Seismic Reflection

Because of its accuracy in outlining the earth’s subsurface, the seismic-reflection method remains the most important tool in the search for petroleum reserves. In field practice, a subsurface is mapped by arranging a series of wave-train sources, such as small dynamite explosions, in a grid pattern. As each source is activated, it generates a wave train that moves downward at a speed determined uniquely by the rock’s elastic characteristics. As rock interfaces are crossed, encountered generally change abruptly, which causes part of the energy to be reflected back to the surface, where it is recorded by seismic instruments. The seismic records must be processed to correct for positional differences between the source and the receiver, for unrelated wave trains, and for multiple reflections from the rock interfaces. Then the data acquired at each of the specific source locations are combined to generate a physical profile to the subsurface, which can eventually be used to select targets for drilling.

Empiricism

Historically, a cornerstone of classical empiricism has been the notion that every true generalization must be confirmable by specific observations. In classical empiricism, the truth of “all balls are red”, for example, is assessed by inspecting balls; any observation of a non red balls refutes unequivocally the proposed generalization.
For W.V.O. Quine, however, this constitutes an overly “narrow” conception of empiricism. “All balls are red”, he maintains, forms one strand within an entire web of statements (our knowledge); individual observations can be referred only to this web as a whole. As new observations are collected, he explains, they must be integrated into the web. Problems occur only if a contradiction develops between a new observation, say, “That ball is blue”, and the preexisting statements. In that case, he argues, any statement or combination of statements (not merely the “offending” generalization, as in classical empiricism) can be altered to achieve the fundamental requirement, a system free of contradictions, even if, in some cases, the alteration consists of labeling the new observation a “hallucination”.

Slum dog millionaire

Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil kapoor, Irfan khan
Director:Danny boyle

I have recently watched a movie called ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which sweeps the 2009 oscars though the movie doesn't deserve that much. The only thing the juries exactly identified is the Music and Editing. The music director of the movie,AR.Rahman who deserve more than what he gets. But the only irony is that eventhough Rahman deserve great laurels, the music for this movie is not up to the mark. It doesnt meet the Rahman standards but the people had only begun to recognise him.
The movie opens in the screen as an 18 year old kid, Jamal Malik(Dev Patel) got tied to string and bleeding(kinda unconscious). He is jailed and questioned and tortured by the police, he is arrested under suspicion of cheating on the Show ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’. The story starts there and tells the life of jamal simultaneously the show is shown. Each of his questions will have a relation in his life at some point of time which led him to answer them.
Jamal's story begins in the Mumbai slums, where he was orphaned, along with his brother Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail), when their mother was killed in a religious uprising. Later, Jamal and Salim survive by living by their wits on the streets, until Jamal falls in love with Latika (Freida Pinto ), a young orphan girl who is destined to come between them. Eventually latika and jamal fall in love with each other, but soon after that they are separated by an accident when they are too young. Jamal has the burning desire to find her and he finds her after some 6 or 7 years. After that, salim interferes between them and part them away. Jamal finds his way to live in a call center, works as a tea boy(chai-walla). A few years later, eventually he comes to know his brother’s phone number, he finds him and goes to see him to know the whereabouts of latika. By the time jamal sees her, latika is made as a maid to some sadist and she cant come with him. So he decides to go on TV show and earn money so that they can go somewhere far away from all the evil and live happily. The rest of the story tells the mystery whether he wins the show, the lovers get together, what happens to salim?
If Boyle's direction and Beaufoy's screen writing works, so does A.R. Rahman's exuberant musical score. The background score is eclectic, while the song 'Jai Ho' and the song ‘oh saya’ sung by Rahman are fabulous and highlight of the movie.

Hidden Fact

The dark regions in the starry night sky are not pockets in the universe that are devoid of stars as had long been thought. Rather, they are dark because of interstellar dust that hides the star behind it. Although its visual effect is so pronounced, dust is only a minor constituent of the material, extremely low in density that lies between the stars. Dust accounts for about one percent of total mass of interstellar matter. The rest is hydrogen and helium gas, with small amount of other elements. The interstellar material, rather like terrestrial clouds, comes in all shapes and sizes. The average density of interstellar material in the vicinity of our sun is 1,000 to 10,000 times less than the best terrestrial laboratory vacuum. It is only because of the enormous interstellar distances that so little material per unit of volume because so significant. Optical astronomy is most directly affected, for although interstellar gas is perfectly transparent, the dust not.