I dont know but this is my 2 cents game plan to get the economy back on track...First thing the government would need to do is open up those battered places for commercial purpose...redraw the city plan and spur up growth by giving tax incentives to open up new companies, so that the land value goes up and people would start settling down in these places. Either the bank can give the spaces on rent and who says that IT companies cannot be run from within houses when great companies started from garages. When things start rolling fine, all these bad debts may be wiped out as things will look rosy. When jobs sprout up, people feel safer and will loosen their purse to buy more things which in turn crank up money flow into other industries which in turn will keep and create jobs. If only someone comes up with better ideas to stem the rot and reverse the falling economy
Friday, November 7, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
India attempts to reach Moon but indians are still bickering
Its interesting as to how people think and how the environment around one shapes one's viewpoint and perspective. ISRO, the premier indian space agency has one more feather in its cap when it launched Chandrayan today (10/21/2008). Its bettering the art of space technology by gradually moving from one orbital to the next with ease. Its GSLV, PSLV, the commercial launch of satellites of many other countries and carrying multi-payloads and deploying them successfully into space. I still remember when we used to launch INSAT satellites from Kourou in French Guyana and feel a sense of happiness when things went as planned. Dr Vikram Sarabhai would be a happy man today to see ISRO propel itself into space looking for bettering the art of space technology. He was the father of space technology in India and saw the usefulness of going the space way by launching Aryabhatta and successfully sending India's first satellite in space.
Bettering the space technology is the key to understanding our galaxy and probing the space for alternative fuels, reaching out to lands which could be future human settlements. But this is one side of the story and now if you watch the comments from some other lay people whose contribution is Zilch to the nation, one can see the irony of how people are... and have an idea of how weird people are, how weird are their thinking, how ungrateful one is to one's country
Read their comments below
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Succeed ? What has India succeeded at ? To show the world we are late by nearly 4 decades for the moon race ? For a country that has almost a third of its population below the poverty line, is this expense of billions of rupees justified ? We consistently rank close to the bottom on infant mortality, poverty, illitracy and corruption indices. Can India afford missions to the moon ? Could this money have benefitted a much more deserving population of millions ?
Where have our priorities gone ? The rest of world hasn't even batted an eyelid on this apparent "success". What they do look at are images of the starving millions, people ravaged by floods and disease, a nation under siege by its own people. Shouldn't the government be looking to remedy those images, rather than glorify a moon mission that has no palpable benefits ?
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Bettering the space technology is the key to understanding our galaxy and probing the space for alternative fuels, reaching out to lands which could be future human settlements. But this is one side of the story and now if you watch the comments from some other lay people whose contribution is Zilch to the nation, one can see the irony of how people are... and have an idea of how weird people are, how weird are their thinking, how ungrateful one is to one's country
Read their comments below
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Succeed ? What has India succeeded at ? To show the world we are late by nearly 4 decades for the moon race ? For a country that has almost a third of its population below the poverty line, is this expense of billions of rupees justified ? We consistently rank close to the bottom on infant mortality, poverty, illitracy and corruption indices. Can India afford missions to the moon ? Could this money have benefitted a much more deserving population of millions ?
Where have our priorities gone ? The rest of world hasn't even batted an eyelid on this apparent "success". What they do look at are images of the starving millions, people ravaged by floods and disease, a nation under siege by its own people. Shouldn't the government be looking to remedy those images, rather than glorify a moon mission that has no palpable benefits ?
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nothing more than to say that we too ran the race!
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The moon was the aam aadmi's roof till date. Now they are going to check out if it is solid or not..... I agree with the sentiments of people expressing their views here. There is no benefit in this 'me too' philosophy. Ground realities must find real solutions. But how??
The 20 to 50 year olds have to start talking solutions -- on cleanliness, sanitation, drainage systems, clean villages, towns and cities, healthy transportation, civic behaviour, work ethics, employment, food, SECURITY and trust of the citizen in the system we seem to have been sucked into. But again, HOW???
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Thursday, October 9, 2008
Financial meltdown?
There is a lot of panic around and i still dont understand as to why one needs to panic. The financial cruch or financial meltdown whatever it is called seems to be virtual and its all in the mind. The herd mentality is killing everything and plunging things into a blackhole. There was a mortgage mess, now a credit crunch situation and finally will lead to recession and finally leading to great depression. There are few things one can do to keep yourself afloat....
1) Just dont assume things and act foolishly
2) Start saving things..small cents add up to a dollar and dollars add up to a million
3) Save on gas...start walking around when you can..use public transport if there is one or car pool
4) Clip coupons and start saving those small cents
5) Buy essential things and spend a tad more than normal to stay healthy.. else your medical bill will creep up.
6) Pay bills on time and keep up your financial health
7) Unemployed? Start something and keep profit margin low so as to make some money and help others cut down their cost.
1) Just dont assume things and act foolishly
2) Start saving things..small cents add up to a dollar and dollars add up to a million
3) Save on gas...start walking around when you can..use public transport if there is one or car pool
4) Clip coupons and start saving those small cents
5) Buy essential things and spend a tad more than normal to stay healthy.. else your medical bill will creep up.
6) Pay bills on time and keep up your financial health
7) Unemployed? Start something and keep profit margin low so as to make some money and help others cut down their cost.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Perils of being a democratic country
Democracy is a beautiful thing where in people come to a consensus and is a win-win situation for all. But there is a hidden flaw in this system which can make it a mockery. Consider the present situation where in everyone knows that India will collapse in a few years if drastic steps arent taken to set up power stations to pump in electricity for millions of home and industries. I dont like congress but in this case, they are doing the right thing in signing off a nuclear deal that could help the power situation after 10 to 20 years. But with some senseless people, this deal may not go through and there is every possibility that the government could be toppled. Look at the power equation that is looming large, who is devegowda? who is mayawathi, who are those darn communists to decide on the country's future. These small parties with as less than 5 MPs are calling the shots. Even the sensible BJP is trying to pull down the govt just for the heck of it thus forcing the country to go for another elections and another hung parliament...with the inflation hitting 11% + and oil prices hitting the roof, this election will push up prices and create a sort of hell for the common man. Its high time that an extra constitutional authority is created and they have powers to pass the deal or bills thus subverting these bunch of fools who always take an opposite stand.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Religious Inc
Marketing deals with playing with consumers' emotions and compelling them to buy the product. If the product is a hit and the demand is greater than supply then the price gouging starts. Now look at this article
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New Delhi: Protests continue in Jammu and Katra for the second day against the decision to charge an entry fee for quick darshans at the Vaishno Devi shrine. The decision to organise paid darshans was taken by the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board on Sunday. Now a traditional mata ki aarti can be organised inside the sanctum sanctorum at Rs 1000. And those who are unwilling to wait in long queue can enter the shrine by paying an entry fee of Rs 500 or Rs 200. This reduces the darshan time by over 50 to 70 per cent.
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New Delhi: Protests continue in Jammu and Katra for the second day against the decision to charge an entry fee for quick darshans at the Vaishno Devi shrine. The decision to organise paid darshans was taken by the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board on Sunday. Now a traditional mata ki aarti can be organised inside the sanctum sanctorum at Rs 1000. And those who are unwilling to wait in long queue can enter the shrine by paying an entry fee of Rs 500 or Rs 200. This reduces the darshan time by over 50 to 70 per cent.
The critics point out that this would help the affluent class. Facing flak over its decision to introduce paid darshans, the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board stoutly defended its move saying that the new facility was meant for those people who had little time due to their hectic schedules and wanted to complete the pilgrimage at the earliest, a Shrine Board official said.
"The facility is like a tatkal service for devotees who have tight schedules and are keen to offer prayers at the earliest," M K Dwivedi, Additional Chief Executive Officer, told PTI. The facility, introduced on June one, will be limited to 1000 pilgrims per day though 25,000 to 30,000 devotees arrive daily to offer prayers.
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Lately some people have started viewing religion and God as commercial ventures and are playing with emotions and started raking in the moolah. If people refuse to pay and stop going over there, naturally the demand falls down triggering the lowering and abolishment of any fee. Its high time that people who are religious get to know the fact that God is omni present and can be accessible near you :D
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Lack of Business Sense
Just like everyone needs common sense to make a sane decision...a business person must make business sense, a lack of this factor leads to revenue below the maximum possible value. The reason is because of this article...
The prestigious Lahari Recording Company with impressive track record in the last three decades in the audio industry has taken a policy decision. The outside singers should be only 20 percent for the Kannada film audio albums which the Company comes forward to take the rights. The 80 percent of local singers should be there says Mr Thulsiram Naidu alias Velu of Lahari Recording Company. He agrees that the non Kannada singers have flawed in the pronunciation. This should not continue further. The music director and producer should take care of it. The demand of more money for audio film songs is only when good tunes are churned out informed Velu.On the piracy eating away the fruits of hard work Velu said the new government that is coming up in the state would be given a month time to introduce the Anti Goonda Act to tackle the piracy. In case the government does not fulfill the demand we are forced to come to streets he says to fight piracy. We are not asking any subsidy but only enforcement of right law added Velu.
First thing is that this guy doesnt have that business sense at all and as always the fate is a villain which puts these type people on the top. He has no clue of increasing his user base and fetching that extra revenue. If at all these players in audio industry is to keep piracy out & increasing user base and revenue is to follow apple's itune format of selling each song at a price with a low margin, this is the only way they can fight piracy. The trick is to keep the cost so low that the prices are dirt cheap which acts as barriers to pirates. One more thing is that not all songs in an audio CD are a hit, so why not price the hit ones at a premium and keep other songs low, so if someone buys the entire bundle then its attractively priced. Its high time that these audio companies vanish leaving the space for someone with "business sense"
The prestigious Lahari Recording Company with impressive track record in the last three decades in the audio industry has taken a policy decision. The outside singers should be only 20 percent for the Kannada film audio albums which the Company comes forward to take the rights. The 80 percent of local singers should be there says Mr Thulsiram Naidu alias Velu of Lahari Recording Company. He agrees that the non Kannada singers have flawed in the pronunciation. This should not continue further. The music director and producer should take care of it. The demand of more money for audio film songs is only when good tunes are churned out informed Velu.On the piracy eating away the fruits of hard work Velu said the new government that is coming up in the state would be given a month time to introduce the Anti Goonda Act to tackle the piracy. In case the government does not fulfill the demand we are forced to come to streets he says to fight piracy. We are not asking any subsidy but only enforcement of right law added Velu.
First thing is that this guy doesnt have that business sense at all and as always the fate is a villain which puts these type people on the top. He has no clue of increasing his user base and fetching that extra revenue. If at all these players in audio industry is to keep piracy out & increasing user base and revenue is to follow apple's itune format of selling each song at a price with a low margin, this is the only way they can fight piracy. The trick is to keep the cost so low that the prices are dirt cheap which acts as barriers to pirates. One more thing is that not all songs in an audio CD are a hit, so why not price the hit ones at a premium and keep other songs low, so if someone buys the entire bundle then its attractively priced. Its high time that these audio companies vanish leaving the space for someone with "business sense"
Thursday, May 1, 2008
open-flash-chart
Ruby is getting more slicker and popular. One such example is flash + Ruby combo. I was stunned to see such rich colors and style graphs....I want to thank John Glazebrook for this great offering. So take a minute and have a look at the demo below
Monday, April 28, 2008
AMD's move will reduce prices?
