Talking about Inflation!!

The Indian people and the government are both quaking with fear with inflation hovering at around 8%. The people can barely make two ends meet with prices soaring, and the government knows that if prices don't fall, the government will.

But India is not the only nation grappling with rising inflation. Even people from wealthy countries are crying everyday over ever increasing prices of bread and vegetables. However, they can all thank their lucky stars cause they are sitting pretty compared to Zimbabwe.

Do you guys want to even guess the inflation rate in Zimbabwe??

355,000%!

No, it is not a typo. The inflation in Zimbabwe for the month of March/April 2008 rose to 355,000%! Yes, 355,000 per cent! It more than doubled from the February/March figure of 165,000%. Currency traders ceased operations last week on Thursday and Friday because of the free fall of the ZWD and annual inflation certainly exceeded 2 million percent.

It is indeed a miracle that the Zimbabwean economy is still surviving as the prices seem to be rising to unprecedented proportions. Inflation surged between February and March following the sudden rise in money supply that flooded the economy to finance the 2008 elections.

The economy is in real free fall right now as inflation accelerates rapidly making life almost unbearable. It is predicted that by the end of the month, prices could be doubling everyday. Almost 80% of the nation is unemployed. The Zimbabwean central bank has introduced $500 million bearer cheques (or currency notes) for the public, and $5 billion, $25 billion, $50 billion agro-cheques for farmers. As the consequence of this devaluation, huge anomalies are developing in the system and prices, charges, service fees, etc can be dramatically lower than the next simply because the organizations have not had time to adjust their costings or figures.

Mr. Mugabe has certainly upped the ante by coming out and publicly saying he will not give up power even if he loses. He has openly promised 'War' if the opposition wins. That indeed poses serious questions as to weather the economy can be contained anytime soon. A sausage sandwich sells for Zimbabwean $50 million and a 15-kg bag of potatoes cost Zimbabwean $260 million.

Phew!!!

Indiana Jones and a Total Letdown.

I watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this weekend. I was really excited as the last weekend when I tried to go for the movie, it was sold out and this of course raised my expectations. As someone who grew up watching the first 3 Indy movies over and over again, I was totally thrilled and excited to be able to re-live a brand new adventure.

.....Boy, did it turn out to be a total letdown.

I must say i am still shocked to think that all that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas could come up with such a shallow story...and they took 19 years for this?? Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan, but one cannot help thinking that after a classic like The Last Crusade (Which i still watch to date every 4-5 months), all they came up with was a cockamamie story involving aliens and the lost golden city of El Dorado. However, kudos to Harrison Ford who has proved he can still deliver even after almost 2 decades since he donned the famous hat. But there is not much he can do if the story is so weak. As for the Villain....Yawn!!!

The movie is watchable but provides no real excitement. Though there are some fun moments and chases, it never really got me hooked like the first 3 movies did. It was a weak movie strung together with some good sequences.. That’s the best way I can put it. For god's sake even Nicholas Cage's National Treasure kept me more engrossed. I hope the next time (If there is one), George Lucas finds something more interesting for Indy to go after. Sure the movie will be a money spinner, but I am keeping my DVD collection limited to the first 3 Indy movies for now.

Verdict: Sub-Standard but a total letdown for a Classic.

Bho Shambho

Bho Shambho - Nice devotional song on Shiva. I tried to listen to this song online but found that its not available to listen to for free on most sites. So I am putting it up for everyone to enjoy!!!

Euro English!!!

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter. In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more > komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away. By the 4th yer peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru. Zen ve vil rul ze world!!

SriMan NaraYana

SriMan NaraYana

Some Real Tounge Twisters!!!

1. If one doctor doctors another doctor does the doctor who doctors the doctor, doctor the doctor the way the doctor he is doctoring doctors?Or does the doctor, doctor the way the doctor who doctors doctors?
2. A Tudor who tooted a flute tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to their tutor, "Is it harder to toot or to tutor two tooters to toot?"
3. A bitter biting bittern Bit a better brother bittern, And the bitter better bittern Bit the bitter biter back. And the bitter bittern, bitten, By the better bitten bittern, Said: "I'm a bitter biter bit, alack!"
4. A tree toad loved a she-toad Who lived up in a tree. He was a two-toed tree toad But a three-toed toad was she. The two-toed tree toad tried to win The three-toed she-toad's heart, For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground That the three-toed tree toad trod. But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain. He couldn't please her whim. From her tree toad bower With her three-toed power The she-toad vetoed him.
5. Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep. The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooedshilly-shallied south. These sheep shouldn't sleep in a shack; sheep should sleep in a shed.
6. You've no need to light a night-light On a light night like tonight, For a night-light's light's a slight light, And tonight's a night that's light. When a night's light, like tonight's light, It is really not quite right To light night-lights with their slight lights On a light night like tonight.
7. The twain that in twining before in the twine, As twines were intwisted he now doth untwine; Twist the twain inter-twisting a twine more between, He, twirling his twister, makes a twist of the twine.
8. If a Hottentot taught a Hottentot tot To talk ere the tot could totter, Ought the Hottenton tot Be taught to say aught, or naught, Or what ought to be taught her? If to hoot and to toot a Hottentot tot Be taught by her Hottentot tutor, Ought the tutor get hot If the Hottentot tot Hoot and toot at her Hottentot tutor?
9. Once upon a barren moor There dwelt a bear, also a boar. The bear could not bear the boar. The boar thought the bear a bore. At last the bear could bear no more Of that boar that bored him on the moor, And so one morn he bored the boar--That boar will bore the bear no more.
10. If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker, It's slick to stick a lock upon your stock, Or some stickler who is slicker Will stick you of your liquor If you fail to lock your liquor With a lock!
11. Mr Inside went over to see Mr Outside. Mr Inside stood outside and called to MrOutside inside. Mr Outside answered Mr Inside from inside and Told Mr Inside to come inside. Mr Inside said "NO", and told Mr Outside to come outside. MrOutside and Mr Inside argued from inside and outside about going outside or coming inside. Finally, Mr Outside coaxed Mr Inside to come inside, then both Mr Outside and Mr Inside went outside to the riverside.
12. We surely shall see the sun shine shortly. Whether the weather be fine, Or whether the weather be not, Whether the weather be cold Or whether the weather be hot, We'll weather the weather Whatever the weather, Whether we like it or not. watch? Whether the weather is hot. Whether the weather is cold. Whether the weather is either or not. It is whether we like it or not.
13. Mr. See owned a saw. And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw. Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw Before Soar saw See, Which made Soar sore.Had Soar seen See's saw Before See sawed Soar's seesaw, See's saw would not have sawed Soar's seesaw. So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.But it was sad to see Soar so sore Just because See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw

Oil - Up, Up and Away

The price for a gallon of gas has been setting new record highs averaging around $3.7. Well, if you are in California, there is a good chance that you are paying more than $4 already. If all else is not enough, Goldman Sachs predicted on Tuesday that oil could soar towards $150-$200 a barrel because of a lack of adequate supply growth. Supply is up, demand is down, yet the price is soaring. So what is the deal with oil??

Crude prices have more than doubled in the last one year causing pain to millions around the world. Many analysts believe the dollar’s protracted decline over the past year has much to do with the doubling in oil prices since May of last year. Another school of thought thinks growing demand in rapidly developing countries such as China, Brazil and India, is the primary factor driving oil higher. Others have also attributed speculation in oil and a wave of fund money pouring into commodities, given the weaknesses in other financial markets.

What effect does the falling dollar have on the price of crude? Most oil price contracts are denominated in dollars. The dollar has fallen in value by more than 30 percent against a Federal Reserve index of major currencies since 2002. This means that the price of imports, including oil, have gone up. That brings us to speculation. Since September 2003, the total number of open crude oil futures and options contracts rose by 364 percent. Meanwhile the global demand for petroleum rose by just 8.2 percent. So the futures and options market has become more important than the physical supplies in driving the price. We are seeing investment flows into the oil market that don't have anything to do with the demand and supply of oil. Investors are treating oil as a hedge against inflation and a falling dollar. Oil markets are part of a negative positive feedback loop in which higher oil prices contribute to higher inflation, which in turn lowers the value of the dollar, which boosts oil prices, and so forth. In other words, the oil market is coming to resemble the gold market (which has also been soaring).

Economists also note that in the short run oil prices are very inelastic: A large change in price produces only a small change in demand. If the price of gas goes up a dollar per gallon overnight, you still have to fill your tank to get to work. However, over the long run, consumers and producers respond to higher oil prices. For example, Americans are driving less and have switched to buying more fuel efficient cars. Higher prices are no doubt encouraging innovation.
Oil companies have a two-pronged approach when it comes to innovation: seek alternative sources of energy that will both (1) reduce dependency on trouble-some, oil-rich nations and (2) utilize this energy in a manner that will still reap windfall profits. Although ideal in theory, it’s much tougher to implement in practice since renewable energies are just that - renewable. When products are renewable, profits go down since consumers purchase less. There is no doubt that several companies have already innovated alternative fuels, however these will take years before reaching a scale of production where profits can be made from them.

So what will happen to oil prices over the next few years? No one is predicting $10 per barrel oil. However, it sure seems to be the right time to give up that Hummer and switch to hybrids as this problem is not going away anytime soon!!