A total lunar eclipse took place on June 15, 2011.

It was the first of two such eclipses in 2011. The second will occur on December 10, 2011.

This was a relatively rare central lunar eclipse, in which the center point of Earth's shadow passes across the Moon. The last time a lunar eclipse was closer to the center of the earth's shadow was on July 16, 2000. The next central total lunar eclipse will be on July 27, 2018.

    The eclipse was visible rising over South America, western Africa, and Europe, and setting over eastern Asia. In western Asia, Australia and thePhilippines, the lunar eclipse was visible just before sunrise.

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  Czech Republic
 
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  Hungary
 
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  Montalbán de Córdoba,Spain

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

EMRAAN HASHMI UPCOMING MOVIE DAYAAN WITH DIRECTOR VISHAL BHARDWAJ

Emraan Hashmi Upcoming Movie Dayaan With Director Vishal Bhardwaj

It was news some time back that maverick director Vishal Bhardwaj and Ekta Kapoor will be teaming up, well now we hear that Ekta and Vishal are all set to make a supernatural musical titled Dayaan. Helping them out as the creative producer for the film will be Abhishek Chaubey of Ishqiya.

But what's interesting to know is that Emraan Hashmi, who has mostly been associated with the Bhatt camp, will be seen romancing three leading ladies in the film.

When contacted, Ekta confirmed the same and added, "Yes, Vishal and I are planning a drama with a breakthrough genre. It will be replete with thrills, chartbusting music and supernatural elements. Three young and happening girls will be cast opposite Emraan." 

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

Exclusive: Terrestar nears bid pact: sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bankrupt telecommunications company Terrestar Networks Inc is nearing a minimum bid agreement of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion, likely with billionaire Charlie Ergen, chairman of Dish Network Corp , according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Ergen, who also controls EchoStar Corp , has been competing against other interested bidders, including a group of senior noteholders and wireless communications company MetroPCS Communications Inc , sources said.

A MetroPCS spokesman said the company had no comment.

The noteholder group, made up of holders of TerreStar's 15 percent senior secured notes, is made up of several investment funds, including Solus Alternative Asset Management, Archer Capital Management LP and Redwood Capital Group LLC, according to court papers.

Terrestar, which filed for bankruptcy in October, faces a Wednesday deadline for bids. Its most sought-after assets include wireless airwaves, which enable wireless service providers to offer services.

A Terrestar spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokesman for Dish declined to comment. Representatives for EchoStar were not immediately available for comment.

The negotiations on the agreement were extended and have continued after Terrestar moved the bid deadline in its auction from June 8 to June 15, saying that it needed more time to negotiate a stalking horse offer. Its auction is slated to be held on June 22, with a sale hearing scheduled for June 28.

Those dates may have to be pushed back again, however, according to sources. If the company reaches a stalking horse agreement, it will need additional time to make that offer public, they said.

This is the third trip this year back to bankruptcy court for Ergen, whose Dish business already agreed to buy similar assets for $1.4 billion from bankrupt DBSD North America in March. Dish also bought Blockbuster Inc in April in a bankruptcy auction.

EchoStar, which is also a creditor of Terrestar's, had a proposed debt-for-equity deal in place earlier this year but walked away from it in February shortly after announcing another telecom deal to buy broadband services provider Hughes Communications Inc for $1.33 billion.

(Additional reporting by Megan Davies and Matt Goldstein; editing by Andre Grenon, Gary Hill)

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

Mumbai police on verge of cracking J. Dey murder case

Mumbai, June 15 (IANS) Five days after the sensational daylight killing of senior journalist Jyotirmoy Dey, Mumbai police appeared on the verge of a breakthrough in the case investigations here Wednesday.

While the organised underworld mafia is reported to be involved, Mumbai police and the state government have chosen to keep the probe outcome under the wraps for the present.

According to officially unconfirmed reports, at least three people have been detained in connection with Dey's killing.

Despite repeated attempts, top police and home department officials steadfastly refused to confirm or deny the latest developments.

The detained trio - including two from Mumbai-Thane region and one from Pune - are being interrogated to ascertain their role and motives in the shocking killing which created a nationwide furore.

Dey, 56, the editor-investigations of tabloid Mid Day, was shot dead Saturday afternoon at Powai, northeast Mumbai, by four unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants.

Though the trio are said to belong to a particular mafia gang, it is expected that the police may formally announce the developments Thursday.

