A village in northern Austria, worried by its dwindling population, is offering free land to all who pledge to start a family in a decade.
Plots of 800 and 900 square metres (8,611 to 9,687 square feet) are up for grabs at Rappottenstein, near the Czech border, to both singles and married couples who pledge to have at least one child in the next 10 years.
Singles also have to get married. Other conditions stipulate that the new owners have to build a house on the plot in three years. If the conditions are not fulfilled, the owners will have to pay 12,000 euros (15,163 dollars).
The commune where the village is located is home to only 1,760 people.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
2009 sees Friday the 13th occurring in two months in a row after 11yrs
For the first time in 11 years, 2009 registered Friday the 13th falling in two consecutive months-February and March.
And what's more, the double whammy can only occur in certain non-leap years and only in a February-March combination.
In fact, one can look for another of the Friday the 13th combo in 2015. If this wasn't enough, the double threat isn't the only Friday the 13th claim to infamy for 2009, a particularly tough year for superstitious minds.
The ominous date falls on three Fridays this year: February 13; this Friday, March 13; and again on November 13.
However, three Friday the 13ths in one year is the maximum it can get, at least until we follow the Gregorian calendar, which Pope Gregory XIII ordered the Catholic Church to adopt in 1582.
"You can't have any [years] with none and you can't have any with four because of our funny calendar," National Geographic News quoted Underwood Dudley, a professor emeritus of mathematics at DePauw University in Greencastle, as saying.
The calendar works just as its predecessor the Julian calendar did, with a leap year every four years.
But the Gregorian calendar skips leap year on century years except those divisible by 400.
For example, there was no leap year in 1900 but one was observed in 2000. This trick keeps the calendar in tune with the seasons.
Thus, Dudley noted that we have an ordering of days and dates that repeats itself every 400 years.
And in this order, some years such as 2009 appear with three Friday the 13ths. Other years have two or one.
"It's just that curious way our calendar is constructed, with 28 days in February and all those 30s and 31s," said Dudley.
And there's one more revelation with the 400-year order in practice: The 13th falls on Friday more often than any other day of the week.
"It's just a funny coincidence," said Dudley.
Richard Beveridge, a mathematics instructor at Clatsop Community College in Oregon, authored a 2003 paper in the journal Mathematical Connections on the mathematics of Friday the 13th.
He noted the 400-year cycle is further broken down into periods of either 28 or 40 years.
"At the end of every cycle you get a year with three Friday the 13ths the year before the last year in the cycle ... and you also get one on the tenth year of all the cycles," he said.
Two thousand nine is the tenth year of the cycle that started in 2000.
And what's more, the double whammy can only occur in certain non-leap years and only in a February-March combination.
In fact, one can look for another of the Friday the 13th combo in 2015. If this wasn't enough, the double threat isn't the only Friday the 13th claim to infamy for 2009, a particularly tough year for superstitious minds.
The ominous date falls on three Fridays this year: February 13; this Friday, March 13; and again on November 13.
However, three Friday the 13ths in one year is the maximum it can get, at least until we follow the Gregorian calendar, which Pope Gregory XIII ordered the Catholic Church to adopt in 1582.
"You can't have any [years] with none and you can't have any with four because of our funny calendar," National Geographic News quoted Underwood Dudley, a professor emeritus of mathematics at DePauw University in Greencastle, as saying.
The calendar works just as its predecessor the Julian calendar did, with a leap year every four years.
But the Gregorian calendar skips leap year on century years except those divisible by 400.
For example, there was no leap year in 1900 but one was observed in 2000. This trick keeps the calendar in tune with the seasons.
Thus, Dudley noted that we have an ordering of days and dates that repeats itself every 400 years.
And in this order, some years such as 2009 appear with three Friday the 13ths. Other years have two or one.
"It's just that curious way our calendar is constructed, with 28 days in February and all those 30s and 31s," said Dudley.
And there's one more revelation with the 400-year order in practice: The 13th falls on Friday more often than any other day of the week.
"It's just a funny coincidence," said Dudley.
Richard Beveridge, a mathematics instructor at Clatsop Community College in Oregon, authored a 2003 paper in the journal Mathematical Connections on the mathematics of Friday the 13th.
He noted the 400-year cycle is further broken down into periods of either 28 or 40 years.
"At the end of every cycle you get a year with three Friday the 13ths the year before the last year in the cycle ... and you also get one on the tenth year of all the cycles," he said.
Two thousand nine is the tenth year of the cycle that started in 2000.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Wishing you a very happy Holi...
Best wishes on the occasion of the Festival of Colours. Have a great day!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Tibet's silent spring
Losar, the ongoing Tibetan New Year, is likely to herald a silent spring. There will be none of the festivities that greet the arrival of spring that marks the most important holiday in the Tibetan calendar.
This year has seen Tibetans depart from tradition and mark the day by mourning those dead in the protests last March. By observing Black Losar, they will also be mourning Tibet's rapidly degrading environment which has brought increased socio-economic vulnerability in its wake.
There is growing social angst that, if left unchecked, there could soon be no spring left to celebrate.
For their part, many in Beijing may well wonder what the fuss is all about. After all, Tibet has been very much the poster child of China's Western Development Strategy. The policy was unveiled in the mid-'90s to make amends for regional disparities seen as "an eagle spreading only one wing for flight".
The strategy has been a fairly uncomplicated mix-and-stir model of development with an enormous infusion of funds to fast-track the region's growth. Huge subsidies and investments have poured in, transforming Tibet's skyline with gleaming engineering marvels. The Tibetan economy has posted double-digit growth rates for several years in a row. In short, an in-your-face prosperity that Beijing thought was guaranteed to end all debate.
Ironically, it has only started a raging debate on prosperity and its discontents.
Its all-consuming obsession with growth has meant that China's contributions to global warming are today as massive as those to the global economy. Chinese scientists have long warned that Tibet is warming up faster than any other part of the world. Rising temperatures on the plateau will melt glaciers, dry up rivers and set off droughts, floods and desertification. Tibet has also seen a relentless surge in footfall with four million tourists in 2007, outnumbering the local population of 2.8 million and overwhelming its fragile environment.
These ecological footprints are fast enveloping areas of North China; those have borne the brunt of powerful sandstorms, with one such storm depositing Beijing with 330,000 tonnes of sand in 2006. The same year also saw one of the worst droughts in over 50 years, leaving 10 million people without access to drinking water.
It remains to be seen if policy can be sensitised to securing the acceptance of local communities for resource development activities. This will essentially mean acknowledging that conservation and sustainable livelihoods of local people are inseparable.
Some of these questions will also bring with them an eerie sense of deja vu, particularly given that India's Northeast is also negotiating many of these challenges. Many large projects are being planned in areas that are traditionally revered as sacred landscapes and groves.
These concerns were brought out starkly, for instance, when China built a 108 km-long highway to the Mt Everest base camp last year to cut an easy trail for tourists and mountaineers. For the Tibetans, such acts defile the sanctity of sacred landscapes that need to be always preserved since "man should not walk in the house of a god".
Thus development projects that are seen as coming at the cost of traditions have little cultural resonance with communities.
If handled well, these debates can help define sustainable resource use patterns and the limits of acceptable use. It is true that, while there is deep resistance to accepting any curbs on growth, there is an emerging consensus on the severe extent of environmental degradation. China has set itself a number of ambitious environmental targets for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010). President Hu Jintao also called for a policy reprioritisation when he recently noted, "Development and conservation are equally important - and conservation should be put first." Environmental NGOs such as Friends of Nature and Green Watershed are expanding a small but growing organisational space to engage the state on the issue of environmental protection.
No less significant was the recent decision taken to scale down proposed dams on the Nu River from 13 to 4 in the face of a highly organised campaign led by local farmers and environmental campaigners. New literature coming out of China, such as Cao Jinqing's China along the Yellow River and The Blue Book brought out by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also makes compelling reading, especially for the increasingly frank treatment of complex social pressures.
Losar and its larger subtext of environmental degradation hold the mirror up to China's future. If China is prepared to look in that mirror, Losar could be a metaphor for beginning a bold new conversation on change and sustainability while there is still time. If not, Rachel Carson's chilling warning of "a spring without voices" will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The Tibetan New Year may indeed be less a time to celebrate than a time to reflect and unlearn.
1 in 5 Brit kids have imaginary friends
One in five young British children have imaginary friends, says a new study.
What's more, nearly half of the kids take part in make-believe games every day, the BBC study, together with parenting skills expert Dr Pat Spungin, found.
To reach the conclusion, the research team examined the lives of children in 1,446 UK homes and looked at how often they engaged in imaginative activity.
One in five children have an imaginary friend with 62 per cent being girls aged between three and five, reports The Telegraph.
When parents were quizzed about the "kind" of imaginary pal their child had, most pointed to them as other little boys or girls, some parents thought their child had fantasy pets or characters from fiction and many attributed their child's alter-ego to an entirely made up creature.
A total of 43 per cent of children play at make-believe every day according to the report and girls were found to be "more imaginative" on a daily basis than boys.
Experience-based activities such as school, house and shop are top of the list of favourite make-believe games with imaginary fictional characters like princesses and superheroes a close second.
Dr Spungin said: "There are lots of psychological reasons why children play make believe. In games like 'house' and 'shop' children are practicing the adult roles they will eventually play and parents are often shocked to hear how closely their children imitate them.
"Wanting to playact princesses and superheroes is more aspirational; it's about having a bit of the power and glamour of the adult world."
The research was commissioned for the DVD launch of BBC children's series Charlie and Lola.
What's more, nearly half of the kids take part in make-believe games every day, the BBC study, together with parenting skills expert Dr Pat Spungin, found.
To reach the conclusion, the research team examined the lives of children in 1,446 UK homes and looked at how often they engaged in imaginative activity.
One in five children have an imaginary friend with 62 per cent being girls aged between three and five, reports The Telegraph.
When parents were quizzed about the "kind" of imaginary pal their child had, most pointed to them as other little boys or girls, some parents thought their child had fantasy pets or characters from fiction and many attributed their child's alter-ego to an entirely made up creature.
A total of 43 per cent of children play at make-believe every day according to the report and girls were found to be "more imaginative" on a daily basis than boys.
Experience-based activities such as school, house and shop are top of the list of favourite make-believe games with imaginary fictional characters like princesses and superheroes a close second.
Dr Spungin said: "There are lots of psychological reasons why children play make believe. In games like 'house' and 'shop' children are practicing the adult roles they will eventually play and parents are often shocked to hear how closely their children imitate them.
"Wanting to playact princesses and superheroes is more aspirational; it's about having a bit of the power and glamour of the adult world."
The research was commissioned for the DVD launch of BBC children's series Charlie and Lola.
Monday, February 23, 2009
A R Rahman Wins Two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire
Music director A R Rahman created history after he became first Indian to win two Oscars for the film Slumdog Millionaire at the 81st Academy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles last night.
Rahman made the country proud by winning in the categories for best original score and best original song Jai Ho.
Earlier, he became the first Indian to win the British Academy (Bafta) Awards in the music category.
Rahman also won the Golden Globe Award for Slumdog Millionaire.
The film Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle had a sweeping victory at the awards ceremony after it won eight Oscars out of 10 nominations.
The categories in which Slumdog Millionaire won the coveted award include best picture, best direction, best original score, best original song, best sound mixing, best film editing, best adapted screenplay and best cinematography.
It was an historic moment for another Indian Resul Pookutty as he won an Oscar for best sound mixing. He shared the trophy with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.
Slumdog Millionaire is a story of Mumbai-based boy's journey from rags to riches by winning a game show.
Earlier, the film won prestigious Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy (Bafta) Awards and Critic's Choice Award in California.
Rahman made the country proud by winning in the categories for best original score and best original song Jai Ho.
Earlier, he became the first Indian to win the British Academy (Bafta) Awards in the music category.
Rahman also won the Golden Globe Award for Slumdog Millionaire.
The film Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle had a sweeping victory at the awards ceremony after it won eight Oscars out of 10 nominations.
The categories in which Slumdog Millionaire won the coveted award include best picture, best direction, best original score, best original song, best sound mixing, best film editing, best adapted screenplay and best cinematography.
It was an historic moment for another Indian Resul Pookutty as he won an Oscar for best sound mixing. He shared the trophy with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.
Slumdog Millionaire is a story of Mumbai-based boy's journey from rags to riches by winning a game show.
Earlier, the film won prestigious Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy (Bafta) Awards and Critic's Choice Award in California.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Three India themed films in race for the Oscars...
Courtesy...
'Slumdog Millionaire', 'The Final Inch', 'Smile Pinki'... in a first, three India themed films up for the Oscars, and all three dealing with poverty and disease!
India's poverty is under the global spotlight as never before with the blockbuster 'Slumdog Millionaire', tracing the rags to riches story of a slum boy, and the two documentaries, 'The Final Inch' focusing on the country's battle with polio and 'Smile Pinki' about a young child who can't get a cleft lip surgery because she is too poor.
The Oscars will be announced Sunday night (Monday morning in India).
According to a government survey, about 65 million Indians live in slums and out of them about 42 million live in city slums.
British filmmaker Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' highlights the pain and misery of this section. He set his story in Mumbai's teeming slums in Nehru Nagar and nearby Dharavi, which is home to more than a million people and is the largest slum in Asia.
Based on Indian diplomat Vikas swarup's novel 'Q & A', 'Slumdog Millionaire' is about an impoverished teaboy who wins a multimillion rupee quiz show. The director has, however, woven hope and romance in his otherwise grim narrative.
The film was lauded in the West and grossed more than $100 million. It bagged seven British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards and four Golden Globes.
But Boyle's film has been criticised by some in India for showing only the ugly side of the country and concentrating on its grinding poverty.
Another film with an Indian theme in the Oscar nomination list is American filmmaker Megan Mylan's short documentary 'Smile Pinki'.
The documentary is the heartwarming tale of a poor village girl called Pinki whose cleft lip made her a social outcast, till her life changed after a meeting with a social worker.
Unlike 'Slumdog Millionaire', Mylan's work didn't bag headlines but there is a similarity between the two films - they are both about hope and end on a happy note.
Mylan says the happy ending inspired her to show Pinki's story.
'As a filmmaker who focuses on social issue documentaries, it is rare that I get into a film knowing we're likely to have a happy ending. So, I was excited to tell the story of this beautiful hospital and a team of doctors and social workers treating their patients with such compassion and quality care and making a positive impact,' says Mylan.
This is the fourth documentary Mylan has produced - her first with an Indian theme, and her maiden Academy Award nomination has followed.
Another Oscar nominee, 'The Final Inch' by American documentary makers Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant, is based in India too. It is about health workers travelling throughout Uttar Pradesh, urging parents to vaccinate their children against polio.
'The documentary revolves around the fact that in spite of a good polio campaign, which has really worked, we still haven't been able to eradicate polio. The areas targeted in the film are Meerut and the whole of Uttar Pradesh,' said Mohammad Gulzar Saifihe, a polio-affected man who features in the documentary.
This is not the first time that India's impoverished section is being highlighted at the Oscars.
Veteran Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Academy Award, was criticised by Nargis for 'selling Indian poverty abroad to win awards'.
Ray's masterpieces include the 'Apu' trilogy, 'Ashani Sanket', 'Jana Aranya', 'Mahanagar' and 'Pratidwandi'.
'Slumdog Millionaire', 'The Final Inch', 'Smile Pinki'... in a first, three India themed films up for the Oscars, and all three dealing with poverty and disease!
India's poverty is under the global spotlight as never before with the blockbuster 'Slumdog Millionaire', tracing the rags to riches story of a slum boy, and the two documentaries, 'The Final Inch' focusing on the country's battle with polio and 'Smile Pinki' about a young child who can't get a cleft lip surgery because she is too poor.
The Oscars will be announced Sunday night (Monday morning in India).
According to a government survey, about 65 million Indians live in slums and out of them about 42 million live in city slums.
British filmmaker Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' highlights the pain and misery of this section. He set his story in Mumbai's teeming slums in Nehru Nagar and nearby Dharavi, which is home to more than a million people and is the largest slum in Asia.
Based on Indian diplomat Vikas swarup's novel 'Q & A', 'Slumdog Millionaire' is about an impoverished teaboy who wins a multimillion rupee quiz show. The director has, however, woven hope and romance in his otherwise grim narrative.
The film was lauded in the West and grossed more than $100 million. It bagged seven British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards and four Golden Globes.
But Boyle's film has been criticised by some in India for showing only the ugly side of the country and concentrating on its grinding poverty.
Another film with an Indian theme in the Oscar nomination list is American filmmaker Megan Mylan's short documentary 'Smile Pinki'.
The documentary is the heartwarming tale of a poor village girl called Pinki whose cleft lip made her a social outcast, till her life changed after a meeting with a social worker.
Unlike 'Slumdog Millionaire', Mylan's work didn't bag headlines but there is a similarity between the two films - they are both about hope and end on a happy note.
Mylan says the happy ending inspired her to show Pinki's story.
'As a filmmaker who focuses on social issue documentaries, it is rare that I get into a film knowing we're likely to have a happy ending. So, I was excited to tell the story of this beautiful hospital and a team of doctors and social workers treating their patients with such compassion and quality care and making a positive impact,' says Mylan.
This is the fourth documentary Mylan has produced - her first with an Indian theme, and her maiden Academy Award nomination has followed.
Another Oscar nominee, 'The Final Inch' by American documentary makers Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant, is based in India too. It is about health workers travelling throughout Uttar Pradesh, urging parents to vaccinate their children against polio.
'The documentary revolves around the fact that in spite of a good polio campaign, which has really worked, we still haven't been able to eradicate polio. The areas targeted in the film are Meerut and the whole of Uttar Pradesh,' said Mohammad Gulzar Saifihe, a polio-affected man who features in the documentary.
This is not the first time that India's impoverished section is being highlighted at the Oscars.
Veteran Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Academy Award, was criticised by Nargis for 'selling Indian poverty abroad to win awards'.
Ray's masterpieces include the 'Apu' trilogy, 'Ashani Sanket', 'Jana Aranya', 'Mahanagar' and 'Pratidwandi'.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Dogs hit the catwalk in New York show
Hundreds of carefully coiffed beauties hit the catwalk on February 9 before an adoring crowd in New York — and did their very best not to urinate or growl.
The Westminster Kennel Club show, the Olympics of dog beauty contests, got underway in Madison Square Garden with Bull Terriers, French Bulldogs and enormous Irish Wolf Hounds strutting their stuff.
About 2,500 dogs from some 170 breeds were competing in the two-day event culminating with the Best in Show competition late February 10.
In addition to the sell-out crowd of 20,000 at the Garden, millions are expected to watch on television and the Internet, with portions of the show broadcast live on US television.
Although the dog show has a carefully maintained veneer of old-world civility, the competition is fierce and both owners and dogs showed signs of nervousness.
Spencer, a two-year-old Bedlington Terrier about to go before the judges, quivered as his backstage handler applied last minute touches to his fleecy white coat.
"He's kind of nervous. He's quite a house pet so this is a culture shock," Megan Hof, 24, said.
Hof said the pooch, with his perfectly trimmed hair, shaven ears, and long legs, was a serious contender. "He's very white. He has to look like a lamb, which he does."
Out in the arena area of the Garden — one of the world's top venues for boxing, ice hockey and other less genteel events — judges maintained iron discipline.
"Males to the front, bitches to the back," one judge instructed as a new batch of contestants entered the pen.
The dogs were on their best behaviour, with virtually no barking, let alone any rogue cocking of hind legs.
The human element is trickier, some owners say.
"This can be a bit political to be honest," a disappointed Bill Peacy, 69, said after his friend's Irish Wolfhound Quest was beaten to the breed title.
"Just you watch the rear end on the one who did win. Just watch," Quest's owner Alic Kneavel, 61, said with a knowing wink.
Quest, who won the consolation Award of Merit, seemed oblivious to the machinations of the Irish Wolfhound world.
He folded his giant limbs, lay down, and licked thoughtfully at his paws. Maybe he was thinking of his lunch.
"He eats four to five cups of dog food, a whole can, and I give him little treats," Kneavel said. "If there's a turkey on the table, he doesn't walk away."
The Westminster dog show first took place in 1877 and attracts worldwide interest.
Judges are searching for a successor to last year's popular Best in Show winner Uno, a Beagle who became something of a celebrity with a visit to the White House, talk show appearances, and his own Facebook page.
Uno, making a star guest appearance at the New York show, is on the cusp of a potentially lucrative career.
"He's going to be put out to stud. But first he needs to settle down because when they're on the road the dogs get so stressed," said Dan Huebner, who owns the Texas ranch where Uno now lives.
The Westminster Kennel Club show, the Olympics of dog beauty contests, got underway in Madison Square Garden with Bull Terriers, French Bulldogs and enormous Irish Wolf Hounds strutting their stuff.
About 2,500 dogs from some 170 breeds were competing in the two-day event culminating with the Best in Show competition late February 10.
In addition to the sell-out crowd of 20,000 at the Garden, millions are expected to watch on television and the Internet, with portions of the show broadcast live on US television.
Although the dog show has a carefully maintained veneer of old-world civility, the competition is fierce and both owners and dogs showed signs of nervousness.
Spencer, a two-year-old Bedlington Terrier about to go before the judges, quivered as his backstage handler applied last minute touches to his fleecy white coat.
"He's kind of nervous. He's quite a house pet so this is a culture shock," Megan Hof, 24, said.
Hof said the pooch, with his perfectly trimmed hair, shaven ears, and long legs, was a serious contender. "He's very white. He has to look like a lamb, which he does."
Out in the arena area of the Garden — one of the world's top venues for boxing, ice hockey and other less genteel events — judges maintained iron discipline.
"Males to the front, bitches to the back," one judge instructed as a new batch of contestants entered the pen.
The dogs were on their best behaviour, with virtually no barking, let alone any rogue cocking of hind legs.
The human element is trickier, some owners say.
"This can be a bit political to be honest," a disappointed Bill Peacy, 69, said after his friend's Irish Wolfhound Quest was beaten to the breed title.
"Just you watch the rear end on the one who did win. Just watch," Quest's owner Alic Kneavel, 61, said with a knowing wink.
Quest, who won the consolation Award of Merit, seemed oblivious to the machinations of the Irish Wolfhound world.
He folded his giant limbs, lay down, and licked thoughtfully at his paws. Maybe he was thinking of his lunch.
"He eats four to five cups of dog food, a whole can, and I give him little treats," Kneavel said. "If there's a turkey on the table, he doesn't walk away."
The Westminster dog show first took place in 1877 and attracts worldwide interest.
Judges are searching for a successor to last year's popular Best in Show winner Uno, a Beagle who became something of a celebrity with a visit to the White House, talk show appearances, and his own Facebook page.
Uno, making a star guest appearance at the New York show, is on the cusp of a potentially lucrative career.
"He's going to be put out to stud. But first he needs to settle down because when they're on the road the dogs get so stressed," said Dan Huebner, who owns the Texas ranch where Uno now lives.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Companies look at CSR initiatives for branding in slump
New Delhi: Hurt by the global economic downturn in their operations, companies are increasingly seeking brand-building and other strategic benefits from their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, rather than straight philanthropy and charity work.
Philanthropy activities across the world are said to have taken a big hit and India is no exception, but CSR initiatives are expected to continue with some modifications here and there, experts believe.
“We feel they (CSR initiatives) would not be delayed, rather they will be modified and made more strategic as per the company core values,” global consultancy KPMG India Associate Director - Aid and Development Services - Parul Soni said.
However, philanthropy and charity-based CSR activities are likely to take a hit whereas sustainability-driven CSR initiatives would make more headway and emerge. Companies might try to use least resources for maximum branding and competitive advantage, Soni added.
Non-profit organisation SOS Children’s Villages of India, which gets contributions from corporate houses for well-being of children, also said there has been no impact of slowdown on the companies’ social benefit initiatives.
“Surprisingly, we have seen no decline in the interest of companies for CSR activities... What has been affected is the due diligence process in NGO selection,“ SOS Children’s Villages of India Dy National Director (PFR) Joygopal Podder said.
Corporates are now more cautious and selective and shortlist only NGOs with high credibility, transparency in accounting procedures and a long track record of high quality social work, Podder said.
From the corporate perspective, companies maintain that their socially-inclined activities has not be impacted by the credit crunch and they are continuing as before.
Global science products and services firm Dupont, which is a strong supporter of socially beneficial initiatives, has funded various programmes in India, which focus on improving village infrastructure, improving school and education standards for the under-privileged children.
Asked whether Dupont India would be initiating some new CSR activities this year in the midst of a global slowdown, a company spokesperson said, “our community projects are ongoing. We cannot comment on any new initiatives at this point of time.”
“I think the CSR initiatives by companies will remain constant and may be more strategically planned following the downturn in the global economy,“ Tata Capital managing director and CEO Praveen P Kadle said.
Moreover, Podder said that CSR budgets do not seem to have been hit by the current economic slowdown with trusts and foundations of MNC’s operating out of India, which are headquartered abroad, continuing to send contributions to SOS-India once they are convinced of the viability and quality impact of the project proposal that has been sent to them.
In a sharp contrast, a global survey of senior executives by advisory firm Booz & Co revealed that 40% of respondents expect ‘green´ and other corporate social responsibility initiatives to significantly slow due to the downturn.
“The pullback would be especially pronounced in transportation and energy industries, with, respectively, 51% and 47% of respondents in those industries saying CSR agendas will be delayed,” the survey pointed out.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Why some people become fat and others don't
Researchers at Imperial College London, the French National Research Institute CNRS and other international institutions have discovered three new genetic variations that increase the risk of obesity, giving new insight into the reasons why some people become fat and others don't.
They suggest that if each acted independently, these variants could be responsible for up to 50 percent of cases of severe obesity.
According to researchers, the new findings should ultimately provide the tools to predict which young children are at risk of becoming obese.
For the study, the researchers looked at the genetic makeup of obese children under six and morbidly obese adults, most of whom had been obese since childhood or adolescence, and compared this with age matched people of normal weight.
The researchers discovered three previously unidentified genetic variations that increase the risk of severe obesity significantly.
The gene variant most strongly linked to childhood obesity and adult morbid obesity in the study is located near the PTER gene, the function of which is not known.
This variant is estimated to account for up to a third of all childhood obesity, and a fifth of all cases of adult obesity.
The second variant linked to child and adult obesity is found in the NPC1 gene.
Previous studies in mice have suggested that this gene has a role in controlling appetite, as mice with a non-functioning NPC1 gene suffer late-onset weight loss and have poor food intake.
This gene variant accounts for around 10 per cent of all childhood obesity and about 14 per cent of adult morbid obesity cases.
The final variant is found near the MAF gene, which controls the production of the hormones insulin and glucagon, as well as chains of amino acids called glucagon-like peptides.
These hormones and peptides are known to play key roles in people's metabolisms by metabolising glucose and carbohydrates in the body. Also, glucagon and glucagon-like peptides appear to have a strong effect on people's ability to feel 'full' or satiated after eating.
This variant accounts for about 6 per cent of early-onset obesity in children, and 16 per cent of adult morbid obesity.
The researchers reached their conclusions by conducting a genome-wide association study of 1,380 Europeans with early-onset childhood obesity and adult morbid obesity, and 1,416 age-matched normal weight controls.
The study revealed 38 genetic markers with a strong association to a higher than normal body mass index, which the researchers evaluated in 14,186 Europeans, identifying three mutations that are significantly linked to obesity.
The study is published in the journal Nature Genetics.
They suggest that if each acted independently, these variants could be responsible for up to 50 percent of cases of severe obesity.
According to researchers, the new findings should ultimately provide the tools to predict which young children are at risk of becoming obese.
For the study, the researchers looked at the genetic makeup of obese children under six and morbidly obese adults, most of whom had been obese since childhood or adolescence, and compared this with age matched people of normal weight.
The researchers discovered three previously unidentified genetic variations that increase the risk of severe obesity significantly.
The gene variant most strongly linked to childhood obesity and adult morbid obesity in the study is located near the PTER gene, the function of which is not known.
This variant is estimated to account for up to a third of all childhood obesity, and a fifth of all cases of adult obesity.
The second variant linked to child and adult obesity is found in the NPC1 gene.
Previous studies in mice have suggested that this gene has a role in controlling appetite, as mice with a non-functioning NPC1 gene suffer late-onset weight loss and have poor food intake.
This gene variant accounts for around 10 per cent of all childhood obesity and about 14 per cent of adult morbid obesity cases.
The final variant is found near the MAF gene, which controls the production of the hormones insulin and glucagon, as well as chains of amino acids called glucagon-like peptides.
These hormones and peptides are known to play key roles in people's metabolisms by metabolising glucose and carbohydrates in the body. Also, glucagon and glucagon-like peptides appear to have a strong effect on people's ability to feel 'full' or satiated after eating.
This variant accounts for about 6 per cent of early-onset obesity in children, and 16 per cent of adult morbid obesity.
The researchers reached their conclusions by conducting a genome-wide association study of 1,380 Europeans with early-onset childhood obesity and adult morbid obesity, and 1,416 age-matched normal weight controls.
The study revealed 38 genetic markers with a strong association to a higher than normal body mass index, which the researchers evaluated in 14,186 Europeans, identifying three mutations that are significantly linked to obesity.
The study is published in the journal Nature Genetics.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Social networking sites face digital advertising downswing crisis
A large number of social networking companies face crisis as digital advertising is on a downswing, revealed a research from consultants Deloitte.
The researchers said that the websites, which had survived the downward trend, might be forced to supplement their revenue with pay-subscriptions, selling members' data or extra financing.
The eMarketer revealed that the predictions came as growth forecasts for digital advertising had halved from 17.2pc to 7.2pc for next year.
According to the Deloitte research, with the revenue declining, the cost of storing electronic data has soared to more than 100m dollars per year for larger sites, as users increasingly want to upload photos and videos, which consume memory.
"The book value of some social networks may be written down and some companies may fail altogether if funding dries up," the Telegraph quoted Paul Lee, Deloitte director of research for technology and telecommunications, as saying.
He added: "Average revenue per user for some of the largest new media sites is measured in just pennies per month, not pounds. This compares with a typical average revenue per user of tens of dollars for a cable subscriber, a regular newspaper reader or a movie fan."
Estimates have revealed that there are more than 1,000 social networking sites on the internet.
Among these are almost 100 big players, which are host to 22pc of UK internet users, and the most popular ones, including MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, are likely to be more resilient in the face of the advertising slowdown.
However, many of the most popular social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, do not yet generate large profits.
"Neither (Facebook or Twitter) has yet demonstrated that it can make money on a scale that matches its number of users. Twitter has yet to sketch out plans to monetise its blogging site. Revenue has always been an issue for Facebook," said Madan Sheina, an analyst at Ovum.
While Facebook was valued at 15bn dollars, Microsoft at the same time took a 240m dollars minority stake in October last year.
"With the economy spiralling into a downturn that figure might seem to be exaggerated right now," said Sheina.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, has claimed that for the next two years, they are focussing on growth instead of making money.
However, many signs indicate that the company is feeling the strain of the downturn, as it recently cancelled a plan to allow its employees to sell off shares early owing to the current economic recession.
The researchers said that the websites, which had survived the downward trend, might be forced to supplement their revenue with pay-subscriptions, selling members' data or extra financing.
The eMarketer revealed that the predictions came as growth forecasts for digital advertising had halved from 17.2pc to 7.2pc for next year.
According to the Deloitte research, with the revenue declining, the cost of storing electronic data has soared to more than 100m dollars per year for larger sites, as users increasingly want to upload photos and videos, which consume memory.
