The Courage of Malala Yousafzai

Who is Malala Yousafzai?

Malala Yousafza, born 1998, is an eighth-grade Pashtun student from the town of Mingora in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, known for being a children’s rights activist. Her little town was dominated and controlled by the local Taliban, whom they’ve shut down local school for girls in her area. During those periods, young Malala, under the pseudonym “Gul Makai”, shared with BBC Urdu of the experience of her little town under the order of the Taliban.

Due to her courage and advocacy for the rights of Children and Education, The international children’s advocacy group KidsRights Foundation included Yousafzai among the nominees for the International Children’s Peace Prize, making her the first Pakistani girl nominated for the award. South African Nobel laureate Desmund Tutu announced the nominations during a 2011 ceremony in Amsterdam, Holland, but Yousafzai did not win the prize.

Today, Malala was shot in the head while she was heading to school by a Taliban Militant. Different stories recount that she was waiting for the school bus to arrive as the gunman was searching for her. Fortunately, her injury was not severe, and by the decree of the Pakistani government, she was transfered to a better hospital to be hospitalized and receive care. In addition, security measures were put in place to protect her against the Taliban, as they waged their threat towards her.

Significance of her Work

“Education is the fundamental right for every child” – Malala Yousafzai

After the closing of the schools in her town, through the help of a local BBC journalist, she blogged about the condition of her classmates and her fellow residents under the military operation of the Taliban. The blogs were published on BBC Urdu, shedding light to the reality and horrors of the rule under the Taliban regime. Given her courage and strength, she was nominated for multiple Peace Awards, one of which she was awarded within Pakistan.

What is amazing for me is the fact that a 14 year old has taken the initiative to rise against the outrageous and venomous conditions of her community. And after the removal of the Taliban rule in Pakistan, she returned to her school and resumed her advocacy publicly.

These are stories of true courage, this is the story of Malala Yousafzai

Media
BBC Report
Interview with BBC (November 2011)

The Book Klub

8 Oct ’12Adib Leave a comment

The past few weeks I took a course on Coursera called Gamification

In simple terms, Gamification is the utilization of Game Design and Game Elements for a non-game context and objective. These objectives can be for Internal Growth (firm trying to motivate its employees), External Growth (firm trying to market a product and make it engaging), and behavior change (a government health institution aiming to improve its communities health). Of course, all to be done in a fun and voluntary fashion.

The following is one of the assignments we had to do, which was quite interesting and relevant to the current age of market needs. In addition to the question, I am submitting the answer I have provided for my assignment.

Now that you know the essential concepts about gamification and game design, it’s time to use them. For this final task, we ask you to bridge this gap as you meld creativity and structure to match peoples’ needs with technical feasibility and business realities.

You are approached by Cheyenne Kendrick, the CEO of Go Digital Press (GDP), a global publisher of electronic books for devices such as the Kindle, Nook, and iPad. She knows you are one of the top experts on gamification, which she has heard can revolutionize publishing. She asks you to present a proposal for a gamified system to take her business to the next level.

GDP concentrates on the trade segment of the book market, i.e. non-fiction publications that would traditionally appear in bookstores, rather than mass-market paperbacks. Approximately 50% of its titles are targeted at business professionals; 25% are educational resources on technical topics such as computer programming; and the remainder address a variety of different subjects.

As a pioneer in e-book publishing, GDP faces the challenge that many users, even in the U.S., do not yet own reader devices. As of April 2012, only 21% of American adults reported that they had read an e-book in the past year, although those numbers are increasing rapidly. Kendrick tells you that another concern is that the device manufacturers and their associated distribution platforms control the sales process, making it difficult for publishers such as GDP to obtain data or develop direct customer relationships. On the positive side, an e-book is a flexible digital asset, which can offer interactive features beyond any physical book. Kendrick asks you to propose a way to gamify the distribution or consumption of e-books, or both.

Provide a detailed description of your proposal, organized according to the design framework described in the lectures in Unit 7:

1. Define business objectives
2. Delineate target behaviors
3. Describe your players
4. Devise activity loops
5. Don’t forget the fun!
6. Deploy the appropriate tools

A summary of each concept is provided on the Gamification Design Framework page.

Response
Go Digital Press (GDP) is a global publisher of ebooks for ebook devices. Cheyenne, CEO of GDP, is seeking a solution via a gamified system that can take her business to the next level. The challenges that are hindering GDP’s growth:

Small number of users own reader devices.
Sales process is controlled by device manufacturers and distribution platform.
Limited accessibility to customers.

Despite the challenges, Cheyenne noted that ebooks are flexible digital assets, which can offer interactive features beyond books.

Objective:
Based on the information above, the objective of the gamified system is:

Increase in the sales and profits generated from ebooks sold.
Justification: The ultimate goal of the project is to take GDP to the next level of growth in terms of business.

It’s essential to note that gains derived from the objective must benefit both GDP and its user base; otherwise, disregarding the demand of the user base and focusing on benefits for GDP will only lead to short-term progress.

Target Behavior:
The behavior the gamified system must promote within GDPs market segment is the shift to the use of ebook devices rather than hardcopy books. Through the increase of ebook device users, more readers will be motivated to purchase and interact with GDP products and services. In order to reach the greater market of users who have yet to purchase, or use, ebook devices, the system will utilize the power of influencer marketing, integrated with game elements, to bring aboard users more quickly. Influencer marketing is marketing focused on key individuals that have influence over potential buyers, such as friends, family and their social network.

Within the gamified structure, metrics and analytics will be put in place to tweak and improve the gamified system; leading to identifying ways of encouraging the needed behavior. Due to limitation of access to user data through the ebook devices, the data must be acquired through both the GDP ebooks and their website interface.

In order to build trust and respect users data, the privacy of users must be maintained and respected.

The Players:
GDP publishes and sells books that are:

50% targeted at business professionals
25% are educational resources on technical topics
25% address variety of different subjects

The information provides us a good perspective of the players of the gamified system. To narrow it further, the players can be categorized into four groups in the order of significance:

The Entrepreneurs: They can be the CEO of a Forbes 500 company, or owner of a Laundromat in a neighborhood. Their demographics vary greatly; however, their psychographics share many common elements: Learning how to improve their business, being up-to-date with the current business practices in the industry, and lack of time to seek proper education in universities/seminars that provide business courses. They’re experienced individuals that can add tremendous value to the gamified system based on their feedback and contribution to the gamified environment.
The Explorers: They’re passionate and curious individuals that want to learn about the topic of their interest or discover other realms of knowledge. Their goal is to expand their knowledge and skill. Their passion is the key element to further promote GDP products if it appeals their curiosity and learning. They’re powerful influencer marketers that reach out to their circle of interest; whether it’s friends, family, colleagues or social network.
The Educators: Instructors of educational institutions seek titles that are suitable for their curriculum, provides their students with ample amount of information that can help them learn, and simplifies their work as educators (through online homework and quizzes, online forum discussion, etc). They’re very powerful influencer marketers as the books they recommend, or request their student to purchase, will lead to the increase in the purchase of ebooks.
The Embarkers: Individuals that embark, on the journey of learning or knowledge for the sake of completing a class/seminar, satisfying their employer’s request, or other factor that lead them to purchase the ebook. They’re only motivated through extrinsic means (salary, grade…etc). However, they have potential influence over their social network if they acquire intrinsic motivation; leading them to becoming loyal customers of GDP products.

Based on the categories above, it’s evident that demographics are highly variable. However, the goal is to target the demands of the users based on their psychographic needs (for example, “I want to learn about the new business practice in the field of gamification”). Through the deployment of the gamified product by GDP that carries extrinsic motivators, combined with the potential intrinsic motivation of learning within the players, GDP can successfully delineate the behavior they seek (purchase of ebooks and ebook reading devices), and satisfy their objectives (growth in sales/profit, gain access to users).

“The Book Klub”

Summary:

The Book Klub is an online community that is integrated within GDP ebooks and website. Its purpose is to transform concrete non-fiction materials fun, sociable, and valuable. It encompasses elements such as points, badges (no leaderboard), and creativity forums. The elements devise activity loops, ensures fun, and aims in deploying appropriate tools (the three sub-elements are interconnected within the system) whose aims are to satisfy The Book Klub’s purpose and the business objectives of GDP.

The Journey of the Apprentice:

When purchasing a GDP ebook, the user will be prompted to either login or signup. Once they sign-up, an account will be made both online (The Book Klub website) and the front page of their ebook. The user will start as an Apprentice (level 1 user), whose journey is based on the skills they learn from the subjects they’re interested in. Depending on their path and journey, they will elevate to new levels for the title; such as Mentor, Consultant, Specialist, and Craftsman. The user’s profile represents a virtual shelf of the books and badges the user acquired from their journey. On the front of each title, they can see the progress bar of their reading and their total score for each title.

Utilizing progression loops, the end of each chapter of an ebook carries a mini-quiz. The quiz can be repeated infinitely, where the last grade will be taken into account. The purpose is to promote fun and motivation through performance-contingent rewards. If the user completes all quizzes (i.e. complete the book) with an average over a pre-defined score, they receive a special badge depending on the score and retain a special title in the Book Klub community.

Utilizing engagement loops, actions include:

Highlighting – When highlighting important point, the highlighted will go to the Book Klub community which will be scored based on community voting (one Like = +1). If the point was highlighted before, the user will receive the total score derived from the originally highlighted information. Such function will utilize “Achievement” methodology which surprises the user that they received a certain number of points just from highlighting a point. In addition, the power of crowd sourcing discourages improper use of highlighting.
How much you read today compared to past – Provides feedback to the user on how much more they’ve read compared to before; appearing as a pop-up after they bookmark the last page they read. This encourages the completion of the ebook faster, leading to purchase of other ebooks much more quickly, and encourages the habit of reading and using ebook reader devices. Special badges can be provided for those who read 25%, 50% or all the ebook in one instance.
Submission of creative content – Some individuals derive inspiration from the ebook, leading them to either generate notes, artwork, model systems, or create useful powerpoints based on the title they’re reading. If they publish the content to the online community, they receive points based on community voting and GDPs specification; special badges, prizes or awards can be provided depending on number of votes, uniqueness and author-provided badges. This action must be nourished as it’s the true form of fun and outlet of intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, it makes GDPs content human-centered, rich and fruitful; leading to increase of users purchasing GDP products to tap into the knowledgebase of the Book Klub community.

