IOM: "America's Health System Wasted $750 Billion In A Year"

America's health care system is inefficient, suffers from data overload, is complex and very costly, a report from the Institute of Medicine (IoM) revealed today. The authors added that too many negative factors are undermining health care quality and affecting the USA's global competitiveness and economic stability. Despite all this, there are knowhow and tools in place to correct the deep faults within the country's health system so that costs may be reduced and the quality of care improved.

The authors of the report (the Committee) estimated that $750 billion was wasted nationwide on administration costs, fraud, pointless services, and some other problems. Apart from the economic toll these deficiencies place, they also result in patients having to suffer needlessly. Some studies have indicated that in 2005, about 75,000 deaths could have been averted if each state had delivered healthcare at the quality and efficiency levels of the best performing state.

The Committee said that aiming for just incremental upgrades and alterations carried out by individual hospitals or health care providers will have little impact on improving the nation's overall health care service.

America's health care needs to transform into a "learning system"

The only way the USA's healthcare system can really improve is to transform it into a learningsystem that continuously improves itself by "systematically capturing and broadly disseminating lessons from every care experience and new research discovery."

Health care authorities will need to embrace and implement new technologies that gather and analyze clinical data at the point of care, encouraging patients and their loved ones to become active contributors, and working towards total transparency and teamwork within health care organizations. Financial and other types of incentives which focus on quality and results should be placed into the system.

Committee chair Mark D. Smith, president and CEO, California HealthCare Foundation, Oakland, said:

"The threats to Americans' health and economic security are clear and compelling, and it's time to get all hands on deck. Our health care system lags in its ability to adapt, affordably meet patients' needs, and consistently achieve better outcomes. But we have the know-how and technology to make substantial improvement on costs and quality. Our report offers the vision and road map to create a learning health care system that will provide higher quality and greater value."

More:  ROMNEY AND RYAN CONTINUE RAMPAGING OBAMA WITH MEDICARE

Keeping up with new treatments and breakthroughs

One of the main problems today is that healthcare providers cannot keep up with the rapid pace of new research discoveries and technological breakthroughs.

In an online communiqué, the IoM wrote "How health care organizations approach care delivery and how providers are paid for their services also often lead to inefficiencies and lower effectiveness and may hinder improvement."

The Committee said for a health system to be able to continuously evolve, excellent use of data is vital. In the USA, approximately 75 million people have two or more chronic conditions - for proper treatment and control, good coordination among multiple specialists and therapies is vital. Otherwise, the risk of misdiagnoses, clashing interventions, and dangerous drug interactions grows.

Doctors and patients often do not have useful and relevant data at the point of care where decisions are made. Currently, for new breakthroughs to become widely accepted and adopted can take several years. Only after 13 years did beta blockers become standard practice for heart attack victims.

Embracing mobile technologies and electronic health records would contribute considerably to a competent capture of health data, as well as disseminating that information. They wrote that "The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, IT developers, and standard-setting organizations should ensure that these systems are robust and interoperable, the report says. Clinicians and care organizations should fully adopt these technologies, and patients should be encouraged to use tools, such as personal health information portals, to actively engage in their care."

During the last 40 years, health care costs have increased at a higher rate than inflation or the economy as a whole for 31 of them. The main thrust has been volume rather than quality as far as reimbursements are concerned, instead of paying a flat rate or rewarding providers according to patient outcomes, the authors added.

The report urges insurance providers, professional societies, researchers, and health economists to work together to find ways of measuring quality performance and to design new payment models and incentives that reward quality rather than volume.

So far, not many health care organizations, clinics or medical practices encourage patients and their families to become engaged in care decisions and management of their conditions, even though studies and examples abroad have proven that they lead to better outcomes and value for money.

The Committee wrote:

"To facilitate these interactions, health care organizations should embrace new tools to gather and assess patients' perspectives and use the information to improve delivery of care. Health care product developers should create tools that assist people in managing their health and communicating with their providers.

