Live : Positive : Values

How Money Corrupts the US Congress- "Republic Lost"

2011-12-04T22:58:00.003+08:00

Lawrence Lessig talks about how money corrupts the United States Congress and how big money blocks reform in politics. He deals with this comlpex subject in "Republic Lost" and offers some suggestions.

Lawrence Lessig on How We Lost Our Democracy. Read More

Is US Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?

2011-09-10T22:16:00.003+08:00

Republican presidential hopeful Texas Governor Rick Perry who was taking part in a Republican primary debate says, Yes, it is..

Rick Perry said: “It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you’re paying into a program that’s going to be there,” Perry said during a Sept. 7 debate of the Republican presidential candidates, reprising a theme from his 2010 book “Fed Up.”

Experts on both Ponzi schemes and Social Security say Perry is wrong. “Ponzi schemes are, by definition, fraud,” said Mitchell Zuckoff, author of “Ponzi’s Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend.”

“Social Security is above board,” he added. “We can argue about whether it’s a good system. But you can’t call it a fraud.”

More of this article on Bloomberg

Fears of Another Financial Meltdown

2011-08-06T15:54:00.003+08:00

Financial markets across the globe have taken a battering this week with a 500-point plunge on Wall Street overnight- its worst drop since 2008. The markets took a similar panic sell off when the US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for the largest bankruptcy in Sept. 2008. Lehman went under when the US housing bubble burst due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. It was reported to be the onset of the Great recession very much compared to the 1932 depression. A repeat of that scenario is being played out by the mayhem in the financial markets again. Fear and uncertainty are the prevailing market sentiments.

Nobel prize winning US economist Paul Krugman writing on New York Times:

"In case you had any doubts, Thursday’s more than 500-point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average and the drop in interest rates to near-record lows confirmed it: The economy isn’t recovering, and Washington has been worrying about the wrong things.

It’s not just that the threat of a double-dip recession has become very real. It’s now impossible to deny the obvious, which is that we are not now and have never been on the road to recovery."

The gridlock between the two main political parties in Washington that we saw on the extension of the US debt limit demonstrates the difficulty in achieving any meaningful reform to deal with very complex problems.

Standard and Poors (S&P) one of the three rating agencies has down graded the US from the AAA status to AA+. S&P is not satisfied with the US debt reduction plan.

The fallout of this downgrade will be known next week. This could well lead to the perfect financial storm unless politicians rise up to the challenge.

FT's Outlook for 2011

2010-12-31T22:59:00.004+08:00

What can failure teach?

2010-12-11T17:15:00.004+08:00

FAILURE SEEMS TO BE NATURES’S PLAN FOR PREPARING US FOR GREAT RESPONSIBILITIES.

If everything we attempted in life were achieved with a minimum of effort and came out exactly as planned, how little we would learn-and how boring life would be! And how arrogant we would become if we succeeded at everything we attempted. Failure allows us to develop the essential quality of humility. It is not easy-when you are the person experiencing failure-to accept it philosophically, serene in the knowledge that this is one of life’s great learning experiences. But it is. Nature’s ways are not always easily understood, but they are repetitive and therefore predictable. You can be absolutely certain that when you feel you are being most unfairly tested, you are being prepared for great achievement.

Napoleon Hill's thought of the day Dec 7, 2010

Osteoporosis Exercises for Hips

2010-07-17T10:30:00.006+08:00

Silent Meditation

2010-05-31T15:00:00.002+08:00

A MOST BENEFICIAL USE OF TIME IS SILENT MEDITATION, WHILE SEARCHING FOR GUIDANCE FROM WITHIN.

We all experience rare moments when a blinding revelation comes to us, when we suddenly see things differently than ever before. Usually, however, we learn the truth about ourselves gradually, over long periods of time, from quiet introspection. We are all spiritual, but some of us have learned to tap more effectively into the great strength that resides in the spiritual portion of ourselves. The spirit is not boisterous and noisy. Getting in touch with your spiritual self demands tranquillity and solitude. Make sure you dedicate a portion of every day to thought and study, to think and reflect upon your life. Choose a time and place that best allow you to relax your mind and devote your thoughts to reflection.

Thought for the day- 30 May 2010 by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. http://www.naphill.org.

Shoes: A treatment for osteoarthritis in the knees?

2010-05-04T16:38:00.003+08:00

Flip-flops and sneakers with flexible soles are easier on the knees than clogs or even special walking shoes, a study by Rush University Medical Center has found. And that's important, because loading on the knee joints is a key factor in the development of osteoarthritis.

The study has been published online in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

"Traditionally, footwear has been engineered to provide maximum support and comfort for the foot, with little attention paid to the biomechanical effects on the rest of the leg," said Dr. Najia Shakoor, a rheumatologist at Rush and the primary author of the study. "But the shoes we wear have a substantial impact on the load on the knee joints, particularly when we walk."

"Our study demonstrated that flat, flexible footwear significantly reduces the load on the knee joints compared with supportive, stable shoes with less flexible soles."

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and a significant source of disability and impaired quality of life. A higher-than-normal load on the knees during walking is a hallmark of the disease, associated with both the severity of osteoarthritis and its progression.

More on the ScienceBlog

Thatcher's Think Tank Calls for Total Financial Overhaul

2010-04-11T15:02:00.007+08:00

The UK politics has risen up to fever pitch, after Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Wednesday that he is calling the election on May 06.

While politicians contesting for the parliament are promising hope and change, former conservative prime minister Mrs. Thatcher's think tank, Institue for Economic Affairs(IEA) says a total financial overhaul is required and that the deficit can be slashed without raising tax burden.

Keynesian economists in UK want to return to the principles of John Maynard Keynes, the guru of government intervention. They are urging the UK government to spend its way out of the recession. A commentary on Business Week by Mattew Lyn "Deathbed of Keynesian Economics Will Be in U.K" gives both sides of the economic argument.

"So who is right, and who is wrong? It’s a debate that matters to the rest of the world. After all, if demand management doesn’t work here, it won’t work anywhere.

The U.K. has some experience of mass letter writing from Keynes’s devotees. In 1981, a group of 364 economists wrote an open letter ripping into the policies of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. They turned out to be totally wrong, of course. With hindsight, no one can now dispute that her policies led to a long and durable economic revival."

The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?

2010-02-16T16:13:00.000+08:00

Amazon.com's editorial of this book by Ian Bremmer, President of Eurasia Group reads:

"Understanding the rise of state capitalism and its threat to global free markets

The End of the Free Market details the growing phenomenon of state capitalism, a system in which governments drive local economies through ownership of market-dominant companies and large pools of excess capital, using them for political gain. This trend threatens America's competitive edge and the conduct of free markets everywhere.

An expert on the intersection of economics and politics, Ian Bremmer has followed the rise of state-owned firms in China, Russia, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Iran, Venezuela, and elsewhere. He demonstrates the growing challenge that state capitalism will pose for the entire global economy.

Among the questions addressed: Are we on the brink of a new kind of Cold War, one that pits competing economic systems in a battle for dominance? Can free market countries compete with state capitalist powerhouses over relations with countries that have elements of both systems-like India, Brazil, and Mexico? Does state capitalism have staying power?

This guide to the next big global economic trend includes useful insights for investors, business leaders, policymakers, and anyone who wants to understand important emerging changes in international politics and the global economy. "

Another global meltdown!

2010-02-14T18:59:00.007+08:00

The unfolding debt drama of Greece could be the script for another Greek tragedy. As written in the Wall Street Journal, it begins, "The Greek Tragedy That Changed Europe"- Plutus, the Greek god of wealth, did not have an easy life. As the myth goes, Plutus wanted to grant riches only to the "the just, the wise, the men of ordered life." Zeus blinded him out of jealousy of mankind (and envy of the good), leaving Plutus to indiscriminately distribute his favors.

Modern-day Greece may be just and wise, but it certainly has not had an ordered life. As a result, the great opportunity and wealth bestowed by European integration has been largely squandered. And lower interest rates over the past decade—brought down to German levels through Greece being allowed, rather generously, into the euro zone—led to little more than further deficits and a dangerous buildup of government debt.

Now Plutus wants his money back. Europe is entering unprepared into a serious economic crisis—and the nascent global recovery could easily collapse due to the unsustainable and Ponzi-like buildup of government debt in weaker countries."

Now Greece is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. The European Union has formally announced that a bailout for Greece will be available if needed. EU economic leaders Germany and France and the European Central Bank have backed the bailout plan. Portugal, Spain and Italy have their problems of national debt and the Greece bailout could give the template they need to queue at EU headquarters in Brussels. Herman Van Rompuy, the EU's new president, has already called for the creation of an "economic government" that shifts responsibility for economic planning from national authorities to the "EU level".

In a parallel move, European Commission chief Jose Barroso said Brussels has treaty powers allowing it to take the reins of economic management. "This is a time for boldness. I believe that our economic and social situation demands a radical shift from the status quo. And the new Lisbon Treaty allows this," he said. "Economic policy isn't a national, but a European matter. No modern economy is an island. When a member state doesn't make reforms, others suffer because of that."

The headline of an article in the British paper The Telegraph reads, "Failure to save East Europe will lead to worldwide meltdown- The unfolding debt drama in Russia, Ukraine, and the EU states of Eastern Europe has reached acute danger point."

Greece is one of 16 countries that have so far adopted the 10-year-old euro currency, and these are nervous times for the EU Commission and the financial markets.

The Future of the Global Financial System 2009

2009-12-06T15:42:00.005+08:00

A Pro-Free-Market Program for Economic Recovery

2009-11-26T18:00:00.001+08:00

Nervous Nations on a Gold Buying Spree

2009-11-17T22:37:00.003+08:00

It is a trend that is catching on. First China bought gold from the International Monetary Fund, then it was the turn of India. Now, Sri Lanka has jumped onto the bandwagon.

Countries are buying gold like there is no tomorrow.

Sri Lanka’s central bank said it had been buying gold to diversify its reserves amid volatile currency markets, days after India announced it had purchased 200 tonnes of the precious metal, by doling out hard cash. (Link)

Dennis Gartman, founder of The Gartman Letter, told CNBC Monday that the price of gold will “continue to go up until it stops.”

“It is a gold bubble and to say otherwise it’d be naive,” Gartman said. He called the trade on the precious metal: “mind boggling and unbelievably crowded,” but also said he is currently long — or betting gold will go higher.

According to Gartman, gold’s Friday low of $1,102/oz is the floor. If it breaks that support, he suggests investors should “head to the sidelines.”

When asked for a proper place where to put money as a hedge against inflation if it’s not gold, Gartman tipped Canadian and Australian currencies.

“If you’re going to be any place, be there,” Gartman said.

Australia’s central bank has already raised interest rates twice in the last couple of months and Canada is preparing to hike its key lending rate, he said.

Noam Chomsky on What is Wrong with the Right in America

2009-10-17T23:01:00.001+08:00

The Great Depression Ahead

2009-10-07T13:46:00.002+08:00

Harry Dent- the longtime investor and author predicted a severe downturn in Japan and a great boom in the United States in the 1990s and has made quite a name for himself. He was right on those two counts and since then he has been churning out an endless stream of books filled with predictions.

His current bestseller "The Great Depression Ahead," predicts a new Great Depression right around the corner.

According to the description on Simon and Schuster:

"The first and last economic depression that you will experience in your lifetime is just ahead. The year 2009 will be the beginning of the next long-term winter season and the initial end of prosperity in almost every market, ushering in a downturn like most of us have not experienced before. Are you aware that we have seen long-term peaks in our stock market and economy very close to every 40 years due to generational spending trends: as in 1929, 1968, and next around 2009? Are you aware that oil and commodity prices have peaked nearly every 30 years, as in 1920, 1951, 1980 -- and next likely around late 2009 to mid-2010? The three massive bubbles that have been booming for the last few decades -- stocks, real estate, and commodities --have all reached their peak and are deflating simultaneously."

Among Dent's predictions are the following:

• The economy appears to recover from the subprime crisis and minor recession by mid-2009 -- "the calm before the real storm."

• Stock prices start to crash again between mid- and late 2009 into late 2010, and likely finally bottom around mid-2012 -- between Dow 3,800 and 7,200.

Although it may be possible to identify demographic and economic trends through long term cycle analysis, to forecast the stock market is too far fetched. Nevertheless, the book makes for an iteresting read at a time when the world is teetering on economic meltdown.

Freedom vs. Greater Good of Society

2009-10-02T19:25:00.008+08:00

In the United States, everyone is debating on how to reform the healthcare and it seems there are as many ways of reforming the broken healthcare system (that everyone agrees) as there are special interests and lobby groups such as the insurance companies and drug companies who are spending millions of dollars to win their side of the argument with the lawmakers.

Joining the debate bandwagon, an alliance made up of major health agencies, including the American Diabetes Association, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and two former surgeon generals, wants to reverse the obesity epidemic by investing more in health promotion and disease prevention, especially to kids. The alliance has urged the lawmakers to pass legislation and deal with this alarming health problem which is not only dangerous by enormously expensive.

The group says the American children are getting addicted to poor diets--loaded with salt, sugar and fat--and sedentary lifestyles, which leads to cancer, heart disease and diabetes later on, costing billions of dollars to the taxpayer. Obesity-related spending contributes $150 billion to healthcare spending each year. (Link. HealthDay)

Amid the media coverage of the often rowdy and sometimes abusive language against any form of national healthcare heard in the townhall meetings, it is stunning to read that America- the world's only superpower and the world's largest economy, is expanding a free health service meant to take modern medicine to the third world as reported on CBS.

"People from all around Los Angeles have been lining up around the clock since Monday - waiting, hoping to get free medical care.

Some 1,500 people a day - many working poor, almost all with little or no health insurance - file into L.A.'s cavernous Forum to see hundreds of doctors, dentists, and optometrists. All of these medical professionals are volunteers. All of these people are in need.

Larry Durst's disability check won't cover the glasses he needs. He says without this clinic he would suffer and go without.

Kenya Smith needs a checkup for two-week-old Zoe. Her insurance doesn't cover it.

