Fathers day weekend!

This weekend I woke up to media coverage of father's day celebrations. A day we celebrate the most important person in our lives. I am blessed to have a very loving dad, without whose caring help I may have not done anything meaningful in life..although he may have spoiled me little bit, by being a little too soft on me :-)

Obama had a powerful message for all American dads, he told them to be there for the their kids, responsibility does not end after the kid is born. Of course he has a very powerful story of his own, his father was not there for him when he was growing up. He is trying to be to his daughters what he missed from his dad. You can read the details of the days event here.

"Gates on Gates" is also an interesting read where Bill Gates Sr. and Bill Gates talk candidly about father-son relationship- Bill's parents pushed him to do activities outside his comfort zone-like swimming, football, soccer which helped him get leadership abilities, similarly Gates Sr talks about how to never demean your child- I couldn't have agreed more. Read or watch it here.

Also an interesting Trivia on father-son duo in the same line of work, I knew dads have great influence in shaping the career of their kids, nice to see some famous examples. I never really knew that Ben Stiller is the son of comedian Jerry Stiller who I saw on numerous episodes of Seinfeld and "King of Queens". Turns out Ben Stiller had comedy in his genes ( just saw his latest blockbuster- Night at the Museum 2 and shared laughter with my kids!).

It was not just Obama who recounted memories of his father, I heard his deputy Biden talking about what it means to be a dad and then TV actor Alec Baldwin recounted memories of his father who died of cancer in 80s. It was so touching.... and realizing his dad is no more ..I feel a million time blessed , my dad is still around, very much in my life, my guide and my conscience keeper..here's wishing a happy fathers day to all the fathers of this world!!

A call to service and the deficits

Its no secret to the readers of this blog, I am a big Obama fan and have been for a while. Obviously I am not alone, the country loves him and now the world at large is giving him his due credits. His every move gets watched, his every action gets analyzed and replayed on national TV. Tough position to be in, but for the most part he has done it right, and I like to point out to some of his recent actions which has caught my attention ( as brought to me by the likes of huffingtonpost.com ,nytimes.com, cnn.com,latimes.com and so on).

1) His recent speech in Cairo to the Muslims of the world- beyond the obvious attempt at placating the Muslims ( "Maleekum Salaam", the word "holy Kuran" not that common from US presidents), the speech was great on substance as well- he talked about Israel Palestine peace efforts, rising fundamentalism and woman's right. Tough subjects to handle but its a good start and he has shown dexterity, maturity and guts in dealing with them. What remains to be seen is how the Muslim world reciprocates, although initial response is encouraging. Here's what Deepak Chopra thought about the speech and the challenges ahead.

2) Obamas speech to Notre Dame where he made the famous call to service, for the graduating students and I quote verbatim "When you serve, it doesn't just improve your community; it makes you part of your community. It breaks down walls. It fosters cooperation. And when that happens - when people set aside their difference to work in common effort towards a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another -- all things are possible"

3) Actually even before he made this call to service as President, back in 2007 he had this powerful speech on serving the nation. Some startling statistics in his speech- 1 out of 12 American works for non-profit sector and 115 non-profits are launched every day.

4) Probably inspired by Obama's call to service speech(s) , recently a criagslist like website was launched by progressive forces in public-private partnership ( Google, Adobe, Youtube, Craigslist Foundation). This is really amazing and I am so excited about the potential it holds. Hopefully a new chapter in volunteerism will begin and the site will match those willing to offer service to those who badly need it and have no where to turn to.

5) President Obama was greeted by anti-abortion protesters when he showed up for commencement speech to the Notre Dame graduating class of 2009. He handled that pretty well too , a balancing act where he had to acknowledge pro-life groups as well as liberal view points like a woman's right to choose. He talked about seeking common grounds and for the opposing groups to see each others perspective and respect it, a conciliator-in-chief!

6)If you thought I liked everything Obama does, you be surprised, I have my shares of complains too:-) We had a monster of deficit already from Bush's legacy, add to that the TARP, auto bailouts, stimulus plan and we have a perfect storm in the making. When will we ever get to paying them back? Most of this deficit is being financed by foreigners, Americans already are deep in debt with very low savings rate. China holds around .76 trillion dollars worth of US treasury, Japan holds around .69 trillion dollars ( source US treasury), that means US is at the mercy of these nations to keep holding its treasury bonds. If and when they decide to sell US treasury ( fed up with this unsustainable deficit), be a nightmare, interest rates will shoot up ( they have already doubled from 2% to around 4% on 10 year bonds in the last three months, reflecting those concerns) and whatever little disposable income US consumer is left with, will vanish into servicing loan and mortgage payments. A financial tsunami is in the making, get the details here from the most recent and most authoritative study done so far by Professor Alan Auerbach and William Gale of University of California, Berkeley.

That's it for now, been a busy two weeks for me, tired of frequent traveling to client sites :-( Will pen down some more thoughts in other areas- the recent Air France crash and the implication for maintenance industry, Killing of the Abortion Doctor ( Dr Tiller) , the Sarah Palin controversy with David Letterman- lots of stuff, keep watching this space!

The market commentary

As I watch the markets soar in almost all asset class, seems like a Deja Vu... Market goes in a gut wrenching tailspin and then a violent snap back, I almost saw it coming and noted earlier in my blog post here. How did I know the bounce was coming, well I didn't know it exactly, I just thought it was a high probability event, the market could as easily have gone 20% lower.


Silver up 77% year to date( $15.65/ Oz), crude up 45% ( $66.50/barrel), emerging markets anywhere from 45 to 75% , Dow Jones, S&P, Nasdaq all have bounced noticeably from their nadir made in the beginning of this year. Similarly German DAX has bounced from 3600 to 4900, Hong Kong HSI from 10600 to 18000+. All the currencies have rallied sharply - GBP from 1.35 to 1.62, Euro from 1.23 to 1.42, Canadian Dollar from .75 cent to .92 cents, Indian Rupee from 52 to 46. At $980/oz Gold is about to challenge its previous high of $1050/oz. The long term reader of this blog know I have been bullish on precious metals for a long time, I eagerly wait Gold to take out $1050 and move to new highs!

If you thought all was honky-dory, well not so quick! There are some noticeable markets which have gotten clobbered and so have some iconic stocks.. GM is still preparing for a bankruptcy filing as soon as this Monday, end of an era according to some. Natural Gas at $3.65/ Million BTU is 35% down for the year, I knew there's supply glut in this market, but this kind of price weakness, I find hard to explain, given that all other major commodities have nicely moved off their bottom. Same deal with Treasury bonds, boy what a huge sell off. Fed has kept its overnight lending rate between 0 and .25% since last December, which kind of made the bond investors complacent . No wonder, what appeared like small profit taking in the beginning of this year, has turned into a complete run for the exits. The 10 year yield has made a complete U turn reversal, from a 2% yield in the beginning of the year, it has rocketed to a recent high of 3.75%, an almost doubling. The bond investors have really taken a hit on their chin, a complete opposite of the healthy return they enjoyed last year.

I am a follower of technical analysis, my thought process is always around probabilities and I am ready to bail out when market does not behave as I expect it to. Seems simple..right, but it is tough to follow, it runs contrary to human mental makeup. Human's have a predisposition to hope, but in markets hope could be your worst enemy. Similarly logical thinking, intelligence, not accepting defeat is considered a virtue in life and we certainly expect that from our leaders. The same trait can turn out to be very dangerous in market. You start to think, you are very intelligent logical thinker, how can you possibly get it wrong, and you take this high-headedness to the market. Rest assured the market is going to humble you very soon, it could be a very sobering place. I have been there, I know first hand, now I am a life long student of markets, and hopefully it will pay off.

Markets are all about getting your hands around the uncertainties, accepting risks, accepting frequent defeats and moving on. It is not a sprint, it is a marathon, you need to conserve your energy and capital to outlast the market volatility. Lose the small battle but win the war. Lose your ego, but not your capital, cut your losses and run. Use your left brain but not to predict market moves and stubbornly wait for vindication while the market decimates your account. Instead use your left brain to map out scenarios, what if games, what are your profit targets, what is your game plan, what kind of market move will prove you wrong and you will close the position. What kind of risk management you will employ- fixed dollar loss, fixed percentage loss, break of trend line, adverse move of greater than 2.5 ATR ( Average True Range), break of Bollinger bands, break of Keltner channels, break of moving averages, non confirmation from other indicators, deteriorating market internals....pick your favorite and have a strategy in advance and then the courage of convictions and discipline to follow your strategy. Do not start to second guess your risk management decisions and get in hope mode...I will make the exception only this time..nope, bad idea! You never know when an innocent move can snowball into a carnage. As in life, so in markets, a well thought out strategy has a high chance of working..have one!!

