(Huh, forgot I took this picture…nice!)

Link to video: Mark Bittman on what’s wrong with what we eat (click)

Mark Bittman is my favorite food writer. I don’t think there is anyone else out there that can be as simple and straight to the point about food and food issues.  I have four of his books, “How to cook everything”, “From Simple to Spectacular”, “The minimalist cooking at home”, and “Food Matters”. They are all great and if you like to cook a little, a lot, or just like food (this means you person that doesn’t like to cook) then they’re all worth a read.

Every time he says something I always get the feeling of wanting to turn to people I know and say, “SEE THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT”. Mark Bittman does a fantastic job of explaining things to make sense…….me on the other hand, not so much.

You can see him regularly on the morning show circuit, his New York Times “Bitten Blog” which I check regularly, and by checking out some of his books.  The things he says and issues he brings up may not be something you agree with but you will at some point in time……yeah, he’s awesome.

So I hope you watched the video…..three more on the way!

Eric

]]> http://omniprasan.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/the-story-of-africa-unstereotyped/ Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:42:52 +0000 Prasanna http://omniprasan.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/the-story-of-africa-unstereotyped/

Here is one another TED video, which captured my imagination.

But, just before that in case you are wondering, why I re-publish what is already at TED.com, I think not everyone will have time and chance to look into those videos. Even if they have, it is better to re-publish TED videos than forwarding emails scaring you of losing your eye if you do not pass it to hundred thousand people in 30 seconds.

(Photo courtesy of Sippitysup.com using my Fried Spaghetti Recipe…I’m not a extra chunky sauce type of guy)

Link to video:   Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce

So, I hope you watched this video. Sometimes I struggle to find a way to explain the way I feel about things or an effective way to tell you the things I’m learning about.  Instead of me explaining these things to you I just leave it to the professionals.  I’m going to do a weeks worth of posting on these talks that can be found on TED.com.  If you have never visited their site then I suggest you do so on a regular basis.  Those days when you’re just perusing the internet looking for the next cute puppy picture or LOLCat could probably be better served learning about something amazing….who knows, it might change the way you look at things…..OH NO, THAT COOKING BLOG IS TRYING TO TEACH US SOMETHING!!! RUN AWAY!!

Anyway, I like Malcolm Gladwell, and honestly, I had no idea who he was until I started clicking around Ted.com and found his talk on spaghetti sauce. He talks about his friend that shows the food industry how to not find the perfect product but instead find the perfect products to sell consumers.  I struggled with this idea of finding the right posts for a long time before I saw this video months ago.  I have taken this little blog of mine and transformed it from being just a bunch of recipes to visiting restaurants, food events, travelling around a bit, culinary school and job experiences, and I have even stepped out of my comfort zone by trying to actually write….Sleeping in my Chef Pants section (writing is the thing that I’m most self-conscious about).  I have done all these things to not give you the perfect cooking blog but bring together all aspects of all blogs into one spot.   I’m happy with where this is all going so get ready for things to get much better!

WATCH THE DAMN VIDEO!

Eric

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. The website offers very interesting talks. The vast amount of topics alone ranging from psychology, biology, technology, music, etc. makes this website noteworthy.

From their “About TED” website:
“TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.”

Here are some of my favorite talks:
1) William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind
An inspiring story on how a physics book and a windmill can change your life.
2) Michael Pritchard’s water filter turns filthy water drinkable
This is about a water filter with nanopores. Very dirty water becomes clean and drinkable.
3) Marc Koska: 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe
In poor countries syringes are just reused resulting in infections. See how a simple invention prevents the reuse.
4) Johnny Lee demos Wii Remote hacks
Use a Wii controller to build your own head-tracking system and electronic white-board.
5) Paul Debevec animates a photo-real digital face
Facial animation at its finest.
6) Eric Giler demos wireless electricity
Nicola Tesla’s idea of wirless electricity coming true.

Besides, there is another water filter called “lifestraw”. Watch how lifestraw is put to an absolute test and the reasons and science behind it.

This TED Talk is a fascinating look at a process for designing modern libraries and other public spaces, based on three principles:  a hyper-rational process, editing/team approach rather than “authorship,” and compartmentalized flexibility.