"They wanted $1,500 for just to be seen by the doctor plus co-payments. That was a lot of money I thought," she said.

Anna Garcia got in line Tuesday for dental work. She works for Orange County, has five children, and her husband is out of work. The co-pay for three year old Aizza's root canal: $1,000.

"I couldn’t afford it and I didn’t want her to lose her teeth. So I once read about this program, and I had to take advantage of it, even if it meant missing a couple of days of work," she said.

The program is run by Remote Area Medical, a non-profit group established 24 years ago to take modern medicine to the third world. Today they do some 40 multi-day free clinics a year - 65 percent of them now in the U.S.

"There are about 49 million people who don’t have access to the care they need. They simply can’t afford it," says Stan Brock, founder of Remote Area Medical."

The debate over healthcare reform in the United States centers around questions of a person's right to health care, access, fairness, sustainability, and quality purchased by the high sums spent by the taxpayers. The mixed public-private health care system in the United States is the most expensive in the world, with health care costing more per person than in any other industrialised nation. The U.S. is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not have a universal health care system.

Just like the American tobacco industry and their lobbysts who spend vast sums of money to influence lawmakers and persuade people, particularly younger people, that smoking is an assertion of freedom and liberty- so too does the drug and insurance companies and the lobbysts of the private healthcare industry spend vast sums of money to kill off any legislation that will bring in a public option which can compete with the private healthcare.

The present healthcare debate has pitted two opposing ideologies against each other, and a proper balance between them needs to be found to satisfy the majority of the people.

President Obama, the democratic president considers health care a freedom issue: everyone should walk as equals under the same insurance umbrella. That people are left out in the rain is contrary to the American ethos.

Conversely, Republicans see it as a liberty issue. Obama's reform plan leads to some with the individual's power of choice. In large part, this choice is the choice of how to spend one's money, but there is no small amount of philosophical objection to government telling you what to do -- that's also contrary to the American ethos.

Read about the five freedoms Americans will likely loose if the public option of the healthcare reform bill intended to provide affordable healthcare to the poor and compete against the private insurance is enacted into law.

United States of America- the world's great bastion of freedom- is deeply skepical of any program such as the universal healthcare that gives power to their government to control any aspect of their lives.

China rises to a Global Power with Market Socialism

2009-10-02T10:14:00.011+08:00

China Thursday celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Communist Party's rise to power with a spectacular military parade that is billed as the largest ever in Chinese history. It also underlines China's new status as a global power, and throughout the gala celebration "Socialism with Chinese characteristics," a concept developed by the late Deng Xiaoping in 1984, was the phrase heard most often in the official commentary.

“The 60 years of new China have proved that only socialism can save China,” Hu Jintao, the president of China said in his key note address.

“We will unswervingly follow socialism with Chinese characteristics and comprehensively implement the ruling party’s basic theory, basic line and basic programme.”

Economic reforms under a market socialist model began in China in 1979, which has allowed for astonishing economic growth of more than 8 per cent for over two decades. This has induced profound social migration from rural to urban cities and caused major environmental challenges.

Despite the global economic downturn that started in early 2008, the Chinese economy has come out earlier than most of the western economies.

Link.

Meditation

2009-09-26T22:55:00.002+08:00

From the Excerpt of 'Broken Open' by Elizabeth Lesser.

Meditation

I have been a student and practitioner of meditation for thirty years. I still find it difficult—at times boring and at other times confrontational. And I still find it valuable—nourishing, expansive, and illuminating. Sometimes I meditate every day; sometimes I go months without ever sitting on my meditation cushion. I have taken short meditation courses and spent most of my time waiting for the evening or weekend to be over. And I have gone on long, solitary retreats and surrendered to the practice, emptying myself of worry, falseness, restlessness, and complaints. Without hesitation, I can say that meditation practice has made a remarkable difference in my life.

People are attracted to meditation for a variety reasons, including these:

•to relax, physically and mentally;

•to keep the heart open and soft;

•to accept life on its own terms;

•to feel more alive, connected, and content;

•to find inner peace; and

•to make contact with other realms of consciousness, what some call the divine or God.

Meditation can help us achieve any of these—but only over time, and with dedication and work. We come to meditation feeling that parts of our life are difficult and that perhaps a meditation practice will make them less so. We want relief now. But that is not how meditation works. The desire for peace and happiness is noble; the expectation of instant results is unreasonable.

Meditation is a matter of slow and steady experience. It is not a cure. It is not a set of moral values. It is not a religion. It is a way—a way to be fully present, a way to be genuinely who we are, a way to look deeply at the nature of things, a way to rediscover the peace we already possess. It does not aim to get rid of anything bad, or to create anything good. It is an attitude of openness. The term for this attitude is mindfulness.

Full Excerpt on Oprah

Looming 'Age of Austerity'

2009-09-24T18:59:00.007+08:00

Global leaders may be saddled with the weakest recovery since World War II if they are to pay off the $9 trillion tab they ran up rescuing the world economy from the deepest financial slump in seven decades.

U.S. President Barack Obama and his counterparts from the Group of 20 nations meet in Pittsburgh today warning that the recovery is still too weak to start reversing lifelines to banks and the broader economy. Their next challenge will be to reduce the resulting debt before it sparks higher bond yields and erodes their governments’ creditworthiness.

“There’s no question that the most significant vulnerability as we emerge from recession is the soaring government debt,” said Harvard University Professor Kenneth Rogoff who is a co-author of a new history on financial crises. “It’s very likely that will trigger the next crisis as governments have been stretched so wide.”

Unwinding the borrowing will probably require leaders to raise taxes and cut spending, ushering in what HSBC Holdings Plc Chief Economist Stephen King calls an “age of austerity” that saps growth prospects for years to come even amid recovery.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts the world economy’s potential growth rate will fall to 1.1 percent next year, compared with 2.4 percent in the decade before the crisis. The International Monetary Fund says G-20 debt will reach 82.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2010, almost 20 percentage points more than two years ago and the equivalent of about $37 trillion. (Link Bloomberg)

Carmen Reinhart, Professor of Economics at University of Maryland has provided a synopsis of the paper she did with Professor Kenneth Rogoff titled "Eight hundred years of financial folly" that is referred to in the above article. This paper which predicts the next likely financial crisis is available on VoxEU. The two professors have also written another sobering paper, "Is the 2007 US Sub-Prime Financial Crisis so Different? An International Historical Comparison."

Most of the major governments around the world have cast a vast safety net by propping their economies with millions of taxpayer dollars and in the process are running massive deficits. Now the world waits for the next financial crisis as has happened for the last eight hundred years and more.

Edward Kennedy's lifelong passion: Public Service

2009-09-22T21:05:00.006+08:00

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in November 1962, he was elected nine times and served for 46 years in the U.S. Senate. At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate, and the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. For many years the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family, he was the son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both victims of assassinations, and the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.(Link Wikipedia)

The revelation in May 2008 that Senator Kennedy had a serious form of brain cancer sent tears and a stunned silence across the US Congress, where he is known as the 'liberal lion' for his unrelenting work of the liberal causes.

US President Barack Obama, the country's first president who received a strong, early endorsement from Kennedy, said after learning of his illness in 2008 that he "would not be sitting here as a presidential candidate had it not been for the battles Ted Kennedy has fought."

"I stand on his shoulders," Obama said.

Sen. Kennedy was responsible for more than 300 major bills of legislation that has been enacted into law. Kennedy opposed the Vietnam War, led the congressional fight to impose sanctions against South Africa over apartheid and succeeded in banning arms sales to Chile’s dictator Augusto Pinochet. He helped greatly in the long effort to bring peace to Northern Ireland. He also worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor on issues of social and economic justice, which his Meals on Wheels program for senior citizens dramatically underscores. But in all of those years, in all the causes he embraced, he called his vote against the resolution to sanction the Iraq war the “best vote” he ever cast.

Britain's prime minister Gordon Brown paid a generous tribute to Edward Kennedy, claiming that his record of public service “surpasses those of many presidents”.

He said, "Northern Ireland is today at peace; South Africa is free of apartheid; more children not only in his nation, but in the poorest nations, are going to school and have health care. We owe a great debt to the vision and courage of Ted Kennedy.”

With the US engaged in a major debate about the provision of health care, the Prime Minister said that to Mr Kennedy this was “the cause of his life”. Mr Brown said: “He never ceased fighting for universal health care. As he said only last month, we're almost there'. He did this not only for America but for the world. He knew that if a system of universal health care as a right and not a privilege could be achieved in the United States, others everywhere would be encouraged to take it up.”

Recalling his memories of meeting Kennedy, Mr Brown said he would remember him as the man who said: “The pursuit of the presidency is not my life; public service is.” He wrote: “His work teaches timeless lessons about serving the public — the need to reach out beyond ancient loyalties and old enmities, the need to unite rather than divide, our capacity to master the great issues.”

Kennedy died without achieving what he called 'the cause of his life'- the health care reform bill that he worked on four decades. Newsweek carries an article on Kennedy's fight for health care.

Income Inequality and Middle Class by Paul Krugman

2009-09-19T15:43:00.001+08:00

Battle of US Healthcare. It is US's excessive capitalism vs. UK's socialism

2009-08-15T18:52:00.008+08:00

As the debate on healthcare reform gets heated up in the Capitol Hill of the United States, President Obama has urged leading Senate Democrats involved in drafting a healthcare bill, to include a public health plan which will create a government-run health insurance plan to compete with the private insurance companies of the healthcare system. President Obama believes that such a plan would help consumers and keep costs down.

Most republicans and critics of the public plan argue that such a plan will drive out private insurers and lower the quality of healthcare.

As the debate gets nasty across town hall meetings and rallies in the congressional districts, the universal healthcare system of the UK National Health Care(NHS) has come under attack from the radical right wing and conservate activists. Conservatives and Republican politicians believe that the free market can fix the healthcare and all other social problems and that the government should not get involved.

Professor Stephen Hawking who was in Washington to receive America's highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom has defended UK's NHS after its severe criticism during the American political debate over health care reforms.

"The physicist spoke up for the NHS after the Republican Right claimed it was 'evil' and 'Orwellian' in a direct attack on Barack Obama's plans to overhaul health care in the U.S.

Critics of the president have said his plans would introduce a 'socialist' system like Britain's.

Prof Hawkin, who suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease, said: 'I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS.

'I have received a large amount of high quality treatment without which I would not have survived.'

Even UK's prime minister Gordon Brown who normally avoids American party politics has defended the NHS against what his ministers described as inaccurate slurs by opponents of president Obama's plan. Mr Brown and his wife posted messages on the social networking site Twitter.

On the No 10 Twitter site, Mr Brown said: “NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there.”

Writing in the Guardian Sahil Kapur states that a study by the "Health Affairs found last year that more than 100,000 Americans die every year from preventable illnesses – the highest of any industrialised country. The study also said they would probably be alive if they were living in France, where they wouldn't have been denied care. The US can prevent these deaths, and as other industrialised countries demonstrate, it is easily doable.

Embracing a system in which people die from neglect is morally indefensible, particularly in a country that guarantees the right to life and has the resources to carry out this promise."

The United States spends far more per capita (and as a percentage of GDP) on healthcare than the rest of the developed world, while every other industrialised country has much stronger government presence in healthcare. Along with lower costs, they also achieve universal coverage, and tend to enjoy higher satisfaction rates.

A Glimpse into the Future City State

2009-08-08T12:17:00.001+08:00

"The Global Fair and Festival 2009" has opened in Songdo International City in South Korea's Incheon Free Economic Zone.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the country's largest festival President Lee Myung-bak said:

"The past century was dominated by a competition among nations, but we will see fierce competition among cities in the years ahead. More than half of the global population is concentrated in urban areas and the figure is expected to surge up to 80 to 90 percent," Lee said.

During the 80-day festival, 68 exhibitions, conferences and concerts will be held.

About 20 international conferences will be held at the fair, including the Global Environment Forum 2009, which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and many other scholars plan to attend.

The Fair will introduce "Smart City," a knowledge-based industrial city equipped with state-of-the-art information and communication infrastructure, to the participants of the Asian-Pacific City Summit (APCS) to be held in September

Link.

Jobless economic recovery in the US

2009-07-23T19:42:00.005+08:00

The Federal Reserve Board's Chairman has to go to Congress and report about the nation's economic health every six months.

As usual, the Fed chairman Ben Bernanke presented the same testimony to both the House Financial Service Committee and the Senate Banking Committee on July 18-19th, a ritual required in legislation written by the late lawmakers Hubert Humphrey and Augustus Hawkins, the Humphrey-hawkins Act (27th October 1977).

The Humphrey Hawkins Law intended to implement the Employment Act's (1946) assumption of Federal responsibility for achieving full employment and price stability.

Bernanke who has extensively studied the Great Depression knows the risk of braking too soon. That's what happened in 1937, which fiscal and monetary policies both tightened, in part of misplaced fear of inflation. That set the stage of the second leg of the Great Depression that followed growth from 1933 to 1936 that averaged over 9%, but still left unemployment well in double digits.

With the US unemployment expected to range between 9.8% and 10.1% in 2010, up from the current 9.5% jobless rate, the world's largest economy appears to have turned the corner but only to a path of tepid recovery.

Link.

Worries over greying Asia

2009-07-12T13:46:00.004+08:00

According to an AFP article, Asia is facing an ageing crisis with weak and inadequate pension systems and family-based support dwindling, an ADB report revealed Saturday.

"A young continent reaping the demographic dividend of a large youthful workforce is giving way to a greying continent where the ratio of retirees to workers is on the rise," senior Asian Development Bank economist Park Donghyun said in a study released by the Manila-based lender.

Improved female education and better medical care is inducing Asians to have fewer children, allowing them to live longer and causing a "seismic" demographic shift, Park said.

The median age of China, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam "will exceed the world average by 2050" which spells trouble for their pension systems along with that of the Philippines, the study said.

The greying phenomenon is more pronounced in East and Southeast Asia than in South Asia, it added.

"In contrast to industrialised countries, most Asian countries do not yet have mature, well-functioning pension systems," Park said.

