Friday, November 22, 2013

Who is Magnus Carlsen who defeated vishwanathan anand

  • Magnus Carlsen
    Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess grandmaster and former chess prodigy who is the No. 1 ranked player in the world. His peak rating is 2872, the highest in history. Carlsen was the 2009 World Blitz chess champion.

  • Born: November 30, 1990 (age 22), Tønsberg, Norway
    Nationality: Norwegian
    Parents: Henrik Albert Carlsen, Sigrun Øen
    Awards: Chess Oscar, Peer Gynt Prize

    #Magnus Carlson defeated #Vishwanathan Anand and he is the new World Chess Champion' 2013

    Tuesday, November 19, 2013

    Rape fear keeps US students out of India: Nancy Powell

    Rape fear keeps US students out of India: Nancy Powell
    The students at XISS agreed in the presence of Powell that they too face sexual harassment on the streets.
    RANCHI: The frequent incidence of rape in India has created an adverse image of Indiaabroad. US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, on her maiden visit to Jharkhand, on Tuesday highlighted this saying how this was possibly a factor in American students not coming to India.

    She said: "The concern for personal security and perceived increased danger to women as a result of the rape cases was perhaps a factor in US students' decision regarding study in India." Powell said this in response to a question - "Why aren't American students coming to India for studies?" - asked in the course of a chat with students' at the Xavier Institute of Social Science(XISS) in Ranchi.

    The students at XISS agreed in the presence of Powell that they too face sexual harassment on the streets. "Even we Indian girls face a lot of cat-calls and are subject to teasing outside the college campus almost everyday," said a student, who was part of the interaction session but did not want to be named.

    When asked to elaborate, Powell said : "What I said was one of the factors for US students decision regarding study in India." Last year, a female student from Chicago University, who was on a study trip to India, in an account posted on CNN iReport said that India was full of adventures and beauty, but also relentless sexual harassment, groping and worse.

    At the interaction with students at XISS, Powell focused on education and people-to-people connection. Following through on the most recent US-India Higher Education Dialogue in New Delhi in June this year, her remarks to the students emphasized: "There is no sector that better illustrates the mutual benefit of our relationship than education, a priority sector for both the US and India. Education has become one of the main pillars in our bilateral strategic partnership."

    The US diplomat also made courtesy calls on governor Syed Ahmad and CM Hemant Soren and also met with a varied group of civil society leaders who are alumni of US state department-funded leadership programmes.

    Friday, November 15, 2013

    8 ways of effective Google and Internet Search

    How to make effective Search in Google over Internet 

    Try different combination of keywords

    Try all different possible keyword phrases combination. Search engines can generally recognize similar terms such as "laptop" and "notebook," they may also prioritize pages containing exact matches for the keyword phrase with which you search.

    Exact Phrase Searching

    Make use of quotation marks to search for exact phrases. A search such as "Dell customer care" without quotation marks might also return pages with similar phrases, such as "Dell customer" or "Dell care" or " customer care". When you put quotation marks around a phrase, the search returns only results containing the exact phrase which has all DELL, CUSTOMER and CARE together.

    Use Boolean Operator

    Make use of Boolean operators’ e.g. "AND" in capital letters to return pages that contain all of the words or phrases in the search. For example, searching for the names of two laptop companies (Dell and HP) might return pages in which only one laptop name appears. Type "AND" between the names to return only results in which both Dell and HP names appear. Many search engines also recognizes the operators "AND" "NOT" and "OR"

    Popular Search Engines

    Don't use common words and punctuation

    Common terms like ‘A’ and ‘THE’ are called stop words and are usually ignored. Punctuation is also typically ignored. But there are exceptions. Common words and punctuation marks should be used when searching for a specific phrase inside quotes. There are cases when common words like ‘THE’ are significant. For instance, Dell and The Dell return entirely different results.

    Capitalization

    Almost all search engines do not distinguish between uppercase and lowercase, even within quotation marks. The following are all equivalent:

    technology
    Technology
    TECHNOLOGY
    "technology"
    "Technology"
    "TECHNOLOGY"

    Cut down of usage of the suffixes

    It's usually best to enter the base word so that you don't exclude relevant pages. For example, laptop and not laptops; talk and not talked. One exception is if you are looking for sites that focus on the act of talking, enter the whole term talking.

    Maximize the use of AutoComplete

    Arranging search terms from general to specific in the search input box will display useful results in a drop-down list and is the most efficient way to use AutoComplete. Selecting the appropriate item as it appears will save time typing. You have several choices for how the AutoComplete feature works: E.g. Use Google AutoComplete. The standard Google start page will display a drop-down list of suggestions supplied by the Google search engine. This option can be a handy way to discover similar, related searches. For example, typing in Kroger will not only bring up the suggestion Kroger Deli but also Kroger Deli coupons. Use browser AutoComplete.

