Tim Russert - The Legend

Tim Russet is one of the most accomplished and well respected journalist and a humble human being who suddenly died yesterday. I was personally shocked and moved to learn about this news last evening. I am a subscriber of Meet The Press podcast and religiously watch it every week.

Tim Russet asked focused and pointed questions that made the interviews interesting and informative. He did his homework and research to ask questions in a way that helps people to really understand issues. Through his work he showed his gifted ability to synthesize and analyze information and present it with simplicity and elegance. At this moment I am amazed by how his life has brought so many people come together and remember him. These are moments for us realize the Oneness in Humanity.

Hapiness for sale!

Happiness for sale at a Barnes & Noble near you!



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Why is very powerful

I have always been fascinated by the power of questions and its potential to bring about radical change. Almost every problem that we face are opportunities in disguise. But how do we get to know the opportunity and find a solution to the problem? The answer is we need to think creatively. How to provoke creative thinking? Though there numerous ways for this utilizing the power of questions is one definite way.

In fact to quote Albert Einstein:

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them"

Again, questions can help us to change our perspective to a new level of thinking. There are different questions: Why, How, What, When, Who? Out of these questions "Why?" is the most powerful because when you ask "Why" question it puts us in a position that questions conventional wisdom.

Resourcefulness

I first stumbled upon the concept of Resourcefulness in a TED Talk by Tony Robbins and was instantly inspired by it. Also, more recently Steve Pavlina shared the concept and his view on this topic in a blog post. Steve puts the concept in perspective by clearly outlining Internal and External resources that are available at anyone's disposal at anytime. He also underscores the importance of Internal resources by sharing a hypothetical scenario and I can't agree more.

The internal resources are "invisible" and are available with everyone at all times and are Creativity, Self-Discipline, Confidence, Intelligence, Determination, Courage, Knowledge, Skills, Attitude, Passion and Awareness. The outer resources are Money, Assets, People, Technology, Food, Land, Electricity and Transportation.

Few years back I stumbled upon a lecture at Stanford by Google's Marrissa Mayer titled Creativity Loves Constraint. She was basically referring to technology constraints during product development and how creativity helps. So in order to achieve a desired outcome (product) one should use technology in a creative ways (external=technology, internal=creativity, determination, knowledge, skills). We all basically apply both internal and external resources everyday in our lives but we are "unaware" of it.

The challenges of life may be overcome by having awareness of the internal resources and being able leverage to create external resources effectively is a skill that can be learnt with determination, attitude, awareness (oh! all internal resources).

Lets see if we can stop complaining about limited resources and leverage what we have effectively.

Mentally Disabled Children

As some of you may be aware I am familiar with the challenges faced by Mentally retarded children and is personal to me. In my recent visit to India I observed and understood the need and importance for these children to be vocationally trained. As I understand presently there are training programmes available in special schools which focus on old trades -- cutting paper, making envelopes, etc. These trades are basically create low-value. It is my belief that in this age of global economy and research outcomes in positive psychology we can provide innovative training for skills which can create more value. In order to achieve this we need to identify inborn strengths and talents and match them against new economy trades and train them for the same.

In order to explore possibilities around these themes, at a high level atleast the following needs to be done:

1. Study the behavioral traits of these children
2. Identify patterns of behaviors if any from behavioral study (1)
3. Leverage consistent patterns and match against trades which create higher value

To enable conduct this study a questionnaire probing general behavior with an intent of identifying unique strengths and talents needs to be created. As a first step lot of research in psychology, current training methods/trades, etc. is required. I am writing to seek your interest in contributing to this effort. If you are interested in making consistent contribution please reply to this email and I will add you to a Google Group.

If you know of someone who has worked / working with these children or an expert - doctor, teacher or can in anyway help/advice in this effort please forward this message to them. Also if you know of any groups working in this area already please share with me.

As always I welcome your comments, ideas or suggestions.

Seeing problems as opportunity

Today, I'm inspired by a quote by Lance Armstrong that was quoted during Meet the Press interview:

Dick Cheny shot the Easter Bunny

This is hilarious...

Click-n-Help

UNICEF has launched campaign to make a difference without you spending a penny. Visit the link http://friends.unicefusa.org/r/b16d909c2820102aa29c

Art of Possibility: Roz and Ben Zender

The authors of Art of Possiblity, Roz and Ben Zender were guest for this week's IBM podcast. It is an interesting podcast were they discuss not only about the book but also about possibilities that they see in IBM's technical initiatives and the importance of possibility thinking in a flat world.