"As a result, they are ill-prepared to provide economic security for the large number of retirees who loom on the horizon."

In the past, experts have warned that unless action is taken now to meet the changing population trends, the South East Asian countries could face long-term social and political implications.

The problem is different from country to country and the policy makers of each country will need to work out the solution that suits them best considering the pace of the number of elderly that is increasing.

The older workers who face big challenges in a fast changing environment can remain employable only if they upgrade themselves constantly by embracing new skills and technology.

The value of the experience of the older workers in any country will diminish fast unless they can adept to the fast changing conditions of a society that can count on a globally mobile workforce to fill the gaps by relocating from one country to another.

Looking for alternative models- Compassionate Capitalism

2009-06-28T15:46:00.007+08:00

Some economic pundits are now predicting that there are eery similarities between the Great Depression of 1932 and the current economic meltdown that started in the Wall street with the burst of the US housing bubble and quickly spread across the Atlantic to Europe and around the world to Japan and Asia.

For the last three decades, the leading economic power and the only super power in the world, the United States of America has seen a strong dominance of political leadership by the Republican party starting with President Ronald Reagan in 1981, interrupted only by the two terms that Bill Clinton served as president. Successive administrations have championed the growth of commerce unfettered by government regulation. Even Clinton, a political centrist who abandoned many of the progressive legacies of Democratic presidents such as Roosevelt and Lyndon B Johnson, did little to control the excesses of Wall Street.

In the 1920s, as now, political leaders created the conditions that precipitated economic crisis. In both instances, a lack of effective regulatory oversight fostered a climate of reckless speculation on the stock market. And just like the federal government in 1929, the outgoing Bush administration failed to see the emergency coming.

In 1929, the US president Herbert Hoover, who presided over the worst depression in history that sent millions into unemployment believed that the economy will fix itself and no government intervention was necessary.

At his inaugral speech in 1929 Hoover is reported to have said, "I have no fears for the future of our country. It is bright with hope. We shall soon be in sight of the day when, God willing, poverty will be banished from this nation." Seven months later, the stock market crash precipitated an economic crisis unprecedented in US history.

In a speech in November 2008 , George Bush, also a Republican president echoed the same sentiments that were heard in 1929 that the fundamentals of the American economy were strong. To President Bush's credit, he subsequently moved his Treasury department to intervene agressively and rescue the ailing financial institutions.

Although America is used to have depressions, the magnitude of the current meltdown in a globalised world has revived the memory of the horrors of the Great Depression in 1929, causing some experts to worry whether the current economic crisis could lead to suffering on a similar scale.

With the world's money markets in turmoil, international banks failing and stock markets crashing, the anti-globalisation movement is stepping up their opposition to liberal principles that allows the unregulated use of capital to operate markets with minimum interference from national governments.

One book, "The Anti-Globalization Breakfast Club: Manifesto for a Peaceful Revolution" brings together the views of many of the world's leading thinkers in alternative policy studies. Their collective views represent a fascinating insight into a growing movement that is slowly but surely affecting the way the world does business.

Here is part of Amazon's editorial review of this book.

Alternative models for grass roots economic development such as micro-financing are now being widely adopted in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and elsewhere. New views on measuring development such as GDH (gross domestic happiness) have been adopted by Bhutan rather than GDP, and China's own hybrid approach combining market and planned policy to achieve economic transformation offer new choices for developing countries. All of these are representative of a new wave of thinking that rejects the increasingly discredited policies of the IMF and World Bank.

Obama is elevating science to the top

2009-01-02T16:17:00.006+08:00

President Bush's administration has been consistently at odds with the scientific community over global warming. Scientists explain global warming as a result of increased concentrations of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. These gases trap heat in the lower atmosphere, making the Earth warmer. They also say that's why glaciers in Alaska, Greenland and Iceland are melting at alarming rates, coral reefs are dying from warmer water, and sea levels are rising.

Although the United States is largest emitter of greenhouse gases, President Bush has refused to sign the Kyoto treaty which 141 countries signed promising to reduce greenhouse gases.

US President-elect Barack Obama has promised to make clean energy a top priority in his new administration. Over the next ten years, he wants the US government to spend US$150 billion on promoting green technologies. But a substantial portion of the funds will go into propping up America's failing car industry. Obama wants to invest US$15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy. He is hoping it can create 5 million new green jobs in the next decade."

Many scientists who objected to the Bush administration's policies, from restrictions on embryonic stem cell research to the global warming are hopeful that Obama is giving a more prominent role to the scientists.

"I think they'll be restoring the role of science in the federal establishment," said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge-based advocacy organization. "We've got a bunch of people across the [new] administration who get it."

In a sign that President-elect Barack Obama intends to elevate science to greater prominence, John P. Holdren, a Harvard physicist widely recognized for his leadership on energy policy and climate change, has been named to be appointed White House science adviser.

In 2004, Holdren joined other prominent scientists to sign a letter accusing the Bush administration of undermining and censoring scientists.

"When scientific knowledge has been found to be in conflict with its political goals, the administration has often manipulated the process through which science enters into its decisions," the letter said.

Holdren, who was an adviser to the Obama campaign and a member of a scientific advisory committee to President Bill Clinton, is a specialist on energy, climate change, and nuclear proliferation.

Holdren is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program in the School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

In addition to his Kennedy School appointments, John Holdren is also Professor of Environmental Science and Policy in Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and President and Director of the independent, nonprofit Woods Hole Research Center. He has been at Harvard since 1996 and affiliated part-time with the Woods Hole Research Center since 1992.

Fascinating Year 2008

2008-12-31T15:57:00.003+08:00

China hosted the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games from August 8-24, 2008. A total of an estimated US$42 billion was spent, making it the most expensive games ever. The Olympic games showed the world that China has finally come of age. The Communist China dazzled it's economic might causing some angst in the West. The western world who always saw that democracy and free enterprise exist hand in hand are forced to accept the emergence of Communist China as an economic and military super power.

According to a USNews report, China is teaching the West something new. Its economy, growing at 9 percent per year, will most likely become the second largest in the world by 2020, behind only the United States.

Americans continue to spend billions more on Chinese goods than the Chinese spent on U.S. products. And that gap has been growing by more than 25 percent per year, as China moves from building toys into more-sophisticated appliances, auto parts, and semiconductors. China's consumer class, meanwhile, is spending like lottery winners on everything from bagels to Bentleys--and will soon outnumber the entire U.S. population. China's explosive growth "could be the dominant event of this century," says Stapleton Roy, former U.S. ambassador to China. "Never before has a country risen as fast as China is doing."

The year 2008 has shown the policy makers and countries of the world that everyone lives in a truly global community. The startling financial crisis that started in US due to the subprime lending has quickly spread to other economies. Lehman Brothers, a global investment bank became the largest bankruptcy filing in the US history totalling over $600 billion in assets.

The American economy is built on credit. Credit is a great tool when used wisely. For instance, credit can be used to start or expand a business, which can create jobs. It can also be used to purchase large ticket items such as houses or cars. Again, more jobs are created and people’s needs are satisfied. But in the last decade, credit went unchecked, and it got out of control.

Mortgage brokers, acting only as middle men, determined who got loans, then passed on the responsibility for those loans on to others in the form of mortgage backed assets (after taking a fee for themselves originating the loan). Exotic and risky mortgages became commonplace and the brokers who approved these loans absolved themselves of responsibility by packaging these bad mortgages with other mortgages and reselling them as “investments.”

The United States treasury has committed US $700 billion as a rescue fund to prop up financial lenders. While the Treasury Secretary Mr Paul Hanson, a respected Wall Street veteran was criticised on the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Treasury secretary’s supporters point to failures that were averted – including Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie, and AIG, the insurance giant.

As markets around the world felt the impact of the financial crisis, the FTSE Asia Pacific index dropped by more than 43 per cent in value – its worst annual loss since the benchmark started in the 1980s.

Students of the markets say the only recent parallel with the current turmoil is Japan in the 1990s, but other than that they have had to study the 1930s, the Great Depression.

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Fed, spent years as an academic studying the Great Depression and his actions over the past six months have been interpreted as a sign that he is determined the lessons from the past should be understood.

America and the world are looking upon US president-elect Barack Obama, the first black president to create the jobs, spur economic growth and make the world a more peaceful place.

Man's search for meaning

2008-12-12T14:34:00.004+08:00

Victor Frankl who wrote about the Holocaust survivors in his book 'Man's Search for Meaning," said this:

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances- to choose one's way."

Understanding brain based education

2008-09-13T09:55:00.003+08:00

The brain based learning theory is based on the structure and function of the brain.
How the brain works has a significant impact on what kinds of learning activities are most effective. Educators need to help students have appropriate experiences and capitalize on those experiences.

More on understanding brain based education here.

US liberal icon Ted Kennedy's latest battle

2008-05-21T17:28:00.002+08:00

The United States Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy suffered a seizure Saturday and has since been hospitalized at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, who were investigating the cause of a seizure that Kennedy, 76, suffered at his Cape Cod compound on Saturday, said preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain had revealed that the senator has a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, the upper left part of his brain. News of the brain tumor surprised people in Washington, Massachusetts and beyond, generating reaction around the world, where Kennedy's family legacy and his 46 years in the Senate have made him a well-known figure. More on this news and responses from US leaders..

Oil to reach $200 a barrel

2008-05-07T12:53:00.004+08:00

Analyst Arjun Murti on FT.com writes, crude oil prices could surge to $200 a barrel in the next two years, according to the Goldman Sachs analyst who three years ago correctly predicted a price “super-spike” above $100 a barrel.

The warning by Arjun Murti came as oil prices hit a fresh high above $122 a barrel, boosted by supply disruptions in Nigeria, lower output in Russia and continued robust demand in China ahead of the Olympics.

Mr Murti said the energy crisis could be coming to a head as a lack of adequate supply growth was becoming apparent.

He said: “The possibility of $150-$200 per barrel seems increasingly likely over the next six to 24 months.”

Link: FT.com

Hilary Clinton answers political issues

2008-05-02T15:31:00.001+08:00

Asian states hit by global rice shortage

2008-04-19T13:46:00.002+08:00

Asian countries have been struggling to cope as the cost of rice has reached record levels.

The price of the staple crop has risen by as much as 70% during the last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with increases accelerating in recent weeks

Rice prices hit the $1,000-a-tonne level for the first time on Thursday as panicking importers scrambled to secure supplies, exacerbating the tightness already provoked by export restrictions in Vietnam, India, Egypt, China and Cambodia.

The jump came as the Philippines, the largest rice importer, failed for the fourth time to secure as much rice as it wanted.

The unsuccessful tender followed Bangladesh’s inability to buy any rice at all this week.

The global agricultural crisis is threatening to become a political one, pitting the United States and other developed countries against the developing world over the need for affordable food versus the need for renewable energy.

Many poorer nations worry that subsidies from rich countries to support biofuels, which turn food, like corn, into fuel, are pushing up the price of staplesThe World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization both called on major agricultural countries to overhaul policies to avoid a social explosion from rising food prices.

Looming crisis of $1 trillion

2008-04-09T15:27:00.004+08:00

Worldwide losses from the American credit crisis could near $1 trillion, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday, reflecting the massive cost of the breakdown in markets for home mortgages and other kinds of debt.

There was a recent report that the problem of the defaults on sub prime loans was two fold: first, mortgage companies lending money based on the financial statement made by the buyer and second; the falsification of income by the buyer.

This means that lending agencies allowed loans to home buyers who were not credit worthy and the risk of defaulting was very high when they borrowed the money.

Now the inevitable huge bankruptcies of home buyers in America has led to major financial meltdown in the United States with severe negative implications in the global financial markets.

The IMF estimated that banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and other kinds of investors will suffer huge losses: $565 billion on U.S. home mortgages, $240 billion on debt backed by commercial real estate such as office buildings and shopping centers, $120 billion on corporate loans such as those used to acquire businesses, and $20 billions on consumer loans such as credit cards.

Those figures add up to $945 billion in losses expected within two years. That would be about $143 for every person on Earth, or $3,100 for every U.S. resident.

Irresponsible behaviour of people borrowing, banks lending without sufficient credit checks and lack of adequate oversight by the US government has unleashed gigantic financial looses, the full extent of the pain and dislocation is hard to comprehend as yet.

ADB warns over increasing inflation in Asia

2008-04-02T19:50:00.002+08:00

The Asian Development Bank (ABD) has warned that inflation will reach its highest level in a decade in most of Asia this year, threatening to reverse recent gains in productivity as well as creating fiscal strains for governments that provide massive subsidies for fuel and food.

The ADB haslowered its economic growth forecasts for the region as a global slowdown weighs on exports and expansions in China and India cool.

Bloomberg reports that Asia excluding Japan is predicted to expand 7.6 percent this year, less than a September estimate of 8.2 percent, the Manila-based institution said in a report today. The economies grew 8.7 percent in 2007, the fastest clip in almost two decades.

Central banks will pursue policies to quell inflation rather than spur economic growth, the ADB said, the second organization this week after the World Bank to warn of the threat of rising energy and food prices to the region. China will implement a ``tight'' monetary policy this year, the government's State Council said yesterday.

``The major risk lies not so much in softer growth but in rising commodity prices and accelerating inflation,'' the ADB said. ``Appropriate macroeconomic responses to accelerating inflation are likely to include tighter monetary policy and some exchange-rate appreciation.''

Crude oil rose to a record $111.80 a barrel last month, while prices of food staples including rice, wheat and soybeans and palm oil have surged amid increased demand and higher fuel and freight costs.

Death of global free market capitalism?

2008-03-28T12:40:00.002+08:00

Remember Friday March 14 2008: it was the day the dream of global free- market capitalism died. For three decades we have moved towards market-driven financial systems. By its decision to rescue Bear Stearns, the Federal Reserve, the institution responsible for monetary policy in the US, chief protagonist of free-market capitalism, declared this era over.

It showed in deeds its agreement with the remark by Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, that “I no longer believe in the market’s self-healing power”. Deregulation has reached its limits.

Read the full article. "The rescue of Bear Stearns marks liberalisation’s limit"
By Martin Wolf published on Financial Times.