Both Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Home Minister R.R. Patil Wednesday indicated that 'the police have made a breakthrough into the Dey killing probe', but declined to elaborate on the issue.

All top police officials involved in directing the investigations of the five special teams set up to probe the case - Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik, and Joint Police Commissioners Himanshu Roy (Crime) and Rajnish Sheth (Law & Order) - remained out of bounds to all media queries.

A top home department official told IANS in the evening that 'any information in this case would be given only by the Mumbai police at the appropriate time.'

After a briefing by Patnaik, Home Minister Patil remarked: 'The probe is on track, but we cannot say anything on this today.'

Earlier in the evening, Himanshu Roy, along with Additional Police Commissioner-Crime Deven Bharati visited the office of Additional Police Commissioner (Western Region) Vishwas Nagre-Patil at the Powai police station.

What transpired there with reference to the Dey probe is still not known officially.

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

Aggy's Back

AGYNESS DEYN is returning to her first modelling agency, Select Model Management, having previously been at Models 1. Select signed Deyn as an unknown in 2002.

"We're delighted that Agyness is back under our guidance," Select Women's founder and director Chrissie Castagnetti said. "There are not enough British models showcased in fashion right now and whilst we're proud of all our girls, we have always had a passion for home-grown talent and Agyness epitomises that. It's great to be working with her again."

Deyn has scaled back her modelling commitments of late and based herself in the US. But a return to the pages of British Vogue, with a Tim Walker shoot in the May issue, saw a renewed interest in her.

"Select was the agency who launched my career and I feel in very safe hands with them," Deyn said. "It feels right to be here - it's like coming home."

DO YOU REMEMBER: How many Vogue covers Agyness has starred on?

YOU SHOULD SEE: Agyness Deyn's fellow iconic bleached blondes...

YOU SHOULD SEE: Agyness Deyn inside the May issue of Vogue...

TODAY IN HISTORY: Which supermodel said it was "ridiculous to ban contraceptives"?

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

CURB SOOT AND SMOG TO KEEP EARTH COOL

• Quickly tackling black carbon and smog-related ozone could bring the target goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) within reach.
• The most common sources of black carbon are car and truck emissions, primitive cook stoves, forest fires and industry.

Sharply reducing emissions of soot and smog could play a critical role in preventing Earth from overheating, according to a UN report released on Tuesday.

Curbing these pollutants could also boost global food output and save millions of lives lost to heart and lung disease, said the report from the UN Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Even as climate talks remain deadlocked on how to share out the task of cutting CO2, parallel action on "black carbon" particles and ground-level ozone would buy precious time in the quest to limit global temperature rise to 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), it said.

DNEWS VIDEO: Tigers Threatened by Climate Change

Record output in 2010 of carbon from energy use and unprecedented CO2 levels in the atmosphere suggest that efforts to maintain the 2.0 C cap, widely seen as a threshold for dangerous warming, may already be doomed, say scientists.

On current trajectories, temperatures are set to go up 1.3 C (2.3 F) -- on top of the 0.9 C (1.6 F) jump since human-induced warming kicked in -- by 2050, bringing the total compared to pre-industrial levels to 2.2 C (4.0 F).

But quickly tackling black carbon and smog-related ozone could slash 0.5 C (0.9 F) off the temperature increase projected for 2030, putting the two-degree target back on track, the new findings suggest.

"There are clear and concrete measures that can be undertaken to help protect the global climate in the short and medium term," said Drew Shindell, a researcher at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the 50 scientists behind the new assessment.

"The win-win here for limiting climate change and improving air quality is self-evident and the ways to achieve it have become far clearer."

BLOG: Heat Wave Warning for the Windy City

The report was unveiled in Bonn as delegates from more than 190 nations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) struggle to make headway in the deeply stymied negotiations.

Black carbon, found in soot, is a byproduct of incomplete burning of fossil fuels, wood and biomass, such as animal waste. The most common sources are car and truck emissions, primitive cook stoves, forest fires and industry.

Soot suspended in the air accelerates global warming by absorbing sunlight. When it covers snow and ice, white surfaces that normally reflect the Sun's radiative force back into space soak up heat instead, speeding up the melting of mountain glaciers, ice sheets, and the Arctic ice cap.

The tiny particles have also been linked to premature death from heart disease and lung cancer.

