HBR on Corporate Culture Design

I had a chance to work for companies with very different corporate cultures. In my experience culture does not just happen. Instead, it should be deliberately designed and reinforced. So I found this Harvard Business Review article relevant and insightful:

Think carefully about each of these four elements:

  • Incentives are a basic element of doing good work. People should be paid fairly and competitively for their roles, and increases in compensation should be a predictable process. In addition to pay, the culture should work to reward results generated versus hours worked. Employees shouldn’t feel anxious about how visible they are in the office or on projects, and strict timekeeping can create a sense of mistrust between teams and management. Lastly, and this is something we care about a lot, good failure should not result in career suicide.
  • Context and rules will determine what rituals and processes allow people to do great work. If initiative is punished instead of rewarded, people will feel less compelled to push new ideas internally. The ability to make quick judgment calls and move decisions forward will outpace any lengthy or cumbersome internal approvals process. The same goes for autonomy and flexibility—do you trust your teams to lead while you get out of the way? Are teams allowed to participate in flexible work options that encourage their productivity? Your teams need the right tools and resources to do their job—are they spending more time fighting for what they need? If access to those resources is limited, individuals will be less inclined to take part in initiatives with so many blockers in front of them.
  • People are the core of a great organization and the processes and systems you use to hire, promote, and reward them can be both enablers and blockers. Bob Sutton’s famous “no asshole rule” is an important factor when hiring people for your company, especially if they’re “star performers”. Sutton believes that star performers who are demeaning can wreak havoc on organizations. You just can’t compromise your business on people like that.
  • Leadership has to play a role in the culture if the whole organization is to transform. And leading by example is a pivotal component of management enablers (and blockers: leadership can lead by poor example as well, of course). If leadership exhibits the behaviors expected of teams and individuals, then people in the organization will follow suit.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari is yet another mind-expanding book:

“About 13.5 billion years ago, matter, energy, time and space came into being in what is known as the Big Bang. The story of these fundamental features of our universe is called physics.

Just finished reading “Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction” by Philip Tetlock. The book is similar to Nate Silver’s “The Signal and The Noise” in many ways.

I’d definitely recommend this one if you’re interested in the application of the scientific mindset to forecasting of future events.

Here is a quote to give you sense of what to expect:

“Suppose someone says, “Unfortunately, the popularity of soccer, the world’s favorite pastime, is starting to decline.” You suspect he is wrong. How do you question the claim?

Don’t even think of taking a personal shot like “You’re silly.” That only adds heat, not light. “I don’t think so” only expresses disagreement without delving into why you disagree. “What do you mean?” lowers the emotional temperature with a question but it’s much too vague. Zero in. You might say, “What do you mean by ‘pastime’?” or “What evidence is there that soccer’s popularity is declining? Over what time frame?” The answers to these precise questions won’t settle the matter, but they will reveal the thinking behind the conclusion so it can be probed and tested. Since Socrates, good teachers have practiced precision questioning, but still it’s often not used when it’s needed most.”

Chaos Monkeys

Enjoying reading Antonio‘s Chaos Monkeys now. The book is a rather honest account of launching and working at tech startups in the Valley.

Here is a quote on math behind Facebook growth, for example:

“The reality is that Facebook has been so successful, it’s actually running out of humans on the planet. Ponder the numbers: there are about three billion people on the Internet, where the latter is broadly defined as any sort of networked data, texts, browser, social media, whatever. Of these people, six hundred million are Chinese, and therefore effectively unreachable by Facebook. In Russia, thanks to Vkontakte and other copycat social networks, Facebook’s share of the country’s ninety million Internet users is also small, though it may yet win that fight.

That leaves about 2.35 billion people ripe for the Facebook plucking. While Facebook seems ubiquitous to the plugged-in, chattering classes, its usage is not universal among even entrenched Internet users. In the United States, for example, by far the company’s most established and sticky market, only three-quarters of Internet users are actively on FB. That ratio of FB to Internet user is worse in other countries, so even full FB saturation in a given market doesn’t imply total Facebook adoption. Let’s (very) optimistically assume full US-level penetration for any market. Without China and Russia, and taking a 25 percent haircut of people who’ll never join or stay (as is the case in the United States), that leaves around 1.8 billion potential Facebook users globally. That’s it. In the first quarter of 2015, Facebook announced it had 1.44 billion users. Based on its public 2014 numbers, FB is growing at around 13 percent a year, and that pace is slowing. Even assuming it maintains that growth into 2016, that means it’s got one year of user growth left in it, and then that’s it: Facebook has run out of humans on the Internet.

