THE ARJUN SANTOSH BLOG

Smart phones are the new cigarettes

2015-04-20T22:28:00.000+05:30

I only smoked for a short period in my life - somewhere between the ages of 15 and 23. And really, I don't think I could ever call myself a proper smoker. Even at my most nicotine infused I probably smoked no more than 5 cigarettes a day.

Back then you could smoke everywhere of course. Not just in bars, but on tops of busses, in cinemas, even in airplanes. I always thought it was faintly ridiculous to have a smoking section on planes but hey...

The thing is though, I don't think I was ever really addicted to Nicotine.

So why did I smoke? Well…some of it was a desire to fit in…some of it was a desire to rebel. But I think more importantly it was the most incredible prop.

Standing alone at the bar? light a cigarette. It will give you something to lean on - something to do with your hands. And you'll feel less awkward, less embarrassed about standing there with no one to talk to.

Waiting for the bus? Light a cigarette. Pulling on the smoke will relive the boredom and give you a focus for your wandering mind.

And of course "needing a light" is THE best excuse for speaking to someone you find attractive. In fact, I’m convinced that a lot of my generation wouldn't have been born at all if our parents weren't puffing away like Serge Gainsbourg in his final years.

I’ve been a non smoker for 20 years now, and I’ve no intention of starting again. But it occurred to me the other day just how much the smart phone has become the modern version of the cigarette.

You’re at a conference sitting on your own. You don’t know anyone and you’re waiting for the next speaker to come on stage. You feel a bit awkward, a bit out of place. What do you do?

Well if you’re anything like me you’ll reach for your phone. Sure we need to check our emails from time to time, to tweet, to text…whatever. But isn’t a part of it just having something to do?

Something to make us feel a little less silly and a little less naked?

And I know I’m not alone. The other day I was waiting at the platform in a suburban station. Every single person I counted was looking at their smartphones. Were they just looking for distraction on the way home, something to make the time go quicker? Or is it more than that? Are we so afraid of being fully present in the moment that we reach for our favourite prop, our electronic security blanket?

In our culture, there is pressure to interact, to engage, to do…even if we are alone. To sit and just ‘be’ feels deeply alien…and faintly embarrassing.

And maybe a great prop, be it a smart phone or a cigarette, helps us avoid doing just that. Being naked, facing the world as it really is in all its boredom and mundaneness.

“You’re never alone with a Strand”, was one of the most famous strap lines in British advertising. It referred to a brand of cigarettes popular in the 1950s, advertised by a solitary man in a trench coat and trilby hat.

The trilby hat and the trench coat are long gone now of course, but maybe the cigarettes live on…in high resolution.

Are Beards OK in the Office?

2015-04-19T23:40:00.003+05:30

Unless you’ve been walking around staring at the floor you’ll have noticed that the beard has made a remarkable comeback as the ‘Hipster Beard’. I was at a funeral last week and of the four men under the age of 35* I was the only one not sporting such a beard. In conversation with one chap I found that his beard required regular pruning and even the application of something called ‘Beard Oil’ to give it extra shine.

It looks like I’ve missed the beard trend, not least because as a baldy with an ample post-Christmas belly, all I’d need is fingerless gloves and I’d look like a fisherman. Furthermore I’m not sure what a wiry ginger beard could do for my appearance.

Once upon a time though I remember working in an office in one of my first jobs. I’d only recently started and so didn’t know the office etiquette surrounding beards. After a couple of day’s growth, producing what is also known as Bumfluff, I was approached by my boss, “Daniel, your facial hair isn’t really appropriate in this office. Please make sure you shave tonight and in future do so daily.” After that I kept a razor and shaving foam in my desk draw just in case.

I then remarked about those chaps who do have beards. “Smart beards are fine, however the growth stage looks scruffy so if you want a beard I suggest you grow one when you next have a holiday of more than a week.” Well and truly told.

So what does a beard say about the wearer?

Well in the past people have associated beards as being scruffy, with some thinking the wearer as being lazy. Some people associate the wearer of a beard as being rough and ready. Beards have been associated with scholarly people such as professors and lecturers and also religious figures. And then there is the designer stubble, which for many is the height of trendiness. With so many people sporting the beard these days they can’t all be a result of laziness can they? As my friend with the beard oil has shown, the work which goes into such beards is highly demanding, not least because one must get through the itching stage.

So what are your thoughts? Is it ok to wear a beard to work in a 21st Century office? Or should beards be banned? And what does the beard say about the wearer?

Steven Spielberg: A Profile in Failure

2015-04-19T23:39:00.000+05:30

The greatest people in history have been failures. Certainly, we remember these individuals as successes--success stories--and we treat those stories as legends and those individuals as gods. But each of them failed epically and repeatedly, more so than the combined successes of all of humanity.

Failure should not be overlooked in anyone, especially not those we admire. It is through failure that these individuals were able to learn, grow and ultimately succeed. We know this about ourselves but even as we learn to accept our own failures, sometimes we don’t recognize that the most successful people in the world have had an abundance of failure.

Our heroes need to be held to the same standard as the ancient Greek gods: awesome but not infallible. Failure is a humbling exercise, both for the observer and the observed. But learning is a humbling process. Once we realize that our heroes are just like us, we can examine how failure drives success. So I’ve started collecting stories about the failures of successful people, as a reminder that if you’re making mistakes and learning from them, you’re actually on the path to success.

Steven Spielberg is one of the lucky few who figured out his life’s calling from a very young age. At ten he filmed the adventures of himself and his friends and charged admission to the home viewings. At 12 he wrote and directed a nine-minute film to earn a Boy Scout photography badge, and at 16 he made his first full length film,Firelight, which had a budget of $500 and was shown at his local cinema.

Spielberg’s name has since become synonymous with box office gold – he is the creator of the blockbuster, having beat record after record and produced films grossing over $8.5 billion in his four decade long career. His significant contributions to film are too many to list but include Jurassic Park, Lincoln, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler's List. There is no doubt that Spielberg was born to make movies. Yet his transition from kid with an 8mm camera to Hollywood superstar was anything but smooth, and at several points in his early career his failures far outstripped his accomplishments.

After working on short films and television, Spielberg’s first big break was to direct a small feature-length film called The Sugarland Express. The movie was well received by critics but was a box office flop and received only a limited release. The experience left Spielberg disappointed and more determined than ever to produce a hit. He expressed interest in a script about a killer shark, and was chosen to direct it. Everyone knows that Jaws was a monstrous hit, but the 27-year old Spielberg referred to it as “the worst experience of my life.”

From day one, the film was plagued with problems, most notably because the main character, played by three 25-foot mechanical sharks, declined to cooperate. “Bruce,” as the shark was called, refused to work correctly most days, causing the production’s 55 planned shooting days to drag out to a grueling 159 days, and the $4.5 million budget to soar to $10 million. The plan was to intersperse footage of Bruce with real sharks filmed off the coast of Australia, but those sharks proved to be uncooperative as well. One of them even attacked the boat, scaring the stunt double so badly that he quit on the spot.

With a lack of willing sharks and pressure from the studio to finish shooting, Spielberg had to improvise. He filmed barrels on the surface instead of the shark, and focused on above-water shots. Ironically, the images of the ocean surface paired with the haunting four-note melody that signified the shark’s presence made the movie more suspenseful than it would have been otherwise. It turned out that not seeing the shark was scarier than seeing the shark. When it was finally released, Jaws became the most successful movie of all time.