Ground-level, or tropospheric, ozone -- a major ingredient of urban smog -- is both a powerful greenhouse gas and a noxious air pollutant. It is formed from other gases including methane, itself a potent driver of global warming.

A threefold increase in concentrations in the northern hemisphere over the last century has made it the third most important greenhouse gas.

Unlike carbon dioxide, which lingers in the atmosphere for centuries once emitted, black carbon and ozone disappear quickly when emissions taper off.

"The science of short-lived climate forcers has evolved to a level of maturity that now requires ... a robust policy response by nations," said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP.

NEWS: City Lights Spike Air Pollution

Measures recommended for reducing black carbon include mandatory use of diesel filters on vehicles, phasing out wood-burning stoves in rich countries, use of clean-burning biomass stoves for cooking and heating in developing nations, and a ban on the open burning of agricultural waste.

For ozone, the report calls for policies that curb organic waste, require water treatment facilities to recover gas, reduce methane emissions from coal and oil industries, and promote anaerobic digestion of manure from cattle and pigs, both major sources of methane.

The report estimates that nearly 2.5 million deaths from outdoor pollution, mainly in Africa and Asia, could be avoided every year by 2030 if black carbon levels dropped significantly.

Far less ground-level ozone could also avoid important losses in global maize, rice, soybean and wheat production, it said.

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

THE GIST

THE GIST

• A total solar eclipse drew thousands of tourists to Easter Island over the weekend.
• The effect was so stunning that crowds turned away from the World Cup final to look to the skies instead.A total solar eclipse drew an 11,000-kilometer (6,800-mile) arc over the Pacific Sunday, plunging remote territories into darkness, but drawing thousands of curious tourists and their dollars.
  The skies grew black in the middle of the day as the moon slipped in front of the sun and aligned with the Earth, blotting out the sunshine that just moments earlier had swathed the island's silent, ancient stone guardians.
  Applause erupted from thousands of stargazers who began gathering days ago on this remote Chilean outpost for the rare four-minute, 41-second eclipse.
  "It was like being in the stadium at night with artificial light. It was like being in a dark room with a 10-watt bulb," awe-struck local official Francisco Haoa told AFP.
  "It started with a shadow. The skies were perfectly blue, with lots of wind that chased away the clouds. Everyone applauded," he added. "We saw a luminous object near here and people started saying they were sure it was a UFO."
  In Tahiti, where the solar eclipse began its trek, the effect was so stunning that crowds of football-mad Polynesians turned away from the World Cup final on their television screens to look to the skies instead.
  "It was like the sun was smiling," said eight-year-old Hinanui. "The sun seemed like a horizontal crescent, then the moon covered up the bottom of the sun, which reappeared again as a crescent."
  Opticians and pharmacies sold more than 120,000 pairs of protective eyewear in Tahiti, which has 260,000 inhabitants, and warned of the dangers of vision loss if people looked directly at the eclipse.
  When the umbra or shadow fell about 700 kilometers (440 miles) southeast of Tonga, the eclipse zipped in an easterly arc, cloaking Easter Island.
  It finished with a pass across southern Chile and Argentina.
  An estimated 4,000 tourists, scientists, photographers, filmmakers and journalists flocked to this World Heritage site of only 160 square kilometers (60 square miles), doubling the barren island's population.
  The sun is 400 times wider than the moon, but it is also 400 times farther away. Because of the symmetry, the lunar umbra that falls on the face of the Earth is exactly wide enough to cover the face of the sun.
  Throughout human history, superstition, awe and dread -- fears for the birth or death of kings, victories or defeats, bumper harvests or gnawing hunger -- have attended the moment when the Earth is plunged into daytime darkness.
  Easter Island authorities increased security, especially around key heritage sites, including the 3,000-year-old large stone statues, or moai, that put the far-flung ethnic Polynesian islanders on the world culture map.
  In local ancient lore, such an eclipse "would have been seen as a very powerful signal of upcoming upheaval," as their world view was rooted in nature, in "the earth, the sea and especially the sky," said Patricia Vargas of the University of Chile.
  A French and a Japanese tourist were arrested for mounting "platforms where they are not allowed to touch and climb the statues," said police chief Cristian Gonzalez.
  Mayor Luz del Carmen Zasso said visitors were asked to treat the island with respect.
  "Easter Island is an open-air museum, and the eclipse is part of this museum," she added.
  Meanwhile, in the small Patagonian town of El Calafate, just across the border from southern Chile in the snow-capped Argentine Andes, hundreds of people gathered to witness the natural phenomenon.
  "We are pleased and excited by the interest generated by the eclipse. The five daily flights arriving in El Calafate were full on Friday and Saturday, and the climate is excellent for watching," said tourism director Ana Ianni.
  Forecasters said there were clear skies with below-freezing temperatures in the southern hemisphere winter.
  The more adventurous could choose to spend the day in heated tents, high up in mountain spots only accessible with the help of guides and the stunning Perito Moreno glacier as a backdrop.

