BART should get rid of this monster hiding in the name of Union and all of its Minions..

Even I feel like applying for job in BART.. I think, with my electrical engineering degree and my experience with world's biggest electrical engineering giants, I should meet their requirement.. The kind of salaries these guys are making is so great.. I slog so much and still they surpass me... and more over with super great retirement benefits..

Here is what BART management should do.. Instead of offering any pay hike, they should offer them two options:
1) Pay Cut of 20% in phased manner in next three years or
2) Get lost.. they should file for bankruptcy.. shut down BART for few months.. void all contracts and start fresh..

Given vested interests and fake pride of Unions, I think only second option will be the only viable option for Management. At the same time, management should also fire the executives who in first place made such contract three years back. Even they need fresh start. This is the tricky part.. Problem is that this bloody management also has vested interests.. They must also be getting similarly higher salaries.. No one talks about their salaries as compared to other transit agency salaries.. In general, in any organization, salaries are consistently higher or lower across the board..

Now, who is left to take care of interests of taxpayers? Politicians? Who unfortunately are pre-dominantly democrats and mostly funded and supported by these Unions.. What a mess.. Only for this reason, I am willing to vote for republicans.. any tom-dick-harry from republican.. but I will support them.. Even though, I primarily consider myself a democrat.. but in my view, democrats are becoming oblivious to interests of common tax payer.. and I think, it is mainly due to their consistent monopoly on California state legislature for such a long time.. I don't remember when California legislature was controlled by non-democrats.

So, bottom line.. in my view.. either democrat fix themselves or they will be wiped out from California's political map for some time for sure.. I know it may not be possible in next couple of years but I am sure we should see some kind of trend towards this..

Coming back to BART again.. This got to be fixed.. even if it calls for complete shut down for few days, weeks or even months.. and overhaul it and align it's cost structure with ground realities.. otherwise, they will be soon wiped from the very same ground..

I may seem harsh and angry.. but honestly, I am trying to control my language which I haven't done in past..

LABOR NEGOTIATIONS

BART leading the way on pay

Compensation for transit agency’s workers is far higher than their peers’ in Bay Area and the state

By Mike Rosenberg and Daniel J. Willis

Staff writers

While BART and its unions fight over employee pay raises with another strike looming in a week, a new analysis by this newspaper reveals the rail line’s workers already have bigger paychecks than any of their peers.

BART workers easily earned the most money on average last year among the 25 largest government agencies in the Bay Area, the newspaper’s review of public employee payroll data shows. What’s more, BART employees also topped the list of the highest-paid transit operators in California.

And the results are not close. Even when eliminating high-paid police officers and executives, the average gross pay for the blue-collar BART union workers who are threatening another shutdown was $76,551 last year — more than the average employee made at any large school district from San Jose to Walnut Creek, any county from Santa Cruz to Contra Costa or any transit line from San Diego to Sacramento. 

BART’s top-paid train operator grossed $155,308, compared with the $109,450 that the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority paid its top light-rail driver. BART’s best-paid janitor made $82,752 while the upscale Hillsborough City School District paid its top custodian $59,360. And BART’s electrician with the highest paycheck made $149,957 — nearly twice the $79,878 that AC Transit’s best-paid electrician made.

The wages are under heightened scrutiny as BART and its labor unions on Tuesday enter their final week of negotiations, hoping to avert a second shutdown, Aug. 5, after a cooling-off period halted a 4½-day strike earlier this month. Both sides remain far apart on the key issues of worker pay and contributions to pensions and health care.

Overall, BART’s average employee — executives included — made nearly $30,000 more than employees at Los Angeles’ transit line, and nearly $10,000 more than those at San Francisco Muni, the state’s second-highest paid transit workers.

BART workers argue their wages have remained flat for four years. They say they are worthy of their salaries, pointing to the agency’s strong on-time performance, high rider satisfaction and their work maintaining one of the nation’s most antiquated rail lines.

“You buy a Mercedes, you get quality. You almost get what you pay for,” said Dennis Acma, 47, of Dublin, a power support controller at BART for the past seven years. “They’re paying for that expertise. You got people who are dedicated that work here.”

