Pythagoras on vegetarianism

When you see the current diet of human society, especially right after thanksgiving turkey dinner, you would wonder when was the first time that man thought of eating an animal? I came across a quote from Pythagoras, known for his contributions in geometry and mathematics, about being vegetarian which I found rather surprising. I never imagined him to be a vegetarian.

"O my fellow men, do not defile your bodies with sinful foods. We have corn, we have apples bending down the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines. There are sweet-flavored herbs, and vegetables which can be cooked and softened over the fire, nor are you denied milk or thyme-scented honey. The earth affords a lavish supply of riches, of innocent foods and offers you banquets that involve no bloodshed or slaughter: only beasts satisfy their hunger with flesh, and not even all of those, because horses, cattle and sheep live on grass."

Excerpt from the book "The Higher Taste", The Bhaktivendanta Book Trust

The biographer Diogenes tells us that Pythagoras ate bread and honey in the morning and raw vegetables at night.

If you are considering becoming a vegetarian, perhaps you could try a no meat diet for one week and gradually progress to no chicken and fish; and eventually only vegetarian diet.  Perhaps, you will be a lot healthier and your skin may glow with new energy :)

Lower your LDL cholesterol

Nowadays, I see more and more young people suffering from higher cholesterol or heart related problems. People try different diets to balance it out and some rely completely on medication.  Many south Indians that I meet complain that they have higher triglycerides and it is because of eating a lot of rice.  I am not a doctor, but may be Avocados may help in this matter too.  I came across an interesting article about many of the health benefits of Avocados and lowering your LDL cholesterol was one of them. Here it is:

The Many Health Benefits of Avocados

 

Reaching out is not a weakness, but a strength

Are you macho? Are you too vain to reach out for help or are you just plain stupid? Watch Presiyan Vasilev as he demonstrates and talks about reaching out at a time of need. An entertaining and teaching moment...

A 4 year old boy ships a toy overseas to his friend and gets to see his reaction when he receives it!

Imagine a little kid who wants to send a toy to his friend overseas.  He ships it to his friend. The person who delivers it also takes video footage of the little boy who is so excited to receive the gift.  The video footage is then sent back to the kid who mailed the package.  You may be wondering which company is this that provides this level of service to its customers!  Although, this is a real example, rest assured, there is no traditional shipping company that can provide such revolutionary results. 

However, there is a new revolution that is happening in the shipping industry.  No, it does not involve teleporting, hovercrafts or star trek's holodeck.  This new revolution is called social shipping.  It involves harnessing the power of our social network and applying it to a very simple concept in our life - moving things from one place to another.  In the process, they will result in such revolutionary levels of service that is unparalleled in any public shipping company today.

From times immemorial, humanity has always had the need to ship goods from one place to another.  We have evolved from horseback riding messengers to fedex planes.  There is a new wave in the industry today called social shipping. Apparently, this evolution hasn't stopped yet.  At the very core, social shipping involves using your social network to send goods from one place to another. It could be as simple as sending a highly valuable document such as a passport or sending a bicycle in the trunk of your car through a friend who just happens to be headed in that direction.  For that service delivered by your friend, you are glad to compensate them.

One of the very first companies in this area is manyship.com. The above example of a boy shipping a toy was a real transaction that happened on manyship.com.  Manyship.com enables their visitors to post their trips online and others can search to see who is going to a particular destination and if they have anything they can send; they can initiate a conversation and make it happen.

It might sound a little scary that you are sending goods through people you may not know, but if you really look at it, every friend began as a stranger. Social shipping websites are now competing to see who can figure out the best way to connect people with shipping needs and at the same time establish a high level of trust among their users.  We have already seen that websites that arrange car pools, enable renting your couch etc. who deal with the same issue of trust have faced no problem. Today, there are millions of users at these kinds of websites actively participating and exchanging goods and services. So, it seems reasonable to say that it is only a matter of time that social shipping becomes a common phenomenon and sites like manyship.com may thrive.

High protein diet can cause osteoporosis

Recently, I was reading a book on gourmet vegetarian cooking and a Karma-Free diet when I came across this startling fact that high protein diet has been shown to cause osteoporosis in several studies.