To maintain an exclusive status, the online community is only accessible by individuals that purchase GDP products (similar to Xbox Live). The more titles of GDP purchased, the more access the user will gain to the content shared by the community members of different titles. The exclusivity provides a sense of status and fosters a sense of learning. However, users can invite their social-network to join the community by encouraging them to purchase the titles. Such action can be rewarded through points or badges depending on the number of accepted invites.

GDP can hold online or regional events based on the findings they received from their user base to further increase customer loyalty, expand their customer base and increase customer satisfaction; such as talks by the author, or invitation of active members to discussion panels to improve the title (similar to Ebay’s Top Seller Conference), or a fun conference like Dreamforce. Badges and titles can be awarded for participation at these, making the players more reputable and recognizable among their online peers.

The system will foster a fun collaborative environment where value is derived from a fun social-oriented activity, while maintaining individual uniqueness and progress (both sparking intrinsic motivation). In addition, the system will guarantee the satisfaction of business objectives while ensuring that the users benefit greatly, too.

Goal to Euro – The German Dream

3 Aug ’12Adib Leave a comment

It seems evident that I am running out of cool titles to use for my Goal to Euro series. However, this is my last submission about my trip to Europe during the summer of 2012. I hope you enjoyed the previous posts 🙂

Germany is a robust and powerful country. Positioned in the center of Europe, it witnessed difficult periods in its history. Of course, among the notorious parts of their history was during World War II. During the Cold War era, Germany was slowly rebuilding their community and society after the double whammy collapse (World War I and World War II). The fall of the Berlin wall, which started on November 9th 1989, built the sense of unity and community within the German public, providing them hope that they can finally live as normal beings in this world.

Away from the dramatic historical introduction, I visited two cities in Germany: Freiburg and Berlin.

Freiburg

Freiburg is located on the West of Germany. It is very close to the border of France, and it can be compared by Californians as Davis of Germany. However, it doesn’t smell like cow dung. The city is beautiful and surrounded by beautiful mountains, valleys and greens. Freiburg is famous for its University, and personally, it is a university town where you would find yourself surrounded with young people riding bicycles in their cute downtown.

View of Freiburg

Freiburg is also renowned for its famous cathedral, Freiburg Minster. The last duke of Zähringen had started the building around 1200 in romanesque style, the construction continued in 1230 in Gothic style. So, you can imagine how old that thing is! The cathedral is surrounded by mini-market, or farm-market, where locals sell their goods to the public. And how can I forget about Bratwurst stands, which are among the most tastiest delicacy I look for in Germany!

A view of the Freiburg Minster

People selling some seriously tasty stuff!

It is said that the Cathedral survived the bombing with the reason that the military used cathedrals as protection posts.

Berlin

Berlin is rich with history, art, and technology. I can attest that this city is the city of whatever artistic medium Germany generates. The richness of culture and diversity in the city is something that is extremely laudable and memorable. Berlin has went through A LOT of things, and let’s not get started on what they’ve been through. However, the city is filled with life! It is an attractive center for young people and tourists (of course…). However, it holds a dark history that looms in the minds and thoughts of the people I’ve talked to. Not to mention, some people wish to forget this dark past.

The Old and the New

While there, I visited the Holocaust Museum in Berlin, which is surrounded by great blocks that represent the number of individuals that have passed away. The museum was dark and mellow. Personally, I was very disappointed by the museum> As I toured the museum, they shared stories of the horrific experiences the jews, romans, and other races faced under the dark Nazi regime. After going through series of chambers in the museum, I noticed that the end of the museum does not provide any ending. It felt as if the whole purpose of the museum was to merely instill the feeling of sorrow and sadness only to individuals. I wish that they would establish a new room in the museum to shed light on how unity, diversity and cooperation is what bring progress to mankind; providing a sense of inspiration and motivation for people to go forward with a positive cause to prevent not only bloodshed, but eliminate the thought of prejudice, too.

Silent tombs above the Holocaust Museum

My dear friend Marta invited me to go to the Flea Market. During summer, every weekend. Berliners, and few other folks from other cities, come to Berlin to sell their goods and artifacts to the public at the flea market. This flea market does not only sell people’s old belongings, but rather they also sell art works and pieces designed by the seller themselves. I actually bought a mixing system that an engineer was selling at the flea market. And personally, it was an amazing invention! Next to the flea market there is a mini terrace similar to those used during the Roman empire. Built out of stone and clunky. However, it is the place where people can go and sing Karaoke! That’s right, Karaoke!

Marta told me that the Karaoke is held every week during the flea market, and over thousand people gather around to hear the voice of the brave person singing to them their favorite song. The atmosphere is wonderful, and the diversity that was present there was glorious! I have placed it as an item in my bucket list to sing in front of a crowd in Frankfurt, as I have chickened out from singing. Shame on me indeed!

Brave enough to sing infront of this crowd?

There is much to share about Germany, but I’ll leave it at that.

Ending

It is my wish that I would return to Europe once again and explore the rich culture it carries. My hosts were unbelievably kind, the nations were beautiful, and the community was inspiring to learn from. I hope that all of us can get this opportunity to travel the world and learn how despite we live miles apart, or even few feet apart, we are all just one big family.

Relevant Links

Goal to Euro Video Playlist

Random Act of Kindess idea

20 Jul ’12Adib Leave a comment

Just thought of an idea that I think is fairly simple to implement

The idea is this:

An interface, whether it is a website, an app, or even just set of tweets, that suggests Random Acts of Kindness integrated with a quote from someone famous.

