Weekend Videos

• Five things ants can teach us about management (3m 11s, BBC Ideas)
• “A First-Class Catastrophe”: Lessons Learned from Black Monday (21m 14s, YouTube)
• The life story of Microsoft founder Paul Allen (1m 16s, Business Today)

Weekend Videos & Pix: Nikon Micro Pix, Inside Syria, & #MeToo

• Nikon Small World winners zoom in on microscopic marvels (108 images, New Atlas)
• Has #Metoo helped or harmed women? (video, 5 min 27 s, BBC Ideas)
• Inside Syria (13 min, SNI)

Weekend Videos - Spies, Secrets of FB, & the Sun

Check out these videos to rev up your learning this weekend.

• Why our lives will keep revolving around the Sun (BBC Ideas, under 5 minutes)

• Inside Facebook: Secrets of the Social Network (Al Jazeera, under 47 minutes)

• How British spies made a cyber immune system (CNN, under 4 minutes)

Sunday Reads

General Reads

• How British let One Million Indians die in Famine (BBC)
• India's Central Bank Chief is an Economic Asset (Bloomberg) Hat tip: Mohan Ramiah

Controversial Read

• India's Deadly Entrance Exams, by Shashi Tharoor (Project Syndicate)

Video

• Inside the world of China's Super Rich (AlJazeera) 

Video: World's Smartest Building + Sunday Reads

In the last several years, thousands of large multi-storey buildings have come up in different parts of India. Most of the technology companies have offices in buildings that come with gleaming glass walls, centrally air-conditioning, biometric entry/exit, work stations, open cabins, and food centres. 

If you work, or aspire to work, in such an office building, then watch the video on the smartest building in the world. You may want to work here! 

Click here to watch the video.

• China's economy is stumbling, but by how much? (BBC) Also read How China lost its swagger. (CNN Money) This two pieces are for Ramya (the Physics girl).

• The politics of iconography. (Hindu)

• The enchantment of falling in love and the vortex of desire. (Brain Pickings)

The Changing Global Economy

A three-part video series from The Economist on how the world economy has changed since the financial crisis of 2008.



Watch the complete series here.

16 Nuggets of Wisdom from Steve Jobs

Be inspired!

16 Inspirational Quotes From the Late, Great Steve Jobs from HubSpot All-in-one Marketing Software

Source: Hub Spot

Roger Federer's Advice on Talent, Defeat and Ambition

Roger Federer is one of my most favourite sportspersons. The incredible tennis star is hugely talented yet very very humble. 

I especially like Federer's perspective on work and happiness: "Sometimes you're just happy playing. Some people, some media, unfortunately, don't understand that it's okay just to play tennis and enjoy it. They always think you have to win everything, it always needs to be a success story, and if it's not, obviously, what is the point? Maybe you have to go back and think, Why have I started playing tennis? Because I just like it. It's actually sort of a dream hobby that became somewhat of a job. Some people just don't get that, ever." 

Video - The World is Awesome in 60 Facts

Source: YouTube & Earth Unplugged Channel

Video - Turkish Unrest

Turkey, once nicknamed the Sick Man of Asia, is facing massive unrest. Here's CNN's veteran journalist Christiane Amanpour explains the state of politics in Turkey to understand the ongoing civil unrest there.

Sunday Reads - How safe is your daughter & In the dark

• Boston carjack victim recounts his harrowing night. (Boston Globe)
• 50 Machines you would need to rebuild civilization. (ClimateerInvest)
• How safe is your daughter? (New Indian Express) 
• In the dark: dark matter is the commonest, most elusive stuff in the universe. Can we grasp this great unsolved problem in physics? (aeon)

Watch this 13-minute Jaguar ad video. Brilliant. (Hat Tip: Mohan Ramiah)

Bitcoin Explained

Bitcoins are created, or mined, when computers complete a complicated mathematical problem. Many individuals have pooled their computer power to ensure this mathematical work is completed more quickly.

The BBC has reported that the Bitcoin virtual currency lost half its value on Wednesday because of a panic sell-off. 

From a high of $260 (£169) for each Bitcoin, the value dropped to about $130 (£84) in just six hours. The selling frenzy began as Bitcoin's main exchange, MTGox, struggled to keep up with the volume of trade in the virtual currency. MTGox said it was working hard to improve the exchange to avoid future trading problems.

Visual.ly has a video explainer on the Bitcoin issue.