A lot of us eat meat to ensure that we get enough protein in our diet.  However, there are a lot of unintended effects on our body, of which osteoporosis is one of them. The author of this book deals with the subject of vegetarianism and how it makes tremendous sense to become a vegetarian both for our physical well being and spiritual well being.  Here is an excerpt from the book, The Higher Taste, based on the teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada:

Nutrition Without Meat

Announcing that one is a vegetarian almost always elicits a predictable question: "What about protein?" To this, a vegetarian might well reply, "What about the elephant? The bull? The rhinoceros?" The ideas that meat has a monopoly on protein and even that large amounts of protein are required for energy and strength are myths.

During digestion, most protein breaks down into its constituent amino acids, which are then used by the body for growth and tissue replacement. Of the twenty-two amino acids, the body can synthesize all but eight. These eight "essential" amino acids exist in abundance in nonflesh foods. Dairy products, grains, beans, and nuts are all concentrated sources of protein. Cheese, peanuts, and lentils, for instance, contain more protein per ounce than hamburger, pork, or porterhouse steak. A study by Dr. Fred Stare of Harvard and Dr. Mervyn Hoarding of Loma Linda University made extensive comparisons between the protein intake of vegetarians and that of flesh-eaters. They concluded that "each group exceeded twice its requirement for every essential amino acid and surpassed this amount by large margins for most of them.

For many Americans and Europeans, protein makes up more than 20 percent of their diet, nearly twice the quantity recommended by the World Health Organization. Although inadequate amounts of protein will cause loss of strength, the body cannot use excess protein; rather, it is converted into nitrogenous wastes that burden the kidneys and is eventually passed from the body, taking calcium with it. A number of studies have now linked the overeating of protein to the rise in osteoporosis. Although scientists have long known that osteoporosis results from reduced calcium in the bones, they are now coming to understand that one of the main causes of this deficiency is too much protein in the diet.

Maggie Doyne - Amazing courage at 18!

How old are you? If you are over 18 and feel like you haven't achieved much or if you feel that you have achieved a lot, just take a look at what Maggie did when she was only 18! Would you have this courage?

 

The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness)

If you want a reader's digest of how to overcome your lethargy and move into greatness, this article is a must read. In this less than 5 minute reading time article, Jessica Hagy has used such wonderful visuals, made it funny to read and has taught us great lessons at the same time.

The six enemies of Greatness (and Happiness)

Funny Sales video

Have you ever caught yourself talking too much and listening too little? This can be a disaster especially if you are selling something. Here is a video aptly titled, "Show up and Throw Up Selling." Enjoy!

Outsourcing comedy

Do you think you have a legal hurdle? Think again...

Many times as entrepreneurs, we come up with new ideas and innovations. However, sometimes these ideas are not clearly legal in most people's minds. In your heart, you know that what you are trying to do is ethically right and serving the needs of the people. It is just that the law has not caught up to this changing society yet. If you are one of those entrepreneurs, it may seem like an insurmountable problem and may not be worth the effort sometimes. Sometimes, you may be so strong in your conviction that you are ready to take on the insurmountable odds! That's what real entrepreneurs are made of. They don't take "No" as an answer to an idea that they believe can solve a society's needs. "How I beat the Fed" tells the story of Gabriel Krajicek who took on no one less than the Federal Government.

READ FULL ARTICLE ON INC WEBSITE

Suhas Gopinath - Inspiring to the core!

Are you an entrepreneur? Learn from Suhas Gopinath on what it means to be one!

Today I read a story about Suhas Gopinath, reported as the world's youngest CEO! It is not the title that is so great about him, but his inner conviction and drive that nothing has stopped him from becoming what he is today. I believe that everyone in this world should read about him.

Lessons learned from his story:

• You can start a company in the United States even if you don't reside in this country! For those immigrants who still question whether they can start a company on a student visa or H1B visa or any other visa, Suhas' story is a valuable story to learn from
• Note that Suhas rejected even the most prestigious job offers as he truly followed his inspiration. That's what is called as a success and dream achieved, not that you landed a job in a multi-national company somewhere!
• We need to change our laws in India regarding age limits of starting a company. If we didn't have an age restriction on starting a company, who knows how many more Suhas' we would have in India!