AMD is taking a gamble by trying to move up the market in grabbing the major share in the sluggish PC market. AMD's USP is Lower price + Performance against Intel's high priced and brand equity. The PC market is on the saturation curve and its high time some one comes and shake up the curve to get it move up slowly. AMD going in for its own branded PC may be the right way to start penetrating the market and getting noticed. AMD has a great product, has the attractive pricing...its promotion and distribution seems to be the only problem. The only way to shake up the market is to find an alternative operating system and move away from microsoft as each microsoft product adds up a fortune on those systems. But getting a new OS off means fighting against the network externalities enjoyed by microsoft. AMD has solved one part of the problem by squeezing in the price and bringing it a tad down. I had come across one service where the operating system was a stripped down one and all those additional applications were hosted on a remote server and was into some sort of pay per use. I still dont understand why all these damn desktops and laptops come loaded with so many applications which suck up the Ram. The only way to reduce money and make these price elastic consumer turn heads is to make computers similar to TVs and go in for revenue in opening up various e-commerce fronts like movie downloads, internet shopping et al. Thats the only way any price penetrator can take the PC market by storm. It must be similar to mobile phones thing ... give the set at a subsidy and make money on subscriptions in such a way that the subsidy is taken care of and the profit margin is on par with the company's objective. Its high time these computer manufacturers get a way to project computers as a simple but great gadget which is affordable. Atlast if only those people think like me :D
E-ticket
E-tickets are seen as convenience and is seen as a saver from the issuer viewpoint. But i see it as a pain , the airline company or the travel agency sends out a simple email that contains the e-ticket with details and this inexpensive way helps them squeeze on dollars and cents which is very much needed in this existing competitive domain. But look this by getting into the shoes of the consumer. Its a PAIN when you need to run around looking for a computer connected to the printer. Look at the cost involved ... cost of paper + cost of cartridge ink + cost of electricity + cost of time involved in being a computer literate. if you dont have access to a computer .. you may need to head out to kinkos and print it out. Now add the gasoline cost to it :D
But wont it be good if there is some sort of vending machine near the airport where you just go there and enter your PNR number and swipe your credit card and Voilà .....you get a kind of strip generated with the details as in ATM machine. There will be a transaction cost of $2 per e-ticket which solves everything. Now it would be interesting to see if anyone from the airline or travel agency read this and implement this one...may be move one more step and hire me :D
But wont it be good if there is some sort of vending machine near the airport where you just go there and enter your PNR number and swipe your credit card and Voilà .....you get a kind of strip generated with the details as in ATM machine. There will be a transaction cost of $2 per e-ticket which solves everything. Now it would be interesting to see if anyone from the airline or travel agency read this and implement this one...may be move one more step and hire me :D
Are Humans Products too?
I have the Marketing exam tomorrow and i was going through the product life cycle and was wondering if humans are treated as objects? Just a primer.... A product life cycle begins in the introductory stage where its just released and various advertisements, ,promotions, smart distribution is performed to push the product onto its growth phase. After a while, the product moves towards its maturity stage and finally on decline where all sorts of support systems are gradually pulled out...eventually letting the product line or product model to die. Now carefully evaluate what happens to humans? I can see that it follow a typical classic theoretical theory behind product life cycle.
When one is born, there is so much planning and excitement and slowly you start to plan and prepare yourself to market to the school and to the society to accept you into its fold. You need to prove that you have a competitive advantage and move on with the life, then learn the tricks of trade and market yourself to find a job, to find a bride, to stay on "successful" path...as you reach the maturity level, panic buttons are pushed around to ensure that you dont get to rot in your decline phase. As the decline occurs you are retired off and left to be on the mercy of pension or at the mercy of your kids or dear ones. Now the kids evaluate you and if they think that you are a liability they dont hesitate to act as management in eliminating the product...eliminating as in packing you off to old age homes or abandoned.
What a shame that humans are visualized as products and commodities...now this puts an interesting question as to whether we are the resulting failures of our own smart strategies? I just dont understand as to why aging people become liabilities? why arent they given any attention, what happens to all their life experiences and their intelligence? is it all about money? For a moment i am scared of seeing my own fate in few years soon :D
When one is born, there is so much planning and excitement and slowly you start to plan and prepare yourself to market to the school and to the society to accept you into its fold. You need to prove that you have a competitive advantage and move on with the life, then learn the tricks of trade and market yourself to find a job, to find a bride, to stay on "successful" path...as you reach the maturity level, panic buttons are pushed around to ensure that you dont get to rot in your decline phase. As the decline occurs you are retired off and left to be on the mercy of pension or at the mercy of your kids or dear ones. Now the kids evaluate you and if they think that you are a liability they dont hesitate to act as management in eliminating the product...eliminating as in packing you off to old age homes or abandoned.
What a shame that humans are visualized as products and commodities...now this puts an interesting question as to whether we are the resulting failures of our own smart strategies? I just dont understand as to why aging people become liabilities? why arent they given any attention, what happens to all their life experiences and their intelligence? is it all about money? For a moment i am scared of seeing my own fate in few years soon :D
Friday, April 25, 2008
My New App
I dont expect my work to be anything path breaking or expect to be a millionaire, its just a small tool to help universities and small business people to save on printer cartridges. Any small save translates to huge savings across the planet and helps reduce the carbon footprint. Anyways here is the summary....
Opportunity/Problem Identification:
When you try to print out a webpage, the main problem is you need to print out those cartridge guzzling banners and images. You can print if you need it but what if you dont need those? Cut pasting the section you need into a word is another crap. Why does anyone want to do that extra stuff? why waste productive time in doing that extra work? This motivated me to look for ways to look for ways to print what one needs.
Features:
A simple toolbar that sits and helps you select what you want in a page and remove all the rest without disturbing the page layout.
Some more stuff to code and also hoping to build something that can help someone spread out the content by positioning them where they want to and then printing it out. Any reaction to this application? :D .... feel free to comment
When you try to print out a webpage, the main problem is you need to print out those cartridge guzzling banners and images. You can print if you need it but what if you dont need those? Cut pasting the section you need into a word is another crap. Why does anyone want to do that extra stuff? why waste productive time in doing that extra work? This motivated me to look for ways to look for ways to print what one needs.
Features:
A simple toolbar that sits and helps you select what you want in a page and remove all the rest without disturbing the page layout.
Some more stuff to code and also hoping to build something that can help someone spread out the content by positioning them where they want to and then printing it out. Any reaction to this application? :D .... feel free to comment
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Kingfisher Airlines
With due respect to Dr.Vijay Mallya....... my dissection and analysis is as follows
A flamboyant premium airline carrier with pleasing interiors and experience. The inside decked with a TV even on domestic segment and served by young models...errr air hostess. I liked the experience where they offer you a sort of a small bottled lemonade initially and serve you good refreshments after take off and goodies on landing. The goodies in the form of a complimentary carry kit, a pen and some brochure. Well planned so that as the customers carry these around, they act as free advertising agents in starting subliminal perception in others. What i liked the most is a sort of interactive type TV which will help you kill your time. At the end of the journey you are given sort of a survey sheet to give your feedback. Now this isnt good enough as if kingfisher isnt offering any freebies for taking this survey.
I would propose a sort of system where user can interactively put in their answers to certain questions asked on their TV, when they respond to these questions then kingfisher must give them a sort of gift hamper like say Rs 25 or 50 which can be redeemed on their next flight. Here this way kingfisher is getting the data for their marketing research or for customer service evaluation. This is rather priceless as that extra 50 bucks you throw in can only be encashed on their next journey which means they are compelled to travel again on kingfisher. Now if kingfisher is smart enough, they can bring in ads of hotels and other products in-flight where they can rake in ad money to cover up for their ever increasing fuel costs. Interactive ads and local content access like IPL cricket videos is the way to make money by inserting ads for in-flight service.
Customer service is the way to get in the head count, customer service in the form of location access to passengers or finding best possible accommodation and other services to customers could be a way to go as many on the move would like someone taking care of their stuff as they think of better things. A travel on Kingfisher could mean opening up of low cost or discounted offerings at boarding and lodging with alliance partner. Airlines are one of the channels that could be used to fill up hotel rooms.
Last but not the least, the official kingfisher website is a pain as it takes close to 30 seconds to load its 100% content, its loaded with so much of images and flash content that its bringing down the brand equity. Its really a shame that this one would dilute the value of kingfisher in the eyes of internet savvy customers. Too bad ahh that it takes a little bit of money and lot of commonsense to run an internet click model. So if Mallya could read this one, may be he can implement this humble request and offer me a job :D
A flamboyant premium airline carrier with pleasing interiors and experience. The inside decked with a TV even on domestic segment and served by young models...errr air hostess. I liked the experience where they offer you a sort of a small bottled lemonade initially and serve you good refreshments after take off and goodies on landing. The goodies in the form of a complimentary carry kit, a pen and some brochure. Well planned so that as the customers carry these around, they act as free advertising agents in starting subliminal perception in others. What i liked the most is a sort of interactive type TV which will help you kill your time. At the end of the journey you are given sort of a survey sheet to give your feedback. Now this isnt good enough as if kingfisher isnt offering any freebies for taking this survey.
I would propose a sort of system where user can interactively put in their answers to certain questions asked on their TV, when they respond to these questions then kingfisher must give them a sort of gift hamper like say Rs 25 or 50 which can be redeemed on their next flight. Here this way kingfisher is getting the data for their marketing research or for customer service evaluation. This is rather priceless as that extra 50 bucks you throw in can only be encashed on their next journey which means they are compelled to travel again on kingfisher. Now if kingfisher is smart enough, they can bring in ads of hotels and other products in-flight where they can rake in ad money to cover up for their ever increasing fuel costs. Interactive ads and local content access like IPL cricket videos is the way to make money by inserting ads for in-flight service.
Customer service is the way to get in the head count, customer service in the form of location access to passengers or finding best possible accommodation and other services to customers could be a way to go as many on the move would like someone taking care of their stuff as they think of better things. A travel on Kingfisher could mean opening up of low cost or discounted offerings at boarding and lodging with alliance partner. Airlines are one of the channels that could be used to fill up hotel rooms.
Last but not the least, the official kingfisher website is a pain as it takes close to 30 seconds to load its 100% content, its loaded with so much of images and flash content that its bringing down the brand equity. Its really a shame that this one would dilute the value of kingfisher in the eyes of internet savvy customers. Too bad ahh that it takes a little bit of money and lot of commonsense to run an internet click model. So if Mallya could read this one, may be he can implement this humble request and offer me a job :D
Friday, April 18, 2008
India taken hostage by some morons
It causes deep pain and anguish seeing how india is slowly under the control of few morons, who are misusing their power just for their selfishness. Karunanidhi who has become old and was mad from his birth is using his short sightedness to promote his atheism by declaring that Sriram never existed and its a mythology. The indians in india have also become useless as they just listen and comment like me. If only i had the power to do something, i could have shut them down for good. Now if one watches what srilankans are doing, that is promoting Ramayan tourism by highlighting the places and they say that Ramayan was true and Ram did exist. Now you people decide what is true and which side to take.
