Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Top 10 Things for India to Achieve its 2050 Potential according to Goldman Sachs:

Here are the list of Top 10 Things for India to Achieve its 2050 Potential according to Goldman Sachs:

Improve governance.

Without better governance, delivery systems and effective implementation, India will find it difficult to educate its citizens, build its infrastructure, increase agricultural productivity and ensure that the fruits of economic growth are well established.

Raise educational achievement.

Among more micro factors, raising India’s educational achievement is a major requirement to help achieve the nation’s potential. According to our basic indicators, a vast number of India’s young people receive no (or only the most basic) education. A major effort to boost basic education is needed. A number of initiatives, such as a continued expansion of Pratham and the introduction of Teach First, for example, should be pursued.

Increase quality and quantity of universities.

At the other end of the spectrum, India should also have a more defined plan to raise the number
and the quality of top universities.

Control inflation.

Although India has not suffered particularly from dramatic inflation, it is currently experiencing a rise in inflation similar to
that seen in a number of emerging economies. We think a formal adoption of Inflation Targeting would be a very sensible move to help India persuade its huge population of the (permanent) benefits of price stability.

Introduce a credible fiscal policy.

We also believe that India should introduce a more credible medium-term plan for fiscal policy. Targeting low and stable inflation is not easy if fiscal policy is poorly maintained. We think it would be helpful to develop some ‘rules’ for spending over cycles.

Liberalize financial markets.

To improve further the macro variables within the GES framework, we believe further liberalization of Indian financial markets is necessary.

Increase trade with neighbors.

In terms of international trade, India continues to be much less ‘open’ than many of its other large emerging nation colleagues, especially China. Given the significant number of nations with large populations on its borders, we would recommend that India target a major increase in trade with China, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Increase agricultural productivity.

Agriculture, especially in these times of rising prices, should be a great opportunity for India. Better specific and defined plans for increasing productivity in agriculture are essential, and could allow India to benefit from the BRIC-related global thirst for better quality food.

Improve infrastructure.

Focus on infrastructure in India is legendary, and tales of woe abound. Improvements are taking place, as any foreign
business visitor will be aware, but the need for more is paramount. Without such improvement, development will be limited.

Improve Environmental Quality.

The final area where greater reforms are needed is the environment. Achieving greater energy efficiencies and
boosting the cleanliness of energy and water usage would increase the likelihood of a sustainable stronger growth path for India.
I highly advice you to read the full white paper published by Goldman Sachs.

Top 10: Things you didn't know about Ramdev

Here are some facts about Ramdev
1.He works 18-20 hours a day, waking up at 3 am every morning to begin his exercises, fuelled by a diet of milk, green vegetables and seasonal fruit.
Top 10: Things you didn't know about Ramdev
2. The yoga guru claims to have a follower in every household in India, and at least 30 million people tune in every day to his yoga programme that describes methods and teachings for treating anything from diabetes to high blood pressure.
3. Ramdev's main yoga centre in Haridwar, in Uttarakhand, can hold 6,000 people, and is the heartbeat of a global business spread across three trusts with a turnover of $ 40 million every year.
4.His assets include a Scottish island now renamed "Peace Island", a two-campus university dedicated to yoga teaching and a pharmaceutical company producing ayurvedic medicine and herbal products.
5. Ramdev has promised to form a national political party to challenge the ruling Congress party at the 2014 general elections, and contest all 543 seats across India.
6. Ramdev has claimed that homosexuality is a mental disease, and that mentally stable people do not become homosexuals.
7.When the Delhi High Court decriminalised homosexuality in 2009, local media reported Ramdev said: "The verdict will encourage criminality and sick mentality. This kind of thing is shameful and insulting."
8. Ramdev was also sent a cease and desist order by the health ministry after he said that sex education in schools should be replaced by yoga education to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS.
9. Ramdev's trust runs courses and workshops in Britain, the United States, Canada, Mauritius and Nepal, and a book and CD business with a monthly turnover of around $ 500,000. He is scheduled to travel to Russia in late July for a series of workshops and lectures.
10. He says he has never eaten an egg, nor drank alcohol.