When 14-year-old Suhas Gopinath started Globals Inc ten years ago from a cyber cafe in Bengaluru, he didn't know that he had become the youngest CEO in the world.

Today, Globals is a multi-million dollar company with offices in the United States, India, Canada, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Singapore and the Middle East and has 100 employees in India and 56 abroad.

Among the several honors that have been bestowed upon this young man, the most prestigious is the invitation to be a member of the Board of the ICT Advisory Council of the World Bank..

In 2007, the European Parliament and International Association for Human Values conferred 'Young Achiever Award' on him. He was also invited to address the European Parliament and other business dignitaries assembled in the EU Parliament. He is also recognised as one of the 'Young Global Leaders' for 2008-2009 by the prestigious World Economic Forum.

Suhas is the youngest member ever in the World Economic Forum's history. The other members include the Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, Hollywood star Leonardo Di Caprio, musician A R Rahman, Prince of Brunei, etc.

In this interview from his office in Bengaluru, Suhas Gopinath talks about his decade long journey and his dreams for the future.



Suhas Gopinath with former President APJ Abdul Kalam















On his childhood:

I come from a middle class family. My father worked as a scientist for the Indian Army. I used to study in the Air Force school in Bengaluru.

As a child, I was more interested in animals and veterinary science. But when I saw my friends who had home computers talk about it, I had this urge to learn and talk in their wave length.

But we didn't have a computer at home. In those days, computers were very expensive and we couldn't afford one.

So, what I did was, I located an Internet cafe near my house. With my modest monthly pocket money of Rs 15, I couldn't afford to surf the net every day.

I noticed that the shop was closed in the afternoon from 1 PM to 4 PM. So, I offered to open the shop for him after my school hours and take care of the customers.

In the bargain, he let me browse the net for free. That was the first business deal of my life and it turned out to be a successful one.





Suhas with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates














On building websites using open source technology:

Once I got the chance to manage the shop and browse the net, I started building websites. It became my passion in no time.

I got hooked to open source technology after I started looking for e-books on how to build websites. They were not available as they were created in propriety sources.

So, I started using open source to build websites.

On getting the first contract to build a website

There is a freelance marketplace on the web where I could register and offer my services to build websites. I registered myself there as a website builder.

The first website I had to do was free of cost as I had no references. It was for a company in New York.

My first income was $100 when I was 13 for building another website but I didn't have a bank account. so, I told my father that I built a website and got paid for it.

I was not excited to get the money because money was not a factor that drew me to it. It was the passion for technology that attracted me. I used to build websites free of cost also. I was only a 9th standard student.

After that, I built my own portal and called it Coolhindustan.com. It was focused on NRIs. It was a portal where I wanted to showcase my skills.

After that, many companies approached me to be their web designer.



Suhas Gopinath speaking to students' at a conference in Austria





















On buying his first computer:

When I was in the 9th standard itself, I had made enough money to buy a computer for myself. At that time, my brother was studying engineering and my father thought he needed a computer.

In no time, I also bought one for myself. But we didn't have a net connection at home.

My spending hours in the net cafe working on websites did affect my studies. I spent the entire summer vacation after the 9th standard in the cafe.

On rejecting a job offer from the US:

When I was 14, Network Solutions offered me a part-time job in the US and they said they would sponsor my education in the US. I rejected the offer because that was the time I had read a story about Bill Gates and how he started Microsoft.

I thought it was more fun to have your own company. Many US companies used to tell me that I didn't even have a moustache and they felt insecure taking my services. They used to connect my ability with my age and academic qualifications.

So, I wanted to start my own company and show the world that age and academic qualifications are immaterial. I decided then that when I started a company, I would recruit only youngsters and I would not ask for their academic qualifications and marks cards. I follow that in my company.






Gopinath delivering a lecture at the DLD Conference
















On starting his own company at 14:

Soon after my 9th standard summer vacation, I started my own company, Globals Inc. I wanted the name Global or Global Solutions but both were not available, so I named it Globals.

I registered my company in the US as in India, you will not be able to start a company unless you are 18. It takes only 15 minutes to start a company in the US.