Despite the lack of recent wage increases, BART has not had trouble attracting — or retaining — people to fill their union jobs, such as station agent, train operator and maintenance worker, that typically require a high school diploma and a few years of general work experience.

Since 2007, BART has received nearly 65,000 job applications for about 1,800 line-level union openings. Only 6.8 percent of BART’s blue-collar workforce left the job in the past year — half the average national turnover rate for public and private employers — and the typical union employee stays with BART for 13 years.

The data show BART pay is above average partly because of favorable rules that allow workers to pile up lots of overtime and cash out unused sick and vacation time, which has helped some employees double their base salary. But BART and experts say it’s also the result of previous managers caving to the public demand to avoid strikes by including regular pay bumps for decades, until 2009.

“(BART unions) have a degree of leverage from a strike perspective that many other industries don’t, and this is a classic example of them capitalizing on it,” said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based economics consulting firm. “If you ask me, it’s a tiny bit short of blackmail: ‘Give me the money or the commute’s going to get it.’ ” Union employees say the cost of living in the Bay Area has soared and BART’s revenue has surged to record levels. Plus, because of management’s push to increase health care and pension premiums, employees stand to see their take-home pay go down without raises.

And not all workers are highly paid. Last year, 830 part-time and full-time BART workers — or nearly one-quarter of the rail line’s workforce — made less than the $62,680 median income in the San Francisco-Oakland- Fremont metropolitan area.

Acma, the BART worker, said he’s tired of people thinking they are drones who only push buttons and said the employees work hard, often on off-hours, holidays and weekends, for their money.

“It’s unfortunate that our jobs do hold the Bay Area hostage,” he said. “We’re scrimping by, and sometimes the public treats us like we’re above everybody else. We’re not the 1-percenters.”

But BART says it needs to limit worker costs, which, as in most transit agencies, are the biggest expense in its budget. If overall compensation goes up, BART officials say, they will have to delay payments toward new rail cars and other equipment needed to increase service. Before state mediators earlier this month ordered both sides to keep their latest proposals secret, BART had offered a wage increase of 5 to 8 percent, depending on whether certain economic measures were met, over four years. That would push the average union gross pay to as much as $82,861 by 2017.

Unions had countered with a pay increase of 20.1 percent over three years, which would increase their average total pay to $92,991 by 2016.

The pay comes on top of the benefits BART workers earn, which are among the best in the Bay Area and have eaten up half the extra revenue the agency has collected in the past few years. Employees contribute nothing toward their pension and $92 a month toward health care.

“I don’t know if it’s an urban myth or just a saying, that the BART contract is held up in union halls around the county as the gold standard,” BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said. “We have to bring our compensation packages more in line with what others have. Years of protecting the employees have caught up with us.”

Power of Bureaucracy is Sinking poor Sub!!

This is hilarious news item.. very clearly depicts two fundamental problem:

• Government/Public Sector can never work.. Capitalism is still is our best hope!!
• There are still fundamental problems with S of PIGS, which is sinking this Sub!! 

It is amazing that this so called decimal problem is making sure that this sub always remains underwater.. Can't imagine that almost bankrupt Spain is still investing in billions of dollars in developing Submarine of their own.. that too by their public sector.. Come on Spaniards.. wake up.. move on.. don't try to build these things.. as long as you can drive them safely that will be good enough for this world!!

Sub’s weight worries experts

Vessel is at least 70 tons too heavy after miscalculation

By Michael Melia

Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. — A new, Spanish-designed submarine has a weighty problem: The vessel is more than 70 tons too heavy, and officials fear if it goes out to sea, it will not be able to surface. And a former Spanish official says the problem can be traced to a miscalculation — someone apparently put a decimal point in the wrong place. “It was a fatal mistake,” said Rafael Bardaji, who until recently was director of the Office of Strategic Assessment at Spain’s Defense Ministry.

The Isaac Peral, the first in a new class of diesel-electric submarines, was nearly completed when engineers discovered the problem. A Navy contractor in Connecticut, Electric Boat, has signed a deal to help the Spanish Defense Ministry find ways to slim down the 2,200-ton submarine.