Part1 ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8JUjRFnL88
Part2 ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_9dwgO_gds
Part3 ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5nxjlGcS8
Part4 ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIHsZQkCsNs
Part5 ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilYDp7vFOuw
Then the recent supreme court judgement regarding the reservation quota for OBC. I mean what kind of a mockery is this? Its like say .... if any english newsreader is making money, the backward castes demand that they be made the newsreader but wont learn english :D I find it amusing to see how confused people are, one side Dr Manmohan singh tells that india is growing and yet to reach full potential, on other side Chidambaram says growth like 8% and other side they allocate things for backward castes, then do some stupid things for minorities. Its high time to switch allegiance to either support india till death by turning a blind eye or quit india enmass
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Are we in a zoo?
This world seems to be a zoo and there are many kinds of strange creatures around. I still cant understand about living beings, especially the human kind. There are all kinds of characters and specimens, some of them get transformed into specimens at the right time and at right place. So that leads us to a situation as to whether an artificial intelligence creature could be created which could blend well with the existing ones. Well one can always create AI machines to mimic some but not all. The reason i call these humans as creatures is because of all these and much more reasons
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PATNA: Mob vigilantism has claimed another victim in Bihar. This time the victim was a vendor, who was lynched simply because he happened to be standing near a printing press.
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Delhi: For a society often seen to reflect a deeply ingrained bias for "fair skin", a Supreme Court ruling sentencing a man to two years in jail for driving his wife to suicide following taunts over her "dark" complexion will serve as both a warning and a mirror to its uglier traits.
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MUMBAI: A traumatized 92-year-old Laxmibai Laxmidas Paleja whispers in Gujarati: "Mane saroo thai javano shrap nai aap (Don't curse me by wishing me health). When I close my eyes to sleep I pray they may never open again." Her wrinkled face and back are battered with bruises, the wound on her hand is bleeding and her swollen eyes bloodshot. Paleja, who has been admitted to Harkisondas Hospital, was bundled into a taxi and dumped in her daughter's home at Opera House on April 1.
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AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government has finally shown how much it cares for its girls. The man, GN Chaudhari, who was at the root of the rot in the DIET-PTC Patan, which culminated in the gangrape of a Dalit girl, was transferred from DIET Mehsana on Saturday — not because of the gangrape, but for allowing a casteist slur against Dalits to be published eight times in a chapter of a book edited by him!
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MUMBAI: Nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Naronha, who allegedly hired two youths to throw acid on her 18-year-old boyfriend, attempted suicide by slashing her left wrist with a blade at her lawyer's chamber in Fort on Saturday morning.
There are many more things which goes on and will go on in the future. This kind of puts one in a thinking situation as to whether you must live a recluse life or find ways to solve these problems created by few morons
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PATNA: Mob vigilantism has claimed another victim in Bihar. This time the victim was a vendor, who was lynched simply because he happened to be standing near a printing press.
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Delhi: For a society often seen to reflect a deeply ingrained bias for "fair skin", a Supreme Court ruling sentencing a man to two years in jail for driving his wife to suicide following taunts over her "dark" complexion will serve as both a warning and a mirror to its uglier traits.
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MUMBAI: A traumatized 92-year-old Laxmibai Laxmidas Paleja whispers in Gujarati: "Mane saroo thai javano shrap nai aap (Don't curse me by wishing me health). When I close my eyes to sleep I pray they may never open again." Her wrinkled face and back are battered with bruises, the wound on her hand is bleeding and her swollen eyes bloodshot. Paleja, who has been admitted to Harkisondas Hospital, was bundled into a taxi and dumped in her daughter's home at Opera House on April 1.
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AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government has finally shown how much it cares for its girls. The man, GN Chaudhari, who was at the root of the rot in the DIET-PTC Patan, which culminated in the gangrape of a Dalit girl, was transferred from DIET Mehsana on Saturday — not because of the gangrape, but for allowing a casteist slur against Dalits to be published eight times in a chapter of a book edited by him!
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MUMBAI: Nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Naronha, who allegedly hired two youths to throw acid on her 18-year-old boyfriend, attempted suicide by slashing her left wrist with a blade at her lawyer's chamber in Fort on Saturday morning.
There are many more things which goes on and will go on in the future. This kind of puts one in a thinking situation as to whether you must live a recluse life or find ways to solve these problems created by few morons
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
who is the winner? IPL or ICL - A detailed Analysis
Cricket has become a circus thanks to 20-20 and the audience have become monkeys watching too much of circus cricket. Lets do an analysis and see who gets what....
ICL started this concept of taking advantage of 20-20 and subash chandra being a shrewd businessman is taking advantage of the popularity of this format of cricket, so three cheers for his group. He is the clear winner as he own the Zee network and in a way he may use this cricket as a filler for his channel's time slots, thus raking in big time moolah. He hired key members like kapil and Dean jones thus making sure that cricket is run by right people who have played cricket before. This way he is making extra revenue by owning the teams as well as fixing price on the advertisement ...be it on the ground or on the television. So each time ICL makes a news headline, the Zee's name is in news thats great publicity. He hired key players who are on the verge of retirement or who have retired. That way he can peg the price down as its his advantage, then these experienced players are also benefited that they make money at the fag end of their life. This one is also giving ranji players or others who couldnt make it to national team a chance to rub shoulders with stalwarts and have a wonderful after life. So Zee is winner all the way as it owns the team, it paid less signing amounts, managed to fill its time slot on Zee network and as well as rake in advertisement money on matches & on the player clothes.
Now comes in BCCI's IPL, they are big time losers as they tried every trick to keep ICL away as they would get nothing from such a venture. So they started applying rules and regulations and the funny part is no one questioned. They denied key playgrounds for ICL, they forced other cricket boards to ban players who sign up with ICL. This happened for only reason that Sharad Pawar is a minister in union govt as well as CEO of BCCI with major clout in ICC. But they are also winners in a way that they can rake in money auctioning players, auctioning franchisee and on advertisements, they can also sell the exclusive rights to any channel and get big time money. But imagine if all these unlawful practices are removed, they wouldnt get a cent. So thats how the world is, its a dog eat dog world.
Now comes the people who purchased franchisee from BBCI...the likes of shahrukh, priety etc. Anyways bollywood has lost its shine as evident from the fact that the movies are all sub-standard and they are using abusive dialogues, exposing etc to stay in the race. So it makes sense that some bollywood people have picked up stakes in this. So they are winner in a way. The players who have signed up for this one are also winners in a way that they are making extra money and having fun.
Next comes the advertisers for these matches, they are advertising or marketing their wares, what could be the better way to reach so many consumers if not this one? When your favourite players are playing, its natural that you sit up and watch, as u watch you are exposed to so many brands and their messages. So be it matches or serials or movies, the companies will advertise no matter what.
The sole losers are the people. First thing is they are having too much fun and doing too less work which means that the man hours of the country will go to hell, that means lower GDP....too much expenditure on electricity, food and shopping after watching all those advertisements. So am i wrong in this analysis?
ICL started this concept of taking advantage of 20-20 and subash chandra being a shrewd businessman is taking advantage of the popularity of this format of cricket, so three cheers for his group. He is the clear winner as he own the Zee network and in a way he may use this cricket as a filler for his channel's time slots, thus raking in big time moolah. He hired key members like kapil and Dean jones thus making sure that cricket is run by right people who have played cricket before. This way he is making extra revenue by owning the teams as well as fixing price on the advertisement ...be it on the ground or on the television. So each time ICL makes a news headline, the Zee's name is in news thats great publicity. He hired key players who are on the verge of retirement or who have retired. That way he can peg the price down as its his advantage, then these experienced players are also benefited that they make money at the fag end of their life. This one is also giving ranji players or others who couldnt make it to national team a chance to rub shoulders with stalwarts and have a wonderful after life. So Zee is winner all the way as it owns the team, it paid less signing amounts, managed to fill its time slot on Zee network and as well as rake in advertisement money on matches & on the player clothes.
Now comes in BCCI's IPL, they are big time losers as they tried every trick to keep ICL away as they would get nothing from such a venture. So they started applying rules and regulations and the funny part is no one questioned. They denied key playgrounds for ICL, they forced other cricket boards to ban players who sign up with ICL. This happened for only reason that Sharad Pawar is a minister in union govt as well as CEO of BCCI with major clout in ICC. But they are also winners in a way that they can rake in money auctioning players, auctioning franchisee and on advertisements, they can also sell the exclusive rights to any channel and get big time money. But imagine if all these unlawful practices are removed, they wouldnt get a cent. So thats how the world is, its a dog eat dog world.
Now comes the people who purchased franchisee from BBCI...the likes of shahrukh, priety etc. Anyways bollywood has lost its shine as evident from the fact that the movies are all sub-standard and they are using abusive dialogues, exposing etc to stay in the race. So it makes sense that some bollywood people have picked up stakes in this. So they are winner in a way. The players who have signed up for this one are also winners in a way that they are making extra money and having fun.
Next comes the advertisers for these matches, they are advertising or marketing their wares, what could be the better way to reach so many consumers if not this one? When your favourite players are playing, its natural that you sit up and watch, as u watch you are exposed to so many brands and their messages. So be it matches or serials or movies, the companies will advertise no matter what.
The sole losers are the people. First thing is they are having too much fun and doing too less work which means that the man hours of the country will go to hell, that means lower GDP....too much expenditure on electricity, food and shopping after watching all those advertisements. So am i wrong in this analysis?
Motorola + VideoCon = MotoCon?
Videocon the consumer electronic king in india is on the prowl to pounce on motorola's mobile-handset business. Dhoot run videocon is going a long way to get into another lucrative market where consumers in india dont mind splurging money on fancy hi-tech mobile handsets. If one sees the strategy of videocon, it all started with buying out obsolete technology in developed countries and started churning out affordable consumer electronics good and offering it to india's largest market segment - The Great Indian Middle class. Videocon's goods used to come cheap which meant if one is looking for the functioning aspect, the goods worked well but if and only if someone wanted to compromise on the quality. Slowly videocon started transforming its image from cheap borrowed technology to hi-tech one and it makes sense to go in for a kill when motorola is struggling in the handset business after apple brought out its slick model for rich and high end middle class in US, then nokia putting the punch on its face that motorola need to get back to its core electronic business as handset business doesnt have that much margin per set if you dont sell volumes. Now with videocon taking on this business, this would mean cheaper slick handsets affordable to middle class and low class as the mobile service is penetrating deep below. Mobile phones have moved towards consumer electronics as its no longer a gadget for techies.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Another mess - Culprit Humans
we have made enough mess as of now ... be it global warming, plastic menace, depleting non-renewal resources etc. There are a lot of man made problems and fewer man made marvelous technology. Lets start with gasoline, petroleum has been used and abused like anything before, each by-product of petroleum is utilized fully and the cost of this is global warming leading to unseasonal temperature changes, a threat to ocean resources and finally funding the middle east. Now there is a kind of alarm which is ringing and people are sitting up and thinking hard. It is mainly due to the fact that oil is a scarce commodity which translates to price gouging and results in increase in costs of anything and everything. So all these bunch of smart guys came up with ethanol, a hydrocarbon substitute which could be added in small quantities to gasoline to bring costs low. Does it bring costs low? i dont know but those ethanol pumps displays prices more or less equal to 100% gasoline. Now the major problem is ethanol produced from corn, all these farmers are sensing fortunes in growing corn and have an opportunity to become ethanol barons sooner or latter. Its a good thing that we are less dependent on petroleum as we grow renewable corn but the thing is as farmers grow more of corn than wheat or other things, there is a danger of compromising food stocks in favor of money obtained from corn based ethanol. This will be a grave problem unless government comes up and says that all ethanol could be produced from by-products of edible crops meaning you need to get the food out and the wastage after this must be the fodder for ethanol. So why cant people get into solar or human energy rather than on hydro carbons? Can they just invest in technology that can break bonds in plastics and convert them into hydrocarbons? why cant anyone think of technology to break down freely available water into hydrogen which can be a wonderful source of energy as its combustion with oxygen is water water and water. Pure water can become the solution to water scarcity.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Bullshit tax laws
I know that if i ever run for a public post, i can win by a comfortable majority....provided the voters have commonsense. Most of the elections are farce, they call it democratic and yet when illiterates creep into the system, the outcome is obvious. So lets not go in that direction...my point is about senseless tax laws. I still dont get it as to why they say income tax and the income after tax is again taxed when you buy things. I mean does it make sense at all? and if i ask people around they start lecturing me about income tax going to federal/central govt and sales tax going to state. I am not that dumb to understand the existing system. I have gone through the pain of studying civics along with history. I still dont get it as to what can u do knowing history....and on a lighter side --> The history repeats and hence there is no need to understand and remember history :D
Knowing history can only make you a popat...popat=Parrot in hindi, you can be a good popat when you have history at your tongue tip and can win you admirers when exact dates and events are narrated. Back to taxes, doesnt it make sense to issue a kind of tax card which you can use it to avoid paying sales tax? you must have a kind of photo id which also contains tax information, if the records on swipe shows that you have already paid tax then you need not be charged sales tax on the already taxed income. So if there are some who are avoiding taxes then sales tax could be collected on purchase. This system sounds sane to me rather than the existing one. if i stand in the election and if i win, then i will bring in these new tax laws.
