Recently, I have become quite curious to understand the Universe and theories explaining it’s origin, age, character, shape, etc. So, I finally posted the following post at sci.astro.amateur. Here’s the copy-paste of the same with minor formatting. If you have thoughts/advice, please do comment.
I am neither an astronomer nor a physicist. But I’ve become curious to learn about the origin of the Universe and have been trying to understand the Big Bang.
After going through the theory of Big Bang (not in the level of depth that most educated physicists or astronomers would study), I have developed some questions on the Big Bang. When I noticed this sci.astro.amateur group, I felt perhaps, I could ask them here. (Please forgive me and let me know if I have posted to the wrong group or if my questions appear silly/too basic to you)
I would appreciate any guidance / pointers to references that would help me with answers:
1 (a) “According to the Big Bang model, the universe expanded from an extremely dense and hot state and continues to expand today. A common
analogy explains that space itself is expanding, carrying galaxies with it, like raisins in a rising loaf of bread.” - Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang
1 (b) On the same Wikipedia page, there is also a reference to “primeval atom”, which appears to be the accepted theory from which the Universe emerged. (Please correct me)
QUESTIONS:
- Where did the primeval atom come from?
- What was the composition of the atom? Makes me think, how tremendously intelligent and complex the composition of this primeval atom would be that upon the Big Bang, it led to the systematic emergence of numerous galaxies, elements, compounds, and even life!
- What intelligence created this atom or how did it come into existence?
- If the overall energy in the Universe is constant, why at a finite point in potentially infinite past did the primeval atom containing constant energy burst with a Big Bang?
2. Is redhift of light to longer wavelengths the only base for accepting that the galaxies are moving away from each other?
3. If, indeed, the galaxies were moving from each other can there be no other possibility, other than that the Universe is expanding? Is there any other scientific base with sufficient proof to the theory of the expansion of Universe?
Thanks in advance for helping me.
Regards,
Chintan Zaveri.
Recently, my company (One Point) was trying to shortlist a few agencies in Pune for a web application interface design. While doing research on this, I came across a number of companies in Pune who were doing great work in this area. Since, it is a common requirement for many companies to outsource their interface design, I thought of compiling this list as a gesture of thanks to those who responded to my request for information and for the benefit of those who are looking for expert design agencies in Pune, India.
We evaluated the companies based upon the following criteria:
Finally, here’s the shortlist (in no specific order). If you are a design agency in Pune, please feel free to add your website on this page, by adding a comment just so that this page is more useful to your potential customers.
Disclaimer: I or my employer do not endorse any of these companies. Nor do we have any partnerships/tie-ups with them. Please contact them at your discretion and risk.
It’s a beautiful day, today, except for a few tidbits:
The driver was absent (as has been since last 4 days). His wife called up, mentioning his illness and need for an advance payment.
SQL Star, where I completed the Advanced Java courses last year, is still trying to figure out why I haven’t received the certificates.
My Daewoo fridge compressor died. The repairing agency quoted Rs. 5,200/-.
Both of my ACs sound like a truck engine on a ghat, but do nothing to the room temperature.
The sun is as hot as ever and the electric company is bent on observing countless Earth Hours, everyday.
Yet there is no effect on my electricity bill, which is now in excess of Rs. 6,500/- per month.
So, obviously, I need to run up-and-down to-and-from the ATM. But the ATM machine software went kaput and it decided to deduct Rs. 50,000/- from my salary account, when it gave me only Rs. 25,000/-.
Now, I need to add to my already high phone bills by talking to numerous agencies for fixing this-and-that. But, Thank God! My Airtel landline is dead again! So, I quickly complete the conversations over a hesitating mobile connection. After all, the other person can hardly hear anything on the poor Airtel network in my home.
Sometime ago, the HSBC Bank had already predicted my future. They told me, “Take this card and use it! — — later!”. I used it so well that I became an expert, but I recently realised that those 5 dashes mean “Pay us”.
Have a beautiful day! 
Heard those before? Ever spoke any of those (even to yourself)?
No? Appreciate you visiting my website, feel free to browse my other posts.
Yes? Wake-up! Did you hear about JaagoRe? No, I am not campaigning for them (Though I wish I had done so).
Do you really work those 2-digit hours a day and be productive?
