Java Enabled ImageViewer

Image Viewer using Java! That was one of the lab assignments we were assigned. And I tell you, it was great fun! Going through the Java documentation of various classes, appreciating the way they were developed, and trying to use them, I mean creating instances for those classes and calling methods using those instances, it took nearly 10 days to finish the job with perfection...
Graphics Programming using Java works out very well and for these simple applications its just awesome. Once you start working with this pardigm, you understand the OO concepts better. And the way the graphics components are designed in Java, My God! Hats off to those class developers.
So this is how I developed the application:
Firstly the public class ImageViewer with the static main method defined in it is written. The main method is so simple that it just creates an object for class ImageFrame, passing the command line arguments to its constructor. As you guess, the next step is to write the class ImageFrame that extends JFrame class. Its just a one-method class (the constructor alone). We set the title, size and the icon image for it. Thus the frame is ready to act as a container of JComponents. Instead of adding all the JComponents to the ImageFrame, we add a JPanel to it first, and then add the necessary JComponents on top of the JPanel.
So we create another class ImagePanel that extends JPanel class, and add it to the ImageFrame. So now the ImagePanel can hold all the other JComponents, but how do we arrange them on the panel, so that they all look neat? Yes! We gotta use an appropriate Layout Manager. We set border layout to it. To the north we shall add the text boxes for displaying the file and the zoom percent (a little later), and in the south a JToolBar that shall contain all the buttons for the ImageViewer. It is not made floatable so that its location in the window is static.
In the center of the ImagePanel comes another JPanel that acts as the container of the Image that has to be displayed. Since drawing an image in a panel is little tedious, we add a JLabel to it with no text. To display the image, we just gotta set the icon for JLabel.
We pass the command line arguments from the ImageViewer class to ImageFrame class, which in turn goes to the ImagePanel class. We check if the command line input has a file that can be opened and if so, the icon is set for the JLabel (as mentioned in the previous para). For the sake of formality, we add the tooltips to all the buttons on the panel. Now that the buttons have only the image icon and not any action command, we try to set the action commands for all the buttons, so that it easy to capture the action events generated in the action listener.
So, the next step is to add action listeners to all the buttons on the tool bar. So we develop a class ToolListener that implements ActionListener interface. We pass a reference object of the JPanel we were using (ImagePanel) so that all its class members are accessible through the reference. Lets now move our focus to the Listener class. In the constructor we assign the reference object of the ImagePanel class. We define what action is to be done on those button clicks in the actionPerformed method. We also design a class ImageFile, that will have objects describing the image in use in the application, that is the File object in use, the image object in use and the zoom percent of the image. Let us mark them static so that it is accessible from all the classes (globally).
We also design a filter class ImageFilter that extends javax.swing.filechooser.FileFilter and implements java.io.FileFilter. Its just to override the methods accept and getDescription. Let us also define few static methods that operate on these objects, so that they can simply be called from differenct classes.
Let us now see how all the functional requirements are implemented in the action listener:
1. Load image from the file system:
Simply use the JFileChooser object of the swing package. Set the file filter using the object of class ImageFilter (will be explained shortly). Display the open dialog and get the selected file object. Call the static loadImage method of the ImageFile class (Now the job is over).

2. Save image to the file system:
Again we use the JFileChooser class, but dislplay the save dialog instead of open. As you expect, the file object is used to save the image. We use the file stream classes for the copy operation (FileInputStream and FileOutputStream).
3. Delete the image being viewed from the file system:
This is the most easiest task. (Destructive jobs seem to be easier!) Using the static image file object and call the delete method of the File class.
4. Refresh the display:
Since the display is on a panel, we call the repaint method using its object. As simple as that!
5. Zoom :
We call the static rescale method of the ImageFile class passing the rescale factor. Now what do we do in the rescale method is the question. Pay little attention here. Create a new BufferedImage object with the new height and width using the rescale factor. Create a graphics object using the image and alter the image using the drawImage method of the Graphics class. To make it more clear, here is the sentence for it:

g.drawImage(image, 0, 0,(int)(width*resizeFactor) ,(int)(height*resizeFactor),0,0,width,height, null);

6. Slideshow and pause:
Since this requirement has got something to do with time, we comfortably use threads. So to create a thread, let us define another class Slideshow that extends Thread class, and simply override the run method. In the run method, we examine the directory where the display image is, and simply list all the image files from the directory (Use the ImageFilter again for this). Use an enhanced loop to get an image and sleep for 5 seconds (5000 milli seconds in fact!). We load the image as long as a boolean variable stopThread reads true. We set it false using requestStop method of this class in order to pause.
7. Load first, next, previous and last images:
These are done by those static methods that examine the directory and use a ArrayList of File objects to load the next or previous or index 0 or last index image.
8. Change Background color:
We use the JColorChooser class that returns the color object. Using the referencePanel object and the setBackground method, we implement this.

