Low Tech Fixes for the High Tech Problems!

Here are some of the Low Tech Fixes for the High-Tech Problems. Looks like you can get through any failure of any expensive e-devices yourself, if you care to have a refridgerator and a set of basic tools.

Decade at Bernard Madoff!

 

Paul Krugman, while analyzing the American Economics debacle, looks back at the great depression which was eventually followed by World War II, which in turn, set up mass employment, rising incomes and substantial inflation.

Since nothing of such sorts on offer in the current state of affairs, he concludes that the debt people ran up so blithely would take years to be worked off.

Ghewwww! A thought on reverse way!

A good political system is often a necessity to bring in prosperity and wealth to people driving up economic fortunes and stability to the country. The system has swung in all directions so long and so much that it has rested itself in an upside down position, warranting a bad political system and instability among countries to drive up the weaker economics which in turn would lead to prosperity and goodness of citizens.

It’s the kind of self-digging which sometimes force you to think Adam Smith is the forefather of Adolf Hitler.

Women’s Secret Of Success

 

Rediff quotes,

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Women who get thrills from regular orgasms are more likely to be successful at work and healthy, according to a leading expert.

Psychologist Dr Lisa Turner has said that while men lose energy through orgasm, women are empowered by them and gain clarity of thought.

According to Turner, the right type of orgasm will “massively increase your energy”.

Previous studies have suggested that 28 percent of women rarely, or never, achieve full orgasm and many resort to faking it.

Now, Turner has said that good orgasms boost health and concentration and help women perform better at work, reports the Sun.

She believes “You will feel more vital, healthy, and energised.”

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Now, I understand how few women possess enviable energy and enthusiasm at work amidst the dull men around. Yoooovvv!! If Orgasms are going to be secret of success for women at work then, do my belief that Ms. Indra Nooyi’s success comes from Pepsi gets shattered?

By the way, could energy be faked? May be, until you get nausea.

Please bail me out – By America

 

If at all we had moved away from Indian culture in all these post-industrialization decades, we would have been hit by a crisis harder than America! Had we not believed in simple economics and social esteem, we would have been hit harder than Americans!

Really? What saved us from this worst crisis? Indian Culture?  Our belief in old money management technique? This is what Thomas L. Friedman of NYTimes, who on a visit to India, finds out;

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Leave it to a brainy Indian to come up with the cheapest and surest way to stimulate our economy: immigration.

“All you need to do is grant visas to two million Indians, Chinese and Koreans,” said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express newspaper. “We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them. We will immediately improve your savings rate — no Indian bank today has more than 2 percent nonperforming loans because not paying your mortgage is considered shameful here. And we will start new companies to create our own jobs and jobs for more Americans.”

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Shekhar Gupta argues that, no Indian bank today has more than 2 percent nonperforming loans. I think what he says is the output of the past Bank strategies and not reflecting the recent outlook of the banks. This shift in strategy is obviously due to the outrageous growth pattern witnessed in the last few years. Hence, India should now be afraid whether it would move away from its culture as mentioned above and wont hang his head in shame in the future if mortgage could not be paid. This could be attributed partly to the ease with which an Indian gets loan, and mainly to the reason how willing the banks are, to splash out cash bypassing the basic question of repayment capabilities. I believe India is witnessing this new pattern where there is more money on offer and more people forked out of that brimming Indian Culture.

Obama’s administration has stated that institutions that received bailout money would be restricted from hiring high skilled immigrants on H1B visas; this could result in employing the US nationals leading to generation of high skill jobs, but might even hit back offsetting the advantage of globalization. Simple, you don’t risk your long term growth by throwing out the best minds. Then they might find a place where their innovations have respect.

Thomas L. Friedman opines to,

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Bad signal. In an age when attracting the first-round intellectual draft choices from around the world is the most important competitive advantage a knowledge economy can have, why would we add barriers against such brainpower — anywhere? That’s called “Old Europe.” That’s spelled: S-T-U-P-I-D.

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An undelivered parcel for Obama…

 

Alfred Brock, 64, of Winnfield, Louisiana drove up to one of the barricades of U.S Capitol with a rifle in his vehicle and when blocked told police officers that he had a delivery for President Obama. Earlier to this incident, couple of months back, two others were arrested in Colorado and Florida for posing threats to Obama.

Hmm…President Obama seems to be a tough opponent, be it anything .. Imagine him screaming aloud in a rock concert with a guitar on his hand … singing …….either run me down or gun me down..you know I will win you hands down …. phewww!!!

