Wish you all Happy Holidays and a very Happy New year!!

2010 was fantastic year by all means. It was very happening year both from personal and professional perspective. Had a great time.. Lots of new of first things..

Started regular blogging!!
Had a great international experience and total perspective change..
Great time with family and kids...

what's up for 2011... I think I will be targeting something new and adventurous. Don't know yet but definitely do something challenging..

Cheers!!

WikiLeaks' Assange Freed on Bail

WikiLeaks' Assange Freed on Bail

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released on bail and headed for an English country estate, where he is set to remain under "mansion arrest" as the U.K. decides whether to extradite him to Sweden.

From WSJ:

By PAUL SONNE

LONDON—WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released on bail Thursday night and headed for an English country estate, where he is set to remain under "mansion arrest" as the U.K. decides whether to extradite him to Sweden for questioning over sexual-misconduct allegations.

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European Pressphoto Agency

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange celebrates as he emerges to speak to the media on the steps of London's High Court.

Mr. Assange's release was the latest development in an odyssey in which—amid criticism from the U.S. government over the release of thousands of classified documents—he has become enmeshed in sex-related allegations that ultimately led to his arrest in the U.K. last week.

The 39-year-old Australian had been held in U.K. police custody for nine days on a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden on the sex accusations. He was granted release from prison on £200,000 ($310,880) bail Thursday, after a U.K. court struck down an appeal that sought to keep him in custody as a flight risk.

"I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter," Mr. Assange said after exiting the Royal Courts of Justice in London around 6:00 Thursday evening. He thanked his supporters, his lawyers, those who provided money for his bail and the British justice system.

"During my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of a Victorian prison, I had time to reflect on the conditions of those people around the world also in solitary confinement," Mr. Assange said after his release, advocating for the rights of fellow prisoners.

Mr. Assange was initially granted bail on Tuesday, but British litigators acting for Sweden quickly appealed that ruling. In a hearing on Thursday, the U.K. High Court turned down the appeal.

Julian Assange comments to the press and public outside a London courthouse, thanking those who support him and WikiLeaks. He states that his release is a sign that "justice is not dead yet."

As he awaits a formal extradition hearing early next year, Mr. Assange must wear an electronic monitoring tag, observe a curfew, check in with police every day and spend every night at the same location—an estate in the English village of Bungay, northeast of London. Mr. Assange is expected to appear in court next on Jan. 11.

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AFP/Getty Images

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is led into London's High Court on December 16, 2010.

The Georgian manor where Mr. Assange will be confined, Ellingham Hall, is owned by former British journalist Vaughan Smith and set on hundreds of acres. Mr. Assange's attorneys have jokingly referred to his confinement there as "mansion arrest."

Mr. Smith, a former captain in the British army, started the Frontline Club, an organization for journalists in London that supports freedom of the press and free speech. Mr. Smith met Mr. Assange for the first time in July before an event at the Frontline Club, according to the lawyer representing Swedish judicial authorities at Thursday's hearing.

The U.K. appeals-court judge on Thursday added further conditions to Mr. Assange's bail—requiring that he stay confined to the "bricks and mortar" portion of the country estate and necessitating that more people, known as "sureties" in the British legal system, be held liable for Mr. Assange's whereabouts.

Sweden's case against Mr. Assange comes as his website, WikiLeaks, continues to cause a firestorm by gradually leaking thousands of classified cables. Earlier this year it released thousands of classified files about the war in Afghanistan.

Swedish prosecutors have alleged that Mr. Assange raped one woman and molested another over the course of a single week in August, when he was visiting Sweden for a seminar, but they haven't filed formal charges against him.

One of the Swedish women alleges Mr. Assange forcibly held her arms and prevented her from moving, and had sexual intercourse with her without using a condom, despite knowing the prophylactic was a prerequisite for her. The other woman alleges Mr. Assange had sex with her while she was asleep, again failing to wear a condom despite knowing she required it.

Assange Archive Videos

• WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Granted Bail
• Assange Granted Bail, Will Remain in Custody
• WikiLeaks Founder to Fight Extradition
• WikiLeaks Chief Arrested Over Rape Allegation

Mr. Assange has denied the allegations and called them a smear attempt. His attorney, Mark Stephens, said in an interview last week that he believes the Swedish case is a "holding offense" that allows authorities to detain Mr. Assange while the U.S. builds a case against him. Sweden, however, has denied the case is politically motivated.

At Thursday's appeal hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr. Assange was expressionless as he sat in an iron cage, wearing a dark suit and a white shirt. Two security officers guarded him; his mother had come from Australia to watch from the gallery.

Gemma Lindfield, the British lawyer representing Sweden, tried to paint a picture of a rootless Mr. Assange being able to easily abscond before extradition, thanks to access to cash from WikiLeaks supporters. He "leads a nomadic lifestyle," has "weak community ties" to the U.K. and travels extensively, Ms. Lindfield said.

She also warned that the British residents vouching for Mr. Assange and offering money as collateral for his bail were fighting for a cause rather than giving personal assurances. Many had met him only a few months ago, she said, arguing that if Mr. Assange were to flee, his supporters might approve his move as a righteous act of protest by citing an international conspiracy and the supposed impossibility of a fair trial.

Geoffrey Robertson, the trial lawyer representing Mr. Assange, dismissed those claims. "There is not an iota of evidence" showing Mr. Assange is likely to flee, Mr. Robertson said—not "a single concrete block or even a pebble."

"There is no evidence that he has access to money," Mr. Robertson said. "His accounts have been closed down. As it happens, he is not a wealthy man."

Mr. Robertson added that fleeing would severely damage the reputation of Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks, and dismissed the notion that his client did not trust the justice system: "The idea that he has no faith in British justice is entirely wrong."

Mr. Robertson also noted that the rape allegation brought against Mr. Assange in Sweden carried maximum jail time of one year, with the sentence often reduced for good behavior. "He has no great fear of what will happen to him in Sweden," the lawyer said.

