How LASER printer works .....

Laser printers use the property of static electricity in an innovative way. The core part of a laser printer is a rotating photo receptor drum or cylinder, which is made of highly photo conductive material. The corona wire shown in the figure carries electricity which induces positive charge in the drum surface. When a laser beam is fired on the surface of the drum, the the point where the beam is fired, gets negatively changed. The laser beam is controlled by a print controller ( a processor inside the printer ) which determines how to move the laser so that it 'writes' an image of -ve changes on the +vely charged surface (this is called 'electro-static' image). Next step is to draw images on the cylinder with toner - Toner is a fine, black powder which is positively charged. As the drum surface comes under toner hopper, the toner glues to the negative charged 'electro static' image on the drum, but not to the positively charged "background."
With the powder pattern affixed, the drum rolls over a sheet of paper, which is moving along a belt below. Before the paper rolls under the drum, it is given a negative charge by the transfer corona wire (charged roller). This charge is stronger than the negative charge of the electrostatic image, so the paper can pull the toner powder away. Now the paper has the required image drawn with fine toner powder which is required to get etched permanently. The fuser ( see fig B ) heats the paper to melt the toner and make a permanent impression. As the paper moves fast, the paper does not get burnt.
The dischage lamp (fig A) neutralizes all the charges on the surface of the drum so that above steps can be repeated for the next scanline.

A Paradox

Have been reading Simon Singh. The Code Book makes awesome reading. Thanks Kaushik for presenting this wondeful book.
Now if I say - 'I am lying' what does it mean:)

Weekend - running kites!!

After quite a while, I was engrossed in books( not technical stuff which I have to refer anyway) for weeks. Did not come across much readings which would make me feel good, bad or even angry for a long time. Few weekends back, thought of catching a movie but just like my other plans, did not just 'get time' to go for one...instead went to "Sony world" electronic stores...no I did not have plan to buy any electronic item….. thing is that, opposite to the Sony, there is a small make-shift book store which I like to give a visit occasionally. But that day, could not locate the shop...God knows if they'd decided to implement 'Operation sunshine' to get clear of all book/magazine sellers from the narrow strip ( some people call it footpath ). So, had a mixed chaat in a sweet shop there and returned to my flat. After I had the shower, the part of my brain which I call judge saab, opined that I should spend the day with a book. Went to a mall ( now a days they keep books too!) and bought "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. Well, next few days I was glued to this book!

It is the story of love, friendship, betrayal, hope. Set against the turmoil in Afganistan in 70s, Hosseini, neatly takes the readers through a wonderful journey. I found a nice line, which describes the devastations of war:
'the desert weed lives on, but
the flower of spring blooms and wilts'

NB: A time, when the protagonist goes to meet a taliban leader....that part appeared somehow Bollywood-movie-like. Nevertless, I liked the book and recommending it to Kaushik, Kunal, Raja...

Some funny laws....

DLF building recently installed a computerised advertising panel, next to the elavators. It keeps on displaying some funny information as well. Here are some of them....
--->The entire Encyclopedia Britannica is banned in Texas because it contains a formula for making beer at home!!!
--->In Alabama- It is illegal to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church!
--->In Maryland, it is illegal to take a lion to the movies!
--->In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is illegal to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose!
--->In california, it is illegal to eat oranges in a bathtub!
--->In florida, unmarried women who parachute on sundays may be jailed!
--->In chicago, it is illegal to fish in Pajamas!
--->In Joliet, Illinois, it is illegal to mispronounce the name "joliet"!
--->In Finland, people must be able to read in order to get married!
--->In France, it is forbidden to call a pig Napoleon!
--->The head of any dead whale found on the British coast is legally the property of the King; the tail, on the other hand, belongs to the Queen - in case she needs the bones for her corset!
--->Chewing gum is banned in singapore!

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Sound Sleep

Today, my laptop was crashing repeatedly while booting. I had to POR (Power On Reset) four time to get it to normal. Mine is a Dell latitude 650 model with XP SP2. Compared to available models today, it's reasonably older with 40 GB HDD and 512M RAM. I did not look for a replacement as I have tons of official and personal data stored on it and also I have developed a comfort with the keyboard and other accessories attached to this Lapu. Most importantly I have seen a strange telepathic link between the lapu and my mood (partially this is also the case with my mobile phone). Whenever I feel little down, I have seen, my laptop also gets into troubles. The more gloomy I am, more is the frequency of crash. If one checks the event manager logs in my system (in the administrative tools), he/she can easily get a measure of my mood for that particular date.
I was feeling sad today - for no particular reason as such. Got up very early while it was still dark outside (though last night I slept after midnight). After having a glass of water I tried to sleep again but could not. The mobile alarm started beeping at 5 AM. No, I am not an early raiser ( I hate getting up early), I intended to set the alarm at 7 but by mistake I set it @5.00am. Partly the blame should go to the dilapidated keypad where the digits can not be seen. Anyway I set the alarm @730 and tried to sleep again. Alas, my domestic help came @6:10am while normally she does not turn up before the time I am ready for office:) I thought I would force her to take an off by not answering the calling bell but that was not to be. She kept on pressing the door bell and at the same time was knocking the door and with every passing minutes the intensity just started raising exponentially. So before whole housing society members come to examine the situation, I had to get up and let her in. I told her to clean other rooms, leaving my bedroom - I went to bed again and tried to sleep. Half an hour passed, the doorbell ringing again and it was just like before except this time the visitor was not knocking the door. I got up to see my domestic help again. This time she rang the bell not to get in...just to tell me that she was leaving :)). This time I didn't try sleeping again - had a shower and started preparing for office.

Literally, I had a "sound sleep" today.

Indian achievement??

Today, there was a news article in the net, hailing Bobby Jindal who has been given a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention- Per the website he's the first "Indian American" to have that "honour". The news article is a manifestation of Indian -third world- slave- mentality. This 'Indian American ' stuff is going too far.e.g. during NASA mission which included Sunita William, the media went crazy as if she is residing next door!! Oh..our silly media sucks!!!
While I do not have any problem with their achievements (or whatever you call it), I think it's not only stupid but also criminal to highlight such stuff as an Indian achievement. Our media should find something more newsworthy.