The Wild Life Panorama Website
Ecological & resource conservation are key issues today in the face of growing pressures of expanding human population. I firmly believe that the internet serves to connect and disseminate awareness of such key issues. In the face of a pressing need for such awareness it is refreshing to see development of web portals such Wild Life Panorama. The objective of this web service is to allow wild-life photographers from all over the world to display their photographs and connect with each other. It provides a very good user interface for uploading photographs-that can be rated and commented upon. Some key features include: A personal profile page; ability to link up with other photographers from all over the world and tag them as associates; geo-tagging photographs option In addition, activity on the website such as comments on your photos can be tracked through email alerts. These alerts are customisable on your profile page. Photo rating and comments allows you to improve your skill set and also learn from your peers as most people readily exchange photographing techniques and EXIF {Exchangeable image file format} information. A blog portal also exists for you to share information with your friends in the virtual world. The video link below summarizes the Wild Life Panorama portal [www.wildlifepanorama.com ].
http://animoto.com/play/f1Qaie8ImjrPhQONovpBLg
The site was conceptualised by William Tribe and Christopher.
I present below some of my images that are upload on the Wild Life panorama website.
I left Alwar for Bandikui-Dausa on my bicycle trip on December 14, 2012. I could not help but notice this mining place near Rajgarh. The place had a large collection of stone grinding and polishing establishments ranging from stone carving to other industrial applications. Here are some pictures and I present a small writeup on the potential effects of dust based pollution on plants. All the plants and trees around here wore this cloak of white dust from the grinding operations.
Dust from different sources has varying effects on plant physiology: It ranges from simple blockage of stomatal opening, to damage to leaf cuticle and inhibition of plant photosynthesis. The exact effect depends on the kind of pollutant-its chemical nature and its effect on plant species. The atmospheric conditions such as wind and rain. Furthermore the kind of plant and its response to this pollutant further complicates analysis. Some examples include inicorporation of toxic heavy metals like mercury and cadmiun in plants and crops grown around cement factories (ref w.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/apr25/articles12.htm). eHow provides another useful link- http://www.ehow.com/info_7998656_air-pollution-affect-plants.html.
I recently discovered another major advantage of bicycle commuting and decided to share it with all of you. While seeing a video post of the road to Jhoomar Baoli (taken from my car-June 2012), I discovered that on my recent bicycle trip-December 2012- to the same park I had taken photographs of the same area from my bicycle and the view was very different. I decided then to conduct a short experiment.
First I took my bicycle and car to the same place so that I could examine the images obtained from my camera and get a fair judgement. Second I carried out some measurements to help obtain an idea about the angle and height of the line of sight in car with respect to a bicycle. In a sitting position in my car, I measured the height of my line of sight in my car (Maruti Suzuki 800: Seat height from ground: 22 inches. Height of line of sight: 45 inches). Similarly, I calculated my sitting position on my bicycle (Trek Series 4300, Model 2010) to be 38.5 inches & the height of my line of sight to be 67.5 inches. In the images below these heights are indicated by red (sitting height) and blue (line of sight) lines respectively.
Subsequently I took images from both seated in my car and on my bicycle and then present the same images to you. I also used thumbnails from the June 2012 video and compared them to the same region of the road to Jhoomar Baoli to demonstrate a far superior view from the bicycle! I do realise that the image in thumbnails is not as good as the December 2012 image. Both these images were taken by the same cell phone camera (Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc @ 6 mega pixel setting). The difference in image quality can be attributed to the fact that the June image is pre-monsoon, when it is unusually dry in Ranthambore. The December image is post monsoon, when the vegetation is greener and trees have grown. I identify trees that are the same and other landmarks such as potholes in the road. In addition, the June image is taken under twlight conditions, while the the December image is taken at noon under bright sunlight conditions.
In conclusion then it appears that the view from top of a bicycle is less constrained, better and has a definite height advantage. Alkthough the video thumbnail is small it clearly shows the distinct difference in image from the bicycle- Image one in the sereis of images below. Even Image 6 taken from the bicycle is much clearly and affords a better view. All images of the car and bicycle were taken by the cybershsot camera Sony DSC HX1.
Here is a video of the road to Jhoomar Baoli RTDC restuarant in Ranthambhore. Video taken June 2012, pre-monsoon. It is really dry. See next post for more details.
There are many questions on the internet enquiring about the efficacy of vegetable oil and natural oil based methods for lubrication of bicycles. The concerns range from the longevity of natural oils on bicycle equipment, degradation of natural oils-primarily by oxidation, gumming up of the oil lubrication-due to degradation and binding of dirt and other road debris. In addition, there is a fear of the efficacy of such oils in lubrication per se. I hoped to do some simple experiments while on the road to examine some of these issues. To focus on the problem I decided to use a combination of rice bran oil and saff flower oil and test its efficacy in long distance bicycle ride. This was compared to Finish Lines Ceramic Wax Lube.
Briefly, the following regimen was adopted: prior to the application of the lubricant the chain and associated rear and front sprockets were cleaned with diesel fuel and wiped cleaned. The lubricant was applied sparingly to the inside of the chain. After reverse peddling the chain for abouut 20 revolutions the chain was wiped clean of excess lubricant. To record, I used a digital camera [Sony DSC-Hx1] to photograph and document the cleanliness of the chain after a defined ride distance. For vegetable oil lubrication, I measured and documented chain cleanliness at 50 and 100 kms post lubrication. For finish line ceramic wax, I examined the condition of the chain at 50, 100 and 200 kms post lubrication. The results are presented below in the form of pictures.
Most accounts of lubrication with vegetable oil suggest gumming problems and crud buildup due to the stickiness of the lubricant oil. My pictures show that over a 50 km and 100 km ride distance (spanning 1-3 days on my trip) crud buildup was minimal and comparable between vegetable oil and finish line ceramic wax lube. The temperature was a pleasant 50-60 degree F or 10-15 degree celsius. At this temperature it was not possible to determine the efficiency of vegetable oil at low temperatures.
Pictures below I think demonstrate that vegetable oil (rice bran oil 70% + Safflower Oil 30% combination) is effective if used sparingly. The chain behaved smoothly, shifting was comparable to finish line. I did not measure vegetable oil based lubrication at 200 km as I was not sure of its efficacy. However, chain stretch prior to the whole experiment was not evident as after the 400 km experiment. Chain stretch was determined by measuring the length of chain links over 12 links as suggested. The stretch was not evident before and after the experiment. In addition, the chain is about 3 years old and has done about 5000km prior to this experiment. I think this brief experiment illustrates the use of vegetable based or natural oils in lubrication. The only conditions I would recommend is a thorough cleaning of the cahin and sprockets prior to lubrication. Use of minimal lubricant and wiping off excess lubricant. The pictures were taken prior to cleaning the chain and represent a comparable run through moderately dirty highway conditions.
Please see the pictures below.
Hi!
On my final leg of my Journey I was pleasantly suprised to see Gangour Palace Resort in Bilona!
I met with Mr Rajesh Jaiswal- we struck up a conversation and I enjoyed a pleasant meal- my lunch at 5 pm! it consisted of two chicken Samosas and suprisingly the third one on the house from Gangour Palace resort.
He agreed to let me camp out overnight in Gangour Palace Lawn and provided complimentary dinner meals. My only criticism of the place is the cost of food items. However, when I explained the nature of my journey-he offered complimentary meals. My net expense was about 750/- rupees for lunch comprising three chicken samosas, two teas and some snacks. In addition I paid about rupees 200/-for my stay.
I would recommend the place for its food although pricey! Quality good and service was good.
Additionally Mr Jaiswal offered me a room when he realised it would be cold out- which was nice of him. This was complimentary.
Overall recommendations: Yes recommended for stay and dinner- plus modern amenities in the middle of nowhere- Bilona is a small village. Location is great and service awesome.
Note: A single click on any photo below will lead to a large image in a lightbox setting, click next to view other images. Click outside the box to reach the webpage again with image thumbnails.
After a real tiring journey to Ranthambore on my bicycle-I was very happy to reach Raj Palace resort.
Raj Palace resort is conveniently located on Ranthambore road, which connects Sawai Madhopur Town to Ranthambore National park entry gates. It is the main city street with numerous hotels, shops, cafes and restuarants. To me Raj palace resort was a very welcome suprise. For me the beauty of the resort is in the garden. It was very green and even in peak winter the garden appeared alive and full of flowers. The following images below provide a wonderful glimpse of this resort’s exterior garden. The resort offers several amenities and is very well kept. There is very nice swimming pool, restuarant facility and most importantly the staff is very courteous. The resturant provides a very good selection of food and very reasonably priced.
The resort provided me with a two-day complimentary stay as a courtesy. They were impressed with the bicycle campaign to raise money to support Mr. Ghessu Singh’s family. They made my stay very pleasant.
A single click on a photo thumbnail below will display a larger image in a viewer called light box-click the next arrow to view the next image in thumbnails list. Click outside of the box to return to thumbnail page. Enjoy!
Here is a pictographic summary of the entire bicycle trip
Here are a Selection of Pictures from my Bicycle Tour to Ranthambore Rajasthan-December 2012
Enjoy the Pictures!!
