Private Equity Cooling?

Subprime woes send shivers through junk bond market - Jun. 26, 2007: "The difference between yields on riskier junk bonds and safer government bonds has been widening, and analysts said that while there's no credit crunch yet, the tide is starting to turn in the market for lower-quality debt. That will make it more expensive for companies to raise money - especially those with weak finances - and more difficult for buyout deals to get done."

Oil Today, Water Tomorrow

Another troubling sign of the growing scarcity of water in China and India. Unfortunately, I expect water disputes between the two burgeoning nations to escalate over the coming years. Water's economic and political importance is only increasing and I fear that it will become the source of conflict around the world much as oil is today.

Asia.view | Himalayan grumbling | Economist.com: "In a similar vein, China has been obstinate in dealing with the two countries’ shared water concerns. India fears China’s rumoured plans to divert the course of the Brahmaputra, one of several rivers that rise in Tibet and cascade down into South Asia. In an important thawing in their relations, in 2005 the two countries agreed to form a joint committee of experts to co-operate on this issue. It has not been formed, for which China is mostly to blame."

YouTube - How NOT To Use Powerpoint By Comedian Don McMillan

YouTube - How NOT To Use Powerpoint By Comedian Don McMillan: "How NOT To Use Powerpoint By Comedian Don McMillan"

This is a pretty funny powerpoint presentation, and I see way too many presenters that need to watch this before they do their next presentation.

Nintendo and Apple to partner on games for iPhone

I think this is a brilliant move by both Apple and Nintendo

Nintendo and Apple to partner on games for iPhone "If you can’t beat them join them. With the iPhone days away from being launched Nintendo has apparently begun working with Apple, licensing a limited amount of content for the new phone. It was rumored a while back that Nintendo was planning on releasing a phone on their own, however this was scuttled shortly after the iPhone was first shown in January.

These exclusive games will be released on the iTunes Store at a $29.00 price point a few months after the iPhone launches. No word on whether Nintendo will be distributing iPod versions of these games. A major hangup in development has been the lack of buttons on the iPhone that was remedied by a touchscreen D-pad. One might wonder how Nintendo fans may see view playing on a phone without a traditional D-pad.

Asked anonymously whether or not these games would cut into Nintendo DS sales, we heard a resounding no. The logic is that because the licensed games will be exclusive and cater to an older audience they should not intrude into Nintendo’s existing markets.
The one thing Nintendo does worry about is their amount of control of Apple. While not developing a cell phone internally has its advantages, giving up control of platform has not historically been a practice Nintendo has taken. Nevertheless Ninten"

Possible cataclysm due to melting ice

Possible cataclysm due to melting ice | Tech news blog - CNET News.com: "We have 10 years, folks. And then it's man the lifeboats, or head for the hills. That's the conclusion of James Hansen and five other scientists. They've just published a paper with the Royal Society in England. It says melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctic could soon reach a point of no return. The team even says the recent reports from the United Nations' global warming conferences are too conservative in their projections of what could happen."

Will Holland be underwater soon?

"The country faces ominous trends as global temperatures rise. Already, 55 percent of the Netherlands' land area is below sea level, protected by a vast system of seawalls, storm-surge barriers, and thousands of dikes that crisscross the countryside. Dutch scientists say sea levels in the region will rise between 25 and 85 centimeters (10 and 33 inches) this century. In addition, weather worldwide is expected to become more extreme, on average. This means a higher likelihood of flooding along the Rhine and other rivers, and a greater risk of droughts. All the while, Dutch land will continue to sink--at a rate of 0.2 centimeters annually in some areas--as the peat soil underlying much of it decomposes, exposed to air by Dutch drainage efforts."

Weather Firsts

Who thought global warming was a myth ... Some weird weather events

- A week ago, Cyclone Gonu was recorded as the strongest tropical storm since 1945 in the Arabic Gulf region. It peaked as a Category 5 along the coastline of the Gulf of Oman. It was the first cyclone in recorded history to enter the Gulf of Oman.

- Eastern Australia was battered by heavy rains and suffered major flooding and landslides this past weekend. So great was the impact that some compared it to 1989’s earthquake, near the same location.

- In 2004, Cyclone Catrina became the first cyclone to form in the South Atlantic and also hit Brazil.

- In 2005, Hurricane Vince became the first cyclone to hit the Iberian Peninsula.

- In 2006, super typhoon Chanchu formed in the South China Sea, hitting China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Taiwan.

What worries me is that these events might just be the tip of the iceberg as sea waters further warm up, which is happening according to the UN.

Eight Years to Save the World

People needs deadlines. Unfortunately, they now have one for climate change - 2015. Scientists on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a devastating report on greenhouse gas emissions. In the report, they concluded that we have until 2015 to roll back emissions and limit global warming's effects to a manageable rise. Short of that, our generation risks climate changes that may melt enough ice to flood many coastal areas of the world on a regular basis. Shanghai, Mumbai, and Florida are low enough where they are in danger. I shutter to think what consistent flooding to Shanghai or Mumbai would do to the development of China and India, respectively.

Mother Earth and our generation now face the mother of all time constraints. Hopefully, this timetable will spur business and governments to make the necessary hard decisions to safeguard society. We are quickly running out of time to merely bear witness; the time for action has long since come and we need to ask ourselves what we can do before it is too late ... if it is not already.

India Brain Gain Fallacy

India has long suffered from a brain drain, or human capital flight. India's best trained and talented scientists and technologists have generally left India for the US, Canada, and UK over the last several decades due to lack of opportunity and quality of life.

Recent media coverage of India would suggest that the brain drain has reversed itself. That India is experiencing a brain gain whereby Indians and non-Indians are emigrating to India. This brain gain phenomenon is a fallacy. While more Indians are staying within the country upon completing their education, India is still suffering a brain drain, albeit not as bad as it was before. Those top-notch Indians leaving India for work or school are not returning to their homeland with particular vigor.

A revealing fact: not a single one of my Indian born or American born Indian friends from MIT have returned to India. Of my classmates at HBS who graduated this year, I know of only seven that are returning to India (of approximately 35 Indian born and 70 North American/UK born students in the 07 HBS Class). I am curious to see if my batch at HBS differs from this year.

I do not doubt that India will be benefit from a brain gain in my lifetime, but that day has not yet arrived.