getstumped

I was reading this story in rediff this morning.

http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/02hwl.htm

I can’t say it is a nice one but I felt rather sad reading this. Here is a farmer in his late twenties having considerable land not able to make the points meet, because of no rain.

It seems rediff offered to help him by giving some money, but the farmer declined the offer but asked the readers to pray for a good monsoon. There can be two schools of thought in this.

1. Appreciating the farmer’s dignity even in tough times. Here is a man who respects his honor more than any monetary gains and I believe he is uneducated. I feel happy to be part of a system that injects this culture into your lifestream.

2. Feeling sorry for a man who wasted a opportunity that had a probability to make his life better. Instead, he asked people to pray for a better monsoon. More sadder.

I am taking the second one. Though education is a whole issue here, I think the society has to have solutions for people who have more problems to worry about than getting educated. Micro-credit is one. Muhammad Yunus has this working model for decades now, but why couldn’t it be replicated to all parts of society in this information age? I don’t think politics is going to help here as it is still mostly corrupted, but something like Acumen fund which has corporate ideologies for the betterment of the poor.

I wish India has its own, soon.

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Here is a video that was presented by Charles Best, Founder of donorschoose.org @ Google Tech talks.

An incredible idea.. that is scalable, profitable (..in the long run) and immensely useful to the childrens of the world.

One good thing about this micro-philanthropy site is that it can be replicated to all the countries in the world and can provide a one-stop solution for all the school needs. The founders are already talking about making it open-source. John wood should find this more helpful in his endeavor.

I wish this soon gets operational in India. With the increasing economy and a growing middle-class, I believe this will let people to contribute more towards their social responsibility than otherwise since this is accessible and transparent.

What do you think?

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Here is a fact.

The Google founders conversation about climate change and eradicating poverty has around 2000 views in Youtube so far since it was posted couple of months ago.

Roughly around the same time a 22 year old girl from Louisiana, US posted a video ’bout how to get most out of xxx… kind of sex education video and this has got around 34 million views so far in youtube..

The takeaway from this fact is that people are so much worried about their daily issues than to worry about something that is supposed to occur in a decade time. As much as global warming is real, it is also a real fact that it would need contribution from every single individual to make the change that we are looking for. And we cannot get there until there is a human emotional need surrounding it. But how can we make the world understand that global warming too should be part of their top priority issues that needs their care.

The answer would simply be Marketing. Marketing the idea of global warming. Marketing the idea that you and I can change the world. Marketing the idea that you and I can be what Guy Kawasaki is for Apple. We can be the evangelists of global warming to make this world a better place. There is something more we can do…

1. Placing ads / campaigning in every blog that is around and that is to be around to send the message of global warming (.. Blogger and Wordpress should have these by default in all their themes and I am looking for some in my blog. Infact this kind of campaign should be first done in Google homepage. With its 400 million hits a month, it can have a bigger impact.)

2. All television networks and radio stations should atleast devote 10-15 minutes a day to spread the message. They can help the society in this way too. All magazines and newspapers should also follow this.

3. All superstores and grocery stores, franchises should take this message to their customers in every way they can (.. I know they are already doing it, but it still has to go a long way)

4. We have to find a way that scales individual’s effort on global warming and award them (.. I am not sure if we already have them somewhere and I am not talking about awarding groups here but a layman’s embarkment for a good future).

Others, which our common sense dictates..

As much as we care about our children’s future in this Universe, we should also care about the Universe’s future too. Let us take care while we can.

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What if we have energy resource that is cheap, available in mass and more importantly doesn’t spoil the planet?

What if every country in this universe is independently sustainable?

What if we have 100% literacy in all the countries in this world?

What if we have cure for every disease that is around?

There are so many what ifs which ‘had’ happened, would have made this world a better place.

Albert Einstein once described about Mozart’s music like this

.. was so pure that it seemed to have been ever-present in the universe, waiting to be discovered by the master

The answers for all our what ifs are just around us. They are just waiting to be found by us.

Letz start looking because it is our right to live in an utopian world.

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When was the last time you solved your technical doubts by looking into technical references. Actually, you might have a few times but what do you think the frequency of that when compared to the same situation say 5 years ago.

Now, how do you think it is going to be in next 5 years. I believe with search algorithms getting smarter and smarter and with Web 2.0 growing exponentially day by day and with Open-sourcing & get-it-free being the mantra for all of the new technologies, in near future, all the references will be ‘clouded‘ and ‘kindled‘ in a box for you.

Now what it has for us. The unfortunate truth is we are no longer in-dispensable. If you are thinking that you are going to survive with what you are doing today for another 5-7 years, think again (.. atleast in a technology perspective. In other industries, you might just survive). With technology having its reach in every corner of our universe and with clouding, you get all the data that is so updated till the moment, everyone has a chance.

This is both good and bad for us. Bad news first..
We are not going to survive with our technical prowess-ness anymore. B’coz what we know, everyone knows. We are not going to survive with our routine technological maintenance. B’coz what we can, anyone can.

But the good news is…
Everyone has a chance. Everyone has a chance with limitless possibilities. Everyone has a chance, all in the same level as anyone. You and I can win in this world. What we are currently missing is just an idea. An idea that is waiting in the corners of our mind to get exploded. An idea that changes the world for better. An idea that is cool and super fun.

What are we waiting for?

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