It’s interesting that the architects identified both media/books and social roles as important aspects of the library, somewhat contrary to “the library’s” expectation that books/media was their primary role concern. Something Prince-Ramus points out that rang a bell with me, was that the current concerns of the library – “the book” – was subsuming the rest of the space.  Yes, I’ve worked in libraries where the books (or at least the medical journals) consume more and more space, leaving no room for the library’s other responsibilities.

I liked the description of a “parking garage for books” – a spiral in which the full run of the classification system can stay in order, as opposed to the “trail of tears” that pertains when a collection does not fit its space and must be split up on separate floors or areas.

I’m not likely to be involved in building a library, but the approach to design here suggests some ways of thinking about space, function, programming, and design that might be applicable to my very small spaces.

See the video here: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/joshua_prince_ramus_on_seattle_s_library.html

Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3.

Next on stage was another Government employee. But that is not where the similarity stops. He also has run against the grain and did the unthinkable. He is none other than Dr Santosh Babu. Yes, he is a doctor, the one with MBBS! And also an IAS! And a rock star among them! He has silently created a revolution of sorts in the Krishnagiri district. I already knew that Tamilnadu is the most urbanized state in India with 44% people living in Urban areas. But only in his speech did I learn that Krishnagiri is the most backward district with all bad indicators and heavy infusion of naxal elements. Very sad. He has encouraged children who had dropped out of school to come back using the Back2School Program. He has also pioneered the Rural BPO called FOSTERA. Here are some amazing bits:

1. What is the single most important factor which prevents Govt Officials from implementing projects? Money? NO! No, not even corruption,Its research. Many enthusiastic people don’t know what the root cause of a problem is.
2. Do you think e-governance will ever take off in Tamilnadu? hell yeah, it’s rocking! We were amazed to see a real-time dashboard of students which shows those who have not attended school on a given day, district wise, village wise and student wise. We were also able to see the student’s complete history of family particulars, parent’s income, reason for dropping out and much more.
3. There is no dearth of NGOs or organizations or welfare programs. On the contrary, the real reason is there is no co-operation among various bodies.

I was amazed at this and much more facts he was giving out. Here is a guy standing before me, instead of complaining about the system and bucking safely, found a way to co-exist and excel. He will be remembered as a champion by every villager who got his child sent to school and getting paid for doing so. The video he displayed showing the employees of FOSTERA was simply moving. I have never seen a person more confident than the girl who said FOSTERA has made herself exceed expectations. Yes, she did speak in a good English. (I find poorer English in some of my colleague’s email). Again there is another young man who has enrolled his younger brother into engineering with his job and savings. (Again, I couldn’t stop thinking of Filthy rich people who send their daughters to Filthy rich person’s “AWESOME” Colleges only to complete and marry of to a London Restaurateur). I also could not stop thinking of a******s building temple for Kushboo and Nayanthara, while one for this Santosh Babu would be much be-fitting.

We are nearing the end. I was not ready to leave the program, but as I said earlier, networking was a part of the fun! So again we broke for Coffee/Tea with Vada. Again met some cool people, I had this uneasy feeling that the event is coming to a close, but again had to attend a reception in the evening.

I thought we are running out of speakers, because Kiruba was giving this warning not to leave, and there is something interesting. Being used to such statements from TV anchors (Don’t go away!, be right back etc…) I did little imagine what was in store.

Next came the magic story-teller Jeeva Raghunath. She never speaks! Always sings! Wow, no offence, given her portly size, her energy and enthusiasm was infectious! She told 3 stories and left us all wanting more I should check out what she does for a living.

Almost close to the end, now comes Kursheed Batliwala fondly known as ‘Bawa’, again an IIT Alum, who went behind his calling! or his friend’s threatening calling as he says. He is an Art of Living practitioner, an active blogger, and a mathematician. We did a small breathing session, and as he said it did not look like 9 minutes have gone! He was very humorous and entertaining. Here is what he got to say about his US Visa Consulate interview:

There are a lot of long queues, each one to join the next one.

Here is how his interview went:

Lady consulate interviewer:

Tell me in one sentence what Art of Living means?

Kursheed:

Art of Living is waking up every monday morning with a Smile!

Lady:

Oh! We definitely need this in US!

He got a 10 year visa.

Now everyone wanted to join this program:-)

There was another man whom Kiruba introduced to everyone, called Mullaivanam who lives in a thatched hut, but wants the world to live in a green place. Small people, amazing results!