Indian General Elections 2009

A year full of campaigns and attention on American Elections – the oldest democracy, have just given way to the largest democracy of the world, to conduct its own version of Parliamentary elections, although completely unique and non-paralleled. India’s fifteenth General Elections, though late to have picked up steam, is catching up with the tentative announcement of dates from April 8 – May 15.

Also, with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) recommending the removal of Election Commissioner (EC) Navin Chawla from the Election Commission citing his undying loyalty and bias towards the Congress party has added to the Election mood.

I feel Chawla will not be removed from the EC, keeping a simple logic; Congress did not take all the pain to insert him into the EC and fire him out before reaping the fruit of it. Boosted by the fact that, CEC would see his tenure end exactly by April 2009 when the elections would be in full swing. Also, I don’t feel BJP is taking this issue forward seriously to the court as well as the campaign.

In view of the recent state elections, where Congress scored over BJP in much of these states must give an upper hand to them in these General Elections. However BJP scores better comparatively, with its clarity of action electing their Prime Ministerial candidate well before elections. Mr. LK Advani is already gunning to become a first techie Prime Minister of India, with all his website and blogging, starting to appeal to the computer masses. Though internet usage in India is 5% of the population and it hardly woos a major vote-base, this is seen as wisdom of the future and reaching out to the youth and the techie world of Indian corporate.

On contrary, though Congress has announced its prime ministerial candidate, Manmohan Singh, it was very late and almost surprising that they have dared to announce one, in spite of all the chaos among their actions. Especially considering that he underwent a heart surgery recently; it remains confusing in the congress party, should they look for an alternate or a back-up candidate.

With one party deciding on its PM-candidate and the other, though announced, yet mulling over the possibilities of other, are gearing up to take on the General elections’09!

 

 

I am back again!

Ooooof! Just thought whether I remember the key to my blogosphere! Got it right after the second attempt. Been long time long time since had a post.

Its been a disappointing, wasteful 3 months …since nov 8 2008.. and I am finally settling down a bit and finding myself back.  Normalcy back again and all usual stuffs along.

Wud catch you’ll soon with posts!

M Vijay to open the innings with Sehwag !

I just can’t believe it, that tomorrow, M Vijay will open for India against Oz, in the most crucial match. I sincerely wish all the luck and fortune be with him, when walks out to open the innings for India.

Dhoni has calmly said, M Vijay will open the innings tomorrow, putting all speculation to rest.

Cricinfo has a piece on him, describing his first meeting with the team mates.

Vijay’s call-up was on such short notice that he reached practice after the rest of the team. A team official took him towards Gary Kirsten and along the way he passed the spinners’ net in the middle of the ground but didn’t stop walking until he saw somebody familiar – and not from television viewing. S Badrinath was the captain when Vijay made his Ranji Trophy debut and he congratulated him by clapping him on the back. After meeting RP Singh, Munaf Patel and Venkatesh Prasad, he went over to Kirsten at the fast bowler’s net, who directed him towards the far end of the ground where Robin Singh was conducting fielding and catching drills.

He met VVS Laxman on the way and then, walking a few paces behind the official, went towards Sachin Tendulkar, who was waiting to bat at the spinners’ net. Vijay had never met Tendulkar before and after an introduction, a hand-shake, and a fleeting chat – there will be time for more wise words later in the day – he began fielding practice.

The new president of United States!

Barack Obama wins the United States election; elected as 44th President beating John McCain.

Tribute to Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble, the Jumbo who had been in flight for 18 years, have finally landed on earth. I remember seeing a young bespectacled Anil, bowling alike medium pace with an uncanny accuracy every over in a test match at Chepauk. Time flew, he became a regular in the national squad; shortened his run-up a little and became a typical fast leg break bowler and the rest they say is history.

While, the masters of leg spin extracted side spin off the pitch, he has gone about his business extracting top spin with pace variation off the surface. While, the critics were always out with a sword on him, he was least worried and trusted his abilities and continued improvising. A graduate in engineering, he studied in detail the pace variations, length adjustments and loop; strengthening his armor and keeping prey on the batsmen all the time. As a legendary leg spinner of the past said, ‘it is the variation of a slightest inch which makes edges off the bat to dismiss batsman’, none took the hang of it better than Anil Kumble. It would only be better if a straight ball could claim the wicket that could not have been possible by a viciously turning delivery. He has developed a school of his own with his flipper, googly and the dangerous ball that hits the pitch in off-middle line and hurries through its way between the batsman’s bat and pad hitting the timber.

