Anurag Kashyap won the 78th spelling Bee contest at Downtown Washington DC today. Samir sudhir Patel stood second. From round 15 onwards there were 4 contestants and three of them were Indians. There were 270 + contestants from all over USA and even from Jamaica. This was the first time since 1962 that 3 contestants were there from round 15 onwards.
That was a great performance by Anurag who just managed past the flamboyant Sameer, the crowd favorite. prasenjit On 6/2/05, umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > In retrospect about Delhi students car/moped I think they did a good job in > improving the mileage to 150kms/litre . I do not think even the best moped > in India gives more than 100kms/litre. And the students did not have access > to top tools unlike companies. > > But I think my knee-jerk reaction was due to seeing Junk-Yard wars on > Discovery Channel, while in India (here I haven't seen a TV program for > months -can't buy one.) In that program - the students from MIT, Texas-A7M , > CalTech etc competed to produce running cars or rocket launchers within a > few 100 minutes --and they did it --all from the junk lying around!!! So in > comparison to that --the Delhi guys effort seemed less glamorous. > Here, today's issue of Harvard Gazette shows a card-shark(p) chemistry > professor Liu -banned from Casinos of Las Vegas -for winning to much > money--has made a plane which travels slower than a butterfly/bee: > > Umesh > > http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/06.02/03-liu.html > Chemist, card shark Liu takes off > In lab, Liu uses DNA to guide synthesis of chemical compounds > By Steve Bradt > FAS Communications > In some corners of Las Vegas, Harvard chemist David Liu is viewed as a > dangerous man. > > Liu, 31, is a skilled blackjack player - too skilled, in the eyes of the MGM > Grand family of casinos. Two years ago, he was barred from all MGM Grand > facilities after winning too much money playing thousands of hands at the > blackjack table. > > "I was just trying to earn enough to buy my wife a certain pair of > earrings," explains the recently tenured professor of chemistry and chemical > biology. > > The card-shark chemist took up blackjack with a passion as a Harvard College > undergraduate, delving into the mathematics of blackjack, writing computer > programs, and even teaching a course in Currier House on the game. > > "You need to play blackjack, essentially, like a robot, with an attention to > quick but simple math," Liu says. "You can never win more hands than you > lose in the long run, but you win money by betting more when you are more > likely to win." > > Outside the lab, where his research uses DNA to guide synthesis of chemical > compounds, Liu says he's always maintained - and avidly pursued - one or two > hobbies in his spare time. After MGM clamped down on his blackjack fun, he > turned his attention to radio-controlled airplanes. > > "I remember reading, when I was a kid, about this goal among hobbyists to > design a plane that would fly so slowly that you could pilot it around > inside a living room," Liu says. "I was surprised to learn, years later, > that this goal remained largely unmet." > > Liu focused his energies on the task, working the lift equations for a > vessel in flight and determining how exceptionally light a plane would have > to be to remain aloft at superslow speeds. The result was The Wisp, a plane > whose carbon fiber technology and lithium batteries weigh in at just 6 > grams, the equivalent of six paper clips. Liu has since built a small fleet > of the small aircraft, ranging in size from 6 to 15 inches, which can > maneuver around a small room at a pokey 1 to 2 mph. > > "At that speed and mass, even if the plane crashes into your forehead - > which has happened to me numerous times - it doesn't hurt," says Liu, whose > work for a time was featured in more aviation magazines than chemistry > journals. > > Liu's off-the-job tinkering has revived his childhood interest not only in > model airplanes, but also in LEGOs. By combining the plastic bricks with a > heat sensor from a burglar alarm, Liu recently cobbled together a device > that launches toy mice at his two Birman cats. Dubbed a "mouseapult" (as > opposed to a catapult) by Liu and his wife Julie, the device sits on the > floor in the middle of a room, rotating around in search of a warm body. > When it spots a moving heat source, the mouseapult hurls a fur mouse toy > from its magazine in the direction of the heat source. > > A native of southern California, Liu's interest in science took root as a > child, when he foraged among the bugs and weeds of his suburban back yard. > He later moved from amateur botany and entomology to chemistry, mixing > household compounds in an attempt "to blow stuff up." The combination of > baking soda and vinegar was always a volatile favorite, he recalls. > > "I believe most kids are intrinsically interested in science, driven by > curiosity about the world around us," Liu says. "I was doing experiments > without realizing I was doing experiments. I was interested in chemistry > before I knew what chemistry was." > > Although he grew up in a household steeped in science - his father is an > aerospace engineer and his mother is a retired physics professor - Liu says > his parents never pushed him or his sister, now a physician, to pursue > careers in science. However, Liu's interest in science continued to > percolate during his teen years, culminating in a second-place finish in the > 1990 Westinghouse National Science Talent Search. > > Later that year, as a Harvard freshman, Liu thought he'd pursue a degree in > physics - a hope that was rather quickly dashed, he notes, by the > realization that he was "not very good in physics." His passion for > chemistry was soon kindled in organic chemistry courses taught by Stuart > Schreiber and Gregory Verdine, still on the Harvard faculty, and Joseph > Grabowski, now at the University of Pittsburgh. Grabowski helped Liu secure > a research position in the laboratory of E.J. Corey, now professor emeritus > of chemistry and chemical biology, where Liu studied 2,3-oxidosqualene > cyclase, a key enzyme in steroid biosynthesis. (Coincidentally, Liu had seen > Corey receive the Nobel Prize as one of five American students selected to > attend the 1990 Nobel ceremony in Stockholm.) > > "My undergraduate work was a mixture of synthetic chemistry and > biochemistry," Liu says. "While I wasn't sure then what flavor of chemistry > I would end up pursuing long term, I was intrigued by this combination, and > still find it fascinating today." > > After graduating ranked first in Harvard College's 1,641-member Class of > 1994, Liu left for the University of California, Berkeley, to pursue a Ph.D. > in organic chemistry. It was at Berkeley that he met his wife, Julie, now a > medicinal chemist working for a pharmaceutical firm. The couple moved back > east in 1999, when Liu completed his Ph.D. and was appointed assistant > professor at Harvard. > > Recognizing that evolution has created far more efficient ways of > synthesizing and identifying active molecules than has been accomplished in > laboratories, Liu's current research is guided by the belief that scientists > can gain important insights into chemistry and biology through nature's > synthetic ingenuity. His work, recently recognized by his being named a > Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, uses biomolecules such as DNA, > and the natural tendency of DNA's component nucleotides to selectively > attach to one another, to guide the chemical synthesis of organic compounds. > He has found this DNA-templated organic synthesis to be surprisingly > general, capable of directing a range of chemistries, and a promising window > into chemical reactions and the machinery of life. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I don't know how a 60cc vehicle can be called a car--which is equal in power > to the "lowest" level of mopeds -even a small motorbike is of 100cc.Maybe it > travels at sub-zero speeds!! > http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/jun/01car.htm > > Umesh > > ________________________________ > Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with > voicemail _______________________________________________ > Assam mailing list > [email protected] > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam > > Mailing list FAQ: > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html > To unsubscribe or change options: > http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam > > > > > ________________________________ > How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE > with Yahoo! Photos. Get Yahoo! 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