Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

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Nouzil: a new mashup for Mauritius

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I’ve just come across a new mashup called Nouzil.com which combines information from various sources (e.g. L’Express, Le Défi, CanalSat Maurice and the Mauritian blogosphere.)

One impressive aspect of this mashup is the fact that it offers a pretty slick Ajax user interface (for a 1.0 product) and this is a direct consequence of it being powered by the Yahoo! User Interface library:

The Yahoo! User Interface (YUI) Library is a set of utilities and controls, written in JavaScript, for building richly interactive web applications using techniques such as DOM scripting, DHTML and AJAX. The YUI Library also includes several core CSS resources. All components in the YUI Library have been released as open source under a BSD license and are free for all uses.

I know there are a lot of people who discount Javascript as a powerful programming language. I guess they should read David Flanagan’s excellent book:

May The Force Be With You, Mr Bruno Julie!

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22 August 2008 Update II: Bruno Julie has earned a Bronze medal for all of us!

 

Bruno Julie lost on points against the Cuban. Even though I am completely ignorant of boxing techniques, I felt that Bruno Julie was tired at the end. The TV commentator suggested that the referee made a mistake but, frankly, I don’t have a clue…

The most important thing is that Bruno Julie is officially now the first ever Mauritian to earn a Bronze medal at the Olympics. It will be years (at least 4 more) before another Mauritian tries to equal this so this is a fantastic achievement. Congratulations to you, once more, Mr Bruno Julie!

My wife, my two kids and myself will be at the SSR International Airport to welcome Mr Bruno Julie to Mauritius! Who is coming?
 
22 August 2008 Update I: Bruno Julie’s fight at 15:31 today!

Today, at 15:31, a lot of Mauritians will stop whatever they are doing and watch Bruno Julie’s fight against Yankiel Leon Alarcon of Cuba during the first semi-final of the 54Kg boxing competition at the 2008 Beijing Olypics.

Bruno Julie is already sure of winning a Bronze medal at least. And this is a first for our tiny country, Mauritius. I sincerely hope that Bruno Julie’s performance will make Mauritians realize the importance of preserving our unity and working towards the same goals and objectives. Allé Bruno! Allé Maurice!

18 August 2008 Update: The first ever Olympic medal for Mauritius!

Bruno Julie has won convincingly. Therefore, he is the first ever Mauritian to obtain an Olympic medal. He now is in the semi-final. Who knows what may happen next.

Thank you for giving us, fellow Mauritians, so much joy. And May The Force Be With You for the next fight!

18 August 2008: May The Force Be With You, Mr Bruno Julie!

Today is an historic day for our tiny country, Mauritius, as Bruno Julie, will fight in the men’s 54kg boxing quarterfinal in the Beijing 2008 Olympics at exactly 15:16. If he wins against Hector Manzanilla Rangel of Venezuela, he will be the first Mauritian ever to win an Olympic medal and he’ll be one of the few real heroes of our country.

Good luck, Mr Bruno Julie! May The Force Be With You!

The Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre in Mauritius

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The Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre which is at Bell Village is one of the most well-kept secrets in Mauritius!

We went there two weeks ago with average expectations… We payed (I believe) Rs. 30 for a ticket. The first nice surprise was that there were a lot of things to experiment with in the yard. Things like using parabolas to transmit sound very efficiently (3rd picture) and lots of optical illusion experiments (4th and 5th pictures above.) As you can expect, the kids were having a lot of fun. And Christina and I were happy to answer all their questions.

Inside we got our second surprise: there were so many things to see (the story of the universe, the geological story of Mauritius, lots of background info on great scientists, etc.) and also so many things to experiment with (see the photos.) Anya, Kyan and their cousin, Chloé, were running everywhere trying out things and having a lot of fun! As a scientific, I was ecstatic. I couldn’t prevent myself wondering why some science classes (at primary and secondary levels) were not done there. I’m sure students would have understood a lot more.

I have to admit that there are some problems. Some of the experiments have stopped working and should be repaired. Applying fresh paint would not be a bad idea at all especially outside. But apart from those “details” which are so easy to remedy, the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre is a great place to go to spend some hours and learn a lot at the same time.

Go there one day and I’m sure you’ll like it. We did.

(Click on the picture above or here for additional photos.)