The company can solve this by either making more humans (hard even for Facebook), or connecting what humans there are left on the planet. This is why Internet.org exists, a vaguely public-spirited, and somewhat controversial, campaign by Facebook to wire all of India with free Internet, with regions like Brazil and Africa soon to follow. In early 2014 Facebook acquired a British aerospace firm, Ascenta, which specialized in solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles. Facebook plans on flying a Wi-Fi-enabled air force of such craft over the developing world, giving them Internet. Just picture ultralight carbon-fiber aircraft buzzing over African savannas constantly, while locals check their Facebook feeds as they watch over their herds.”

Waking Up by Sam Harris, my notes

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“How Google Works” by Eric Schmidt notes

How Google Works” by Eric Schmidt, despite being quite self-congratulatory and maybe even prone to confirmation bias, is full of inspirational ideas and bids of practical wisdom to learn from. I took a few (ok, quite a few) notes on smart creatives, decision making, hiring, innovation, strategy, career, management and even managing email.

On smart creatives:

“And who, exactly, is this smart creative? A smart creative has deep technical knowledge in how to use the tools of her trade and plenty of hands-on experience. In our industry, that means she is most likely a computer scientist, or at least understands the tenets and structure of the systems behind the magic you see on your screens every day. But in other industries she may be a doctor, designer, scientist, filmmaker, engineer, chef, or mathematician. She is an expert in doing. She doesn’t just design concepts, she builds prototypes. She is analytically smart. She is comfortable with data and can use it to make decisions. She also understands its fallacies and is wary of endless analysis. Let data decide, she believes, but don’t let it take over.

She is business smart. She sees a direct line from technical expertise to product excellence to business success, and understands the value of all three. She is competitive smart. Her stock-in-trade starts with innovation, but it also includes a lot of work. She is driven to be great, and that doesn’t happen 9-to-5. She is user smart. No matter the industry, she understands her “get it right the next time around. She is self-directed creative. She doesn’t wait to be told what to do and sometimes ignores direction if she doesn’t agree with it. She takes action based on her own initiative, which is considerable.

She is open creative. She freely collaborates, and judges ideas and analyses on their merits and not their provenance. If she were into needlepoint, she would sew a pillow that said, “If I give you a penny, then you’re a penny richer and I’m a penny poorer, but if I give you an idea, then you will have a new idea but I’ll have it too.” Then she would figure out a way to make the pillow fly around the room and shoot lasers.

She is thorough creative. She is always on and can recite the details, not because she studies and memorizes, but because she knows them. They are her details. She is communicative creative. She is funny and expresses herself with flair and even charisma, either one-to-one or one-to-many.”

“Hippopotamuses are among the deadliest animals, faster than you think and capable of crushing (or biting in half) any enemy in their path. Hippos are dangerous in companies too, where they take the form of the Highest-Paid Person’s Opinion. When it comes to the quality of decision-making, pay level is intrinsically irrelevant and experience is valuable only if it is used to frame a winning argument. Unfortunately, in most companies experience is the winning argument. We call these places “tenurocracies,” because power derives from tenure, not merit. It reminds us of our favorite quote from Jim Barksdale, erstwhile CEO of Netscape: “If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.”

When you stop listening to the hippos, you start creating a meritocracy, which our colleague Shona Brown concisely describes as a place where “it is the quality of the idea that matters, not who suggests it.” Sounds easy, but of course it isn’t. Creating a meritocracy requires equal participation by both the hippo, who could rule the day by fiat, and the brave smart creative, who risks getting trampled as she stands up for quality and merit.”

On technical insights as a driver of innovation:

“Bet on technical insights, not market research. Product leaders create product plans, but those product plans often (usually!) lack the most important component: What is the technical insight upon which those new features, products, or platforms will be built? A technical insight is a new way of applying technology or design that either drives down the cost or increases the functions and usability of the product by a significant factor. The result is something that is better than the competition in a fundamental way. The improvement is often obvious; it doesn’t take a lot of marketing for customers to figure out that this product is different from everything else.

For example, at that time Google was experimenting in applying some of our expertise from online advertising to other advertising markets, including print, radio, and TV. These were clever efforts, supported by smart people, but they lacked that fundamental technical insight that would shift the cost-performance curve non-incrementally and provide significant differentiation. All three ultimately failed. And when we look back at other Google products that didn’t make it (iGoogle, Desktop, Notebook, Sidewiki, Knol, Health, even the popular Reader), they all either lacked underlying technical insights from the outset, or the insights upon which they were based became dated as the Internet evolved.”

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How to Start a Startup Stanford class materials

Date Speaker Topic
9/23/14 Sam Altman, President, Y Combinator
Welcome, and Ideas, Products, Teams and Execution Part I
Why to Start a Startup

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Good vs Bad PM by Ben Horowitz

Here is the full version found on khoslaventures.com worth looking at:

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Mental Math: Years to Double an Investment

Happiest Countries According to Studies

% Thriving in 3+ Elements of Well-being

  1. Panama 61
  2. Costa Rica 44
  3. Denmark 40
  4. Austria 39
  5. Brazil 39
  6. Uruguay 37
  7. El Salvador 37
  8. Sweden 36
  9. Guatemala 34
  10. Canada 34

Subjective Happiness

  1. Costa Rica
  2. Croatia
  3. Chile
  4. Malaysia
  5. Colombia

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Shortcut Safari (2016)

'Shortcut Safari' is about adventures of a group of 7 urban children, between ages 10 to 14 years, who get stuck in a deep, dense forest while returning from a day long trip organised by the Nature Club of their School.

Movie Links:


Smoking: A retrospective on the discovery of the link between cigarettes and lung cancer

How we learned that smoking was dangerous.

Featured Article Image

Consider for a moment the following claim, "More doctors smoke Camel than any other cigarette". If you found that statement to be alarming for any reason besides a personal preference for Marlboro, you would have found yourself in the minority in America in the 1940’s. This claim was the refrain of one of many now infamous advertising campaigns from 1940’s as American tobacco companies attempted to invoke a sense of benignity and scientific legitimacy around their products. At the time this ad was released, approximately 40% of American adults smoked cigarettes. While this number would rise during the 1950’s and peaked in the early 1960’s, the percent of Americans who smoke cigarettes as of 2014 was 16.8%. This drastic shift in smoking prevalence is one of the most important public health achievements in America in the past century. Scientists, from a variety of countries and fields, played a critical role in both instigating and ensuring the legacy of the anti-smoking campaign. This article will chronicle the work of a select subset of these scientists and reveal how their accomplishments influenced a nation.

An Abridged History of the Recognition of Tobacco Carcinogenesis

The turn of the 20th century brought with it a marked increase in the diagnosis of lung cancer, a disease once so rare physicians considered witnessing it to be a once in a lifetime event. This increase prompted Isaac Adler to investigate the etiology of lung cancer. In Primary Malignant Growths of the Lungs and Bronchi, published in 1912, Adler, a physician and teacher affiliated with several New York City hospitals, proposed a series of possible culprits including tobacco abuse. Unfortunately, Alder’s supposition that smoking caused cancer was largely ignored, and 20 years passed before the field would make any significant progress.

