Obesity - Eating excessive food - Is it an addiction?

It is age old saying that, one should not talk while eating, chew the food 32 times before swallowing, take one glass water 30 minutes before and after taking the food but not during eating, take small meals for every 2-3 hours instead of 3 big meals in a day, take 8 glasses of water in a day and so on. But, for various reasons we do not follow most of such wisdom sayings.
As experts say, we take more food while watching TV, not knowing what and how much we are consuming. For the same reason, problematic kids also take food when they are watching TV. Parents switch ON to some cartoon channel to feed the children who otherwise will be resisting to have food.
I observed in my own case that I am grabbing some food item while watching TV, though I am not hungry. If I am not, may be psychologically I am feeling hungry and getting some item throughout the length of the TV programme. And, thus my weight increased 17 kg in the last 15 years, 4 kg of this in the last one or two months alone. More food is also consumed to avoid wastage.
Alarmed by this sudden increase, I decided to stop lunch for few days or may be few weeks till I get results on either way i.e good or bad. It's now 10 days. I observed that to stop hunger or burning in the day time, I am taking water and my water intake has gone up from one liter to about 3 liters during the day time. In a way, this practice is bringing my acidity problem under control, though my wife says it can be a temporary phenomenon. During this day time, I am taking one or two cup of tea or coffee, not more than that. Evenings, I am taking one or two handfuls of sprouts, which I started in the last one week followed by tea or energy drink (bournvita). Now, I am observing that my food intake during dinner also is reducing almost to half of the earlier quantity. I have to mention here that I am taking more side-dishes like sambar, rasam and curd with rice or roti. I feel like my stomach is full halfway through and unable to take any more food.
From the above, it's my conclusion that taking food is an addiction.
Now, I have to see for some more time, whether this type of eating food  helps in weight reduction also and develops into a food habit.

Safety and Health training - power point presentation from www.citehr.com

A link to the power point presentation on Safety and Health training that can be used for training. This link was found found from http://www.citehr.com

I think your audience will like it because of simple and straight facts with good illustrations.
http://www.citehr.com/365704-safety-health-training.html

Another one for drivers here, http://www.citehr.com/365239-useful-handbook-drivers.html

CSB video - W.Va. chemical leak

As per Chemical Safety Board (csb.gov.in) investigation, the three chemical leaks in 33 hr, causing death of a person are due to ineffective alarm, poor maintenance, failure to carryout proper investigation of near misses and emergency response system. CSB said that the person taking readings near the tanks, could have been saved if tanks had enclosures.The hose for phosgene transfer which leaked and sprayed on the person causing death, as per company policy, is to be changed once in a month, but was not done for the last 7 months. The report says, each of the three leaks were preceded by an incident (near miss- a warning sign). The suggestion of an employee for replacing with better material hose was not listened as it was costly. The incident made it more costly to the company. This proves again and again that safety is never costly and in the words of Mr Om P.Kharbanda, SAFETY IS FREE! - IN FACT IT PAYS!!

Before 1984 accident in Bhopal also, a person died because of phosgene spray.

http://www.csb.gov/newsroom/detail.aspx?nid=383
CSB releases video of deadly W.Va. chemical leak - BusinessWeek
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/09/23/csb-was-alarmed-by-series-of-dupont-incidents/
http://ehstoday.com/safety/management/dupont-prioritize-cost-safety-0713/

Umatilla Chemical Depot passes safety milestone - Business | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

Umatilla Chemical Depot passes safety milestone - Business | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

As per the news report, for the last five years the company with about 830 employees is working without any accident involving loss of man-days and in the process completed 9.0 million safe man-hours. Congratulations.

Close shave for 3 jets at Chennai airport - The Times of India

As per the reports (Close shave for 3 jets at Chennai airport - The Times of India), a major collision between a plane landing and another plane about to takeoff was averted due to prompt action by the the pilot of the landing plane just in time. The plane about to take off delayed its takeoff as a plane that landed before did not vacate the runway and was at the end of the runway. The taking off plane after aborting its takeoff abruptly by applying '(hot) brakes', was taken for inspection bay for checks.