9. Close:
We take extra care to first make the panel invisible and then exit (System.exit(status);).
P.S. This is my first technical blog :)
- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Cosmic Ocean...

(Image of the universe released by ESA)

(Milky Way - our galaxy)

Our universe consists of many billions of galaxies. “Milky Way” alias Cosmic Ocean is one such galaxy where our earth, moon and the entire solar system consisting of all planets and billions of stars including the Sun are located. There are further billions of galaxies unknown to the astronomers! Each such galaxy contains billions of stars like in Milky Way.

Our Milky Way galaxy takes the shape of a “Conch shell”. There are cyclical involutions at the center point of the galaxy similar to the conch shell. The outer portion of the galaxy looks like a flat disc (chakram). Hence this galaxy is also known as Spiral Galaxy.

Sun is the embodiment of Sudarsana Chakram which is believed to give light equivalent to millions of suns. Sanghu (conch) is denoted by moon. Lord Krishna is “Shanghu-chakra dhaari” (One who holds the Chakram and Shanghu).

"சங்கொடு சக்கரமேந்தும் தடக்கய்யன்"

Sanghu is dearest to Lord Krishna as it never gets separated from him and it also enjoys the privilege of touching the beautiful lips of lord any time he blows. Sanghu produces sound for victory and its vibration will remove our ignorance. (It is believed that Lord Krishna resides in Milky Ocean or Thirupparkadal)

The universe is like a golden egg. Our Milky Way galaxy seen above is in the center of the universe. The shape of the Universe in oval shaped egg was first brought to the notice of the astronomers by the release of ever first image of entire universe by European Space Agency (ESA). Plank, the space telescope sent last year in to the sky returned with images which were assembled by ESA to give incredible images of our Universe.

As per Sri Vaishnavism, Lord Vishnu creates preserves and destroys it finally. Similar to a spider which spits from its mouth viscous liquid to create a web net around it and finally takes it back in to its stomach, Lord Vishnu after pralayam swallows the entire universe and keeps it in his stomach.

OM is the most often chanted sound among all the sacred sounds on earth. This sound is considered as the sound of the existence. It is believed that the whole universe, in its fundamental form, is made up of vibrating, pulsating energy. Om is considered as the humming sound of this cosmic energy.

OM is the sound which is not the result of the striking of two objects. It rather emanates on its own. It is the primal sound of the universe that contains all sounds in itself. This sound of OM produces instant positive vibrations and takes the listener to a state of mental stillness.

Cheers!!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

When The Sunrises…..

Will there be life without the phenomenon of sunrise and sunset? No isn’t it? Wonder how God has arranged all that! With extra features such as refraction of light during Dawn and Dusk! What if there is no refraction of light? Very difficult for people getting up early in the morning!

The eye’s pupil has the role of expanding and contracting the muscles to control the amount of light entering the retina. What happens to us when we leave the cinema hall?? Pupils contract to minimum size to allow minimum amount of light. This is because we might have probably been in the dark for a very long time and when we are suddenly exposed to the powerful sunlight.

But nature has overcome this problem by the phenomenon of “refraction”. Even before the actual sunrise, we are able to see shades of certain colours due to “Rayleigh’s scattering”. What if we do not have this phenomenon? Supposing the sunrise is at 6.33 am, then till 6:22:59 am, it would only be dark, and at the strike of 6.33 am, we are suddenly exposed to all the sunlight. Thus, this before-sunrise-scattering benefits us a lot. And this is the reason why we are advised to get up early in the morning, before dawn!

Thus, Sunrise is the instant at which the upper edge of the Sun appears above the horizon in the east. Sunrise should not be confused with dawn, which is the point at which the sky begins to lighten, some time before the sun itself appears, ending twilight.

Gone are the days when sun was helping people to distinguish mornings and evenings. And gone are the days when sun was the source of most intense light on earth. It is now called “LASER”. However intense LASER may be, Sun is not replaceable by artificial ones. Also, it is obviously impossible to produce a source with lasing action, of diameter of that of the sun. Thus, God’s creations are always unmatchable.

