Children and Airports, both left behind.....

Texas Schools Face Deep Cuts Amid Budget Crunch

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/02/03/20texas.h30.html

Texas is famous for its oversized economic booms and busts, but its schools are bracing for a potentially dramatic bust of their own as state lawmakers consider budget cuts for the coming year that some fear will result in thousands of job losses and the elimination of programs serving students of all ages.

State officials, facing a two-year budget shortfall of anywhere between $15 billion and $27 billion, have proposed deep reductions in school spending, including providing less than is required by the state’s school-funding formula.

Small Airports, Left Behind

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/business/01airports.html?_r=1&hpw

Since airlines typically fly turboprops and 50-seat jets on the routes that connect outlying communities to big hubs, the higher cost of fuel and other expenses gets split among fewer passengers. Airlines are retiring these planes because they are unprofitable as oil prices climb.But many small airports do not generate enough traffic to fill larger planes multiple times a day, or attract the low-fare airlines that choose markets with higher volume. And as local residents drive to bigger airports with lower fares, or forgo flying as it gets more expensive, small airports feel the pinch even more.That means communities are fighting to maintain affordable airline service as airlines cut back on flights to money-losing markets..“There are very few communities that are going to lose access to the rest of the world,” Mr. Boyd said. “It’s just that that access may not be from the local airport.”The country’s network of plentiful regional airports connecting to big hubs was largely built in an era of $30-a-barrel oil. But oil prices are now more than triple that, so maintaining commercial airline service to underperforming airports may be unsustainable.

Business Case for Myths

The 'Conservatives' argue that college campuses brainwash kids in an ocean of 'liberal' propaganda- and the 'liberal' researchers conduct one study after another to prove that campus are 'bi-political.'

The unfortunate casualty of this bifurcation is the real education of our youngsters. If we get away from these 'idiocy-inducing' labels and start discussing real values, then we can hope to make progress. Experiments can be designed to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of various programs.

A 'liberal' education is supposed to 'free' students from fear and train them to think. Labeling, in any form, makes it easier to skip the hard work of thinking and of using the brain cells.

Five myths about liberal academia

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022503169_pf.html

Do red-blooded, hard-working Americans pay thousands of dollars each year to send their children to college, only to have those kids turned into pot-smoking Obamacare-lovers by a pack of communist hippies? This stereotype -- professors as brainwashing left-wing ideologues -- has dogged academia at least since the Vietnam War era. But our nation's vilified professoriate isn't composed of just Marxists and Whole Foods shoppers. Let's upend five popular misconceptions about the people educating the next generation.

1. Today's professors are more moderate than radical professors from the 1960s.

A recent, widely reported study on the political views of U.S. college professors provides evidence that younger professors are more likely than their older colleagues to define themselves as moderates. However, more relevant than how individuals identify themselves is where they fall on specific political and social questions.

For our new book, "The Still Divided Academy," we surveyed more than 4,000 professors, students and administrators from four-year colleges throughout the United States. We compared the views of professors born after 1955, those born between 1946 and 1955, and those born before 1945. The youngest group was most liberal on key social issues, 7 percentage points more likely than the middle group and 14 percentage points more likely than the oldest group to agree with the statement "homosexuality is as acceptable a lifestyle as heterosexuality." And the youngest group was 8 percentage points more likely than the oldest group to agree that "it is all right for a couple to live together without intending to get married." If this trend continues as older professors retire, college faculties won't become more moderate, but will drift toward the left.

When the "All-Natural" grosses out people

A few students mentioned this story to me yesterday, and said they were "grossed-out" by the mother's milk-based ice cream....

Shop to make breast milk ice cream

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110224/od_nm/us_breastmilk_icecream

LONDON (Reuters) – A specialist ice cream parlor plans to serve up breast milk ice cream and says people should think of it as an organic, free-range treat.

The breast milk concoction, called the "Baby Gaga," will be available from Friday at the Icecreamists restaurant in London's Covent Garden.

Icecreamists founder Matt O'Connor was confident his take on the "miracle of motherhood" and priced at a hefty 14 pounds ($23) a serving will go down a treat with the paying public.

The breast milk was provided by mothers who answered an advertisement on online mothers' forum Mumsnet.

Victoria Hiley, 35, from London was one of 15 women who donated milk to the restaurant after seeing the advert.

Hiley works with women who have problems breast-feeding their babies. She said she believes that if adults realized how tasty breast milk actually is, then new mothers would be more willing to breast-feed their own newborns.

India hits #1 - the world better watch its belongings

Indians top shoplifters' list: Survey

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/sunday-et/life-style/indians-top-shoplifters-list-survey/articleshow/7584181.cms

If a survey conducted by the Centre for Retail Research in Nottingham , UK , is to be believed, Indians are the topmost shoplifters in the world. It is the collective innocuous acts of shoplifting that has been the driving force behind India topping the infamous list for the third time in a row. The Global Retail Theft Barometer survey for 2010 revealed that the Indian retail sector has a shrinkage rate—a reduction or loss in inventory due to shoplifting, theft and process failures—of 2.72 percent amounting to a loss of approximately `9,296 crore. Of this 47.3 percent (roughly `4,397 crore) was due to shoplifting and the rest due to the other mentioned reasons.

Saying "I said so" doesn't make it easier

The efforts in Wisconsin and other states to reduce the benefits enjoyed by public workers is just one more step in the reduction in standard of living of the working class. This blogger has predicted this outcome and written about many times...

http://roempty.blogspot.com/2008/10/good-old-days-of-subsidized-luxury.html

However the transition is still painful for many.