Jaws was a huge success by any measure. Yet Spielberg was traumatized: “I thought my career as a filmmaker was over. I heard rumors from back in Hollywood that I would never work again because no one had ever taken a film a hundred days over schedule – yet alone a director whose first picture had failed at the box office.” And it wasn’t just the studios that kept him up at night. He did not enjoy good relationships with the overworked crew and later stated “I was really afraid of half the guys in the crew.” For months after finishing the film, Spielberg had full-blown panic attacks.

Spielberg had made many mistakes that he knew were unacceptable, yet in the end, his film succeeded. As a result, the lessons learned—be collegial, respect deadlines, stay within budget—fell largely on deaf ears. He called the filming ofJaws “the worst experience of my life,” but without truly internalizing his failures, he moved on to his next movie, which he later described as “twice as bad and twice as expensive.” Close Encounters of the Third Kind was beset with its own litany of problems and it too went over time and over budget. It was a nightmare to direct and manage but like Jaws, it was a box office hit and earned Spielberg an Oscar nomination for best director. It proved that Spielberg was a preeminent director, with the ability to make a film that could please the masses as well as critics, and it gave him the clout to choose his next project and produce it on a free rein.

But sometimes success is a successful person’s worst enemy. It turned out that the free rein given to Spielberg was just enough for him to hang himself by creating the worst movie of his career. Declining offers for several would-be blockbusters, Spielberg instead started production on a movie called 1941, a satirical World War II movie that poked fun at American’s fear of the Japanese after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was filled with bombs, riots, exploding aircrafts, and general destruction. It was a sensitive topic, addressed in the least sensitive way possible. The movie suffered from a lack of vision and purpose, and most notably, from an abundance of Spielberg’s newfound hubris after the commercial success of Jaws and Close Encounters.

The trouble began before filming starting, when Spielberg went on the record boldly pledging “I will not make this movie if it costs a penny over $12 million.” As the production tab mounted, that quote became a running joke and even ended up on crew t-shirts. The final bill totaled $31.5 million. Spielberg later admitted the cost was his fault: “I wanted it—the bigness, the power, hundreds of people at my beck and call, millions of dollars at my disposal, and everybody saying, Yes, yes, yes….1941 was my Little General period.”

The ballooning budget was the smallest problem with the movie. The script was bad and Spielberg’s directing was worse. He made the decision to reference Jaws by using the same swimming woman from the opening sequence of Jaws, having her again swim naked, this time encountering a Japanese submarine while the Jawstheme music played. Screenwriter Bob Gale later commented that “while mildly amusing, the scene went on for far too long, and it was a bit early for Spielberg to begin paying homage to his own movies.” Rather than learning and growing, Spielberg’s success had gone to his head, and he knew it by the time the film was in post-production, referring to it as “utter horror.” The irony was lost on no one, as the film was supposed to be a comedy.

Things got even worse in editing when Spielberg cut out some important parts of the character development. Specifically, he cut out big parts of the main character. The character was macho and Spielberg couldn’t relate. Bob Gale explained that Spielberg “was always afraid of those kind of guys; they were the ones who used to pick on him.” So for the sake of his own ego he cut much of the character out, replacing it with more scenes of explosions and destruction. The result was a movie that at best lacked cohesion, and at worst, was completely unwatchable. 1941 was a dismal failure, only turning a small profit because viewers in other countries enjoyed laughing at the dithering American characters portrayed. Spielberg was so ashamed of the movie that he left the country when it was released in hopes of shielding himself from the backlash.

Many people couldn’t have recovered, but Spielberg was different. Having finally made the kind of mistakes that lead to true failure, Spielberg acknowledged there were things he did not do well. It was clear that he never learned how to manage budgets or people well. His own vision was also blurred by his success. So Spielberg did what all great individuals do: he found himself a mentor and took a step back from calling all the shots. He signed up to work under George Lucas, who had just produced Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. George Lucas was an old friend, and they’d previously had a rivalry when Star Wars and Close Encounterswere released at the same time. After Lucas visited Spielberg’s set, he nearly had a panic attack having seen the elaborate production. Lucas became worried thatClose Encounters would trample Star Wars at the box office, and Spielberg responded with a friendly bet: each of them would trade 2.5% of the profits. That means Lucas would get 2.5% of Close Encounters and Spielberg would get 2.5% ofStar Wars. As we know, Star Wars vastly outperformed all rivals including Close Encounters, and that loss earned Spielberg a whopping $40 million from his bet with Lucas. A very costly failure for Lucas, but he gained a loyal friend and colleague in return.

To the outside world Spielberg was riding high, but he had failed repeatedly to deliver movies on time and under budget. Spielberg needed help and he turned to his friend. Spielberg and Lucas were competitive peers, but in a humbling shift, Spielberg became an employee again. It was quite an exercise in modesty for Spielberg to agree to take second seat behind his friend. Unlike Spielberg, Lucas was known in Hollywood for staying within budget and maintaining a disciplined schedule. Despite his passion and drive, Lucas was also well liked by actors and crew. It was exactly what Spielberg needed. He had someone to tell him “no” when necessary and to keep him on track. He also had someone to act as a guide and muse. Not only did Lucas and Spielberg complete the film under budget, but they did it in only 73 days when they had been allotted 85 days. That film, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, was the highest-grossing film of 1981. It also received half a dozen Oscar nominations and inspired three sequels.

More importantly for Spielberg, it allowed him to learn from his mistakes and come out stronger on the other side. A mentor was exactly what Spielberg needed. As Spielberg puts it, “the delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” AfterRaiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg’s career again took off. But this time, it was far more balanced. Gone were the production issues, crew problems, and ego. He was able to balance the art and science of filmmaking and went on to become one of the greatest directors of all time.

10 Toxic Words you Must not Say in a Job Interview

2015-04-19T23:37:00.003+05:30

There’s plenty advice out there to rehearse what you’re going to say in a job interview: research questions the interviewer might ask, practice your answers, come up with salient questions of your own…

But what about rehearsing what you’re not going to say?

I put together a list below of some words you’ll want to try to avoid at your next job interview, because even though they seem like just ordinary words, they could be major red flags for an interviewer or recruiter.

No.

First of all, if asked even a simple question, you don’t want to give a single word answer (yes or no). But when the answer is no, definitely don’t leave it there! For example, if asked if you know a particular computer program, and you don’t, you could say, “I haven't yet had a chance to learn it but would be interested to do so,” rather than simply saying “No.”

Er… Um…

That old saying, “If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything at all,” applies here a big. Rather than hemming and hawing while you try to think up an answer, just be silent and think. Saying er or um too much could make you seem unprepared or as though you’re not paying attention.

Whatever, OMG, bae… groovy?

Lose the slang when talking to an interviewer. You want to come across as polished and professional, and you don’t want them to have to dig out their urban dictionary to understand you.

Sure, cool, kinda…

These kinds of words are just too casual, even in a casual workplace. You should be presenting the best version of yourself, not the sloppy, casual version.

We

This one seems innocuous at first, but if you use it a lot when discussing job duties and accomplishments, the interviewer might start to wonder if it was you or your team that was responsible. Try to use “I” as much as possible.

Dedicated, motivated, team player...

Lose the resume speech and jargon. Besides the fact that these words are incredibly overused in interview situations, they’re also better demonstrated than just stated. If you want to convey your dedication or motivation, share an example from your past work experience; examples will go much further to making your claims believable.

Leverage, synergy, ideation…

I’d avoid using too much business jargon. The chances that you’ll come off sounding like an idiot are just too high. Too much business buzzwords or jargon tends to make people sound pretentious, or worse, downright stupid.

“Hit the ground running,” “Circle back…”

These kinds of cliches have little to no meaning, they’re just verbal fluff, and they don’t add anything to what you’re saying. So leave them out.

Hate

I can’t think of a single instance when saying you “hate” something in a job interview is appropriate, but it’s exceptionally inappropriate to say anything about hating your former job, co-workers, boss, etc.