Increased transparency about the costs and outcomes of care also boosts opportunities to learn and improve and should be a hallmark of institutions' organizational cultures, the committee said. Linking providers' performance to patient outcomes and measuring performance against internal and external benchmarks allows organizations to enhance their quality and become better stewards of limited resources, the report says. In addition, managers should ensure that their institutions foster teamwork, staff empowerment, and open communication."

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Nathalia Soliani Poses Topless!

Interestingly enough, while our friends at FHM Spain chose Brazilian bombshell Nathalia Soliani to highlight their monthly published bit of hotness, it looks like they misspelled her name on the cover of their magazine, Sosiani, though I'm sure a true Brazilian native could set us straight as to the proper spelling.

More importantly is just how wicked hot Nathalia looks in her barely there swimsuit and hand-bra covering of her fine and clearly faptastic funbags. What's in a name, really? Let's just call her Super Sextastic Soliani.

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Will President Obama Keep His Promises, This Time?

President Barack Obama addesses the DNC Thursday night in Charlotte, N.C.

CHARLOTTE — President Obama appealed to the nation Thursday night for another four years in office, asserting that his policies are slowly returning the country to economic prosperity while arguing that his Republican opponents would pursue a course that would set the country back and harm the well-being of middle-class families.

Obama said the choice between him and Republican Mitt Romney represents the clearest in a generation, a choice between sharply contrasting visions and political philosophies. But after entering office in January 2009 amid outsized expectations, he cautioned that the path he offers may be hard but will lead to “a better place.”

“The truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades,” he said. “It will require common effort, shared responsibility and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one.”

More: Obama's Sensational Interview In Time Magazine

Obama’s speech wrapped up a Democratic National Convention that combined a withering critique of Romney with a defense of the president’s record that Obama’s campaign team hopes will tip a closely fought election in their direction by November. Obama was aided immensely by the other two major speakers, first lady Michelle Obama and former president Bill Clinton.

Report: CLINTON IS OBAMA'S MOST VALUABLE WEAPON

“If you turn away now,” he said, “if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible, well, change will not happen. . . . Only you can make sure that doesn’t happen. Only you have the power to move us forward.”

Pointing to last week’s Republican convention in Tampa, Obama said the speakers there talked more about the country’s problems than about how they would fix them: “They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last 30 years.”

Obama’s convention played out against the backdrop of a country still mired in problems caused by the huge financial and housing collapse four years ago this month. The economy’s weakness and the public’s dissatisfaction with Obama’s handling of it pose the greatest threat to his prospects for reelection.

More:   HAS OBAMA PLAYED A ROLE IN AMERICA'S DOWNFALL?

Obama spoke with the jobless rate at 8.3 percent — the 42nd consecutive month it has been above 8 percent — and with the economy adding jobs at a slow pace for months. The latest monthly jobs report will be issued early Friday morning, but economists have forecast little dramatic change in the jobless rate between now and Election Day in November.

He spoke to criticism that his policies have led to a bigger role for government in the economy and people’s lives: “We don’t think government can solve all our problems. But we don’t think that government is the source of all our problems — any more than are welfare recipients, or corporations, or unions, or immigrants, or gays, or any other group we’re told to blame for our troubles.

Obama belittled the economic proposals of Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan. He said Romney’s budget math doesn’t add up, and he vowed never to “turn Medicare into a voucher.” His second-term policies, he said, could cut $4 trillion out of the deficit over a decade, create a million manufacturing jobs by 2016, cut net oil imports in half by the end of the decade and reduce the growth of college tuition by 50 percent over the next 10 years.

Those goals are likely to be closely scrutinized by experts, given the fact that many of the objectives he laid out four years ago have not been met. Obama says that’s because of the depth of the problems he inherited. Republicans argue that it is because he has pursued policies that have made things worse.

He also was sharply critical of Romney’s foreign policy positions. “My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly,” he said. His opponents are “still stuck in a Cold War time warp,” he said, and he made fun of Romney’s recent foreign trip.

