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The ROOT of the STEM

For a recent article in a magazine, i got to thinking about the state of STEM education in India.

STEM education in our country is lagging behind due to various reasons. Our schools are not equipped with the right kind of labs and tools, curriculum is not current. Our teachers are not properly trained in the subjects they are teaching and there is a lack of interest generation in the minds of students and their parents. Yes there are centres of excellence all over the country but in general things are not good even in private schools, govt schools are a whole other matter.

STEM education needs to start early in school to build the interest and to capture the natural curiosity in children and channel it. Maths for instance, the foundation in the early years is very important for a sound knowledge. By the time the students are in grades 11-12 its too late to bridge the gap if the foundation was weak.
Stress on practical and experience oriented learning plans rather than theory based. Just today i saw a hilarious image that said "Another day has gone by … and i still haven't used Algebra". If the practice of rote learning of formulas etc doesn't change then neither will this thinking. Algebra is used is various ways, sometimes when people don't even realise they are using algebra. If you need to calculate the return on investment for an expense or justifying the need for a diesel vehicle over petrol, you need algebra. Yes these examples are not suitable for school but more suitable examples for real world issues can be found.

STEM cannot be learnt , it has to be experienced and understood so its principles can be applied. There should be a shift in the education from learning to calculate the square root of a number to why it needs to be calculated and what practical problems it can solve, the actual calculation can be done by computers.

STEM education is best done with an element of fun and games, so it keeps the students interested. Schools also need to do a lot of mentoring with the students and show them the importance of STEM education. Various studies have also shown that STEM education encourages the brain to innovate. So by encouraging STEM education we also hope to encourage students to push innovation.

A lot of the quality of education imparted is dependant on the quality of teachers, so if the teacher professional development becomes an important issue then it will have a direct impact on the students. The kind of teacher the student has usually has a major influence on the subjects the student chooses later in life and therefore the career. A students lack of interest in a particular subject or immense interest in another subject usually points to what the student feels about the teacher of that subject.

Getting the right teachers to be able to teach the STEM subjects and also be inspirational enough for the students to fall in love with the subjects is vital. A good STEM student will make a great STEM teacher so we should try and get some of the STEM graduates to become teachers even if for a temporary period.

Parents also need to be roped in and if they also become believers in the need for STEM education then their influence on the students is going to be vital. One of the challenges in imparting STEM education is to be able to convince people of the importance of STEM for everyone and not just science students.

Due to a very poor rating in the PISA study, we need to give extra emphasis to these subjects so our nation remains competitive in a global scenario. STEM promotes research and development and as a nation we need to push that to create innovation and intellectual property which is something we severely lack as a country.

There is a huge need for professionals in the STEM based careers so it highly likely for someone with a good STEM education to land a job as against one who doesn't. Career growth is also faster in STEM based jobs which are also usually higher paying than non STEM based jobs. Most of the fastest growing industries are those that require STEM based skills in their employees. So a focussed STEM push will help reduce the unemployment in the country and boost the economy.

Regardless of the careers picked by students in the future, STEM education promotes analytical thinking and problem solving for real world issues, it helps one understand the world around us. For example in the rural environment people are more likely to build proper toilet facilities if they understand hygiene and how it effects the human body. Science education also encourages the use of medicines and reduces the belief of superstitions.

There is barely any avenue left where technology has not penetrated. The use of technology has become a basic need. Private sector aside, even to avail of government schemes most of the information is disbursed electronically and also the transaction process is gradually becoming electronic.

Todays children think and learn differently, we cannot use the same teaching methods and infrastructure of yesterday to be effective and relevant. So the biggest challenge is to overhaul our entire education system to be able to teach the learners of today and tomorrow.

Just my 4 cents.

 

 

When i was app-spired

Appspiration , is that a word ? If it is, it should mean inspired by an app.

I have always enjoyed tinkering around with tools and enjoyed making something. This joy has recently been put to use in order to make projects for my school going son. As the years go by, the nature of the subjects he is studying is becoming more interesting so making models out of those is a fun filled activity for me.

This year the topic was force.

Earlier in the year my company released an iPad app for science, called Xperica HD (Full disclosure : I manage the development of that app). This app features interactive experiments covering a few topics in Physics. During the development of this app, i learnt quite a bit about those topics, much more than when i was in school.

This is when i was appspired.

I decided to take one of the experiments featured in Xperica and make it into a physical model.

