30.12.2007

• On Competition Commission
• Want to get a lowdown on what this body does? Can’t have it better, as it comes straight from the horse’s mouth viz., Vinod Dhall, the Acting Chairman of the Commission.
• One important thing that his writing clears the air over is about mergers and acquisitions. Take a look at it here.
• The finance guys amongst you will love this. It is a challenge to really understand the causes of the subprime crisis. Take a look at “The Bear Flu: How it spread” that appeared in today’s ET, which is a reproduction from Businessweek.
• You are forewarned. It is for finance guys. Have appetite for understanding CDOs and Klios? Be my guest. Wade through this article and try to get a hint of what it is trying to say.
• Those of us who can’t appreciate all this gibberish, will realize one thing: how finance guys keep inventing complicated things to make our lives miserable; and their lives pleasurable!
• Climate change
• The UNDP’s Human Development Report 2007-08 identifies 2 degrees celsius as the threshold, above which the damages of the global climate changes will be irreversible.
• If the world wants to avert a climate crisis, it has to live within the carbon budget of 14.5 gigatonnes of CO2 per annum for the remaining years of the 21^st century.
• Significance of the Bali meet
• For the first time the deliberations were dominated by the findings of the IPCC report. There was a complete absence of any questioning of the scientific assessment of climate change.
• Though a couple of countries questioned the extent of required cuts that a new global agreement should incorporate, a compromise was reached supporting deep cuts in emissions and a timetable for a draft plan of action to be completed.
• Today, being very light on us, it is time to have some fun. Let's watch Dilbert, the Engineer!!!