Sugar beet

I have always thought that sugarcanes are the only ones to produce sugar - Until I came to Sweden. Sugar beets (SockerBeta in Swedish)  are also used to produce sugar. SUgar beet plantations can be found in many parts of skåne during summer.

Apple farm near Lund

One of my favorite pastimes during late summer-early autumn is to check for possibilties to do what is called in swedish as "självplockning" or self-plucking. you visit a farm, pluck fruits or vegetables yourself and ofcourse pay for them as you come out. And, last week it was the turn to visit glorias trädgård(http://www.gloriasappelgard.se/)  and self-pluck some apples. September to early November is the right time to visit apple farms. The trees are full of ready-to-pluck juicy apples.

Rubinola, Discovery and Aroma were some of the varieties on offer.We were told that the apples are juicier and sweeter this year compared to the previous years.Needless to say, we bought as much varieties of apple s possible along with some apple cider, apple glogg and apple juice that will last for the for the next few weeks.

 Glorias apple farm is located near stångby just outside Lund and it makes a perfect day trip if you live in skåne and enjoy the countryside atmosphere and the beautiful nature that surrounds it.

Only in Sweden

I have heard before that Swedish people are quite conscious about waste management. I got a chance to see it myself at the recycling centre (ÅtervinningsCentral in Swedish) in Malmö. You see the big line up of cars and people waiting patently inside for their turn to throw waste.You sort the wastes and throw them in the bin. There are separate bins for each type of waste like metal, paper, wood, electronic wastes etc. Impressive!!

We made a visit to Ängavallen farm, a ecological farm outside Vellinge,Skåne. Ängavallen, is a small village outside Vellinge between Malmö and Trelleborg.The farm has a butik where products produced(predominately meat products) in the farm are sold. It even has a good, cozy restaurant offering lunch. 

The owner of the farm was a very nice gentleman and he offered to show us around the farm talking about his farm and the farm animals. The farm animals are fed only organic food, are allowed to wander in the pastures nearby and have a stress free happy life unlike the animals bred for big meat producing corporations.

It was an afternoon well spent but i kept asking myself one question as i came out of the farm. If someone is so concerned about animal and their well-being, why not turn vegetarian? And, i know the answer is difficult...

Rapeseed fields everywhere in Skåne!!

Rapeseed fields are common sights in Skåne now.  

Rapeseed fields are in full bloom during the month of may.

The  young pods of rapeseed plant. These contain black seeds when fully matured.

Öresundståg: Connecting two different worlds

Oresund bridge was build in the year 2000 and connects sweden with its neighbour Denmark.  oresundståg , the railway system that connects sweden and denmark runs between  Helsingor in Denmark to Helsingborg  and beyond in Sweden through oresund bridge.

When the idea of Öresundståg was conceived, the officials were faced with several challenges. The most important were the electrical system and signalling system. Sweden and denmark have different electrical system for railway line. Sweden uses 15Kilo Volt 16 2/3 Hz line while denmark uses Kilo Volt  50 Hz line. Unlike Norway, which has the same ATC(Automatic traffic Control) mechanism as in Sweden, denmark uses a different system making it all the more  difficult  to establish common ground.

Inspite of all these challenges, oresundståg was made a reality  making it one of Europe's  most complex railway connection. Over the oresund, the trains change to Swedish signalling system in the danish artificial island of pepperholm  and to the swedish power system in Lernacken on the Swedish side before entering Malmo.

This year  Oresund bridge and öresundståg completed 10 years of service. Many events were held as part of the celebration, the most notable being broloppet , a marathon over the oresund bridge in which  30000 people participated.

India 3G Spectrum auction

During may 2010, Indian government auctioned the 3G spectrum to operators for 11 billion dollars. The commercial launch  is expected to be in mid-2011.

According to Department of Telecommunications(DOT) release:

Paired spectrum of 3 blocks of 5MHZ  have been auctioned for 3G in 2.1 GHz range.

A closer look at what this means:
The total geographical area of india is divided into areas called circles and 3-4 operator have been alloted 5Mhz frequency block in each circle. Unlike GSM, All the mobiles belonging to one operator use the same frequency but, ditinguish each other by a scrambling code .

ITU(International Telecomunication Union) has earmarkedset of frequencies called Frequency bands to be used for 3G. One such frquency band is Band 1 operating in a frequency of 2.1 GHZ.

This "Band 1" is used for 3G  transmission in europe, Asia Australia and south ameraica. Frequecies surrounding  3G spectrum are reserved for maritime mobile in india.

Three operators have successfully bid Frequencies for TamilNadu circle: