Riah's Ramblings

Portland in a nutshell

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:15:00 +0000

(For those who don't know, the title of this blog post is actually quite appropriate as Portland is very "earthy" and natural and quite vegan, as well.)

Here's what I've learned so far:

1. Always check the Portland events calendar or you may run into things you don't want to see. This was a few weekends ago: news
(By the way, if you actually read the article, can you tell me how going completely nude and painting yourself gray is "all about saving the environment?")

2. How hipsters think.

Yes. That's my roommate.

3. When people say "It's been sunny today" they mean they saw the sun for at least 5 minutes. Total.
4. When people say "It's going to be sunny soon" they're lying. (Turns out the people that say "June, July, and August are sunny" and the people who say "It's always sunny after mid-June" and the people who say "It's beautiful after the 4th of July" and the people who say "Mid-July on is always sunny" ARE ALL WRONG.)
5. You get glares when you forget your reusable grocery bag.
6. People in Portland never speed and are incredibly cautious drivers. A far cry from Utah.
7. Apparently when people go to the beach here they don't go to swim. It's FREEZING. And is always raining.
8. Keeping Portland weird is not hard for most people....

Hard to see, but she (he?) has a bag of empty soda bottles. A common collector's item here.

9. Not having to calculate sales tax in your head is awesome. You pay exactly the price you see. Brilliant.
10. The dream of the 90's is definitely alive in Portland.

Back by Popular Demand

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:38:00 +0000

After I returned to America, I abruptly stopped blogging because I used my blog solely to document my international travels. I received several requests to continue the blog throughout the summer. At first I just couldn't bring myself to do it. After several weeks in Portland, I've realized it's about as foreign as India and Israel, so I will continue my blog. I am, however, worried that I set the bar a little bit high with my blog posts in India. I'm going to re-set some low expectations so no one gets disappointed. I probably won't blog as much (I don't spend my evenings alone in a hotel room anymore) and the content may not be quite as funny, although I will do my best.

Ok, now that that's taken care of, I'll give you some pictures of the Pacific Northwest, which is as beautiful as they say.

P.S. For those of you who grew to love our Indian friends through our blog posts, I have an update on "The Boy" (picture here). I got the following email last week. Carl didn't get one. Ha. (I would be flattered except that the last day in Delhi the three of us had a long, detailed conversation about how Indians can get US visas by marrying Americans....)

Dear,Moriah

how are you
where are you now please you send me news.

best wishes

Administration Unit, ekgaon technologies

Hi from Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:13:00 +0000

After a 10 hour flight, we're ALMOST halfway home. I'm pretty sure this is how we both feel.

More reasons to love Mumbai

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:42:00 +0000

Debby took us to her country club two days ago.

And last night we attended a world premier of a Bollywood movie. I met Stephanie (from Provo) at Church on Sunday. She's attending a film school here and invited us to go with her.

I LOVE Mumbai

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:43:00 +0000

Apparently living in a house that feels like a resort, eating healthy food, and having a driver makes all the difference! Plus Mumbai seems to be much cleaner and more well-kept downtown. There are still lots of fun things to do. Today involved:

French toast for breakfast

Taj Mahal Hotel

The Gateway to India (and a SUPER CUTE little Indian boy)

Cheese fondue at The Indigo Cafe, to-die-for mangos, and some great shopping. All in all, a successful day.

Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sun, 15 May 2011 12:14:00 +0000

Humayan's Tomb

So Carl and I have been here for awhile. Each day I love India more and miss home more. It's an interesting experience. I was really excited to get to Mumbai and experience a different city and see how life in a more "Westernized" city is. Once we got to the airport and saw Mumbai I was excited. The city seemed cleaner and the two people we talked to spoke English pretty well. Plus it's the home of Bollywood. It was going to be great.

