Folding plug wins design awards

 

An innovative folding electric plug, designed by a London student has won a prestigious design award.

Min-Kyu Choi reinterpreted the UK standard 3 pin plug - whose bulky shape frustrates the owners of the latest light-weight gadgets.

Innovative: The plug is designed to fold down for storage, left, but can be opened up again quickly when needed

Min-Kyu Choi with his innovative Folding Plug

His fold-flat design beat more than 90 international nominees who were shortlisted in seven categories, including the late fashion guru Alexander McQueen.

Mr Choi, 30, decided to create the device after he struggled to pack the traditional plug with his new MacBook Air - which is the world's thinnest laptop.

He said: 'When people carry laptops with the UK plugs in a bag, it always causes problems such as tearing paper or scratching laptop surfaces.'

When folded his plug is only 0.4" thick, compared to the 4.6" standard model.

'I've tried to make it much thinner and safer,' Mr Choi said.

The young designer is planning to launch a product range this year built around his design. He is also working on a folding suitcase that will save space when not in use.

The winners of the categories went forward to the final judging stage and Choi was presented with his title by judging panel chairman Antony Gormley at a gala dinner held at the Design Museum in London.

Panellists included designer Tom Dixon, editor of Wired magazine David Rowan and broadcaster Janet Street-Porter.

Mr Gormley said: 'Thought-through, responsive and modest, the folding plug shows how intelligent, elegant and inventive design can make a difference to everyone's life.'

Mr Choi drew praise when he showcased the plug at the Royal College of Art's graduate show in 2009.

How the folding plug looks in action. The designer will launch the device this year

Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum, said: 'It's great to see such a practical but elegant demonstration of what design can do to make everyday life so much better.

'Min-Kyu Choi is a designer just setting out on his career and he clearly has a great future ahead of him.'

Shortlisted designs are on show at the Design Museum until October 31.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1258426/Folding-plug-wins-design-awards.html#ixzz0iRsYxJTw

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30 years later Bahadur returns

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India’s first neighbourhood comic book super hero is returning to the crime scene. Indrajal comics’ product Bahadur, that was first launched in 1976, will soon be available in a new avatar; and that too, on the Internet. The comic, that is being produced in a new and updated 21st century graphic style, will have vibrant colours and designs, unlike its older counterpart. Its language is being made to suit the target readers from the current generation.

The short and long story
The lead character, Bahadur, was created by Aabid Surti and illustrated by the late Govind Brahmania, way back in the 1970s when the comic was sold for one rupee. Unfortunately, around the 1980’s, when Indrajal comics shut shop in India, Bahadur’s popularity and tales of valour were lost with it.
“Apart from India, there’s a huge fan club of Bahadur, abroad. I’ve seen these comics being sold as collector’s items for $100 in some places as well,” said Pramod Brahmania, Govind Brahmania’s son, who has taken over the responsibility of bringing out the new version.

He continued, “The copyright was handed over to Surtiji when Indrajal shut down. It has been with him ever since. So I asked him if he wanted to bring Bahadur back. And we did!”

Written with a twist to the original storyline in the 1970s, Aabid Surti claims that the comic will always retain its charm, irrespective of its new content. “This comic is almost historic now. It could have become India’s first superhero comic,” said Surti, who has lost count of how many series he has written.
He added, “The first few comics of the new series will have some background material for the new readers. The old versions were based in the 1970s, when many villages in the interiors of India faced a serious threat from dacoits. Today, that has changed. So we’ve changed that element too. Now, we have to deal with terrorism. So, instead of dacoits, we have made terrorists our villains.”

Comic cinema
Though Surti is open to turning the concept into a movie, he makes it clear that, what ever happens, the copyright of Bahadur will stay with him. “Anurag Kashyap desperately wanted to make it into a film. He had tied up with Fish Eye productions to figure out a deal. He tried a lot, but the budget wasn’t feasible,” said Surti, who’s convinced that if the film is made well, it could be India’s answer to Spiderman or Superman.
He elaborated, “The moral behind the stories of Bahadur at that time was that villagers shouldn’t rely on the police completely, because there used to be one police station for 100 villages. Bahadur thus leads the Citizen Security Force and helps them become independent and trains them to protect themselves.”

The website — www.bahadur.co.in — which the readers can visit by the end of the month, will have first time readers to browse through the first five pages of each comic for free. After which, a nominal charge shall be levied.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/books/30-years-later-Bahadur-returns/Article1-518897.aspx

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'Rape' to go from IPC; new bill in offing

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The Government is working on to replace the word "rape" from Indian Penal Code with "sexual assault" to broaden the ambit of crimes covered under the sections and make the provisions gender-neutral.

The Home Ministry is working on a draft bill which will replace the word 'rape' from nearly 150-year-old Indian Penal Code with 'sexual assault' in order to broaden the ambit of crimes covered, official sources said.

As per section 375 of IPC, penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual intercourse necessary to the offence of rape but with the proposed replacements coming in, the sexual assault will also cover crimes like sodomy, fingering, insertion of foreign object and other similar offences which do not come under present definition of rape, sources said.

The proposal will also make "sexual assault" gender neutral which implies that relevant sections of IPC can be slapped on accused of any gender who has committed the crime, they said.

The provisions can be imposed on sexual crimes inflicted on women, men and children thus broadening the reach.

The sources said the move is seen as a way to harmonise the provisions of law to prevent sexual crimes among homosexuals with homosexuality being decriminalised by a Delhi High Court order last year.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Rape-to-go-from-IPC-new-bill-in-offing/H1-Article1-519358.aspx

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INDIA::::Three reasons why the crucial Nuclear Bill is in trouble.

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New Delhi: Expectedly, the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill has run into an `explosive’ debate and, as a fallout, the Government had to postpone the tabling of the Bill. If the Bill fails to sail through the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to face a major embarrassment as he embarks on a US trip in the middle of next month to attend a summit on nuclear security.

The bill is a key element of operationalisation the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal. The Civil Liabilities Bill provides for compensation in case of a nuclear accident.

Singh has to secure Parliament's nod for the Bill. But the BJP and the Left parties find themselves on the same side of the fence in opposing the Bill. Now with the Yadavs keen on taking `revenge' on the Congress for the humiliation over the Women's Reservation Bill and with Mamta Banarjee's Trinamool Congress becoming increasingly unpredictable, the numbers seem to be stacked against the Congress and the UPA.

But why this opposition to the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill? Here are three reasons:

1. The Bill pegs the maximum amount of liability in case of each nuclear accident at a paltry Rs 300 crore to be paid by the operator of the nuclear plant. Considering the fact that a nuclear accident can cause enormous damage, this amount is very poor. This is one point on which the Left and Right parties - the CPM, CPI and the BJP -- are united.

"The BJP has serious reservations on the bill since it caps the liability of American firms," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said noting, "we have the painful experience of the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal in 1984. The victims are still languishing and fighting their legal battle".

Environment activists have described as a violation of fundamental rights the proposed attempt to cap the level of compensation to victims of a nuclear accident.

"Under Article 21 of the Constitution, there is no warrant or justification for capping nuclear liability," noted jurist Soli Sorabjee said in his opinion to Greenpeace.

2. The second aspect is that the draft bill has incorporated provisions that would enable the government to either increase or decrease the amount of liability of any operator. This is rather vague and has no specific when it could be hiked or lowered.

3. Thirdly, the draft Bill says that the operator would not be liable for any nuclear damage if the incident was caused by "grave national disaster of exceptional character, armed conflict or act or terrorism".

This is where the Left is most vociferous. "We think the bill should not be brought in the present form. It is totally biased in favour of American companies, which supply nuclear reactors to India. It will be a big burden on the tax payers since the liability will be totally on the Government," says CPI-M party general secretary Prakash Karat.

The CPI too is determined to spike the Bill in the present form. "The Government has not made any proper assessment of the implications of the bill if passed in the present form. So far as the UPA is concerned, they are very determined, they are very keen somehow to help the American private nuclear companies," says D Raja of the CPI

But the Congress says that the Left parties and the BJP are crying foul even without properly reading the provisions of the Bill. Party spokesman Manish Tewari says that those opposing it (the Bill) have not scrutinsed the provisions properly. Answers to their objections are contained in the bill itself, he said.

The passage of the bill is an essential ingredient to operationalise the civil nuclear deal and pave the way for US companies, which are keen get a foothold in the promising Indian market, to do business here.

National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon had met BJP leader Arun Jaitley to brief him about the Bill, but the main opposition feels its concerns have not been addressed.

The Bill was approved by the Union Cabinet on November 20 last year.

Former Atomic Energy Commission Chairman and key architect of the Indo-US nuclear deal Anil Kakodkar feels that the liability limit is optimum. "It was important that this amount was not kept too low. I think this is the appropriate and reasonable level," he said adding that it was "quite balanced and needs to be passed in its present form".

The Bill also provides for establishment of Nuclear Damage Claims Commission which will have one or more claims commissioners for a specified area.

The claims commissioner shall have all powers of a civil court for the purpose of taking evidence on oath, enforcing attendance of witnesses, compelling the discovery and production of documents and other material objects.

Issues relating to the remaining steps of the nuclear deal -- reprocessing pact and civil liability legislation -- are expected to be key points in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's agenda when he meets US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the nuclear summit.

With the BJP and the Left parties having strong reservations over the nuclear liability bill, Government faces an uphill task in getting the measure approved in Parliament this week.

Both House of Parliament will go into recess later this week to enable the Standing Committees to consider a number of bills and re-assemble on April 12 for the second part of the Budget session which will continue till May seven.

The BJP and the Left parties want the Government not to rush with the bill. It has strongly pitched for the bill being referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee for considering in detail all aspects.

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Open to the public for the first time in 145 years, Brunel and son's 'eighth wonder of the world' under the Thames

 

The public is to get its first chance in 145 years to see the Brunel tunnel under the Thames that was hailed as an eighth wonder of the world and a triumph of Victorian engineering.

The tunnel is open today and tomorrow and a Fancy Fair originally held in 1852 below the river will be recreated at the nearby Brunel Museum.

It was built between 1825 and 1843 by Marc Brunel and his son, Isambard, and was the first known to have been built beneath a navigable river.

The tunnel, completed in 1843, is 1,300ft long and runs 75ft under the Thames

An underground work walks along the tunnel, which was originally designed to take horse-drawn carriages

The tunnel, which runs from Wapping to Rotherhithe at a depth of 75ft below the river's surface, quickly became a thriving shopping arcade and entertainment centre.

It was illuminated by lights along its 1,300ft length and by the end of the first week of its opening, half the population of the capital were said to have paid to walk 'the shining avenue of light to Wapping'. Queen Victoria was among the millions who walked its length.

In 1869, it was closed to the public and converted into a railway tunnel for the East London underground line up until 2007.

Extension work will result in the tunnel becoming part of the new London Overground and it will once again be used by mainline trains.

Railway workers look at original brickwork in the Brunel tunnel, which took 18 years build under the river

The tunnel, 'a shining avenue of light to Wapping', became a thriving shopping arcade and entertainment centre

The two-day opening is taking place at the conclusion of the Mayor of London’s East festival celebrating east London.

Brunel Museum director Robert Hulse says the tunnel was 'not just the birthplace of the Tube system, it is the site of a Victorian rave'.

The Brunel Museum tours will take in the grand entrance hall and the 1867 arch at the Rotherhithe entrance. It is now an International Landmark Site, one of six in Britain, but is usually closed to the public.

In 1869 the tunnel was converted into a railway tunnel for the East London underground line

Enlarge A nineteenth century drawing of Brunel's revolutionary tunnel design and 'shield' used to build it

A cutaway plan of Brunel's Tunnel

The tunnel was originally designed for, but never used by, horse-drawn carriages and was required because of the demand for a land connection between the north and south banks of the Thames to cater for the capital's expanding docks.

There had been a number of failed attempts before Marc Isambard Brunel took on the project in 1825 with his newly invented tunnelling 'shield' technology.

The tunnelling shield was revolutionary because of its support for the unlined ground in front and around, which reduced the risk of collapses.

However, many workers, including Brunel, became ill because of the filthy water seeping through from the river above.

The sewage from the river gave off methane gas which was ignited by the miner's oil lamps, causing fires underground.

When the resident engineer William Armstrong fell ill in April 1826 from working underground Marc's son Isambard Kingdom Brunel took over at the age of 20.

Work progressed at only 8–12 feet a week and the company directors decided to allowed sightseers to view the shield in operation to earn some extra cash for the project.

Charging one shilling, up to 800 visitors came every day to see the Victoria marvel.

But the project was hindered by a number of setbacks.

The tunnel flooded suddenly on 18 May 1827 after only 549 feet had been dug. Isambard Kingdom Brunel had to lower a diving bell from a boat to repair the hole at the bottom of the river, throwing bags filled with clay into the breach in the tunnel's roof.

Marc Isambard Brunel took on the project in 1825 with his newly invented tunnelling 'shield'

The tunnel's route, which runs 13,00ft under the Thames from Wapping to Rotherhithe

Marc's son Isambard Kingdom Brunel started work on the project aged 20

Following the repairs and the drainage of the tunnel, he held a banquet inside it. The tunnel flooded again the following year, on 12 January 1828, when six men died and Isambard himself narrowly escaped drowning.

Isambard was sent to Clifton in Bristol to recover and it was while there he heard about the competition to build what became the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Financial problems followed, leading to the tunnel being walled off in August 1828. The project was abandoned for seven years, until Marc Brunel succeeded in raising sufficient money, including a loan of £247,000 from the Treasury, to continue construction.

There were further floods, methane leaks and fires before the tunnelling was finally completed in 1841 and opened to the public, once lighting roadways and spiral staircases had been installed, on March 25 1843.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257473/Open-public-time-145-years-Brunel-sons-eighth-wonder-world-Thames.html#ixzz0hzH2B0aE

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