Power of compounding by Einstein - Eight wonder of the world

Most of us must have engaged in solving mathematical puzzles, which involved throwing cleverly framed questions at our peers and then basking in some sadistic pleasure on the mystery remaining unresolved. Quite a few of them remained entrenched in the mind, particularly the ones that on hindsight appear surprisingly simple to unravel. One such question that still lingers is "If given a chance between accepting a cheque of Rs 500 million upfront and accepting an amount at the end of a month that is nothing but a coin of Re 1 that doubles everyday for 30 days, what option would you choose?" An ordinary mortal would think, give me Rs 500 million any day, as Re 1 doubling every day for 30 days is not likely to lead to anything big. Right? Wrong!

The guy is making the mistake of ignoring the power of compounding, a gift of nature that Einstein, one of the greatest minds to have walked the planet, once called the 'Eighth wonder of the world'. Indeed, a Re 1 coin doubling every day for thirty days leads to a sum little less than Rs 537 m but certainly greater than the other option of Rs 500 m.

Now, how can we use the enormous power of compounding so that it benefits us? Can it be used in investing and will it result in increased wealth? The answer is definitely in the affirmative. Perhaps, it is this very power of compounding that once led Warren Buffett to comment that only follow two rules in investing:

"Rule 1 - Do not lose money, and rule 2 - Do not forget rule no 1."

The reason the great investor said so was because if left to its own devices, compounding can work wonders for your wealth creation. However, if tampered with, it can also lead to very ordinary results. Imagine two guys 'A' and 'B'. 'A' is a bit of a risk taker and hence gets extreme results i.e., while every now and then he successfully unearths a potential multi-bagger, sometimes he also invests in stocks that erode by as much as 50% in market value. 'B' on the other hand, believes in investing in companies that grow at a stable pace, say around 20% each year.

Now if we assume that 'A' invests in a '5 bagger in 5 years' kind of a stock but sees his net worth erode by 50% in the sixth year because of a wrong investment, then at the end of sixth year, he would be left with 2.5 times the amount he started with. 'B' on the other hand with his '20% growth per year' kind of a stock will at the end of sixth year, end up with 3 times the amount he started with, a good 20% higher than 'A'.

Thus, it is for this very reason that it is important to let compounding do its work and not make investments where the chances of potential downfall are high. For if you lose money, you would have reversed the process of compounding, which is potentially more powerful and hence greatly damaging. So, next time you come across a potential multi-bagger, do not forget to estimate the potential downside of your investment before estimating the upside.

TCS among most preferred IT Companies - Nielsen Survey

Information Technology (IT) continues to be a highly preferred choice in engineering campuses. Engineering graduates are keenly interested in the IT sector over other sectors, according to a survey carried out by Nielsen, “Campus Track T-Schools Study” for the class of 2009.

Out of the top five preferred companies, four were from IT; among these, TCS stood among the top three companies in engineering campuses. Apart from IT services, nanotechnology, management consultancy and financial sector were also positioned as the ‘industries of the future’.

Automotive was the most preferred industry for students in the non-IT sector. “Information Technology has been the most sought after industry for some time now,” quips Vatsala Pant, Associate Director, Client Solutions, Nielsen. “Even engineers specialising in other disciplines such as Chemical Engineering, Mechanical and Civil Engineering, want to start their career in IT because of the prospects the sector brings with it in terms of better pay and the opportunity to work abroad.”

Google Movies

A Snapshot:

Here is another interesting service from Google.
Want to know, which movie is being showed in which theater at what time.

Just enter your city name. It lists everything. Really!!!

http://www.google.co.in/movies

Economics of IPL

The Revenue Side
Share of central pool: $7 million per year
Prize money: $5 million on offer
($3 million for winner; $2 million divided among others)
Local pool revenues: $0.75-2.5 million
Total average revenue potential per franchise: $8-12.5 million
The Cost Side
Franchise fee: $6.7-11.2 million
Cost of players: $1.1-1.7 million
Other costs: $2-5 million
Total average annual cost per franchise: $10-18 million
Notes: ‘Other costs’ includes executive and coaching salaries, stadium leasing costs, match-day costs like staffing and security, administration costs, team travel and accommodation and training expenses Estimates are purely indicative and based on a simple mathematical model. IPL follows a graded structure and actual cash flows will differ from these figures.
The Upsides
Title sponsorship: It went for $50 million for the first five years, and is renegotiable after the third year. If the IPL gains momentum, it can be much higher.
Player trading: After the first year, teams can trade players. Players can be sold for many times the cost at which they were acquired.
Gate fees: Beyond the third year, gate fees can increase significantly if the IPL takes off in a big way. The English Premership earns $5 billion in gate fees every year.
Franchise sale: After the third year, a franchisee has the option to sell out. This could lead to a windfall.
Franchise forever: The franchise fee is for the first 10 years, after which franchisees continue to own the teams for perpetuity.
The Downsides
Not enough eyeballs: Sony-WSG and the franchises could suffer losses in the first two to three years till IPL wins over spectators and viewers, and draws a critical mass.
Not enough star players: Constant availability of top-notch overseas players may be an issue due to growing number of international fixtures.
Other tournaments: If the ICC decides on an annual international Twenty20 championship, it might get better viewership than the IPL.
Iffy advertisers: Many advertisers are still in the wait-and-watch mode.
Game pull: Business prospects may be affected if the franchisees fail to create a loyal fan following in their turf.