Sustainable Development - Brazilian Oversight

A Brazilian judge has blocked plans to build a huge hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rainforest because of environmental concerns.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12586170

Federal judge Ronaldo Desterro said environmental requirements to build the Belo Monte dam had not been met.

He also barred the national development bank, BNDES, from funding the project.

The dam is a cornerstone of President Dilma Rousseff's plans to upgrade Brazil's energy infrastructure.

But it has faced protests and challenges from environmentalists and local indigenous groups who say it will harm the world's largest tropical rainforest and displace tens of thousands of people.

Judge Desterro said the Brazilian environmental agency, Ibama, had approved the project without ensuring that 29 environmental conditions had been met.

'Banking' on the Globalization of Talent

Banks recruiting more smart people to create more complex products that could end up causing more traumatic disasters.

Deutsche Bank top recruiter at IIM-A with Rs 1.5-crore offer

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/deutsche-bank-top-recruiter-at-iim-a-with-rs-15-crore-offer/articleshow/7576794.cms

AHMEDABAD: Deutsche Bank is the top paymaster at this year’s campus recruitment at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, keeping a record it set in 2010.

The investment banking unit will pay the equivalent of Rs 1.3-1.5 crore ($285,000-330,000) as annual salary to a student it is hiring for its London office , campus sources said. The sum includes an annual bonus as well a variable that will depend on the individual’s performance and market conditions.

Last year, Deutsche Bank was reputed to have topped the pay charts with a package of Rs 1.44 crore, but this was hotly contested by IIM-A, which described the media reports as incorrect and exaggerated.

Other foreign banks and financial firms such as Morgan Stanley , UBS and Nomura are said to be paying Rs 1-1.3 crore, with pay packages at overseas locations easily topping Rs 1 crore.

GM Foods- swimming in all directions

Shoppers wary of GM foods find they're everywhere

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Shoppers-wary-of-GM-foods-apf-2091560243.html;_ylt=Au5mW3YyRIAz3U8mg8PhqSyxba9_;_ylu=X3oDMTFlbmlsZzg3BHBvcwMxOARzZWMDbmV3c0h1YkFydGljbGVMaXN0BHNsawNzaG9wcGVyc3dhcnk-?x=0

WASHINGTON (AP) -- You may not want to eat genetically engineered foods. Chances are, you are eating them anyway.

Genetically modified plants grown from seeds engineered in labs now provide much of the food we eat. Most corn, soybean and cotton crops grown in the United States have been genetically modified to resist pesticides or insects, and corn and soy are common food ingredients.

The Agriculture Department has approved three more genetically engineered crops in the past month, and the Food and Drug Administration could approve fast-growing genetically modified salmon for human consumption this year.

MBA = Mega-marketing of Basic Analysis

Does an MBA degree create significant educational value in a student that employers can extract at a discount? Or is an MBA degree just an application of mega-promotion to the delivery of some basic analytical skills?

Hiring turf: Cos now recruit from arts, commerce colleges

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/hiring-turf-cos-now-recruit-from-arts-commerce-colleges/articleshow/7566612.cms

“How many management executives does a company actually need to hire every year?” asks Essar Group HR head Adil Malia. “No business requires so many management graduates every year, if you consider organisational dynamics. At Essar, for instance, we have sufficient human capital with a background in management studies within our system already.” FMCG major Dabur is currently finalising a plan for next year where it expects to slash recruitment from B-schools by 50%. The company usually picks up 14-16 management graduates every year from top institutes like the IIMs. Next year, it wants to tie-up with a B-school instead to hone general-stream graduates into specific management roles. "Management graduates are becoming increasingly unaffordable, now that their salaries are going up again. In a cascading effect, this also forces us to increase the salaries of other managers in the company, to prevent resentment," says Dabur Indiaexecutive director (HR) A Sudhakar. Ganesh Shermon, partner and head (human capital practice) at KPMG says this trend is picking up in sectors like manufacturing, cement, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, retail and commodities.

“It is like a counter-strategy for companies in these sectors, as they often find it difficult to attract talent from top B-schools,” he says.

Consultancy major Deloitte, a top-tier recruiter at the IIMs, also plans to recruit from general-stream colleges and train them into the system. “The initial results have been encouraging; this appears to be a sustainable idea,” says Deloitte India chief people officer Dhananjay Bansod.

Deloitte wants to scale up this model to eventually balance both undergrad and MBA recruitments at the entry level.As a clear result of this move by companies, this year leading undergraduate colleges claim to have seen several first-timers — who are also IIM-regulars — visit their campuses. Companies like Bristlecone, American Express, Citibank, American Appraisal, Cerebrus Consultants, Nobel Resources and Deloitte Haskins & Sells.

Placements at some of the top colleges have been at an all-time high: Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in Delhi saw 45% of its graduating batch of 400 being picked up by India Inc. Graduating Stephanians have found positions in companies like McKinsey, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Bain Capability Centre and Futures First

Forget critical thinking, just thinking suffices

Yet more research that states the obvious, but misses the obvious.

Masses of researchers have concluded that communication skills and critical thinking skills are key qualities employers that employers are looking for in new hires. These results are fundamentally flawed- because one needs to compare what the same multi-national employers are looking for in hires around the world.

* Technical competence is sorely needed. Large number of our students graduate without basic competence in math, science, analysis, and writing.

* The phase "critical thinking" implies that there is "regular" thinking that is somehow separate from "critical" thinking. So far there has been no satisfactory definition of "critical thinking" to this author. Just getting people to think is enough. The "mega-success" of the likes of Palin and her cohorts is a clear indication that lack of thinking (of any kind) can have a high positive correlation with gaining fame and fortune.

Employers look for communication, critical thinking skills'

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/employers-look-for-communication-critical-thinking-skills/articleshow/7566659.cms

It seems your boss was right while hiring you, for a new study has found that communication skills , critical thinking skills and writing skills are three key qualities which most employers look for in a job seeker.

Researchers at Oklahoma State University have based their findings on an analysis of over 450 employers — they found that the three are the crucial attributes most employers value while hiring a potential employee.

In the study, the researchers asked the subjects which signals best show the five attributes tested — number crunching ability, character, communication skills, problem solving skills, and ability to work in a team.

The findings revealed that internships and majors related to the job were highly rated signals, as well as foreign language skills and interviewing skills. And though excellent grades were not ranked as high as other skills and experiences, they are still important.

Each student should strategically acquire accomplishments and qualifications which are both valued by employers and consistent with the student's preferences, goals and talents,†said Bailey Norwood, the study's lead author.

Norwood added that grades, extracurricular activities, leadership positions, internships, and awards speak for an individual as a whole.

However, he said the study has limitations. "It is important not to allow summaries of survey statistics obscure the fact that each employer is different, and there is no one perfect college graduate," he said.

Have Brains, Will Travel as a Refugee

CELL PHONES MAY AFFECT BRAIN METABOLISM

Activity rises near the ear where a phone is located.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/cell-phones-may-affect-brain-metabolism-110223.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

Power-talkers with cell phones glued to their ears may be getting more than conversation. A 50-minute call boosts activity in brain regions near the ear where a phone is located, a brain-scanning study published February 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows.

“This is the first paper that really shows there are changes in the brain,” says bioengineer Henry Lai of the University of Washington in Seattle, who coauthored an editorial published in the same issue of JAMA. Talking on a cell phone pressed to the ear, he says, “is not really safe.”

50 million 'environmental refugees' by 2020, experts say

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/developmental-issues/50-million-environmental-refugees-by-2020-experts-say/articleshow/7544408.cms

WASHINGTON: Fifty million "environmental refugees" will flood into the global north by 2020, fleeing food shortages sparked by climate change, experts warned at a major science conference that ended here Monday.

"In 2020, the UN has projected that we will have 50 million environmental refugees," University of California, Los Angeles professor Cristina Tirado said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

"When people are not living in sustainable conditions, they migrate," she continued, outlining with the other speakers how climate change is impacting both food security and food safety, or the amount of food available and the healthfulness of that food.

The Best (Politicians) That Money Can Buy

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22koch.html?src=me&ref=general

The visitor, Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, told a large group of counterprotesters who had gathered Saturday at one edge of what otherwise was a mostly union crowd that the cuts were not only necessary, but they also represented the start of a much-needed nationwide move to slash public-sector union benefits.“We are going to bring fiscal sanity back to this great nation,” he said.What Mr. Phillips did not mention was that his Virginia-based nonprofit group, whose budget surged to $40 million in 2010 from $7 million three years ago, was created and financed in part by the secretive billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch.State records also show that Koch Industries, their energy and consumer products conglomerate based in Wichita, Kan., was one of the biggest contributors to the election campaign of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a Republican who has championed the proposed cuts.

iPhones and iToxic

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/technology/23apple.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print

Last week, when Apple released its annual review of labor conditions at its global suppliers, one startling revelation stood out: 137 workers at a factory here had been seriously injured by a toxic chemical used in making the signature slick glass screens of the iPhone.

Apple, describing it as a “core violation” of worker safety, said that it had ordered the contractor to stop using the chemical and to improve safety conditions at the plant. Apple also said that it would monitor the medical conditions of those workers.

But in interviews last weekend, nearly a dozen employees who say they were harmed by the chemical said they had never heard from anyone at Apple.

Instead, they said the contractor — a Taiwanese-owned company called Wintek — had pressed them and many other affected workers to resign and accept cash settlements that would absolve the factory of future liability, charges the company denied.

Middle of the Midlife Crisis Debate

Is there any credence to the mid-life crisis theory?

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41667673/ns/health/

And we all nod, acknowledging the inevitable, stereotypical midlife crisis. One made Monica Lewinsky famous, another earned "American Beauty" a best picture Academy Award and the concept is as embedded in our culture as the belief in the power of positive thinking.

But the idea that midlife crises are common is a myth, experts say.

"It makes for good novels or good movies, but it is not really accurate," said psychologist Margie Lachman of Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

"There is no specific time in life that predisposes you to crisis," said Alexandra Freund, a life-span researcher at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.

"There can be times when things crystallize as very problematic, a very deep disturbance in your life," Freund told LiveScience. "People experience these types of crises, but they are not at all related to age."

Instead, Lachman said, crises are usually spurred by some event that can happen at most any age, such as a career setback, the death of a friend or relative, or an illness.

Good news from Bangladesh

Bangladesh makes notable growth in primary healthcare

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1474738.ece

It focussed strongly on disadvantaged section of society, particularly women

Without waiting the perfect set of conditions to address public health issues, Bangladesh has achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on maternal health.

“Bangladesh focussed strongly on the disadvantaged section of society, particularly women, in the past three decades that led to employment, availability of micro-credit, education and overall empowerment. These were the building blocks of good health in the country,” according to Timothy G. Evans, Dean of James P. Grant School of Public Health at the BRAC University in Dhaka.