Gloom for the Bear

2008-03-17T19:56:00.003+08:00

The shocking collapse of one of America's biggest investment bank Bear Stearns is a sobering reminder of just how quickly a Wall Street firm can lose the confidence of investors, traders, and other institutions.

In a deal reached on Sunday to save Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a mere $2 a share to buy all of Bear — which a little over a year ago was trading for as high as $170 a share.

As part of the watershed deal, JPMorgan and the Federal Reserve will guarantee the huge trading obligations of the troubled firm, which was driven to the brink of bankruptcy by what amounted to a run on the bank.

A week before the dramatic announcement, Bear executives were talking about how the firm was poised to report a profitable first quarter, after the firm posted its first quarterly loss in its history in the fourth quarter. But in the span of seven days, Bear went from being Wall Street's fifth largest firm to another in a long line of investment firms to bite the dust.

The purchase price offered by JPMorgan is an indication of just how far things have fallen at Bear, which a year ago helped spark the sub prime meltdown with the collapse of its two big hedge funds.

It appears that the housing mortgage crisis in America has taken down a giant victim. Nervous employees will now be scratching their heads as many of them will laid off with this merger. This is how the free market works and such cyclical ups and downs are part of the business process.

Faces of Innovation at ETech

2008-03-07T17:02:00.003+08:00

From left: David Pescovitz, Xeni Jardin, Cory Doctorow and Mark Frauenfelder

Photo: Dave Bullock/Wired.com

According to Wired.com, this wily gang of web renegades runs BoingBoing.net, one of the world’s most popular blogs (according to Technorati). Boing Boing started two decades ago as a paper-based magazine. If something rad is happening on the net, Boing Boing will feature it.

They are featured in this picture attending the O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology Conference which brings some of the brightest minds in the online world together every year for four days of talks, panels and workshops.

US mortgage crisis affects bond markets

2008-02-15T16:15:00.002+08:00

The recapitalization of U.S. bond insurers hit by the subprime crisis may occur soon, but if it fails, insurers can be forced to separate riskier activities from their municipal bonds business, New York state officials said on Thursday.
"The clear preference is a recapitalization of the companies, something that could happen at some point. We would hope shortly," Gov. Eliot Spitzer told reporters after testifying before a U.S. House Financial Services subcommittee about the state of the bond insurance industry.

Lawmakers have said government intervention may be needed to ease financial strains in the bond industry that are unsettling other areas of the economy.

While one major U.S. bond insurer cautioned members of a House subcommittee against stricter government rules or a bailout, another saw its credit rating cut over worries it may lack the reserve cash to cover surging defaults.

An offshoot of the mortgage crisis, the dislocation in the bond insurance industry is spreading beyond Wall Street, threatening the cost of financing everything from student loans to public works projects, officials say.

Credit-rating agency Moody's Investors Service on Thursday downgraded from "AAA" to "A3" securities of Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., saying it does not have enough capital in reserve to cover a potential spike in claims. Bond insurers essentially need a "AAA" rating to continue writing new business.

Alarming report on mental health

2008-02-05T13:28:00.000+08:00

A government policy launched in the 1980s namely deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill has been called a failed experiment by the British Columbia's Premier Gordon Campbell who was elected in 2001. The increasing problem of the mentally ill came out in an investigative report by the police that revealed a third of all police calls deal with the mentally ill.

The mayor of Vancouver says he's not surprised the police research report. But Mayor Sam Sullivan says he's still shocked by the actual number of such calls and the amount of resources Vancouver police have to devote to dealing with mentally ill people.

This is the result of a dysfunctional health system which refuses to treat mentally ill who aren't off drugs. The Mayor said that many of those the police encounter should be in institutions and not on the street. Due to the lack of institutional capacity, Vancouver's mentally ill are roaming the streets posing a danger to either themselves or others.

Dr. Kalam's inspiring message

2008-01-25T17:13:00.000+08:00

Former Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam has given the following message to Rediff, as India celebrates the nation's Republic Day on 26th January 2008.

1. Wherever I am, a thought will always come to my mind -- *What can I give?*

2. Whatever the mission I will do, my motto will be *to work with integrity and succeed with integrity.*

3. I will always remember that *my winged days, be not spent in vain*.

4. I realise I have to set a great goal that will *lead me to think high*, work and realise the goal.

5. My greatest friends will be *great human beings, great teachers and great books*.

6. I will firmly believe that no problem can defeat me; *I will become the captain of the problem, defeat the problem and succeed.*

7. My National Flag flies in my heart and I will bring glory to my nation.

Source: Rediff.

Critical Suharto recieves graft settlement offer

2008-01-12T18:10:00.000+08:00

Former Indonesian President Suharto, who ruled the Southeast Asian nation for 32 years, was offered an out-of-court $1.5 billion settlement of civil corruption lawsuits against him as the 86-year-old lay in hospital fighting for his life.

The settlement of the civil case against Mr.Suharto is based on allegations that he embezzled money from a charity during his rule.

It was announced that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed to the settlement offer after Suharto suffered multiple organ failure, in order to reach a 'win-win solution.'

Mr.Suharto, who had corruption charges against him dropped in 2006, is fighting civil cases for alleged misappropriation of funds.

Suharto is alleged to have taken as much as $35 billion, averaging 1.3 percent a year of Indonesia's gross domestic product, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Mohammad Assegaf, Suharto's lawyer, has said the UN report is ``nonsense.''

Suharto's family has rejected the latest offer saying the former president has done nothing wrong.

Taunting racial insults

2008-01-08T13:12:00.000+08:00

Furious fans in India burn effigies of the Australian cricket team

India have stopped playing matches in their Australian cricket tour after one of their team was banned from playing.

Bowler Harbhajan Singh denies breaking the rules of how cricketers should behave by saying something racist to an Australian player.

Harbhajan is appealing against his three-match ban, and his team won't carry on unless he's allowed to play.

The international game is governed by The International Cricket Council (ICC) which has has 101 members: 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 33 Associate Members, and 58 Affiliate Members.

The game is played not in the spirit of the sportsmanship and camaraderie that it used to be known for: the gentleman's game. It is driven by the big money of corporate sponsorships and broadcasting rights and highly paid contracted players.

Squeezing out net videos

2008-01-04T15:57:00.000+08:00

YouTube fans in China may not find it easy to watch some videos when the new rules take effect.

China is to further tighten its grip on the internet and has announced strict new regulations on the broadcasting of online videos - including those posted on video-sharing websites – restricting them to sites run by state-controlled companies.

The new rules also require service providers to report questionable content to the government and "abide by the moral code of socialism".

China, the world's second-largest Internet market by users, has encouraged growth of the internet but at the same time has imposed increasingly tough controls on what can be seen online inside China.

The rules are aimed at stopping what the government calls "degenerate thinking" via the Internet and maintaining a "healthy online environment".

Pro-democracy websites are blocked, as are the sites of many international news organisations, and a force of about 30,000 internet police are thought to monitor the web for anything seen as undesirable content.

The new rules, which come into force on January 31, mark a fresh attempt by Beijing to curtail the internet habits of an increasingly web-savvy population that has become accustomed to decades of state intervention.

Great inspiration from "I Live Inspired"

2007-12-26T12:37:00.000+08:00

Chris Deutsch and Robert Foster, two American entrepreneurs are the founders of I Live Inspired, a website that sends out daily text messages carrying inspirational quotes authored by motivational experts in self-help, parenting, and business.

In October, Deutsch and Foster walked 100 miles through evocatively named cities in Indiana. The journey took them from Hope to Buddha and on to Bloomington, where the Dalai Lama was scheduled to attend a series of events at Indiana University and the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center (TCC).

Deutsch and Foster did a symbolic, mindful walk to draw some attention and see if we could get a meeting that way with the Dalai Lama. It worked. The day the two arrived in Bloomington, they were granted a session with the Dalai Lama.

"We call them pilgrims," said Lisa Morrison, TCC's public relations director.

Deutsch and Foster were given permission to send out pre-approved quotes from the Dalai Lama. In return, they're donating to TCC 75 percent of the proceeds generated from the Dalai Lama-themed text messages.

Now their holiday dream is to meet Al Gore in order to include quotes from former vice president and recent Nobel Peace Prize laureate in their fledgling website.

Lower grades among the sleep skippers

2007-12-14T19:38:00.000+08:00

A survey of 120 students at St. Lawrence University, a small liberal arts college in northern New York, found that students who have never pulled an all-nighter have average GPAs of 3.1, compared to 2.9 for those who have. The study, by assistant professor of psychology Pamela Thacher, is to be included in the January issue of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.

A second study by Thacher, a clinical psychologist, had "extremely similar" results showing lower grades among the sleep skippers.

Many college students, of course, have inadequate or irregular sleep, for reasons ranging from excessive caffeine to poor time management.

Dr. Howard Weiss, a physician at St. Peter's Sleep Center in Albany, said the study results make sense.

"Certainly that data is out there showing that short sleep duration absolutely interferes with concentration, interferes with performance on objective testing," he said.

Some night owls do get good grades, of course, which may be explained by circadian rhythms, Weiss said. Circadian rhythms can be tracked through body temperature and hormonal transmissions.

Some people have different 24-hour body clocks than others, and may do better depending on class and testing times, Weiss said.

WIFI in the sky

2007-12-08T16:58:00.000+08:00

The New York Times is reporting that airlines will start testing in-flight Internet connectivity as early as next Tuesday. This is good news for business travellers for whom the Internet has become a vital tool for success. For leisure travellers and others, it offers a new horizon to deal with the boredom and lack of productivity that comes with air travel.

Both JetBlue and American Airlines will be kicking things off with free email and instant messaging on its planes- JetBlue is only offering e-mail and IM connectivity, while American has plans for full 'Net access—and will only initially be available on certain flights, both represent a significant step towards full online connectivity at 35,000 feet.

It's still not clear how much Internet access would cost on either airline. There seems to be some confusion on this point, with some people claiming that the service will be free, while others say it'll cost $10. That $10 figure is actually drawn from a Reuters story from last August.

Selling Peace

2007-12-04T11:18:00.000+08:00

Imagining Peace in Darfur. Make Love, Not War

Bret Dey writes, In March 31, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared at a Vienna press conference in a bag large enough to hold the two of them closely together, hidden from the glare of the camera flashes. Inside the bag, they claimed to be eating chocolate cake. Perplexed, the press asked questions and John and Yoko explained that the bag represented total communication. “When you’re in a bag, you can’t be judged by the color of your skin, the length of your hair, your age or any other attributes.”

38 years later, peace is still not an easy commodity to sell when you are dealing with Sudan that is alleged to have committed genocide, more than 250,000 killed and as many as 2.5 million are thought to have been displaced as of October 2006.

John Lennon realized that his high-minded art projects and chants of “Give Peace a Chance” were simplistic. And, to him, that was exactly the point. “We’re trying to sell peace, like a product,” he said on The David Frost Show. “We’re trying to sell peace the way people sell soap or soft drinks.”

This is what the African Union is preparing to do. Renegotiate the Darfur Peace Agreement, an agreement designed to explore, explain and communicate what peace is about hoping that affected parties will sign on to it.

Fulfilling the unlived life

2007-11-30T18:15:00.000+08:00

Australian media reports that according to a new study, two-thirds of Australians were more likely to share personal information with other people on the Internet than they would in person. Just over half of Australians published three or more types of personal information on blogs, social networking sites or online shopping sites, while a third published their home address and two thirds revealed their real name.

Two-thirds of respondents also said people post personal information online without thinking through the possible consequences. Australians are more trusting online than in person — and it's putting them at risk.

Australians are facing an online identity crisis, using the web and social networking sites to unleash their alter egos, new research suggests.

Woolcott Research and was commissioned by Internet security firm Symantec to conduct the survey. It found Australians typically had more than 10 virtual identities. They included profiles on sites like MySpace and YouTube, email accounts, game avatars and characters in virtual worlds.

"This is what we used to call multiple personality disorder," said Andrew Fuller, a clinical psychologist and fellow of the University of Melbourne's Department of Psychiatry.

Andrew Fuller said the relative anonymity of the Internet encouraged people to be more open with their character, particularly in sites devoted to social networking, dating or gaming.

"Their online profile is more about who they would like to be, rather than who they really are," Dr Fuller said.

Symantec, says criminals could use information found in online profiles to commit fraud in the real-world ("identity theft"), or for social engineering.

Symantec regional consumer business vice-president David Freer said the biggest step towards preventing identity theft was education and that users should be wary of which details they provide online.

"Our internet security threat reports have seen the number of attacks double over the last six months," he said.

More than 2 billion deceptive messages attempting to elicit personal information from users – known as phishing attempts – had been detected so far this year, Mr Freer said.

"We suggest to people that they really look at what they're sharing online. Do you really need to put the information up online that you have?," he said.

Writers strike costs $US21m a day

2007-11-22T19:53:00.000+08:00

The 2007 Writers Guild of America strike which is a strike by both the Writers Guild of America, East(EGA) and the Writers Guild of America, west(WGA) that started on November 5, 2007. The two labor unions represent 12,000 members of film, television and radio writers working in the United States.The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers agreed last week to return to the bargaining table on November 26.

According to reports this strike against major studios will cost at least $US21 million ($24 million) a day in television production spending alone and idle 10,000 workers if it lasts much longer, experts say.

The latest estimate accounts only for lost wages and other production costs in the Los Angeles area.

The writers have been demanding for a greater share of revenues from the Internet, widely seen as the future distribution pipeline of choice for filmed entertainment.

Hong Kong takes aim at thriving Islamic finance

2007-11-21T19:27:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong's market watchdog has cleared the way for the territory's first Islamic fund, as the financial centre tries to compete with Singapore and Malaysia as a hub for Muslim investment.

“To further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as a global financial center, we should actively leverage on this new trend by developing an Islamic financial platform in Hong Kong,” Donald Tsang, the Chief Executive told legislators in his annual policy address this year.

“Apart from stepping up our efforts to promote Hong Kong’s financial services to major Islamic countries and regions, we will focus on developing an Islamic bond market," he said.

