Sayan’s BlogWorld

Treehugger reports that the Northwest Passage has become ice-free for the first time in recorded history. Is it now too late to act? The melting poles has renewed interest in their mineral wealth. The article also says

While it had long been expected that the Northwest Passage would gradually open up as a result of rising global temperatures, scientists were taken aback at the speed with which it happened.

TechCrunch reports that this technology is so revolutionary that Adobe snapped up co-inventor Shai Avidan on a moments notice. Check out the video to see how neat this is…

The Ministry of Tourism, India has launched a new channel on Youtube. Check out this very refreshing tourism video from India

Check ‘The 11th Hour‘ the upcoming movie by Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie looks at some of the most critical man-made problems of the planet and seeks to find answers from some of the best scientific minds of our times. After the movie I ended up playing the PlanetGreenGame and even got this badge… I think I will catch the movie when it releases….

George Ayittey, the noted economist from Ghana gave a talk, which TED describes as a ‘grab-you-by-the-throat speech’.

…economist George Ayittey unleashes an almost breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders and the complacency that allows them to thrive. These “Hippos” (lazy, slow, ornery) have ruined postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain optimistic? Because of the young, agile “Cheetah Generation,” a “new breed of Africans” taking their futures into their own hands.

Jacqueline Novogratz of Acumen Fund speaks on the importance of patient listening and dignity in social development related businesses. Here is her talk on TED.com

On the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence, Time Magazine features ‘India Charges Ahead‘ (Asian, European and Asia-Pacific editions only- I wonder why the US edition is different).

The featured articles are all very good but a short article by William Dalrymple titled Why India’s Rise is Business As Usual puts in oft forgotten perspective. The article begins with this sentence:

The idea that india is a poor country is a relatively recent one.

and ends with sentence:

Extraordinary as it is, the rise of India and China is nothing more than a return to the ancient equilibrium of world trade, with Europeans no longer appearing as gun-toting, gunboat-riding colonial masters but instead reverting to their traditional role: that of eager consumers of the much celebrated manufactures, luxuries and services of the East.

Farmingsolutions.org website has a touching story of the success of farmers’ self-help group in India. How they overcame all odds to work themselves out of poverty with sustainable agriculture at the same time caused a social revolution.

The website AfriGadget documents precisely what its tagline says. This is the website to check out if you are interested in seeing how people solve real life problems with limited resources. An African version of the Indian HoneyBee network may prove helpful.

ScienceDaily reports on a just invented process to make a high-energy liquid bio-fuel from fructose. This is all fine and good but we need to ask ourselves honestly… do we really need to convert corn into fuel and animal feed when a quarter of the world is underfed?

I am a big fan of TED and it never fails to wow. In this presentation Hans Rosling demonstrates visually a myriad of development indicators and at one point argues that Africa is not a basket case but has made tremendous strides in social development.

Guy Kawasaki gives an interesting presentation (video) on Art of Innovation. It is nice not only from the content but also the presentation point of view.

I haven’t posted in a while so I thought it will be nice to write a few lines… I came back from a short 2-week vacation in India and have been pretty busy with work since then.

I spent a week or so in Bangalore, 2 days in Chennai (Madras) and 2 days in Calcutta. This was the first time I flew direct from US to India. The 15 hour flight was not as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. Weather-wise Bangalore was amazing, in spite of the large scale de-greening it has seen, it is still greener than most cities. Madras was oppressively hot and humid. The 2 days I was in Calcutta, it didn’t stop raining. On my way in and out, I stopped in Delhi for a few hours. It was amazingly hot but it was dry heat so it was bearable. Otherwise, Delhi still has the best roads and Gurgaon is well on its way to becoming a sky-scraper filled megapolis of fashionable housing and malls.