The juice on Energy Drinks

http://www.thehindu.com/health/diet-and-nutrition/article1455042.ece

Energy drinks are under-studied, overused and can be dangerous for children and teens, warns a report by doctors who say kids shouldn’t use the popular products.

The potential harms, caused mostly by too much caffeine or similar ingredients, include heart palpitations, seizures, strokes and even sudden death, the authors write in the medical journal Paediatrics. They reviewed data from the government and interest groups, scientific literature, case reports and articles in popular and trade media....

Introduced more than 20 years ago, energy drinks are the fastest growing U.S. beverage market; 2011 sales are expected to top $9 billion, the report said. It cites research suggesting that about one-third of teens and young adults regularly consume energy drinks. Yet research is lacking on risk from long-term use and effects in kids -- especially those with medical conditions that may increase the dangers, the report said.

The report comes amid a crackdown on energy drinks containing alcohol and caffeine, including recent Food and Drug Administration warning letters to manufacturers and bans in several states because of alcohol overdoses.

The report focuses on non-alcoholic drinks but emphasizes that drinking them along with alcohol is dangerous.

A (hand)looming tragedy no one is sari about

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article1471429.ece

As urban India moves away from handlooms and takes the high road to fashion, it has left in its wake a cultural legacy and shattered lives…

The wedding season is still in full flow. A striking aspect of weddings these days is not just the homogenisation of customs. For instance, mehendi and sangeet, formerly common only in the north, are now part of almost every wedding, barring the most traditional.

There is something else that strikes you as a change, especially in marriages taking place in our cities, marriages amongst the middle and upper classes. From the days when the bride and the women wore some of the most intricately woven Indian handloom saris – from Banarasi to Paithani to Kancheepuram to Jamdhani – today there is another kind of uniformity that has replaced this richness and variety. Hand embroidered saris and wedding outfits on chiffon or georgette are now virtually the norm. What has happened to Indian handlooms?

Indian handlooms and the handloom weaver are paying for this change of taste in urban India, a market that helped weavers to survive. From the days when even the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, promoted handlooms by wearing strikingly beautiful saris from all over India, hand-picked and especially woven for her by master weavers, to today, when handloom fairs in different cities barely clear accumulated stocks of handloom products, India has travelled a long way. And on that road have perished not just craftspeople but a cultural tradition that was distinctive.

Chandra Shekhar and his wife Swapna are two of the 43.3 lakh handloom weavers in India, the majority facing severe hardships. They live in the village of Pochampally, around 50 km from Hyderabad. The weave that takes its name after their village is distinctive; it is a kind of tie and dye ikkat that involves dying both the weft and the warp. The planning has to be meticulous, the dying process has to be accurate and the weaving requires immense concentration on every inch that is woven.

Historic event

Pochampally is known not just for its weave; in 1951 Vinoba Bhave stopped at the village while on a padayatra in Telengana. On entering the village, 40 landless families surrounded him and spoke of their desperate lives. During a meeting in the village, he asked if anyone could help these families. Vedira Ramchandra Reddy, a local landowner, stood up and volunteered to donate 100 acres of his land to the landless. Thus began the Bhoodan Movement through which Vinoba managed to get thousands of acres of land donated voluntarily for landless peasants in many states across India. Pochampally now has the prefix, Bhoodan, to its name.

Chandra Shekhar and Swapna are one of the over 3,000 families living in this village who survive on weaving. For hours of work needed to complete one cotton or silk sari of breathless beauty, Chandra Shekhar and his wife, both working together for over seven to eight hours a day, can barely earn Rs. 3,000 a month. They have two daughters who go to school. There are months when there is no work because there is no demand for the fabric. They are literally asked not to weave because there is too much stock with the merchant or the cooperative society.

Almost every day, the number of weavers is declining. The men go and seek work in Hyderabad. The women turn to embroidery or garment making. And the children, who are getting educated, are unlikely to follow in their footsteps. In fact, most weavers would prefer that their children do something else.

Rolling in the Dough...Indian Style

Non-IIM grads too fetch record salaries - The Economic Times: "'After a lull in 2009 and 2010, placements this year have seen a complete rebound to the pre-recession days,' says IMT Ghaziabad head (corporate relation) Prakash Pathak . 'In fact, they are even better.' IMT was visited, for the first time, by recruiters like Goldman Sachs and P&G. Average salaries, too, have shot up by around 12%, to 9.3 lakh.

At Mumbai's JBIMS, there has been a substantial rise in the number of global consulting firms visiting this year, with McKinsey, Citibank, and Nomura being the major recruiters. HUL, ITC and P&G also visited the campus.

At XLRI Jamshedpur, Swiss pharma biggie Novartis topped its last year's highest package of $1,10,000 to $1,20,000 this year, for the role of HR leadership development at its global headquarters. Around 15 new recruiters thronged XLRI this year, with average salaries shooting up to 15.8 lakh this year. XIMB saw almost 30 new recruiters coming in this year.

'The economy is booming, and that translates into more offers and higher salary offers,' says Diwakar Kaushik, secretary, external linkages, at XLRI. A total of 109 companies made 317 offers to the 240-strong batch at XLRI."

Giordano's- No Stuffing left in its Stuffed Pizzas

Giordano's files bankruptcy - chicagotribune.com: "Giordano's, known for its 'world famous Chicago stuffed pizza,' won court approval Thursday to use a portion of its $36 million bankruptcy loan to continue operating.

Fifth Third Bank provided the financing. The bank agreement outlines the possible sale of the company.

Giordano's operates six company-owned stores in the Chicago area, four joint-venture stores and 35 franchisee locations, according to its court filing. Giordano's also sells frozen stuffed pizzas via overnight delivery.

The pizza chain and 32 affiliate businesses filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Wednesday in federal court in Chicago. It owes $45.7 million to its main lender, Fifth Third Bank, according to the filing."

Walking Like an Egyptian - in Wisconsin

Protests swell to 25,000 people at Wis. Capitol - Yahoo! Finance: "Authorities say an estimated 25,000 people are protesting anti-union legislation at the Wisconsin state Capitol, and nine demonstrators have been arrested.

On the third day of protests, the Statehouse was completely jammed with protesters opposed to a bill that would strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights. The crowd filled the building's hallways, sat cross-legged across the floor and chanted slogans.

For the moment, a group of Democratic senators have blocked the bill by refusing to attend a midday vote and leaving the Capitol."

More Net-Worked, Less Connected

During a discussion about social and cultural changes in our Marketing class, a couple of students commented on the networked students of today. Their insight- that students get together but each one is on his/her own, just spending time with the phone. The students also reported that they did not feel that they were spending time with their friends. Another student said that her friends hardly ever made a phone call on their mobiles, using texting instead. What about the consequences? They were apprehensive about the impact on their communication skills and social skills.

Can You Hear Me Now? Data Overwhelming Cell Networks - NYTimes.com: "As the popularity of smartphones continues to grow, the challenge, on a global scale, may only get greater. The European network equipment makers Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent expect data traffic on the world’s mobile networks to increase 30 times through 2015. Huawei, a Chinese competitor, expects the traffic level to rise 500 times by 2020.

The number of mobile broadband subscribers, which was 600 million at the end of 2010, is expected to almost double this year to a billion and climb to five billion in 2016. Mobile network capacity will need to increase 20 to 25 times to handle that growing load, said Hans Vestberg, the Ericsson chief executive.

“In the future, we are going to live in a truly networked society,” Mr. Vestberg said. “This is going to have a tremendous influence on us and our lives.”"

Admission of College Admissions

Ursinus College Opts Out of Admissions Race - NYTimes.com: "In an era in which universities are expected to draw more and more applicants each year — as if they were Fortune 500 companies being forced to show annual profits — Ursinus College, a liberal arts institution outside Philadelphia, would seem to have little reason to celebrate.

Applicants for this fall’s freshman class have plunged by 1,700 — or nearly a third — when compared with last year at this time.

And yet, Richard DiFeliciantonio, the university’s vice president for enrollment, said on Monday that the drop was not only welcome but deliberate, after a five-year period in which Ursinus saw its applications nearly triple."

Price of 'Fudge' is up---but not the price of Fudging inflation data

A recent trip to India revealed rampant inflation across the board- especially in food and housing. Similar situations can be tracked in China and other high-growth countries. Yet the official "inflation numbers" are worked down. Helicopter Ben continues to pump in money, claiming that inflation is tepid and under control.

Consumer Prices on Most Goods Expected to Rise in 2011 - NYTimes.com: "Cotton prices are near their highest level in more than a decade, after adjusting for inflation, and leather and polyester costs are jumping as well. Copper recently hit its highest level in about 40 years, and iron ore, used for steel, is fetching extremely high prices. Prices for corn, sugar, wheat, beef, pork and coffee are soaring. Labor overseas is becoming more expensive, meanwhile, and so are the utility bills to keep a factory running."

The China Force

From China, More Students Pursue Dream of American Education - NYTimes.com: "At rural Grinnell, nearly one of every 10 applicants being considered for the class of 2015 is from China.

Dozens of other American colleges and universities are seeing a surge in applications (and similar brochures) from students in China, where a booming economy means that more families can pursue the dream of an American higher education.
But that success — following a 30 percent increase last year in the number of Chinese studying in the United States — has created a problem for admissions officers. At Grinnell, for example, how do they choose perhaps 15 students from the more than 200 applicants from China? After all, the 11-member admissions committee cannot necessarily rely on the rubrics it applies to American applications (which are challenging enough to sort through).Consider, for example, that half of Grinnell’s applicants from China this year have perfect scores of 800 on the math portion of the SAT, making the performance of one largely indistinguishable from another.But the most accomplished applicants will have grades in the 70s or 80s, because Chinese schools tend to grade on a far less generous curve than American high schools. Few will have had the opportunity to take honors or Advanced Placement courses to demonstrate their ability to do college work, since such courses are rare in China."

A Life Message

Senior women professionals take a shot at life - The Economic Times: "The women ET spoke to believed they would soon have more company, given the stressful nature of the workplace. More ‘young’ seniors, around 50 years of age, will quit their regular jobs and look for alternatives, says Rao. “The current crop earns enough to live comfortably even if they quit at 50. It is unlikely that they will all work till age 58 or 60,” she says.

Joglekar has a piece of advice for those thinking of changing track. “Quit when the money stops mattering. I believe one should leave when the elevator’s high.” In her case, she says, she did not leave because she was a woman so could not handle the stress, the travel or the glass ceiling.

She left because she wanted to do something more meaningful. “Social work is no cakewalk: it is as demanding as corporate work,” she says."

Holding Companies AND Shareholders accountable

Fining large companies, especially MNCs, often means reduction of earnings of a few pennies per share. There are no serious consequences. Fining company executives and large shareholders serious money will bring fear and constraint into the current greed driven, no accountability/no fear system.

BBC News - Chevron fined for Amazon pollution by Ecuador court: "A court in Ecuador has fined US oil giant Chevron a reported $8bn (£5bn) for polluting a large part of the country's Amazon region.

The oil firm Texaco, which merged with Chevron in 2001, was accused of dumping billions of gallons of toxic materials into unlined pits and Amazon rivers.

Campaigners say crops were damaged and farm animals killed, and that local cancer rates increased."

Banking on Jobs..

Citi, BofA & JPMorgan to outsource $5 bn of IT and back office projects to India - The Economic Times: "America’s top banks including Citigroup, JP Morgan and Bank of America are set to outsource IT and back office projects worth nearly $5 billion this year to India, as they seek to lower costs of complying with new regulations and integrate banking systems.

According to at least a dozen senior executives at Tata Consultancy Services , Infosys, Wipro , HCL and Cognizant, apart from outsourcing consultants advising these banks, new investments in compliance and regulatory norms, apart from ongoing integration with acquired assets are among top drivers for this spend.

While Bank of America is merging its systems with Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase is driving its integration with several acquired units including Washington Mutual. Having sold its captive operations to TCS and Wipro, Citigroup is now seeing more opportunities to cut costs through offshoring. Mid-tier banks such as Wells Fargo, which acquired Wachovia is now attempting to drive the integration from cheaper overseas locations such as India. Morgan Stanley is also driving IT integration with Smith Barney by outsourcing projects to India-based vendors."

MNCs lining up at B-schools with 20% higher salaries, more offers - The Economic Times: "ndia’s top business schools anticipate that 2011 will be the best year yet for campus placements as recruiters beat a path to their doors in search of the cream of management graduates. Prospective employers are expected on B-school campuses in larger numbers, hiring many more students and paying a lot more than in the past, a pointer to the improving economic health of Western economies, particularly financial firms and banks.
At IIM-Ahmedabad, the mainstay recruiters — investment banks and consulting firms — kicked off the placements season on Saturday. Their hiring is up and they are offering salaries that are up to a fifth higher than last year, those involved in the process say. Placements at IIM-Bangalore will begin on March 5, to be followed by IIM-Calcuttta and Lucknow.

The confidence is a remarkable turnaround, for just two years ago even IIM-A was forced to extend its placements window and struggled to pair all its students with employers. Campus recruitments at the IIMs and other top B-schools are closely watched because they are a barometer of corporate confidence. In good years, like 2008, which was the best for placements so far, hiring and salaries rise. But in bad years, like 2009, many recruiters shy away from campuses.

“Multinationals are expanding. They spent two years putting their own house in order post slowdown. Now there is more work for management consultants as regulators are pushing for stronger risk management mechanisms,” says Atul Khosla, the India head of Oliver Wyman. "

Too Fishy and Too Drunk

Alcohol Exposure Makes Fish Anti-Social : Discovery News: "Robert Gerlai, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, examined the neurological effects of alcohol exposure in zebrafish and noticed developmental problems similar to what's seen in humans whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy.

Zebrafish are common models for studying basic biology, development and human diseases.

Gerlai and colleagues placed small amounts of alcohol in the water of zebrafish embryo tanks. The amount used was not enough to cause physical deformations. Instead, researchers saw anti-social behaviors in these zebrafish.

“The more alcohol we give them, the more anti-social they become as adults,' Gerlai told the '>Toronto Star. “It changed their social skills, which resemble what you find in mild fetal alcohol syndrome in humans.”"

A Meaningful "World Cup" of Cricket

BBC News - LA cricket: Club helps tame Compton's mean streets: "It was the start of what was to become a collaboration of former gangsters, homeless men and street kids, who now see cricket as a metaphor for living a purposeful and law-abiding life.

'The dance is great and the physical action is beautiful,' says Mr Hayes. 'Most important is the etiquette of cricket - what it means to compete and win but be a gentleman about it.'

Inspired by their success with the homeless, they turned to the impoverished and violent neighbourhood of Compton. They took their recruitment drive to the local schools and set up cricket workshops in a city that has one of the worst reputations in California as a gang heartland."

Cut and RUn

House Republicans Aim to Cut Funds for EPA, Energy, Health Care - Businessweek: "After releasing a partial list of proposed cuts yesterday, Republicans are scheduled today to spell out their full plan to trim at least $35 billion from the deficit, which is projected to reach $1.5 trillion this year. Republicans say the measure also will bar the Obama administration from spending any money to implement the 2010 health-care overhaul.

Republicans propose ending funds for the public service AmeriCorps, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and a program that provides contraceptives to low-income families. The Environmental Protection Agency’s budget would be cut by 16 percent below what Obama has requested."

Defensive approach

Lymph Node Surgery for Breast Cancer Not Always Needed, Study Says - NYTimes.com: "A new study finds that many women with early breast cancer do not need a painful procedure that has long been routine: removal of cancerous lymph nodes from the armpit.

The discovery turns standard medical practice on its head. Surgeons have been removing lymph nodes from under the arms of breast cancer patients for 100 years, believing it would prolong women’s lives by keeping the cancer from spreading or coming back.

Now, researchers report that for women who meet certain criteria — about 20 percent of patients, or 40,000 women a year in the United States — taking out cancerous nodes has no advantage. It does not change the treatment plan, improve survival or make the cancer less likely to recur. And it can cause complications like infection and lymphedema, a chronic swelling in the arm that ranges from mild to disabling.