I also dont understand the concept of political morons going for more taxes to rich, i mean some people are rich as they work hard, they provide jobs for others. So why penalize them for working 20+ hours a day and working under pressure? For someone gone through 16+ years of schooling and 10+yrs of industrial exp is bound to start a company and any company exists for profits. There isnt any company that is social company, the only social company i know of is the company you get when you booze :D. So if someone is not rich then blame it on fate and blame it on the laziness factor. Vote me and i will put an end to this crap
Knowing history can only make you a popat...popat=Parrot in hindi, you can be a good popat when you have history at your tongue tip and can win you admirers when exact dates and events are narrated. Back to taxes, doesnt it make sense to issue a kind of tax card which you can use it to avoid paying sales tax? you must have a kind of photo id which also contains tax information, if the records on swipe shows that you have already paid tax then you need not be charged sales tax on the already taxed income. So if there are some who are avoiding taxes then sales tax could be collected on purchase. This system sounds sane to me rather than the existing one. if i stand in the election and if i win, then i will bring in these new tax laws.
I also dont understand the concept of political morons going for more taxes to rich, i mean some people are rich as they work hard, they provide jobs for others. So why penalize them for working 20+ hours a day and working under pressure? For someone gone through 16+ years of schooling and 10+yrs of industrial exp is bound to start a company and any company exists for profits. There isnt any company that is social company, the only social company i know of is the company you get when you booze :D. So if someone is not rich then blame it on fate and blame it on the laziness factor. Vote me and i will put an end to this crap
The Dog menace
I just hate the pets, i dont even want to use the word "dont like" instead of hate. I really dont think that a human is not developed much to take care of himself or herself, how can he or she take care of another soul == Pets. The most common pet i hate is the dog, i dont know but i hate them for a reason. I am confused whether to hate them or the people who own them. Anyways the owners of the dog are dogs and their dogs are much worse when they show off their owner's ego. I have come across dogs who wont bark at rich and good looking people but will give out a bark or two if it someone shabby looking moves across them. Atleast in bangalore, i know the ground reality where there are three kinds of dogs- The real dog, The stray dog and the bloody humans who own these dogs. The stray dog can be given a 9.0 as they keep chasing you in packs, trying to bite and cause harm, no idea why they do that way. If you are brave enough, try to walk on the streets after 9 pm and one will know what i am talking of, these stray dogs dont care and have no respect for human laws :D, they just chase 4 wheelers, 2 wheelers, old guys who go for a walk, kids, middle aged folks....in short they dont care about gender, race or caste. The real dog gets a 5.0 as they are OK but again they can drive you to nuts with their constant barking all 24 X 7. The human dogs who own these dogs can be given a scale of 10.0, they are the worst of the kind who just own dogs as status symbol, as an arrogant symbol of themselves. These people are the real culprits who throw away their dogs once they think their dog has become a liability, these dogs then go on streets and breed to raise the street-mad-dog-stray dogs. Whatever people think of me, i dont care....my outburst is justified by this article.....
While things have returned to normal after a Kingfisher Airlines aircraft on Thursday hit a dog on the runway at the Bangalore Airport during its takeoff , urgent measures are being taken to contain the animal menace on the runway. Dog catching squad at the old airport in Bangalore on Friday rounded up stray dogs in the airport’s vicinity. Several passengers were stranded after the accident caused the Hyderabad-bound plane's nose landing gear to collapse. “It is most unfortunate that the dog menace at Airports in India still persists and that an incident occurred today in Bangalore," Chairman and CEO Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya said in a statement issued to the media soon after the accident.
I think all those animal activists like menaka gandhi et al must sit up and ponder over their support for these dogs. I still remember that menaka gandhi was the culprit who rein gave a free rein of terror for these dogs to openly flout all human made laws and charter the unwritten constitution way :D ... Well no offense meant but i still hate the dogs.
While things have returned to normal after a Kingfisher Airlines aircraft on Thursday hit a dog on the runway at the Bangalore Airport during its takeoff , urgent measures are being taken to contain the animal menace on the runway. Dog catching squad at the old airport in Bangalore on Friday rounded up stray dogs in the airport’s vicinity. Several passengers were stranded after the accident caused the Hyderabad-bound plane's nose landing gear to collapse. “It is most unfortunate that the dog menace at Airports in India still persists and that an incident occurred today in Bangalore," Chairman and CEO Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya said in a statement issued to the media soon after the accident.
I think all those animal activists like menaka gandhi et al must sit up and ponder over their support for these dogs. I still remember that menaka gandhi was the culprit who rein gave a free rein of terror for these dogs to openly flout all human made laws and charter the unwritten constitution way :D ... Well no offense meant but i still hate the dogs.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Mobile Phones players fighting for 2nd spot
Gone are the days when Motorola commanded first place, its probably behind sony ericsson and samsung. Apple with its pleasant UI has taken the first position. But the cost is the worrying factor there. Now the only way for the other players to give apple a run for money is to get into accessory and service businesses which could tie it up with their own product. The main factors/features one looks for is cost, weight, dimensions and misc features...may be not in the same order. But there is one more domain ---> Sophisticated Accessories and services. No one has entered the business of content rental, no one has come up with a virtual screen which could give the same effect as a TV. Again no one listens to me when i speak out, too bad that they cant hire me to go ahead in the wild race :(
My take will be sophisticated accessories, i had the tiny screen and its high time. I had worked for a proposal to create foldable screens for mobiles, so that user need not use scroll features, but i really liked the arrival of swivel screen which could be either positioned horizontal or vertical, but the main problem with this one is that it adds dimensions. The foldables or swivels or sliders makes the mobiles thicker, its weight goes up if you use traditional materials, if you go for lighter ones then the cost goes up. I had seen some kind of a glasses way back few years ago which had the capability of projecting images in front of the eyes that gives the same effect as a big screen. Now i dont know whats the problems with that kind of technology, all one needs to do is integrate that technology into accessories where you wear those glasses and can instantly view a lot of data rather than using scrolls. As its the time for mobile TV or mobile movies, its high time such technology could get back motorola or sony back in business by going in for this hi-def glasses that could convert watching content on mobile phones a pleasant experience. The only problem with the downloadable media content is the waste of air time, wont it be great to allow rental concept of those clips for prices as low as itune songs? All one needs to do is go to a vending machine like kiosk, flash their phone to instantly download contents via a cable or add on cards, the charges would be billed to their accounts. Save on airtime, save on money and buy those super glasses to enjoy the content. Hmmm as usual, its for those ambitious players to take this idea to next level and get on to grab the first position!!!! and its just that i am helpless and hopeless to push such things because of money constraints :'(
My take will be sophisticated accessories, i had the tiny screen and its high time. I had worked for a proposal to create foldable screens for mobiles, so that user need not use scroll features, but i really liked the arrival of swivel screen which could be either positioned horizontal or vertical, but the main problem with this one is that it adds dimensions. The foldables or swivels or sliders makes the mobiles thicker, its weight goes up if you use traditional materials, if you go for lighter ones then the cost goes up. I had seen some kind of a glasses way back few years ago which had the capability of projecting images in front of the eyes that gives the same effect as a big screen. Now i dont know whats the problems with that kind of technology, all one needs to do is integrate that technology into accessories where you wear those glasses and can instantly view a lot of data rather than using scrolls. As its the time for mobile TV or mobile movies, its high time such technology could get back motorola or sony back in business by going in for this hi-def glasses that could convert watching content on mobile phones a pleasant experience. The only problem with the downloadable media content is the waste of air time, wont it be great to allow rental concept of those clips for prices as low as itune songs? All one needs to do is go to a vending machine like kiosk, flash their phone to instantly download contents via a cable or add on cards, the charges would be billed to their accounts. Save on airtime, save on money and buy those super glasses to enjoy the content. Hmmm as usual, its for those ambitious players to take this idea to next level and get on to grab the first position!!!! and its just that i am helpless and hopeless to push such things because of money constraints :'(
Can Accessory
Sometimes its so ridiculous to buy a can of soda and have to drink it in a jiffy.. if u dont follow this process then the soda is so unpalatable if taken in small sips over a period of time. Some may argue that for a small price, 40 cents at walmart and 70 cents in univ vending machines, dont matter much. But i fail to agree to this argument of low price products must be consumed in a short span of time. I would agree to this argument if and only if the time frame is like a month or year. But come on u just dont drink it off in a minute or 5 minutes. The problem is that the chilled cola soda tastes better and is lot for refreshing than a un-fizz, warm or room temperature cola and another problem is that for the money paid, you dont get to finish off all the traces in the can. So i was thinking a way to solve this problem so that the soda's life time out of refrigeration is atleast a decent 2 to 5 hours. Just imagine you are in a marathon meeting and need to sip little quantities rather than leave the room twice or thrice.
Now look at my proposed small accessory, its a straw with a bent bottom to suck up all those tiny itsy bitsy droplets. The top has a lid to keep all the fizz back in the can, then a rubber stopper to clamp down at the can opening. This will atleast keep the fizz inside, now the option to keep the can losing out its cold temperature is to have a foamy insulated material that can form as a sort of a gripper and as an insulated material. If these accessories could be priced around a dollar .... straw and gripper, then i think it would sell well and also help slow-sippy soda enjoyer like me to get the quality for my money. Any takers around for this one? if so leave a comment.
Now look at my proposed small accessory, its a straw with a bent bottom to suck up all those tiny itsy bitsy droplets. The top has a lid to keep all the fizz back in the can, then a rubber stopper to clamp down at the can opening. This will atleast keep the fizz inside, now the option to keep the can losing out its cold temperature is to have a foamy insulated material that can form as a sort of a gripper and as an insulated material. If these accessories could be priced around a dollar .... straw and gripper, then i think it would sell well and also help slow-sippy soda enjoyer like me to get the quality for my money. Any takers around for this one? if so leave a comment.
