Beautifull Mind.........Russel Crowe(John Nash) Remember!

John F. Nash, 1928-

When the 21-year old John Nash wrote his 27-page dissertation outlining his "Nash Equilibrium" for strategic non-cooperative games, the impact was enormous. On the formal side, his existence proof was one of the first applications of Kakutani's fixed-point theorem later employed with so much gusto by Neo-Walrasians everywhere; on the conceptual side, he spawned much of the literature on non-cooperative game theory which has since grown at a prodigious rate - threatening, some claim, to overwhelm much of economics itself.
When the young Nash had applied to graduate school at Princeton in 1948, his old Carnegie Tech professor, R.J. Duffin, wrote only one line on his letter of recommendation: "This man is a genius". It was at Princeton that Nash encountered the theory of games, then recently launched by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern. However, they had only managed to solve non-cooperative games in the case of "pure rivalries" (i.e. zero-sum). The young Nash turned to rivalries with mutual gain. His trick was the use of best-response functions and a recent theorem that had just emerged - Kakutani's fixed point-theorem. His main result, the "Nash Equilibrium", was published in 1950 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He followed this up with a paper which introduced yet another solution concept - this time for two-person cooperative games - the "Nash Bargaining Solution" (NBS) in 1950. A 1951 paper attached his name to yet another side of economics - this time, the "Nash Programme", reflecting his methodological call for the reduction of all cooperative games into a non-cooperative framework.
His contributions to mathematics were no less remarkable. As an undergraduate, he had inadvertently (and independently) proved Brouwer's fixed point theorem. Later on, he went on to break one of Riemann's most perplexing mathematical conundrums. From then on, Nash provided breakthrough after breakthrough in mathematics.
In 1958, on the threshold of his career, Nash got struck by paranoid schizophrenia. He lost his job at M.I.T. in 1959 (he had been tenured there in 1958 - at the age of 29) and was virtually incapicated by the disease for the next two decades or so. He roamed about Europe and America, finally, returning to Princeton where he became a sad, ghostly character on the campus - "the Phantom of Fine Hall" as Rebecca Goldstein described him in her novel, Mind-Body Problem.
The disease began to evaporate in the early 1970s and Nash began to gradually to return to his work in mathematics. However, Nash himself associated his madness with his living on an "ultralogical" plane, "breathing air too rare" for most mortals, and if being "cured" meant he could no longer do any original work at that level, then, Nash argued, a remission might not be worthwhile in the end.  As John Dryden once put it:

Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.

(John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, 1681)

Nash shared the Nobel prize in 1994 with John C. Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten - for what he claims was his "most trivial work"!

‘Clean technology will be one of the more heavily invested segments in India this year’

Mohanjit Jolly is the face of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) in India. With over $4.5 billion in capital commitments, DFJ has funded global technology companies like Hotmail (acquired by Microsoft) and Overture (acquired by Yahoo), Skype (acquired by eBay). Jolly set up DFJ office in India in September, 2007. He sits on the boards of Reva, Mchek, Canvera, Cleartrip, Attero, Seventymm, and Naseeb Networks. In an interview with The Financial Express, he talks about the potential of venture capital investment in clean technology in India. Excerpts:

While the venture investment in clean technology went up globally in 2008, it fell in India. What could be the reasons for it?

The drop in clean technology venture investment in India is not surprising. Most venture investors in India started out as early stage technology investors. Now many have moved to a stage and sector agnostic approach to venture investing. Although there is a lot of interest in, and some might argue, hype around clean technology, it requires a certain level of sophistication and expertise—whether directly within a firm or outside of it through advisers. There is often a need for deeper pockets, as many of the cleantech initiatives are capital intensive. It’s a phased approach within India where 2008 was perhaps more a period when VCs were trying to figure out the areas that they need to focus on and educate themselves about. I think this year you will actually start to see the results of that education phase.

How will global slowdown affect venture investment in clean technology in India?