The last and the best:  Satyabrata Dam. No I am not going to write about him, just read this one post from his blog. He is what I could call as a true free spirit. I wanted to be him. Everyone wanted to be him. The best part is He always wanted to be what he is. When asked off the stage, he said he never lets himself get pinned down to a group or place. How many of us will say this, I think most of us. But how many of us could practice it? Sadly no one. He is not afraid of death. As he says at the top of the mountain, you should become philosophical. Life is beautiful if the choices are limited, either you do the difficult one and may be die in that, or take a slow painful journey towards an uneventful death. Your Choice.

Thus came to end, the most productive day in my life. And All I was doing was sitting,  listening and chatting. Now I am not fond of flooding with advice, but I am writing the below points as a reference to myself.

• You are already screwed up, if not royally. As Sir Richard Branson said “Screw it, Let’s Do it”!
• So much young people with so much money gave up everything to start new. You cannot fill an already filled glass. Leave it and go for your calling
• You never regret what you did, only what you did not do. I know someone said this, not me, but every speaker was saying this. What about you? What about me?

]]> http://marinakimart.com/2009/11/30/hurrah-hurrah-hurrah/ Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:30:29 +0000 marinakim http://marinakimart.com/2009/11/30/hurrah-hurrah-hurrah/

Ted Nugent... he may have missed out on the whole social media thing

So it’s that time of the year again and finals are beginning to line up at the end of the semester.  It seems like things really fly after Thanksgiving, and I expect it to be no different this semester.  However, in our communications class we are faced with a different challenge for our final examination.  We are to give our very own TED Talk, which stands for T-echnology, E-ntertainment, and D-esign.  The task is to tell a story regarding one of those topics in a 5 minute presentation.

At first finding a topic wasn’t easy but this is what I have decided on at this point.  Before deciding on my TED topic, I had to decide how I could best fit my personality into one of the TED themes.  I had to look no further than my blog to figure that out.  The Entertainment theme clearly is the theme that best reflects me as a person.  That was the best way to ensure that I could give a good, quality TED talk because I know for sure I wouldn’t have to force anything.  After all, I want the talk to be entertaining, so I may as well do it on entertainment.  And that’s when an idea popped into my head.

What I would like to talk about in presentation is how social media sites are changing the entertainment industry as a whole through a marketing perspective.  In doing so, I can successfully combine both areas that I am studying here at St. Joe’s.  I would like to demonstrate how artists, tv personalities, movie stars, and radio shows can market themselves in ways that were never possible before recent social media technologies were created.  Now like never before those who are new to the entertainment industry can promote themselves to others in hopes of gaining publicity, and already established stars can enhance their image and boast upcoming events to keep their niche within the industry fresh.  I plan to demonstrate how those in the industry are doing so through various examples on the latest social media sites. Should be very interesting!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! See you all later this week.

Part 1 & Part 2 .

I think we broke for lunch now. Very good again. well organised and the crowd was an awesome bunch of people. I met with Mr.Padmakumar from Alcatel-Lucent and Mr. Atal Bihari from Mahindra. Great guys each with a decade of experience. We were able to talk like colleagues over a coffee. Atal is new to Chennai and here is one north indian guy who does not complain of Chennai . Padma on the other hand claimed to know every nook and corner of Chennai. We had a small walk around the campus before joining for the after-noon session.  I also met Mustafa Quilon and few other guys during lunch. Amazing guys who volunteered and produced this event. I take this as a chance again to thank one and all. Great guys, Greater work.

We then started with an awe inspiring girl’s speech called Kavita Baliga. 30 seconds into her speech, I was crying. She is a true wunder girl. Kavita was born and brought up in U.S for NRI parents and was diagnosed with Cancer when she was 21. Clichéd as it may sound, but it was her calling time, and life was never the same again for her. She is currently teaching music at the KM Music Conservatory of A.R.Rahman in Chennai. She has performed at various places and her speech was a well prepared well delivered one, until… she could not speak, I right at that moment felt a chill in my palms. She was crying. Oh my god! I felt and I hope the entire auditorium felt the same feeling. The Triumph of human over fate. I get goosebumps even when I write now, with tears washing my keyboard. Hats off to you Kavita! Her rendition of Laughing Aria was spectacular. You must be there to believe. A person diagnosed with Throat cancer, undergone chemo, now singing the Laughing Aria. I was so moved but stopped myself from just from making a scene. Believe me, if you have a chance just watch the video once it becomes available online. You should. Read more about her here. The crowd be fittingly gave her two standing ovations. Well deserved.  Oh! she has a website and she is on Twitter too!

