Srikanthmanvi's Weblog

No More ‘What You See Is What You Get’, But its ‘What You Make From What You See’

srikanth — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:43:22 +0000

I was really amazed when my friend Sandeep showed my this video on Youtube. Mr Defence Analyst from Pakistan trying to make a point about Mumbai Taj Hotel attacks. Mr Analyst says it is India’s strategy to attack its own people, so that India gets the much needed international attention, so that uncle Sam likes his India cousin more than Pakistani cousin.

I could see a sense of fear in him when he was delivering his part of bullshit. It was like a thief caught red handed trying to give his explanation.

The last statement proves his guilt when he appeals his fellow pakistanies to be ready to fight a war with India… dude has india talked anything of war ??

Many of us saw what happened in Mumbai, We learnt many of our mistakes, Its amazing that this guy learnt such a thing from what he saw..

Genome..Technology Gives Birth

srikanth — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:27:51 +0000

For most of us of our generation, at least the keyboard hitting humans, the first thing that strikes the mind when we hear the word “Genome”, is the open source linux desktop project. There is in fact a much more bigger and different World from where the word has its origin. Genome is a complete set of chromosomes,genes that make up the somatic cells. Organisms are made up of somatic cells. Somatic cells are the result of union of gametes. Gametes are the male and female cells that combine to form a somatic cell which eventually turns into an organism. This process has been in place since centuries in the name of reproduction/evolution etc. All was fine and valid till now as it was a natures game. Now humans with the help of technology have a hand in it.

Mammoth hair – Photo Released by Penn State University (Source : http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-11/20/content_7223499.htm)

Scientists at the Penn State University for the first time have drafted the genome of an extinct animal. The animal is the mighty Mammoth. The genome was recreated using the hair preserved since thousands of years. If approved, it would not be too difficult to give life to a new Mammoth in the lab. The science fictions like Jurassic Park may loose their fictitious status in few years.

Of course, giving birth to an extinct specie is not a straight forward task, leave alone the technical difficulties involved, there would be lots of ethical, moral issues raised and discussed before the decision.

Though Homo Sapiens may have their own gains like using the Neanderthals to battle against their enemies, days wouldnt be far when this could lead us to raceism 2.0 . Black/White/brown/asian differences would be replaced by Neanderthals/Homo habilis/Homo erectus/Homo sapiens (Not in specify order).

Ireland Getting Bankrupt ??

srikanth — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:55:31 +0000

There are many countries that are suffering due to the economic situation. But what amazes few of them go unheard inspite of getting wounded more badly than US.

The Dow Jones Industrial average has fallen by around 20% in the past 3 months(aug-oct).

The Reykjavik stock exchange(Iceland) has fallen by 65 %, much higher than Dow.

Ireland has set a bail out of 400 Billion Euro for the bank which may need if the economy goes down. In case the banks use the whole of 400 billion, the country will be bankrupt for the next 37 years.(NY Times, Eric Go Burst, by John Banville, 16th Oct 2008).

US $700 Billion Bail out …where does the money go?

srikanth — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:57:57 +0000

Over the past few weeks there has been lot of action happning in the US financial circles.

The Treasury department set aside $700 Billion to help the economy to come back to normalcy.

Mr Neel Kashkari is the man responsible to spend the tax payers money.

Yesterday the 14th of october, Henery M Paulson had a meeting with the CEO s of 9 big banks in US and forced them to sign an agreement. The agreement talked about how the government would interveen into the US banking system. Below are the highlights of the terms and conditions

The agreement forces the banks to sell their stocks to the government. Government will buy stocks worth $250 billion. Government would buy the stocks 20days from now. The price at which it buys would be the average price of these 20 days. By this way, if the investors get confidence in the banks the stock prices go up and the government pays more money to the banks, banks make profit, and in turn pay back the loan sooner. The government can resell the equities at anytime if it feels it can make profit out of it. The number of stocks bought by the government will be determined by the capital infusion used by the bank. The bank has to sell shares worth 15% of the loan it takes from the government. If the bank gets $100 million, it has to sell shares worth $15 million to to the government.
Government is guaranteeing loans to the banks and planning to collect a fee for doing so. The interest rate at which the government plans to lean the money is 5% for the first 3 years and 9% from then on till the loan is recovered, there is no restriction on the number of years the bank takes to repay the loan. The government decides which banks get chosen for the program and the criteria is not disclosed.

In an attempt to cut down the high pays and golden parachutes that are given to the top executives of the companies government is thinking to bring in certain regulations. The executives who earn more than $ 500,000 will be charged with higher tax rates.

Gross Domestic Product

srikanth — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:11:53 +0000

I always wondered what terms like GDP, GDI etc ment but never had the courage read and understand it. Now i do it for my own learning.

GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product.

It is a measure of national income and the output of a nations economy. It is the market value of all the goods that a nation produces in a perticular amount of time. Unsually a calender year.

GDP is calculated by the formula

GDP =consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports)

Ultimately it boils down to the saying this… GDP how much a country can produce in a period of time.

General

srikanth — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:13:11 +0000

Today s highlights

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled nearly 777.68 points to 10,365.45.One-day drop biggest in Dow history.
$1.2 trillion vanished from the United States stock market in the first half an hour of the day.
$700 billion bail out rejected by the congress.
Indian Banks reported losses of 700Rs cr
Wachovia sells its banking operations to Citigroup for around $2 Billion, at the rate of $1/share.