For example, something along the line of this:

Random Act of Kindness #382

Get coffee for someone
“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.”
-Khalil Gibran

Yet, I find myself very limited in my knowledge of coding to find a way to integrate it to a cell phone. But I’ll find a way to make this possible 🙂

Goal to Euro – The Glory of Ukraine

3 Jul ’12Adib Leave a comment

Ukraine is the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation. Ukraine is also one of the hosts for the Euro 2012 games. However, you all know that by now, and I think it’s more important to talk about how awesome Ukraine is.

Ook-ra-yee-na!

History

Historically, Ukraine was part of different empires in the past. Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. In essence, they were always owned.

We declared war, but we were too fabulous to continue

After series of more wars and Ukranians fighting for their independence, they finally became part of Soviet Russia as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations. Seriously, if you are Ukranian, you should be proud!

Mother Motherland Monument - This monument is even bigger than New York's Statue of Liberty!

Other matters

Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine, and Russian is also widely spoken (and trust me, it’s for the best to speak Ukranian over Russian). The younger people speak English quite well. So, you won’t get really lost in translation.

Ukraine remains a globally important market and supplier, particularly, the world’s third biggest grain exporter. In Soviet times, the economy of Ukraine was the second largest in the Soviet Union, being an important industrial and agricultural component of the country’s planned economy.

The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which has heavily influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature and music.

One of the Orthodox Churches in Kiev

According to the Ukrainian constitution, access to free education is granted to all citizens. Complete general secondary education is compulsory in the state schools which constitute the overwhelming majority. Free higher education in state and communal educational establishments is provided on a competitive basis. Because of the Soviet Union’s emphasis on total access of education for all citizens, which continues today, the literacy rate is an estimated 99.4%.

And of course, you can imagine that at present Ukraine is its own country after the fall of the Soviet State in 1991, and things have gradually shifted to modernize Ukraine. I spent most of my days in Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk, so, let’s shift gears!

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv (Ukrainian: Київ; Russian: Киев) is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine. It has a very sophisticated infrastructure, which is quite modern, tons of soviet era type buildings in its outskirts and also a few buildings that survived from the 18th century and older.

To dispel any misunderstanding about Ukraine and stuff, it’s a safe country, and only if one acts like a fool, drunk and quite stupid would end up in the wrong side of things (much like anywhere else in the world). Of course, during the Euro 2012 games there was an increase in the number of police around the city. However, in essence, the citizens of Ukraine are extremely hospitable and quite friendly. So, avoid listening to your media sources, and do plan a visit to Ukraine.

Oooooh, Panorama!

However, Ukraine does suffer from corruption and poverty. From what I’ve learned is that even though it is very cheap for those from the West to visit Ukraine, the cost of living (more specifically rent) is highly rigged. In addition, political unrest is present due to the jailing of the previous Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.

And if they do....?

Despite the hardships, there are Ukranians who are fighting to bring justice, freedom and progress for their nation. And Ukranians are quite patriotic about their culture, identity and people. Most of the Ukranians I’ve met are highly educated individuals with great vision whose aim is to work for the benefit of not Ukraine alone, but for mankind.

What Next?

Consider Ukraine as a country in your list of countries to visit. It is honestly among the most beautiful places historically, culturally, and definitely great for legit Ukranian food 😀

Follow me on Twitter @abehjat

In Soviet Ukraine, Adib Comes To You!

Relevant Links

Goal to Euro Video Playlist

Goal to Euro – Kiev’s Olympic Stadium

26 Jun ’12Adib Leave a comment

Poland and Ukraine are the hosts of the Euro 2012 games. The games are held at 8 stadiums that are distributed between these two nations that hosts the soccer matches.

For Poland, they are:

And for Ukraine, they are:

The Sun newspaper provided a nice infographics of the stadium and their capacity, this can provide an idea of their capacity and shape:

Each stadium is unique and beautiful in design and architecture. My journey in Kiev gave me the opportunity to visit one of those massive and beautiful stadiums; the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, or simply Olympics Stadium. The stadium is the premier sports venue in Ukraine and the second largest in East Europe after Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. The complex also features several other sports facilities and is designed to host the Olympic Games (the stadium hosted some football matches at the 1980 Summer Olympics).

The first match that I attended for the Euro 2012 in Kiev was the Sweden vs. France match. For that game, I was supporting France because I assumed France’s reputation and performance will still last against the Swedes, and the Swedes have so far been defeated twice. But I was wrong…

Before entering the stadium, I visited the area around the stadium to get an idea of how massive it is. My conclusion: It is massive! Not to mention, the architecture was beautiful. The exterior of the stadium is lined with great symmetry, and its height gave it a unique sense of majesty as it scratches the sky with its greatness.

The following is a video of me walking around the stadium:

The cafes and bars surrounding the stadium were FULL of football (or soccer for your Americans) fans, and this only happens during the games. I’ve visited the area when there are no games, and it is more packed with tourists who come there to see the massiveness of the stadium and weep to the fact on why they haven’t bought EuroCup tickets.

