Goldman Sachs makes money selling NJ Bonds, and then makes money selling insurance by speculating that NJ may not cover those bonds. These are the guys we are asking to hold up the financial system?
It is not illegal, but the ethics behind this is questionable?
Full story here
The New Yorker has a great article on Over-parenting
While we frequently get caught up in the cool aspects of mobile telephony (social networking, LBS etc.), there are many cases where a bare-bones mobile phone with SMS actually helps to save lives. This is one such story.
Satyam Computer Services in collaboration with the state of Andhra Pradesh in India developed an SMS application with a view to decrease pre-natal and neo-natal mortality rates.
The way this works is as follows
Geek Details
The NYT has a very well written piece titled “India Calling“.
Story covers the growing trend of ABCDs (children born to Indian immigrants) returning to India - for good. It introduces the term ‘brain circulation’ instead of ‘brain drain’.
I have argued that the IT boom in India and the leg-up that India has in globalization can be directly attributed to those who came to the MBA schools in the 70s and the IT consulting (aka IT body-shops) in the 80s (I was one of them).
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It was sometime in late 2005, in one of my many trips to Helsinki, that I picked up the book “Dreams From My father” at the SFO airport. It was written by someone named Barack Obama. When I finished reading it, I told my wife - “I hope he runs for president someday; if he does, we should contribute to his campaign.” As soon as he announced, we steadily contributed time and money to his campaign, and of course we took a special pride in his victory.
It must be noted that my wife didn’t warm to him easily, She was a Hillary backer after all, but she kept an open mind. By the time we heard him speak after his Iowa primary victory, she was as committed a volunteer as any working mother with a husband and a child that any campaign could ask for. I cajoled her into reading “Dreams From my Father.” but she only read it after he was nominated. Obama’s campaign is the only time we have so actively engaged in the political process at a national level. (My wife has always been involved in school-board level issues/propositions)
While I do confess to having consumed a bit too much champagne on the night of Obama’s victory, I am not as giddy as some are and I am under no illusion about utopia being upon us. I know that, as president, he will have his share of failures. He is human - with personal flaws and prone to errors in judgment like the rest of us.
However, I am hopeful (and hope is something he promises in spades) that he will give me back the country I adopted as my own more than 8 years ago. It is a country that, despite tragic flaws in its history, has always promised something very noble. I bought into that promise and sought its citizenship, despite being the citizen of a country with a rich heritage. On a clear September day in 2001, a few deranged fanatics put forth a test to the very ideals that this country held dear, by tearing down the twin towers. They tested the very decency and moral character of this country. The Bush-Cheney co-presidency failed this test abysmally.
Instead of reassuring the world that despite immense challenges they would adhere to the basic tenets of democracy, the Bush administration indulged in a vulgar usurpation of power that modern democracies have never known. The balance of power that was carefully constructed between the executive, judicary and legislature was tilted overwhelmingly in favor of the executive. Through sheer hubris the Bush-Cheney co-presidency went about shredding the constitution and wielded it as a tool to achieve its own, often nefarious, ends. Cronyism trumped competency in every sphere. My government went so far as to withdraw from the Geneva convention and openly indulged in torture. It used means like extraordinary rendition to set up secret gulags that would have made Stalin proud.
Within 7 years George Bush had squandered - no, shredded - every noble ideal that this country was known for. While many know him as the architect of the two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he is also the architect of a few lesser-known wars which include a class war against the poor, a religious war against non-evangelicals and moderates, a war against science and learning and intellectuals, and a war against the environment. My government indulged in an orgy of appalling human rights violations and made Abu Gharib and Gitmo household names the world over.
It doesn’t bother me that we are in the biggest economic crisis of my generation. Not for a moment do I lose sleep that the economy may get so bad that I may have to give up the “goodies of life” that I currently enjoy. No, what fills me with grief are the acts that have been done in my name as a citizen of this country. I don’t care if Obama doesn’t fix the economy and I couldn’t care less whether he serves one term or two. The only thing I hope for, from Mr Obama’s ascendancy to the highest office of this land, is that he restores the decency and moral character of this country.
