TechDigitThe Fact Finder

Deforestation, the main cause for the devastation of our biodiversity, has been practising for many years. But today’s worrying factor is the massive destruction of rainforests.Trees play a vital part in environment, animals, and humans. They act as filters of carbon dioxide. Trees and vegetation are being destroyed to make room for housing and businesses. Statistics says that more than 50 percent of the tree population has disappeared due to human activity.

Solar energy, a natural source of energy from Sun, has been harnessed by our ancestors since ancient times by means of various technologies. This is one of the most available renewable energy on Earth. But only a minor percentage of this energy is used.

Heat engines and photovoltaics help in the generation of electricity. The uses of solar energy are limited only by human initiative. Solar hot water, solar cooking, daylighting, etc. include in the partial list of solar applications. Generation of energy from Sun is either direct or indirect. There are many technologies involved in each.

The use of renewable resources on energy like Sun, wind will bring a great solution to the existing power crisis in many of the remote places in the country.

Second largest island of Indonesia, one of the Sunda islands; area 473,000 sq km. East of a longitudinal volcanic mountain range is a wide plain; both are heavily forested. Products include rubber, rice, tobacco, tea, timber, tin and petroleum.

Northern Sumatra is rapidly being industrialised, and the Asakan river (rising in Lake Toba) as dammed for power 1974. The main town are Palembang, Padang, and Benkuelen. A Hindu empire was founded in the 18^th century, but Islam was introduced by Arab traders from the 13^th century, and by the 16^th century was adopted throughout the island.

Union Territory of SE India; area 480 sq km/185 sq mi; population (1981) 604,000. Its capital is Pondicherry, and products include rice, groundnuts, cotton, and sugar. Pondicherry was founded by France 1674 and changed hands several times between French, Dutch and British before returned to France in 1814. Together with Karaikal, Yanam, and Mahe (on the Malabar Coast) it formed a French colony until 1954 when all were transferred to the government of India; since 1962 they have formed the Union Territory of Pondicherry. Languages spoken are French, English, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

Pondicherry is one of the most popular tourist spot in South India. The city has many Churches, Temples, Statues, and French Style Avenues. The most popular tourist spots in Pondicherry are The Auroville Beach, Promenade Beach, Paradise Beach, Serinity Beach and Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Canary Islands, group of volcanic islands 100 km/60 mi off the NW coast of Africa, forming the Spanish provinces of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife; area 7300 sq km/2818 sq mi; population (1986) 1,615,000.

Features the chief centres are Santa Cruz on Tenerife (which also has the highest peak in extra-continental Spain, Pico de Teide), and Las Palmas on Gran Canaria. There are also six uninhabited islets. The Northern Hemisphere Observatory (1981) is on Island of Las Palmas, the first in the world to be remotely controlled. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) supports an independent Guanch Republic (so-called from the indigenous islanders).

Oh what an awe-inspiring innings by our Master Blaster!  He played a fabulous innings of 175 runs of just 141 balls. It was a treat to watch. On the 5th ODI against Aussies, Sachin crosses yet  another landmark of 17,000 runs in One-day internationals. He became the first and the fastest cricketer to cross this landmark when he took the 7th run. He continued his blazing innings and went on to take his 45th ODI century, breaking his own record and the first to take most number of centuries in ODI.

Yes, it was disappointing for this cricket lover  as the host lost the match by just 3 runs. Sachin  received the Man of The Match Award, and said it was his one of the best knocks. He is a player who has been watched by all cricket lovers, irrespective of origin, every time he enters the ground. He is a man of perfection with sound techniques. Cricket Cricket Cricket Nothing other than Cricket in his mind, body and soul. His record breaking contributions for the past twenty years for the Indian team makes him a Living Legend.

As Dhoni said, both India and Australia were equally talented, it is just the calculation that decided the fate of the match. Anyways, 697 runs in that wicket was a great feast to the eyes of cricket lovers.

An optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the normal DVD format. It is designed mainly for storing High-definition video, video games, and other data. Blue-ray Disc is from blue-violet laser that is used to read the disc. Blue-ray Disc has huge storage capacity of 25 GB (single layer disc) and 50 GB (double layer disc).

Standard DVD uses 650 nanometer red laser, whereas Blue-ray uses 405 nanometer blue-violet laser providing a storage capacity of six times more than a standard DVD with the same size as that of standard DVD. Blue-ray Disc was developed by the Blue-ray Disc Association, makers of computer hardware, motion pictures and consumer electronics.

Mini Blue-ray Disc is a compact one and stores approximately 7.5 GB of data. This is specifically designed for camcorders (portable video camera) and compact recording devices. BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewritable) versions of Blue-ray Disc are developed for recording and rewriting purposes. Definitely Blue-ray Disc will dominate the next generation.