Where is Capitalism heading?

Capitalism is a economic system based on individual rights. Capitalism prevails in a free market in which the means of production are mostly privately owned and operated for profit.

History has shown that capitalism has had greater success over its rival systems, socialism and communism for creating wealth. The socialist system of India has witnessed a Mother Teresa who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace."

The capitalist system in United States produced a Bill Gates who created a fortune for himself and became the richest person in the world by helping others to create fortunes for themselves. In the first case the Mother feeds the poor on a daily basis, while Gates has shown a way for people to fend for themselves.

And so it is agreed that capitalism has won in creating more wealth. It is the engine that is driving most of the world's economies. Where capitalism has flourished, it has a thriving middle class, a term that is ill-defined to include those who have a degree of economic independence but are neither at the top nor at the bottom of a social hierarchy.

In the world's largest capitalist economy, the United States, the middle class today is less prepared for an economic emergency, such as losing a job , than at any time since the late 1970s, concludes a new study from a political think tank in Washington.

This means the middle class has become a doomed class. It means even to remain in this class one has to start working early, continue personal saving and be blessed with good, or at least decent, physical and mental health.

It's hard to achieve much if you can't work. Illness, disability, addiction, and other afflictions can stop your economic progress in its tracks. Capitalism is not the panacea for all economic woes including poverty.

Capitalism gives the freedom that the rich need to create and maintain and their wealth, it gives the same freedom to the poor to create wealth. Thus, no one is forced into poverty, as in non-capitalist countries.

Unfortunately even with globalisation, modern technology and the various forms of economic models, the human capacity, capability and the motivation to increase and maintain wealth differs vastly from people to people under different conditions.

As a result while the rich have become richer through the many opportunities that continue to empower them, the gap between the rich and the poor also continues to increase.

While capitalism is not an egalitarian concept, those who are unable to make a decent living for whatever reason in a capitalist society must be given a helping hand in order to maintain social harmony and peace. This is the challenge for the modern capitalist economies.

Good news for caffeine lovers

This cup of coffee just not getting it done anymore?

America's craving for the black brew has created an $11 billion industry. Americans consume more than 300 million cups of coffee each day from coffee shops, whose numbers have grown 18-fold since 1990.

Dr. Robert Bohannon, a molecular scientist in Durham, North Carlina , has come up with a novel idea. He's developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, without the bitter taste of caffeine. Each piece of pastry is the equivalent of about two cups of coffee.

Now he's hoping to persuade chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts to sign on to sell his Buzz Donuts and Buzzed Bagels.

There'll be more jazz for coffee lovers, when the caffeinated products hit the market especially aimed at a younger audience.

Mixed signals from snowy Davos

The gathering of top corporate and political figures and economists in the Swiss Alps has raised concern that several years of strong global economic growth and surging liquidity have seen hedge funds and other investors take on ever-larger positions in credit derivatives and other instruments.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, speaking in a panel discussion on the global outlook, warned that credit spreads and risk premiums on numerous financial products appear too low, a phenomenon that "calls for attention" and possible an "orderly re-evaluation of risks."

This seems to be a phenomenon of the good times. Hedge funds and even some investors who are risk averse in leaner economic periods are emboldened to take brazen risks when the going is good for longer periods. Hence national and global financial institutions must remain alert for any unsavoury behaviour which may cause financial hardships to communities.

Economists can sound the alarm and do their best for what they are paid -worrying. But corporate heavyweights must play their part to avert the temptation of people like Nick Leeson whose speculative trading lost £1.3 billion and brought down Britain's oldest merchant bank Barrings.

Ayurvedic Eastern Power

Ayurveda is an ancient medical practice summarizing the Hindu art of healing and prolonging life. Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word meaning "the science of life".

Ayurveda teaches that humans consist of three aspects: the physical, the subtle and the causal, or body, mind and soul in Western terms. Health, according to Ayurveda is a balanced expression of all these three elements.

Ayurvedic healing presents the Ayurvedic treatment of common diseases, covering over eighty different ailments form the common cold to cancer. It provides a full range of treatment methods including diet, herbs, oils, gems, mantra or meditation.

To skepical western audiences, much of this ayurveda stuff sounds like nonsense. But the western medical community has begun to accept the holistic approach to treating illnesses and so ayurvedic medicine is gaining recognition as complimenting the more modern western forms of medicine.

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift" - Albert Einstein

Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age

"Our First Amendment expresses
a far different calculus for regulating speech
than for regulating nonexpressive conduct
and that is as it should be.

The right to swing your fist should end at the tip of my nose,
but your right to express your ideas
should not necessarily end at the lobes of my ears."

-- Alan Dershowitz- Professor of Law at Harvard Law School

Source: Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age, 2002

Worries at the world's talking shop

The World Economic Forum (WEF) aims to solve the world's problems. The Geneva-based foundation's annual meeting usually held in mountaneous retreat of Davos brings together top business leaders, national political leaders (presidents, prime ministers and others), and selected intellectuals and journalists.

It gives a platform to artists, academics, religious leaders, campaigners and activists to further their cause by networking with friends and competing rivals. It provides an opportunity to come close to the rich and powerful through the many workshops and meetings.

In recent years this heavily fortified event has been marred by the anti-globalisation movement protesting against the widening income gap and the dire state of poverty. This year leading technology experts sitting comfortably inside the barricaded walls have sounded another alarm.

Experts are warning that criminals controlling millions of personal computers are threatening the internet's future. Up to a quarter of computers on the net may be used by cyber criminals in so-called botnets.

Botnets are made up of large numbers of computers that malicious hackers have brought under their control after infecting them with so-called Trojan virus programs.

While most owners are oblivious to the infection, the networks of tens of thousands of computers are used to launch spam e-mail campaigns, denial-of-service attacks or online fraud schemes.

Michael Dell, founder of Dell computers looking into the solutions for the survival of the web said the future might bring "disposable virtual PCs", accessed through the internet, that would minimise the threat of a persistent virus infection.

Technology brings back good old 'chatting'

As president George Bush was following the age old retual of delivering the State of the Union address, Democratic presidential candidate Tom Vilsack was in his car, racing to a dinner.

While he listened to the president on his radio, he pulled out his BlackBerry and began typing.

“I am not only interested in hearing your thoughts about the speech,” he wrote in an online political forum at HOTSOUP.com, “but also your ideas about what we should be doing as a country.”

His post kicked off a lengthy conversation between Vilsack, GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee and HOTSOUP community members from across the country.

HOTSOUP is an online community that connects well-known influencers from the worlds of politics, business, religion, and popular culture with influencers who drive opinion at the grassroots and community levels.

Harnessing the power of social networking technology, HOTSOUP levels the playing field by giving anyone and everyone a voice in how America’s institutions can work better.

Opinion Drivers are an enormous and growing force because Americans place decreasing trust in old-line opinion leaders such as network anchors and politicians; they’re turning to each other for advice and guidance in these fast-changing times.

This is the 21st century conversation – online, surrounded by an e-community and authentically two-way.

Courage

YOUR REAL COURAGE SHOWS BEST IN THE HOUR OF ADVERSITY.


Some setbacks are so severe that to give in to them means losing the whole ball game. When he assumed command of the Korean War, Gen. Matthew Ridgeway found his forces pushed far to the south, hard pressed by the invaders.

Only a determined decision to hold the lines allowed the American forces to keep from being swept into the sea and to eventually regain all the territory they had lost.

When a defeat strikes, you may not have the time to withdraw and contemplate your mistakes without risking further setbacks.

Don’t succumb to paralysis. It is important to know at that moment what it is you truly desire and to act to preserve your resources and your hope.

If you crumble utterly, you will take a blow to your self-esteem that will be hard to repair.

Instead, stick to your principles, and you will know, at the very least, that you have protected the most important thing you have. your successes in life will far outnumber your failures.


This positive message is brought to you by the Napoleon Hill Foundation.

Microwave your sponge

I've read somewhere about an arguement that the kitchen is dirtier than the bathroom.

The kitchen sponge is a breeding ground for bacteria, viruses or parasites. Here are some tips to sanitize your kitchen and kill the unwanted stuff from your sponge by microwaving.

Keep up good housekeeping so that you can keep the food borne microbes and bacteria such as E. coli, and other viruses at bay.

Infosys chief talks about values

Here is Narayana Murthy founder of Infosys talking about corporate strategy, competitive advantage, consumer's trust, ethics and values and more.

The changing power of internet

The internet has become an important tool of communication as confirmed by a fast-growing trend in the United States.

