Astronomy. It is by and large the oldest science known to man. Ever since life on this planet evolved the ability to think, man has looked up to the skies and wondered. What is it that he saw in the night skies? He saw the near static stars, the more active planets and the moon. We lived on a flat planet at first. After the great navigational ages, the earth developed into a sphere. Hubris gave rise to the thought of a geocentric universe - a view that stood for long years, before Copernicus risked life and limb to change that view. Galileo Galilee was the next in line- branded a heretic till the 1990s. His exploration of the skies with a telescope gave us our first vistas of the solar system.
Astronomy has progressed rapidly since the 18th century. Indeed, it is one of the few sciences to have advanced so rapidly for such a long time and not yet hit a plateau. The last century and this one, depicts a science that advances at an ever growing pace. Scientific feats like the various unmanned missions in the solar system and orbiting telescopes have developed our view of the universe.
The opportunities are endless. All you need is a little interest. A little spark to reignite the curiosity that resides deep within all of us. CoEP has a strong Astronomy Club that aims to do just this. It is an active and growing organisation that aims to promote astronomy among engineers. The club has regular meetings and has from this year on, been opened to students from outside COEP. As a part of MindSpark this year, the Astronomy Club will present a mobile planetarium. It is a simple and effective idea to introduce the beginner to the night sky. Observe the night sky in a span of merely twenty minutes. There will also be lectures on astronomy and an exhibition for all comers to enjoy.
You have been informed! Visit MindSpark ‘08 and witness a few of the wonders of the universe!
How many people know of the significance of Heron’s ‘Pneumatica’ and ‘Automata’? It is in these works, that the first references to automatons are made. These works contained over a hundred drawings of things such as a steam engine, fire engine, coin operated machine etc. And here’s the kicker. All of this was written in the 1st century AD!
Of course, it was only a concept then. It was only a concept as recently as the 1930s. Over the near two thousand year gap, many great inventors suggested ideas involving automata. The notable ones include Da Vinci’s Mechanical Knight. The word ‘robot’ comes into the picture because of a play written by Karel Capek in 1930. It was called Rossum’s Universal Robots. The word robot was derived from the Slavic word for work.
Notably, it was in the early 1930s that the electrical giant of the time, Westinghouse, came out with a robot. It did very little in the form of actions, but it will always hold the place as the first robot. Over the past seventy years, robotics has advanced a lot more than it did over the preceding two thousand. It is now one of the hottest topics in nearly every field of engineering. And naturally so. It could save lives and time while performing hazardous industrial work, help man explore inacessible regions - be it far out in space, or far below us underwater. The applications are endless.
The development of students for this field begins now. COEP has for a few years had a thriving Robot Study Circle. Members of this group have won a significant number of robotics tournaments. At MindSpark ‘08, we throw down the gauntlet again. Show us the best you have to offer - participate in the ubiquitious Micromouse competition. Go mano-e-mano with another bot in the Dog Fight! Challenge the limits with Photoroller. A word of warning though - these competitions are not for the weak of heart. You have been warned!
Over the years, most colleges have begun to include some form of competitive gaming on a PC in their fests. We’re no different. With the spread of affordable broadband internet and affordable computing, competitive gaming, or eSports, as it is popularly called is spreading quickly across our country. Let’s take a moment to reflect on the origins and history of eSports.
Many of us remember the days when the only way to play games, was not at home on the PC or console, but in an arcade. That is where eSport has its origins. If any of you remember, arcade machines had a highscore list. It was difficult to get into, for casual gamers - but people did make it on to those lists. That is where competitive gaming has it’s roots. Not many are aware that there were even touranments where gamers competed to get the highest score on the arcade machines.
From those humble origins, we move to the early 90s, where Nintendo organised a few tournaments. However, the sport really kicked off in 1997 when Dennis “Thresh” Fong was crowned the first ever winner in a PC tournament, for the game Quake. He even won a Ferrari for his efforts in that tournament. Dennis Fong has since become one of the most successful gamers in the short history of the sport. He retired at the height of his prime, undefeated in his entire career. He set up a gaming chat client that he sold to MTV recently for a 100 million USD. That’s pretty successful if you ask me.The only person who has come anywhere close to the successof Fong is another First Person Shooter player - Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendell who has a series of computer parts afilliated and sold under the Fatal1ty brand.
After that first, there have been a wide variety of tournaments for different games- tactical games, strategy games, sports simulation - you name it. The list of tournaments grows ever longer. Every year, the worlds top gamers participate in various world tournaments such as the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League), WCG (World Cyber Games), ESWC (Electronic Sports World Cup), WSVG (World Series of Video Games) etc. India has started participating in these tourneys recently and the results are encouraging. The bottom line still remains - in a country of billion, we are still unable to produce top quality competitors. The scene is slowly changing towards the positive as gaming becomes more acceptable as a (short term) career choice in India. The biggest advantage is that for PC gaming, you don’t need expensive facilites, good coaches or support from the government. You only need a PC and some deteremination. If you feel within you that spark for gaming, don’t let it die! Maybe you could be the next reason for the country to cheer!
Prof Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts. Not many are familiar with that name. And yet, it is this cartoon character that has inspired thousands of overengineering contests across the world. In our part of the world, we call it contraption. The character first appeared in the cartoon ‘The inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts’ in the year 1914. The sole purpose of the strip was the highlight the many ‘inventions’ that the professor had made. One of the more famous was the automatic mouth wiping napkin, that would wipe the face of the user once the user had finished with his/her meal.
The highly innovative author of the strip was a man who has been immortalised in more ways than one. And yet, the innovation was really an inspiration from the world that Reuben Garret Lucius Goldberg saw around him. He was born in the increasingly industrialised America of the late 19th century. His parents wanted him to become an engineer. He did just that in the year 1904. But his true calling was as a cartoonist. Goldberg lived in an era where machines were just coming into their own. He saw around him a world that used machines, not because they were a necessity, but because it could. It hardly mattered then, whether the machine was useful, or even practical. In his day and age, the use of machines was all the rage. The comic strip, ‘The inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts’ was a sophisticated dig at the world of that time. Goldberg would, through these machines, show the world how man could and would complicate the simplest things.
People loved the idea. Almost everyone wanted a piece of this fantastic… distraction! By far, the most publicised Rube Goldberg machine is the 2003 Honda Accord advertisement, where the spare parts of two hand built Accords are used to perform the action of starting up another Honda Accord. Over the years, Rube Goldberg has been referenced in a wide range of media - from Tom and Jerry to Halo 3. The various contraption contests are inspired by this man. Some might say that he didn’t really fulfil the wishes of his parents. But what can you say about the first man to become an over-engineer!?
Complimentary Link!
The Honda Advert
Ah! I am trying to come out! I am trying hard…
Huh! Finally, I made it… Wow!! This world is so beautiful. I am falling in love with this world.
I wish I could have made it earlier.
Alright, I am feeling like making new friends. Will you be my friend? If you want to be then just drop a post. 
I forgot to introduce myself.
My Name: MindSpark Blog
My DOB and Time: August 1 2008 2.30 PM India
You can discuss about everything about my Big Brother MindSpark 08 - College Of Engineering Pune’s Technical festival.
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