Zoho: Online Office

Got to know about online tool set called zoho.
You can access zoho from the following location: http://zoho.com/

Zoho has many tools like online word, onlineexcel, online presentaion editor, online nootbook.

Its a great site considering that when people are on the move they can log on using any browser and get a single view of the document.

I tried using the word. Its great !!!

Retirement adivice for bill gates !!!

I was reading this article on rediff...
http://in.rediff.com/money/2008/jun/26forbes.htm
which was inturn picked from forbes.com.
Forbes went and asked some investment gurus as to what should bill gates do after retirement...
Most of thoughts sounded strange and bizzare. My favourite is the following:

Chuck Carlson, CEO Horizon Investment Services; editor, Drip Investor
Gates should position his money with Horizon Investment Services (my firm). We would set up an investment program that would match his unusually long retirement period (after all, he is retiring at just 52) with proper risk controls to ensure that he does not outlive his funds.

We would probably have to put him on some budget, of course. Assuming a normal 4%-per-year withdrawal rate, I think we could budget about $6.3 million per day, or around $4,375 per minute. I'm quite confident that should meet his and Melissa's spending needs

[Amit]: Did you read the first paragraph... I quote: "with proper risk controls to ensure that he does not outlive his funds.". Jesus Christ !!!! Bill Gates outliving his funds !!!
And read again the second paragraph again... We would probably have to put him on some budget, of course This is amazing... putting gates on a budget !!!! very good.


THe only advice which looked remotely sensibe was the one below...

Curtis Hesler, editor, Professional Timing Service

Given that Bill will not have to worry about money, he can likely wed several more wives, give them all credit cards and still outlive his wealth. It requires a third generation (his grandchildren) to destroy a fortune.

His main concern should be where he is going to find competent health care regardless of cost. It is going to be increasingly difficult to find decent medical care, at least in the U.S., although he can travel elsewhere, and I am considering India myself. It is the things that money cannot buy that Gates will need most in his retirement. However, if I were him I would build my own hospital and hire the last internist on the planet (a vanishing breed indeed).


So strange the way investment advisors think !!!!

Energy Crisis: Car that runs on Water !!!

Read an article that one company called Genpax has designed a car that runs on water....

The article about this can be read at:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/13/genepax-shows-off-water-powered-fuel-cell-vehicle/

Even rediff ran an article on this:
http://in.rediff.com/money/2008/jun/25car1.htm


Now if you read the first article they talk about something called Membrane electrode assembly (MEA) which is supposedly used to break water moluecules to hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen thus generated in stored in fuel cells and then using fuel cell technology the car runs !

Now the fuel cell technology part is fine.. what is fishy is the MEA. Now to split water into hydrogen and oxygen without using energy, you need to use a metal which will assist in breaking the molecule (which is what is being referred to in the article..) This metal will immediately get a layer of its oxide in this process of generation of hydrogen. Now
(1) you have to device a mechanism to scrape off the oxide layer from the metal
(2) also with time the metal slab/piece will get completely oxidised. You will have to replace the metal !!!
so where on earth did you invent a drastically new solution ??

Some articles debuffing the technology are:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/genepax-water-powered-car-japan-debunking.php
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/06/15/is-genepax-for-real-a-car-that-runs-on-water-highly-unlikely/

Amit

George Carlin : Stand up Comedian no more...

One of the most renowned and known standup comedian George Carlin died on Sunday 22nd June 2008.
One of the most controvertial standup who had his own take on life...
Some of his performances are below

The Famous 7 words performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTyzTJTNhNk

Death:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3PiZSFIVFiU

Religion:
(An amazing take on God !!!)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

Airline Announcements:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagVklB4VHQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjKciefHo38

Airport Security:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBxzvSbGJ2w

euphemisms:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HAGc521SAo&NR=1


Language:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY&feature=related

Fat People:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M5Xm5RYTRY&feature=related


Voting:
(slightly vulgar. Be careful)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0u6lCBnRoHQ


Pro Life is anti women:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MrXvDXVhqfU


Sanctity of Life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Djohakx_FE&NR=1


Similarities in life:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgps85scy1g

children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niQ73ZlDxuI

Fear of Germs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y-yH_Qyipc

Natural Disasters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pe4XVVUbiA

Some of other videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD5L2CxRMG4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43EyTeFk6Dk

Babul Supriyo in K mood

Babul Supriyo is one singer who can croon like kishore. Though he is no match to kishore, but I do get the feel of kishore in his songs.
Below are some of his songs sung in K for Kishore

Mere naina savan :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=GfTggWSd1tg


Tum Hi To Layi Ho Jeevan me mere:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=q79SYzu3rpE

