Hai- Na

On China’s Hainan Island, the Boom Is Deafening - NYTimes.com: "The Visun Royal Yacht Club, China’s largest, plans to buy a helicopter for the use of its members. A golf course that charges $180 per round is opening 220 villas, each with its own butler, swimming pool and spa — “I want to get it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the most spas anywhere,” the manager says.

Then there are the property speculators flying to this resort town from across China with bagfuls of cash, to buy apartments whose cost per square foot rivals parts of Manhattan. Five-star hotels during the recent Lunar New Year holiday charged $1,500 or more per night; one company charged $80 just to camp out in a tent."

Patent-ly sound

Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent - NYTimes.com: "A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property"

BBC News - Beta-blockers 'cut cancer spread'

BBC News - Beta-blockers 'cut cancer spread': "Blood pressure drugs may be able to reduce the ability of breast cancer to spread around the body, researchers have told a European conference.
A joint UK and German study found that cancer patients taking beta-blockers had a lower risk of dying.
The drugs may block hormones that trigger the spread of cancer cells."

Ex- Plorer

Internet Explorer sees steep dip- Internet-Infotech-The Economic Times: "The world's most used internet browser Microsoft's Internet Explorer is on a steady decline in India, a study by the Irish metrics
firm StatCounter says. The IE, as it's ubiquitously called, has lost almost 20% market share in India in the past two years, even as Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox make strident foray.

The percentage of PCs running IE in India dropped from close to 70% in 2008 to about 51% now, the report reveals. The drop was despite an absence of any regulation by a trade commission, unlike that mandated by European Union on Microsoft, this year."

What a F**** explanation!

Why Do People Swear? : Discovery News: "There may be another reason why we swear so much. Studies by psychologist Timothy Jay, of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, have found that swearing can provide both emotional release and relief from pain.

'People have a sense of catharsis, they feel better after using this kind of language,' Jay told Discovery News. 'Most people look at swearing as a bad thing that you shouldn't do, without asking what the positive aspects of it are.'

To condemn politicians for swearing in private contexts, as Biden did, is nothing but hypocritical, Jay said. In many social settings, like among teenagers or rugby players, he added, it would be strange not to use foul language."

The Skinny on... the Skinput

BBC News - Sensors turn skin into gadget control pad: "Tapping your forearm or hand with a finger could soon be the way you interact with gadgets.
US researchers have found a way to work out where the tap touches and use that to control phones and music players.
Coupled with a tiny projector the system can use the skin as a surface on which to display menu choices, a number pad or a screen.
Early work suggests the system, called Skinput, can be learned with about 20 minutes of training.
'The human body is the ultimate input device,' Chris Harrison, Skinput's creator, told BBC News."

No No Nano

Tata's 'sorry' just won't do, says Nano owner: "Mulund resident Satish Purushottam Sawant is still shaken by the March 21 incident, in which he and his family narrowly escaped death in their brand new Tata Nano. If there's anything that rankles the Sawants even more, it's the absence of an apology from Tata Motors.

"But for a formal 'we regret the inconvenience', in its letter to us, Tata Motors has not apologised to us verbally or in writing. They [Tata], have insulted us," Sawant said. Tata Motors has offered to compensate the Sawants with a replacement or a refund of the entire amount paid for the burnt car, but the Sawants are not pleased.

'Deepankar Tiwari, regional manager (west) of Passenger Car Business Unit, Tata Motors trivialised the incident by telling me about how he had fallen off a bicycle when he was a kid and then later rode it, overcoming his fear! Then, Tata Motors' official, Amit Joshi, told me that it was a pre-production car, which Concorde Motors was not supposed to sell to any customer,' said an agitated Sawant. �

According to the vehicle's Acknowledgement Delivery Note, the year of manufacture has been shown as 2009, but Tata's spokesperson, Deba-shish Ray, had said that the car was actually manufactured in 2008."

On Center, but not on Target

Mr. Thomas Friedman, in his NYT Op-Ed piece writes "That is why I want my own Tea Party. I want a Tea Party of the radical center."

Radical Center? That is what Obama and many others have been trying, for a long time. The Center has moved way to the right, so that the "right-of-center" a couple of decades ago are considered "left" now.

