~ Food for thought ~

As Ludwig Feuerbach, the German Philosopher and Anthropologist, in 1862 wrote in an essay  "man is what he eats". That phrase holds good even after 152 years.

This TED talk by Robyn O'Brian provides some very interesting insights on how the food we intake might be the cause for various allergies

& diseases, influx of GM food over the period of time, business model of many food companies & health companies, etc. 

Most of her research & analysis might be specific to the food supplies in the US market. That shouldn't matter, it still worth watching as Urban Indians are consuming produce & food products from supermarkets that sell imported ones. Better to expand your knowledge on the food items that you include in your everyday diet.

As Robyn rightly says, "None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. Together we can bring the change". So invest 14 minutes of your time and spread the word.

~ Be a Now-ist ~

Love this talk by Joi Ito on how the Internet has transformed the world of building things at lower cost, bottom-up innovation, community driven development & continuos development. 

Like the way he says, "Don't be futurist, be a Now-ist".

More about Joi Ito.

~ Amazon's retail revolution ~

This BBC documentary covers how Jeff Bezos built Amazon retailing business, how it works, disrupted the local businesses and how it is investing it's profits into new businesses. It might be making our lives lot more easier at the same time ruining someone's life.

So next time you decide on what you wanna do, support the local business or buy from an online retailing company. Homegrown e-retailing Flipkart is following Amazon's footsteps.

~ FIFA 2014 schedule ~

All footie fans here you go with the FIFA world cup schedule. All events are shown in India Standard Time zone.

Also check out posters of all the 32 national teams who are participating in FIFA2014.

~ Arsenal 2014 ~

Man City won crucial ties, scored more goals & rightly deserve to be the champions of 2014.

However, Gunners stayed at top of the league for the maximum number of days - 128 and ended up finishing 4th. 

It doesn't matter how many days the team stayed on top of the table unless they remain their at the end of season. 

COYG! win the FA cup and end the trophy draught.

~ Right to education ~

ASER has done a great job in coming up with statistics from across India. Interesting to know as to the percentage of children going to Private schools across various states:

• 60% in Kerala & Manipur
• 54% in Haryana
• 42% in Punjab, J&K, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan & Meghalaya
• 30-40% in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh & Himachal Pradesh 
• 20-30% in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh & Sikkim
• 10-20% in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Chattisgargh & Assam
• < 10% in Bihar, West Bengal, Orrisa & Tripura

There is large number of state where 50% receive private education outside schools. Education planning needs to consider the large number of people enrolling to private institutions, so that Government institutions can do better.

Right To Education is a good thing for India as long as we can keep the drop outs low. Hats off to the efforts of volunteers who worked with ASER to come with the stats.

Via Hans Rosling

Today in New Delhi to learn from http://t.co/OHjGxTn9iY It´s probably the world´s best NGO for Primary Education https://t.co/pOPvBHVAhW
— Hans Rosling (@HansRosling) February 8, 2014

~ Media blacks out Snowden interview ~

This past Sunday evening former NSA contractor Edward Snowden sat down for an interview with German television network ARD. The interview has been intentionally blocked from the US public, with virtually no major broadcast news outlets covering this story. In addition, the video has been taken down almost immediately every time it’s posted on YouTube.