Indian Economy and Superpower

The Indian ecomomy is growing at the rate of 8% . Compare that number to a country that India often compete to become or supercede. US reported a economy growth rate of little over 2% not so little when compared in dollars. 8% of India's GDP of ~ $750 billion is $60 billion and 2% of 12.5 trillion of US economy is $250 billion so we still have a long way to go.

I read an article couple of days ago that said an average Indian had a pay raise of 15% last year while an average American received around 5% but the comparison also said it will take an average Indian 32 years to match an Amerian's pay assuming that the American doesnt get a pay raise in that 32 years. And there is already news that the logistics in developing countries like China and India are not upto the standards that the outsourcing countries are planning to pull back their outsourced jobs. Mind that this is for predominantly manufacturing. So maybe its about time that the Indian economy starts pumping some money into improving logistics for the jobs that are coming into the country.

Source: Bloomberg & Jim Jubak, MSN Money.

The Guys' Rule

I have no offense against women but this one is just too good that I wanted to have it on my blog just so that I can see it all the time :)

The Guys ' Rules­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down

We always hear " The Rules "
From the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side.
These are Our Rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered "1"
ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport.
And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.
Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That ' s what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem.
See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.
In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you ' re fat, you probably are.
Don ' t ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something
Or tell us how you want it done.
Not both.
If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.
Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing ' s wrong.
We know you are lying, but it is just not wor th the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don ' t want an answer to, Expect an answer you don ' t want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really .

1. Don ' t ask us what we ' re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball ,Cricket , the shotgun formation,
or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. Thank you for reading this

Baby born on air!!!

An Egyptian lady with an U.S Passport, traveling from London to Boston on a British Airways flight, gave birth to a premature baby on air because of which the flight landed in Halifax, Canada. Now which country is this baby a citizen of?!?!

Well lets see the rules, according to United Nations recommendations, a baby born on air should be given the citizenship of the airlines where the birth took place. So in this case the baby is a citizen of England. But the U.S law states that if one of the parent is a US citizen then the baby gets a U.S citizenship. So the baby is a citizen of US too. Way to go baby!

But something that's more funny is the Texas rule for babies born on a inbound flight to Texas. While filling out the birth certificate for a baby born on a flight inbound, these are the rules

"For the location of the structure where the birth occurred (which is typically the city and county of a hospital), the county should be "In flight," and the city should be the name and flight number of the aircraft and the latitude and longitude coordinates of the point over which the child entered the world."

Talking about how hard it is to get one citizenship at a time, how lucky is that baby :)

Source: Smeagol (Ref: 1 & 2)

How do you say that: Zzyzx ?

"Zzyzx" does that combination of letters make sense to you? Or did I forget how to type?!?!




Well there is a settlement in California with that name. If you dont believe me click here

Its pronounced "Zeye-zix" how weird is that?

The Human Pendulum...

One of my recent hobbies that I would be working on from now till the end of my life is Golf. Its a rich man's game is what I thought about it till I started playing myself. But what I figuredout is that the game needs discipline more than any other I have played. It is a game where you learn to love it even though you would hate the way you play.

This morning one of my colleague sent me a link of Tiger Woods taking an incredible swing. To have the best swing in Golf, the body should act like a pendulum and the hand with the clubs should act like a string of the pendulum. The man does it with ease.

The shot was taken with a camera that can capture 4000 frames per second. The shot is unbelievably taken from 6 different angles. The music that plays in the background is perfect.

Check it out...

Source: Tiger Smeagol

Google and eBay

In the recent past Google came up with a new form of online checkout called "Google Checkout" and introduced it to many online sites. I dunno how successful the project was but the first blow Google had was the online auction giant eBay turning it down.

One of Google's popular shopping search engine Froogle always lists eBay items while executing search for products that customers are looking to purchase. eBay turned Google checkout down just because it has not been around long enough.

Yesterday morning Google struck a deal with eBay for selling international text based ads and to develop "click-to-call" technology where eBay's "Skype" and Google's "Google Talk" would come together so that when a customer wants to buy a product from Google's ad of an eBay product all they have to do is just hit "click-to-call" and the products customer care center will be dialed via one of the online voip services.

Whats so interesting about the whole deal is the Google's relentless nature to work with companies to grow in all possible ways. The other market that Google is stepping in is Enterprise Software where Google will host enterprise applications online. I really wonder how long Microsoft is going to last the software battle with Google... :)

Source: Smeagol!

Math: The Monty Hall Problem.

This past Tuesday couple of my colleagues at work asked me to solve a math Problem(Everybody is starting to think that I'm smart :)). The question went like this..

"Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is a car, behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say #1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say #3, which has a goat. He says to you, "Do you want to pick door #2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice of doors?"

PAUSE. Try solving the problem before reading further.

Smeagol: No, I wont cos the chances are 50-50.

Colleagues: No! Your wrong.

Right answer: You switch so the probability of winning is 2/3.

They tried to explain why I was wrong while they themselves did not understand the answer.

The answer is quiet intriguing cos when you pick a door in the first place, you think it has the car behind it. When the host opens the second door(knowing whats behind all the doors) which has a goat, you knock it out of your probability of winning and think you only have two doors to choose from. But the fact of the matter is when the host had to open one of the two doors that are left, he knew exactly which one to open so the goat shows up. So the other which he did not open holds the highest probablitiy of having the car behind.

The person who actually solved and proved the answer to be right is Marilyn vos Savant. It took me two days to realize that I was wrong.

The topic was much debated among Ph. D holders from all over the country but it has been experimentally tested in many schools to prove that she is right.

She is in the Guinness book of world records for the person ever recorded to have the highest IQ of 228. She was 10 years old when she scored 228.

They didnt test my IQ when I was 10 :)

Source: Smart Smeagol!