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Sunday, February 7, 2010

In the news: October,2007

31.10.2007

90 Indians arrested in UAE (Times of India)
Twenty one convicted over Madrid bombings, alleged mastermind acquitted (Hindustan Times)
Chemicals Flow Unchecked From China to Drug Market (nytimes)
India will lose much more if nuke deal fails: top nuke scientist (yahoo.com)
Mukesh becomes world's richest (yahoo.com)
Xenitis launches sub-Rs.20,000 laptop (yahoo.com)
GDP Grew 3.9% in Third Quarter On Exports, Consumer Spending (wsj)
19.10.2007
Google Profit Back in Fast Lane (wsj)
Bomb Attack Kills Scores in Pakistan as Bhutto Returns (nytimes)
ITV faces £70m fine after viewers cheated out of millions on premium phone-ins (guardian)
Nike expected to pitch bid for Umbro as fears over sales grow (Times)
Wipro posts Rs 8.24 billion profit in Q2 (Hindustan Times)
India PM rejects resignation call (bbc)
18.10.2007

Media-Ownership Issue May Get Decided (wsj)

Bhutto Returns to Pakistan After 8 Years (nytimes)

In the end, the Indians played like Aussies and Aussies like the Indians (Indian Express)

Day of reckoning for BBC: thousands of jobs axed and Television Centre to be sold (guardian)

Meet Dalai Lama, George W Bush tells China (Times)

17.10.2007

Gore Says Nobel PrizeWon't Spur Presidential Bid (wsj)

Global Warming Starts to Divide G.O.P. Contenders (nytimes)

Thompson plans to cut 1,700 staff (guardian)

India suspends trading as markets plunge (Times)

7th ODI: India put Aussies on the mat (Hindustan Times)

16.10.2007

Jury Awards$99 MillionIn Wyeth Case (wsj)

Failing Schools Strain to Meet U.S. Standard (nytimes)

Indian blogger's website on Pak creates waves in cyberspace (Hindustan Times)

Indian Prime Minister calls off nuclear deal with the United States (Times)

Putin warns US against military action on Iran (guardian)

15.10.2007

Indians just love sex! (Hindustan Times)

Plan to Save Banks Depends On Cooperation of Investors (wsj)

Can Fox Win Its Frontal Assault Against CNBC? (nytimes)

Male infertility alert over hidden bacteria (Times)

Anil thanks Dev Anand for ‘discovering’ Tina (The Asian Age)

13.10.2007

Sanchez: Iraq war 'a nightmare with no end in sight' (cnn)

Energy Crunch Threatens South American Nations (nytimes)

What Gore's Nobel Prize Means for Political Climate (wsj)

Al Gore’s Nobel peace prize is a rebuke for the President, claim Democrats (Times)

Four Posco officials taken hostage (Times of India)

12.10.2007

Al Gore, U.N. Climate Change Panel Win 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (wsj)

Gore and U.N. Panel Win Peace Prize for Climate Work (nytimes)

Al Gore is joint winner of 2007 Nobel peace prize (Times)

Gore and UN share Nobel peace prize (guardian)

Nobel for Al Gore, IPCC (NDTV)

Gore shares Nobel Peace Prize with U.N. panel (cnn.com)

Gore and UN panel win Nobel prize (bbc)

Gore shares Nobel win with U.N. climate panel (reuters)

Al Gore and UN climate body win Nobel Peace Prize (AFP)

Gore, U.N. Body Win Nobel Peace Prize (AP)

Pachauri-led panel on climate change, Al Gore win Nobel Peace Prize (Hindu)

Gore Wins the Nobel. But Will He Run? (Time)

Gore, U.N. Body Win Nobel Peace Prize (Washingtonpost)

Gore, U.N. panel win Peace Prize (latimes)

11.10.2007

PepsiCo's Net Climbs 16% (wsj)

Google Founders Pick Up Another Big Plane (nytimes)

Pope told 'survival of world' at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace (Times)

Doris Lessing takes Nobel prize (guardian)

Aust trounce Ind by 9 wkts, take 3-1 lead (mid-day)

10.10.2007

Breaking a Primary Logjam (wsj)

An Israeli Strike on Syria Kindles Debate in the U.S. (nytimes)

Big B deserves more peace: Rekha (Times of India)

Mayawati gets reprieve in Taj corridor case (DNA)

Tendulkar all set to play 400th ODI (rediff)

9.10.2007

Zoellick Charts Inclusive Course At World Bank (wsj)

Britain to Halve Its Force in Iraq (nytimes)