Smart Cards in Railway Station

In the railway budget, the Railway Minister Shri Lalu Prasad informed that the Multi-purpose card has been named ‘Smart card’ and the sale of this card already started. These cards will be available at stations, bus depots of BEST and various other locations in the city. He clarified that there would be no extra burden on passenger for buying tickets through the smart card. However, only a marginal fee would be payable on buying and recharging of the card. He expressed the hope that the initiative would end long queues at ticket counters for daily train passengers in Mumbai and Chennai suburban ticket counters. (It is successful at Mumbai railway station)

How to get card?
1. You can get it at major railway stations’ ticket counters.
2. Just pay Rs.100 and get the card. (Rs.50 is the caution deposit for the card which is refundable, and Rs.50 is your initial balance at your card)
3. The machines are named as ‘Automatic ticket vending machine (ATVM)’.

Benefits of card:
1. Use it for taking suburban tickets, platform tickets and suburban season tickets.
2. No need of any ID proof and photograph.
4. Rechargeable from min of Rs.50 to max of Rs.500 in multiples of 50.
5. Rs.5 is bonus for every recharge amount of Rs.100.
6. The card is valid for 6 months from the every recharge date.
7. On returning the card, Rs.10 will be charged as closing charges and Rs.40 will be returned from the caution deposit.

Future plans:
1. Bus tickets issue through these cards.
2. Railway reservation.
3. Express train tickets.
4. Linking with Bank accounts etc…

Automatic ticket vending machines are available at:
1. Chennai central.
2. Tambaram.
3. Mambalam.
4. Chennai Beach.
5. Chennai Egmore.
6. Major stations between ‘Park station’ and ‘Tambaram’.
7. Chengalpattu
8. Arakonam; and will be soon at all the railway stations.

Nokia 6639 - Awesome features

NOKIA 6639
Frequency: GSM/GPRS/EDGE network, CDMA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, CDMA2000.
Israel set arbitrary color options :
Size : 109 × 48 × quenching
Weight : 100 grams
Battery : Lithium Ion Battery BM12P, Convergence 9800
Standby time : 100 hours
16 million color TFT color screen parameters : ;1024 × 768 pixels, 3.2 inches;
* For the system : Symbian 12.0 v16.6z simplified Chinese version
Processor : Pentium M-Dothan binuclear 2.0GHMz
Memory : Dual Channel DDR2 512M, the biggest can be expanded to 2GB
Display : nVIDIA Geforce Go 7800GT
WAP support fly along :
Nowhere 256 Chord :
Embedded speakers : 7.1-channel surround sound output
Photo identification of the caller calls Animation :
160 GB internal hard disk :
Support memory expansion : Mixed-CF, Microdrive miniature hard disk compatibility, RS-MMC, miniSD卡 , maximum support 160 GB
Adapter Type : USB2.0/IEEE1394
: Support WAV music format, MP3, conjecture, Ogg Vorbis, RAW, VOX, CCIUT u-Law, PCM, MPC (MPEG plus/MusePack), MP2 (MPEG 1 Layer 2), ADPCM, CCUIT A-LAW, AIFC, DSP, GSM, CCUIT G721, CCUIT G723, G726 format CCUIT
Video Format : All support
20 EQ sound effects sound effect modes : Mode
: DAB radios can receive digital broadcasting / FM stereo radio broadcasting group memory ;DAB/FM 50;
: 12.8 million effective pixel sensor, the APS size CCD, with Fangdou, ultrasonic dust removal function.
Scene: the main revolutionary cell phone cards mouth open, compatible CNMOP lens LEICA Lycra AF24-180mm/F2.8 receptors produced in Germany in support of a full-time manual focusing.
Deputy: German production Zeiss lens coating 50mm/F1.0 nematic Chase.
Autofocus mode : 11/7 zone TTL focusing, AF-1 to +19EV working environment :
Shutter speed : electromagnetic control longitudinal curtain shutter doors B, 30-1/10000 seconds
Lianpai : 12 / sec, which can be taken 90 or 50 RAW format photos in JPEG format photographs
Photometry : 3D matrix photometric II, the central focus point photometric and photometric (3mm yen, about 2% of the area)
Exposure modes : automatic, procedural exposure aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, users set up
Photo : RAW format, JPEG
Exposure compensation : +5EV half class, third-class or 1.0 grade
Sensitivity range : ISO 50-3200 (third stall incremental), and 6400 can be expanded to 25
White Balance : Automatic, Manual, pre -
White balance preset : flash and shadow, overcast sky, sunlight, fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps
Embedded camera flash :
Effective flash range : 20 m
Flash modes : 1005-pixel RGB TTL flash control sensor ;i-TTL balance filled with flash flash flash or standard i-TTL
Video : audio video film shooting, 720 × 480-definition DVD RMVB compression, support for real-time optical zoom.
Video broadcast : Windows Media Player, H.263 /MPEG4, WITH AMR-NB, AMR-NB audio decoders, decoder
Other additional functions :
First, Swiss Plug procedures remotely Train (with the public wireless transmission protocol), sparking Zippo;
Second, the LED beam, severe chemical devices, thermometer, filter and needle guide function for wild camping.
Third, the exclusive beer and bottled champagne opening device adapter, the adapter can be connected to a dedicated electric razor (compatible with Brown shaving support);
Fourth, Micro Electric Drier (external hard drives need 12V power supply)
5, welcoming everyone to keep abreast added