There is an interesting and a small episode in Mahabharata in Aranya Parva (The book of the forest) where there is a discussion about sunrise. It is called the “Yaksha-Prasnam” (Questions of Yaksha). It is a dialogue between Yudhishthira and Yama, the lord of Death who disguises as a Yaksha. In this Yudhishthira gives amazing and enlightening answers to very difficult questions asked by Yama.

In the very first question (out of 124), Yaksha questions about sunrise. The question is “What is the cause for sunrise?”, and the reply is “Brahmam (God) is the cause for sunrise”. The meaning is that, God is the ultimate, sunrise and sunset are under his control and so is any other natural phenomenon. It is said that, Lord Rama wanted to kill Ravana just for the reason that Ravana had taken the control of sunrise and sunset and created nuisances to the worldly beings.

However, the above explanation is not given always. The correct explanation goes here. When Yaksha talks about sunrise, it is the not the actual sunrise that is being talked about, but it refers to the rise of knowledge within us. In the answer, as Brahmam is being referred to, it is not the actual Brahmam, but the Vedas that are being called as Brahmam. Thus, what makes the knowledge within us to rise? They are the Vedas that make the real knowledge in each person to rise.

It is up to each person to make the sun within him to rise. As Swamy Vivekananda said, “AWAKE, ARISE AND ACHIEVE”.

Cheers ;)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

I do not have Rs. 5..What if I have to pay ??

It was the last exam to be cleared, one of the best moments of life. [:)] With each one narrating their holiday plans, I forgot the things that had to be taken inside the examination hall. The air was filled with happiness while each one took turns to talk. One said, "At last am gonna leave a NOT gate and enter into a ground pin", while other said "Am now held up with the busy pin [:'(], but I shall enter the co-processor's pin in a week" and so on...

While discussing this, we formed our favourite circle of great importance with great care. It was of great importance as there was a condition imposed. Students who traveled in the same bus must not sit closer! [:O] Or else, they would attract each other and the favourite circle would collapse. After-all, all electrons like us carry charge. There was a red arrow board on top of every one's head to indicate the charge direction. [:P] People belonging to the same bus had arrow marks in the same direction and there were only 3 buses available : (Address Bus, Control Bus and Data Bus [:P] [:P])

It was decided at 9.30 am to start the preparations for the examinations. [:D]. And at 9.45 the examiners had decided to open the doors of the exam halls and asked us to enter the hall. Oh My God !! What a tense moment then!! [:O] I did not have the ID-Card, nor did I have the hall ticket, the blue pen, the pencil....nothing was with me. The roll numbers were counted one by one. By the time I realized my foolishness, the number was 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py2 2pz2 3s2 3px1 3py1 3pz1 . Mine was 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py2 2pz2 3s2 3px2 3py2 3pz2 4s1 . So just 4 away !! I left my things in my bus. The address bus. [:O] [:O] Oh My God !!!!

Adding to this tension at the last minute, I realized I did not get the HOD seal on the record. Oh yeah It was a practical examination. What do I do now? Go to the Vcc pin and ask our HOD for the sign?? Impossible. She would not sign at any cost! [:(]. That is okay! I made up my mind and I signed (Not mine...Hers..[:P]) Thank god i used the temporary registers to sign her name in her style during the boring class hours, that had given me enough practice. *Sigh* looking at the signature as it was really natural. [:D]

Rushing through the crystal lattices, in a great hurry, I reached the examination hall. Sigh again. What was the status of the roll number calling? 1s2 2s2 2px2 2py2 2pz2 3s2 3px2 3py2 3pz2 4s1..."Yes ma'm" I replied... Then I had to choose one of the question papers. Pick Pick Pick and yeah the 4th paper from the left. "Where would you want to sit?" she asked..."There ma'm.." I replied pointing to the very first orbit of the room. [:)] And yet another late realization - I DID NOT BRING A 5 RUPEE COIN, THAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO GIVE AFTER FINISHING THE EXAM. [:O]..My mind said " Ha! Thats okay! Let me manage! And, to see the question paper and to realize that the question for me was easy was another joy. Question was funny though. (It had come from Anna University it seems [:P]).

