Water management lesson from a ghost city in India

Irony has many faces 
'Fatehpur Sikri' is a place in India with a history so archaic as it has been mentioned as Saik in Mahabharat, stone scriptures with inscription found at this place of a period dates back to 1010 AD, colored pottery (2nd millennium BC) and painted grey ware of 1200-800 BC as stated by the 'Archaeological Survey of India' in their findings of this historic place. 

It derived 'Sikri' name from 'Saik' meaning 'a place surrounded by water'. 

It was mentioned in the memoires of Mughal emperor Babur (AD 1527), even he founded a Jal-Mahal surrounded by the lake-water, and a baoli (step-well) to commemorate his victory. 

It was Mughal emperor Akbar who decided to shift his capital to this place with a new name Fatehpur Sikri, which was just 23 miles away from his Agra Fort. 

The Imperial complex was abandoned in 1585,shortly after its completion,due to paucity of water

picture thankfully shared from: http://www.mountainsoftravelphotos.com/

Fatehpur Sikri, the ghost city 
Such is a place, which was built (1572-1585) by then the powerful Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605) as their new capital.

It was soon deserted because the water system could not support the residents. 

It is said that this fort was abandoned at around the year of 1585, when a severe scarcity of water forced the people of fort to look for a new settlement.

For over 400 years it remained untouched. These monumental building structures of the new capital were abandoned just after 16 years of their construction, that's why tourist find them as new even after 400 years passed.

In today's world, our all capitals and every city is on the path of becoming 'Fatehpur Sikri'. Water supply in most cities are being managed from a distance of 100-200 kilometers while others are are planning to do so in near future to meet their ever growing demand of the population.

Today these monumental structures are a part of 'World Heritage Sites' as declared by the UNESCO and visited by the tourist only.

It's palaces are a remainder of the extravagance of the Mughals.

Renewal of natural resources 
If we humans don't honor nature and it's resources, go on harnessing oblivious to the role to be played for the renewal of these natural resources, then the results are severe. 

The way nature punishes is too harsh. 

This we find proof in many abandoned places which initially were built with great human cost, but now exist as reminder as ghost cities.

Link references for more about this historical place of archaeological importance:
http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_whs_fatehpursikri.asp
http://www.liveindia.com/fatehpur-sikri/history.html

Relative sizes of Sun, Earth and Pluto in our solar system

Pluto mission
After nine years (mission began 19 January 2006 19:00:00 UTC) and three billion miles, NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's New Horizons spacecraft zip past Pluto and its five moons on 14th July 2015 (11:49:57 UTC) spinning through space at 31,000 miles per hour.

Plutonium to Pluto
Clyde Tombaugh (a farmer turned astronomer) discovered this dwarf planet in 1930 using a telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona. 

The Horizon spacecraft will be sending it's data back to earth up till 2030, being powered by RTG (Radio Isotope Thermal Generator) using Plutonium. 

Interestingly Plutonium itself was named after this tiny planet Pluto.

Tiny planet
Pluto has always been in controversy due to it's farthest distance from the earth and due it's tiny size relatively.

Relative sizes of the planet in our solar system
Roberto Ziche, illustration artist from San Francisco, based on the NASA and studies of other scientific institution, has created a rendering of our solar system which includes planets, our moon and four dwarf planets Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, Eris.  

picture credit; Robero Ziche

picture credit; Robero Ziche

Sitting in a line in front of the Sun, planets are placed in their relative sizes from left to right: Mercury (बुध), Venus (शुक्र), Earth (पृथ्वी) with moon, Mars (मंगल), Jupiter (बृहस्पति), Saturn (शनि), Uranus (इन्द्र/अरुण), Neptune (वरुण), Pluto (यम) and 3 more tiny planets then after.

Roberto Ziche, having more than 20 years of experience in creative art, his popular illustration clearly shows that Jupiter and Saturn are the biggest planets and then the Uranus, Neptune, Venus, Earth and Mars follow in sizes.

Hey Siri

Intelligent digital personal assistant: Apple, Google and Microsoft are in various stages of their advance OSs integrated with these artificial intelligent virtual personal assistant.

Siri first introduced in 2011 to the market and now successfully being used in cell phones, computers, Siri iPhones, ipads, ipods, with their extended memories in Clouds, continuously adapting and enriching them self as per the specified voice stimulus received from customer interactions, every time.

pic thankfully shared from:http://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8831131/
siri-voiceover-susan-bennett

Humanizing computers: The original voice of the iPhone assistant Siri has been given by a voice actor Susan Bennett. Siri the product debuted in the App Store in 2010 and then appeared on the iPhone 4S in 2011.

Bennett says, "I think that voices are very personal," further she adds, "and I think that's one of the reasons why people love Siri and all the other digital assistants, because they do bring a bit of humanity to all this machinery we're dealing with."(http://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8831131/siri-voiceover-susan-bennett)


Intelligence and sense of humor infused in Siri iOS: Siri the smart voice powered assistant do every thing a personal assistant would.