  The selection of the experiment was the first hurdle, any of the 10 experiments could be made into a model but would the model be interesting and meaningful ? After much deliberation, i settled on the experiment involving pulleys. The idea was to show how the use of pulleys can reduce the need for muscular force. On one hand, the model had to be made and on the other, the my son's team needed to be educated on the model so they could present it in their school.

After going over the various elements in my mind with several options, i sketched out a rough  idea as to what the model may look like. Since there were weights involved and force, i know the basic frame had to be tough. I went to a construction site i knew where wood work was going on and got a hold of one of the carpenters. With his help,i was able to make a strong rigid frame of wood that could take quite a punishment, if needed.

There were going to be 2 systems for comparison, one with a single fixed pulley and the other with one fixed and one movable pulley. The system with the movable pulley would need much lesser effort to lift the same amount of weight than the single pulley system. At least that was the theory. I myself had never expreienced a comparison of this sort. The two systems would be built side by side on my wooden frame for easy comparison. Each of the systems would have a 1 KG weight suspended on one side and the string could be pulled to move the weight.

Next up, i cannibalised my sons mechanical modeling set to build the pulley system. Using the basic pieces it provided, i made my pulley frames and fitted them on the wooden frame. Next up was the acid test, would the double pulley system actually feel lighter on the load ? Absolutely :) . While pulling the two strings you could certainly feel the double pulley system had a major advantage.

But how could i make this even clearer and visible ?

I decided to attach spring scales to each of the pulley systems so one could visibly make out the force applied on each. Finding spring scales was another matter. After a couple of days of searching both on the real world and on Google, i found a vendor who dealt in wholesale supplies of scales including spring scales. But i wanted only 2. After some explaining and cajoling on the phone i managed to convince them to sell me just the 2. Although they were located in a different city from me, it wasnt too far. Without wasting any time, i dashed to their warehouse location and picked up my scales :).

Once i got back home, i attached them to my model and was thrilled to see the double pulley system was using almost half the force and the single pulley system. Mission accomplished.

 

Why i think the iPad will be a game changer in the classroom ...

I have seen from up close the introduction of computing into the classroom, for most schools this means handing out laptops to the students. And while i lectured on the usage of technology, i found that the problems with having laptops in the classrooms far outweighed the advantages. The end result was that the laptops really didn't add any value to the classroom. I must point out that i am talking from an Indian context and the classrooms of higher education institutions.

I honestly feel the iPad will change how the classroom computing game is played world over. And Apple who used to call themselves the largest education company, are going to position this product so. This is also evident from the education targeted multiple iPad packs which have also been announced.

Many of the students who enter higher education institutions are handed a laptop as part of their educational material, most have never owned a laptop before and many are not properly IT literate. As a result a large part of their productive day is spent in 'managing' this new tool. I used to see frustrated students trying to cope with malware, software updates, connectivity issues,configuration problems and general usage issues. The seemingly simple task of connecting to the campus wireless network could be considered herculean when one doesn't understand all the different options and settings. The IT support staff were doing more re-installs of operating systems than anything else during their work days. This issue was also the same for the faculty and non teaching staff, all dealing with usage issues and not really spending all their time on the work they were supposed to do.

I have been using an iPhone for a few months now and i see what that platform brings. Following with the keeping it simple and stupid philosophy, the high technology is hidden behind a clever and very intuitive interface. This interface magnified becomes the iPad. The touchscreen interface makes the performing of various computing tasks very simple. The lack of too many configuration options don't confuse the user who can concentrate on doing the job at hand and not worry about the settings. Something that remains to be seen is how effective the new touch version of the iWork suite will be for the various tasks a student needs to perform. I am certainly sounding like an Apple fanboy here but as a user, i find that things just work. Small apps are basically widgets that don't have the complexity of standard software and are focused on performing various tasks. Keeping the single tasking approach, Apple has also reduced the instability of an operating system. This however is a much debated topic and it is rumored that they will finally start some sort of multitasking ability in their OS this summer.

Usually the people in the know would say that one should stay away from first generation Apple products as they have kinks that need to be worked out, i kind of agree with that. The iPad however is not first generation. Yes the processor is new but the general hardware is from the hugely successful iPod/iPhone products as is the operating system.