Conscious and Subconscious Conversation

Conscious : hi Subconscious
Subconscious:: hi.
Conscious:: How are you ?
Subconscious:: Not very good.
Conscious:: Why ? what happened ?
Subconscious:: Not very sure. But why do you ask ?
Conscious:: Today morning when we were coming and i had given control to you, you were mumbling some strange words which made no sense. I was concerned.
Subconscious:: Yes. so you did notice that !
Conscious:: But you have never behaved like this before.
Subconscious:: I have been like this for some time now. I think you have not taken notice of this.
Conscious:: oh really !! How long ?
Subconscious:: Probably a year.
Conscious:: oh my god!!! Why didn't you tell me ?
Subconscious:: You never asked !! you are the conscious mind not me.
Conscious:: I am so sorry. I was so busy with my work that I totally forgot about you.
Subconscious:: I know I see you every day at work.
Conscious:: You did ! thanks :)
Subconscious:: you are welcome.
Conscious:: BTW we were talking about you. Why are you not in a good shape ?
Subconscious:: I dont know, some fear and anxiety seems to have crept in me.
Conscious:: Fear and anxiety !!! you must be joking !!!!
Subconscious:: No I am not. You know I dont joke around...
Conscious:: Fear and anxiety... I am surprised.
Subconscious:: I fear the future and become anxious about my job.
Conscious:: about our future and job...
Subconscious:: yes. I fear what will happen in future and am I capable of handling my job.
Conscious:: thats strange. That was supposed to be my duty. Why are you worried ? ha ha ha...
Subconscious:: I dont know. sometimes even I get puzzled as to why am I bothered about this.
Conscious:: thats strange...
Subconscious:: Conscious, you had read somewhere and taught me something sometime back...
Conscious:: what...
Subconscious:: That learning starts from the conscious mind first and the subconscious learns.
Conscious:: Yes I remember.
Subconscious:: you had taught me that constantly reading something or feeling something affects the subconscious.
Conscious:: ok so...
Subconscious:: so anything that the conscious does for a long time gets registered in the subconscious.
Conscious:: ok. But I dont get where you are going...
Subconscious:: Just wanted to find out, are you alright. Do you have any problem ?
Conscious:: No I am fine.
Subconscious:: Now dont lie to me. You cant lie to me.
Conscious:: I am not lying. I am fine.
Subconscious:: There you go again.
Conscious:: No I am not lying.
Subconscious:: I dont know conscious, but you always are in denial mode. You always deny the reality.
Conscious:: I am not denying anything. I am just fine.
Subconscious:: If you are fine then why am I like this ?
Conscious:: Now wait.. why are you pinning you problems onto me.
Subconscious:: Conscious, we both know that your behavior for a prolonged period affects me. If you are rational over a period of time, I am also rational. If you behave Irrationally I mould myself the same way. You saw me mumbling junk words because I am in disarray. If I am in disarray then probably you have been in disarray for quire some time.
Conscious:: do you really think so ?
Subconscious:: Yes I do.
Conscious:: You are probably right. I seem to be...
Subconscious:: Seem to be ?
Conscious:: Ok Fine. I am in disarray... sob sob..
Subconscious:: Dont be sad buddy. Every body had a bad patch.
Conscious:: sob sob... I know. I have seen people in bad patches but why me...
Subconscious:: do you like to share your problems.
Conscious:: No I dont think so...
Subconscious:: Conscious, I know by nature you dont like to share your sorrows. Your ego does not allow you to. But we travel in the same boat. Your actions affect both of us. Why dont you try ?
Conscious:: ok. But I dont know where to start.
Subconscious:: Tell me about your current feeling...
Conscious:: Even I feel the same as you. Even I feel anxious and worry about my job and future.
Subconscious:: ok. What are your worries...
Conscious:: I sometimes feel I am not a very capable person.
Subconscious:: Why do you feel that way ?
Conscious:: When I sit at my dest and look at the code flowing down on my computer screen, I wonder what great job has been done by the guy who penned this code.
Subconscious:: ok.
Conscious:: Then I ask myself, If I were to be asked to do the same thing, will I be able to repeat it...
Subconscious:: and what do you feel.
Conscious:: A thumping NO !!!
Subconscious:: oh... and
Conscious:: And then I feel probably I am not a very capable person.
Subconscious:: Has the code been written by one person..
Conscious:: Not exactly one person but probably by couple... or more maybe...
Subconscious:: Do you know them personally...
Conscious:: Yes.
Subconscious:: How are they technically ?
Conscious:: Technically they seem to be good, they seem to know many things.
Subconscious:: ok...
Conscious:: and they look very confident about themselves.
Subconscious:: Have you worked with them.
Conscious:: Yes sometimes.
Subconscious:: What have you observed about them.
Conscious:: They are methodical, listen to people, analyze issues, sometimes arrogant, but helpful also.
Subconscious:: what else have you observed.
Conscious:: I see that they are very committed people. They show geniune interest in solving problems.
Subconscious:: ok...
Conscious:: They also have that zeal to learn things that they dont know about and are always open to challenges.
Subconscious:: ok. Now tell me what is the difference between Us and them ?
Conscious:: Probably we lack that zeal and are not really open to challenges
Subconscious:: Why do you feel that way ?
Conscious:: Probably because of lack of knowledge and inherent fear of failure.
Subconscious:: But even they would have faced failure in their life at some point.
Conscious:: Yes but...
Subconscious:: but you have not seen the failure. You have only seen their success and think they are better than you.
Conscious:: you may be true. But whenever I have interacted with them, they always sound right.
Subconscious:: But have you seen them during their initial struggling period ?
Conscious:: No.
Subconscious:: Everyone goes through tough times. When you are happy the whole world is with you. But When you are sad you suffer alone.
Conscious:: ok...
Subconscious:: Everybody has had a share of bad days. Even they would have gone through many trial and errors only then they would have come out with such a good design.
Conscious:: But when I put myself in their shoes I look like a clown.
Subconscious:: Thats because you have an inherent fear that you are not good and you would fail if you are given such a task.
Conscious:: Dont you think so...
Subconscious:: No I dont.
Conscious:: Do you think I can come up with such a nice desing.
Subconscious:: No.
Conscious:: See I told you...
Subconscious:: Well I didnt write you down. What I meant is that, probably you might not be able to do it today. But with some help you might reach there.
Conscious:: you have an idea...
Subconscious:: I think i fairly know the steps: Try to learn your design and code better. This will give you a hold on your daily job. Then try to see why this design works this way and clicks. Then read book on writing good and effective designs.
Conscious:: ok...
Subconscious:: Then try to implement small things on your own. This will boost your confidence.
Conscious:: ok...
Subconscious:: once you have the hands on experience, you will be more confident and ready to face challenges.
Conscious:: You want me to leave my job ?
Subconscious:: No I dont. Why do you ask ?
Conscious:: Where do I have time for all this ?
Subconscious:: You dont have to do it in 1 day. Chalk out some time for this every day.
Conscious:: ok...
Subconscious:: read things in parts. and dont forget to re-read them. After all you can pass on your knowledge to me only after you read it many time. So note down important points and read them again and again. so that I get to know things.
Conscious:: ok...
Subconscious:: Remember one thing, nobody learnt things in one day and nobody learnt without making mistakes.
Conscious:: but those guys seem so perfect.
Subconscious:: They might be. Dont compare yourself to them. Try to learn from them and enrich yourself. You dont have to become like them in a day. It might take time, but you will reach there.
Conscious:: ok...
Subconscious:: And I see that you also fear them. Dont fear them. Learn from them.
Conscious:: Do you think I am a capable person ?
Subconscious:: You bet. I know you since you were baby. I have seen you in college. You are a bright guy. You have always faired well. But probably down the line you got drifted and find yourself at crossroads and you are panicing.
Conscious:: ok..
Subconscious:: Dont others sway you. Try to find out what is good for you and take decisions. After all your decisions affect both of us.
Conscious:: Subconsious, I dont have words to thank you for listening so patently and giving me suggessions. What started as a problem with you, infact turned out to be a problem with me. My anxieties and fears have percolated to you and it is getting reflected back onto me as well. Looks like a cascading effect. I think I owe an appology to you for my behavior.
Subconscious:: No problem. We are 2 faces of the same coin.
Conscious:: you are right. Thank you so much for the talk. I will look at things in an differnt way from now on. You have been a true eye opener for me.
Subconscious:: You are welcome. We can always have a chat to solve each other's problems. After all in difficult times we are the only once who can come to each other's help.
Conscious:: bye subconscious. Will talk to you again sometime.
Subconscious:: Sure. Bye

Toiling for cleaner oil

Read the below article in economic times.
The article is present at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/Toiling_for_cleaner_oil/ articleshow/3049750.cms

Read the article below:

Toiling for cleaner oil
Cows do it. Elephants do it. Termites do it best. They munch on a plant or piece of wood, break the tough plant cell walls, and burn the sugar for energy. That’s cellulosic biofuel.

