The Temple of Democracy

Kofi Annan Foundation and One Young World conducted this third "Google hang-out" of the The Kofi Annan Dialogues. The topic was "Democracy and Elections".

Mr. Annan said the following:

"No one is born a good citizen, no one is born a good democrat, it takes participation, it takes observation and reflection and quite a bit of training to get to be a good citizen, a good democrat."

Reference: First 3 Minutes from the Video of first session
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S2WEcLFXHo

Mr. Annan asked of three things: Participation, Observation and reflection, and training.
First two, participation and observation, are integral to an individual traits. These one would achieve based on many externally influencing elements over of period of time. But the third element - Training, can actually be the most important enabler.

Training of Democracy is an essential aspect which can provide a ground for participation and provide environment to exercise observation and reflection. Unfortunately there isn't much available where one can go and train oneself or learn to participate.

September last year (2012) I took a course at Coursera titled "Securing Digital Democracy". Professor  J. Alex Halderman of University of Michigan is a delight to listen to and learn from. This course is a very fundamental to learning democracy. It touches upon the bear minimum right to vote and what it means by a fair voting system. He does this amazingly by providing a detailed historic context.

We also have Khan Academy which has an entire section for American Civics. This can serve as a good platform as well as an excellent source of required content via participation.

MOOCs and Social Media have already proven to enable increased participation, observation and in turn better learning and promotion of collective plurality and tolerance. The very core principles of Democracy.

That brings us to a thought, what if, we also have places, similar to libraries, where one can go and learn (train), participate in debates, observe the debaters and in turn train oneself to be a good citizen and better democrat (not to be confused with the American political party DNC or any such).

And may be .. just may be .. we call them "Temples of Democracy".

Collection of elating and uplifting speeches

I love TED and all similar sources of quality, informational, educational and uplifting speeches. This is a collection I prepared as my miniscule contribution for two amazing non-profits in India (Mumbai and Ahmedabad) whose missions are to provide underprivileged an opportunity to excel.

Innovations in Education:

Hole in the wall: Concept of self teaching.
An amazing successful experiment by Prof Sugata Mitra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk60sYrU2RU

The father of MOOC (Massively Open Online Courses) - Salman Khan
Let's use video to reinvent education
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFEUsudhfs

Are we afraid of being wrong ?
An 18 min entertaining speech  by Sir Ken Robinson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Introduction of the book: The Element: 24 min Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TAqSBMZDY8

The Tinkering School: 5 Min TED.
This has spread in six major cities in US, as of June 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvHViFc0ekw

Entrepreneurship:

Arunachalam Muruganantham: The first man to wear a sanitary napkin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4_MeS6SOwk

How laws and government compliment or deter innovations:
18 min Video by Lawrence Lessig
http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html

US and Democracy:

Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw2z9lV3W1g

Stay tuned .. for more ...

Airlines, Airports and Flying - The Tickets

I am an aviation enthusiast. The airplane in sky fascinates me every single time.
There are some core processes of the Industry, which I think will be helpful to anyone who flies.

Airline Ticket is the very basic step before flying.
Each ticket has three key attributes: PNR, Fare Basis and Ticket Number.

PNR is a collection of six alpha-numeric characters which identify a ticket or group of tickets.
You can see this as a method to bundle passengers flying together.

Ticket Number is a unique numeric number assigned to each passenger within a PNR.
It is a collection of 13 numerals.

Ticket Number has the following structure:

First three numbers identify the Airline. For example all tickets issued by United Airlines start with "016", for British Airways it is "125", for American Airlines it is "001".

So next time you see a ticket number - you can easily know what Airline your ticket was issued by.
This is important because this decides who will control the mileage credit for your flights.

Your ticket can be booked by Delta Airlines but you actually fly onto an Air France plane.

Curious to know which Airline has which code - Visit the link below, find your airlines and see:
It is called "IATA Accounting Code".
http://www.theairdb.com/sub/Airlines.html

Fare Codes and Fare basis are revenue distribution / maximization method / process / classification.

Fare Codes are single character code which defines rules to treat the ticket when a change is requested. Fare basis define a specific classification of the ticket within a fare code.

Here is an article which sheds light on the subject.
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/frequentlyflying/2011/05/04/airfare-pricing-buckets-airline-fare-basis-codes-revealed/

Deeply discounted tickets are not eligible for mileage earnings. Fare basis is what let's you know up-front, if your ticket will be eligible to earn miles.

Braille - Education and Entertainment

My niece is now 18 months old. Our immediate need is her Education and development.
So I thought to initiate a search to know what is out there already.

My plan is to put together a catalog of such products to:
1. To know what is out there.
2. To spread the awareness amongst friends and families to seek out such products locally, in India.
3. To make a "Wish List" for her future B'day(s) where one can choose what to Gift her! :)
4. May be install an idea in someone's mind to build a sustainable business model.
    There are 20 Million Blind people in India alone.

Please read REVIEWS, on the bottom of each product page, to learn more about them.
Please also provide your comments, suggestions, corrections, recommendations ....

Education:

Braille Slate: To Write in Braille
http://www.amazon.com/MaxiAids-Braille-Slate-Full-Page/dp/B00014VW52/

Puzzle and Alphabets:
http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Braille-Pieces-Talking-Alphabet/product-reviews/B004USB0YS/

Braille Math:
http://www.mathwindow.com/

Braille Game Board:
http://www.braillegame.com/learning_tool_and%20game.html

Entertainment:

Braille Playing Cards:
http://www.amazon.com/Casino-Special-Braille-Playing-Cards/dp/B000YL3ZQQ

Scrabble:
http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Scrabble-Game-Braille-Version/dp/B000YL1XEM

Soduku:
http://www.amazon.com/MaxiAids-Braille-Sudoku-Game/dp/B000YL60W2

Promote Natural Food - Say NO to Prop 37

Yes, you are reading it correctly and it is not an oxymoron statement!

When I was preparing to vote for Prop 37, my immediate reaction was (very likely as yours) to vote Yes, with a notion that yes, they must be held responsible to let the world know that they feed the world GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) and GE (Genetically Engineered) products, which in turn harms humans.

But then as I was debating this with my wife, who brought a different perspective, who also was thinking of voting Yes, to start with .... collectively we reached a different conclusion and that is to vote NO. If you wonder why, please read on ....

The goal of Prop 37, per my understanding, is to promote healthy food habits. This in turn can be defined as Non-GMO, Non-GE, natural food. Correct ? If that is correct the best way to do so would be:

- To promote availability and affordability of natural, healthy, non GMO, non GE food.
- Label natural food - For example promote Non GMO Project:
- We do not label produce which is not organic - we label organic one's.
- Publicity of anything legitimizes it (creates an acceptance of it) and you can apply this to anything ranging from celebrity behavior to terrorism.

Now let's evaluate if Prop 37 is passed - what will we achieve?
Labeling requirement for GMO, GE food will require:

1. Almost every food to be labeled, as most food being sold today is GMO and GE.
2. This in turn will result in a need to consume more toxic material in the form of ink, as much of the produce today is minimally labeled which will require labeling.
3. This will result in massive costs to the existing food companies or at least a good excuse for them to increase food costs.
4. In current economic situation this will mean more cost to a families, food pantries, shelters, food banks and in turn more costs for the tax payers.
5. A lawyer community now has an additional reason to promote law suites.
6. In turn we have only expanded the legislated living we all endure today.

By passing Prop 37, we would have succeeded to let the whole world know that we are eating bad food.  But the question is, will this change anything on the front of 'availability and affordability' of healthy, natural food? Not by labeling it for sure!

Now one may say - I am just seeking my right to know which is a fair requirement.
But I think I live in a free country and I already have that right and actually have access to that information if I really want to know about it.

Finally a humble disclaimer: I am not a Republican nor a Democrat, not even Independent. I am an American and I think voting No is good for California and America.

Surprise Surprise: Boiling is better

In light of series of acute medical conditions diagnosed in our families - I decided to initiate a series focusing on Health.

I wan to follow two basic guidelines:
1.  Medicine is a science of statistics - let it be on your side.
2.  Conscious Living: Live consciously and stop living in denial.

Today's Topic: Potato or Sweet Potato / Boiled of Fried.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/01/news/la-heb-sweet-potatoes-weight-gain-201100701

And this fair comparison which says Potato is not as bad but Sweet Potato is indeed "Sweeter".
Note: Sweet Potatoes has high concentration of Beta-carotene AND Beta-carotene is a precursor for Vitamin A.
http://www.lisanelsonrd.com/blog/white-potato-vs-sweet-potato-which-is-better


Next week: How Sweet is sugar ?

How sweet is Sugar ?

Two key guidelines:
1.  Medicine is a science of statistics - let it be on your side.
2.  Live consciously.

When I visited my physician last November, he warned me about my "numbers".

He advised two things:

1. Potatoes are not vegetable! - Stop eating potatoes and rice until you improve your numbers.
2. Exercise at least 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes.

While my physician was candid enough to explain to me the reasons to minimize carbohydrates, I was not too convinced about it. I grew up eating carbohydrates everyday, rice has been my favorite. The entire southern India eats nothing but rice. So why now suddenly they are the source of the problem?

I thought, if I believe that medicine is a science of statistics, then the world knows a lot more about medicine in last 30 some years. Thus there are things known to the science of medicine which conventional wisdom has not caught up with.

Learning about carbohydrates lead me to "Glycemic Index" or GI.

One of the definitions of GI: The glycemic index measures how fast and how much a food raises blood glucose levels.

There is a lot of information on the web about GI, so I will let you Google that. But I just want to share the key elements of GI I learned (or learnt) which helped me understand the advise of my physician:

1. There are three basic classifications of foods based on GI - Low, Medium and High.
2. Low GI food - fruits and vegetables will release glucose more slowly and steadily.
3. Sugar, white or brown, has medium GI. Honey and Agave have low GI.
4. Potatoes, rice, white bread, corn flakes, wheat flower have high GI.
5. If food with higher carbohydrates has high quantity of fiber - it reduces GI.

And most important statistics -
Several lines of recent [1999] scientific evidence have shown that individuals who followed a low-GI diet over many years were at a significantly lower risk for developing both type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and age-related macular degeneration.

Back to my numbers - after few following life style changes - in just four months, I brought my numbers back to normal (way below average):

1. Installed morning breakfast of Fruits and Vegetable smoothy - No bread and cheese anymore.
2. Ensure the dinners has none or very low carbohydrates:
    - Salads - you will be surprised how many tasty options of salads there are which I never know of.
    - If I do eat carbohydrates I ensure that I also eat protein (lentils) and fiber (whole grains).
3. Most of us do not need more than 1500 calories in a day.
    I consciously, monitored quantity of my intake and reduced it by at least 30%.
4. Replaced any junk food intake with Nuts, Dried Fruits as snacks.
    Junk food is defined as, anything processed to be preserved and eaten over a period longer then 2 (two) days, primarily using frying as method of preservation.
5. Minimized SALT (key enemy) and replaced sugar with Honey and Agave.

Sugar is everywhere in the form of carbohydrates - so watch out and it is not as sweet as it tastes!

References:


1. Inactivity is the major contributor (53%) of the Heart Disease.
    http://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm/

2.  There is no alternative of plain, simple, serene water:
     http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/01/12/what-happens-to-your-body-within-an-hour-of-drinking-a-coke.aspx

3.   All about GI:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index

4.   GI of Sugar:
      http://www.fitsugar.com/Glycemic-Index-Where-Do-Sweeteners-Fall-3031565