Islamic finance fuses principles of sharia or Islamic law and modern banking. Funds are banned from investing in companies associated with tobacco, alcohol or gambling, considered taboo by Muslims.

The system also bans the earning of interest.

A report earlier this year valued Islamic financial assets currently under management at more than 400 billion US dollars worldwide, with the industry growing at double digits annually.

Malaysia has "effectively established itself as the regional, if not global, hub for Islamic finance," said the report by Financial Insights, a company under market research and analysis firm International Data Corp (IDC).

Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand and Singapore are also promoting Islamic finance.

US revamps Medicare

2007-11-13T08:20:00.000+08:00

Starting next week in the United States, those eligible for Medicare can begin enrolling in the optional drug plan for 2008, with a dizzying array of choices — and potential premium increases for 74% of those who currently have a stand-alone drug plan.

About 1.6 million low-income enrollees will be switched from their current plans to other insurers because premiums rose above a government benchmark.

Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people over 65 that has been in existence for more than 40 years in the United States. Congress added a prescription drug benefit, known as Part D, two years ago.

Although Part D is subsidized by the federal government, it is run by private companies, many of which have aggressively marketed their products.

It’s that time of year again when seniors who want to switch their drug plans have to sift through the fine print of stacks of documents.

There are 55 Medicare prescription drug plans along with thousands of other Medicare supplement programs for sale, according to the state Office for the Aging. When those choices are added to the need to coordinate drug coverage, many Medicare beneficiaries are faced with what the office called "a complex maze of choices.''

Medicare officials say that people can avoid premium increases next year: "In every state, people will be able to find a plan that costs less than $20 a month," says Herb Kuhn of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Therefore it pays for seniors to shop around.

The average monthly premium for a Medicare prescription drug plan will increase to $25 next year, a 13 percent increase, according to the federal government. The plans were created in 2005 to offer more coverage to the country’s 43 million Medicare customers who rely on Medicare for their health care.

In general, United States is opposed to any "socialized programme", yet they do have some “socialized” programmes . Some examples include fire protection, police services, garbage pick up, roads, parks, schools etc. But health care is not one of them. This health care system is broken and serves only private interests. It seems in the US system, the insurance companies have far too much power over decisions regarding a patients health care needs. The United States has the highest per capita health care spending in the world, with comparatively disappointing results compared to European models of health care.

One of the fundamental problem that the US faces is that the ratio of workers paying Medicare taxes to retirees drawing benefits is shrinking at the same time that the price of health care services per person is increasing. Currently there are 3.9 workers paying taxes into Medicare for every older American receiving services. By 2030, as the baby boom generation retires, that is projected to drop to 2.4 workers for each beneficiary. Thus financing the medicare is going to be a huge task.

According to the Census Bureau's 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS), there were 45.8 million uninsured individuals in 2004, or 15.7% of the civilian non-institutionalized population. Since virtually all individuals over age 65 are covered by Medicare, the uninsured are primarily adults under age 65 and children who do not have medical insurance.

Singapore pays tribute to Sim Kee Boon

2007-11-10T20:46:00.000+08:00

Former top civil service head Sim Kee Boon, who had been battling stomach cancer for 15 years, died on Friday morning. He was 78.

Mr Sim is one of the most well-known and respected public figure, who headed the civil service from 1979 to 1984, and had held numerous top positions in the public sector and statutory boards. He is survived by his wife Jeanette Sim, 76, five sons and five grandchildren.

The passing of former civil service head Mr Sim Kee Boon is a "loss" to the nation, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Mr Lee said Singapore owed an 'enormous debt' to public servants such as Mr Sim. "They grew up; they saw the country change; they made the change happen."

The prime minister said that as head of the civil service from 1979 to 1984, Mr Sim set the tone for the organisation and led it to achieve many highs, including the building of Changi Airport.

Tributes poured in from many who had worked with him in the civil service and business community. Many who knew him described Mr Sim as "a very sharp and intuitive man, and a good teacher." It is reported that whenever he's at any airport, he would make an effort to look around. He is known to go to the airport about one or two hours earlier and board the plane at the last minute. A hands-on man with exacting standards, he made frequent unannounced walks around the Changi terminals, instituting the habit of Management by Walking Around (MBW) in CAAS.

Leading the tributes from the Keppel group where Mr. Sim presided 16 years as Excecutive Chairman, Mr Lim Chee Onn, the current Executive Chairman of Keppel Corporation, said: "He developed a strong and stable platform for Keppel upon which we have been able to develop and grow at a sustained pace during these last 8 years. Keppel's success today is a result of his vision and efforts.

Mr. Sim is an outstanding personality who has left his mark on a country that is proud of and grateful for his contribution.

C K Prahalad: Rising Indian thinkers

2007-11-09T08:56:00.000+08:00

C K Prahalad, India-born management guru and academician, has been voted the world's most influential living management thinker ahead of hands-on managers like Bill Gates, Alan Greenspan and Richard Branson.

C.K. Prahalad is Harvey C. Fruehauf Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Corporate Strategy and International Business at the University of Michigan Business School. The recipient of the Global Indian Award from the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence, Prahalad is a globally recognized business consultant. His groundbreaking article, “The End of Corporate Imperialism," won the 1998 McKinsey Prize as the year’s best Harvard Business Review article.

Prahalad, who is the first Indian-origin thinker to claim the title, was ranked number three in last year's Thinkers 50 list brought out by Suntop Media. The Thinkers 50 2005 was developed as a guide to which thinkers and ideas are currently having greatest impact in business.

"Best known for his work 'Competing for the Future' with Gary Hamel (ranked 5th) on resource-based strategy, which gave rise to the term core competences, more recently, Prahalad has turned his attention to the plight of the worlds poor," said Stuart Crainer and Des Dearlove of Suntop Media.

In his book "The Bottom of the Pyramid", he argues that capitalism can be the engine to eradicate poverty.

“If we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden, and start recognizing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs, a whole new world of opportunity will open up,” he explains.

In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the four billion people who live on less than $2 per day, typically in developing countries. The phrase “bottom of the pyramid” is used in particular by people developing new models of doing business that deliberately target that demographic, often using new technology.

Alibaba IPO soars to pre dot com heights

2007-11-07T19:44:00.000+08:00

Alibaba.com is China’s largest business-to-business trading website for companies. On Tuesday, Alibaba.com saw its shares triple after its initial public offering rocketed 192% on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Alibaba.com sold 858.9 million IPO shares, or 17% of its enlarged share capital, in a deal handled by Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. The stock performance raised $1.5 billion in the largest high tech offering since Google went public in 2004.

Founded in 1999 as a bulletin board for businesses leads, the Web site connects companies looking to import and export Chinese goods. The company said recently that at the end of June its online marketplaces had more than 24 million members.

The IPO is being closely followed because it is rare for an Asian technology company to decide to list in Hong Kong. In the past, such companies have typically sought to join the technology-focused Nasdaq in the US.

In 2005, Yahoo paid $1bn and contributed its own struggling Chinese internet business in return for a stake its Alibaba.

Alibaba is valued at $8.8bn, while Yahoo’s investment is worth $3.4bn.

The success of this business-to-business Web site is the most visible sign that the Internet is opening entrepreneurial opportunities in a way never before seen in China. With more than 162 million Internet users, China is close to surpassing the United States - and that's a fraction in a country with a population of 1.3 billion.

Alibaba.com business model is making it easier for Chinese manufacturers to run their businesses and to connect with companies around the world.

Microsoft and Reliance to offer IPTV in India

2007-11-06T10:10:00.000+08:00

Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, and Reliance Communications Ltd. agreed for several technological collaborations, including software for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), WiMAX and a software development toolkit for the Internet, the personal computer and mobile phones.

Reliance, India's second-largest mobile-phone operator, will have the sole rights for Microsoft's Mediaroom TV software in India, the companies said today. The Mumbai-based company plans to spend $500 million on license fees to Microsoft and investments over several years in its network for the services, said Reliance Chairman Anil Ambani.

Microsoft will use the existing Reliance fiber network to develop a solution for its IPTV services. IPTV launch in Mumbai and Delhi is expected to be by the end of the year.

No easy divorce without pre-nup

2007-11-02T11:18:00.000+08:00

When Sir Paul McCartney married Heather Mills, the famous beatle decided not have a prenuptial agreement as he thought it would kill the romance in the relationship. Experts say that one in three of all first marriages ending in divorce, and with 50 percent of second or third ones hitting the skids, a prenup is smart financial planning tool that can save painful heartaches later. A prenuptial agreement is a contract between two people about to wed that spells out how assets will be distributed in the event of divorce or death.

After four years of marriage which began in at a remote countryside castle in Ireland in 2002, the couple have spilt and are going through divorce proceedings. This divorce contest has become one of the most nasty break-ups in recent times. The British media has turned against Mills who is portrayed as gold digger, a fantasist, a liar, and a whore.

There are reports that Paul McCartney and Heather Mills have agreed a $100 million divorce settlement, it is believed the Beatles legend is worth an estimated $1.7 billion .

GAP takes child labour heat

2007-10-29T17:27:00.001+08:00

Has child labour gone into these clothes? (photo credit Paul Sakuma/AP)

It has been reported yesterday that an investigation has discovered Indian children as young as 10 years old were being forced to produce blouses for a Gap subcontractor in the Shahpur Jat area of New Delhi. Gap is one of the biggest American retail chains that operates more than 3,000 stores and franchises across the world.

More on this report here.

Indian women rise to the occasion in politics

2007-10-15T16:40:00.000+08:00

India's Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has been profiled by the US magazine Newsweek among eight women leaders worldwide who have reached the top despite all odds, with the Dalit leader narrating her struggle to rally the oppressed community.

Writing in the magazine, the 51-year-old Bahujan Samaj Party chief, who swept the Assembly elections early this year with a rainbow coalition of Dalits, upper castes and Muslims, says her aim is to replicate the victory in the other states and prepare for the bigger struggle to capture power in New Delhi.

Indian women are making their mark on the political scene. The present president and previously India had a women prime minister. Thus, some women are making giant strides up the political ladder in the world's largest democracy.

Many Americans from the US Democratic party believe that next year, United States may see its first women president from the Sen. Hillary Clinton.

How does 'being unreasonable' become a virtue ?

2007-10-10T08:05:00.000+08:00

Paul Lemberg who has written the book 'Be Unreasonable' is hailed as a strategic mind in business.

According to an article on rediff citing excerpts from the book, the author explains the business advantages of being unreasonable. The excerpts of cases referred to makes interesting reading of what the real world is in extreme capitalism. Greed, oppression and denial of workers rights and making money at any cost are all forms of ruthless behaviour that individuals and corporations compete on. This is how creative destruction is brought about ruining some people's lives and taking over their property and assets for mistakes made by them. This type of capitalism takes a huge toll on poor people when corporate or political tyrants take advantages and oppress workers and squander wealth to satisfy personal greed without thinking of the good of the society.

There is no need to glorify being unreasonable just because one can make money by adopting such tactics. IBM failed to maintain their dominance in the PC market not because they did not become unreasonable, but because they failed to innovate and meet the rising competition. They were arrogant and believed that they will always remain ahead of the rest. In the end IBM was forced to compete to remain in business.

A victory for anti-piracy movement

2007-10-06T19:10:00.000+08:00

A court in the United States has ordered a woman to pay $220,000 yesterday. She is fined for illegally sharing a total of 1,702 songs.

Jammie Thomas, a Native American from Minnesota, is one of 26,000 people whom the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sued over the past four years for alleged use of music “file-sharing” software.

The 30-year-old made legal history after refusing to pay an out-of-court settlement, as all others challenged over their behaviour before her had done, but her failure to carry the case is likely further to embolden the music industry in its attempts to protect copyright.

Most defendants of the lawsuits have opted to settle privately by paying damages amounting to a few thousand dollars. Jamie contested the charge and has now lost almost a quarter of a million dollars. The record companies have made no decision yet what they would do, if anything, to pursue collecting the money from Jamie who is living from pay cheque to pay cheque. The record companies believe that they have sent a strong message against illegal file-sharing of copyright materials.

Teaching teamwork

2007-10-05T10:01:00.000+08:00

Teamwork is important for good business. For people in countries where the sport rugby is played, teamwork in sports is common news. France is currently hosting the world cup rugby.

The Grenoble School of Management in the south-eastern France, has just signed a deal with the city's rugby team for a series of events and programs intended to benefit both parties.

The rugby club will assist the business school in creating a series of programs connected to marketing and sport, with club executives even presenting a series of case studies to students.

In rugby for a player to get a try, he needs more teamwork than individual inspiration. While in play, the ball cannot be thrown forwards, only behind, meaning tries are generally scored through a complex series of sideways passes, each player running forwards a few yards before bringing a team mate into play.

Another well-known feature of the game, the scrum, also requires careful co-operation, as players crouch and link arms to push against the other team in a carefully choreographed circle, into which the ball is thrown.

As a result of teamwork, each individual is able achieve more than an isolated individual combining the knowledge and skills of the team. Whether in sports or in a corporate set up, the principle of this co-operative action is the same.

Blogs are the no spin medium for Corporations.

2007-10-01T18:23:00.000+08:00

The list of boardroom bloggers is setting a new marketing trend, a self-promoting PR exercise in the world of the blogosphere. Examples include Bob Lutz, vice president of General Motors; Randy Baseler, vice president of Boeing; Jonathan Schwartz, president of Sun Microsystems; Jacques Kemp, CEO of ING Asia-Pacific; and Colin Byrne, CEO, Weber Shandwick.

Blogs are unofficial and is seen as straight talking. It is open communication about the company, its employees and its culture humanises the organisation. Blogs can be thought-provoking and deliver instant feedback. Readers don't hold back, and an advantage is that problems or criticisms can be picked up on and solved quickly.

Here is the opening speil of Australia Telstra's Phil Burgess, group managing director and head of marketing and communications, where he writes how Telstra aims to facilitate an independent debate about the future of telecommunications in Australia.

Are you waiting for success?