Vice President Biden used his acceptance speech to offer personal testimony about the president’s leadership and decision-making. “I’ve seen him tested,” he said. “I know his strength, his command, his faith. I also know the incredible confidence he has in all of you. . . . Yes, the work of recovery is not yet complete, but we are on our way. The journey of hope is not yet finished, but we are on our way. The cause of change is not fully accomplished, but we are on our way.”

Biden focused on two big decisions, the one to bail out the auto industry and the one to take out Osama bin Laden. He summed up Obama’s record, as he has before, by saying, “Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive.

On autos, he said Obama went against the advice of some advisers and others and contrasted the president’s position with that of Romney’s.

Of Romney, he said: “I just don’t think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant — to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way. I think he saw it in terms of balance sheets and write-offs. Folks, the Bain way may bring your firm the highest profit. But it’s not the way to lead your country from its highest office.”

The decision to go after bin Laden carried even greater risks, with many of the president’s most senior foreign policy advisers opposed. “Bravery resides in the heart of Barack Obama,” he said. “And time and time again, I witnessed him summon it. This man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart and steel in his spine.

Biden was introduced by his wife, Jill. A few hours before he spoke, Biden was formally ratified as Obama’s running mate after his name was placed in nomination by his son Beau Biden, the attorney general of Delaware.

Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), who was the Democratic nominee eight years ago and gave Obama the keynote address that launched him on the national stage, spoke Thursday night in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Kerry said Obama has restored American credibility and moral authority abroad while keeping his promises to end the Iraq war and eliminate the threat posed by the al-Qaeda terrorist network that struck the country on Sept. 11, 2001. “Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off now than he was four years ago,” he said.

Kerry argued that the choice in November is clear. “Will we protect our country and our allies, advance our interests and ideals, do battle where we must and make peace where we can?” he asked. “Or will we entrust our place in the world to someone who just hasn’t learned the lessons of the last decade?”

Kerry, who spoke just before a tribute to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, ticked through a series of positions Romney has taken on different foreign policy crises. “Talk about being for it before you were against it!” he said, stealing a line of his own that was turned against him in his 2004 campaign. “Mr. Romney — here’s a little advice: Before you debate Barack Obama on foreign policy, you better finish the debate with yourself.”

The evening’s most poignant moment came just before 8 p.m., when Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who was shot and gravely wounded in January 2011, led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Giffords walked slowly across the stage unaided, accompanied by one of her closest friends in Congress, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who chairs the Democratic National Committee. Giffords recited the pledge with a strong, clear voice, and as delegates cheered and wiped away tears at the sight of her, she beamed a big smile back at them.

Speakers who appeared before the prime-time hour continued the pattern of the first two nights of the convention, appealing to crucial constituencies by warning that Republicans would take away abortion rights, or educational opportunity. Others skewered Romney as a wealthy, out-of-touch businessman whose record does not match his campaign’s claims that he knows how to turn around the economy.

More :    ROMNEY AND OBAMA ALL SET TO STAMP ON EACH OTHER FOR WHITE HOUSE RACE

Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, shouting and pumping her fists through most of her speech, brought the audience to a fever pitch by attacking Romney for his opposition to the auto bailout. In a reference to the renovation of Romney’s California home, she said, “In Romney’s world, the cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft.”

Obama spoke in the Time Warner Cable Arena after convention organizers scrubbed plans to hold Thursday’s program in the Bank of America outdoor football stadium. Forecasts for more rain and potentially severe weather forced the change in venue. Rain pelted downtown Charlotte on Thursday afternoon, but the skies cleared later in the day.

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Neil Armstrong To Be Buried In Sea

Neil Armstrong, a traditional Navy man to the end, will be buried at sea.

"He's a Navy man," said fellow astronaut and longtime friend Jim Lovell.

Armstrong's Navy career began in 1947 when he enlisted in the Naval ROTC and went to college at Purdue University in Indiana. From that moment forward, many of the most significant events of his life involved the water. By 1950, at the age of 20, he was stationed on the USS Essex, about 100 miles off of Wonsan Bay in the Sea of Japan. He flew 78 combat missions, and after each of them, he would fly back over the water toward the safety of the Essex.