"The book value of some social networks may be written down and some companies may fail altogether if funding dries up," the Telegraph quoted Paul Lee, Deloitte director of research for technology and telecommunications, as saying.
He added: "Average revenue per user for some of the largest new media sites is measured in just pennies per month, not pounds. This compares with a typical average revenue per user of tens of dollars for a cable subscriber, a regular newspaper reader or a movie fan."
Estimates have revealed that there are more than 1,000 social networking sites on the internet.
Among these are almost 100 big players, which are host to 22pc of UK internet users, and the most popular ones, including MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, are likely to be more resilient in the face of the advertising slowdown.
However, many of the most popular social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, do not yet generate large profits.
"Neither (Facebook or Twitter) has yet demonstrated that it can make money on a scale that matches its number of users. Twitter has yet to sketch out plans to monetise its blogging site. Revenue has always been an issue for Facebook," said Madan Sheina, an analyst at Ovum.
While Facebook was valued at 15bn dollars, Microsoft at the same time took a 240m dollars minority stake in October last year.
"With the economy spiralling into a downturn that figure might seem to be exaggerated right now," said Sheina.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, has claimed that for the next two years, they are focussing on growth instead of making money.
However, many signs indicate that the company is feeling the strain of the downturn, as it recently cancelled a plan to allow its employees to sell off shares early owing to the current economic recession.
Biggest Tech Stories Of The Year 2008
Courtesy: Forbes.com
Turbulent as the last 12 months have felt, 2008 may go on record as the year when the most important events in technology news were those that didn't happen.
Despite all the media's coaxing, Microsoft and Yahoo! failed to consummate their star-crossed love affair. Google came away empty-handed from its bid to buy up swathes of radio frequency in the FCC's spectrum auction. And even if he won't appear at 2009's Macworld, Steve Jobs did not die - a fact that may bewilder loyal readers of Bloomberg or CNN.com.
No, 2008 wasn't a year for dramatic twists or industry-shaking news bombs in the world of technology. Thanks in part to a growing recession and the financial crisis that quickly rippled through the tech economy, 2008 was a year in which incumbents stayed on top, disruptors crept in, ever so slowly, and the industry's laggards held on for dear life.
In fact, the biggest success story of the year was really a sequel to a 2007 coup d'etat: the iPhone 3G. When Apple's smarter smartphone officially launched in June with a smaller price tag and a game-changing application platform, Apple stopped flirting with the handset market and started owning it. The iPhone, originally an expensive wonder toy for elite technophiles, became--by some counts--the most widely-used cellphone model in the world.
Google also had some wireless successes. Though the search giant may not have won the wireless spectrum auction that began in February, it achieved its real goal: lobbying the FCC to open up its 700-megahertz frequency, a win that could allow users to access any wireless application on any network. And that vision became clearer with the launch of the G1, the first phone to use Google's Android operating system, and perhaps the only one capable of rivaling the iPhone's buzzing cloud of media hype.
Meanwhile, what was occupying fellow tech giants Microsoft and Yahoo!? A strange, many-months-long mating dance that ended in mutual frustration and extremely bored reporters. While the two companies played games largely based on pride and miscommunication, Google's share of Internet searches climbed above 70%, according to Web-tracking firm Hit wise, dwarfing its two major competitors. Microsoft's buggy Vista operating system became a running joke, with no relief from marketing stunts like "Mojave," a bizarre blindfolded taste test, or Jerry Seinfeld's mystifying ad campaign. Yahoo!, for its part, found no solution to its lagging second-place search ad platform, least of all getting in bed with its biggest competitor in a deal no one believed would be approved by anti-trust gatekeepers.
In the gaming world, too, big moves stalled. Electronic Arts' dramatic bid for Take-Two Interactive fizzled after the release of "Grand Theft Auto IV," Ear's main target in the deal. Spore, the most anticipated piece of software in years, disappointed gamers with its crippling digital rights management and disappointing game play. The only record it broke was the number of times it was illegally downloaded. Overall, the biggest winner of the year was the endlessly popular WI, a console that launched in 2006.
To be sure, big tech stories didn't disappear in 2008. But even more than in years past, innovation bubbled up from below, disrupting the market in ways only just beginning to become clear. Notebooks--those cheap, simple PCs aimed at pulling their applications from Internet--solidified as a new and dangerously appealing alternative to high-performance machines.
Smart phones started to look less like expensive handsets and more like cheap computers. Twitter emerged as the new digerati communication medium. (See "10 Steps for Staying Always On.") And while the Blu-ray high-definition format won its long battle against HD-DVD, the real winner in the future of video was far more stealthy: streaming sources like Hulu.com and Netflix, with popularity that's only beginning to percolate.
Some of the year's tech trends produced real victims: Web advertising, ADD for instance, continued to unnerve the journalistic world like a toddler with a machine gun. Venerated newspapers swooned as advertising went from their pages to their Web sites before vanishing into the digital ether. Book sellers, too, saw sales plummet. Oprah gave a rousing endorsement for Amazon's e-book reader, the Kindle, which debuted in 2007, but those sales are still far from helping publishers make up the losses from their print divisions.
But most of 2008's failures were far slower. Deteriorating dot-com boomers like Nortel and Sun Microsystems eroded further in the weakening economy, and managed to lose enormous value without inspiring an acquisition. Since the beginning of the year, Sun's stock price has dropped by three-fourths, Nortel's by more than 98%. Motorola, the sick man of the cellphone market, has watched 75% of its value slip away, too.
In fact, the most heartening tech news of the year may not have been in business, but in politics, where a Twittering, Facebook-friendly, YouTube'd candidate trumped his e-mail-illiterate foe. Barack Obama isn't just focused on using tech to get elected. He also promises to use tools ranging from universal broadband to green tech in shaping the future of the country. And that shift in the government's attitude toward technology could mean 2009 will be a year when tech headlines are not just big - they may also be good news.
Turbulent as the last 12 months have felt, 2008 may go on record as the year when the most important events in technology news were those that didn't happen.
Despite all the media's coaxing, Microsoft and Yahoo! failed to consummate their star-crossed love affair. Google came away empty-handed from its bid to buy up swathes of radio frequency in the FCC's spectrum auction. And even if he won't appear at 2009's Macworld, Steve Jobs did not die - a fact that may bewilder loyal readers of Bloomberg or CNN.com.
No, 2008 wasn't a year for dramatic twists or industry-shaking news bombs in the world of technology. Thanks in part to a growing recession and the financial crisis that quickly rippled through the tech economy, 2008 was a year in which incumbents stayed on top, disruptors crept in, ever so slowly, and the industry's laggards held on for dear life.
In fact, the biggest success story of the year was really a sequel to a 2007 coup d'etat: the iPhone 3G. When Apple's smarter smartphone officially launched in June with a smaller price tag and a game-changing application platform, Apple stopped flirting with the handset market and started owning it. The iPhone, originally an expensive wonder toy for elite technophiles, became--by some counts--the most widely-used cellphone model in the world.
Google also had some wireless successes. Though the search giant may not have won the wireless spectrum auction that began in February, it achieved its real goal: lobbying the FCC to open up its 700-megahertz frequency, a win that could allow users to access any wireless application on any network. And that vision became clearer with the launch of the G1, the first phone to use Google's Android operating system, and perhaps the only one capable of rivaling the iPhone's buzzing cloud of media hype.
Meanwhile, what was occupying fellow tech giants Microsoft and Yahoo!? A strange, many-months-long mating dance that ended in mutual frustration and extremely bored reporters. While the two companies played games largely based on pride and miscommunication, Google's share of Internet searches climbed above 70%, according to Web-tracking firm Hit wise, dwarfing its two major competitors. Microsoft's buggy Vista operating system became a running joke, with no relief from marketing stunts like "Mojave," a bizarre blindfolded taste test, or Jerry Seinfeld's mystifying ad campaign. Yahoo!, for its part, found no solution to its lagging second-place search ad platform, least of all getting in bed with its biggest competitor in a deal no one believed would be approved by anti-trust gatekeepers.
In the gaming world, too, big moves stalled. Electronic Arts' dramatic bid for Take-Two Interactive fizzled after the release of "Grand Theft Auto IV," Ear's main target in the deal. Spore, the most anticipated piece of software in years, disappointed gamers with its crippling digital rights management and disappointing game play. The only record it broke was the number of times it was illegally downloaded. Overall, the biggest winner of the year was the endlessly popular WI, a console that launched in 2006.
To be sure, big tech stories didn't disappear in 2008. But even more than in years past, innovation bubbled up from below, disrupting the market in ways only just beginning to become clear. Notebooks--those cheap, simple PCs aimed at pulling their applications from Internet--solidified as a new and dangerously appealing alternative to high-performance machines.
Smart phones started to look less like expensive handsets and more like cheap computers. Twitter emerged as the new digerati communication medium. (See "10 Steps for Staying Always On.") And while the Blu-ray high-definition format won its long battle against HD-DVD, the real winner in the future of video was far more stealthy: streaming sources like Hulu.com and Netflix, with popularity that's only beginning to percolate.
Some of the year's tech trends produced real victims: Web advertising, ADD for instance, continued to unnerve the journalistic world like a toddler with a machine gun. Venerated newspapers swooned as advertising went from their pages to their Web sites before vanishing into the digital ether. Book sellers, too, saw sales plummet. Oprah gave a rousing endorsement for Amazon's e-book reader, the Kindle, which debuted in 2007, but those sales are still far from helping publishers make up the losses from their print divisions.
But most of 2008's failures were far slower. Deteriorating dot-com boomers like Nortel and Sun Microsystems eroded further in the weakening economy, and managed to lose enormous value without inspiring an acquisition. Since the beginning of the year, Sun's stock price has dropped by three-fourths, Nortel's by more than 98%. Motorola, the sick man of the cellphone market, has watched 75% of its value slip away, too.
In fact, the most heartening tech news of the year may not have been in business, but in politics, where a Twittering, Facebook-friendly, YouTube'd candidate trumped his e-mail-illiterate foe. Barack Obama isn't just focused on using tech to get elected. He also promises to use tools ranging from universal broadband to green tech in shaping the future of the country. And that shift in the government's attitude toward technology could mean 2009 will be a year when tech headlines are not just big - they may also be good news.
Bride exchanges wedding vows wearing coconut shell ornaments
Giving a go-by to the Indian craze for gold and diamond jewellery, a newly married couple in the south Indian province of Kerala exchanged wedding vows yesterday wearing ornaments crafted from coconut shells.
Salman Rushdie says provoking people is in his DNA
Author Salman Rushdie, who was once condemned to death by a former Iranian spiritual leader, has said that provoking people "is in his DNA".
Rushdie's fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), was at the center of protests from Muslims in several countries. Some of the protests were violent and Rushdie faced death threats and a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran.
According to Khomeini, he had portrayed the prophet Mohammed in irreverent terms - and by doing so had forfeited the right to life.
In response to the call for him to be killed, Rushdie spent nearly a decade largely underground, appearing in public only sporadically.
Now, while in his interview with The Telegraph, London, 'The Enchantress of Florence' author says he "can't avoid making enemies."
When asked why he provokes such dramatic reactions, Rushdie says he can't avoid it, as if it's somehow stamped on his DNA.
"There's a quote by Robert Browning that I'm particularly fond of - "Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things." Something in me, not consciously willed, takes me to those edges. But, at the same time, part of the nature of the artist, at least as I see it, is to increase - by however little - the sum total of what it is possible for us to understand. Nothing of great interest for me is done sitting safely in the middle of the room. You want to push the boundaries as much as possible. But I suppose if you do that then people are going to push back," he said.
Rushdie's fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), was at the center of protests from Muslims in several countries. Some of the protests were violent and Rushdie faced death threats and a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran.
According to Khomeini, he had portrayed the prophet Mohammed in irreverent terms - and by doing so had forfeited the right to life.
In response to the call for him to be killed, Rushdie spent nearly a decade largely underground, appearing in public only sporadically.
Now, while in his interview with The Telegraph, London, 'The Enchantress of Florence' author says he "can't avoid making enemies."
When asked why he provokes such dramatic reactions, Rushdie says he can't avoid it, as if it's somehow stamped on his DNA.
"There's a quote by Robert Browning that I'm particularly fond of - "Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things." Something in me, not consciously willed, takes me to those edges. But, at the same time, part of the nature of the artist, at least as I see it, is to increase - by however little - the sum total of what it is possible for us to understand. Nothing of great interest for me is done sitting safely in the middle of the room. You want to push the boundaries as much as possible. But I suppose if you do that then people are going to push back," he said.
Monday, December 15, 2008
US employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years
US companies slashed payrolls last month at the fastest pace in 34 years as the economy headed for its deepest and longest recession since World War II.
Employers cut 533,000 jobs, bringing losses so far this year to 1.91 million.
November’s drop exceeded all 73 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate rose to 6.7 per cent, the highest level since 1993.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “We’re well on our way to the worst recession of the postwar period.”
The plunge may spur incoming President Barack Obama to come up with an even bigger fiscal stimulus package than economists’ projections of about $700 billion.
The job cut figures also will add to pressure on the Federal Reserve to take radical steps to revive credit markets and on lawmakers to bail out the auto companies.
“This is a huge downshift, much larger than we thought,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, who will be Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s chief economist in the new administration. “The upper bound on a stimulus package is going up, not down. As the hole gets larger, the amount you need to fill it gets larger.”
Payrolls are likely to keep sliding into next year as the collapse in credit and slump in spending hurt companies from General Motors Corp to Citigroup Inc and AT&T Inc Legg Mason Inc, a Baltimore-based fund manager, said today it will eliminate 8 per cent of its workforce.
Obama said in a statement the job loss demonstrates the “urgent” need for a recovery plan and offers an “opportunity to transform our economy” through investments in infrastructure and alternative energy technology.
He aims to save or create 2.5 million jobs over two years.
Stocks sank. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 2.3 percent to 825.51 at 10:11 am in New York.
Payrolls were forecast to drop by 335,000, according to the median estimate in the Bloomberg survey. The jobless rate was projected to rise to 6.8 per cent.
Revisions for September and October increased job losses by 199,000. The October figure was revised to 320,000 from the previous estimate of 240,000. November was the 11th consecutive drop in payrolls.
“You are seeing the impact of the lack of credit feeding through to a lot of companies, who are very fearful,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a former congressional staff economist. “Personal income numbers will be awful. It is going to be a difficult winter for a lot of people.”
Fed Chairman Ben S Bernanke this week outlined unorthodox policy action that officials can take beyond lowering interest rates. One option would be to purchase longer-term Treasuries on the open market to inject more cash into the financial system.
The central bank may also cut its benchmark rate from 1 per cent at its meeting December 15-16 in Washington. HSBC Holdings Inc economists today forecast the Fed will reduce it to zero, emulating the Bank of Japan’s efforts to defeat deflation earlier this decade.
Factory payrolls fell 85,000 after decreasing 104,000 in October, the Labor Department said. The slide would have been even worse without the return of 27,000 striking machinists at Boeing Co Economists had forecast a decline of 100,000 manufacturing jobs. The decrease included a loss of 13,100 jobs in auto manufacturing and parts industries.
US automakers have been particularly hard hit as sales last month dropped to the lowest level in 26 years. The top executives of General Motors, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC this week appealed to Congress for as much as $34 billion in government assistance.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research projects that a collapse of GM would lead to job losses totaling 2.5 million, including 1.4 million people in industries not directly tied to manufacturing. Chrysler had cut 5,000 jobs during last week of November.
Employers cut 533,000 jobs, bringing losses so far this year to 1.91 million.
November’s drop exceeded all 73 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The unemployment rate rose to 6.7 per cent, the highest level since 1993.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. “We’re well on our way to the worst recession of the postwar period.”
The plunge may spur incoming President Barack Obama to come up with an even bigger fiscal stimulus package than economists’ projections of about $700 billion.
The job cut figures also will add to pressure on the Federal Reserve to take radical steps to revive credit markets and on lawmakers to bail out the auto companies.
“This is a huge downshift, much larger than we thought,” said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, who will be Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s chief economist in the new administration. “The upper bound on a stimulus package is going up, not down. As the hole gets larger, the amount you need to fill it gets larger.”
Payrolls are likely to keep sliding into next year as the collapse in credit and slump in spending hurt companies from General Motors Corp to Citigroup Inc and AT&T Inc Legg Mason Inc, a Baltimore-based fund manager, said today it will eliminate 8 per cent of its workforce.
Obama said in a statement the job loss demonstrates the “urgent” need for a recovery plan and offers an “opportunity to transform our economy” through investments in infrastructure and alternative energy technology.
He aims to save or create 2.5 million jobs over two years.
Stocks sank. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 2.3 percent to 825.51 at 10:11 am in New York.
Payrolls were forecast to drop by 335,000, according to the median estimate in the Bloomberg survey. The jobless rate was projected to rise to 6.8 per cent.
Revisions for September and October increased job losses by 199,000. The October figure was revised to 320,000 from the previous estimate of 240,000. November was the 11th consecutive drop in payrolls.
“You are seeing the impact of the lack of credit feeding through to a lot of companies, who are very fearful,” said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a former congressional staff economist. “Personal income numbers will be awful. It is going to be a difficult winter for a lot of people.”
Fed Chairman Ben S Bernanke this week outlined unorthodox policy action that officials can take beyond lowering interest rates. One option would be to purchase longer-term Treasuries on the open market to inject more cash into the financial system.
The central bank may also cut its benchmark rate from 1 per cent at its meeting December 15-16 in Washington. HSBC Holdings Inc economists today forecast the Fed will reduce it to zero, emulating the Bank of Japan’s efforts to defeat deflation earlier this decade.
Factory payrolls fell 85,000 after decreasing 104,000 in October, the Labor Department said. The slide would have been even worse without the return of 27,000 striking machinists at Boeing Co Economists had forecast a decline of 100,000 manufacturing jobs. The decrease included a loss of 13,100 jobs in auto manufacturing and parts industries.
US automakers have been particularly hard hit as sales last month dropped to the lowest level in 26 years. The top executives of General Motors, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC this week appealed to Congress for as much as $34 billion in government assistance.
The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research projects that a collapse of GM would lead to job losses totaling 2.5 million, including 1.4 million people in industries not directly tied to manufacturing. Chrysler had cut 5,000 jobs during last week of November.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Slowdown sonata...
Dear Staff,
Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown of the economy since last Christmas, Management has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 40 years of age on early retirement. This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People Early). Persons selected to be RAPEd can apply to management to be eligible for the SHAFT scheme (Special Help After Forced Termination). Persons who have been RAPEd and SHAFTed will be reviewed under the SCREW scheme (Scheme Covering Retired Early Workers). A person may be RAPEd once, SHAFTed twice and SCREWed as many times as Management deems appropriate. Persons who have been RAPEd can only get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependants or Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Early Severance). Obviously persons who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTed or SCREWed any further by management. Persons staying on will receive as much SHIT (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. Management has always prided itself on the amount of SHIT it gives employees. Should you feel that you do not receive enough SHIT, please bring to the attention of your Supervisor. They have been trained to give you all the SHIT you can handle…
Sincerely,
The Management
Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown of the economy since last Christmas, Management has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 40 years of age on early retirement. This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People Early). Persons selected to be RAPEd can apply to management to be eligible for the SHAFT scheme (Special Help After Forced Termination). Persons who have been RAPEd and SHAFTed will be reviewed under the SCREW scheme (Scheme Covering Retired Early Workers). A person may be RAPEd once, SHAFTed twice and SCREWed as many times as Management deems appropriate. Persons who have been RAPEd can only get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependants or Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Early Severance). Obviously persons who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTed or SCREWed any further by management. Persons staying on will receive as much SHIT (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. Management has always prided itself on the amount of SHIT it gives employees. Should you feel that you do not receive enough SHIT, please bring to the attention of your Supervisor. They have been trained to give you all the SHIT you can handle…
Sincerely,
The Management
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The things celebs did before they became celebs!
Not all celebrities are born with glamour, or at least such was the case with Madonna, Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe to name a few.
While some of the A-listers had reasonably decent beginnings, some had to sustain themselves with filthy jobs before creating a niche for themselves, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Matthew McConaughey spent a year shovelling chicken manure, Mick Jagger worked as a porter in a mental hospital, Madonna used to serve customers at 'Dunkin Donut'.
Similarly, Russell Crow used to be DJ at 16, Robin Williams worked as a street mime, Eva Mendes used to sell hot dogs, and Brad Pitt donned a giant chicken suit and stood outside a store to attract clients.
While some of the A-listers had reasonably decent beginnings, some had to sustain themselves with filthy jobs before creating a niche for themselves, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Matthew McConaughey spent a year shovelling chicken manure, Mick Jagger worked as a porter in a mental hospital, Madonna used to serve customers at 'Dunkin Donut'.
Similarly, Russell Crow used to be DJ at 16, Robin Williams worked as a street mime, Eva Mendes used to sell hot dogs, and Brad Pitt donned a giant chicken suit and stood outside a store to attract clients.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Top-Earning Pirates
Courtesy: Forbes.com
High seas piracy was the colonial era's version of investment banking. Through good positioning, aggressive go-getters could make millions from global trade and commerce in diverse sectors. They were frequently chased off shore to the Caribbean by angry governments. And in the end, they were sometimes sunk without a trace.
Soon after government-hired pillagers like Hernando Cortes started plundering the new world in 1503, an entire class of sailor realized he could profit by stalking the ships carrying the spoils.
Those riches couldn't be sent using wire transfers. So when Cortes wanted to send a bounty of Aztec gold to Charles V, he had to load it onto ships and sail it across the sea, where men like Jean Fleury were waiting. In 1523, the French privateer fell upon a Spanish treasure fleet--a score that helped him net $31.5 million in present-value dollars over his career, making him the sixth highest-earning pirate of all time.
The highest-earning pirate ever was Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy, an Englishman who made his bones patrolling the New England coast in the 18th century. By our calculations, "Black Sam" plundered an estimated $120 million over the course of his career. His greatest windfall occurred in February of 1717, when he captured a slave ship called the Whydah, which reportedly held more than four and a half tons of gold and silver. Bellamy, known for his relative generosity, took the Whydah as his new flagship and gave one of his old vessels to the defeated crew.
In second place, with lifetime earnings of $115 million: Sir Francis Drake, a 16th century British privateer who saved England from the Spanish Armada and went on to a profitable life of plunder at the behest of Her Majesty's Government. Fellow Englishman Thomas Tew places third with earnings of $102 million. His biggest score came in 1693, when he pilfered a ship full of gold en route to the Ottoman Empire from India .
Our wealth estimates are based on information gathered from historical records and accounts from 17th and 18th century sources like Daniel Defoe, as well as contemporary historians like David Cordingly. Whenever possible, we used official records of pirate's claims. So when a 1718 North Carolina ledger says wares seized from Edward "Blackbeard" Teach sold at market for 2,500 pounds following his death, that source was trusted above Blackbeard's claims to a magistrate that a great treasure lay in a location known only to him and the devil. By our count, he amassed a total of $12.5 million in loot over his career.
Depletion of fortune due to rum and wenches was not assessed, nor were divisions of treasure among the crew. Plunders were often split in equal shares, with the captain receiving double--not much of a premium for leadership. A good lesson to modern shareholders: The best way to achieve fair compensation and rule out golden parachutes is to have your leaders expecting murderous revolts if they hoard profits.
All money and goods were converted into present value U.S. dollars. Present values were determined using the retail price index developed by the British House of Commons and MeasuringWorth, a research project founded by University of Illinois Chicago economics professor Lawrence H. Officer.
For the most part, pirates didn't make much money, and they certainly didn't save it. The amount of cash they needed to keep on hand to cover their liabilities cut into their fortunes. Crew members that lost limbs in battle could be compensated at a rate of 1,500 pound per limb. Since infection could easily cause death, the remedy for gunshot wounds was often amputation. With 100 men on a ship, if 10 limbs were lost during battle, that was a 15,000 pound loss, or about $3 million in today's dollars. It's easy to see why pirates tried to take ships without firing a shot. A few drunken sailors getting themselves nicked could negate the entire profit.
Pirates didn't have 401(k) plans, so burying a pile of gold was sometimes the smartest way to save for the future--that is, when they had one. Samuel Bellamy's treasure sank with him off Cape Cod, most of Bartholomew Roberts' fortune ($32 million) was taken after he died in battle in 1722 and Stede Bonnet's wealth ($4.4 million) was absorbed into the South Carolina treasury after his 1718 execution. Jean Fleury's Aztec gold wasn't recovered and was probably spread thin over brothels and saloons from Cuba to France ; it's likely been melted down over the last 500 years into gold bars lining national treasuries and formed into wedding rings the world over.
Most pirates died without honor or coin. It was an existence filled with murder, treachery, disease (both tropical and venereal), and it ensured a short life, even by the standards of the day. But for the chance to be rich and unbound from a life of farming or military service, it was an easy choice for many--even if it did come with scurvy.
High seas piracy was the colonial era's version of investment banking. Through good positioning, aggressive go-getters could make millions from global trade and commerce in diverse sectors. They were frequently chased off shore to the Caribbean by angry governments. And in the end, they were sometimes sunk without a trace.
Soon after government-hired pillagers like Hernando Cortes started plundering the new world in 1503, an entire class of sailor realized he could profit by stalking the ships carrying the spoils.
Those riches couldn't be sent using wire transfers. So when Cortes wanted to send a bounty of Aztec gold to Charles V, he had to load it onto ships and sail it across the sea, where men like Jean Fleury were waiting. In 1523, the French privateer fell upon a Spanish treasure fleet--a score that helped him net $31.5 million in present-value dollars over his career, making him the sixth highest-earning pirate of all time.
The highest-earning pirate ever was Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy, an Englishman who made his bones patrolling the New England coast in the 18th century. By our calculations, "Black Sam" plundered an estimated $120 million over the course of his career. His greatest windfall occurred in February of 1717, when he captured a slave ship called the Whydah, which reportedly held more than four and a half tons of gold and silver. Bellamy, known for his relative generosity, took the Whydah as his new flagship and gave one of his old vessels to the defeated crew.
In second place, with lifetime earnings of $115 million: Sir Francis Drake, a 16th century British privateer who saved England from the Spanish Armada and went on to a profitable life of plunder at the behest of Her Majesty's Government. Fellow Englishman Thomas Tew places third with earnings of $102 million. His biggest score came in 1693, when he pilfered a ship full of gold en route to the Ottoman Empire from India .
Our wealth estimates are based on information gathered from historical records and accounts from 17th and 18th century sources like Daniel Defoe, as well as contemporary historians like David Cordingly. Whenever possible, we used official records of pirate's claims. So when a 1718 North Carolina ledger says wares seized from Edward "Blackbeard" Teach sold at market for 2,500 pounds following his death, that source was trusted above Blackbeard's claims to a magistrate that a great treasure lay in a location known only to him and the devil. By our count, he amassed a total of $12.5 million in loot over his career.
Depletion of fortune due to rum and wenches was not assessed, nor were divisions of treasure among the crew. Plunders were often split in equal shares, with the captain receiving double--not much of a premium for leadership. A good lesson to modern shareholders: The best way to achieve fair compensation and rule out golden parachutes is to have your leaders expecting murderous revolts if they hoard profits.
All money and goods were converted into present value U.S. dollars. Present values were determined using the retail price index developed by the British House of Commons and MeasuringWorth, a research project founded by University of Illinois Chicago economics professor Lawrence H. Officer.
For the most part, pirates didn't make much money, and they certainly didn't save it. The amount of cash they needed to keep on hand to cover their liabilities cut into their fortunes. Crew members that lost limbs in battle could be compensated at a rate of 1,500 pound per limb. Since infection could easily cause death, the remedy for gunshot wounds was often amputation. With 100 men on a ship, if 10 limbs were lost during battle, that was a 15,000 pound loss, or about $3 million in today's dollars. It's easy to see why pirates tried to take ships without firing a shot. A few drunken sailors getting themselves nicked could negate the entire profit.
Pirates didn't have 401(k) plans, so burying a pile of gold was sometimes the smartest way to save for the future--that is, when they had one. Samuel Bellamy's treasure sank with him off Cape Cod, most of Bartholomew Roberts' fortune ($32 million) was taken after he died in battle in 1722 and Stede Bonnet's wealth ($4.4 million) was absorbed into the South Carolina treasury after his 1718 execution. Jean Fleury's Aztec gold wasn't recovered and was probably spread thin over brothels and saloons from Cuba to France ; it's likely been melted down over the last 500 years into gold bars lining national treasuries and formed into wedding rings the world over.
Most pirates died without honor or coin. It was an existence filled with murder, treachery, disease (both tropical and venereal), and it ensured a short life, even by the standards of the day. But for the chance to be rich and unbound from a life of farming or military service, it was an easy choice for many--even if it did come with scurvy.
Craig's 'Casino Royale' leap tops 'Best James Bond Stunt Of All Time' poll
Daniel Craig's death-defying crane jump in 'Casino Royale' has topped a new poll of 'The Best James Bond Stunt of all Time'.
In the opening scenes of the film, Bond is featured chasing the bad guy into a building site and battling him 200 feet from the ground.
The 2006 film marked Craig's debut as 007 and the actor took part in the stunt himself.
"It was important to me that I do as many of my own stunts as possible for authenticity. I wanted to be seen jumping from crane to crane, physically exerting myself. I didn't get fit just to take my shirt off," the Telegraph has quoted him, Craig, as saying.
The scene has beaten classic stunts involving previous 007s Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, to top the poll for the Radio Times.
The downhill ski chase in 'The Spy Who Loved Me', which ends with Moore floating to safety under a Union Jack parachute came second, according to the poll of over 1,500 film fans.
The third spot went to Moore's 'barrel roll' car jump over a canal in 'The Man With The Golden Gun' while the speedboat leap from 'Live And Let Die' came fourth.
Rounding off the top five was Pierce Brosnan's speedboat chase in the 'Thames in The World Is Not Enough'.
The top ten 'Best James Bond Stunt Of All Time' are:
1 Crane jump - Casino Royale
2 Ski chase and Union Jack parachute jump - The Spy Who Loved Me
3 Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun
4 Speedboat leap - Live And Let Die
5 Thames speedboat chase - The World Is Not Enough6 Aston Martin ejector seat - Goldfinger
7 Dive from the Verzasca Dam - GoldenEye
8 Ski chase - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
9 Jumping over crocodiles - Live And Let Die
10 Motorbike jump over a helicopter - Tomorrow Never Dies
In the opening scenes of the film, Bond is featured chasing the bad guy into a building site and battling him 200 feet from the ground.
The 2006 film marked Craig's debut as 007 and the actor took part in the stunt himself.
"It was important to me that I do as many of my own stunts as possible for authenticity. I wanted to be seen jumping from crane to crane, physically exerting myself. I didn't get fit just to take my shirt off," the Telegraph has quoted him, Craig, as saying.
The scene has beaten classic stunts involving previous 007s Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, to top the poll for the Radio Times.
The downhill ski chase in 'The Spy Who Loved Me', which ends with Moore floating to safety under a Union Jack parachute came second, according to the poll of over 1,500 film fans.
The third spot went to Moore's 'barrel roll' car jump over a canal in 'The Man With The Golden Gun' while the speedboat leap from 'Live And Let Die' came fourth.
Rounding off the top five was Pierce Brosnan's speedboat chase in the 'Thames in The World Is Not Enough'.