Politicians and activists pay almost as much attention now to blogs as they do to traditional news sources.

But the web is challenging not just the traditional media but also techniques that have been popular for two decades, such as focus groups and advertising.

Democratic presidential hopefuls showed over the weekend the increasing dominance of the web as a political tool.

Hillary Clinton and the Democratic governor Bill Richardson both opted against the traditional launch - a televised speech in a hall or other public arena, surrounded by family, flags and a few dozen supporters - and announced their intentions on the internet.

Mrs Clinton, the frontrunner, made her case for the Democratic nomination on Saturday on her website (www.hillaryclinton.com), the centrepiece of which was a well-rehearsed video in which she said: "I'm in and I am in to win." She promised to hold web chats today, tomorrow and Wednesday.

Likewise Gov. Richardson, also made his announcement yesterday by video. The old media, CNN, was reduced to showing his web video in its hourly broadcasts.

Racist bullying in Reality

Allegations of racial taunts against Bollywood filmstar Shilpa Shetty, 31, in the UK Channel 4 Reality show "Celebrity Big Brother" is casting a shadow over Chancellor Gordon Brown's visit to India.

Shetty broke down in tears on Monday after expressing concerns that Jade, a fellow participant had made racial comments about her skin colour, accent and cooking.

A fierce controversy against racism made headlines across the media in India, with thousands writing in to Channel 4 protesting the alleged insults hurled on the Indian star who is making $680,000 for her part in the show.

In an abrupt about turn Shilp Shetty has changed her story on Thursday. Here is what she said, ”I think it is clash of cultures and I don't feel there was any racial discrimination from Jade's end," Shilpa Shetty told the newsmen.

She also went on record to say that people say things in a fit of anger and I stand corrected so, I don't want people to think and feel that way and I continue to feel that way.

So while the viewership of the reality TV show saw an impressive jump in the UK, the incident has left the people back home a little puzzled. Cultural differences and racism are two different things.

The controversy raises the question of whether Big Brother is simply using provocative behaviour to rouse viewer curiosity? And whether Shetty is just playing along to boost the viewership ratings?

Shilpa Shetty knew what she was getting into, when she went on the show. Nothing good can come out of such mean tactics to improve ratings if in fact the whole controversy was caused for that purpose. What kind of entertainment value does such foul-mouthing provide?

Free Hugs

This is cool. '


Check out here

US trash makes a billionaire

Here is the power of an idea put to action.

Just five years ago, Zhang Yin and her husband were driving around the United States in a used Dodge Caravan minivan, pleading garbage dumps to give them their scrap paper.

Zhang started collecting wastepaper in 1990 in Los Angeles and shipping it to China to make the cardboard needed by growing export industries.

Her company, Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Ltd., is now China's biggest packaging maker. Nine Dragon's stock has risen fourfold since its March initial public offering, pushing Zhang's fortune to $4.7 billion.

"Other people saw scrap paper as garbage, but I saw it as a forest of trees," Zhang, 49, told reporters last November in Hong Kong. "I had to learn from scratch. The business was just my husband and me, and I didn't speak a word of English."

In the process of pursuing her dream, Zhang has become China's richest person, estimated at $3.4 billion.

US remembers King

On Monday the United States celebrated the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his legacy of bringing civil rights to all.

Given the daunting challenges facing a globalised world today, Martin Luther King's desire for peace and non violence should focus the attention on the savagery of violence in several parts of the world.


Here are some of King's quotes.


1-"One of the great problems of mankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance."


2-"The means by which we live have out distanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has out run our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."


3- "One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change."


4-"The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually."

Are we at a turning point now?

The Russian economist Kondratieff (1892-1938) , theorised that economies moved in 50- to 60-year cycles with periods of high growth followed by periods of slower growth, with each cycle driven by a bunch of technical innovations. It has been called the "Kondratieff waves" or the K-Waves.

The first wave of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century was , followed by the Age of Steam and Railways (1830s), the Age of Steel, Electricity and Heavy Engineering (1870s), the Age of Oil, the Automobile and Mass Production (1900s) and finally, the Age of Information and Telecommunications (1970s).

According to this theory, we are currently at the turning-point of the fifth Kondratieff wave.

David Beckham heading for the land of dreams

After having a mediocre performance at Real Madrid, David Beckham's incredible career is taking a Hollywood twist.

The former England captain and Manchester United player says he is leaving Real Madrid to sign for Los Angeles Galaxy. The 31-year-old is the most famous player to sign up for Major League Soccer since it began in 1996.

Beckham is much more than the "Bend It Like Beckham" soccer player. Beckham has been awarded an OBE for services to football in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2003. He supports UNICEF and is a goodwill ambassador with a special focus on sports for development.

He is a marketing magnet marketing sports brands and fashion. Die-hard socceer fans in Europe, Asia and Africa can't see enough of Beckham's banana- curling free kicks that has made him hugely popular.

Now the Beckhamania is bound for LA, where he and his celebrity wife, the former "Posh" Spice Victoria Beckham are going to rub shoulders with Hollywood's rich and famous.

Tabloids are eager about their move, especially since they could fill the gap left by glamour couples like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, both of whom have shunned publicity in recent months to raise their young children.

Is mean-spiritedness popular in US?

The scandalous behaviour of the current Miss USA Tara Conner lead to the contest's organiser Donald Trump to give her a second chance.

This has caused a feud between the well known Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell. These two people are in the public eye, Donald for his wealth-creating entreprenurial pursuits and Rosie, the Emmy-winning talk show host.

Rosie initiated the first blow of words on the ABC's daytime talk show The View, where she is the co-host. The Americans seem to take an infantile fascination to the name calling that is going on between Donald and Rosie.

Judging by the fervour this unseemly story is analyzed even by the mainstream media, it would appear that both parties may continue the relentless attack. Apparently it is good for their business. It may be hard to believe that there is an audience interested in people taking cheap shots.

But this shouldn't be a surprise if one looks at what is happening in the media and entertainment industry today.

In the interconnected and globalized world, who has not heard of the singing and talent contest the American idol - unless one is living in some inaccessible remote corner of the Himalayan mountains.

The American Idol's success has inspired many other countries to produce their own vesions of the Idol series. One of the judges in the American Idol, Simon Cowell, has become notorious for his blunt and often controversial criticism of the contestants.

Whereas previously it was bad manners to belittle a person in public, today there are TV and media personalities who make their career to do so.

This trend would not have taken off in America and elswhere in the world unless there is a willing and gullible audience who at some level enjoy the misfortunes of others while publicly protesting that this is not the case.

Building Relationships

MUTUAL CONFIDENCE IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL SATISFACTORY HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS.

Most of us have two basic questions about others when we enter into a relationship.

They are: Can I trust you? And, do you really care about me?

Depending upon our previous success in partnerships with others-personal or business-the answers may be slow in coming.

Confidence in another is often developed gradually as those involved in the relationship commit themselves to each other’s success and happiness. Although trust and confidence are the basic underpinnings of all successful relationships, they are fragile.

A relationship that has endured for months or even years can be irreparably damaged by a few unkind words or a single thoughtless act.

Don’t allow yourself to act in haste or to lose control of your emotions in important relationships.

This message is from the Napoleon Hill Foundation. http://www.naphill.org/.

From rags to Hollywood's Walk of fame

The two-time Oscar winner has reached an important milestone in the rags-to-riches story that she started when she was sixteen years old.

She was presented with the 2,325th star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame" on Monday, an illustreous honour to a person who came from very humble beginnings.

At the age of 30, Hilary Swank is one of the most respected actresses working in Hollywood today. Her powerful position was first acquired on the basis of her performance in the acclaimed drama 'Boys Don't Cry.'

An emotional Swank told onlookers at Monday's ceremony how her mother had helped her forge her career.

"I watched my mom with a roll of quarters go to a payphone and call agents and say, 'You should really meet my daughter, she's beautiful and she's talented,'" she said.

Well done to Hilary who came to Hollywood with only $75 in the pocket.

Yahoo is after the mobile market

Yahoo has announced the latest version of its Yahoo Go 2.0 mobile phones Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The new software would be preloaded onto more than 70 mobile handset models from top manufacturers including Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung Electronics.

Yahoo Go 2.0 incorporates a collection of services including OneSearch which makes mobile searching much easier. Yahoo Go 2.o also offers quick access to e-mail, news, entertainment, weather, maps, and other content.

How many soft skills do you have?

Check out from the list here.