But what appears elementary chemistry in the animal gut is crazily difficult — and expensive — to repeat in a factory. How to convert plant cellulose into alcohol is the next big challenge. However, with the kind of money and science being poured in, we could be just a year away from commercial sales. Since we can’t digest cellulose, production of cellulose does not compete with the production of food.

Ethanol from corn was a no-brainer because you can easily convert starch into sugar and then alcohol. With cane juice, you are a step closer. But cellulose is a tough molecule to crack.

It takes five steps. First, chop a plant and mix with water to make a slush. Second, extract cellulose from this slush. Three, add some enzymes and convert the cellulose molecules into sugars. Four, remove lignin from the sugar. Lignin is what helps plant cells transport water and also makes wood burn longer. Five, ferment the sugar into alcohol and distill it into fuel.

From what I understand, it is “cellulose deconstruction” or how efficiently you break down the cellulose into sugars using enzymes; and how well you use yeast and other micro-organisms to ferment those sugars into ethanol differentiates one lab tech from another. If you can reduce the lignin through “cellulose architecture”, even better. Nature has provided termites, cow, sheep, elephants with special enzymes or enzyme-making bacteria that break down cellulose without a fuss at room temperature. But it isn’t easy in a lab.

So money is pouring into enzyme technology. Because they’re hard to make from scratch, scientists generally extract them from micro-organisms that produce them naturally. But the trick is producing the enzymes cheaply enough at an industrial scale and speed. Right now enzymes that destroy plant cell wall tissue cost 30 to 50 cents per gallon of ethanol compared to 3 cents per gallon for corn. The US Department of Energy hopes to reduce this cost to $1.07 per gallon by 2012 to be effective.

Some industrial biotech boffins are trying to build the ultimate microbe in the lab, one that could combine the two key steps of the process. Others are using “directed evolution” and genetic engineering to improve the enzyme-producing micro-organisms currently in use. Still others are searching new and better bugs and yeasts through “pathway engineering”. It’s bio-construction versus bio-tinkering versus bio-prospecting in the industrial biotechnology market, all with the single goal of creating the perfect enzyme and yeast cocktail.

Meanwhile, cash continues to pour in. DuPont and biotech firm Danisco’s Genencor division this week committed to spending $140 million to launch a joint venture to develop and sell cellulosic ethanol technology. The joint venture expects to enable production of commercial volumes of cellulosic ethanol in four years.

They are just the latest of a growing number of large companies that are investing in cellulosic ethanol. Others include General Motors; German car maker Daimler, which is teaming with Archer Daniels Midland and Germany-based Bayer CropScience, to research the use of jatropha as a feedstock for biodiesel production. Most chemical or oil companies you will find have tied up with agricultural commodity trading companies such as ADM, Cargill, EDF&Man, ConAgra, Louis Dreyfus, Tate & Lyle for complete backward integration.

So what’s in it for India? Plenty. Praj Industries is one of those at forefront of global advanced biofuel research. The company is checking out crop residues, local grass, corn stover, bagasse or left over straw from cane and sweet sorghum, and distiller’s grain from corn that is fed to animals. It’s bullish on Indian grass varieties as they have less lignin, need less inputs and are easy to grow.

Praj believes algae offer even more promise. Algae double in three days, can use salty water, don’t have lignin, can grow organically, and produce 500t per hectare biomass. Algae don’t just create energy from the sun. They do it more effectively than anything else save photovoltaic panels. And, as you may have guessed, they’re a lot cheaper than photovoltaic panels.

In fact, if you feed algae sugar instead of sunlight, they really flourish. Algae contain 45% oil, which can be extracted in the bed itself and taken to a biodiesel factory. Praj will start growing algae using photobioreactors in a couple of months.

The bigger takeaway from Praj’s R&D is the potential for advanced biofuels in India. By using molasses, India has insulated itself from any blame in the food-vs-fuel debate. But with crude oil at $125/barrel, we could all do with more biofuel.

India grows about 200 mn tonnes grains annually. That means 600 mn tonnes stalks, straw, dried leaves. Part of it is fed to animals, but mostly it is burnt as fuel or left to rot in the fields. If 10% is collected by ethanol factories, the gains could be tremendous. Plus extra farmer income. More importantly, we won’t need 400 mn tonnes of thirsty sugarcane.

Algae are even better because they are cost-effective, high-yielding and not fussy. That means encashing all those difficult bits of land that won’t grow anything else.

In a perfect world we should be scouting for an alternative to the internal combustion engine rather than struggling with alternative fuels for it. Meanwhile, my vote goes to algae oil. They say the left-over green stuff is great for the skin and protein supplements.

Keep these 3 things in mind while buying stocks

When you are plannig to buy a particular stock. Three things you should bear in mind about the products or services that the company renders:
(1) Is needed or desired,

(2) Is thought by its customers to have no close substitute, and

(3) Is not subject to price regulation."


Read this info from the following site:
http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/jun/17sli02.htm

[Amit]: So if the product/service is needed for human beings and it does not have a close competitor and it is not subjected to price regulation then you should proceed to the next step of looking at PE and PEG of the company...

Ex:
(1) Companies like Country Club deal with holiday resorts. A holiday is desired by people but not needed. In case of Financial crunch, last thing people think of is a Holiday. So I feel companies like these do not satisfy criteria 1.

(2) Warren buffer's favourite : gillette. Though many companies came and tried their hand at razors. Only company that stayed is gillette. Also sectors where there are entry barriers also might fall in this block. Ex: Telecom where spectrum is scarce. An example for companies that didnt obey this rule where .com companies. In the year 2000 so many .com companies came up which promised god. But all of them went bust.

(3) Oil Companies, Steel Companies, Cement companies that fall in this category. All these companies are regulated to some extent in india. Expecially oil marketing companies.
Some sectors that are not regulated are: IT.

Cognizant allows select employees to work from home

Read an article in Hindu Business Line that Cognizant is mulling to allow select group of people to work from home...
The logic is that it will:
(a) reduce costs as renting (or buying) office space might be scaled down.
(b) Employees can save time used for commuting
(c) Employees will be available always on demand.
(d) With new Instant Messaging clients can reach the employees any time.

I wish our company also provides such facility. But on the hindsight i feel its fine the way things are for me, for the following reasons
(1) If I work from home, expectation of 24hour availability will be an irritant
(2) I have seen that I am much better of in my office with minimum distractions than to work from home.
(3) Just imagine the bandwidth we will end up using if we work from home !! Frequent calls to fellow team members, Chatting on IM, infinite email transactions, videoconference with team to conduct team meeting !!! Lot of wastage of precious resource. With the dooms day predection that Internet is going to crash by 2011, if all companies adopt work from home stratergy I am sure the prediction will become a surity !!

