Friday, January 30, 2015

The Spyder - Inaugural January 2015 Edition

 THE SPYDER (ஸ்பைடர்)

The Spyder is a monthly digest for the PSG Class of 1986.  It is a collection of archivable posts from across Yahoo Groups, Facebook, LinkedIn, Whatsapp, PSG Alumni website and general email traffic, hosted on the class blog, VIBGYOR.
Hope you enjoy it!

Spy-der is a way to look at different social platform posts (spy), and then like a spider gather it into a web (digest).  


The Spyder - Sections
  1. PSG News
  2. General Discussion
  3. Announcements
  4. Humor
  5. Reviews
  6. Family
  7. Travel
  8. Celebrities
  9. Group Project
  10. Credits & Inspiration

1. PSG News



Alumni Congress

Alumni Congress-2015 brings together illustrious alumni of PSG Technology and PSG Polytechnic College.  It serves as a confluence of National and Global partners of the alumni to interact on relevant challenges impacting the world today.The congress provides a forum for the exchange of expert opinions and generates tremendous opportunities for future business networking to benefit the participants.This congress will also aid in strengthening the functioning of existing chapters and to motivate formation of new chapters. 

 http://alumni.psgtech.ac.in/event/alumni-congress-2015



PSG Tech Alumni Association Website

PSG Tech Alumni Association has come up with a new website which includes an alumni database where we can connect with the entire alumni community
http://alumni.psgtech.ac.in


Call for Chief Guest and Editorial Board Members

Prof.Dr.Govindaraj Thangavel M.E.,Ph.D.,FIE - PROFESSOR in EEE
Post doctoral fellow in electrical machines 

We invite Professors as Chief Guest to address the Participants. And to be included in Editorial Boar
2. General Discussion

New Year Resolution - Post by Subbu





Making resolutions for the new year is a neat trap - you know you are going to break most of them, and feel terrible about it for the rest of the year!

Instead, I suggest you make a wish list. It is like a buffet spread-you can eat all or eat nothing-it depends on how hungry you are.

Born and bread in Coimbatore (the history of JM Bakery) - Posted by Bharani




Link to the history of our favorite JM Bakery, one of the eternal tastes of CBE:


 BMW i3 - Post by Suresh Babu


New Driving Adventure in 2015: Plunging into Electric Cars i3 : Here is my new adventure (or mid life crisis):   Yesterday leads an i3 with range extender to do experiment on the long term sustainability of electric cars and composite bodies. For all engineering geeks, the BMW has done the design a whole new way..  The chassis is aluminum (looks like skateboard) with batteries layered like cake in between aluminum frame.  The composite body sits on top of the chassis. For BMW to convince a steel researcher like me, to take this upon, is indeed a great achievement on BMW part.  Now reading up on composites manufacturing etc.
3. Announcements

Manufacturing Innovation Hub - Posted by Suresh Babu



Finally partnership does lead to bigger things than individual efforts.  Now you can see why I bought a composite car.  Saw the whole thing unfold from concept to realization through my colleagues.
http://psgtech1986.blogspot.com/2015/01/manufacturing-innovation-hub.html


Davos - Posted by Deepak Edwin



Deepak was in the famous Davos meet as one of the three representatives from Statoil.  A terrific article on the topic of networking with the Davos meet in mind was published in The Economist:  http://www.economist.com/news/business/21639500-being-good-networker-pays-offbut-it-requires-skill-well-shamelessness-network-effect

Aspen Institute Speech - Posted by Surya Kolluri



4. Humor

Being a vegetarian during travels - Posted by Krish


Circa 1996:
My first trip abroad was to Japan, and I stayed for 3 months in a place that was 100 kms, away from Tokyo. I couldn't converse in English. I couldn't get veg food. Struggle for every meal. I lost 12 kgs in 3 months.

Chefs at work .... Posted by Deepak



 It started with David, my younger son’s idea.

‘Dad, why don’t we take over the kitchen this evening and pamper Mum with some great cuisine and show her men rule the kitchen too? And it would be a nice New Year gift too for her’

It was the evening of 1st January, I was nursing a bad headache after overnight celebrations and impressing Priti with my culinary skills was certainly not on my agenda. I winced in pain, both, from the headache as well as David’s proposal. Mark strolled in. He was gung-ho. It seemed to be a preconceived plot.


Lawyer Jokes - Shared by KVS

These are from a book called 'Disorder in the American Courts' and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.
http://psgtech1986.blogspot.com/2015/01/lawyer-jokes.html

Fun with Vehicle names in India - Post by Krishnan




FIAT: This car was made by Premier Automobiles, and named Premier Padmini. Yet the car was always remembered as FIAT. My first car was a “FIAT”, and it had so much of electrical problems, either the battery would run out, or the alternator would fail or the bulbs would fuse out. 


5. Reviews


Movie Review: Yes-PK & No-PK  by Surya Kolluri

I had a chance to see the new Aamir Khan movie PK with my son yesterday.  I walked away with almost a schizophrenic reaction to it - one very good, and another equally bad.  So rather than write one integrated review, I thought I would separate my review out into two sections!

http://agingonthevine.blogspot.com/2015/01/spk-review-yes-pk-no-pk.html


Book Review: The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire by Rahul Kolluri


I decided to pick up Decline and Fall as a result of my avid interest in the Roman Empire.  Edward Gibbon’s pièce de résistance is by and large considered the authoritative work on the subject as a whole. Touted by some as the finest example of historical literature ever made, I knew that I had to get my hands on it sooner or later. The paperback edition I acquired was slightly abridged.  It turns out that unabridged copies are quite expensive! 

Book Review: Waking, Dreaming, Being by Surya Kolluri

This holiday season yielded an excellent book, "Waking, Dreaming, Being" by Evan Thompson.  Merging neuroscience and philosophy,  the author casts new light on the relationship between the self and the brain.  As I browsed the book, I noticed that it started with the Dalai Lama at a conference with neuroscientists at MIT.  I plunked down the change to acquire the eText.  I hope you enjoy this review!



 6. Family

Prabhakar

Swarna Thara & Bharani
Devanand


Surya

Sri Krishnan

Arch


Pandian


Siva


7. Travel


L. Balaji and P. Suseela



9. Group Project - Dubai Book Release


Updating everyone on progress on the Dubai Book work and our goals for Jan - March activity.  To make it easy for this next round of work, we have assigned editorial team members as 'one-on-one editorial buddies' for each writers.


10. Credits & Inspiration 

Credits:

Editors:  
Surya Kolluri, Krishnan

 Logo Design:
Aishu (Krish's daughter)

Contributors: 
Subu, Krishnan, Bharani, Suresh Babu, Bala, Surya, KVS, Venkat, Rahul, Aishu, Balaji, Prabhakar, Pandi, Swarna Thara, Dev, Arch, Sri Krishnan, Deepak, Siva

Inspiration: 
Walt Whitman

A noiseless, patient spider

 A NOISELESS, patient spider,  
I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;  
Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,  
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;  
Ever unreeling them—ever tirelessly speeding them.        
  
And you, O my Soul, where you stand,  
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,  
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,—seeking the spheres, to connect them;  
Till the bridge you will need, be form’d—till the ductile anchor hold;  
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.  
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