BBC 'to shed 12% of workforce' (guardian)

Internet names for Asia launched (bbc)

UPA-Left meet fails to break impasse on N-deal (Hindustan Times)

8.10.2007

India stun Australia in 4th ODI, win by 8 runs (Hindustan Times)

India win cliffhanger (Times of India)

Bowlers keep India alive in series (cricinfo.com)

India defeats Australia by eight runs (Hindu)

Team India wins a cliff-hanger (The New Indian Express)

6.10.2007

U.S. Economy Down, Not Out (wsj)

Pakistan Lawmakers Voting for President (nytimes)

Activists defy generals in their fight to death for democracy (Times)

World's largest uncut diamond denounced as plastic fake (guardian)

BJP withdraws support to JD-S, seeks elections (Hindustan Times)

5.10.2007

Behind London's Boom, Billionaires From Abroad (wsj)

Musharraf-Bhutto Accord Sets Stage for Vote (nytimes)

Burma's junta chief offers terms to meet opposition leader (Times)

We'll play cricket and leave talking for Indians: Ponting (DNA)

We will withdraw support if Govt. proceeds with n-deal: Yechuri (Hindu)

4.10.2007

In just one day, realty tycoon KP Singh is $4.6 bn richer (DNA)

RepublicansGrow SkepticalOn Free Trade (wsj)

Monks Are Silenced, and for Now, Internet Is, Too (nytimes)

Trapped gold miners rescued in South Africa (Times)

Aishwarya Rai to act in Taj film (bbc)

3.10.2007

Microsoft Tunes Its ZunesTo Catch Up With iPods(wsj)

Clinton Steals Obama’s Fund-Raising Thunder (nytimes)

Thousands of protesters and monks missing in secret gulag of the generals (Times)

Sensex closes in on 18K as bull run continues (Times of India)

Ex-MP gets death in IAS officer lynching case (ibnlive.com)

1.10.2007

Microsoft, Adobe Widen Data Services (wsj)

Exoneration Using DNA Brings Change in Legal System (nytimes)

Anand is now undisputed World champion (Hindu)

Zimbabwe runs out of bread (guardian)

Mukesh Ambani earns Rs 10 per second! (rediff.com)

3 Ways to Make Money From Home

Dr. Stephen Hawking
Three (Real) Ways to Make Money From Home in Your Spare Time
You are a world-class expert. Yes, you are, just like Stephen Hawking is a world-class expert on the Big Bang and Martha Stewart is a world-class expert on making festive party favors out of tissue paper.

Your personal interests, life and work experiences and education add up to real expertise in a number of subjects. Do you tinker with cars? Read Shakespeare for fun? Beat your buddies at chess? Lecture your friends about proper diet, or Web design, or Star Wars collectibles?

Then you're an expert, and there's a place online that can help you turn that avocation into hard cash

There are at least three types of Web-based businesses that can help you earn cash in your spare time -- and a fourth type you shouldn't go near.

All three of the legit types supply the online base, the software and the marketing muscle you need to get started. You supply the expert "content," to use the hideous neo-media word for what we call "facts" in plain English.

This is not the get-rich-quick scheme you may have been looking for. The people who make real money through any of these schemes are working hard for it, really know their subjects and are good at communicating.

The money they earn is based on hard numbers. Page views and user ratings are modern equivalents to piece-work counts in a factory.

But if you can't find a full-time job, can't work regular hours or outside your home, or want to moonlight to supplement the 9 to 5 grind, one of these might be for you. For more strategies on how to moonlight, see Ten Ways to Moonlight.

A look at some of these online businesses suggests they are being used by young and out-of-work professionals to build up their resumes and hone their skills until the economy recovers. And, of course, many managers are using the services to get the job done until they can afford to add headcount.

All the sites claim to conduct a vetting process for contributors, and quality control over contributions, but their criteria are positively loosey-goosey compared to the personnel departments of a major corporation.

After all, their system of paying based on actual usage and client ratings ensures that only really good contributors get paid, and bad ones sink into the unplumbed depths of the database.

1. The Open Network

An open network offers a ready-built home for freelance writers to post articles on an infinite variety of useful or interesting subjects.

Associated Content, one of the largest and best known freelance networks, syndicates and custom-creates Editorial content, in text, video, image and audio forms.

It claims to be adding 5,000 articles a week to a database of more than 1 million articles on a vast range of subjects -- from curious facts about Abraham Lincoln to tips on easing your dog's separation anxiety.

That database was built by freelancers, who are paid a measly $3 to $15 per story but make an additional small sum based on user clicks, starting at $1.50 for every 1,000 page views. You can get a raise on that rate for page views as your output and audience grow.

The key to racking up page views is to write about something that interests everybody, like love or money. Or, write about a subject that interests many people intensely -- like parenting or World War II.

2. Answers On Demand

On-demand services connect people with an immediate need for information with experts who can supply that information. It's a one-on-one service, conducted over chat or via email for a fee.

LivePerson.com boasts 30,000 experts who are "ready to chat" on subjects from personal growth to small business solutions.

Some experts are lurking online, ready to jump in to answer your question, and others can be scheduled ahead for a one-on-one. The fee is set by the expert, anywhere from 50 cents to $5 per minute, about 45 percent of which goes to LivePerson.

Advice about "personal relationships" is clearly a money-maker here, although you can find a Web designer, a homework coach or a cosmetologist when you want one.

The vetting process includes licenses for professions that require them, like doctors and lawyers. All experts' resumes are available to prospective clients.

But once online, the experts live or die by client ratings which are, in the great tradition of the Internet, brutally honest. And in this world of pay-per-minute, the reviews cover typing speed as well as communication skills.

JustAnswer.com has an even simpler system. Got a problem? Just describe it, and indicate how much you're willing to pay for an answer. One of the experts will get back to you fast.

Experts run the gamut from veterinarians and attorneys to mechanics and computer repair people.

A quick glance through current questions reveals that many people are baffled by their electronic equipment, their cars and their puppies. Also, many students want somebody to write their term papers for them.

A new site out of Nashville, called Moontoast, wants to carry the concept to the next step and arrange actual face-to-face video and audio confrontations between expert and client. (Scary!)

Expected to launch soon, the site is bankrolled by country music stars and inspired by a musician's need to hear information, not just read it.

3. Crowd-Sourcing

This is the ultimate piece-work for the digital age.

"Crowd-sourcing" takes a big, ugly, often repetitive task and hacks it into small bits to be assigned to many people.

Say you are publishing a restaurant reservation directory, and every phone number has to be checked. How do you get it done? Try "crowd-sourcing" it.

MechanicalTurk.com, owned by Amazon, currently has almost 700 projects up for grabs, each divided into hundreds or thousands of "human intelligence tasks." Each task pays literally pennies -- from 1 cent to maybe 20 cents.

A lab needs information on 98 Web sites, for 10 cents a pop. Somebody is collecting data on 50 baseball players, for 9 cents each. Zappos wants people to edit product reviews for a nickel each. You might even see positions for big-time names like Google or Yahoo.

You grab a task, complete it and submit it for approval. As soon as it's approved, your payment gets transferred from the requester's Amazon Payments account to yours.

If you can stand it, you could sit at your computer all day banging these things out.

An experienced professional could get very bitter writing abstracts of technology news for a nickel each. But an under-employed college grad might greatly prefer it to flipping burgers, and it looks better on a resume.

More rarefied versions of crowd-sourcing are available at specialized freelance sites. DesignBay.com offers designers the chance to submit their work in online "contests" for posted projects. The odd jobs, most paying a couple of hundred dollars, come in from around the world, from small businesses and individuals who need logos or fliers, banner ads and posters.

Crowd-sourcing hits its low point in sites that pay people to "play around on the Internet." Put bluntly, they're falsifying usage data by goosing the number of unique hits on Web sites or banner ads.

CAUTION: The Age-Old Scam

Old scams never die. They just move onto the Internet.

If an ad promises you can make $50,000 a week clicking on Web sites, they're lying.

If a company wants you to pay upfront for a kit, or a book, or anything else, don't do it.

There are plenty of legitimate businesses in this game, and they make their money by helping you make money.

sourece: yahoo

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Success mantras from Lance Armstrong, a world champion

Lance Armstrong

Success mantras from a world champion

The champion cyclist Lance Armstrong's secret weapon is not his genetic gifts or his killer instinct, for these endowments are shared by many of his competitors.

Instead, it is his pure joy for living life and riding his bicycle.

Imagine a top athlete during an exhausting fish-out-of-water corporate sponsor day in the off-season. Not many would want to squeeze in a tough workout during their precious downtime. Instead, they would probably choose eating a proper meal, relaxing, and summoning the energy to "get through" the rest of the obligation.

As everyone he touched during these events can attest, Lance was in the moment, enjoying himself and his company at all times. Developing the ability to go with the flow and enjoy every experience that life has to offer, even when things don't go exactly as desired orhoped for, is the essence of "how Lance does it."

Lance Armstrong's approach to life is remarkably simple and clean, devoid of the psychological "issues" that make life a bitch for ordinary people.

It just so happens that he became the ultimate sports celebrity, so the world has been able to deeply appreciate the results generated when he did what he loved on his bicycle.

The qualities that make Lance a great champion are a mysterious blend of genetics, background, attitude, and behavior molded by years of life experience. We will have a ball analyzing the particulars to bring meaning and generate inspiration from his example.

Yet for Lance, everything must remain ridiculously simple. No one ever won the Tour de France by contemplating winning the Tour de France.

To get insights about what motivates this champion, read on. . .

Excerpted from: How Lance Does It: Put the success formula of a champion into everything you do by Brad Kearns.
Kearns has been a friend of Armstrong since their days as teammates on the pro triathlon circuit in the late 1980s. Kearns is a noted speaker, author and coach.
Price: Rs 299

When it's raining, put on a rain jacket and go

"When it's raining, I just put on a rain jacket and go." This was Lance's metaphoric answer to the question of how he dealt with vicious treatment at the hands of the European cycling media, who dogged him with unsubstantiated drug rumors for the duration of his Tour de France reign.

There is simply nothing that can compromise Lance's positive attitude and total focus on his goals -- whether it's literally inclement weather or the emotional storms that come from being a celebrity, team leader, and top dog in the highpressure world of professional cycling.

"When it's raining, I just put on a rain jacket and go", the champion says

Close your eyes for a second and imagine Lance waking up, looking outside, seeing rain, getting dressed appropriately, and heading out the door to train without hesitation. Behind this simple but highly symbolic image lie secrets that his competitors and everyday folk would kill for. You might not face a six-hour training ride in the freezing rain of Europe in February nor newspaper headlines that attack your character and accuse you of the worst sporting transgressions.

However, each of us faces the "bad weather" of stress, negative emotions, and personal conflict in our daily lives. Do you put on a rain jacket and carry on? Or do you complain, explain, and blame?

Get rid of the bad weather of your life fast

One thing that becomes clear when you learn about Lance's story is his total refusal to consider any alternative but the best: survival, perfect preparation, victory, good sportsmanship, total honesty, and giving to something bigger than himself in the cancer community. Lance's story is pure Hollywood. He and his mom brazenly take on the world.

He becomes a precocious world champion, gets cancer and nearly loses everything, and then comes back to achieve a victory so profound that he transcends his sport to become the American icon of hope.

However, you would have to cast someone else as Lance for the movie, for Lance himself has no "glam factor."

As an athlete, Lance was much more like a surgeon than a flamboyant crowd pleaser. There was no unnecessary waste of emotions, no empty rhetoric with high shock value, no anxiety whatsoever with carrying on his back the hopes of an entire team (an enterprise that grew to sixty-plus employees and a budget of more than $15 million annually) and an entire country in striving to win the toughest individual athletic event on earth.

Lance's seven Tour de France victories were a testament to his mechanical preparation and refusal to let outside influences demoralize or distract him. With such a focused approach, he was able to perform successfully even while surrounded by a pandemonium that dwarfed anything other athletes have faced.

Think of screaming Super Bowl or World Series fans unrestrained by stadium seats so that they may swarm the edges of the playing field and scream or spit in an athlete's face. Repeat the scenario every day for three weeks, and you end up with the estimated fifteen million roadside spectators in the Tour de France, enough to fill three hundred World Series stadiums

Simplicity is the key to happiness

It's easy to forget context when talking with Lance. In our interviews for this book, it felt like I was in casual conversation with an old friend about sports and life instead of having discussions -- booked after months of waiting for a spot on his calendar -- with one of the world's most recognizable and beloved athletes, one who achieved the greatest comeback in the history of sports, becoming the greatest cyclist of all time.

Lance is not the least bit self-important, long-winded, introspective, or mystical?he's just simple and straightforward. Of course, therein lies his secret.

To be exposed to Lance's unique perspective may be particularly valuable because many of us struggle with an overly complex, self-absorbed approach to life.

When things do not unfold exactly how we want and we get bogged down by mental demons like insecurity, peer pressure, and emotional baggage, we lose?whether it's a bike race or an attempt to live a happy life.

Many of us have read personal growth or self-help books before, each with an interesting take on how to achieve happiness, personal power, wealth, balance, peak performance, leadership?whatever the particular hook is.

In fact, one could spend a lifetime sitting around and reading book after book?filling the eager mind with winning strategies and success acronyms while accomplishing nothing.