Loosely speaking, venture investments tend to fall in two categories. The first category is ‘vitamins’. The second category is a ‘cancer drug’. During good times, even vitamins sell. There is a disposable income base and people experiment with buying products or services they can afford to. It’s not necessarily because they need to. The cancer drug category is where price insensitivity comes in. It’s a pain point that needs to be addressed or it’s a case of not a ‘nice to have’, but a ‘must have’. I would put clean technology space into must-have rather than nice-to-have category from an investment standpoint. The overall venture investment pace will slow this year, and it will have an impact on clean technology investment as well. Having said that, I still predict cleantech investments as being one of the more heavily invested segments in India in 2009.

Why do you think that clean technology falls in a ‘must have’ rather than ‘nice to have’ category?

The supply-demand gap is going to continue to exist in India for a long time to come. For the country to make progress across all categories, basic infrastructure needs including energy need to be addressed. When the government says we must grow at n% over the next so many years to eradicate poverty, it means our energy requirement is going to only go up. One key point that I would like to make is that one has to think of cleantech not only in terms of alternative energy sources like solar, wind, and bio which I call the new cleantech, but also in terms of making the traditional sources of energy (such as coal, which accounts for over 60% of the energy production in India) more efficient. I call this the old cleantech. Both are equally important for India to bridge the gap between ever growing demand and supply.

How will venture capital investment in clean technology compare with overall venture capital investment during these tough times?

My guess is that the pace of venture investment in clean technology will definitely slow down this year and potentially next year, given that the overall VC investment will slow down. My prediction is that out of the total VC deals this year, the percentage of clean technology deals will be higher than it was last year. The overall number of deals may be lower, but clean technology will take a bigger percentage from a percentage of the pie than it did during last year.

What are the factors that are in favour of clean technology?

There are three key factors in favour of clean technology. Firstly, the overall level of awareness for doing more with resources that we have as well as creating alternative sources of energy is high. Secondly, there is a fairly significant push from the government in terms of incentives, resources, subsidies etc, which makes the sector more capital efficient than it otherwise might be. Thirdly, we have a very large and growing market. An aside is that many seasoned executives who are returning from the US, for example, to India for personal or professional reasons, are now either joining or starting cleantech companies. As a result, the calibre of teams that are starting and operating these ventures also makes it more interesting from a venture standpoint.

What are the promising clean technology segments according to you?

I would say clean water, off-grid energy generation projects, and waste to energy (whether it’s municipal, electronic, flu gas/heat etc) would be very interesting this year. The grid is fairly ineffective and much of the country’s rural population simply doesn’t have access to any electricity.

Let me give a specific example. India now has over 350M mobile subscribers and is still adding 8-9 million per month. Some have suggested that the mobile phone is the future communication, computing and commerce platform for the country’s rural population. Yet, telcos are having a hard time installing and maintaining towers to keep pace with growth. Often these towers are in remote locations, with no access to power, and running 24 hours on diesel gensets. They are aching for an off-grid captive power plant for these towers. These same captive power plants could be applicable either at the factory, village, community or township level because the grid itself is flawed and the transmission losses are significant.

The other segment that is likely to get attention is waste water treatment and reuse and recycling of what is usually called grey water. Water is a resource that may become a global problem even before we face fuel depletion. Many of the above areas may not necessarily be addressed by companies inventing new technologies or products in India. Rather, they will more likely be stellar teams that will license technology developed elsewhere but Indianise it and execute the deployment and proliferation of that technology immaculately.

Love the way u lie!