I read a nice book on risk management by ken Grant called Trading Risk. You can read my review of this book on Amazon here. Ken likes to call money spent on managing risk really an investment rather than a liability. Just like we take out insurance policies, protecting ourselves from situation beyond our control, same deal with spending money on risk management, it protects your capital..and if you have the capital, you can comeback and play a second inning or third or fourth...you get the idea. Risk Management has never been more important than today given there is no place to hide in an adverse market move. Diversification which can be a good risk mitigation strategy turned out woefully inadequate in the bear market of 2008 where every single asset class spiraled down in a highly correlated way. Risk Management would have been the only tool to really save you from yourself.

Once again, I like to put my usual disclaimer, none of the above should be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any asset class. The opinion here are solely my personal and is not intended to be a professional advise. Investing is a "Risky Business" ( à la Tom Cruise.. topic of another blog :-)). All I am trying to do here is to help you make smart decisions, it does not take away your own due diligence in any investment you make.

Birth of a new political star in India- Rahul Gandhi

Seems like India has found its own Barack Obama in the young Rahul Gandhi. Actually not exactly, there are similarities but stark differences as well, first and foremost - Rahul being a product of India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and second he is no "black" in India. I have always been opposed to dynasty rule , more so in a country of billion plus population where you would think there's no dearth of talent . When Rahul Gandhi started making news couple of months ago, my first inclination was to brush him aside, he is a kid ( although not exactly at 38-39), what can he do..I wondered.

As the Indian elections started drawing closer and more and more of my friends begin talking about it, my curiosity found me visiting political news pages of Indian dailies like Times of India and Hindustan Times more so often. To my surprise I see Oped columns on how Rahul Gandhi is aggressively campaigning across India and about to change electoral map in UP, a state bigger than Britain and France combined. This novice had started making some serious dent on a state dominated by casteist politics and regional parties like SP and BSP.

Rahul seems to have borrowed a page from Obama's winning strategy- appeal to the youth, appeal to the poor and avoid divisive and negative politics (of religion and caste so prevalent in India). I am no political analyst but it sounded like he had a solid strategy in going after big prized state like UP ( just like Obama targeted big states like Texas , Ohio and Florida - California was already democratic leaning so wasn't that tough winning it over).

I wonder how Rahul Gandhi engineered his strategies. Obama had a solid team of political strategist like David Alexrod and Bill Burton and a strong support from liberal leaning new media outlets like huffingtonpost.com, moveon.org and the traditional media also had somewhat favorable bias for him (other than Fox news of course!). I did not see any such supporting factor in favor of the younger scion of Gandhi family. Web 2.0 style campaigning pioneered by Obama obviously wouldn't have worked for India either, given the low penetration of internet in rural India. This makes his achievement even more commendable.

What do I think of the overall election results. Obviously I am happy, not because Congress won or BJP lost, but because in this clear mandate for Congress we can look forward to a stable government less susceptible to black mail of coalition politics. I had started to think that for India the days of a single party majority are gone and the coalition government is the new reality where getting anything done is always a big challenge. I am glad that Indian democracy is alive and kicking , which can humble the old and complacent and bring new leaders to the forefront. It is yet to be seen how the three troika of Congress party- Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi use their new found political capital.

Rahul may be the change India was looking for or he may turn out to be a damp squib- miserably failing to live up to his larger than life image, only time can tell. For now, he has proved his skeptics wrong, including me , and I congratulate him for his outstanding victory. Today is his day in the sun...and a testimony to the power of youth! I have already started feeling good and happy to be on the right side of history..of rooting for whoever challenges the status quo..whoever makes a sincere effort for a better tomorrow..be it Obama or Rahul Gandhi.

