I love planes. Of all kinds. There’s no better sight to my eyes than a plane taking off (or landing for that matter). I was unable to attend the Paris Air show 2009, although I would have loved to go. Here are some amazing photos from the event.
Some more photos from Washington Post.
Here’s the list of exhibitors.
Airbus seems to have a lot more orders booked than Boeing.
From Mckinsey Quarterly
1. Successful folks focus in on what they love and they wait for the world to come to them.- Jeff Bezos
2. You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable – J K Rowling
3. Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity – Bill Gates
1. Opportunity never knocks.
2. Follow your heart, but stick to what you know.
3. It’s not about the money – it’s about winning.
I have an aunt & uncle who live in Chennai. After 20+ years in Singapore and the USA they are back. Always living modestly and within their means, they have 2 wonderful kids who are “well settled” – married, or engaged and doing well. They came by last weekend to spend some time with us and the kids.
Wanting to give back they moved to India with the intention of setting up a “home away from home” for young girls from broken homes – about 50 or so kids whom they will completely pay for in terms of food, clothing, shelter and education.
Aunt’s the passionate one and this has been her life project and mission for the last few years. They already support an entire school in their village (where they grew up). Its completely free for all kids and they paid for the land, construction, and pay for the teachers annually. All kids study there for free. Uncle for most parts, pays the bills and is an amazingly supportive husband. Its his way of saying thanks to her for being by his side for the last 35 years.
They came by home to see if I could take them around. Bangalore’s weather is temperate and nice (like Silicon Valley) and unlike Chennai (think Dallas in Summer, 365 days of the year). They were considering opening the shelter here in Bangalore. We spoke to a few principals at local schools who each had over 20 young girls who desperately needed a safe place to stay.
They figured they’d need about 150 Sq Ft of space per kid (this is on the high end, but its worth it) so about 7500 Sq ft home, in a 10,000 sq ft of land space. They had planned on hiring help for the home – a maid, a cook and a security guard.
Here’s their project costs. All numbers are REAL.
1. Cost of acquiring land in the suburbs of Bangalore (about 20 miles away from the city, think Morgan Hill or Gilroy for the suburb to a San Jose city) – $240,000
2. Cost of registering land (Taxes, government fees) – $3400
3. Cost of bribing officials to ensure their land can be used as a shelter instead of home – $10,000
4. Cost of building the home (structure) $120,000 ($16/sq ft is on the low end but its doable)
5. Cost of running home with food, maids etc. $40,000 (per child, per year is $800)
6. Cost of paying for kids education annually ($500 per child) $25,000
Total Capex cost ~ $375K
Annual expense – $65,000
The same costs were compared with doing the same project at the village that currently houses their school. The total capital expense costs were $120K and their annual expenses were about $20K for 50 girls.
Trouble is urban slum dwellers need this kind of support. The average poor person in the city lives on the same daily income as the rural one.
With rapid urbanization (close to 60% expected to be in urban cities by 2020) this is the inevitable landscape change that Indian cities will go through. They are too expensive for the poor and too expensive for the rich to support the poor.
“I’m even more convinced that success in this lifetime comes from our
ability to think positively about others or growing a bigger vision
about others.“
One perspective.
According to a 2002 U.S. Census Bureau survey representing some 16
million business owners, a whopping 55% were initially funded by
personal and family capital. Just 11.4% snagged bank loans, and 8.8%
got going on personal and business credit cards; much of the remainder
lived on government loans and outside investors.
As a single mother
on welfare in Scotland, J.K. Rowling, 43, began writing the first Harry Potter
novel in Edinburgh cafés whenever she could get her infant daughter to
sleep. After being rejected by 12 publishing houses, Bloomsbury, a
small publisher in London, offered an advance of 1,500 pounds (about
$2,400)–even while one its editors, Barry Cunningham, advised Rowling
to get a day job.
Good thing she didn’t listen: The following year, U.S. publishing rights to the first Potter
book sold for $105,000. Rowling, who is now worth around $1 billion,
has since moved nearly 400 million copies worldwide, and is the only
author on our list.
The world is a lot more competitive now than a few years ago, which is pretty obvious. In a recent speech president Obama asked us to buckle up as the Indians and Chinese are catching
them fast, as Americans have now settled into mediocrity.
Ever since he started his presidential
campaign more than two years ago, Obama has been urging people in the
US to gear up to match the increasing talent of the Chinese and Indian
students. “Their kids watch a lot less TV than our kids do, play a lot
fewer video games, they are in the classroom a lot longer,” Obama said
amidst applause.
There is a piece today in the New York Times about the Chinese preparation for their gao kao, or the high test.
Some interesting quotes:
Fourteen to 16 hours a day, he studied for the college entrance
examination, which this year will determine the fate of more than 10
million Chinese students. He took one day off every three weeks.
The Chinese test is in some ways like the American SAT, except that it
lasts more than twice as long. The nine-hour test is offered just once
a year and is the sole determinant for admission to virtually all
Chinese colleges and universities. About three in five students make
the cut.
There’s also a piece on the Indian IIT examination process on Rediff.
Some three to four lakh (300,000 to 400,000) people apply to the IITs and only 3,000 get in. What kind of a ridiculous shortage is that?
That
shortage has created a desperate thought that come what may you have to
get into these institutions. So with this process taking roots the
whole process of education got killed.
From Class VIII itself you send your child to a coaching class or to Kota (where coaching classes that help prepare students for competitive examinations for institutions like the IIT are located) where whether the child likes it or not s/he has to get into either engineering or medicine.
I
think an average Indian parent would commit suicide than rather accept
that the child is going to an arts college to learn history. Especially
if a boy says so.
Finally a piece on SAT preparation in Bloomberg.
Robert Schaeffer, public education director for the National
Center for Fair & Open Testing Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
likens the situation to an arms race favoring the rich.
“Parents think, `Our child will be left in the dust unless
they get even better weapons,”’ he says.
Parents the world over are in the race to provide the best and most competitive education for their kids. everywhere.
The difference between the US and India and China is this – In the US, its the rich who know that the competition for your kids are not from other kids in your neighborhood, but from the world over.
1. Wonder why Apple is doing so well with iPhone? How come even in this down economy, smart phones are selling like hot cakes?
2. Wonder why SaaS services for the individual – Accounting, invoicing, project management are doing well?
Empowerment of the freelancer who is looking for a virtual or an automated admin is driving it apparently. In fact from 2009 to 2019 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US will have moved from 30% (43 Million workers) to 40% freelancers.
This means we have to teach our kids “all round” skills, including how to source projects, deliver, manage and keep customers happy. No wonder business networking is expected to take off.
Great visual map of the top countries for each commodity and natural resource. This graphic gives you the countries that have the most of:
1. Soy
2. Silver
3. Gold
4. Corn
5. Oil
6. Uranium
7. Cotton
8. Rice
9. Natural Gas
10. Wheat
11. Diamond
12. Cotton
13. Water
What will a China as the leading economy in world look like?
China also has, for the fifth consecutive month, beaten the US as the
world’s largest automobile market. “The growth in the passenger car
segment will probably continue in June to hit a new monthly record,
which will boost the whole-year sales to the 11-million-unit mark,”
said Rao Da, secretary-general of the association.
GM, which filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, reported
a monthly sales record in China in May. The automaker’s total vehicles
sales in May surged by 75 percent year-on-year to 156,000 vehicles in
China.
Not very different from the United States.