The digital decade is here

In his penultimate keynote address at the the world's largest hi-tech conference, the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates focused on the topic of increased connectivity as the key to entering a truly digital decade.

This is the meeting where everyone looks for the cool technology that is about to be released to the market.

"Young people spend more time with their Windows PC than watching TV," Gates said.

Commenting on Microsoft's forthcoming Vista Bill Gates said, "For Microsoft this year is a big milestone. This is by far the most important release of Windows ever."

Vista-based personal computers would be the tool to connect people. People can to do things with their content across multiple platforms. Connectivity is the important component.

Gates also talked about a new Windows Home Server that Microsoft is working with HP. The Windows Home Server is a storage system which can hold more than one terabyte of data.

The Home Server lets people store all their data on a central device and access from any number of Windows-connected products, including the Zune portable music player, the Xbox 360, PCs and phones.

'Freedom Writers' : changing the unteachables

Here's a true story, 'Freedom Writers' that has just been released as a film starring the two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank.

The story is about an idealistic young teacher determined to help some unteachable students who are involved in interracial gang warfare.

What emerges from a claustrophobic classroom setting is an uplifting and inspirational strory. When the teacher listens to the students it opens a giant pathway to understanding and confidence building with the unruly students.

Oratorical skills are stronger than brute force. Such skills broke down idelogical barriers and inspired street kids to become productive and useful.

The human spirit is undefeatable as demonstrated by the work of the 'Freedom Writers.'

Inflation is the major worry to US economy?

If there was a single theme expressed by Alan Greenspan from late 1987 to early 2006, it was this: "Inflation is a threat to the economy." Current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has the same worry, going by The Feds hint at the possibility of further interest rate hikes to keep inflation in check.

The two biggest risk areas for 2007 are a correction of an inflated housing market and a leveling off in the manufacturing sector.

Construction of new homes dipped in the second and third quarters of 2006, a decrease from nearly 2.3 million starts early in 2006 to about 1.6 million starts in November.

Now, most of the top economic forecasters are predicting a "soft landing," for the US economy which means the economy slows but not so sharply as to cause a recession.

The problem is whenever a recession hits us, most of the same experts are wrong.

Dancing with Giants

The full title of the report written for the World Bank reads 'Dancing with Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy.'

Chapter six of the report is on 'Partially Awakened Giants: Uneven Growth in China and India.'

The world has to dance with the two emerging giants of Asia, China and India who are now principal drivers of the global economy. What happens in these two huge markets affects the rest of the world from increasing oil prices to the environment that we live.

The World Bank report rings the alarm bells for a more pressing problem; the income gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Globalisation and technology has created new opportunies and the rich are getting richer while the impact at the lowest level of poverty is not seeing the same level of rise. In both countries, there has been a marked geographic unevenness in the economic growth process.

The harder these countries try to reduce the gap by creating more economic growth, the bigger the problem of high and rising inequality.

In order to maintain political and social stabililty in these countries and avoid spillover effects for trade and growth of the rest the world, China and India will have to reduce the inequalities by focusing on the dimensions that create or preserve unequal opportunities.

Money isolates people ?

A recent study — part of the growing field of behavioural economics — takes that disconnect between community and consumerism a step further, suggesting that even thinking about money can isolate an individual.

People who were primed with images of money were not only more self reliant, they were also less likely to help others, according to the findings of University of Minnesota marketing professor Kathleen Vohs.

"Money pushes people into a state where they become focused on achieving their own goals without help of others," says researcher Kathleen Vohs.

The finding shows that people with money on the brain also appeared to be less open, putting more physical space between themselves and others.

On the positive side of this finding is the fact that being self-sufficient and goal-driven, one can achieve something without relying on other people .

It's rather shocking that in the experiment, people who were reminded of money didn't even make an attempt to help others who were in need.

While there are many rich people who donate their money and time generously for worthy causes, the experiment does show the negative side of how some people may succumb to the influence of money.

Dale Carnegie's Success Tips

Today is a new life.
Shut the doors on the past and the future.
Live in day-tight compartments

Source:The Dale Carnegie Course

El Nino to wreak more havoc in 2007

A sobering prediction for 2007 has been made by scientists at the British Met Office.

According to Professor Phil Joneds, director of the climate research unit at the University of East Anglia who is a leading climate expert, a combination of global warming and the El Niño weather system is set to make 2007 the warmest year on record with far-reaching consequences for the planet.

The prediction will be seen by environmentalists as more evidence that the world must act quickly to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change.

More details on this BBC report.

Starbucks: Trans fat out. Caffeine still in

The world's largest specialty coffee retailer has been working to eliminate trans fats from its food menu for about two years, said a spokesperson on Tuesday.

Standalone Starbucks stores in Seattle, Washington; San Francisco, California; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; San Diego, California; Boston, Massachusetts; New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington; and Portland, Oregon will have zero trans fats in their food beginning Wednesday.

Starbucks plans to eventually drop the artery-clogging fats from company-operated coffeehouses across the country.

Trans fats, listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, are believed to be harmful because they wreak havoc on cholesterol levels.

Prince Harry to quit smoking

Prince Harry killed birds while smoking a cigarette during a traditional shoot at Sandringham in Norfolk, London a few years back.

The 22-year-old prince first took up cigarettes at the age of 14 while he was still a pupil at Eton. He has carried on smoking up to twenty Marlboro Lights a day ever since, even through his grueling yearlong army training course at Sandhurst, the Daily Mail reported.

His decision to quit smoking comes as the Ministry of Defence prepares to ban smoking at all army barracks from March. Army sources have suggested that officer Harry wants to cut down gradually before the new regulations come in.

Inspite of his father's disapproval of the nicotine habit, Harry has not given up smoking. Nicotine is an awful drug addiction and he will need a strong positive attitude to kick the habit. Good for him if the army regulations can force him to give up. Let us hope the prince can keep his new year resolution for good.

Singapore ushers in 2007

Over 150,000 people turned up at Marina Bay on Sunday evening to usher in the New Year.

Marina Bay is in Singapore's Central Area which refers to the core financial and commercial districts in Singapore. Marina Bay is becoming the marketing brandname for the new developments to extend to the central business district in the Marina South area.

Future developments around Marina Bay are expected to further support Singapore's continuing growth as a major business and financial hub in the region. The area has also been planned to become a lifestyle hub with round the clock vibrancy and energy.

After major land reclamation was done, now the legendary Singapore River empties into the Marina Bay. Singapore river steeped in myth is the lifeblood of Singapore's early trade and commercial activity.

Now the river brings romantic charm entertaining visitors in riverside pubs and restaurants. Cruise boats and river taxis use the river to take tourists around, seeing historical landmarks like the Raffles Landing Place and the watchful Merlion standing guard at its entrance.

The sleepy town that once was, has transformed into a well-run city state with creative and performance arts taking the centre stage as was shown by the glittering fireworks that usherd in the new year.

Chairway to heaven

The Za-Ji Acrobatic Troupe was founded in 1956 in the Anhui Province of China, and have performed throughout China, winning many awards and titles in national acrobatic competitions.

In China, acrobats are revered much as prima ballerinas or opera singers are revered in the West, and it takes years of rigorous training to achieve the excellence demanded by this ancient art form. Children hoping to become acrobats begins their training as young as four or five years old.

The Ladies With Chairs act (seen in the photo)is an extraordinary feat. It involved seven young women building a strange and precarious free-standing chairway to heaven with wooden seats, and then doing handstands on it without either structure or acrobats toppling.

Chinese acrobatics is characterized by feats of strength and daring performed cleverly, precisely and accurately, and the ability of retaining balance in motion. They have to improve their bodies' strength and flexibility to achieve and maintain such high standards.

Saddam's ignominious end

According to a CNN report the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging.

During Sadam's rule he used to be seen in the public often firing a gun, a symbol of the type of power that he weilded over his subjects.

Once an ally to the United States, he was supported by the US in the seven year war that he waged beginning in 1980 with his neighbour Iran which cost a million lives.

Kuwait had heavily funded the Iraqi war against Iran. By the time the war ended, Iraq was not in a financial position to repay the $14 billion which it had borrowed from Kuwait to finance its war. Frictions began to build up with Kuwait from this point on.

The table was turned against him when he invaded Kuwait in 1990. This time a coalition of military forces led by the United States defeated Sadam Hussein and liberated Kuwait.

Saddam's refusal to subsequently comply with the ceasefire terms of the Kuwait war and his refusal to allow to UN inspectors into his many palaces and his obstructions were provocative to the international community.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the US decided to take pre-emtive action against terror. The US decided to regime change in Iraq as they believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, the central reason for a US- led international force to invade Iraq. This case has not been proven as no WMD was found.