The thrill of watching Jagjeet Singh Live

I had the opportunity to watch the legendary ghazal singer Jagjeet Singh live last weekend. He performed back to back in Oakland , California followed by Vancouver , BC. The guy is getting older and I had low expectation on his vocal quality as I headed to the theater. Upon entering the theater, I heard his all so familiar voice introducing his other team members..could not catch their names. What followed really seemed like an out of world experience. He just immersed himself into the music and seemed like he was thoroughly enjoying himself as he explained the nuances of the urdu lyrics ...(Kaha Maikhane Ka Darwaaza Gaalib, Aur Kaha Waaiz...written by Mirza Ghalib, I would never have known what waaiz means..a tea-totaller ).

The soulful rendition coming straight from his heart, created such a surreal atmosphere...I felt I could have sat there the whole night ( ..darn the manic Mondays!). His team was equally good, the jugalbandhi between the violinist and the flute player was simply mind blowing. There is something about live music, no matter if you had a Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound stereo (or now a 7.1) , it just isn't the same. May be it is the emotion that the singer is able to weave or the connection he is able to make with his audience( more so when it happens to be a legend like Jagjeet Singh), or just the cheering crowd, there is something about it that the home stereo player can never match.

I have watched Ghulam Ali perform also when he came to San Francisco couple of years ago, and I am a big fan of him too...but seemed like Jagjeet was better able to convey the underlying emotions of the ghajals ( and I realize in big scheme of things Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali are probably a notch higher than Jagjeet). I understand Jagjeet had a personal setback ( his teenage son died in a road accident) and probably that is where all that "dard" is coming from. I was pleasantly surprised when it became apparent his age ( at 68) has had not even an iota of impact on his voice. A testimony to what practice (riyaaz) can do . I went there as much to celebrate his success, as to hear him, and I am glad , I learnt a thing or two about passion, persistence, perseverance, hard work and how this all results into enduring success!

Torture- In the land of free?

Since the OLC ( Office of Legal Counsel, under Department of Justice) memos on torture during Bush era came out some two weeks ago, the media is caught in a frenzy. I go to CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, every one is talking the same stuff albeit with dramatically different viewpoints. The right wing Fox News channel as expected is full of rhetoric favoring Bush administration whereas if you go to MSNBC, the liberal leaning channel, the commentators are outraged over alleged torture reports. CNN , caught in the middle, is probably still making up its mind and will likely break one way or another, depending on the intensity of public outrage.

As for myself, I think I have liberal leanings, I am a proud Obama supporter, and of course I am outraged with the torture reports! I am glad ACLU ( American Civil Liberty Union) won the case against administration under "Right to Information Act" and the court ordered release of these memos, but for we would never have known the truth. It is important for those who enjoy political power to respect the laws of the land, no one is above the law. If it turns out ex VP Dick Chenney or Judge Jay Bybee or ex Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice share the blame, so be it, they are not above the law either. Actually these being members of public office, should be held to a higher standard. Of course in America everyone is considered innocent unless proven guilty, and I do not want to prejudge these individuals, but hey if their guilt is proven in a federal investigation, let the law take its own course and punish them suitably!

To torture someone- waterboard, sleep deprive (48 hours or more), cramped confinement, wall standing...even if he is accused of crimes...come on he is a human too and let a judge decide on what punishment he deserves, not CIA or any such agency. An animal does not deserve such a cruelty.. let alone humans.., and god forbid if he is wrongly framed and turns out to be innocent...you have just created a very hardened criminal. It's a slippery path, lets stop before it gets too far and I am glad Obama has actually signed executive order banning all form of torture..err..enhanced interrogation in previous administrations language.

Thinking about the Climate Change..

Yesterday night while casually flipping the TV channel came across this PBS documentary on Climate Change. The documentary took the viewer to glaciers of Himalaya and how they are retreating so fast. The scenes were troubling to me, least of which is because I was born in the great land of Himalayas, India. Yes, probably the documentary touched me more deeply than it would somebody who does not call the region their ancestral land, nonetheless the message was unmistakable and applicable to humanity as a whole. The central message of the documentary was that we are all in this together no matter which part of the world we live in. The Himalaya glaciers may be receding , but so are countless others , from Rockies to Alps to Alaska, to that little glacier they talked about in Montana.