The question was "Travel through the following ICs and explain them in detail (just 1 question I guess for 100 marks): IC 7408, IC 744078, IC7400, IC7482, IC7444". Huh! So I had to identify them correctly as Quad 2-input AND gate, 8-input OR/NOR gate, Quad 2-input NOT gate, Quad 2-input NAND gate and Excess-3 to Gray code decimal decoder respectively and write for some 40 pages in detail about these chips, the pin diagrams, the truth table and the result. Sigh again! The exams are over. I started with 7408, followed by 744078 then 7483 and then 7444 and finally 7400. WOW ! Done with all exams. So Holidays now !! [:)] [:)]

But before that there was an oral instructions - "pay rupees 5 if you cause a high, else collect 5." Wow again! lastly I had visited the NOT gate IC7400 and before entering the NOT gate input pin, the output power was high. It was a NOT gate and therefore my net output power was low. So collect Rs.5/- [:D] [:D] Tossing the 5 rupee coin onto my pocket and with high collars, I left the exam hall happily ! [:)]

Wow !! What a dream ! Kudos to the NOT gate that earned me Rs.5/- [:P] No more sleep. Switch on the modem. Log onto Facebook. Look at the notifications for some stupid comments. Then Blogspot and post !! [:)] Here it is....

CHEERS !! [:)]

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

We gotta learn from animals...

Animals are just living creatures. They have not got what is called as 'Commom Sense', the sixth sense, which the humans have. This might possibly be the attitude of a common man. But let me tell you, We gotta learn a lot from animals...from animals and birds of every kind!

1. Elephants

Being such lovely, cute and gigantic figures, they teach us the humanitarian aspects of life. Whenever an elephant comes across a dead body of another elephant, it automatically sheds tears to mourn. We gotta learn this from elephants!

2. Eagles

With sharp eyes and beautiful flight, eagles teach us how to be focussed and determined in life. Eagles have the capability to catch its prey even from a very great height. We gotta learn this from eagles.

3. Tortoise

They might be too slow with their movements, but they do hide their limbs when it fears an enemy attack and pretends to be a rock. Similarly, we must hide all the enemies present within us, namely anger, jealousy, stinginess , temptations etc. to take forward steps in life. We gotta learn this from tortoises.

4. Swan

White and Beautiful! You can always expect a swan to take only milk from a mixture of milk and water. Likewise, we need to analyse the good and bad aspects of everything we come across in life and take only the necessary ones. We gotta learn this from swans.

5. Parrots

Do they not echo the exact words spoken to it? Then, should we not learn to talk and practice only what is told to us by our parents. We gotta learn this from parrots.'

"Love for animals is love for God!"

CHEERS :)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Divide and Conquer....

It was high time for Lord Vishnu to incarnate on this material world, for the respect that children paid to parents had declined, the devils brain had increased all over, and the sufferings of the people in the world had also increased.

" Parithranaaya sadhunam vinasaya ca dushkrutham

dharma sampsthapanarthaya sambavami yuge yuge "

(- Bagavath Gita)

(For the protection of the devotees and the annihilation of the miscreants and to fully establish righteousness, he appears millennium after millennium). He descends, so that we all ascend. Thus after Parasurama avataram, he decided to incarnate as Rama.

Knowing this, there was a great competition among the different 'nakshatrams' (constellations) and 'thithis' as to who should take position in the galaxy during His advent on earth. The star 'Punarvasu' was lucky enough as it got its path cleared. Lord chose this to say that he would be the son of "vasudevar" in the next avtar. The thithis 'Ashtami','Navami' are not considered good. To fulfill their wishes, Lord agreed to advent on Navami Day, promising Ashtami in the next avataram. Thus we get chance to celebrate 'RamaNavami' and 'GokulaAshtami'.

Thus, the next issue to be addressed was the clan in which he had to take birth. Rightly, he chose the 'Ikshvahu' clan based at Ayodhya, the king being Dasaratha. He did so because the statue of Lord Ranganatha was with that kingdom and he wanted to serve him.

Then, he had to choose his mother, among the 3 wives of King Dasaratha. He chose "Kousalya" the senior among all. Generally, parents pray for having good children with them, but with Lord, it is the opposite.

While all this was taking place at Vaikuntam, there were other developments at Ayodhya. King Dasaratha was performing the "puthra kameti" yagam. The outcome of the yagam would be "pal payasam" that he had to give to his 3 wives - Koushalya, Kaikei and Sumithra.

The following incident was a very interesting one. King Dasaratha applied the concept of DIVIDE AND CONQUER to give "pal payasam" to his wives.

We Computer Science engineers use the DIVIDE AND CONQUER technique as an algorithm to solve a few standard problems such as sorting, searching etc. Wonder how Dasaratha used Divide and Conquer...He had to give the contents of the bowl (pal payasam) to his 3 wives.