The top ten 'Best James Bond Stunt Of All Time' are:
1 Crane jump - Casino Royale
2 Ski chase and Union Jack parachute jump - The Spy Who Loved Me
3 Car 'barrel roll' - The Man With The Golden Gun
4 Speedboat leap - Live And Let Die
5 Thames speedboat chase - The World Is Not Enough6 Aston Martin ejector seat - Goldfinger
7 Dive from the Verzasca Dam - GoldenEye
8 Ski chase - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
9 Jumping over crocodiles - Live And Let Die
10 Motorbike jump over a helicopter - Tomorrow Never Dies
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Mens' ten best ways to impress women revealed
No matter how much you hate it, but if you want to impress a woman, just help her carry those shopping bags.
And in case that's not enough to flatter your lady, below are 10 best ways that will surely make them fall for you, reports the Independent of London.
1. Ask questions: Over dinner, in a restaurant, nothing beats a good question or two.or instance "How was your day?"
2. Stop asking questions: After you have asked enough questions, particularly the right ones, there will come a time when you should stop - when you're in bed together.
3. Call me back straightaway: Verbose, over-worked text messages just look keen and girly. Be a man and say it in 350 characters or don't say it at all.
4. Don't be tight: When it comes to small change, taxi fares, coffee money, tips and treats, penny-pinching is a huge turn off.
5. Carry bags: If they're heavy, please don't make a fuss about it, just do it.
6. Don't hide your appreciation. There is no girl alive who doesn't want a priapic response to a new dress.
7. 'No' to: Clammy hands, grunting in public, salivating into earholes, 'sexy' tickling, jokes about love handles and twanging bras.
8. 'Yes' to: A firm touch and a smooth hand, a frank attitude to nudity, evident and matter-of-fact carnal enjoyment, and an attentive approach to often overlooked areas of the female body.
9. Talk about ex-girlfriends: Too much detail about ex-girlfriends is as harmful as not talking about them at all.
10. Criticism: Say what you like about her friends, work, flat, table manners.
And in case that's not enough to flatter your lady, below are 10 best ways that will surely make them fall for you, reports the Independent of London.
1. Ask questions: Over dinner, in a restaurant, nothing beats a good question or two.or instance "How was your day?"
2. Stop asking questions: After you have asked enough questions, particularly the right ones, there will come a time when you should stop - when you're in bed together.
3. Call me back straightaway: Verbose, over-worked text messages just look keen and girly. Be a man and say it in 350 characters or don't say it at all.
4. Don't be tight: When it comes to small change, taxi fares, coffee money, tips and treats, penny-pinching is a huge turn off.
5. Carry bags: If they're heavy, please don't make a fuss about it, just do it.
6. Don't hide your appreciation. There is no girl alive who doesn't want a priapic response to a new dress.
7. 'No' to: Clammy hands, grunting in public, salivating into earholes, 'sexy' tickling, jokes about love handles and twanging bras.
8. 'Yes' to: A firm touch and a smooth hand, a frank attitude to nudity, evident and matter-of-fact carnal enjoyment, and an attentive approach to often overlooked areas of the female body.
9. Talk about ex-girlfriends: Too much detail about ex-girlfriends is as harmful as not talking about them at all.
10. Criticism: Say what you like about her friends, work, flat, table manners.
Gourmet dabba-walas (office lunch box delivery services) blaze new business trend
What happens when dabba-walas (lunch box delivery services) meet gourmet cooks?
A unique business idea is born.
Two young graduates of Delhi-based International Management Institute, Samarth Gupta and Pavan Kumar Varma, have fused two seemingly opposing ideas - homely meals and organised delivery of lunch at offices - to blaze a new trend, which, if it works could unleash housewife power on the corporate world.
The model is simple. Poshan, the startup betting on office-goers starved for mom-style meals, has a centralised kitchen in East Delhi. It invited housewives with a passion for cooking to a contest, and then threw open part-time day jobs to talented home cooks looking for recognition - and good pocket money.
A Bangalore-based executive turned home entrepreneur, Sonia Mahanti, runs a similar venture that specialises in regional cuisines.
"Cooking is my passion and it is not for the money but satisfaction that I work with Poshan," said Chanchal Aggarwal, a housewife who joined the venture. Financial terms are yet to be worked out though charges are expected to be given per visit.
Commercial operations for the Rs 45-per-pack meals began last July. Poshan delivers about 150 orders per day.
"This initiative was a part of our academic project and we found out that there is a demand for home-made food," said 25-year-old Samarth Gupta, who started out with 30-year-old Varma. "That is when we decided to run a competition earlier this year to spot women who cook well." The founders claim that three venture capital firms have already approached them.
Mahanti, who once worked for Samsung, picked up the idea of delivering speciality food after noticing the demand for north Indian food in Bangalore.
She now runs a home-made food delivery service that employs around 10 women who are experts in different Indian cuisines, especially Gujarati and Bengali. Her 'Sai Krupa Ghar ka Khana' charges Rs 35 for a regular meal while a more customised meal for a patient or for a party varies between Rs 45 to Rs 120.
Mohanti said the housewives make Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 per month for two hours a day, five days a week.
In Delhi, four women who made it to the top grade in the cookery contest have joined Poshan, which has a base kitchen at Patparganj in the eastern suburbs, with a distribution hub at Asaf Ali Road.
"We have arranged a pick-up drop facility for women who come to our base kitchen to cook a meal," said Gupta. At present, the service caters only to offices in Delhi's Connaught Place area but the founders plan to expand it across the National Capital Region by end of the financial year.
A unique business idea is born.
Two young graduates of Delhi-based International Management Institute, Samarth Gupta and Pavan Kumar Varma, have fused two seemingly opposing ideas - homely meals and organised delivery of lunch at offices - to blaze a new trend, which, if it works could unleash housewife power on the corporate world.
The model is simple. Poshan, the startup betting on office-goers starved for mom-style meals, has a centralised kitchen in East Delhi. It invited housewives with a passion for cooking to a contest, and then threw open part-time day jobs to talented home cooks looking for recognition - and good pocket money.
A Bangalore-based executive turned home entrepreneur, Sonia Mahanti, runs a similar venture that specialises in regional cuisines.
"Cooking is my passion and it is not for the money but satisfaction that I work with Poshan," said Chanchal Aggarwal, a housewife who joined the venture. Financial terms are yet to be worked out though charges are expected to be given per visit.
Commercial operations for the Rs 45-per-pack meals began last July. Poshan delivers about 150 orders per day.
"This initiative was a part of our academic project and we found out that there is a demand for home-made food," said 25-year-old Samarth Gupta, who started out with 30-year-old Varma. "That is when we decided to run a competition earlier this year to spot women who cook well." The founders claim that three venture capital firms have already approached them.
Mahanti, who once worked for Samsung, picked up the idea of delivering speciality food after noticing the demand for north Indian food in Bangalore.
She now runs a home-made food delivery service that employs around 10 women who are experts in different Indian cuisines, especially Gujarati and Bengali. Her 'Sai Krupa Ghar ka Khana' charges Rs 35 for a regular meal while a more customised meal for a patient or for a party varies between Rs 45 to Rs 120.
Mohanti said the housewives make Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 per month for two hours a day, five days a week.
In Delhi, four women who made it to the top grade in the cookery contest have joined Poshan, which has a base kitchen at Patparganj in the eastern suburbs, with a distribution hub at Asaf Ali Road.
"We have arranged a pick-up drop facility for women who come to our base kitchen to cook a meal," said Gupta. At present, the service caters only to offices in Delhi's Connaught Place area but the founders plan to expand it across the National Capital Region by end of the financial year.
Monday, September 22, 2008
An ad in space can come as cheap as 200 pounds!
A firm in the United States is offering companies a chance to advertise themselves in space- with price ranging from 200 pounds to 2,100 pounds.
JP Aerospace, which calls itself "America's other space programme," is using lighter than air balloons to carry packages into the upper atmosphere.
The organisation involving voluntary staffers and plans to open up access to space to the general public, said that they have received requests to send toy figures, coffee beans, table tennis balls as well as advertising billboards in the space.
The balloon carrying the platform reaches a height of 20 miles, which is high enough for the sky to turn black and the earth's horizon to be a blue curve.
JP Aerospace then takes hundreds of pictures of the balloon before returning everything to earth by parachute.
"Companies are looking for ways to get above the over crowded field of advertisements," the Telegraph of London has quoted John Powell, President of JP Aerospace, as saying.
"There are a lot of race cars and basketball stars out there, but, not too many spaceships, they get noticed. The field is wide open," he added.
JP Aerospace, which calls itself "America's other space programme," is using lighter than air balloons to carry packages into the upper atmosphere.
The organisation involving voluntary staffers and plans to open up access to space to the general public, said that they have received requests to send toy figures, coffee beans, table tennis balls as well as advertising billboards in the space.
The balloon carrying the platform reaches a height of 20 miles, which is high enough for the sky to turn black and the earth's horizon to be a blue curve.
JP Aerospace then takes hundreds of pictures of the balloon before returning everything to earth by parachute.
"Companies are looking for ways to get above the over crowded field of advertisements," the Telegraph of London has quoted John Powell, President of JP Aerospace, as saying.
"There are a lot of race cars and basketball stars out there, but, not too many spaceships, they get noticed. The field is wide open," he added.
Monday, August 25, 2008
The spectacular 'sex fest' that followed the Olympics!
August 25 (ANI): Olympic athletes eventually overcame the stress of strict discipline they faced during the two weeks of competition with a final burst of sexual release on the eve of the closing ceremonies in the Olympic Village.
"This sex fest . . . (happened) right here in Beijing," the New York Post quoted Matthew Syed, a past Olympian and table-tennis champion now working as a commentator, as writing in the Times of London.
"Olympic athletes have to display an unnatural - and, it has to be said, wholly unhealthy - level of self-discipline in the build-up to big competitions. How else is this going to manifest itself than with a volcanic release of pent-up hedonism?" he wrote.
He said that big winners were the principal objects of desire for many female athletes, included those "as geeky as Michael Phelps".
Even losers got their share, he said, adding that it was "a common sight to see recently knocked-out athletes gorging on Magnums and McDonald's, swilling alcohol and, of course, shagging like crazy."
The Beijing Government ensured the supply of free condoms so that the competitors would practice safe sex.
One Australian athlete said: "It is unbelievable in there; everyone is totally crazy once they are out of their competitions." (ANI)
"This sex fest . . . (happened) right here in Beijing," the New York Post quoted Matthew Syed, a past Olympian and table-tennis champion now working as a commentator, as writing in the Times of London.
"Olympic athletes have to display an unnatural - and, it has to be said, wholly unhealthy - level of self-discipline in the build-up to big competitions. How else is this going to manifest itself than with a volcanic release of pent-up hedonism?" he wrote.
He said that big winners were the principal objects of desire for many female athletes, included those "as geeky as Michael Phelps".
Even losers got their share, he said, adding that it was "a common sight to see recently knocked-out athletes gorging on Magnums and McDonald's, swilling alcohol and, of course, shagging like crazy."
The Beijing Government ensured the supply of free condoms so that the competitors would practice safe sex.
One Australian athlete said: "It is unbelievable in there; everyone is totally crazy once they are out of their competitions." (ANI)
Friday, August 15, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Panvi wins first prize in Independence Day song TV contest...for the second year in succession
My elder daughter Panvi has composed and sung a song on "freedom" called "Swades" which she submitted for a TV contest in "Dilli Aaj Tak" channel. The programme name is "Azadi Ke Sur" ("Tunes Of Freedom"). Panvi has won the contest - which carries a trophy and a cash award of Rs.25,000/-.
The programme will be telecast on August 13th, 14th and 15th at 7 pm on each day in "Dilli Aaj Tak" channel.
The August 15th programme is a 30 minute exclusive on Panvi, with her receiving the award from the celebrity judges and singing various songs on freedom and giving an interview.
Last year, also, Panvi had sung this song in a competition in "Headlines Today" TV Channel - and she had secured fourth position out of one thousand contestants.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Abhinav Bindra bags first Olympic gold for India at Beijing - and first ever Indian invdividual gold medal...
Great news for India - actually "historic" news is the right phrase. Ace shooter Abhinav Bindra has claimed the first ever individual gold for India after winning the men's 10m air rifle event at the Beijing Olympics.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Add a hint of sex to elite sport, and it's gold
Sex and sport. It's an irresistible mix and one that Olympians are no longer shy of using to fund their sporting careers, according to a recent Reuters report.
American Olympic swimming champion Amanda Beard posed naked in Playboy magazine last year and at Beijing stripped off for an advertising campaign to protest against fashion furs.
British athletes triple jumper Phillips Idowu, cyclist Rebecca Romero and swimmer Gregor Tait were photographed naked in sporting poses for a sports drinks advertising campaign.
Female beach volleyball players are first to admit that wearing bikinis has helped boost their popularity -- and envious male players have joked about following by playing bare-chested.
"In this competitive marketplace you have to separate yourself from other athletes and the taboo of posing for Playboy or modelling has started to wane," Richard Deitsch, associate editor at Sports Illustrated's website, said.
"People hardly batted an eyelid when Amanda Beard appeared in Playboy but 10 or 15 years ago this would have caused much more of an uproar in the (United) States."
With the Beijing Olympics underway featuring over 10,500 athletes in perfect shape, websites galore are carrying photo galleries and lists of the hottest Olympians.
Playboy spokeswoman Lauren Melone said they have published a special spread of Olympians who have appeared in the magazine over the years such as Athens gold medallist Beard, four-time Olympic high jumper Amy Acuff and figure skater Katarina Witt.
Swimmer Dara Torres, the oldest U.S. swimmer at 41, has appeared in a sexy photo shoot in Maxim magazine.
Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice was featured on the front cover of men's magazine FHM as well as posing for some underwear advertisements with her former boyfriend, fellow Aussie swimmer Eamon Sullivan.
Leryn Franco, 26, a javelin thrower from Paraguay, is competing in her second Olympics at Beijing, thanks to her second career, modelling.
"Modelling is a way for me to continue with my sport, the hours are flexible, and you can earn good money through photographic modelling and the catwalk," Franco told Reuters.
But Deitsch said for hard-core sports fans the appearance or sex appeal of an athlete might make them more interesting, but only if they were winning at their sport.
He said two good examples of sports stars who had used their looks to build a brand were English footballer David Beckham and Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova.
"Ultimately it does not get away from the fact that you have to be an athlete first and a beauty second," he said.
"But when you have someone who is fantastic at both, then you are looking at a global brand."
Friday, August 1, 2008
Academics unearth UK's oldest joke
A 1,000-year-old double-meaning wry observation is what British academics consider to be their country's oldest joke.
They found it in the Codex Exoniensis, a 10th century book of Anglo-Saxon poetry held at Exeter Cathedral. It reads: "What hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole that it's often poked before?' Answer: A key."
Going through ancient texts, researchers from Wolverhampton University found the jokes laid down in delicate manuscripts and carved into stone tablets.
Reacting to the discovery, Paul MacDonald, a comic novelist and lecturer in creative writing, said jokes ancient and modern shared "a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion."
"Modern puns, Essex girl jokes and toilet humour can all be traced back to the very earliest jokes identified in this research," he commented.
Lost civilisations laughed at farts, sex, and "stupid people" just as we do today, McDonald said.
For instance, here is an earliest example of Egyptian humour: "Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey - his purse is what restrains him," reads an Egyptian hieroglyphic from a period that pre-dates Christ.
And here's the world's oldest surviving joke: The 3,000-year-old Sumerian proverb, from ancient Babylonia, reads: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."
The three-month academic search for British jokes is part of an assignment for a television channel programme on humour.
They found it in the Codex Exoniensis, a 10th century book of Anglo-Saxon poetry held at Exeter Cathedral. It reads: "What hangs at a man's thigh and wants to poke the hole that it's often poked before?' Answer: A key."
Going through ancient texts, researchers from Wolverhampton University found the jokes laid down in delicate manuscripts and carved into stone tablets.