Saddam's brutal arrogance and folly led to his own downfall. The man who was used to palatial extravegance was finally hunted down to a hole in the ground. He gave up without a fight.

Critics of the US foreign policy that deposed Saddam say that the execution of Saddam Hussein serves not justice, but the political purposes of the Bush administration. They argue that Iraq is worse off now than they were under Saddam.

Whatever is the merit of that argument, one thing is certain. More than two decades of distrust and violence under Saddam has left a legacy of bitter sectarian divide and age-old ethnic hatred among an impoversihed community that will experience his bitter legacy for a long time.

Thought from Andrew Carnegie

"The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%." - Andrew Carnegie

Gerald Ford- A man of extraordinary courage

Gerald R Ford Jr., 93, who became the 38th president of the United States as a result of some of the most extraordinary events in U.S. history has died.

The death of the United States 38th president has focused the media and public attention on his time in the White House. Over and over again you hear commentators saying that he was a good and decent man.

Ford was the only occupant of the White House never elected either to the presidency or the vice presidency.

He was sworn in as president Aug. 9, 1974, elected not by the people but on constitutional grounds when President Richard M. Nixon resigned in disgrace as a result of the Watergate scandal.

"With his quiet integrity, common sense, and kind instincts, President Ford helped heal our land and restore public confidence in the Presidency," President Bush said last night in a statement.

A month after Ford took over the Presidency, he gave Nixon the controversial, unconditional pardon, avoiding a divisive criminal trial of a disgraced president.

He managed to calm the anguish, of a deeply divided nation caused by the tumultuous period of the Vietnam War and the nasty politics of Watergate which brought down President Nixon.

In an embargoed interview with journalist Bob Woodward the former President Gerald Ford said that President George W. Bush and his top advisers made a "big mistake" in their justification for invading Iraq.

This news comes at a time when the Americans are debating the merit of invading Iraq. In the tape-recorded interview, Ford was critical not only of Bush but also of Vice President Cheney _ Ford's White House chief of staff _ and then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who served as Ford's chief of staff and then his secretary of defense.

Ford had the ability to see beyond the moment. He lived his principles beyond the ambitions of politics, a quality that is in short supply in the US politics today.

He came from humble beginnings. Everything in his life, he had earned the hard way. He was an authentic person. He was uniter and a great leader.

Blind cricket tourist who sees the point of sport

This is an an inspirational story of a person's passion. Andy Gemmell who grew up in north London was interested in sport. He could talk about it all night.

Andy went to rock concerts or football matches like other patrons from the pub where he frequented, only more often.

He was a volunteer at the Islington branch of Britain’s Labour Party. Besides having a bit more substance to his opinions than the other drinkers, the main difference between Andy and the rest was that Andy was blind.

Andy, who is 54, is in Australia on a long holiday during which he’s going to the cricket and the races, and catching up with friends.

Andy says he’s always been entranced by sport. His interest began during the English cricket team’s tour of Australia in 1958–59, when he was six.

His fanaticism for sport led him to lie in bed at boarding school—he went to a school for the blind—with his radio under the pillow, listening to broadcasts of title fights from the United States.

He listened to the great fights of the 1960s between heavyweight champions Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali.

When asked whether his blindness frustrated him as a child, Andy says yes, of course it did. He had to learn to accept it.

Part of his acceptance was promising himself he would live life to the full. "You’ve just got to do it," he says. "You don’t get a second chance."

Islamic Jeans: Marketing for Religion

Photograph: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images

There is nothing called an ISLAMIC JEANS or UNISLAMIC JEANS, these are the new strategies of marketing used by business firms to make money.

A company in Italy has begun selling jeans that are tailor-made for Muslims who find the regular jeans uncomfortable as they need to bend down to pray several times a day.

The trousers, licensed by an Udine-based firm named Al Quds, are the brainchild of Luca Corradi, an Italian stylist.

"The idea behind the jeans is not political, ideological or religious at all. It is a cultural act," said Susanna Cavalli, chief of product development for Al Quds Jeans.

This sounds a fascinating idea for market economy. 'Find a niche and build an image.' This is what this company has emabrked on. It remains to be seen whether this idea will catch on with the Muslim faithful.

Finally, Italy's 700,000 Muslims may have found their fit, jeans made by Muslim hands.

The Power of Bono Performance

As a teenager playing the pubs and clubs of Dublin with his fledgling band, Bono became aware of the power of performance in tackling social and political causes.

Now after 20 years of charity work and lobbying on debt relief, the the global rock star and frontman of U2, Bono will be knighted by the Queen.

The 46-year-old will receive the honour in Dublin early in the new year.

In 2003, Bono was presented with France's Legion D'Honneur by President Jacques Chirac, while in 2005 he was voted Time magazine's person of the year for his work promoting justice and equality, along with Bill and Melinda Gates.

Officially, only British nationals can get the "Sir" when they're knighted.

For your great humanitarian work and inspiration, Well Done Sir Bono.

A unique way to raise funds for charity

With Christmas approaching, many people are in the spirit of giving including donating to their favourite charities to help the less fortunate.

The 21st century is a new “golden age of philanthropy” and in the year 2006 Warren Buffet, the world's second richest person revealed that he was donating about $37bn to Bill Gates' (the world's richest person) charitable foundation.

Warren Buffett has pledged to give more than double the lifetime total given away by two of the philanthropic giants of the past, Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, put together.

The picture on the right is the 23-year-old woman who has paid £210 in an eBay auction in August this year, for the privilege of slapping a stranger around the face with a wet fish.

Ben Fillmore,24, gave the opportunity, to raise money for charity. He had begun an auction on the eBay website to raise money for the UK Stroke Association.

As this example shows, you don't have be super rich to help, indeed there are some unique ways of doing it. Fillmore hopes to raise £10,000 for the charity.

Is Individualism leading to Narcissism?

An increasing emphasis on individualism illustrates the elevated position the self holds in Western culture. This prominence is often referred to as narcissism—the obsessive love of self.

Individualism refers to a moral, political, or social outlook that stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty.

In modern culture, narcissism is fuelled by the obsessive focus on the realization of the self. Internet and blogs which is the citizen media has created a very personalized culture inflating individual egos.

America, as the land of diversity and promise, glorifies the 'individual', and praises those select few who can follow their own path, but in reality very few people ever choose to step away from society.

In 'Self-Reliance,' the famous American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson describes his vision of the individual as a man dependent on himself and refusing to conform to social standards and expectations.

Authoritarianism construed as the opposite of individualism is a far more dangerous form of social control characterized by strict obedience to the authority of a state or organization.

Clearly people like Emerson in a different time in history saw the importance of realising the individual value. It would be wrong to assume that in such thinking nothing outside yourself matters and everyone was unto themselves to do as they pleased.

There are universal values of what is considered as right and wrong, what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and these traits will have to be borne out to rein in the excesses of the individual which can harm the society.

Tecumseh Quote

"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.Trouble no one about his religion.Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.

Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.

Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.

Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,for your life, for your strength.Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.

If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to foolsand robs the spirit of its vision.

When your time comes to die,be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death,so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more timeto live their lives over again in a different way.

Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."


by:
Tecumseh(1768-1813) Shawnee Chief

Miss USA 2006 not fired but has to go to rehab

Miss USA 2006 Tara Conner was given a second chance Tuesday by billionaire Donald Trump who who co-owns the Miss USA and Miss Universe contests and was widely expected to fire Conner.

Allegations of blond beauty queen Conner partying and underage drinking at bars and nightclubs in New York -- where the legal drinking age is 21 -- began surfacing last week. The former Miss Kentucky USA turned 21 on Monday.

A teary Conner told reporters "I wouldn't say that I am an alcoholic that would be pushing the envelope a little bit. I don't have a problem with anything like that."

Donald Trump said Conner would enter rehab although he failed to say for what.

If she doesn't believe she has a problem with drinking then why is she entering a rehab? From what she said, she hasn't even come clean.

More importantly what kind of a message does this send to other young girls who aspire to walk down the same path.

It is certainly gracious for Trump to forgive but whatever to happened to personal responsibility and accountability of actions.

This sets up a contradiction that is both confusing and dangerous to young people, particularly women.

Donald Trump said he believed she could be a "great example for troubled people."

It remains to be seen what kind of a role model she turns out to be, given the prevailing commercial culture which glorifies sexist poses of Paris Hilton and the increasing popularity of Britney Spears who is becoming increasingly unclothed.

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

Christmas is just four days away, one of the biggest annual holidays of Christmas that combines the celebration of Jesus' birth with various other traditions and customs.

Christmas is celebrated in most countries around the world, owing to the widespread Christianity and Western culture.

At this time of the year children look forward to the enduring red-faced Santa Claus to bring them gifts. The Christmas tree decorated with Christmas lights is a popular symbol that is seen in many homes and public places.

The United States has experienced a controversy over the nature of Christmas, and its status as a religious or secular holiday. Some considered the U.S. government's recognition of Christmas as a federal holiday to be a violation of the separation of church and state.

The phrases "Season's Greetings," or "Happy Holidays" as opposed to "Merry Christmas," have been made a popular form of greeting to suit the many non-Christians.

The US no.1 retailer Wal-Mart and other major stores who in the past greeted their customers with "Merry Christmas" resorted to the generic form of greeting such as "Happy Holidays."

But this year Wal-Mart has decided to go back to "Merry Christmas" again and told its employees that it's OK to greet shoppers by saying "Merry Christmas" this holiday season instead of the generic "Happy Holidays

Walmart's decision comes a year after religious groups such as The American Family Association and The Catholic League boycotted retailers including Wal-Mart last holiday season for excluding the word "Christmas" from products sold in stores.

In many countries, Christmas is the biggest shopping season, increasingly making it a commercial affair beyond the religious traditions.

So to many people, whether it is "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" what is important is the spirit of the message.

Oprah ventures into Reality

Media tycoon Oprah Winfrey is getting into reality TV genre for her latest project. Her production company Harpo is working on two prime-time series for US network ABC, titled Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give and Your Money or Your Life.

The Big Give will give out cash to 10 contestants who must use it to help other people. The challenge will be to find the most powerful, sensational, emotional and dramatic ways to give to others.

Your Money or Your Life, which is in development, features families who are confronted by a crisis and must change or risk being 'consumed by disaster'.


Oprah's media empire already expands into magazine publishing, film and radio broadcasting as well as her top-rated daily chat show.

Indian medalist fails gender test

Indian woman athlete Santhi Soundarajan, who bagged silver medal in the 800m race in Doha Asian Games has failed a gender test.

Reports said that Shanthi was picked up for a 'test' at the Games, after a fellow athlete 'doubted her of being a woman' and lodged a complaint.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has decided to withdraw the medal from the Indian athlete causing embarrasment and gloom to the Indian athletics.

Santhi's failing the gender test came close on the heels of Doha-bound discus thrower Seema Antil reportedly testing positive in a dope test at a preparatory camp in Muscat a few days before the Asian Games.

The Tamil Nadu athlete had earlier competed and won the silver in the 800 metres in the Asian championships in Incheon, Korea, last year. In August this year, she also won the 1500m gold and the 800m silver in the South Asian Games in Colombo.

This is a sad ending for Shanthi's Doha games. Sportspersons are not subjected to gender verification tests before participation in major international competitions. In order to avoid this type of embarrasing and controversial decisions, sports organisations should do such tests upfront before athletes are allowed to participate in games.

Dead Sea is dying again

An ecological disaster is waiting to happen. Hidden in the world's deepest valley is the biblical Dead Sea which is the lowest point on the earth, 1300 feet below sea level.

You can never drown in the Dead Sea, you can only float there. The Dead Sea is facing massive evaporation and there are fears that the sea may dry up in another three decades. The river has lost so much volume because it is used to supply the farms and cities of Israel, Jordan and Syria with water.

There is a study to divert water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea but no one is sure what would happen if waters from two different bodies of salt water are mixed. The Dead Sea needs a fighting chance to survive. Increasing political tensions in a thirsty middle east may give no easy answers to raise the receding levels of this 'sacred river.'

‘YOU’ are Time’s “Person of the Year”

Time magazine has announced that ‘YOU’ are its ‘Person of the Year.’ Yes, you read that right. Time magazine has declared anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web as the winner, making us all victorious.

Person of the Year is an annual issue of U.S. newsmagazine TIME that features a profile on the man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year."

This is not a title of honour. It has had its controversial moments when people such as Adolf Hitler have been granted the title. The selection is not a democratic process. The Time editors mull over who or what has made the maximum impact that year and the managing editor makes the call.

Winners for 2005 were: The Good Samaritans: Bono , Bill Gates, and Melinda Gates.

Nostradamus' bewildering predictions

Imagine knowing what the future holds, that's exactly what Nostradamus seemed to know, as his secrets continue to be unearthed many years after his death.

In the recent times, the world has seen the rise of politics based on religious identity. The miidle east continues to remain the volatile hotspot.

Centuries old dormant battle lines are emerging as we see in the conflict in Iraq between sectarian factions, mainly between the sunni and shiite muslims.

Both the planet earth and the resident human species are facing tough challenges. Pollution of the atmosphere by man and ensuing global warming and sea-level rises pose serious threat to the survival of low lying countries.

In a recent interview Britain's Royal Society for scientific achievements' highest award winner, the distinguished Stephen Hawking said that humans will have to colonize planets in far-flung solar systems if the race is to survive.

"The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet," he said. "Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe."

Believing in the Individual

Today, human resource development has become a top priority for business organisations in a fiercely competetive world. Empowerment of the individual helps businesses succeed by unleashing the power of human creativity.

Every individual can make a difference and it does make an impact on the bottom line of financial statements. Hence, organisations are shifting from exploiting their workers not only for altruistic reasons but more importantly to increase their own profits and their survival.

Like-minded individuals are now acting to put pressure on their local officals or governments to formulate public policies that incorporate their aspirations to a fulfilling life. Individuals are no longer feeling overwhelmed by the top-down system which has itsef become obsolete.

Loyalty gets out-dated

In his book The World is Flat, Thomas L Friedman describes how our world is being flattened by historical events and forces that in the last 15 years have resulted in the globalised, connected, speed-orientated world in which we live.

Not only are the times changing, so is the workforce. Life-long learning has become a way of life. We now keep hearing that loyalty to a company is obsolete. The new generation has moved away from their forebearers.

Generations X and dot-com are also gender-blind and quite open-minded about racial and cultural diversity. In fact, many people in these generations feel they have more in common with their peers across the world than with their parents or people of the baby boomer/ World War II generations.

Competition is the buzzword. Companies and countries are competing against each other in a do-or-die situations. Individual entrepreneurship is in high demand, with talented individuals creating a world of work dependent on themselves, their skills, their networks and their own attitude.

As we move into an economy based on connecting with our customers, suppliers, shareholders and employees, we are learning that our businesses will succeed or fail on their ability to connect.

Jobs-for -life do not exist any more. The global trend is the emergence of what Tom Peters calls the "professional service firm" (PSF). The old loyalty-based contract is hindering the development of new opportunities that favour the talent inherent in our blue-collar workforce, creating tensions between blue-collar and white-collar employees.

Wikibooks- the open-content publishing.

Like Wikipedia, Wikibooks makes use of the "wisdom of crowds."

With the availability of Wikibooks, traditional publishers are now exploring this mechanism for delivering their products.

This project 'we are smarter than me' is a collaboration between MIT's School of Management, Wharton School of Management and Shared Insights.

Jimmy Wales the founder of Wikipedia is the advisor to this project. He believes the project may usher in a new model for how book publishers can acquire, create and market their content.

Empower the poor to reduce poverty

The world is digesting the news that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 has been awarded Bangladeshi Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development.

Grameen issues colateral-free loans to the poorest people. Grameen methodology is not based on assessing the material possession of a person, it is based on the potential of a person.

Grameen believes that all human beings, including the poorest, are endowed with endless potential.

According to an article on FT.com , personal wealth is distributed so unevenly across the world that the richest two per cent of adults own more than 50 per cent of the world’s assets while the poorest half hold only 1 per cent of wealth.

It appears that the free market by itself does not alleviate poverty. More social businesses such as the Grameen need to step up to help the poor to bring about their own development.

Bollywood gets a bad name with Malaysian media

The Malaysian media is not too happy about the antics of some Bollywood stars like Salman Khan who arrived Kuala Lampur for the world premiere of the Hindi movie "Baabul" as part of the three-day event of the second Global Indian Film Awards function that started on 7th December.

More than 1,500 Malaysians, mostly women, stood patiently for more than three hours on the first night waiting for the stars at the TGV cineplex, adjoining the Petronas Twin Towers, one of the world's tallest buildings.