The Swedish prosecutor's office said Thursday that the decision to release Mr. Assange on bail wouldn't affect the continuing investigation into sexual-misconduct charges. "The matter of extradition is now handled by British authorities," Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny said in a statement.

Write to Paul Sonne at paul.sonne@wsj.com

U.S. seeks to build WikiLeaks conspiracy case

My heart sinks while reading these kind of news.. I really can't understand why these bureaucrats are wasting time on trying to suppress this information. By doing all these things they are actually fueling this fire further more. They need to think bout them as past and move forward. Fix their own language of communication and make sure that there is nothing offensive in their communication.

It is just vanilla truth.. however bitter, truth is truth.. it should never be suppressed. First of all, I feel that these kind of things shouldn't even be classified. If they have so bad details that they are becoming security risk then they shouldn't even be created or written in first place.. 

Honestly, I didn't expected this from President Obama. I was thinking that at some point he will come forward and say that enough is enough and let us move forward. But, he is coming out to be hopeless president. at least on this case..

Here is the damn article which made me write again for the day..
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BF0KQ20101216


WASHINGTON | Wed Dec 15, 2010 10:57pm EST
(Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are looking for any evidence WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conspired with a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking classified government documents, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

U.S. Justice Department officials were trying to determine whether Assange encouraged or helped Private Bradley Manning extract classified military and State Department files from a government computer system, the newspaper said.

If he did, officials believe Assange could be charged as a conspirator in the leak, not just as a passive recipient of the documents who then published them, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the case.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the report.

The Justice Department has been looking into a range of criminal charges, including violations of the 1917 Espionage Act, that could used to prosecute the WikiLeaks case.

Prosecutors were studying an online chat log in which Manning is said to claim he had been directly communicating with Assange while downloading government files, The New York Times reported.

Manning bragged about his exploits to former hacker Adrian Lamo, who then turned him into the authorities, Lamo told Reuters.

Manning has been detained at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia after being charged in July with improperly obtaining a classified video showing a 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists.

Assange has been held in a London jail after being arrested in connection with an unrelated investigation by Swedish authorities into alleged sex crimes in that country.

Some legal experts have said it would be difficult for the Obama administration to prosecute WikiLeaks or Assange, who is an Australian citizen, for espionage. Other parts of U.S. law, however, make it easier to prosecute people for unauthorized disclosure of certain classified information.

Twitter Valued at $3.7 Billion in Funding

Twitter Valued at $3.7 Billion in Funding

Twitter said it has raised a round of funding that valued the company at $3.7 billion, becoming the latest Web start-up to attract a multibillion-dollar valuation.

Personally I think twitter is not going to sustain for long time. It was interesting concept however, it was big fad and still it is big fad. I feel that it has limited utility in terms of usage. With proliferation of smart phones and apps with built in notifications in emails/facebooks and other news apps like (CNBC/CNN), twitter will have limited usage. Unless we want information overload, or if I don't have anything to do, I rarely go to twitter.

What do you think? on other hand, I think, pie is big enough that it will take care of Twitter as well... It is interesting and yet so simple concept that it will sustain test of time.. 

Train to nowhere

Interesting to read and hear so much excitement around new railway line being built between San Francisco and LA area. As part of first phase, we are starting on segment which is called as "Train to nowhere". Some 65 miles high speed track costing Four Billion USD between two cites which haven't been heard by any one outside those cites..
However, when you read rationale and logic of those in-charge of project they do make sense..  All kind of logic like cheap, faster and most importantly that no one will like to hear and own term called "Train to nowhere" so they will get funding for entire project.
Generally I am supported of public transport projects like this. However, I feel that without proper ecosystem around these projects they are going to be failure. As per current estimates, cost of ticket between SFO and LA will $120, which is expected to go up as project will be invariably delayed and will continue to cost more. Right now, you can easily find air ticket deal for $60/70 between SFO and LA. I don't know why will I pay double the amount for train.. May be better scenery for longer time? I can't comprehend this project's idea.. It is novel project based on great charity at the most..

iPad Revolution

I was reading this article in WSJ:

IPads as Weapon in Medical Sales

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703493504576007723119984758.html

Nutshell... iPad is changing way we work, live, enjoy and may be even sleep (my dad loves when his iPad is used as night clock providing him both night light and time which some how he has to check 4-5 times!!!). 

Well this article was about pharma companies doling out iPad to all of their sales force and putting all literature and sales demos/tools in iPad. I don't know where we will go with this.. 


Honestly, I was very skeptical when iPad was announced almost a year back. I was comparing it with apple TV and made big time fun of my cousin who posted on his facebook that he wants iPad.. Well I have to agree now that he proved right!!


So, what is the reason with such a huge success of iPad. I guess, it is few basic things which despite being obvious, none of the other manufacturers could understand or able to do it. I could shortlist Usability and Graphics as one the finalists which makes Apple products so much lovable. Nobody could beat them in terms of usability.. I agree. they are number one for long time.. however, I can't understand what is wrong with graphics. Why can't anybody else render graphics as they do. Starting from iPhone to iPad to their MAC line. It is simply amazing.. I watch DVDs on my macbook and they are almost blu-ray quality on TV. even with dismal MAC machine configuration, they simply do amazing job when it comes to Graphics rendering.


However, another aspect is.. it makes you so addicted to iPhone.. sometimes if I forget it at home.. I feel so lonely :-) as if something is missing from my life.. there is some kind of confidence when I have iPhone with me. I don't need anybody else if I have any question.. I can simply google on it.. Well that is just me.. But definitely iPad and similar devices are going to change way we work, play and live and off course sleep!!!


Cheers!!

Hackers Strike Back to Support WikiLeaks

One of headline on WSJ. Though I am against any form of violence but from bottom of heart I like this news. Honestly, I am kind of against Pay Pal and MasterCard for budging so easily under government threat. It is really shame that these companies despite being based in Silicon Valley participated in these crimes. 