The iPad will most certainly benefit from the success of the app store as well and while iPad specific apps will start appearing, most present apps should also work, giving the iPad a HUGE advantage through available application right out of the door. Not only do the existing apps make life simpler but the framework allows developers to create apps much more easily than regular applications. I wont be surprised to see schools coming out with their own specific apps that combine various school specific information into a easy to use app, not to mention the communication capabilities and syncing of school calendars. This would be a major factor working on the side of the iPad when competing with other tablets.

The pricing of the iPad also, i feel, may be right for mass adoption in the classroom with the lowest end model selling for $499 in USA and i am sure there will be education discounts. The Indian pricing has yet to be announced but with the duties and various resellers involved it will be much higher. The iPad will be certainly easier for schools to manage and support and the need for support personnel will be much lower providing a lower total cost of ownership than laptops.

Books can be finally made in electronic form and should be cheaper than the printed books, the environmental impact of not using paper is an added bonus. Converged books seem to be more possible with images or videos embedded into the text. Book updates can finally be handed down to the students. Books could also be combined with activities and exercises at the end of any topic to reinforce the learning. Virtual labs could be made as apps and allow students to perform experiments either on their own or collectively by connecting multiple iPads together.Tests could be taken right on the iPad and the results available in minutes. With the ability to receive background updates the students can be kept informed of various information the school wants to disseminate. The ebook reader is limited in its scope while the iPad brings ebooks along with all the other functionality, making it a much better equipped computing product. The younger generation is more in tune with using electronics and i think they will be far more open to reading on a screen as opposed to picking up a book, this hopefully will get the youngsters to read more, which is becoming somewhat of a lost activity.

I can see iPad docks built into table in classrooms and libraries where students can simply place their iPads and work. Combine the iPad with a nano projector and you have a portable teaching tool that can be used either in a classroom or out of it. In India it can serve as an inexpensive community teaching tool.

I would also combine the classroom iPad with bump technologies solutions. Think about it, students can simply bump their iPads with the teachers iPad and their homework or reports gets downloaded into the teachers iPad. Students could also bump their iPads with a central computer (which also supports the bum technology ofcourse) and get all their schedules and any updates.

The iPad is certainly more mobile than a notebook or laptop computer and offers much the same usage while bettering the phone in size and battery. As the Apple has positioned it, right in between the phone and the laptop.The form factor is also great, the screen is decent enough to be able to read out of and the on screen keyboard will be easier to type on as compared to the tiny one on the iphone. It can slip into any bag without trouble, ofcourse in a protective casing. If Apple could create a control panel for administrators to manage multiple devices like the Blackberry Enterprise Server it will allow schools to control the content on the apps, which can be set free once the students leaves the school.

The problems i foresee are to do with the pricing and issues of theft and breakage.

So is the iPad the gun in a knife fight ? Are the days of physical books in the classroom numbered ? That remains to be seen but i am betting on a huge presence of iPads in classrooms.

Connected Media Nirvana ... finally ...

(This is a big one, so get a drink, a snack and strap in ...)

Ever since i can remember, i have loved the idea of a connected home. Various services available all over the house for a wonderful deeply satisfying experience. I have had a wired plus wireless network at my house for many years now and have experimented with various setups in my quest for seamless media availability. I have had my share of lemons but i think i have finally found my peace. For video that has come with the Popcorn Hour A-110 and recently for audio i have found it with Sonos. I will write about my popcorn hour experience at a later date but this time its all about the Sonos. While the popcorn hour is more of a geek product that needs tinkering, the Sonos system is really for the normal consumer.

I have been eyeing the Sonos products for a couple of years now and the delay in taking the plunge has been mostly economic as they they certainly arent cheap (both in price and quality). Finally this month i was able to jump on the Sonos bandwagon and setup a 2 zone system at my house.

A small description of what a connected audio system is before i continue with my experience. A connected audio system is one which has capabilities of connecting with a wired or wireless home/office network in order to access content that is available on the network or to access the internet and take advantage of the many content services available there. There are many connected systems in the market and each tries to bring their own uniqueness to the solution.

Sonos does it by making good quality products that work well and are a cinch to setup. That is certainly a very important factor for success, many systems out there make the setup overly complicated and as a result consumers shy away from them, they end up with the techie users who can mess with the setup. The majority of the consumers however would like something thats truly plug and play, especially on the higher end of the scale. The experience i had with the Sonos has been amongst the easiest setup ever, probably one step away from switch on and go.