I recommend the reader to watch the video themselves and for those short on time, I will post a summary here when I have some free time. TV reporter David Brancaccio and environmentalist Conrad Anker have done a wonderful job of documenting the ill effects of global warming and the disturbing trend of unsustainable development. According to them this could result into food security issues for millions of people in very near future, mostly in Ganges basin, who have been historically dependent on the river's water for thousands of years. The displaced population will be a national security risk and would affect the world as a whole with global shortage of food, water, and clean air.

So many well meaning people have started to think in this area, time for me to do some serious thinking as well... nothing concrete so far, but tomorrow is yet another day...will see what it brings!

Watching Stock Market and.....Movies!

My last weeks call on Dow Jones Industrial Average was right on the money! Gosh, sometime it just works like magic ( I called the market a buy at Dow 6500 two weeks ago, and the market ended at 7750+ last Friday, after briefly touching 7950). Nope, I don't have a crystal ball- just some smart calculations, some chart readings, some sentiment readings, years of market watching and little bit of luck!! BTW Barrons has a good article this weekend on electronic retailer Amazon. Seems like this company is on a roll, what with entry into Cloud computing ( pay as you go model), the innovative Kindle eBook reader and the most efficient logistics in the industry. I agree with the conclusion of the article( rates it a buy at $71), but do worry about the high PE valuation ( north of 30). The company may be good, but going for the stock at these prices seems like a leap of faith!

Enough on the stock market, moving on to a different topic...movies..watched two movies back to back..Friday night and Saturday afternoon, although the one on Saturday was not planned, just happened as I turned on the TV during my workout sessions. Do I have plenty of time on my hand, gosh no...., seems like the more work I have left over, the more I get attracted to these reality evading movies and other such distractions!! But no regrets, both were light hearted movies and gave me a much needed break. The Saturday one was actually a chick-flick which I usually don't watch - or even if I do , I am not going to admit it here :-), turned out to be a nice one- sensible, touchy, delightful and at times humorous-tickled my funny bone! Given the low expectation I had with the movies, the engaging drama came as a pleasant surprise!

I am amazed sometime these seemingly new actors and actresses deliver a top class performance in an underrated movie and make that crucial connection with their audience...you start rooting for the underdog, you feel the vulnerability of the relationships, you relate to the pain and sufferings...By the time movie was over ( no I did not find myself fighting tears...an emotional wreck..reaching for the handkerchief.., if that is what you were thinking..), I had done 30 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes on the elliptical and another 30 minutes on my strength training equipment..not bad , watch movies, get some fitness to boot!! Look forward to doing the same next weekend- chick-flick, action, comedy, romance- any genre- bring it on!

Oh boy, the busier I get, the more I start missing the simple happiness of life- reading the best sellers, watching an old classic, going to the swimming pool, the sea beaches, kayaking in the nearby creek, swing practice at the golf course, spending time in my garden, going to the nearby ski resorts, the gondola ride to the mountain top, the roller coaster rides in the city theme park, brisk walking in the neighborhood trails...gazing the stars, getting drenched in the rain, watching the sunrise and the sunset! At times these cravings get to a feverish pitch, that point I just know to follow my heart...off I go...live in the now...worry about the work some other day..life here I come :-)

Stocks are cheap!!!

With Dow Jones Industrial Average flirting with 6500-6600 level, I am finally ready to declare it cheap enough for me to head back in. I know , I know the market can fall another 1000 points from here, but I guess I am fine with it. I can take that much of risk, the rewards justify it. As they say nothing ventured nothing gained!!

What else, metal markets- Gold, I am little frustrated, the Gold keeps bumping against the 1025-1050 /oz level and backs off. Gosh when is it going to finally break it...but this perma bull on precious metals is not going to give up so easily, not unless we see $2000-2200/ oz! Silver, well that's another story. I can easily see it going to $35/oz ( my personal target anyway) in next couple of years from the current $13/oz. This poor cousin of gold has languished for so long, far beyond the underlying fundamentals suggest. I really think this metal, after many false starts, is finally on the cusp of next move higher. How about Crude? Well in this market, the damage done is so huge ( from $147.50/ barrel to $33/barrel in less than a period of 4 months), it is going to take it some time before it recovers. I am not buying, not just yet.