During the course of the podcast they discuss about taking responsibility for situation and its power to bring positive change in our life. It is quite amazing to see how most of these concepts relate to Spritual Laws of Sucesss outlined by Deepak Chopra, specifically this one Law of Least Effort.

Wisdom of Uncertaininty

I am reading Deepak Chopra's Seven Laws of Spiritual Success and has been a wonderful learning and experiencing the laws help me in my daily life. I have been reading this book for the past one month and I come to understand something new progressively each time I read.

Today I was inspired to learn The Law of Detachment: "In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty...in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe."

Daily Show : Emmy Awards

I stumbled upon this "The Daily Show" - Emmy Awards 2003 video...

 

Charlie Rose interview of Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet

I stumbled upon this interview http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=515260011274566220 a while ago.  In the interview Warren Buffet gives his insight on the rational for his decision to make the largest ever philanthropic contribution to Gates foundation.   The Gates share their prespective on the donation and about the foundation's work and the positive impact this contribution would have.

The most memorable part of the interview for me is, when Charlie asks Warren "Don't you want to see Buffet this, Buffet that?",  he shots back immeidately in his own way saying "No" with a humorous tone.    

Click-n-Feed

If you click a link in the hungersite it would help feed someone. Please bookmark (or if possible make it ur homepage) and click everyday. Visit The Hunger Site and make sure you click the link specified in that page.

Bill Gates out did professional comdians!

Bill Gates took a shot at Dick Cheney yesterday at the RSA conference. He said he felt safer by not accepting his other invitation which is to go for hunting with Dick Cheney :))

Definitely Watch it here. You don't want to miss it!

Thomas Friedman wants Jeffrey Immelt as Vice President

Thomas Friendman through his opinion column titled "State of the Union" wants Jeffrey Immelt, C.E.O. of General Eelectic to be nominated as Vice President of the United States. I would cretainly welcome Tom's version of the State of the Union Click Here.

HOT Deals

Here are some websites were you can find some cool deals and save some bucks for your holiday shopping....

• http://www.woot.com/ 
• http://www.dealsea.com/
• http://www.slickdeals.com/
• http://deals2buy.com/
• http://www.dealnews.com/
• http://www.techbargains.com/
• http://www.dealsatnet.com

Happy shopping :)

are you hungry?

Are you hungry? Do you want some vegetarian south indian food? Sorry I can't give you any food here but I can direct you to mouthwatering receipe blog that I stumbled upon http://talkingveggie.blogspot.com/

Personal Development

For the past couple of days I got immersed into reading the excellent Personal Development articles by Steve Pavlina. He has shared his rich experienced insights on a wide array of topics that one could ask for.

I have joined his Million Dollar Experiment and I put forward my intention:
"In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all, I intend $1,000,000 to come into my life and into the lives of everyone who holds this intention."

To learn more about Million Dollar Experiment click here.

Excellent Music

I stumbled upon Hari Sivaramakrishnan MusicalMusings blog! Wow what a great musician... You should definite have a click on his Vande Mataram Composition..

Also visit their F6 Project site at htpp://f6.cjb.net

Katrina

There is no doubt that hurricane Katrina is one of the most devastating natural disasters in the history of the United States. I have to salute to the efforts of the national guards, volunteers, sate, local and federal workers. But I feel since due the inexperience of disasters like these we are unable to help the victims in terms of getting basic necessities with urgency. I think we must also address the stagnating water issue by applying (spraying) appropriate chemicals to prevent the spread of diseases.

Wakeup Pakis - This is 2005!

"Dr Shazia Khalid was raped on January 2nd , allegedly by an army officer while performing her duty as a medical officer for Pakistan Petroleum Limited in Sui, Balochistan. Her rapist was never caught and the Government of Pakistan forced her to leave Pakistan and left her stranded in the United Kingdom, where she is currently seeking asylum"

Have a click on this NYT article... http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/02/opinion/02kristof.html?ex=1123732800&en=45f7cab5fa7a84c1&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Also have a click here http://www.4anaa.org/stories/shazia.htm

If you are in or around NYC you could join for a rally http://www.4anaa.org/

a beautiful mind

I finally had a chance to see this movie few days back, its just fabulous. I am truly touched by two things this movie conveys: attitude and affection.