacons would need to be active for 30 days.
Plane makers may also be asked to study the feasibility of installing monitoring systems that send information on basic parameters such as position, course and altitude back to an airline's maintenance base even when operations are normal.
The few clues available on the cause of the crash include fragments of error messages sent out by the aircraft.
The crash fuelled a debate in the aviation industry over whether more data should be streamed via satellite but the cost of communications has so far been deemed prohibitive.
Some safety officials are meanwhile calling for scientific research to be carried out into weather conditions at high altitudes in turbulent zones such as the equator.