Review of The Alien Embassy

I just finished reading "The Alien Embassy" by Ian Watson and I am curious to see what other people think of it. I don't remember why I picked it up - probably found a favorable review somewhere - but when I started reading it, the first thing that captivated me was the rich, poetic language, somewhat reminiscent of Samuel R. Delany. The story itself is also quite inventive - using tantra techniques for starlight? I especially like how the author used the themes of ancient mystiques (especially the Tibetan Book of the Dead) and spirituality to present the theme of human evolution and star flight in a setting I had not yet encountered in sci-fi writing. Add to that a very evocative writing style and you get some very vivid imagery. The only thing I didn't like was the ending - it just doesn't feel right to me. It is a good and indeed realistic conclusion to the story, but that's exactly what I don't like about it - it's too down-to-earth. 

Information about IBM Super Computer

Guys I came across an article about IBM's New venture and hope it will help you to know about new technology. IBM researchers from the T.J. Watson Research Center reached a significant milestone in the quest to send information between the "brains" on a chip using pulses of light through silicon instead of electrical signals on copper wires. The breakthrough -- a significant advancement in the field of "Silicon Nano photonics" -- uses pulses of light rather than electrical wires to transmit information between different processors on a single chip, significantly reducing cost, energy and heat while increasing communications bandwidth between the cores more than a hundred times over wired chips.

The new technology aims to enable a power-efficient method to connect hundreds or thousands of cores together on a tiny chip by eliminating the wires required to connect them. Using light instead of wires to send information between the cores can be as much as 100 times faster and use 10 times less power than wires, potentially allowing hundreds of cores to be connected together on a single chip, transforming today's large supercomputers into tomorrow's tiny chips while consuming significantly less power.

IBM's optical modulator performs the function of converting a digital electrical signal carried on a wire, into a series of light pulses, carried on a silicon Nano photonic waveguide.

First, an input laser beam (marked by red color) is delivered to the optical modulator. The optical modulator (black box with IBM logo) is basically a very fast "shutter" which controls whether the input laser is blocked or transmitted to the output waveguide.

When a digital electrical pulse (a "1" bit marked by yellow) arrives from the left at the modulator, a short pulse of light is allowed to pass through at the optical output on the right.

When there is no electrical pulse at the modulator (a "0" bit), the modulator blocks light from passing through at the optical output.

In this way, the device "modulates" the intensity of the input laser beam.

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RBI Rate Cut Old Information

In a major move to inject an additional estimated Rs. 85,000 crore into the system, the Reserve Bank of India on Saturday cut key deposit requirements for banks by one percentage point and its short-term lending rate by 0.5 percentage point, a decision that may help soften general interest rates. The decisions to cut the cash Reserve Ratio by 100 basis points each and the repo rate by 50 basis points come a week after the busy season credit policy review by the RBI, in which it had given an assurance of more measures to boost economic growth. The RBI would continue to closely monitor development in global and domestic financial markets and take swift and effective action as appropriate. With the latest measures, the RBI has pumped about Rs. 2.70 lakh crore into the system since October but industry leaders and bankers feel more is needed to effectively bring down the commercial lending rates.