"I lost it," admits Rahul Gandhi

Today, i.e., 4 April, Rahul Gandhi delivered a talk at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Normally, most speakers at these kinds of business forums are those whose views not just matter but more importantly, they reflect clarity of thought and vision. 

I understand that it would be too much to expect Rahul Gandhi to exhibit these qualities. And at the CII, he did not exceed those expectations.

I think he forgot that he was speaking to industrialists who were looking for some clarity on economic policies of the UPA government. The Indian economy is experiencing its worst phase in the last decade or so, with both GDP and industrial production consistently nose-diving quarter after quarter.

Rahul rambled, fumbled, and made a mockery of a great PR chance. His PR managers must be having a harrowing time; either they are seriously dumb (or acting dumb) or they just do not know how to get it right for their VIP client.Or is it just a case of a bad student-client?

Rahul said that he does not want to be politician who matters, or PM or something like that. He need not worry about the future; going by the way, he is 'leading' the Congress party, he will have no future as a politician who matters.

At one point in his talk, he mentioned the great "Jhansi Ki Rani" as "Rani ki Jhansi" and later, looking for a page of the ghost-written speech (by Jairam Ramesh?), he fumbled and said, "I LOST IT". 

I think he lost it long back. Finally, he is beginning to be honest about it. 

Watch the video below for the "I lost it" moment.

Sunday Video - TED versus Onion Talks!

Let's take a break from serious Sunday Readings.

You must have watched at least one TED video. In India, a lot of folks are holding their own desi versions of  the TED series.

I have found most TED talks uninteresting. And I found that I am not the only one who thinks like this! There are similar thinking guys at theOnion.com too!

I stumbled on this Onion Talks spoof video series. Trust me this one is hilarious. Go ahead!

Did we go to the Moon?

Over the years, I have often heard that the U.S. never made it to the Moon in 1969 and that the whole thing was a big fake. 

I have never believed in the 'fake Moon landing' theory; if terming it fake, we would only be belittling the effort of the courageous men and women associated with the Moon landing project. 

Ever since the first human landing on the Moon, we have accumulated a great deal of knowledge of our only natural satellite. We have used such knowledge to great effect by launching further endeavors directed at the Moon, one of them being India's very Chandrayaan - I mission.

I stumbled on this cool video where SG Collins calls the bluff of the conspiracy theorists about the Moon landing. 

Our Story in 2 Minutes (Video)

Don't like history? Don't like to run through reams and reams of fat books on human history? 

Then check out this video that captures the history of humankind in just 2 minutes!

Hat Tip: Mohan Ramiah

Sunday Reads: I-Banking in Crisis & Wrapped in Smog

After four agonizing days when this blog in the dynamic view was down, it is back but in the old world 'Simple' template style. The blog is up after I put into action some real good technical advice from Mishka of the Blogger Team. Thank you, Mishka!

So, let me get down to my favourite business of sharing learning.

• Africa: Where black is not really beautiful (BBC)
• Wrapped in smog: Something in the air (Economist)
• Snakes & Ladders: Investment banking on the brink (Der Spiegel)
• The evolutionary mystery of Homosexuality (Chronicle)

Nouriel Roubini, often called "Dr Doom" for his gloomy outlook, says even if the U.S. debt rating is downgraded and the country ends up in a double-dip recession the rest of the world still will turn to the dollar and Treasury bonds.

Video - Top Ten Global Threats in 2013

... and so let me go back to what I do best on this blog: share learning!

We begin with a video on the Ten Biggest Global Risks in 2013. Ian Bremmer of the Eurasia Group lists his top ten geopolitical and global economic risks. 

In Bremmer's list, India comes in at No 9!



Source: Reuters

Population Boom & Urban Decay

India is booming... err, let me correct myself: India's population is booming. While the population is growing by the day, sadly the same can not be said of the necessary infrastructure that's essential to pace all-round development.

A few days back The Economist ran an interactive feature on the coming urban population boom and the shoddy quality of urban planning and governance in India.

Note: The external boundaries of India as depicted in this interactive feature are not true.

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

Here's my dose of interesting reads for the rest of the week.

• When getting rich is not glorious. (Analects blog; Economist) 

• China’s about to find out how hard it is run an aircraft carrier. (Foreign Policy)

• Daughters of the brothel. (AlJazeera) Do not forget to watch the video! 

• Britishisms and the Britishisation of American English. (BBC)

Today is Google's 14th birthday; check the fun stuff below.

• 10 fun facts about Google.
  
• Another set of 50 fun facts.

• Top 10 animated Google doodles.