Friday, March 21, 2008
In Rome be a Roman
This proverb---"In Rome be a Roman", is quiet true in a lot of cases. But i dont understand the ethics and crap that is enforced by the governments. The latest to be in the news is Alcoa, the 3rd largest third aluminum producer in the world. Lately its under fire from the justice department over allegations the company bribed officials in Bahrain in an effort to obtain business. This is what happens in almost all the asian countries. Never knew its happening in the middle east too. I dont see a logic as to why US justice dept is after Alcoa. Its between the company and bahrain government and if corruption thrives in their kingdom, they better go after their own corrupt officials and not after this company. If the company tries to be a saint and follows all the rules then it better shut down its door on day 1 as they will go nowhere. Let them come to india and use the saintly characteristics and approach the government keeping in mind all the rules and regulations. It will be a joke and i will have the last laugh!!! Its high time they enforce this proverb legally and define that its ok to be unethical outside as long as the "unwritten law" of the land is followed :D
Next step for animation companies
There has been mushrooming of animation companies in india after some of them got big projects from the US. Some had luck in minting money like sahara tried its hand in hanuman and return of hanuman, greengold making it big with krishna series and now venturing into bheem and other cartoon. Krishna got a slot on CartoonNetwork and was an instant hit. But somehow these people arent as business oriented as US companies which creates a brand out of the cartoon. Just visit ToysRus and you can see so many toys based on these cartoon themes...be it raichu or pokemon or starwars or spongebob. Many of movies are spin out as money making games, its high time these animation studios start building their own line of cartoons and project it to the west. Instead of guns and violence, some can put in hanuman and say that this cartoon beats the raakshas thus moving the kids away from reality. What happens when you play Grand Theft et al is that things are so close to reality that one gets tendency to get violent and even grab a gun to release your anger. But with cartoons like Krishna or hanuman, there may not be tendency to get violent as these raakshas wont have even the closest similarity to humans :D . I had written to greengold to venture in this but no reply ... they seem to be like any other company. Sometimes you need to listen to the market and end users as to what they need. so a good relations is needed to get the inner vibes of the market. If only i had that kind of money ... i could have done the impossible. But again I still have time to strike it rich
This happens if you dont identify the problem
I have seen that india is the most democratic county when it comes to spitting paan in public or urinating in public. The govt of karnataka has this scheme of getting after the violators by photographing them and levying a fine, but the corrupt cops pocketed the money and things went no where. Now did any person identify the cause at all? why is it that people are doing this? But look at what ghaziabad administration has come up with?
Men treating walls as public toilets is a common problem across this country, but Ghaziabad administration has come up with a unique solution. Fed up with the men treating city walls as public toilets, the city administration has installed mirrors on the walls with the slogan "What you do, the world sees" inscribed alongside. The move is aimed at all those who see a dry wall and feel it's their duty to wet it. The idea is to let people reflect on their wrong doings and broadcast their acts live to passersbys.
This is just sheer nonsense, i dont know who came up with this crappy idea? no one whether sane or insane likes to urinate in public. Its just that they dont find public restrooms or even if they find one, its so filthy that the urine is cleaner than the restroom itself. Atleast in the US, all these eat outs or gas stations have public restrooms and in a way no one urinates in public. Its high time that the govt constructs public restrooms at certain distance and look at the results...rather than putting a mirror. My God!! i dont know who came up with this idea. If a state is ruled by a @#$#^#*@&@ like mayavathi, whatelse can you expect? Everything is a maya/illusion and one must just close one's eyes, one's nose when you cross the streets.
Men treating walls as public toilets is a common problem across this country, but Ghaziabad administration has come up with a unique solution. Fed up with the men treating city walls as public toilets, the city administration has installed mirrors on the walls with the slogan "What you do, the world sees" inscribed alongside. The move is aimed at all those who see a dry wall and feel it's their duty to wet it. The idea is to let people reflect on their wrong doings and broadcast their acts live to passersbys.
This is just sheer nonsense, i dont know who came up with this crappy idea? no one whether sane or insane likes to urinate in public. Its just that they dont find public restrooms or even if they find one, its so filthy that the urine is cleaner than the restroom itself. Atleast in the US, all these eat outs or gas stations have public restrooms and in a way no one urinates in public. Its high time that the govt constructs public restrooms at certain distance and look at the results...rather than putting a mirror. My God!! i dont know who came up with this idea. If a state is ruled by a @#$#^#*@&@ like mayavathi, whatelse can you expect? Everything is a maya/illusion and one must just close one's eyes, one's nose when you cross the streets.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Search Engine Market
One of my friend was telling as to how there is lot of space in the search engine market and its up for grabs. Too much money in this domain that there has been mushrooming of companies around. Antya.com is one such engine which uses the human powered search. My friend was telling about the complexities in the current times where the web is growing like crazy and how relevancy will help taking the market share. My question to him was simple..what do u get from indexing and displaying results? i mean how does the revenue come in if its not for adsense type model. Lately there has been lot of talk about adsense losing its cutting edge with revenues taking a hit. My take on searches is this, do a category based search ...like say product search or people search etc. So its this is hard, i would propose this model where when users key in the search words, you prompt them to select the combo words along with the keywords like say ... if the user types in apple, you instantly recognize apple as apple+fruit, apple+juice, apple+company etc, so if the user says never mind and searches then show him all those results, if they want to narrow down the search then they better select these combo words which will make things easier and precise. Or it must be categorized as say who is searching for what. say a techie is looking for apple computers, he will obviously look for apple computers and not apple juice, if a health freak is searching for apple then its either the fruit or the juice. so it would be handy to know the person well before displaying results. Its a big pain to index million sites with spams and crap. Another model could be to do like a wikipedia where you stream all those data or links to a specific thing ...... like say apple will mean fruit and there is only one apple fruit, if its a company then there is only one apple company. so all those data on the web could be channelized to point to this thing. Unless someone does these, search engines wont be efficient and user friendly.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
pizzas cost a lot :(
Was shocked to see that prices of pizza are on the rise...blame it on the economy. The dollars falling which is putting a stop on the purchasing power of the consumer. But the main culprit is the cost of wheat, wheat prices are shooting up so fast due to the fact that importing wheat is costing a lot..so its not the pizza alone but bread and baked products will keep rising it. Now that keeps me off subway too, too bad its happening when it must not happen. But others are blaming on low supplies from australia as imports are hit for crop failures. Oil prices are rising which increases transportation costs, job cuts and cuts on budget is putting a tight lid on money flow in the economy. Then the farmers are growing on corn in lands which used to grow wheat once upon a time. All these factors and many more are putting people in tight spot. As they say that "all difficulties come in flocks"...too bad when i am struggling to get rich :(
What a shame!
There is a saying which goes like "a guest is like a god", but in taslima's case the government treated her worse to a criminal. I dont know why the current government is so shy at taking right decisions. It always has this shaky feet and is so scared to move forward but surprisingly it ca step backward with ease. Taslima's case is like a muslim VS muslim, and the government which calls itself secular [needs to either change meaning of secular or must understand what is secular] was caught in the wrong foot, if it was majority VS minority, its easy for the govt to gag the majority and pander to minority. I really dont think that Taslima crossed the line anywhere as long as she was in india, she was heckled wherever she went and i saw that video report where some fundamentalist moron threw slippers at her in a public meeting and it was shown repeatedly on the news channel but even to date no action is taken. Its a real shame that these so called govt representatives ... be it ruling or opposition has spolit our cultural image by resorting to vote bank politics. I really look forward to military rule in india where whatever religion you want to practice ...must be limited to your personal space. It was sad to hear what Taslima said when she left to an unknown destination
"I was put under tremendous stress but I could not speak out as I was under their (government) surveillance and could be harassed by them," she said in a choked voice from the British capital. "The government (Indian) is no better than religious fundamentalists," she said. Nasreen said she used to call the government safe-house in Delhi where she was put up as the "torture chamber". "I gradually came to realise that it was the chamber of death instead," Taslima said, adding she was forced to leave India because of "extreme stress" that she went through the last four months"
Now what is to be seen is whether they treat Dalai Lama the same way as her if china requested dalai to be put on gag?
"I was put under tremendous stress but I could not speak out as I was under their (government) surveillance and could be harassed by them," she said in a choked voice from the British capital. "The government (Indian) is no better than religious fundamentalists," she said. Nasreen said she used to call the government safe-house in Delhi where she was put up as the "torture chamber". "I gradually came to realise that it was the chamber of death instead," Taslima said, adding she was forced to leave India because of "extreme stress" that she went through the last four months"
Now what is to be seen is whether they treat Dalai Lama the same way as her if china requested dalai to be put on gag?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
is it worth holding an indian passport?
It looks as if you are better off if you are citizen of some other country. Its really an handicap being a citizen of india and holding an indian passport, i landed in singapore and the immigration refused to give me a transit visa since i was an indian citizen with indian passport. I wanted that visa so that i can roam around the city and kill time. i had the next connecting flight 8hrs later and all i could do was sit around for a few minutes before i noticed singapore tourism booth which offered bus rides on condition that you surrender your passport. Land in the middle east and you are treated as junk, the airport officials are rarely helpful and dont give you proper directions, on the contrary they yell at you for no reason, even if you are standing to get clearance for transit visa...an arab is given higher preference compared to you. I also saw many indians working hard to earn something to send some money back home so that their folks get a good life. Its a real shame that India talks of getting the global edge and is moving towards being a global power. Its light years away to taking that position. From being one of the earliest of the civilizations, its has let go that leading edge. If one looks at the united states, they always stand behind their citizens where-ever they are, they are looked after so well that any harm to its citizens keeps US on the move and they will get them out ... no matter what. Now lets shift to our own position. In malaysia, when our own citizens asked for a backing, india kept mum ... i dont know for what reason, now look at Sarabjit Singh case where india is not even making any effort to save someone who suffered just for his country's well being. if Sarabjit is a spy then he took that path to serve the country and undergoing the pain and suffering. It is really ungrateful on india's part in not doing anything to repay anything, They dont even treat his parents well when they go to seek audience with the govt officials. Now do u think after this incident and many more like these..anyone will actually have the same nationalism and bonding? It took kashmir singh so much time to get out of the jail and he was given media attention for a day or so and he is nowhere on the news. Countless people have so much love and respect for the country but its not getting translated into anything worth. All the people over there come out in droves to have glimpse of our movie stars, they have so much admiration for cricket stars but have no respect and admiration for these unsung heroes. Its a real shame that being an indian citizen means nothing at all, the country doesnt even send commandos to rescue these folks stranded in a foreign country, they dont do a thing to save this guy who loved his country so much that he took the job of a spy. I dont know how those govt officials and minsters can have a night's sleep when that person is rotting in the jail facing all those humiliations and seeing his imminent death. Indian govt gives out a call to all NRI's to take up positions in DRDO and help build cutting edge technology? so i am asking this question to the reader of this blog .... "is it anything at all being an indian citizen and holding an indian passport?"
