Measuring US employee productivity in Outsourcing age..

I have heard US politicians brag that US workforce has highest productivity. I am a software engineer in a fortune-500 company, and you guessed, most of our work is outsourced to China and India. So, how my company's productivity can be called as US employee productivity?

Booker prize for "White Tiger"

Today, an Indian born author, Aravind Adiga won the Booker prize. In this BBC interview, he says "In India for poor there are two ways to come up, one is through Crime and the other is Politics which can be a variant of crime..". I do not think he is exaggerating at all, but I would like to make two changes; first, instead of saying poor, I would say people living in slum and slightly above that level; second change is, I would add two more routes success "Extreme talented like that of Einstein or overwhelming amount of luck".

Average intelligence would not lead to anywhere, you have to be lucky and brilliant. There are so many graduates with no job and they just wait and wait for job, languish without any hope. It is a pathetic state and one should see to believe it, and I have few friends in that state. In India it is all about being at right place at the right time, which was the case with me.

Video of award ceremony
Video of Author's interview
Audio

Part-nationalization of US banks

At last US treasuery seems to have cameup with a plan that looks like has been analysed well. Nature of this financial scandal makes impossible to comeup with solution in one step. This complex problem is like a web, as it untangles we may have to change our solution, so our solution should start with basic rule but flexible enought to be modified. The first move, drawn in haste to throw 700B was shabby and immature.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7668704.stm
The lastest plan to part-nationalise the banks is a good one. Govt. move to buy shares without voting rights should be seen as a gesture of respect towards free-market.

I like following aspects of this bill.

1) The US government said it would buy preference shares in the banks. Preference shares pay a fixed rate of interest instead of a dividend, which has to be paid before other shareholders receive anything, but they do not carry voting rights.

2) Banks that receive the cash injections will be subject to restrictions on executive pay.

Adage -poem Billy Collins

I heard Billy collins recite this poem twice on radio. This is a less complicated and still emphatic poem. On radio Billy collins said something to this effect "Poetry should be like the chart hung in eye doctors' clinic; starting with thick letter and getting smaller as it proceeds."

Adage - Billy Collins
When it’s late at night and branches
are banging against the windows,
you might think that love is just a matter

of leaping out of the frying pan of yourself
into the fire of someone else,
but it’s a little more complicated than that.

It’s more like trading the two birds
who might be hiding in that bush
for the one you are not holding in your hand.

A wise man once said that love
was like forcing a horse to drink
but then everyone stopped thinking of him as wise.

Let us be clear about something.
Love is not as simple as getting up
on the wrong side of the bed wearing the emperor’s clothes.

No, it’s more like the way the pen
feels after it has defeated the sword.
It’s a little like the penny saved or the nine dropped stitches.

You look at me through the halo of the last candle
and tell me love is an ill wind
that has no turning, a road that blows no good,

but I am here to remind you,
as our shadows tremble on the walls,
that love is the early bird who is better late than never.

Tainted China water sickens 450

This is one more instance of collateral damage caused by rapid industrialization; I believe the engine of this raging industrialization is usually wealthy corporates and politicians spread around the world; yes, few consumers suffering from shopping syndrome also benefit from this. Corporates in US want an unregulated environment workplace so that they multiply their profits by selling cheap consumer products. And politicians in US, China sanitize this exploitation saying we are increasing the living standard of poor, and I think they are either ignorant or not honest.

Tainted China water sickens 450
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7665193.stm

McCain & Obama debate

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7658262.stm

I listened to debate between McCain & Obama over the radio. Policy wise McCain was not honest; he again spoke as if Iran is going to repeat Holocaust. If McCain really believes that, then it highlights his bad judgement. Also, regarding health care, I am not sure how realistic it is to assume that one can buy health policy for 5K. Obama could have slammed better. I also felt that candidates were trying to stuff as many keywords as possible (like N energy, Wind energy etc..), as if it was a job interview for a technical position :-)

I cringe whenever I hear him say "my friend", and that tone sounds too personal to be presidential and feels like he is trying hard to convince.
BBC radio made an interesting point at that this debate put candidates age on the stage.
All said, I would not give much importance to debates as pundits media because ruling a country needs more than debating skills and stage presence.

Why have melamine at all?

According to this Chinese Govt. is setting threshold for melamaine in Dairy products.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aA0__rfGpEec&refer=asia

Do we need Melamine at all?
Does milk taken from cow contain Melamine?

