Layoffs News in 2007-2009 (Global Meltdown era)

The latest economic crisis has already caught numerous eyes due to its deepening effect. Meanwhile, I got interested in its effect to social life of people. As a part of my project I decided to compile all the news in regard to layoffs that has marred media from January 2007 - December 2009. Also will try to get some of the biggest industry news in this period and some human stories regarding their fight against odds. It will be updated as an when I get to hear something related and also would appreciate if you can help me with this compilation by bringing to my notice similar news (with due acknowledgment to the contributor ).

1st Feb., 2009
1. Violent unrest rocks China as crisis hits (Click here for more details)

30th Jan., 2009
1.NEC to axe 20,000 (Click here for more)

24th Jan.,2009
1. Citigroup to axe 6,500 employees (Click here for more details)

10th Jan.,2009
1. US aerospace giant Boeing to shed 4,500 jobs (Click here for more details)

16th Dec.,2008
1. Fiat lays off 48,000 for a month during Christmas (Click here for more details)

9th Dec., 2008
1. ArcelorMittal to cut over 1,550 jobs in Germany & Belgium (Click here for more details)


Disclaimer : This is just a compilation of the news. The truth maybe sth else but thatz not what I am doing here.

SMS 90088 90088 & Know Directions

Friends,

Ever wondered you can get directions to a place just by SMSing a message. Yes, its true for now. LATLONG is one such service available for elite Bangaloreans (I mean for all bangaloreans :) ) Its a good news to few atleast who are relatively new to bangalore or find it difficult to remember routes. You just need to send a SMS in a required format at 90088 90088.

Use keyword WHERE to find out where a place is.

For example, use: WHERE tyagaraja nagar

WHERE gnr kalyana mantap NEAR jayanagar

WHERE suranjan das road

WHERE icici atm NEAR south end circle

Use keyword GO to get help going to a place.

For example, use:

GO rajajinagar entrance FROM itpl GO victoria layout TO navrang cinema

GO hebbal flyover FROM dairy circle

The link to Latlong website is http://latlong.in/cgi-bin/latlong where you can test it with demo. The courtsey for finding these wonderfull informations goes to Praveen (http://spraveenitpro.blogspot.com/) whose blog I happen to bounce on bychance. He is a follower of http://criticalmassbangalore.blogspot.com/ BLOG.

Happy Riding,

AC

For Hire...

The trouble times teach us alternative career path. I am on one of them. Do not fear and you can be confident on my chopping skills. I have proven track record of undertaking any tough assignment and finishing it to fine details. You can be relaxed when U know I am on it. There have been times when I have worked artistically on my subject of torture though may seems brutal to their well wishers.


Opps!! I was talking about choosing Chef as my alternate career option. What did you think ?

Oh my Goosh !!!

KnowHow Air Kiss :)

The wikipedia starts with "The air kiss is a ritual or social gesture whose meaning is basically the same as that of many forms of kissing." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_kiss). This act of kissing is mostly seen in movies and in celebrity shows where the two parties do some strange act of kissing in air. I was never interested to know about it until the moment which made me to do some brief research on its details.

An old friend of mine is expected to see me and I will be meeting her after long time. After completing a brief planning of her visit, I came across a strange doubt. "Should I hug her or should I just handshake her ?"

I don't want to get too close to her and make the situation uncomfortable for both of us and nor do I want to give her cold welcome. Then a sudden idea of the "strange act" came to my mind. After doing some Google on the world wide web I came across this video which very lucidly explains the theory and demonstrates elegantly the idea of kissing in air. I am sure everyone of us might come across a similar dilemma someday but take my word, this social gesture is not at all rough but a very educated way to express your warm welcome to the other party.

I am herein posting the 70% video as my free video converter do not allow 100% conversion. The link of the video is at the bottom and you can use that to see the remaining..

Please do leave a comment on what is your idea of this situation and how would you react to it. Well, let me see how it turns out in my case ;)

Check out the video here :)



Click here to go access the complete wiki article and video


Happy Kissing...Muaaaah !!

Recession .....Ways it has affected my life

"What!! No Graduation Party for our batch", yelled one of my batch mate when we came to know that Fidelity is not giving Graduation Party for 2007 batch freshers. This was September 2007 and we were litle aware of the implications of market performance leading to the fall of financial giants like Lehman Brothers, merging of Merrill Lynch with Bank of America, billions of dollars in form of bailout and the entire Iceland country going bankrupt and many major companies laying off employees in large numbers.

Today on 9th January 2009, my position has changed from spectator to one of the participant in this economic turmoil which shook every country across the globe. My company has announced to sell of its India back office to other IT players in market and the finer details of which is still awaited. There has been a budget cut in my project and I have been moved to ON-BENCH (for non IT Professionals, being On-Bench means you don't have project to work on, you are a liability to the company and you go everyday to office and sit idle and get frustrated).Some of the behavioral changes which I witness (better to say I have forced upon) in myself are :
1) I no longer go to Shanti Sagar (High end restaurant in my resident area) and have moved to cheaper options.
2) I go to Reebok showroom which is now running at 40% FLAT Discount, only to embrace the apparel, shoes and caps etc.. I wish to own but let it go after turning over the price tag which overshoots my estimate (less than $4).
3) I recently bought a bicycle for Rs. 5000/- and have vowed to restrict my expenditure for coming 3 months to balance out this purchase.

I must admit that I am having an overall increase in mental pressure and decline in self-confidence when I think of what am I going to do if I am laid off. My plans for post graduate studies is also running in doldrums looking at the meager chance of getting scholarships or funding from universities who themselves are struggling to keep the system running at these times. One thing which I appreciates about the present challenging period is "Trouble times makes oneself tougher and more efficient". It is now that the companies/individuals are able to realize some of their suicidal decisions or spendthrift attitude which can jeopardize the business/personnel life in long run or god forbid can leave them struggling to survive. Moreover, it is at this time when some frauds and inefficiency of the system gets on headlines. Looking at the case of Murdoff and Satyam Computers which have been sponsoring their frauds program smoothly for years now find it hard to conceal it in trouble times like at present and end up getting exposed to public. The world begins to reflect on their decisions which acts as a learning curve and more efficient laws are laid out for future security.

It was not far but just 7 years ago when the world saw its first modern day economic crisis in 2001. There were allegations, reformation and reflection but no one anticipated a worse crisis so soon. The reason lies behind the human psychology of "Forgetting" and chase for "Pleasure". The lessons learned where soon forgotten, the bull was charged, not knowing where its heading to, leading to the fall on face.My take-away from my learning is, the entire universe is a "Chakra", it will come back again and again to its starting point in time to time. I should learn to live in bare minimum and nothing competes self-employment.