Report:  NEIL ARMSTRONG, 1ST MAN ON THE MOON, DIES AT 82

In March 1966, after a successful but harrowing trip aboard Gemini 8, Armstrong went through re-entry before three parachutes opened and he dropped into the Pacific Ocean.

In July 1969, after Armstrong landed on the moon, Armstrong and his crew splashed down in the Pacific, where they were picked up by the USS Hornet.

Returning to the water meant his mission was complete, Lovell said.

"It's how he knew he was finished," Lovell said. "It's how he knew his work was done."

More:  DID YOU SEE THE 'BLUE MOON' (VIDEO)

According to naval regulations, in a burial involving casketed remains, taps will be played, there will be a prayer, a firing of arms, a salute, and then the board holding the casket will be tilted forward, and the casket will slide into the sea. The ceremony for cremated remains is similar.

The Navy performs, on average, approximately 900 burials at sea each year. "It's not as rare as you might think," Navy spokesman Ed Ziegler said.

A public memorial service for Armstrong will be held Sept. 13 at Washington National Cathedral. Political leaders and NASA astronauts, active and retired, are likely to attend.

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10 Most Popular Quotes From Obama's Speech

• "Michelle, I love you so much. The other night, I think the entire country saw just how lucky I am. Malia and Sasha, we are so proud of you – and yes you do have to go to school in the morning.  And Joe Biden, thank you for being the best Vice President I could ever hope for."

• "The truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me – so am I."

More: Obama's Sensational Interview In Time Magazine

• “Feel a cold coming on? [Republicans will say] Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”

• "A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat, and Osama bin Laden is dead."

• "You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally."

More: CLINTON IS OBAMA'S MOST VALUABLE WEAPON

• "If you can’t afford to start a business or go to college, take my opponent’s advice and 'borrow money from your parents.' You know what?  That’s not who we are.  That’s not what this country’s about."
   
• "The election four years ago wasn’t about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens – you were the change."
   
• "I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed – and so have I. I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the President."
   
• "If you turn away now -- if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible, well, change will not happen."
   
• "Yes, our path is harder -- but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer -- but we travel it together. We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.

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Pros And Cons Of Coach Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly senses an opportunity – he has always been good at that.

He knows that the best time to strike is when the opposition is weak and even though India have just won against New Zealand, Duncan Fletcher’s position can’t exactly be secure.

According to sources in the Indian team, the current India coach often wears a puzzled look in the nets. He hasn’t turned out to be a task master like John Wright nor is he an inspirational ‘behind the scenes’ coach like Gary Kirsten. He’s just been Fletcher and an example that not many would want to follow.

Ganguly has had the chance to observe this team at close quarters during his stints in the commentary box; he would have also had the chance to talk to the team players and by saying that he is ready to step up and take over as coach, the former India skipper is showing that he is confident enough to change Indian cricket once more.

So what exactly would Ganguly bring to the plate?

File picture of former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly. Reuters

Not technique. Ganguly was never known for that. India would ideally need to get a separate batting coach, a separate bowling coach and definitely, a separate fielding coach. Ganguly’s real contribution would be on the ‘mental’ side.

With him around, there would be no repeat of the third Test against West Indies in July 2011, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to settle for a draw – despite having a good chance of going for victory. Indians had elected to abandon the chase when they required 86 runs from the 15 mandatory overs with seven wickets remaining.

With Ganguly, as coach, India would never take a backward step. The question of playing for a draw would simply not exist. And the ‘play safe’ ideology would be banished for the dressing room forever.

Ganguly would be the coach that Greg Chappell never was – more importantly, he would be the coach that India wanted Chappell to be. Many would argue that he is too big a personality to be made coach. His words would make the headlines in a way that Wright or Kirsten or Fletcher never could and that would be something that the skipper wouldn’t take too kindly to.