Op-Ed Columnist - A Tea Party Without Nuts - NYTimes.com: "The radical center is “radical” in its desire for a radical departure from politics as usual. It advocates: raising taxes to close our budgetary shortfalls, but doing so with a spirit of equity and social justice; guaranteeing that every American is covered by health insurance, but with market reforms to really bring down costs; legally expanding immigration to attract more job-creators to America’s shores; increasing corporate tax credits for research and lowering corporate taxes if companies will move more manufacturing jobs back onshore; investing more in our public schools, while insisting on rising national education standards and greater accountability for teachers, principals and parents; massively investing in clean energy, including nuclear, while allowing more offshore drilling in the transition. You get the idea."

Google doesn't do China

Google seems to be tougher than the U.S. government in dealing with the Chinese government.

Interview: Sergey Brin on Google’s China Move - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com: "Mr. Brin went out of his way to say there were many reasons for the Chinese government to be proud of its achievements, especially its impressive economic development, “lifting so many people out of poverty.”

He noted that the Chinese government is large, with millions of officials, and varying points of view.

But in matters of censorship, political speech and Internet communications, he said,�there is a totalitarian mentality that controls policy. “Our objection is to those forces of totalitarianism,” he said."

Unhealthy...if you are a Republican

President Obama will sign the Healthcare bill on Tuesday, according to reports.

This bill will help quite a few families with their health insurance. Unfortunately no Republicans supported this bill in the House. Instead they have lambasted the Democrats.

As Jon Stewart put it, the "con" is being played by the conservatives- people who never hesitated to run up the deficit when Republicans were in power.

House Approves Health Overhaul, Sending Landmark Bill to Obama - NYTimes.com: "epresentative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, denounced the bill as “a fiscal Frankenstein.” Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, called it “a decisive step in the weakening of the United States.” Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, said it was “one of the most offensive pieces of social engineering legislation in the history of the United States.”"

Straight...to the Point

A well-written attraction for Geometry

Think Globally - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com: "In an era of globalization, Google Earth and transcontinental air travel, all of us should try to learn a little about spherical geometry and its modern generalization, differential geometry. The basic ideas here are only about 200 years old. Pioneered by Carl Friedrich Gauss and Bernhard Riemann, differential geometry underpins such imposing intellectual edifices as Einstein’s general theory of relativity. At its heart, however, are beautiful concepts that can be grasped by anyone who’s ever ridden a bicycle, looked at a globe or stretched a rubber band. And understanding them will help you make sense of a few curiosities you may have noticed in your travels."

Government bailed out Wall Street, no one's bailing out governments

Many state governments are cutting services, reducing benefits and raising taxes. Even the "red" Naperville is raising taxes on gasoline and garbage collection.

At the same time the governments in India following the same path as the U.S., privatizing many essential services. The long term impact remains to be seen.

Op-Ed Columnist - A Ruinous Meltdown, State After State - NYTimes.com: "Arizona, struggling with a projected $2.6 billion budget shortfall, took the drastic step of scrapping its Children’s Health Insurance Program. That left nearly 47,000 low-income children with no coverage at all. Gov. Jan Brewer is also calling for an increase in the sales tax. She said, “Arizona is navigating its way through the largest state budget deficit in its long history.”

n New Jersey, the newly elected governor, Chris Christie, has proposed a series of budget cuts that, among other things, would result in public schools receiving $820 million less in state aid than they had received in the prior school year. Some well-off districts would have their direct school aid cut off altogether. Poorer districts that rely almost entirely on state aid would absorb the biggest losses in terms of dollars. They’re bracing for a terrible hit..."

Lexus parents, helicopter kids

For India’s Newly Rich Farmers, Limos Won’t Do - NYTimes.com: "NOIDA, India — Bhisham Singh Yadav, father of the groom, is stressed. His rented Lexus got stuck behind a bullock cart. He has hired a truck to blast Hindi pop, but it is too big to maneuver through his village. At least his grandest gesture, evidence of his upward mobility, is circling overhead. The helicopter has arrived. Mr. Yadav, a wheat farmer, has never flown, nor has anyone else in the family. And this will only be a short trip: delivering his son less than two miles to the village of the bride. But like many families in this expanding suburb of New Delhi, the Yadavs have come into money, and they want everyone to know it. “People will remember that his son went on a helicopter for his marriage,” a cousin, Vikas Yadav, shouted over the din. “People should know they are spending money. For us, things like this are the stuff of dreams.”..."

