eurozone

SPRING BOOM IN LATVIA

2009-01-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

Nature photographer Liga mathur clicks on a pet cat whose name she forgot in the Latvian countryside.This Cat loves salmon sandwiches and hates dogs.She is bound to meow endlessly if not given her meal at 12:00 am sharp.

Nature Photographer Liga Mathur zeroed on red tulips in the Latvian countryside. Liga was fascinated by these small group of flowers in the spring time Latvian countryside Plavniks (80 kms from capital riga)

Nature photographer Liga mathur while passing thru a countryside home in Plavnik region of Latvia clicked these beautuful spring time boom.She used sony digita W-70 camera.

Latvian nature photographer Liga Mathur clicks on red whitesh flowers in Latvian spring time.These flowers were clicked in the morning when they were still moist from nights misture.

Beijing Olympics burns under politics!

2008-04-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Beijing Olympics are nearing fast.There is indeed a lot of hoopla about Tibet and the security of the delegates during the Olympics.Even the World leaders so far have not comformed their presence on the occation of the opening ceremony in Beijing.Sarkozy has gone so far as to say that he might even deny the participation of French team.
As far as I know,the terrorist’s will never dare to attack China or Russia in the future.I have seen the response that the Russian alpha commandos gave during the theatre siege by Chechen militants.China is no different.They know how to deal with the trouble makers.Though Tibet’s case might be little different.Dalai Lama has clearely stated that there should be no violence!
Olympics is a festival and it belongs to the world and taking political mileage out of it is highly unethical.Politicians who are very unpopular in their own countries will resort to these tactics.Prestigius western Tv channels have brainwashed the western hemisphere about the Tibet-Olympics issue.Do they think that by sabotaging Olympics they can liberate Tibet? Vice verse,they will make this noble cause even worse.I really feel sorry for Tibetans and Dalai Lama.
Imagine the hard work any sportsmen has to do before qualifying for Olympics.At least four years of sweat and endurance is involved.Olympics is a tradition coming down from Greece.Time to time countries like US have tried to make a political issue out of it.Olympics is a month long sports festival where sports is celebrated.Sportsmen from different countries live together,eat together and make friends.
Talking of China,they have put in so much effort by building stadiums, Olympics village,beefing up security,training of language interpreters.A common Chinese gets the impression that whatever we do is bad.This way we are alienating nations and not bringing them together!

Do you Know the facts?

2008-04-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

· A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
· Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.
· The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
· A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
· A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. I know some people like that!
· A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.
· A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2 by 3-1/2.
· During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur," a small red car can be seen in the distance.
· On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily! That explains it!
· Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
· Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
· The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.
· There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and silver.
· The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan." There was never a recorded Wendy before.
· The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
· If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
· Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down so you could see his moves.
· The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
· The original name for butterfly was flutterby.
· The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
· The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
· Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.
· By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.
· Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.
· Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
· Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
· Sherlock Holmes NEVER said "Elementary, my dear Watson."
· An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.
· The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.
· The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
· Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them. Not to mention the other drawback.
· Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

Carla Bruni Sarkozy shows her skills!

2008-03-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

Carla Bruni the newly added first lady of France is a chic asset for this country of fine perfume,wine and fashion.Lady Carla Bruni sarkozy is however very different from all the first ladies from other countries.She will go down the history fist ever first lady who has shown her assets to general public before she ever dreamt of becoming the wife of Nicholas Sarkozy.In a recent visit to Britain her first ever as a first lady even the male members of British royal family couldn’t resist her charms.In the daily mail, a UK newspaper her nude photo was published which will ultimately sold in new york’s “Cristies” for a big sum!
Is Sarkozy using this opportunity to up his popularity in native france?However Carla Bruni Sarkozy must be laughing all the way to the bank after the British rendevouz.Needless she looks better without clothese than in it!It is to be noted that Sarkozy has previously used his ex-wife also for publicity.The British public is loving it!Hers is the most watched photo graph on the web now!Hillary Clinton!learn from Ms sarkozy on how to market yourself.Magazines with her face on the front cover are flying off shelves. Not since Lady Diana Spencer was launched on the international scene has there been such a media circus surrounding a woman in public life. As a model, turned pop star, and poet, Bruni is used to an audience and she looked completely at ease - seemingly unconcerned by publication of a nude photo of her from 15-years-ago in yesterday's newspapers. The Queen and Duke avidly read the papers over breakfast each morning.