Anil Kumble’s career could be split into two as pre-2001 and post it. He improvised on his googly with precision and the ability to bowl it with much lesser pace offering more flight. His sliders were much better than in the earlier years and these changes contributed especially to his domination in tests overseas post-2001. He influenced memorable wins in Headingley, Adelaide, Multan and Kingston. It was a golden era of Indian Cricket with the famed batting line-up coming of age and the ever persevering Kumble collecting wickets in bucket posting memorable wins abroad. The man had been part of 43 test victories, and many more matches saving defeat, the most by any Indian test player. Yet, he was never given his due and never had the fan base as much as his peers enjoyed in their life time. As you might expect, he never makes fuss about it and had been a quiet performer all these years. He was a match winner of his own style, in fact surpassing Indian legendaries such as Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, in terms of winning tests almost single handedly and contributing significantly in every other matches too.

The mark of the name Kumble brings perseverance, hard work, commitment and discipline to the fore. He has lived every word of it in his laborious career in entirety. Perseverance, as the man himself admits when he runs in to deliver every ball, he looks to add one more wicket to his tally; if it does not turn out to be, he prepares himself for the next delivery; the character which has allowed him to add 619 scalps to his cupboard. Hard work, his preparation for every match; the intensity and his keenness to learn new ways to dismiss batsman is on display for all to cognize.

Commitment – the character which has often shunted the lackadaisical attitude that might creep in during a long career. In particular when he was given a chance by laws of nature to prove it to the cricket world; he walked in at Antigua with his broken jaw held together by a roll of bandage to send down 14 painful overs resting not without dismissing Brian Charles Lara. It was on display even while taking his last wicket in his 132^nd Test, to run till the intersection of mid-on and mid-off to catch of his own bowling not caring 11 stitches on hand and setting an example for the young Amit Mishra what it takes to be successful in cricket. It was the character that shaped him from a mere good player to a great player.

Discipline – the way he carried his team in his shoulders during the infamous Sydney test, the controversies that loomed to unstable the team was thwarted with immense professional approach and discipline he imparted to his team. The character that has helped him stay focused on the job in a country where politics and media rules the roost bashing any player without hesitation.

The mix of these characters had been the underpinning of his supremacy in his illustrious career. The methodical approach and precision with which he operated on demolishing opposition was a case study in itself for the aspiring cricketers in India. His method was surgical rather than brutal. His art of spin bowling isn’t the delight for common spectators but is the gate pass to hell for the batsmen in test cricket. His trust on his skills and his commitment to bowling has fetched him the exclusive moment in test cricket snapping all the ten batsmen in an innings; he accompanies Jim Laker in what was all his lone clubhouse for decades of test cricket.

His 31 four-wicket hauls and 35 five-wicket hauls in an innings, 7 ten-wicket hauls in a match and an unique ten-wicket haul in an innings shows his invaluable contribution in the matches and his single-handed demolition of oppositions.

It isn’t easy to pick a single great moment in his long career of test cricket, but I would rate his bowling on the second day of first innings of Adelaide test in 2003 as the mark of his greatness and as a tribute to his hard work and perseverance. Australia burst to 400 on the close of day 1 and resumed the day2 with centurion Ricky Ponting and the dangerous Adam Gilchrist on the crease. Given the situation, most bowlers would feel reluctant to bowl to the mighty Aussies who is resuming their score from 400 on day 1, but it was not to be even a thought for Anil Kumble, as he sent down over after over to skittle Australia out to 556 picking up the double centurion Ponting and running through the tail when his other mates felt they are doomed in this test match. Later, Dravid scored a magnificent double as India went on to win a finest test match in its history of cricket. He was a replacement for injured Harbhajan in the match, and having been criticized often that he is ineffective in foreign pitches; he proved his worth in gold and set the tone for the remainder of the series. He went on to pick up 24 wickets in 3 tests he played in the series, making it a memorable tour for India.

He is only third in test history with 619 wickets for most dismissals and is one of the three of the exclusive 600 club along with legendary Shane Warne and the Sri Lankan Muthiah Muralitharan. Yet, he is the only one among the three to have scripted a test century, at The Oval, arguably the finest feat achieved by him.

He calls it a day today having given hundred percent to his team’s cause till the last day bearing the dozen of stitches in his torn palm. He has earned respect from all the oppositions he played against, and has scripted most test victories for India, far more than any other player. As he walks away into the sunset today, India searches for its next generation spinners to carry art and craft.

I wish Kumble don’t add to the mud of political circus of BCCI and its whims and fancies, instead go on to run an academy for youngsters and groom the next generation spinners. I am sure he would prefer the latter.