Do you know what a cargo cult is?

It is very strange but I did hear about it the first time I was in Australia, but it was related to PNG, Papua New Guenia. Read here:
http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-New-Guinea-Cargo-Plane-Cult-59817.html

I have seen a movie in Japan when a group of people think atom bomb is God. However I do not remember the name or the producer.
I recently received an email regarding cargo cult film premiere notice:
Experience the Last Cargo Cult in
 WAITING FOR JOHN
 World Premiere at the 2015 Hawaii International Film Festival

Cargo cult is best described from the waitingforjohndoc.com site as shown in the next image:

Cargocult.png
Here is the trailer of the above film:

Honolulu show timings:
Hawaii International Film Festival Screening Details
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 – 8:00 PM – Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18
Thursday, November 19, 2015 – 3:45 PM – Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18

Dazzling display of future cars at Tokyo Motor Show 2015

The show will be open for general public  between October 30-November 8 with ticket starting from about $7 to $8. Smart Mobility City 2015 highlighting a combination of Internet of Things, connected cars and smart cities.

Visit the TMS 2015 web site here. You may also get this app from your favorite store:

Some of Toyota's concept car images (images have been cropped) with image sources:

Photo Source: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFB/Getty Images
FCVPlus

 

TokyoMotorShow_01

Photo Source:Takahashi Aoyama/Getty Images
S-FR

TokyoMotorShow_02

Photo Source: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFB/Getty Images
Kikai

TokyoMotorShow_03
More on Kikai


Details here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/photos/driving-future-cool-cars-tokyo-motor-show-34795015/image-34797528

http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/wonderful-and-wacky-wheels-at-the-tokyo-motor-show/36/

Does buying a hydrogen powered car make sense? Yes quite a lot:
Mirai from Toyota will be running soon on California roads to start with and you better know how good they are here:
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096639_2016-toyota-mirai-hydrogen-fuel-cell-car-a-few-things-we-noticed

Visit the Red Dot museum in Singapore

If you are passing through Singapore visit this exhibition. You can get a feeling for where modern design is going.

If not visit the on-line exhibition here:
http://www.red-dot.sg/en/winners-privileges/online-exhibition/

This visit will be really good if you are thinking of designing a new product or thinking of repackaging. You will find it interesting.

For example this SAP product won a Red Dot design award. Here is the SAP Fiori 2.0 app. How do you judge it?



Here is another example. 2014 Best of Best awards in Illumination category:

RedDot2.0

Visit the above artists store (my fellow mysorian)  here:
http://store.nishichauhan.com/

It is not too late to do this transaction...

GE received approval  to spin-off its consumer financial operations by exiting from its store credit card business, Synchrony Financial.

What it means is that you can exchange (General Electric) GE stocks to (Synchrony Financial) SYF stocks. As it stands presently you can buy with $100 worth of GE stocks something like $107.53 worth of SYF.

The offer is set to expire on November 16.

Details of this exchange can be viewed here on a daily basis till the conclusion.
Link was not available today, perhaps moved (8/29/2018)

I have a small number of GE stocks and probably it does not make much difference one way or the other.

However,

• GE is a much larger company with a long history.
• GE also pays dividends while Synchrony Financial presently does not. Of course dividend is only one part of the equation.
• After the conclusion of Exchange GE may soar.

Presently I am thinking of keeping my GE stocks, but it may change before November 16. What do you think?

Apple gets a competing neighbor in New York, NY

 Image source: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/locations/ny/new-york/fifth-avenue-/store-1087
Microsoft opened its 3-floor store for business in New York today. It's on 5th Avenue not far from Apple Store. This is the largest Microsoft Store. All the new stuff from Microsoft is being sold starting today.

New York is a great city with people from all over the world and Microsoft knows this and the shop associates speak and understand some 19 languages.

Here is a preview video:
===========


Video Source: Windows Central
More here: http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/25/microsoft-nyc-flagship-store/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/10/25/nyc-microsoft-store-launch/74579014/

This statue will exceed the height of Statue of Liberty by 100%

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue under construction (model) in India with the final version, 182 meters to be built in Nanchang will be the worlds tallest statue almost twice the height of the Statue of Liberty in USA  and dwarfs the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The project wwill be handled by L&T in India.