My definition of Productive: Produce Good; Deliver in Time.
Now, let me ask that question again, “Do you really work those 2-digit hours a day and be productive?” 
It’s not impossible, but I don’t think more than 0.000001% people can do this all 365 days a year.
Are you that one in a million?
Yes? You rock! Why don’t you leave some tips as a comment to this post?
No? Here are some of my thoughts:
1. I don’t like to work. I wish, God gives me enough money every month. (Reading out my mind)
You work because you get paid for it not because you like it. Love your work! But don’t work because you love to work.
Interested in research? Become a scientist. Interested in public service? Become a politician. Interested in social service? Join an NGO. Interested in Charity? Donate! Don’t work for anything other than money.
Repeat, in other words, Business is done for profit.
If your primary objective is not to make money out of business and you just want to satisfy some of your whims, be warned, business done in this fashion has a greater chance of making losses and losses have a real-life effect on you. You don’t want to be disillusioned.
2. Know your work
Know exactly what you need to do. Spending time on Internet, browsing websites, engaging in social networks, chatting, etc. is not work. That is not to say, those should be avoided. That is to say, identify what your work is, what are your responsibilities, what are the tasks that you need to do today and most importantly, what is the last thing that you will produce and deliver today. This allows you to know that the work that you need to do today is not infinite. Remember, work always piles-up but don’t worry about it as long as you can deliver all that you need to deliver today. You can never finish everything. You only need to finish that work today that you need to finish today.
3. Always remember Theodor Adorno
Work while you work, play while you play - this is a basic rule of repressive self-discipline.
Not everyone will agree to this only because they (including me) are so hooked into doing this all wrong all the time that they feel this rule is obsolete and the world has changed now. But let me explain. I am not against those occasional Table Tennis matches or playing Xbox during office hours. That definitely refreshes some people and charges them up for creativity and productivity. I am only against calculating that time as time spent doing work - because you really haven’t. But, of course, I am against writing those 5 lines of code, sending a tweet, writing another 5 lines of code, checking Facebook updates and so on. I think, that does hamper productivity.
4. Spend time with yourself
… and when you do so here’s the minimum, I suggest, you do:
5. Promise yourself a great evening, everyday!
Some ideas: go to a restaurant, play with your children, have a candle-light dinner with your wife or girlfriend, cook, read a novel lying down on a sofa, go to the gym, go for a walk, watch a movie, go for a long drive, go for shopping, meet-up with friends, play some sport, join some club. I suggest, that you spend at least 3 hours doing one or more of these.
Some links if you haven’t already visited them earlier:
Read:
Watch:
10 secrets of highly productive people
Timoty Ferriss on FastCompany.TV (Article)
Oops! 3:30 AM now. Stop 4!
Welcome to Recession 2.0! Like Atul Chitnis predicted about 9 months ago:
I guess we can say it now: The Bubble has burst, welcome to the year 2000. Tighten your belts, and get real. Revenues are back in fashion.
What qualifies me to write about this
I am not a business or management guru with names of IIM, Stanford, Harvard or Princeton on my Resume. I have also not built any multi-million dollar company by myself. However, in the past few years I have earned some experiences that have allowed me to develop opinions, which for me are like the commandments for starting a new business during the current recession. What kind of experience I am referring to?
1. I started a web hosting/development business a little before Recession 1.0 hit in 2000. I had to sell it within a year incurring a loss. Lessons learnt.
2. I built India’s first full-service online printing shop and an online photo-printing kiosk in 2003, which died away due to the lack of funds for sustaining and marketing the business. Lessons learnt.
3. I revived a nearly dead studio photography division of our family businesses and raised the revenues by 400% within a year, turning it into highly profitable with income from the studio photography division having a noticeable portion in the entire group’s income.
4. Started a B2B photo-printing business which was moderately successful. It could have been enormously successful. Reasons identified - Lessons learnt.
5. I worked with the team at Zimbra, who have been extremely successful entrepreneurs themselves and learnt how mainstream IT product businesses are created and run. Zimbra was eventually acquired by Yahoo! for US $ 350 million.
6. I have been a part of the team that established One Point Consulting in India and have been a witness to the change in the business situation in the past few months.
Yes, that’s it!