Perfectionist

It’s become almost a cliche in and of itself to answer a question like, “What’s your biggest flaw?” with a positive flaw like, “I’m a perfectionist.” Any good interviewer will see right through that, so just don’t do it.

Ipl 2015

2015-04-08T18:01:00.000+05:30

Guess What This IPL Season Has Got In Store For You : http://www.iplt20.com/

You've fallen 99 times? You're hired!

2015-04-08T17:52:00.000+05:30

Who would you prefer to hire?

Someone who has tried something 100 times and never failed or someone who's tried 100 different things, failed 99 times, and only succeeded once.

Here's why you should hire the person who's fallen short 99 times.

If you've succeeded 100 times without fail, you haven't been risking anything. You've been playing it safe. And you've never been tried or challenged. Heck, you haven't even broken a sweat. And you've never learned anything new because you've never had to. You may be successful ... but you're also static.

Now someone who's fallen 99 times has also had to get up 99 times, which shows character, determination and a strong will. If you've fallen 99 times out of a hundred, you've risked something all 100 times, which is daring. Falling 99 times also provides 99 opportunities to learn something new that can be used for the next challenge. If you've fallen 99 times, you weren't born into success - you had to earn it.

To do good things, you need someone with a consistent track record. To do greatthings, you need someone who's not afraid to take risks and will get right back up after falling down. You can pack your team with perfect people all you want, but I want to do something that hasn't been done before. I want to shake things up. I need people who think, "I don't know how many tries it's going to take but I'm going to do this eventually."

17 Evocative Images From Australia’s 2015 National Photographic Portrait Contest

2015-04-08T17:48:00.000+05:30

‘Portrait of Ali’ 2014 by Hoda Afshar

(Credit: Hoda Afshar, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Blue’ 2014 by Adrian P Connelly

(Credit: Adrian P Connelly, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Matilda after the match’ 2014 by Andrew Merry

(Credit: Andrew Merry, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Catherine in black silk’ 2014 by Chris Budgeon

(Credit: Chris Budgeon, National Portrait Gallery)

‘HOMELAND The importance of place’ 2014 by Dave Laslett

(Credit: Dave Laslett, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Beau & Leon’ 2014 by David Rosendale

(Credit: David Rosendale, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Who’s that lady? 2014 by Ferne Millen

(Credit: Ferne Millen, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Ronnie Howard still dancing’ 2014 by Ivan Gaal

(Credit: Ivan Gaal, National Portrait Gallery)

‘A look I’ve never seen before’ 2014 by Ketakii Jewson-Brown

(Credit: Ketakii Jewson-Brown, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Cactus World, Lester Meyers’ 2014 by Man Tsun Cheung

(Credit: Man Tsun Cheung, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Now we must climb higher’ 2014 by Mark Hopper

(Credit: Mark Hopper, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Ela Stiles’ 2014 by Max Doyle

(Credit: Max Doyle, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Feather and the Goddess Pool’ 2014 by Natalie Grono

(Credit: Natalie Grono, National Portrait Gallery)

‘My home’ 2014 by Peter Blakeman

(Credit: Peter Blakeman, National Portrait Gallery)

‘Not so remote’ 2014 by Philip Myers

(Credit: Philip Myers, National Portrait Gallery)

‘The morticians’ 2014 by Rohan Thomson

(Credit: Rohan Thomson, National Portrait Gallery)

‘The Christening’ 2014 by Sarah Rhodes

(Credit: Sarah Rhodes, National Portrait Gallery)

These portraits will be featured at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Australia until June 8th, 2015.

Revealed: Elon Musk's Plan to Build a Space Internet

2015-03-24T20:17:00.000+05:30

Musk wants to wire the world—and one day, Mars—using satellites

Because he doesn't have enough going on, Elon Musk—he of Tesla Motors, SpaceX, SolarCity, and the Hyperloop—is launching another project. Musk wants to build a second Internet in space and one day use it to connect people on Mars to the Web.

Musk is tonight hosting a SpaceX event in Seattle, where the company is opening a new office. The talk will mostly be about SpaceX’s plans for hiring aerospace and software engineers in the Pacific Northwest to boost the company’s rocket-building efforts. But he'll also use the talk to announce his newest idea, which would launch a vast network of communication satellites to orbit earth. The network would do two things: speed up the general flow of data on the Internet and deliver high-speed, low-cost Internet services to the three billion-plus people who still have poor access to the Web. “Our focus is on creating a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date,” Musk told Bloomberg Businessweek ahead of the announcement.

The Space Internet venture, to which Musk hasn’t yet given a name, would be hugely ambitious. Hundreds of satellites would orbit about 750 miles above earth, much closer than traditional communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit at altitudes of up to 22,000 miles. The lower satellites would make for a speedier Internet service, with less distance for electromagnetic signals to travel. The lag in current satellite systems makes applications such as Skype, online gaming, and other cloud-based services tough to use. Musk’s service would, in theory, rival fiber optic cables on land while also making the Internet available to remote and poor regions that don’t have access.

In Musk’s vision, Internet data packets going from, say, Los Angeles to Johannesburg would no longer have to go through dozens of routers and terrestrial networks. Instead, the packets would go to space, bouncing from satellite to satellite until they reach the one nearest their destination, then return to an antenna on earth. “The speed of light is 40 percent faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fiber,” Musk says. “The long-term potential is to be the primary means of long-distance Internet traffic and to serve people in sparsely populated areas.”

This project, he says, will be based in the Seattle office. (Musk has yet to determine the location of the satellite factory.) The office will start with about 60 people and may grow to 1,000 within three to four years. The employees will also work on SpaceX’s Falcon rockets, Dragon capsules, and additional vehicles to carry various supplies (and soon, people) into space. “We want the best engineers that either live in Seattle or that want to move to the Seattle area and work on electronics, software, structures, and power systems,” Musk says. “We want top engineering talent of all kinds.”

Earlier this week, the entrepreneur Greg Wyler announced a similar effort through a startup called OneWeb. Wyler has spent the last 15 years trying to bring Internet access to the so-called “other three billion.” He started a telecommunications company in Rwanda that set up Africa’s first 3G cell network. Later, he founded a company called O3b, which owns a satellite network that delivers fast, cheap Internet to hard-to-reach places along the equator. Through OneWeb, Wyler looks to expand this vision and fill the skies with hundreds of satellites that will beam their signals down to low-cost, solar-powered rooftop antennas.

OneWeb has announced that Qualcomm and the Virgin Group will invest in its effort, which is expected to cost around $2 billion. Wyler has also already secured the spectrum needed to deliver such a service from space and expects to be up and running by 2018. He has a team of more than 30 engineers developing the satellites, antennas, and software for OneWeb.

Musk and Wyler have known each other for years. Musk, in fact, used to crash at Wyler’s guest house in Atherton, Calif. While there are major similarities between the two ventures, Musk says he’ll have an edge through SpaceX’s smarts and manufacturing techniques. “Greg and I have a fundamental disagreement about the architecture,” Musk says. “We want a satellite that is an order of magnitude more sophisticated than what Greg wants. I think there should be two competing systems.”

Musk describes his system as “a giant global Internet service provider” for anyone. But he wants to go even bigger than that: He sees it as the basis for a system that will stretch all the way to Mars, where he plans to set up a colony in the coming decades. “It will be important for Mars to have a global communications network as well,” he says. “I think this needs to be done, and I don’t see anyone else doing it.”

The backers of OneWeb, including Virgin chief Richard Branson, contend that Musk doesn't have the rights to spectrum he’ll need to create such a network. “I don’t think Elon can do a competing thing,” Branson says. “Greg has the rights, and there isn’t space for another network—like there physically is not enough space. If Elon wants to get into this area, the logical thing for him would be to tie up with us, and if I were a betting man, I would say the chances of us working together rather than separately would be much higher.”

SpaceX will need to be careful with its ambitions: Satellite makers have a choice as to whose rockets carry their machines. According to Musk, SpaceX will focus on making satellites for itself for the time being, rather than competing with its customers, although that may change over time. “I think we would consider building satellites for ourselves and for other people,” he says. “We’ll start by building ones that address the specific application that we are working on, and then we will be more than happy to sell to other people.”

Musk said it will take many, many years to have his Internet service up and running. “People should not expect this to be active sooner than five years,” he said. And it’ll be expensive: Around $10 billion to build, he says. “But we see it as a long-term revenue source for SpaceX to be able to fund a city on Mars.”

7 Myths About Making Money

2015-03-24T20:13:00.000+05:30

Last night, about two feet from me they were having sex. I know this because, using the scientific method, I cupped a glass against the wall, put my ear against it, and listened.

I moved the glass around the wall until the sound was the most clear.

One question: we spend $800 billion on killing children in Iraq but we can't figure out how to bottle the sound a woman makes when my glass is against the wall of her room.

A man sounds like a grunting animal. I don't know if this is sexist, but a woman is music.

They woke me up, but it's ok. They are always welcome to do that. I'm in an AirBnB and today is my last day. I like listening to music.

Music shows that after all the hard work of living, there is some time and energy for a little pleasure to be enjoyed.

---

Many years ago I got this guy's password, logged into his email and totally F-ed S up inside there. That would keep him busy.

He had been harassing people on a website I started. How should I describe "harass"?

With women, he was sending sexual messages and they were logging out. With men he was just arguing with them all the time and they also were logging out of my service.

I had written to him first. I said, "I'm trying to build something to support my family. Please back off."

And he wrote back and said, "No. Free speech."

I was storing everyone's password who ever logged into the site so I looked up his. I decided to check and see if he used the same password for his email.

He did.

I logged into his account and read all of his emails. He had a few girlfriends. They didn't know about each other. He had problems with his father, who was the CEO of a big company. They don't speak anymore but "one day I'm going to get that money".

Money is often a way to pay people to hate you.

After I took care of "business" he stopped logging into my site for awhile. He had to spend a long time fixing things.

Was this good or bad or against the law? I have no idea. But my site continued to run and help a lot of people. And I fed my family.

I forgot about the whole thing.

Many years later I saw in the news that he had confessed to killing and burying someone in 1992. It was a friend of his. They were teenagers and he had hit his friend with a rock in the head during a disagreement. Then he buried his friend.

The crime had remained unsolved. But, as he said in court, he felt so guilty about it 20 years later he had to confess.

Crime solved.

Sometimes people are just "off". Now ... 20 years ago ... 20 years from now. You can't let these people stop you from feeding your family.

Claudia said, "don't write this" because maybe this guy will get out of jail and track me down.

---

Here's 7 pieces of BAD advice about starting businesses: let's call them MYTHS

- Myth #1: Focus on one thing.

The average multi-millionaire has at least seven different sources of income. You can't have seven full time jobs. A "source of income" takes up much less time than a boss paying you to sit in a chair.

So, do the opposite of focus. Try to help people in many different ways. Then many different types of payment will come your way.

Be patient with yourself while this is happening. The path to calm starts with being gentle to yourself.

- Myth #2: Get a lawyer and an accountant.

You don't need those until you have ideas, customers, partners, money coming in. Once I started a company, built it up, and didn't hire a lawyer until the week before I sold the company.

- Myth #3: Don't try more than one business at a time (I guess this is "focus" but I'm not very focused).

Try many ideas at the same time. And if you say, "but I don't have time" then take a step back and ask where you are being inefficient.

Being an "entrepreneur" is a glorified version of this myth. Forget the word "entrepreneur". Instead, help people succeed at their businesses, make many connections, do many things, and see what brings in money.

I haven't been an entrepreneur since 2008 and I've had more financial success than ever. (I hate to say a good thing. Usually I write about bad things. But sometimes good things are ok).

- Myth #4: Develop a product.

Too many people have an idea for a product and assume the customer will be there. This never happens. Ever.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, Instagram, are all examples of companies that pivoted massively from their initial products.

First get a customer, then develop the product they need. It might just be a service. Or even better, it might just be an introduction. Or advice. Or something we haven't thought of yet.

- Myth #5: Hire a secretary. Hire anyone.

This becomes a fixed cost. Fixed costs are stresses. Why add to the stresses in life?

Delegate but don't hire.

- IMPORTANT MYTH #6: Under-promise and over deliver.

People can tell when you are under-promising (i.e. lying). Don't do that.

Better to over-promise and over-deliver. Then you beat out all the people who under-promised and over-delivered.

Over-promise to get the sale. Over-deliver to keep the customer for life.

This might seem hard. It is. It's really hard. Just do it.

- Oh. MORE IMPORTANT: MYTH #7: Have a personal brand.

"Personal brands" have been the latest fashion. "Branding" used to be ok with corporations. A Coca-Cola bottle really does have sexy curves. That's a brand.

Real branding is when a farmer buys a cow.

He then puts an iron rod in fire until the metal shape at the end of the iron rod is orange hot. He then sticks it onto the side of the cow while the cow is chained down until the metal shape is permanently in the side of the cow.

Everyone seems so eager to brand themselves. Instead, here's a better idea: You be the iron rod. Get red hot. Leave your mark on the planet.

---

You can tell if something is luck if it's equally hard to lose as it is to win.

Business is not luck. It's very easy to lose. It's pretty hard to win. If you avoid the above myths, you increase your chances.

Winning is not about making money for luxuries.

You simply want to purchase your freedom from the regimented society all too eager to stick a hot iron rod into your side.

Maybe I should've just taken one of these topics and made a smaller post. But the brain doesn't work that way.

And I was thinking about the room next door last night.

Eventually I couldn't hear anything anymore. I put the glass down and went to sleep.

But here's what's amazing: maybe I listened to a baby being made last night.

Here Are 17 Things You Can Put A Sweater On

2015-03-23T21:37:00.000+05:30

1. Your cat

2. Your mugs

3. Your puppy

4. Your ponies

5. Your bed

6. Your baby

7. Your keys

8. Your plants

9. Your pillow

10. Your snail

11. Your wine

12. Your purse

13. Your tree ornaments

14. Your turtles

15. Your entire chair

16. Your candles

17. Your to-go cups

Windows 10 will have a new browser that's not Internet Explorer

2015-03-01T22:54:00.001+05:30

Importantly, Nigro notes that the new browser would be the default. Longtime Microsoft observer Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet expanded on the tweet, citing unnamed sources who said Internet Explorer 11, the default browser in Windows 8.1, would still be present for backward compatibility.

The new browser is codenamed "Spartan," according to Foley.

Spartan will look and feel more like Chrome and Firefox, however, and it will support extensions, according to Foley's report. The "lightweight" browser will be available on both desktop and mobile devices in Windows 10.

The switch from IE to Spartan appears to be more an exercise in rebranding rather than a big technical change. The new browser will still use Microsoft's Chakra JavaScript engine as well as its Trident rendering engine, Foley says, rather than a nonproprietary engine such as WebKit. (Apple's Safari uses WebKit and Google Chrome is based on a "fork" of the open-source software called Blink.)

Microsoft is due to reveal many of the new features in Windows 10 at a Jan. 21 event in the company's hometown of Redmond, Washington. Spartan may make its formal debut there, but the general release of Windows 10 isn't expected until the fall, so it may come at a later date.