Sonos is a multi zone system, meaning you can define different rooms/areas as different zones and can manage them independently. You can then either play separate music in the different zones or you can group them to play the same audio in the entire group. Something that works very well when you have a party or something, all your zones could be playing the same music. I chose to setup a 2 zone system, one for my living room and the other in the formal drawing/dining room. The way the Sonos works is that at-least 1 unit needs to be plugged into your network if you want to access media thats on your network or the internet. The rest of the sonos equipment sets up an independent wireless network of its own for communicating between themselves. I could have chosen to keep my system out of my network but that would have defeated the whole purpose.
Neither of the rooms i chose had ethernet connectivity so i had to also get an other unit that could be plugged into my wired network which was in a different room. For this purpose Sonos also makes a unit called a Zonebridge, which solely works as a bridge between your wired network and the Sonos wireless network. In other words it lets the entire Sonos system access your wired network. The Zonebridge has no player capabilities so its cheaper than the others and also it can be concealed out of sight, its listed at $99.

For the players, Sonos makes 2 types, the Zoneplayer 90 and the 120. The difference in the two being that the 120 has a built in amplifier and the 90 does not. The 90 is meant for rooms where you either already have a music system or plan to get a complete audio setup. The 90 then simply sends the audio to your setup through a standard RCA connectivity or through an optical/digital jack. The 120 is meant to be a separate unit where you can simply connect speakers directly to it and you are good to go. You can connect upto 4 speakers to the 120 and those are driven by the built in amp. This means that the 120 is also more expensive than the 90, the list price for the 120 is $499 while the 90 is for $349. I picked the Zoneplayer 90 for both my zones as i had independent music systems in both zones. In my living room i had just installed a Yamaha Soundbar YAS-71 as i wanted something sleek and compact. While in the formal drawing room i had a Bose Lifestyle 25 system. The Yamaha soundbar is a great unit for rooms where you don't want an elaborate setup, it plays a simulated surround sound through one long bar that has multiple speakers in it and a separate subwoofer. One of the Zoneplayers is connected to this through an optical cable. The Bose system has a non functional CD player so i needed something to play audio through it and the zoneplayer 90 fit the bill perfectly. Its connected through a standard RCA audio cable that comes with the Sonos. Its important to mention here that the Sonos equipment is dual voltage so while it was purchased in the US where the standard voltage is 110 volts, it auto switches to the Indian 220 volts (rather 90-300 so a stabilizer is needed).

As i mentioned earlier the install is super easy, you simply launch the included software application on your computer (both Windows and Mac are supported), press a button on the Zonebridge/Player and in a few seconds it becomes part of your Sonos network and you can access it from the software. For any technology product targeted towards general consumers, to succeed it needs to be built with the age old KISS principle (Keep It Simple and Stupid) and Sonos has done that perfectly and with great sophistication. One of the first things i did was to rename the zones to correspond with where they were placed, for easy usage. So one is called "Lobby" and one is called "Drawing Room". Sonos lets you setup and manage upto 32 zones, i must remember that when i win the lottery :). So with my zones setup i needed to provide them with audio sources. Again this is done very easily either through the remote (which i will cover below) or through the Sonos desktop application. I use a network attached storage unit from Buffalo to store my audio and i was able to add its shared folder to the Sonos media library. It starts to scan the folder right away to build the details into its library. I don't like it when applications or products decide they can do a better job than you in organizing media (i am talking about you itunes grrr.) and i like to keep my media in my own folder structure that makes it easy for me to find my media. I was very happy to find that amongst the standard listings like Album, Artist, Genre, the Sonos also lists my music by the folder structure it lies in. This in my mind is a HUGE deal and i am able to use my media just like how i want it. Next come online media services like Rhapsody (which is not available in India), Napster, Sirius, Last.fm, Pandora etc for which you need internet connectivity on your network. These are all paid services (last.fm and pandora are free though) and you really don't need to subscribe to these if you don't want to. You get another feature that makes your media library almost unlimited, the online radio. Sonos has partnered with Radio Time, a service that gives you an unbelievable 25,000 radio stations to choose from and stream to your Sonos player. It also has many local radio stations so you could be listening to local radio from different countries and cities. Not only that, you can add your own favorite stations to the list and listen away in any of your zones :). I did get Sirius and i will talk about that in a future post.