We showed up at our hostel which was very different from what it looked like online, but it was manageable. However, it didn't look like it was in a very good part of the city. I blamed it on the fact that it was 1:00am and decided it would be better the next day. The next morning, Carl and I found out that the hostel didn't have breakfast and it really wasn't in a great part of town. And, in the day you can tell that Mumbai is still a pretty dirty city, too. We spent awhile trying to get a taxi to church but no one would take us (it was kind of far). After a bit we trekked across the street to McDonalds for breakfast. (Side note, I've had more McDonald's in the past two weeks than I have in the past 5 years put together, probably. And it's nasty.) As we were eating, I started feeling like, "Can I really handle 5 more days of this?" I'm so tired of not eating well and the communication barriers. We left and kept looking for a taxi (I was praying with all my heart we would find a way to get to church). And we did. As we were driving through the city, which is crowded and polluted, I missed home really badly. Then we had trouble finding the church. We walked in really late, just as they announced the closing hymn, but it didn't matter - it felt SO good. And we got to go to Sunday School and Relief Society. During church we met a wonderful lady from Alpine, Debby Dickens, who offered us a ride home, saving us $15 and a harrowing experience.

When we pulled up the hostel she said, "This is where you're staying?! No, you're coming home with me. Go get your stuff and check out. I don't want you staying here." So, we did. Now Carl and I are situated VERY comfortably in a beautiful apartment with Debby. (Her husband is in Germany and will be home Thursday before we leave). She gave us tuna fish sandwiches, apples, and juice for lunch. I almost cried. It feels so good here. She's wonderful.

I'm grateful to the Lord for answering prayers about getting to church.
I'm grateful to the Lord for the good feeling at church.
I'm grateful to the Lord for comforting in response to unspoken prayers.
I'm grateful to the Lord for prompting people to touch my life.
I'm grateful to righteous people who answer those promptings and sacrifice for others.
I'm grateful for experiences like this that remind me that He's watching out.
I'm grateful for international experiences that help me grow and love life.
I'm grateful for tuna fish sandwiches, apples, and juice.

Thank you, Debby, for sharing your home and your love.

Jobs to which we should all aspire.....

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 14 May 2011 03:41:00 +0000

So as part of the research we do on all these companies, we have to search through their websites looking for people we can contact. Usually, the companies only have really high level management (like the Board of Directors and Senior Executives) listed on their site. So I got a kick out of the list I found on the the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management website.

Plumber. Really?! In case someone from another company needs to call YOUR plumber. At first I was appalled. But then I remembered Carl's experience two days ago (read it here) and I realized maybe it was a good idea. If only GIZ (the company we visited that day) had their plumber listed online, Carl could call and give him a tip or two. Or a warning.

Then I kept scrolling down the page and found this:

Yeah. PEONS. That's right. That's what I want to be when I grow up. A peon. So I got curious. What exactly does a peon do? Check out THESE credentials:

Needless to say, I'm learning A LOT about India doing this research.

Some things are the same.

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:57:00 +0000

Who needs a/c?

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 12 May 2011 04:52:00 +0000

Note that the current temperature was taken at midnight.

Mr. Carl misses out

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 09 May 2011 13:55:00 +0000

So a few days ago I posted about how much India loves Mr. Carl. (You can read it here.) I have an update. India is definitely a very patriarchal society, but they got one thing right. Something that I get to enjoy that Mr. Carl doesn't.

Women Only cars on the Metro. :-)

Mr. Carl in the regular car.

Me enjoying my space in the Women Only car.

It's awesome. And they strictly enforce it. The great thing about these photos is that Carl and I were standing less than 10 feet apart, but there is a VERY definite boundary where men are not allowed to go. They cram all together right up to the imaginary line. And they don't cross it. Ever. I'm a fan.

The Crown Palace

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:50:00 +0000

The Taj Mahal (which means the Crown Palace) is beautiful and amazing. An Indian emperor made it as the tomb for his wife. It took 22,000 workers 22 years to complete. We spent the day making the 4 hour trip to Agra, touring the Taj Mahal with a great local tour guide, eating lunch at a 5 star hotel, touring the Agra Fort, and coming back home. It made for a long but memorable and fantastic day.

The gemstones are set into the marble in a beautiful and precise way. It's so smooth you can hardly even tell the gemstones aren't part of the marble.

Beautifully intricate marble carvings. Wow. We learned a lot about the differences between Italian marble and Indian marble.

In 1968 Andy Warhol said, "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." Today was my time. I had probably over 25 people come up to me and ask to have their picture taken with me. Apparently many of the people that visit the Taj Mahal have never seen an American and people in their villages never have either. So they like to take pictures so they can take them home and show people that yes, we really do exist. Carl and I laughed every time someone asked to take a picture with us. It was hilariously fun. I really did feel like a celebrity.

Sweet Skunk

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Fri, 06 May 2011 04:14:00 +0000

To me, weed smells like sweet skunk. I don't particularly like the smell of skunk, even if its sweetened. Well this morning as I was sitting in my room writing some emails, I sniffed once, twice, and yep....I smelled a sweet skunk. I walked in the bathroom and walked out. Yep, a really close sweet skunk. So I went over to Carl's room down the hall and walked past my new neighbors' door. Holy cow. Now I know who has the pet skunk. I pulled Carl into the hall and sniffed and said, 'Do you smell that?' He said "No..." and I said, "It's pot." And he laughed and said, "Oh my gosh, you're right. That's really strong." I said, "My room reeks of it." And he said, "You're going to be so easy to get along with now."

After relaying this story to my friend, Lewis, he said, "Oh yeah. You're normally high-strung. Now you'll just be high."

The good news is that I felt really sick after I ate breakfast but now my stomach is calm. Could be the pepto. Or the pot. Or both.

Just getting the full Indian experience, people. That's all.

ekgaon, Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:12:00 +0000

Lest you think that we spend all our time adjusting to the culture, I'm going to fill you in on what we spend our 8+ hours a day at work doing. (For a picture of life in the office, see Carl's blog - there's a link up at the upper right of this page.)

The Company: ekgaon technologies (for more about their vision) works with rural farmers by providing them with solutions on mobile devices to help them become more efficient and productive. To explain (simply) the process: The farmers get loans (if needed) to buy a mobile device and then buy a card that gives them access to ekgaon services. They are asked 3 questions: what size land they have (usually less than 4 acres, often less than 2), what their yield has been, and what their crop variety is. Based on this data, ekgaon uses SMS to communicate with them directly about specific steps for their land. It tells them exactly what to do (how much and what kind of fertilizer to use, how to plant, etc.) They also get market updates on suppliers, buyers, costs, and prices, and weather updates for their area. Currently, because of ekgaon's services farmers' income increases, on average, by 15% (and that includes the farmers that don't follow all the steps).

The Project: ekgaon currently helps 11,000 farmers. There are 300 million rural farmers in India not to mention millions more in surrounding areas in South Asia and Northern Africa. Ekgaon wants to expand into these areas but there is still a lot to learn. Carl and I have basically been given the assignment to perform market research about how ekgaon can expand. We are hoping to meet with potential financial investors, possible franchisees, companies that affect the expansion (mobile phone companies) and organizations that we could partner with because they have similar goals.

The Process: Carl and I only had a few hours with the CEO, Vijay (see pic at right) to understand the company and the project. For the last few days, our goal has been to identify as many companies as possible that it would be valuable to meet with. Once we identified them (through online research), we notified Vijay and got any contact information he had with them (that took awhile and was kind of sparse.) Since then, we have been researching each company online, finding someone to contact, and setting up meetings with them (next week in Delhi, the week after, Bombay). We have set up two meetings for next week (we're ecstatic about this because it's way harder than we thought to meet with these people). This first week is pretty much research online all day which gets very tedious, but we're starting to see the payoff and are very hopeful for our meetings next week. I think we're both nervous that we won't be able to add much value to ekgaon because so much of what we need depends on other people (an absent CEO, non-English speaking employees, and contacts with companies that are busy and don't care) BUT we're remaining positive that it will work out and we figure that anything we can get is more than Vijay would have been able to do himself. I'll keep you posted on our successes. :-)

Here are some of the organizations we're getting to know:

Agricultural Insurance Company of India

NABARD

India Department of Agriculture

Indian Farmers' Fertilizer Co-op

Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Yes Bank

World Bank (this may be my personal favorite)

Union Bank of India

MS Swaminathan Research Foundation

Tata AIG Insurance

Bharti AZA

IFFCO-Tokio

Royal Sundaram

ICICI Lombard

Hindustan Unilever

ITC (they have the best supply chain in rural India - we did a case on them first semester)

Jain Irrigation

Airtel

Aircel

BSNL (check out their website design.... and this is the #1 mobile company in India....)

Vodaphone

Idea

AGRA

Kickstart International

African Economic Outlook

Food & Agriculture Organization

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

HDFC

Mr. Carl

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:42:00 +0000

This blog post is dedicated to Mr. Carl. Why? Because as it turns out, from what I've seen, India is dedicated to Mr. Carl. When we first got here, people would always address Mr. Carl and whatever he said went for both of us.

"Mr. Carl, do you want some water?"

"Yes"

Out come two water glasses, one for me, one for Mr. Carl.

"Mr. Carl, do you want some tea?"

"No, thanks."
No tea for either of us.

At the restaurant, Mr. Carl orders. Then they walk away. The first day we ended up having to share our meal, because although I had ordered my food, apparently they didn't believe I really wanted it?!

Anytime there is an update at the office, they tell Mr. Carl. He gets the skype messages, the emails, etc. One time, they even called my hotel room and asked for Mr. Carl. Don't worry, I went and found him.

When people talk to "us" they look at Mr. Carl and ask him questions. Occasionally I get in the way and they glance at me, then back to Mr. Carl.

People feel compelled to personally congratulate Mr. Carl on the death of Bin Laden. (Because Mr. Carl had a lot more to do with it than I did.)

So anyway, since India is dedicated to Mr. Carl, I will dedicate this blog post to him.

Carl is great.

This is him watching an Indian music video during work. (It was a long day.)

Mr. Carl trying some Indian food.

Glad you're here, Mr. Carl.

Ekgaon

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:42:00 +0000

So here's where I work everyday. It's a tiny little basement. There are usually 4 people in the office - Carl, Me, Ranganathan (a software engineer who has been given the assignment to make sure we're ok), and "The Boy". Vijay, the CEO, would normally be there but he's gone....for the rest of the time we'll be here, which makes things very difficult. "The Boy" is basically like an admin/janitor. He's probably 18. He doesn't speak any English and everyone calls him "The Boy" like he's an indentured servant or something. He's really nice to us and is my favorite person here, I think. I don't have a picture of "The Boy" yet but I'm hoping to get one today.

After we got here we realized our project is completely different than we originally anticipated. In a way, this is good because we thought we were supposed to be meeting with potential partners to "sell" the business and we were kind of nervous that we'd screw it up since we don't know a ton about ekgaon. As it turns out we're mostly meeting with these people to do some market research for ekgaon's expansion. We think one of the main reasons Vijay is having us do this is because people will respond better to Americans. I guess we'll find out.

***Update!! So this morning Ranga left to go to a meeting and "The Boy" came and talked to us for a LONG time. Apparently he speaks better English than we thought. We found out he's 25, has an arranged marriage that will happen next year, and he's worried about his finances. He was a wealth of information about everything from Indian clothes to sightseeing in Delhi. He's from Panta area.

I also forgot to mention another interesting fact: the Indian workday. It starts around 9:30am and goes until 6:30pm. We found this out the first day when Ranga said he usually gets to work around 8:45. Luckily we didn't show up until 9:15 because then we only had to wait 15 minutes for him to come unlock the door. He then explained that he's always here by 9:30 but sometimes comes in earlier.

Welcome to India

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sun, 01 May 2011 15:17:00 +0000

So the first 24 hours in a country are always quite enlightening. Here are some things I've learned:

Always have the address of the place you are trying to go. (We may not have written down our hotel address so it took our taxi driver a long time to find it and we got here at about 1:30am last night.)
Even when you have the address of the place you're trying to go, there's no guarantee anyone knows what the address means. (We may have been a bit late to church today, but we did finally find it.)
When people say that everyone in India speaks English, they're lying. (And when people do speak English, it often doesn't sound like it.)
"Mild" here doesn't mean the same thing it does when you're ordering Indian food in America.
We will be lucky if we're never involved in a transportation accident. (There's pretty much only one rule in Delhi traffic - do whatever you want.)
I'm SO grateful Carl's here. I would not like being here by myself. (Carl is my classmate that is working at ekgaon with me.)
Jet lag between countries that have an 11 hour and 30 minute time difference is a nightmare. (And yeah, I know... 30 minutes?!? Who decided that?)
The Church has the same spirit everywhere. And I love it.
There are a lot of things I take for granted in my life.
This is going to be an awesome experience.

So as you can tell, I've already learned a lot. :-) I'm really excited to be here and get to work. Carl and I have a lot to do and it's going to be great!

Being Good for Something

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:17:00 +0000

A little over a year ago I received a BYU alumni magazine that had a picture of President Hinckley addressing the students at the Marriott Center. In bold letters at the bottom it quoted him, "You are good. But it is not enough to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world." I immediately ripped out the page and hung it on the side of the fridge where I would see it everyday. I think this quote resonated with me because I'm a pretty good person, but this reminded me that my life is not just about me. I feel the pull and the desire to contribute more than I consume. Simply being good is not enough for me or Him.

There have been many times in my life where I've had opportunities to contribute good to the world, probably the most note-worthy being my mission. Since my mission, I've been itching to take a humanitarian aid trip somewhere and make another difference - working in an orphanage, building a house, whatever. Just something where I can contribute. However, since I started school, I have been thinking about how I can use some of the very specific talents the Lord has given me to make a more meaningful, longer-lasting difference. (Not that orphanages and homes aren't meaningful and long-lasting, but more that those aren't my skills.) I am also a HUGE advocate of the idea of teaching a man to fish - enabling him, not just feeding him. So at BYU I've been able to get involved with some social ventures. I LOVE it. I entered a competition with a BYU team and did some consulting for a self-sustaining school in Paraguay and found it incredibly fulfilling. I decided that I definitely wanted to look for more ways to contribute in the social entrepreneurship space.

So here I am. Two days away from boarding a plane headed to India. I'll be spending three weeks in India doing some consulting for a tech non-profit (Ekgaon) with a project that focuses on getting rural farmers out of poverty. Once a farmer can grow enough crops to sell and make a profit, not only does his family have a better quality of life, but he'll be able to send his kids to school and (hopefully) break the cycle of poverty for future generations. Ekgaon has had great success in India so we'll be helping build an expansion plan for other parts of India, northern African and more of south Asia. Then we'll be meeting with some potential financial partners and trying to convince them that this is a great investment. I'm super excited! I think this is a great opportunity to combine my experience in tech with my education at business school and contribute good to the world.

And that's the reason I decided it was time to dust off my blog. I want to keep you all posted on my efforts to follow President Hinckley's advice and my gallivanting around a third-world country (which should be interesting... and educational and fun). Hope you're looking forward to it. I am!

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan..

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:44:00 +0000

So this week we got back from our AWESOME trip to Jordan. I never thought I'd be in Jordan. It sas a great trip with some really fun sights, as shown below. It was definitely interesting, too...trying to avoid all the bad foods and bad men. We did it, though and even came back with some fun jewelry! (P.S. Sorry the layout's bad, I don't have time to do much playing around.)

The famous temple at Petra. It's huge!

Here I am up at the monastery view
in Petra looking out over Israel.

In the Mosque of Abdullah...

And guys making some really yummy pita bread.

West Jerusalem

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:42:00 +0000

So we took a walk around West Jerusalem yesterday.
Cool sights included:
A neat old Windmill in the middle of this pretty park. (Unfortunately it's not windy at all...)

And a cool view from the top of the YMCA tower.

And I have more fun pictures but the internet is slow. So that's all for now!

The Dead Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:23:00 +0000

Well this was certainly fun. Here we are floating. Totally floating. It was so WEIRD! Like we were on another planet or something... We could even stand in the water!

And of course....the Dead Sea Mud is to DIE for... (I do look like a monster that could kill someone!)

Walk Like An Egyptian

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:55:00 +0000

Ok, so here are some really fun photos from my trip to Africa!

Yes...I actually saw and climbed on an in a wonder of the ancient world. Cool!

And I rode a camel through Luxor. Probably one of the coolest things I've ever done...

And finally, I will treat you all to a preview of Lis and me doing our belly dancing. Yes, apparently the belly dancers in Ancient Egypt were important enough to put on the wall. Next mission: find a belly dancing outfit...

The Old City

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:26:00 +0000

I've discovered it's not nearly as much fun as I hoped to be in the Holy Land taking a million pictures and not being able to show them to the loved ones back home (due to really SLOW internet connections, attaching pictures to e-mails is not possible).
So here are a few fun ones:

Me at Dome of the Rock (Those biblical scholars in the crowd may realize that I'm standing on Mt. Moriah!)

Me in the Orson Hyde Memorial Park (Well done, Grandpa Nelson!)

Stayed tuned for more documentation of my Middle East(and Northern Africa) Adventures! (And to put your mind at ease, yes, I did escape Pharaoh's Wrath.)