I became the owner and CEO of the company. My friend, an American who was a university student, became a board member.

I was very excited because that was what I wanted to do. From that day, I started dreaming of making my company as big as Microsoft.


On doing badly in school:


In my pre-board CBSE exam, I failed in Mathematics. The school headmistress was shocked because that was the first time I had failed in any subject. She called my mother and said she was horrified by my performance.

At home, like any typical South Indian mother, my mother made me swear on her head that I would focus on academics.

I told my mother that the world's richest man Bill Gates had not completed his education. Why do you force me then, I asked her. She then said, I am sure his horoscope and yours are not the same!

I come from a family where entrepreneurship is considered a sin. My mother was quite upset. She wanted me to do engineering, then an MBA and work in a good company.

As per my mother's wishes, I took a four-month sabbatical from my company and studied for my board exam. I passed with a first class.

I still feel that you cannot restrict yourself to bookish knowledge. I believe that practical knowledge is more important.

In the first year, the turnover of Globals Inc was Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000). The second year, the turnover went up to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000).



Suhas receiving the Incredible Europe Innovation Award at Vienna














On looking at Europe as a market:

Till I was 16 or 17, I didn't tell my parents that I had started a company. I kept it a secret because I thought they would object to it. They only knew that I was a freelancer.

We used to build websites and also offer online shopping and e commerce solutions. We even gave part time work to a few programmers in the US when we got many projects but we never had any office.

When I was 16, I saw that there were enormous business opportunities in Europe as a majority of the Indian IT companies were working for American companies.

When I contacted a Spanish company, it rejected my offer saying Indians do not know Spanish. As an entrepreneur, you can't accept rejection, especially when you are young.

I hired five student interns from some Spanish universities and told them they would be paid based on their successful sales.

They were the people who met the companies and bagged the projects for us. By now, we decided to have a home office in Spain.

I replicated the same model in Italy. I contacted some Italian university students.



Suhas meeting with Sheikha Nayhan, Minister for Higher Education, the UAE













On going to Germany to talk about entrepreneurship:

The American newspapers were writing a lot about me as the world's youngest CEO at 14 from India, from a middle class background.

It was a good story for the BBC also. I never expected to be in the limelight. For me, starting a company was like realising a passion of mine.

On seeing these stories, a B-school in Germany invited me to talk to its students on entrepreneurship. I was 17 then. By now, I had completed my 12th standard and had joined Engineering in Bengaluru.

When I was 18, we set up an office -- the European HQ in Bonn. Then, we moved to Switzerland. Six months back, we started our operations in Vienna as well.

That is how we spread our operations from a small Internet cafe to become a multinational company with significant operations in Europe, Middle East, the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.

On registering a company in India at 18:

The day I turned 18, I registered our company in India as Globals, opened an office and recruited four people. I opened the office next to the Internet cafe where I started my career.

By then, he had closed shop and joined a factory as an employee. Whenever I met him, I used to tell him, 'you made me an entrepreneur but you stopped being one.'


On moving to creating products:

We wanted our company also to be a product development company and our focus was on education, like the software that manages everything about a child while in school starting from admission till he/she leaves school and becomes an alumnus.

It is a nasty software which students are going to be quite unhappy about! This software was aimed only at the Indian market. I want to be the market leader in ICT in education.

Our software is being used in more than 100 schools all over India, Singapore and the Middle East.

We are now in the process of raising funds. Once we do it, we will separate the company into two -- service and product development. I want to concentrate on products as I can't sail on two boats.



World Bank president Robert Zoellick














On meeting former President Abdul Kalam:

I met Dr Abdul Kalam when he was the President of India. I was 17 or 18 then. My meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes but we had such an intense conversation that it went on for one-and-a-half hours.

I didn't feel that I was talking to the President of India. We talked like two friends. He was sitting in his chair across the table but after some time, he came and sat next to me. He isi such a modest person that it was a learning experience for me.


On being on the board of the World Bank:

As per the wishes of my parents, I joined engineering but didn't complete my engineering: like Bill Gates! When I was in my 5th semester, the World Bank invited me to attend their board meeting. I am the only Indian on the board of the World Bank.

The objective was to explore how ICT can improve the quality of education in the emerging economies, by bringing in accountability and transparency in their financial deeds.

Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, decided that they could not have only Americans on the board and needed people from across the world. As they were focusing on education, they wanted young minds to add value to the work.

He preferred a young mind from an emerging country and that was how I got the invitation in 2005. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be on the board of the World Bank. The invitation was the most unforgettable moment in my life. I report directly to Robert B Zoellick!

Some of the others on the board are the CEO of Cisco, the vice president of Microsoft and the CEO of SAP; all Fortune 500 companies and me, the only Indian!

I am helping the World Bank set policies on ICT in university education so that employability can be enhanced. My aim is to reduce the number of unemployed eligible youth in the world.

Right now, we are concentrating on Africa. Soon, I want to shift the focus on to India. It has been an amazing experience for me.

But I had to discontinue my engineering education at the time I joined the board, as I didn't have enough attendance in college!

On his dreams for his company:

I have always believed that IT is not just technology but a tool that can solve the problems of people.

That is what I want to do in my company.

I want my company to be a market leader in software solutions concentrating on education.

When I was younger, I didn't care about money. Now that I am responsible for my employees, I care about what we make. If I am not bothered about money, we cannot scale up our business.

When I started my company from a net cafe in Bengaluru, I never ever imagined that one day my company would be a multi-million dollar company and I would be on the World Bank board as a member.

What drives me is my passion and it has been an amazing journey so far.

Customer Care in English

In the age of outsourcing, we have heard of many funny things happening with telephone support. However, it is even more comical when customer service is offered in English within India. If you want to have a hearty laugh about customer service in India, you have to listen to this.

Ask your fiance to marry the second best and see how it feels!

Are you coming in second? Here is what you should know...


You can't boast in front of your wife as being the second best
You can't ask your girlfriend to go out with the second best
Ask your fiance to marry the second best person and see how it feels
No one will remember the second after the second it is announced
No advertiser will sign the second best
No one grows up wanting to be second
Second is not the same as firstThere is no glamour in being the second

Friends, today my team is second in the innovation competition. But, you can help by voting me to number one position! There is only two days remaining starting from today. Vote for our innovation idea and help us win the first place. All you have to do is vote for our idea today and tomorrow with as many email ids as possible. Go! Go! Go!

Turn your wall into a dry erase board!

How would you like to draw on your wall and not worry about messing up the walls? How would you like your wall to be dry erase board? This cool new product can help you turn your walls into a dry erase board on a student budget!

Street Justice & arranged marriage - hilarious!

I am sure that western world is already shocked enough about the concept of arranged marriage. Are you ready for street justice and arranged marriage combined? Watch this video. It is hilarious -

Home food connection

Innovative idea to revolutionize food industry

Organic food, healthy food, fresh food, natural food, green food and so on are phrases that are common place in the food industry. We see them everywhere in stores, restaurant menus, advertisements, local bakeries, fast food chains etc. However, people are still not satisfied with the quality of food that they find outside their home. We still keep searching for that elusive, fresh tasting, aroma infused, tongue tickling and mind awakening food that is nowhere to be found except may be in the homes of the best chefs.

I am exploring this idea with a couple of my friends to connect the best home chefs with home food lovers. Through this business, you as a customer can order food from hundreds of local home chefs on a website and pick it up from their home at your convenience. We are so passionate about this idea because it not only addresses the quality of food, but provides the ability for people with the knowledge and ability to cook medically restricted dietary foods to actually market their skill and provide the much needed services to local communities. For example, currently, if you are a diabetic patient, you are restricted to eating foods with sugar substitutes. But they are not the best foods that you should be eating. Foods made with natural and carefully chosen ingredients can have great impact on one’s blood glucose level. But, consumers today don’t have a choice if they buy food in the market outside. With this new online business (website), you now have an avenue for not only medically restricted diets, but also almost any type of cuisine right in your local neighborhood.

Seeking jobs? This is a must read.

Many of my friends have been looking for jobs. In the course of educating them in the art of creating resumes, cover letters and interviewing, I find it interesting that many of them have not thought about how the person on the other side of the table feels when they are reading their resume or cover letter. I came across the article titled, "Never Read Another Resume" in this month's INC. Magazine that would be of tremendous help to whoever is interviewing right now. It is written by an employer and clearly explains how they select people. One of the big things they talk about is the effectiveness of the cover letter and what kind of questions a candidate asks. Read on... I am sure it will throw new light into your job search.

"Never Read Another Resume"

Climate change hoax

Climate change has moved from the US national stage to the world stage. We have all been forced to live in guilt every time we drive our cars or turn up our thermostat! Imagine my shock and surprise when I heard that the scientific study conducted on climate change on which the international community based all their actions, has been fraudulent! Yes, fraudulent!

George Bernard Shaw said, “The minority is sometimes right; the majority always wrong.” Today, climate change protagonists are in the majority. If we really want to find out the truth, we should be paying careful attention to what the world's scientists are now talking about even if they do not hold the most popular view.

It has now surfaced that the whole theory of climate change was based on a sampling of just 3 trees. Tree ring data was used to determine temperature in the medieval times. It is widely known that temperature data cannot be truly ascertained from tree rings as it is not a reliable indicator of ambient temperature. To make it worse, it has now been revealed that they have cherry picked these trees and ignored a lot of other trees which did not support their pre-drawn conclusions.

The graph below (of course without the word "HOAX") is considered as a logo for climate change protagonists. Every time you see it, remember that it was created with only three tree cores and using tree ring data to determine temperatures which are not reliable to begin with.


This is a clear case of biased research for their own political or economic gains. In my view, it is one of the largest hoaxes perpetrated on humanity in recent times and one of the most heinous crimes. We ought to get to the bottom of this and ensure that whatever harm is already done is mitigated as much as possible.

This is my new year wish for 2010 -
I wish to live in a world that is based on trust and mutual respect for each other.

Facts mentioned in this article are based on the following article:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/29/yamal_scandal/

I don't need to explain this story...

Great Movies - Philosophy, Comedy and Extraterrestrials!

If you are into philosophy and paranormal subjects, here are some great movies to watch. I watched these recently and I enjoyed every one of them. I know how difficult it is to get good movies to watch. After all, in my estimation, less than 10% of the Hollywood movies live up to the hype they create. If your tastes are anything like mine, you will also certainly enjoy these movies. Look them up on netflix or your local dvd store or the public library...

Holy Man
Starring: Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum

This is a movie that is both funny and philosophical at the same time. Eddie Murphy kind of plays "God" in the movie although it is never stated so explicitly. Jeff Goldblum is a shopping channel manager who learns valuable lessons through "God" entering his life. It is pure entertainment while you learn some lessons!




K-PAX
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges

K-PAX is the name of the planet that this person claims to be from. He looks human, he speaks English and no one can believes him. When he is admitted to the mental institution, he is questioned by his psychiatrist who slowly starts believing him. The story itself lends you to analyze human behavior from an alien's perspective. Until the very end, you are not sure if he is an alien or not! Great suspense and great entertainment.




What about Bob?
Starring: Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss

Although this movie started off a little slower than the other two movies I saw (mentioned above), it picked up pace and quickly became hilarious and philosophical at once. A person who thinks he has psychological issues eventually turns out to be more stable and more in touch with his life than his psychiatrist! Contradictions are well portrayed.





The Fourth Kind
Starring: Milla Jovovich portraying the real life character Dr. Abigail Tyler

Two reasons to watch this movie:

1. If you are into scary movies, this is a must see not because this is a great horror movie, but it is a real life horror story. Movie is well made with real footage, not like the stuff you see in Paranormal Activity, where it is made to make believe.
2. If you are intrigued by extraterrestrial life or aliens, this is again a must see. This is the first movie I have ever seen about aliens and it is extremely compelling proof. The whole movie is about the events that happen in Nome, Alaska over the span of 9 days. Many people commit suicide apparently because the mental agony they are going through because of aliens torturing them is unbearable. Dr. Abigail Tyler, who is also one of the victims is strong enough to continue her investigation even though she is as scared as anyone else. Thanks to her, we have this movie and excellent documentation of the events through video and audio. She is determined to find the truth.

Enjoy and please post your comments including any good movies that you think I should check out!