Blockbuster News...

Great lessons in management - both Blockbuster and Wal-Mart lose to Netflix and Redbox.

Blockbuster shares plummet on bankruptcy talk - Chicago Breaking Business: "Shares of Blockbuster Inc. sank 30 percent Wednesday after the video rental chain warned that it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Competition from DVD-by-mail company Netflix Inc. and DVD vending machines operated by Coinstar Inc. have eroded the Dallas company's revenue even as it staggers under a heavy debt load.
Blockbuster Inc. said in a regulatory filing late Tuesday that it was suffering 'significant liquidity constraints,' and could have to file for bankruptcy protection if it was unable to convince creditors to restructure a big chunk of its debt or its business continued to deteriorate."

A Record of Promises Unfulfilled...

Trying to please everyone, even some of the time, is fraught with pot holes and is a recipe for non-accomplishment.

PROMISES, PROMISES - Records Not So Open With Obama - NYTimes.com: "One year into its promise of greater government transparency, the Obama administration is more often citing exceptions to the nation's open records law to withhold federal records even as the number of requests for information declines, according to a review by The Associated Press of agency audits about the Freedom of Information Act.

Among the most frequently cited reasons for keeping records secret: one that Obama specifically told agencies to stop using so frequently. The Freedom of Information Act exception, known as the ''deliberative process'' exemption, lets the government withhold records that describe its decision-making behind the scenes."

An Obsessive Placement

Newspapers have been reporting, with great glee, the jobs offered to graduating students from IIMs and IITs and other schools. Placement offices of these schools feed incomplete information to journalists, who supplement it with some anecdotal information from students, and the result is news stories that essentially scream "Graduates Have Hit the Jackpot." Apparently, students are receiving salary offers that vary between 24 lakh rupees to crores of rupees- in fact, some students have been offered salaries of $150 K and above, according to these reports. None of these newspaper reports or the schools themselves comment on the education the students have received. Or is that implied in the reports about salaries?

Cheating and plagiarism, based on author's own experience and other first hand information, is quite common even in the top educational institutions. Most of the time the culprits receive just a slap on the wrist.

A long way to go- a way made even longer by the sloshing of easy money.

Free Education- online

There are plenty of websites where students can go and learn

MIT's Open CourseWare

IIT's NPTEL

However going through these courses does not get one a degree.

Others are taking a different tack.

Global University Eliminates Barriers To Education : NPR: "here's a lot of handwringing about the cost of higher education in this country. Well, one entrepreneur has come up with a proposal to bring that cost down to a manageable number: zero. University of the People is free — it's 100 percent online. Can this school survive?"

Steep Price for staying iCool

Apple Details iPad's Battery Replacement Plan - Reviews by PC Magazine: "When you send your iPad off to Apple, you aren't just getting your same ol' iPad back in the mail after one week or thereabouts. Opting for the company's battery replacement service will basically put you on the list for a refurbished iPad--although the exterior case of the device will be brand-new, the underlying product will be one that's gone through Apple's fix-it procedures in some capacity. Naturally, any data you've kept on your old iPad device will go the way of the dinosaur: You'll want to back up all your settings and information prior to asking Apple for a new battery.

This is the exact same treatment that iPhone users receive, minus $20 to the overall cost of the replacement. It's interesting to note that the replacement fee isn't tiered at all, meaning that even the lowest of devices--the $499, 16GB iPad--will cost the same amount to replace with a refurbished product as the $829 64GB device. That can be a confusing issue for consumers, but you have to keep Apple's battery replacement service in perspective."

A Texas Education, as told by Stephen Leacock.

Recently the Texas Board of Education revised, to the "right", the state's social studies curriculum. This episode takes one back in time to a wonderful story by Mr. Leacock.