One encounter around the stadium was a group of Brazilian fans that were singing in the cafe and preparing for the beautiful evening. Cool thing about this is that Jenia, my beautiful host, and I have met few Brazilians prior to arriving to the stadium. And one of the Brazilian fans told me that he will be performing in a cafe before the match. I didn’t expect to see him again, but lo and behold, here he is singing songs in one of the cafes:

Hours have passed, and adrenaline is pumped in my veins. I am finally ready to rock out! My dear co-host, Yulia, and I head to the Olympics stadium ready to watch the amazing game. The lines to the stadium were long, but they have organized the entry points pretty well to allow a good influx of fans to enter the stadium:

Walking past the check-point, it was all celebration and partying. There was face-painting, people dressed in carnival clothes, marching bands, and everything you can think of that falls in line the concept of carnival, celebration or things to do before watching an amazing football match!

In the stadium, I was seated next to the Swedish fans. The concept of supporting France is now distant in my mind like Pluto and the Sun. The fans were roaring! Chanting Swedish songs, Seven Nation Army (White Stripes), or their national anthem. Of course, there were “boo’s” when France got close to the Swedish goal-post.

Swedish fans cheering loudly:

Swedish fans singing their national anthem:

Swedish fans chanting Seven Nation Army:

What was impressive for me is that during Half-Time, they water the field to make the field more moist and playable (I assume so):

At the end of the game, people headed home in festive mood. I admired the fact that people were calm and had maintained civility; unlike what the media loves to publicize. Therefore, don’t trust what the media says all the time 🙂

Below are videos from the Italy vs. England game. I was supporting Italy with the English fans on my left. It was a wonderful experience. Here is a video of us doing the wave!

You can see more videos of my trip, including the videos from the stadium, here: Goal to Euro Playlist

I hope you enjoy this post and I’m looking forward to share more with you all about Ukraine, soon!

Relevant Links

Goal to Euro Video Playlist

Goal to Euro – Hosts of Krakow

25 Jun ’12Adib Leave a comment

This European trip wouldn’t have been possible without the kindness and hospitality of my hosts. When I arrived to Krakow, I’ve been blessed to get to know three wonderful beings that made my trip pleasing and interesting.

I would like to introduce Marta, Marcin, and the little one (I forgot her name, and I feel extremely bad about it. My pathetic memory 🙁 ):

The wonderful hosts

With every travel I embark in, I personally like to talk and learn more about the experiences and culture of the local people. Touristy places aren’t that attractive for me. When I arrived, Marcin has helped me and provided me with excellent information in regards to the places that I should visit that represents the essence of Poland; including but not limited to: Main Square, Jewish Quarters and Schindler’s Museum.

Marcin is a professional double bass jazz player. When I arrived to my hosts’ home, we both shared our thoughts about the music we listen to and how music is taking a unique course. I was curious about the direction of Jazz in Poland itself. Marcin told me that each European country has its own unique taste in Jazz, and what is pleasant in Poland may be unpleasant to the ears of those from other European countries. In addition, he stated that improvisation has become a large part of Jazz music within European countries, as the musicians are integrating traditional folk elements into jazz. On the side, he does paintings, too. Marcin, by profession, studied medicine. But music was his calling 🙂

Marta, on the other hand, is one of Poland’s renowned national poet. She has written few books, and has exhibited her works across Poland and the world. One amazing experience I recall with her was when we were discussing about the source of Poland’s economy. All she did was call a number, talk for few minutes, and later she provided me with a detailed answer. She then explained that she called the Minister of Aviation/Transport. And this call was made at around 9 PM – 10 PM. In essence, Marta is a very strong and passionate woman. She currently teaches Literature at The Pedagogical University of Cracow and in Warsaw University. On the side, Marta enjoys doing photography, and I recommend you to see her work 😀

That’s all for now, until tomorrow, where I hope I’ll start writing about my journey in Ukraine!

More about Marta: Wikipedia Link

P.S. Chuck Norris is actually in the adverts in Poland, thus the main photo:

Relevant Links

Goal to Euro Video Playlist

Goal to Euro – Adib explains Krakow

16 Jun ’12Adib Leave a comment

On Friday and Saturday I spent the time to explore the city Krakow. Krakow is one of the oldest and second largest city in Poland. Historically, this place is renowned for its culture, education and art of Poland. In essence, the cultural and economic center of Poland.

Krakow is also located next to the Vistula River. And this river is significant as it separates the old Krakow with the new, more modern Krakow. To explain, let’s look at the following map:

Map of Krakow

As you can see, old Krakow city is surrounded by parks. Let me note that these parks used to be castle walls. But according to residents, it was torn down by authorities and instead they created parks. Residents don’t complain much about it, but they prefer to see those walls.

South of the Old Krakow city is the Jewish Quarter of Krakow. This place has its own vibe and life compared to old Krakow. It’s more silent during the day, but for some reason, the nights are filled with parties. I guess that’s how you live up the Middle Eastern culture. Night life all the way 😀

Once you cross the bridge from the Jewish Quarter, this part of Krakow is slowly transformed to the Soviet Era and modernized touch. You’ll notice the architecture is different here compared to the old Krakow city and Jewish Quarter.

Not to mention, Krakow is the home for the famous Schindler! Krakow has a museum dedicated to the history of Krakow during the World War II period. The museum is called Schindler’s Museum, and the building is Schindler’s own factory, and I was very glad to have had the opportunity to visit it.

