January 2011 – Dad's Taxi

January 23, 2011January 23, 2011

Dad’s Taxi is now on Facebook

I finally got a Facebook page for Dad’s Taxi. Let’s see how that works out..

Dad’s also got an apprentice to maintain the site.. Wish me luck folks!

January 22, 2011January 22, 2011

In my endless thirst for obtuse knowledge, I wanted to share a site that I found while I was drinking my Chai on a Saturday Morning (After my Facebook of course!)…. Did you ever want to compare you hometown to another country?

If it Were my home does an excellent job of comparing your hometown to almost every country in the world. The comparisonc can be socio-economic or by size? If It Were My Home lets you do just that.. I always thought that I could put a few countries the size of India in the physical mass of the US.

Allow the site to use your zip code or your location and you can compare your hometown to almost every country in the world. I’m impressed, you’ll find this on my links site for future refeference

What a great way to compare where you are to how others live in other parts of the world! So when your kids ask you the benefits of where you live you could always say.. you could be living in… I’m sure you will enjoy this one!

I bet you didn’t know the facts below:

If India were your home instead of The United States you would…

have 8 times higher chance of dying in infancy

The number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in India is 49.13 while in The United States it is 6.14.

This entry gives the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year; included is the total death rate, and deaths by sex, male and female. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.
Source: CIA World Factbook

consume 96.38% less oil

India consumes 0.0956 gallons of oil per day per capita while The United States consumes 2.6400

This entry is the total oil consumed in gallons per day (gal/day) divided by the population. The discrepancy between the amount of oil produced and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is due to the omission of stock changes, refinery gains, and other complicating factors.
Source: CIA World Factbook

use 96.12% less electricity

The per capita consumption of electricity in India is 484kWh while in The United States it is 12,484kWh.

This entry consists of total electricity generated annually plus imports and minus exports, expressed in kilowatt-hours. The discrepancy between the amount of electricity generated and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is accounted for as loss in transmission and distribution.
Source: CIA World Factbook

make 93.32% less money

The GDP per capita in India is $3,100 while in The United States it is $46,400

This entry shows GDP on a purchasing power parity basis divided by population as of 1 July for the same year. A nation’s GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States. This is the measure most economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when comparing living conditions or use of resources across countries. The measure is difficult to compute, as a US dollar value has to be assigned to all goods and services in the country regardless of whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in the United States (for example, the value of an ox-cart or non-US military equipment); as a result, PPP estimates for some countries are based on a small and sometimes different set of goods and services. In addition, many countries do not formally participate in the World Bank’s PPP project that calculates these measures, so the resulting GDP estimates for these countries may lack precision. For many developing countries, PPP-based GDP measures are multiples of the official exchange rate (OER) measure. The differences between the OER- and PPP-denominated GDP values for most of the wealthy industrialized countries are generally much smaller.
Source: CIA World Factbook

die 11.78 years sooner

The life expectancy at birth in India is 66.46 while in The United States it is 78.24.

This entry contains the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year, if mortality at each age remains constant in the future. The entry includes total population as well as the male and female components. Life expectancy at birth is also a measure of overall quality of life in a country and summarizes the mortality at all ages. It can also be thought of as indicating the potential return on investment in human capital and is necessary for the calculation of various actuarial measures.
Source: CIA World Factbook

have 54.3% more babies

The annual number of births per 1,000 people in India is 21.34 while in The United States it is 13.83.

This entry gives the average annual number of births during a year per 1,000 persons in the population at midyear; also known as crude birth rate. The birth rate is usually the dominant factor in determining the rate of population growth. It depends on both the level of fertility and the age structure of the population.
Source: CIA World Factbook

spend 98.72% less money on health care

Per capita public and private health expenditures combined in India are $86 USD while The United States spends $6,719 USD

This entry contains the per capita public and private health expenditure at purchase power parity using US Dollars. This figure combines government, personal, and employer spending on health care
Source: World Health Organization

experience 18.22% less of a class divide

The GINI index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income. In India is 36.80 while in The United States it is 45.00.

This index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. The index is calculated from the Lorenz curve, in which cumulative family income is plotted against the number of families arranged from the poorest to the richest. The index is the ratio of (a) the area between a country’s Lorenz curve and the 45 degree helping line to (b) the entire triangular area under the 45 degree line. The more nearly equal a country’s income distribution, the closer its Lorenz curve to the 45 degree line and the lower its Gini index, e.g., a Scandinavian country with an index of 25. The more unequal a country’s income distribution, the farther its Lorenz curve from the 45 degree line and the higher its Gini index, e.g., a Sub-Saharan country with an index of 50. If income were distributed with perfect equality, the Lorenz curve would coincide with the 45 degree line and the index would be zero; if income were distributed with perfect inequality, the Lorenz curve would coincide with the horizontal axis and the right vertical axis and the index would be 100.
Source: CIA World Factbook

have 15.05% more chance of being unemployed

India has an unemployment rate of 10.70% while The United States has 9.30%

This entry contains the percent of the labor force that is without jobs.
Source: CIA World Factbook

be 50% less likely to have HIV/AIDS

January 14, 2011

Facebook Personal URL – Why don’t you like me?

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on my other hobby/obsession: A personal Facebook pagge for my sister site BharatBeat and it’s associated forum site. . I figured that it would be pretty simple to get 25 “likes” so I could get a personal page.. Oh my god, getting these 25 likes was soo difficult.

Here’s what I learned:

Facebook users will waste hours of their time on games like Farmville (which I still don’t get) rather than respond to “Like” requests
Social Media is more media than social. You can make your footprint on Facebook but you can’t make anyone “Like” you unless you reach out and touch someone.

Perhaps it’s human nature to be suspicious, and I’ll be the first one to say that I’m like this as well. Yet my experience in trying to get 25 people to like the page was let’s just say underwhelming. It took me over 3 weeks to get these 25 “likes” and this is after at least 100 personal messages to family/friends and multiple large scale emails to my friends via email.

Overkill? Ya think? I had figured a few requests here and there would do the trick, but I had to resort to the old fashioned pleading and begging to get to the measly count of 28 after 3 weeks!

I’m actually starting to get disillusioned with the whole concept of developing the portal that I’ve been working on for the past 18 or so months.. I’m struggling to see the light.

I’m sure you have heard the famous saying “Build it and they will come” well what if “build it and nobody cares?”.. That is pretty discouraging

I’ m still sitting here thinking how can I make both the BB site and the FB page enticing enough for others to want to visit and “like” the respective sites.

Let’s see.. Or perhaps that after a long week of work, my enthusiasm is waning because I’m just tired and want to take a long nap?

Do you have any ideas on how to entice visitors to your site or your Facebook page?? Let me know and I’m willing to try anything (as long it’s legal!)

January 13, 2011March 27, 2011

Groupon – Great Way to save some Money

I recently joined the site Groupon to see how I could get some coupons. I’ve been accused many times of being frugal to the point of being obsessed with saving money.. I really don’t have a problem with that. Do you?

Another really nice site is Gotta Deal, where you can find a clean site where you can get daily deals.. Check it out!