Removing the cancerous lymph nodes proved unnecessary because the women in the study had chemotherapy and radiation, which probably wiped out any disease in the nodes, the researchers said. Those treatments are now standard for women with breast cancer in the lymph nodes, based on the realization that once the disease reaches the nodes, it has the potential to spread to vital organs and cannot be eliminated by surgery alone.

Experts say that the new findings, combined with similar ones from earlier studies, should change medical practice for many patients. Some centers have already acted on the new information.Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan changed its practice in September, because doctors knew the study results before they were published. But more widespread change may take time, experts say, because the belief in removing nodes is so deeply ingrained.

“This is such a radical change in thought that it’s been hard for many people to get their heads around it,” said Dr. Monica Morrow, chief of the breast service at Sloan-Kettering and an author of the study, which is being published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The National Cancer Institute paid for the study."

Fiats, Vespas and Lambrettas have gone but Italy and India are still driving together...

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Corruption: is Italy a step ahead?: "With graft in public life an almost accepted universal norm, the similarities between India and Italy are both striking and startling.

Indians returning from trips to Europe usually tend to grouse about the rude rigidity of the Germans, the haughty froideur of the French, the extreme parsimony of the Dutch or the racism of the Austrians.Italy, however, brings forth altogether different reactions: “They are friendly, garrulous, welcoming, and it is the only place in Europe that vegetarians can get a decent meal. But they are also thieves and double dealers. Given half a chance they'll take the very shirt off your back and the shoes off your feet and you won't even know how it happened, a bit like with the Bambaiya pickpockets. But then, you also somehow feel you are on familiar ground.”Most Indians say they feel at home in Italy: life is chaotic, no one obeys the rules, policemen can be paid to cancel fines, there is massive tax evasion, the mafia controls large swathes of territory, the government counts for little and for the well-heeled, life is very good indeed.Hardly anyone, except for a few Christian charities and other NGOs, thinks of the poor. Public money hall-marked for disaster victims tends to disappear into the pockets of officials and cronyism is rampant; homes built for the poor are the first to collapse in southern Italy's earthquake-prone zones because of the poor quality of materials used …."

World of The Future: (WTF): Machine diagnoses man, Machine treats man, machine teaches man

CTV Edmonton - Man vs. Machine: computer takes on Jeopardy champs - CTV News: "A smarter automated customer service model is the obvious advance, but IBM is looking much further, suggesting the possibility of a healthcare application, that would be able to accurately diagnose patients.

Baker suggests that we are going to come to a crossroads soon and will have to seriously re-evaluate our model of learning. What is the point of memorizing certain facts (what's the capital of Idaho? What year was the Treaty of Versailles?) when computers can tell us the answers instantly.

'We have to make decisions about what we learn and what we decide to store in our own heads,' Baker said. 'What is valuable? What can humans do that computers can't do going forward?'"

Online Courses, Still Lacking That Third Dimension - NYTimes.com: "I began teaching classes online 10 years ago, but the term “online” is misleading. What I really mean is that I teach a hybrid course: part software, part hovering human. A genuine online course would be nothing but the software and would handle all the grading, too. No living, breathing instructor would be needed for oversight.

“We should focus on having at least one great course online for each subject rather than lots of mediocre courses,” Bill Gates suggested in his 2010 annual letter for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Developing that best-in-the-world online course — in which students would learn as much, or more, than in an ordinary classroom or a hybrid online class — requires significant investment. The Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, which has developed about 15 sophisticated online courses, mostly in the sciences, spent $500,000 to $1 million to write software for each. But neither Carnegie Mellon nor other institutions, which are invited to use its online courses, dares to use them without having a human instructor, too."

Red Hot Indian Summer to get even hotter...stuck on "Auto" matic

The impact of the environmental damage caused by the rapid "growth" in India will be felt around the world in the decades to come. A large and growing population in a relatively small land mass, demanding "convenient necessities" like automotive vehicles, large houses, central air, and the latest electronic gear, can lead to catastrophic destruction of the environment and result in much higher prices for commodities.

Car makers' sales up in 2011 amid slowdown fears - The Economic Times: "Automobile makers made a robust start in 2011 amidst growing concerns about slowdown in demand due to rising interest rates and higher fuel costs.

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki said its sales in January rose 24% to 1,00,422 units from a year earlier. Sales of Mahindra & Mahindra , top utility vehicle maker, grew by 15% to 17,208 units.

Tata Motors recorded 15% growth in January sales to 30,212 units. The Nano reported a 68% rise in sales to 6,703 units after successive decline in sales from July 2010 before recovering to post robust sales in December.

Hero Honda, which will see a split between partners and Hero and Honda, posted 20% rise in sales.

"Our strong sales for January have provided an excellent start to the new year. This is the ninth consecutive month of four lakh-plus sales. Going forward, we aim to build on this strong trend and further consolidate our position as the market leader," said Anil Dua, Sr. VP (Marketing & Sales), Hero Honda.

Temperatures in India set to reach 130-year high - The Economic Times: "Temperatures in India are set to get higher—higher than what the country has recorded in the past 130 years. The monsoon too is going to change; it will rain as much, perhaps higher, but in short, intense bursts, heightening the risk of floods and crop failure.