Sony Updates PS3 2.17 and 2.20 in Europe

2008-03-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

Playstation updates for ps3 in Europe soon.

The upcoming firmware update for the PlayStation 3 is going to bring with it a whole host of new Blu-ray and PlayStation Portable features. System software update 2.20 will be released in "late March," according to Sony, and will add Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 (otherwise known as BD-Live) to the PS3. BD-Live allows those with suitable players to access more features on Blu-ray Discs, some of which require Web-based interaction.
Regular firmware upgrades have kept the PS3 relatively updated.
The features will vary from product to product, but there will also be the option for "interactive movie-based games," which can be played against other players locally or over the Internet. To download BD-Live, users will need 1GB of free space.
Firmware update 2.20 will also "enhance PS3's relationship with PSP." Those who own both will now be able to copy music and photo playlists to their PSPs.
A host of other minor features will also be coming, including a "Resume Play" feature for Blu-ray and DVD movies, which will let film fans restart their movies from the exact point they left off, even if the disc has been removed from the drive.
It's not just one-way traffic either; the update adds at least one PSP feature that looks set to enhance the PS3 experience. The new Remote Play setting will allow the PSP to be used as a remote control for music played on the PS3. The PS3 Internet browser will also be enhanced to make streaming video viewable on Web sites, and Sony says that the browser's speed has also been improved.
DivX and WMV format videos over 2GB in size will now be playable, and "Mosquito Noise Reduction" will be added as an A/V setting in the control panel for "improved movie playback."

2008-03-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

Creator of Harry potter was suicidal at a point
Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has revealed she thought of killing herself while penniless and suffering from depression as a single mother, according to a report in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper.In her interview she also revealed how she became broke after her first marriage with a portuguese journalist went bust.She was penniless and jobless with a small infant to feed.Than she took money from some friends and rented out a room from where she would write the famous book “Harry potter” which went on to sell more than 325 million co

pies and translated into 65 languages.She is one of the richest women in the world. Her life only shows us that misery too teaches us lessons and makes us humble.Into each life some rain must fall.How J.K.Rowling has bounced back and become famous is a lagend already.There were also photos circulated about her adjusting her bra!

Oscars vs Cannes

2008-03-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

Cannes vs Oscars
More and more filmmakers are flocking to Cannes film festival in France.Its all about filmmaking and interaction between the actors, filmmakers and technicians.Yes, it has its acclaimed Red carpet but its not popular with the movie people.

In comparison Oscar’s is a staged show which honours mainly American Cinema and that also in a not very transparent way!The jury is biased and influenced by the financial mafia which runs these shows.It came as no surprise that Oscars are not so popular anymore.Any way it’s a one day show and genuine filmmakers and artists are not interested in it anymore.Every word spoken is controlled and we speak of artistic freedom! Not a surprise that statue of Liberty was designed and developed in France!It’s a joke.

Cannes is a beautiful city on the Atlantic coast where once a year all film lovers gather to discuss and promote good filmmaking.Its about the World cinema and not merely French or European Cinema.The jury is a mixture of film people from different parts of the globe and dubbing of films in other languages is excellent! Filmmakers , promoters, budding artists, technicians have a chance of meeting their counterparts from different cultures and backgrounds and discuss shortcomings and advances in production and artistic freedom.Offcourse Hollywood and Bollywood both are represented their too!Another good example is Sundance film festival promoted by Robert Redford in America. Berlin film festival is more a subdued affair and technically superior to any other film festival. In Berlin too the emphasis is on filmaking and quality and unlike in Oskars!Indian film festivals sucks because everybody is son and daughter/brother there.Few genuine actors like Nana Patekar , Amir Khan and Om puri,Nasruddin shah refuse to be a part of these bogus ceremonies.
No wonder that Michael moore’s film was banned in Oscars whereas it won critical acclaim in Cannes!

George bush to become father in law !

2008-03-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

President Bush's daughter and soon-to-be son in law are eagerly planning their wedding but Mr. President is having a difficult time organizing the budget.
George spoke to the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday where he jokingly admitted that planning the budget for a presidential wedding is harder than he expected.

President George Bush/ Jenna Bush"I had to face some very difficult spending decisions and I've had to conduct sensitive diplomacy," says Bush. "That's called planning for a wedding."

The happy couple is expected to marry at Jenna's parent's ranch in Crawford, Texas on May 10. Bush and Hager got engaged on August 15 of last year after two years of dating. (Reference:www.egossip.com)
May be Jenna is pregnant?wow!time will tell!

Advantage Online!

2008-03-05T04:26:00.000-08:00

As per the latest survey by a German news agency ,South Koreans are the highest internet users in the world followed by United States and Germany.Not far behind are the Indians and the Chinese with a potential user base of 300 million.
Following these developments the online advertisers like Google and Yahoo are not far behind with yearly revenues of around 10 billion US between them.Others not far behind are Bidadvertiser and Commision junction with a huge base in US.Other companies except Google are yet to catch up in the rest of the World.Internet has revolutionized the online revenue sources.A famous marketing guru said “if you are not online,u don’t exist”.How has internet media captured the imagination with youtube and others is already a case study in itself.People are candid and informative on the net and treat it as their home turf.
Students and housewives are making considerable money posting content online.They creativity is coming out!However there is some negative aspects like porn and drugs which are also advertised freely on the net.Internet has redefined the media forcing the major TV channels to keep a healthy presence on the net.

Internet telephony has brought so many distant people together with skype revolutionized this sector forcing major telecom companies to slash their prices by one tenth.Advertising companies like bidadvertisers and commission junction are growing by leaps and bounds and may offer stiff competition to Google in the coming times.As my friend Sam is making good money giving space to bidadvertiser on his content pages.

The major advantage of advertising on the net is the cost and reach.These advertisements reach to internet users on a personal basis.The advertiser gets instant feedback using analytical tools about the geo location of the user.On the TV channels and print media this feedback is poor.On the net the advertiser can even target an area or language group!

European Jobs Vanish

2008-02-28T21:24:00.000-08:00

In the latest breaking news it is clear that German Business giants like Seimens,Henkel and BMW are going to lay off more than 20000 employees between them.Nokia is shifting its production from Germany to Romania.The reason these companies give for this action is rising cost of procuring raw material.BMW ,after making huge profits is till laying off so many workers. They say they must improve their bottom line in order to be competent.
So ,is this globalization all about?
Capitalism says that that every person has the right to work! But this statement is a double edged sword! We only can feel what must be going thru the minds of these workers who are going to be fired. How are they going to earn their living? How are they going to pay their rent or bills. Is the government going to provide new jobs for so may unemployed workers.I doubt it! Everybody will blame India and china for it and very unjustly. European Union was suppose to work for the upliftment of its citizens, instead they are being fired!On the other hand Brussels pays hefty pay packets to the EU mandarins sitting in EU parliament(If we can call it that).
This brings me back to a basic question!Is capitalism and Globalisation failing us? Did they only work when socialism was also being practiced.In my opinion people of the world should come together on the internet to choose a system which will work.It should have a heavy dose of socialism because human life has to live in a system where it is harmony with nature.Capitalism will only lead to more greed and distruction of the world.We have done more harm to environment in last 60 years than was done in 2000 years.we cannot allow the thugs meeting in Davos every year to run our lives.

EU slaps Microsoft

2008-02-28T00:44:00.000-08:00

EU slaps US$1,3 billion penalty on Microsoft.

The European union fined Microsoft a record 899 million Euros on 27th Feb.2008,for charging too much for software information.In an antitrust ruling in 2004,the European commission has fined the same company Euros 497 million and ordered it to open some key softwares to rivals.
In my opinion EU has taken a very sound judgement which is very good for small and medium software enterprises and startups.These SME’s(small and medium sized enterprises) will get a chance to put their products forward thus putting a severe blow to monopolies which these big cash rich companies have enjoyed for a long time.Whenever some enterpreuner comes out with a new product the big player buy them off thus stoping a budding startup from becoming another Bill Gates.On back of these monopolies it is rumoured that many of these cash rich MNC;s have become so arrogant that they fail to see beyond greed and filling up personal bank accounts.EU has shown that it will always favour fairplay.The recent yahoo-Microsoft-Google tussle is a good example of these corporate coups.
Reference:Metro now-dated:28th feb 2008

Clash of the Online titans

2008-02-18T10:30:00.000-08:00

Clash of the Titans

Even as the verdict has to be taken on whether a Microsoft-Yahoo deal woll redo the online space,the story gets murkier.Yahoo has been tagged at US$44 billion by Microsoft
Pundits.yahoo wants to take its time and is welcoming bids from rival to push up the price.
Rumour is that Yahoo’s financial advisors,golman sachs and Lehman Brothers are looking for potential bidders who can outbid Microsoft .Research firm Gartner thinks if they get together it shall be mutually beneficial for both.However only few very cash rich companies can afford to play this bidding game in today’s world.Microsoft and Yahoo are eaders in their own domain, and if they come together can give tough competition to Google who has a monopoly in search engine technology.
Google has hit back thru its official blog stating that if this deal goes thru than the future of internet is at stake.Talking of monopoly many users of Google have felt lately that Google has become arrogant .Many users had complaint about gmail malfunctioning and Google did not pay any heed and was not interested in user feedback-this was rumoured.

Google has 5% stake in AOL Time Warner and may coax them to bid for yahoo as it is very careful about anti trust scrutiny.However before all this drama,yahoo has been negotiating with Google but the negotiations fell thru because of differences over online revenue sharing.If they would have agreed,than Yahoo most probably would have outsourced its searches and webservices to google meanwhile itself focusing on its strength eg:mobile application,social networking and content sharing.
Many other companies like AT&T,Comcast,Verizon have been interested in yahoo too but so far not was able to outbid Microsoft.
There are two options left for Yahoo,either to sell its stake in “Yahoo music unlimited” and “auctions” to boost revenue or chalk out a mutually beneficial deal with Google.
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European Revolution

2008-02-16T09:16:00.000-08:00

Always expect something better from the finnish.The finnish and their neighbour Estonia is producing revolutions in telecome sector.First It was nokia and now its Skype.com who have totaly revolutionised the way people talk with each other.No wonder both Finnish and the Estonian economies are considered the most liberal amongst the world economies.

Two years ago skype offered their softwere downloag free of any charge because of which people seperated with geographical boundries could talk to each other free of charge in a voice quality which is even much superior to any other provider.Off course now google has some up with googletalk but skype were the initiators.Even Linux was develped by a finnish gentelmen named Linius(i may have misppelled it).Even google had a European Touch to it as one of its founder Sergey Bin was born in Moscow.
SAP another IT giant is of German origin.They produced the first ERP softwere thereby adding value to administering data.
However I am still surprised that the web domain .eu is still not popular.There are the Amazon bookstore and Ebay auction house with some european hand in it.Finland,Estonia and small european countries accounts for maximum people online per 1000 people anytime.May be its the weather!

The Euro versus the Dollar

2008-02-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

Euro which is the official currency of European union has replaced US$ as the most valuable convertible currency.With United States busy in a war and spending resources which are very limited in nature,there is no chance the US Dollar will recover for another 5 years.It will recover only if Hillary Clinton becomes a president for next 10 yrs.
However as the wall street pundits are predicting that with devalued $ the US exports will rise.This,I consider a very narrow minded view.For US exports to rise many factors are required,

Skilled Labour.
Quick project implementaion.
Raw materal resourcing.
Expensive real estate.
Lower bank lending rates.

If by chance these factors can be overcome within 1 year,which is very unlikely seems the US policies have to undergo a long overhaul.US companies who have been outsourcing for last 15 years will find it very hard to start from scratch in united states.It will be tough to beat services outourcing to India.Secondly the US population which is fluent in management and higher skills is aging.You dont expect the afro-Americans or hispanics to replace them(no racial offence intended).Skill shortage shall be high because the highly skilled are finding ready market for themselves elsewhere in Europe and Asia.
There is no doubt that immigrant fromeurope after the world war-2 brought many skills includng languages to the benefit of US industry.the Germans brought technology,Jews brought media and Banking skills.
Dollar it seems is going for a freefall until a miracle happens.

Insurance is booming

2008-02-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

Insurance

The insurance market is booming in countries of eastern europe and india.One needs an insurance while driving a car or slleping at home.Auto Insurance is becoming so expensive that one sometimes thinks of just returning to the good old days of horses or public transport.Every on our mobiles or on doorsteps we come across motivated youngsters barely out of schools selling insurance or mutual funds.

How the hell do we know which insurance to buy.I have tried and failed to understand the policies.All policies say that these policies stand annulled in case of situation like Force Majuer.now this means floods,fire,war etc.Now a person looses something during this circumstances.Thats when he needs he benefit and the insurance companies holds on defying till one ultimately gives up.

Auto inurance has become a norm and rightly so.