Microsoft + Yahoo = Microhoo or MicroWho?

Last updated on: February 2, 2008 at 3:47 am By Desh Kapoor

Today, Microsoft announced a bid for Yahoo of ~ USD 45 billion. These are indeed bad days for Yahoo as it is laying off 1000 employees and its stock is falling down. Well, the record of blunders by Microsoft in the Internet world has been so terrible that it is difficult to see how this acquisition will benefit anyone. Google continues to be strong (despite a little setback) and Microsoft just cannot get anything right! The best course for MSFT after buying Yahoo would be to stop its own services and put everyone behind Yahoo. That may be one way to benefit. Unfortunately, Yahoo was also one of the stocks which I was Dollar Cost Averaging! Read more

Read the fine print!

Last updated on: January 31, 2008 at 2:10 pm By Desh Kapoor

Sometimes its important to read the "fine print" of a sale as well! Read more

Insight is not an act of remembrance

Last updated on: January 31, 2008 at 1:34 pm By Desh Kapoor

Insight is not an act of remembrance, the continuation of memory. Insight is like a flash of light. You see with absolute clarity, all the complications, the consequences, the intricacies. Then this very insight is action, complete. In that there are no regrets, no looking back, no sense of being weighed down, no discrimination. This is pure, clear insight - perception without any shadow of doubt. Most of us begin with certainty and as we grow older the certainty changes to uncertainty and we die with uncertainty. Read more

Politicians hanker after Ram Setu; while Navy says its a BAD IDEA!

Last updated on: January 31, 2008 at 1:15 pm By Desh Kapoor

Remember that Ram Sethusamudaram project? Well, it seems that the Indian Navy thinks it is a National Security Risk! And this is after ... AFTER... all the politicians, including the PM have been hankering about completing it. What sickens me NO END is how the Indian Politicans.. these idiots.. (including the so-called intellectuals like the PM) take the Indian security and the Indian Defense forces as granted and treat them will non-chalance! It probably did not cross these smart people's minds that they have to even get in touch with the Indian Navy, which is tasked with the security of those very waters to know if we should go ahead with this project. And now when Indian Navy comes up with this testimony.. it is quite some egg on the Government's face! Vice Admiral RF Cotractor said that there is a strong possibility of the canal being used by militants. Without mentioning the LTTE directly, Contractor said that the narrow canal would put the ships moving through it at a greater risk of attack by terrorists active in the region. Now, the Chief Admiral of Navy has gone on record to say that it will be a loss making project anyway.... Earlier, Naval chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta's had said that the Sethusamudram project would be useful only for small ships. He added that the project was economically unviable as both the Navy and international shipping agencies would not be able to use the canal. The project, if it becomes operational, would incur a loss of Rs 3,000 crore every year, he claimed. Read more

TV show had anticipated the 9-11 attack on World Trade Center by a domestic airplane

Last updated on: January 30, 2008 at 7:44 am By Desh Kapoor

Sometimes movies copy life... but sometimes life copies movies. Was this just a coincidence? This clip is from the TV Show "The Lone Gunmen" and it anticipates the events of 9/11. It was aired on March 4, 2001! Read more

Skin color map of the world

Last updated on: January 30, 2008 at 5:26 am By Desh Kapoor

We all know skin color is affected by the climate one lives in. Here is an interesting map of the skin colors across the world - from the lightest to the darkest. See how the dark converges to the equator? Read more

Height of Desperation

Last updated on: January 30, 2008 at 5:21 am By Desh Kapoor

This has got to be the Height of Desperation!!! Read more

Pakistan is NOT a banana republic.. we are different!

Last updated on: January 30, 2008 at 4:39 am By Desh Kapoor

Musharraf has an issue. It is at the heart of his existence now. The issue is of credibility. It is strange how credibility erodes so much that it almost borders at lack of sanity. It is then, tough to say, when a person is saying things which are incredulous or he is indeed insane! Musharraf is now safely perched in that rare zone! It is becoming hard to decipher that. This is - among other quotable quotes - he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in an interview to Wall Street Journal. “Please differentiate Pakistan from banana republics” where a lowly colonel can take over the state, he was quoted as saying. “These things don’t happen in Pakistan,” he asserted. “Pakistan is a nuclear state.” It is as self-explanatory as things come! There is an assertion and a very clear cut logical series of claims as evidence to that. I think there is a reason why this man actually threw out the entire judiciary of his land from the courts and substituted it with his hand-picked "lawyers". Read more

When Need to Learn knows no hurdles

Last updated on: January 30, 2008 at 4:04 am By Desh Kapoor

Learning is an important part of our lives. I have found that learning or acquisition of knowledge is primarily driven by our "Need" to learn. Now, this need could be caused by anytihng - personal commitment or education system or some monetary power goal! The question then is how is the learning need fulfilled? It is affected by four factors - Personal Ability, Resources, Institution, and the Environment. Of these Personal ability has empirically been shown to be the most important factor generally. The type of institution you go to and the resources you have and the environment you are born into do affect your ability a lot, but these factors can be overcome. One would believe that lack of personal ability to learn can be the most decisive factor.. but in this illustration there is a missing factor - which is will power or passion. When you really want to do something despite all the challenges and issues, then there is very little that can stop you. Not even destiny! I remember when I was in the 12th standard and I was taking my engineering exams. I know I should have cleared the ones for the IIT or others, but somehow, I would lose my cool and make all sorts of mistakes even though I knew the questions. And I could not make it. A lady astrologer - our family friend then - had told me before that.. that I would not have a good education. I nevertheless fought hard. Made lots of mistakes and saw some pretty dark days... yet refused to believe that I can lose. The result was that I was able to get some fairly legitimate and useful education. Read more

Last updated on: January 29, 2008 at 8:40 pm By

Ishq di mere mitra pehchaan ki, mit jaye jad sudh apnaan di.. I completely believe in this.. Nakul Arora Read more