The Oil Drum has an interesting article where they discuss Peak Oil, the Economic Advantages of Sustainability, Limits to Growth and Die Off.

The US economy is in trouble. Do you know why the US economy not sustainable? “The U.S. represents 4.8% of world population. We use 25% of the energy produced on earth and 30% of the materials produced on the planet. Some of those people who represent the other 95.2% of the global population are beginning to want their share and are getting a little testy about the whole thing.

Civil Engineering Projects has some decent information on Global Mega Projects Airports, Bridges, and the technical side of construction.

The writer has briefly written about the phenomenal success of Digg, and some other Social Bookmarking sites.

So, what does it take to create a good story? What sort of stories see success on Digg?

I was very impressed by that article on TechCrunch. The writer has done a commendable job. Check out this article on

9 Reasons Why The Digg Story Sells

I’ve just checked out his blog. Very lively, making life colourful. Every post is worth reading and commenting upon.

The author was talking about Tnx, these guys sell links on the internet. The system is real cheap, and is basically very helpful to people dealing with SEO. You can literally buy thousands of links for a few dollars.

I decided to give it a try. I’m always looking for ways to advertise my site, and what better way there could be than this? I thought, I’m getting 2370 oneway links for one month for only $12.60… Thats way cheap. Certainly, if you choose sites of higher PR, you have to shell out more cash.

Nut then, Linking Matters. Google likes links (though not paid links), so I can advertise an obscure blog that Google doesn’t know about in order to increase the PageRank.

I’ve created an account, and I believe I should use the network. My main Flagship site cannot be advertised there, for obvious reasons. But my blog can…

What do you think about tnx.net? Please leave your comments.

Let history’s greatest minds help you to find true success and happiness today.

Plato. Socrates. Aristotle. Confucius. Thomas Aquinas. Hundreds, even thousands of years later, the names of the great philosophers remain legendary, their ideas continuing to captivate minds, stimulate thought, and shape the course of human history.

But what are those ideas? Why are they still impacting the way people think, understand, and act? Most importantly, how can they help YOU to live a happier, better, more fulfilling life today?

In The Seven Greatest Success Ideas: ‘A-HAs’ That Are Guaranteed to Take Your Life to the Next Level, public philosopher, author, and renowned business consultant Tom Morris reveals what the greatest philosophers in human history have to say about what it takes to achieve true success in the 21st century.

With the wit, charisma, and straightforward style that made him one of the most popular professors at the University of Notre Dame and a corporate speaker in huge demand, Tom roars through the wisdom of the ages. He introduces you to the most profound insights that have ever been articulated by the human mind and draws the connection between those insights and your personal, day-to-day experiences in an incredibly clear, powerful, and illuminating way that will forever transform your perspective.

Along the way, you’ll also discover that you, too are a philosopher, with the innate power to think deeply and effectively about the things that matter most. With the great philosophers as your guide, you’ll learn how to stop chasing the wrong things and start asking the right questions — those that will lead you straight to the answers you seek and the success and happiness that we are all searching for. The Seven Greatest Success Ideas will give you an immeasurably deeper, richer, clearer understanding of the world we live in, your place and purpose in it, and the possibilities for true success that exist all around you.

Tips and Tricks

Earthquakes are a dangerous phenomena. People are vulnerable to the destructive power of earthquakes. Earthquakes have unleashed their destructive power on humans time and time again. But today, with the advancement of construction technology, man has learnt to protect himseld from earthquakes.

What is an Earthquake?

An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the Earth caused by the breaking and shifting of rock beneath the Earth’s surface.

Ground shaking from earthquakes can collapse buildings and bridges; disrupt gas, electric, and phone services; and sometimes trigger landslides, avalanches, flash floods, fires, and huge, destructive ocean waves (tsunamis). Buildings with foundations resting on unconsolidated landfill and other unstable soil, and trailers and homes not tied to their foundations are at risk because they can be shaken off their mountings during an earthquake. When an earthquake occurs in a populated area, it may cause deaths and injuries and extensive property damage.

It is for this reason that it is often said,

“Earthquake don’t kill people, buildings do.”

Earthquake Resistant Building Design Philosophy
a) Under minor but frequent shaking, the main members of the buildings that carry vertical and horizontal forces should not be damaged; however buildings parts that do not carry load may sustain repairable damage.

b) Under moderate but occasional shaking, the main members may sustain repairable damage, while the other parts that do not carry load may sustain repairable damage.

c) Under strong but rare shaking, the main members may sustain severe damage, but the building should not collapse.

Protection from Earthquakes

There are various new techniques which help in reducing the impact of earthquake forces on buildings. Most of these techniques are expensive to implement.

Here is a list of Earthquake Resistant Techniques…

1. Base Isolation for Earthquake Resistance

The concept of base isolation is explained through an example building resting on frictionless rollers. When the ground shakes, the rollers freely roll, but the building above does not move. Thus, no force is transferred to the building due to the shaking of the ground; simply, the building does not experience the earthquake. Now, if the same building is rested on the flexible pads that offer resistance against lateral movements (fig 1b), then some effect of the ground shaking will be transferred to the building above. If the flexible pads are properly chosen, the forces induced by ground shaking can be a few times smaller than that experienced by the building built directly on ground, namely a fixed base building. The flexible pads are called base-isolators, whereas the structures protected by means of these devices are called base-isolated buildings.
2. Energy Dissipation Devices for Earthquake Resistance

Another approach for controlling seismic damage in buildings and improving their seismic performance is by installing Seismic Dampers in place of structural elements, such as diagonal braces. These dampers act like the hydraulic shock absorbers in cars – much of the sudden jerks are absorbed in the hydraulic fluids and only little is transmitted above to the chassis of the car. When seismic energy is transmitted through them, dampers absorb part of it, and thus damp the motion of the building.

3. Active Control Devices for Earthquake Resistance

The system consists of three basic elements:

a. Sensors to measure external excitation and/or structural response.

b. Computer hardware and software to compute control forces on the basis of observed excitation and/or structural response.

c. Actuators to provide the necessary control forces.

Thus in active system has to necessarily have an external energy input to drive the actuators. On the other hand passive systems do not required external energy and their efficiency depends on tunings of system to expected excitation and structural behavior. As a result, the passive systems are effective only for the modes of the vibrations for which these are tuned. Thus the advantage of an active system lies in its much wider range of applicability since the control forces are worked out on the basis of actual excitation and structural behavior. In the active system when only external excitation is measured system is said to be in open-looped. However when the structural response is used as input, the system is in closed loop control.

These techniques have been successfully employed in many projects across the world. They are most widely used in Japan. These techniques are also being used in earthquake prone areas of California, Indonesia and other such places.

You can find a detailed comparison report, information and case studies on Earthquake Resistant Buildings from www.architectjaved.com/earthquake_resistant_structures/