Windows 7 - Blackcomb

End of the 9% Growth Dream - Stock Market Crash

After four years of boasting of 9% GDP growth, and talking of overtaking China, Indians are reluctant to believe that the economy is headed for a serious fall. But the stock market has crashed, an indication of the pain ahead.
Western observers have been lavishing praise on India as a coming economic superpower. So, many Indians believe we have achieved 9% growth because we are so clever and resourceful. This is a delusion of grandeur. In fact, a global tide has lifted the whole world economy, and India along with all others. Now that the global tide is ebbing, India will fall with all others. Given our strengths, we will not suffer as badly as some others. But suffer we will.
After more than a decade of 6% growth, India accelerated to almost 9% in the last four years. But sub-Saharan Africa also accelerated, from 2.4% per year in the 1990s to almost 5.8% in the last four years, a stronger acceleration than in India!
Azerbaijan grew by a whopping 31% in 2006 and maybe 27% in 2007. Turkmenistan grew by 18% in 2006.
Sudan has a civil war and genocide in Darfur, but its latest growth rate is a staggering 12%. Rwanda, where genocide was made famous by the film Hotel Rwanda, is enjoying 8.5% growth. Liberia, site of the Hollywood hit Blood Diamond, is growing at 9%.
So, India's 9% growth in the last four years is not exceptional. All countries have been lifted by a global tide. What caused the tide to rise, and why is it now ebbing?
The core cause of the boom was huge overspending by Americans in the last decade, based on a long housing boom. Americans borrowed ever more billions against their rising property values, and went on a spending spree that greatly exceeded their disposable incomes. Overspending led to a record US trade deficit of $700 billion/year.
The mirror image of this was rising trade surpluses (and hence forex reserves) in other countries. These forex surpluses were used to buy US securities, depressing US interest rates and making borrowing even more attractive. Americans borrowed still more, spent still more, and imported still more.
This created a huge consumption-based growth cycle across the globe. The US consumer splurge was especially helpful to China, the most competitive exporter of manufactures, which grew rapidly through an export boom. India, which exported competitive services, also benefited. Other Asian countries from Vietnam to Pakistan also started growing at rapid rates.
But these Asian countries needed to import huge quantities of commodities, partly for conversion into manufactures for export, and partly to meet rising domestic needs. So, the global demand for commodities skyrocketed, lifting all exporters of commodities. These countries were mainly in central Asia, Africa and Latin America. All joined the great global boom.
Alas, no boom based on over-consumption can last forever. The US housing bubble burst, and prices started falling. This revealed the ugly fact that many lenders had made huge property loans to people who could not or would not repay. Banks and other mortgage lenders suddenly found themselves with hundreds of billions of bad debts. The consequent financial crunch hit the whole US economy. This now threatens a recession, which will lower consumer spending.
Less US spending will mean a big drop in US imports from Asia. When that happens, Asia will demand less commodities from Africa, Latin America and Central Asia. So, the very countries that benefited from US overspending will now suffer as US spending declines.
How bad will the impact on India be? It all depends on the pace at which the US reduces its overspending to manageable proportions. Let us consider three scenarios.
In scenario 1, the US will have only a slowdown, not an outright recession, and will recover in the second half of 2008. So, there will be just a small blip in overspending, which will soon resume. World growth will not be badly hit, and India can hope to achieve 8% in 2008. This scenario looks hopelessly optimistic.
More realistic is scenario 2, which postulates a recession for two or three quarters in the US, followed by recovery in 2009. This will hit the global economy significantly. Indian growth will decline to 7%.
In scenario 3, the US will suffer a prolonged slowdown-cum-recession for 18 months or more. This is very unlikely, given the ammunition available with the US Fed to revive the economy. Yet, a cold shiver is running down the spines of stock market experts, who feel there is a small but significant chance of a long, painful slowdown. That will translate into huge global pain.
In scenario 3, India's GDP growth will fall to 6%. That is no higher than in the 1990s! This does not mean that all recent progress has been illusory. India has raised its savings rate to 34%, and built up strong skills that are here to stay. But our sustainable long-term growth rate, in less-than-booming global conditions, may be only 7-8%. Let's not get carried away by the last four years.