I don’t want to write too much since it’ll be TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read), but here are some photos of the things I’ve seen and caption to explain it:

Photos

Walking along side Vistula River in Krakow

Castles, Ferries and Vistula River in Krakow

A building on the outskirts of Old Krakow

View of the River from a bridge

Construction of new buildings across the Vistula River

A view of Vistula River and Church

I found this hilarious...found by the River

These are locks that represent a relationship that have been put up by couples 🙂

More pictures are on Facebook. But the following are the videos.

Videos

Rynek Główny (Main Square) of Old Krakow is filled with culture, restaurant and cafes. It’s rich with life and definitely among the places to see if you are visiting Krakow the first time:

After spending some time downtown, it was time to move to Blonia Park. Blonia Park is a historical area that is 48 hectres. I’d recommend you read more about it on Wiki. Here is a glimpse of Polish football fans going towards the screening of the EuroCup 2012 match between Poland and Czech Republic:

To enter Blonia Park, there was a security checkpoint to ensure the safety and security of spectators. I intentionally took this video to bring comfort to my mother’s worry:

Once I entered the park, this place was PACKED with people waiting to see Polish football players to score a goal against Czech Republic. People chanted, blew their Vuvuzelas, and sang the anthem as loudly as possible in hope that their sporty spirit will inspire the Polish players to rock the game:

After the Czech Republic and Poland match, there was a group that was conducting Modern Dancing for those who are not too fond of EuroCup. Caught the end of the program, but hardly seen much. But here is a small clip of it:

Relevant Links

Goal to Euro Video Playlist

Goal to Euro – Ironman, Bratwursts and Chuck Norris

15 Jun ’12Adib Leave a comment

I have finally arrived in Poland after a 24 hours flight. It was a very tiring flight, but I can’t hold back some of the random experiences that I have faced in the past 24 hours.

Release the Deutschland!

I departed from SFO (San Francisco). It was 2:55 PM, the gate was bombarded by middle-aged Germans and random other folks. The air was tense as it seems everyone is trying to flee the USA. Like forcing two magnets of the same polarity to attract.

I had the window seat, and based on my amazing research on planes, I’ve selected the window seat that faces the wings. I flew on one of those jumbo jets that are two story high. I was seated next to this awesome fella, whom I forgot his name (how embarrassing). This fella is 2 meters tall, curly haired dude and was a fresh graduate from Gymnasium (German High School). He came to San Francisco to celebrate his graduation, spending his 5 days roaming around and exploring the city. During our conversation, we exchanged music, movie tastes, learned a bit of German and talked about our culture. But the best moment was in the middle of the flight, he pulled his Iron Man mask, and pulled it over his head. To me, this was HILARIOUS. To others, this looked like a suspicious terrorist attack. Until we started talkng loudly on how Tony Stark is trying to maintain his budget and is traveling economy class. Here is a glimpse of this fella:

No comments about my face

When I landed in Frankfurt Airport (FRA), I had an hour to arrive to my gate to go on to my next flight. Of course, the assumption was that the gate won’t be packed and hopefully I’ll get there. WRONG!

I cannot explain the number of security checkpoints I had to go through to go from one terminal to the other. I have been stamped by the German Authorities three times (entering the country twice, and exiting once). In essence, I missed my flight. I forgot to mention that for the two entry checkpoint, I had to go through the scanning and security check. God forbid the lines.

Long hallways are long...So, about catching my flight?

While waiting for my next flight, I gave myself the honors to go roam around the massive airport. Personally, I was going into the Duty Free to find a cologne to wear since I feel I stank from the long sitting down trip from SFO. And I realized since I was in Germany, there was only one thing to do – Bratwurst, and of course, Mezzo Mix (Fanta and Coca-Cola mix drink. Trust me, it tastes like heaven).

German chocolate simply pwns!

German's greatest national pride!

That’s all I’ll share for now for my trip. Tomorrow I’ll document my experience in Krakow, and share the story of my awesome hosts, and the city I am in.

Until then…

I’ll leave this here, which is placed right underneath my host’s apartment:

Not sure if Soviet Russia Joke, or Chuck Norris Joke?

Relevant Links

Goal to Euro Video Playlist

The first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Economics

12 Jun ’12Adib Leave a comment

It is a sad day for the people in the field of Economics. Today I’ll write about Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in the year 2009. She passed away this morning at Indiana University’s Health Bloomington Hospital. Elinor was a political scientist; however, she had a deep interest in the science of Economics; more specifically, in understanding how people interact with one another and how they utilize common pool resources, such as forests, fisheries, oil fields, grazing lands, and irrigation systems. She was renowned for her work and efforts in “her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons”. She was the first, and to date, the only woman to win the prize in this category.
In other words = LIKE A BOSS!

Background

Elinor was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in a family of mixed religious background (Protestant and Jewish), and pursued the degree of Political Science at UCLA (from Bachelor’s all the way to Ph.D.). According to her colleagues at Indiana University, she often spoke about what it was like to be a child of the Great Depression, helping her family grow food in a large garden and knitting scarves for soldiers during World War II.

At the workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis

In 1973, she co-founded A Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University with her husband, Vincent Ostrom. Examining the use of collective action, trust, and cooperation in the management of common pool resources, her institutional approach to public policy, known as the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, has been considered sufficiently distinct to be thought of as a separate school of Public Choice Theory. Public Choice Theory models people, institutions and groups as mainly self-interested. In particular, it studies such agents and their interactions in the social system either as such or under alternative constitutional rules. In the realm of political science, for example, Public Choice Theory takes shape in the form of votes, politicians and bureaucrats; where the voter behavior influences the behavior of public officials.