I have reason to be hopeful - I don’t know of any other country that would have elected a man with a Muslim middle name, when that country was waging what many the world over perceived to be a war against Muslims. This country, unlike any other, has the remarkable ability to completely reinvent itself - especially when it is faced with its toughest challenges. Time and time again, it has picked leaders from George Washington, to Lincoln to FDR, to lead the country out of a seeming abyss to a new day. I hope that Barack Hussein Obama will join this pantheon of leaders.
It turns out, just like people, you can type-analyze blogs as well. Many of you may be familiar with MBTI . Now a web site can do the same analysis for blogs like rantlust.
Here is what Typealyzer has to say about Rantlust
ESTP - The Doers
[ESTP]
The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time
Not bad eh? It did get the “more keen on starting something new than following it through” part correct, if traffic on the blog is an indicator
Nick (Is Google making us Stupid) Carr certainly asserts that it has and if you consider that the last post before this one was in September’08 - he may be right.
I figured that this story deserved a spoof - Here is my version of the same story.
American, Cutting Back, Plans $15 Pants Fee
Published: May 22, 2008
There’s an old saying about the best way to travel: bring half the clothes and twice the money.
Now may be the time to take that advice to heart and you had better not be Indian or Chinese.
American Airlines said Wednesday that it would soon start charging passengers for the clothes and shoes that they wear. $10 for cotton pants ($15 for Jeans) and $5 for Shirts ($7 for full-sleeved shirts). Additionally, American will charge $5 per shoe ($10 if they are hiking shoes) - if they are flying on a discounted fare. Asked why they charge per shoe and not for a pair of shoes, an American spokesperson said that as per the Americans with Disabilities Act, such pricing would be discriminatory.
The airline’s new policy — to take effect July15 — comes only weeks after many major carriers, including American, began charging $15 each way for checked baggage,
The new fee is just the latest example of airlines adding charges on top of rising airfares, even at the risk of angering travelers further, to make up for the billions of dollars they are losing as fuel prices soar. In an effort to reduce the weight and consequent fuel consumption, airlines continue to explore ways to reduce the weight and the clothes we wear are the latest target.
“It’s only going to get worse and worse,” said Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents employees at American. “Flight attendants are not trained to distinguish between running shoes and hiking shoes, and what if passengers decide not to wear any clothes so as not to pay the fee” said Glading?
American Airlines executives said they had little choice but to impose such fees, given that the price of jet fuel is up more than 80 percent from a year ago.
Airline industry losses could top $7.2 billion in 2008, Jamie Baker, an analyst with JPMorgan Chase, estimated this week. Airline shares were battered Wednesday, as oil surged to a record $133.17 a barrel. Stock in American’s parent company fell 24.2 percent, to $6.22 a share.
In another development, several airlines are considering charging Indians and Chinese an extra fee - because India and China are being blamed for soaring oil prices. The rise in global oil and food prices are being blamed on demand from India and China. Last week President Geroge W. Bush blamed the demand for food with higher nutrition among Indians as the reason for 9% inflation in food prices in the US.
In a surprising move American announced that for every snack purchased by a non-Indian and non-Chinese passenger, Indian and Chinese passengers on board will be assessed an extra fee.”We are looking for every opportunity to change our cost-structure and even President George Bush has said that food prices are rising because of increased demand in India and China, so it is only appropriate that we pass the price of food consumed by average Americans to the average Indian or Chinese.
“Our company and industry simply cannot afford to sit by hoping for industry and market conditions to improve,” American’s chief executive, Gerard J. Arpey, said Wednesday at a shareholder meeting.
To cut costs, the company also said Wednesday that it would eliminate toilet paper and running water from toilets. “The weight of toilet paper and water adds several hundred pounds to the gross weight of an airplane - this move is expected to save $5000 per year and increase share holder value” said Mr Arpey.
American is also considering charging access fees to toilets for discount fare passengers. Robert Harrell, an industry consultant, estimated that as many as 40 million American passengers could be subject to the new toilet access fee. American carries about 98 million travelers a year. With an average of 100 toilet access per flight, at $1 per toilet access this move could potentially net upwards of $40 million per year. “Each passenger will get a cup of water and 3 sheets of toilet paper and 5 minutes of access to the toilet” said Mr Arpey
Asked whether the Toilet paper charge will be arbitrarily passed on to fellow Indian and Chinese passengers, Mr Arpey said “No. We understand that they don’t use toilet paper in India and China, so we can’t charge them for that”
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