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

THE NIGHT OF THE BLOOD RED MOON

On the 20th Sept. 331 B.C., before the Battle Of Gaugamela between Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander The Great) and Emperor Darius III of Persia, an eclipse of the moon was observed.

Despite Alexander's army being considerably outnumbered, to astrologers of the time, the eclipse foretold Darius's defeat. As night fell on the battlefield, the eclipsed moon glowed a deep blood red, signaling blood would be spilled on that night, but not in Alexander's army.

As history shows, Alexander won the battle and it is thought the favorable forecast from astrologers gave his army the lift they needed (also, astrologers on the Persian side are rumored to have been bribed to foretell doom among Darius's men, impacting morale).

PHOTOS: 2011 Supermoon: Readers' Photographs

Throughout history there are countless examples of when eclipses have foretold doom. Significant events are chronicled to have taken place, shaping our past based on documented lunar eclipses. Nowadays, we know that these events simply coincided with the alignment of three celestial bodies, resulting in a stunning astronomical sight.

Lunar eclipses occur when the sun, Earth and moon sit in alignment and the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the moon. Usually, of course, we can only see the moon because it reflects sunlight. But during an eclipse, the source of light is blocked and the moon's disk goes unusually dark.

However, the moon doesn't completely disappear since the gasses in our atmosphere act to bend some of the blocked sunlight, directing the red part of the solar spectrum back to the moon. Sometimes this has the effect of turning the moon a deep red, often blood red. The mechanism behind this phenomenon is called "Rayleigh scattering."

ANALYSIS: No, Seriously, Why is the Sky Blue?

Sometimes the moon doesn’t completely fall into the shadow of the Earth, however. When this happens we see a partial lunar eclipse where only some of the moon goes dark -- only when it sinks completely into our shadow we see a total lunar eclipse.

An event like this occurs on Wednesday June 15 starting at 17:23 UT (6:23 p.m. GMT) and finishes at 23:02 UT (12:02 a.m. GMT, June 16). Note: The eclipse will not be visible from the USA, as it will be daytime when the eclipse occurs.

During this period, the shadow of the Earth will slowly drift across the moon. The moment when the moon begins to be completely shadowed by the Earth will be at 19:22 UT (8:22 p.m. GMT) -- this is known as the start of totality. It will end at 21:02 UT (10:02 p.m. GMT) when the shadow will once again be seen to slip slowly across the surface of the moon.

PHOTOS: A Total Eclipse of the Moon

Just how red it will appear during totality will depend on the conditions in our atmosphere. If there is a lot of dust from a volcanic eruption, for example, the lunar surface may turn a dark brown, but if the atmosphere is clear, it may turn a striking blood red. It's never easy to predict quite how it will look, so keep your eyes peeled.

Unlike solar eclipses where the moon blocks the sun from our view in only a few locations on the planet, for lunar eclipses, as long as you can see the moon then you will see the eclipse.

For your location, check the time of moon rise and if it happens before or during the eclipse then hopefully you should see something quite spectacular.