Noble Prize “for her analysis of economic governance”

Ostrom, who won a share of the 2009 prize for her groundbreaking research into how people overcome selfish interests to successfully manage natural resources, and are capable of creating rules and institutions that allow for the sustainable and equitable management of shared resources. In essence, how resouces can be managed successfully by the people who use them, rather than by governments or private companies. She shared the prize with Oliver Williamson, a University of California economist.

The Research

To demonstrate the significance of her work, we can share the following example that was shared by Zoe Chace of NPR’s Planet Money:

One of the knottiest issues in economics is the tragedy of the commons. But Elinor made it not so tragic, after all. In 1968, young Elinor read an article by Garrett Hardin which posed a classic economic problem: A cow pasture open to everyone.

The problem states that everyone would then put their cows on and they would overharvest. That’s the classic tragedy of the commons – everyone uses something, but no one is in charge. So nobody takes it upon themselves to take care of a common good. According to Garret Hardin who posed the problem, he stated that the people who faced this problem are trapped and have no solution. Leading to the conclusion that they require an outside factor to interfere to solve their problem; either the government had to step in and police the pasture or the pasture had to be divided up between the people who used it and privatized.

That was the only way to solve the tragic problem, as Hardin saw it. But Ostrom found tons of examples where this didn’t play out. In fact, in the Swiss Alps, there was this exact situation: A pasture with cows on it in the mountains.

These cows found Garrett Hardin's problem disappointing

In the Alps, it’s patchy. And so it snows well in one location, and another one, not much. Therefore, depending on where you placed your cows, you’ll either be lucky, or unlucky, depending on the climate throughout the whole year. Hence, if you fenced it off into small sections, then most of the farmers would be out of luck every year. But just put a fence around the whole thing and everyone benefits.

This might be common sense, but considering that economics of the past revolved around the fact that people are only motivated by self-interest, Ostrom’s research expresses the reality that people are not purely motivated by self-interest, and that people have the potential to arise to a better conclusion and outcome through cooperation and pertaining a common goal.

Struggle and Success

There isn't much to say here...

After she was awarded the Noble Prize, she gave an interview at NPR regarding the struggles she faced as a young woman pursuing her education:

Ostrom spoke with NPR’s Michele Norris about how as a young woman she wasn’t allowed to study trigonometry because she was going to be “barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.”

Michael McGinnis, a friend and colleague who was at her bedside when she died, said that Ostrom donated her share of the $1.4 million Nobel award money to the workshop — the biggest by far of numerous several academic prizes with monetary awards that the Ostroms had given to the group over the years.

History in Pictures

25 May ’12Adib Leave a comment

An image is worth a thousand words. We have seen images through media, history books, articles and magazines representing events that mark a significant point in history. They are portals of life in the past, and they demonstrate the power and capabilities human beings posses. The following images are aggregated through the contribution of the members of the forum “Reddit,” an online community that generates internet media.
WARNING: Some images are not safe for work, and may contain gore, images of death, or violence.

Hubble Ultra-Deep Field

(Image above)

The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data accumulated over a period from September 24, 2003, through to January 16, 2004. It is the deepest image of the universe ever taken, looking back approximately 13 billion years (between 400 and 800 million years after the Big Bang), and it will be used to search for galaxies that existed at that time.

Omayra Sanchez

One of the 25,000 victims of the Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) volcano which erupted on November 14, 1985. The 13-year old had been trapped in water and concrete for 3 days, and this photo was taken shortly before she died. Footage of Omayra Sanchez speaking to a news reporter: YouTube

Jesse Owens

In 1936, Owens arrived in Berlin to compete for the United States in the Summer Olympics. Adolf Hitler was using the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany. He and other government officials had high hopes that German athletes would dominate the games with victories (the German athletes achieved a “top of the table” medal haul). Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of “Aryan racial superiority” and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior. Owens surprised many by winning four gold medals. It is important to point out that African-Americans were also discriminated against during that period in the United States.

Thich Quang Duc

Thích Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Đức was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam’s Roman Catholic government led by Ngô Đình Diệm. Đức’s last words before his self-immolation were documented in a letter he had left:

“Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngô Đình Diệm to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organise in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism”

Venezuela: Siege of Puerto Cabello

In 1962, Puerto Cabello was the site of an uprising by pro-Fidel Castro naval officers, marines, and members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation. Although loyalist naval forces were able to quickly take back the base and arrest the rebels, they were unable to prevent the marines from occupying the city and arming pro-Castro forces. Despite ambushes and bloody house-to-house fighting, loyal National Guard and mechanized regular forces were able to retake Puerto Cabello. The image was taken by Hector Rondon, a 1963 Pulitzer Prize Winner, photographer of Caracas, for the Venezuelan newspaper, La Republica, for his remarkable picture of a priest holding a wounded soldier in the 1962 Venezuelan insurrection: Aid From The Padre. The photograph was distributed by the Associated Press.

Egyptian Uprising

Egypt uprising initiated due to the Arab Spring in Tunisia, where different Arab countries rose up against their leaders demanding justice and democracy. The Egyptian Uprising lead to many deaths by the forces of ex-President Hossni Mobarak. In this image, a group of Christians joined hands and faced out surrounding hundreds of Muslims protesters left vulnerable as they knelt in prayer. The photos were taken in Cairo by Nevin Zaki. She shared the images over Twitter, writing, ‘Bear in mind that this pic was taken a month after z Alexandria bombing where many Christians died in vain. Yet we all stood by each other.’ The suicide bombing, shortly after the New Year’s Day, killed 23 Coptic Christians, who make up 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million population.

Pele and Bobby Moore

This is the iconic moment where Brazil’s Pelé and England’s Bobby Moore swapped shirts following their classic encounter at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Brazil won 1-0 with a great goal from Jairzinho, but the game also featured the Gordon Banks save and the Bobby Moore tackle. The shirt swapping between two great players, both of them already World Cup winners (and Pelé on his way to a third medal) was a sign of mutual respect and is thought to have popularized the concept of shirt-swapping. It wasn’t the first time players had exchanged jerseys at full-time but the above moment is probably the reason shirt-swapping happens so regularly in modern football.

Ting Tsu-Chi and His Mother

Former colleagues were quoted in local media reports as saying they were not surprised to learn that the man in the picture was Ting as he was known for being filial. He even passed on a promotion because he would have had to relocate to Taipei City and so be unable to look after his mother. Ting, who filed for early retirement in 2007 to take better care of his mother, on Monday expressed gratitude for the expression of public concern, while declining to accept the praise voiced in the media. “I am not as filial and honorable as described in the news reports, and I’m sorry for taking up so much media coverage over the past few days,” said Ting, whose father passed away in 2007.

Sunday Eclipse

21 May ’12Adib Leave a comment

Sunday was inspiring. Few of my friends and I headed to Mountain View Shoreline Park to enjoy the beautiful outdoors, the delicate breeze and the beautiful sunlight; a sunlight that held a magical feeling to it because of the eclipse. After munching on jalapeño chips and hummus and enjoying cool fresh drinks, Rania shared news from her university. Our conversation covered different matters, relating to psychedelic drugs, rhetorical meaning of rape in fictional novels, society, technology and media, and empowerment and positive reinforcement.

Empowerment

The conversation about media, society and empowerment really meant a lot to me. It is evident within our society that the majority of the populous are being influenced and intimidated by the power of media. Influencing through encouraging the notion of what beauty is, how we are expected to lead our lives in the society, and defining gender roles. However, the media is not the only one to blame, but there is also the role of the parents in how they raise their children. Given our group came from Asian/Eastern culture, we all recounted the stories of our friends, or from our own family, of the pressures we faced in achieving specific goals to gain the respect of the parents.

Such expectations are very narrow and limited that it blocks the child from observing the other things that matter as well to be a productive and useful member of the society. Therefore, while the parents are busy focusing on specific agendas, the child or youth seeks the information for other matters in life through their environment; which includes media, their friends, neighborhood and culture. Most, if not always, the child or youth will not consult on matters that are not part of the parent’s agenda fearing judgement.

In our conversation, we concluded that empowerment is a powerful tool that can help inspire and uplift the youth. Consider how much pressure the young adult or youth would feel through the empowerment and encouragement of their parents. However, we were all well aware that sugar-coating is not empowerment. Through empowerment, there is a feeling of being welcomed, and also openness to share and consult on different subjects while pursuing/having a goal or purpose; providing room for creativity, moderation and learning.

The Process of Individual Growth

During our conversation, I recalled something that Rania has told me in the past regarding how one should face challenges and difficulties. To put it into context, media is a powerful force; it can manipulate and influence us if we are not careful (not trying to be a conspiracy theorist, but there are good and useful programs on TV/Radio that can benefit us, but there are also those that arouse the feeling of hatred, lust or envy).

Step -1 – Defeat

If progress were to be series of steps, to be influenced would be step “-1.” This can include falling into the mode of gossip, imitating fashion trends blindly, admiring the fall of other people and absorbing the negative qualities represented in the media.

Step 0 – Acknowledge

The next step is acknowledging what is influencing or manipulating you. In this step, you figure out that the reason you bought those jeans was because it looks super great on that actress, or the reason why you speak the way you do is because a comedian pointed it, or you finally figure out why you have a headache because the series is just being super intense. However, acknowledging is not sufficient, as you are still being influenced; however, you admit to what you are being influenced with. The next step is the most challenging one, a step one has to sacrifice a bit of their ego.

Step 1 – Control

At this stage, one shuts down the source of manipulation or negative influence. However, there is a danger in this stage as one can fall into the pit of bias as they are completely shutting a matter from their life. Therefore, observing the channel of influence from different dimensions helps in identifying the greater picture behind the purpose and value of the source. To convince oneself to detach and distance themselves from a source to which they are used to is difficult. One will feel that they are losing something or feel left out if they don’t catch up. But as mentioned before, when one realizes the value of what is being controlled and determining whether it provides any positive value to their personal growth and environment, then they’ll make such judgement a bit more easily.

Step 2 – Inspire

The final stage is sharing your perspective with others and learning how to identify more channels that influence our lives. One observes that learning is a cycle that continues forever and gains more wisdom and a broader perspective on matters, helping them to make better and more valued decisions.

The sunset and our crying stomach’s ended our conversation. But I wish to have everyone present in such conversations 🙂