He first divided the contents of the bowl into two. He gave the first half to Kousalya, the mother of Rama, and thus conquered it.

The remaining half was again divided into two. The first half was given to Kaikei, the mother of Baratha, and thus conquered it also.

The remaining half was again divided to two. The first half was given to Sumathra, the mother of Lakshmana. After thinking for a while, the other half was also given to Sumathra, the mother of Shaturguna this time. (Laksmana and Shaturguna were twins, Lakshmana being the elder)

Now look at this algorithm -

Algorithm DAndC(P)

{

if Small(P) then return S(P);

else

{

divide P into P1 and P2;

Apply DAndC to each of them;

return Combine(DAndC(P1),DAndC(P2));

}

}

Is there any difference between Dasaratha's algorithm and this one? I dont think so...

And after 12 full months, were born the 4 sons for King Dasaratha - Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and Shaturguna.

Proud to be a CS Engineering student ;)...

Cheers !!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Lightning Strikes...

Lightning - "An atmospheric discharge of electricity accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms " as defined by Wikipedia. But that is not the only way I would describe lightning.

Like how every natural phenomenon like rain or sunshine is essential, lightning is also essential. When the annual rainfall decreases, it affects this ecosystem one way or the other, likewise, if no lightning occurs, this planet may have to face several consequences.

I would say, this natural phenomenon is so lovely, as tremendous energy is imparted to the earth during the process. It is estimated that, with the energy liberated with just one stroke of lightning, the entire city of Chennai could be guaranteed free power supply for a month. Surprising right? It is true!

So the next question is, why do we not use this form of energy to produce electrical energy for household and various other engineering fields. The answer is simple. It is because it is just not possible to trap that enormous amount of energy.

As the air molecules breakdown due to excess potential difference, it is not possible to transfer or even store energy in form of voltages beyond a limit. Thus, it becomes absolutely impossible to obtain energy from lightning. This could be held as the reason for the Van de Graff generators to be placed in Nitrogen atmosphere. Nitrogen gas has got a high capacity to withstand potential difference. (Implicitly it means Nitrogen has a very high dielectric constant).

We in fact create a mini form of lightning everyday in our house and workplaces. Whenever we switch on a switch; the distance between 2 parallel plates of a capacitor becomes smaller and smaller, thereby increasing the potential difference. At the point when the breakdown potential (of air) is reached, there is a small spark created which is then neutralized. In other words, the mega form of spark is a lightning.

Without lightning, the nitrogen would not be available for plants and hence the humans.

The "kodimaram" in hindu temples is constructed having the science of lightning in mind. It has sharp edges here and there. Thus, due to the action of sharp points, it can store and also spray a good amount of energy all around (CORONA DISCHARGE). That is why, temples are constructed with tall and huge 'gopurams' and 'kodimaram'.

The energy I refer to here is not the electric energy, but a form of energy vibrations that is not known to many. It is the vedic energy. The chanting of vedas transforms the sound energy to vedic energy. Thus as more number of people chant the vedas coherantly, there is a constructive interference of all sound waves and hence a greater amount of sound energy is transformed to vedic energy (I use the word transform because, energy can only be transformed not created or destroyed).

The famous tamil word "Goshti" (Group)refers to this. I do not talk about the "Goshti Poosal" in State and Central Houses of the Government. It was a holy and a great practice of our fore fathers to participate in the Goshti especially during the festivals in temples. There is a place called 'Thirukkoshtiyur' near Madurai. It is said that the rishis assembled in a Goshti to sing in praise of Krishna in that place, and hence came to be known as 'Koshti'yur.

The energy I have been mentioning about so far is the positive form of energy. It is very easy to obtain this form of energy. All we need to do is to keep our souls fresh and peaceful. We always need to think about good aspects of life. We must restrain ourselves from abusing or complaining about others. Also, we must not stay idle (Idle mind is devil's workshop). To gain more and more positive energy into ourselves, it is just enough that we stay positive all the time!!!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Love Matters !

A blog after so many weeks! And that too a different topic, that I have never touched upon in any of the previous blog items - "LOVE MATTERS" And days before the Valentines Day! And I promise here that all the above statements are independent of each other.

I should definitely give such an assurance as the word "LOVE" has lost its significance and its true meaning. With half the contribution of the damage from the cine field, the rest is from the teenagers who are driven and influenced by the cine actors.

After these sentences on what the word "love" has been modified to, I want to say what it actually means to me. Love is a something that every human on this planet must have. Love for mother Earth. Love for parents, they are the best ever companions for us. Love for animals and birds. Love for mankind. Love for nature. Love for our country. Love for people around us! Love yourself. Be a true man!