What is common between US & EU banking system?

Recent economic crisis has affected banks in US, EU equally. Example: Iceland, the country is teathering close to national bankruptsy; few banks in UK, France, Germany, Switgherland have been rescued from melting.

-Were the banks in EU and US were following same policies or systems?
-If so, when did EU banks started following US bank's principles?

-And who forced EU banks to follow US banking system?
-Was it WTO?

I would like to know answer to these questions, and media just keeps repeating same thing again and again. When i come across a serious article, I do not know what is the motives of writer because money is too real.

Polar bear's struggle in Pig's world

If you have seen Planet Earth's videos on Polar bears, you may remember how Polar bears travel in ocean, by swimming for a while and then climbing on to a mound of snow, in order to rest. Bears supposedly repeat this exercise while they are crossing vast seas, which for human like me, looks like an epic journey, and the scale of this adventure demands some respect and recognition. Without these snow mounds to rest, Polar bears would drown out of exhaustion, admist these long journeys. So those tiny, snow mounds are very crucial for Polar Bear's life style, and with the rise in global temeparature, these snow mounds are depleating, and according to this BBC article Polar bears have started to die and some politians are still arguing whether the Polar Bears are endanagered species.

Based on following article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7656871.stm

a) "Six polar bears recently drowned out in the open water. Their bodies were spotted by sailors."

b) Sarah Palin does not think Polar Bear is an endangered species.

Shallow side of 'age of information' and 'stay-connected'

Internet started this information age for good, then came Blackberry and then 'stay connected' mantra abused the system.
I believe we have too many sources of information covering same event, and every one of these starts with an introduction, and most of the readers get exhausted/distracted right at the end of introductory paragraph. This mostly because our attension span is ridiculously low and also media portal offer links with sensationalized titles.
I listen to radio and also read blogs, and in case of former I am forced to listen till the end(because there are just two source NPR and BBC), so in the end I absorb more information from radio than internet.
"Article Distraction and Democracy" http://wamu.org/programs/dr/08/06/10.php#19911This was broadcast, few months back, on NPR. Accrding to this program, we 'snack' news and know less than our parents.
Let us look at the new providers: TV/Newspapers and Bloggers. There is one news event but many Newspapers and TV channels, and in the end, just to get distinguished, media outlets dissect the news-event like a 'crime scene' and end up reporting on superficial things like clothes & gestures.
Then, Bloggers, second in chain, enter the news scene, scatter the news through out Web. So, we endup with insane amount of articles. Yes, there is nothing wrong in this but the reader should be responsible, cautious and stay focussed on one article.And media outlets should end sensationalized 'small-town' journalism :-)
I may be going beyond this subject but I should say that website design may have something to do with peoples' inability to stay till they completley read the article. Usually articles, in newsites, seem to be buried inside a pile of ads.
So, this 'information/interruption age' is affecting everything, including policies & democracies. Changing this trend of shallowness needs both the provider and consumer to change.

Just like updrading speakers

I have had two Klipsche bookshelf speakers for 2 years, and I have been happy without any regrets, but I have gotten used to this and lately feeling that I want more, so I am looking subwoofers, not with the intention of regaining lost excitement but something less drastic than that :-)
Then my thoughts drifted towards relation between two human beings and narrowed on socio-sexual couples(official-unofficial/married-unmarried); probably, even they may think in these lines, first starts with bookshelf speakers, years later surround speakers, few years later subwoofer, and then on one big day they stop listening to music all together.

Citi, Wachovia and WellsFargo

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200810031604DOWJONESDJONLINE000788_FORTUNE5.htm
Look at the haste with which Citi and Wells are moving. This is what is wrong with these bankers; and already the analysts are cheering by saying that Citi needs this deal to grow. Was not the banking industry supposed to be on death bed? How did these banks regained their guice so fast? Look at the ethical side of it, Wachovia seems to be breaking the aggreement with Citi.Bankers have not learnt anything, are back to their bi-polar days, I do not think they deserved $700b bailout. I see this squabble as slap on face of rescuing Govt.

This shows how distasteful the people are in Wall-street, I would have liked these banker crawl. One does not have to go deeper to see, that in this $700b crisis, Henry Paulson has represented wall-street. What a disgusting drama of greed.