Rebranding the official Windows browser makes a great deal of sense. Internet Explorer has a poor reputation among developers and users, much of it rooted in Microsoft's traditional preference for proprietary tools over open standards. Although that stance has changed considerably since the early days of IE, the stigma is so great that Microsoft recently made an ad explaining that the browser's poor reputation isn't deserved.

Still, IE took some time to adopt certain standards (such as WebGL) and it suffers from a non-intuitive split experience in Windows 8 and 8.1, with one browser for the desktop and another for the "Modern" UI. In addition, the longtime head of IE, Dean Hachamovitch, left Microsoft earlier in December.

Lady and The lamp 1979

2015-02-24T22:06:00.001+05:30

Swear Like You Care: Passionate Profanity at Wor

2015-02-24T21:56:00.002+05:30

Disclaimer: If you are the sensitive or easy-to-offend type, read no further, especially if mild profanity is offensive or hurts your eyes.

If you haven't uttered a single "shit" or "f**k" in the last 30 days at work (even in private), it might mean you just don't care.

There are an infinite number of situations where swearing is inappropriate in the workplace. But the scenarios in which swearing is not only acceptable, but appropriate and inspiring, are exactly why you should become proficient in passionate profanity in 2015.

It might even get you promoted.

The use of profanity in the workplace is an incredibly polarizing issue, with unique perspectives as you shift country to country, company to company, and person to person. In fact, more than half of American's and more than three quarters of Britishswear regularly in the workplace. A Google search on "profanity in the workplace" has over 500,000 results ranging from "WTF? Is your workplace a hotbed of profanity?" to "Watch your mouth, cursing in the workplace could get you fired". We can all agree to disagree on when it's appropriate to swear at work.

However, if you are passionate about what you do, there is a specific reason to incorporate deliberate and intelligently architected profanity into your game at work.

It's massively memorable, proves your passion, and will help you bond with your audience. (if you don't f**k up the delivery)

There are many scenario's where passionate profanity has a true business application: Team meetings, large group events, 1:1 discussions, hallway conversations, commiserating with colleagues. If you dare cross that line at work, I suggest starting in a simple place. Ensuring your presentations are MASSIVELY MEMORABLE.

Leverage profanity to deliver massively memorable presentations. Contrary to what you might think, words are better than pictures.....And profane words are better than regular words to drive your most important point home.

"A picture is worth a thousand words" is a commonly accepted premise in the business world. Most people nod their head approvingly when you say it. The business world has shifted to highly visual presentation materials. As a result, Powerpoint is the most overused (and arguably ineffective) presentation tool on planet Earth. But as we shift to easy visuals and metaphoric presentations, we are dismissing almost 100 years of research on how the brain processes information.

You may not have heard of the "Stroop Effect", but it's an 85 year old theory on the brains ability to process and prioritize information quickly. The classic Stroop test consists of a series of words in different colors. The goal is to simply say the color when the word appears. Try it below:

Not incredibly easy, is it? But doable. It gets quite a bit harder when those images flash quickly on the screen one by one. When you get home, there is a NSFW example of the Stroop test using profanity here (same disclaimer applies from above). It gets exponentially harder to name the color when profane words appear.

But why? The Stroop theory asserts that the brain processes words at a faster pace than colors or imagery. If there were a word/image race, the word wins. As a result of this race, your brain struggles to take in images when words are competing for the same attention. Words that trigger an emotional reaction, essentially beat out all other images and words in the race to your cerebral cortex. This means that you can massively emphasize the most important parts of a presentation by deliberately incorporating strong emotional words.

Profanity simply ups the ante, creates intense emotion and cements focus.

Harvard Science Review summed it up nicely, "Swear words, in the appropriate context, can be beneficial when used for group unity, coherence, and general expressiveness."

Dan McGinn, in a Harvard Business Review article titled "Should Leaders Ever Swear?" called out Barack Obama for leveraging deliberate (though mild) profanity after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama told Matt Lauer on live television that "one of his goals was to determine "Whose ass to Kick". This statement gave viewers immediate insight into his state of mind, intent, and focus on solving the problem. Imagine if he had said his focus was on "conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the spill".

Not as much impact, eh?

I am definitely not taking a stab at that! Hey, I don't work at your company. Shit. I don't want to get you in trouble. Get creative, test some boundaries, have some fun. Even in the most conservative companies, you can find the right forum to express your thoughts in a...well "colorful" way.

Inside the $70 Million+ house Jay Z & Beyonce got outbid on.

2015-02-24T21:51:00.001+05:30

Ever wondered what a $70 Million+ house looks like? Step inside the Beverly Hills mansion Jay Z & Beyonce got out bid on by the owner of Minecraft who just sold out to Microsoft for $2.5Billion.

Spread over 23,000 square feet, this 8 bedroom, 15 bathroom, 16 car garage with infinity pool, wine cellar, 24 seat movie theatre, M&M's candy room and much much more.

This Virtual-Reality Headset Will Change Everything

2015-02-24T21:48:00.000+05:30

Earlier this year, Facebook bought a virtual reality company called Oculus for $2 billion.

Oculus came to BI's big conference, Ignition, this year. They bought the latest version of their VR headset.

I tried it and it was incredible.

It's very hard to describe what it's like to use Oculus.

You put the headset on (over your glasses, if, like me, you need t0), stick a pair of earbuds in your ears, and suddenly it feels as if you are in another place.

For example, you might find yourself standing against a rail at the top of a very tall building in a rainy city at night. Look over the rail below you, and cars are moving on the streets. You can walk around the platform, and the world changes relative to you just as it does in real life. If you are afraid of heights, your palms will start to sweat and you will become as uncomfortable as you would be in real life.

When I was wearing the Oculus headset, I kept thinking about a 1995 movie from producer James Cameron called "Strange Days." It features a technology people can use to "jack in" or "wire-trip." They put a bunch of wires on their heads, and suddenly it feels as if they are in someone else's body, someplace else.

Oculus almost feels as if you are "jacking in."

The experience is so incredible that I'm now certain that Oculus VR, or some other VR technology, is going to change the world in humongous ways.

Starting with the obvious stuff, and moving more abstract, Oculus will change:

Gaming. Plenty of immersive video games already exist in which you can move around entire cities and interact with hundreds of characters. The "Assassin's Creed" and "Grand Theft Auto" series are best known for this. Right now, you have to consume these worlds through a flat screen. The leap into virtual reality is a short one.

Commerce. There's already an Oculus program in which you can view your avatar in the mirror. Imagine dressing that avatar in clothes to see how they look before buying them. Or, instead of looking at pictures of a car's interior online, actually getting into it to see if you like the trim you've selected.

Education. You can already take classes at Harvard online. Sitting at a virtual desk instead of watching a video on a monitor will be nice. But education will change more radically than that. Imagine being able to travel with a Harvard professor inside the human body to see how cancer cells grow in the bloodstream.

Sports. The first way Oculus will change watching sports is in the creation of cameras that can take in 360-degree views and be placed courtside at NBA games. You'll be able to put on an Oculus headset, pay a fee, and watch LeBron James from what feels like just feet away. Rumor has it, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is already geeked about that possibility. Eventually, it's easy to imagine that Oculus cameras will become as wearable as GoPros. Then you'll be able to watch games from the referees' perspective — or LeBron's.

Narrative. The way we tell stories has never stopped evolving. First there were oral traditions. Then epic poems. Then novels. Then film. Then video games. Next, you'll put on Oculus headsets. Sometimes, the narratives will be first-person stories, and it will feel as if you are seeing the world through a character's eyes. Other times, you'll float through worlds omnipresent, knowing characters' thoughts. Whole industries will form around people who figure out how best to tell stories in the medium.