2007-09-28T10:14:00.000+08:00

If you are waiting for success to seek you out, you are headed for a big disappointment. Success is rarely forced upon anyone, and it will never overtake you unexpectedly.

You must prepare for it and actively seek it out if you ever plan to achieve any measure of success in your life. Constantly be alert to changes in your business or profession.

Subscribe to trade magazines and professional journals, join industry associations or professional societies, and get to know the experts in the field in order to keep abreast of new developments.

Source: Napoleon Hill Foundation. http://www.naphill.org/.

American men are happier than women?

2007-09-27T06:39:00.000+08:00

A team of researchers released new findings on something known as a time-use survey.

According to a New York Times article, men are more relaxed and happier than women.

The research shows some interesting facts.

Since the 1960s, men have gradually cut back on activities they find unpleasant. They now work less and relax more.

Over the same span, women have replaced housework with paid work — and, as a result, are spending almost as much time doing things they don’t enjoy as in the past.

Two new research papers, using very different methods, have both come to this conclusion. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, economists at the University of Pennsylvania (and a couple), have looked at the traditional happiness data, in which people are simply asked how satisfied they are with their overall lives. In the early 1970s, women reported being slightly happier than men. Today, the two have switched places.

This is quite paradoxical in that the women in the United States are doing more and have improved over the last thirty five years than they did before but yet they are feeling more unsatisfied.

Chris Gardener: From Homeless to a Millionaire

2007-09-24T11:56:00.000+08:00

Chris Gardener with his young son was homeless. But he was determined to give a better life to his son. He never gave up on his will to do better. As Gardener and his son struggled with homelessness, he worked to become a top trainee at Bear Stearns. He would work long hours, persistently making calls to prospective clients.

In 1987, Chris Gardner established the brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, in Chicago, Illinois, an "institutional brokerage firm specializing in the execution of debt, equity and derivative products transactions for some of the nation’s largest institutions, public pension plans and unions."

Chris Gardener published his biography which has now been turned into the movie 'The happyness purpose', starring Will Smith, and Smith's own son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith. The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a sign Gardner saw when he was homeless. In the film, "happyness" is misspelled outside the daycare facility Gardner's son attends. The film focuses on Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness.

Today Chris Gardner is a philanthropist who sponsors charitable organizations, primarily the Cara Program and the Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco, where he and his son received desperately-needed shelter. He has helped fund a US$50 million project in San Francisco that creates low-income housing and opportunities for employment in the area of the city where he was once homeless.

As well as offering monetary support, Gardner donates clothing and shoes. He makes himself available for permanent job placement assistance, career counseling and comprehensive job training for the homeless population and at-risk communities in Chicago.

Cyberbullying is a growing problem

2007-09-22T16:55:00.000+08:00

Bullying in a school is an important social concern that has received increased serious attention in recent years. Its causes and effects have been under investigation by a number of researchers in the social and behavioral sciences. A new permutation of bullying, however, has recently arisen and become more common: Tech savvy students are turning CYBERBULLIES.

Cyberbullying is made a computer crime in several countries. For example, in the United States it is a federal crime to anonymously "annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person" via the Internet or telecommunication system, punishable by a fine and/or up to two years imprisonment.

The British Schools Secretary Ed Balls has said cyber bullying was "insidious" and had grown with technology and changes in society.

Schools in the United Kingdom are being sent a guide that explains the tactics used in cyberbulling and suggesting precautions to be taken.

It has been suggested by the BBC that cyberbullying may be influenced by videos that are uploaded to video sharing websites online which contain offensive content or examples of acts of bullying.

Freedom of speech and the power of Internet

2007-09-20T11:08:00.000+08:00

A US student, Andrew Meyer, who was well-known on campus for his practical jokes, was tasered after jumping the queue to ask former presidential candidate US senator John Kerry a series of questions in a Florida University lecture hall on Monday.

The anguished cries Andrew Meyer, who was subdued using a Taser stun gun at a political meeting in Florida, has resonated worldwide in a matter of hours.

"Don't Tase me, bro!" was uttered by Andrew Meyer as he was pinned to the floor by police. 'Don't tase me' T-shirts are now being sold in the United States, earning Andrew Meyer a place in the American pop culture.

After a video of the incident was posted on the Internet, the officers responsible have been suspended on full pay while the debate rages over whether the student was a victim of police brutality or an attention-seeking prankster who got what he deserved.

Students at the university organised a protest yesterday and marched on the police station shouting “Don’t Tase me, bro” and demanding that stun guns were banned from campus.

Critics of Andrew Meyer have suggested that the entire incident was a planned attempt to win attention for Meyer who has already posted dozens of videos of himself on his website www.andrewmeyer.com.

Meyer has instantly become an Internet star for interrupting a political meeting.

Killing off small business

2007-09-18T11:50:00.000+08:00

Pharmacist Dave Redden stands for a photo outside his closed store in Sweet Home, Ore., Friday, Sept. 14, 2007.

Redden joined a growing trend among small-town pharmacists this past summer and closed down Home Town Drugs and Gifts after 25 years--he largely credits the Medicare drug benefit program for the demise of his business. (Credit AP Photo/Don Ryan)

Dave Redden as the proud owner of Home Town Drugs and Gifts in Sweet Home, Oregon, United States, closed down due to competition from mail-order pharmacies and larger retailers played a role in his decision.

Redden, 62, said before the Medicare drug benefit started on Jan. 1, 2006 many customers paid cash.

Now the insurance companies who pay him demand bigger discounts and often payments came after months. Hence it was better for him to give up ownership of his store and go behind the counter as an employee.

Simpson's killer saga

2007-09-17T10:31:00.000+08:00

O.J. Simpson (born July 9, 1947) is a retired American football player who achieved stardom as a running back, subsequently as an actor and broadcaster.

Simpson achieved notoriety for having been tried for the murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994. He was acquitted in criminal court in 1995 after a lengthy, highly publicized trial, called the "Trial of the Century" in America.

In 1997, Simpson was found liable for their deaths in civil court, but to date has paid little of the $33.5 million judgment. He gained further notoriety in late 2006 when he wrote a book titled 'If I Did It', withdrawn by the publisher just before its release, which purports to be a first-person fictional account of the murder had he actually committed it.

Human morality could not have been brought to a lower standard than this. For Simpson to write a book on how he would have killed his ex wife with whom he has two children and profit from publishing the book, brings this man's bizarre behaviour to a dangerously pathological level. Because of the public furore in America, the publisher decided last minute not to publish the book.

In August 2007, a Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the book to the Goldman family to partially satisfy an unpaid civil judgment. The title of the book was expanded to If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer, and comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family. The book has become No.1 on the Barnes and Noble best seller list.

Simpson's criminal and civil trials saw some of America's best lawyers battling it out in the court with the American public and the world watching every move in the court. The power of the media was on full display, with Simpson having considerable pull of public opinion in his favour because of his celebrity status and adoring fans.

On September 14, 2007, Simpson was questioned with regard to missing memorabilia at Palace Station Casino. He admitted taking the items, which he said had been stolen from him, but denied breaking into a room, as well as the allegation that he or people with him carried weapons. Now Simpson has been arrested and this morbid saga continues after ten years.

Greenspan's Memoir critical of Bush

2007-09-15T17:54:00.000+08:00

Alan Greenspan who retired in early 2006 after 18 years as chairman of the Federal Reserve has some harsh words for his fellow republicans especially the Bush White House in his memoir 'The Age of Turbulence.' He had served under six presidents as either Fed chairman or adviser. He now runs a private consulting company; his only formal public role is adviser to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

From the 1980s stock market crash to the bursting of the tech bubble – he used a deft hand in managing the US economy. But some economists have begun to question his wisdom of cutting short-term interest rates to 1% in mid-2003 and keeping them there for a year, the cause that they attribute helped foster a housing bubble that is now bursting.

In his book, Greenspan defends the policy. "We wanted to shut down the possibility of corrosive deflation," he writes. "We were willing to chance that by cutting rates we might foster a bubble, an inflationary boom of some sort, which we would subsequently have to address....It was a decision done right."

Greenspan, who was the leading Republican economist for the past three decades, levels unusually harsh criticism at President Bush and the Republican Party in his new book, arguing that Bush abandoned the central conservative principle of fiscal restraint.

While condemning Democrats, too, for rampant federal spending, he offers Bill Clinton an exemption. The former president emerges as the political hero of "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," Greenspan's 531-page memoir, which is being published Monday. He describes Bill Clinton as "a fellow information hound" with "a consistent, disciplined focus on long-term economic growth."

Surrogate parenting by fish

2007-09-14T08:02:00.000+08:00

Cross-fertilization.
A salmon embryo gets a dose of immature trout reproductive cells. Credit: Science

Japanese researchers have taken a step closer on surrogate parenting as they engineered one fish species to produce another, in a quest to preserve endangered fish.

The new method is "one of the best things that has happened in a long time in bringing something new into conservation biology," said University of Idaho zoology professor Joseph Cloud, who is leading the U.S. government-funded sockeye project.

Knowledge and globalisation

2007-09-13T07:55:00.000+08:00

Nayan Chanda's book 'Bound Together' attempts to show that globalization stems, among other things, from a basic human urge to seek a better and more fulfilling life and that it has been driven by many actors who can be classified, for the sake of simplicity, as traders, preachers, adventurers, and warriors.

Listen to the podcast of an interview with Nayan Chanda.

Answering a question put to him by Manuel Gilberto Rosas, Columbia, he relpied:

Throughout history, knowledge has been power that its owners have always guarded jealously. The Chinese learned how to make silk from cocoons and paper from tree bark and succeeded in keeping that know-how secret for several centuries. Yemen lost its centuries-long monopoly in the coffee trade and Brazil its rubber when those plants were spirited out by competitors. The American industrial revolution was launched with stolen textile technology from Britain. But in recent decades, patents and copyrights have been protected more tightly than ever.

The consequence has been hard for developing countries, especially in the arena of pharmaceuticals. This knowledge gap has been growing, caught as it is in a vicious cycle. The technology needed to bridge the gap is itself out of the reach of many because it contains proprietary information.

While the originators of technologies are right to demand that they be paid for the time and money invested in developing them, there have to be limits to how much and how long they can carry on claiming an exclusive right.

Alternatives also have to be found to bridge the digital divide, and make certain basic technologies like computers and the Internet available to people of developing countries. One such effort comes from the non-profit One Laptop Per Child project, which plans to sell computers with wireless capability for $100 in developing countries.

Boutique hotels make good business

2007-09-12T07:08:00.000+08:00

Small luxury hotels with individual character are beating the big chains and small gems seem destined to go from strength to strength, as described in an article on news.com.au showing the Pita Maha Spa and Resort in Bali in the picture.

Small luxury hotels are becoming one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourist industry.

They set standards, without imposing uniformity.

These trends suggest that the big boys can no longer take the needs of their customers for granted. Discerning travellers are spoilt for choice now.

"There's no doubt about the trend against standardised hotels, especially at the luxury end," comments Sydney-based Select Hotels & Resorts International founder Richard Rosebery. "Bland is no good any more. People want to feel they're in Thailand or Fiji, or wherever they might be."

Internet marketing plays an important role in connecting potential customers with the small hotels who do not have the kind of budgets that big chains can afford. Thus technology has helped to bring about a promising change where the customer is emerging as the king.

The direct online marketing will continue to be the main focus for hoteliers in the next several years. The industry as a whole has realized that not only has the Internet become the preferred channel for travel consumers to plan and book lodging, but the direct online channel is the cheapest form of distribution.

The same Internet can be used to raise awareness about social issues, help mentor children or provide information to further education and find productive opportunities aimed at improving the quality of life of the people who are struggling in poverty.

Big companies win on US patent reform

2007-09-09T07:09:00.000+08:00

This is a fight between the big companies and the small companies who make their living licensing patented inventions to larger firms or directly to the public.

Big companies in information technology depend on squashing small companies, buying intellectual property on the cheap from small companies, and buying pioneering companies on the cheap. They can easily do this when the small companies either don’t protect their intellectual property (a problem in many small software companies) or open source their technology in unwise ways.

Big companies are now trying to weaken the patent system before the small companies wake up to its value.

The House of Representatives on Friday passed 225 to 175 with strong bipartisan support, the most comprehensive patent reform in half a century. It delivered a victory for computer technology and financial services companies and leaving drug companies, small inventors, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office bracing for a bigger fight before the bill hits the Senate floor.

The legislation, would make patents harder to obtain and easier to challenge and is intended to curtail litigation by limiting where patent owners can file suit and how much they can collect in damages.

"This patent reform will help speed up patent decisions, clear up disputes and clarify the jurisprudence behind these lawsuits," said Jonathan Yarowsky, policy counsel for the Coalition for Patent Fairness, the powerful lobby group which represents technology companies such as Microsoft and Google as well as financial services companies, including Capital One. "This will streamline innovation."

Microsoft, Intel and Cisco Systems have been lobbying for changes for more than five years. They say they have been under siege from lawsuits seeking high royalties on small features.

These companies are subjected to “legalized extortion,” said one sponsor of the bill, Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas. “Too many patents of questionable integrity have been approved, and owners of these patents have found a unique way to make money.

The creation of inventions and intellectual property is a vital element of the development of the US economy to become a global economic superpower.

Experts in the intellectual rights field argue that America’s economic future depends on creating and licensing intellectual property. Strong worldwide patent rights are the foundation for American economic survival in a fast changing globalised world.

One sticking point passed by the House is the new set of guidelines for calculating patent infringement damages.

Currently, damages can be awarded based on the entire value of a product that includes a component that infringes on a patent. Under this legislation, judges can instruct juries in certain cases to award damages only for the value of the component. If a computer contains a chip that is patented, for example, the chip patent's owner would be awarded damages based on the value of the chip rather than the computer.

The bill would also change the rules at the Patent and Trademark Office so patents would go to the first person to file an application, not necessarily the first inventor.

Intense lobbying has surrounded the patent issue, reflecting the importance of patents to the American economy. Intellectual property in the United States, dominated by patents, is valued at as much as $5.5 trillion, more than 40 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to a 2005 study by USA for Innovation, a Washington group that advocates free trade.

The US has the best patent system in the world, and is the world’s leader in innovation. As the bill passes through the Senate, opponents of bill the are horrified against the implications of the bill. The consequences of the bill will become clearer after the dust settles down.

Overzealous prosecutor is jailed

2007-09-08T11:06:00.000+08:00

"Justice works!" a woman shouted.

"I hope your family gets what you gave those families, you scumbag,'' a man said loudly.

These highly charged emotions were directed at the former district attorney for Durham County, North Carolina in the United States of America.

Nifong who pursued sexual assault charges made by Crystal Gail Mangum, an African American woman who was working as an escort and stripper, against members of the Duke University lacrosse team has been barred since he with held material evidence in a widely publicised case.

Now Mike Nifong has walked into jail to serve a 24-hour contempt sentence on Friday, soon after it was revealed that the three players he falsely accused of rape are seeking $30 million from the city.

The three falsely accused players are now seeking a $30 million settlement and reforms in the legal process, two people close to the case told The Associated Press on Friday.

If the terms aren't met, they will sue early next month, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the proposed settlement wasn't complete.

Too big to send to jail

2007-09-07T11:41:00.000+08:00

The chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, Chung Mong-Koo, arrested in South Korea early this year on embezzlement charges has escaped jail ... for cash.

Chung and three other Hyundai Motor executives were accused of setting aside 103.4 billion won without proper accounting and of using 69.6 billion won for illegal political donations, undeclared employee bonuses and to attract an international expo to the city of Yeosu. There were also charges of manipulating share prices of an affiliate to benefit the Chung family, which founded the conglomerate. He was found guilty of all charges by a lower court.

The verdict was appealed and now the appeal court has ruled that his imprisonment would badly damage South Korea's economy, so it was better to let him go free.

Chung was allowed to go free on the promise of restitution, to be paid by building a concert hall and opera house in Seoul and 12 cultural centers in other provinces over the next seven years.

The suspension of a three-year prison sentence for Chung Mong Koo, convicted of embezzlement in February, if he donates $1 billion to charity, is the latest and most dramatic example of a uniquely Korean form of justice.

South Korea has an unusual system of justice. The ultra rich pay large sums of money to a variety of causes that “aid society,” and are able to escape jail terms because they are too important for the national economy.

Chung is Korea’s second-richest man and heads Hyundai, which appeared to be sliding down and losing customers until the court freed him. The logic is that now he can have more time to concentrate on winning customers from Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., Hyundai's rival competitors.

“Sending Chung to prison is not necessarily the best solution. He must be ordered to pay for the wrongdoings he actually committed,” presiding Judge Lee Jae-hong of the three-judge panel ruled. “If the ruling is criticized for showing leniency to white-collar crime, I will accept it.”

It was not immediately clear if prosecutors planned to appeal to the supreme court.

Pavarotti, king of tenors passes on

2007-09-06T15:06:00.000+08:00

Luciano Pavarotti, The world famous Italian opera singer who used his unforced tenor voice to become a 20th-century celebrity, died Thursday at his home in Modena, Italy, after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer, according to The Associated Press. He was 71.

The maestro took opera outside the concert hall: performances before 150,000 people, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, Charles and Diana, in London's Hyde Park in 1991; 500,000 on the Great Lawn of New York's Central Park in 1993; and 300,000 in 1994 at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Pavarotti shared the stage with rock and pop singers, including Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Bono of U2, to raise money for charities.

The portly bearded singer at times 300 pounds or more retired from staged opera in 2004, but was on a "farewell tour" of concerts when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and underwent emergency surgery to remove the tumor.

Pavarotti was planning to resume his singing in 2007, but to the sad loss of millions of his fans around the world, his farewell tour has now turned out to be his swan song.

Tension in US-China relationsip over espionage

2007-09-05T07:21:00.000+08:00

Incidents of espionage are as old as human history itself. Traditional methods mostly included human spies and wire tapping for eavesdropping purposes.

Now technology is helping in this age-old industry. Satellite surveillance of all electronic transmissions including cell phone logs, voice mail, email, packet sniffing, trace routing and wireless transmissions are standard techniques. The boundaries are pushed farther by the advances in new technology.

Computer hackers believed to be associated with the Chinese government are being blamed for a breach of computer security at the Pentagon in which some information may have been stolen.
China denies the allegations, but it's the second time in recent weeks that the Chinese government has been linked with cyber-spying allegations. Two weeks ago, an attack on German government computers was attributed to China.

The robust Chinese response followed a front-page report in the Financial Times saying Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) hackers broke into a US defence department network in June, taking data and causing the shutdown of a system serving the secretary of defence, Robert Gates.

Although Chinese authorities blame US of going back to the cold war thinking, it is believed that both the Chinese military and the U.S. defense bodies are active in probing into one another.

The compromise of the U.S. defense system has forced officials to reconsider the type of information that is transmitted via email or with BlackBerry mobiles.

US and China have differing ideologies and values. Fundamental ideals such as promoting democracy, good governance, and rule of law, upholding human rights, encouraging the spread of free market ideals and institutions, which form the basis for U.S. alliances with Great Britain, Japan, and Australia, as well as cooperation with other democratic security partners, are not shared by China.

Foreign policy analysts believe that in the absence of a greater convergence of values and agreement of the international system, a comprehensive strategic security partnership with China is fraught with difficulties.

Teaching hard lessons

2007-09-04T10:13:00.000+08:00

Malaysia has announced on Monday it is considering re-introducing the previously banned act of public caning in schools as a way of disciplining wayward students.

Malaysia's Education Ministry is to issue specific guidelines on how teachers should discipline students following an outcry over several recent cases that were condemned as student abuse.

Currently, school principals are allowed to cane trouble-making students but only in a private room with another teacher present as a witness.

Today, in most countries rather than punishing students for their bad behavior a reward system is being used as a tool to promote good behavior in the classroom. The classroom reward system was designed to be an effective tool that helps students to focus, get work done, and behave favorably.

In some cases, punishments such as canning are still neceassry as a deterent measure to reinforce the value of good conduct.

Republican's failing private virtue

2007-09-02T10:23:00.000+08:00

American Idaho Senator Larry Craig (Republican) opposes gay marriage and has a strong record against gay rights.

A fiscal and social conservative, Craig sometimes broke with his party, notably on immigration, where he pushed changes that many in his party said offered “amnesty” to illegal immigrants.

For the last one week, Sen. Craig's name has been linked to a bathroom sting operation and the senator has succumbed to calls for his resignation from members of his own party.

Craig, 62, said he would resign effective Sept. 30, ending a career in Congress spanning a quarter-century.

Craig was arrested June 11 in a police undercover vice operation. Craig is accused of trying to solicit an undercover officer in an adjoining stall, using signals "used by persons wishing to engage in lewd contact," including tapping his toes, moving his foot over to touch the officer's foot and swiping his left hand under the stall divider.

Craig has faced rumors about his sexuality since the 1980s. He has called assertions that he has engaged in gay sex ridiculous.

Other lawmakers who broke foul of the law include former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., quit last fall over sexually explicit Internet communications with male pages who had worked on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., resigned in 1995 amid allegations he had made unwanted sexual advances to 17 female employees and colleagues and altered his personal diaries to obstruct an ethics investigation.

These incidents reveal the hypocrisy and dishonesty of those who legislate on personal conduct, and ironically fall victims of seeking sexual encounters from the very men they actively legislate against.

America is a secular country but the republican conservatives have always portrayed them holding a higher moral ground over the liberal democrats and these incidents show the human failings regardless of the party affiliation. These scandals also bring out their double standards and homophobia.

Internet has given a new life to a 95-year-old blogger

2007-09-01T10:03:00.000+08:00

Maria Amelia, the lively 95-year-old Spanish grandmother has achieved global fame as the oldest of the world's 63.2 million bloggers.

She was introduced to the world of blogging by one of her grandchildren just eight months ago, and now she receives posts in languages as strange and impossible for her to understand as Russian, Japanese and Arabic.

At 95 years old and with a worldwide following that has seen more than 340,000 hits on her blog, Spaniard María Amelia López has achieved the kind of status that millions of younger internet chroniclers can only dream of.

"My name is Amelia and I was born in Muxía (A Coruña - Spain) on December the 23rd of 1911," she wrote as her first post on amis95.blogspot.com. "Today it's my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog."

With a mix of humour, warmth, optimism, nostalgia and feisty outbursts of leftwing polemic, she has won a regular readership of people keen to find out just what this Spanish great-grandmother is going to say or do next.

"You have to live life," the silver-haired blogger said in her most recent post. "Not sit around in an armchair waiting for death."

Her blog tracks not just a nonagenarian's day-to-day battles against aches, but offers musings on everything from politics and religion to broadband and death.

Among her chief hates are old people's homes, which she criticises for drugging their clients so they spend their final days snoozing quietly in front of the television.

"I blame the children, who don't want to help them," she said yesterday from the house beside the Atlantic Ocean in Muxía, in the rugged north-western corner of Spain, where she stays during the summer.

Some of her own words

"Old people need to wake up a bit. Get your act together!"

"Life has to be lived. Don't take pills and fall asleep in the armchair."

"Scientists and inventors should try to create something to help the workers rather than inventing cannons and machines that kill and destroy."

Venezuelan oil politics with Cuba

2007-08-31T14:32:00.000+08:00

Fidel Castro, the iconic communist dictator has outlived several American presidents, survived American sanctions and in spite of losing the Soviet financial support after its collapse, is still managing to find new allies with countries like the left-leaning Venezuela.

Cuba has dispatched more than 20,000 doctors, as well as thousands of other specialists such as sports trainers and therapists, to Venezuela. Hugo Chavez's government has paid for the service by providing Cuba with nearly 100,000 barrels of oil a day, filling the void left by the Soviet Union, Havana's longtime benefactor during the Cold War.

Bringing medical personnel to once-forgotten shantytowns of Venezuela has been among the more popular of Chavez's many social programs, and has helped consolidate Venezuela's self-styled revolutionary government. Working from small brick modules, the Cubans examine newborns, provide care for the elderly and make house calls -- all for free.

Showing us remnants of the vestiges of the revolutionary socialist movement of Karl Marx and Lenin that brought the world decades of cold war, Cuban leader Castro is selling his tactics of indoctrination to willing buyers like Venezuela who are strongly opposed to the US policies.

But all is not going well in the two way deal. Recently, in Venezuela some 400 doctors and medical staff protested dressed in white medical gowns and bearing national flags, carried banners reading 'No More Cubanisation!' as they marched.

They claimed that while the Cuban-staffed clinics are equipped with medicines and modern machines, Venezuelan public hospitals often lack basic medical equipment. They say that Venezuelan doctors are underpaid and many are unemployed.

What was Vick thinking?

2007-08-28T12:34:00.000+08:00

Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980 in Newport News, Virginia) is an American football quarterback and he had everything going well for him. He is a contracted player with the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League.

Now he has been suspended indefinitely following allegations of his involvement in unlawful interstate dog fighting.

The Atlanta Falcons informed Michael Vick and his representatives in a letter yesterday that they intend to force the quarterback to return a portion of the $37 million in bonuses that his 10-year, $130 million contract contains.

Falcons have not released Vick from their contract, but it is thought that he will be dismissed after the tussle for his complex money matter is over. That may be the end of his NFL career.

Dog fighting which is done for gambling is a brutal contest. The dogs are made to fight till death or until one is fatally wounded.

It is not easy to understand why Michael Vick who came from humble beginnings and rose to become a prestigious NFL star will throw everything away for his involvement in this barbaric activity.

Floating houses: a lesson for living in rising water

2007-08-25T11:22:00.000+08:00

The lesson is from Dutch Housing Minister Sybilla Dekker who recently said: "You cannot fight water. You have to learn how to live with it."

Or in this case, float on it.

With scientists predicting sea-level rises of up to 110 cms (43 inches) by 2100, and catastrophic weather events becoming ever more common, the floating house could be the only realistic way for people to continue living in low-lying areas without fear of losing their homes, possessions and even lives to flooding.

The Netherlands famously known for its windmills, half the country lies below mean sea level. Flooding has long been a fact of life and extensive range of dikes and dunes protects the land from the rising tides.

Now a construction and engineering company Dura Vermeer has come up with a novel and, when you think about it, obvious solution to the problem: houses that float.

"These type of homes offer a good way of dealing with the effects of climate change," Dura Vermeer spokesman Johan van der Pol said.

"Unlike normal houses, they are extremely flexible when it comes to flooding, able to deal with a sea level rise of up to five metres.

The company has developed two variations on the same theme: a floating house which, as the name suggests, sits permanently on the water like a boat; and an amphibious house that stands on dry land but, in the event of floods, is able to rise with the water.

Both employ a large hollow concrete cube at their base to provide buoyancy, and are "moored" in pairs to huge steel piles to keep them anchored in one place, the piles enabling them to withstand currents as strong as you would find on the open seas.

2o Rules to get rich

2007-08-22T19:59:00.000+08:00

Here are the timeless rules given by By Carla Fried, Money Magazine.

1. Be humble
When you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it--this is knowledge.
--Confucius

2. Take calculated risks
He that is overcautious will accomplish little.
--Friedrich von Schiller

3. Have an emergency fund
For age and want, save while you may; no morning sun lasts a whole day.
--Benjamin Franklin

4. Mix it up
It is the part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow and not to venture all his eggs in one basket.
--Miguel de Cervantes

5. It's the portfolio, stupid
Asset allocation...is the overwhelmingly dominant contributor to total return.
--Gary Brinson, Brian Singer and Gilbert Beebower

6. Average is the new best
The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund.
--Warren Buffett

7. Practice patience
It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It was always my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!
--Edwin Lefevre

8. Don't time the market
The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.
--Peter Lynch

9. Be a cheapskate
Performance comes and goes, but costs roll on forever.
--Jack Bogle

10. Don't follow the crowd
Fashion is made to become unfashionable.
--Coco Chanel

11. Buy low
If a business is worth a dollar and I can buy it for 40 cents, something good may happen to me.
--Warren Buffett

12. Invest abroad
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.
--St. Augustine

13. Keep perspective
There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.
--Harry Truman

14. Just do it
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

15. Borrow responsibly
As life closes in on someone who has borrowed far too much money on the strength of far too little income, there are no fire escapes.
--John Kenneth Galbraith

16. Talk to your spouse
"In every house of marriage there's room for an interpreter."
--Stanley Kunitz

17. Exit gracefully
Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
--Pablo Picasso

18. Pay only your share
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.
--John Maynard Keynes

19. Give wisely
The time is always right to do the right thing.
--Martin Luther King Jr.

20. Keep money in its place
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
--Jonathan Swift

Using reverse psychology against Hilary Clinton

2007-08-20T21:37:00.000+08:00

White House strategist Karl Rove who successfully campaigned to bring Texas Gov. George W. Bush into white House, sees Hilary Clinton as a formidable opponent and is going after her even before she is nominated.