The agreement with Groton, Conn.-based Electric Boat calls for Spain to pay $14 million over three years for an assessment of the problem with the S-80 submarine program and the scope of the work that would be required to correct it, the Spanish Defense Ministry said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Bardaji, now a senior fellow with the Strategic Studies Group think tank in Madrid, said officials will review options provided by Electric Boat. But he said the preference has been to extend the length of the submarine’s hull, perhaps by 5 to 6 meters, to increase buoyancy.

Otherwise, the weight of the submarine would have to be reduced, and he said the Spanish Navy would not want to compromise features such as the combat system or an air-independent propulsion system.

The Isaac Peral, named for a 19th century Spanish submarine designer, is one of four vessels in the class that are in various stages of construction.

The country has invested about $2.7 billion in the program.

The first was scheduled to be delivered in 2015 but the Spanish state-owned shipbuilder, Navantia, has said the weight problems could cause delays of up to two years.

The 233-foot-long submarine will carry a crew of 32, along with eight special forces troops, and weapons systems for surface and anti-submarine warfare.

The Defense Ministry said technical problems are normal for projects of this scale.

“The technology challenges that these programs face during development are much more than simple calculations,” the ministry said.

“All the major military programs, especially submarines, have experienced delays and often have required the support of a technology partner.”

Bardaji said the problem was discovered in the second half of last year, and Navantia told defense officials that somebody had apparently put a decimal point in the wrong place.

“Apparently somebody in the calculations made a mistake in the very beginning and nobody paid attention to review the calculations,” he said.

Electric Boat, the primary contractor for the Navy’s fleet of nuclear submarines, accepted the contract through a foreign military sales agreement between the American Navy and the Spanish Defense Ministry, the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command announced this week.

This is the reason I like iPhone..

Pure and simple baniya reason.. almost all Android phones looses their value in couple of months whereas iPhone still keeps its value not only as new phone but most importantly it's resale value.. Even now, unlocked used iPhone 4 which would be minimum two years old will sell in secondary market easily for $250.. enough to cover subsidized cost of new iPhone 5 from AT&T. If you have iPhone 4S you may easily get $360-$370.. All the models I am talking are base 16GB base models.. New iPhone 5 with contract costs $199+tax. Without contract off course will cost you $599+tax.

More importantly, they like hot cake.. at least in our company mailer alias they do.. Where as, Android phones.. I tried only once and had hardly any response..

Whatever people may say.. I am still big fan of iPhone franchise.. best part of these phones is that they deliver what they promise without any flaw.. and user experience is ultimate.. there is no doubt about that.. I am still very much upbeat on Apple for just this reason.. I still feel that most of the surge in recent Android phone sales in US is mainly because of people's desire to change.. Most of the folks I have seen getting new Android phone come back to iPhone after their use. Android phones may have tons of additional features as compared to iPhone.. but.. but...............

AT&T

Price of ‘Facebook phone’ cut to 99 cents

AT&T has cut the price of the HTC First phone, which is preloaded with Facebook applications, to 99 cents from $99.99 less than a month after the phone’s launch. AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, said the price cut took effect Wednesday. The company is the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for the phone, made by Taiwan’s HTC and launched April 12.

An AT&T spokeswoman said price-cutting promotions are not unusual. But operators typically wait longer than a few weeks after a launch before discounting phones.

Richard Windsor, an independent analyst, said in his Radio Free Mobile blog that the price cut was a worrying sign for social network Facebook and its future in mobile.

“The final verdict on Facebook Home was brutally handed down yesterday with AT&T slashing the price of the HTC First from $99 to $0.99,” Windsor said.

This is only going to kill innovation in France..

Come on France.. What's wrong with you... what are you thinking? this is nuts.. you don't want your "ONLY" successful start-up to an American Company? How stupid you can be? One success story like (including sales to Yahoo) this will create hundred other start ups in your country.. there is no better motivation for innovation than money.. pure and simple money.. lots of money..

Moreover, this Daily-motion is distance second cousin to YouTube . I really don't see any major innovation (feel free to educate me if there are any major innovation ideas in Daily-motion)... it is surviving because some people are afraid of Google.. that is it.. There can be ten other companies like this who can really scale and do better than it.. it is, at the best ME-TOO version of YouTube which is popular in your country somehow.. and generated some good traction which resulted in $300M valuation.. I am sure it was peek.. or not.. nevertheless, let capitalism take its own course and if you want innovation and growth in your country try not to interfere with business.. just leave them alone..