I have decided to shut down my Pay Pal account and Cut down all my master cards in protest. I guess, if we can start some kind of revolution against these companies who are helping to suppress all the truth.. I was looking for pages/sites where we can start something like that. Didn't find anything good. May be it is time to start something like that. Here is the news article:

 

===============

A growing list of organizations and individuals that have tangled with WikiLeaks and its detained founder, Julian Assange, have suffered online attacks, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website.

The attacks stepped up Wednesday, a day after Mr. Assange was arrested and denied bail in London in connection with sexual-misconduct accusations in Sweden. A range of organizations, including MasterCard Inc., and the Swedish prosecutor's office, reported technical difficulties with their websites that appear to stem from so-called denial of service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page.

The attacks in recent days have hit eBay Inc.'s PayPal as well as MasterCard, both of which have pulled services from WikiLeaks in recent days. Also affected: Swiss bank PostFinance. The unit of Swiss Post recently closed Mr. Assange's account, saying he provided a false address in Geneva, failing to meet the bank's requirement of Swiss residency for account holders. While the attacks caused some business disruption, they were mostly annoying rather than crippling.

Nice, Funny and Pleasing song..

Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yihq8BIhL9c&feature=player_embedded

Courtesy my lovely niece Pooja!!

Obama's Tax Deal with Republicans

At first it really made me furious. I felt that he has ditched his promise. Which is true whatever the explanation Mr. Obama might have. Even though he say that this is what US voters have given decision by making Republicans win mid-term elections. However, he is the one who was not able to convince US voters for his policies. In any case, let us go back to real topic of this so called deal on Bush Tax Cuts. Looking at the deal details, it seems that they are trying to give another shot of Stimulus without calling it stimulus. Deal is going to cost US exchequer almost half a trillion dollars.  almost 1.5 billion USD every day..

I don't know from where they are going to recover this money.

However, his today's speech on this tax deal or compromise was very good and after listening to it he really makes you feel guilty for 15-30 minutes. After that once your senses are back you still end up feeling that you have been cheated.  Nevertheless, I really admire his talking skills. He does seem to be very honest and gentleman and very convincing. In-directly he was blaming Republicans about this deal. However, next elections are two years away and with such a short memory of US voters, they would have forgotten about this incidence all together.

Cheers!!!

What defines us?

I was thinking about our own perception about ourselves. What do we think about ourselves? Is it really our own perception or what other people think or tell us. Why can't our brain be simply content with it's own perception. Why it is always seeking other's opinion or perception...

Most of the time we value opinion from the people we love or whom we look at. Nothing wrong about it as long as it doesn't start influencing our own perception. You should listen to every one whom you consider as your own but you decide or act or think what you (or we) think that is right without getting yourself influenced by them,,

Once we start changing our own perception based on others perception we are simply letting our life governed by them and simply lost control of our own life ourselves. We become highly reactive and emotional to someone else. We let others control our life instead our own control.

How can we stop this from happening?? I guess this is real yoga to believe in yourself and stop reacting to what others and society thinks about you or your acts. At the same time if everyone starts thinking like this then I don't know what will happen to our society. By this opinion criminal is as right as any other great leader or person. Ignoring these kind of extreme corner cases... I believe that you need to be really honest and brave to be able to act and define yourself. Honesty and truth to yourself is first stepping stone for bravery and hence first foundation stone to define yourself. and best of all no one else knows better than you yourself about your own honestly and truthfulness...

Since we know so little about our own brain, I think it is this discovery which made all these great men really great. This is never ending thought process but I think this is it for today.

Cheers!!

Can manufacturing ever come back to US

I was reading one article written by Andy Grove in Bloomberg on manufacturing jobs in US as suggested by my good old friend Amit.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-01/how-to-make-an-american-job-before-it-s-too-late-andy-grove.html

It is very sincere effort and in all probability he is right about it. It was biggest mistake by US policy makers in 80s to let manufacturing slip out of US. That shouldn't have never been allowed in first place. Without good manufacturing base in high tech US is mostly dependent on rest of the world for most of the basic needs for goods. However, fact is that most of the manufacturing has already gone out and whatever is remaining, is going out continuously.. Unless federal or state governments subsidize local industry or penalize import, manufacturing in US is not going to come back..

Question is, whether it is worth bringing back. Honestly it is dirty work and no body wants to do it here. If we were really good and passionate about manufacturing we would have survived cheap workforce syndrome of Mexico, China, far east.. Honestly, I feel, once Henry Ford started assembly line system for manufacturing it made it pretty boring and this boredom was responsible for poor manufacturing performance out here in US.  Otherwise why didn't we improvise on our manufacturing, way Japanese did it and even with higher cost basis for labor we could have kept it here. Basically, I feel that assembly line kind of manufacturing is/was very much opposite to Free and Creative spirit of Americans. It was/is pretty mundane with same task keep on doing like robots. That is what Japanese did, automated it and worked hard on building Robots. We didn't...

Our Policy makers thought that we will have enough jobs designing and engineering robots (or machines for assembly lines). Which was true in beginning. But they forgot to see future.. Once you have basic manufacturing revolution, you start developing adjacent technologies and slowly creep into other design, engineering, testing and other fun stuff. Where as once you don't have it (like in US), you start loosing touch with this so called fun stuff which you had hoped that it will continue generating employment. Now, even companies who make these kind of machinery for manufacturing (I guess, AMAT kind of companies) also started moving work to these countries so they can be closer to their customers and market.

Other fundamental breakdown with this policy happened when US policy makers failed to reform education along with this shift in manufacturing. They thought that US will be doing high value R&D and other managerial kind of jobs and let these manufacturing and call center go out. When these mid category jobs were going and there was surge in high end jobs there were no local man power to support There were not enough students coming out of college to take up these high tech jobs and that forced US companies to go out and even off shore these jobs in India and many other developing economies. Slowly this set up took effect and these US companies got addicted to lower cost of doing R&D in offshore. So US ultimately started loosing these high tech jobs as well.

