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12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

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Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#21

Post by aviraldg »

sizzle wrote: post #19
aviraldg wrote: post #15

I know I'll get downvoted by the Indian crowd here on HN, but I feel this needs to be said: This illustrates the characteristically Indian trait of mindless hero worship. Our media has a tendency to blow such things out of proportion, even if it's immediately apparent to anyone even slightly technically competent that they are definitely not original, or as revolutionary as they are claimed to be. More examples: Rece…

I think it has more to do feeling pride for one's own country. I fail to see how this is "mindless hero worship", rather than a means to push India into the spotlight for their 15 minutes of fame, granted the story makes international headlines. Now bollywood movies on the other hand........

>> I think it has more to do feeling pride for one's own country.

India has considerably more impressive achievements to be proud of.

>> I fail to see how this is "mindless hero worship"

Of course it is. Some kid does something entirely ordinary (and probably realises that is the case), and the media treats it like the next big thing and calls him a prodigy. (For examples, look at the links I posted.)

>> rather than a means to push India into the spotlight for their 15 minutes of fame, granted the story makes international headlines.

Better unknown than famous like this.

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#22

Post by sizzle »

aviraldg wrote: post #21
sizzle wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it has more to do feeling pride for one's own country. I fail to see how this is "mindless hero worship", rather than a means to push India into the spotlight for their 15 minutes of fame, granted the story makes international headlines. Now bollywood movies on the other hand........

>> I think it has more to do feeling pride for one's own country. India has considerably more impressive achievements to be proud of. >> I fail to see how this is "mindless hero worship" Of course it is. Some kid does something entirely ordinary (and probably realises that is the case), and the media treats it like the next big thing and calls him a prodigy. (For examples, look at the links I posted.) >> rather than…

I agree with what you're saying, but I think this is more of an Indian media tactic. No one would know about this student otherwise, so you should be pointing your finger at the reports/journalists to create better content. I suspect this story was aimed at their Indian audience.

This achievement is largely forgettable to our population, but when Indians read this they feel a sense of pride for their fellow people's achievements. I think the Indian media is just exploiting this Indian trait to get more views.

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#23

Post by kamaal »

aviraldg wrote: post #15

I know I'll get downvoted by the Indian crowd here on HN, but I feel this needs to be said: This illustrates the characteristically Indian trait of mindless hero worship. Our media has a tendency to blow such things out of proportion, even if it's immediately apparent to anyone even slightly technically competent that they are definitely not original, or as revolutionary as they are claimed to be. More examples: Rece…

Almost any body who climbs the Mount Everest after the first person did it is also not doing anything original. Yet the difficulties in climbing Mt Everest don't change no matter how many people climb it.

The point is not to invent shoes to charge mobile phones. But to do something to break out opportunity famine, difficult economic situations and social inertia that prevents progress by doing things like this.

Like you mentioned 'Indian Crowd'. Bulk of the 'Indian Crowd' on forums like these probably don't even have the same scenarios or circumstances in life to understand why stuff like this matters to the other people to whom it matters.

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#24

Post by dbbolton »

zem wrote: post #11
dbbolton wrote: post #6

>As per the preliminary reports, this shoe cum charger can light a bulb by placing a battery in the shoes. What?

i'm guessing (backed up by the photo) that his proof-of-concept is literally a generator in the shoe hooked up to an attached bulb, so that when he walks a bit the bulb lights up.

What about the "cum" in the middle of the sentence?

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#25

Post by baddox »

tzs wrote: post #14
baddox wrote: post #10

Sounds like a fairly inefficient way to turn food into electricity. Surely it would be cheaper, faster, and more efficient to just have something like a small hand crank to generate the electricity.

The point of this kind of thing is to generate electricity form something that you would be doing anyway even if it did not generate electricity.

Sure, but to generate x watts probably requires the walker to output x more watts than normal while walking.

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#26

Post by baddox »

dbbolton wrote: post #24
zem wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm guessing (backed up by the photo) that his proof-of-concept is literally a generator in the shoe hooked up to an attached bulb, so that when he walks a bit the bulb lights up.

What about the "cum" in the middle of the sentence?

It's Latin for "with." It's usually used with hyphens to describe something with dual purpose, so it would be more appropriate to spell it "shoe-cum-charger." It's also used in purely Latin phrases like magna cum laude.

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#27

Post by zem »

baddox wrote: post #26
dbbolton wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the "cum" in the middle of the sentence?

It's Latin for "with." It's usually used with hyphens to describe something with dual purpose, so it would be more appropriate to spell it "shoe-cum-charger." It's also used in purely Latin phrases like magna cum laude .

extremely common in india, particularly in the phrase sofa-cum-bed.

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#28

Post by zem »

mrflett wrote: post #12
dbbolton wrote: post #6

>As per the preliminary reports, this shoe cum charger can light a bulb by placing a battery in the shoes. What?

ha! might as well have the headline: '12th class student charges his phone from thin air' and then reveal in the article it is just made by placing a battery in thin air...

why put the worst possible interpretation on things? it was pretty clear to me that the battery was rechargeable and that the shoe was charging it.

Re: 12th Class Indian Student Invents Shoes To Charge Your Mobile

#29

Post by dbbolton »

baddox wrote: post #26
dbbolton wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the "cum" in the middle of the sentence?

It's Latin for "with." It's usually used with hyphens to describe something with dual purpose, so it would be more appropriate to spell it "shoe-cum-charger." It's also used in purely Latin phrases like magna cum laude .

I knew the Latin meaning. I've honestly never seen it used as a direct replacement for "with" in an otherwise all-English phrase though.
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