The missile theory

Some days back, one of my followers in twitter happened to ask the question regarding missiles and how a cruise missile differentiates to a ballistic missile. Being the repository of some grains of the desert of knowledge (i feel knowledge is barren, application makes it fertile) and my undying attitude to reply any question, i went on send up a Wikipedia link (those guys did have a good article), however all troubles began when the article had too much jargon to confuse at times and the plea fell again to bring out in a simple laymen terms. So, here i am to do that bidding:: 

Disclaimer: potential terrorists please note that the following information shall not be of any use to you unless you are planning to buy some or trying to expand your horizons of knowledge. 

First things first; a missile in the present day world is described of such thrown objects which propel on their own i.e. they carry their own fuel and are unlike rockets where they are propelled by the power of the launcher.

Ballistic missile: I hope you reader knows Newton's third law of motion "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" Ballistic missiles work on that principle to the word where their thrust produced mark their course, with the difference being, if you would manage to launch them like rockets too their path will be approximately the same. So in a usual day a ballistic missile shall have a parabolic path of motion, however they do have variable thrusters which help them change their course by some degrees. The easiest example being the fireworks that are used in celebrations.

Cruise missiles: Cruise missiles in the earlier days were nothing but planes on a suicide mission( usually unmanned, see they too had these UAVs then) but then the problem lies in the fact that these usually are subsonic in nature i.e they may not travel faster than 330 metres per second some of the well known of them being the Tomahawk and the Javelin. However, India and Russia in a joint venture managed to make hypersonic cruise missiles which travel at around 1650 metres per second, the BrahMos. Cruise missiles can be 'driven' it means they are preferred for targets in motion as you may alter its course as and when needed till either you hit the target or your fuel runs out. These usually are short range missiles and hence are quite small in size.

However both missiles being very different in their application and systems of delivery, making a comparison shall be unfair.

So that will be a short primer until then "try not to get struck

you mayfind me on twitter @prakashray 

Life and time being employed

It has been a long time since i penned down for the blog. Well maybe the devil was having other ministrations. Good news is i am employed again, the not to better part of it I have to get my ass moving a lot to earn my bread. However, today's post has something different in focus.

For the last 3 weeks i have been to my new place of posting, there has been things i have seeen and still haven't found out any convincing answers.

This hamlet's nerve centre is the National Highway and a major intersection in it. The place has been famous for quite a long time for some kind of entrepreneurial venture and even draws its name for the activity. So even to this day, people taking the path of earning their own bread is common.

In the time i have been here, almost every working day, during noon, i find a group of youth blocking the highway, to protest against either the government or individual under the banner of some organisation with the majority being student centric.  The interesting part of this act is that the guys are same, only the flags change.

The question in my mind which come up are:

1. Don't these guys have work to do other than shouting slogans or do they get paid for it?
2. The guys would be in their late 20s and since they are on the streets there remains a very small chance they still are pursuing some educational degree, so can they claim to be students?
3. From what they wear, the gadgets they carry and the metal horses they ride, who pays for that?
4. And at last, if that is their way of living, are they happy with it? Instead of just protesting couldn't they try to act on the problems and find out a solution?

The other point which crosses my mind at this juncture is does student politics in India go on to involve themselves in every situation of politics which happen in the nation. I ask this because, though student politics have brought about humongous changes in the state of our nation but in most cases what can be seen is a replication of "Animal Farm" which is alarming.

On an ending note, its not good to see protests, rather some brainstorm to solve the crisis is what seems to me a rather beautiful option. Many people have bled in the movements headed by student organisations, please do understand the organisation is never bad its the vision of the leader and the actions they choose to bring out that brings a bad name to the group.

Until next time, ciao!!