October sky.....Movie you cant skip

Plot:

In 1950's mining town called Coalwood, Homer Hickam is a kid with only one future in sight, to work in the local coalmine like his father. However in October 1957, everything changes when the first artificial satellite, Sputnik goes into orbit. With that event, Homer becomes inspired to learn how to build rockets. With his friends and the local nerd, Homer sets to do just that by trial and a lot of error. Unfortunately, most of the town and especially Homer's father thinks that they are wasting their time. Only one teacher in the high school understands their efforts and lets them know that they could become contenders in the national science fair with college scholarships being the prize. Now the gang must learn to perfect their craft and overcome the many problems facing them as they shoot for the stars. Written by Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com>

Based on fact, this is the story of a teenager named Homer Hickam, growing up in a coal town in West Virginia where a boy's usual destiny was to "end up in the mines." But Homer had his eye on the sky and a love for flying rockets... to the dismay of his mine-foreman father, and the consternation of the townsfolk generally. A misfit for sure, he and three of his equally outcast buddies begin making rockets, which they fly from a patch of barren land eight miles out of town... so as to no longer terrorize the community with their oft-times errant rockets. However, the people become intrigued and soon start coming out in droves to watch the 'Rocketboys' send off their homemade missiles, and with the enthusiastic support of Miss Riley, their teacher, plus a signed picture from Wernher von Braun in response to a question Homer had written him, they finally are entered in the National Science Awards competition. But none of this was all that easy, especially for Homer, as problems much more dire than flying rockets seemed to push the young man toward maturity, as well as to his eventual destiny... as an instructor of our shuttle mission astronauts. Written by BOB STEBBINS <stebinsbob@aol.com>

Homer Hickam is a high school student growing up in a company mining town. There are few prospects for young men like Homer and most follow their father's footsteps and work in the coal mines. He's bright however and with the encouragement of his teacher Miss Riley, hopes to have a better life. This brings him into conflict with his father who feels that working for the mining company is an honorable profession. When the Soviets launch the Sputnik however, Home dreams of launching a rocket into space so he and his friends set about building a small rocket from whatever materials they can scrounge. Homer's father thinks it's all a waste of time but he perseveres and eventually wins the State Science Fair and manages to go on to college. He and his father reconcile their differences. Based on a true story. Written by garykmcd

Studieren und Forschen in Deutschland

Colleges of Art, Film and Music

Painter, actor, conductor: Anyone wishing to turn their artistic talent into a profession is best served by studying at one of the 52 or so state-recognised Colleges of Art, Film and Music in Germany. The range of programmes extends from painting, design and architecture to directing, music and drama. Famous artists from home and abroad guarantee that the young artists are able to fully unfold and develop their talent and acquire the necessary finishing touches, whilst also giving them the requisite practical skills and focus. For example, the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, the Munich Academy for Television and Film, and the Film & Television Academy (HFF) "Konrad Wolf" in Potsdam-Babelsberg offer extensively practice-focused programmes for directors, camera operators, script writers and production directors. While, for their part, the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne or the State Academy of Design Karlsruhe have established themselves as centres of academic training in media art and media technology.
The colleges of music are particularly popular among foreign students. These train future singers, conductors, instrumental musicians, music educators and music teachers. Besides these fields of musical training, some colleges of music also offer degree programmes in jazz (for example, the Dresden University of Music Carl Maria von Weber, the Cologne Academy of Music), opera directing (for example, at the Folkwang University in Essen or the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin), stage dance (such as at the Palucca School of Dance in Dresden or the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, Frankfurt/Main) or church music (University of Music Düsseldorf).

The following applies to colleges of music, colleges of art and colleges of film alike: the number of study places is strictly limited. Only applicants who pass an aptitude test to prove that they have the right feeling for rhythm and have an outstanding ear have a chance of being accepted. And without a portfolio of their own art work, references and frequently entrance examinations, there will be no admission to colleges of art or film either. On the other hand, particularly talented applicants can be admitted to studies, even if they don't hold a higher education entrance qualification.

Step Up 3d

Plot:   A tight-knit group of New York City street dancers, including Luke (Malambri) and Natalie (Vinson), team up with NYU freshman Moose (Sevani), and find themselves pitted against the world's best hip hop dancers in a high-stakes showdown that will change their lives forever. Written by Walt Disney Pictures

dabaang

Happy Independence day india

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made!" --Albert Einstein