The decision to focus on the New York senator to the exclusion of other potentially formidable Democratic standard-bearers such as Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois offered a rare glimpse into a world where things are not always what they seem -- the world of modern-day electioneering.

In this case, Rove's weeklong broadside against Clinton -- which he is expected to repeat in multiple appearances on television talk shows today -- looks suspiciously like an exercise in reverse psychology that his team employed three years ago when it was preparing for President Bush's reelection bid.

In the run-up to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when it was not yet clear who Bush's opponent would be that November, Rove and his aides had begun to fear that their most dangerous foe would be then-Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

With his Southern base, charismatic style and populist message, Edwards, they believed, could be a real threat to Bush's reelection.

But instead of attacking Edwards, Rove's team opened fire at Kerry.

It seems the Democrats, in a knee-jerk reaction to GOP attacks, would rally around Kerry, whom Rove considered a comparatively weak opponent, and make him the party's nominee. Thus Bush would be spared from confronting Edwards, the candidate Republican strategists actually feared most.

Karl Rove has decided to quit by the end of this month, nearly one year after Republicans lost control of both houses of the U.S. Congress.

Polls also show President Bush with the lowest approval ratings of his administration and little optimism among Republicans as the party prepares to compete in next year's presidential and legislative contests.

Threshold of clinical depression too low

2007-08-18T19:18:00.000+08:00

Writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Prof Gordon Parker -senior psychiatrist said, depression had become a "catch-all" diagnosis, driven by clever marketing from pharmaceutical companies and leading to the burgeoning prescription of antidepressant drugs. Too many people are being diagnosed with depression when they are merely unhappy, he said.

He said the drugs were being marketed beyond their "true utility" in cases in which people were unhappy rather than clinically depressed.

The psychiatrist, of the University of New South Wales, Australia, said the "over-diagnosis" of depression began in the early 80s, when the diagnostic threshold for minor mood disorders was lowered.

His 15-year study of 242 teachers found that more than three-quarters met the current criteria for depression.

Qualifying symptoms included "feeling sad, blue or down in the dumps" for two weeks, or appetite change, sleep disturbance, drop in libido and tiredness.

The psychiatrist said these symptoms were so common that most people would have them at some point in their lives. Under the current diagnosis guidelines, around one in five adults is thought to suffer depression during their lifetime.

What's the problem with US subprime lending?

2007-08-17T08:53:00.000+08:00

Subprime lending is a highly controversial financial transaction.

Opponents have alleged that the subprime lending companies engage in predatory lending practices such as deliberately lending to borrowers who could never meet the terms of their loans, thus leading to default, seizure of collateral, and foreclosure.

Proponents of the subprime lending maintain that the practice extends credit to people who would otherwise not have access to the credit market.

Research by the Centre for Responsible Lending has predicted that one in five of the sub-prime mortgages made in the past two years will end in foreclosure, resulting in the biggest crisis for the mortgage market in modern times.

The centre said 2.2m sub-prime home loans had already failed or would end in foreclosure and that the losses to homeowners could be as high as $164bn.

Although the turmoil in the sub-prime mortgage market is nothing new, the most recent signs of stress at investment bank Bear Stearns have increased speculation that the Fed may soon have to cut rates.

But most analysts say Mr Bernanke and his Fed colleagues will want to see real signs of economic damage before they respond with cheaper money. For now, they think, the main danger to the US economy remains inflation.

Social networking among fastest internet trends

2007-08-15T09:45:00.000+08:00

Social networking has become one of the fastest-growing Internet trends of the past two years.

According to Internet metrics firm Comscore, Facebook saw users increase 270% from June last year to June this year. It now has more than 52 million users worldwide.

MySpace registered lower growth of 72% but still leads the market with 114 million users. Bebo, with a majority of users in Europe, grew 172% to more than 18 million users.

Now mobile phone companies are after the social networking sites.

The mobile phone companies reckon the people who are using sites like Facebook are exactly the sort of people likely to be interested in using the Internet on a mobile phone.

Revenues from putting user-generated content - i.e: content such as videos and blogs created by consumers rather than media organisations - onto mobile phones is expected to rise more than tenfold over the next five years, according to estimates by Juniper Research published yesterday.

Indian film industry is evolving

2007-08-13T22:01:00.000+08:00

Rakesh Roshan, a well-known independent film maker says independent producers will still be able to compete even if the Indian film industry moved towards a studio model.

While there is an increasing number of corporates entering the film industry, they face one disadvantage. They lack experience. Of course, as time goes by, it is something they can gain. Even after so many years in the industry, I am still learning. I still face dilemmas as to what will work and what will not, Rakesh said.

India is the largest producer of feature films in the world - about 1,000 films a year, most of them are made in India's main language Hindi. The term ‘Bollywood’ applies to the Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India, but the foreign usage implies the overall film industry of India.

India’s media and entertainment industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, according to a latest study by P ricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest accounting firm.

Content of the film industry is now aimed at different audience demographics. Now the success of a movie depends on - script and story, director’s vision, on screen talent, marketing and positioning and release date of the film - and only the star cast is dependent on studios.

Stock markets plunge as investors panic

2007-08-11T22:31:00.000+08:00

Global finacial markets are in turmoil. The Dow was down more than 212 points at its lows; closed at 13,239.54 on Friday.

We are all affected by stock market falls even if we have never owned a share or investment fund. The disruption affects us through our employers, our pension funds' holdings of financial assets or our mortgages.

The world's central banks have now injected $326bn on Thursday and Friday into the money markets to fend off the threat of a credit crunch, where the availability of loans dries up and interest rates soar.

Investors continue to worry that that the U.S. subprime loan problem might be turning into a full-fledged global financial panic.

The subprime woes, related to the fallout from losses on US mortgages for people with poor credit records, again took centre stage in US markets on Tuesday while related losses at Australia's top investment bank shows that the impact has global implications.

A few years back, most people in the world's financial markets believed in the old adage that when the US sneezed the rest of the world caught a cold. This no lnger holds true.

While the US economy may have softened, the rest of the world has stormed ahead, led chiefly by the emerging economies. For those countries with weak domestic consumer spending - apart from Japan, Germany is the other obvious example - the strength of emerging market demand has provided a welcome economic shot in the arm through higher exports.

The US is Japan's most important export destination. The Japanese worry about the implications of the US housing slowdown and the fallout from the sub-prime market.

Future stars on dance floors : Dancing Robots

2007-08-09T20:18:00.000+08:00

The robot in the picture copies the moves of a human dance teacher.
Japanese researchers have created a dancing robot capable of imitating a routine at a moment’s notice, with no need for time-consuming and costly rehearsals.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have used software allowing their robot HRP-2 to copy the moves of a human dance teacher through video motion capture technology.

HRP-2 then watched dance instructor Hisako Yamada performing a Japanese folk routine called Aizu-Bandaisan, before accurately reproducing her performance just minutes later.

Some dancers have commented that robot dancers will always have some human element missing. While that is true, there may be some humans who may prefer a robot dancer.

Concern over social networks

2007-08-06T20:17:00.000+08:00

A social network is a social structure which generally comprises of individuals, groups or organizations that are tied by one or more specific types of relations, such as values, visions, ideas, friends, kinship, business, or even web links.

Research by a number academics has shown that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.

Friendship networks tend to be larger in younger groups, but they have weaker ties with those they talk with. But as they get older, the networks are smaller and they have stronger ties.

Some experts worry that cellphones will replace face-to-face contact, said Scott Campbell, who teaches communication studies at the University of Michigan, USA.

But what was set up as a purely business strategy is having an unintentional social effect. It is dividing the people who share informal bonds and bringing together those who have formal networks of cellphone “friends.”

Maybe they should blame the cellphone carriers. The carriers, after all, set up plans that encourage subscribers to talk mainly to people in the same network. The companies say they are simply trying to recruit and retain customers.

Success secrets from India's top entreprenur Ambani

2007-08-04T17:42:00.000+08:00

Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, one of India's top entrepreneur, a rags-to-riches story, reveals on Rediff the secrets of how he built the Reliance Industries.

* True entrepreneurship comes only from risk-taking.

* Pursue your goal, even in the face of difficulties. Convert difficulties into opportunities. Keep your morale high, in spite of setbacks. At the end you are bound to succeed.

* My advice to young entrepreneurs is not to accept defeat in the face of odds. Challenge negative forces with hope, self-confidence and conviction. I believe that ambition and initiative will ultimately triumph. The success of the young entrepreneur will be the key to India's transformation in the new millennium.

* Dhirubhai will go one day. But Reliance's employees and shareholders will keep it afloat. Reliance is now a concept in which the Ambanis have become irrelevant.

* I have trusted people and they have put their trust in me. I have encouraged youth, and they have never let me down. I have asked my people to take initiative and to take risks. It has paid me rich dividends. I insist on excellence. This helps us to be leaders. Reliance is built on some of these principles.

* The secret of Reliance's success was to have ambition and to know the minds of men.

* Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it.

The wayward son of non-violence preaching Gandhi

2007-08-03T14:57:00.000+08:00

A scene from Gandhi My Father, a new film that explores the turbulent relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his first-born son. Photo- Telegraph UK.

To Martin Luther King, he was "the little brown saint of India - the first person to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction". Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, compared him to Buddha.

The world has heard a lot about Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent movement that eventually gained independence for India from the British. But we know little about his family life.

A new film 'Gandhi My Father' depicts the Mahatma as a difficult patriarch whose ideals shaped a nation but hurt his family.

As one commentator points out: "He loved his son and family, but he loved the nation more." It's a distinction that makes for a compelling film.

The film traces the disintegrating relationship between the Mahatma or ‘Bapu’ (father) as he was fondly known, with the eldest of his four sons, Hiralal.

What emerges is the uneasy tensions in the family’s South African residence where Gandhi practised as a barrister up to 1915. The patriarch’s firm insistence that Hiralal abandon his education and wife Gulab in order to assist him in his fight against the inequitable apartheid system, leads to resentment by the young Hiralal.

Post 1915, the entire family relocates to India where resistance to British imperialism is gaining momentum. Hiralal tries to assert his own independence but he is thwarted by opportunists who use the Gandhi name to establish fraudulent companies and discredit the freedom movement. The Mahatma publicly disowns his wayward son and Hiralal sinks into alcoholic depression.

Supporters of Gandhi in India have tried to ban the film unsuccessfully as it portrays their revered hero in poor light. The contrast of human strength and weakness lies in the fact Gandhi almost single handedly with no military force at his disposal mobilised the masses through his non-violent means and won against the imperialistic British, but failed to help his own son with understanding, love and care when he needed most.

This is a gut-wrenching story that would have affected the man who carried a larger-than-life persona.

Polluting printers

2007-08-02T18:03:00.000+08:00

This printer in a Brisbane, Australia, office building contributed to higher particulate matter concentrations indoors than those outside near a freeway.Photo:Lidia Morawska.

This study has appeared in the online edition of the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) journal, measured particulate output of 62 laser printers, including models from name brands such as Canon, Hewlett-Packard and Ricoh. Particle emissions, believed to be toner -- the finely-ground powder used to form images and characters on paper -- were measured in an open office floor plan, then ranked.

The research underscores the importance of printer emissions. Read more here.

Competing with the richest cricket organisation

2007-07-31T11:55:00.000+08:00

The Board of Control for Cricket in India,or BCCI is among the richest sporting organizations in the world, and the richest cricketing body by far.

The immense popularity of the game in India as well as the continuous growth of the Indian economy have armed BCCI with some of the most lucrative TV and sponsorship contracts in world sports.

The global media rights for international cricket to be held in India between March 2006 and March 2010 were awarded to production house Nimbus for a mind-boggling sum of US$612 Million.

The BCCI's membership generally includes the State cricket associations, though some states have more than one association. Maharashtra state, for instance, has Maharashtra cricket association, Mumbai Cricket Association and Vidarbha cricket association and Gujarat state has Gujarat cricket association, Baroda cricket association and Saurashtra cricket association. Railways and Services are also members.

Now the richest league BCCI is under threat, following the disappointment of Indian cricket fans with the poor performance of their cricket team in the World cup and the South African tour prior to that.

Indian team's failure in World Cup has led to lower earnings to Cricket broadcasters, advertisers, cricket sponsors and; tour operators. These defeats also caused massive disappointment to India's millions of fanatical cricket fans.

A new private cricket league, the Indian Cricket League (ICL) has been formed that will run parallel to the existing cricket league managed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The format of ICL will be Twenty20.

Australia's national cricket team captain, Ricky Ponting who is the highest ranked Test batsman and the highest ranked ODI batsman in the International Cricket Council, or ICC ratings has come out against the nascent ICL league.

"It's only a concern if there is huge money involved in it," Ponting said. "If this sort of stuff gets off the ground, these guys won't even be playing with their mates, they'll be thrown into made-up teams. You'll be out there by yourself and trying to win some money," he was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

Ponting's fear and apprehensions, while understandable is quite off the mark. Whether it is cricket or any other sport, it is the capitalist's big money that drives the game and motivates players. So having more competition cannot be bad for the game. If the ICI can poach contracted players of BCCI, it shows that ICCI is superior to BCCI. In a free market it bound to happen and it is part of the game.

The super star players who are under performing, yet having a cushy life are called to wake up.