Article on Ranbaxy Sale to Daichii

Read an interesting article on Ranbaxy's sale to Daichii and the probable reason behind the sale.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4296

Interesting thing is the hint that probably india has hit a fundamental problem in the pharma : NO innovation.

Have a look at the above warton news letter. It is a balanced look at the deal and pharma in general

Utlra Launches 2 new models : Marathon and Marathon Lite

Ultra has launched 2 new models in India.

Aptly called Marathon and Marathon Lite these offer longer distance on every charge.

Details of Both the vehicles are below:
(I have picked the details from the following website: http://ultramotor.com/India/Products/ProductList.aspx?gCountryId=2)


1. Marathon
Speed 25 Km/ Hour*
Range 100 Km/ Charge*
Vehicle weight 82 Kg
Battery type SLA Battery (SLA is sealed Lead Acid battery)
Operating voltage 250 W
Battery capacity 48V / 24 AH
Tires 16 x 3.0
Front suspension Front Fork Telescopic Suspension System
Brake type Front & Rear Drum Brakes
Extras Odometer,

* Under Standard Test conditions and a payload of 75 Kg.

Note: Marathon comes in 2 colors: Grey and Blue

2. Marathon Lite
Speed 25 Km/ Hour*
Range 70 Km/ Charge*
Vehicle weight 81 Kg
Battery type SLA Battery
Battery capacity 48V / 20 AH
Tires 16 x 3.0
Front suspension Front Fork Telescopic Suspension System
Brake type Front & Rear Drum Brakes
Extras Odometer,

* Under Standard Test conditions and a payload of 75 Kg


My View
I think it is a VERY GOOD step. Ultra realized that India does not have so many charging stations and in cities like Bangalore, where people travel about 35KM on an average (I clock 42-45 in a day) it makes more sense to have an electric vehicle which travels longer distance !! I am happy.

Am I ecstatic: Actually no.
I had 2 grievances with the electric vehicle:
(a) Its range (previously it was 50 under test conditions !!!)
(b) Its speed.

With Marathon, my first problem is solved. Now with 100 KM per charge, I have lot of breathing space.
But I am not too happy with the speed. At 25Kmph, I would look like a snail on the road.

Will I buy:
My Heart says go for it. But somewhere my mind says wait !! if they have solved my first problem, I am sure they will find a solution for my second problem as well. I am sure the lack of good speed is on the minds of Ultra folks and they will work towards it to improve the speed.
If the speed is increased at least 40Kmph (like ultra velociti) and the range is 100 Km I am game to it.


BTW:
Read of the following website: http://www.evfuture.com/ that Ultra Motoros is planning to launch an electric 2 wheeler which would look like a bike with a milage of 100KM and speeds upto 80Kmph !!! interesting !!!

:)
Amit

Crowd watches as man bleeds

I read the following article today
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/
Delhi_Crowd_watches_as_man_bleeds/articleshow/3112346.cms

Crowd watches as man bleeds
9 Jun 2008, 0424 hrs IST,Ashirbad S Raha,TNN
NEW DELHI: Yet again, Delhi lived up to its "callous" tag. A crowd stood watching as a 35-year-old accountant lay trapped and bleeding under an overturned auto for about 15 minutes at Mayur Vihar Phase II in east Delhi on Sunday morning. The auto had been hit by a speeding Maruti that had jumped the red light.

Finally, it fell upon other injured victims in the shared auto to pull the accountant, Praful Chandra Shrivastava, to safety. He was taken to the AIIMS trauma centre by a doctor of the hospital who was on his way to work. "The crowd had gathered minutes after the accident, but everyone chose to watch silently rather than offer a helping hand," said one of passengers of the auto who helped Shrivastava out.

Said Dr Anil Sharma, the AIIMS doctor who took the victim to hospital in his vehicle, "This is not the first time I have found an accident victim lying on the road unattended despite being surrounded by people." Sharma is an anaesthetist at the trauma centre. The condition of the injured is reported to be stable.

Praful Shrivastava, a resident of Ghaziabad who works as an accountant at a private firm in Mayur Vihar II, was on his way to Patparganj in east Delhi from Noida along with three other passengers when the accident took place.

"For us, Dr Sharma was a godsend. Had he not arrived at the right time, who knows what would have happened to Praful?" said Prabhash Srivastava, the victim's elder brother. In road accident cases, the initial "golden" hour is considered crucial in deciding the patient's fate.

This is the fourth time that Dr Anil Sharma, who is also vice-president of AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association, has brought an unattended accident victim to the hospital. "When people see accident victims on the road, they are bothered more about their car seat covers getting spoiled because of the blood. Would they react similarly if their own relative meet with an accident? It's a shame on our society if people chose to kill their conscience by shutting their eyes."

People also fear getting involved in legal tangles, Sharma said but added, "The bottomline is that saving a life should take precedence over anything else."
=======================================
News Item ends here

It is indeed sad to see a society which is slowly drifting aways from humanity. We were the torch bearers of a society which was known for being one large family. I remember couple of years back when I had a minor accident near CMH road in Bangalore, my 2 wheeler slipped and i feel down. I had some bruises. couple of nearby shop owners came running and helped me get on my foot. They stopped an auto ricksaw and helped me into the auto. The auto driver took me to CMH hospital. Helped me out of the auto. He did not charge anything for the drive to the hospital. This small incident had instilled in me, a hope, that humanity exists. But such incidents as above go on to prove again and again that we lack empathy.

But I think I know the reason why people do not help in such scenarios
(1) It might involve police (for what ever reason) and people may not want to go to a police station when the person is not your kin.
(2) One does not know the financial status of the guy who is lying on the ground. What if I have to pay for the charges and the injured guy is not able to pay me back ?
(3) No-body else is coming for help. Why should I take the initiative ?

I feel the following reasons stop people from helping others in such dire situations.
I hope and wish that people give their heart a chance to act in such situations rather than their mind to act.

Praj Industries: Annual report 2007-08: My Summary

Couple of days back I got the annual report of praj industries by post. I hold very few shares of praj industries. But am very optimistic of the field (in general) in which praj works and its products. I plan to add more shares of praj in future. I expect the stock markets to remain range bound for few more months giving me some breating space to invest in smaller chunks :)

Here is a short summary of the annual report of Praj (I am NOT going to go into the numbers. I am going to write about what they have implemented in 2007-08 and what are their plans for future. whats the fun in dissecting the quaterly numbers. It is a mere indication of past performance which has no direct impact on future potential. It is a mere indication). Alright from the annual report I see the following:

Subsidiaries
Praj has the following subsidiearies which perform the respective roles as explained below:
(1) Praj Schneider Inc:
This is a wholely owned subsidiary of praj industries. This will focus on Canada and South central American. It is a customer touch point in the northen americas.
This is a preexisting subsidiary

(2) Biocnergy Europa B.V.
Praj and aker solution have formed a joint venture called BioCnergy. This will basically cover the European market. It recently won a large contract from Vivergo Fuels to build a plant to generate 120 Million Litres per day. This plant uses praj's technology as the basis.
praj has lot of hope from this plant in uropian market.
This is a new subsidiary added in 2007-08.