So what now? The only hope is with Bio Tech or similar areas.. Unless republican's don't mess it up.. I guess. There has to be some next Quantum leap which will spur growth and hopefully we will be ready for it and won't miss the boat. US policy makers need to make sure that there is enough emphasis on education in K-12 and subsequent University system so we can't miss this opportunity. Also, this time if we are able to get this kind of Quantum leap we should be able to keep complete eco-system of R&D, Design, Engineering, Manufacturing and QA in house. Even if it means that we provide some kind of subsidy to local entrepreneurs.

Otherwise, very soon my kids may be in line to get Indian/Chinese green Cards so that they can work there.

Unemployment benefits

It is really sad to see unemployment benefits getting expired for Four million Americans right when holiday season is kicking off. I wish our politicians more focussed on real people's issues instead of just fighting each other on useless partisan issues like tax break extension and other issues.

I liked optimism of President Obama about this unemployment and other issues which are under negotiation table. I guess he is very cool and confident about resolving these issues before congress breaks away for holidays. If I was on his place, I would have been critical about Republicans and given them my piece of mind. Well, that could be the reason I am not President.

Another thought about these unemployment benefits. Apparently these are expiring for around four million people who are still unemployed after one and half years. Even though I am in favor of extending due to holidays at this time, but there has to be another solution. Obviously, other solution is that get these four million people jobs. But apparently we don't have jobs. What I heard and read about unemployment in this recession is that it is even worse due to extremely bad real estate. Due to bad real estate,  many of these peoples are stuck at same place and are unable to move to places which might have jobs for them.

What do we do now... Fed is doing everything in their power to boost real estate market. But they are at the most able to hold real estate prices. Without their support for mortgage backed security, mortgage rates could be easily double of what they are right now and may be real estate prices further half of what they are right now.

However, in my view government should start encouraging people to move. Give them some benefit or incentive so they can move and go to places where there are higher chances of getting job. Make this sub-prime mortgage easier to ditch and move to places where there is demand for their skills. Start some kind of program where if they move, say more than 1000 miles and are able to get job within 30/60 days they will be gives some extra benefit.. May be 10K moving bonus.

What else could be done.. another idea.. offshore your human resources.. Americans are trained to be excellent sales/marketing and managers. May be start some program, let us say instead of paying them unemployment benefits at home, government will give them half the amount if they decide to move to Middle east, India, China, Brazil, Russia or any country outside of USA. That way these people will see the world and gain some good experience and even help the country where they will move. At this moment, with all of our economies interlocked, any nations' prosperity will percolate to rest of the countries. That way we may have even better world!!

US Budget Deficit

There are lot of news and action going on how to contain US budget deficit. How to stop Social Security from getting solvent in next 5-10-15 or whatever number of years..

Based on our traditional knowledge of basic business, there are only two ways.. Either you cut expenses or increase revenue. Everyone understands and almost no one likes cuts.. These kind of cuts could be delayed benefits and/or cuts to rich and ultra rich people.

However, increase in revenue though not simple but definitely achievable.. One is increase tax revenue.. couple of models proposed like reducing or eliminating tax benefits on Mortgage interest.This alone is suppose to generate 300 Billion USD more every year. and can be substantial to cover lot of entitlement expenses. However, given housing market condition this is unlikely to fly. Though it seems to be very good solution..

But all these things are penny as compared to revenue and growth which were generated during dot com boom. Don't we remember how much surplus we were during dot com boom time. Well, one thing we need to make sure that we don't elect somebody who can blow all the money in tax rebates and fighting some useless wars.

In any case, why the hell we don't work on some thing like that and try to fill US treasury coffers. Why don't we think about creating some other boom.. say in biotech.. may be make it target that by 2020 you can get brand new kidney for say 10K or Heart for 30K or lungs for 25K. or something else.. create some kind of Organ boom..  or whatever Bio-Tech could do. or some other boom like space travel race.. or say that by 2030 we should have colony on MARS.

We should spend our energy in creating these kind of growth booms rather than think how we can cut penny here and there.

What is going to be growth drivers in USA

I was talking to one of my very good friend and advisor and discussing about what is going to drive growth in USA. Well.. to begin with will there be any growth or not.. or it will follow UK/Japan style long years of limping growth.

We both agreed that USA still has lot of potential. There are tons of things happening which could drive growth of US economy. Honestly, we all agree that US gets one of the best brains from the world and these best brains in almost all the fields are respected and heard right at the top. So how could these so called best brains let US decline. They definitely should have some thing in mind. Hopefully!!!

Okay.. let us talk about us.. not so great minds but still some thoughts.. What could drive growth.. What ever it may be.. it has to be substantial or Quantum jump from current technologies. One obvious area looks to be Bio-Tech. It is there for long time but yet to culminate in real good growth. Hopefully this could be our short term bet.. What else.. my friend suggested that US still has lot more edge in security (or in another words.. War tech). So that is going to be short/ long term thing which can continue to drive growth in US and helping us become another UK/Japan.

Still I am not really convinced that these things alone can drive substantial growth in future.. We need tons of new Intel/Apple type of companies which can create substantially better products as compared to today and drive growth here in US. Alternate Energy could be another item.. however, it all depends if we can keep oil price more than $80 a barrel or not.. risky bet..

Another very strong idea which I think I have repeated in some of my earlier blog entries is Creativity.. No body can beat US in creativity, Imagination, Sales.. my kids were ask to give demo/presentations in pre school.. I didn't knew what is power point or presentation till final year of my engineering when I had to forcibly prepare presentation for my project work.. However, US is full of energy to deliver creative ideas.. in movies.. Only Hollywood can make Avatar/Titan.. in Sports.. there can only be one Kobe Bryant or Jordan.. or NFL/NBA etc.. Off course there is only one Vegas!! and one real authentic Disneyland in LA... (rest all are fakes/replica).. I guess.. bottom line is.. US should become entertainment center of the universe.. with all these things in your belt.. sell them and sell them hard..