Overall, I feel that Yahoo shareholders are lucky that they were spared few hundred million dollars from this acquisition.. which I see as buying users at the best.. I don't think that they will miss anything..

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/yahoo-discussions-over-dailymotion-stall-french-official-says.html

Are you ready for Virgin Galactic Space Trip!!

Seems that dream of commercial space flight is nearing!!! If everything goes well, we should be able to buy ticket to space trip and have fun and come back to our beloved earth.. Just pay 200K and you will be added to the waitlist of 530 already registered for this flight. I don't know how soon they will be able to clear this waitlist. Passenger capacity is 6.. So theoretically if they take one flight per day they could fly 1800 passengers per year (assuming 300 flight days per year) with just one single Galactic spaceship.

Will they take my airline miles? If not, then either I need to start buying lottery or make some couple of millions fairly quickly.. or my company' stock goes to $100 or may be $500 or so.. $100 still won't cut in ;-)

200K!! Wao.. it is lot of money for few hours of fun trip but then I am sure it will be well worth it..

Branson’s tourist spaceship a step closer

Test pilot breaks sound barrier in rocket motor craft

By W.J. Hennigan and Adolfo Flores

Los Angeles Times

British billionaire Richard Branson’s commercial space venture Virgin Galactic got one step closer to carrying tourists into space Monday when a test pilot cracked the sound barrier over the Mojave desert.

For the first time, the company’s SpaceShipTwo engaged its rocket motor, sped to Mach 1.2 and reached 56,000 feet in altitude.

The flight is the latest — and largest — milestone in Virgin Galactic’s testing of technology it hopes to use to carry scores of paying customers into space multiple times a day.

“The first powered flight of Virgin Spaceship Enterprise was without any doubt our single most important flight test to date,” Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, said in a statement. “Today’s supersonic success opens the way for a rapid expansion of the spaceship’s powered flight envelope, with a very realistic goal of full space flight by the year’s end.”

The test flight took place shortly after sunrise Monday beginning on the desert runway at Mojave Air and Space Port, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles. During the test, SpaceShipTwo was taken to about 46,000 feet by a carrier aircraft and dropped like a bomb.

After a short free fall, test pilots Mark Stucky and Mike Alsbury engaged the hybrid rocket motor, powered by nitrous oxide and a rubber compound, for 16 seconds, at which point SpaceShipTwo reached Mach 1.2 speeds.

The idea of Virgin Galactic routinely taking passengers to space this way was developed by retired maverick aerospace engineer Burt Rutan and his Mojave company, Scaled Composites.

Until now, astronauts have reached space packed tight in a capsule or shuttle attached to a high-powered rocket.

Instead, Virgin Galactic will use a WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft that will fly with the reusable Space-ShipTwo rocket plane under its wing to 50,000 feet, where the spaceship will separate and blast off.

When the rocket motor engages, it will power the spaceship to nearly 2,500 mph and take the pilot — and up to six passengers — to the edge of space, or more than 60 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Once they reach that suborbital altitude, passengers will experience weightlessness and see the curvature of the Earth. Then they will re-enter the atmosphere and glide back to the runway. The price for the experience: $200,000.

Virgin Galactic, founded by Branson, hopes to make its first passenger flight sometime next year from Spaceport America in New Mexico, where the company plans to conduct routine operations. The company said it has taken about 530 reservations for the ride.

The WhiteKnight-Two carrier aircraft, which resembles a flying catamaran because it has two fuselages, and SpaceShipTwo are still in the midst of a test-flight program that will continue in Mojave until Virgin Galactic believes it can begin commercial operations.

Virgin Galactic’s commercial space launch system is based on Rutan’s SpaceShipOne, the world’s first private manned spaceship, which successfully flew a test pilot to space and back three times during 2004 to win a $10 million X-Prizepurse.

