Anish's Blogs

  Imagine a situation when you are happy to drive within the speed limit, no not because there is a lot of traffic or cops, but when the limit itself is 80mph, why do you need to speed? That's the case with Utah highways; you hardly see any traffic on both the I-15  and I-70 stretches on the way to and from Utah’s majestic canyons. The state is so huge with a population of just over 2 million; and this shows on the long, straight stretches of interstates and other highways. It reminded me of what Brian used to tell about the American West and the distances. It's been more than a month but the majestic images of the canyons, the meandering river in the deep gorge, and, yes, the intense heat vividly linger in the minds. First part of June is generally a good time to visit Utah canyons with temperatures in the range of 30-32C (86-90F); however when we visited the canyons, a heat dome engulfed the entire Southwest US and temperatures ranged from 38-42C (100-107F) for the first hal...

Steadfast Angel in the sky You guard me like a giant North Star Bigger than any object up so high And bigger than the Sun and every star Dazzling display of colors Green, white, brown and those vast blues Streaks of gray, like feathers Their spiral formations make me muse Your crescent phase makes me wonder Why I am the object of comparison for lovers Monotonous white phases I offer No match for the beautiful phases you deliver Comfortable you keep your resident I get too hot in the day and too cold during nights Shade from the scorching Sun for hours you present I can repay for a few minutes; then from humans I get slights No experience of seasons, rain and snow Or of the water flowing through rivers Bored of those Sunny days and starry nights Feeling jealous for I have water only in craters Have watched your changing landscapes, Catastrophes, nuclear explosion and Amazon fires Global warming a reason the brown portion enlarges Humans welcome as guests not as colonizers

We are fast approaching the first Anniversary of Jan 6, 2021; supporters of the attack say that they wanted to “ Stop the Steal.” A bunch of them were equipped with weapons like handguns; some even had semiautomatic weapons. Was this a legitimate use of the Second Amendment (to overthrow a tyrannical government)? I know there are different opinions, but revolution was one of the main purposes of the Second Amendment! But what about suicides, murders, and mass shootings? Does the Second Amendment also allow and protect these widespread events in our country? In the ensuing days, in April 2021, a man attacked the Capitol Hill premises and killed a security guard using his car as a weapon ! True, cars can be used as a weapon and hence there are strict rules as to who can drive a car; the skills, physical and mental capabilities are considered while issuing a license. If an instrument is controlled because it can be used as a weapon, why not control an instrument which is a weapon in it...

Eco-friendly city (a blueprint for car-free city) Author – Anish Vaidya August 2016 Copyright © 2016 [Anish Vaidya] Contents 1. Abstract 2. Introduction 2.1. City Block 2.2. Facility Corner 3. A Growing City 4. Anatomy of a City Block 4.1. Residential Space 4.2. Facility Square 5. Transportation 5.1    Inter-mode transport 5.2    Intra-mode transport 5.3    Inter-City Transport 5.4 Goods transport 5.5 Refuse Collection 6. Summary 7. References 8. Appendix Abstract With the growing human footprint on the planet, it is imperative to develop a sustainable model to ensure our existence for generations together. Factors like excessive land use for residential purposes, carbon emissions from residential, business and transportation must be controlled. Sprawling urban complexes and cities are the fruits of poor city planning, both from housing and transportation perspectives.  An attempt is made in...