EXCERPT from Where the Hell is Matt: Matt thinks Americans need to travel abroad more.

British oil company Cairn Energys Arctic fuels hope new reserves
EXCERPTs:

1) Green groups say a blow out like that at BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico could cause even more damage in Greenland as cold conditions would mean limited evaporation of the oil.

2) Sir Bill's interest in oil was sparked during university summers spent with the Bushes in Texas When George W Bush became president, his first words to Mr Blair were: ‘I believe you know my old friend Bill Gammell.’

Greenland is self-governing but barring a severing of ties with Denmark, a major oil find will put the Danes in the unlikely position of becoming an oil-rich nation on a par with the likes of Saudi Arabia.

Investors squeezed in Vedanta's Cairn India deal
EXCERPT:
Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:19am IST

-- The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own --
By Una Galani

LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) - Investors are being squeezed in Vedanta's deal to buy a controlling stake in Cairn India. The miner controlled by ambitious Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal will spend as much as $9.6 billion -- more than Vedanta's own market capitalisation -- to purchase up to 60 percent of the Indian oil producer. Yet the London-listed miner's complicated leap into the oil industry serves mainly as a reminder of the risks faced by minority investors in public companies.

To avoid diluting its controlling family's 61 percent shareholding, Vedanta is conducting part of the acquisition through its Indian-listed iron ore subsidiary Sesa Goa. The unit, 57 percent owned by Vedanta, will make a public tender offer for 20 percent of Cairn India shares at 355 rupees per share and fund the $2.9 billion cost from its existing cash reserves.

Why Vedanta must be stopped
EXCERPT:
For me, trying to help the international campaign against Vedanta Resources plc is blindingly complicated and dazzlingly simple at the same time. It is complicated because Vedanta’s patrons include the United Kingdom, much of the west and the Indian moneyed classes. Most of us in this island kingdom are inextricably wired into this global economy, this gilded cobweb. Our banks, pension funds, supermarkets, employers invest in Vedanta plc. Our local councils, churches, even our universities invest in Vedanta plc. Most of us are all investing in Vedanta plc, directly or indirectly (which one makes us feel better?) and moreover we are charging hefty interest since Vedanta offers high returns for the “risks investors (we) have undertaken”. What risks have we undertaken? We risk that the aluminium mining multinational company will not be granted full clearance to begin mining in the Niyamgiri hills in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. More importantly we risk that Vedanta will actually decide to respect the fact that they

Cairn moves to allay India fears over sale to Vedanta
Afp, New DelhiBritish oil explorer Cairn Energy moved Friday to allay India's worries about its proposed sale of a majority stake in its Indian energy unit to mining giant Vedanta Resources.

Vedanta announced earlier this month it would buy 51 to 60 percent of Cairn India for up to 9.6 billion dollars, adding to its assets that already include aluminium, copper, iron ore and zinc mines.

The transaction requires the Indian government's blessing because it has oil production-sharing contracts with Cairn India.

Cairn Energy said the proposed sale "will not adversely affect the performance or obligations under the various production sharing contracts (signed by Cairn India) nor be contrary to the interests of India."


Where the hell is Matt? dancing youtube

Where the hell is Matt?
About Matt
Matt is a 33-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. Matt achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.

A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as "That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny."

The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea.

In 2006, Matt took a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In that time, he danced a great deal.

The second video made Matt even more quasi-famous. In fact, for a brief period in July, he was semi-famous.

Things settled down again, and then in 2007 Matt went back to Stride with another idea. He realized his bad dancing wasn't actually all that interesting, and that other people were much better at being bad at it. He showed them his inbox, which, as a result of his semi-famousness, was overflowing with emails from all over the planet. He told them he wanted to travel around the world one more time and invite the people who'd written him to come out and dance too.

The Stride people thought that sounded like yet another very good idea, so they let him do it. And he did. And now it's done. And he hopes you like it.

Matt lives in Seattle, Washington with his girlfriend, Melissa, and dog, Sydney. He hasn't had a real job since Stride called him up. Matt doesn't mind working, but he doesn't much care for having to show up at the same place every day.

Matt is not rich. Matt also doesn't have some magical secret for traveling cheaply. He does it pretty much the same way everybody else does.

Matt thinks Americans need to travel abroad more.

Matt was a very poor student and never went to college. When he got older, he was pleased to discover that no one actually cares. Matt doesn't want to imply that college is bad or anything. He's just saying is all. There's other ways to fill your head.

Matt is left-handed.

When Matt was younger, he could hang seven spoons on his face at once. Sadly, puberty made Matt's face less conducive to spoon-hanging.

Matt's Xbox Live screen name is BadDancer. He plays a lot of Rock Band.

Matt has a little piece of extra cartilage sticking out on the rim of one ear and a little hole in the same place on the other ear. Since saying so on this page, he's been informed that the extra piece of cartilage is called a Darwinian Tubercle. Matt thinks this is pretty much the greatest name for anything ever.

Matt has never lost a staring contest.