Monday, March 17, 2008
Things lose value over time
Recently heard someone narrate a news about how some young kid publicized his suicide and recorded that and streamed it on youtube. Its pathetic to see how people chose the wrong option to get out of the mess they have created themselves. Earlier, people would become kamikaze and sacrifice their life for the country. Japanese bettered this art by driving their planes straight into enemy front lines. There were thousands of unknown female folks who committed suicide when mughals attacked the rajput kingdoms. The current day folks seem to think that they are under a lot of pressure and the only way out is to give up one's life. Loving a girl...that too one sided... which often ends in failure leads genY to commit suicides. Some feel that the family, peer pressures are too high a value to undergo the torture. Freedom fighters in india's pre-independence era faced so much of torture that they didnt commit suicide, instead they bare their chest to drive the brits out. So the genY doesnt read these and understand things? But i am shell shocked to see all these things like if you dont spend money on these things then you are viewed as some low creature, or if you dont move around in a car then no girl will fall for you, or if you dont take in drugs then you wont be allowed into socializing parties.... strange indeed that people call these pressures in life :O
The great Indian Dilemma
India is always in the news for the wrong reasons. Sometimes i do feel pity...thats a rare exception though. India is land locked and is always in trouble whether it sides with one party or remains neutral. Lets take it case by case
1) Pakistan is a pain in the neck....they push problems in but if you try to stop that then the muslims within try to voice their anger. If the govt doesnt take any action then the opposition and the hindus are up in arms.
2) LTTE is another pain in the neck...you support the sri lankans and the tamilnadu politicians are up in arms threatening to pull the government down. if you openly support LTTE then sri lanka allows ISI and terror outfits to operate on its soil.
3) if you try to remain neutral on nepal, the nepalis begin to point fingers so we have to side with them as its another launch pad for the terror outfits.
4) Bangladesh is another headache as they also try to push in terror outfits and anything you do is detrimental to india.
5) you try to support afghans then pakistan starts to be belligerent towards india.
6) Try iran for our oil needs, the US comes in accusing india of helping a country which is on the axis of evil and threaten sanctions.
7) Move towards the US, the left parties threaten to pull the government and they force india to be friendly with china and russia.
8) Try pandering to china, dalai lama's issue is on the front page. switch sides to support Dalai then china will send things to pakistan.
9) show india is a secular country by support muslims and in turn palestine then israel wont help you in selling hi tech goods.
Now tibet is burning and i find it amusing as to why tibetians who are known for their patience and non violence is resorting to riots and burning? why at this time when olympics is about to start in china. Is it a ploy to push tibetian cause on the world stage? Who is behind the plot? China was minding its business and was rapidly expanding economically and now would some people who are jealous let china to go the way it want to? I doubt that...but again china is no saint as evident from events that has taken place in the past. China has this habit of assuming tibet belongs to them, arunachal pradesh belongs to them, snatched macau and hong kong already, was gifted part of kashmir by pakistan. In 100 years the chinese many claim that india belongs to them. Thats the headache and only way to go about is go on offensive and take responsible role and not be bogged down. Its an opportunity for india to go offensive and force a peace on warring factions and eliminate trouble makers. But for now, india has to do what US is doing for taiwan in protecting Tibet militarily and economically hook or crook. If india fails to do anything then arunachal will go china's way and dont know how many more places. The left parties are mum too and they dont care of what happens to monks but would spring up if something happened to muslims in gujarat. As of now all eyes on the Dalai and his tibet, this time will buddha smile again?
1) Pakistan is a pain in the neck....they push problems in but if you try to stop that then the muslims within try to voice their anger. If the govt doesnt take any action then the opposition and the hindus are up in arms.
2) LTTE is another pain in the neck...you support the sri lankans and the tamilnadu politicians are up in arms threatening to pull the government down. if you openly support LTTE then sri lanka allows ISI and terror outfits to operate on its soil.
3) if you try to remain neutral on nepal, the nepalis begin to point fingers so we have to side with them as its another launch pad for the terror outfits.
4) Bangladesh is another headache as they also try to push in terror outfits and anything you do is detrimental to india.
5) you try to support afghans then pakistan starts to be belligerent towards india.
6) Try iran for our oil needs, the US comes in accusing india of helping a country which is on the axis of evil and threaten sanctions.
7) Move towards the US, the left parties threaten to pull the government and they force india to be friendly with china and russia.
8) Try pandering to china, dalai lama's issue is on the front page. switch sides to support Dalai then china will send things to pakistan.
9) show india is a secular country by support muslims and in turn palestine then israel wont help you in selling hi tech goods.
Now tibet is burning and i find it amusing as to why tibetians who are known for their patience and non violence is resorting to riots and burning? why at this time when olympics is about to start in china. Is it a ploy to push tibetian cause on the world stage? Who is behind the plot? China was minding its business and was rapidly expanding economically and now would some people who are jealous let china to go the way it want to? I doubt that...but again china is no saint as evident from events that has taken place in the past. China has this habit of assuming tibet belongs to them, arunachal pradesh belongs to them, snatched macau and hong kong already, was gifted part of kashmir by pakistan. In 100 years the chinese many claim that india belongs to them. Thats the headache and only way to go about is go on offensive and take responsible role and not be bogged down. Its an opportunity for india to go offensive and force a peace on warring factions and eliminate trouble makers. But for now, india has to do what US is doing for taiwan in protecting Tibet militarily and economically hook or crook. If india fails to do anything then arunachal will go china's way and dont know how many more places. The left parties are mum too and they dont care of what happens to monks but would spring up if something happened to muslims in gujarat. As of now all eyes on the Dalai and his tibet, this time will buddha smile again?
Do Not Disturb
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday notified its decision to fine cellphone operators for failing to act against pesky telemarketers harassing subscribers listed on the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNCR). Now isnt that an opportunity to turn tables? All one needs to do is .. call up listen to the advertisements and promotions to earn minutes free or lower your bills if and only if you allow telemarketers to call u up, listen to ads for a month while you earn free SMS. This is an opportunity for them to go for a kill. To keep tabs on smart people, one must implement a sort of a system like....say someone calls to hear the ad but the general tendency is to call up and keep the phone away so that they dont need to listen to the ad, but if one implements a thing like.....put on random interactive thing where the voice on the other end will say "please enter 5 to continue" at random times, so a person needs to hear to that to do as instructed and once the ad promotion is completed, minutes are added to your account. Isnt that a brilliant idea? ah come on just compliment me once.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Toys R Us
My friend will be leaving to india for a vacation and he wanted to shop for toys to give it as present to his nephew and niece. I had gone along with him to Toys R Us and i was shocked for a moment to see all those toys in that hugeeeee shop. There were so many sections each lined up with that particular cartoon character...be it kermit or starwars characters, dino, pokemon, raichu, mickey, donald etc etc etc. When i was a kid i had this bad habit of pulling down the parts of my toys, just that curiosity to know whats going on inside and why that toy acted that way. Most of the toys i had were cars, helicopter with a key, hot wheels car, electronic toys...never were those cars or toys in that place, it was full of toys...be it dolls, remote controlled cars, helicopters, toy guns which sprays sponge pellets or soft balls, starwars toys, lego ones, talking toys, toy computers..wow, so many and for a moment i was stunned and stood there admiring those hi tech toys with only thing running in my mind..."come on tear that open and look into the mechanics behind it"..but whatever it is..ToysRUs rocks big time and i just want to grow younger to check each and every toy and enjoy every moment, too bad its not possible :(
Friday, March 14, 2008
India's Jockshock
Jock=Short form of Disc Jockey
Jock Shock= A Disc Jockey who shocks
I used to listen to his voice on Anil Ki Aawaz and whenever he used to be on air, the program would start with .... this is u r host "Anillllll Srivatsaaaa". Anil was one of the early internet radio pioneers...with a degree in media and communications plus his shocking taboo talks/topics helped build his fans and non-fans aka people who liked to hate him. He moved onto television for a short stint in ImagineAsiaTV and then moved back to india to become a COO for Radio Today's FM. I was expecting him to do something again and he proved it by starting an FM-MeowFM - "Just for Women" Radio station. Never knew women had patience to listen to radio as i know them to have liking to shopping, making trips to beauty parlours, gossips et al, but a radio station for these ppl? or may be that indian women folks have changed over the century. His radio seems to be as popular as any other TV serial :D or wait is it because of Anil's magnetic personality? eh? His popularity is evident from the fact that he has 3 profiles as orkut has a limit on the number of friends. Whoever wrote/write offs radio as an obsolete must look up and anil who bring in innovative things to keep things afloat.
Jock Shock= A Disc Jockey who shocks
I used to listen to his voice on Anil Ki Aawaz and whenever he used to be on air, the program would start with .... this is u r host "Anillllll Srivatsaaaa". Anil was one of the early internet radio pioneers...with a degree in media and communications plus his shocking taboo talks/topics helped build his fans and non-fans aka people who liked to hate him. He moved onto television for a short stint in ImagineAsiaTV and then moved back to india to become a COO for Radio Today's FM. I was expecting him to do something again and he proved it by starting an FM-MeowFM - "Just for Women" Radio station. Never knew women had patience to listen to radio as i know them to have liking to shopping, making trips to beauty parlours, gossips et al, but a radio station for these ppl? or may be that indian women folks have changed over the century. His radio seems to be as popular as any other TV serial :D or wait is it because of Anil's magnetic personality? eh? His popularity is evident from the fact that he has 3 profiles as orkut has a limit on the number of friends. Whoever wrote/write offs radio as an obsolete must look up and anil who bring in innovative things to keep things afloat.
Animations in India
Founded in 2001 and fast forward to 2008 equals recognition and rapid growth. I still remember those boring cartoon on doordashan....especially those indian made ones, even sometimes the russian imported ones seemed better. I would always look out for disney cartoon on sundat mornings, but the villain always was Karnataka Electricity Board. They are the worst run corporation I have ever come across with rampant load shedding especially on sunday mornings. Anyways its 2008 now, 32 years have passed by without any change in the attitude of Electricity supply board but a lot has changed in the animation industry. A decade ago, Pentamedia of pentafour fame used be in the limelight but now i think greengold is leading the way along with Silver Line. Silver line is famous for its hanuman range backed by sahara one group. Hanuman is a decent one with the first one related to the actual story and after building the brand image, Hanuman returns had an innovative story line with good adaptation. But green gold is offering various cartoons and the most important being the ability to capture a timeslot on Cartoon Network which has the largest kid following. The winning quality with greengold is the depiction of expressions on Krishna's face. It looks realistic and has a great potential if they could iconify or copyright those faces and spin off into a sort of toys and dolls offerings. The merchandise value for such things runs high and wonder why greengold isnt thinking of those. Another biggest market is the games market with huge potential to rapidly expand. Sometimes i feel why indians not as shrewd as the americans. Disney has built a hugggggeee fortune in mickey, donald et al characters and its high time these animation people get the games out and flood the indian and overseas market. For $100 a pop, there would be no need to go for an IPO. Second strategy used by greengold is opening up training classes, this will help increase interests of people and show the way for better and better quality cartoons. But no one has come close to pixar yet, but its time that indian ones will go for the kill sooner or later, there is a huge talent base in india but lack of knowledge or fear of not being an engg or doctor is the only factor that is blocking the careers of 1000s of people in the field of animation. I hope greengold thinks of ways to start a sort of cult following for krishna et al cartoons.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The world is a stage and .......