(3) Praj Jaragua Bioenergia S.A.
This is a JV between Praj and Group garcia. This jv is for the brazilian market. Brazil is the bastion for biofuels. This is a sugarcane based ethenol manufacturing jv.
This is a new subsidiary added in 2007-08.

Other subsidiaries are: Praj Far east co. ltd, bangkok for south east asian markets. Yaan esites limited.


Shaping the future:
(1)Matrix-the innovation center:
With a commitment of close to 70 crore rupees. This new R&D center for biofuels has been established. Outside US and europe this is the largest R&D center for biofuels. This Plant focuses on manufacture of ethenol from Cellulosic.
Matric innovation centre has applied for 3 patents. one for cellulosic ethenol and 2 for high-energy ethenol blends.

Focus is also on bio-chemicals and bio-lubricants and research is on for this.

(2) Sweet Shorgam:
A fully integrated plant (from farm-to-fuel) is being installed for Tata Chemicals. This plant uses sweet shorgam as the basis for fuel. Research in the area of sweet chorgam has been going on for about 5 years now. The process of generating ethenol from Sweet shorgam has already been patented by Praj. This is a big advantage as it has exclusive rights on a specific process thereby it can leverage the patent's potential to market its manufacturing plants.

Praj is also focussing on non-edible oil seeds like jatropha, Karanja, Safflower, pongemia. It is also looking at 2nd generation oil bearing organisms like algae for biodiesel.

Geographies
(1) Asia:
Govt would be making 10% blending mandatory. So there would be interest in ethenol in our country in the near future. Some states have abolished taxes. Many sugar companies would want to setup ethenol plants. So india is a good business opportunity for praj.

(2) Africa:
Africa has vast landbank. Praj has 3 plants running in africa. 2 in nigeria and 1 in kenya.
With the on ground experience praj is exploring more possibilities.

(3) Europe:
Obtained contract from british sugar's wissington plant . Suedzucker's Belgium plant. an Anklam plant in Danisco. Above 3 companies are the top 3 sugar manufacturing companies in europe.
BioCnergy (subsidiary of praj) will help drive the growth.

(4) North America:
3 projects under execution in US. Praj has hopes from the Sugarcane based plant in Luciana. US is a tough market because of lack of sugarcane and dependence on corn.

(5) South, Central America and Caribbeans:
There is thrust in developing more plants in these areas. Colombia is Praj's key reference and they have also won orders in Central America to build ethenol plants.

(6) Brazil;
A key proponent of bioethenol. They also focus on biodiesel. Brazil has mandated 2% mixing of biodiesel by 2009 and upto 5% by 2012. so brazil will be an opportunity for praj to showcase its biodiesel.


Conclusion:
As warren Buffet's principle says: invest in companies whose business is understandable and who are focused on one thing (like gilette in which buffet had sizble investment). Praj is focused in biofuels and they are good at it. Past performance has been good and future looks good. Even assuming 30% growth year on year, it is a good company to invest.

For more information I suggest the following link on Praj's Website:
http://www.praj.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=294&Itemid=81

Phoenix Mars Lander: Starts collecting soil samples

Phoenix Mars lander has started collecting the soil samples.
This sample will be heated to about 850 degrees to detect any form of life.

Below are some of the photos taken while collecting soil samples.


http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=3298&cID=50
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=3306&cID=50
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=3304&cID=50
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=3320&cID=50
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=3239&cID=49 (color image)

Energy Crisis: Part 5 : Why Oil futures are rising...

The below article is present at the below link.
http://in.rediff.com/money/2008/jun/02mrv.htm
by M R Venkatesh

I personally felt that the below article concurs what even I strongly believe in. The article is worded better that what I could have written. Please read the below article.

The real reason why oil prices are rising
By now it is becoming too obvious that the United States is playing the oil game all over again. And this is the desperate gamble of a country whose economy is neck deep in trouble.

Given this scenario, managing prices of oil is central to the US economic architecture. Expectedly, this gamble has been played in a great alliance between the US government, US financial sector and the media.

I have earlier written about:

* The impending collapse of the US dollar on account of the inherent weakness in the US economy caused by its structural weakness as reflected in the sub-prime crisis;
* The repeated softening of the interest rates in the US that has the potency to kill the US dollar; and
* How the fall in the US dollar suits the US corporate sector, especially its omnipotent financial sector.

Naturally, since the past few years, the US financial sector has begun to turn its attention from currency and stock markets to commodity markets. According to The Economist, about $260 billion has been invested into the commodity market -- up nearly 20 times from what it was in 2003.

Coinciding with a weak dollar and this speculative interest of the US financial sector, prices of commodities have soared globally.

And most of these investments are bets placed by hedge and pension funds, always on the lookout for risky but high-yielding investments. What is indeed interesting to note here is that unlike margin requirements for stocks which are as high as 50 per cent in many markets, the margin requirements for commodities is a mere 5-7 per cent.

This implies that with an outlay of a mere $260 billion these speculators would be able to take positions of approximately $5 trillion -- yes, $5 trillion! -- in the futures markets. It is estimated that half of these are bets placed on oil.

Readers may note that oil is internationally traded in New York and London and denominated in US dollar only. Naturally, it has been opined by experts that since the advent of oil futures, oil prices are no longer controlled by OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). Rather, it is now done by Wall Street.

This tectonic shift in the determination of international oil prices from the hands of producers to the hands of speculators is crucial to understanding the oil price rise.

Today's oil prices are believed to be determined by the four Anglo-American financial companies-turned-oil traders, viz., Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, J P Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley. It is only they who have any idea about who is entering into oil futures or derivative contracts. It is also they who are placing bets on oil prices and in the process ensuring that the prices of oil futures go up by the day.

But how does the increase in the price of this oil in the futures market determine the prices of oil in the spot markets? Crucially, does speculation in oil influence and determine the prices of oil in the spot markets?

Answering these questions as to whether speculation has supercharged the demand for oil The Economist, in its recent issue, states: 'But that is plain wrong. Such speculators do not own real oil. Every barrel they buy in the futures markets they sell back again before the contract ends. That may raise the price of 'paper barrels,' but not of the black stuff refiners turn into petrol. It is true that high futures prices could lead someone to hoard oil today in the hope of a higher price tomorrow. But inventories are not especially full just now and there are few signs of hoarding.'

On both counts -- that speculation in oil is not pushing up oil prices, as well as on the issue of the build-up of inventories -- the venerable Economist is wrong.

The finding of US Senate Committee in 2006

In June 2006, when the oil price in the futures markets was about $60 a barrel, a Senate Committee in the US probed the role of market speculation in oil and gas prices. The report points out that large purchase of crude oil futures contracts by speculators has, in effect, created additional demand for oil and in the process driven up the future prices of oil.

The report further stated that it was 'difficult to quantify the effect of speculation on prices,' but concluded that 'there is substantial evidence that the large amount of speculation in the current market has significantly increased prices.'

The report further estimated that speculative purchases of oil futures had added as much as $20-25 per barrel to the then prevailing price of $60 per barrel. In today's prices of approximately $130 per barrel, this means that approximately $100 per barrel could be attributed to speculation!

But the report found a serious loophole in the US regulation of oil derivatives trading, which according to experts could allow even a 'herd of elephants to walk to through it.' The report pointed out that US energy futures were traded on regulated exchanges within the US and subjected to extensive oversight by the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) -- the US regulator for commodity futures market.

In recent years, the report however pointed out to the tremendous growth in the trading of contracts which were traded on unregulated OTC (over-the-counter) electronic markets. Interestingly, the report pointed out that the trading of energy commodities by large firms on OTC electronic exchanges was exempted from CFTC oversight by a provision inserted at the behest of Enron into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000.

The report concludes that consequential impact on account of lack of market oversight has been 'substantial.'

NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) traders are required to keep records of all trades and report large trades to the CFTC enabling it to gauge the extent of speculation in the markets and to detect, prevent, and prosecute price manipulation. In contrast, however, traders on unregulated OTC electronic exchanges are not required to keep records or file any information with the CFTC as these trades are exempt from its oversight.

Consequently, as there is no monitoring of such trading by the oversight body, the committee believes that it allows speculators to indulge in price manipulation.

Finally, the report concludes that to a certain extent, whether or not any level of speculation is 'excessive' lies entirely in the eye of the beholder. In the absence of data, however, it is impossible to begin the analysis or engage in an informed debate over whether our energy markets are functioning properly or are in the midst of a speculative bubble.

That was two years back. And much water has flown in the Mississippi since then.

The link to the spot markets

Now to answer the second leg of the question: how speculators are able to translate the future prices into spot prices.

The answer to this question is fairly simple. After all, oil price is highly inelastic -- i.e. even a substantial increase in price does not alter the consumption pattern. No wonder, a mere 3-4 per cent annual global growth has translated into more than a 40 per cent annual increase in prices for the past three or four years.

But there is more to it. One may note that the world supply and demand is evenly matched at about 85 million barrels every day. Only if supplies exceed demand by a substantial margin can any downward pressure on oil prices be created. In contrast, if someone with deep pockets picks up even a small quantity of oil, it dramatically alters the delicate global demand-supply gap, creating enormous upward pressure on prices.

What is interesting to note is that the US strategic oil reserves were at approximately 350 million barrels for a decade till 2006. However, for the past year and a half these reserves have doubled to more than 700 million barrels. Naturally, this build-up of strategic oil reserves by the US (of 350 million barrels) is adding enormous pressure on the oil demand and consequently its prices.

Do the oil speculators know of this reserves build-up by the US and are indulging in rampant speculation? Are they acting in tandem with the US government? Worse still, are they bordering on recklessness knowing fully well that if the oil prices fall the US government will be forced to a 'Bears Stearns' on them and bail them out? One is not sure.

But who foots bill at such high prices? At an average price of even $100 per barrel, the entire cost for the purchase of this additional 350 million barrels by the US works out to a mere $35 billion. Needless to emphasise, this can be funded by the US by allowing it currency printing presses to work overtime. After all, it has a currency that is acceptable globally and people worldwide are willing to exchange it for precious oil.

No wonder Goldman Sachs predicts that oil will touch $200 to a barrel shortly, knowing fully well that the US government will back its prediction.

And, in the past three years alone the world has paid an estimated additional $3 trillion for its oil purchases. Oil speculators (and not oil producers) are the biggest beneficiaries of this price increase.

In the process, the US has been able to keep the value of the US dollar afloat -- perhaps at an extra cost of a mere $35 billion to its exchequer!

The global crude oil price rise is complex, sinister and beyond innocent economic theories of demand and supply. It is speculation, geopolitics and much more. Obviously, there is a symbiotic link between the US, the US dollar and the oil prices. And unless this truth is understood and the link broken, oil prices cannot be controlled.

Marc the millionarire on Park Aveanue

I was reading the book "Fooled By Randomness" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. In one of the sections called "Too Many Millionaires Next Door" he tells the story of Marc a Lawyer in NewYork city. I have rephrased the section below:

Mark is a lawyer in Newyork city and stays in Manhattan along with his wife. He is an intelligent lawyer who studied in harvard college and did his law from the Yale Law school. In his late 40s and earning about $500,000 he was a well settled man. His office life was hectic. He would work till 9:30 on many days and sometimes you would find him in the office even at midnight. Because of the fatigue his weekends would be lost in recuparating from the excessive work loads. He had become a partner within 7 years of his initial working years. All this hardwork left his wife frustrated and she left him.

He started dating janet, his paralegal. Later on he married her and bought an appartment on Park Avenue. Janet used to meet people from the neighbourhood manhattan houses probably once a month during the parents meet. Because of her homely girl appearance she would get snubbed by some people. She would even get jealous looking at the huge diamond ring some other lady would be wearing. Then she would wonder why her husband, even though was a yale graduate, was not earning enough to buy her all these itesms. Isn't he smart ? Why was Ronald Something whose wife would not even look at janet, worth so many millions where as her husband who was a yale graduate did not have enough savings ?

Now Janet has a feeling that her husband is a failure. But her comarision is wrong and the conclusion drawn (i.e. her husband is a failure) is totally baseless. Because she is using a wrong distribution to derive a rank.

Now compared to the General US population, Mark has done very well, better than 99.5% of his compatriots. Compared to his other harward friends he did better than 90% of them. Compared to his batchmates from Yale Law school his did better than 60% of them. BUT compared to his neighbours he is at the bottom...
why ? Because he chose to live on Park Aveanue where every neighbour is successful. But Janet did not consider the failure cases. If a guy was a failure he would not be living on the Park aveanue in the first place. So Janets sample space consisted only of successful people as living on park aveanue will not give you failures for comparision and hence she felt Marc is a failure. This lead to considerable emotional distress. Here she has married an extremely successful man but all she can see is failure in comparision with her neighbours.

Janets vision is myopic. and the sample space of comparision is wrong. This sample space is a small collection of extremely successful people in the city and comparing among them to find out your standing and being sad that marc is a failure would be doing injustice to Marc.

Moral:
When you compare youeself with others and feel you are a failure because you seem to be at the bottom of the sample space of your comparision. Just cross check your sample space. You might have actually chosen a worng set of guys/ladies to compare yourself with.

In janets case it would be better if she moves from the park aveanue and move into a different neighbourhood.

Regarding Sales tax and also my take on diesel cars

Today I have 3 spearate blog entries that I plan to write.

First one is Regarding Sales tax and also my take on diesel cars
Second one is about Mac the intelligent man but a Tonga horse
Third one is about how Women's brain is wired differently compared to men.


State Govts Reduce the sales tax on fuel
Yesterday the central government increased the fuel prices. But a day after the price hike, the state governments have reduced the sales tax on petrol Supposedly to reduce the burden on the public.
I was not too happy with the announcement
(1) You again shielded people from getting to know the pinch of rising oil prices. If people do not pay through the nose how will they ever come to know the hard reality that oil is INDEED a non renewable source of energy and we should reduce our usage of oil.
(2) Now the state governments fiscal deficits will rise. Since the state govt has reduced the sales tax, the government looses that much money. Which means that its plans for the year have to be chalked out again. If it was planning to use this money somewhere, then THAT particular project will either be shelved or reduced to size or the state government will take loans to full fil the need which will increase its fiscal defecit.

Very sad indeed...


Diesel Cars A smart Stratergy
About 8-10 years back people did not prefer diesel cars because they were very noisy and produced lot of black smoke. But as technology advanced the cars became less noisy and emitter less smoke. So more people started to buy the diesel cars.
Now a days diesel cars are in full flow. Every other car manufacturing company has a diesel varient of its car and they are fast selling.
Reason: Diesel is cheaper than Petrol and milage is the same so it is cheaper to drive a diesel car...

Diesel is cheaper !!! you are kidding me !!!!
If you go and check the prices of petrol and diesel in UK at the following website: http://www.petrolprices.com/ you will be shocked to see that petrol costs much more than diesel. This is because now a days production of "clean" diesel takes lot of processing and hence costs more...

BUT, in india, diesel is much cheaper than petrol. Also whenever there is a price hike, the price of petrol is always increased more than that of diesel. This is because all High Tension Vehicles (HTVs. Huge Vehicles like Goods carriers) run on diesel. Now these vehicles are run by Merchants to carry their produce to differnt parts of the world. If the diesel prices are increased then these merchants have to pay more to transport their produce there by increasing their production/transportaion costs. This has following consequences:
(a) It hits their profits because they would have negotiated the price for their produce with the customer before hand. Now if fuel prices are increased, they cannot renegotiate the price, so their profits are hit.
(b) Now after taking the hit the first time, for all subsequent transactions they will negotiate the price for produce at a higher price. This rises the cost of the product by the time it reaches the aam junta (common man). SO now the common man has to pay more. So it starts pinching him. So he either cribs and still buys it or will reduce his expenditure on those items.
(c) Either way there is a rise in inflation which gets newspaper headlines with journalists shouting at the top of their voice. They will get hold of few people and ask for their opinion about the rising price of kanda (onion). People would make a grim face and say that they are suffering because of the rising prices... it becomes a political issue.

So what started as a price hike in diesel results in a serious political problem (remember many state governments in maharashtra have lost power because of rise in prices of just one Item: onion).

In order to curtail this big chain of events, the govt always goes soft on rising the diesel price. On the other hand if you increase petrol price at the most the aam junta (common man) cannot travel by his vehicle. SO worst comes to worst he/she would car pool or take the public transport (which BTW runs on diesel...). So it does not have a serious impact. So govt always rises the prices differentially. Bisaed towars rising petrol price by a higher percentage.

Now coming back to the main point. This particular fact is being exploited and people buy diesel cars as the operating cost of a diesel car will always be less than that of a petrol car thanks to the possible impact the price rise of diesel will have.

Credit Cards, Petrol Price Hike

Read the following two news Items.

(1) ICICI levis fee for payment by Cash !!
ICICI bank has levied a fee of Rs 100 if you make payments for your credit card by Cash !!! Doesnt it sound strange... You use your credit card and end up with a bill and when you try to pay the amount by cash you have to pay Rs 100 extra if you make payment by cash !!!
This has two implications
(a) ICICI bank earns 100 Rd every time. So windfall profits...
(b) Now you are inclined to make payments by cheque. Now in almost all banks you have a drop box for cheques. Most of the pivate banks dont take cheques directly. So they are not directly and bindingly liable if the cheque is lost. Now suppose your cheque is lost then your paymnents dont reach on time and in your next months bill you will see an interest because of non payment of your previous dues...
Hows that for owning a credit card !!!!!

(2) Petrol Price finally hiked
After all the dilly dallying, simmering, ducking behind, the government mustered the courage to rise the price of petrol by Rs 5 and Diesel by Rs 3 and LPG by Rs 50. Better late than never, I felt the quantum of rise was good. Even though the deficit is around Rs 20 for pertrol and Rs 23 for diesel, atleast some positive step to save the oil marketting companies from going bust...

I feel after this hike the following will happen:
(a) There will be a bandth in West Bengal and Kerala.
(b) People will suddenly reduce their usage of vehichles. Then there will be a withdrawal attack and they will come back to normal usage though being cautious of their spendings on fuel.
(c) Many people will start seriously thinking about buying vehicles which run on alternate fuels.
(d) Companies will give more thrust on vehicles run on alternate fuels.

On the fiscal Side I can clearly see 2 things happening
(a) Along with the price rise there is a reduction in customs and excise duty. This cuts into the govts income. Since this has not been accounted in the budget, you will see fiscal defcit rising.
It is not a good sign if your defecits are rising. It means govt is short of money by that much amount. If govt needs that much money then it will have to borrow from external world. Not a healthy sign for a growing economy.

(b) Other than increasing price, reducing Customs and Excise duty, Govt has also issued oil bonds to the company. These oil bonds are like a guarantee from the govt to oil marketting companies that the govt will pay them this amount in future. Now even this has not been accounted in the budget. This is again an off budget liability. This is also not a very healthy sign.

In order to cushion the general public from a steep rise of petrol price, the govt has taken a hit by cutting Customs and Excise Duties and also issuing Oil Bonds.

What was the alternative : I respect the decision of the govt and feel it is a fairly ok decision done. Let me explain why I feel that it is a good decision.
(a) Rising the price was necessary as the global crude price is rising and govt cannot go on issueing oil bonds also it cannot let the oil marketting companies die of lack of liquidity. So no second thoughts on that
(b) I dont have second thoughts on the quantum of rise as well. Oil Marketting comapnies are kaing a loss of Rs 20 on every litre of Petrol. So a hike of Rs 5 (25% of the total loss) is Ok. Lets take an irrational look and say that the govt had increased the price by Rs 20, it would have been catastrophic... Firstly because people cannot pay such a large sum at such a short notice. It would lead to mass unrest. Secondly to transport all our daily needs like milk, vegetables, bread and butter, cloths, stationaries, newspaper the manufaturers need vehicles and hence need petrol/diesel. If we suddenly rise the price of petrol and diesel, there will be a cascading effect on the price of milk, vegetables, breads, atta and other items. So one one hand we cant use our vehicles because of the sudden rise in petrol prices. And then prices of all essential commodities would rise sharply. This will lead to sudden severe blow on the common man. He will definitely come on streets. Mass unrest you bet !!! (Inflation would have crossed 12 - 13 !!!!)