Ignorance is Bliss

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:49:00 +0000

Ignorance is bliss...A cliche proudly stated by the few who would rather not know when something goes wrong. My mom's personal version of this cliche is, "Just close your eyes and it'll all go away." These cliches, and several others, can be summed up in the proverbial statement, "What you don't know can't hurt you." Usually when we hear this, we shrug and agree or laugh it off. Of course what we don't know can't hurt us. Or can it?

In an article (beacon security risks) written by a senior research engineer with CA's Anti-Spyware Research team, Facebook's Beacon (the new system to transmit data from affiliate websites to Facebook) security and privacy issues were absolutely torn apart. There are two shocking issues that make this new system uncomfortable for many knowledgeable users: first, that they send the information even when you select to opt out of the data transmission, (Facebook still gets it, but just doesn't publish it) and second, that they do all of this without notifying the user. The secret transmission of data to companies when the user doesn't know about it is certainly becoming more and more of an internet safety issue. Many of the people who use Facebook aren't particularly internet savvy and may not even think about possible safety issues in terms of their data. In fact, even after all the bad publicity about Beacon, I'm sure there are many people out there who are still happily clicking away while sitting in ignorance. Some may complain that these people aren't hurt at all when their data is given to Facebook without their knowledge, but issues like this don't stop with Facebook. They can easily expand and become harmful. For instance, what about when a customer's buying tendencies are unknowingly given out and they become the target of spam advertisements? Or their credit card number is sold? Or their identity is stolen? Ignorance can hurt. And it will if companies continue to take advantage of the innocent and the "innocent" chose to be ignorant.

Alma's advice on Internet Safety

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:25:00 +0000

In Alma 37, Alma is getting ready to pass the golden plates down to his son, Helaman. As he discusses with Helaman the beautiful and important records that are found on those plates and the various reasons for which Helaman should use them, he takes great care in instructing Helaman what to do with the records about those who had not been so righteous. In Alma's opinion, making Helaman aware of those records was vital so that he would know the potential problems and how to avoid them. However, Alma cautions Helaman quite zealously not to share all the same information with the people. Alma says, "I command you that ye retain all their oaths, and their covenants, and their agreements in their secret abominations; yea, and all their signs and their wonders ye shall keep from this people, that they know them not, lest peradventure they should fall into darkness also and be destroyed" (Alma 37:27). We can learn from this lesson that it is important to teach our children to be aware of evils, but also that we do not need to teach them everything about those evils. For example, when a parent leaves a child alone for a bit, he or she may say, "Do not eat the cookies while I'm gone." He or she would never say, "Do not pull a chair over to the counter, and climb up on it and reach your hand into the cookie jar and eat a cookie, ok?" Too much information may actually increase curiosity. We normally hear this idea in relation to teaching the law of chastity, but I believe it also applies to internet safety. Parents need to be especially aware of teaching their children safety techniques; they definitely need to set limits to internet use, but that does not mean that they explain in detail to their children the problems with everything they may ever possibly encounter in any situation. Children don't need to be shown every chatroom they should avoid, instead they need to be taught about appropriate behavior and what their options are. As we teach principles, people will be able to use their agency to govern their use of the internet and allow it to be the wonderful tool that God intended.

Business Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Moriah) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:02:00 +0000

Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, fools by their own."
-- H. G. Wells

This quote, timeless in its application, seems to sum up quite accurately the thinking and mentality of Asia's businessman of the year, Sunil Mittal. Mittal is the head of the largest mobile provider in India. It wasn't always the biggest, however. Several years ago, as the wireless market was taking off, Mittal had a big decision to make: how was he going to stay on top? Instead of sticking with tradition and absently following the market, Mittal decided to be wise and learn from the experience of others, particularly those in America and other nations. Although he lived in India, where all the outsourcing was taking place, Mittal decided to apply their reasons for success to his own business. He outsourced. From India. Although it was revolutionary at the time, it made all the difference. The business strategy demonstrated by Wells' quote, if used carefully, can lead to many successes in the technology world. As companies innovate to expand, strengthen and improve their services, others will be watching. The key to success is being ready to change, even when that change contradicts the accepted. People looking to make a difference have to be willing to take a risk. At times, it is appropriate to learn through your own mistakes, but if you carefully watch others' success you may be able to improve by following their ideas. Mittal is the perfect example of noticing a new idea and then applying it, despite the unconventionality of it. He learned from America the value of outsourcing. He applied it and gained billions in revenue. He leads the market in India...all because he learned from another man's experience.

Asia Business Man of the Year