It is stated that due to maintenance of second runway, total load of about 400 daily flight movements are carried on single runway.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Close-shave-for-3-jets-at-Chennai-airport/articleshow/10109371.cms

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/193302/major-plane-mishap-averted-chennai.html
LINK

Umatilla Chemical Depot passes safety milestone - Business | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

Umatilla Chemical Depot passes safety milestone - Business | Tri-City Herald : Mid-Columbia news

The plant completed 9 million man hours of accident-free period.For last five years, plant employees (830) are working without loss of work due to any accident. A great achievement.

LINK

Fire breaks out at textile firm | Deccan Chronicle

Fire breaks out at textile firm | Deccan Chronicle. The fuel oil leak from pipes connected to boiler catches fire. Four workers in the first floor were charred to death as they could not escape from stairs that was filled with sacks and drums which were on fire. Fire tenders reached the spot without water. Police had difficulty to handle the situation in darkness without torch lights. This is a clear example of Murphy's law. Everything went wrong. The fire was extinguished after water was supplied by a private operator. Two officials were booked for negligence and causing injury.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-fire-kills-four-in-midc/850436/
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_dombivli-factory-fire-kills-4_1590414
http://www.daybreakingnews.com/post/Four-killed-in-Mumbai-textile-mill-fire-accident-which-occurred-early-in-the-morning-today.aspx
http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/four-killed-in-maha-textile-mill-blaze/832307.html
LINK

Domestic LPG cylinder fire and explosion, building collapse

Gas leak from LPG cylinder kept under stairs led to explosion in a building that houses a sari dyeing unit in ground floor and apartments in three floors above. 30 minutes after the LPG explosion, another explosion occurred, said to be involving chemicals of the dyeing unit and caused collapse of the building. Two persons died in the incident. Four fire fighters involved in rescue operations were buried and rescued subsequently. The LPG cylinders belong to the adjacent marriage and convention hall, that also got damaged partially during the incident. Police and Fire Services asked for shifting of the mobile phone tower at the top of the marriage hall which developed cracks after the incident.
Case has been registered against owners of marriage hall and the residential building under provisions of section 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), section 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 304-A (Causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code and also under the provision of The Explosive Substances Act.


http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_bangalore-cylinder-blast-crowds-please-learn-how-to-respond-to-tragedies_1590143
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/day-after-disaster-cops-scout-for-clues/186675-60-119.html
http://zeenews.india.com/news/karnataka/bangalore-building-collapses-after-cylinder-blast_732741.html

Explosion and fireball incidents at Canberra and Oklahoma

There were reports of chemical factory fire and explosions in Australia in leading  about 200 m fireball, temperature of 1000 deg.C. As the fire could not be controlled, the firefighters were asked to move back by 300 m distance. It took 22 hours to control the fires involving combustible chemicals.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/biggest-fireball-ive-ever-seen-superintendent/2295464.aspx
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/massive-chemical-fire-after-series-of-explosions-rock-canberra/story-e6freuy9-1226138503397
http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=662748&vId=
http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/biggest-fireball-ive-ever-seen-superintendent/2295464.aspx&hl=en&geo=us


In another incident of gas rig fire and explosion at Oklahoma, more than 100 ft high flames were seen, lighting an area of about 60 mile distance. People in 2 mile radius were evacuated. No injuries were reported.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/sheriff-warnings-helped-workers-reach-safety-before-okla-gas-rig-blast-homes-evacuated/2011/09/20/gIQAFo2DiK_story.html
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44589618/ns/us_news-life/
http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/sheriff-warnings-helped-workers-reach-safety-before-okla-gas-rig-blast-homes-evacuated/2011/09/20/gIQAFo2DiK_story.html&hl=en&geo=us

Gas leak kills FOUR

4 died (factory employees) and 11 were injured in an incident of a toxic hydrogen sulphide gas leak on 20.09.2011 (Tuesday) at 1915 hr in a pharma factory plant operations, located in Tarapur, India. The gas spread 5 km around the plant. The residents in the nearby area were evacuated after the incident. The leak was arrested. The plant did not request fire services as they thought that they can handle the situation and that there is no fire.
The nearest railway station is about 1 km from the factory. Three persons of the factory were booked for the incident, as per reports.  The plant is located in an area along with about 1250 factories and few residential areas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&v=HbP_BmhpmaI
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-21/mumbai/30184327_1_gas-leak-fire-brigade-plant-officials
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/thane-gas-leak-3-company-officials-booked/1/152110.html
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_tarapur-power-plant-gas-leak-kills-4-workers_1589638
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2473702.ece