What do you think.. are you comfortable with US future.. or do you have any thoughts on what could be next big thing which will make US prosper again?? or not.. I think US has done it many times and will do it.. We have many other nations to learn what not to do to become UK/Japanese economy!!

Cheers!!!

Wiki leaks

Heard some glimpse of wiki leaks in news. Most of the leaks seems to embarrassing at first. But on second thoughts, it just tells that all these leaders are also very much humans just like us.. though not so brave and honest  many times. or other way to look at this is that these leaders from all parts of world are at least honest and brave in private.

I think, and I mean I think.. that all the leaders and diplomats should take this opportunity and thank to gentleman who is accused of releasing these to public and.. and... should really remove facade between their public and private talks.. this way it will be better for entire world and ultimately for them.. only flip side could be that these leaders/diplomats may not have jobs in another 10--20 years.. only if they all start behaving honestly and bravely in public as well..

I am sure that lot of these leaks will be very embarrassing for US and many other nations..  However, they all need to understand that whatever full proof the system could be.. there will always be some honest and humble people who will come across these private chats/discussions/negotiations and will decide to listen to their conscience.. What ever the system could be.. how many cross checks these guys put on.. beauty of Internet age is that these things will come out.. so why keep them in secret.. just be brave and honest and talk similarly in public as well..  As wise men said.. Honesty is best policy!! just do it.. and you will see how miraculously it will help you..

Cheers!!

Job Growth - Travel & Tourism

I guess US should be more than inclined to make life easier for foreign tourists to come and visit US. Tourism can have direct impact on lots of local business and hence can lead to substantial job growth across the board.

However, image of US is such that most of the people are pretty much afraid to even try for Visa application (where applicable). This was recently confirmed by one of the incidence which was reported by my friend in India. His mom teaches in very good/decent high school in Baroda and every year their school sends bunch of kids on so called Education/Entertainment tour. This time my friend's mom happen to come with them. She had applied for US visa and got multiple entry visa valid for 10 years. Very Good.. However, all the kids were given three months single entry visa. Fair.. They have high chance of coming again and may be just hang out or stay here illegally. All this Visa thing is/was fine.

All the kids visit US starting from New York, DC and then went to Florida Disney World etc.. Back to New York and then back to Delhi.. Everything fine for now.. However, entire group was asked to visit Bombay Consulate again to prove that they are back into India. All the kids and teachers have to travel to Bombay from Baroda and stand in line in morning and show themselves and their passport that they are back.. What the.. Can't State Department confirm it from Airlines who collect all the I-90s?? As per my friend it was such a waste of time for everyone.. Where as this should be automatically be updated every where in Embassy and all the state department computers from simpel fact that all the I-94s are collected while leaving USA.

When you make such idiotic demands how can you expect tourism to grow. 

There is ton of money in China/India/Middle-East/Far-Easter countries and they can come and visit USA and spend like crazy here. We just need to make it simple for them to come here and work on our image. All the money which is going to India and China thru Call center/IT and Manufacturing respectively will be back to USA. We just need to tweak our systems so we can track tourists easily and work on making their life easier. I am sure advancement in technologies can be better used for these peaceful work..

Work on image and sell Vegas, New York, DC, Niagra (not in Winters), LA and florida like places and we can potentially see such a great tourist influx that all the local business like hotels/Restaurants/shops will be over whelmed and go for expansion leading to significant job growth.. 

Hope some one in state department and / or homeland security is also thinking and working on similar plan..

Cheers - Shailendra

Why emerging economies are growing faster?

Very fundamental question. Why emerging economies are growing so fast. What is driving their growth? Is it just the fact that there is room to grow and they have cost advantage over developed world? Or there are some other reasons. What are these reasons?

I feel that other than those two obvious reasons, there are other key factors. Every emerging country has found some niche. Far east countries have manufacturing as their key base for growth. India has services like IT and call center. These things are effecting their growth coupled with their explosive population growth which MNCs from developed world are trying to tap into.. is leading additional flow of new investment. Also, all of these countries understand that there is no gain without pain. Somber example, china has kept strong control on costs by artificially keeping cost of manufacturing goods low most likely by keeping currency under control. What ever condition of infrastructure in India may be for common or poorer segment, India is continues to provide decent infrastructure to IT companies. Also, in India there is immense local consumption and imports are still expensive. Brazil.. I guess found niche in alternate fuels and tourism.. which continues to make it grow at faster rate. However, there is big risk in these economies, mostly political.. Corruption is still high and rampant but as long as it doesn't come into growth it is fine. 


Once these economies get into growth cycle and achieve decent infrastructure and local consumption, it becomes vicious circle and then leads to hyper investment from financial community which leads to these exponential growth numbers. Once they reach to certain level of basic infrastructural support, these economies could be decoupled further with developed world and can sustain more or less on their own.

What I heard on economist today is very true.... That these emerging economies will continue to do well as long as developed world is limping around. If developed world gets into recession, this vicious circle of growth breaks and leads to slower growth in these emerging economies as well. However, as long as developed world keeps limping, emerging economies will continue to grow at much faster rate. 

Any other thoughts??

TATA Nano's Dismal Sales

Heart broke when I heard that Nano sales is pretty bad. I think quality and specs are to blame to some extent. However, main reason I feel is Image and branding issue. It was more or less dubbed as Poor Man's car. Nobody wants to project poor man especially poor people. Coupled with Indian road conditions, motor bike is much more versatile and useful vehicle. Probably, customers feel more pride in high end bike Vs. low end car. Need to understand that India is still male dominated society and key decision makers are still men (mostly.. or at least we think so ;-) ).
So what could be possible solution for this problem? First of all get rid of messaging that it is cheapest car on planet.. then fix Quality issues and may be make it more secure by adding air bag etc..  then position it as middle class car with some basic good price with built-in features like CD/MP3 players, airbags etc..  as default. Also, I am assuming that they need to break myth that it is technologically very poor car.. Focus in some high tech features and make them comparable with other Korean/Japanese cars.  Keep packaging simple so people can understand what they are getting and always offer some additional features.