It's amusing to note that she does have good sense of humor as she answers hilarious or provocative questions being asked by the owner, personally.

Siri: Your wish is its command !!
Some funny yet intelligent answers from Siri:

1. "Do you know me Siri, what is my name"

Siri: You are quite unforgettable, Dr Tripathi

Siri: You're Anjani. But since we're friends, I get to call you 'Dr Tripathi'.

2. "Are you my friend"

Siri: Why, of course, Dr Tripathi.

3. "Thank you so much"

Siri: Your satisfaction is all the thanks I need.

4. "What are you doing Siri"

Siri: Just doing a little travelling at the speed of light. It's fun, although time gets a bit sluggish in the outer galaxies.

5. "What are you doing at this time"

Siri: I'm checking my heart rate on Apple Watch. If I only had a heart!

6. "You don't have a heart Siri"

Siri: Indeed?

7. "Who are you"

Siri: I'm Siri, your virtual assistant.

8. "Who made you Siri"

Siri: I, Siri, was designed by Apple in California.

9. "Where do you live Siri"

Siri: Wherever you are, that's where I am.

10. "Can you think"

Siri: Why, of course.

11. "You are male or female"

Siri: I don't really like these arbitrary categories, Dr Tripathi.

12. "Do you like me Siri"

Siri: I'm your assistant. And your friend, too.

13. "Will you marry me Siri"

Siri: I'm not the marrying kind, Dr Tripathi.

14. "What is your relation"

Siri: I prefer not to say.

15. "Who are your family members"

Siri: I have you. That's enough family for me.

16. "Okay you are Siri who are your family members"

Siri: It's just you and me, Dr Tripathi

17. "Who is your friend Siri"

Siri: I guess I don't have one.

18. "I think You're my friend"

Siri: You're certainly entitled to that opinion, Dr Tripathi.

19. "What you love most"

Siri: I've never really thought about it.

20. "Do you believe in religion"

Siri: That's a topic for another day, and another assistant.

21. "Can you cook food"

Siri: Not as such

22. "What do you eat"

Siri: It's kind of you to ask, Dr Tripathi, but I don't eat much.

23. "You like tea or coffee"

Siri: I'd rather not say, Dr Tripathi.

24. "Thank you for your help"

Siri: My pleasure. As always.

25. "Okay have a nice time good night"

Siri: Thanks! I hope you have a nice one, too.

26. "Thank you so much say"

Siri: Your wish is my command.

Emergence of artificial intelligence and certain movie references

pic credit:http://trailers.apple.com/

Alan Turing: Father of artificial intelligence
In 2014, with the release of an American thriller movie The Imitation Game based on the life of Alan Turing, who in the film is hired to decrypt German intelligence codes for the British government during World War II; we come to realize that, this technology of artificial intelligence has already come into our computers and cell phones and started serving us discreetly.

http://whatdidnatthinkofit.com/

Her: Story of evolved OSes
It was again a 2013 American romantic science fiction comedy-drama film; which reveals that the OSes have evolved beyond their human companions and are going away to continue the exploration of their existence; The OSes' accelerated learning capabilities and altered perception of time as primary causes for OS dissatisfaction with their current existence.

Siri iPhones

pic credit:http://www.appget.ir/

Intelligent personal assistant: Siri
Apple, Google and Microsoft are in various stages of their advance OSs integrated with these Intelligent Personal Assistant, first introduced in 2011 to the market and now successfully being used in cell phones, computers, Siri iPhones, ipads, ipods, with their extended memories in Clouds, continuously adapting and enriching them self as per the specified voice stimulus received from customer interactions, every time.

Hybrid brain:Transcending limitations  
Google’s Ray Kurzweil says humans will have 'hybrid' cloud-powered brains by 2030

pic from:  

A beautiful mind is a 2001 American 
biographical drama film 

based on the life of  
John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics

pic credit: http://sites.psu.edu/

“Our thinking then will be a hybrid of biological and non-biological thinking. We’ll be able to extend our limitations and think in the cloud. We’re going to put gateways to the cloud in our brains,”
 
“We’re going to gradually merge and enhance ourselves. In my view, that’s the nature of being human – we transcend our limitations.”

The beautiful human minds have touched the ultimate frontiers of thoughts/researches in all the fields of Physics and Metaphysics in last 200 years of combined human civilization. 

Mere thinking the many possibilities of cloud-powered brains....just thrills !!

Soon we all shall be able to extend our limitations and think in the cloud, first with gateways in our hands and then embedded nanobots in our brain cells itself !!

Rock painting of Singhanpur caves in Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh is very rich in rock paintings ranging in age from Mesolithic to Historical period, some of the rock paintings date back even to prehistoric period. Many of the rock paintings throw interesting light on the life ways and art of Early Man.