Almost all events have started more than an hour late. The media, a majority of them from all local newspapers, TV channels waited for more than two and a half hours for the stars to address a press conference on Thursday at the Palace of Golden Horses Hotel.

Event organisers Entertainment Popcorn misjudged their planning by arranging three events involving the stars on a single day (Thursday). These included the press conference with the stars, red carpet walk of the stars at the TGV cineplex and later the world premiere of Ravi Chopra's Baabul.

"Apparently in Indian time, two minutes meant 20 and at close to 6 pm the all important Mr Khan - accompanied by about 10 burly men in black- deemed it a suitable time for him to come down from his suite," the widely read New Straits times paper said.

Adding insult to injury, just as the first question was to be asked by a journalist, Ravi Chopra's mobile rang and he decided to take the call, really upsetting all the media personnel in the room.

Bollywood produces about 1,000 films a year, making it the world's most prolific film centre, and markets them to a growing band of non-Indians who have fallen for the genre as well as the vast Indian diaspora.

Indeed, Bollywood is exporting their unique brand of entertainment, music and dancing and that is good. They certainly can do without the negativity that comes along with callous indifference to feelings of other people.

Their event organisers will have to much better than how the Malaysian media has felt this time, if they are to be taken seriously by a worldwide audience.

A super project: Roving library

The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the fourteenth-most populous in the United States.

San Francisco is also one of the most visited cities in the world, luring travellers with its inviting landscapes, including beautiful hillsides, accompanied by a mild climate.

All the modern amenities for fast living from fast foods to convenience stores and postal services are available at every corner.

One person is also bringing books to the homeless who get barely enough food to eat. Mr. Challa an imigrant to the US from Cameroon who also knows what it is to be homeless is giving something back to the community.

The Roving Library is a project of the Tenderloin Reflection and Education Center (TREC), which is located on that ninth floor of the main San Francisco YMCA at Golden gate and Leavenworth.

People can donate books, or help in any other way. Mr. Challa is available at the TREC during the working hours unless he is carting away books to the folks who can't afford the books to read. He gives the books free to them.

One man's dream and a determination to help is a real inspiration.

Power

The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use - of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public.
Robert F. Kennedy

Starbucks new Chiefs

Britain's popular casual dining cafe, 'the hard rock cafe'- known for the collection of music memorabilia displayed at its restaurants worldwide- has been bought over by native American tribe, The Seminole.

The British owner, The Rank Group has sold the Hard Rock chain of cafes for $965m .

The Seminole, which earns 90% of its revenues from gaming, already owns two Hard Rock concessions in Tampa and Hollywood which have made it one of the richest native American tribes in the US.

Hard Rock International operates 124 Hard Rock Cafe restaurants, seven combined hotels and casinos and one stand-alone casino in 45 countries.

The Seminole tribe's first contact with white men was when a Spanish slave ship reached the Florida peninsula in 1510.

Recognised as a sovereign nation by the US in the 1950s, it now numbers 3,300, some living on reservations scattered across Florida's inland swamps. Since 1979, it has built bingo halls and casinos - outlawed elsewhere in the state.

New York wants to ban trans fats

Trans fats, which have been linked to heart disease, are being removed from many fast food kitchens across the United States as companies try to improve offerings to health-conscious diners.

Wendy’s International Inc. and Colonel's KFC have already switched to a zero-trans fat oil, and McDonald’s Corp. is considering the change.

Trans fat is made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil -- a process invented in the late 19th century to help lengthen the shelf life of food products. The added hydrogen also makes frying oil last longer.

Partially hydrogenated oil "raises the bad blood cholesterol (LDL) while lowering the good cholesterol (HDL)," says Marion Nestle, the author of What to Eat and a professor in the nutrition department at New York University.

New York is the city that banned smoking in restaurants three years ago. Now they are going another step further. Health officials are talking about prohibiting something they say is almost as bad: artificial trans fatty acids.

The New York health department unveiled a proposal Tuesday that would bar cooks at any of the city’s 24,600 food service establishments from using ingredients that contain the artery-clogging substance, commonly listed on food labels as partially hydrogenated oil.

The dangers of self-pity

SELF-PITY IS AN OPIATE.

The most insidious problem with drugs is that the human body develops a tolerance for them and requires larger and larger doses to achieve the same effect.

The same is true with self-pity. The more you allow yourself to indulge in it, the more you will require. Soon, self-pity will become a habit, one so debilitating that you will rob yourself of all the potential you possess.

Happily, there is a cure. If you truly analyze the situation, most often you will find that the problems that have driven you to pity yourself are mostly of your own creation.

It follows, then, that the best person to remedy the problem is the person who created it: you yourself.

This positive message is brought to you by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. http://www.naphill.org.

Volunteerism is on the increase

Volunteerism is the willingness of people to work on behalf of others without the expectation of pay or other tangible gain.

According to a report from The American National and Community Service, a Federal Agency, the number of Americans who volunteer to mentor students, beautify neighbourhoods and pitch in after disasters is at a 30-year high, fueled in part by a boom in teen participation.

According to World Volunteer Web, in Europe, Wales has the highest level of volunteering in Europe with around 54 per cent of all adults engaged in some kind of volunteering activity.

In almost all modern societies, the most basic of all values is people helping people and, in the process, helping themselves.

But tensions do arise between volunteerism and the state-provided services, so most countries develop policies and enact legislation to clarify the roles and relationships among stakeholders, and to identify and allocate the necessary legal, social, administrative and financial support.

The increasing influence of volunteer agencies such as the NGOs (non-governmental agencies) has made it necessary to hold them accountable under acceptable guidelines. They still remain independent and flexible making it possible for far greater outreach into different areas of the community unlike the beauracracy of the state organs.

Volunteering helps to build more cohesive communities, fostering greater trust between citizens, and developing norms of solidarity and reciprocity which are essential to stable communities.

The social capital represented by volunteering plays a key role in economic regeneration, as activities undertaken by volunteers would otherwise have to be funded by the state or by private capital.

Where poverty is endemic to an area, poor communities have no friends or neighbours to ask for help, so voluntary mutual aid or self-help is their only safety net.

So it is heartening to know that volunteerism is on the increase reflecting a modern society that is not only economically vibrant but on a more humane level it is also becoming more caring.

Panacea of IMF

Peter Nicholson's 'pocket' cartoons appear daily on page one of The Australian.

Purpose Of Your Life

IF YOU HAVE NO MAJOR PURPOSE, YOU ARE DRIFTING TOWARD CERTAIN FAILURE.

Not having a major purpose for your life is like trying to navigate without a chart. You may eventually get somewhere you like, or you may drift aimlessly, always hoping-but never finding-the place where you would like to be.

As you grow as a person, so will your major purpose. It is the natural order of things that, when you reach the top of one mountain, you will look around for higher peaks to climb.

In life, either you are moving forward or you are going backward. When you plot your course carefully and thoughtfully, you can ensure that you are going in the right direction.

This positive message is brought to you by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. http://www.naphill.org/.

Emerging trend: Banks for Ideas

Peter Drucker, the leading guru of management has advocated that we are in the middle of a great social transformation, akin to the Renaissance, which is symbolized by the computer.

Knowledge has become the means of production and creates value by "productivity" and "innovation" through its application to work.

The new class of post-capitalist society is made up of knowledge workers and service workers.

According to Drucker, we are witnessing a radical change, from the Age of Capitalism and the Nation-State to a Knowledge Society and a Society of Organizations.

More than labour and capital, the world needs fresh ideas to fascilitate the so called 'out of the box' thinking to help solve social probelms, to drive productivity and create future growth for business.

The Institute for Philanthropy, a non-profit making organisation has an ideas bank where dreamers can send their ideas seeking projects and wider participation.

Today companies need blockbuster ideas to continue the process of innovation which in turn helps create new products and new capabilities.

Innovation is the new currency of success in the post-capitalist world and ideas have become more important than ever before.

Top companies like the Microsoft and others are empowering people with the tools to push various ideas into the marketplace. It makes good business sense for these companies to collaborate with others who can help to drive innovation.

Modern technology and the tools it provides, alone cannot provide the fast growth that business needs. What counts more is how that technology is put to work. This is where the humans come in, in the form of knowledge and service workers.

Want to own a franchise?

Here's some useful tips from Businessweek.

Racism is Evil

The United States, being the only superpower has vast economic, social and political influence on the global stage. The United States is the beacon of democracy and a bastion of capitalism, for the rest of the world.

The US also has a chequered history of race relations among its migrant community of ethnically diverse racial groups.