Large reservoir of water in the universe

Scientists found huge water body in the universe around a black hole at 12 billion light-years distance. It contains 140 trillion times the water in the earth oceans. Is there any possibility of this water body coming closer to the earth or Sun any time in the future. Definitely a fiction movie can be made on such story. The web link containing the details is given below.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/universe20110722.html

Apartment first floor collapse

There was an incident of partial collapse of a 5-storey apartment in which the first floor sank and rested on the parking floor (cellar) below. 10 persons were injured during the incident. Some girls practicing dance in the cellar were rescued. It is reported that the building was constructed 3-4 years ago in the area which was used as sewerage tank earlier. The area was filled and the apartment was raised. On visit, the Civil Engineering experts observed shallow waters in the area and opine that the soil has become weak.

Following are few reports appeared in the media.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article2461744.ece
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/regions/rajahmundry/police-security-post-symala-sadan-apartment-573
http://www.crimenews.co.in/building-collapses-cmorders-help/

DGCA removes its top safety officer - Home - livemint.com

DGCA removes its top safety officer - Home - livemint.com
The above article is about removal of safety in-charge working for The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for delay in investigations and not producing reports in time.If the officer is inefficient, the action is warranted. But, in the same article it is mentioned that only 14 officers monitor over 1000 flights on Indian skies. With the increase in number of air craft, no. of incidents/accidents and other activities, the staff will be stressed to perform. And the issues are concerned with safety of invaluable human lives. Under stress, the performance will deteriorate over a period of time and the quality will dive to the bottom. After all, they are also human beings and not machines to generate output automatically after keying in certain parameters. If the problem i.e delay in reports, persists for long time, then the system needs to analyzed for problems. The issue of man-power and other issues like training need to be addressed before holding safety personnel as responsible. Airlines too should be held responsible for engaging persons with fake certificates, for incidents and accidents, instead of blaming one man. It may be a management principle taught to accept additional work, but will not help the organization in the long run when limits of human beings are exceeded.

Proposal of amendments to Factories Act 1948 by Government of India

The Ministry of Labour and Employment proposes 52 amendments to The Factories Act, 1948. The proposed amendments were uploaded at http://labour.nic.in/main/dgfasli.pdf and comments/suggestions were invited at http://labour.nic.in/main/AmendmentsAct,%201948.pdf within 45 days from 06.09.2011.

A freak accident - unsafe act

It happened.

In a house, the family head tried to lit something. It did not. Then, he brought petrol in a bottle, poured a little on the material which he want to lit. After keeping the petrol bottle aside, he lit the matchstick. Immediately the fire spread from the material to the petrol bottle. In panic condition, he threw the bottle outside his house. The burning petrol bottle fell on a lady going on the road. She received burn injuries on hands and her clothing got burnt partly. She was admitted in a nearby hospital for treatment.
Mindless acts can lead to such type of accidents, endangering the persons who do not know what is going to happen to them.
Similar things can happen in industries endangering the environment and public at large due to unsafe actions by the persons inside the factory.

Gasoline fire in Nairobi, Kenya

As per reports, 61 persons died and 116 were seriously burned due to a fire today (12.09.2011) at 1000 hr local time. The fire occurred possibly due to a cigarette butt thrown on a pool of gasoline that got accumulated from a leaking pipe passing through densely populated slum area and where people gathered to collect the gasoline. As per one report, the pipeline might have been punctured deliberately to collect the fuel. Fire fighters had difficult time in controlling the fire.The leaking gasoline floated on a nearby sewer and it resembled like a burning river after the blast and resultant fire.
A report says, fire started after a fuel tankers dumped the fuel in the open sewer flowing through the slums.
If this is the reason, it is most unpardonable act and the guilty should be punished. If the reason is leak from the pipe line, then large quantity must have escaped from the line into the sewer till it is identified either by pressure drop or somebody noticed and informed the company. Both the company and the authority that cleared pipeline layout are responsible for the incident in this case. One can't lay the pipelines through populated areas. If the settlers came after piping job, then the company with the help of local police should have got it vacated. Such piping should terminate at a place far off from the habitation and should be protected. As per the reports, when a news channel asked the resident two years ago, he don't want to move from the place though he feels that there is a chance of the fire that occurred today.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/09/12/kenya.fire/
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-kenya-fire-20110913,0,5237204.story?track=rss
http://www.africareview.com/News/Riddle+of+Nairobi+pipeline+fire+that+killed+75/-/979180/1235086/-/10hj59jz/-/
Video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14887938

The Hindu : News / International : At least 61 Kenyans dead after pipeline explosion

The Hindu : News / International : At least 61 Kenyans dead after pipeline explosion

LINK

Explosion at a nuclear waste treatment facility in France

A blast occurred at 1037 GMT today (Monday 12.09.2011) at Centraco nuclear waste treatment facility in Marcoule, France reportedly during melting of metal scrap. One person was killed, one was seriously burned and 3 others were slightly injured. As reports say, there is no leakage of radioactivity from the site.As per BBC reports, blast happened in a furnace used to burn waste, including fuels, tools and clothing which had been used in nuclear energy production but had only very low levels of radiation. The ingots formed after melting will be stored safely at a designated place. This is an accepted procedure.
Authorities informed that there are no nuclear power reactors at the site. The explosion also is not from waste storage tanks where radiolytic hydrogen formed can lead to explosion if not diluted. It is also not of any explosion that may arise during concentration of waste by evaporation.
Any non-nuclear incident in a nuclear facility can be misunderstood as nuclear explosion. This accident is to be treated as industrial explosion and not as nuclear explosion. If the explosion occurred during melting, one reason can be water reaction with molten metal. But, as per BBC report and other reports, explosion occurred after fire. It is not known the reason for fire which can be due to flammable solvents or due to friction of fine turnings of iron,zircaloy, aluminium, etc in the metal scrap. It is a known fact that dust explosions are possible with fine dust of these metals.
As there is no radioactivity, we have to assume the explosion is non-nuclear of one of the above types.
http://hanlonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2011/09/marcoule-explosion-is-the-tide-of-anti-nuclear-irrationality-on-the-turn-.html
1)  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44483925/ns/world_news-europe/?GT1=43001
2)  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-nuclear-safety-body-says-an-explosion-has-rocked-a-nuclear-plant-in-countrys-south/2011/09/12/gIQAJUkcMK_story.html
3) http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/09/12/explosion-kills-one-at-french-nuke-plant.html?obref=obnetwork
4) http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?30252-Breaking-Nuke-explosion-in-France

Power failure due to snake in a feeder box

A snake entered a feeder box from which power is supplied to an industrial area. The snake died of electric shock and at the same time, power supply to the industrial area also got cut off. Concerned officers of electricity board could not find the reason for power failure for more than 10 hours. After search, they found 1.5 m long dead snake in the feeder box. They claim that they did not see such a problem earlier. Production loss for 10 hours, environment pollution due to DG (diesel generator) sets operated during the period, revenue loss for the power supplier and the inconvenience caused to public will add to large amount, though the cost of preventing such incident i.e ensuring no openings, is minuscule. Many times, we see open fuse boxes, partly opened doors of power distribution boards, etc which can lead to entry of reptiles and causing such damages and this has become an accepted norm for such industries.

The following link give some extra information about similar incidents.
http://www.fort.usgs.gov/resources/education/bts/impacts/electrical.asp

About Leadership - excerpts from the book by Robin Sharma

Excerpts from, “The Leader Who had NO TITLE” by Robin Sharma, which I liked the most. I read this book sometime back and made the notes which I reproduced below. After reading, I felt that by following the tips, we can improve our personal life and have peace of mind with satisfaction. This is true for improving safety also at work place which will give satisfaction of saving lives, avoiding property damage and protecting the environment.

The website link is here: http://www.robinsharma.com/

1. Learning is the daughter of repetition. Repetition is a powerful teaching tactic. Through repetition, a new idea can quickly become integrated as a new belief.
2. Success is easy for anyone, if they do right things consistently. And these little things and behavior buildup over time lead to reaching the impossible, which appeared in the beginning. Seeds do not give fruits overnight. They have to be planted, watered, weeded and fertilized before we get fruits.
3. Small insignificant daily acts of excellence buildup success. Neglect of small daily acts over a period of time lead to no point of return and failure.
4. Success is achieved only when we practice and experience. Listening or speaking alone will not help. When we practice the idea that we listened, it becomes a truth and we experience it. Unless the idea gets into us and we practice, listening/reading fails to crate lasting results.
5. There is nothing impossible in this world. Only it is a matter of time, after we put our sincere efforts.

Why people do not want to learn from incidents?

Everyday goes in our life without some incident that would have caused rise in heart beat. If it is during the driving on the road, either we shout or get earful hearing from the other side. Here, always the bigger vehicle driver is at the receiving end. If it is at some other place, like at home, work place, bus, train, or market place, both sides will be vocal in airing the views.

Every time after the incident, consciously or unconsciously we try to analyze what happened and who is responsible. Most of the times, we conclude that we are not wrong and that the incident happened because of the other person. After ascertaining this again and again in our thoughts, we feel satisfied that we did nothing wrong. If we were the affected during the incident but were at the receiving end, we think that we can’t do under the circumstances as we are less in numbers. If, someone got injured in which we are also a party, we tell ourselves that we are right and feel sympathy or that they deserve it for not being correct.

Artificial resuscitation - video link

For adults, during cardiac arrest, this video shows continuous chest compression can lead to supply of oxygen rich blood to the brain and increase survival chances. One may think that by this method, the patient's chest bones may be broken. But, when he is already in danger, bringing life back is important.
http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/59002-Continuous-Chest-Compression-CPR-Mayo-Clinic-Presentation

CPR for babies: http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/59002-Continuous-Chest-Compression-CPR-Mayo-Clinic-Presentation

If blind can see, why not others? a video

The video below shows what a blind man did to get street lights back to working. If blind can see the problem, why not others. 

Most touching video that all government servants must watch

LINK

Faulty transformer - shock to the village

Two persons died, 10 persons got injured and several electrical appliances got damaged when an entire village was under electric shock. The two persons died when they tried to switch on power supply in their homes. The news item appeared in Times of India. The report says this happened due to a faulty transformer and after the identifying the problem, the transformer was replaced and power supply was restored.

I talked to my friends of electrical engineering discipline on this news item. I was told that this can happen, due to lack of earthing, or supply of high voltage directly to domestic users, or when there is contact of phase with the body of the equipment with no neutral. If persons are wet, then they can get shock while switching the plug.

Earlier also there were many news reports of damage of TVs, refrigerators, bursting of picture tubes, etc due to high voltage. 

Nuclear Fission Superior to Other Energy Sources | The Energy Collective

Nuclear Fission Superior to Other Energy Sources | The Energy Collective

LINK

Six months later: The Fukushima nuclear disaster in retrospect - The Mainichi Daily News

A brief note on efforts of the plant to contain radioactive water containment:

Six months later: The Fukushima nuclear disaster in retrospect - The Mainichi Daily News

LINK

Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill in India

Government of India introduced a Bill on Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority (NSRA) Act 2011 (link provided at the end of this article) in the monsoon session of the parliament (Lok Sabha) on Wednesday 7th September 2011. As per the report in livemint,  report in The Hindu, article in Power Engineering, the Bill provides for creation of a

1. Council of Nuclear Safety (CNS) with Prime Minister as Chair Person and other members including Atomic Energy Commission Chairman as ex-officio for nuclear/radiation safety policy review; 
2. an authority (NSRA) with offices at different places having a a chairperson, two whole-time members and up to four part-time members.The chairperson, reporting to parliament, would have to have at least 25 years' experience in nuclear science and technology, environmental science, engineering or related fields. The members would need to have at least 20 years' experience in these fields.; Chair Person and Members can serve for a maximum two terms with each at three years and upto a maximum age of 70 years; Member upto 65 years. The Chair Person is also Chief Executive Officer of NSRA with financial and administrative powers.
3. search committees for selection of Chair Person and Members of NSRA
4. an appellate authority with a Supreme Court judge or a High Court Chief Justice as Chair Person and two scientist who are experts in the field as its Members.

