Travel is not a place that your looking for,
It's a feeling that you may discover inside you,
It's a moment,
If you find this moment,
This wonderful feeling will be with you,
Forever,
This moment makes time stand still,
But only for a moment.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
A slight Setback to being a Global Citizen
Well, this is a slightly annoying phenominen that I have been experiencing lately. I need to book a series of flights from Germany back to Australia and my travels to India, Japan and Thailand.
This requires the need of a credit card which I do not have quite yet, I thought that this would be a minor setback and I will be able to get a credit card easily seeing that I am an Engineer working here in Germany. However....after applying to Kardstat, (A major German Bank and Shopping chain) 22 days later I got a mail back asking me to come in and talk to them, show my passport (again), my work visa, my living registration documents and my salary documents. Two days later I recieved a letter in German telling me that I have failed to meet their selection criteria and I cannot apply again. They did not give me any reason at all?
So then I went online and tried applying for the Virgin Credit card in Australia. This was easy until they asked where I lived. Germany, being an Australian living in Germany I do not fit their selection criteria, however on the website I fit all other criteria including being an Australian Citizen (since birth) and a permanent resident.
Now I am thinking, holly cow dude I am living in a loophole here or something? Come on so many other people must have this problem right?
This requires the need of a credit card which I do not have quite yet, I thought that this would be a minor setback and I will be able to get a credit card easily seeing that I am an Engineer working here in Germany. However....after applying to Kardstat, (A major German Bank and Shopping chain) 22 days later I got a mail back asking me to come in and talk to them, show my passport (again), my work visa, my living registration documents and my salary documents. Two days later I recieved a letter in German telling me that I have failed to meet their selection criteria and I cannot apply again. They did not give me any reason at all?
So then I went online and tried applying for the Virgin Credit card in Australia. This was easy until they asked where I lived. Germany, being an Australian living in Germany I do not fit their selection criteria, however on the website I fit all other criteria including being an Australian Citizen (since birth) and a permanent resident.
Now I am thinking, holly cow dude I am living in a loophole here or something? Come on so many other people must have this problem right?
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Extreme Toursim
Well I just got back from Munich and I have this wonderful idea now! It's a new thing spreading across Europe! EXTREME TOURISM!
The idea is you only have a 45 day Eurail Pass, yet you have unlimited usage! So you got to get your money's worth! I met these two funny Korean guys and they were fully into it! They had hydration back packs, protective high performance clothing, I-rivers, Digi cameras, man they were fully kitted out. They were at Euro Youth Hotel in Munich. They told me that there aim was to see every country on the Eurail pass in 45 days...so they eat power bars, get up at 6am, go to bed at 3am go to the site, take 500 photos and then download them to their I-rivers. They also have those Hdration back packs for drinking on the move.
Extreme man, I was an extreme tourist for a weekend with them and we went to two castles, a soccer match and a beer festival, I missed my train at 6pm from Munich to Leipzig so I had to get the next one at 0:01 am, I got in to Leipzig at 5:37am and then had a shower and went straight to work!! Extreme dude!
Have an EXTREEEME DAY!
Lately work has been Extreme also, I made 2 million Euro profit for the company so they are EXTREMELY happy! And we all get an Extreme bonas! Wooooooooooo
The idea is you only have a 45 day Eurail Pass, yet you have unlimited usage! So you got to get your money's worth! I met these two funny Korean guys and they were fully into it! They had hydration back packs, protective high performance clothing, I-rivers, Digi cameras, man they were fully kitted out. They were at Euro Youth Hotel in Munich. They told me that there aim was to see every country on the Eurail pass in 45 days...so they eat power bars, get up at 6am, go to bed at 3am go to the site, take 500 photos and then download them to their I-rivers. They also have those Hdration back packs for drinking on the move.
Extreme man, I was an extreme tourist for a weekend with them and we went to two castles, a soccer match and a beer festival, I missed my train at 6pm from Munich to Leipzig so I had to get the next one at 0:01 am, I got in to Leipzig at 5:37am and then had a shower and went straight to work!! Extreme dude!
Have an EXTREEEME DAY!
Lately work has been Extreme also, I made 2 million Euro profit for the company so they are EXTREMELY happy! And we all get an Extreme bonas! Wooooooooooo
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Everyone is Irish on St Patricks Day!!!
Well my laddy's, a good ol day up to ya all! St Patty's day, ahre, me ol Irish Lepriconish accent is getting a wee but tested!
Today is one of those special celebratory days of the year! One must oblige and drink a wee Guiness! Wear something green and have a jolly time!
My second name being Patrick names me, I am named after the old patrant st of Ireland, I must uphold my Irish heritage and celbrate! So put down your pen, clap your hands out louad and yell, we are all Irish on St Patricks day!
U2 says it with the Song, 'A beautiful Day' So naturally I must play this song for you today!
Cheers my friends!
Today is one of those special celebratory days of the year! One must oblige and drink a wee Guiness! Wear something green and have a jolly time!
My second name being Patrick names me, I am named after the old patrant st of Ireland, I must uphold my Irish heritage and celbrate! So put down your pen, clap your hands out louad and yell, we are all Irish on St Patricks day!
U2 says it with the Song, 'A beautiful Day' So naturally I must play this song for you today!
Cheers my friends!
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Goodbyes
Well today was one of those horrible days where you have to say goodbye to a loved one.... You don't know how long till you see them again, where you will see them....someone who has been there everyday for you for the last 4 months....someone you can talk to and someone you can listen to....someone who laughs at your jokes and has an everlasting smile..suddenly, there is emptiness, that someone is not going to be there anymore. They are gone! This is very hard to think about and upsetting and it hurts too. I can't wait again to see her!
Monday, March 07, 2005
Just got back from Austria---Salzburg
The mountains rise vertically 2000m right next to the city, the city is covered in 50cm fresh snow and the wind is cold...
Being in Austria does not feel different to being in Germany other than the scenery, language and money are the same and they don't check your passport..
Being in Austria does not feel different to being in Germany other than the scenery, language and money are the same and they don't check your passport..
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Holly Grail in Solar Energy Breakthrough
THE HOLY Grail of researchers in the field of solar photovoltaic (SPV) electricity is to generate it at a lower cost than that of grid electricity. The goal now seems to be within reach.
A Palo Alto (California ) start-up, named Nanosolar Inc., founded in 2002, claims that it has developed a commercial scale technology that can deliver solar electricity at 5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Molecular self-assembly
The breakthrough has come through the application of nanotechnology to create components via molecular self-assembly, including quantum dots (10nm large nanoparticles) as well as nanotemplates with structural order extending through all three dimensions.
In addition, Nanosolar has demonstrated that the three dimensionally engineered nanotemplates can be conformally coated or solidly filled with semiconductor paint to create ultra-thin solar cells with layers that are yet another factor 100x thinner than conventional thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells.
This allows a 10x larger surface area of these structures to be used to achieve a 10x increase in efficiency for such thin layers, thus making it possible to use even less material for similarly efficient cells. Conventional inorganic semiconductors tend to require intricate processing to ensure large grains of crystallinity (in the extreme case: mono-crystallinity) so that charges can travel hundreds of nanometres without getting trapped and lost (at internal crystal boundaries).
The 3D nanocomposite architecture of the ultra-thin-absorber cells makes possible absorption of a substantial fraction of the incoming sunlight despite the ultra-thin layers since the charges need to be transported only several nanometres without much opportunity for a loss.
This means the requirements on the semiconductor material can be relaxed and low cost materials such as inorganic semiconductors of the IIb/VIa and Ib/IIIa/VIa families as well as solution-coatable organic semiconductors can be used.
Lower cost
According to the CEO, Martin Roscheisen, the conversion efficiency (percentage of incident light energy converted to electrical energy) of the Nanosolar SPV cell is above 12 per cent for its first product prototypes. He claims that the Nanosolar SPV cell costs only $ 0.36 per peak watt.
The semiconductor paint can be applied to a flexible substrate , such as a polymer sheet , through a simple web printing process, to create an array of ultra-thin solar cells.
Nanosolar has developed proprietary substrate technology that keeps the substrate cost within a smaller fraction of the overall product cost than any other state-of-the-art thin-film solar cell technology. The company has also developed a powerful new way of interconnecting individual solar cells into larger modules and large-area sheets and allows high-throughput module assembly at high yield.
The flagship product, Nanosolar SolarPly, is a 14 feet x 10 feet solar electricity module delivering 120 watts per square inch at 110V. The company is now offering solar panels at below $1 per peak watt.
The Nanosolar team, headed by CEO Martin Roscheisen (listed by Fortune in 2003 among the top ten U.S. entrepreneurs below 40 years of age), has some top-notch Indian technologists assisting it.
Among them are Dr. Siva Sivaram (ex-Intel) and Dr. Arati Prabhakar , former Director of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
N.N. Sachitanand
A Palo Alto (California ) start-up, named Nanosolar Inc., founded in 2002, claims that it has developed a commercial scale technology that can deliver solar electricity at 5 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Molecular self-assembly
The breakthrough has come through the application of nanotechnology to create components via molecular self-assembly, including quantum dots (10nm large nanoparticles) as well as nanotemplates with structural order extending through all three dimensions.
