Earthquakes on the rise in 2010?

There's no news like the bad news, and earthquakes surely fall into that category. And so the news media world over has been reporting earthquakes like there was no tomorrow. Is it really that bad? Has the earth started shaking a little too frequently to be cause for concern?

The answers to that line of questioning is overwhelmingly NO. There has been no increase in either the frequency  or the magnitude of earthquakes. The earth is behaving in it's old pattern. The earth consists of seven major and seven minor plates. These plates consist of entire continent in some cases to entire water bodies, or a part of both. And all these plates have been in motion since time immemorial ( Thanks to wagner for pointing this out.). So it is natural that when plates move they interact in any of the following three ways:

1. They drift apart from each other allowing the lava or magma from the depths below to come up. They are very stable in the sense that they do not lead to any  earth tremors, just slow upwelling of lavas. This is pretty commonplace in Iceland. And these plate boundaries are called divergent plate boundaries.

2. They slide past each other leading to faults. Also not dangerous ( in terms of EQ's)

3. And the final one is convergent plate boundaries wherein two plates collide face to face ( ah don't take it too literally). This is the reason for so many violent shakings of  the earth. When two plates collide something has to give. [ Himalayas are the creation of one such plate collision. The highest mountains in the world are remnants of  some river valley propped up by the collision] The denser of the two plates subducts beneath the lesser denser plate and the plate boundaries experience incidence of vulcanism and EQ's.

The pacific ring of fire is one such hot zone. It accounts for 90% of all EQ's encountered annually. And we record thousands of EQ's every year.Let’s take a look at how many earthquakes occur each year on average. The USGS has a fascinating page of earthquake facts and statistics, with the following table:

Magnitude	Average Annually
8 and higher	1 ¹
7 – 7.9	17 ²
6 – 6.9	134 ²
5 – 5.9	1319 ²
4 – 4.9	13,000 (estimated)
3 – 3.9	130,000 (estimated)
2 – 2.9	1,300,000 (estimated)

¹ Based on observations since 1900.

² Based on observations since 1990.

So it seems that the EQ's are commonplace after all. It is only due to the widely networked world that EQ's are getting published more regularly and we have started noticing them. When we see the news of Haiti, Chile and California earthquakes at a frequent interval we tend to draw associations where none exist. It is all a part of our psyche- where we try to make meaning of the world by some simple rule of thumb. We read more about the EQ's so they must be happening more often. Alas the real world is more complex and more random. [ Despite all the progress made by science we can't still predict when and where will an EQ occur. It is still in the realms of psychics, fortune tellers and animals.]

Nothing in particular

It was after a long time that i found myself wandering again on the stone ramparts keeping the sea at bay from human habitation. Though what exactly do they protect is a nice thought: the sea from the humans or humans from the sea? So just out of habit i clicked a few pictures. Here they are ( April Fool's day, 2010):

If i were to name this photograph, it would be: The solitary tree... not that it is solitary by any means, there are a number of other trees planted some distance apart, but there is something about the tree that screams lonliness to me. On this thought I would like to share this poem of Wordsworth:

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

And here is another picture of the marine drive: 

Be Well!

Darkening Sky

It's really great when you come to discover a good song when you least expect it. So it happened to me. he Mentalist is one of the shows that i enjoy watching on the television, and it was in it's one of the episodes that's i came across this song by Peterr Bradely Adams. The episode's title was His right hand ( The main antagonist Red John's right hand ). And to say: I was hooked! Great song, wonderful lyrics!

Women Reservation Bill : Few words

Sure God created man before woman.  But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece. So goes the quotation whose author has been lost in the annals of history. Sure he would have been a proponent for the Women' Reservation bill which may soon enough change the face of indian legislature. The bill calls for 33.3% or one third of the seats to be reserved for the women. And thought the historic bill was supposed to be passed on 8th of march on the centenary year of international women's day, the loss of nerve by the congress government saw it delayed by a day.
Whether reservation is the panacea to all ills is a different subject matter and i would like to go into it at some later point of time. The point currently is 181 seats in the lok sabha are to be reserved for women. Similarly one third of the seats will be reserved in RS and state governments as well as local governments. There is already reservation at place in the panchayati raj institutions. Recent findings by a government body have shown that:

• The positive impact of entering politics and working as a Panchayati Raj functionary is evident from the fact that a sizeable proportion of women representatives perceive enhancement in their self-esteem (79%), confidence (81%) and decision-making ability (74%).
• Becoming a Pradhan or Ward Member augments respect within the family (67%) as well as in the community at large (82%). Encouragingly, this change is more perceptible in the case of elected women representatives who also perceive an increased voice in decisions related to economic matters and other issues in their family (66-71%).
• Beyond the household domain, and in the professional environment, an increase in attention from local government (64%), responsiveness of the Block Panchayat (60%) and recognition from other Panchayat Members (65%) is reported by a slightly higher proportion of female Pradhans. While no gender discrimination in the panchayat is reported by 60 percent of elected women representatives, acceptability in panchayat meetings and enabling them to raise issues freely was mentioned by 94 percent." A supportive professional environment evidently motivates elected women representatives to perform better, as 60-64 percent reported an increase in their interaction with line departments and parallel bodies. Even the participation of common women citizens in various activities such as attending Gram Sabha meeting, etc. has reportedly increased (68-78%)." A large proportion (72%) reported having been actively involved in providing civic amenities, while 62% said they made efforts in increasing enrolment and mitigating domestic violence.

There were some other interesting findings too. The level of education seemed to have direct bearing on performance. Illiterates did not perform well. Also the younger age category performed better than those over 35. And also the fact that 85% women were first timers and only 15% of the women candidates got re-elected once the seat was de-reserved.

The study calls for scrapping of the rotation of seats and has this to say for final word: 

• The data show that the duration (in years) of political involvement is directly proportionate to the performance of women representatives. As women progress in their political career, they become better performers by virtue of being politically more aware and experienced. Thus, the effort should be made not only to maintain the representation of women in politics in terms of their percentage, but also their ability to remain in politics.

Now back to the reservation bill. We know that there is already a reservation of 22.5% for SC/ST. And add 33.3% reservation for women to that. Bingo you get 55% of the seats of the world's largest democracy reserved. That would work contrary to the spirit of the democratic set up according to me. One way to overcome is to provide quota within quota but that may become too complicated. Western countries have highly evolved societies in which gender equality has been addressed and fought for by the feminist movements. They came up by working their way up and not by some quota system. That may be the natural order of doing things. Quotas only weaken the targeted group in the longer run. Quotas for short duration may work, but being india, we can not have anything that is not built to last. Politics will invariably come into play and the reservation bill that is supposed to be only for 15 years will get extended indefinitely.

No, i am not against the reservation system.I feel that the representation by women will take India to new heights. I only have few certain apprehensions regarding the manner of imposition of the women's reservation bill.

            The law ministry has prepared two drafts of the Women's Reservation Bill.

The first envisages reservation of 33.3 percent seats for women within the existing strength of the two Houses of Parliament.

The second calls for increasing the strength of the two Houses by 33.3 percent. The existing 545 seats in the Lok Sabha will increase to 900 if this draft of the Bill is enacted.

 The other troubling fact is the so called rotation of the one third of the seats after each election. Imagine that 181 seats of the LS would be rotated each election. No one knows which male candidate will have to forego his seat. Moreover the winning women candidate may not be able to win from the same seat once it is de-reserved. What would be the motivation for the elected candidate to work for that constituency? You arn't getting elected again from that constituency anyway. Then the vast uneducated masses of india that refuse to look away from normal caste or petty politics line. Oh, i know indian masses have surprised everyone over time, but, their memory is short and caste lines etched too deep into their consciousness.
One provision that definitely needs to be added is that no serving politicians kin can contest election from any reserved seat. ( Imagine Pakistan has already got 33% reservation for women in it's senate.)


Now for the process. Article 368 of the indian constitution stipulates that for such broad sweeping changes to be made in constitution the following steps have to be followed:


* An introduction of the bill in either house of the parliament (introduced and passed in Rajya Sabha already), and the bill to be passed in each house by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two thirds of the members of that House present and voting.


** The amendment then has to be ratified by the legislatures of not less than half of the states.


*** Then it is presented to the president and upon whose assent it becomes a law.


So there is a long process ahead but a significant beginning has been made and the ruling party seems to have the necessary numbers to force through the bill, but one,this is politics and two, this is India.


We already had a strong PM in form of Indira Gandhi, a serving president in form of Ms. Patil, a strong chairperson of the ruling party in form of Ms Sonia Gandhi, a lady speaker for LS : all without reservation. Women are beginning to break into the man's world on their own. Is it necessary to take their fight away from them and instead provide crutches?


I leave that assessment to you. 

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Now watch TV on your Mobile! ( MTNL Mumbai)

I remember one of my professors, Mr Divakar Kamath, saying in one of his lectures that for many in India mobile will become the first screen. Seems like the day has somewhat arrived. Who would have thought that the ubiquitous mobile would one day be used for watching TV. It is the stuff of science fiction now turning true!

