Inside a scientific and technological mind

OnApril 30, 2011, India’s biggest inter-school IT quiz forayed into thedesert turfs of the UAE. The TCS IT Wiz quiz is a venture started by one ofIndia’s IT major TCS in 1999. Since 1999, this quiz has been held everyyear in different cities in India, for pupils in the higher secondary grades(8-12). In a bid to enhance IT awareness, groom IT skills among the young local and expatriate population and widen the perspective of students, the TCS initiated the TCS IT Wiz here in Dubai. The quiz was held at the sprawling Sheikh Rashid Auditorium, Indian High School. Students from schools across UAE (Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi) thronged to participate and cheer their teams. It was a pleasure to watch the amazingly well-informed andanalytical young minds. Giri Pickbrain Balasubramaniam, the head of GreycapsIndia Pvt Ltd, played the perfect quizmaster, orchestrating the proceeding andinstilling it with the right amount of humor, logic and factual inputs. It wasan awe-inspiring experience to watch the length of knowledge and grip overfacts, which the young students had. As parents and audience, we watched widemouthed as the participants as well as the juvenile audience fielded questionsfrom the quizmaster. One particular question was about the origin of the nameEPSON. A student in the audience analyzed and put across his view that, EP meantelectronic printer and when a different version of it came along latter, it wasnamed as the son of EP, namely EPSON. We found out that there are some thousandsof people who search in an alien language (not in any known Earth language) onthe Google. Scary? Are the aliens preparing for an Earth raid? It was a reliefthat a couple of questions were within the reach of our analytical minds. Therewas one question on tempo garment. I made a wild guess about it (only in mymind) and it turned out to be correct. Let us see if any of the readers canguess what a tempo garment is.IT-related inventions got me thinkingabout one thing, there is a very thin line between genius and insanity.Inventions are, of course, the work of geniuses. Well here are a few inventionsthat makes one wonder if that is the case always.1. A device totrain fishes to get themselves caught in the fishing net. Really that iscriminal, kills all the fun offishing.2.A fooddetector at home that reads something like -“Item: Soup / Temp: 110/Bland:Yes/Edible: Definitely no”. Gosh! Put the money into some good cookeryclass or order. Instead of sweating it out to cook, with an extremely skewedprobability of stayinghungry.3.A blanketdesigned to keep your marriage stink free literally, in case you are at thereceiving end of a gaseous attack by your life-mate. Well this one is tough todecide, let usponder.4.Have a problemgetting your toddler out of the couch in front of TV. Some scientist feel aportable TV attached to a tricycle is great out- door sportsincentive.5.Technologysure makes life easier, an automatic twirling fork for spaghetti goes a long wayfor those whose wrist tires easily from theexercise.6.Forthose with a sporty disposition, who feel the daily trips to restroom are asheer waste of time, “potty putter” (a small golf ball, golf stickand a customized hole) is a pure blessing. Magazines and newspapers arejust not adequate entertainment for somepeople.7.If you can keep animal protection activists out, duster shoes on your cat’s feet are a penny and sweat saving device to ward off dust. The user manual probably should come with instruction on how to train a cat to move at the proper places.8.A rainyday is no longer a hindrance for smokers who walk. With umbrella tippedcigarettes, one can smoke this problem off-puff.9.Wish to catch upon your sleep while travelling on the metro without being jerked out of it. Buya cap equipped with a vacuum funnel at its back for great head grippingsleep.10.Want to savesome bucks on cutlery. A butter stick (like a glue stick) is a good bet. Thisone has my votes for a cross over to genius.A water mill invented byJohathan Ritchey, can generate water from fresh air. The cost is a meager 3cents for every liter.(Courtesy:http://www.inventor-strategies.com/Latest-technology-inventions.html)