December 09, 2008

Outsourcing Love--Turning to a Match-maker on the Other Side of the World

The New York Post's Carrie Siem bravely turns to a virtual assistant across the globe to find dates for her.  The video of her date is quite worthwhile.

Posted by Anupam Chander on December 9, 2008 at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 04, 2008

What Is An American Car? Of a Foreign Chevy and an American Honda

At the Cato Institute blog, Alan Reynolds writes:

Before “loaning” billions more in taxpayer money to some very bad credit risks, simply because they are old American brands associated with Detroit, we might ask what distinguishes these companies from others.
The not-so-big three are certainly are no less global than, say, Honda.  General Motors gets 44% of its revenue from other countries and Ford gets 53%, according to Forbes (April 21).  A German company, Daimler-Benz, still owns a fifth of Chrysler, and a group of affluent private investors owns the rest.
An “American” brand tells you little about where all the parts in a car are made.  I was once at a dinner with Lee Iaccoca where I teased him about my Dodge Stealth, made in Japan by Mitsubishi.  Similarly, today’s Chevy Aveo is imported from Daewoo in South Korea.  Yet Hyundai has a plant in Alabama.
Cars.com found only four cars and six light trucks with a domestic content (meaning US or Canadian) above 75%.  That list includes the Toyota Tundra and Sienna and the Honda Odyssey.  Other Honda’s have a 60-70% domestic content, barely missing the cut.

Posted by Anupam Chander on December 4, 2008 at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 02, 2008

Untold Stories from India on AIDS (Day-Late World AIDS Day Post)

"In the groundbreaking anthology, AIDS Sutra, sixteen renowned writers tell the hidden story of the AIDS crisis, illuminating the complex nature of one of the major problems facing the developing world. 

India is home to almost 3 million HIV cases, but AIDS is still stigmatized and shrouded in denial. Discrimination against HIV-affected individuals in hospitals, schools, and even among families is common, just as discussion about HIV and participation in prevention or treatment programs are not. In this riveting book, sixteen of India's most well-known writers go on the road to uncover the reality of AIDS in India and tell the human stories behind the epidemic.

Kiran Desai travels to the coast of Andhra Pradesh, where the sex workers are considered the most desirable; Salman Rushdie meets members of Mumbai's transgender community; William Dalrymple encounters the devadasis, women who have been “married” to a temple goddess and thus are deemed acceptable for transactional sex. Eye-opening, hard-hitting, and moving, AIDS Sutra presents a side of India rarely seen before." 

Posted by Anupam Chander on December 2, 2008 at 08:26 PM in Life | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack