Cows In Global Warming

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Pic, Cow

“Cows are responsible for nearly three-quarters of total methane emissions, according to Environment Canada.” Said a news report.

In fact there is a need to reduce sources of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. And in case of bovine, if the reports are to be believed, most of the gas comes from its burps, which are 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas.

The evolving science and technology has always had solutions to the unresolved problems. Little wonder then that scientists in Canada are working towards breeding a special type of cow “designed to burp less.” Indeed it is a breakthrough and holds the key to one of the main source of greenhouse gas.

But who is to be blamed? The poor bovines who are helplessly adjusting to the paths laid by us, or we humans who are interfering with the Nature?

“Climate change is life or death. It is the new global battlefield. It is being presented as if it is the problem of the developed world. But it’s the developed world that has precipitated global warming,” said Nobel peace prizewinner Wangari Maathai. Isn’t it so true? There is a need to think and act and not tamper with Nature further.

Father, My Father

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“I love my daddy. My dad is the best,” you say proudly and so is the story of dads, the world around. Dad, papa, father, no matter how you address him even in your mother tongue, he is the guiding force in a healthy family. The Father’s Day is far gone, but the cards and news stories keep the day alive, and the reasons for me to write.

Thanks to Sonora Smart-Dodd, we have an exclusive day – the third Sunday in June – to honour not only our fathers but also those who are our father figures.
Though legend says that a Babylonian youth named Elmesu carved the first known Father’s Day card in clay with a special message that wished his father good health and a long life, it was Sonora’s efforts that bore fruit.

Sonora’s father William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran and widower raised his six children single-handedly. For Sonora, it was hero worship. On Mother’s Day, in 1909, when she was listening to the sermons at the church, she got the idea to have a Father’s Day observation.

The following year Sonora convinced the local churches and celebrated Father’s Day honouring her father on his birthday. She also encouraged the concept of roses – a red rose was worn for fathers who were still living and a white rose to honour the dead.

With time, Father’s Day has been much commercialised and you have an option to choose from a variety of cards and gifts. Interestingly, a National survey (US) shows the evolution of the Father’s Day gift, from Old Spice and leisure suits to DVDs and plasma TVs.

Her interest and efforts paid off well, as the then US President proclaimed it a law; and President Richard Nixon in 1972 established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June. Today Father’s Day is a universal concept and celebrated across countries.

Do You Miss Zoozoos

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This morning I received an e-mail forward on the “making of ZooZoo”, the vodafone ad campaign, a second time in a week. I could not stop myself but go chasing the zoozoo related news. Here, is my writeup…

They appeared as the sweet animations we would love to watch again and again. Fresh out of the box and in between the IPL matches, Zoozoo, the dwarf egg-heads, successfully walked straight into the hearts of the viewers. In a short span of time, the new brand ambassadors of Vodafone have become the stars with fan following on the World Wide Web.

Interestingly, these characters from Vodafone ad campaign are real people.
Vodafone’s new brand ambassadors came alive through Ad-filmmaker Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films, who directed the commercials for Ogilvy and Mathers (O&M). “The practical aspect of how they would talk, gesticulate and emote was very important. It took me three weeks of pre-production work to understand how it would work,” said Prakash in an interview.

Today, the zoozoos are celebrities in various social networking sites and have a great fan following.

“According to data available here Advertising Age U.S., which tracks the top viral video advertisement (video clip that gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing – e-mail or Instant messaging, blogs and other media sharing websites) campaigns of the world by number of views, has the Vodafone Zoozoo campaign right at the top.

For the week of May 11, the Vodafone Zoozoos top the chart at 1.45 million views, way ahead of the second placed campaign. This is the second week in a row that the Vodafone Zoozoos have topped this chart.

Last week, the Zoozoos entered the chart at number one, the first time in the world any campaign has done that on its debut.

This also marks the first time any ad campaign from India has ever appeared on this chart of the most viewed viral ad campaigns of the world, let alone tops it,” reported Sakaal Times.

That’s not all; it has wooed People for Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA) too. “The popularity of this ad campaign proves that there are many creative ways to convey a message without using animals. Animals used in films are often treated as little more than props, and many suffer terribly behind the scenes.”

Vodafone has won the first of PETA’s 2009 Glitterbox Awards, for taking advantage of humane alternatives to the use of real animals in their ZooZoo ads.

It has been rightly observed, “If Hutch made Pug the ‘national’ dog, ZooZoos are the new youth icon.”

Do you miss them?

Changing Jobs? Well…

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When I was reading this ‘interview of a job hopper’ that came as an interesting e-mail forward, I felt a need to share with all. I guess at some point of time we had these answers in our minds too…

“Interesting…..Don’t miss last Questions…”

Some, rather most organizations reject his CV today because he has changed jobs frequently (10 in 14 years). My friend, the ‘job hopper’ (referred here as Mr. JH), does not mind it…. well he does not need to mind it at all. Having worked full-time with 10 employer companies in just 14 years gives Mr. JH the relaxing edge that most of the ‘company loyal’ employees are struggling for today. Today, Mr. JH too is laid off like some other 14-15 year experienced guys – the difference being the latter have just worked in 2-3 organizations in the same number of years.

Here are the excerpts of an interview with Mr. JH:

Q: Why have you changed 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: To get financially sound and stable before getting laid off the second time.

Q: So you knew you would be laid off in the year 2009?
A: Well I was laid off first in the year 2002 due to the first global economic slowdown. I had not got a full-time job before January 2003 when the economy started looking up; so I had struggled for almost a year without job and with compromises.

Q: Which number of job was that?
A: That was my third job.

Q: So from Jan 2003 to Jan 2009, in 6 years, you have changed 8 jobs to make the count as 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: I had no other option. In my first 8 years of professional life, I had worked only for 2 organizations thinking that jobs are deserved after lot of hard work and one should stay with an employer company to justify the saying ‘employer loyalty’. But I was an idiot.

Q: Why do you say so?
A: My salary in the first 8 years went up only marginally. I could not save enough and also, I had thought that I had a ‘permanent’ job, so I need not worry about ‘what will I do if I lose my job’. I could never imagine losing a job because of economic slowdown and not because of my performance. That was January 2002.

Q: Can you brief on what happened between January 2003 and 2009.
A: Well, I had learnt my lessons of being ‘company loyal’ and not ‘money earning and saving loyal’. But then you can save enough only when you earn enough. So I shifted my loyalty towards money making and saving – I changed 8 jobs in 6 years assuring all my interviewers about my stability.

Q: So you lied to your interviewers; you had already planned to change the job for which you were being interviewed on a particular day?
A: Yes, you can change jobs only when the market is up and companies are hiring. You tell me – can I get a job now because of the slowdown? No. So one should change jobs for higher salaries only when the market is up because that is the only time when companies hire and can afford the expected salaries.

Q: What have you gained by doing such things?
A: That’s the question I was waiting for. In Jan 2003, I had a fixed salary (without variables) of say Rs. X p.a. In January 2009, my salary was 8X. So assuming my salary was Rs.3 lakh p.a. in Jan 2003, my last drawn salary in Jan 2009 was Rs.24 lakh p.a. (without variable). I never bothered about variable as I had no intention to stay for 1 year and go through the appraisal process to wait for the company to give me a hike.

Q: So you decided on your own hike?
A: Yes, in 2003, I could see the slowdown coming again in future like it had happened in 2001-02. Though I was not sure by when the next slowdown would come, I was pretty sure I wanted a ‘debt-free’ life before being laid off again. So I planned my hike targets on a yearly basis without waiting for the year to complete.

Q: So are you debt-free now?
A: Yes, I earned so much by virtue of job changes for money and spent so little that today I have a loan free 2 BR flat (1200 sq. feet) plus a loan free big car without bothering about any EMIs. I am laid off too but I do not complain at all. If I have laid off companies for money, it is OK if a company lays me off because of lack of money.

Q: Who is complaining?
A: All those guys who are not getting a job to pay their EMIs off are complaining. They had made fun of me saying I am a job hopper and do not have any company loyalty. Now I ask them what they gained by their company loyalty; they too are laid off like me and pass comments to me – why will you bother about us, you are already debt-free. They were still in the bracket of 12-14 lakh p.a. when they were laid off.

Q: What is your advice to professionals?
A: Like Narayan Murthy had said – love your job and not your company because you never know when your company will stop loving you. In the same lines, love yourself and your family needs more than the company’s needs. Companies can keep coming and going; family will always remain the same. Make money for yourself first and simultaneously make money for the company, not the other way around.

Q: What is your biggest pain point with companies?
A: When a company does well, its CEO etc will address the entire company saying, ‘well done guys, it is YOUR company, keep up the hard work, I am with you.” But when the slowdown happens and the company does not do so well, the same CEO etc will say, “It is MY company and to save the company, I have to take tough decisions including asking people to go.” So think about your financial stability first; when you get laid off, your kids will complain to you and not your boss.