Atomic Energy Regulatory Boad (AERB) will be dissolved after establishment of the authority as per Section 18 of the proposed Act and Chairman & its members will be transferred to function as Chair Person and members of NSRA till search committees find persons for these posts. AERB Employees also will be transferred to NSRA and within three years they can decide to be part of NSRA or as any central government employee.
As per Section 19, the jurisdiction of the Authority shall extend to all areas to which this Act is applicable and activities relating to production, development or use of atomic energy and radiation in all its applications, or transport (within India or outside India), transfer by sale or otherwise, import, export or storage or disposal of nuclear and radioactive material.

The NSRA would decide on issues through a majority vote of the members, and if there is a tie, the chairperson or the senior-most member present shall have a second or casting vote, the bill has proposed. The CNS will be empowered to create the appellate for grievance addressal.

NSRA is the sole authority for administering Factories Act 1948 as per Section 23 of NSRA Act 2011. The authority can delegate its powers to any one including state government as per Section 24, except making regulations. Section 25 gives powers to central government to exempt facilities of national interest.

Section 40 states penalties of upto 5 years imprisonment and or fine for violations. Top to bottom, anybody responsible can be punished (Section 41). Section 44 says, Civil courts do not have jurisdiction on matters which NSRA or other regulatory bodies empowered under this Act.

Creation of this council got necessiated in the aftermath of Fukushima accident, the government's resolve to increase share of nuclear power, allow private operators for nuclear power generation and ensure safety.
After approval of the Bill, the NSRA has to notify any accident of significant risk within 15 days and should give wide publicity as per Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act,2010. It appears that the Bill is aimed at ensuring safety to employees, public and environment mainly during power generation keeping in mind of accidents occurred earlier like Chernobyl and Fukushima. As government intends to allow private operators in nuclear power generation, to avoid bypassing or short cuts on safety procedures, it proposes stringent provisions for safe generation of nuclear power. The penal provisions include jail term upto five years and also fines.

Council of Nuclear Safety:  Consist of the Prime Minister, the Union ministers of environment, external affairs, health, home affairs, science and technology, the cabinet secretary, the chairperson of the atomic energy commission, and eminent experts to be nominated by the central government.





THE NUCLEAR SAFETY REGULATORY AUTHORITY BILL, 2011

Related news items:

http://www.google.co.in/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1R2ADFA_enIN437&q=nuclear+safety+regulatory+authority+bill+2011
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/nuclear-safety-bill-tabled-in-lok-sabha/articleshow/9901420.cms
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/189375/revamped-n-safety-mechanism-cards.html
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws070911Nuclear.asp
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article2432732.ece

e-waste generation in India and its magnitude

An article today in livemint is about e-waste generation in the country and its way of collection and recycling mostly through scrap dealers. About 4.0 lac tonnes of e-waste is generated in the country and is growing at 10-15% per year. Struggle for existence makes availability of cheap labour and their exploitation. It may be that children are engaged for collection of scrap including e-waste. As this is unorganised sector, working conditions remain pathetic and out of purview of the regulators thereby endangering the health of the workers and surroundings. Effluents will be discharged into public sewage/drainage and thereby contaminating the ground and water bodies.

e-mail or phone?

Today in the news paper MINT, a syndicated column appeared on people tendency to use e-mail rather than phone for communication, though it is convenient to speak rather than type. Few months back, our boss also commented that, now-a-days, we are using e-mail more than the phone.
At workplace, I feel e-mail is more convenient to convey information to a group though it is easy to speak directly or over phone with limited number of persons. Moreover, e-mail is a written document which can serve as a proof of communication. Nobody can say that he/she did not received the mail. In case, e-mail ID is typed wrongly, then the sender will be at fault, else the receiver has to accept. If the mail ID is non-existent, then failure notice will appear in the sender's inbox. Verbal communication is like writing on the water.
Apart from communication to bulk, e-mail is also helpful to convey tough messages, or to those whom we do not want to talk but we have to communicate.
It is easy to organize the mails sent into different folders and can be retrieved easily with search words, whereas we have to spend more time in filing and tracing. We can also copy e-mails in portable storage media and use wherever required.
However, direct communication helps to convey what we want, remove any misunderstanding and help in improving relations. Urgent issues also have to be communicated directly. Sending e-mail in these cases will not ensure immediate attention of the receiver whether he is available near his computer or not.
At the same time, if we have to talk to nut cases (stupids), we have to use all our energy and time unsuccessfully and go home with disturbed mind.
Finally use of phone or e-mail depends on the importance of the issue, audience, time and our energy levels.

A fire incident

LINK

A fire incident was reported which caused property loss of Rs 2-3 crore as per some reports. Other reports mention the loss at much higher level. The cause stated is short circuit during testing of electrical equipment. Others say it is due to sparks from welding in the area that is full of flammables. The fire spread through cables to nearby area. No  injuries are reported.
Generally, for any fire incident any where, it is common to attribute short circuit as the reason. Most of the time, the actual reason will be different.
If welding sparks are the reason, then before welding, one should check for presence of flammables atleast 15 m in the surrounding area as it is stated by experts in the field that weld sparks can fly about 15 m distance and can cause damage. If removal of flammables is not possible within this distance, then atleast they should be covered with fire resistant covers. If this is also not possible, worst case, ensure such hot works to be done only in the direct presence of Fire Service crew.

Following are some of the links on the same incident.
http://www.andhrawishesh.com/home/25660.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoE15SxbbUI

Find your web site is safe or not to access

Here are some of the web site services that check whether a particular site we want to access is safe or not. This information is available in cnet.com

Unmask Parasites. Do you know the dark side of your site?   LINK
Norton Safe Web
Hosts for your protection
Google safe browsing
http://google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site= followed by the site you want to check, such as google.com or an IP address

Increase in mesothelioma cases shows efforts to rid Australia of asbestos must continue - Australian Council of Trade Unions

Increase in mesothelioma cases shows efforts to rid Australia of asbestos must continue - Australian Council of Trade Unions

LINK

Side effects of automation???

An article in Times of India on 31.08.2011 (Wednesday) on airplane accidents analyzed about how accidents are taking place due to too much dependence on auto piloting and how pilots are loosing their reflexes when they need in most critical situations.
It is our experience that even for simpler calculations, we use calculator or mobile phone instead of doing it mentally. If we want to know about something, we will not search books. Instead, we do google search or yahoo it. Even for meanings we fail to open dictionary. With such lifestyle, how wish to learn. Traditional methods of learning becoming extinct and getting addicted to NET. Less and less memory is being used and we do not play any mind games. The net result is loss of memory. After one or two generations, when creativity and intelligence is lost, I think we come back to square one and start reinventing the wheel.
I am not against automation. Automation should be designed, tested and implemented such that it is fool proof. We should use the technology for our advantage and should not blame it if there are accidents. Accidents occur because we fail to foresee, fail to plan, fail to use it the way it is required. It is easy to blame. But as an individual, as on authority, as on organization, what we are doing.
At home, we admonish our children, spouse, servant for some mistake. But, how many times we ourselves made mistakes. If we do mistakes, we call it experience and if others do it, we are ready to fire.
In the news item, it is mentioned that pilots use automated systems to fly airliners for all but about three minutes of flight i.e during take off and landing; that they have few opportunities to maintain their skills by flying manually as regulators do not allow manual flying.
In the same news item, at the end, it mentions about a fatal airline crash in the US, in 2009 caused after the co-pilot of a regional airliner programmed incorrect information into the plane's computers, causing it to slow to an unsafe speed, thereby triggering a stall warning. The panicked pilot bypassed two safety systems to control the plane unsuccessfully. In this case, even if the copilot fed wrong information, it appears, there are no program logic or supervision to verify about the wrong entry.
To address the complaint of pilots loosing reflexes of manual control due to automation, I feel that, after every fixed number of hours of flying, all pilots should be subjected to simulator training and examination for different types of scenarios and only those who passed with 100% should be put on roster.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Addicted-to-automation-pilots-forgetting-how-to-fly/articleshow/9804378.cms

Autonomous body for nuclear safety

A news item that appeared on Times of India on 31.08.2011 (Wednesday) states about cabinet approval for setting up an autonomous independent regulatory authority for monitoring nuclear safety. The Government of India decided for such authority in the wake of Fukushima incident caused by a series of failures after earthquake induced tsunami and to ensure safety and create confidence in the minds of all interested parties on nuclear power programme. 

The powers stated in the article are in line with The Factories Act, 1948.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cabinet-nod-for-autonomous-N-safety-regulator/articleshow/9802779.cms