Mistaking planets for drones

The jawans in the border sadly mistook a few harmless planets [or harmful, as the case may apply] to be Chinese drones.

Sad, such negative publicity.

" Only once the objects' movements were noted in relation to the stars were they identified as planets. The Telegraph suggests the sentry ought to be forgiven, with planets appearing brighter as a result of the different atmosphere at altitude and the increased use of surveillance drones."

Link here

I read in a site that luckily India doesnt have the capability to shoot down such high altitude objects. Even worse.

Interview with Danny Kahneman

Good 'un. For those who wouldnt know him, he was the 2002 Nobel Laureate for his decisive and critical work on behavioural economics.
What makes it even better is that he is a psychologist who won a Nobel in Economics. The first to do so.

"For a psychologist it's obvious that people are not fully rational, and that they're not selfish, and that their tastes change. It was just a collection of statements that seemed almost absurd. I had no idea, at that stage, that a lot of my career would be dedicated to that conversation. That sort of happened almost by accident, later."

Link here

Murry... Murry... Murray.

In a sensational match of absolute stamina and power hitting, Murray won over Djokovic and won his maiden Wimbledon.

It was a gripping match and he seemed to have all the answers for the questions that his opponent posed. I am assuming that this is the beginning for something good - a journey that started during Olympics 2012... when he beat Federer in the finals to clinch gold. That too about a couple of months after losing to Federer in the 2012 Wimbledon. Bitter Sweet.

Djokovic will bounce back. Federer might [or might not] win Salms again, Nadal will come back roaring. But one thing is for sure - Murray is getting better and the competition will become more intense.

Now if only Tsonga can take a lesson out of this and start playing unbelievably too. He has it in him and hope he gets the belief and does it over time... Consistently. Without giving up. Do it.

Murray has a timely thought for all of us. Beasts can be tamed. It takes time but we all can have the last laugh... Keep at it. 

Good article by Pettis on China and the difficulties of rebalancing

Good 'un from Pettis, as always.

"The recent liquidity crunch, and its cause, illustrates some of the difficulties China's economy will face in the future. Over the last two years, and especially in 2013, mainland corporations with offshore affiliates had been borrowing money abroad, faking trade invoices to import the money disguised as export revenues, and profitably relending it as Chinese yuan. As China receives more dollars from exports and foreign investment than it spends on imports and Chinese investment abroad, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, is forced to buy those excess dollars to maintain the value of the yuan. It does this by borrowing yuan in the domestic markets. But because its borrowing cost is greater than the return it receives when it invests those dollars in low-earning U.S. Treasury bonds, the central bank loses money as its reserves expand. Large companies bringing money into the mainland also force the central bank to expand the domestic money supply when it purchases the inflows, expanding the amount of credit in the system."


This is proven true [I am sure it is true... else, Pettis wouldnt be writing about it] affects a lot more than just Chinese problems. It questions the integrity of China's trade numbers, data points that we receive and such. But then, alas, they have always been in question when it came to China.

Link here

Wholly new way of looking at risks and who does what in compelling circumstances

Interesting eye opener this.

"

They even drive differently. In one study, researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands equipped customers of a Dutch insurance company with a GPS that was used to monitor their driving habits. The prevention-focused were, not surprisingly, less likely to speed than their promotion-focused fellow drivers. A second study showed that they also needed larger gaps between cars in order to feel comfortable merging.

So when people talk about the factors leading to the recent recession, and you hear a lot about excessive risk-taking (what Alan Greenspan famously called "irrational exuberance"), the prevention-focused would probably be last on your list of potential culprits. But you would be wrong.

"

Link here