In addition, Nanosolar has demonstrated that the three dimensionally engineered nanotemplates can be conformally coated or solidly filled with semiconductor paint to create ultra-thin solar cells with layers that are yet another factor 100x thinner than conventional thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells.
This allows a 10x larger surface area of these structures to be used to achieve a 10x increase in efficiency for such thin layers, thus making it possible to use even less material for similarly efficient cells. Conventional inorganic semiconductors tend to require intricate processing to ensure large grains of crystallinity (in the extreme case: mono-crystallinity) so that charges can travel hundreds of nanometres without getting trapped and lost (at internal crystal boundaries).
The 3D nanocomposite architecture of the ultra-thin-absorber cells makes possible absorption of a substantial fraction of the incoming sunlight despite the ultra-thin layers since the charges need to be transported only several nanometres without much opportunity for a loss.
This means the requirements on the semiconductor material can be relaxed and low cost materials such as inorganic semiconductors of the IIb/VIa and Ib/IIIa/VIa families as well as solution-coatable organic semiconductors can be used.
Lower cost
According to the CEO, Martin Roscheisen, the conversion efficiency (percentage of incident light energy converted to electrical energy) of the Nanosolar SPV cell is above 12 per cent for its first product prototypes. He claims that the Nanosolar SPV cell costs only $ 0.36 per peak watt.
The semiconductor paint can be applied to a flexible substrate , such as a polymer sheet , through a simple web printing process, to create an array of ultra-thin solar cells.
Nanosolar has developed proprietary substrate technology that keeps the substrate cost within a smaller fraction of the overall product cost than any other state-of-the-art thin-film solar cell technology. The company has also developed a powerful new way of interconnecting individual solar cells into larger modules and large-area sheets and allows high-throughput module assembly at high yield.
The flagship product, Nanosolar SolarPly, is a 14 feet x 10 feet solar electricity module delivering 120 watts per square inch at 110V. The company is now offering solar panels at below $1 per peak watt.
The Nanosolar team, headed by CEO Martin Roscheisen (listed by Fortune in 2003 among the top ten U.S. entrepreneurs below 40 years of age), has some top-notch Indian technologists assisting it.
Among them are Dr. Siva Sivaram (ex-Intel) and Dr. Arati Prabhakar , former Director of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
N.N. Sachitanand
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Exactly
Recently I have started to notice a really funny thing about german culture. It has not occured to me before and I guess it's just another slight difference between German culture and the Australian/Anglo Irish/English culture that I am used to...
I have noticed it lately in meetings with the use of the word, 'Genau', Germans love this word, it is used on the telphone, when talking to each other, in meetings, by itself. It's a sentence, it's a statement! No you are starting to wonder, what can this word possibly mean? Well if you are not entirely familiar with the German language then it translates to exactly 'Exact'. Exactly.
Usually germans love using this word to create an impression that everything is running to exact specifications, exact dimensions and exactly on time exactly. Well to tell you the truth exactly, not everything is running exactly to exact specifications, exact dimensions and exactly on time exactly. In actual fact this is far from the truth. It seems to me they just like reassuring themselves that this is happening.
I have one example, In a recent meeting with colleagues about a problem, something was going wrong. But at the end of the meeting, we did not really come closer to a solution. However amazingly at the end, everyone was saying, well, all is on track, everything is exactly exact, everything is fine and amazing. This liturally goes on for 13.3 seconds exactly.
I have noticed it lately in meetings with the use of the word, 'Genau', Germans love this word, it is used on the telphone, when talking to each other, in meetings, by itself. It's a sentence, it's a statement! No you are starting to wonder, what can this word possibly mean? Well if you are not entirely familiar with the German language then it translates to exactly 'Exact'. Exactly.
Usually germans love using this word to create an impression that everything is running to exact specifications, exact dimensions and exactly on time exactly. Well to tell you the truth exactly, not everything is running exactly to exact specifications, exact dimensions and exactly on time exactly. In actual fact this is far from the truth. It seems to me they just like reassuring themselves that this is happening.
I have one example, In a recent meeting with colleagues about a problem, something was going wrong. But at the end of the meeting, we did not really come closer to a solution. However amazingly at the end, everyone was saying, well, all is on track, everything is exactly exact, everything is fine and amazing. This liturally goes on for 13.3 seconds exactly.
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