Shortcuts

Earlier today I saw an interesting TED talk by Tom Hulme, 'What can we learn from shortcuts ?'

I learnt that when there's a shortcut, you should take it. So here's my shortcut for today's blog, 'Watch Shortcuts'.

p.s.: Don't forget to write me a thank you note, when you're able to use the learning to take your own shortcuts and not only save time and money, but also optimize the chances of success.

Teachers: We owe them

Yesterday on my flight from Newark to Mumbai, I was trying to find a movie to see. There were 100+ choices. Yet I couldn't find one that I wanted to see. I'd either seen the good ones and the others didn't seem appealing.

On my 3rd pass of going through the choices, I saw a familiar face on the poster. It was of Juhi Chawla, one of favorite Hindi actor. And the movie was Chalk and Duster. It had a few big name stars in addition to Juhi Chawla, Shabana Azmi and Girish Karnad. The odd thing was that I had never heard of this movie earlier.

I started watching it and it was quite okay. And definitely worth watching. Especially if you're in a plane at 37,000 feet and no where else to go. The story was about a school and how its teachers were harassed by its evil principal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk_n_Duster

What stood out to me was the underlying theme of teachers. And how they form the most noble profession. And yet are undervalued, underestimated, underpaid, under... Its ironic that students taught by these teachers earn a much lager pay packet, not to mention the phenomenal benefits and perks.

As individuals we may not be able to bring change in the way the teaching profession is valued. However we can do the one thing that will make it worth their while. Thank them for all they've done. I plan to try and locate all those from whom I've learnt. At school. At college. And at work. And tell them, "Thank You. I appreciate everything you've done." I hope you do too.
 

Happy Birthday June 12-thers

June 12 is a very special day in our immediate family. 5 people share their birthday.

The first is my mother's brother, Rony Uncle. Then comes my brother Donald. Then comes my cousin Vanitha. And then unbelievably comes Anitha, Rony uncle's daughter. This itself was huge. 4 people all born on the same day. But for my brother Frank, huge is not enough. It has to be unbelievable. So he got married to Dana. And yes, you got it right. She celebrates her birthday on June 12.

What's even more interesting is, how rare an event is this actually ? To calculate that, we will first need to calculate the total number of people who would fit into the pool of people that form the June 12thers.

That would be Rony uncle and his 7 siblings. And their spouses. And the children of each of the siblings. And their spouses. The total works out to 52. So 5 out of 52 share their birthday on the same day.

You'll be surprised to know that the probability of this happening is much greater than you think. Its over 0.2%. And therefore not really that rare an occurrence. But interesting nevertheless. What's even more interesting is the probability of having 2 birthdays is over 97%. 3 over 12%. And 4 over 1.6%.

As of today they haven't all been in the same place on June 12. Rony uncle lives in Mangalore. Don in San Francisco. Vanitha in New Jersey. Anitha in Bangalore. And Dana in Connecticut. But Mabel, my sister plans to change that. She has taken upon herself the task of getting them all together in the same place. And since most are either in India or in the US, Europe is her choice for the venue.

Here's wishing Rony uncle, Don, Vanitha, Dana and Anitha a very happy birthday and a great year ahead. And here's wishing Mabel all the luck in making this come true. And wishing that she invites me.

p.s.: I may be wrong about the probabilities. So do let me know if you have a different set of probabilities.

Build a School in the Cloud

Recently Reia sent me a link to a TED talk. Yes Reia. I was as surprised as you probably are.

She felt that the talk was relevant to the HOPE device we had designed and developed.

HOPE is a powerful small device and is an acronym for Highspeed Outernet Powered Education. You can read more about the HOPE device here
http://lobodecoded.blogspot.in/2015/07/h-o-p-e.html



The TED Talk was by Sugata Mitra entitled "Build a School in the Cloud". The talk was extremely interesting and impressive. Gives some amazing insights and a must watch. Thanks Reia.