Now we come to the control. The Sonos system can be controlled in various ways, the easiest and the one that comes with the system is the desktop application. It covers both Windows PCs and Macs and offers almost the same experience between the two. I use both types of computers at home and the application is very well built and easy to use. Full points to the Sonos user experience team. You can install the application in more than one computer and not only will it let you control each zone, it also tells you what is currently playing in each. The next kind of controller is another software based one, its an ipod app. Available free from the Apple itunes store, it can be installed on an ipod touch or an iphone for a fantastic experience in controlling your Sonos system. Kudos to Sonos for making this excellent app available free, they realize their money is coming from the systems and apps like these given free are adding to the users joy and control in using their system. Finally, the best way in my opinion to access the Sonos system is to use a hardware remote. They had a great remote the CR 100 which was easy to use and very powerful but they recently added the CR 200 which really raises the bar to a whole new level. Learning from the ipod app experience they created a touch screen remote which has a brilliant large screen and you can control each part of the Sonos system with the flick or touch of a finger. It connects to the network wirelessly and really uses the screen real estate and touch control very effectively. It has a user replaceable rechargeable battery and comes with a dock where it charges. It kinda looks something like an ipod sitting in its dock and thats what people think it is. Then you pick it up and it comes to life, it has a motion sensor built in :). I can go on and on about the remote but i will cease here and say that it has to be one of the most brilliantly crafted controllers i have seen for ANY product. High quality in its build and in its user interface.

So i will end here and say again that anyone looking for a connected audio experience would find it hard to find a product as well made as the Sonos. I didn't get into finer detail like the fact that all Sonos equipment has built in 2 port ethernet switches, while it may seam pointless to some, it is a life saver where you have only one cable which is already being used for something else. I must also add here that they have a great website which offers tons of information before you buy anything. The manuals that accompany the products are paper manuals that are very high quality, something you would expect from a costly electronic product. The hardware itself is beautifully finished and gives the feeling of a high end product. The Sonos support is also supposed to be great though thankfully i haven't needed it so far :).

The long but fun weekend ...

The last weekend was an especially long but interesting one. Man, i am such a geek :) . I was able to get some pending technology fixes out of the way. I had a Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB hard disk sitting and smiling at me on a shelf for a couple of days now. That was destined for my gaming rig, which was at that time running a Seagate Barracuda 250gb that came with the PC. Needless to say, i was running out of space and hence the hard disk upgrade was necessitated. On friday evening i cracked open the gaming rig and installed the new disk, installed Windows XP and copied some of the data from my old hard disk before removing it from the PC, this took me to Saturday.

This older hard disk then went through partition magic to clean it up and was going into my download rig when i came upon a hurdle. My download rig (aka old gaming rig) has an older PSU which doesn't have SATA power connectors. There was another SATA hard disk in there, which was using a molex to sata power convertor and this was something i had forgotten. So this upgrade was going to have to wait as i looked high and low in my den but i wasn't able to find a suitable cable amongst a myriad of cable collections. The next day being Sunday i was again with my hands tied behind my back as i was not going to be able to find a cable on that day, oh i miss Fry's :( . So this upgrade was going to have to wait.

A third upgrade that was also going to happen this weekend was that my Macbook Pro was getting Snow Leopard. I had the dvd in hand since the day it was launched but i was waiting for a replacement hard disk. My macbook pro had a 200 gb Hitachi 7200rpm disk which was full. In any case, i like installing fresh operating systems after cleaning up the disk and this being my primary machine i didn't want to take any chances with the data backup. So while i had a full time machine backup i wanted to keep this hard disk as it is, plus it was creaking at the seams. I needed a bigger disk. I had been researching for a suitable disk the last couple of days and had run into the familiar choice conundrum , speed vs space. I could get a 320 gb 7200 rpm disk for about the same price as a 500 gb 5400 rpm disk, 500 gb 7200 rpm drives are still expensive and not that easy to find in Delhi. So i pondered over my priorities, is the little increase in speed enough to forgo 180 gb ? After an unreasonable amount of time i finally made up my mind, i would rather take the increase in space over the speed. I chose a Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500 gb and ordered it online. That drive also came in on Saturday, so while my download rig had to wait for an upgrade, i could work on my macbook.

I visited a number of websites explaining the upgrade procedure and then saw the wonderful video at OWC (Other World Computing). The OWC videos are a great resource for any mac user wanting to get into the hardware. Very well detailed and the narration was also excellent, a must see for all mac users . So i laid out the tools and got set to operate. I have done many hdd upgrades in the past but i have to say none have been this complex and painstaking. 4 different screw types and about 20 in all, most so tiny they are a hard to handle. Its almost like Apple doesn't want people to open up their laptops :). Anyway, i broke into the laptop and was able to replace the hard disk without too much trouble. Put the case back together, and wow i still had all the screws where i left them :). So with the laptop back together i started installing Snow Leopard (OS 10.6) which took about 45 mins in all before i booted into the newly setup machine. I placed my older hard disk in a USB enclosure so i could copy stuff across to the new system. Next i set about reinstalling all my application, finding all my serials/keys in my email etc, not the best time. It also showed me what my priorities were, LOL! first installed Mozilla Thunderbird and next was Tweetdeck which i must add, is fast becoming one of my favorite apps. Another advantage of making an external storage device out of my old hard disk was that i could selectively copy stuff as i needed it. That leaves out a lot of stuff i had installed on my older hard disk, keeping my new one clean and fresh at-least for now (why does that sentence sound like an ad for womanly products ?) . Copying some of the preference files and settings over from the old however turned out be quite a task. Anyway, monday morning i had my Macbook all ready for action :).

So, coming back to my download rig, on Monday i visited the mecca of IT components in Delhi, Nehru Place. After jostling through the crowds and visiting about 10 shops, i had my cable, actually 3 cables. I bought them from different shops as i wanted to be sure at-least one works. I didn't want to go back for a cable that was cheaper than the amount of fuel i would burn by going back and forth. With the cable in hand, that evening i installed the hard disk in my download rig and install Ubuntu 9.04 and now with Azureus running 24x7 again , i am at full productive capacity :).

Now that was a fun weekend.

T'was a dark stormy night, there was a car and there was a PC

Ok so it wasn't night, and the day wasn't stormy either. Earlier this year i was able to bring together 2 of my interests, cars and computers. Well there was a third interest too, food was involved but that is involved anyway :). This time the food involved was the amazing Barra Kababs of the famed Khalsa dhaba, which is quite literally world famous in that part of delhi :) (west). Coming back to the other 2 interests, i installed a PC in my car. Many people said why and i didn't really have an answer, i guess there really isn't any way to justify it. Its just something i decided to do and i managed to do it. It took months of meticulous planning, procuring and most importantly finding the right team for installation. I was lucky to find some people who were just as detail oriented as i was and i was extremely happy to find someone who actually knew what they were doing. Most shops in Delhi are focussed on LOUD music and they have no clue about the various settings on an amplifier. The people who did the installation also installed a great sound system to complement, and i must admit it was an eye opening experience in itself. I felt the usual mass market brands like Sony, Pioneer etc were all we had in India but i was very wrong. India has a growing market for niche or high end audio products and i somehow managed to connect with the right people.

The PC is a regular windows xp computer except that its a small form factor. That is to make it fit in the small spaces within a car while keeping the heat level low and also utilizing less power. Procuring all the items for the system were indeed troublesome and almost everything had to be imported right down to the quick connect clips.

I wanted the look to be as factory finished as possible and not just something that seems stuck on the dash. This meant i would have to fabricate a custom dash, which i did on my own :). In the end the entire project was extremely satisfying. The interface is Centrafuse that operates like a high end media interface and with my custom skin it seems like it came with the car. The GPS works great and people cant believe its actually working here in India, well its all in the maps actually. What doesn't work is the guidance as the process of finding an address is very cumbersome. The software looks for a street address and in India we have colony or locality address and street addresses are very few. The audio video works great and thanks to my great sound system its a very nice experience. My phone is linked with it using bluetooth and works just fine. I also installed a rear view camera with sensors so it shows me obstacles at the back with the distance. Here are some pictures of the system in action.

This is only a snapshot of the full system, full details of the build can be seen in my thread on Team BHP   the pictures start on page 7.

Loss of RAM causes loss of secrets ???

Ok this one just left me dumbfounded. Saw a new newspaper at home , one of those evening news variety called Mail Today and thought, great some new reading material for the next visit to the John. Which surprisingly, wasnt very long after. I glanced upon this article which had the taint of cyber crime. One of the ministers of the cabinet had the RAM allegedly stolen from her official computer. The police are investigation the importance of the data loss. RAM yes you read right RAM was missing and along with it all our national secrets are probably in enemy hands now. Come on people, if you want to write stories on technical matters atleast get them whetted by someone in the know. I mean come and attend my classes, one of the first things i talk about is ROM and RAM.