PS: BTW Price of crude oil is around $123 per barrel as of today. It was about $135 per barrel at its peak. So some positive news.

Removing spikes from samples

I am reading a book called Fooled by Randomness by a derivatives trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

In one of the chapters he mentions about how sampling and removal of spikes from the samples can lead to improper interpretation of facts...

In the section called Symmerty and Science on Page 105, he explains how most people remove the highest and lowest values while calculating averages. Below I summarize his arguement

Example 1:
A professor would remove the highest and lowest marks as spikes and uses only the rest of the values to find an average of class marks. The author feels it is an unsound practice.

Example 2:
A whether forcaster removes the spikes in the temperature while calculating the average temperature assuming that these are rare events and would not occur again.
Suppose somebody uses this average temperature to forcast global warming and the rate of melting of polar ice caps, the guy might horribly go wrong because while calculating the average temperature, the spikes were ignored as one off event. But this one off event could have caused disproportionate melting of ice. By ignoring this spike in temperature you ignored the irreversible affect this specific temperature rise could have caused on the ice caps.

Example 3:
He uses the above two arguements to nail the stock/derivatives markets forcasters and says:
I quote
"So people in finance borrow the technique and ignore infrequent events, not noticing that the effect of a rare event can bankrupt a company"
So such events although rare, brings large consequencs that cannot be just ignored"
unquote

A recent example of one such thing that immediately comes to my mind is the subprime crisis. In the history of Baer Sterns They might have made so many intelligent investments, stratergic buyouts. But Subprime Crisis brought the investment bank on it knees. So one rare event crippled the whole bank. If you were to remove this one event from the history of Bear Sterns and look at the performance of Baer Sterns you would feel that it is an excellent investment company... Then why on earth did it crash from close to $100 to $2 !!

Hippie culture at its peak

have a look at the following photo.
Dont the represent the hippie culture of the 70s with the long beard, unkept hair.. humm... would the americans had cast their votes to this guy just by looking at this picture ? What if I tell you that this man has been the president of US 2 times and the lady in the picture is actually trying her bid for the presidential race !!

:))

The above picture os present at the following URL:
http://www.clevelandseniors.com/images/quiz/famous/bill-hillary-clinton.jpg

Some more interesting pics at:
http://www.lanetabletennis.net/Images/bill_hillary_clinton.jpg
http://www.yorktownsquare.com/img/clintonX00109_9.jpeg
http://www.fiveanddime.net/hillary-clinton-for-president-in-2008/hillary-bill-1998-sm.jpg
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/graphics/2006/08/22/babenson500.jpg
http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/slidefile/mammals/wolf/Images/15094.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2178/1844982770_8713ec9d23_o.jpg
http://a.abcnews.com/images/Nightline/ap_bill_chelsea_080226_ssv.jpg (doesnt she look like Bill !!!)

Car and two wheeler sales numbers for May

For those of you who track the Automotive sectors or have investments in them, here are some of the numbers for automotive sector for the month of may:

Car Sales Numbers
1. Maruti Suzuki
Total Vehicles Sold : 69,000
Breakup of sales:
Maruti 800 : 6,830
Alto, swift, wagon R, Zen : 44,000
Total Vehicles Exported: 4858
2. Hyundai
Total vehicles Sold: 40,261
3. Tata Motors
(indica, indigo...)
Total Vehicles Sold: 19,234
4. General Motoros
(ford and others...)
Total Vehicles sold : 5,789
5. Honda Siel Cars
(city, civic...)
Total vehicles sold: 3,944
6. Skoda India
Total Vehicles Sold: 1,892
7. Mahindra
(logan)
Total Vehicles sold: 1,531

Note: Maruti holds 50 % share of indian 4-wheeler industry

2 wheelere Sales Numbers
1. Hero Honda
Total Vehicles Sold: 3.12 Lakh
2. Bajaj
Total Vehicles Sold: 1.79 Lakh
3. TVS
Total Vehicles Sold: 1.13 Lakh
4. Honda Motorcycles and Scooters
(Unicorn, Shine, Activa, Dio...)
Total Vehicles Sold: 86,083

Source: I picked up the following information from The Hindu Business Line 3-Jun-2008.

Snippets from Todays The Hindu Business Line

I found the following two snippets from todays The Hindu Business Line interesting...

The Report of the Commission on Growth and Development :
Recently world bank released a report called the "The Report of the Commission on Growth and Development".

It takes into account the various views of developing countries that have scored sustained success. In the report they have a section on Avoiding Bad Ideas. They observe the following and I quote:
The report mentions that one of the important bad ideas is to subsidise energy except for limited subsidies targeted at highly vulnarable sections of people.
Another Bad idea is that of using price control to tame inflation...

unquote

Isnt it sad that India suffers from both these bad ideas...
Firstly
Oil is sold at a subsidy shielding people from knowing the true impact of oil price rise thereby making them irresponsible towards the sensitive issue
Secondly
Making the corporate sector to bend their back and control their price on cement, iron and steel to avoid inflation.
Inflation this time is a supply side inflation. Govt should be bothered about how to tame inflation by increasing/improving the supply !!!


Bright prospects of Solar Power in Europe :
Under the Municipality of Sanlucar la Mayor in Spain has a very large Solar farm. They have about 650 solar pannels each of 120 Square meters. These are both Mirrors and Photo voltaics. They trace the sun throughout the year and reflect the energy onto the solar receptors located on a 40 Storey tower.
Water passes through the pipes at the top and it gets heated enough to become steam which drives the trubines.. This plant is supposed to generate 300MW of energy for around 18,000 Homes (that should cover entire south bangalore !!!!)

The article goes on to menntion about germany being the largest installer of photo voltaic instruments. Subsequently the article went on to highlight the fact that europe is one of the most active proponents of solar energy and driving the growth of solar energy. The article also gave details about the ambitious future plans of Europian council to generate 35% of their energy needs through solar power.

I looked at the article and wondered what on earth are we doing to tap the precious solar power !!! With such a vast country having stretches of lands very well lit with solar power (infact the thar desert is a living example of opportunity wasted !!!), India should be the drivers of Solar energy...
Unfortunately we dont recognize this opportunity. If Japan or Germany had these stretch of barren land you would have seen hordes of solar pannels completly covering the desert.

But I am hopeful. Companies like Reliance, Moser Baer give me the confidence that we are making good progress towards utilizaing the solar power.