Now coming to the currencies market, I think USD had good rally, but any further upside may be limited. That said, I do not expect USD to reverse course anytime soon. I always thought at 1.60 Euro was overvalued ( if you look through the archives of this blog), so was GBP at 2.10, those days are long gone. The fundamental problems that affect US also affect Europe. If we have a recession in North America, do you think Germany or Japan or Great Britain is immune form it, actually they are worse off. I am therefore expecting status-quo in this market, but for some relief rally which likes of GBP, Euro , Australian Dollar may get.

Bond markets, this one has been hard to predict, if you bet against it, you are doomed, given the flight to safety related rallies this market keeps getting, if you go long, you are doomed given the huge budget deficits we are creating ( trillions of dollars). I have been neutral on this market for some time now. Will let it play out and see what happens.

Again, I would like to end with a disclaimer, none of this should be deemed an advise to go long or short in any of the markets mentioned above. The opinion here are solely my personal and is not intended to be a professional advise. This post merely reflects my positioning in the current market environment. Any decision you take should be in keeping with your investment goals and time horizons. Good luck.. now go and make some money in the markets!!

Slumdog Millionaire wins 8 oscars!

Being born in India, not to get carried away in the Slumdog Millionaire frenzy would have been an oddity. Initially I resisted watching the movie, having read about graphic depiction of extreme poverty in the underbelly of Mumbai. I know we have poverty in India, but I would rather stay in blissful ignorance than see a pervert depiction on film and pay for it. Eventually, the hype around the film tipped me over, and it became no longer possible to ignore it, I knew I had to watch it and I finally did. So what do I think of the movie?

Well, the film is certainly different, the young actor Dev Patel definitely is gifted and one can see passion in his eyes- passion and longing for a childhood sweetheart, I give him a 10 for 10 on that. His portrayal of hope over fear and defiance over resignation to fate also came across strong. The new actress Freida Pinto had this innocence, but frankly given the relatively small screen time she got, I don't think it was enough to leave an indelible mark in the audience. I am surprised on the kind of attention she is getting, may be I am missing something, and the talent hidden in her would prove to be lasting. Will see, time will tell.

Coming to the Oscar's night last weekend, for the first time I felt as if I had a personal stake in the outcome of the award ceremony. Needless to say I was rooting ( along with my kids who could barely relate to the plot of the movie having been raised in North America all their life) for Slumdog Millionaire. With every Oscar the film won my nervousness actually went up. I told my kids, these initial Oscar's are good, but what matters finally is if the film wins best Director and Best Motion picture award. Those two are the most important category, I told them. This was history in the making, never before any Indian movie won Oscars like this. I was thinking , probably we are going to lose at the end, and the awards which matters the most will not come to us. It simply looked too good to be true. Actually when AR Rehman won the music awards and performed Jai Ho on stage complete with the typical Bolywood style dancers and fairy tale choreography, in itself was a big pleasant surprise ( BTW I like AR Rehman music,it's very soothing to your nerves and in a class of its own).
The Oscar night closed with the best motion picture award and the best Director award (Danny Boyle)both going to Slumdog Millionaire. It was surreal, I had to pinch myself to believe it. Dreams do come true sometime, don't they! Slumdog Millionaire rocks!!!!

Air safety in focus!

Two accidents involving commercial aircraft within a month..back to back..one where all 155 aboard were saved by an expert pilot ( Captain Sully) ..dubbed "Miracle on Hudson".. and the other where all 49 on board and one on ground perished near Buffalo, New York. The two accidents are raising some questions- how safe is really air travel? Here's a nice informative article from Wall Street journal on the icing related problem with the ill fated Q400 turboprop plane ( made by Canadian Manufacturer Bombardier, third largest commercial plane manufacturer after Boeing and Airbus). The article discusses the dilemma FAA ( Federal Aviation Administration)faces in deciding between automated deicing mechanism on planes (which can cost as much as $500k) versus leaving it just as a safety guidelines for the pilots to follow. Obviously my vote would be to make it mandatory on all the commercial flights, $500k on the lifetime of a plane is no big deal compared to so many lives which get lost in a tragic accident like this.
On one hand we celebrated the safe landing of US Airways flight 1549 on the icy Hudson river and the subsequent excellent work by the rescue crew who were there within minutes of the planes splash landing, on the other hand we feel devastated for the lives which were lost on continental flight 3407.
I am a Mechanical Engineer who has worked in the maintenance industry in the past, I can tell from my own experience how maintenance engineers always struggle between making their equipment 100% safe and the pressure to keep them running with various constraints ( time, money, spares to name a few). There are no easy answers, but the more we can learn from these tragic experiences and make them part of the inbuilt safety mechanism, the better off we are. Last thing we need is a lengthy investigation followed by a dud..couple of advisories from FAA which gets quickly forgotten.
Is there a silver lining in all this..indeed there is...for all the talk of air safety and these two recent accidents, air travel is still one of the safest form of travel. The chances of some one dying in an air crash is approximately 1 in millions, the probability of dying in a road crash are much higher( 1 in 10's of thousands per this article). Here's a nice article form CNN covering fear of flying. As far as I am concerned..afraid..nah..not at all..last year I took numerous flights on business as well as on personal trips, this year I am likely to fly even more..that's life! I can't let the fear get on my nerves and stop me from doing what I do best, that is Project Management at client sites!!! That means travel, a lot of travel!!