Alternatively, you could set a goal that you would love to pursue and achieve, figure out precisely what it takes to achieve it, and head down that path with no hesitation or wasted energy.

4 factors that determine success

Success Factor 1 -- Positive Attitude: Lance has an intensely positive attitude about life, the key to overcoming difficult circumstances like cancer and winning the toughest bike race in the world seven years in a row.

He constantly maintains a winning environment for himself and everyone around him by choosing to interpret his past experiences and present circumstances in a positive manner.

Success Factor 2 -- Clarity of Purpose: Lance had a deep conviction and commitment to realize his potential as a cyclist, which resulted in his winning the Tour de France every year from 1999 through 2005.

He was motivated by his love of cycling and desire to give his absolute best effort after surviving cancer and being given a second chance in life.

In daily life, Lance consistently displayed the work ethic, focus, and prioritization skills that matched his clear life purpose every day.

He was willing to make the tremendous sacrifices necessary to become a champion and prevent outside influences (competitors, the distractions of celebrity life, and so on) from impeding him.

Success Factor 3 -- Specialized intelligence: Lance has extremely high intelligence narrowly applied and perfectly suited to his chosen endeavor as a pro cyclist. He developed his specialized intelligence by learning and improving from mistakes, cultivating an intuitive approach to training and life decisions, and adopting a big-picture perspective about his athletic goals to account for all performance variables.

Success Factor 4 -- Pure Confidence: Lance's greatest source of confidence was "doing the work"?preparing fully and competing in high-pressure situations.

He was focused on achieving peak performance and was not afraid to lose. This pure confidence transcends external variables that cause many to succumb to the negative influences of competitive pressure and the expectations of others.

I will support the success factor theory with never-before-published anecdotes from my extensive interviews with Lance, those in his tight inner circle, and other key observers.

We will see where Lance heads in the future, but it's no doubt that he is poised to apply his success factors in whatever direction he chooses -- cancer advocacy, working with the Discovery Channel cycling team he partly owns, business and corporate sponsorship affairs, or just being a mellow dad raising three kids in Austin, Texas. You, too, can apply these success factors to pursuits such as raising a family, running a business, pursuing an education, competing in cycling competitions, uncovering dinosaur bones, repairing shoes, or any other endeavor you might have a passion for.

10 Memory Tricks for Elementary Students

10 Memory Tricks for Elementary Students

t's not just parents who could use a memory boost; children can brush up on their recollection skills, as well. From kindergarten through third grade, your child can use memory techniques to remember lists and simple grammatical rules. Below are ten memory tips that will help your child excel in school and in life.
The alphabet system. Help your child associate images that are represented by the letters of the alphabet. This is a great method for remembering long lists of items in a specific order, and a useful tool for your child to practice alphabet order. For example, "A is for apple, B is for boy."

The link/story method. Help your child invent bizarre or funny stories to link items he needs to remember. For instance, if he needs to learn primary colors, have him develop a story such as: "The yellow bird grabbed its red parachute and flew into the blue sky."

Acronyms. Have your child make a word out of the first letters of the item to be recalled. For instance, the letters that spell HOMES represent each of the Great Lakes: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

The journey system. This system uses landmarks on a journey. To remember the first four presidents of the United States, take this journey: On our way to Washington, we saw our friend Adam, who wanted to go to Jeff's house to play a new video game called Mad (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison).

Movement learning. Songs that include movement help children remember the song's vocabulary. "Heads, shoulders, knees, and toes" is very effective.

Excitement and sound. When reading a book aloud, adding inflection and excitement to the story will help your child remember it. "Fee, fi, fo, fum," boomed the giant in "Jack and the Beanstalk." Children will pick up the emotion of the story through the words that you act, and their increased interest will help them retain more of the information.

Rhyme and rhythm. This is an effective tool for remembering dates or simple grammatical rules. Example: "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Or: "I before e, except after c."

The number/shape mnemonic. With this system, your child builds imaginary pictures and uses numbers to represent the shape of the object. The number seven could be a boomerang, for instance.

Color code. The use of color is linked strongly to memory. If your child needs to remember the original 13 colonies, have them color-code a United States map.

Acrostics. In a poem that is an acrostic, the first or last letter of each line combine to spell out a word or phrase. Here's an example:

Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Earth needs us to do our best to keep things clean.
Caring for the planet is everyone's job.
You can do your part to save the environment.
Collect metal, paper, and plastic for recycling.
Litter free is how it has to be.
Everybody should work together to keep the planet clean.