Sex. Oculus porn is going to be far more immersive than the static images people used to look at in magazines or even videos on the internet. Not everyone is going to be comfortable with how immersive.

Aging. In the real world, knees give out and you can't play tennis or basketball anymore. Imagine playing ball at 90. Also: How long can a human body live if all it needs to do is take input from VR? Could humans live for hundreds of years?

Sense of self. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, you will be able to put on a headset, a pair of gloves, and a body suit and feel as if you are a different person in a different place. Do that enough — substitute your five senses for virtual input enough times — and you may begin to shed aspects of your identity you once thought fixed: race, gender, age, nationality. On the bright side, people may become more empathetic and less tribal. On the negative side, people may abandon their flesh selves, leaving behind loved ones.

2CELLOS - Thunderstruck

2015-02-21T23:41:00.002+05:30

Big Ideas 2015: The Year of the Regional Pizza

2015-02-21T23:35:00.000+05:30

I love pizza. I love eating it. I love making it. I love talking about it. I love talking to people who make it. I love talking to people who eat it. I love looking at pictures of it on the internet. You get it.

I love pizza so much that I celebrated my 30th birthday with a trip to Phoenix, Arizona. Why Phoenix? Phoenix is home to Pizzeria Bianco, the pizzeria where Chris Bianco plies his trade as the godfather of the Neapolitan pizza movement in the United States.

The Wiseguy at Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix

Back when Pizzeria Bianco opened in 2002, many folks considered it to be the finest Neapolitan pizza in the United States. When I went recently, I was expecting to taste something I had never experienced before. Instead, I had a different realization: thanks to Chris's hard work and diplomacy, there is phenomenal neo-Neapolitan pizza nearly everywhere in the United States.

In Brooklyn, Franny's and Paulie Gee's. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Oak & Rye, Pizzaiolo, and Pizzeria Delfina. Even just up the road from Pizzeria Bianco in Flagstaff, there's Pizzicletta.

Now that fantastic Neapolitan pizza is so ubiquitous, my prediction for 2015 is that the next big wave in the pizza world will be regional styles.

Here in the Bay Area, there are already a few standouts: A New York, almost New Jersey style at Emilia's in Berkeley:

Sausage and onion pie at Emilia's

Over at Tony's Pizza Napoletana, the Detroit style is a standout:

Tony Gemignani with his Detroit-style pie (photo via Tony's Pizza Napoletana)

Back on the East Coast, Slice Blog founder Adam Kuban is serving bar style pies (inspired by the Colony Grill in Stamford, CT) to monthly sell-out crowds at his Margot's Pizza pop-ups:

photo via Adam Kuban (@margotspizza on Instagram)

Rubirosa in lower Manhattan is tipping its hat to the cracker-thin pies native to Staten Island:

Vodka pie at Rubirosa

If the last decade was about elevating pizza from a comfort food to the realm of gourmet, the next decade will be about a return to the roots: the pizza of your childhood, wherever you grew up. There are as many styles of pizza as there are places to call home.

For me, that place is New Haven, CT. Luckily for me, New Haven is home to a phenomenal regional style--like New York, but heavy on coal-oven char.

Garden special white pie (front) and mushroom and muzz pie at Sally's Apizza

This is the pie of my memories and my dreams. It transports me back to my childhood. I can't wait for it to be available in more places.

What regional style do you hope will go mainstream in 2015?

ICC WorldCup 2015 Fixtures

2015-02-16T23:04:00.000+05:30

DATE AND TIMEMATCHWEATHER

Sat Feb 14 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

1st Match, Pool A - New Zealand v Sri LankaHagley Oval, Christchurch

N/A
Sat Feb 14 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

2nd Match, Pool A - Australia v EnglandMelbourne Cricket Ground

N/A
Sun Feb 15 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

3rd Match, Pool B - South Africa v ZimbabweSeddon Park, Hamilton

N/A
Sun Feb 15 (50 ovs)14:00 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

4th Match, Pool B - India v PakistanAdelaide Oval

N/A
Mon Feb 16 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

5th Match, Pool B - Ireland v West IndiesSaxton Oval, Nelson

N/A
Tue Feb 17 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

6th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v ScotlandUniversity Oval, Dunedin

12 - 22° C
Wed Feb 18 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

7th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v BangladeshManuka Oval, Canberra

16 - 30° C
Thu Feb 19 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

8th Match, Pool B - United Arab Emirates v ZimbabweSaxton Oval, Nelson

14 - 28° C
Fri Feb 20 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

9th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v EnglandWestpac Stadium, Wellington

13 - 20° C
Sat Feb 21 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

10th Match, Pool B - Pakistan v West IndiesHagley Oval, Christchurch

14 - 24° C
Sat Feb 21 (50 ovs)13:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

11th Match, Pool A - Australia v BangladeshBrisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane

22 - 33° C
Sun Feb 22 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

12th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v Sri LankaUniversity Oval, Dunedin

12 - 22° C
Sun Feb 22 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

13th Match, Pool B - India v South AfricaMelbourne Cricket Ground

21 - 31° C
Mon Feb 23 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

14th Match, Pool A - England v ScotlandHagley Oval, Christchurch

/A
Tue Feb 24 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

15th Match, Pool B - West Indies v ZimbabweManuka Oval, Canberra

N/A
Wed Feb 25 (50 ovs)13:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

16th Match, Pool B - Ireland v United Arab EmiratesBrisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane

N/A
Thu Feb 26 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

17th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v ScotlandUniversity Oval, Dunedin

N/A
Thu Feb 26 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

18th Match, Pool A - Bangladesh v Sri LankaMelbourne Cricket Ground

N/A
Fri Feb 27 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

19th Match, Pool B - South Africa v West IndiesSydney Cricket Ground

N/A
Sat Feb 28 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

20th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v AustraliaEden Park, Auckland

N/A
Sat Feb 28 (50 ovs)14:30 local (06:30 GMT | 12:00 IST)

21st Match, Pool B - India v United Arab EmiratesWestern Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth

N/A
Sun Mar 1 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

22nd Match, Pool A - England v Sri LankaWestpac Stadium, Wellington

/A
Sun Mar 1 (50 ovs)13:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

23rd Match, Pool B - Pakistan v ZimbabweBrisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba, Brisbane

N/A
Tue Mar 3 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

24th Match, Pool B - Ireland v South AfricaManuka Oval, Canberra

N/A
Wed Mar 4 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

25th Match, Pool B - Pakistan v United Arab EmiratesMcLean Park, Napier

N/A
Wed Mar 4 (50 ovs)14:30 local (06:30 GMT | 12:00 IST)

26th Match, Pool A - Australia v AfghanistanWestern Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth

N/A
Thu Mar 5 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

27th Match, Pool A - Bangladesh v ScotlandSaxton Oval, Nelson

/A
Fri Mar 6 (50 ovs)14:30 local (06:30 GMT | 12:00 IST)

28th Match, Pool B - India v West IndiesWestern Australia Cricket Association Ground, Perth

N/A
Sat Mar 7 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

29th Match, Pool B - Pakistan v South AfricaEden Park, Auckland

N/A
Sat Mar 7 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

30th Match, Pool B - Ireland v ZimbabweBellerive Oval, Hobart

N/A
Sun Mar 8 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

31st Match, Pool A - New Zealand v AfghanistanMcLean Park, Napier

N/A
Sun Mar 8 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

32nd Match, Pool A - Australia v Sri LankaSydney Cricket Ground

N/A
Mon Mar 9 (50 ovs)14:00 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

33rd Match, Pool A - England v BangladeshAdelaide Oval

N/A
Tue Mar 10 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

34th Match, Pool B - India v IrelandSeddon Park, Hamilton

N/A
Wed Mar 11 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

35th Match, Pool A - Scotland v Sri LankaBellerive Oval, Hobart

N/A
Thu Mar 12 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

36th Match, Pool B - South Africa v United Arab EmiratesWestpac Stadium, Wellington

N/A
Fri Mar 13 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

37th Match, Pool A - New Zealand v BangladeshSeddon Park, Hamilton

N/A
Fri Mar 13 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

38th Match, Pool A - Afghanistan v EnglandSydney Cricket Ground

N/A
Sat Mar 14 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

39th Match, Pool B - India v ZimbabweEden Park, Auckland

N/A
Sat Mar 14 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

40th Match, Pool A - Australia v ScotlandBellerive Oval, Hobart

N/A
Sun Mar 15 (50 ovs)11:00 local (22:00 GMT -1d | 03:30 IST)

41st Match, Pool B - United Arab Emirates v West IndiesMcLean Park, Napier

/A
Sun Mar 15 (50 ovs)14:00 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

42nd Match, Pool B - Ireland v PakistanAdelaide Oval

N/A
Wed Mar 18 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

1st Quarter-Final - TBC v TBC (A1 v B4)Sydney Cricket Ground

N/A
Thu Mar 19 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

2nd Quarter-Final - TBC v TBC (A2 v B3)Melbourne Cricket Ground

N/A
Fri Mar 20 (50 ovs)14:00 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

3rd Quarter-Final - TBC v TBC (A3 v B2)Adelaide Oval

N/A
Sat Mar 21 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

4th Quarter-Final - TBC v TBC (A4 v B1)Westpac Stadium, Wellington

N/A
Tue Mar 24 (50 ovs)14:00 local (01:00 GMT | 06:30 IST)

1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBCEden Park, Auckland

N/A
Thu Mar 26 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBCSydney Cricket Ground

N/A
Sun Mar 29 (50 ovs)14:30 local (03:30 GMT | 09:00 IST)

Final - TBC v TBCMelbourne Cricket Ground

N/A

American Sniper (2014) Official Trailer

2015-02-16T22:57:00.002+05:30

Whiplash (2014) Official Trailer

2015-02-16T22:56:00.000+05:30

BIRDMAN Trailer (2014)

2015-02-07T18:31:00.000+05:30

This Is Why Kids Should Learn How To Code

2015-02-06T00:41:00.002+05:30

At 14, I landed my first summer job teaching coding to kids.

I hopped on the bus for the half-hour ride to my school, where I taught elementary school children how to write very simple programs using Logo, a computer language developed to teach kids basic programming concepts. (Logo is the predecessor to Scratch, a language used widely today by schools to introduce students to coding.)

While I took several computer science courses in high school and one more in college, my attention quickly shifted to Asian languages, history and politics, and eventually to business. I didn’t major in computer science and I never became a coder.

I’m a communications and marketing guy. I do publishing, PR, and digital marketing. But while I may not be a coder, the work I do has been impacted significantly by the code that quietly runs the applications I rely on each day.

The software technologies deployed today are far more advanced than what I learned as a student three decades ago. But the grounding in coding that I gained back then has given me a level of understanding of technology and comfort using it that I may not otherwise have.

Which brings me to the ongoing debate around teaching kids to code. I’ve read the arguments for and against. And here’s where I stand on the issue:

Kids should learn to code.
They should start early, if possible.
They should develop their skills as far as they can while they are at school.

Why kids should learn to code

A number of reasons have been put forth for why kids should learn to code. Here’s my take:

Coding helps develop logical thinking and problem-solving skills. Coding teaches how to break complex problems into smaller chunks and solve them, and then integrate them back into a unified solution: the application. It goes without saying that this is a highly transferable skill. Every job in every industry needs better problem-solvers.

Coding requires understanding what users want and crafting solutions to their needs. Again, a skill that is in demand in just about any industry one can think of.

Coding requires working in teams. While there will always be a need for solo coders, complex coding projects require working in teams, sometimes very large ones. Transferable skill? Check.

Learning to code opens the door to job opportunities. Hadi Partovi, co-founder of Code.org, estimates that 1.4 million programming jobs will be needed over the next decade while current projections are for only 400,000 graduates in the field.

A study by Payscale.com ranks computer science as the “third most valuable college major”, with median starting pay of $53,000.

Learning to code gives non-coders confidence with technology. The fact is, most students won’t go on to become professional coders. But whatever occupation they pursue, learning the basics of coding can give them a sense of confidence with technology. MIT Professor Seymour Papert, known as the “father of educational computing” and one of the developers of Logo, once said,

children should be programming the computer rather than being programmed by it.

Forget an MBA, be a Cab Driver

2015-02-06T00:38:00.002+05:30

I am almost forced to write this blog. Just had an interesting conversation with a cab driver outside my office building. School dropout, married.

Quote from the cabbie

"agar yeh aise hi chala toh ek saal mei Mercedes le lunga"

Translation: if this goes the way it is right now, I will buy a Merc in the next 1 year.

How much money does this guy make?

Earning per day - per car: INR 3500/ $66 (after fuel cost of 10 rides)

He owns a fleet of 3 cars (old Tata Indigo's). So the daily earning goes to INR 10,500 per day ($175)

Multiply that by 30 days a month: INR 3,15,000 ($5250)

Now INR 3,15,000/ month is a salary which even a senior manager won't be close to making every month, in India (Im not generalizing).

Cost to the driver

10 trips from Delhi - Gurgaon - Delhi (average 200kms) daily, is INR 500 ($8) worth of Diesel (fuel).

So, forget the MBA, drive a cab!

How I became a morning person - 6 ways to hack your mornings

2015-02-02T23:32:00.000+05:30

I’m Al and I'm a morning person. I never thought I’d say that.

I’ve run my own business for eight years, which means I could work whatever hours I wanted. That meant 9am or 10am, sometimes even later. I worked late, woke up groggy and entered an office where others had been sitting at their desks for an hour. Looking back this was causing major problems with my productivity. Working in to the night isn’t a bad thing, but missing the most important part of the day because of it is.

Then I started a new business. My co-founder wakes up at 5:30am, so he gets in to work at 7am. We’re competitive, so I wanted to beat him in – I just didn’t like the idea of him working harder than I did – so I needed to change the way I approached mornings.

Here’s some of the things I’ve changed in my life, and some great advice from leaders that I've met.

1. A good morning starts the night before.

Former NBA-star John Amaechi told me he could fall asleep in three breaths – the trick is not the breathing but the preparation. It’s the same with having a good morning.

Get all the things you need ready the night before – it’s a double time saving as some morning-tasks take longer as your brain is still waking up. I get my laptop and gym-bag by the front-door ready to go and get my clothes in a pile ready to put on.

Mentally prepare for the next day by scanning your calendar. Knowing what’s on and where you need to be removes any lingering questions from your head.

Clear your mind for sleep. Phil Jones, MD of Brother UK and president of Forever Manchester, told me he has an iPad by his bed to note down anything on his mind so he can wipe it from his conscious and have a good night’s sleep. He can then pick up his thoughts again in the morning.

Work out what helps you sleep. Getting to sleep is a challenge for almost all and so much has been written on how to get a great night’s sleep – what worked for me was simply reading, and occasionally herbal sleeping pills. Gary Chaplin, a corporate head-hunter and someone who’s up at the crack of dawn every day, suggests taking magnesium an hour before lights out.

Buy blackout curtains. If you struggle to sleep in a light room then invest in curtains with a blackout lining. Mine were £70 ($112), they shut out all light and are more noise absorbent. I’ve had a good two years of use from mine which equates to a cost of 9p (15 cents) per night.