Nothing succeeds like success!!

These photos are credited to the great Pete Souza, the official white house photographer. One can see a very content looking President Obama, practicing taking Oath, basking under glory of new found power, recognition & public mandate while his support staff adoringly looks on. The mutual love in the first couple's eyes are also all evident. The success is written all over his face and as they say nothing succeeds like success!

I know the challenges in front of this President are enormous, but I am sure he is going to try his best. I wish him well! Mr. President, here's hoping you lead us towards better days ahead- in terms of economic growth, environmental protection and global piece! We had enough of this hatred, fear mongering, time to make a new beginning!!

Windows 7 beta is here!!

Microsoft just released Windows 7 beta for the general public and if the initial reports are to be believed, it is really far superior than Vista! I am planning on spending some time and upgrading my current ( annoying) Vista to the Windows 7 beta. If you want to read a review of the beta you can check out this piece from Walt Mossberg( Wall Street journal) here. Gizmo also has a nice review here.While you are reviewing the latest and greatest on Tech gadgets, check out NY Times Technology editdor David Pogues opinion here .
Actually David Pogue and Walt Mossberg are the two columnists who are widely regarded in the tech community , these guys can really make or break a product by their reviews. if you want your products to be successful, make sure these guys see you favorably!

A clean slate- a new year begins!

This is my first post for the year 2009. With the beginning of a new year we get a chance to start a fresh, a clean slate if you will! What we do the next few months will largely set the tone for the rest of the year. Here's hoping readers of this blog get off to a good start! As they say, well begin is half done! As for myself, I have set some goals, some on personal level some on professional level, lets see how close I get to achieving them, only time will tell.

Focus in the face of adversity, steadfast discipline, the courage of conviction, unwavering commitment, utmost sincerity and may I add passion as if your life depends on it, is what is normally needed to get outstanding results. Over the years, in general I have honed all of these skills to varying degree of perfection, but no where close to where I would like them to be. I have fallen off the track couple of times, particularly in the area of exercise and fitness routines :-( Here's hoping this year will turn out differently!!

BTW, the picture above is that of Johna falls, in state of Jharkhand, India a very picturesque picnic spot!! To me the mighty fall symbolizes momentum, force, purity, mother nature in its elements- beautiful and yet determined to find its way no matter what the obstacles. I want to embrace this scene, be like her, determined to move on, even if the pursuit knocks me down couple of times! In a recent visit to the fall, despite warning from my dad not to enter the frigid water and the slippery near by rocks, you guessed it, couldn't stop myself and took the plunge anyway and experienced the freshness first hand - the intensity going up with every drop, every splash of water falling on me!!! I felt renewed, blessed,alive, mother nature in its elements..surreal..ephemeral may be, but the worries of a distant world just seem to have faded away!!

EA, Take-Two lift Nvidia physics to next level

Nvidia's PhysX engine is intended to bring more realistic motion to games such as Backbreaker

read more | digg story
Wow, this has long been coming!! As a physics purist I hated when I saw games with attempt to realism falling so miserably short! The article talks about the game Backbreaker on XBox360 which uses the PhysX libraries thereby making the scenes of tackling life like, hmmm...never seen that game in action before..time to add something to the shopping list!!