Is it necessary to spend $770 million on whatever statue when there are a zillion others crying for funds of more importance?  How about cleaning up the cities and mitigating traffic problems? This does not mean that I do not like this particular statue or the other. I really believe this is money not well spent! I am sure Vallabhbhai Patel would not have approved it.

The model built in Indiahttp://www.outlookindia.com/article/nationalism-made-in-china/295605

Under construction in China (artist view?): 182 meters
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-world%e2%80%99s-tallest-statue-will-be-built-in-india-but-not-by-indians/ar-BBmgTnB?ocid=spartandhp

Here are some pictures with quoted sources:
Statue of Liberty: 92.964 meters
http://get.smarter.com/qa/art-literature/fun-statue-liberty-84a8e9b02953d8c8?ad=semD&an=msn_s&am=broad&o=35319

Christ the redeemer: 30 meters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_Redeemer_(statue)

The tech giants are smiling today

Here is an after hours status of the three companies stocks. Important tot note that cloud business as well as search related business is prospering. What the Street calls, 'Big Techs, Big beats'

Amazon all time high today.

After hour links:

http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/msft/after-hours

http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/googl/after-hours

http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/amzn/after-hours

Surface Book, the Ultimate Laptop/Tablet

First for Microsoft, first of its kind laptop, Surface Book will beat it competitors to a pulp.

• Three input modes, touch (10 point multi-touch), pen,mouse

• Full-sized back-lit keyboard.

• 13.5" PixelSense (tm) display is detachable to morph into a tablet that works with Surface Pen and OneNote, resolution: 3000 x 2000 (267 PPI), aspect ratio: 3:2. Bend over the lid can be used as a creative canvas  
• 6th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor with upto 16GB memory + optional discrete graphics chip (NVIDIA GenForce) needed for creative photo and video editing tasks
• 12-hour battery life for video playback.
• Solid state drive (SSD) options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB.
• Wireless:  802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless networking; IEEE; 802.11a/b/g/n compatible; Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology.
• Ports:  Two full-size USB 3.0; Full-size SD™ card reader; SurfaceConnect^TM; Headset jack
  Mini DisplayPort
• Cameras, Audio and Video: 5.0MP front-facing camera; 8.0MP rear-facing camera with auto-focus, with 1080p HD video recording; Dual microphones, front and rear-facing

  Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® audio.

Run full Office version; markup web pages on Microsoft Edge and share it easily.  With the splendid screen and pen you can make the most of Adobe Photoshop, and Illustrator. It is a mobile studio.

I may buy one but its specifications look great.

Get this toy for the coming holiday

..and you will thank me years later. If you are spending money on toys add a great value to it by making it easy for your child to see far into the future.

It is not only this particular toy but a toy that allows the child to see real value in things.

Now coming to this particular toy (really it is very powerful) here is the thing:  this toy allows you to run many kinds of toys like cars and thing that move, shake, roll and make sounds.

LittleBits Electronics offers the CloudBit Module which is a easy and quick option to create Internet connected devices. You can tag on Internet to many things without you needing to program anything. There are many, many projects that you can do with this module. Using IFTTT (read about it in an earlier post) you can connect to any web service or whatever that IFTTT supports. Together with Arduino you could even do custom coding.  The module comes with a USB power module and a wall adapter.

http://littlebits.cc/projects

Here are images of projects created with littleBits module

I have received no compensation from anyone for this post.

Two new Lumia smartphones with Windows 10 coming in November

Both Lumia 950 and 950XL are the latest Microsoft plastic-bodied smartphones with Windows 10 OS. These are the newest flagship Microsoft phones with WIndows 10. Both phones have similar cameras with the 950L having options for video recording not available in 950. These are expected to appear in Microsoft Stores in November 2015.

950XL (unlocked):
5.7"  display with 1440x2560
20MP camera with ZEISS optics
4K Video recording
3340 mAh battery
32GB storage/microSD 2TB
Wireless charging OK
USB Type C connectivity
3 GB RAM
$649
--------------------
950 (only available on AT&T):
5.2" display with 1440x2560
20MP Camera
4K Video recording
3000 mAh battery
Supports MicroSD
Wireless charging OK
USB Type C connectivity
3GB RAM
$549
For detailed spec here is the link:
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Microsoft-Lumia-950-XL_id9545

Japan bags two Noble Prizes in 2015

From microbes to cosmos...