Reacting to the discovery, Paul MacDonald, a comic novelist and lecturer in creative writing, said jokes ancient and modern shared "a willingness to deal with taboos and a degree of rebellion."
"Modern puns, Essex girl jokes and toilet humour can all be traced back to the very earliest jokes identified in this research," he commented.
Lost civilisations laughed at farts, sex, and "stupid people" just as we do today, McDonald said.
For instance, here is an earliest example of Egyptian humour: "Man is even more eager to copulate than a donkey - his purse is what restrains him," reads an Egyptian hieroglyphic from a period that pre-dates Christ.
And here's the world's oldest surviving joke: The 3,000-year-old Sumerian proverb, from ancient Babylonia, reads: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."
The three-month academic search for British jokes is part of an assignment for a television channel programme on humour.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wisdom...
Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talked about how feel-good, politically correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you chances as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Email-like names cause controversy in China
For ages, Chinese names have been the subject of interest and even jokes among some in the rest of the world. Now they are having the same effect in China.
A growing number of people in China are now using obscure Chinese characters and English words and numbers when naming their children. Names like Wang Com, Zhao C, Li U and others have sparked off a controversy among experts and local residents.
Unlike the African-American leader of the 1960s, Malcolm X, who dropped his surname to snap ties with his "white" slave masters, modern day Chinese names rarely make a political point. Rather, they have become the topic of discussion and often, ridicule among the people of China.
"These words sound more like e-mail IDs than names of people," says Zhou Huo, a Beijing government official.
Chinese parents have traditionally named their children after characters from epics, royal families or subjects of their favourite poets. More often than not, Chinese names have grand meanings. And at times they are also apt.
Some people regard giving children distinct names as social progress. Others, however, argue that English words and letters in Chinese names degrade Chinese culture and will cause trouble for children.
A growing number of people in China are now using obscure Chinese characters and English words and numbers when naming their children. Names like Wang Com, Zhao C, Li U and others have sparked off a controversy among experts and local residents.
Unlike the African-American leader of the 1960s, Malcolm X, who dropped his surname to snap ties with his "white" slave masters, modern day Chinese names rarely make a political point. Rather, they have become the topic of discussion and often, ridicule among the people of China.
"These words sound more like e-mail IDs than names of people," says Zhou Huo, a Beijing government official.
Chinese parents have traditionally named their children after characters from epics, royal families or subjects of their favourite poets. More often than not, Chinese names have grand meanings. And at times they are also apt.
Some people regard giving children distinct names as social progress. Others, however, argue that English words and letters in Chinese names degrade Chinese culture and will cause trouble for children.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Global food crisis to hit finances of India, Pak
The soaring global food prices will adversely impact government finances in countries like India and Pakistan and may result in bloating of their deficits by over five per cent of the GDP, according to a Standard & Poors (S&P) report.
India, Pakistan and Egypt would be hardest hit by the rise in food costs, with a general government deficits of 5.9 per cent, 6.5 per cent, and 6.9 per cent of GDP respectively, projected for 2008, says a S&P report.
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, having revenue at less than 20 per cent of their GDP, have put these economies in precarious position of large deficits and narrow underlying revenue bases, the report added.
It said, even developed countries are vulnerable to food-price inflation and susceptible to increased political instability if there is a mismatch between higher revenues from food exports or domestic supply.
"Although global food price rise in itself is unlikely to be direct cause of adverse rating action, for many sovereigns it will significantly increase overall susceptibility to negative rating movements by exacerbating already weak external and fiscal positions, or through potential for political and social unrest," S&P Sovereigns and International Public Finance Ratings group's Agost Benard said.
The other main pressure points would be on fiscal balances, which would likely be from both the expenditure and the revenue side, it said.
Subsidies for staple foods are common in many nations in the lower and middle-income ranges, and in many cases governments derive significant revenues from sales taxes and import tariffs on food.
India, Pakistan and Egypt would be hardest hit by the rise in food costs, with a general government deficits of 5.9 per cent, 6.5 per cent, and 6.9 per cent of GDP respectively, projected for 2008, says a S&P report.
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, having revenue at less than 20 per cent of their GDP, have put these economies in precarious position of large deficits and narrow underlying revenue bases, the report added.
It said, even developed countries are vulnerable to food-price inflation and susceptible to increased political instability if there is a mismatch between higher revenues from food exports or domestic supply.
"Although global food price rise in itself is unlikely to be direct cause of adverse rating action, for many sovereigns it will significantly increase overall susceptibility to negative rating movements by exacerbating already weak external and fiscal positions, or through potential for political and social unrest," S&P Sovereigns and International Public Finance Ratings group's Agost Benard said.
The other main pressure points would be on fiscal balances, which would likely be from both the expenditure and the revenue side, it said.
Subsidies for staple foods are common in many nations in the lower and middle-income ranges, and in many cases governments derive significant revenues from sales taxes and import tariffs on food.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
How to stay young...
Here are some brilliant thoughts on the subject of age...
You don't stop laughing because you grow old;
You grow old because you stop laughing.
-- Benjamin Franklin
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
We grow old because we stop playing.
-- George Bernard Shaw
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up
enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
-- Samuel Ullman
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
-- Mark Twain
Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.
-- Victor Hugo
Age is important only when one is choosing wine or cheese.
-- Anonymous
Growing old is a case of mind over matter.
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
-- Jack Benny
If you're going to keep on living,
you better keep on growing.
-- Erik H. Erikson
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
-- Anais Nin
My age should not matter, but my maturity should.
-- Anonymous.
Age is only a number.
-- Lexi Starling
You don't stop laughing because you grow old;
You grow old because you stop laughing.
-- Benjamin Franklin
We don't stop playing because we grow old;
We grow old because we stop playing.
-- George Bernard Shaw
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up
enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
-- Samuel Ullman
Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
-- Mark Twain
Forty is the old age of youth; fifty the youth of old age.
-- Victor Hugo
Age is important only when one is choosing wine or cheese.
-- Anonymous
Growing old is a case of mind over matter.
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
-- Jack Benny
If you're going to keep on living,
you better keep on growing.
-- Erik H. Erikson
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.
-- Anais Nin
My age should not matter, but my maturity should.
-- Anonymous.
Age is only a number.
-- Lexi Starling
Thursday, June 26, 2008
How To Make A Million Before You Turn 20
While their peers were out making trouble, these young achievers were making bank.
Forever in search of the secrets to entrepreneurial success, Forbes peeked into the inspirational lives of five whiz kids who built million-dollar enterprises before the age of 20.
They partnered with friends, siblings and mentors, or did the work on their own. Three are from the U.S. , two from the U.K. All started at age 15 or younger--and one before he broke double digits.
Their common thread: preternatural business sense and demon drive to turn ideas into reality.
While four of the five were making a mint on the Internet, Fraser Doherty was doing things the old-fashioned way. In 2002, at the age of 14, Doherty started making jams from his grandmother's recipes in his parents' kitchen in Edinburgh , Scotland . Neighbors and church friends loved them. As word spread, Doherty started receiving orders faster than he could produce them at home, so he rented time at a 200-person food-processing factory several days a month.
Go With The Flow
By age 16, Doherty left school (with his parents' blessing) to work on his jams full time. In early 2007, Waitrose, a high-end supermarket in the U.K. , approached Doherty, hoping to sell his Superjam products in their stores. Within months there were Superjam jars on the shelves of 184 Waitrose stores, hoisting Doherty and his business to new heights.
Doherty borrowed 5,000 pounds (about $9,000) from a bank to cover general expenses and more factory time to produce three flavors: Blueberry & Blackcurrant, Rhubarb & Ginger and Cranberry & Raspberry. Tesco (other-otc: TSCDY - news - people ) followed, adding Doherty's products to 300 stores across the U.K. In March, Superjam will launch at Tesco in Ireland .
Last year Superjam hit $750,000 in sales and is on track to double that in 2008 (about 50,000 jars a month). Based on a reasonable valuation multiple of one times revenue--jelly-maker J.M. Smucker (nyse: SJM - news - people ) trades at 1.2 times sales--Doherty's 100% stake is worth in the neighborhood of $1 million to $2 million.
Not bad for a 19-year-old. Doherty's recommendation to other young entrepreneurs: "Have an attitude of adventure, and enjoy the journey."
Double Down
Cameron Johnson truly took that perspective to heart, parlaying one hit into the next. Back in 1994, when he was just 9, Johnson launched his first business out of his home in Virginia , making invitations for his parents' holiday party. By the seasoned age of 11, Johnson had saved up several thousand dollars selling greeting cards. He called his company Cheers and Tears.
But the little guy didn't stop there. At age 12, Johnson offered his younger sister $100 for her collection of 30 Ty Beanie Babies, all the rage at that time. The young entrepreneur quickly earned 10 times that amount by selling the dolls on eBay. Smelling potential, he contacted Ty and began purchasing the dolls at wholesale with the aim of selling them on eBay and on his Cheers and Tears Web site.
In less than a year, Johnson banked $50,000--seed money for his next venture, My EZ Mail, a service that forwarded e-mails to a particular account without revealing the recipient's personal information. He hired a programmer to flesh out his idea, and within two years My EZ Mail was generating up to $3,000 per month in advertising revenue.
Be Fearless
Johnson still wasn't done. In 1997, he joined forces with two other teen entrepreneurs, Aaron Greenspan and Tom Kho, to create an online advertising company called Surfingprizes.com, which provided scrolling advertisements across the top of users' Web browsers. Those who downloaded the software received 20 cents per hour (a tiny fraction of the value to the advertiser) for the inconvenience of having ads splay across their computer screens.
The boys employed a classic pyramid strategy to spread the service. Users who managed to refer Surfingprizes.com to a new customer would nab 10% of that new person's hourly revenue.
But Johnson and company didn't just sell software--they wanted a piece of that juicy ad revenue too. Their solution: partnering with companies such as DoubleClick, L90 and Advertising.com that could sell the ads for them. Under the agreements, the middlemen would collect 30% of any ad revenue sold, while the three boys split the remaining 70%, out of which they paid those referral fees.
"I was 15 years old and receiving checks between $300,000 and $400,000 per month," says Johnson. At 19, he sold the company name and software (but not the customer database) to an undisclosed buyer. Says Johnson, "Before my high school graduation, my combined assets were worth more than $1 million."
Now just 23, and with other ventures under his belt, Johnson spends his time giving speeches and promoting a new book. "Put yourself out there," he advises. "Don't be afraid of rejection. Don't be afraid to ask anything."
Stick To A Vision
At 15, Catherine Cook and her brother Dave, 17, were flipping through their high school yearbook and came up with the idea to develop a free interactive version online. In 2005, the two convinced their older brother Geoff, a budding Web entrepreneur himself, to invest $250,000 and his time to help them launch MyYearbook.com, a social-networking site based in Skillman , N.J.
Soon after, the Cooks merged with Zenhex.com, an ad-supported site where users post a variety of homemade quizzes, more than doubling the number of eyeballs taking in their site. But when they tried to expand even further, they hit some snags. Potential investors wanted to move the company's headquarters to New York (the Cooks wanted to stay put). They also wanted to have ads appear on users' personal profile pages (the Cooks didn't).
Good thing the Cooks stuck to their vision. By 2006, MyYearbook had raised $4.1 million from the likes of U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital. Since then, the site has attracted such advertisers as Neutrogena, Disney (nyse: DIS - news - people ) and ABC; has grown to 3 million members worldwide; and rakes in annual sales in the "seven figures," says Catherine.
How to compete in an industry dominated by MySpace and Facebook? Mine a niche. "[Our site is] specifically for high school students, and we really listen to the suggestions of our members," says Catherine.
While the Cooks decline to discuss the value of their stake in the business, one MyYearbook investor (who agreed to speak only if unidentified) claims the Cooks' chunk is worth "well over $1 million."
Seven figures is real money to anyone, let alone a teenager. Yet despite their heady success, all of these young world-beaters seem to remain--refreshingly--kids at heart. "I'm not driving around in fancy cars," says Doherty. "I'm in it totally for the adventure."
Profits and perspective: Sounds like a recipe for even greater success in the decades to come.
Forever in search of the secrets to entrepreneurial success, Forbes peeked into the inspirational lives of five whiz kids who built million-dollar enterprises before the age of 20.
They partnered with friends, siblings and mentors, or did the work on their own. Three are from the U.S. , two from the U.K. All started at age 15 or younger--and one before he broke double digits.
Their common thread: preternatural business sense and demon drive to turn ideas into reality.
While four of the five were making a mint on the Internet, Fraser Doherty was doing things the old-fashioned way. In 2002, at the age of 14, Doherty started making jams from his grandmother's recipes in his parents' kitchen in Edinburgh , Scotland . Neighbors and church friends loved them. As word spread, Doherty started receiving orders faster than he could produce them at home, so he rented time at a 200-person food-processing factory several days a month.
Go With The Flow
By age 16, Doherty left school (with his parents' blessing) to work on his jams full time. In early 2007, Waitrose, a high-end supermarket in the U.K. , approached Doherty, hoping to sell his Superjam products in their stores. Within months there were Superjam jars on the shelves of 184 Waitrose stores, hoisting Doherty and his business to new heights.
Doherty borrowed 5,000 pounds (about $9,000) from a bank to cover general expenses and more factory time to produce three flavors: Blueberry & Blackcurrant, Rhubarb & Ginger and Cranberry & Raspberry. Tesco (other-otc: TSCDY - news - people ) followed, adding Doherty's products to 300 stores across the U.K. In March, Superjam will launch at Tesco in Ireland .
Last year Superjam hit $750,000 in sales and is on track to double that in 2008 (about 50,000 jars a month). Based on a reasonable valuation multiple of one times revenue--jelly-maker J.M. Smucker (nyse: SJM - news - people ) trades at 1.2 times sales--Doherty's 100% stake is worth in the neighborhood of $1 million to $2 million.
Not bad for a 19-year-old. Doherty's recommendation to other young entrepreneurs: "Have an attitude of adventure, and enjoy the journey."
Double Down
Cameron Johnson truly took that perspective to heart, parlaying one hit into the next. Back in 1994, when he was just 9, Johnson launched his first business out of his home in Virginia , making invitations for his parents' holiday party. By the seasoned age of 11, Johnson had saved up several thousand dollars selling greeting cards. He called his company Cheers and Tears.
But the little guy didn't stop there. At age 12, Johnson offered his younger sister $100 for her collection of 30 Ty Beanie Babies, all the rage at that time. The young entrepreneur quickly earned 10 times that amount by selling the dolls on eBay. Smelling potential, he contacted Ty and began purchasing the dolls at wholesale with the aim of selling them on eBay and on his Cheers and Tears Web site.
In less than a year, Johnson banked $50,000--seed money for his next venture, My EZ Mail, a service that forwarded e-mails to a particular account without revealing the recipient's personal information. He hired a programmer to flesh out his idea, and within two years My EZ Mail was generating up to $3,000 per month in advertising revenue.
Be Fearless
Johnson still wasn't done. In 1997, he joined forces with two other teen entrepreneurs, Aaron Greenspan and Tom Kho, to create an online advertising company called Surfingprizes.com, which provided scrolling advertisements across the top of users' Web browsers. Those who downloaded the software received 20 cents per hour (a tiny fraction of the value to the advertiser) for the inconvenience of having ads splay across their computer screens.
The boys employed a classic pyramid strategy to spread the service. Users who managed to refer Surfingprizes.com to a new customer would nab 10% of that new person's hourly revenue.
But Johnson and company didn't just sell software--they wanted a piece of that juicy ad revenue too. Their solution: partnering with companies such as DoubleClick, L90 and Advertising.com that could sell the ads for them. Under the agreements, the middlemen would collect 30% of any ad revenue sold, while the three boys split the remaining 70%, out of which they paid those referral fees.
"I was 15 years old and receiving checks between $300,000 and $400,000 per month," says Johnson. At 19, he sold the company name and software (but not the customer database) to an undisclosed buyer. Says Johnson, "Before my high school graduation, my combined assets were worth more than $1 million."