The BCCI wouldn’t like that either. But at least he wouldn’t be the puppet that Fletcher seems to be. Ganguly has a voice and it would be heard.

Then again, Ganguly has just finished his career as a cricketer. Is it too soon? Well, the Chinese do it all the time with their table-tennis and badminton champions. It seems to serve them pretty well.

But on the flip side, Ganguly has always had his likes and dislikes, for example… we could see someone like Harbhajan Singh get into the side.

“You can call it my bias or love for Harbhajan but if in India you are picking three best spinners in the country, Harbhajan Singh’s got to figure in that list. Harbhajan is one bowler who should be playing all three formats of the game,” Ganguly recently said.

Now, that may not be the best way forward for Indian cricket but knowing Ganguly, he will rely more on his gut instinct than on sheer numbers or facts.

The other fear is that coaches are often counted upon to do the menial jobs. Get the nets set up, reach the ground an hour before the team to check out the conditions, come up with training routines – for most part of his cricket career, he never seemed to be someone who would do that. Will he be able to do it now?

Ganguly’s time with Wright and Chappell would have taught him the rights and wrongs of the job and if he really wants to do it – he should give it his best shot. Fletcher’s contract runs up to April 2013 – so he has some time to prepare if only the BCCI were to drop him a hint.

But that aside, with him around – Indian cricket would never be boring. Cricket at the highest level is a tactical game and Ganguly would certainly be able to help the Indian team in that department. And the youngsters would listen to him – he has been an idol to many and he has a way with words.

Training the flaws out of the young cricketers may not be his forte, but he will know when to pat them on their backs and give them the confidence they desperately seek. At the end of the day, all the players who make it to the highest level know how to play cricket, but learning how to compete at the highest level is a different thing.

Ganguly taught India how to fight once and he might be just the guy to teach a whole new generation how to do it again. Even if he doesn’t teach the Indian team anything else — he just may teach them a new way to celebrate their victories.

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Movie Review: Raaz 3

Star cast: Bipasha Basu, Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta.

What’s Good: The horror in the first half.

What’s Bad: The paper-thin script; the story of convenience; the endless screaming in the second half.

Loo Break: Anytime in the second half.

Watch or Not?: Watch the first half for some scares.

User Rating :

49 Votes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raaz 3 is supposed to be a God vs. Bipasha Basu. Or something of that sorts. To be honest, it wasn’t a fair fight to begin with.

The headstrong, spoilt and manipulative Shanaya Shekhar (Bipasha Basu) is the reining actress in Bollywood. But Shanaya is slowly being overshadowed by a new actress Sanjana (Esha Gupta).  The final blow comes when Shanaya loses the Best Actress Award to Sanjana. Even Shanaya’s director boyfriend Aditya (Emraan Hashmi) cannot calm her tempest.

The mantra-chanting-holy-thread-tying Shanaya decides that since worshipping God has done her no good, she might as well move over to the dark side. An evil spirit (Manish Choudhary) gives her some magic water that will help possess Sanjana’s spirit. Shanaya cajoles a reluctant Aditya to help her plan to make life a living hell for Sanjana, but not kill her. So Aditya ropes in Sanjana for his next film and keeps giving her doses of the evil water. Sanjana’s nights are now filled with horror as she’s haunted by scary clowns, creepy noises and more. Aditya soon falls for Sanjana but is torn between his love for the haunted actress and his indebtedness to the maverick star.

Watch the movie to find out more secrets tumble out of the closet as Sanjana spirals towards desperation.

Raaz 3 Review: Script Analysis

The first half of Raaz 3 is not bad. Shagufta Rafique has the scares in the right places and you are really glued to your seat. But you’re never really shown how big a star Shanaya is to feel that she’s lost something that meant the world to her. Sanjana may be an orphan but doesn’t she have even a single friend who can help her instead of running off into Aditya’s arms? The script’s spiral towards stupidity begins in the second half. Spoiler Alert: the evil spirit brutally kills Sanjana’s maid in the first half. But when Shanaya asks him to kill Sanjana later, he gives her some lecture about God being the only one who can take lives. The movie falls flat when you realize that it’s a story of convenience. And how come the evil water doesn’t affect Shanaya at all? The part of Shanaya and Sanjana just sounds like a lame excuse to add some soggy spice to the story.