Satoshi Omura (Kitasato University, Tokyo, Japan) shares one-half of Noble Prize for medicine with William C.Campbell (Drew University, Madison, NJ). 

http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/journal/v2/n12/full/nrmicro1048.html#f2
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2015/10/06/satoshi-omura-from-night-school-teacher-to-nobel-winner/

Prize motivation:
"for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites"

 

 

The other half of Noble Prize for medicine goes to YouYouTu (China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China) of China

Prize motivation:
"for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria"

More here:
"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 6 Oct 2015.
<http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2015/index.html>

Prof. Takaaki Kajita (University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan) shares Noble Prize in Physics 2015 with Arthur B. McDonald (Queens Univer)sity, Sydney, Canada)

Prize motivation: "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass"
 

Where do you find all of this in one place?

I found all these in one place and do you know where?

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
-Francis Scott Key
Facing page 1. (question mark missing)

And that Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.
-Abraham Lincoln
Page 1.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
-Preamble to the U.S.Constitution
Page 3.

The principle of free governments adheres to the American soil. It is bedded in it — immovable as its mountains.

Daniel Webster, Bunker Hill Monument Address
(hyphen in original replaced by a comma)
Pages 6-7

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.
(a part of the complete sentence)
-George Washington
Pages 8-9

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
(some words are in lower case, capitalized in the orginial)
- Excerpt from: Declaration of Independence
Pages 10-11

We have a great dream. It started way back in 1776, and God grant that America will be true to her dream.

- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pages 12-13
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

- John F. Kennedy
Pages 14-15

This is a new nation, based on a mighty continent, of boundless possibilities.

-Theodore Roosevelt
 Pages 16-17

Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.

-Dwight D. Eisenhower
Pages 18-19

For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground. Is our world gone? We say "Farewell." Is a new world coming? We welcome it - and we will bend it to the hopes of man.
(usually a shorter version is often quoted)

―Lyndon B. Johnson
Pages 20-21

May God continue the unity of our Country, as this Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world.
inscribed on the Golden spike, Promontory Point, 1869
Pages 22-23

We send thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We are glad they are still here and we hope it will always be so.
-Excerpt from the Thanksgiving Address, Mohawk Version
My search did not match exactly to the above. I wonder where it came from.
Pages 24-25

The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class - it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.

-Anna Julia Cooper
Pages 26-27

Every generation has the obligation to free men's minds for a look at new worlds . . . to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.
Page 28

- Ellison S. Onizuka
Page 29; Space exploration picture (what looks like earth, satellite, perhaps moon

I recently renewed my passport and found the passport full of watermarks and quotations from Presidents, Activists, Astronauts and famous documents, emblems etc.

I found the quotes somewhat at variance in format with what is found on the internet and appears to be somewhat edited. I have no quarrel with the contents as quite a number of them from past history and factual. There have been dissenting voices and here are a few that you may want to look at.

http://aclj.org/american-heritage/godless-take-plunge-into-bizarre
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/02/u_s_passport_why_is_the_american_passport_so_boastful.html
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/02/whats-great-about-america

 

This low-cost option may encourage your child a lot

Creativity needs a fertile medium. Internet has already provided a great media to be creative and innovative. Information is freely available. Things are going to change a lot more when the Internet of Things become lot more popular and affordable.

Codebug is a device that your children can try out. It is not expensive, will use their grey cells and provides fun born out of something they created not a ready made toy. The programming of this device is something even children can handle according to Codebug makers.

Codebug interface is very cute and highly functional. I wish it had built-in wheels.

Here is what the Codebug makers claim.
"CodeBug is a cute, programmable and wearable device designed to introduce simple programming and electronic concepts to anyone, at any age. It is easy to program CodeBug using the online interface, which features colourful drag and drop blocks, an in-browser emulator and engaging community features. Create your own games, clothes, robots or whatever other wacky inventions you have in mind! "

Here is what one of the Guru's say:

There is more on my other blog to read about here.