forsv: potpourri of thoughts

time to move

Good friends and interested readers,

Good news! I am moving this blog – and my others – to my VERY OWN DOMAIN!

If you will replace your http://sv.typepad.com/ URLs with the beautiful new http://www.forsv.com

Then we’ll meet there in one month (hey, I do get a little time off to refresh my roots in Mother India!)

I hope I’ll see you there. Meanwhile, I hope November is a lucky, surprisingly good month for all of you.

All the best,

Hi-tech workers make 'curry rock'

Hundreds of thousands of hi-tech workers from India have come to the US in the past decade.

Many of them arrived on the H-1B visa programme, which allows American companies to hire highly-skilled foreign workers.

For many Indians, getting a visa is a dream come true. But living and working in the US can be harder than expected and a group of Indian-born engineers has put the H-1B experience to music.

It all started, as these things often do, at a party. It was a house-warming party in the Washington DC area to be precise.

An Indian computer engineer with a yen for Jethro Tull was throwing the shindig. Among the guests were a couple of other Indian hi-tech workers with musical backgrounds.

Continue reading...

PSA: Canon and other digicam users, camera recalls...

(thanks to a good friend who sent this information)

In the past week, four major camera makers have quietly published service advisories admitting their digital cameras are affected. In each case, the flaw appears to involve CCD sensors using epoxy packaging that eventually lets in moisture.

Canon URL

Fuji URL

Minolta URL

SONY URL

European school takes top spot in the Economist Intelligence Unit's MBA rankings

For the first time, a European school-Spain's IESE-has topped the list in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2005 ranking of full-time MBA programmes.

One of the main reasons that IESE does so well is the quality of its careers placement. IESE graduates can expect an average salary of around US$142,000 when they leave the programme, with 96% of graduates finding a job within three months.

Despite this European success, the ranking once again underlines the dominance of US schools. Eight of the top ten schools are American. Kellogg, which had topped the ranking for three consecutive years, drops to second, with Dartmouth, Stanford and Chicago all featuring prominently.

Bill Ridgers, the editor of Which MBA?, commented: "The main things that set these schools apart are a robust programme and excellent faculty. They often also possess a strong collegiate sense, meaning that students are keen to evangelise about their schools."

The highest ranked school in Asia and Australasia (excluding INSEAD, which has campuses in both France and Singapore) is the University of Hong Kong, in 45th place.

Read

Psychopaths could be best financial traders?

LONDON (Reuters) - "Wanted: psychopaths to make a killing in the markets."
Such an advert will not be appearing in the world's newspapers any time soon, but it may have a ring of truth after research revealed the best wheeler-dealers could well be "functional psychopaths."

A team of U.S. scientists has found the emotionally impaired are more willing to gamble for high stakes and that people with brain damage may make good financial decisions, the Times newspaper reported Monday.

In a study of investors' behavior 41 people with normal IQs were asked to play a simple investment game. Fifteen of the group had suffered lesions on the areas of the brain that affect emotions.

The result was those with brain damage outperformed those without.

Continue reading.

6 views of the Islamic world

6 views of the Islamic world What is at the the root of the clash between Islam and the West? And what do your answers say about your own beliefs? (via the Guardian)

Comparison New Orleans vs. Mumbai (Bombay)

New Orleans vs. Mumbai (Bombay)

inches of rain in new orleans due to hurricane katrina... 18
inches of rain in mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1

population of new orleans... 484,674
population of mumbai.... 12,622,500

deaths in new orleans within 48 hours of katrina...100
deaths in mumbai within 48hours of rain.. 37.

number of people to be evacuated in new orleans... entire city..wohh
number of people evacuated in mumbai...10,000

Cases of shooting and violence in new orleans...Countless
Cases of shooting and violence in mumbai.. NONE

Time taken for US army to reach new orleans...48hours
Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach mumbai...12hours

status 48hours later...new orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricty
status 48hours later..mumbai is back on its feet and its business is as usual

USA...world's most developed nation
India...third world country..

oopss...did i get the last fact wrong???

JohnAugust.com

​​​​If you're writing a screenplay (and let's face it, who isn't?), get thee to this blog. Subtitled "a ton of useful information about screenwriting," the site shares, well, a ton of useful information about screenwriting. John August, whose credits include "Big Fish," "Go," and "Charlie's Angels," walks us through the trials and tribulations of wielding the pen in Hollywood. Along the way, he addresses such topics as...

• How he got his agent
• What format you should send your script in
• Moving to Hollywood
• Is film school necessary? (Answer: No)

Even if you don't indulge in fantasies of writing your own screenplay but just love movies (and let's face it, who doesn't?), you'll enjoy this glimpse into the inner workings of La-La Land.

UK bans 'magic mushrooms'

UK bans 'magic mushrooms' (except the poisonous ones), rendering them class A like heroin and crack. Shroomers fight back. Mushroom have been used for a while and we have a lot of information about their effects and safety, just as we do with alcohol - but facts schmacts, right? You can't be too careful.

Britain's true National Dish - Chicken Tikka Masala

Believe it or not, UK has around 8,000 curry houses which employ 70,000 people - more than steel, coal and shipbuilding put together.

Do you know how much British spend on Indian food? Almost 2.5 million pound!!!!!!!!!!!.

Anyway, Chicken Tikka Masala is the most ordered Indian dish in UK. That's why, it has been hailed the British's true National Dish :-)

The popularity of Indian dish led to choose Vindaloo as the unofficial anthem of England's 1998 football World Cup.

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