From time to time racism rears its ugly head, as we have recently seen when the academy award-winning actor and producer Mel Gibson was caught in a drunken anti-semitic rant.

Now the three-time Emmy Award winner and comedian, best known for playing Cosmo Kramer in the popular TV series 'Seinfield' has let loose a racist tirade on a couple of hecklers at the Laugh Factory in L.A. two weeks ago. Here's this unbelievable outburst on YouTube.

One would wonder, what was he thinking to blow his head off in such a manner. It had to be something more than just a momentary loss of guard to bring out the most repressed feelings to the fore.

With a certain amount of humility, these stars that have a priviledge of appearing in many living rooms should look into their own souls. They should communicate mutual respect and harmony in relationships for they can reach audiences far and wide, thanks to the modern communication today.

The Meaning of Sport

Sport has always been a fascinating cultural, social and competitive event.

So what is the meaning of sport? The meaning would vary depending on who you ask: from the sportsman to the fanatical fan to spectators who would watch when there is nothing else better to do and everyone in between. There are also legions of others who make it their business to be involved with sport.

In his book "The Meaning of Sport (Short books)" the Times chief sports writer Simon Barnes wades through a lifetime of his eminent journalistic experience to show us new meaning in today's sport. Look up his blog here and listen to him describing true greatness in players.

Largely thanks to television, sport has become part of human culture to an extent once inconceivable. As Mihir Bose, the Daily Telegraph columnist, puts it: 'We have lost religion and found sport.'

Exercise

1) Exercise ferments the humors, casts them into their proper channels, throws off redundancies, and helps nature in those secret distributions, without which the body cannot subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness.
Joseph Addison, The Spectator, July 12, 1711English essayist, poet, & politician (1672 - 1719)

2) Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.
Thomas Jefferson 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

Here's the positive spirit of cricket

Pakistan players applaud Brian Lara of West Indies reaching his century, Pakistan v West Indies, 2nd Test, Multan, november 21, 2006

© AFP

Public pressure beats checkbook journalism

Public pressure does count as the OJ Simpson saga has shown in the United States.

In a rare move for the chief executive of an international media conglomerate, News Media Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, has weighed in on the O.J. Simpson controversy.

The book and programme "If I Did It", in which Simpson describes how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend, had caused public outrage.

Simpson was acquitted of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman on 12 June 1994.

Rupert Murdoch called the O.J. TV interview and O.J. confession book an "ill-conceived project" and cancelled both of them.

Mr. Murdoch's News Corp is the parent company of publisher Harper Collins which would have published the book, slated to be released on November 30. Judith Regan, publisher of ReganBooks, had said she considered the book Mr Simpson's confession.

Several affiliates of Mr Murdoch's Fox TV had refused to screen the interview on the grounds of bad taste.

The book and TV interview deal with Mr Murdoch's broadcasting and publishing companies was worth $3.5m. This time public outrage has killed the deal which was rediculous and in poor taste in the first place.

During the interview, Mr Simpson describes how he would have carried out the murders at his ex-wife's home in Los Angeles "if he were the one responsible for their killing."

This incident shows how low some media companies will scoop for financial gains. It also shows in an interconnected world of instant communication, the peoples voice is the real power.

Macha green tea gaining popularity

Here's a picture of the popular Japanese macha green tea set.

Macha is green tea powder, which is made from green tea leaves raised in the shade.

Macha, which is used in Japanese tea ceremony and has been drunk for centuries, is different from traditional tea in that it is not infused but ground. It is also grown differently, and is noticeably more expensive.

Now macha is being promoted in Europe and America, primarily as a luxury tea flavour and is in the same league as champagne.

In North America, macha is being sold in Starbucks as a sort of 'healthy coffee' alternative. The macha frappe is the new trendy drink, and the ingredient is visible in numerous smoothie chains.

This trend is also catching up in the United Kingdom, the most famous tea drinkers in the western hemisphere.

Macha green tea also has obvious health implications. Consumer awareness of the health properties of green tea has become fairly well established, and is backed up by a number of studies.

A Japanese study earlier this year for example found that Japanese adults drinking five or more cups of green tea daily were 16 per cent less likely to die from a range of illnesses, and particularly heart disease, than those only drinking one cup per day.

Crackdown against junk food adverts

In the United Kingdom, health campaigners claim that new rules to be published restricting the advertising of junk food to children on television will be too weak to halt the soaring levels of obesity.

Ofcom, the media regulator, conducted research that showed consumers oppose such a move.

Representatives from the food and drinks sectors and the advertising industry yesterday welcomed Ofcom's research as a "counter-balance" to the arguments of ban supporters such as the National Heart Forum.

The governments food watchdog, The Food Standandars Agency (FSA) wants a ban on TV commercials advertising junk food before 9pm. They say the proposals drawn up by Ofcom to reduce the effect of junk food ads on children do not go far enough.

Campaigners for the ban argue that around 80%-90% of television advertising is junk food advertising - food that is high in fat, sugar and salt.

If businesses wish to be good corporate citizens, which is one of the mantra of their social responsibilty, they should voluntarily restrict showing such junk food ads targeting children. Also food vendors should be pressured to reduce the unhealthy fat, sugar and salt in their foods.

Almost 14 per cent of Britain's children were obese in 2003, compared to 9.6 per cent in 1995, and doctors have warned half of the countries kids could be obese by 2020.

Beatles release ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

Three years in the making, and a masterclass in studio creativity has produced a new mash-up album, "Love" is made up of 26 Beatles tracks as they have never been heard, put together by the band's producer, Sir George Martin, and his son Giles.

This latest rehashed "Love" collection is a Beatles catalogue of an endlessly milked cash cow for EMI.

With EMI’s latest six-month profits down by a whopping £22.4 million from last year, to just £18.6 million, the company is relying on Love to perform well — though just how much of those royalties Martin and Giles stand to receive for an album which so blurs the line between production and wholesale reconfiguration is open to speculation.

Commenting on this project George Martin said, "It`s been an odyssey, a journey and it`s been a lot of fun along the way. This music is to convey the unanimity of the Beatles. It was a great privilege for me."

It will be interesting to see how other artists take this concept and recreate their own works.

Love will be released on 20 November just in time for the christmas market.

Milton Friedman: An economic grandmaster dies

Legendary Milton Friedman, a champion of free-market economics and individual freedom died yesterday in San Francisco. He was 94.

Mr. Friedman was considered a leading economic thinker of the 20th century. His many prescriptions for policy, notably on managing the nation's money supply and curbing the welfare state, influenced US presidents and presidential candidates starting in the 1960s.

Mr. Friedman promoted laissez-faire capitalism. Friedman, an economic giant himself and a Nobel Prize winner, had opposing views to another illustreous economic giant of the 20th century: John Maynard Keynes, the famous British economist who died in 1946.

Keynes advocated an interventionist government policy to smooth out the business cycle by stimulating and managing demand for goods and services through such mechanisms as public-works programs, deposit insurance and deficit spending.

Friedman felt the more efficient approach is for government to cut taxes, curb regulation and focus on the supply of money in circulation. Keynes's prescription was that global finance can be stabilized through fixed exchange rates while Friedman's formula is to use floating exchange rates.

Milton Friedman is not simply the most influential economist since Keynes, but a worthy successor, building on Keynes's insights even as he discredited key aspects of Keynesian economic management.

Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president has said that Keynesian theory was not so much wrong as incomplete.

With his focus on the overall demand for goods and services in the economy, Keynes overlooked the importance of the supply of money in circulation. Friedman argued that controlling that supply was a better tool for managing the economy than taxation and spending policies.

Friedman's belief in free markets sometimes bordered on the fanatic — he has called for drugs and prostitution to be decriminalised. And while he never formally advised Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, he did visit Chile and helped lay the foundations for that country's economic revival.

Friedman's critics argue the fact that Pinochet applied free-market policies while running a military dictatorship is evidence that free markets don't necessarily result in freedom.

An adage frequently associated with Milton Friedman is "There is no such thing as a free lunch." This view has certainly influenced his approach to public policy.

A Picturesque Lake

It's the crater lake in Oregon, USA. This lake was formed about 7500 years ago, when a volcanic mountain collapsed on itself. Its incredible blue color comes from its depth and clarity. Sunlight penetrates deep into the water and only blue light is reflected back.

Master Mind Alliance

UNLIMITED POWER MAY BE AVAILABLE WHEN TWO OR MORE PEOPLE COORDINATE THEIR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS IN A SPIRIT OF PERFECT HARMONY FOR THE ATTAINMENT OF A DEFINITE PURPOSE.

