Value each moment

Value each moment

Time is a precious commodity, but it does not last long. So if one has to do something worthwhile, one cannot waste a single moment.

Everyone is familiar with the adage, “time and tide wait for no man”. Our life is made up of a fraction of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. We should utilize each fraction of our time well.

John Erskine, author, professor, and lecturer had said that he learned had said that he learned the most valuable lesson of his life when he was 14.

His piano teacher asked him for how long he had practiced. The boy replied that he practiced for an hour or more. “Don’t do that, “warned the teacher. “When you grow up, time won’t come in long stretches. Practice whenever you can – five or 10 minutes before school, after lunch, between chores. Spread the practice through the day, and music will become a part of your life”.

Erskine stated that the observance of his advice enabled him to live a comparatively complete life as a creative writer, outside his regular duties as an instructor. He wrote most of Helen of Troy, his most famous work, while commuting to work.

Time management consultant Anotonio Herrara asked the participants in a seminar: “If we had to buy time, would there be any difference in how we would spend it? Would the days of our lives be used more wisely? What if you had to pay an advance of Rs.1000 an hour for the time allotted to you? Would you waste it?” The answer should be obvious.

Time is precious. It is not to be wasted. Ruskin says, “Time is more precious than any other precious stone. “ A moment lost is lost forever. So value each moment, as this poem so beautifully communicates:

• To realize the value of one year,
  Ask a student who failed in his or her final exams.
  
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• To realize the value of 1 month,
  Ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
  
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• To realize the value of one week,
  Ask an editor of a weekly magazine.
  
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• To realize the value of one day,
  Ask a daily wage labourer who has six children to feed.
  
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• To realize the value of one hour,
  Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet
  
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• To realize the value of one minute,
  Ask a person who missed his train.
  
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• To realize the value of one second,
  Ask a person who survived an accident.
  
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• To realize the value of one millisecond,
  Ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
  

Stay slim and trim while relishing your food

Stay slim and trim while relishing your food


Drink plenty of water. In terms of a health benefit, water is second only to
oxygen. Drinking two glasses of water before each meal helps in good
digestion. It also makes it easier to eat less.

Make it a point to eat slowly, chewing more than what you normally do. This
gives the feeling of satiety.


Try using a teaspoon instead of your fingers. This will also give you the
feeling of fullness when you would have actually consumed less food.

Always opt for a fresh fruit for dessert. This will prevent the craving for
desserts, which are high in sugar and starch.

Use fresh fruits in your desserts whenever possible. Substitute fresh fruit
juice for syrup from canned fruits.

Drinking cucumber juice in between meals helps to curb appetite. The
alkaline content of cucumber will relax the body and make you feel full.

Vegetable juices, clear soups and broth are low in calories. They should be
taken regularly as healthy appetisers.

Blend paneer (cottage cheese) in a blender. Use it instead of sour cream as
a base for your salad or for your dip.

Use skimmed milk in cooking and for drinking. You could have buttermilk
instead of curds.

Keep your milk container in the refrigerator overnight. Skim off the fat
that rises to the top and then use the milk.

Drinking black coffee or tea without milk or sugar curbs appetite.

Why do CPUs get hot?

Why do CPUs get hot?
Cooling a CPU with moving air, using a heatsink and fan

In basic terms, a CPU is a collection of millions of microscopic electronic 'switches', all crammed into a tiny space known as its 'core'. Every time a single 'switch' operates, it generates a tiny amount of heat. Whenever the CPU is working inside your PC, millions of these switches are operating many thousands of times per second. The collective heat generated can be quite incredible, especially if the CPU is very busy.

To put this in real terms, consider a small room containing a single lit candle. It's not very likely that the single flame of the candle will noticeably warm up the room. Put a hundred candles in the room and after a few hours, you might just be able to feel an increase in the room temperature.

Consider now, cramming millions of candles into the room. It won't be very long at all before the temperature in the room becomes uncomfortably high.

To create faster CPU speeds, manufacturers need to add more and more 'switches' to the 'core' of the CPU, vastly increasing the quantity of heat generated by its operation.
Heat = Damage

Excessive heat, if unchecked, can cause all sorts of damage. Moderate overheating of the CPU can cause hidden damage and shorten its working life, while excessive overheating can actually cause the CPU to melt and destroy itself. With today's CPU's, this could all happen within a few seconds without some method of extracting the excess heat from the CPU core.
Help from Nature

So how can we get rid of the heat? A fundamental principle of heat provides the solution:

Heat always tries to move from hot things to cold (or cooler) things.

One 'thing' that is always in abundant supply and is easily heated in this way is Air. If we pass a flow of air over something hot, some of the heat will move to the cooler air as it passes over the hot surface. The larger the hot surface area, the more heat can pass into the surrounding air.

Because the core of our CPU is quite small, we need to spread the heat over a much larger surface area to help get rid of it effectively.

The Heatsink

Especially designed for the task, the Heatsink is placed directly on, and heated by, the CPU core. This offers a far greater surface area for the heat to move to the passing air.

Since the transfer of heat relies on complete contact between the CPU core and the heatsink base, Thermal Interface Material, a fine grease or thin pad, is usually applied in the join between the heatsink base and the CPU core to maximise the efficiency of heat transfer.

CPU Cooling

In the past, a heatsink alone was sufficient to keep a CPU cool, but as newer CPUs are increasingly generating large amounts of unwanted heat, the surrounding air becomes too hot and the heat transfer stops.

To keep the process going we need to continually replace the heated air surrounding the heatsink with cooler air. The most efficient way to do this is with a Fan.

The fan-assisted heatsink is now quite effective at transferring heat from the heatsink to the air, but must have a good supply of cooler air for maximum efficiency. Since the CPU is mounted inside the PC Case, the hot air needs to be removed and replaced with cooler air.

Heatsink and Fan Maintenance

In most cases, The PSU has a built-in fan, and is quite adept at removing the hot air from inside the case, but it can be advantageous to add an additional fan, nearby the CPU cooler, to push more hot air out of the back of the PC case.

As hot air is removed from the PC Case, cooler air is drawn from the outside of the PC Case, through the pre-cut vents in the side and front panels. It is for this reason, that it is imperative to maintain a good airflow around your PC when it is in use and not to block any of the vents or fan outlets. Again, additional fans in the case side (or front panel) can be used to force cooler air into the PC case.

An unfortunate side-effect of the use of Air in this system is Dust. Over a period of time, fan blades and heatsinks will become covered with a layer of dust, which gradually reduces the efficiency of the transfer of heat and the effective operation of the fans.

Regular checks on the heatsink and fans in your PC system and the removal of any build up of dust with an air-duster will keep the system in top condition and maximise the life of your CPU.