Now just 23, and with other ventures under his belt, Johnson spends his time giving speeches and promoting a new book. "Put yourself out there," he advises. "Don't be afraid of rejection. Don't be afraid to ask anything."
Stick To A Vision
At 15, Catherine Cook and her brother Dave, 17, were flipping through their high school yearbook and came up with the idea to develop a free interactive version online. In 2005, the two convinced their older brother Geoff, a budding Web entrepreneur himself, to invest $250,000 and his time to help them launch MyYearbook.com, a social-networking site based in Skillman , N.J.
Soon after, the Cooks merged with Zenhex.com, an ad-supported site where users post a variety of homemade quizzes, more than doubling the number of eyeballs taking in their site. But when they tried to expand even further, they hit some snags. Potential investors wanted to move the company's headquarters to New York (the Cooks wanted to stay put). They also wanted to have ads appear on users' personal profile pages (the Cooks didn't).
Good thing the Cooks stuck to their vision. By 2006, MyYearbook had raised $4.1 million from the likes of U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital. Since then, the site has attracted such advertisers as Neutrogena, Disney (nyse: DIS - news - people ) and ABC; has grown to 3 million members worldwide; and rakes in annual sales in the "seven figures," says Catherine.
How to compete in an industry dominated by MySpace and Facebook? Mine a niche. "[Our site is] specifically for high school students, and we really listen to the suggestions of our members," says Catherine.
While the Cooks decline to discuss the value of their stake in the business, one MyYearbook investor (who agreed to speak only if unidentified) claims the Cooks' chunk is worth "well over $1 million."
Seven figures is real money to anyone, let alone a teenager. Yet despite their heady success, all of these young world-beaters seem to remain--refreshingly--kids at heart. "I'm not driving around in fancy cars," says Doherty. "I'm in it totally for the adventure."
Profits and perspective: Sounds like a recipe for even greater success in the decades to come.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Bad boys = better sex life
Bad guys have a prolific sex life...
They're narcissist, impulsive, deceitful and live life on the edge but still bad guys get more sex, a new research shows.
According to New Scientist, two US researches have found that men with antisocial personality traits are more likely to have a prolific sex life.
One of the studies, a survey of 35,000 people in 57 countries, found a clear link between the so-called 'dark triad traits' and the reproductive success of males.
"It is universal across cultures for high dark triad scorers to be more active in short-term mating," News.com.au quoted David Schmitt, of Bradley University in the US , as saying.
"They are more likely to try and poach other people's partners for a brief affair," he added.
The second study found that males who scored higher in the dark triad personality traits had a greater number of partners and a desire for short relationships.
They're narcissist, impulsive, deceitful and live life on the edge but still bad guys get more sex, a new research shows.
According to New Scientist, two US researches have found that men with antisocial personality traits are more likely to have a prolific sex life.
One of the studies, a survey of 35,000 people in 57 countries, found a clear link between the so-called 'dark triad traits' and the reproductive success of males.
"It is universal across cultures for high dark triad scorers to be more active in short-term mating," News.com.au quoted David Schmitt, of Bradley University in the US , as saying.
"They are more likely to try and poach other people's partners for a brief affair," he added.
The second study found that males who scored higher in the dark triad personality traits had a greater number of partners and a desire for short relationships.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Blood Donor Day...
Today is Blood Donor Day.
On the occasion of Blood Donor Day I take the opportunity to once again place on record my heartfelt thanks to all those many wonderful people who donated blood and arranged for blood donors for my beloved wife Priti when she was hospitalised for five weeks with Septicemia earlier this year.
Your blood saved her life.
On the occasion of Blood Donor Day I take the opportunity to once again place on record my heartfelt thanks to all those many wonderful people who donated blood and arranged for blood donors for my beloved wife Priti when she was hospitalised for five weeks with Septicemia earlier this year.
Your blood saved her life.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Facebook and MySpace are the new bane of bosses' lives!
London, June 4 (ANI): Fag breaks are passe now, the latest banes giving bosses headaches are social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, says a new poll.
Four in ten managers say they now find that workers addicted to sites like Facebook and online shops are the biggest office time-wasters.
Employees who respond to non-work emails were named as the next worst slackers.
Only one in ten bosses identified people on cigarette breaks as a major problem.
"In the past, cig breaks caused major headaches, but times have changed," The Sun quoted Rik Ferguson, of Trend Micro which carried out the survey, as saying.
Four in ten managers say they now find that workers addicted to sites like Facebook and online shops are the biggest office time-wasters.
Employees who respond to non-work emails were named as the next worst slackers.
Only one in ten bosses identified people on cigarette breaks as a major problem.
"In the past, cig breaks caused major headaches, but times have changed," The Sun quoted Rik Ferguson, of Trend Micro which carried out the survey, as saying.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Primitive Forms of Money
(The origins of money in its various forms, and of banking, are discussed in the book "A history of money from ancient times to the present day", by Glyn Davies, on which this article is based.)
Manillas were ornamental metallic objects worn as jewelry in west Africa and used as money as recently as 1949. They were an ostentatious form of ornamentation, their value in that role being a prime reason for their acceptability as money. Wampum's use as money in north America undoubtedly came about as an extension of its desirability for ornamentation. Precious metals have had ornamental uses throughout history and that could be one reason why they were adopted for use as money in many ancient societies and civilizations.
In Fijian society gifts of whales teeth were (and in certain cases still are) a significant feature of certain ceremonies. One of their uses was as bride-money, with a symbolic meaning similar to that of the engagement ring in Western society. Whales teeth were "tambua" (from which our word "taboo" comes) meaning that they had religious significance, as did the fei stones of Yap which were still being used as money as recently as the mid 1960s.
The potlatch ceremonies of Native Americans were a form of barter that had social and ceremonial functions that were at least as important as its economic functions. Consequently when the potlatch was outlawed in Canada (by an act that was later repealed) some of the most powerful work incentives were removed - to the detriment of the younger sections of the Indian communities. This form of barter was not unique to North America. Glyn Davies points out that the most celebrated example of competitive gift exchange was the encounter, around 950 BC, of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. "Extravagant ostentation, the attempt to outdo each other in the splendour of the exchanges, and above all, the obligations of reciprocity, were just as typical in this celebrated encounter, though at a fittingly princely level, as with the more mundane types of barter in other parts of the world." (page 13).
Cattle are described by the author as mankind's "first working capital asset" (page 41). The religious use of cattle for sacrifices probably preceded their adoption for more general monetary purposes. For sacrifice quality - "without spot or blemish" - was important but for monetary purposes quantity was of more significance since cattle, like coins, can be counted. Obviously there were very practical reasons for the association between cattle and wealth but anthropological evidence from Africa in very recent times shows that when cattle are regarded as a form of money, not only health cattle but also scrawny ones will be valued to the detriment of the environment supporting them and their owners.
Glyn Davies quotes linguistic evidence to show how ancient and widespread the association between cattle and money was. The English words "capital", "chattels" and "cattle" have a common root. Similarly "pecuniary" comes from the Latin word for cattle "pecus" while in Welsh (the author's mother tongue) the word "da" used as an adjective means "good" but used as a noun means both "cattle" and "goods".
Manillas were ornamental metallic objects worn as jewelry in west Africa and used as money as recently as 1949. They were an ostentatious form of ornamentation, their value in that role being a prime reason for their acceptability as money. Wampum's use as money in north America undoubtedly came about as an extension of its desirability for ornamentation. Precious metals have had ornamental uses throughout history and that could be one reason why they were adopted for use as money in many ancient societies and civilizations.
In Fijian society gifts of whales teeth were (and in certain cases still are) a significant feature of certain ceremonies. One of their uses was as bride-money, with a symbolic meaning similar to that of the engagement ring in Western society. Whales teeth were "tambua" (from which our word "taboo" comes) meaning that they had religious significance, as did the fei stones of Yap which were still being used as money as recently as the mid 1960s.
The potlatch ceremonies of Native Americans were a form of barter that had social and ceremonial functions that were at least as important as its economic functions. Consequently when the potlatch was outlawed in Canada (by an act that was later repealed) some of the most powerful work incentives were removed - to the detriment of the younger sections of the Indian communities. This form of barter was not unique to North America. Glyn Davies points out that the most celebrated example of competitive gift exchange was the encounter, around 950 BC, of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. "Extravagant ostentation, the attempt to outdo each other in the splendour of the exchanges, and above all, the obligations of reciprocity, were just as typical in this celebrated encounter, though at a fittingly princely level, as with the more mundane types of barter in other parts of the world." (page 13).
Cattle are described by the author as mankind's "first working capital asset" (page 41). The religious use of cattle for sacrifices probably preceded their adoption for more general monetary purposes. For sacrifice quality - "without spot or blemish" - was important but for monetary purposes quantity was of more significance since cattle, like coins, can be counted. Obviously there were very practical reasons for the association between cattle and wealth but anthropological evidence from Africa in very recent times shows that when cattle are regarded as a form of money, not only health cattle but also scrawny ones will be valued to the detriment of the environment supporting them and their owners.
Glyn Davies quotes linguistic evidence to show how ancient and widespread the association between cattle and money was. The English words "capital", "chattels" and "cattle" have a common root. Similarly "pecuniary" comes from the Latin word for cattle "pecus" while in Welsh (the author's mother tongue) the word "da" used as an adjective means "good" but used as a noun means both "cattle" and "goods".
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Moldovan women break 1000-yr-old Greek ban
Four Moldovan women accidentally violated a 1,000-year-old ban on women entering the all male monastic community of Mount Athos, when they were left on Greek shores by human traffickers.
Police said on May 26 that the women -- aged between 27 and 32 -- as well as a 41-year-old Moldovan man were smuggled from Turkey by boat to the Greek Orthodox community of 20 monasteries, long off limits to women. The reached land on May 25.
"They told police and the monks they were sorry but they couldn't have known this was a no-women area," said a police officer, who declined to be named. "They were forgiven."
Monks spotted the women late on May 25 and alerted police. Under Greek law, the violation of the ban on women on Mount Athos, considered Orthodox Christianity's spiritual home, is illegal and can be punished with up to two years in jail.
Police said on May 26 that the women -- aged between 27 and 32 -- as well as a 41-year-old Moldovan man were smuggled from Turkey by boat to the Greek Orthodox community of 20 monasteries, long off limits to women. The reached land on May 25.
"They told police and the monks they were sorry but they couldn't have known this was a no-women area," said a police officer, who declined to be named. "They were forgiven."
Monks spotted the women late on May 25 and alerted police. Under Greek law, the violation of the ban on women on Mount Athos, considered Orthodox Christianity's spiritual home, is illegal and can be punished with up to two years in jail.
Bit by bugs at work, woman sues landlord
A Fox News employee sued the landlord of her company's office building on May 29, claiming she got bedbug bites at work.
Jane Clark, a satellite feed coordinator, says in a lawsuit filed on May 29 in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that she picked up the bugs in the mid-Manhattan tower that houses the New York Post and the Fox News Channel.
Clark, 37, says the critter encounter last year left her unable to work and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She said an investigation revealed that another employee was bringing the bugs to work from his home, but that person no longer works at Fox.
The lawsuit asks unspecified damages from the building's owner, a management company and two maintenance companies. The Fox News Channel and its parent News Corp were not named as defendants.
Clark's lawyer, Alan Schnurman, said he has filed lawsuits over bedbug infestations in hotels, cruise ships, and apartment buildings, but said this was ``the first we know about in the work environment.''
Ashley McCown, spokeswoman for building owners and managers Beacon Capital Partners LLC, 1211 6th Avenue Property Owner LLC, and Cushman & Wakefield, said they learned bedbugs were in an area of the Fox newsroom.
``We have been informed that the bedbugs have been exterminated,'' McCown said. ``We have no indication they spread outside a limited area within the newsroom. Nonetheless, as a prudent step, we are bringing in outside, independent experts to review the situation.''
Defendants Triangle Maintenance Service Inc. and American Quality Cleaning Corp did not immediately return calls for comment.
Jane Clark, a satellite feed coordinator, says in a lawsuit filed on May 29 in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that she picked up the bugs in the mid-Manhattan tower that houses the New York Post and the Fox News Channel.
Clark, 37, says the critter encounter last year left her unable to work and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. She said an investigation revealed that another employee was bringing the bugs to work from his home, but that person no longer works at Fox.
The lawsuit asks unspecified damages from the building's owner, a management company and two maintenance companies. The Fox News Channel and its parent News Corp were not named as defendants.
Clark's lawyer, Alan Schnurman, said he has filed lawsuits over bedbug infestations in hotels, cruise ships, and apartment buildings, but said this was ``the first we know about in the work environment.''
Ashley McCown, spokeswoman for building owners and managers Beacon Capital Partners LLC, 1211 6th Avenue Property Owner LLC, and Cushman & Wakefield, said they learned bedbugs were in an area of the Fox newsroom.
``We have been informed that the bedbugs have been exterminated,'' McCown said. ``We have no indication they spread outside a limited area within the newsroom. Nonetheless, as a prudent step, we are bringing in outside, independent experts to review the situation.''
Defendants Triangle Maintenance Service Inc. and American Quality Cleaning Corp did not immediately return calls for comment.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Will cards for inmates solve crimes?
Inmates in 58 county jails across New York are getting playing cards with the pictures of missing persons in hopes the photos will jog memories and help solve cold cases.
Under a state Senate pilot program, 7,200 decks of cards are being sent to the jails. They include telephone numbers of tip lines that offer rewards to anyone -- including prisoners -- who provide information about the crimes.
The cards were paid for with a $10,000 grant from Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno from funds he controls.
"This program seeks to go right to the source of crime, providing incarcerated criminals information via playing cards that, in turn, may have credible information or leads that help solve these crimes," Bruno said in a statement.
A spokesman for Bruno said a similar scheme in Florida prisons had resulted in leads that helped close old cases.
Under a state Senate pilot program, 7,200 decks of cards are being sent to the jails. They include telephone numbers of tip lines that offer rewards to anyone -- including prisoners -- who provide information about the crimes.
The cards were paid for with a $10,000 grant from Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno from funds he controls.
"This program seeks to go right to the source of crime, providing incarcerated criminals information via playing cards that, in turn, may have credible information or leads that help solve these crimes," Bruno said in a statement.
A spokesman for Bruno said a similar scheme in Florida prisons had resulted in leads that helped close old cases.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Most pointless gadget of all time
Electric nail files have been deemed the 'Most Pointless Gadget of All Time' in a new survey.
The files, which can be purchased for as much as 205 pounds, are supposed to give to give a perfect shape and smooth finish, reports the Sun of UK.
The survey, however, found that women are just as happy with a manual nail file costing just 2 pounds.
Laser guided scissors, which are supposed to help cut a perfect straight line, are the second most useless item listed in the top 20.
In the poll for review website reevoo.com, electric candles came third while sodastream stood fourth.
Rounding off the top five was foot spa.
The top 20 Most Pointless Gadget of All Time are:
1. Electric nail files 2. Laser guided scissors 3. Electric candles 4. Soda stream 5. Foot spas 6. Fondue set 7. Hair crimpers 8. Egg boiler 9. Electric fluff remover 10. Electric carving knife 11. Trouser press 12. Face steamers 13. Teas made 14. Mini disk player 15. Facial tanners 16. Egg slicer 17. Electric tin openers 18. Yoghurt makers 19. Towel warmer 20.Back scratcher.
The files, which can be purchased for as much as 205 pounds, are supposed to give to give a perfect shape and smooth finish, reports the Sun of UK.
The survey, however, found that women are just as happy with a manual nail file costing just 2 pounds.
Laser guided scissors, which are supposed to help cut a perfect straight line, are the second most useless item listed in the top 20.
In the poll for review website reevoo.com, electric candles came third while sodastream stood fourth.
Rounding off the top five was foot spa.
