Virtual India’s Bhuvan

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Bhuvan, India’s mapping application website has been launched.

Working on similar grounds as Google Earth and Wikimapia, Bhuvan is a geoportal that provides medium to high resolution satellite imagery of virtually the entire India.

When compared to the rest, this web-based 3D mapping tool, which is a product of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is said to have better zooming properties.

“This would provide a user with images having resolution up to 10 metres. The degree of resolution showcased is based on the points of interest and popularity, but most of the Indian terrain is covered up to at least 5.8 metres of resolution with the least spatial resolution being 55 metres.”

It is also said that “the user can also navigate through 3D viewing environment. One can “fly” to destinations of choice and even draw 3D objects such as placing of expressive 3D models, 3D polygons and boxes. The site also offers tools to measure horizontal, vertical and aerial distances.”

The images on the site are a combination of satellite imagery from various IRS sensors taken “sometime within the last three years during different seasons.”

But to browse the website, one has to create an account and download “the Bhuvan Plug-in”.

A few days old into the World Wide Web, Bhuvan has a long way to go. As a common man we can hope that it would be a rich and useful source in addressing very local problems including water issues and infrastructure development.

Lifestyle Change Climate

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Tackling climatic change has been an ongoing process world around; but who could have imagined that the rich and the wealthy can be one of the causes?

According to a study conducted by researchers at Princeton University, rich people and their lifestyles account for a major chunk of the carbon emissions globally.

“Instead of simply considering carbon emissions on a national or per capita level, the Princeton team proposes a more granular system of climate accounting that would examine the range of individual emissions within countries. Thanks to economic growth, there are well-off people in almost every nation in the world.”

The current data says that the world average for tons of carbon dioxide emitted a year per individual is about five tons. Here, while each European produces about 10 tons a year, Americans alone produce twice that amount.

A researcher noted that most of the emissions come from lifestyles that involve airplane flights, car use and the heating and cooling of large homes. “And the study doesn’t take into account the carbon that is embedded in imports and exports in global trade. But big developing nations like China – with its rising middle class – won’t be let off the hook either.” Writes Times.

It has been estimated that in 2008, half of the world’s emissions came from just 700 million people.

Wonder, what one will do, if pleasures and comfort are taken away from life.

Cows In Global Warming

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Pic, Cow

“Cows are responsible for nearly three-quarters of total methane emissions, according to Environment Canada.” Said a news report.

In fact there is a need to reduce sources of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. And in case of bovine, if the reports are to be believed, most of the gas comes from its burps, which are 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

The evolving science and technology has always had solutions to the unresolved problems. Little wonder then that scientists in Canada are working towards breeding a special type of cow “designed to burp less.” Indeed it is a breakthrough and holds the key to one of the main source of greenhouse gas.

But who is to be blamed? The poor bovines who are helplessly adjusting to the paths laid by us, or we humans who are interfering with the Nature?

“Climate change is life or death. It is the new global battlefield. It is being presented as if it is the problem of the developed world. But it’s the developed world that has precipitated global warming,” said Nobel peace prizewinner Wangari Maathai. Isn’t it so true? There is a need to think and act and not tamper with Nature further.

Father, My Father

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“I love my daddy. My dad is the best,” you say proudly and so is the story of dads, the world around. Dad, papa, father, no matter how you address him even in your mother tongue, he is the guiding force in a healthy family. The Father’s Day is far gone, but the cards and news stories keep the day alive, and the reasons for me to write.

Thanks to Sonora Smart-Dodd, we have an exclusive day – the third Sunday in June – to honour not only our fathers but also those who are our father figures.
Though legend says that a Babylonian youth named Elmesu carved the first known Father’s Day card in clay with a special message that wished his father good health and a long life, it was Sonora’s efforts that bore fruit.

Sonora’s father William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran and widower raised his six children single-handedly. For Sonora, it was hero worship. On Mother’s Day, in 1909, when she was listening to the sermons at the church, she got the idea to have a Father’s Day observation.

The following year Sonora convinced the local churches and celebrated Father’s Day honouring her father on his birthday. She also encouraged the concept of roses – a red rose was worn for fathers who were still living and a white rose to honour the dead.

With time, Father’s Day has been much commercialised and you have an option to choose from a variety of cards and gifts. Interestingly, a National survey (US) shows the evolution of the Father’s Day gift, from Old Spice and leisure suits to DVDs and plasma TVs.

Her interest and efforts paid off well, as the then US President proclaimed it a law; and President Richard Nixon in 1972 established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June. Today Father’s Day is a universal concept and celebrated across countries.