A Master Mind alliance involves two or more people working together in perfect harmony toward the attainment of a common purpose.

Such a partnership creates a superpower that enables each of its members to do far more than either would have been able to achieve separately.

Choose your Master Mind partners carefully. Align yourself with people whose strengths complement yours.

If you are a right brain person, for example, a logically-driven left brain person may be a perfect counterbalance to your creative bent.

Above all, choose to associate only with people who share your positive values and your commitment to similar levels of achievement.

This positive message is brought to you by the Napoleon Hill Foundation. http://www.naphill.org/.

Fish philosophy for nurses

It's an unlikely name for a management parable for motivation in the workplace; the fish philosophy is being used by King's Colledge Hospital in London.

Nurses in the hospital are being offered free coffee and biscuits as part of a incentive scheme to improve patient care in the hospital.

Ms Trueman, the hospital's head of nursing for medicine, said the scheme was based on the US philosophy Fish which has four basic principles; Be there, Play, Make their day and Choose your attitude.

The fish have an attitude that has inspired us and given us a remarkable path to boost morale and improve efficiency.

Economic populism has won for Democrats

The last time US Congress changed hands, the Republican freshman class of 1994 roared into town under the leadership of Newt Gingrich as speaker and quickly advanced a conservative agenda of exceptional ambition.

In the just concluded mid-term elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Democratic Party, the present minority party in both houses of Congress, campaigned hard bringing focus to the failed policy of an unpopular war in Iraq.

The Democrats also higlighted the "middle-class squeeze" and "median wage stagnation" by economists, the incomes of median American households have barely shifted since George W. Bush was elected on a ticket of "compassionate conservatism" in 2000.

The American electorate have resoundingly spoken at the ballot box. Six States voted Tuesday on initiatives to raise the minimum wage. All six endorsed those initiatives, mostly by solid or overwhelming majorities (The states were Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio).

This news may come as little surprise--boosting the minimum wage always polls well--but it did signal an Election 2006 trend: Economic populism was a big winner.

In his post-election column, Pat Buchanan, a conservative columnist who ran for presidential election in 2000 wrote of the results as proof that "economic nationalism" is returning.

"With the 2006 election, America appears to have reached the tipping point on free trade," Buchanan wrote. "Anxiety, and fear of jobs lost to India and China, seems a more powerful emotion than gratitude for the inexpensive goods at Wal-Mart."

Many leading Democrats, including Mr Brown and Mr Webb, campaigned for "fair trade" and "putting Americans first", which is code for including labour standards in bilateral trade agreements and being more critical of companies that "outsource" manufacturing jobs to China and service sector jobs to India.

They are likely to be aggressive in pushing for tougher scrutiny of explicit and hidden tax breaks for large energy and pharmaceutical companies – known as "corporate welfare".

As the world focuses on the brewing debate over Iraq between the Bush administration and a Democratic Capitol Hill, the battle to define America's response to globalisation is also hotting up.

"Both the Democrats and the Bush administration will want the other side to get the blame if their mutual promise of bipartisanship falls apart," said a senior Democratic strategist. "It could be over Iraq, it could be over the economy."

It is said that when US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. So now the rest of the world can watch to see what gets done or not done in the US Capital.

Imagination

"Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire: you will what you imagine: and at last you create what you will."
-George Bernard Shaw

Can the green-eyed monster be tamed?

Jealousy is an enduring topic of interest for psychologists and theologians since ages.

Jealousy is a reaction to a perceived threat--real or imagined--to a valued relationship or to its quality.

Unlike envy, feelings of jealousy always appear to stem from one's sense that something about their life is not secure, e.g., is uncertain or in danger.

In some cases, the insecurity is not founded on realistic dangers to the relationship.

When a person is jealous, the lines of communication gets murky and problems begin to stem from the lack of appropriate communication.

The best way to overcome jealousy is to face your feelings and openly talk about it with the intention to bring about a positive outcome.

According to this Discovery article, human jealousy has roots in our reproductive past and has probably endured because it serves its ultimate purpose, to help ward off potential rivals.

Jealousy produces tremendous pain and distress for people and it is important to quickly turn to positive communication in order to avoid lasting damage to relationships.

Human Relationships

FRICTION IN MACHINERY COSTS MONEY. FRICTION IN HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IMPOVERISHES BOTH THE SPIRIT AND THE BANK ACCOUNT.

Discord in any relationship often has unpleasant financial implications, but it is far costlier in human terms. When you are involved in a fractious relationship, physical and mental energy that could be directed toward positive achievements is dissipated needlessly, squandered upon stressful, unproductive activities.

Unfortunately, whatever the cause of friction between individuals, it adversely affects each person involved. When you find yourself in a contentious relationship, there are few acceptable alternatives. You can work out your problems or leave the team.

Only you know which is the best solution for you, but if you objectively evaluate your reasons for becoming involved and find that they are still valid, your best course of action may be to swallow your pride and find a solution that is acceptable to everyone involved.

If you cannot do this, perhaps it’s time to get out of the partnership and find another course toward your objective.

This positive message is brought to you by the Napoleon Hill Foundation http://www.naphill.org/.

Silents Jets to curb noise pollution

A team of researchers in Britain and the US has come up with a revolutionary new aircraft design (in the picture above) that could make a dramatic contribution to curbing climate change.

The radically redesigned passenger jet could alleviate a major complaint of people who live near major airports -- the deafening sound of planes taking off and landing.

The "silent jet," which from outside an airport would sound about as noisy as a washing machine or other household appliance, would carry 215 passengers and could be in the air by 2030.

The body shape of the "silent aircraft" would allow for a slower landing approach and takeoff. We won't, however, be queuing up to board the silent planes before 2030 at the earliest.

Global Fisheries Face Peril

Fisheries experts have raised the red flag.

The world's fish and seafood populations will collapse by 2048 if current trends in habitat destruction and overfishing continue, resulting in less food for humans.

The unsustainable over-fishing together with pollution and other forms of over-exploitation is having a disaterous effect on the marine ecosystem.

Fisheries experts are recommending the establishment of "no-fishing" zones and ocean reserves, and banning destructive fishing practices.

They also want to promote commercial fish farming that can take the pressure off fisheries habitats, giving time for the depleting fish stocks to recover.

An Empire's Mixed Legacy

This article from the Economist provides some insights about the British Imperialism that had ruled India, during the glory days when the sun never set on the empire.

Economists are studying and theorising why under the Imperial Rule, some countries succeeded while others failed. The current favourite is theme is that those that have succeeded had strong “institutions”.

In rich economies institutions—meaning the formal laws and unwritten rules that govern society—function rather well on the whole. In poor ones they don't. That much is indisputable.

In a speech last year at Oxford University, Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, acknowledged a few “beneficial consequences” of India's years under British rule, including its free press, its civil service and its “notion” of the rule of law.

But the Indian Prime Minister also pointed out a biting irony. India, one of the world's biggest economies in 1700, was impoverished by the time the British left India.

technorati tags: India, Britain, Institutions.

Halloween becoming more gory

Halloween is a peculiar annual celebration beleived to have started in Ireland. Some people claim that it reflects a kind of demon worship.

The custom of Halloween was brought to America by Irish immigrants and now 31st October is marked as the Halloween Day. This is the time when children dress in different costumes ranging from fancy to bizzare to outrageous.

A Brooklyn high school student caused a stir this Halloween when he showed up for class dressed as Adolf Hitler. Walter Petryk, 16, defended his costume Tuesday, insisting it was a satire of the Nazi dictator.

School administrators ordered the junior honors student to remove his beige coat bearing a red swastika armband but Petryk refused, saying his parody was protected by his right to freedom of expression.

Sadly, in this particular case, the freedom of expression to look-alike Nazi Hitler who has killed 6 million Jews, is a reflection of insensivity and poor taste.

Money and what else can buy success.. for ICC

Lalit Modi, the vice-president of the Indian board (BCCI), has criticised the The International Cricket Council, ICC for selling its marketing rights and has said that the BCCI's bid to acquire those rights for the period between 2008 and 2015 was aimed at offering world cricket a better deal, in terms of both finances and players' interests.


ICC's chief executive Malcom Speed, while refusing to be drawn into the specifics of criticism has said that success of sports organisations are judged on the basis of three things:

1. How the team performs.

2. How the board looks after its stake-holders in terms of facilities on the grounds, and

3. How well they use resources like population to produce great cricketers.

Looking at these three things ICC has failed to look after stake-holders interests and that is the reason why Indian Board has to get involved to protect their interest better.