The dialogues are run of the mill but can go over the top at times by being flowery when not needed.

Raaz 3 Review: Star Performances

She’s evil, she’s manipulative, she’s power-hungry, but Bipasha Basu steals the show left, right and center as Shanaya. Emraan Hashmi has 2-3 staple expressions throughout the movie, but that’s more because of the script’s shortcoming. Esha Gupta is stiff as Sanjana but does much better towards the end (when she almost goes berserk). Manish Choudhary is good as the evil spirit.

Raaz 3 Review: Direction, Editing & Music

You would wish that Vikram Bhatt had even tried to hold the movie together but it just crumbles in the second half. Shanaya blackmailing Aditya and even the sutradhar voiceover were quite unnecessary. And why did they have to show the bottle in Emraan’s pocket in X-ray/strange visual effect? To be subtle, it’s one place you wouldn’t expect Emraan’s hand to be in, even in an Adult movie. Jeet Ganguly and Rashid Khan’s songs are not memorable. Editing is unsatisfactory.

Raaz 3 Review: The Last Word

Raaz 3 has its share of scares but it annoys you in the second half.

Raaz 3 Trailer

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Coal Scam In India Worsens

New Delhi, Sep 7 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Friday staged protest inside the Parliament complex against the ruling Congress Party for wasting the entire Monsoon Session of Parliament over the coal blocks allocation scam.

Report: CAG: COALGATE LOSSES OFFICIALLY PEGGED AT RS 1.86 LAKH CRORE

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar had earlier blamed the Congress Party for wasting the Parliament's time in the Monsoon Session by failing to cancel the allotted coal blocks and conducting an impartial probe into the scam.

"This is to protest against the government's refusal to accept the legitimate demand for an impartial probe and cancellation of all the allotments," said Javadekar.

"It is the Congress party that is wasting the Parliaments session because it is the country's legitimate demand, the demand of the majority of the house that there should be an impartial probe and the fraudulent coal blocks allotted be cancelled. But it is the Congress party that has taken this stubborn stand to not accept this legitimate demand. They are to blame for the deadlock in Parliament," he added.

The coal scandal has dominated this session of Parliament after the CAG report said that the under-priced sales of coalfields would have cost the national exchequer as much as 33 billion dollars in lost revenues.

The BJP is demanding the resignation of Dr.Manmohan Singh since he headed the Coal Ministry between 2006 and 2009, when many of the sales occurred.

More:  COALGATE SCAM COULD LEAD TO PRIME MINISTER'S RESIGNATION

However, Dr. Singh had rejected the CAG's observations as 'misleading' and 'flawed', and blamed the opposition parties for thwarting the efforts of his government to bring a policy of competitive bidding.

Dr. Singh also ruled out any possibility of quitting the top post despite the BJP firm on its demand for his resignation over the coal blocks allocation issue.

Report: CBI FILES FIR AGAINST 5 COMPANIES AND RAIDS 30 PREMISES

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How The Colours You Wear Affects Your Image

Clothes make the man... and the woman. The colours you drape yourself in decide the way you perceive yourself, and the way others treat you. According to Virginia-based image consultant Sandy Dumont, big aspirations at the workplace depend heavily on one’s image and the colour of everything from the tie (in case of a man) and accessories (in case of a woman) to the shoes, emit energies that are picked up subliminally by others. 

“The way you look and dress affects what people expect from you. It also declares how you feel about yourself. This decides how you’ll be treated by co-workers and your boss,” says the author of 15 books on the subject, who began her career as a runway model and went on to consult with Fortune 500 companies for 30 years. 

Dumont’s lessons began young — as a painfully-shy young teenager, she found empowerment in a red dress. She offers tips on how to use the psychological impact of colours to your advantage. 