    Customize your searches

    There are few less known ways to narrow down and customize the number of results returned and optimize your search time:


    The plus operator (+): Plus operator directs the search engine to include those words in the result set. Example: Fossil + watch and Fossil + bag will return results that include the word fossil with watch and fossil and bag.

    Sunday, November 10, 2013

    10 most toxic places in the world

    10 most toxic places in the world


    Artisanal gold mining is one of the biggest pollution problems in the world. It caused Kalimantan, Indonesia, to make the Blacksmith Institute's most toxic places in the world. (Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images)
    Some of the most toxic places in the world can feel like worlds away, a river delta in Nigeria, for example, or an e-waste dumpsite in Ghana.
    The Blacksmith Institute, a pollution-focused nonprofit, in collaboration with Green Cross Switzerland, selected 10 of the world’s most toxic sites to highlight. In years past, the groups have concentrated on types of pollution. This year, the intent was to choose places where the polluting hazards posed real danger to real people and places.
    “More than 200,000 people are at risk of exposure to toxic pollution globally,” said Jack Caravanos, director of research at Blacksmith Institute, during a news conference.
    The pollution Caravanos refers to comes in all shapes and sizes, in the form of toxins soiling the soil and flooding the water, and from the processes that create many of the products we purchase. “The pollution we see isn’t coming from the major industrial players but it’s all from the mom-and-pop shops that prepare the materials we use,” said Stephan Robinson of Green Cross Switzerland, during the press conference.
    He gave the example of leather. “Someday this will be turned into an Italian shoe, which is then sold in New York. But the environmental problems will be in Bangladesh. Our consumption pattern drives problems in other parts of the world.”
    Some of the places on this list might surprise; others, sadly won’t, mostly because they’ve been on lists like this for some time. Click through to find out where the most-polluted places are and why.

    Agbogbloshie Dumpsite, Ghana

    Going completely electronic may sound more environmentally friendly than using paper, but consumers rarely think about what happens to their devices once they’ve moved on to the next model. Typically, they head to a place like Agbogbloshie, Ghana.
    Fires are set to wires and other electronics to release valuable cooper and other materials. The fires blacken the landscape, releasing toxic fumes. (Blacksmith Institute)
    Though the e-waste from the United States tends to end up in Asia, according to Jack Caravanos, Blacksmith Institute’s research director, much of the electronic trash from Europe goes to Africa. Ghana annually takes in 215,000 tons of secondhand consumer electronics and produces another 129,000 tons itself.
    The problem arises in breaking down the machines into spare parts. “The most toxic activity is the burning of copper wires to reduce the plastic coating,” Caravanos said. Metals released during this process often get into the air and soil near heavily populated areas. “Stopping this has proved very difficult,” he added.  
    “Electronic waste harbors roughly half of all the elements on the periodic table, from arsenic to zinc,” reports Audubon magazine. “Left unchecked, these toxins can cause enormous damage, especially in poor countries with no or little environmental remediation.”


    Chernobyl, Ukraine

       

    Prypiat school in Ukraine. (Roser Martínez)
    It’s hard to create a list like this without including Chernobyl (and in fact, it was on the same list in 2007, the last time Blacksmith produced it).
    On April 26, 1986, one of the nuclear power stations at the site was destroyed, causing a fire — and releasing massive amounts of radioactive matter into the air, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The 18 miles around the site (known as the exclusion zone) were closed off to only those who absolutely had to be there. The local flora and fauna started experiencing increased rates of gene mutations, as well as other ailments like tumors and cataracts.
    More than 25 years later, artificial radionuclides are still found in the soil near the accident spot, notes the Blacksmith report. And those studying the effects of Chernobyl have found increased risk of leukemia and mental disorders for those who were exposed. For wildlife, however, the place has surprisingly turned into somewhat of a haven, becoming an unofficial wildlife preserve. 

    Citarum River, Indonesia 

       
    This river, polluted with lead, aluminum, manganese and iron, is the only drinking source for millions of people. (Timur Matahari/AFP/Getty Images)

    “What sets this site apart,” said Bret Ericson, senior project director at the Blacksmith Institute, “is probably its size. It is 13,000 square kilometers and it affects as many as 9 million people.”
    The Citarum River basin sits in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Assessments by Blacksmith found high concentrations of lead, aluminum, manganese and iron in the water, mostly from the 2,000 or so factories along the riverbank, Ericson added.
    The Indonesian government has recognized the problem and is taking action, securing hundreds of millions of dollars of financial assistance to help restore the Citarum River. The money will be delivered in installments over a 15-year period, according to Blacksmith.

    Dzerzhinsk, Russia

    For more than six decades, hundreds of thousands of tons of waste were improperly landfilled in Dzerzhinsk. (Blacksmith Institute)
    “This has been one of the traditional hotspots in Russia for chemical manufacturing,” said Stephan Robinson of Green Cross Switzerland. For more than six decades, hundreds of thousands of tons of waste were improperly landfilled there, causing what Robinson described as a “huge lake filled with different kinds of chemicals.”
    This place even holds a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for The Most Chemically Polluted Town, with life expectancies there 10 to 15 years below the Russian average, according to Robinson.
    Dzerzhinsk, like Chernobyl, appeared on Blacksmith’s list six years ago. “We cannot expect between 2007 and 2013 we’d see dramatic changes,” Robinson said, adding, however, that the Russian government is working on a cleanup program to the tune of $3 billion.

    Hazaribagh, Bangladesh

       
    In Hazaribagh, Bangladesh, nearly 250 tanneries are located on less than one square mile. (Blacksmith Institute)

    To get the leather products we’re accustomed to requires a process called tanning, which basically converts raw hides or animal skins with the use of chemical agents, according to the EPA. Across the United States, this happens at about 110 facilities. In Hazaribagh, Bangladesh, nearly 250 tanneries are located on less than one square mile.
    These tanneries use outdated methods and dump toxic waste — including known cancer-causer hexavalent chromium — into nearby water, creating what Jack Caravanos, Blacksmith Institute’s research director, calls “a soup of organic and inorganic chemicals.” (Hexavalent chromium was made famous in Erin Brockovich as the major carcinogen in the case Brockovich fought for the town of Hinkley, Calif.)
    Sadly, dozens of sites like this exist around the world, according Caravanos. “The one in Bangladesh is probably the most serious.”

    Kabwe, Zambia


    For decades, mining for lead was popular in Kabwe, Zambia, located in the central part of the country. Unfortunately, the practice has severely polluted the area.

    A boy in Kabwe, Zambia, where mining for lead was popular for decades. (Blacksmith Institute)

    The smelting process, or extracting the metal from its ore, releases heavy metals into the air. The particles settle on the ground and seep into the soil and the water — soil that children play in and water that the locals drink, according to the Blacksmith Institute.
    During the time it was open, the Kabwe mine generated 800,000 tons of lead (plus 1.8 million tons of zinc and 80,000 kg of silver), according to Berkeley Mineral Resources. Despite closure of the mine, lead contamination is still prevalent, with levels much higher than those recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Kalimantan, Indonesia 

    Artisanal gold mining is one of the biggest pollution problems in the world. (Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images)

    “Artisanal gold mining is one of the largest pollution issues in the world,” said Bret Ericson, senior project director at the Blacksmith Institute. “Ore that contains gold is mixed by hand with quicksilver mercury. It forms an amalgam with the gold, and the gold is liberated by burning off the mercury.”
    Ericson said that worldwide, it’s estimated that this process releases 1,000 tons of mercury into the environment annually — a number second only to the mercury emissions from coal plants.
    With any luck, the recently implemented Minamata Convention on Mercury treaty, which aims to “protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury” will help. Indonesia signed on this past October.

    Matanza-Riachuelo, Argentina


    An estimated 15,000 industries actively release pollutants into this river basin, a water body that cuts through 14 different towns, according to the Blacksmith Institute. (Blacksmith Institute)
    The numbers here speak for themselves: An estimated 15,000 industries actively release pollutants into this river basin, a water body that cuts through 14 different towns, according to the Blacksmith Institute.
    “Many of these [industries] are very small. They have grown up in a fairly informal way,” said Ericson. “They are not very well managed, not very well controlled. They release a lot of metals, a lot of petrochemical compounds.”
    The soil is the true revealer. A 2008 review published in the Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis showed contamination from lead, copper and at least three other pollutants. The government is trying hard to come to grips with this,” Ericson added. “It’s a very large and complicated problem.”

    Niger River Delta, Nigeria


    This is an important source for crude oil. It's also a place where 7,000 spill occurred from 1976 until 2001. (Terry Whalebone)
    This African country didn’t become a known source of crude oil until the 1950s. In the mid-1970s, it joined OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Today, total dollars from petroleum exports near $100 billion.
    Crude oil is an important part of that mix, and according to David Hanrahan of the Blacksmith Institute, the Niger River Delta is an important source of crude oil. That’s pretty well known.
    What’s been largely ignored are the spills. Blacksmith Institute said that in the 25 years between 1976 and 2001, nearly 7,000 spills occurred, with much of the oil polluting the soil and the ground, and hydrocarbons polluting the air. “Not only is it an environmental and security problem,” Hanrahan said, “but it is actually a major unrecognized health problem [too].”

    Norilsk, Russia


    In Norilsk, copper, nickel oxide and other heavy metal pollute the air. (Blacksmith Institute)

    Copper, nickel oxide and other heavy metal pollute this Russian industrial city, according to Blacksmith. There are apparently no forests around anymore, said Stephan Robinson of Green Cross Switzerland, because they all died off. And the residents are suffering.
    Norilsk has the world’s largest heavy melting smelting operation, according to the EPA. The process annually releases “500 tons each of copper and nickel oxides and 2 million tons of sulfur dioxide.”
    Not only is it hurting the soil, but the life expectancy there is 10 years below that of the Russian average, Robinson said. “There’s still a lot of mileage ahead until Norilsk will be a place … not so much contaminated.” 


    Friday, November 8, 2013

    Yes, Project Management Skills Trump Tech Skills

    I was having a great interview for a Project Manager position. It was a team interview and as we neared the end, everyone was acting as if I was a member of the group, I knew I had the job. As I was getting ready to leave, I asked my standard exit question, “Does anyone have any questions or concerns about my skills that have not been addressed yet?” Normally this leads to a bunch of “Nos” — but not this time.
    Group InterviewOne of the team members asked the fatal question: “If someone on the project is out sick or on vacation can you step in and write test scripts and do QA analysis while they are out?” As it had been years since I had done anything along those lines, I had to say “No, I cannot.” Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.
    IT Project Management seems to be splitting into two camps, functional PMs and technical PMs. Technical PMs appear to need a skill set that is half technical and half project management. In this case, the PM is not just a PM, but also a stand-in for absent people, Tier III support, etc. For small and/or non-critical projects this is a good approach. But for anything else, this can cause a disaster.
    It’s something like this: If someone you love is sick and needs a heart replacement, which doctor would you want to do the surgery, a dedicated heart surgeon (functional PM) or a General Practitioner (technical PM)? The GP may know a lot more about medicine as a whole (the technical aspects of a project) but the heart surgeon has specialized knowledge that the GP does not (the functional PM). If you have a business critical project, why would you not want someone specialized in project management skills versus someone who has only half  – or less – of the PM skill set?
    I can personally attest that a PM’s abilities can transfer between fields without any underlying knowledge of a project’s technical aspects. Once I was hired to manage a major construction project even though I had zero experience in construction. I was successful because I had a team that didhave the expertise and could provide me with the details I needed. The fact that I didn’t know how long a slab of concrete of a certain size and thickness needed to cure was of no importance, because plenty of people on the team did know.
    So how do we get across the message that PM skills are more important than technical skills? I’m glad you asked.
    The authors of a 2008 study How do Project Managers’ Skills Affect Project Success in IT Outsourcing? reached this conclusion:
    We find that PM soft skills significantly improve both cost performance and client satisfaction feedback. We further show that their impact is much stronger compared to that of hard [technical] skills.
    Another point is the technical vs. functional difference has been around for quite some time, yet has had no impact on the overall success of projects. The table below highlights this.
    Since 2002 there has been almost no improvement in the success rate for IT projects while the failure rate has increased. Whether this is due to PMs being required to split their skill sets between being PM and tech support is still unknown. However, whenever someone’s time is divided between two unrelated abilities, neither one tends to be done well.
    Chart of Project SuccessI started project management from a technical background. As my responsibilities increased in complexity and scale, I still got involved in technical issues. My boss then finally took me aside and told me that the next time I touched the hardware or software he was going to fire me. Needless to say, that got my attention. He explained that if I wanted to manage critical projects, I needed to concentrate on being a PM as opposed to being part PM and part technician. Since then, I’ve realized he was correct. I was glad I took his advice. Plus, I kept my job.
    The next time your company needs a critical or large-scale project done, think about how important what you’re trying to do truly is. Saving a few dollars on project costs by hiring one person to do two completely different jobs may not be the best way to save money. This is especially true if the company’s heart is involved.

    Tuesday, November 5, 2013

    Eminem, Taylor Swift win first live YouTube Music Awards

    Eminem, Taylor Swift win first live YouTube Music Awards


    Eminem
    Eminem and Taylor Swift were among the big winners at the first live YouTube Music Awards. The 'Rap God' rapper took away the award for 'Artist of the Year' after performing the track from his latest album The Marshall Mathers LP 2. Whilt Swift's 'I Knew You Were Trouble' scored the 'YouTube Phenomenon' award. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis received the gong for 'YouTube Breakthrough'
    South Korean girl group Girls' Generation won 'Video of the Year' for 'I Got A Boy', with vocalist Tiffany collecting the accolade on stage. The show featured numerous performances from artists including Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Avicii and MIA, as well as Tinie Tempah, Conor Maynard and Dizzee Rascal who performed from London. The awards celebrated the success of established artists across the world, as well as YouTube sensations who have grown their musical following through the video sharing website.
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