Top 10 Terrifying Prehistoric Sea Monsters

Here are 10 of the scariest monsters to ever call the ocean home in prehistory.

10. Megalodon

Megalodon
Megalodon is probably the best-known creature in the list; it’s hard to keep the idea of a shark the size of a school bus out of pop culture. Plus, science-minded entertainment sources like the Discovery Channel love creatures that could pass for a movie monster. Despite the popular idea that Megalodon coexisted with dinosaurs, they lived from 25 to 1.5 million years ago, meaning that at best they missed the last dinosaur by 40 million years. On the other hand, this meant they might have still been around for the first humans. Eek.
Megalodons swam the warm oceans that were around until the last ice age in the early Pleistocene, which may have robbed them of their breeding grounds and food. Sometimes, it seems nature has our back.

9. Liopleurodon

Liopleurodon
If Jurassic Park had an aquarium scene, and actually featured more animals from the Jurassic period, liopleurodon probably would have been in it. Although the actual length of these beasts is contested (some scientists have claimed lengths in excess of 50’), most agree that it was around 20 feet in length, with a full fifth of that being pointy-toothed head. When the mouth of the “smaller” estimate is still plenty large to eat you whole, I think that is perfectly huge enough.
Scientists have tested the paddle design of these creatures on small swimming robots and found that although they would not have been incredibly fast, they were incredibly agile. They also would have been able to make short, fast burst attacks like crocodiles, which in no way makes them any less intimidating.

8. Basilosaurus

Basilosaurus
Despite the name and appearance, that is not a reptile, but actually a whale (and not even the most fearsome on the list!) Basilosaurs were predatory ancestors of modern whales, and could be 50 to 85 feet long! It is described as being the closest a whale has ever come to being a snake because of how long and sinuous it was. Imagine swimming in the ocean with an 80+ foot long alligator-snake-whale. Now imagine being afraid to even take a bath ever again.
Physical evidence suggests that basilosaurus did not have the cognitive ability of modern whales, nor the ability to echolocate, and could only navigate in 2 dimensions (so no deep diving or breaching). So at least this monster whale was dumber than a bag of prehistoric hammers and could not chase you if you dove or scrambled out on dry land, probably forever.

7. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae

Jaekelopterus rhenaniae
Nothing about the words “sea scorpion” are comforting to begin with, so this should not come off as too awful: this was one of the two largest arthropods to have ever lived, reaching a length of over 8 feet of armored, clawed horror. Most of us freak out at the thought of inch-long ants and foot wide spiders, so it’s easy to imagine screaming like a little girl if you ever stumbled across a living one of these.
On the plus side, sea scorpions (Euripterids) have been extinct since before the dinosaurs, having been wiped out in the Permian Triassic extinction event (which killed 90% of all life on earth) and are only survived, to some degree, by horseshoe crabs, which are even less formidable than regular crabs. There is no evidence that any sea scorpions were actually venomous, but the structure of their tail is similar to a modern scorpion’s, so it might have been.

6. Mauisaurus

Mauisaurus
Mauisaurus was named after the Maori god Maui, who pulled the islands of New Zealand up from the sea floor with a fish hook, so already you know this thing is going to be enormous. The neck of Mauisaurus measured up to 49 feet long; the longest proportionate (and really, “actual”) neck of any living thing aside from some sauropod dinosaurs. Their overall length was about 66 feet, and that ridiculously long neck had plenty of vertebrae, implying that it was flexible. Imagine a snake strung through a sea turtle with no shell, and you have an approximate idea of what this thing looked like.
It lived back in the Cretaceous era, meaning that creatures that jumped in the water avoid Velociraptors and Tyrannosaurs had to contend with these; the jury is out on which is worse. As far as science can tell, Mauisaurus was limited to the New Zealand area, showing that the area that would one day become Australia and its neighbors was always a land of terror.

5. Dunkleosteus

Dunkleosteus
Dunkleosteus was a 30 foot long carnivorous tank. It was outlasted by sharks, but I am sure that is small consolation for the variety of creatures this beast ate. Instead of teeth, it had bony ridges, like a turtle. It has been calculated that they had a bite force of 8,000 pounds per square inch, putting it on par with crocodiles and T-Rex in terms of being history’s strongest biters. They also believe, based on the evidence in the skull regarding its musculature, that it could have opened its mouth in one fiftieth of a second, meaning it vacuumed food into its guillotine of a mouth.
The plates that made up the “teeth” changed as the fish aged from a solid, rigid jaw to segments that allowed it to hold prey easier, and made it more effective in biting through the bony plate armor of other armored fish. In the arms race that was the prehistoric ocean, Dunleosteus was a predatory super tank.

4. Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus
Kronosaurus is another short-necked pliosaur (like Liopleurodon up at number 9), and like Liopleurodon, its overall length has been contested. It was a “mere” 30 feet long and the longest teeth in its massive mouth were up to 11 inches long. This is why it was named after Cronus, the king of the oldGreek Titans.
Guess where it lived? If you guessed “Australia”, then you  have been paying attention to life (and are correct). The head was up to 9 feet long. They could eat an entire modern man whole, and still have room left over for half of another. It has also been suggested that since their flippers are so similar in design to those of modern sea turtles, that they may have crawled out onto land to lay eggs. You can be sure no one was digging up these thing’s nests to get at the eggs.

3. Helicoprion

Helicoprion
These sharks grew to be about 15 feet long, and had a lower jaw that was made of a “tooth whorl”. It looks like a cross between a circular saw and a shark, and when you mix apex predators with power tools, the world quakes in fear.
Helicoprion’s teeth were serrated, implying that they were definitely carnivores, but there is some debate as to whether their teeth were in the front of the mouth, as shown in the picture, or if they were farther back, which would suggest a softer diet, like jellyfish. However it was arranged, it clearly worked; Helicoprion survived the Permian Triassic extinction, which means they may have been smart enough to create bomb shelters. Or maybe they just lived in the deep sea.

2. Livyatan melvillei

Livyatan melvillei
Remember me mentioning “hypercarnivorous” whales? Well here it is. Imagine a cross between an orcaand a sperm whale. Livyatan melvillei was a whale that ate other whales. It had the largest teeth of any animal to ever use their teeth to eat (elephant tusks are bigger, but they just look impressive and help them smash things; they don’t eat with them) topping out at 1.18 feet. They lived in the same oceans and ate the same food as the Megalodon, so this whale actually had to compete with the largest predatory shark ever.
Not to mention their head was 10 feet long and featured the same echo-locating equipment as modern toothed whales, making them much more effective in murky water. In case it was not obvious, this beast was named after the leviathan, a giant sea monster from the bible, and Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick. If the great white whale had been one of these, it would have eaten the Pequot and everyone aboard as a snack.

1. Giant Stingray

Giant Stingray
What grew 17 feet across, had a 10 inch poison spike in its tail and was strong enough to drag a boat filled with people? In this case, a prehistoric super-fish that is still lurking around in fresh and brackish waters from the Mekong river to northern Australia. Stingrays have been around since a few million years after the dinosaurs died out, and have proven to be a successful design, much like the sharks they descended from.
The giant stingrays use that tried and true ancient design, but have somehow managed to survive ice ages and even the catastrophic Toba event. They were featured on Animal Planet’s River Monsters, and despite the host’s tendency to exaggerate damn near everything, they are incredibly dangerous to fool around with, even if you don’t know you are fooling around with one. They are notorious for putting their neurotoxin covered spike completely through limbs. I guess, on the plus side, if there is one, at least they won’t try to eat you.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Top 10 Fastest Cars for 2010 – 2011


bugatti_veyron
1.    Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport; 267 mph, 0-60 in 2.2 seconds – This is a lightweight super car powered by 8.0-liter W16 engine with 1200 horsepower. It sells at $2,400,000, easily the highest priced car in the top 10 list.  The car produced by Volkswagen Group subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles was introduced in 2005 as the fastest production car in the world.
ssc-ultimate-aero-tt2.    SSC Ultimate Aero; 257 mph, 0-60 in 2.7 seconds – This car was acknowledged by Guinness world records as the fastest car in March 2007. It is powered by a twin-turbo engine that packs an astounding 1183 horsepower. Only 24 cars were produced from 2006-2007 at a price of US $485,000.

koenigsegg-ccx3.    Koenigsegg CCX; 250 mph+, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds – This Sweden-made fast car packs 806 power from its 90 degree V8 engine. The CCX was first unveiled on February 28, 2006 at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show although its existence was announced earlier.  At a price of $1,820,000 and $2,050,000 for top of the line model, exclusivity is guaranteed.
saleen-s7-twinturbo4.    Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo; 248 mph, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds – This super fast car is powered by an 100% aluminum V8 engine packing with 750 horsepower. This twin-turbocharged monster went on sale for $585,296 USD in 2005 , replacing standard non turbo S7 production. Saleen offers an optional competition package with 33% increase in power.
mclaren5.    McLaren F1; 240 mph, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds – It is power driven by powerhouse V12 engine that packs 62y horsepower. It is popular with its trademark doors that resemble bat wings. Up until 1998, when McLaren produced and sold the standard F1 models, they had a price tag of around 970 000 USD. Today the cars can sell for up to nearly twice that of the original price.
gumpert-apollo-20096.    Gumpert Apollo; 220 mph, 0-60 in 2.7 seconds – This super car is produced by a German automaker in Altenburg. It is a mid-engined, rear wheel drive two-seater constructed on a tubular chromoly frame, with fiberglass or optional carbon fiber body panels. There are 3 engine types available with the race version rated at 789.06 bhp. The production of the Apollo started in October 2005 with a starting price of $400,000 USD.
Ascari-A107.    Ascari A10; 220 mph, 0-60 in 2.8 seconds – Although designed for racing A10 is intended to be a usable car or on the road. It is engineered and hand built in Banbury, England featuring a modified 5.0 L BMW V8 engine producing 625 bhp at a price of approximately $650,000 USD. Only 50 A10s lucky owners will have a chance to own one.
ferrari-enzo8.    Ferrari Enzo; 217 mph, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds – It is driven by a F140 V12 workhorse with 660 horsepower. It is currently one of the most powerful naturally aspirated  production cars in the world. There are only 399 of these cars worldwide and the price of a unit shoots up every time someone crashes one. This Ferrari typically trades above $1,000,000  at auction.
jaguar-xj22019.    Jaguar XJ 220; 217 mph, 0-60 in 4.0 seconds – This fast car is driven bya V6 engine that packs 542 horsepower. This is one of the oldest as being released in 1992 but still got what it takes to remain the round of ten of hot wheels. Total of 281 cars were made and by 1997, few of these remained available for sale new at £150,000.
pagani_zonda10.    Pagani Zonda F; 215 mph, 0-60 in 3.5 seconds –  It’s no mistake that Pagani chose to use the “F” badging to represent the first step up in performance for the Zonda above the stock Zonda S. This fast car is driven by Mercedes Benz V12 engine packing 650 horsepower. Base price for this dream car is$694,000.

Top 10 Fastest Flying Birds


The list of ten fastest flying birds which was more or less accepted in a worldwide manner:

1. Spine-tailed Swift
Also popularly identified as the white-throated Needletail. The nomenclature of the bird in the domain of scientific community is Hirundapus caudacutus. The maximum recorded speed is 171 kilometers per hour. Spine-tailed Swifts are mostly seen in the eastern and northern part of Australia but because of their migratory nature their breeding place are in the rocky areas of central Asia. The spine tailed swifts generally devour flying insects e.g. termites, ants, beetles etc like other birds of its genre.

2. Frigate Bird
Frigate Bird turned out to be the second fastest flying bird in the world which flies with a speed maximum speed of 153 kilometers per hour. Frigates has long wings, tails and bills and the male Frigate birds have a red gular pouch which is inflated during the breeding season in order to draw the attention and to attract the female counterpart for the purpose of mating. These birds mostly lived on fishes, jellyfish and squids. They are mostly seen in the North American and Central American countries. Frigate birds build their nest in low trees or on the earth on far-flung islands. Frigate bird is used a lay a single egg in each breeding season. Frigate birds generally have the longest time span of parental care.

3. Spur Winged Goose
Spur Winged Goose whose scientific name is Plectropterus gambensis, belonged to the family of Anatidae, is the third fastest flying bird in the world. The maximum recorded speed of flying is 142 kilometers per hour. Spur Winged Goose prefer their place of natural habitation is in the seasonal and permanent wetlands. They are found mostly in African countries especially in the sub-Saharan regions. The male Spur Winged Goose differs considerably from its female counterpart; not only because of its sheer size, but the male do have a larger red facial patch. Mostly they are a quiet species but sometimes give a thin whistle while flying.

4. Red-Breasted Merganser
Red-Breasted Merganser can fly with a pace of 129 kilometers per hour and it is ranked as the fourth fastest flying bird in the world. Mostly found in Central America but due to its migratory nature its preferred breeding habitation zone is in the freshwater lakes and rivers across northern part of North America, Asia and Europe.

5. White Rumped Swift
White Rumped Swift whose scientific name is Apus caffer and it happened to be the fifth fastest flying bird in the world with maximum speed of 129 kilometers per hour. These birds were mostly found in Morroco and Spain, and they breed mostly in region of sub-Saharan part of African continent. They generally consume insects which is the probably the only staple food they could have.

6. Canvasback Duck
Canvasback Duck whose scientific name is Aythya valisineria and it happened to be the sixth fastest flying bird in the world with maximum speed of 124 kilometers per hour. Canvasback Duck are mostly seen in the North American and Central American regions of the world. They can fly with a speed of 124 kilometers per hour. It feeds on green aquatic vegetation which includes seeds, leaves, tubers, roots, buds, and even snails and insect larvae. The favored zones of Canvasback Duck’s breeding habitat are in the North American prairie potholes, subarctic river deltas in Saskatchewan, interior parts of Alaska etc.

7. Eider Duck
Eider Duck happened to be the seventh fastest flying bird in the world with maximum speed of 113 kilometers per hour and they are mostly seen in the Northern Hemisphere of the world. These large sea ducks belonged to the genus Somateria within the broader family of Anatidae.

8. Teal
Teal whose scientific name is Anas crecca and it turned out to be the eighth fastest flying bird in the world with a maximum a speed of 109 kilometers per hour. The Teal generally breeds across northern parts of Eurasia. In the breeding season they took their shelter in the freshwater wetlands such as taiga bogs or small ponds and lakes. However in the winter season, it is often found in the brackish waters and even in the creeks and lagoons along the shoreline. Teal generally devours on aquatic invertebrates like crustaceans, insects, mollusks and worms.

9. Mallard Duck
Mallard Duck whose scientific name is Anas platyrhynchos and it turned out to be the nineth fastest flying bird in the world with a maximum a speed of 105 kilometers per hour. The Mallard duck is mostly observed in wetlands and it generally feeds on water plants. It is not only migratory in nature but also a bit gregarious and breeds in Central and North American regions. The Mallard duck happened to be the ancestor of all domestic ducks, and therefore it can inter-breed with other species belonging to the genus Anas. The outcome of these inter-breeding is producing rarer species of ducks which are a bit diluted genetically.

10. Pintail Duck
Pintail Duck scientific name is Anas acuta and it is widely considered to be the tenth fastest flying bird in the world. Pintail Duck usually breeds in the northern regions of North America, Europe and Asia. It is also migratory nature and its preferred breeding range lies in and around the equator. Pintail Duck mainly feeds on invertebrate animals which includes a wide array of aquatic insects, mollusks and crustaceans. Pintail Dick’s nests and chicks are often exposed to predation by mammals e.g. foxes and badgers, and birds such as gulls, magpies etc.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Top 10 Books


10. MiddlemarchGeorge Eliot
Middlemarch
Middlemarch is considered by many scholars to be one of the most important novels of the Victorian era. It was written by George Eliot (pen name of Mary Anne Evans) and was first published in 1871 to 1872. It is set in the 1830s in Middlemarch, a fictional provincial town in England, based on Coventry.
9. The Stories of Anton ChekhovAnton Chekhov
Cover
Anton Chekhov was a Russian short story writer and playwright. He was born in Taganrog, southern Russia, on 29 January 1860. His originality consists in an early use of the stream-of-consciousness technique, later employed by Virginia Woolf and other modernists, combined with a disavowal of the moral finality of traditional story structure.
8. In Search of Lost TimeMarcel Proust
C14216
I appreciate the great artistic merit in Proust’s writing, but I have to be honest and say that I have never managed to get more than half way through the first book of this multiple-book novel. I found it extremely slow paced and boring. This is Proust’s most prominent work, it is popularly known for its extended length and the notion of involuntary memory, the most famous example being the “episode of the madeleine” in which he describes in great (boring) detail, eating a madeleine dipped in tea.
7. The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald
Im
I agree with the inclusion of this book – it is one of my favorites and one of the best examples of Fitzgerald’s writing. The Great Gatsby is a tale from the Jazz age of Gatsby – a wealthy man whose life is surrounded by mystery. A brilliant read.
6. HamletWilliam Shakespeare
Hamlet-V2-Poster
It is no surprise that Mr Shakespeare is on the list. I am not sure that I would have picked Hamlet as his best book, but who am I to debate 125 brilliant authors? Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, probably written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle for murdering Hamlet’s father, the King, gaining the throne through this treachery, and subsequently marrying his mother.
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
Huckleberry Finn Pix
It is good to see such a great book for the younger generation on the list. Huckleberry Finn is commonly accounted as one of the first Great American Novels. It is also one of the first major American novels ever written using Local Color Regionalism, or vernacular, told in the first person by the eponymous Huckleberry “Huck” Finn, best friend of Tom Sawyer (hero of three other Mark Twain books).
4. LolitaVladimir Nabokov
Lolita
Lolita was first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris. The novel is both internationally famous for its innovative style and infamous for its controversial subject: the book’s narrator and protagonist Humbert Humbert becoming sexually obsessed with a twelve-year-old girl named Dolores Haze.
3. War and PeaceLeo Tolstoy
Warandpeace
War and Peace was first published from 1865 to 1869 in Russkii Vestnik, which tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic Era. It is usually described as one of Tolstoy’s two major masterpieces (the other being Anna Karenina) as well as one of the world’s greatest novels.
2. Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary Fronte
Madame Bovary was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors when it was first serialised in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, resulting in a trial in January 1857 that made it notorious. The novel focuses on a doctor’s wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel’s true art lies in its details and hidden patterns.
1. Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Pevear Karenina
Anna Karenina is widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, Tolstoy considered this book his first true novel. Although most Russian critics panned the novel on its publication as a “trifling romance of high life,” Fyodor Dostoevsky declared it to be “flawless as a work of art.” Tolstoy’s style in Anna Karenina is considered by many critics to be transitional, forming a bridge between the realist and modernist novel.