Information age - Consumption Vs. Production

I have been thinking a lot about this issue.. about impact of practically infinite amount of information, content availability at dirt cheap price on the internet.. or I should say primarily on internet as there are still some avenues left to consume information and content outside of internet..

Important thing is that, now a days, kids so young in age start consuming information and content and pleasure and fun from so many indirect / non-human sources that it literally makes them addicted to this consumption pattern of information.. The same tools also gives us opportunity to produce information or content or media.. but the way I see it.. it is mostly becoming one way street...

iPhones/iPads are taking over baby sitter roles and keeps kids (and to some extent adults as well) really busy... It is great.. there is nothing wrong in easy access to content from these new delivery mechanisms.. but.. does it leaves any time for kids to produce something out of their brain? or I should say.. how much time kids day dream and imagine and build some creative games using their own imagination.. I don't know about you.. but I feel that brains have hardly any time left to produce and create content. This content need not go out to the world in some form or other.. first thing is that some content is produced by sheer imagination of individuals.. they themselves should be able to enjoy this original authentic content and grow on it..

Some of you will argue that all these new delivery mechanisms and tool sets are the reason all this content is coming out in exponential proportions.. so there is definitely up-tick in more content production.. However, this content usually is coming out of adults.. commercial companies usually for profit organizations.. Content production facility inside human brain, in particular inside kids brain has come to almost halt.. How this is going to impact in future is yet to be seen.. I am sure ultimately we will continue to become more creative and our content product will continue to grow.. but this content production is coming really from very few and these "very few" will become  more and more extinct..

It could be just my perception looking around my own personal life and circle.. don't know.. but after observing all this I started trying question... rather than simply absorb "gyan" (knowledge) from others and many times stopped following others "gyan" and started trying to think about issues with independent (whatever independence I can exert) mind.. I still find results of this new approach more or less mixed.. or same as earlier.. actually to be honest, slightly better than before as I started getting satisfaction of testing my own hypothesis and enjoying results.. irrespective of good or bad results..

Now a days.. I feel that I am going towards other side of the spectrum.. I don't know.. either way.. one thing is sure.. if something gives happiness to me... then I simply don't care about rest of the world.. as long as no one else gets physically or mentally hurt by my actions..

and that is one purpose of this blog.. I am expressing my own views on the any kind of information I come across... if I get time to think about it and come up with my views.. I document it whenever possible .. and lot of time I hear back from you all.. some times praises but mostly I hear back when people have different views than mine or when they don't like it.. which is good.. I think it helps me further.. so please keep letting me know your views and feedback.. 

Einstein is proved right... yet again..

This article beautifully explains Einstein's General Theory of Relativity along-with explanation of another extreme test to test this theory.. So far Prof. Einstein is proving right..

Though, I still wonder, there has to be some fundamental explanation of Gravity itself.. and there has to be more explanation of relationship between time, space, energy and gravity etc....

Definitely recommend reading this article. Hopefully WSJ won't remove this link..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324743704578444913060125542.html?mod=djemTEW_h


Here is another link which is slightly more technical..

http://www.tgdaily.com/space-features/71221-einsteins-theory-of-relativity-highlighted-by-pulsar-and-white-dwarf

This is one Crappy Old law which only creates monopoly and generates inefficiency

I was listening on somewhat similar issue in NPR as well. Most of the states have these type of laws on car dealership. Once upon a time long long ago these laws were needed to protect dealerships when Cars were hot commodity and Car manufacturers dictated really harsh terms and conditions on dealers. Now a days, these type of laws and rules are just archaic laws which just gives dealer association huge amount of leeway in close association with local politicians.

I think it is time to revisit such laws and change them to reflect new level playing field for both Manufacturers and Dealers..

Virginia says no to Tesla dealership

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Virginia officials have rejected a request from Palo Alto-based electric carmaker Tesla Motors to operate its own dealership at a Tysons Corner mall.

State law requires manufacturers to sell cars through a dealer, unless the manufacturer can show that no dealer is available.

Tesla sought an exception, saying its unique model for selling cars would not be attractive to a traditional dealer. The showroom would be more of a “design studio” where customers would use touchscreens to customize options. No inventory would be on hand, and customers would wait up to six months to receive the vehicle. There would not be a service department.