2. Improve the transition from fast asleep to wide awake.

Are you one of the few who likes to be woken by a piercing alarm sound? If so then you can skip this part – if not then why not change the way you’re woken up?

Use a Fitbit as an alarm. It’s a wrist-based fitness tracker that’s comfortable enough to be worn in bed, and it includes a silent vibrating alarm. It’s a far more gentle way to wake up, with the added benefit of waking just you up, and not your partner. You can pick up the Fitbit Flex for £70/$90.

Don’t hit the snooze button. A study in 1999 that involved Harvard Medical School found that the going back in to sleep mode disrupted your ability to concentrate. Gary echoes this: “I get up the second I wake up - literally as soon as my eyes open I get up”

Get a Wake Up light. These devices simulate sunrise, filling a bedroom with a glow around thirty minutes before wake-up. Philips claims that their products (£43/$68 and upwards) are the only ones scientifically proven to work, with 92% of users saying they found it easier to wake up with the device but there are others on the market.

3. Wake up earlier and make it count.

Reclaim the morning and get up earlier – there’s no feeling like being in the office at 7am and having a full two hours before everyone else comes online. Don’t aim too early at first; stagger yourself back slowly in twenty minute increments. I love to setup meetings for 8am (no one has yet agreed to a 7am meeting with me) because it gives me a hard-start .

Vikas Shah, a highly driven entrepreneur who is MD of the Swiscot group and a visiting professor with MIT Sloan in Lisbon, advised me: “Business is global, and the time you have in the morning before the rest of the country wakes up is really crucial to get yourself up to speed on your day before the wave comes.”

Don’t waste those extra hours in the office. Set yourself micro-goals that will impact on your day, with a 9am deadline. I want to wrap up my replies to urgent emails, set out my to-do list for the day and I like to include a social element. Catching up with a member of the team before 9am is a rewarding way to start the day. Vikas likes to do similar: “I use the early morning to assess my meetings for the day, solidify ideas and strategies, and also make sure I'm on-top of my correspondence.”

4. Reward yourself every morning

Do something you wouldn’t normally do each day, something that makes you happy.It’s a great to hack your morning to increase productivity, but if you can build in something that also makes you happy then you have a double win. It doesn’t have to be complicated; a donut at your desk, a smoothie and a newspaper in a quiet part of the office, or something that has bacon in it. Vikas says: "We need something to look forward to, not just big goals such as a new house or car, but small daily rewards. Set a treat that if you get-up on time, and get some exercise done, that perhaps you'll treat yourself to a mind-break doing something wholly unproductive but fun at some point in the day! Are you a music fan? Your gym-time is a great way to really clear your head and enjoy music too!”

5. Exercise to gain energy in the morning, not lose it.

Do it. Do it. I paraphrased some great words from Gary for the title above, he makes a good point about morning exercise: “Exercise first thing. Exercise in the morning gives energy, rather than taking it. I always hit the gym first thing. Get my body and mind fully awake to hit the rest of the day.”

Get someone else to motivate you. I love training alone, but I never put in as much work at the gym as when I’m with someone else. I have a great PT called Lewis who pushes me beyond where I normally go – I leave the gym feeling mentally ready, and happier.

Exercise gets you out the house earlier. There’s no need for a shower if I’m going to be caked in sweat in twenty minutes, so the only thing standing between me and leaving my house is putting on my gym kit. I can be in the office early, go for a ten minute sprint, shower-off, then be at my desk in the same time as if I didn’t exercise.

6. Save coffee till later. Go water. Go juice. Go vitamins.

Ease the body in with something that isn’t coffee. Vikas says: “Sleep is hard work for the brain, it needs to make sense of all the craziness of your day. When you wake up, don't provoke it with coffee, but feed it with the hydration and nutrients it needs to get up and running. One of my most used items in the kitchen is the juicer!”

There are other coffees. Gary says: “Early morning nutrition is vital. Always start the day with a BulletProof Coffee (Toxin-free coffee with Grass-Fed Butter and MCT oil) - gives all the energy for body and mind. ”

How important is coffee in the morning?
Quick straw poll via Twitter: “How does coffee fit in to your morning plans? Yay or Nay?”

64% says YES. 36% said NO.

Here’s some sample responses – we don’t always share our morning routines but you can pick up inspiration from what other people do.

“porridge & tea first thing, then hit the coffee around 10” - @georgedthompson “First one wakes me up, 2nd one gets me going” - @topcomms “Hot water & lemon for me and scrambled egg” - @natalieasprey“It is essential!” - @sambooth1 “first thing I do on wakeup to put brain into gear!” - @pbridgecollyns “keep it pure: H2O all the way.” - @mancier “essential - tough morning calls for multiple coffees”- @paulkalleegrove “not immediately after waking. First thing when I get into work though.” - @hi_randy “Once I get into work, Coffee and check emails to start the day.” - @sdxcreative “always tea, occasionally green. Get enough coffee in meetings” - @burtongaz

Go Berocca. Just launched in the US, Berocca fills you with vitamins and gets you hydrated with water. My un-medically-trained co-founder says it’s the closest thing to an electrolyte-filled IV drip that you can get from a supermarket. I top up with multivitamins. Just in case.

Thanks to all quoted above for their wisdom – have an awesome morning tomorrow!

How NOT to Introduce Yourself

2015-02-02T23:30:00.000+05:30

Networking is one of the most challenging skills you may have to learn in the world of business. It can be an awkward experience, having the attention of a group of strangers focused on you, and trying to make a good first impression.

It’s an important moment. The person opposite you might be someone who could make or break your career. If you make a good impression, he or she might be able to refer your next big client, or have the influence to help you land that next big contract.

On the other hand, if you act like a doofus, you might alienate someone who might have been an otherwise important connection and relationship.

If you’d like to avoid looking like a jerk, avoid being this guy when introducing yourself:

Name dropper. This person introduces themselves by saying who they know, who they’ve worked with, etc. I might not remember their name, but I’ll remember that they once got Tony Robbins a glass of water.
Drive-by carder. A card is not an introduction. Just throwing your business card at a person, or worse, at as many people as possible at a networking event, is just about the worst kind of introduction you can make. If you hand one to me, I’m going to hand it to the nearest rubbish bin.
Double-carder. Handing someone two copies of your business card to encourage the other person to send you a referral. It’s presumptuous unless they ask for an extra card.
Rambling man (or woman). As soon as you get to talk, you get over excited and start telling your life story. Or the story of how you got to the meeting. Or how you met your spouse. And forget to tell me, you know, who you are.
TMI. If I’m just meeting you, I don’t need to know the entire history of your business or career, all of your degrees and accolades, and your dog’s maiden name. Stick to the basics.
Limp fish. It may be old fashioned, but I think a weak handshake is a turn-off when introducing yourself. Practice a firm (but not crushing) handshake to convey confidence.
The Cannonball. Probably the opposite of the limp fish is the cannonball — the guy who is so overly confident that he’ll barrel his way into any situation or conversation without being invited. If you want to join an ongoing conversation, wait to be acknowledged before you jump right in.
Digital Zombie. If you’re going to a networking event, or a business function of some kind, don’t be so absorbed in yourself and your cell phone that you’re not paying attention.

How to introduce yourself in one simple step:

Instead of leading with what you do, lead with who you help. As in, “Hi, my name is Bernard, and I help companies identify and make the best use of their key performance indicators and big data.”

Done. You know who I am, what I do, and more importantly, whether or not I can help you or someone you know.

What are your best tips for making a good introduction? OR, what are your least favorite ways people introduce themselves? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Here is also a slide deck summary of the post, which you can download and share: