NailTheThief.com: Insane game to throw eggs over Satyam founder

Few nasty gaming developers have created an insane game to throw eggs over founder of faulty Satyam computers, Ramalinga Raju. The game “Nail The Thief” is all about to hit Raju’s face with rotten eggs as many times possible within 30 seconds.

The online game website has got more than 150K hits in few days of its launch, interestingly you wouldn’t find any credentials of people behind it nor any contact/ about link.

The gaming developers/ conceptualizers seems to be falling short of ideas and concepts of online games as such games are cropping up in plenty such as row over throwing shoe at George Bush or Saddam Hussain and now Raju.

Its an another kind of online flash gaming that is developing in online space called as incident based online games that most of the users find interesting to play. Most of these games developed are on current infamous incidents and are flash based which is comparatively easy to develop in short span of time unlike to other high-end platforms.

Past Graft Is Tainting New India

India’s world-class technology sector was the epitome of “New India,” a nation that had left behind its feudal past to embrace modernity and the market.

But the billion-dollar scandal at Satyam Computer Services has exposed old-fashioned corruption: a patriarch willing to go to any length to keep control, a web of cozy relationships among members of a seemingly untouchable elite, and a governance system that failed to keep either in check.

The challenge is not that there is corruption in India, but that these issues surfaced in a company that only recently was awarded a prestigious international award for corporate governance, and was in a sector that set the bar higher for other sectors.

In September, Satyam was awarded the Golden Peacock award by the World Council for Corporate Governance;in 2007, B. Ramalinga Raju, now Satyam's former chairman, was named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year.

Now the Satyam scandal has some Indians questioning the very notion of a new India.

“The heroes for modern India have been the entrepreneurs,” said Barkha Dutt, a journalist who is the host of “We the People,” a talk show, and is regarded as India’s Oprah Winfrey.

These businessmen “helped to shape the confidence Indians derived as a nation,” Ms. Dutt said. “We are no long the poor country, we’re in the Forbes list of millionaires,” she said, describing the nation’s pride in its business leaders.

Now the fear that old corruption is still endemic could have the opposite effect. “How much of this was monopoly money?” she asked, questioning the statistics showing the economic boom. “Were we a delusion? Did we just overread and overstate our place in the world?”

Mr. Raju, the founder of Satyam, did. In a resignation letter made public on Jan. 7, he shocked India and much of the world by announcing that $1 billion in cash that the company had claimed did not exist.

In a later confession, he said that he had been cooking the books for seven years, in part to keep control of his company, and that a recently aborted deal to buy his sons’ development companies was a final effort to hide the fraud.

A flood of money has come into India, much of it tied to self-starters like Mr. Raju.

Foreign direct investment reached $32.4 billion in the last fiscal year, a tenfold increase from a decade ago. And no industry has been more global than information technology.

Founded by entrepreneurs who, because of deregulation, were able to bypass the infamous “license Raj,” the business permits handed out by the government in exchange for cash, the industry is a magnet for international investors.

In the last decade, Indian companies have expanded exponentially, internationalized with overseas offices and gone on far-flung buying sprees, picking up businesses as diverse as pharmaceutical companies and marquee car companies.

Because the entire information technology industry was a start-up, it had “none of the baggage of the traditional industries in India, ” said N. Vittal, a former vigilance commissioner. “The Satyam case has blown up that assumption,” Mr. Vittal said.

Some say that rather than ending corruption, the rush of global cash and multinational companies into India has stoked fraud.

India ranks 85th on Transparency International’s 2008 “corruption perceptions index,” meaning at least 84 countries are seen as less corrupt, including Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Mexico and China. But 90 percent of those surveyed predicted that corruption in India would increase over the next three years, the highest number for any country.

Goldman Sachs ranks “governance” as the greatest obstacle to India’s reaching its economic potential, bypassing the United States in gross domestic product by 2050.

Corruption in its many forms costs India an estimated $170 billion annually using the Asian Development Bank guidelines of 17 percent of a nation’s G.D.P.

If India were to improve on world corruption scales to, say, the level of the United States, per capita incomes would rise to $25,000 in purchasing power parity, from $3,800, C. K. Prahalad, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, estimated last year.

Many of India’s largest companies, once family-run, have given up the family’s hold on a majority of the company’s shares and moved toward global standards like independent boards and regular outside audits. But these moves have not always prevented problems.

Ramgopal Agarwala, an economist and senior adviser to RIS, Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a research organization in New Delhi, said that a few years ago, just getting a telephone connection or electricity or filing taxes required paying bribes. That is no longer the case, he said. But a flood of new money means that, in big business, brazen corruption is “becoming legitimized and institutionalized,” he said, in part because so much money can be made.

As one corporate scandal after another explodes in the United States and Europe, business leaders and investors in India are loath to point fingers at specific problems here — after all, fraud is an international phenomenon. Still, several factors help support corruption.

India’s corporations get into trouble in part because of the country’s notorious red tape. To cut through the bureaucracy, companies often bribe local officials, and these bribes are particularly prevalent in land deals.

Securing the clearances necessary to develop land often requires bribes of nine or 10 times what the land is worth.

At same time, outside auditors in India rarely blow the whistle on fraud or bribery. Even when overseeing the books of a public company, the accountants tend to consider the company’s founders their client, not the audit committee or public shareholders, said Ajay Gandhi, an accountant in Hyderabad who has been in the business for 30 years. “Raju would have been the owner, so what he wanted here would have been done,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Because many wealthy Indians are involved in more than one business, the accountants often wind up doing work for the founder’s other companies and may even handle the founder’s personal accounting and tax planning, Mr. Gandhi said.

Elite business communities in Indian cities tend to be tightly knit, as in many countries, developing and developed. Business leaders invest in one another’s companies, serve on one another’s boards and belong to the same clubs. Nowhere is this more true than in Hyderabad, Satyam’s home city, where just a few families control many of the best-known enterprises.

A case in point is the relationship between Satyam and Nagarjuna Finance, another company involved in a scandal that rocked the city in recent weeks. Nagarjuna Finance attracted investors by offering high rates of interest for fixed-term deposits. But the company got into trouble after it refused to return more than $20 million that about 85,000 investors had deposited in 1997 and 1998.

Last month, the Hyderabad police arrested K. S. Raju, the finance company’s chairman, with P. K. Madhav, the chief executive of Maytas Infra. Mr. Madhav was a member of the Nagarjuna board at the time the deposits were collected.

Maytas Infra’s vice chairman is Mr. Raju’s son Teja Raju and the Raju family owns 36 percent of Maytas Infra. “Maytas Infra is not connected with the action taken on Mr. P. K. Madhav,” a company spokesman wrote in response to questions.

Land development and real estate are probably the most corrupt and most lucrative industries in India, say most analysts and bankers interviewed and even the entrepreneurs involved in land deals. The industrialization of India has meant the introduction of giant port, road and airport transportation projects worth billions of dollars that have attracted global investors.

Maybe that is why few in India say they believe Mr. Raju’s confession, particularly his contention that operating margins at Satyam are just 3 percent.

Running an I.T. company with that sort of margin, when the industry average is 25 percent, would have been impossible, analysts say. They and investors worry that cash was siphoned for other uses, possibly land deals the family is involved in through Mr. Raju’s sons’ companies. “No Indian believes that the Satyam scandal has to do just with those three executives” who have been arrested, said Arundhati Roy, the novelist and activist. “It has to do with huge land deals, with infrastructure projects and it all dovetails into the political system.”

“Why should the I.T. industry be any cleaner than others?” Ms. Roy asked. “All we can hope for is a system of justice that makes people accountable.”

China Education Alliance '360 Employment Database Bank' University Events

China Education Alliance, Inc. a leading distributor of educational resources, offering high quality programs and training both through online networks and an on-site training center in China, today, announced an exciting new development within their vocational education business. "360 Employment Database Bank", a vocational education business program, is an electronic recruiting platform that connects graduates with hiring enterprises.

"360 Employment Database Platform" includes over 50,000 student profiles featuring their education background, students' proprietary test scores, special skills and overall life achievements. The website also contains over 10,000 participating enterprises that are looking for skilled qualified job candidates. The goal of this program is to efficiently facilitate the career placement and employment training for college graduates seeking employment in China. Please visit http://www.360ve.com for additional information regarding the platform.

In 2008, the number of college graduates in China has reached 5.6 million, the highest in recent years. Under the current economic outlook and tough employment condition, Chinese college graduates are more eager to receive additional career guidance and training than ever before. Under the China Education Alliance's vocational education programs, "360 Employment Database Bank" provides career planning lectures, employment and entrepreneurship training as well as campus recruitment. By combining psychology traits of students from different majors, China Education Alliance also meticulously designs and organizes a series of interesting and effective campus events. China Education Alliance's mission is to provide students with practical and employment tools in order to enhance their competitiveness in today's job market. "360 Employment Database Bank" program has been well received by many highly respected universities and the collaboration has achieved tremendous success.

Currently China Education Alliance is working with 27 famous state owned universities in Beijing including: Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Minzu University of China, Central University of Finance and Economics and 13 private colleges in Beijing including Beijing Jili University, Beijing Renwen University, Beijing Science Technology and Management College. China Education Alliance has invited well known career experts and professional leaders in China to be counselors for the program. These counselors include Ren Zhanzhong, Director of Beijing College Graduate Employment Center, Luo Shuangping, Research Associate of Chinese Academy of Personnel Science, Professor Ying Wengang, Doctoral Advisor of Institute of Psychology of Chinese Academy of Science and Gan Bin, famous personnel expert and training director of Beijing Human Resource Association for Foreign Enterprises. Student participants were very excited to have an opportunity to receive guidance from career experts as well as real life professionals.

Mr. Xiqun Yu, CEO of China Education Alliance commented, "We will continue our dedication to and providing Chinese college graduates with various, immediate and effective career development training in order to help solve the job placement issues in China. In order to achieve this goal, China Education Alliance is preparing to sign strategic agreements with large state owned enterprises, private companies as well as foreign enterprises based on joint cooperation. Our goal is to successfully translate specific skills into specially designed programs in order to meet job market demands. This way we can efficiently place as many graduates with different hiring companies as possible."

About China Education Alliance, Inc.:

China Education Alliance, Inc. is a fast growing, leading China-based company offering high-quality education resources and services to students ages 7 to 18 and adults ages 18+. For students ages 7 to 18, China Education Alliance, Inc. offers supplemental online exam-oriented training materials and on-site exam-oriented training and tutoring services. All resources and tutoring services are provided by famous teachers within mainland China. The purpose of online exam orientated resources and on-site tutoring is to help Chinese students ages 7 to 18 to pass the two most important, and highly competitive exams in their educational career: senior high school entrance exam and college entrance exam. For graduates and professionals age 18+, China Education Alliance provides vocational training including IT and Accounting training programs. In addition, as of April 2008, the Company has acquired 70% of the "World Exchange College of Language" English training business, headquartered in Toronto with sites expanding across China. Their comprehensive English programs are designed to assist graduates and professionals in learning the English language, both written and conversational in order to better able them to work for a foreign corporation or work-study abroad. For more information about CEUA, please visit http://www.chinaeducationalliance.com .

Brush Your Teeth And Look After Your Heart

Research from Ireland and the UK suggests that people who have bleeding gums from poor dental hygiene and not brushing their teeth regularly could be increasing their risk of heart disease because bacteria in the mouth enter the bloodstream and stick to platelets, leading to blood clots that interrupt the supply of blood to the heart and causing a heart attack.

The study was the work of microbiologists from the University of Bristol in the UK and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and was presented on 11th September at the Autumn meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

A member of the research team, Dr Steve Kerrigan from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin said:

"The mouth is probably the dirtiest place in the human body."

The human mouth harbours up to 700 different types of bacteria, and as Kerrigan explained:

"If you have an open blood vessel from bleeding gums, bacteria will gain entry to your bloodstream. When bacteria get into the bloodstream they encounter tiny fragments called platelets that clot blood when you get a cut. By sticking to the platelets bacteria cause them to clot inside the blood vessel, partially blocking it. This prevents the blood flow back to the heart and we run the risk of suffering a heart attack."

In the past, such a condition was easy to treat with aggressive antiobiotic therapy, but that option is rapidly disappearing because bacteria are evolving into stronger organisms able to resist many types of anti-microbial drugs.

Another member of the research team, Professor Howard Jenkinson from the University of Bristol, said in a press statement that:

"Cardiovascular disease is currently the biggest killer in the western world. Oral bacteria such as Streptococcus gordonii and Streptococcus sanguinis are common infecting agents, and we now recognise that bacterial infections are an independent risk factor for heart diseases."

So what they are saying is that you can be fit, slim and eating healthily, but if you don't look after your teeth, you are still increasing your risk of heart disease.
Jenkinson and colleagues at Bristol University have been looking at how the bacteria interact with blood platelets so that new therapies that target this activity can be developed.

Jenkinson explained that much of the research to date has not investigated how bacteria interact with platelets in conditions that are close to those in the human bloodstream.

"We mimicked the pressure inside the blood vessels and in the heart," said Jenkinson, which meant that they could show how the bacteria used different ways to make the platelets clump together and completely surround the bacteria. By doing this they can defend themselves in two ways: they can shield themselves against attack by immune cells and also hide from antibiotics.

These findings could explain why antibiotics are not always effective in treating infectious heart disease and emphasize there may be a need to find new drugs to treat the disease.

Jenkinson said he and his team were working to find out the exact spot where the bacteria stick to a platelet, and when they have done this then they can start developing a drug to target that specific area and interaction.

Kerrigan added that they had also found several proteins on the bacteria that appear to help with the clumping. When they deleted the proteins using genetic technology the bacteria were unable to make the platelets clump together, suggesting the proteins were key to this and could be useful targets for drug and vaccine development.

State of Innovation 2009 : Big Change to the Risk vs. Reward Equation

The fundamental issue in India is the risk/reward equation. It is simply too easy for a young developer in India to get paid a lot by an outsourcing firm; then enjoy being headhunted every year for more money. Those of us old enough to see a cycle or two, can see the parallels between Silicon Valley 1999 and Bangalore 2007, when just being able to spell the words of a popular programming language on a resume meant fame and fortune. It is possible that when this comes back to some reality, the motivation to innovate will come to young Indian developers (yes, young; breakthrough technical innovation tends to come from people under 30).

Three kids working together, living at home, with free food and bandwidth, can change the world.

This has changed, thanks to the global financial crisis. The big outsourcing firms have hiring freezes, and some firms are laying off. "Big" no longer means "safe." Parents in India will need a while to accept this new reality. In America, many parents would advise their kids to go for start-ups when they are young and can afford to take a risk. In India, all the parents have to do is say "Yes" when their bright kid, who is no longer working for a big outsourcing firm, asks to live at home for a year with free food and bandwidth.

This is a big change. But it is a below-the-radar change. We cannot see the impact yet. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of young developers will do this in India now. Most will not create a great start-up but will just keep their skills fresh and add to their CV. But one or two will do something totally awesome. The class of 2008/2009 maybe the best ever. Let's see.

The innovation we are already seeing in the market today has been despite these and all the other hurdles faced by entrepreneurs everywhere.

Traits of Successful Business Leaders

The renowned business consultant Peter Drucker said, "The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I.' They think 'We.' They think 'Team.' They understand their job is to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but 'We' gets the credit…This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done."

Business managers at every level aspire to have the ability to inspire their team or department and to coordinate all aspects of the operations under their charge to assure success. These two aspects of management—the ability to inspire team members and the ability to develop a cohesive team or department—are the keys to successful leadership.

On a personal level, managers become leaders by exhibiting the following traits and abilities:

Integrity and honesty
Managers who are unethical or dishonest in their dealings with customers, other managers or team members will not inspire others.

Loyalty
This is perhaps the single most important trait of a leader. People will not work to their full capacity for leaders they believe may turn against them or may not support them in the future.

Optimism and courage
Leaders who are not overly swayed by the vicissitudes of business will inspire others. Any type of major project will have moments of difficulty. Leaders must be farsighted enough to look beyond these and have the courage to project a sense of optimism to others.

Selflessness
As stated by Drucker in the opening paragraph, a leader is most inspirational when others know that he or she will not assume sole credit for success but will assume major responsibility for failure. Leaders form successful teams by thinking of success in terms of 'We,' not 'I.'

Knowledge and competency in the industry
Team members are seldom inspired by managers who are not competent in the type of work that those team members do. Exceptions to this are in highly technical or specialized fields, in which an executive could not be expected to be expert in the field.

Ability to make the most of available talent
Successful managers are able to mold, integrate and coordinate the talents of their team members to minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths. This allows managers to make the most of the collective talent within their group.

Dependability
Successful managers stand behind every commitment they make. When they don't, team members will usually be reluctant to commit themselves totally to their work.

Strive to make other leaders, not just followers. The best and most successful managers inspire and train others to take initiative and assume responsibility for goals. When team members become resourceful, take initiative and become responsible for their own work, team effectiveness is optimized.