Mid-Week Reads - The Best of Politics, Economics, & Ideas

Compared to last year, I think I have gone very slow in blogging; must post more often. Meanwhile, here's some dope for mid-week knowledge building.

• What can Africa teach the eurozone? (BBC) 

• Join the party, Mr Kejriwal. (The Hindu)

• Facebook’s Online Panopticon. (Newsweek)

• The drugs don't work: a modern medical scandal. (Guardian)
  

Facebook has crossed one billion users! Here's a BBC graphic on the milestone. The passing of the milestone was announced by founder Mark Zuckerberg on US television today. The company said that those billion users were to date responsible for 1.13 trillion "likes", 219 billion photos and 17 billion location check-ins.

And think about it, FB is not available in China! That's One Billion Users without China! A phenomenal achievement!

Guest Column: Mahip Rekhani on Demat Account

A few weeks back, I published The Explainer: Stock Markets – Part I on this blog. The post generated tremendous positive reviews; however, a few readers commented that they could not understand the note on demat account. 

About two days after I published that post, I received feedback from Mahip Rekhani, a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM-I). After reading the comments on the post, he sent me a mail with a short explanation of demat account.

Find below Mahip’s wonderful short note on demat account, aimed at helping confused readers. His note is brief and informative.

(a) Demat is nothing but holding your physical shares in a soft copy form, i.e. earlier one used to get hard copy of the shares, now they are issued in soft copy form.

(b) Demat account in India is opened with the National Securities Depositary Limited (NSDL) and Central Depositary Services Limited (CDSL).

(c) Opening a demat account can be done through a depository participant (basically, an agent), which can be a bank or a broking house.

(d) Your demat account is mobile, i.e. it is not bound with an agent and can be shifted to another service provider.

(e) In addition to a demat account, an agent may also provide an investor with a trading account in order to facilitate buying or selling of shares.

You can check out Mahip Rekhani’s Facebook profile here.

My profound thanks to Mahip!

Tech Spawn: Most Successful Start-Ups

Technology companies often compete to hire the best talent to work for them. Some employees, after working for tech giants, go out to start their own enterprises. While ideas that bring in the moolah are important, what's equally important is the fact the start-ups require seed money.

It has been observed that it is comparatively easier to get venture capitalists to invest in your business venture if you had previously worked for a tech giant. Top Prospect has an interesting graph on the issue of which tech giants have spawned the most successful startups. 

If you wish to copy this infographic, then please acknowledge this blog; it helps in driving traffic to this blog!

Click on the picture for a larger view.




(Please select your reaction to this post; see below.)

Facebook & The War of Words on MFH

This morning, Arpita Patra, a wonderful soul and IIM-B PGDM Class of 2013 student, posted a comment on her Facebook Wall.

At the time I first read the comment, I had just finished teaching a bunch of curious  students, preparing for the CAT this year. Arpita's thought intrigued me enough to share my perspective on her wall. 

I am reproducing the entire page status, as of 2002 hours on June 10, 2011. Please post your comments on this issue in the comments space.

Arpita Patra

M F Hussain dies a Qatari... coz. we Indians didn't have big enough hearts to accommodate an artist's expression.....seems like the "dark ages" to me.

12 hours ago ·  · 

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  3 people like this.
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    Harsh Kumar And they have say every1 has Freedom of Expression :)
    

    9 hours ago · 
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    Himanshu Kumar Yadav He was good at art but his hypocrisy in his "artistic expressions" was baffling to say the least
    

    8 hours ago · 
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    Bharat Jain 
    

    Arpita, I think you take the great Indian secularists and the literati quite seriously. Please understand that for all the great painter he was, he was also stupid and arrogant. He understood the Human Condition, but did not understand a simple truth - that you should hurt others' religious sensibilities.
    
    Why did he paint Hindu goddess in nude? Artistry? Freedom of expression? Why did he not apply the same yardstick to, let's say, a painting on icons of other religions? Would he have dared to paint Mary or Fatima in another way, other than with the halo and divinity that is so, rightly, characteristic of them?
    
    Do you believe Qatar would have given Hussain asylum / citizenship if he had done a caricature of Islamic faith symbols and icons?
    
    As for these secularists and the literati, where were they when the Danish journalists were threatened by Islamic zealots for drawing the caricatures of Prophet Mohammad? No freedom of expression for these Danish journalists?
    
    I am NOT a Hindu but I DON'T approve Hussain's work on Hindu Goddess.
    
    I am NOT a Muslim, but again, I DON'T approve the Danish journalists stupid work, offending the religious sensibilities.
    
    It is stupid to hurt anybody's religious sensibilities.
    
    As for the Dark Ages you think we are in, well, it was always there - darkness in our mind and heart, in our attitude toward those who do not think 'like us'.
    
    I think we ignore what's not convenient.

    
    

    7 hours ago ·  ·  1 person