OK, so here come the commandments:
1. Technology is a means to an end and not an end by itself (unless you are a geek)
It’s not bad to be a geek. But if you planning to do business, you need to be a businessman, irrespective of whether or not you are a geek.
Re-iterate, you cannot eat, drink, wear and live in technology. You can eat food made from technology, you can drink water processed by a technology, You can wear clothes stitched by technology or live in a house built by technology.
2. People have real problems and they will pay you reasonable money if you help them solve those problems
It doesn’t matter whether you use high-technology or simple hacks. What matters is that the problem should be correctly understood and solved completely. You as a geek may not be happy with the solution. What matters is, the customer should feel happy and satisfied.
3. India is where the customers are! Opportunities within the SME
• The small scale industry sector provides direct employment to 18 million persons in around 3.2 million registered SSI units in India. (1)
• The micro, small and medium enterprises sector comprises 50% of India’s total manufactured exports, 45% of India’s industrial employment, and 95% of all industrial units in the country. (2)
• Nearly 1,000 Personal Computers (PCs) were shipped every hour during January-March 2008, according to an IDC survey. In the first quarter of 2008, computer shipments stood at more than 2.1 million against 1.9 million PCs in the corresponding period last year. (3)
• The India domestic IT and ITeS market is expected to cross the Rs. 2, 00,000 Crore (US$ 50 Billion) mark in 2012 compared to Rs. 90,014 Crore recorded in 2007. This translates into a CAGR of 18.4% in the five year period. Together with IT and ITeS exports revenue of Rs. 3,20,278 Crore, the total IT and ITeS industry size will grow to Rs. 5,29,976 Crore (US$ 132 Billion) by 2012, representing a CAGR of 16.5%. (3)
• Indian PC market bounces back to record an impressive y-o-y growth of 24% in 3Q 2006 - SMB segment drives up overall PC shipments, Higher Education segment pushes up buoyant notebook PC market. (3)
• The Indian retail segment contributes 20 percent to the country’s GDP but remains one of the most unorganised sectors in the country with less than 3 percent IT penetration. This offers huge opportunities for Indian software companies. (4)
• SAP India, a subsidiary of SAP AG, has reported software revenue growth of 43 percent in the first quarter of 2008. According to a recent validated industry data, SAP India has reported highest growth rates in small and medium enterprise (SME) software revenues of a single region for SAP worldwide. (5)
• Nearly 60% of IBM India’s revenue comes from SMBs with 15-20% of IBM India’s workforce dedicated to the SMB market (6)
• The share of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises, in total IT spend has been growing rapidly over the past few years, and now there is evidence that growth in SMB IT spend is set to continue at a robust 24 percent. This growth rate is the fastest amongst all BRIC countries, with Russia, China and Brazil following at 22.9 percent, 20.4 percent and 19.4 percent respectively. (7)
(1) According to smeindia.com
(2) According to Institute for Financial Management and Research
(3) According to IDC India
(4) Source: http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20031027/sme03.shtml
(5) Source: http://www.ciol.com/SMB/News-Reports/SAP-India-catalyses-nations-SME-boom/10608106903/0/
(6) Source: http://www.nextbillion.net/newsroom/2007/12/06/ibm-extends-presence-to-serve-smes-in-india
(7) According to Microsoft
5. Indians love mobile
India Ready to Take Second Position in Mobile Subscription
6. The role of CIO/CTO in an SME in India is played by their local hardware vendor
This, by far, is the best way to channelize any service/product successfully within the Indian SME.
7. Focus on local languages, in addition to English
See: English Literacy in India
8. India has all types of customers
Cost-sensitive: Better cost; Quality-sensitive: Better Quality of Product; Service-sensitive: Better Customer Service. No-one is perfect but you need to be exceptional in at least one of these and competitive in the other two.
9. Plan how you will be marketing / selling
Nothing sells by itself. Days of monopoly are gone.
10. 1000-days!
This is how much it takes for any business to settle-down properly. If your business matures faster, it’s great! If it doesn’t, remember not to withdraw before 3 years. I don’t mean to discourage or disillusion anyone, but do have a contingency plan for sustaining yourself for 3 years.
Repeat: It takes 3 years of hard-work and smart-work with a single-focus on your business for it to start giving you good returns.
Got comments / questions? Fire away!