Make cars little flashy.. something which gives features or thrill like bike.. may be add some sporty switch which probably will sacrifice some of fuel efficiency but give some good thrill..

Sara Palin in action..

Lot of media coverage for Ms. Palin.. She is in news and is covering lot on media on different issues. Interesting to see that Media is also covering her a lot and the way things are going, unless she has any secret or if she goofs up some something major in next year.. she is on the way to get Republican nomination.. Don't know about presidency.. as of now 50/50.. 50% chance I give only for the fact that we have elected Bush twice. If common sense prevails then how can we elect some one for presidency, who only has experience of governing the state whose population is even lesser than city (it is San Jose, not counting San Francisco) where I live..

At the same time she deserves to get all the recognition and coverage. She has worked hard and chosen her bets carefully. She is coming up as strong leader from Republican/Tea Party.. Though I don't feel that there is much sense in her talks other than some good drama type of hype..

It will be interesting to see how she progresses and shows her leadership.. However, one thing is for sure.. she will be president only if Democrats continue their goof up, instead of doing something real quantifiable and measurable..

Jobs back to US!!!

What are we talking!!! Jobs back to US?? what kind of jobs we are looking to get back. Why will they should be back??

Let us think about options or rather solutions about this so called jobs back business. President Obama went on tour of Asia and we were hoping that we will be getting some jobs back from those countries.. What is the basis of this assumption that we can even get some jobs back.. May be we will sell those countries some high tech weapons and that way our US factories will keep on cranking for some more time!! what other kind of jobs we can get back? Call-center? Software Development? Manufacturing? Mining? Smoking!!

What kind of labor force we currently have what is in pipeline and what kind of work these guys are interested in.... I really like education system here.. It lets you do or study whatever you are interested in.. In colleges, you don't select major because it might result in very high paying jobs after graduation.. So as a result we mostly get excellent and really passionate students joining and coming out of colleges.. Problem I see that most of these students are focusing on non engineering / science majors.. All the science/engineering majors are being filled by foreign nationals or immigrants.. As a result, we are mostly getting very few native engineers and scientists.. However, whatever number we are getting is top notch.. one of best of best.. But still majority of students are very creative and non-engineering..


As an immigrant, I feel that US is becoming highly polarized. Divide between Rich and Poor is becoming wider and wider.. middle category jobs are going away.. either very high skilled jobs or non-skilled jobs will remain in here.. which will result in either very high paying or min wage jobs.. We all know that those non-skilled jobs are taken care by our neighboring countries.. So what is left??

So.. what are the growth areas.. I feel there can be substantial growth in "Very High Tech" for sure.. other than that, there will be very good demand for Managers (Project/Program).. also.. Financials.. We have to agree that US financial Industry can create and sell any kind of exotic products to any one.. I am sure their creativity will continue.. Another major area for growth is arts/sports, and it will remain for some more time.. Dallas Cowboys Franchise is known in all parts of world.. no one can compete our Hollywood.. We need sell these areas to rest of the world.. and sell it hard.. probably package it and sell it.. there is no dearth of talent in these areas.. We are good and our program supports these things like anything.. Sell NFL/NHL/NBA... package tours / tourists around these things..

Sell Vegas.. Those are the kind of things where no one can beat America.. I was listening today about extremely poor condition of housing market in Vegas.. I guess.. Government should spend their bail out money and start buying buildings and houses and help build Vegas back again.. May be offer these houses to anyone who moves to let us say from 1500 or more miles.. just kidding.. Start more direct flights from cash rich countries like middle east, Russia, China, India.. and you will see super growth in employment numbers.. Ask our brothers in US embassy/consulates to give tourist visas more easily.. change image that going to America is next to impossible.. may be embed device which will track these tourists till they are safely going back home..

 Bottom-line.. instead of worrying about bringing back jobs from Asia.. US should get creative and identify our core strengths and invest in them.. What is gone is gone.. don't worry about it.. invest in next wave of growth..

Myanmar (Burma) Elections

It is amazing how can we still let this happen in this time/age.. I don't understand why not India or even China simply annex Burma and get rid of their Junta (Military Rulers) and simply dismantle them.. and establish proper democratically elected government.

What is the point of becoming regional super powers. Is it just to talk.. I think this is the time that Indian government take action instead of just talking and show that they have some courage.. If they are not doing anything now. it could only mean that Junta government is bloody feeding these politicians in Delhi to just talk rather than take any actions.. Honestly, at this point I don't care if China takes some action and takes over Burma. As long as their is improvement in lives of the people of Burma I am fine with any other country taking over and getting rid of current regime.

I was looking at podcast at economist (http://audiovideo.economist.com/) today morning and it feels miserable.. They need to do some thing.. I wish Burma had good oil reserve.. may be US or some other superpower would have been more interested in it and do something real good work for humanity..

Cisco's dismal earnings forecast..

Really bad news today.. about Cisco's forecast. I hope it is temporary and localized to Cisco. I hope it is not indicator of next slowdown or what is called second dip..

This time Europe and Public Sector is to blame. I thought Public Sector especially US was growing really fast with growth in the size of government. I am really surprised to hear contrary report on this sector. What will happen if Tea Party Candidate becomes President.. If things are so bad for Cisco now, what will happen if Tea Party Candidate becomes president ;-) They are suppose to cut size of government. isn't it??

US Jobs and outsourcing

President Obama's recent visit to India has also sparked lot of issues with jobs growth in US and jobs going to India in outsourcing. India raised lot of concerns about restriction on outsourcing work from US. Both the countries are right in their approach.