The crowd was dumbstruck by now! Time for some cheer-up! So here comes the most dreaded man for Babus and Netas alike! Mr N. Vittal. Ex- CVC and much more… For us he was surprisingly a humorous and witty guy who shared his life and how, he too was forced to stare the death or something near by when he was diagnosed with Diabetes at the age of 25. He was not even married by then! His journey started from there. I was surprised to know that he knew Tamil! He gave an example of a stanza from Naladiyar much to the awe of the audience. I think that is what defines TED. Awesome people from all walks of life

I still have more to say.. Part 4 then, but not until tomorrow. Don’t miss the Part 4 tomorrow, the climax and my take home points!

]]> http://rotus.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/the-secret-of-happiness-is/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:57:44 +0000 Clark http://rotus.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/the-secret-of-happiness-is/

“low expectations.”

Barry Schwartz, psychologist and Swarthmore College professor’s compelling argument for limited choices. Did you ever notice that poor people seem to be happier than rich ones? Merry Christmas.

Part 1 here.

Coffee break, very good coffee. well arranged. However the best part of the break was every one was looking at the others extra-large ID card to identify and socilaize. I met with Balaji ( @labsji), Maker of Sim-OnDemand. Also I saw Victor from Loyola, a chubby faced student . Met a few others too… I did not have a business card, so while everyone else was busy swapping them, I was just gaping!

I think this is when Chinmayi took over from Kiruba. She started with a kind of nervousness. But she then started singing Maiyaa Maiyaa, where audience also clapped and joined with her to sing! The floor was booming! I was loving this audience!

Romulus Earl Whitaker came on next. He started with a bang! King Cobra! I have heard of this guy a lot of times, and anyone who has visited the Snake Park and Crocodile Park in Chennai should thank him. He started of his story with how and when his passion originated. He was explosively funny and unmissable. Audience had their ears glued to his every word. He is one more guy who prefers Madras over Chennai!. I could continuously RT his every word, so funny and at the same time was educating.  I already felt that it is tough to say which speaker was great by now, every one rocked!

Next on Stage was Madhavan. He is a IIT Alum who has taken the route of industrializing agriculture. I think he was one of the under rated speakers. Yes, he had his jab at the government and the bureaucracy, but that did not go well with the crowd. Nevertheless, as I said earlier, he does a great job, but could not explain it in a good way. Some people found this boring or monotonous, but not me. It was sad to see some people moving around when he was passionately explaining his entire life time of efforts. Guys, at least give some respect for the people on stage. Sigh! I am still amazed at his extensive knowledge and research which he has put into his work. One simple sentence:

Lease the lands from farmers for Rs 50,000. You can increase the productivity by 300% and give back to him.

This sounds too simple to be true, but yes, he had of course did exactly that. He was also exposing about the way soil research offices work. They do not actually conduct a research, templated responses are what he got back. Very sad. Another important aspect what he brought forward was how backward we were on the productivity of agriculture. His example of 30% to 60% was spot on. This is what Dr Abdul Kalam had to say on this guy:

We need not one but a million Madhavans in this country!

I know I am not doing justice to what we experienced. That is precisely the reason why I urge all of you to attend the next TEDx if not the TED.

Following Madhavan was Mr G.V.K Reddy of MARG Group. For most of the time he looked unprepared for the speech, but still there was a passion. I was surprised to see such a high profile guy not displaying his boldness and clarity on stage. Of course when it comes to business, he was fluent. He was talking 250 crores and 66oo crores on a same line as we would talk about idli and dosa. His business is booming. His idea of creating ‘habitat’ and empowering lakhs of people, some how was not packaged and delivered well. He looks like a deeply spiritual man. Nevertheless, the vision driving a poor guy from a village making it big is a story we all would love to hear. He for instance quit his IAS job and started for Rs 800 per month. Then started his business failed a couple of times before making it big. Great person!