Cheers :)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

Inspiring Indians

“Inspiring Indians” – this should have been the title of my first blog! Anyways, even now it is not late.

Being an Indian is something really great! Indians have reached great heights in almost all fields and it feels very nice to type that here. A democratic and a secular country, one of the fastest growing economies, and above all, the country with so many people to encourage and inspire the present generation!

Here, I would just like to mention about a few people who have inspired me in many ways. So, here we go….

1. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Simplicity, humble in thought and noble in action! I am very particular on listening to his speeches, especially to the student community. “Rameshwaram to Rashtrapathi Bhavan” – a must read biography! Who would forget his words – “Dream dream and dream and make your dreams come true!” Salutes!

2. Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiyar

An Indian then a poet or a poet then an Indian? Ask this to him. Even he would not know the correct answer. (And this has become the topic for most of the Tamil debates…) “I know what I do is right, it is all for mother India”, his typical words. Even after 88 years of his death, he lives in everyone’s heart. Salutes!

3. Mr. Narendra Modi

Longest serving chief minister of Gujarat, Mr. Modi is also the best chief minister among all CMs of India. Indeed a role model for other politicians. His views on compulsory voting in elections, non-free electricity for farmers etc. are fantastic. I love the way he addresses his opponents. Salutes!

4. Dr. R.D.Sharma

Most of the engineering students forget his name after stepping into college. But for sure, they would have used his unmatched books on Mathematics in school life. I have not even seen his face on a photo, but I can tell you, this maths genius’ way of presenting different concepts on different topics is too good. I just loved the problems from his text book. It would be incomplete, if I do not mention his qualification for you to know – B.Sc. (Honors) (Gold Medalist), M.Sc. (Gold Medalist), Ph.D.!!!! Salutes!

5. Bagavath Ramanujar

A great philosopher, teacher, scholar, therapist and what not! For winning over the previous vedantha philosophies namely the Dwaita and the Adwaita to produce the third one with special qualities of both and removing the errors from them and composing the Bhashyam for “Visishta” Advaitham! The best role model for any man on this earth! Salutes!

P.S. :- Though the personalities have been listen from 1 to 5, I give equal respect and seek inspiration from everyone to the same extent !

Wishing all a very happy new year! Wishing to see India in great heights this year! Jai Hind!

- ∫.∫rikrishnan

A TERRA BYTE memory!

I was promised an external hard disk of memory space 1 TB by my father days ago. I was too happy about it and I even started planning how to create partitions in it to store movies, songs and my college files’ backups. 1 TB is actually more than enough for me but each time I see 1 TB as 1024 GB, I get excited and when I see each GB as 1024 Mb I still get excited.

As the saying goes “necessity is the mother of invention”, we required devices to store memory so that the task of remembering most of the things could be avoided. And after necessity, it got modified on its own to luxury. I say this because, we now use hard disks not only to store important information, but also for less important information like movies, games etc.

And we now have changed so much, that we now depend entirely on these memory storage devices, and any failure or a problem in retrieving data from it would irk us a lot! We even have the facility of “reminders” on mobile phones which make us lazier. “Laziness to remember things”! And is it for this reason that humans have been given a great amount of memory space in brain??

A quote from some researchers:

"The human brain contains about 50 billion to 200 billion neurons (nobody knows how many for sure), each of which interfaces with 1,000 to 100,000 other neurons through 100 trillion (10^14) to 10 quadrillion (10^16) synaptic junctions. Each synapse possesses a variable firing threshold which is reduced as the neuron is repeatedly activated. If we assume that the firing threshold at each synapse can assume 256 distinguishable levels, and if we suppose that there are 20,000 shared synapses per neuron (10,000 per neuron), then the total information storage capacity of the synapses in the cortex would be of the order of 500 to 1,000 terabytes. (Of course, if the brain's storage of information takes place at a molecular level, then I would be afraid to hazard a guess regarding how many bytes can be stored in the brain. One estimate has placed it at about 3.6 X 10^19 bytes.)"

It is the human tendency to do away with all that one has, and search for the non-available ones! Man must understand that it is absolutely impossible to compete with nature. All his inventions have their roots with nature. Seeing a bird, he invented the aero plane, seeing a human, he invented the robot, seeing a caterpillar he invented the train and so on…

Such inventions may look amazing, but the real appreciation must go only to nature!!!

Cheers :)

- ∫.∫rikrishnan