My Life as it is…

A couple of months back, Microsoft had come up with a hostile bid to take over Yahoo inc! Soon after the offer, Yahoo’s CEO rejected the offer citing the offer price was ’too low’. All this while, Google was making all sorts of noises, as it saw this merger as a potential threat to its position as an Internet search engine giant. Microsoft on the other hand had promised to revise its $44 billion odd offer to make it more attractive for Yahoo!

On 3rd of May when Microsoft officially dropped its takeover bid, Yahoo seems to be going the Google way. Yahoo is currently reviewing Google’s offer to include Google online ads in its search engine results. The two companies can make an announcement very soon as per news agencies.

If this deal goes through, it will be a serious blow to Microsoft. It was Microsoft who had started this search engine war, but it seems that Google will  be getting a better deal….by collaborating with Yahoo, rather than a takeover. The Yahoo-Google search ad deal will ensure that the search engine ad business is monopolized by Google..leaving Microsoft far behind, and with no short term hope of catching up either. However, Microsoft claims that they have a plan to take on Google, even without Yahoo.

From the perspective of an online customer, I prefer to use Google’s services over Yahoo or Microsoft. May it be e-mail or Google maps, Google spreadsheets or even blogger, Google’s services are far more innovative and imaginative than the others. The only Microsoft product i use, is the Windows operating system ! As far as Yahoo goes, I used to have a Yahoo mail account ages back ! I abandoned it as GMAIL came along !

Whose services do you use more? Google, Yahoo or Microsoft ??

Recently, the goverenment (CONGRESS PARTY) has been in the process of trying to gather as many votes as possible ahead of the general elections next year. First, the governemnt announced that the farmers need not pay back their loans to the banks, as the government will compensate for it ! Next, the government doubled the salaries of all the government employees in the 6th Pay commision !

The expenses for waiving off the farmer loans amount to Rs 60,000 crores ( That is 60,000 followed by 7 zeroes). Salary appraisals amount to an extra 20,000 crore rupees ! This brings the grand total to a whopping 80,000 crore rupees !

It is for you to decide…if this is not a bribe, then what is it??

Not so long ago, the HR minister had raised the issue of increasing the reservations for the SC/ST and OBC classes in all educational institutions. That was also a very carefully planned out and politically motivated gesture. This whole issue also stoked casteist emotions amongst the masses and there were widespread demonstrations and clashes between various castes. Such tactics employed by the ministers of the ruling coalision reiterate the fact, that these politicians can go to any extent in order to divide the nation for their own benefit !

Let us now look at the issue of rising prices and the economy in general. The Inflation rate is almost touching a record breaking 8% (not surprising). There is a massive shortage of food grains, as the Congress government exported all the surplus grains for money…and gave the local traders a license to inflate the prices. Our industrial growth rate has halved..and the overall growth rate is expected to fall below 8%.

I find it hard to understand what this government has done for the masses in the last five years. All they have achived is to divide the people on casteist and religious lines, inflate prices and rob the nation in the process through ever increasing taxes ! Their overall performance has been pathetic. They deserve to be thrown out of power in the 2009 general elections.

For some months, I have been following the bitter and intense democratic nomination battle. Even though it hardly makes any difference to me sitting in India, this battle amuses me quite a lot. The two nominees for the democrats- Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have not left even a single stone unturned in trying to belittle each other.

Hillary Clinton and her managers have been a little complecant in their approach. They have squandered a comfortable lead that they had earlier, and it is Obama who leads the delegate count. As things seem, neither candidate will reach the magic number of 2025. However, Obama seems to be having a brighter chance of making it to the nomination. Time will tell what happens.

This nomination fight has been pretty exciting. First it was the Hillary campaign who had called Obama a ‘black man’. Then it was the Obama campaign that called Hillary a monster. Then we saw a crazy pastor jumping around on You TUBE ! So, its been quite a circus of late !

All this time, the Republican nominee John McCain has been enjoying his time by visiting other countries and socializing! It seems as if the democrats will keep fighting each other and the republicans will win the election

For all those reading this, who is your choice for President and why? Justify!

A very interesting news caught my eye yesterday. This news is about the deepest pit in the earth’s surface. A huge crater exists in East Siberia, near Mirny, Russia. The cause for this pit is unknown to me.

Maybe it was caused by a comet impact long back. This pit is amazing..it is 525 meters deep and 1200 meters in diameter. The air zone within this pit is closed for choppers. A few unfortunate accidents have occured before, as some helicopterrs were sucked in by the strong air currents inside the pit. A bustling town exists around the pit, as is shown in the picture. I am sure this pit must be a hot tourist destination in and around Siberia.

This huge pit is visible even from space…not surprisingly. More information on such amazing pits and craters on the earth’s surface can be found at the following website:

http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase/

This post has come a little late….but its worth it !

The Indian team beat Australia 2-0 in the best of three finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series down under. The Australian captian Ricky Ponting had made this statement before the finals:

” The series would be over in two matches”

Needless to say, that he was vindicated. The Indian team beat the Australians in all departments of the game, as they lifted the trophy at the Gabba, Brisbane. In the first final, the Indian team beat Australia comprehensively by 6 wickets and 25 balls to spare. The second final saw a flip flop in both the team’s fortunes, but it was India who bowled out Australia and clinched the match by winning it by 9 runs. Thus the scoreline read 2-0 in favour of India. Thus the whitewash was completed.

This re-iterates team India’s stand, that the Aussies are beatable..and that they had won the Sydney test by unfair means. For more information about what had happened in the Sydney test match earlier on the tour..go to this link:

The India-Australia Sydney test match..Aussies resort to cheating.

When the Aussies were forced to play fair, the results are there for all of us to see. I believe that after this beating by India in their home grounds, the Aussie team will learn that matches are not won by just chirping on the feild…but are won by performing on the field. The Aussies showcased their unsportsman-like behaviour throughout the tour, and they were given a befitting reply in the CB series. Even during the series, Australian Matthew Hayden had called an Indian player “an obnoxious weed” on live radio, which was deemed to be an extremley racist and an offensive remark. Needless to say, that the same Indian spinner aka Harbhajan Singh dismissed Hayden in both the finals !

This series was a happy ending for the Indians…and was essentially a victory of good over evil. This series win has knocked the Aussies off their perch. Now that they have been shown the mirror,  hopefully they will play in the spirit of the game.