Why U&I really matters

First a word about this awesome NGO. Its been started by my good friend Ajit Sivaram and some very cool folks. They work in juvenile remand homes and disadvantaged kids. Its a tough job and I've been a fan of their work.

Today I saw a TED video that made me realize that their work is even more important. The video is sobering, but its a real sunbeam of hope as well. Here's why.

In this video lawyer David Dow asks a question: What happens before a murder? In looking for ways to reduce death penalty cases, he realized that a surprising number of death row inmates had similar biographies. In this talk he proposes a bold plan, one that prevents murders in the first place. In my view U&I is doing just that by loving one kid at a time. 

Check out the video here. http://www.ted.com/talks/david_r_dow_lessons_from_death_row_inmates.html
To volunteer find them on fb: https://www.facebook.com/uandi.org.in?sk=wall&filter=12

Hey U&I - you guys are awesome!

CHOICE!

Your life is the sum of choices you make. If you make a good choice a week, by the end of a year, you would have made 50 choices, and compound your way to a life well lived.

Most people do not make a solid decision. Instead it's in the territory of a wimpy wishy-washy want. Not good! But what does the word decide mean? It comes the same root word of suicide. It means to murder the alternatives. Ah, now your mind is so sharply focused. Your actions that flow now are powerful.

You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think.

Make a  better choice!

The Hacker Ethic

Reading through the quirky and eminently readable ebook by Steven Levy called Hackers - Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Intensely curious to make things - and life - work, there is a lot to learn here.  Of the original hackers in Building 26 at MIT, the book colorfully says: 'They laid claim to what blocks of time they could, and would "vulture time" with nocturnal visits to the lab on the off chance that someone who was scheduled for a 3 A.M. session might not show up.'

Makes you think of the Hacking attitude.. Here are three of them:
+ Access to computers - and anything that might teach you something about the way the world works should be unlimited and free. 
+ Always yield to the Hands-On imperative
+ Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position.
Here's the free version on Project Gutenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/729