US needs to understand, either local workforce needs to be competitive not just technically but also economically. Off course there is big difference in standards of living but that doesn't mean there is so much difference which can't be off-set by productivity gains locally due to let us say better infrastructure and same timezone. Definitely, US education system is very good in terms of creativity, presentation and overall development. However, for some reasons it doesn't produce enough scientists and engineers.  Most of engineers/scientists still come from immigrant population.. Most of the master's degrees in US universities are still filled by non-US students. This does creates problem for local business. They simply can't hire good enough local resources and Visa's like H1 are getting costlier and costlier day by day. So what is option. Any medium or now a days even small business are looking at outsourcing as very much viable option. Especially with the collaborative tools like WebEx/Video-Conferencing and almost free voice calling it is getting easier to offshore work. There is abundance of qualified workforce available in countries like India and China and other emerging economies. This workforce is usually very enthusiast to deliver and prove their worthwhile along with being extremely cheap as compared to local workforce.

So, question is, what will local young generation do.. I guess, one option is that local workforce should be willing to move.. They should be even willing to work outside US where they can still command premium for their incomparable communication, managerial and other abilities. Slowly, I feel local workforce will have only one of these  options, either do high tech jobs, very low paying jobs or go abroad. In-Fact during one of my trip to Mexico some time back I did met one couple who were coming back after visiting their son in Mexico. Their son was doing great and enjoying his very first job in Mexico City.. and they were also proud of him and very excited to see their son's progressing career.

Comments?

Common cold and conventional theory about Yogurt

I was searching for correlation between cold and yogurt. Found this link which kind of supports yogurt to boost your immune system to fight cold and in a way help cold. 

I have to agree that many other links were from Ayurveda and were against yogurt for cold. However, my personal belief and experiment does support theory outlined in this article. Well it could be just my body.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000678.htm

Cheers !!

Day light savings - economic benefit vs tinkering with body clock

It was so nice to get an additional hour to sleep today. Especially as compared to, when in March or April when they take out an hour from the day. I really never liked it.

I am still not convinced that there is any economic benefit of day light saving time change. May be only for couple of months in peak summer at the most.

However, I still feel that this tinkering does mess up productivity for couple of days.

I would like to hear comments from others as well.

President Obama's India visit

It is great to see President Obama's India visit going well. I hope it will result in better business relationship which is essence and basic requirement of any other type of relationships between nations. So far it is going very well. Obama is really popular in India and actually rest of the world. I disagree with Economist correspondent that he lacks Bill Clinton's Charisma. He has different kind of magic and also he brings lot of hopes in everyone's heart. I do feel that US' respect has gone up after his election. At least lot of people think that US isn't that hypocrite. We can elect non-white as President instead of just talking about great things.

Inside US, Obama continues to suffer poor ratings mainly due to his lack of un-divided attention for job growth. However, he did great job in many other fields and can hope that he will be able to continue his work. Hope that due to business transactions with India there will be some job growth over here in US companies.

I think US needs India also to maintain balance of power due to China's growing military and economic growth in the region. India has lot of advantages and some disadvantages. India needs lot of help to fix its infrastructure. US companies have very good experience with Infrastructure development and can both India and US can gain a lot with each other.

Cheers!!!

House democrats leadership

In my view Nanci Peloci should let new democrats leaders take over house leadership. She has done her part and in recent elections her leadership failed. Whatever you say her leadership failed and she ought to take that responsibility. You can twist numbers to make them look whichever way you want and / or you can come up with thousands of excuses to keep minority leadership posts. But it only says that you are after power nothing more. If you want to contribute to Democratic party you can still do as leader. I would say that if you worry about party then you should not take any admin post any how and work hard to listen to supporters and make them heard in party leadership.

Happy Diwali!!!

Happy Diwali to every one!!! Hope this year brings lot of fun and prosperity to everyone's life.

We had excellent Diwali party yesterday and now gearing up for bigger block part on Sunday. It makes lot of difference if these Indian festival falls on weekend. Makes lot of difference in celebration spirit!!!

Cheers !!!!

Mid Term Elections - Economy

Generally they say stalemate in DC is good for economy. However, this time they are saying it will be opposite as many critical items are waiting for decision from Congress. I still think that even this stalemate will be good for economy. Any new law by congress is going to only create issues for business. Congress can't do more stupid stimulus bills. Onus will be on Fed bank. They are economist with only agenda to stimulate economy. That is all we need at this time.


In California, hopefully Jerry Brown will think this as his last political assignment and try to fix broken system in hope of so called lasting legacy. My hope is that he will think rationally and take decisions which are in best interest of Californians rather than a particular union or small group.

India's Contrasting report

I think due to President Obama's proposed India visit, newspapers are actively printing report on India. There were two very interesting and contrasting reports in today's local newspaper. First one was about number of Cell  Phones in India as compared to available Toilets.It is amazing to read these facts which essentially says that cell phones are more important than basic necessities like sanitation and housing. There are 400 million people in India who are way below poverty line but I am sure even half of these either already have cell phones or will get it withing a year or less. However, they may not have toilet access even in next couple of years. So, cell phone is more important than shit..

Next even more contradicting story was about Mukesh Ambani's new Billion Dollar house.. So many rumors about it.. It has 27 floors, capacity to land three choppers, 7 floors for parking and probably more than one hundred servants.. and what not.. What a stark contrast with 400 million people who don't even know if they will be able to eat tomorrow's supper..

Sometimes I feel that India needs some major  social unrest.. where all these poors gang together and simply attack on these ultra rich.. not that I am communist.. I still believe that Capitalism is best way for progress. However, when inequality becomes so high then it needs to be addressed and somewhere system is broken. System needs to be fixed..