There is a saying that goes like "World is a stage where you need to act and get through with life"...but lately it wouldnt be improper to say "World is a stage which is seized by morons and you need to tolerate these junk". I dont know why nature isnt proceeding towards adaptation in line with Darwin's theory. Man is killing the nature hence nature has stopped refining him into a better being? No idea what is happening. i was shocked at this news report which is ridiculous.
MUMBAI: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, India (PETA) on Thursday filed a notice against Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd before a committee monitoring animal welfare laws in Maharashtra. The dealers of these companies have been using bullocks to pull heavy kerosene tankers through the streets of Mumbai in violation of law. In its application the NGO says its volunteers had been "watching with concern the unfortunate plight of the bullocks used to draw kerosene tankers in Mumbai". Read it further here
I dont know why PETA exists in first place. If you closely monitor who join such things, 99% of the members are there just for publicity and most of them use this as a sort of platform to get popular or push their agenda. If i were in the media business, i would do a sting operation in exposing their double standards. I bet many of them are hypocrites....meaning they are good at preaching and fall sick when they put things into practice...simple example would be some of the members may be meat eaters...the reason they might get when caught would be "well this chicken or goat was killed ethically". Then there are some more who oppose street dog's termination must be allowed to stay on streets, then they will know the menace of street dogs, how they attack people who dare to go on streets at night. I bet 99% of PETA members would be violating their own norms, like drinking milk or coffee or tea with a dash of milk...Same is the case with green peace, narmada andolan etc etc..all these NGOs are politically backed and they are like a tool to fulfil someone's wants. Its really sad that we have to tolerate all these kinds of specimens.
PS: I am pure vegetarian who have been this way all my life. so if someone thinks that i am pushing the agenda of benefits of meat eating then they are way off the target. i always see any living being as a living being just like us, everything has a soul and treating them bad is a big No No, so if these organizations are cleaned off publicity seekers then world will be a better place
MUMBAI: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, India (PETA) on Thursday filed a notice against Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd before a committee monitoring animal welfare laws in Maharashtra. The dealers of these companies have been using bullocks to pull heavy kerosene tankers through the streets of Mumbai in violation of law. In its application the NGO says its volunteers had been "watching with concern the unfortunate plight of the bullocks used to draw kerosene tankers in Mumbai". Read it further here
I dont know why PETA exists in first place. If you closely monitor who join such things, 99% of the members are there just for publicity and most of them use this as a sort of platform to get popular or push their agenda. If i were in the media business, i would do a sting operation in exposing their double standards. I bet many of them are hypocrites....meaning they are good at preaching and fall sick when they put things into practice...simple example would be some of the members may be meat eaters...the reason they might get when caught would be "well this chicken or goat was killed ethically". Then there are some more who oppose street dog's termination must be allowed to stay on streets, then they will know the menace of street dogs, how they attack people who dare to go on streets at night. I bet 99% of PETA members would be violating their own norms, like drinking milk or coffee or tea with a dash of milk...Same is the case with green peace, narmada andolan etc etc..all these NGOs are politically backed and they are like a tool to fulfil someone's wants. Its really sad that we have to tolerate all these kinds of specimens.
PS: I am pure vegetarian who have been this way all my life. so if someone thinks that i am pushing the agenda of benefits of meat eating then they are way off the target. i always see any living being as a living being just like us, everything has a soul and treating them bad is a big No No, so if these organizations are cleaned off publicity seekers then world will be a better place
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
DRDO turns to NRIs to reverse brain drain!!
Wohooo so DRDO finally gets up to honor those who got honored in America? Good O Lord, atleast they are making an effort...Times of India for a change has put this news on front page, they have sacrificed a lot by providing some space for this news. All one can see on times of india is some adult news, some adult pics on the top right or some NRI news. Anyways the article says
"The scheme for NRIs, though still in its infancy, has already netted at least 40 PhDs and MTechs working in academics or industry in countries like US, UK, Japan and Sweden. We are intensifying the drive. In 2007 alone, we received 150 applications from NRI scientists and engineers and finally picked up 22. The number of applicants is increasing, with the majority coming from US," a top DRDO scientist told TOI on Wednesday. NRIs in the 35 to 45 age-group, having worked abroad for 10 or more years, have enough buffer money. If they want to come back to their kith and kin, we can provide them with job satisfaction," said a senior DRDO official. "We also give value in terms of accommodation, working environment and facilities in our labs, health benefits, pension and the like," he added. Then, of course, DRDO has demanded a ‘performance-based incentive package’ for scientists, over and above the revision in salaries, from the 6th Pay Commission. This includes proposals like a Rs 10,000 award for every patent being filed or a paper being published in a reputed journal, as also a ‘technology-transfer fee’ for every lab-to-industry transfer. DRDO scientists say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself has promised to them that careers in science will be made ‘more attractive from all perspectives’ to stem brain drain."
First mistake they are doing is this, opening up quotas for minorities and throwing us out. Corruption taking the toll, IT misused left and right, when priority is given to IT and rural ... who damn cares about innovation and science? The way DRDO has treated my dad for his service, I wouldnt dare go and act as if nothing happened. Wouldnt go even if they paid me in dollars and gave me free rein or independent research status. The thing is India is a great country but i dont like the ways some goons are running my home country. Second thing is why cant they go the easy route of paying russians or the americans money and get the best weapons? ... in a way this is more profitable as there is a way to get kickbacks and pocket tax payers money!!!
"The scheme for NRIs, though still in its infancy, has already netted at least 40 PhDs and MTechs working in academics or industry in countries like US, UK, Japan and Sweden. We are intensifying the drive. In 2007 alone, we received 150 applications from NRI scientists and engineers and finally picked up 22. The number of applicants is increasing, with the majority coming from US," a top DRDO scientist told TOI on Wednesday. NRIs in the 35 to 45 age-group, having worked abroad for 10 or more years, have enough buffer money. If they want to come back to their kith and kin, we can provide them with job satisfaction," said a senior DRDO official. "We also give value in terms of accommodation, working environment and facilities in our labs, health benefits, pension and the like," he added. Then, of course, DRDO has demanded a ‘performance-based incentive package’ for scientists, over and above the revision in salaries, from the 6th Pay Commission. This includes proposals like a Rs 10,000 award for every patent being filed or a paper being published in a reputed journal, as also a ‘technology-transfer fee’ for every lab-to-industry transfer. DRDO scientists say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself has promised to them that careers in science will be made ‘more attractive from all perspectives’ to stem brain drain."
First mistake they are doing is this, opening up quotas for minorities and throwing us out. Corruption taking the toll, IT misused left and right, when priority is given to IT and rural ... who damn cares about innovation and science? The way DRDO has treated my dad for his service, I wouldnt dare go and act as if nothing happened. Wouldnt go even if they paid me in dollars and gave me free rein or independent research status. The thing is India is a great country but i dont like the ways some goons are running my home country. Second thing is why cant they go the easy route of paying russians or the americans money and get the best weapons? ... in a way this is more profitable as there is a way to get kickbacks and pocket tax payers money!!!
Walmart will stock Bollywood DVDs
Bollywood movies at walmart in US and cannada? Yesss its possible now thanks to a tie-up between Eros and Walmart. Is there so much craze for bollywood recent substandard script that walmart is willing to lend its valuable shelf space to Eros? One can get latest DVDs at desi stores for around $1-$3 a DVD, will eros try to flood walmart with $16 DVDs which would interest many americans? I doubt it, americans will probably get confused seeing a rip off of hollywood's movies in strange language and with interesting endings :D
Even if its an oscar winning movie, i wouldnt pay $16 and keep a copy as something like some Holy Grail. I dont know why people keep collections.... is it for some sinister ulterior motive of selling off at a kill after 100 yrs? When you watch a movie and you know what it is about and how it ends, there is no fun at all in keeping a copy to be watched after 10 years unless its some dirty A movie. I really dont see things getting sold like hot cakes for $16, if its priced around $3 there is a probability that the desi crowd would go for it.
Even if its an oscar winning movie, i wouldnt pay $16 and keep a copy as something like some Holy Grail. I dont know why people keep collections.... is it for some sinister ulterior motive of selling off at a kill after 100 yrs? When you watch a movie and you know what it is about and how it ends, there is no fun at all in keeping a copy to be watched after 10 years unless its some dirty A movie. I really dont see things getting sold like hot cakes for $16, if its priced around $3 there is a probability that the desi crowd would go for it.
ICL + IPL + Cricket = Circus
The circus is back in town in a new form....20/20 the shortest form of the game. The hype is so much that it has brought in bollywood, BCCI, Zee together and has made the players too costly. One thing what we dont know is whether these tamasha matches are more or less like scripted soap opera? The players are given hefty salaries to play their part and keep the crowd enthralled? is the betting cartel opening up new ways to make money? Are they trying to glorify cricket akin to WWF by scripting this act? No one knows for sure and i doubt if people will lap it up like they religiously follow football and NFL. One reason why the business model works here is that they work harder and party harder, they take out an excuse to enjoy the game. But in India are the new generation so stressed up and working harder that they will use cricket as a way to relax and get together? Its been too much cricket and if one starts crossing out the days which have a cricket schedule, i doubt if there are any days left which arent marked. So how long will this circus last? I vaguely remember that much of the hype was put into hockey and i think Vijay Mallya was promoting this as well as football with "FC" suffix teams...but both flopped. The logic behind this 20/20 circus is because india is flooded with cricket religion? Even the quote says "having too much of immoral nectar gets transformed to poison". I learnt from the marketing course that you cannot create a need, you can just create a product or service to satisfy this need. So is cricket watching a need for viewers? I dont know what logic is behind pouring in this much millions into something that may not yield billions as revenue. As they say "Only Time can tell the tale" and i will wait for that day when i get proved wrong and the cartels win taking advantage of morons :D ... but they are using bollywood nymphs and scantily clothed imported and desi dancers as cheer leaders. a cheap shot eh?
Jamba ai-ka-ramba
Jamba sells blended fresh-fruit beverages with nutrient-packed power boosts. They talk of no tolerance towards man made processed ingredients like corn syrup or trans fat .... Yummy Yummy!! Now they are jumping into breakfast segment by offering all-natural baked goods, granola and yogurt blends in addition to its cornerstone juices and smoothies and prodding Americans to be & stay healthy by enjoy the much needed skipped breakfast. Now a days many companies are jumping into this bandwagon but some like starbucks is jumping out. One way to send the message across is eat healthy, stay healthy and keep the doctors away. But one worry is that they are entering in when there are talks of recession and pink-slip season setting in. If jamba gets into the gym business or use gyms as their distribution center then its a good strategy to pull away from the rest. They could start with the message of be healthy by eating healthy and staying fit and healthy. This sort of message is good as is evident from the fact that the volume of sales of cereals and granola or health bars. So if jamba's people read this post, they must get some idea :D
The shameless message i could send is "Please Hire Me!!"
The shameless message i could send is "Please Hire Me!!"
Bargains drive up sales of homes
Det News article "
DETROIT -- After more than three years of declines in home sales, prices and new construction, Metro Detroit could be taking a step toward a housing recovery.
For the third month in a row, sales of single-family houses and condominiums in the four-county region have increased over the same month a year ago.
In the February data released Tuesday, sales were up 13.8 percent over February 2007, according to Realcomp, the Farmington Hills-based multiple listing service. In December sales were up 7.3 percent from the same month a year earlier, and in January they were 15.2 percent.