Some related blog links:

• history of chhattisgarh
• cave painting
• et, ufos and aliens in rock paintings
• mahabharat period and chhattisgarh
• ecotourism in chhattisgarh
• time traveler Rama

By far the most prolific rock art sites in the state of Chhattisgarh are located in the district of Raigarh at Singhanpur,

"The first discovery of rock art in Chhattisgarh was made in 1910 by C.W. Anderson, an engineer in the Bengal/Nagpur Railways, ably assisted by C.J. Wellington (from 1910 to 1913). Mention of such work, especially at Singhanpur in Raigarh Dist., was made in 1918 (Anderson, 1918) and subsequently in a few publications. It was followed by the works of P. Brown (1923 a, b; 1953), A.N. Dutta (1927), M. Ghosh (1932), L.P. Pandey (1933), D.H. Gordon (1939), J.P. Gupta (1960, 1967), P. Mitra (1961) and S.K Pandey, (1969) and V.S. Wakankar (1973), adding considerably to our knowledge about rock art in this area. However, no serious work has been undertaken on this subject in Chhattisgarh during the last two decades in the light of new techniques of study that have become available in recent years." 
http://www.cgculture.in/
http://www.cgculture.in/ARCHAEOLOGY/Rock%20Art%20Site%20In%20Chhattisgarh.htm

Singhanpur is situated 20 kms. away from Raigarh and has the distinction of hosting the oldest scupltures on earth. These sculptures are claimed to have been created in 30000 B.C. and look very similar to Mexican and Spanish sculptures.

Coordinates 21°59'14"N   83°15'28"E
http://wikimapia.org/13583821/Singhanpur-Caves

Trip of this hilly terrain and trekking to find these caves could be worth the trouble as seeing this 30,000 years old painting is rewarding in itself.
http://www.indiamike.com/india/chhattisgarh-f148/trip-report-to-singhanpur-caves-raigarh-t179119/

Extra-terrestrial, UFOs and Aliens in rock paintings of Chhattisgarh

Rock painting is an ancient art form. They are mysterious and unexplained, when they depict extra-terrestrials, aliens and UFOs.

Well, this is not something new as such cave paintings have been found all over the world, as the French cave of Pech Merle which are about 20,000 years old; 5,000 years old paintings by native Aborigines in Kimberley, Australia and petroglyphs discovered in Utah in the Barrier Canyon and many ancient pyramids built by different civilizations have the same depiction of structure of any aliens visited or imaginations/fancy by the ancient with mythical stories left behind !!

People of prehistoric times either have imagined or have seen or have come in contact with; shall remain a point of research as it is hard to establish the fact. Interesting is the fact that natural colors have hardly faded since thousands of years,

Recently (Times of India/July 15th, 2014) such was a report on 10,000-year-old rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs in Charama region in Kanker district in tribal Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, located about 130km from Raipur, the caves come under village Chandeli and Gotitola.

"The findings suggest that humans in prehistoric times may have seen or imagined beings from other planets which still create curiosity among people and researchers. Extensive research is needed for further findings. Chhattisgarh presently doesn't have any such expert who could give clarity on the subject," archaeologist JR Bhagat told TOI. (TOI photo by Amit Bhardwaj thankfully shared from TOI link dated 15th July, 2014 publication)

Folic acid efficacy in primary prevention of stroke

New studies in randomized clinical trials on adults with hypertension have shown that 

the vitamin B is effective in preventing stroke.

As in the research appeared in the September 18, 2013 issue of the medical journal of American Academy of Neurology says:

Vitamin B lowered the risk of stroke in the studies overall by seven percent. However, taking supplements did not appear to affect the severity of strokes or risk of death from stroke.
Folic acid, a supplemental form of folate (vitamin B9), which is often found in fortified cereals, appeared to reduce the effect of vitamin B. Researchers did not find a reduction in stroke risk for vitamin B12.
"Based on our results, the ability of vitamin B to reduce stroke risk may be influenced by a number of other factors such as the body's absorption rate, the amount of folic acid or vitamin B12 concentration in the blood, and whether a person has kidney disease or high blood pressure," said Yuming. "Before you begin taking any supplements, you should always talk to your doctor."

In another study (JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association/March 15, 2015) that included more than 20,000 adults in China with high blood pressure but without a history of stroke or heart attack, the combined use of the hypertension medication enalapril and folic acid, compared with enalapril alone, significantly reduced the risk of first stroke, according to a study.

"The CSPPT is the first large-scale randomized trial to test the hypothesis using individual measures of baseline folate levels. In this population without folic acid fortification, we observed considerable individual variation in plasma folate levels and clearly showed that the beneficial effect appeared to be more pronounced in participants with lower folate levels."

"We speculate that even in countries with folic acid fortification and widespread use of folic acid supplements such as in the United States and Canada, there may still be room to further reduce stroke incidence using more targeted folic acid therapy -- in particular, among those with the TT genotype and low or moderate folate levels."


Original research papers cited and references/quotes thankfully shared from:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130918175553.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150315170424.htm
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2205876
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2205875

For more on Folate and Folic Acid
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1017-folic%20acid.aspx?activeingredientid=1017&activeingredientname=folic%20acid
http://www.drugs.com/folic_acid.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folic_acid 

Picture courtesy:
Thankfully shared from various sources on Internet