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

Unlocked GSM iPhone 4 Offered Online at a Stiff Price

Apple is selling an unlocked GSM iPhone 4 online that doesn't require an AT&T contract, but the price is stiff. With GSM, Apple's unlocked iPhone 4, at $649 and $749, could be used by international travelers or impatient T-Mobile users. So the unlocked iPhone 4 is not for the mass market, and it's unknown if Apple will offer an unlocked CDMA version.
     Apple on Tuesday began selling a GSM version of the iPhone 4 that doesn't require a contract with AT&T, making the handset available for the first time to T-Mobile users or those who travel internationally, where GSM is more common. The phone is currently available only on Apple's online store .
The unlocked device  cannot easily be used on Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel or other CDMA-based carriers, since that requires a different chipset. Hacking the phone to use those networks, known as jailbreaking, voids Apple's warranty.
Steep Price
Without a subsidy from AT&T -- worthwhile for the carrier since voice and data  plans more than recoup the difference -- the unlocked iPhone, available in black or white, costs $649 for the 16-gigabyte version and $749 for the 32GB version.
That's more than the cost of buying the subsidized phone at $199, jailbreaking it (if you're able) and paying AT&T's $325 termination fee to switch to another carrier, something the majority of customers won't do.
But the high cost may be worthwhile to some users, said Michael Gartenberg of Gartner  Research.
"While most consumers are going to be best served by just buying a subsidized phone, there are cases where this makessense . For example, users who travel overseas and want to use local SIMs for cheaper costs, or, in the U.S., T-Mobile customers who want an iPhone and are willing to put up with using it at much slower speeds on EDGE as opposed to 3G."
The iPhone isn't compatible with T-Mobile's standard datanetwork . And switching from AT&T to T-Mobile could be irrelevant if regulators approve a merger that would make the combined company the nation's largest wireless provider.
Not for the Mass Market
"For the most part, it's not a mass-market product; it's not even clear that Apple will sell this in their retail stores -- but for consumers who do need it, they will appreciate the availability," said Gartenberg.
Rumors of an unlocked iPhone, which has been offered in the past for older models, began with a tweet Monday from Chronic Wire, a self-described tech enthusiast, that "Unlocked iPhones headed to Apple Stores for Wednesday: MC603 (16GB, Black) MC604 (16GB, White) MC605 (32GB, Black) MC606 (32GB, White)."
The report was met with skepticism in the tech media and among analysts, who noted that Apple prefers to control the user environment  by dealing with select carriers rather than have the iPhone perform differently on various networks (although the performance of iPhone on AT&T has been less than stellar).
There's no indication whether Apple will release an unlocked CDMA iPhone or a version that can switch between networks. The CDMA iPhone for Verizon began shipping in February. Apple didn't respond to our requests for comment.
The iPhone 5 is expected to be available this fall.

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0

Watching Lego make its world-famous bricks

This is the reception area at Lego world headquarters in Billund, Denmark. CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman visited Lego to see how the company makes its world-famous bricks.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

BILLUND, Denmark--There are a lot of different Lego sets. There are pirate sets, Star Wars sets, city sets, space sets, and many more. But at the heart of it all, at the heart of a toy empire with many millions of passionate fans throughout the world, is the brick.

A single Lego brick is nothing special. But put two together and you can start to make things. Add another, and another, and the number of things you can make starts to go up exponentially. Let's say you had six standard four-by-two red bricks. With those pieces alone, there are more than 915 million possible ways they can be arranged. Throw in a few dozen more pieces, and you've really got something.

Yet no matter how many bricks you've got, no matter what set you're working with, your pieces will all fit together. And they'll fit with every other Lego fan's bricks too. And all of them, all those billions of bricks that Lego has made over the years, have emerged with just about no fanfare at all from what looks like a small engine block: the mold--the core of the entire Lego system.

There are currently more than 7,000 different Lego "elements," as the different bricks are sometimes called, in use in the many different sets the company makes. Each requires its own mold. And each mold is an extremely pricey little device. Indeed, said Roar Trangbaek, Lego's corporate communications manager, these heavy metal contraptions are worth an average of $72,000 apiece. The most expensive weighs in at $360,000. The molds are more expensive than the industrial pressing machines into which they're placed.

And while that may seem like an extravagant amount of value for a chunk of metal that can be used to make only one thing, and a very small, light, plastic thing at that, try taking your kid's Lego bricks away and gauge the reaction. Now try that on a global scale. Maybe $72,000 isn't such a hefty number after all.

Making the world's favorite toy
As part of my CNET Road Trip 2011 project, I've come to this rather bland town in western Denmark for a rare opportunity: to see how Lego produces what has to be the world's favorite toy brand. That's not an honor Lego bestows on itself, but I can't imagine any other that compete for that title.

Walking down the street near the company's low-slung headquarters for the first time, there's little question when you've arrived: it's the building with the giant red, yellow, and blue Lego bricks in front.

The truth of the matter is that making a Lego brick is about as simple a manufacturing process as can be. You inject some hot plastic into the mold, press down for a couple seconds, and then release. Out pop the pieces, which then fall onto a small belt, where they then emerge from the production machine and drop into a bin. And that's the end of the story.

