It was the toughest time of my life:
first, I got angina pectoris and then arteriosclerosis. Just as I was recovering from those, I got tuberculosis, pneumonia and phthisis. Then, appendicitis followed by tonsillectomy made me nearly lose my memory. I had diabetes, gastritis and rheumatism. I barely made it through.
That was the hardest spelling test ever!
I read this in a a childhood folk tale:
A prince announces that he will marry a lady who can meet the following 4 conditions:
1) travel in a vehicle, yet walk down to his court.
2) Have an escort, yet be alone.
3) wear a dress, yet be nude
4) and present him a gift, yet be empty handed.
Can you guess what the winner of the contest did?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6538073.stm
This is why I am against river linking. It might bring water to the dry land, but it is going to drastically change the landscape and ecology of the country. Yamuna is like a dried up drain, Kaveri has not a drop to spare, Calcutta port is endangered by the lack of water supply.
Already there is no river/water channel which can boast of having excess water, How can government plan to achieve the redistribution?
In a country where it is impossible to construct a wall/dam on the riverbed…. How is government planning to acquire large tracks of land to link rivers and get funds to do the massive earthworks.
Then for the project to be economically feasible, water should flow in the linkage channels by gravity and not against it. No matter how attractive the project looks, it is going to to be a civil engineering nightmare to get this gradient correct.
The major strength of the company comes from the basket of Communication technology it has invested in, and its ability to integrate them into 1 single chip mixed signal CMOS solution.
example: BCM4325. This single chip has 4 radios.. (1 WLAN 2.4Ghz, 1 WLAN 5ghz, 1 Blue tooth, and 1 for FM (both Transmission and reception).
Now there are very few companies in the world which can match this engineering feat. (TI and Marvel being the only 2 competitors with such capabilities)
The company is focussed only on Network communication Devices but its penetration in the Cellphone market is negligible. So growth of BRCM largely depends on its ability to displace TI and Marvel from this area.
Pros:
1) As a company, our revenues are expected to grow by around 30% yoy
2) Although the balance sheet is in a mess primarily due to the 2.2 Billion dollars of paper loss, it has not made any dent to the Revenue
and Profitability of the company (2007 onwards)
3) The company believes in its employees.
4) One of the unique strength of the company is Its fabless model and its ability to switch Fabs. This is what enables it to get the best price and give traditional giants a run for their money.
5) As discussed earlier, its ability to put different technologies together in one single complete package.
CONS:
1) If there is a US recession, nobody is going to upgrade their networking hardware.
2) The stock is trading at a PE of 51 and a forward PE of 43.
3) Can you trust the Management?
4) Marvel and Broadcom have almost the same principles and strength. So on a long term I expect only 1 of these 2 aggressive companies to survive.
5) For a company with an Market Capitalization of 18 Billion, 1.5 Billion dollar buyback war chest is something disturbing. (But good news for investors, that should keep the stock from falling.)
I believe that everybody is a kid… and kids have curiosity. Now when your kids asks an awkward question, you can
1) Say NOOOO, talking about such things are banned… you will know all this when you grow up. (if you have handled kids then you will know what it usually leads to)
2) Or Tell him the truth, and while you are doing it: Tell him what a responsible and moral behavior is and what are the consequences.
If you opt for the first, How can your kid know the:
1) What is right and what is wrong.. what is socially accepted moral behavior.
2) What are the medical consequences of error. (STD, AIDS)
3) How it can impact your future? (pregnancy, early marriage, being forced to undertake responsibilities you are not prepared for etc.)
4) What is safe what is not?
5) You need to reinforce in the kids that they have a right to say NO, and not succumb to peer-pressure.
6) What qualifies as sexual harassment by a pedophilic relative?
In the USA, obesity is a tell-tale sign of poverty, but in India its the large number of offsprings… often more than they can take care of. The parents are not able to invest in the child’s future and hence condemning them to perpetual poverty.
1/3 of the Indian population cannot even read and write…. How do you think you can increase awareness in their kids?
In a society where a female is often reduced to a Cooking Machine and a Sex Toy, How do you plan to tell her her rights?
How can you tell a couple that
1) “Agreed that a child is a God’s gift, but a dozen of them is a curse”
2) What are the benefits of a planned pregnancy?
Well Even College educated kids are no better:
I know a newly married couple (husband an engineer, wife a Post Graduate student) who conceived within 2 months of their arranged marriage. Now someone tell me how does she plan to attend school while she is carrying? Unfortunately I cannot blame the couple for not thinking through properly… “after all ignorance is a bliss.”
I have a confession to make: I do not know even even the names of the STD. So if I ever catch one, I am 100% sure it will be too late before it is diagnosed.
Many countries in Africa lost an entire generation due to AIDS… Is Indian Government also preparing a similar stage for population control?
I applied for a LPG gas connection, but was denied because I did not have a ration card.
I am strongly against use of Ration Card of PDS (public distribution system) for address Proof. Why?
Firstly whats the purpose of Ration Card?
1) Distribute a limited quantity of Food and other essential Items at sub-market rates… so that the incidence of malnutrition is less.
2) To save the environment by supplying alternative fuel (Kerosene oil) and hence discouraging people from chopping trees for firewood or using unhealthy and smoky cow dung cakes.
For these noble missions to be achieved
1) the scheme should cover all the needy.
2) It should prevent people profiteering by owning fictitious cards.
So essentially this document is a nothing more than a proof of existence and citizenship. By making it an address proof you hit the following problems:
1) Needy homeless people, migratory labor, and people who cannot afford an authorized housing and live in slums are immediately debarred from its benefits. Hence defeating its very purpose.
2) You artificially increase the value of this document creating all sorts of trouble. Esp. Considering Ration Card has little or no security provisions against tampering and forgery.
3) You force rich and upper middle class (who do not avail the benefits of ration card) the hassle of maintaining it.
4) This increases the paperwork of the government by issuing cards to people who will never use it.
5) It increases the chances of pilferage, impersonation, and profiteering because the ration allocation to the rich would be diverted to the black market.
6) Most Importantly: Since it is a proof of address, it has been repeatedly used against the government in regularization of Slums and Janta Colony. So its puts government under the dilemma… deny PDS to the real poor BPL (below Poverty line) persons or lose control over a prime piece of Land… More often then not, the latter wins.
Today Airtel (my Land line/Broadband Service Provider) Asked me to furnish address proof.
For god sake, its not a mobile/cellular phone…. the user has to be within the vicinity of 2m of the location of the company installation….
I know their intentions are noble…. but can someone explain me the logic?
Who furnishes the address proof for a PCO installation in the middle of a Highway?
BTW I read this amazing news of number mobility… While indians plan, form committees, submit reports, then review them etc etc.
while the rest of the world simply goes and implements it.
An amazing series of pictures shot in slow motion of what looks to be a drop of milk, dropped into a cup of black coffee.
The Communist governments of China and Supreme court of India and Negrophobic Judges of Texas issue 80-90% of all the capital punishments awarded. But Indians have a vision to be Number 1, the global leaders. Today the wise men of the country issued a stray comment, but tomorrow the courts might even enforce Hanging of 10,000 elected representatives of the country by lamp posts to demonstrate their power. Why? Just to prove their power.
No wonder India is actually not a democracy but the world’s largest Oligarchy.
Indian Supreme Courts might not have time to give a verdict on the cases which have been pending for decades. It does not have enough man power to appoint judges for the posts that have been lying vacant for years, it does not have funds and the willpower to modernize/computerize its archives. Their own house is a mess, but it does have enough meddlers to intervene and sabotage the democratic proceedings of the nation. To me they are no better than that annoying neighbor I have who eavesdrops at my conversations.
I agree that all governments are stupid and most politicians are corrupt. “Andho Meigh Kana Raja” (A person blind with one eye will rule the blind subjects). But at least they answerable to the public, and are courteous enough to keep a tab on the pulse of the public. I can give you names of a 100 Indian politicians who did something remarkable for the country/state/region. Find me one judge who can made a difference or even became a statesman. I bet half of you do not know the name of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or your local High Court? And they don’t know you. Then what empowers then to tamper with our democratic process.
There have been great dictators and emperors in this world, but very few empires could last more than their lifetime. Napoleon saw it crumble even when he was alive, while empires of Alexander and Ashoka could not survive the demise of their leader. Democracy is the only institution which can outlast its founders and has proven to flourish continuously for centuries.
What courts are doing is only weakening our fledgling democratic process. It is doing more harm than good.