These are some of the grim findings of prominent meteorologists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology , a government-funded research centre at Pune. IITM scientists K Krishna Kumar, S K Patwardhan and B N Goswami, along with scientists from France, USA and Thailand, have concluded that higher temperatures have a strong probability of coming true.Day temperatures will be higher and there will be less respite from the heat at night, says their research paper. The band of high-temperature days will get longer than now. In turn, these changes could result in higher heat-wave deaths, apart from impacting crops.

The average annual temperatures across the country could rise by 2 degree celsius by the middle of this century and by 3.5 degree celsius by its end, the scientists have said on the basis of several scientific and mathematical formulas that were used in tandem to predict the future. One such model suggested that temperatures could rise by as much as 6 degree celsius by the end of the century.

If green-house gas emissions are not reduced or controlled, the average daily maximum temperatures before the onset of monsoons would routinely stay above 45 degree celsius. And rains across the country could increase by 8-10% by the end of the century and come down with higher intensity, increasing the risk of floods and bad crops.

According to the scientists, rain in the May-October period could rise by 20%. This, they say, means the monsoon period could get extended.

The impact of these changes in the climate could be disastrous unless government pushes adaptation policies. Even adapting, such as introducing heat-resistant seeds, would not be able to completely counter the impact of the changes, the scientists warn.

The scientists found that in a pocket near Delhi—a good sample area for the Indo-Gangetic plain—the daily minimum temperatures could rise by as much as 5 degree celsius. Some studies show that a one-degree change can hit crop yields by 10%.

The authors of the research suggest that even if they were to take a conservative view, a 20% reduction in crop yields due to such increases in temperatures would be sufficient to badly hit the economy. "Such a situation of decreasing yields coupled with increasing population could be a major socio-economic issue," they warn.

Their conclusion is dire: "The changes are likely to have a large impact on agriculture and public health and a pervasive negative effect throughout the entire economy, unless, the government acts."

"

A problem of Amazonian proportion

'Alarming' Amazon Droughts May Have Global Fallout : NPR: "The world's largest tropical forest, the Amazon, experienced something rare last year — a drought. It wasn't the earth-cracking kind of drought that happens in the American Southwest or the Australian outback, but it did stunt or kill lots of trees.

It was the second such drought in the Amazon in five years, and forest scientists are trying to understand why these droughts are happening, and what their effects will be for the planet.

The 2005 drought in the Amazon was so unusual that scientists called it a '100-year event' — something supposed to happen only once a century.

"This is what's quite alarming — that we've seen these two very unusual events," says Simon Lewis, a forest ecologist at the University of Leeds in Great Britain, who watched both droughts hit the Amazon. Lewis notes that several of the computer models that calculate the effects of climate change do predict that parts of the planet are going to get drier.

"And those two unusual events are consistent with those predictions that suggest that the Amazon may be severely impacted over the next few decades by these droughts," he says.

How Droughts Affect Forests

Writing in the journal Science, Lewis and his scientific team say the droughts are probably caused by the northward movement of especially warm water in the Atlantic Ocean. That shift carries moisture north, robbing big chunks of the Amazon of rain it normally would get."

Advancing my concept of 'Globalization of Talent"

I had coined the phrase 'Globalization of Talent" to reflect the search for talent, no matter where it resides in the world.

Manpower CEO: U.S. Hiring Is on the Upswing - Yahoo! Finance: "here's another reason companies have been slow to hire. Joerres has identified a shift toward what he calls 'talentism' — the notion "that every single talent in the company really matters." Previously, he says, companies felt that all they needed was a good chief financial officer, or a good operations manager. But in today's skinny organizations, every position really counts. Much has been made of the fact that, even with a high unemployment rate, there are a huge number of apparently unfilled job openings. In November, for example, there were 3.2 million job openings in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up 30 percent from November 2009. (Some of those openings are at Google, which received 75,000 job applications last week.) Joerres explains this strange paradox as follows: It could be that companies can't find workers with the skills they need. Or, more likely, companies have become very good at understanding precisely what they need and are being extremely picky about finding the perfect candidate. Since demand isn't booming, they figure they can wait an extra 30 or 60 days to find the just-right candidate. Joerres says that Johnson Controls, which specializes in building services and energy efficiency, will need to hire 16,000 sustainability consultants and engineers over the next several years. "But they're not being produced by universities and they're not growing on trees," says Joerres. As a result, "they're going to be very disciplined about where to place their bets on new hires."

What areas are doing well? The Manpower survey finds that sectors with the strongest prospects for hiring in the first quarter of 2011 are leisure and hospitality, information, business and professional services, and retail and wholesale trade. Joerres says that last year, Manpower's business helping manufacturing and light industrial companies find staffers grew rapidly.

Joerres dispenses the same advice to those who have jobs as he does to those who are actively seeking new positions: "You have to be insatiable about learning." In this rapidly changing environment, much of the onus on career development and training falls on workers, not on employers. As a result, people have to advance themselves through college, online courses and training. "Unless you're in some unique, highly skilled positions, you can't rest," he says. "Don't be complacent."

Statistics Matters...all the way to the top

Life Inc. - SAS, Google among 100 'best companies' to work for: "Depending on your perspective, then, the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list is either a hopeful reminder that there are still fantastic companies out there, or a chance to be jealous of what others enjoy.
The list, released Thursday, again gives software firm SAS its top ranking. The company earns its spot thanks to benefits such as low-cost, high-quality day care, a lavish gym and on-site health care.
Boston Consulting Group ranked No. 2 for things like avoiding layoffs during the downturn and its commitment to social work."

All companies:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/full_list/