World GDP to National Debt Ratio

http://www.usdebtclock.org/world-debt-clock.html

Joine The Group for a Good Cause

People for Clean Water as a Birth Right -

http://mycharitywater.org/p/group?group_id=2241

Come Play Ping Pong for Right to Clean Water

http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=17254

Watch ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Live in HD

Watch Live World Cup in HD at the following sites -

Willow TV Live - www.willow.tv
My Khel - www.mykhel.com
Cric7 - www.cric7.com


Enjoy and Go Team India

watche live Indian Premier League 2010 matches

With the growing interest in IPL all over the world and especially in UK, I wanted to share a good place to watch live IPL matches. Go to www.cric7.com and register. It is a the best quality stream out there.

Between, do not forget to vote for your favorite team!

where does your health insurance dollar go?

The Obama administration is chasing a new demon (according to them) these days - the health insurance industry. After chasing and hunting down large financial institutions instead of focusing on the root cause for the problems that lead to the current economic state of this great country, the current administration is yet again making the same mistake - not solving the real problem. Instead of focusing on the real problems that lead to the credit crisis, this administration probably worsened the crisis. For example, the number one cause for the collapse of economic system was consumers spending more than they make or can afford. Instead of fixing this problem at it's root, Obama administration took the leash of lending. The lowered the interest rates, pumped billions (my money, your money, our money - tax payer money) into the economy and tasked financial institutions with lending people to actually pay off the earlier debt - default mortgages. Okay I agree not in the literal sense, but that is where more than half of the stimulus has gone - in paying previous loans. The current administration says, credit is the life line of U.S economy. That is where they got the fundamentals of economics wrong. But I will talk about why I think so later. The current post is dedicated to understanding why the Obama administration should stop blaming health insurance industry for sky rocketing health insurance premiums.

Before I go any further, I would like to state that America is one of the most unhealthy nations in the world. A simple fact - 55% of the population is diagnosed with one or more chronic conditions. The diagnoses the make up the 55% include cancers, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, mental disorders, and pulmonary conditions. Insuring such an unhealthy population has a very high risk associated with it. Thus, as per the basics of any insurance industry - higher the risk greater the premium. Because of this 55% population, the remaining 45% has to share the risk as it has to be spread across the entire population, thus resulting in increased premiums. It also stresses the health care system due to over utilization.

Not far behind the unhealthy, adding fuel to this fire are the uninsured. The percentage of Americans that are uninsured is between 12%-16%. It is difficult to get an accurate number for the uninsured population as lot of them do not report loss of coverage. When these uninsured people go to the providers (doctors and hospitals), it stretches the threshold of our health care system. The provider fees have to come from somewhere and it adds/impacts the negotiated fees between the providers and the insurance companies. The higher the fees, higher the premiums.

And now, the number one factor that catapults health insurance premiums towards the sky - provider fees. As shown in the picture from AHIP below, 68 cents from every dollar you pay towards your premium goes to providers. Even the negotiated fees with these providers are so high that it still accounts for 68 cents from every dollar. The health insurance company profits are the lowest percentage out of your dollar. It is a mere 3 cents per dollar. That is just 3%, which is required for processing claims and carrying out day to day operations of a company. Then there is drug cost, other medical services, and government fees, etc that all suck the pennies out of your dollar.

The best part is that the last factor I am going to list for increase in premiums is a little abstract. By that I mean there is no data or numbers to support this claim. Earlier in this post we talked about the 45% population that is healthy overall. The people that make up this 45% pay high insurance premiums due to shared/spread risk. As per human nature, when you pay for something and that too as high as 1000 dollars a month for family of four, you want something in return. So what does the other 45% do? They start using the health care services available to them for no reason at all. People go to specialists for things as common as a bruise or headaches. This is a fact based on claims data. Instances such as these tip over and stretch the health care system beyond it's maximum point. It strains the system's resources which in turn results in higher demand for providers. The number of providers in this county is much lower than optimum to balance the demand and supply equation. So the higher demand (or providers) and lower supply (of providers) results in higher price (of provider fees), thus resulting in increased premiums.

Despite these obvious facts, Obama administration blatantly chooses to ignore them. They keep demonizing the health insurance industry and asking them to lower the premiums, where as the real culprit is an over utilized, over stretched and extremely strained health care system. On top of this are sky high provider fees. The providers (hospitals, doctors, etc) need to lower their fees, leaving health care as a social rather than capital profession.

unemployment - sweeping across and changing the face of America

This is unbelievable. Click the play button and see the rising unemployment rate that is sweeping the nation. It is really scary. I mean really really scary. Hold on to your jobs those who have one and those who do not, brace yourself and pray that the country recovers and recovers fast.

http://cohort11.americanobserver.net/latoyaegwuekwe/multimediafinal.html

You can check the link after few month to see updated information as new data comes in.

Good Luck and God Bless.

a technical writer’s retelling of little red riding hood

Little Red Riding Hood (please do not use this as an example of useable technical writing!)
At a previous but undetermined timeframe, a single-family domestic domicile was inhabited by a young girl, known as Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH), and her Maternal Parent (MP). The Maternal Parent (MP) had once provided for the fabrication of an article of clothing, a cloak in nature (including a "hood" or protective covering for the head of the wearer), that was RGB code [255,0,0] in hue (aka, "red"). As a result of this action, and the resultant repeated usage of the "hood", the young girl was always known as LRRH in substitution for the name identified on her birth certificate and other identifying documentation. During one 24-hour interval, a request was issued by the MP for LRRH to deliver a package to the MP's Maternal Parent (MPMP) (genealogically identified as the Grandmaternal Unit (GU) with respects to LRRH). This package was to include:
- cheesecakes
- fresh butter
- one dozen (12) strawberries

Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH) optioned to accept the Task Order (TO). LRRH further sourced a package delivery vehicle with the proper functionality for the Task Order, selecting a wicker basket. After a thorough and complete market survey, leveraging LRRH's experience with similar Task Orders in the past, cheesecake and fresh butter were acquired from the kitchen, whereas strawberries were acquired from the garden. While the latter item was not, strictly speaking, within the bounds of the Task Order, the marginal cost savings as compared to waiting for strawberries to grow in the kitchen appeared to be of great benefit to the MP in the completion of the Task.

With initial outsourcing complete, the journey was commenced by LRRH (see Appendix A: Proposed Map of Route Between the Domiciles of MP and GU). During a brief eleventh-hour meeting, MP issued a contract rider requiring the complete confidentiality of all personnel working the Task Order. LRRH assured MP that there would be no violation of this rider.

In the course of executing the Task Order, LRRH was approached by market competitor Old Grey Wolf (OGW). There were inquiries from OGW to LRRH regarding the nature of the Task Order, and in violation of the contract rider, LRRH disclosed sensitive and mission-critical data relating to the Task. Table 1-1 illustrates the nature of the information believed to have been compromised: Table 1-1: Information Compromised by LRRH During Interactions With GW

Nature of Data Disclosed To Severity of Disclosure

Contents of Basket Old Grey Wolf Medium

Nature of Task Old Grey Wolf High

Destination of Journey Old Grey Wolf High

The identity of LRRH had been predetermined by OGW using standard practices of observation; therefore, that information was not compromised by the actions of LRRH.
It was the intent of OGW to compromise the functionality of LRRH, but the potential negative impact on its operations by the nearby presence of an organized unit of fully-functional Wood Cutters (WC) provided for the redirection of its action item to the domicile of GU.

Though LRRH had blatantly violated the terms of the contract rider, this violation went unreported to supervisory entities (i.e., MP) by the violator. LRRH continued to action the Task Order despite clear and compelling evidence that the integrity of the process had been disenfranchised by the OGW.

While LRRH continued to analyze its processes through the implementation of the Task Order, OGW leveraged its greater cumulative experience and used Best Practices to arrive at the GU client site in a more efficient and expedient manner than LRRH. Therein, the functionality of GU was impacted by the biorhythmic needs of OGW in a negative manner.

Upon the dissemination of information related to the pending closure of the Task Order assigned to LRRH, OGW engaged in an enterprise-wide analysis of situational readiness. Determining that there were vulnerabilities in OGW's methodology, OGW elected to redesign the external identifiers of OGW to better emulate those of GU, by means of garbing the nightgown generally associated with GU and altering the vocal patterns of OGW to align with precedents set by GU.

After completing the Task Order by delivering the deliverables:
- cheesecakes;
- fresh butter; and
- one dozen (12) strawberries
LRRH recorded observations of the host system. These observations included, but were not limited to:
- My what big ears you have!
- My what big eyes you have!
- My what a big nose you have!
- My what big teeth you have!

Upon receipt of the host system status analysis, OGW prepared and delivered a response regarding the functionality of the concerned functionalities, to include:
- This functionality leverages the soundwaves generated from other sources, such as LRRH, to
amplify the positive audio signal from such sources for the end user.
- This functionality absorbs underutilized light emissions and their reflection from objects
thereon, such as LRRH, to better provide for the identification of nearby entities by the end
user.
- This functionality analyzes the available transient atmospheric particles against a matrix of
known particle cultures, such as LRRH, to provide near-instantaneous and transparent
supplemental feedback to the end user.
- This functionality greatly impacts the capacity of the OGW to reprocess physical assets related
to LRRH in such a manner as to benefit the continued functional life-cycle of the OGW
operations!!
Immediately thereafter, Old Grey Wolf (OGW) executed its asset plan action item and severely compromised the functionality of Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH).

why China's bullying will lead to it's downfall

In high school there always use to be bullys. These bullys always use to pick on kids that would mind their own business or sometimes tried to pick on kids that were a threat to them. Such is the story of China and India. Realize that the bully here is China. China has a mighty army and in the recent years it has spent almost three times as much as India on developing and advancing their defense systems.

The northern border tensions between the two county had recently raised eyebrows of leaders all over the world. Time magazine reports that "Tensions along the Himalayan frontier with China have spiked noticeably since a round of Sino-Indian talks over long-standing territorial disputes this summer ended in failure. In their wake, the frenetic Indian press have chronicled reports of nighttime boundary incursions and troop buildups, even while officials in both governments have downplayed such confrontations. Elements in the Indian media point almost daily to various signs of a Beijing plot to contain its neighbor's rise, a conviction aided by recent hawkish editorials from China's state-run outlets. This week, leading Indian news networks loudly cataloged Chinese transgressions under headlines like "Red Peril" and "Enter the Dragon.""

The history between China and India is not that rosy and there have been rifts in this relationship as well. The two countries fought a war in 1962 where the well-trained and well-armed troops of the Chinese People's Liberation Army overpowered the ill-equipped Indian troops, who had not been properly acclimatized to fighting at high altitudes. Since then the two countries have overcome their tensions a little bit to become major trading partners. China is India's biggest trading partner.

But it looks like the Chinese still live in the colonial world, where they refuse to acknowledge geographical boundaries and think that everything that is worth having can be taken by force. Starting with the north Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh (which China claims is in their territory), China has increased their takeovers in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean is the thoroughfare for nearly half of all global seaborne trade, and the coastal states are home to over 60% of the world's oil and a third of its gas reserves.

As per Time magazine - "To safeguard its vast appetite for oil and other natural resources, particularly those drawn from Africa, China has embarked upon a "string of pearls" strategy, building ports and listening posts around the Indian Ocean rim. Beijing's projects span from the Malacca Straits to the Cape of Good Hope and many places in between, including countries that were once in India's sphere of influence. A massive deep-sea port being built by Chinese funds and labor at Hambantota, at the southern tip of Sri Lanka, has in particular riled Indian analysts. With a $1 billion facility also under construction in Gwadar, in Pakistan, China will eventually possess key naval choke points around the subcontinent that could disrupt Indian lines of communication and shipping. Reports of a tense standoff earlier this year between Indian and Chinese warships on anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden — though dismissed by both governments — did little to subdue the sense of distrust brewing between policymakers on both sides."

Much of the dispute comes from the fact that China has a difference in perception of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the India-China border areas. Both sides carry out patrolling activity in the India-China border areas. Transgressions of the LAC are taken up through diplomatic channels and at Border Personnel Meetings/Flag Meetings. India and China seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary question through peaceful consultations. But lately China is following it's own agenda and feels it is the lone king in the Asian subcontinental jungle. It has been trespassing Indian territory on land and in the sea. It is also fueling India's nemesis Pakistan with advanced weapons. It would not be fair to even classify the actions of China as a guessable scenario. China can not see how India is progressing and wants to leave no room for another superpower (other than itself) emerging over the next 5-10 years.

Such hostile nature will only lead to China's downfall. China is loosing the war within its own boundaries and with increasing opposition to the way the country is run, it is advisable that the Chinese heed attention to conflicts within their own walls. Like any other colonial era countries/powers, China will face serious economic consequences if it continues it's aggression.

house of cards.. how the greed on wall street bankrupted america

In this spine chilling documentary by CNBC you can see how those greedy bankers on Wall Street put the their greed ahead of the anything else, let alone the very country which gave them the opportunity to be where they were.

"Let's hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters." - Internal Email, Wall Street, 12/15/06

You do not want to miss this -