US Mid Term Elections

Sometimes I feel US electorate is no better than India's or even worse.. There are reports coming that Republicans are going to take control of house back again.I really can't believe that after letting them screw this nation for full 8 years how can we let them come back so soon. How can anyone have such a short memory.. How can we expect their 8 years of Ku-Karma (bad-karma) to be fixed in less than 2 years..

Sometimes I feel that USA, despite being leader in so many things and pioneer in so many things is so backward in such a simple things.. I thought there was almost 100% literacy in USA. it looks other way..


God Help USA!!

Google street view wi-fi issue

One more thing for today.. I still can't grasp all hoopla on Google's street view car recording SSIDs of the house.. Anything which is shown or available to public from your house is more of public property. Say for example you keep table/chair on street so anyone who wants can pick it up. Similarly if you are playing music in your house which can be heard by neighbors, neighbors can complaint about it as it comes to public domain..

Similarly when you broadcast your home Wi-Fi signal outside your house, any one on street has right to connect to it and see it. Google is not coming inside your house and grabbing your signal or connecting to your internet. They are simply recording which you are broadcasting outside your house and making it available to world. If I want, I can take iPhone and walk in neighborhood and collect all the data and put it up on my website or blog or somewhere online for everyone. If anyone has problem with it, then they better shut it down or restrict it to inside their house. I think Google is doing service to them by exposing them and telling that this SSID is available on the street and you better secure it.

Bottom-line, I feel all the governments and other organizations are more of envious of Google's success on such a simple thing.. Google has done street view and other search capabilities so nicely and they are trying to make money on it. Nothing is wrong about it. I feel that they have full right to use this information.

I wish Google should start fighting about these things rather than accepting it as mistakes and trying to fix it.

California Elections..

I really wish there were better candidates in California for November's elections this year. Somehow democratic Candidates look useless to me. I really can't think of any one of them as really good enough candidate of post they represent. I feel that they are there due to their family background and fact that California is predominantly democratic. Had it been a swing state they would be out long time back.

As far as republican candidates are concerned.. mainly Carly and Meg.. they come from different background and seems to be different then these career politicians. However, their own personal record is not so great and makes you wonder if reason for their coming to politics is really well being of state of California/ns or just their lust or habit of staying in power.

I really wish that there were some really good independent candidates.. I think it is important that they should make some rules even for sitting Senators that they can't be elected for more that two times consecutively. Give them break.. May be give them one full term of all the benefits as sitting Senator.. But give them break from fighting elections continuously. That way there will be good chance of someone new and fresh face to show up.

BBC Science in Action podcast

Very interesting podcast. Lots of encouraging news. Last I heard was talking about new stem cell research to fix nerves in back bone transmitting signals to other body part. Also, bilingualism or multilingual effect on brain, particularly on alzeimer's desease. One theory which is yet to be validated is if some one knows five different languages then may be that person will never have Alzeimer's. Yet to be validated :-)

Another very interesting details about experiment where they are able to shut down parts of brain such as hearing for deaf people and their visual and other sensors goes down or let us say it comes back to normal. Normally, there other sensory organs or skills are better than normal human beings.

They also covered about Google prize of 30 mill usd for first rover on moon which can walk half a kilometer and can take and transmit back hd video and photos back to earth.

What else. Very interesting podcast. Usually with lots of good news on science which will cheer you up.

Cheers!!!

French unions

French union's behaviour is making me more any-unionism. Usually I am for balance of power. However, in this case they are trying to hide their face in sand. Everyone needs to understand that there is no free lunch. They need to understand it as well and act accordingly.

California K-12 education and Governor Elections

I was surprised to hear these two facts:
1) California ranks in the bottom of per student spending in USA
2) California teacher's average salary is in top of bracket in USA

Anyone can easily make out why K-12 education in California is in such a bad state. Whatever money we are getting is going for salary. I wouldn't have mind second fact if our students were performing really great. Good salary is essential to attract good quality teachers. It may be true as well. However, there is another fact with above two facts. Once teachers are tenured in California, there is no relationship between there salary hikes and performance. That can and actually leads to complacency. We as a parent see it all the time. Definitely there are so many good teachers. Actually, most of them are pretty good. However, once in a while you do get teachers which you wish were not your child's teachers. Problem is that, nothing can be done against these kinds of teachers. Even if there track/performance record screams that they shouldn't be here.

Unfortunately nobody can do anything. When there is budget cuts, teachers are laid of based on seniority or I should say juniority.

I wish it can be changed.

Is it possible. As of now it is next to impossible. Not that it can't be done. Teacher's union is toooooo strong and won't let this happen.

However, sooner or later it has to be changed.

May be it can slowly be made election agenda and who so ever supports linking of performance and teacher's job or salary hikes. We need to do it.

President Obama's religion

I really wonder about this big debate on President Obama's religion. As most of you know that as per some polls 20% American think that he is Muslim by religion. Some 30% or so are not sure about his religion (in other words thinks that he is not Christian).

I really don't understand all this. Is there any requirement in constitution that president has to be Christian?? To my best knowledge it is not. If not then why any body cares about it. Why make it a big deal. Period.

Mosque at Ground Zero

Very interesting discussion on Mosque near ground Zero in Manhattan in last week's Meet the press. Started with Mayor Rudy Juliani's interview. I had hoped much better performance from man like him. Actually way he was speaking you can make out that he himself not sure about what he is talking about. Honestly, I will be surprised if he can make any dent in politics beyond NYC..

However, there was excellent point for Mosque near ground Zero by other participants. They were very clear on it. Bigotry was their main issue.. If you are non-religious state then you can't differentiate between Mosque or Church or Temple. If you can have Church at proposed site then you can have Mosque.. Allah didn't do 9/11. It was humans.. Just Humans.. Did they ban building of Church or anything like that where that famous bombing of federal building happened in late 80s or early 90s by US citizens who most likely must be Christians. I am not very familiar with exact details or history of that incidence so these are my guess. So either these guys should declare that USA is Religious Christian State. Period.. or let any legal and / or democratic process take it's root..