Terrorism and SWAT maps

Foresty Map of SWAT, Pakistan.


Terrorism from SWAT needs to be addressed by tribal commanders. They cannot remain oblivious that they are phatans and they have every right to house terrorists like Al-qaida men.





ISI needs to be countered in SWAT. Given blasts in india, I find it releavnt to provide maps of SWAT region so that focus of terror is re-dressed.






Detailed MAP of SWAT and surrounding regions.

Source: Google Images

Pay $2, $1 for palatable water and soda onboard USAIR

The cost planning has gone haywire, with every water/soda you buy, you need to shell bucks except you are in first class or business class on board USAIR.

Source: WSJ

LG partners with Netflix to deliver movies online

Convergence of Internet, Television and Computers is slowly happenming with companies like LG Electronics Device To Deliver Movies Online. South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. will soon offer a device that plays high definition Blu-ray movies along with video streamed over the Internet from Netflix Inc., the latest move by Netflix to deliver movie rentals online rather than through the mail.

The new product, dubbed the LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player, will go on sale in the U.S. in September for "well under $500," The LG product is part of a wave of electronics devices from Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others enabling video delivered over the Internet to make the leap to televisions from personal computers. The growing online availability of TV shows, movies and other mainstream programming could eventually pose a challenge to more traditional delivery of television through cable and satellite.

Source: WSJ

Arctic climate is changing fast and will continue to happen fast

This isn't Global warming, just the artic climate is reversing and it is one way process. The ice sheets are breaking apart. Artic environment is no longer the process of Ice growing, to the contratary it is ice breaking.

July 30, 2008—A chunk of ice spreading across 7 square miles (18 square kilometers) has broken off a Canadian ice shelf in the Arctic, scientists say.
The sheet broke away last week from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's far north. Large ice segments—including this 1.5-square-mile (4-square-kilometer) chunk, above—were seen drifting near the ice shelf. A crack in the shelf was first spotted in 2002 and a survey this spring found a network of fissures.

Gary Stern, co-leader of an international research program on sea ice, said it's the same story all around the Arctic.
Speaking from the Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen in Canada's north, Stern said he hadn't seen any ice in weeks.
"Nobody on the ship is surprised anymore," Stern said. "We've been trying to get the word out for the longest time now that things are happening fast and they're going to continue to happen fast."

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080730-arctic-photo-AP.html

Carl Icahn realized it was impossible to win a majority of the Yahoo! directorships

Carl Ichan writes that he will make sure in the event the next transaction comes , he will ensure that everything is disclosed and he will be a part of the committee.

In response to the Wall Street Journal, he writes a response.

http://www.icahnreport.com/report/2008/07/response-to-wal.html

Major shareholders, particularly those who serve on boards, should actively question decisions a company makes and not simply be a rubber stamp for corporate managements, as all too many are.

http://www.icahnreport.com/report/2008/07/how-i-spent-my.html

Proxy fights are very expensive and time-consuming. Unlike political elections, where change is often seen, it is unfortunately extremely difficult to take control of a company. By the end of last week, I realized that although many large shareholders supported me and my slate for the board, they were nervous about having a complete change of control. From prior proxy contest experience,

http://www.icahnreport.com/report/2008/07/concerning-the.html#comments

Concerning the Annual Yahoo! Meeting
I will not be attending. The proxy fight is over and it will not do shareholders or Yahoo! any good to have the annual meeting turn into a media event for no purpose. Last week, I realized it was impossible to gain enough support from the large institutions to win a majority of the Yahoo! directorships. In today’s corporate governance system where large mutual funds control so much of the stock, it is extremely difficult to oust an entire board, no matter how strongly a large number of shareholders feel about the board’s previous actions. Realizing I could not gain control, I saw no point in spending the final two weeks in a debilitating fight, where little would be accomplished except to build animosity between both camps and the end result would be no better than the compromise that was reached. In fact, in winning a minority position on a board by a fight to the end, you always have to be concerned that you may be "boxed" out by the majority that remains on the board. Committees can be formed that you are excluded from and you are given information only on a need to know basis. An important part of my compromise with Yahoo is that the board in the settlement agreement has agreed "that any meaningful transaction, including the strategy in dealing with that transaction, will be fully discussed with the entire board before any final decision is made." Additionally, if any committee is formed to negotiate a meaningful transaction, Carl Icahn will be a member of that committee.
A few days ago, I met with both Jerry Yang and Roy Bostock and I believe both gentlemen genuinely wish that we will be able to work together to enhance value. While we still disagree on many points, I have great hope "this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Minorities on boards can accomplish a great deal (see following articles on Blockbuster). I look forward to working harmoniously with the new board of Yahoo!

Not to forget the aggressive proxy fight launched by his letters

http://www.icahnreport.com/report/files/icahn_press_release.pdf

Carl Icahn gets backdoor entry into Yahoo

Microsoft finally seems to have won the proxy with activist Carl Icahn whose firm now owns 4.5% of the company to have stayed away from the shareholders meeting, thus averting the board replacement had it come to vote.

Carl Icahn absence paved the way for the internet search engine provider's chairman, Roy Bostock who rejected claims that the board mishandled the bid process, saying it had "called the shots" throughout
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/money/2008/08/02/cnyahoo102.xml
There was never a conversation in more than 30 [board] meetings that did not involve shareholder value," he protested at the firm's annual meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California.
Mr Bostock said the original $31-a-share bid tabled on February 1 was the only formal offer ever received from Microsoft, pointing out that the later $33 "offer" was simply a suggestion that there might be a few more dollars on the table.

He also stressed that Yahoo!'s board had remained open to a deal with the software giant, and that as it tried to engage with Microsoft, so Microsoft pulled away.
The comments were aimed at countering a great deal of criticism over the board's role in the last six months, not least from Mr Icahn.
The activist investor, who owns a 4.98pc stake in Yahoo!, had attempted to replace the company's entire board as a result of its apparent inactivity with Microsoft.
But Mr Icahn last week agreed a pact to drop such a proxy battle in exchange for he and an associate joining the board later this month, along with a third new non-executive director.
As a result, Mr Icahn stayed away from the meeting, and all eight returning directors, including Mr Yang, looked set to be re-elected, although final results had yet to be released at the time of writing.


However dissident shareholder Eric Jackson, who was involved in the demise of former chief executive Terry Semel last year, accused the board of "overplaying its hand" with Microsoft and asked Mr Bostock why he remained on the board when 34pc of shareholders who voted at the 2007 annual meeting chose not to vote for his re-election.

The chances that talks with Microsoft would revive appear remote but Microsoft will always have Mr Icahn to side them whenever such an opportunity arises with Mr Icahn's people on the board.
So game on for Microsoft, Yahoo and Google and yes the shareholder

Verizon Strike: Shameless comments on India

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/verizon_workers_to_rally_today.html
Members of the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers carried picket signs and shouted, "No contract, no work!"

I care less of USA but care more about of India.
It is appalling that India has to face shameless comments from Americans who cant solve their backdoor problems. India is an outsourcing destination at its own rights and not at the cost of stikes from Verizon.

Look at some of the comments , some are unfortunately disguised whites acting as Indians.
http://www.wallstrip.com/2008/07/28/verizon-strike/

JIm White One day ago
The shareholders should strike! Flat and diminishing returns caused by a management that is dazed and confused by inferior cable products which outsell and outpace Verizon quality products in growth and revenue. Why? because happy cable customers brag about the superior customer service from the “US reps and SIMPLE if NON EXISTANT computer girl that answers the phone”. VECTORING SYSTEMS which in and of themselves cause customers to become “detractors” and eliminate jobs. Why pay a US worker to answer the phone when a computer can kinda do it. Then there is the India answering connection. We all know that customers are much happier when their problems are address by someone who CAN’T SPEAK ENGLISH or SPANISH!!!!!!!!! Not to mention Verizon management or “lack there of” in marketing. These marketing people are totally incompetent vs. cables cutting-edge creative marketing. They came up with turtles, Verizon answered with a bucket guy.Lastly, BOB is fool if he thinks Verizon management has more university degrees that the union employees. Actually from what I have read BOB is simply a fool.

fios sales One month ago
Hey Bob you would not have job without union your job would be done by somebody in India. management should not only bow down to us they should be gratefull we are the reason they have jobs without union India would have it all. I will also assure you Verizon will give in and I will be laughing at you when I get free medical and full pension I allso willnot have to worry about job security when will they RIFF u

CWA1105 member One day ago
If it wasn’t for the CWA union, every single one of the utilities including Verizon will outsource every job to India. That is why our country’s economy is in the toilet.
So Florence, is you think management is so grand, why don’t promote yourself to management. SO we can then applaud when you are rift!!!!!


Kumar One day ago " The American white collar stooge"
Dank you verizon, TaTa consulting is waiting in the wings for all your jobs. We took over IT and work for 5 dollar an hour even though it takes us 3 times to get anything correct. We just nod our heads and say yes and smile.Notice your ceo get’s a raise every year event though the stock price has stayed basically the same.The I in verIzon stands for India!

Sitemeter platform change

Sitemeter in its blog has said the platform is being migrated to the new platform , the counter display will not be a part of the tracking code. rather it will be available as a seperate piece of code which you paste on the site.

The irony is that the shift of platform for sitemeter has caused several blogsites to crash. Arguably these site hits wont be ever recorded and it could be hypothesized that sitemeter team knew this. They must have given a code that would not fail in case sitemeter is not up.

Both Hot Air and Michelle Malkin sites have been affected. Gawker Media network including Gawker, Valleywag, Gizmodo and Lifehacker, as well as ProBlogger have been reported as affected.

Initial reports suggested that only IE7 was affected but it appears it is beyond web browsers. The IE error says "internet explorer cannot open the internet site operation aborted"



http://weblog.sitemeter.com/
"Visit or Page View Counter DisplayJuly 31st, 2008
For those of you who currently use the SiteMeter Icon that displays the total visitors to your site we wanted to let you know about some forthcoming changes to this feature.
Following the migration of all our SiteMeter customers to the new platform the counter display image will no longer be part of the tracking code. It will instead be available through a separate piece of code which you paste on your site just like you do with our statistics tracking code.
We’ve done this for a few reasons –
1 – It offers a slight improvement to performance and page load times.2 – It gives you the option of having it displayed on as few or as many pages as you want.3 – It allows you to place the code on any page you want, visible to site visitors or on a page only accessible by you the site owner.4 – It allows you to now have the option of displaying either Total Visits OR Total PageViews.
Our plan is that all SiteMeter customers currently using the icon with the counter display image will be have their icons changed to the static default SiteMeter icon following the migration to the new platform. After the migration you can then log into the new system, grab the new counter code at your leisure, select whether you want Visits or PageViews displayed and paste it on only the pages you desire.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause but we hope the new features and benefits will be appreciated.
Sincerely,The SiteMeter Team"

Latest Virus and Trojans

Please see the latest virus and trojans . Check the recent threats and current threats.

Downloader-UA.h

India will use All Call query method for Mobile portability

Mobile license protability has no established best practice worldwide . The department of Telecommunaction will provide a unique Routing Number(RN) to each access provider to enable porting within MNP ones. This is also known as All Call Query (ACQ) and is highly efficient and scalable. All operators will have a local copy of this and they will instantly know whom to port. In case of multiple operators, The responsibility of routing lies with N-1 operator.

The country is divided into two MNP zones. Seperate Experienced foreign players upto 26% equity are called in to establish theframework for MNP per zone. It will be on Build, operate on transfer basis and license is valid for 10 years. It will evolve study traffic and services to be given MCH ( Mobile Number Clearing House) Number Portability Data base (NPDB)satabase query system. The Licensee has to arrange all those equipment and solutions (tools and testers) needd for efficient working from time to time for all operators in their zones areas and MNP zone.
Chennai with CTMS operators is a complex zone service area also has to contend with UMS operability. All CMTS operators alos have to implement MNP.


Mobile Number Portability (MNP) allows subscribers to retain their existing telephone number when they switch from one service provider to another or from one technology to another of the same service provider. The Guidelines for grant of MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY (MNP) SERVICE LICENCE in the country was announced today by Thiru A. Raja, Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology at a press conference in New Delhi. Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology was also present. The salient features of these guidelines are as below: • MNP zones: For the purpose of grant of Licenses for MNP operation in India, the whole country is divided into 2 MNP zones (Zone 1 & zone 2) consisting of 11 Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) each with 2 Metro service areas in each zone. • • There shall be only one licensee for MNP services in each MNP zone. • No single company/ legal person / the MNP License applicant or MNP Licensee Company either directly or indirectly will have any equity, in any of the telecom service provider licensee company (Basic service, UAS, CMTS, NLD and/or ILD licensees) and vice-versa. • • Initially MNP is to be implemented in all Metro and category ‘A’ service areas within 6 month of award of the License for MNP services. • Direct Solution i.e. All Call Query method be implemented for mobile number portability in India. • Total time to port should not exceed two working days initially and shall be upgradable to much faster levels. Customer shall approach the recipient operator for porting his/her number. • Paid up capital: The applicant Company shall have a minimum paid up capital of an amount Rs 10 Crores on the date of the application. • Networth: The applicant Company and its equity holders shall have a combined net-worth of atleast Rs. 100 Crores (in proportion to their direct equity). • Foreign equity: FDI shall be subject to extant guidelines and regulations. However, equity of the foreign partner in the company should not be less than 26%. • Experience: The Applicant / bidder should have implemented and operating successfully NP solution for a mobile subscriber base of not less than 25 million in one or more countries for at least 2 years. Either the applicant Company or its share equity holders having direct equity of 26 % or more in the Company shall have required experience. • There shall be a lock in period of 3 years for the equity share holders having equity share capital of 26% or more in the MNP Licensee Company. • Entry Fee: One time, non-refundable, Entry Fee of Rs. 1 (one) Crore is required to be paid for grant of MNP services license. • License Fees: The Licensee shall also pay License fee annually @ 1 (one) % of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of the licensee Company. There shall be a moratorium of license fee payment for first two years from effective date of the license. • Method of Selection: The pre-qualified applicant(s)/ bidder(s) shall be subjected to a ‘Techno-Economic Evaluation’ for final selection. • The bid documents containing detailed terms and conditions shall be issued separately. • Detailed Guidelines for MNP Service License will be available on the website http://www.dot.gov.in/2008/Aug%202008/mnp_1.pdf