Wooohoo i was right in predicting what will happen to the housing market in my previous post. So its moving in the right direction by cutting supply virtually. I mean Virtually here because, there are already many unsold and defaulted homes around, only way to cut down supply is to refuse to sell it at a price below certain buffer value. So what happens is that just put a bait and keep on flooding the news media with housing slump, no one wants homes, its all cheap now and you may get for a deal. When people are exposed to such news, the tendency is to go and look at prices. Trick here is that say you mark the price of a house as $100,000. 10 people with varying budgets will look at this one, 5 out of them may look at factors like location, the depreciation costs, the built up sq feet etc etc. 5 will be interested and will have a budget of $100k to $150k, so when there is 1 house and 5 people for it, the bidding war follows and its like an increased local demand. When you string together n-local demands, you have a whole demand curve with supply curve dictating the cost. So eventually sooner or later, a time will come when the housing market will reach previous level. Another factor driving the cost up and sales is that those fence watchers will buy it with a hope to sell it off at a kill. So all those rich guys and investors will jump into fray. Mark my words as this will happen sooner or later all round the US.
TiVo to let users view YouTube
Tivo the creator and pioneer of Personal Video recorders or Digital VRs are moving in a wrong direction by trying to increase value added advantage to its customers. It would have made sense if TiVo had signed up a deal with blockbuster or netflix as it would have been better to stream movies on demand for half or quarter the rental rates thus avoiding postage charges, delays, the rising cost of gasoline. By signing up with youtube, they are making a mistake of trying to go in for poor quality videos with useless picture magnification scales. I dont know if youtube purposefully uploads substandard quality on the web, if tivo tries to stream this low quality one onto TV screens, i fear the quality will bring bad name to Tivo. Tivo needs to move in opposite directions and shouldnt go in for computer and TV convergence with its DVR boxes.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Online Movie / download model
It was way back in 2000 when i landed in the US and was stunned to get a feel of video based learning, it was like this...if you had enrolled for a course and if that course was also available to distance education students then you also had the privilege to watch courses you bunked or to listen to those courses again to get the concept. At that time i was so excited to have a feel of this technology and also a kick of using the super fast internet for virtually free. An idea flashed in my mind as to talk to people who may be interested in online download model, so the only name i knew at that time was vinod khosla...because of sun microsystem's popularity and sabeer bhatia...because of hotmail success. Also 2000 was more or less like dotcom model everywhere, by that time i think the investors had a clue of the impending bubble burst. I contacted vinod khosla as i had his email listed on some site. He politely declined saying it was not his domain to invest. So i thought may be i was dumb in proposing this idea. The slowly pre-2005, things have started moving due to internet speeds, Napster, P2P etc. If napster was positioned properly then it could have triggered the movie and season episodes revolution. But somehow no one came up with this. Now there are so many players in the rental and download domain. The latest to jump is bigflicks with a backing of Ambani Brand Name. They have huge access to movie content due to acquisition of Adlabs and also strategic buy outs of many multiplexes in the US. So it makes sense for them to be in rental business and online download model. But it doesnt make sense to price the downloads pegged at around $9.99, if it was priced around $4 or so, it could start the trend as you can get an illegal DVD copy for $1 or $2 a pop, plus $2 for gasoline to go there and pick it up + time spent in driving there = around $5. But $9.99 is too high a price which is like 100% premium for new movies and i dont think anyone wants to pay $4 or $5 for older movies. Another advantage is that 99% of the movies that are getting released are crap and i wouldnt spend even $1 plus 3 hrs of my time to watch the crap. So if Anil Ambani reads this one, he better lower the prices as there are many players in this market and he needs to go for pricing advantage to get the market share. I was surfing the free movies in there, most of them are adult rated ones and is it like a bait to get people used to this site? Very Very very bad move in getting users into this site.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Religion+Political leaning=One's private issues
I always felt that one couldnt choose one's religion when you were born but could do so later where you switch faith either you are pissed off with the existing one or you are getting some kind of incentive converting to another. Whatever the case may be, i agree with china's concept of keep all the crap inside and perform things inside the privacy of your homes and dare the risk of showing one's affection and beliefs in public. The same is the case with political leaning, you dont go around thumping your chest that you steadfastly support some party or aligning with some party's objective. This ranting is due to a news article .....
New Delhi: At a time, when a political battle is being fought in Parliament on the very existence of Ram, a different version of Ramayana is being shown in several parts of Uttar Pradesh. The CD shows Lord Ram in poor light. He is portrayed as someone who was anti-Dalit, so much that he even killed a Dalit, whose feet he touches by mistake. The clips were exclusively available with news channel IBN 7 and are all part of a movie called Teesri Aazadi. The movie is being produced and sold in many parts of UP and Gujarat by an organisation called Bhimrao Ambedkar Samaj Sudhar Samiti. Activists of this organisation claim that they have the support of a BSP MP. However, the MP seems to deny encouraging the organisation.
I see this as a cheap shot in highlighting the ills of being a hindu and a stimulus to get the membership drive up and running for some hidden agenda. Thing is no one cares a damn in cities and they must target the confused segments with poor family values and culture to get popular. There wont be any credibility at all if it comes from someone who have little knowledge of what he or she is talking about. Its akin to a milkman concocting a new drink and trying to say that his cocktail is better than coke and pepsi because coke and pepsi use water and he is using milk and water...both natural ingredient :D ...He may get some publicity to some extent and some curious customers on the fringe or someone who hates colas may become a steadfast supporter and loyal consumer. But which is important....eroding a major market share of established existing company or get the consumers who werent drinking any colas?
New Delhi: At a time, when a political battle is being fought in Parliament on the very existence of Ram, a different version of Ramayana is being shown in several parts of Uttar Pradesh. The CD shows Lord Ram in poor light. He is portrayed as someone who was anti-Dalit, so much that he even killed a Dalit, whose feet he touches by mistake. The clips were exclusively available with news channel IBN 7 and are all part of a movie called Teesri Aazadi. The movie is being produced and sold in many parts of UP and Gujarat by an organisation called Bhimrao Ambedkar Samaj Sudhar Samiti. Activists of this organisation claim that they have the support of a BSP MP. However, the MP seems to deny encouraging the organisation.
I see this as a cheap shot in highlighting the ills of being a hindu and a stimulus to get the membership drive up and running for some hidden agenda. Thing is no one cares a damn in cities and they must target the confused segments with poor family values and culture to get popular. There wont be any credibility at all if it comes from someone who have little knowledge of what he or she is talking about. Its akin to a milkman concocting a new drink and trying to say that his cocktail is better than coke and pepsi because coke and pepsi use water and he is using milk and water...both natural ingredient :D ...He may get some publicity to some extent and some curious customers on the fringe or someone who hates colas may become a steadfast supporter and loyal consumer. But which is important....eroding a major market share of established existing company or get the consumers who werent drinking any colas?
Friday, March 7, 2008
I still dont get it
The topic of the day in the economic class was "Monopoly, oligopoly, perfect competition, imperfect competition, monopolistic competition". The concepts were all ok and true but what i couldnt understand is the anti trust crap, the notion of preventing collusions, price fixing etc. God Himself is into bias, nature is biased towards certain beings, nothing in this universe is a platform for perfect competition. Even darwin said "survival of fittest", the resources are so less that there will always be competition and mind you....there will be no perfect competition at all. Knowing all these things, Govts are foolish enough to swim against this and show itself as being fair enough.
Even simple things like .... being fair and handsome gets you an advantage over others in the field of acting, being fair and beautiful is an advantage of any girl to be a chooser, getting a degree from MIT or stanford is an open seasoned ticket to anything in the world, having an heft bank balance is also an open ticket to buy anything, being an investor and venture capitalist lets oneself choose the best and make money out of the startup...the list goes on and on. Nothing is perfect at all and the concept of anti trust case against microsoft or a delay tactics in allowing google to buy out double click etc etc doesnt make sense to me at all!!!
Even simple things like .... being fair and handsome gets you an advantage over others in the field of acting, being fair and beautiful is an advantage of any girl to be a chooser, getting a degree from MIT or stanford is an open seasoned ticket to anything in the world, having an heft bank balance is also an open ticket to buy anything, being an investor and venture capitalist lets oneself choose the best and make money out of the startup...the list goes on and on. Nothing is perfect at all and the concept of anti trust case against microsoft or a delay tactics in allowing google to buy out double click etc etc doesnt make sense to me at all!!!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
TiVo
We had a case study discussion on Tivo like 2 weeks back and Tivo is in news!!! What a coincidence.
"TiVo Fourth-Quarter Loss Narrows; Hardware Costs Drop"
Tivo has a great technology but its failing to capitalize on its technology. No idea whats making them go downwards and stay at the bottom. Offering a product that has capability to record and replay things, timer based recording, recording of serials based on preset keywords etc etc must have kept it way above in profits, but its always been in the red zone for a long time....even now its struggling...or one can put it as "Decade old but still struggling to stand up"
The problem they are encountering is that they are offering a setup which is powered by linux OS and things gets stored on the hard disk, now why must a customer pay monthly subscription fee if they are recording stuff on their set-top box? I think this may be a reason as to why its not growing as expected. Second thing is they arent capitalizing on the fact that subscribers skip ads. If i were the CEO of Tivo, i would have embedded ads as and when someone skips the add, i would add text based ads running at the bottom or a permanent ad display on the top left/right.
I would have gone ahead and signed up with advertisers like google ad sense or someone who is good at text or context ads. When the user stops and skips ads, these ads will be beamed on resumption. This way the user need not pay for the monthly subscription. Second thing is who will pay $x for one time cost of the box and $n recurring costs in addition to cable TV subscription costs, instead the best way is to push this technology to comcast or Time warner and charge them per customer...license the technology where subscribers could use video on demand, where u hit the repeat and u r choice ... then that particular program will stream in.
"TiVo Fourth-Quarter Loss Narrows; Hardware Costs Drop"
Tivo has a great technology but its failing to capitalize on its technology. No idea whats making them go downwards and stay at the bottom. Offering a product that has capability to record and replay things, timer based recording, recording of serials based on preset keywords etc etc must have kept it way above in profits, but its always been in the red zone for a long time....even now its struggling...or one can put it as "Decade old but still struggling to stand up"
The problem they are encountering is that they are offering a setup which is powered by linux OS and things gets stored on the hard disk, now why must a customer pay monthly subscription fee if they are recording stuff on their set-top box? I think this may be a reason as to why its not growing as expected. Second thing is they arent capitalizing on the fact that subscribers skip ads. If i were the CEO of Tivo, i would have embedded ads as and when someone skips the add, i would add text based ads running at the bottom or a permanent ad display on the top left/right.
I would have gone ahead and signed up with advertisers like google ad sense or someone who is good at text or context ads. When the user stops and skips ads, these ads will be beamed on resumption. This way the user need not pay for the monthly subscription. Second thing is who will pay $x for one time cost of the box and $n recurring costs in addition to cable TV subscription costs, instead the best way is to push this technology to comcast or Time warner and charge them per customer...license the technology where subscribers could use video on demand, where u hit the repeat and u r choice ... then that particular program will stream in.
- Local Context based ads or text ads sourced from google could supplement the revenue.
- Offering free set top boxes but clipping the ability to skip ads or embedding own ads.
- Local set top box must have 30 min recording facility and if users need more then paying for online storage space of say 10hrs or 24 hrs recording could be of variable pricing
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