Aristocratic Education

"House of Lords, Jan. 25, 1920.--The House of Lords commenced to-day in Committee the consideration of Clause No. 52,000 of the Education Bill, dealing with the teaching of Geometry in the schools.The Leader of the Government in presenting the clause urged upon their Lordships the need of conciliation. The Bill, he said, had now been before their Lordships for sixteen years. The Government had made every concession. They had accepted all the amendments of their Lordships on the opposite side in regard to the original provisions of the Bill. They had consented also to insert in the Bill a detailed programme of studies of which the present clause, enunciating the fifth proposition of Euclid, was a part. He would therefore ask their Lordships to accept the clause drafted as follows: "The angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal, and if the equal sides of the triangle are produced, the exterior angles will also be equal." He would hasten to add that the Government had no intention of producing the sides. Contingencies might arise to render such a course necessary, but in that case their Lordships would receive an early intimation of the fact. The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke against the clause. He considered it, in its present form, too secular. He should wish to amend the clause so as to make it read: "The angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are, in every Christian community, equal, and if the sides be produced by a member of a Christian congregation, the exterior angles will be equal." He was aware, he continued, that the angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are extremely equal, but he must remind the Government that the Church had been aware of this for several years past. He was willing also to admit that the opposite sides and ends of a parallelogram are equal, but he thought that such admission should be coupled with a distinct recognition of the existence of a Supreme Being. The Leader of the Government accepted His Grace's amendment with pleasure. He considered it the brightest amendment His Grace had made that week. The Government, he said, was aware of the intimate relation in which His Grace stood to the bottom end of a parallelogram and was prepared to respect it. Lord Halifax rose to offer a further amendment. He thought the present case was one in which the "four-fifths" clause ought to apply: he should wish it stated that the angles are equal for two days every week, except in the case of schools where four-fifths of the parents are conscientiously opposed to the use of the isosceles triangle. The Leader of the Government thought the amendment a singularly pleasing one. He accepted it and would like it understood that the words isosceles triangle were not meant in any offensive sense. Lord Rosebery spoke at some length. He considered the clause unfair to Scotland, where the high state of morality rendered education unnecessary. Unless an amendment in this sense was accepted, it might be necessary to reconsider the Act of Union of 1707. The Leader of the Government said that Lord Rosebery's amendment was the best he had heard yet. The Government accepted it at once. They were willing to make every concession. They would, if need be, reconsider the Norman Conquest. The Duke of Devonshire took exception to the part of the clause relating to the production of the sides. He did not think the country was prepared for it. It was unfair to the producer. He would like the clause altered to read, "if the sides be produced in the home market." The Leader of the Government accepted with pleasure His Grace's amendment. He considered it quite sensible. He would now, as it was near the hour of rising, present the clause in its revised form. He hoped, however, that their Lordships would find time to think out some further amendments for the evening sitting. The clause was then read. His Grace of Canterbury then moved that the House, in all humility, adjourn for dinner."

The Business of Education

A visit to India shows what for-profit education can deliver- the variance in the quality of education is much, much higher than that of the not-for-profit group.

In the U.S. the for-profit education business is delivering the profits, but what about the education?

The New Poor - For-Profit Schools Cashing In on Recession and Federal Aid - NYTimes.com: "A Lucrative Business

The stakes are enormous: For-profit schools have long derived the bulk of their revenue from federal loans and grants, and the percentages have been climbing sharply.

The Career Education Corporation, a publicly traded global giant, last year reported revenue of $1.84 billion. Roughly 80 percent came from federal loans and grants, according to BMO Capital Markets, a research and trading firm. That was up from 63 percent in 2007.

The Apollo Group — which owns the for-profit University of Phoenix — derived 86 percent of its revenue from federal student aid last fiscal year, according to BMO. Two years earlier, it was 69 percent.

For-profit schools have proved adept at capturing Pell grants, which are a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s efforts to make higher education more affordable. The administration increased financing for Pell grants by $17 billion for 2009 and 2010 as part of its $787 billion stimulus package."

"Fair and Balanced" (FOX) Education in Texas.

The Texas school board has done it - revised the social studies curriculum. The material will not be called social studies but Republican Revisionist Ritings. In this environment it is not surprising that employers are finding better talent in other countries- like Brazil or Hungary.

What is rather disturbing is the lack of criticism of these revisions by the leaders in both the public and private sectors.

Texas Conservatives Win Vote on Textbook Standards - NYTimes.com: "AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light...In recent years, board members have been locked in an ideological battle between a bloc of conservatives who question Darwin’s theory of evolution and believe the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles, and a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans who have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and the separation of church and state.

Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a panel of teachers.

