An eco-friendly fashion statement

The Hindu : Arts / Crafts : An eco-friendly fashion statement: "Diversity seems to be the byword at the Gandhi Shilp Bazaar that got underway here on Monday. With an impressive assortment of materials made of terracotta, paper, jute, vegetable dyes and palm leaves, the exhibition makes an eco-friendly fashion statement.

Jute bags, curtains and blinds made of taliput fibre, cane utensils and bamboo trays draw eco-conscious shoppers and admirers of ethnic products. One of the distinct aspects of the annual exhibition is its speciality craft pieces from every State. In a stall featuring Kerala mridangams, an added attraction is that the craftsmen demonstrate and customise mrindangams in all sizes.

From Uttar Pradesh are cloth and wooden dolls, accessories and cotton kurtas, which are spotted at every corner of the venue. Many craftsmen have mounted their masterpieces along the walkways, which demand attention for their intricacy and detailing.

Tamil Nadu has its fair share at the exhibition and stands apart for its variety of display. If Thanjavur paintings and bronze idols are a regular feature, this year's exhibition has sourced in exquisite paper jewellery, designer plates and lacquer ware. Particularly interesting are terracotta accessories and lamps from Cuddalore, wooden educational play kits from Puducherry, and tribal jewellery.

There is an extensive option when it comes to home furnishings. Assam's traditional works such as koyna grass mats, bamboo utilities, cane sofa sets, moorhas and laundry baskets cast a spell on tribal craft lovers.

Wrought iron artefacts from Chhattisgarh, Orissa's appliqué lampshades and shell carvings from Andaman and Nicobar Islands add a touch of vibrancy.

On the textile front, delicate weaves such as Ikat and Chikan come in a blaze of colours along with the ever-in-vogue batik, Chanderi and Benares silks, Gujarat's embroideries and Kashmiri works. A couple of stalls feature Madhubani work from Bihar, which come in a whirl of motifs on silk and cotton fabrics."

Promotion of Competence

Examples abound in the corporate world of promotions that ruined departments and organizations. Person A shows some competence at level X, either at the job or in working the superiors, and is promoted to level Y. If the person is inherently incompetent (at X and Y) the lower level group gains (from the loss of A) while the promoted causes greater havoc and pain at the higher level Y. If A was good at X, and if the skills sets for X and Y are uncorrelated (or negatively correlated) there is little evidence that A succeeds at Y. Often A fails at Y since the skills sets can be negatively correlated. So, what is the optimal way to promote? What is the effect of promoting people at random? An interesting research work examines this question.

Random promotion may be best, research suggests | Education | The Guardian: "Last month, three Italian researchers were awarded an Ig Nobel prize for demonstrating mathematically that organisations would become more efficient if they promoted people at random. But their research was neither the beginning nor the end of the story of how bureaucracies try – and fail – to find a good promotion method.

Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda and Cesare Garofalo, of the University of Catania, Sicily, calculated how a pick-at-random promotion scheme compares with other, more enshrined methods. They gave details in the journal Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications."

High-flying China

China to unveil its own large jetliner - chicagotribune.com: "— China is aiming to reshape the global aviation industry with a home-grown jetliner, a direct challenge to the supremacy of Boeing and Airbus, the world's only manufacturers of large commercial aircraft.

The communist government has staked billions of dollars and national pride on the effort. What may surprise some Americans worried about slipping U.S. competitiveness is that some well-known U.S. companies are aiding China in its quest.

That partnership will be on display this week at an air show in southern China with the unveiling of a full-scale mockup of the C919. Slated for production by 2016, the 156-seat, single-aisle passenger plane would have its fuselage emblazoned with Comac, short for the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China. But inside, the most crucial systems would bear the trademarks of some of the biggest names in Western aviation."

Power of O

Who Will Be Oprah’s Last Star? - NYTimes.com: "“The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which made its debut nationally in 1986, has become regarded as an express lane to the American dream. Sales climbed at once-little-known companies like Spanx, maker of the now-ubiquitous body-sucking undergarments, and at Philosophy, a skin care brand, after Ms. Winfrey mentioned their products on the show, which is watched by about 40 million people a week in the United States. For authors in particular she has been a fairy godmother. Publishers Weekly said last year that Ms. Winfrey “turned 63 books into best sellers” and that “one publishing insider estimated that Oprah’s selections alone generated $500 million in sales for the industry.”

Other beneficiaries include the fitness trainer Bob Greene; the designer Chris Madden; chefs like Art Smith and Rosie Daley; organizational experts, including Julie Morgenstern and Peter Walsh; and countless authors, like Eckhart Tolle. Regular guests of Ms. Winfrey’s show — Suze Orman, Mr. McGraw, Ms. Ray, Dr. Oz and, most recently, the interior designer Nate Berkus — became only more celebrated. They have also become the next generation of talk show hosts.