The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association objected to Tesla’s request.

In a ruling Monday, Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Richard Holcomb said he was unable to say definitively that no dealer could meet Tesla’s needs.

Holcomb ruled against Tesla even though a DMV hearing officer had twice recommended that Virginia grant the company’s request .

Tesla has the opportunity to appeal Holcomb’s ruling in state court or resubmit its request with evidence that no dealer is available to operate the franchise in a manner that would benefit the public interest.

Tesla is waging similar campaigns in other states.

The War of Next Big thing Between Apple and Samsung

As per this article on WSJ.. nothing extra ordinary.. WSJ Author/reviewer in-fact urges customers to check out HTC-one instead defaulting to S4!!! That is biggest slap in a way for S4.. especially from my perspective.. couple of months back I had written off HTC as a company all-together.. Now.. it seems that HTC is emerging back.. So far I have heard great reviews about HTC One.. yet to read any single bad or below average review about HTC One..

In fact HTC was one of the first good, cheap smartphone manufacturer.. even before the launch of iPhone.. iPhone really spoiled their market.. But it seems that they are going back to their roots and building great phones and capturing some market back from both Samsung and Apple. I think even their alliance with FB is also helping them.. I am definitely going to test it.. one of my very good friend has bought HTC One recently and I would definitely borrow it for few hours... I am sure many of my friends will also get S4 as well :-)

Good news is that, this smartphone market pie is so big that there is room for many players at the same time and they can satisfy different type of customers with varied needs.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578440824138699526.html

However, USA Today's review seems to be much more favorable.. Author/reviewer liked in particular Dual Action camera mode.. Capturing your own reaction for the event happening and also some drama mode where you can focus and follow one particular person..

Seems that they have fixed Display issue.Apparently, S3 had little bit dimmer screen.. This time S4's display has all the great reviews..

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/baig/2013/04/24/samsung-galaxy-s4-review/2104959/

Both the authors complain that S4 has lot of features and it seems overly complex and confusing. I think in a race to compete with iPhone, Samsung is injecting all kinds of features into their flagship phone.. Which may be true and applicable to many customers.. especially in Asia.. which is still solid stronghold of Samsung. They have really made it big screen and I would love to use it more as iPad mini kind of.. If I go with S4 or its equivalent, my primary reason would be screen size which I can use it as my iPad mini replacement.. So far I am okay..

However, in race to prove themselves better than iPhone.. they miss the whole point of iPhone's popularity.. it is simple and whatever feature they put in there.. it works and it works beautifully.. and most of the customers (including your truly!!) love it.. I am sure there must be many other customers who like all kinds of features offered by Samsung and HTC.

So far, I am still iPhone fan and have no plans to go back to Samsung or Android for that matter. However, I am really happy to see great phones from iPhone's competitors.. as it definitely raises bar for iPhone 5S and I hope to see super great iPhone 5S in near future..

Height of Social Network Data Mining!!!

This is typical example of relying too much on Social Media Data Mining and let Computers and Algorithms act on their own without human intervention.

In case you haven't caught up.. yesterday Dow lost almost 250 points in matter of few minutes wiping out almost 200 billion USD worth Market Cap. For some reasons, there wasn't enough liquidity in market (I can't understand this.. please review link from WSJ below) so it couldn't go further down. Otherwise, it could have easily triggered chain reaction and invoked all Computer Algorithms supposedly designed to safeguard respective portfolios.

The tweet responsible for this came from hacked twitter account of AP. As per tweet, there were some 2 bomb blasts in white house and President Obama was hurt.. Just one fake.. fraud tweet can clean up $200B!!!

I think, given the relative immaturity of Social Media Mining and associated Business Intelligence.. it was bound to happen.. However, it will be matter of time when algorithms will become even more mature and resilient to such actions.. at the same time hackers will also.. so this cat-mouse game is going to continue forever..  Only new angle we need to be aware is that this new area of reliance on Social Media for news and security breach.

All this may not effect your inbox or add new fraud credit card charges but it may impact you in your retirement accounts or brokerage accounts.. The added cost of securing and building defense against such attacks is definitely going to impact you in some form or other for sure..

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578441201605193488.html