The top 20 Most Pointless Gadget of All Time are:
1. Electric nail files 2. Laser guided scissors 3. Electric candles 4. Soda stream 5. Foot spas 6. Fondue set 7. Hair crimpers 8. Egg boiler 9. Electric fluff remover 10. Electric carving knife 11. Trouser press 12. Face steamers 13. Teas made 14. Mini disk player 15. Facial tanners 16. Egg slicer 17. Electric tin openers 18. Yoghurt makers 19. Towel warmer 20.Back scratcher.
Inside The World's First Billion-Dollar Home
Courtesy:
While visiting New York in 2005, Nita Ambani was in the spa at the Mandarin Oriental New York, overlooking Central Park . The contemporary Asian interiors struck her just so, and prompted her to inquire about the designer.
Nita Ambani was no ordinary tourist. She is married to Mukesh Ambani, head of Mumbai-based petrochemical giant Reliance Industries, and the fifth richest man in the world. (Lakshmi Mittal, ranked fourth, is an Indian citizen, but a resident of the U.K.)
Forbes estimated Ambani's net worth at $43 billion in March. Reliance Industries was founded by Mukesh's father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966, and is India 's most valuable firm by market capitalization. The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodeling to meet its needs.
Like many families with the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home. They consulted with architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles , respectively. Plans were then drawn up for what will be the world's largest and most expensive home: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing $2 billion. The architects and designers are creating as they go, altering floor plans, design elements and concepts as the building is constructed.
The only remotely comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the $70 million triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York , designed to resemble a French chateau, and climbing 525 feet in the air. When the Ambani residence is finished in January, completing a four-year process, it will be 550 feet high with 400,000 square feet of interior space.
The home will cost more than a hotel or high-rise of similar size because of its custom measurements and fittings: A hotel or condominium has a common layout, replicated on every floor, and uses the same materials throughout the building (such as door handles, floors, lamps and window treatments).
The Ambani home, called Antilla, differs in that no two floors are alike in either plans or materials used. At the request of Nita Ambani, say the designers, if a metal, wood or crystal is part of the ninth-floor design, it shouldn't be used on the eleventh floor, for example. The idea is to blend styles and architectural elements so spaces give the feel of consistency, but without repetition.
Antilla's shape is based on Vaastu, an Indian tradition much like Feng Shui that is said to move energy beneficially through the building by strategically placing materials, rooms and objects.
Pricey Pad Atop six stories of parking lots, Antilla's living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings is a large ballroom with 80% of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers. It features a retractable showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors and embedded speakers, as well as stages for entertainment. The hall opens to an indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms and allows access to a nearby "entourage room" for security guards and assistants to relax.
Ambani plans to occasionally use the residence for corporate entertainment, and the family wants the look and feel of the home's interior to be distinctly Indian; 85% of the materials and labor will come from outside the U.S. , most of it from India .
What do you think of Ambami's home? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.
Where possible, the designers say, whether it's for the silver railings, crystal chandeliers, woven area rugs or steel support beams, the Ambanis are using Indian companies, contractors, craftsmen and materials firms. Elements of Indian culture juxtapose newer designs. For example, the sinks in a lounge extending off the entertainment level, which features a movie theater and wine room, are shaped like ginkgo leaves (native to India) with the stem extending to the faucet to guide the water into the basin.
On the health level, local plants decorate the outdoor patio near the swimming pool and yoga studio. The floor also features an ice room where residents and guests can escape the Mumbai heat to a small, cooled chamber dusted by man-made snow flurries.
For more temperate days, the family will enjoy a four-story open garden. In profile, the rebar-enforced beams form a "W" shape that supports the upper two-thirds of the building while creating an open-air atrium of gardens, flowers and lawns. Gardens, whether hanging hydroponic plants, or fixed trees, are a critical part of the building's exterior adornment but also serve a purpose: The plants act as an energy-saving device by absorbing sunlight, thus deflecting it from the living spaces and making it easier to keep the interior cool in summer and warm in winter. An internal core space on the garden level contains entertaining rooms and balconies that clear the tree line and offer views of downtown Mumbai.
The top floors of entertaining space, where Ambani plans to host business guests (or just relax) offer panoramic views of the Arabian Sea
While visiting New York in 2005, Nita Ambani was in the spa at the Mandarin Oriental New York, overlooking Central Park . The contemporary Asian interiors struck her just so, and prompted her to inquire about the designer.
Nita Ambani was no ordinary tourist. She is married to Mukesh Ambani, head of Mumbai-based petrochemical giant Reliance Industries, and the fifth richest man in the world. (Lakshmi Mittal, ranked fourth, is an Indian citizen, but a resident of the U.K.)
Forbes estimated Ambani's net worth at $43 billion in March. Reliance Industries was founded by Mukesh's father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966, and is India 's most valuable firm by market capitalization. The couple, who have three children, currently live in a 22-story Mumbai tower that the family has spent years remodeling to meet its needs.
Like many families with the means to do so, the Ambanis wanted to build a custom home. They consulted with architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental, based in Dallas and Los Angeles , respectively. Plans were then drawn up for what will be the world's largest and most expensive home: a 27-story skyscraper in downtown Mumbai with a cost nearing $2 billion. The architects and designers are creating as they go, altering floor plans, design elements and concepts as the building is constructed.
The only remotely comparable high-rise property currently on the market is the $70 million triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York , designed to resemble a French chateau, and climbing 525 feet in the air. When the Ambani residence is finished in January, completing a four-year process, it will be 550 feet high with 400,000 square feet of interior space.
The home will cost more than a hotel or high-rise of similar size because of its custom measurements and fittings: A hotel or condominium has a common layout, replicated on every floor, and uses the same materials throughout the building (such as door handles, floors, lamps and window treatments).
The Ambani home, called Antilla, differs in that no two floors are alike in either plans or materials used. At the request of Nita Ambani, say the designers, if a metal, wood or crystal is part of the ninth-floor design, it shouldn't be used on the eleventh floor, for example. The idea is to blend styles and architectural elements so spaces give the feel of consistency, but without repetition.
Antilla's shape is based on Vaastu, an Indian tradition much like Feng Shui that is said to move energy beneficially through the building by strategically placing materials, rooms and objects.
Pricey Pad Atop six stories of parking lots, Antilla's living quarters begin at a lobby with nine elevators, as well as several storage rooms and lounges. Down dual stairways with silver-covered railings is a large ballroom with 80% of its ceiling covered in crystal chandeliers. It features a retractable showcase for pieces of art, a mount of LCD monitors and embedded speakers, as well as stages for entertainment. The hall opens to an indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms and allows access to a nearby "entourage room" for security guards and assistants to relax.
Ambani plans to occasionally use the residence for corporate entertainment, and the family wants the look and feel of the home's interior to be distinctly Indian; 85% of the materials and labor will come from outside the U.S. , most of it from India .
What do you think of Ambami's home? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.
Where possible, the designers say, whether it's for the silver railings, crystal chandeliers, woven area rugs or steel support beams, the Ambanis are using Indian companies, contractors, craftsmen and materials firms. Elements of Indian culture juxtapose newer designs. For example, the sinks in a lounge extending off the entertainment level, which features a movie theater and wine room, are shaped like ginkgo leaves (native to India) with the stem extending to the faucet to guide the water into the basin.
On the health level, local plants decorate the outdoor patio near the swimming pool and yoga studio. The floor also features an ice room where residents and guests can escape the Mumbai heat to a small, cooled chamber dusted by man-made snow flurries.
For more temperate days, the family will enjoy a four-story open garden. In profile, the rebar-enforced beams form a "W" shape that supports the upper two-thirds of the building while creating an open-air atrium of gardens, flowers and lawns. Gardens, whether hanging hydroponic plants, or fixed trees, are a critical part of the building's exterior adornment but also serve a purpose: The plants act as an energy-saving device by absorbing sunlight, thus deflecting it from the living spaces and making it easier to keep the interior cool in summer and warm in winter. An internal core space on the garden level contains entertaining rooms and balconies that clear the tree line and offer views of downtown Mumbai.
The top floors of entertaining space, where Ambani plans to host business guests (or just relax) offer panoramic views of the Arabian Sea
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Chasing Happiness
Source:
"Taking all things together on a scale of one to 10, how happy would you say you are?" With that question and a global survey, the folks at the World Database of Happiness have ranked 95 nations on a happiness scale.
Switzerland's citizens closely trail the Danish, each reporting an average happiness level of 8.1 (out of 10), followed by Iceland (7.8), Finland (7.7), Australia (7.7) and Sweden (7.7), all the way down to grim Moldova (3.5).
While the Netherlands ranks only 15th on the list of the world's happiest countries, its industrial capital, Rotterdam , is home to the database, housed at Erasmus University . Its director, Ruut Veenhoven, has made his life's work researching which nations are home to the happiest citizens.
Veenhoven's research shows that Scandinavian nations come out on top, making up five of the 13 happiest nations. Denmark tops the list as a whole--its citizens rank their average happiness as 8.2 on a 10-point scale.
Inspired by Veenhoven's rankings, former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio (and self-proclaimed grouch) Eric Weiner embarked on a quest to visit the happiest places on earth. In his book The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World, Weiner immerses himself in the cultural fabric of the world's happiest countries to pinpoint exactly why residents of some countries, like Iceland and Switzerland, are so downright satisfied with their lives.
The Swiss, Weiner discovered, are efficient and punctual, comparatively wealthy and face hardly any unemployment. Their streets, air and tap water are squeaky clean and chocolate is a national obsession. But Weiner saw no joy in their faces, and reasoned that perhaps it's better to live in this middle range than to vacillate between gleeful moments of elation and gut-wrenching spates of despair. Swiss happiness, he writes, is "more than mere contentment, but less than full-on joy."
Because the country is dark and cold, Weiner was initially skeptical about Iceland 's ranking as the fourth-happiest nation in the world. He learned the small nation is quite literally a family; curiously, geneticists have found that all Icelandic citizens are related.
Certain phrases in the Icelandic language, Weiner writes, are even more telling. When people greet each other, the phrase they use roughly translates to "come happy," and when people part, they utter the equivalent of "go happy." The country is a favorite stamping ground of artists and cultivates a creative spirit; the government supports writers with generous subsidies.
To provide a stark contrast to Iceland and Switzerland , Weiner visited Moldova . The citizens of this former Soviet republic, according to database figures, rate their happiness at 3.5. The nation, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine , had been relatively prosperous, but since the fall of the Berlin wall, per-capita income has fallen to only $880 per year.
But it's not just about money. Nigeria and Bangladesh are poorer and happier, Weiner points out, but Moldova compares itself to Italy and Germany . The country also lacks a distinct culture and any semblance of national pride. Government officials even speak Russian--the language of their oppressors for much of the last century.
So just how does the United States fit into this picture? "Happiness is there for the taking in America ," Weiner writes. "You just need the willpower to find it, and enough cash." The surprising fact, though, is that America is not as happy--scoring 7.3 and ranking 17th in the database--as it is wealthy. U.S. residents are three times richer than they were in 1950, but the happiness ratings haven't shifted in the past decade. After Sept. 11, researchers found no significant decrease in measured levels of happiness.
"Americans work longer hours and commute greater distances than virtually any other people in the world," Weiner writes, but "they remain profoundly optimistic." Two-thirds of Americans say they are hopeful about the future.
Can we predict happiness based on a country's collective "personality"? Not quite. So far, the data reveal national happiness doesn't predictably track average income, type of government--democracy versus dictatorship--or even warm climate.
So with Moldova at the bottom of the happiness ratings are former Soviet republics Belarus , Ukraine and Uzbekistan , alongside such troubled African nations as Tanzania , Rwanda and Zimbabwe . Thus, while wealth doesn't seem to generate happiness, extreme poverty is more likely to produce the opposite.
It's comforting, though, that most people in the world report being satisfied with their lives. "Virtually every country in the world scores somewhere between five and eight on a 10-point scale," Weiner writes. "There are a few exceptions." So while, admittedly, those Scandinavians have it pretty good, the rest of us aren't too far behind. And that's something to be happy about.
"Taking all things together on a scale of one to 10, how happy would you say you are?" With that question and a global survey, the folks at the World Database of Happiness have ranked 95 nations on a happiness scale.
Switzerland's citizens closely trail the Danish, each reporting an average happiness level of 8.1 (out of 10), followed by Iceland (7.8), Finland (7.7), Australia (7.7) and Sweden (7.7), all the way down to grim Moldova (3.5).
While the Netherlands ranks only 15th on the list of the world's happiest countries, its industrial capital, Rotterdam , is home to the database, housed at Erasmus University . Its director, Ruut Veenhoven, has made his life's work researching which nations are home to the happiest citizens.
Veenhoven's research shows that Scandinavian nations come out on top, making up five of the 13 happiest nations. Denmark tops the list as a whole--its citizens rank their average happiness as 8.2 on a 10-point scale.
Inspired by Veenhoven's rankings, former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio (and self-proclaimed grouch) Eric Weiner embarked on a quest to visit the happiest places on earth. In his book The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World, Weiner immerses himself in the cultural fabric of the world's happiest countries to pinpoint exactly why residents of some countries, like Iceland and Switzerland, are so downright satisfied with their lives.
The Swiss, Weiner discovered, are efficient and punctual, comparatively wealthy and face hardly any unemployment. Their streets, air and tap water are squeaky clean and chocolate is a national obsession. But Weiner saw no joy in their faces, and reasoned that perhaps it's better to live in this middle range than to vacillate between gleeful moments of elation and gut-wrenching spates of despair. Swiss happiness, he writes, is "more than mere contentment, but less than full-on joy."
Because the country is dark and cold, Weiner was initially skeptical about Iceland 's ranking as the fourth-happiest nation in the world. He learned the small nation is quite literally a family; curiously, geneticists have found that all Icelandic citizens are related.
Certain phrases in the Icelandic language, Weiner writes, are even more telling. When people greet each other, the phrase they use roughly translates to "come happy," and when people part, they utter the equivalent of "go happy." The country is a favorite stamping ground of artists and cultivates a creative spirit; the government supports writers with generous subsidies.
To provide a stark contrast to Iceland and Switzerland , Weiner visited Moldova . The citizens of this former Soviet republic, according to database figures, rate their happiness at 3.5. The nation, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine , had been relatively prosperous, but since the fall of the Berlin wall, per-capita income has fallen to only $880 per year.
But it's not just about money. Nigeria and Bangladesh are poorer and happier, Weiner points out, but Moldova compares itself to Italy and Germany . The country also lacks a distinct culture and any semblance of national pride. Government officials even speak Russian--the language of their oppressors for much of the last century.
So just how does the United States fit into this picture? "Happiness is there for the taking in America ," Weiner writes. "You just need the willpower to find it, and enough cash." The surprising fact, though, is that America is not as happy--scoring 7.3 and ranking 17th in the database--as it is wealthy. U.S. residents are three times richer than they were in 1950, but the happiness ratings haven't shifted in the past decade. After Sept. 11, researchers found no significant decrease in measured levels of happiness.
"Americans work longer hours and commute greater distances than virtually any other people in the world," Weiner writes, but "they remain profoundly optimistic." Two-thirds of Americans say they are hopeful about the future.
Can we predict happiness based on a country's collective "personality"? Not quite. So far, the data reveal national happiness doesn't predictably track average income, type of government--democracy versus dictatorship--or even warm climate.
So with Moldova at the bottom of the happiness ratings are former Soviet republics Belarus , Ukraine and Uzbekistan , alongside such troubled African nations as Tanzania , Rwanda and Zimbabwe . Thus, while wealth doesn't seem to generate happiness, extreme poverty is more likely to produce the opposite.
It's comforting, though, that most people in the world report being satisfied with their lives. "Virtually every country in the world scores somewhere between five and eight on a 10-point scale," Weiner writes. "There are a few exceptions." So while, admittedly, those Scandinavians have it pretty good, the rest of us aren't too far behind. And that's something to be happy about.
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