I saw this swamiji kind of looking guy, some 60 years old, looking like a foreigner. Then when I saw his ID it was clear. He was none other than Mr Christian Fabre, a successful entrepreneur in Chennai who runs a chain of Fashion stores. He is also a great spiritual person. I think he should have been one of the speakers. We would have loved to hear from him. He is featured on NYTimes and BBC. Google for him to know more. You must now see the kind of exciting people we saw at TEDxChennai. I cannot thank Kiruba and the group enough for organizing this event.

More on the next post…

Wow! that would be one word which summarizes the event. The speakers line up was impressive and the audience were the most riotous I’ve ever seen! Where else would you find CEOs, VPs and students from VIT, IIT etc all gathered at one place, discuss about everything and (gasp!) Jump for rhyming stories like kids!

To start with, I started late . But nevertheless, I did not want to wait for breakfast there, so had a Pongal Vada at Hotchips. This actually helped me in finding a good seat ( it was first come first serve, every time!). I somehow managed to get the same seat till end. This is not the first time I’m going to IIT,  but every time I go, it makes me miss it. Lovely place! The IC & SR auditorium itself is well furnished and world class. I first thought of taking my laptop and doing a live blogging/tweeting of the event. Thank god I did not. It helped me listen.

Then the induction or reception, what ever you would call, was simple and smooth. No hiccups or searching through endless cards. Well organized. Great work guys.

8.40 AM. The auditorium was already filling up. Anil Srinivasan was rehearsing. Little did I imagine what was coming!

9.00 AM sharp! the show did not start!

9.05 AM It has started sometime ago!

Then,

Kiruba was eager to display the video of Chris Anderson explaining the idea behind TED and TEDx. But the problem started here, videos wont play! Sadly these hiccups with softwares continued till the end, and the irritating ‘Stay Offline’ messages in between Satya’s talk. But these were the only negative points. The other think I could think of was lack of seats. Anyone knew why? I thought they sell tickets based on count of seats available. But from now on, I have nothing bad to say, only good and very good things!

I will discuss the first session here. It started with Anil Srinivasan and Sikkil Gurucharan providing us with a breathtaking music combo of Western classical Piano and Carnatic vocal. I could seriously not tell that I am listening to some western instrument. As Anil rightly said, it provided a good frame for the painting called Carnatic music. They were a passionate people, who enjoyed performing as much as the audience. Anil had found his life partner at TED India, so seems like a great place to go next time . Also the performance was preceded by some good talk by Anil, in which he explained about the West and East ‘amalgamation’. Sheer brilliance and passion.

Then came Krupa (Krupalatha Martin Dass) who runs the SUKURUPA home and school in Bangalore for children with distressed parents and broken childhood. Hers is a story of true ‘calling’ one hears often. Another thing which I learnt today and realised perhaps are how women are so strong willed and passionate. Almost most of the rock stars of  the day barring Romulus and Bawa were ‘Five point something’. But their achievements are too tall.

I think it was Sharada who made a documentary film called Shringaram came next. I am not very much knowledgeable or interested in what she was saying, entirely due to my ignorance. I could tell from the crowd that people loved her talk too.

There were a couple of TED Videos interspersed between the talks. Below are them.

Eve Ensler on Security and Insecurity:

Hans Rosling on the best stat’s you’ve ever seen:

The rest I will cover in subsequent posts.

Hans Rosling was a young guest student in India when he first realized that Asia had all the capacities to reclaim its place as the world’s dominant economic force. At TEDIndia, he graphs global economic growth since 1858 and predicts the exact date that India and China will outstrip the US.

This year was my second time to attend and present at the European Council of International School (ECIS). Last year was in Nice, France and we experienced that glorious Mediterranean climate.

This year was in Hamburg, a lovely city in Northern Germany. Not a lot of photos from this work-related trip. My few photos were taken with a shaking (cold) hand holding an iPhone. So best kept hidden in my iPhoto events and not shared on the interweb. I didn’t really see much of Hamburg during the day except during the 5-min walk from the hotel to the conference site.

I attended a whole-day pre-conference workshop to be trained to serve as a member of the accreditation team for the Council of International Schools (CIS). This is my second accreditation training for/from two different international organizations and it was interesting to note the similarities (and differences) between the two in the approach to an accreditation visit. For me, another advantage of being in this accreditation workshop for CIS is meeting administrators and teachers from international schools that follow different curriculum models/programme. In a way, during breaks, conversations about education and the future of education is enriched by these different perspectives.

My colleague and I gave two 1-hour presentations on (1) new curriculum developments, and (2) current and future initiatives in the organization. Although we use PC at work, we now have access to a ‘floating’ macbook which can be loaned, so this time, the presentation was done on Keynote. The presentation looks so much slicker!

Apple was one of the sponsors in ECIS and they ran a few workshops. I went to one on podcasting as I have been meaning to start a project on getting Dan North to podcast his spectacular blog.

To me, one of the best things about ECIS this year is the keynote address. Wade Davis spoke about the extinction of cultures and what it means for the legacy that humanity leaves behind. In his book, The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World“, he argues that “the myriad of cultures makes up an intellectual and spiritual web of life that envelops the planet and is every bit as important to the well being of the planet as is the biological web of life.”  He lamented on the lost of language and predicted that of the 7,100 languages spoken today, half will not be passed on.

This makes me think about the death of the beautiful Filipino alphabet baybayin. Our alphabet was one of the casualties of the Spanish occupation. It’s a beautiful script and to me, it looks like waves of water – how fitting for a country of more than 7,100 islands!

The quote below was attributed to the Philippine national hero, Dr Jose Rizal (1869):

This language of ours is like any other,
it once had an alphabet and its own letters
that vanished as though a tempest had set upon a boat on a lake in a time now long gone.

“To My Fellow Children”,
English translation by P. Morrow

Here is a good link, maintained by Paul Morrow, to the ancient script in the Philippines: http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm

Wade Davi’s book is a good read and comes with an annotated bibliography. Or you can also watch him here on TED talking about endangered cultures.

Oh, and I had a tweet-up with the lovely @gravesle who went to see our presentation. We had a lovely chat about collaboration and master’s classes and, of course, time for photo ops! Look on Leigh’s flickr. And here is her awesome site that should be on your RSS reader!

tweet-up @gravesle and @kloza

]]> http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/storytelling-with-data-statistics-tell-a-story/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:48:00 +0000 theunquietlibrary http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/storytelling-with-data-statistics-tell-a-story/

Presentation Zen: Hans Rosling & the art of storytelling with statistics via kwout

Earlier this week, I urged librarians to think about ways to tell your library’s story.  Here is a cool post from Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen blog, “Hans Rosling and The Art of Storytelling with Statistics.”   Check out what Reynolds has to say about using data and statistics as story, and then check out the latest Rosling video that demonstrates how Rosling uses data to tell a story.

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_asia_s_rise_how_and_when.html

History never lie.

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop.” In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.

Pranav Mistry is the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.

Click here to watch the Video

Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West — and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another.

Click here to watch the Video

Received a very CRUCIAL e-mail on Thursday…

Heya Christina,

Ever get caught in the “why am I not successful yet” thought loop?

Yeah. That pretty much makes you human like the rest of us…

I was then linked to Marie Forleo’s blog post entitled “How To Give Yourself A Self-Deception Realty Check”

Here’s an excerpt:

Do your actions line up with what you say you want?

Do you say you want to make more money, yet you’re not taking concrete steps to make that happen?

Do you say you want to publish a book, yet you spend zero time writing it?

Do you say you want a life of entrepreneurial freedom, yet you’re not laying the groundwork to make it a reality?

If your actions don’t line up with what you say you want, you have two choices.

Either change what you say you want to accurately reflect your truth. In other words, stop torturing yourself with a project or desire you’re not backing up with action.

Or

Get off your ass and get to work. And 9 times out of ten, this is the answer.

Make no mistake, it will take some time to see results.

Don’t whine. Don’t feel sorry for yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others. And most importantly, especially for us “coachy” types. . .

Do NOT give yourself license to fart around in the why-am-I-not-successful-yet head trip. Just keep truckin’.

Because the truth is that while you’re tinkering around in the mind-fuck land of self-reproach, other people are cranking out content, building momentum, creating results and making money doing the very thing you want to do.

And with that,

I’ll be back after progress has been made. Here’s one of my favourite TED Talks for the road…

Talking at the US State Department this summer, Hans Rosling uses his fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the developing world. Look for new analysis on China and the post-bailout world, mixed with classic data shows.