Of course, it isn't really. For any real Lego fan, getting to see up close how the bricks are made and turned into real packaged sets, this is a real treat. And the story certainly isn't over once it comes out of the mold. After all, that shiny new brick has to make its way to your house, where it will instantly lost in the shag of your carpet. And that brief story barely accounts for the complex details that led to that small brick being made.

It all begins, then, with huge silos full of what is called ABS plastic. Shipped by suppliers to Lego's production facilities here, as well as in Mexico, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, it enters the factory mainly in white or red. It's then pumped up into the ceiling in one of several colored pipes and then brought into the molding rooms.

Before the plastic is injected into the molds, it is first mixed with any additional color needed for the individual brick and then heated at the pressing machine to at least 280 degrees Celsius.

Each of the Billund factory's 12 molding facilities--known as modules--has up to 64 pressing machines, split into two aisles of 32. At each machine, the now-heated plastic is pumped into the mold through a main channel. It is then re-routed into a number of much narrower channels, each of which corresponds to one single brick. A mold can produce as many as 32 bricks--or as few as four--at once. As the machine presses the hot plastic, cold water is pumped in to cool the whole thing down, and then after a couple of seconds, the mold opens up and the bricks snap off and fall.

If you look at any individual Lego brick, somewhere on it you'll find a little dot that seems out of place. This is likely the spot at which the brick had its plastic injected through the mold. When the plastic cools, and the mold splits apart, the brick simply breaks off, leaving this little dot. Go ahead: take a look at a brick or two.

Purple Lego bricks emerge from the press machine in one of the molding rooms at the company's Billund, Denmark production facility.

(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

The process in the molding room is almost over but not quite yet. As each bin fills, sensors alert the system, and before long, a robot trolley trundles over, picks up the bin, and carries it away. Like most of the production, as well as processing and packaging, it's almost entirely automated. Very few people are required for this process.

Processing
After the molding process, the bricks move on to a warehouse. Eventually, when they're needed for whatever set they'll be part of, they're pulled out and brought into a processing facility in a different building in Billund.

As Trangbaek points out, one of the efficiencies built into the Lego system is that many different elements can be used in a wide variety of sets. In addition, many can eventually be configured different ways. For example, there are some small blue round elements that may be used as the heads on mini-figures (the little Lego people) or as decoratives for other purposes.

During processing, the various bricks and elements in their entirely plain forms are taken through a new kind of machine that adds any necessary printing or embellishments. The ones I saw were processing various mini-figures that arrived as bare torsos and gradually had robots snap on arms and legs, and heads, and then print on various faces and outfits.

Again, this is a fairly simple system, with just a few steps, but watching it in action is exciting--it is after all getting to see something you and everyone else played with come to life, as it were.

Piece by piece, the mini-figures ran their way through the machines, getting grabbed and turned around, becoming ever more like the little Lego people that countless kids will eventually play with. And then they emerged from the machines, and were gone.

Packaging
Next it's on to packaging. While I was there, I got to see the various bricks and elements of a Star Wars set--specifically a General Grievous Starfighter, set number 8095--get put together.

First, a black box travels along a line, collecting various pieces for the set. The box then heads up a belt and empties the pieces into a machine, where they are then dropped into a second black box. That new box moves along, has a few more pieces drop in, and then it moves into a bag-making machine, drops its pieces, and the machine makes what is known as a pre-pack bag.

Because, Trangbaek points out, the worst thing that can happen is that someone opens their set only to find a crucial piece missing, Lego sometimes adds a second piece, especially if it is light and won't upset the weight tolerances the automatic system accepts. That system is designed to ensure that only the right number of pieces go in a set, and that is usually determined by total weight.

Now, the pre-pack bags move along a belt, where they are joined by others. And then they encounter the boxing machine. First, the actual product boxes are automatically put together by one machine, and then the packs are dropped in. A device pushes down on the packs inside the box to make sure they don't come up too high to allow the box to be closed. And then, finally, the boxes are sealed shut, automatically weighed to make sure they're correct, checked as they pass by on the belt by a worker trained to look for things like plastic bags sticking out of the box, and then they're packed by a robot six to a case, and sent off for distribution.

It's a rather sudden end to a fairly romantic process, but it's exciting to know that after the box makes its way to Lego's Czech distribution center, it will soon end up in some kid's hands. Or maybe an adult's. You never know.

बुधवार, जून 15, 2011 by rahul thakur · 0