Brilliant Answers In a Interview

Question 1: You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night,

it's raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for a bus:


An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
An old friend who once saved your life.
The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.


Which one would you choose to offer a ride to,

knowing very well that there could only be one passenger in your car?


This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application.


* You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first;


* or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to ! pay him back.


* However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.


The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. Guess what was his answer?


He simply answered:


"I would give the car keys to my Old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital.

I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."


Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations. Never forget to "Think Outside the Box."


Question 2: What will you do if I run away with your sister?"

The candidate who was selected answered " I will not get a better match for my sister than you sir"


Question 3: Interviewer (to a student girl candidate) - What is one morning you woke up & found that you were pregnant.

Girl - I will be very excited and take an off, to celebrate with my husband.

Normally an unmarried girl will be shocked to hear this, but she managed it well. Why I should think it in the wrong way, she said later when asked


Question 4: Interviewer: He ordered a cup of coffee for the candidate.

Coffee arrived kept before the candidate, then he asked what is before you?

Candidate: Instantly replied "Tea"

He got selected.

You know how and why did he say "TEA" when he knows very well that coffee was kept before.

(Answer: The question was "What is before you (U - alphabet)
Reply was "TEA" ( T - alphabet)

Alphabet "T" was before Alphabet "U"


Question 5: Where Lord Rama would have celebrated his "First Diwali"?

People will start thinking of Ayodya, Mitila [Janaki's place], Lanka etc...


But the logic is, Diwali was a celebrated as a mark of Lord Krishna Killing Narakasura.

In Dusavataar, Krishnavathaar comes after Raamavathaar.


So, Lord Rama would not have celebrated the Diwali At all!


Question 6: The interviewer asked to the candidate "This is your last question of the interview.

Please tell me the exact position of the center of this table where u have kept your files."


Candidate confidently put one of his finger at some point at the table and told that this was the central point at the table.

Interviewer asked how did u get to know that this being the central point of this table,

then he answers quickly that sir u r not likely to ask any more question, as it was the last question that u promised to ask.....


And hence, he was selected as because of his sharp.


This is What Interviewer expects from the Interviewee. ....

ASHES 2009 COMPLETE ITINERARY

May Australia arrive in England.

Fri 5 - Sun 21 June - World Twenty20

Wed 24 - Sat 27 June

Four-day game v Sussex (Hove)

Wed 1 - Sat 4 July

Four-day game v England Lions (Worcester)

Wed 8 - Sun 12 July

1st Test Cardiff

Thu 16 - Mon 20 July

2nd Test Lord's

Fri 24 - Sun 26 July

Three-day game v Northants(Northampton)

Thu 30 July - Mon 3 Aug

3rd Test Edgbaston

Fri 7 - Tue 11 Aug

4th Test Headingley

Sat 15 - Sun 16 Aug

Two-day game v Kent(Canterbury)

Thu 20 - Mon 24 Aug

5th Test Oval

Fri 28 Aug

ODI v Scotland (Edinburgh)

Sun 30 Aug

1st International Twenty20 (Old Trafford)

Tue 1 Sept

2nd International Twenty20 flood light (Old Trafford)

Fri 4 Sept

1st ODI day/night (The Oval)

Sun 6 Sept

2nd ODI (Lord's)

Wed 9 Sept

3rd ODI day/night (The Rose Bowl)

Sat 12 Sept

4th ODI (Lord's)

Tue 15 Sept

5th ODI day/night (Trent Bridge)

Thu 17 Sept

6th ODI day/night (Trent Bridge)

Sun 20 Sept

7th ODI (Durham)

Mon 21 Sept Australia depart