Thought Garage

Changing makeup and costumes is an integral part of Movie actor's life that is hard to leave. Here are few pictures from PRP Praja Ankita Yatra showing Chiranjeevi in different costumes. Reliving the life of an Actor or truly trying to understand the issues by enacting common man's life in costumes? Hard to tell.

It is very surprising these days, why people are turning up so heavily to Political road shows, in most cases, irrespective of the political party. Thought, many people just want to come see their matinee idol's real face when they poured in to Chiranjeevi's meetings. But quite baffled to see similar (but not equal) response to every other political meeting. Political polarization? Want to just watch how it goes? or signs of political action? (Images from Eenadu.net )

In multiple interviews, Peter Schiff, explains that US Economy foundation is weaker and 'the game is over America'.  He also predicted in detail what markets are affected, credit crunch and how it will lead to recession, only to be laughed away by rest of the Pros on TV.  We all should have watched it earlier :-((

This is a very interesting and could be quite valuable TED Talk presentation, if you are currently pitching, to anybody. This presentation is a bad example though, of 'how-to' do it (I had trouble understanding the whole presentation without watching it twice), but offers 'what to' pitch. Thinking startup? David S. Rose's rapid-fire TED U talk on pitching to a venture capitalist tells you the 10 things you need to know about yourself -- and prove to a VC -- before you fire up your slideshow.

Good news for first time home buyers. You may defer tax up to $7,500 in your next year tax filings and you get 15 years to pay that tax amount. First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance The tax credit is available for first-time home buyers only. The maximum credit amount is $7,500. The credit is available for homes purchased on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009. Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit. The tax credit works like an interest-free loan and must be repaid over a 15-year period. For more visit http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/index.html .

Immediately following Barack Obama's historic win in the US, leader of Praja Rajyam party announced that he will do in Andhra Pradesh, India what Obama did in the USA and win in the elections. Now Chandra Babu Naidu, the chief of TDP Party, once hailed as the CEO of Andhra Pradesh across the world, goes one step ahead in his own style. He wanted to follow the grass roots movement that Obama managed to setup in the USA. Chandra Babu Naide started teaching the basics of Grassroots movement to TDP party men and energizing party youth to follow the steps. This is nothing new to people that know how Chandra Babu governed the state of Andhra Pradesh for about 9 years. He drew his inspiration from all over the world and initiated many programs that involve the very grass roots engagement. 'Prajala Vaddaku Palana', Janma Bhumi, Sramadanam are just a few to name. Eenadu, the news paper that provide unconditional (totally biased) support to TDP, even forged an image of Chandra ...

Motorola may be loosing its charm. But it's Home and Network Mobility business gives Satyam, one of the India's top Software Services companies a new image in the flat world. So as they say, the shopping by Indian behemoths continue to marvel. And what is a better environment than the weak economy to close the deal. Satyam has acquired Motorola's software development centre in Malaysia for an undisclosed amount. The deal will bring human capital into Satyam's fold besides a running contract with the US telecom giant. The centre which employs 128 people at Kuala Lumpur is part of Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility business focusing on network management system development. The deal is expected to be complete by the end of this calendar year post mandatory regulatory nod. Post the transaction Motorola will contract directly with Satyam for development services for its network management software. Source: Satyam Acquires Motorola's Software Devel...

There is a silver lining to the economic turbulence in Indian markets. Net effect of the economic turbulence is that top 10 firms in fact notched up their market valuations. Breaking its six-week long losing trend, country's top 10 club added over Rs. 20,000 crores to the combined market valuation in the past week, even as Reliance Industries and Infosys suffered losses. The top 10 companies together gained Rs. 23,273 crores in market cap last week, while country's most valued firm Reliance Industries alone lost Rs. 24,063 crores from its valuation. Also IT bellwether Infosys' valuation declined to Rs. 6,371 crores in the past week. At the end of Friday's trade, the total market value of the 10 most valued firms, comprising six from public sector and four private sector entities, stood at Rs. 10,15,150 crores, up from Rs. 9,91,877 crores a week ago. ... As per the elite list of top 10 firms, RIL is followed by ONGC (Rs. 1,58,619 crores), NTPC (Rs. 1...

Paul Graham argues that economy doesn't matter for your startup if you have right founders. More over, bad economies are good opportunities as many cases startups bring new products and services at a much cheaper rate. Your product or service could be readily accepted by your customers.  The economic situation is apparently so grim that some experts fear we may be in for a stretch as bad as the mid seventies. When Microsoft and Apple were founded. As those examples suggest, a recession may not be such a bad time to start a startup. I'm not claiming it's a particularly good time either. The truth is more boring: the state of the economy doesn't matter much either way. Source: Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy Couldn't agree more on the aspect of, bad economy is indeed a better opportunity for startups.

Politics often come in the way of Development. Some times, for no reason. In the name of stopping Political corruption, this time, major political parties are blocking a huge Infrastructure project that will eventually benefit Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Will it be a missed opportunity? Because, we are already running out of time in building our infrastructure. Coastal Corridor is a part of monumental infrastructure development project that will build or extend : 5 SEZs Ports Roads Airports and Rail If political parties are really interested in the welfare of people and are afraid of injustice done to those land/property owners, then they must fight to arrange for proper and fair displacement and fair market value for the property involved. Not block the project itself, that will alter the lives of the very people. The following snapshots taken from a presentation by AP PCPIR depict that this monumental project aiming to achieve. It doesn't look li...

During the much hyped Yuva Gharjana, the Youth meet of Telugu Desam Party held on 5th of Nov,  Congress Party has broadcast an Ad featuring Nagarjuna praising Congress created welfare programs, "100 Days Guaranteed Work for workers and Indira Pension plan". Watch the ad. So Nagarjuna and Chiranjeevi going separate ways? Many Chiranjeevi fans were predicting that Nagarjuna will officially promote and back Chiranjeevi's party, given the fact that both are very close and have business relationships. This looks like a shock to many. With flood of Movie Stars joining Politics, does stardom matter? TDP got Nandamuri family actors. Praja Rajyam got Chiranjeevi's family of film actors. Congress breaks away family ties and got Nagarjuna and Mahesh babu, the two actors that are much more popular and loved by lot more people than both (above) families together. And Jayasudha and Raja Sekhar too. That may definitely gives Congress one notch up, the film stars tally....

Few more recipes for building Elegant software, from 37 Signals that has been reinventing the way software is built by 'getting real '. I always love the way 37Signals team present their ideas. Key take away for me from the presentation : build and keep up the momentum and out share lessons you learnt. Of course,  the essence of 37Signals and its products remains intact, to build the least set of features to get things done with an intuitive interface. Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away…. — Antoine de St. Exupery, Wind, Sand, and Stars, 1939 Few more videos from Business of Software 2008 here .

It was very sad to know that my favorite Science Teacher, Michael Crichton, died on 4th Nov, 2008 (reportedly due to cancer).  I am a great fan of his novels. Before I read any of his wonderful creations of Science fiction, I watched the famous movie built based on his novel, Jurassic Park. Little I thought when I picked Rising Sun, first ever novel I read by Michael Crichton. The novel was so fascinating I finished entire novel in one sitting. Then I rushed to the library and got The Great Train Robbery. I was so impressed, I bought the rest of those favorites. His novels teach a lot about the Science, some of them are look so complex they can be taught only in fiction (on how those ideas can be realized) through those worst case scenarios. Wrong Novel in The Wrong Place in The Wrong Time Not by plan, but it happened (some time in 2002) that I was reading Air Frame on board a Northwest airlines flight, that returned to Minneapolis after an hour and half flight, due to suspe...

Congratulations Barack Obama, on winning this historic presidential race. Barack Obama has inspired millions of people not just in US but all across the world, with a hope for a better world and relentless team work to achieve those dreams. If what he had demonstrated in running the race offers a glimpse of what to expect in his presidency, entire world is up for a dramatic change in every way we see things and do things.  Overall, a much more understanding and prosperous America and a better world.   Source: Hulu - MSNBC Decision 08: Obama Presidential Acceptance Speech There are lots of key lessons to take away from this election and how he ran the race without drama and consistent and engaging message. Most importantly those historic speeches and courageous positions he took on issues much larger than life of any individual. Outstanding leadership. Once again, Congratulations Barack Obama.

McCain speaks of few last minute strategies before the election. Well, they would have worked if he had tried little seriously, and without wavering.   Source: Hulu - Saturday Night Live: Update: Sen. McCain

Changing makeup and costumes is an integral part of Movie actor's life that is hard to leave. Here are few pictures from PRP Praja Ankita Yatra showing Chiranjeevi in different costumes. Reliving the life of an Actor or truly trying to understand the issues by enacting common man's life in costumes? Hard to tell.

Thanks to Movie stars entering into Politics, particularly Thanks to Chiranjeevi, we are witnessing a filmy variety of new and innovative ways in promoting a party. Here is a fresh new way to promote TDP , Telugu Desam Party to win in elections. (Image Linked from Eenadu.com )

Chiranjeevi today (finally) spoke his mind and ignited the 'CASTE' spark. Without naming any specific caste, he said, people in lower population are ruling the people in higher population and the higher population should fight back for Power and PRP will support them in their fight. There is no hiding in his message. Everybody in Andhra Pradesh know who are those people in lower population. They are so low, one caste is just 5% and the other about 8% but have been ruling all these years. Caste Will Work. Principles May Not Comparatively, Chiranjeevi's caste now has about 30% of population. So I guess you can see the equation. May be, PRP realized ideology doesn't work, so going down the Politically correct but morally corrupt path. Isn't Movie Industry The Same? I guess the same thing happens in Movies too? Only few lower population people lead and earn all the money in movies too. Often the money spent by those higher population. Why Chiranjeevi that spent all...

With almost all political parties singing the 'Separate Telangana' tune, I have been wondering for a while, whether Separate Telangana really help the region and people of Telangana? It was surprising to see that every political party, says the same thing: Telangana was neglected and only the other regions were getting all the development. Who to Blame? Aren't the same Politicians ? When they were in Power, when they represented the People, why didn't they say a word so far? Why didn't they ever propose a bill that would help the region grow? Or oppose a bill that would unfairly help other regions and neglect Telangana. Was there in the history that any thing like that happen? As far as I could recollect and research, there were just 1 or 2 instances, but nothing major. So how does it help to give power to the same politicians that neglected the region (if that is true) all the while? The Greed For Power I believe, the greed for power by select politicians an...