Nick Kristof's Youtube channel

Nick Kristof on assignment for the New York Times.

Nick Kristof (who is sponsoring that amazing contest that I spoke of yesterday) has also started a wonderful (and depressing) YouTube channel to showcase all the columns he's written about. Amazing footage and stories fill the videos. I've seen three today and they were so depressing that I had to switch to watching ABC's The Bachelor.

Here's a sample of one of the more hopeful pieces (last thing I want is for you to be depressed and run away from my blog!):

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

This is a list of FAQs, and I'll update them as necessary.

1. Is "Tworque" a word? How did it come up??
I gotta say this is my #1 question!

Well, "tworque" is my word. It means revolutionary (as in "torque") technology and thinking and ideas...that work (get it?? Torque with a 'w' in there...). I believe that even old ideas that are "tweaked" or retrofitted or reworked to make sense for a set population are also revolutionary. So "tworque" combines revolutionary tweaking, and things/thoughts that work.


2. Where were you between July 2008 and Jan 2009. I ask 'cause your blog was quiet?
I was working at the X PRIZE Foundation helping them design a Global Development prize. I am an independent consultant, working on different projects as they come up and interest me. Some projects can be more demanding than others, as was my work at the X PRIZE Foundation. Also, their blog (which I was helping build readership for) was covering a lot of the issues I was posting over here. So it made sense to just focus on theirs until it had a steady readership.


3. I read that you attended TED2009 in Long Beach as a TED Fellow, and put up a list of great FAQs. Where are the TED FAQ's?
Here's FAQ I, FAQII, and FAQIII; Also check out the TED Fellows blog here.


4. How do I email you?
If you are a crazy Nigerian trying to get your grandmother out of jail or if you just like stalking me, please leave me alone. I am dirt poor (really...all I have is this blog!).

Anyone else, can email me at tworque AT gmail DOT com

The End of Whiteness

The Atlantic has a fascinating article about the "erosion of whiteness" within the United States and how, on the eve of a truly historic presidency, what has long been considered the cornerstone of America is now being threatened.

The Election of Barack Obama is just the most startling manifestation of a larger trend: the gradual erosion of “whiteness” as the touchstone of what it means to be American. If the end of white America is a cultural and demographic inevitability, what will the new mainstream look like—and how will white Americans fit into it? What will it mean to be white when whiteness is no longer the norm? And will a post-white America be less racially divided—or more so? ...

[read more]

Change is here!

We have a new President of the United States and I am THRILLED to bits. I think Michelle is super cool too. I have never felt more hopeful, and its a wonderful feeling.

I simply had to say that out loud.


(I still had to put the below picture because it was so funny!)


(at Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London today. photo courtesy of Washington Post)

Awesome job opportunity for a student

New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof (also one of my favorite journalists) is offering a chance of a lifetime for any student based in the United States. He will take you on a trip to visit the places he does in remote parts of the world and give you a powerful stage (the New York Times paper and blog) to let your voice be heard.

So what kind of a person am I looking for? The truth is, I’m not entirely sure – except that I want someone with excellent communication skills, who can blog and vlog in ways that will capture the interest of other students. If you’ve done blogging, vlogging or journalism, be sure to mention that. Ditto for anything else that makes you special or will make your voice more memorable.

[read more]

How to get rid of wasps

Yellow jacket wasps (the type that stung me) are the most aggressive and territorial. Now I have to get rid of three nests...ugh!

I don't like wasps for many reasons. They are mean to bees and they are mean to humans for no reason. Unlike bees, I don't know what good a wasp does for the world. (update: I just read wikipedia and some other links...apparently they keep pest populations down...but so do birds and they are nicer!)

Last night at around 2AM, I was cold and put on a freshly laundered pair of socks. A wasp that was hiding inside my sock for the week (I think it got in there when I had put my clothes outside to dry) stung me repeatedly. I don't have health insurance and I wasn't sure what it was that had bitten me so badly. So in my terrified state, I assumed I was bitten by a black widow and prepared for my death (really...I actually sat down and wrote a Will out!). Fortunately, the stupid wasp emerged from the sock and I gave it a fitting death (I usually subscribe to the non-violence philosophy...but the moral of the story is don't mess with me!). I tried to get the stinger out and it was so painful that I just stuck some antiseptic on it and let it stay. All night I have had a few stingers in my foot. And I've had nightmares of hordes of bees attacking me. Fortunately, I am not allergic to bee/wasp/hornet stings and I am still alive.

This morning I went hunting around the garden to find my almost murderer's friends. There are about three giant wasp nests...which is an improvement over the one I saw about two months ago. They never hurt me, so I didn't see the need to do anything to them. Well, that's certainly changed.

After doing quite a bit of research, I found this site to be the most helpful. Tonight I am going wasp-hunting. Maybe my will will come in handy after all!

Tworque is back up!

Right...I've been away, but I'm back now...

My work at the X PRIZE Foundation is done...atleast my initial contract is. Here is what I was working on over there. At the end of December, my colleague and I turned in our final recommendations (after six months of research) to the Foundation. In February, they will let us know what the results of their assessment is, and I'll decide whether to go back or not.

Anyhow, I'm on vacation now and looking at a variety of things to do moving forward.

Look for lots of new stuff starting tomorrow.

GREAT to be back...