A world of difference
“When it comes to colour, everything is relative,” Dumont points out. “Long standing cultural traditions override a colour’s natural impression. For example, dark hunter green is associated with old money in much of the West. But, for the rest of the world, green is associated with forests and is viewed as calming and healing.” 

Translate that into fashion sensibility and green becomes non-threatening — not the colour you’d want to wear for your power suit, if you were a man. However, green doesn’t diminish the power-factor for women as acutely. “Businesswomen have the advantage of being able to wear a range of colours, as they can spell power by adding statementmaking accessories to their ensembles,” explains Dumont. 

Power comes in many shades
Dumont advises men to choose suits in navy blue, black, gray, and, in hot climates, tan works too. “Brown is not a power colour,” she warns. 

Dumont recommends the Cary Grant-look, with a minor adjustment. “Grant wore suits in medium to light colours. This made him appear friendlier and more approachable. Of course, Grant didn’t want to project power, but elegance,” she says. 

People who like to be in the spotlight choose bold colours, while those who prefer to work behind the scenes are drawn to muted shades, says Dumont, advising the latter to beat that impulse and go for red, which “personifies life and snaps us out of our ennui,” Dumont says. Black, on the other hand, can send out all the wrong signals. “Rather than authority, it can suggest coercion or excessive force,” says Dumont. 

“Ideally, managers should wear Oxford blue or French blue shirts, so they appear friendly and trustworthy. White shirts are very formal, so they can seem stiff. Red ties suggest you’re a go-getter and yellow ties are associated with mental prowess,” she says. 

Power saris, salwar kameez

“Jayalalithaa appreciates the use of dramatic colours,” Dumont notes, offering an instance of how the Tamil Nadu chief minister power dresses. “She looks splendid in violet. It gives her skin a youthful glow.” She would ask her to avoid grey saris, though. What about BSP supremo Mayawati’s penchant for pink? “Mayawati appears to have cool skin. She looks gentler and more attractive in pink and pure white,” replies Dumont. 

But women in the corporate world would do well to avoid pink and opt for fuchsia and magenta to look “more dynamic and authoritative,” recommends Dumont. 

Colourful characters

• Bright orange highlights imperfections on the face
• Saris in delicate pink tones and bold borders look regal. A business suit of the same colour doesn’t.
• Navy blue signals authority and trust. World leaders often wear business suits of that colour.
• The darker the colour, the more authority you project. Pastels have low visibility and suggest timidity.
• White is not a pastel shade. It has very high visibility and is a powerful colour.
• Bold colours and prints spell power too, while dull and drab colours are associated with gloom and exhaustion.

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Washington Post Refuses To Apologise To Indian Prime Minister

A day after Washington Post refused to apologise for publishing an article criticising prime minister ManmohanSingh, the Prime Minister’s Office attacked the US paper hinting at plagiarism.

Article: IS INDIAN PRIME MINISTER 'MANMOHAN SINGH' A 'TRAGIC FIGURE'

In a letter addressed to Washington Post, Pankaj Pachauri, media advisor to the PM, said the daily had picked up paragraphs from an Indian magazine. “The former media adviser to the PM Dr Sanjaya Baruhas complained that you ‘rehashed and used’ an eight-month old quote from an Indian Magazine...We expected better from the correspondent of the Washington Post for fair and unbiased reporting,” Pachauri said.

He also rejected charges that the PMO had denied interview to the correspondent. “You have been telling the media here in India that your request for an interview was declined though the mail below says clearly that the interview was declined “till the Monsoon Session” of Parliament which gets over in two days, ” read the letter.

On Wednesday, Washington Post had published an article calling Singh as one of the biggest failures in the line of Indian PMs. 
The author of the article, Simon Denyer, has refuted the allegations saying that before publishing the article he had spoken with Baru and had got the confirmation on the accuracy of the sentiments expressed in the story.

Washington Post, meanwhile, issued a clarification saying the story has been updated and a correction has been made to credit the Caravan magazine for the two quotes printed in the story.

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