The last effort at such dream was made when mobiles incorporated DVB-H technology, an acronym for digital video broadcast- handheld. This technology was officially endorsed by the EU as the preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting. Most probably this technology also saw its use in India, in the capital city of Delhi, though in a limited way. And then came its nemesis : 3G.

The onset of 3G era (it hasn't started yet in its full earnestness) has changed the rules of the game tremendously. 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates (up to 14.0 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink with HSPA+)[Wikipedia]. Moreover it is supposed to provide a minimum data rate of 2 Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle.This fact has made it possible to watch TV on mobile screens.


Currently only the government telecom service providers are working with 3G. And I happen to be subscribed to one such operator: MTNL Mumbai. This coincidence has left me using 3G servises for more than two months, and it was only today that I thought of subscribing to mobile tv. In India the service is provided by Apalya technologies and their website is : http://www.mimobi.tv/  


How to watch TV(MTNL Mumbai) :
Step 1: Sms MOBILETV to 53388
Step 2: You will receive a WAP link/service message in your inbox. Click on the same and download the MTNLTV application
Step 3: Install the application in the phone memory of your handset
Step 4: Click on the application and open it to see the TV channel logos. Choose the channel you want to watch and click on its icon.
Step 5: You will see the subscription packages available as given below. Choose the option that suits you.Step 6: You will receive a confirmation that your registration has been successful. Now click on the channel and watch the content. 


The subscription options are cheesy to say the least. You can watch 29 channels[ aaj tak,ndtv, india tv, cnn, espn, times now, cnn ibn, bbc world, cnbc tv18, star news, total, headlines today, ndtv profit, ndtv hindi, zee news, ibn7, star one, pogo, cartoon network, ftv, utv, bindass, wwf, and some( 4 or 5) inconsequential ones] at the cost of Rs 150 per month(1) or you can subscribe to an individual channel foe Rs 50 per month (2) or an individual channel at the cost of Rs 10 per day(3). Obviously the die is a bit loaded towards the first option.


So after downloading the application (668kb) from the wap link send by mtnl, i saw a menu with various channel logos. I promptly subscribed to option one which after one successful attempt again showed my subscription status to be void(thankfully i hadn't lost any money). I am going to try it again after some time. I am planning to catch any show on BBC World and after that budget highlights on CNN-IBN. Lets see how it peters out. I am willing to go through some heartburn (always true in the case of onset of new technology), but let's hope it is not too much.


P.S. Look out for 4G technology.... It promises 1 Gbit/s for stationary and 100 Mbit/s for mobile operation. Arthur Clarke hit the nail on its head when he said, " Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". 

Blogger's Block!

Imagine of all the ailments possible suffering from an acute blogger's block! No there is no such recognised ailment in the world. And yes, i made it up by borrowing heavily from writer's block. Time was when i would have various issues to write up on....I had views on almost everything under the sun.... my being knowledgeable had nothing to do with it...rather my lack of knowledge and it's accomplice wisdom gave me strength: it's true, what they say- fools rush in where angels fear to tread & the other one- Ignorance is bliss!

No! I havn't gained enlightenment all of a sudden now. Merely that after being in the twitterland and then buzzland, my old blog writing days have suddenly become a fond memory. Why write more, when you can say it in 140 words? And to top it all you can keep doing it as frequently as possible...even from your omnipresent phone. Guess the blogger's are a dying breed now.... dinosaurs in the age of apeman.

I sure hope that the above scenario does not come true, for both mediums are complementary as well as supplementary to each other. Blogging is a serious matter. The amount of information that you can give, the analysis you can do, the thoughts that you can pen; is vastly superior in case of blogging. Try telling what you had for lunch on your blog. I dare you! You can't. That has to go on to newer emerging digital platforms like Twitter. A blog is inherently a serious matter, not a place to put frivolous matter. So it may continue to survive after all!

Now to the blogger's block. When and how did I reach this stage is a mystery to me. Though not exactly a doyen of blogging, i would find time and energy to write something from time to time. But somehow this feeling of writing dried up, instead of being enthused by the idea of blogging i started dreading it. The issues over which i always felt strongly suddenly started appearing mundane to me. That was when i first realised that something was not well, that some piece of puzzle was missing from my life. So now i have decided to start writing once again...torturous though the process seems to me... for writing is also a means a knowing oneself, and as the ancient Greeks said, " Know Thyself" was the beginning and end of every person's journey.

The only discernible side effects of being in twitterland is that writing long passages seems to be a burden now. The macro view has given way to micro view now. Maybe that's a blessing, may be that's a curse. Which one only time will tell. For now only one thing matters : overcoming the blogger's block.

Bhavatu sabba Mangalam! May all beings be happy!

Beautiful by Eminem