Desi Garmi: Malayalam Masti…!

Green Roof Concept : Japan

Green roofs are all the rage now, but back in 1995 it was pretty unusual when Emilio Ambasz and Associates extended Fukuoka’s Tenjin Central Park with a terraced building covered in gardens. Builder Takenaka calls “a step-shaped rooftop garden in order also to create the image of a mountain as the view from the park.”

View from park

“Spatial structure and vegetation structure were selected which produce the time-to-time changes of the four seasons.”

“Effluent follows the drainage system of a natural mountain. The system used as a base entails rainwater from the top floor (13th floor) permeating into the soil and following water paths, before permeating through to the step gardens on lower floors, before reaching the ground level.”

Metaefficient tells us that ” The garden terraces, which reach up to about 60 meters above the ground, contain some 35,000 plants representing 76 species. A huge semicircular atrium and the triangular lobby provide contrast to the greenery, in this space is a symphony hall, offices and shops.

FUEL PRICE : Dont Curse the Government

You must have thought fuel has become really expensive after the recent price hike.

But then compare it with other common liquids and did some quick calculations, and you’ll felt a little better.

To know why, see the results below – you’ll be surprised at how outrageous some other prices are!

Diesel (regular) in Mumbai: Rs.36.08 per liter

Petrol (speed) in Mumbai: Rs.52 per liter

Coca Cola 330 ml can: Rs.20 = Rs.61 per liter

Dettol antiseptic 100 ml Rs.20 = Rs.200 per liter

Radiator coolant 500 ml Rs.160 = Rs.320 per litre

Pantene conditioner 400 ml Rs.165 = Rs.413 per litre

Medicinal mouthwash like Listerine 100 ml Rs.45 = Rs. 450 per litre

Red Bull 150 ml can: Rs.75 = Rs.500 per litre

Corex cough syrup 100 ml Rs.57 = Rs. 570 per litre

Evian water 500 ml Rs. 330 = Rs. 660 per liter (Rs. 500 + for a liter of WATER???!!! And the buyers don’t even know the source (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Kores whiteout 15 ml Rs. 15 = Rs. 1000 per liter

Cup of coffee at any decent business hotel 150 ml Rs. 175 = Rs. 1167 per litre

Old Spice after shave lotion 100 ml Rs. 175 = Rs. 1750 per litre

Pure almond oil 25 ml Rs. 68 = Rs. 2720 per liter

And this is the REAL KICKER…

HP deskjet colour ink cartridge 21 ml Rs.1900 = Rs. 90,476 per litre!!! Now you know why computer printers are so cheap? So they have you hooked for the ink!

So, the next time you’re at the pump, don’t curse our honorable Petroleum minister – just be glad your car doesn’t run on cough syrup, after shave, coffee, or God forbid, printer ink!

Joke of the Day : Rabri Devi and the Clock

Rabri Devi died and went to heaven (Don’t Laugh).

As she stood in front of yamraj , she saw a huge wall of clocks behind.
She asked, “What are all those clocks?”

Yamraj answered, “Those are LieCloks. Everyone on Earth has a LieClock.
Every time you lie, the hands on your clock will move.”

“Oh,” said Rabri, “Who’s clock is that?” That’s Gautam Buddha’s. The hands
have never moved indicating that he never told a lie.

“And whose clock is that?” That’s Abraham Lincoln’s clock. The hands have
only moved twice, telling us that Abraham only told 2 lies in his entire
life.”

Rabri asked, “Where’s my Laloo’s clock?”

“Laloo’s clock is in my office”, replied yamraj, “I’m using it as a ceiling
fan”.

Zero 0 Emission Car Honda Hydrogen Fuel Cell FXC Clarity

Honda’s latest concept car, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell engine. The car is filled with hydrogen rather than petrol and is the world’s fastest high performance zero emissions car.

The hydrogen is pushed through a “fuel stack” somewhere beneath the arm rest between the driver and passenger, where it is converted into electricity which powers the engine. While conventional cars give out varying amounts of C02, this rather sleek beast emits only water vapour.

In June of 2005 Honda became the first car company in the world to lease a hydrogen fuel cell powered car to Jon Spallino, of Redondo Beach, California. During the 2005-6 auto show season, they showed off a concept version of their first purpose-built fuel cell powered car. Earlier this year they announced that the car would go into low volume production in 2008 and yesterday they allowed a group of journalists to drive the first two prototypes at the Laguna Seca racetrack along with the two of the current generation FCX cars. I was there.

The fuel cell technology found in the FXC Clarity uses hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, which is then used to power the car. That means the vehicle will not rely on gasoline and will not produce many of the harmful emissions commonly associated with the use of fossil fuels. According to a section of Honda’s website dedicated to the benefits of fuel cell power vehicles, “These cars simply do not pollute.”

The day began with a technical presentation of where Honda’s fuel cell development has been and where it’s going. Unlike most other car-makers working on hydrogen power, Honda is designing and building their own fuel cell stacks. The previous generations of stacks have been laid out much like the ones from companies like Ballard where the gases flow horizontally through the stack. This horizontal flow is what has led to one of the problems with fuel cells in cars, cold weather performance.

Hydrogen Power

• Zero emissions
• Domestic fuel
• Helps slow increase in greenhouse gases

Performance

• Fun to drive
• Smooth and powerful
• Groundbreaking new fuel cell stack

Safety

• Six airbags
• Vehicle Stability Assist ™ (VSA®)
• Collision Mitigation Braking System ™ (CMBS™)

Hydrogen is — by far — the most abundant element in the universe, but it’s usually connected to something else, so it takes energy to strip the hydrogen from, say, the oxygen atoms in water. In order for the whole system to remain non-polluting, the energy used to “crack” off the hydrogen must itself be non-polluting. Honda’s fueling station behind its R&D facility in Torrance, Calif., does that with solar-generated electricity. But that takes up acreage, and the Honda Hydrogen station covers maybe a third of an acre and generates just enough hydrogen to fuel one FCX once a day. Hydrogen is also tough to transport in bulk, has to be stored under pressure and is generally more difficult to work with than traditional fuels. Can all these challenges be overcome? Probably. But maybe not. And no one knows when the breakthroughs are coming, or from where.