“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”"

Judging the Judges

John Roberts has joined Samuel Alito in piling on Obama for his criticism of the recent SC decision. Perhaps these folks have forgotten that they were nominated, while the President was elected. Judges have to serve the people- they are not above criticism. In return for having a guaranteed life-long highly paid employment with great benefits, the judges should explain their decisions and the data behind their decisions. It should not be enough to just write an opinion.

Chief justice unsettled by Obama's criticism of Supreme Court - latimes.com: "To the extent the State of the Union has degenerated into a political pep rally, I'm not sure why we are there,' Roberts said at the University of Alabama School of Law. Obama's speech in January came a week after the high court ruled 5 to 4 that corporations had a free-speech right to spend unlimited sums to elect or defeat candidates for office. The president, looking down at the six justices in attendance, sharply criticized the Supreme Court for having 'opened the floodgates for special interests' to sway elections."

When Finance leads job creation...

It is not clear if this is a positive or a bearish signal...

Job Market Stabilizes for Business Students - NYTimes.com: "With banks climbing out of the recession, more business students across the country are finding banking jobs and internships, enrolling in finance clubs and going on class trips to Wall Street, universities say.

Unemployment is plaguing millions of families, and the public may still be seething about bank bailouts and eight-figure bonuses. But business students and career advisers see a job market that is quickly stabilizing.

Aspiring bankers know their career choice comes at an awkward time. Ben Phelps, an M.B.A. student at Duke who is going to work for Bank of America Merrill Lynch after graduation, was shouted at by a stranger on Wall Street during a summer internship. He and his classmates joke that they would sooner describe themselves as “bank tellers” than “investment bankers.”

“A lot of people lost their savings, and I can understand those people being angry,” Mr. Phelps said. “But I wish sometimes that their anger wasn’t directed just at bankers.”"

Throwing scraps to people, the BofA way

FT.com / Companies / Banks - BofA to scrap overdraft fees for card users: "Bank of America has said it will eliminate overdraft fees for debit card customers in a move designed to quell consumer frustration and keep the bank a step ahead of new regulations that restrict such charges.

The $35 fee has drawn widespread criticism from consumer groups and legislators. Federal Reserve rules that take effect this summer require banks to obtain a customer’s permission before enrolling them in overdraft programmes."

The most quality-conscious consumers?

Sometime ago, a writer in FT asserted that Japanese consumers are the most demanding in the world who expect high quality in products and services.

Toyota Owners Report Problems in Japan to No Avail - NYTimes.com: "But veterans of Japan’s moribund consumer rights movement say that Mrs. Sakai, like many Japanese, is the victim of a Japanese establishment that values Japanese business over Japanese consumers, and the lack of consumer protections here.

“In Japan, there is a phrase: if something smells, put a lid on it,” said Shunkichi Takayama, a Tokyo-based lawyer who has handled complaints related to Toyota vehicles.

Toyota has recalled eight million cars outside Japan because of unexpected acceleration and other problems, but has insisted that there are no systemic problems with its cars sold in Japan. The company recalled the Prius for a brake problem earlier this year.

Critics say many companies benefit from Japan’s weak consumer protections. (The country has only one full-time automobile recall investigator, supported by 15 others on limited contracts.)"

Faking the Hand-off

One more article in the popular press proposes that the economy is waiting for consumers or employers to blink...this one suggests that employers will blink first.

Employer-consumer standoff is key to economy - Stocks & economy- msnbc.com: "Therein lies the standoff that helps explain the weakness of the recovery and the depth of the jobs crisis. Each side — employers on one, consumers on the other — is waiting for the other to spend more. Until then, the recovery will likely feel shaky. And job openings will be few."

***

Will the employers blink or wink? Certain sectors like restaurants are likely to increase hiring when there are more consumers. However, quite a few of the firms who create high-paying jobs are not waiting for demand to come back. Demand has come back, especially in other countries. When consumers are shifting their purchases, on the margin, from physical stores to Amazon, it does not create as many jobs at Amazon when compared to the impact on the physical stores. Firms like GE, Yahoo, IBM and others are hiring in huge numbers in India- the intellectual work can be done anywhere.

It is time that the politicians and media start reporting the hard truth- either we work and pray for another "Internet-like phenomenon"that will drive explosive job growth, or work on continuous improvement and accept the realism of higher unemployment and lower pay without a dramatic lowering of affordability and life style.

Nothing to Short Home About...

It is amazing to watch government's efforts, with all the hazards built in, to deal with the mortgage and foreclosure issues.

Short-Sale Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss - NYTimes.com: "Taking effect on April 5, the program could encourage hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers who have not been rescued by the loan modification program to shed their houses through a process known as a short sale, in which property is sold for less than the balance of the mortgage. Lenders will be compelled to accept that arrangement, forgiving the difference between the market price of the property and what they are owed.

“We want to streamline and standardize the short sale process to make it much easier on the borrower and much easier on the lender,” said Seth Wheeler, a Treasury senior adviser."

Bugged...by Bugs

Op-Ed Columnist - The Spread of Superbugs - NYTimes.com: "Mr. Dukes, 52, picked up a kind of bacteria called ESBL-producing E. coli. While it’s conceivable that he touched a contaminated surface, a likely scenario is that he ate tainted meat, said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious-diseases specialist and the author of “Rising Plague,” a book about antibiotic resistance.

Vegetarians are also vulnerable to antibiotic resistance nurtured in hog barns. Microbes swap genes, so antibiotic resistance developed in pigs can jump to microbes that infect humans in hospitals, locker rooms, schools or homes.

Routine use of antibiotics to raise livestock is widely seen as a major reason for the rise of superbugs. But Congress and the Obama administration have refused to curb agriculture’s addiction to antibiotics, apparently because of the power of the agribusiness lobby."

Poverty...of Thought

Went to Odyssey, a bookstore in Gandhinagar this afternoon. A nice bookstore in the hustle and bustle. The clientele appeared to be on the heavier side- figuratively, not intellectually. A look at one segment of society. As I came out I walked past an older woman carrying five big bags on her back and she was asking for money. Could not help but give her a big note- I thought of my mother and how society could be so cruel, to put an old woman in that state. As I walking further, a car pulled out of a restaurant and a woman in her twenties rolled down the window and threw out trash, with no consideration of the outside world. Ah! The frustrations!

Justifiably Unhealthy...

The Health Insurance Industry seems to get funnier every day...if only medical problems could be cured this way!

Justify high rates, health secretary tells execs: "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told insurance executives Thursday that their companies should be more transparent when they seek higher premiums amid what she called 'jaw-dropping rate increases' from California to the East Coast.

'The top five largest for-profit insurance companies filed earnings of $12.2 billion last year while dropping coverage for 2.7 million Americans,' Sebelius said. 'It just doesn't make a lot of sense to people across America frightened that they're being priced out of the market.'"

Getting Really Hot and Pi**** off in Arizona

Arizonans Rise Up to Protest Closing of Highway Rest Stops - NYTimes.com: "Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops.

But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation deploring the lost toilets — one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances."

A rare occurrence - A Business School Walking the CSR Talk

IIM-B to refund fees of students opting for NGO placements: "The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) will refund the fees of around Rs 8 lakh that students pay for their two-year Post Graduate Programme (PGP) if they take up a job in any non-profit entity (NGO) and work there for at least three years. IIM-B officials explained that the decision was taken because a number of students had expressed a desire to work with NGOs over the past few years but were concerned about their finances. The IIM-B board of governors discussed the issue in a meeting in October 2009 and passed the proposal to take effect for the 2010 placement, starting March 4. “We want our students to work in NGOs and even the government sector, where there is need for better management,” Pankaj Chandra, director of IIM-B told Business Standard."

Bucking the question...

Starbucks asks not to be center of gun debate - Yahoo! Finance: "Coffee chain Starbucks Inc. is sticking to its policy of letting customers carry guns where it's legal and said it does not want to be put in the middle of a larger gun-control debate."

Supreme Court Still Divided on Guns - NYTimes.com: ..."Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who also wrote a dissent in Heller, peppered the lawyers with questions about how the court might apply the Second Amendment to the states in a limited way. The Second Amendment says, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Drawing on the first clause of the amendment, Justice Breyer said that a right tied to state militias might be worthy of protection, while the right to bear arms “to shoot burglars” might not be.

The lead plaintiff in the case, Otis McDonald, has said he wants to keep a handgun in his home for protection from drug gangs. Justice Breyer asked Alan Gura, a lawyer for residents of Chicago challenging its gun control law, whether the city should remain free to ban guns if it could show that hundreds of lives would be saved. Mr. Gura said no.

Justice Scalia objected to the inquiry. A constitutional right, he said, cannot be overcome because it may have negative consequences...."

A Tale of Two IBMs

IBM cuts hundreds of jobs, sliver of 400K workers - Yahoo! Finance: "AN FRANCISCO (AP) -- IBM Corp. cut more than 1,500 jobs across a number of divisions Monday, a sliver of the technology company's nearly 400,000 workers worldwide.

IBM wouldn't comment. Documents submitted by laid-off workers to the Alliance(at)IBM, a labor union representing a small percentage of IBM employees, indicate that at least 1,518 jobs were cut. It's not known where the positions were located.

IBM, which is based in Armonk, N.Y., generally doesn't release details of its job cuts. The company's overall head count has grown over the last few years despite ongoing job cuts."

IBM to scale up India BPO operations; plans to hire 5,000- ITeS-Infotech-The Economic Times: "MUMBAI: Betting big on the India story, global IT giant IBM plans to scale up its BPO operations in the country and would hire 5,000 staff this
year.

'We plan to focus more in the services sector by opening more BPO centres in India. We would recruit at least 5,000 people to support this expansion,' IBM Poland's senior advisory consultant, Selby Mascarenhas, said in New Delhi.

IBM is bullish on the growth prospect of the services sector in the domestic economy, which ranges from software- related services to looking after the HR aspects of some core manufacturing companies, Mascarenhas said.

The IT major has decided to scale up its outsourcing operations in India at a time when many global companies, hit by the financial turmoil, have downsized their outsourcing contracts."

Making stuff is hard....

China’s Industrial Heart Facing Acute Shortage of Factory Workers - NYTimes.com: "GUANGZHOU, China — Just a year after laying off millions of factory workers, China is facing an increasingly acute labor shortage.

As American workers struggle with near double-digit unemployment, unskilled factory workers here in China’s industrial heartland are being offered signing bonuses.

Factory wages have risen as much as 20 percent in recent months...At many factories, white-collar managers and engineers were forced to spend time on assembly lines to meet deadlines before the lunar New Year, because laborers were in such short supply. The managers often struggled with the tedious but intricate tasks required to make everything from toys to DVD players“People working in the office, like me, have been asked to help on the factory floor,” said Sky Niu, the sales manager at the Hengjia Electronics Company in Dongguan. “Of course, we can only help on the simpler tasks, such as packing.”..."

Milking it for all it is worth...

MediaPost Publications Dairy Industry Backs First Lady's 'Let's Move' Effort 03/01/2010: "'The program recommends small changes that add up,' reads the ad. 'We were glad to hear that one of those changes includes drinking fat-free milk. Milk has nine essential nutrients to help kids be healthy. Eating right, drinking milk and being active for at least 60 minutes a day can help kids maintain a healthy weight. That's why we encourage kids to 'fuel up to play 60.''

The first lady's program dovetails with Milk PEP's 2010 marketing focus, which is to help moms give their kids enough nutrition via milk, Kadison says. 'We just wanted to thank [Michelle Obama] and salute her as well as moms across the country,' she says."

No Love for Lowe’s

Over the past couple of years customer service at home improvement stores has been eradicated as if it were a weed. Lowe's used to have decently knowledgeable store personnel but visits to the store over the past year have been painful experiences. These stores have taken a lesson from the airlines and pushed "self-service" to a new level.

Now it appears that Lowe's wants to show that it loves customers...No one has taught management that putting good people on the floor and paying them well is more important than paying themselves well.

Advertising - Lowe’s Puts New Emphasis on Customer’s Wants - NYTimes.com: "In a campaign for spring, which will begin this week, Lowe’s will celebrate its employees, whom the retailer calls associates, by giving the actors who play them as much screen time in the initial commercials as the actors who play customers.

The associates are portrayed as knowledgeable, helpful and friendly — the kind of sales staff needed by consumers who hope to save money by doing more household projects themselves.

The campaign is indicative of the continued focus on value and service among major retailers as shoppers keep pinching pennies. Although Lowe’s and its principal competitor, Home Depot, said last week that they saw signs of a recovery for the home-improvement industry, the monthly poll by the Conference Board of consumer confidence took a steep downturn in February."