Angel Honorio Roffo, an Argentinian physician and pioneer in the field of tobacco carcinogenesis, published a series of articles in the 1930’s demonstrating a causative link between condensed tobacco smoke and tumor formation. Roffo’s work acted as a foundation upon which Ernst Wynder and Evarts Graham (initially a skeptic and heavy smoker himself) published a number of epidemiological reports and animal investigations. The pair of researchers published a landmark study in 1950 in which they retrospectively interviewed 684 patients with bronchiogenic carcinoma. In the conclusion, they unambiguously linked smoking tobacco to lung cancer. In their most well-known animal experiment, Wynder and Graham (Adele Croninger was also listed as a co-author) used a ‘Cigarette Smoking Machine’ to simultaneously smoke 100 cigarettes and collect the by-product – a condensed cigarette tar stored in acetone. This tar/acetone solution was then painted onto the shaved backs of the experimental mouse group three times a week until they died. These mice developed papillomas and carcinomas at sites of application. The results of these experiments confirmed, in the eyes of Wynder, Graham, and several influential news organizations, the link between cancer and tobacco. The widespread media attention that these studies received triggered many Americans, including Graham, to give up smoking which in-turn caused stock prices of American cigarette manufactures to tumble. Graham would, in a letter written to Wynder in 1957, lament his earlier skepticism. He died of lung cancer several weeks later.

The Response of the Tobacco Industry

By the late 1940’s the tobacco industry decided to turn to public relations, a field through which they had achieved great success in years past, to assuage what was an unprecedented threat to their very existence. John W. Hill, president of one of the nation’s leading public relations firms, was called upon to guide the industry through this crisis. Instead of turning away from science, Hill advised the tobacco industry gain control over the science and publicly embrace a principal foundation of science, skepticism. By funding the work of academic scientists, Hill believed the industry could both solicit and amplify the views of skeptics and, more importantly, convey to the public that the tobacco companies were actively engaging in substantive research. The results of these studies were less relevant to Hill’s plan; he placed greater emphasis on the simple idea that there was more research to be done and, by extension, that the question of whether or not smoking caused lung cancer was exactly that, a question.

It is important to note that much of the research commission by the tobacco industry actually corroborated the notion that cigarette smoking was carcinogenic. For example, in 1952 researchers at the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation identified dozens of carcinogens in tobacco smoke. Furthermore, in private reports made for executives in several tobacco companies, researchers concluded that the confluence of clinical and animal studies purporting a link between smoking and lung cancer clearly suggested that tobacco was carcinogenic. None of these studies or reports were made public, instead the tobacco industry invested more money in creating propaganda which denied or at least questioned the cigarette-cancer link.

The 1964 Surgeon General Report

As the evidence linking smoking cigarettes to lung cancer continued to mount, and public opinion began to shift from disregard to concern, the Surgeon General began to take steps to elucidate the position of the US government. In 1957, Surgeon General Leroy Burney took the first step by declaring that there may be a causal link between smoking and lung cancer. In an effort to avow a more concrete position, the U.S. Public Health Service convened a committee of experts which, over a span of two years (1962 to 1964), poured over 7,000 research papers.

Their conclusions were presented in the first Surgeon General Report which was published in 1964. According to the Surgeon General at the time, Luther Terry, the report, “hit the country like a bombshell. It was front page news and a lead story on every radio and television station in the United States and many abroad." Of the many findings presented in the report, the claim that regular cigarette smoking resulted in a 70% increase in mortality rates really stuck with the American public.

The report also influenced politicians. In 1965, Congress passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act which required a health warning on all cigarette packages. Then in 1969, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act was passed which banned cigarette advertising across all forms of broadcast media.

Public opinion on smoking shifted significantly between the 1940’s and 1960’s as a result of the tireless work of a cadre of dedicated scientists. Their research has undoubtedly saved the lives of millions of people, yet the question remains, how many million more could have been saved if the tobacco industry had been more honest and spent less on undermining the science they knew was true.

Recommended Further Reading

  • Proctor RN. The history of the discovery of the cigarette e lung cancer link : evidentiary traditions , corporate denial , global toll. Tob Control. 2012;21:87-91. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050338.

  • Brandt A. Inventing Conflicts of Interest : A History of Tobacco Industry Tactics. 2012;102(1):63-71. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300292.

  • Cummings KM, Brown A, Connor RO. CEBP Focus : Nicotine and Tobacco-Control Research The Cigarette Controversy. Cancer Epidemiol Biomakers. 2007;16(June):1070-1076. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-06-0912.

Etiology : The cause or origin of a disease.

Carcinogenesis : The production or development of cancer.

Epidemiology (Epidemiological) : The science concerned with the study of the factors determining and influencing the frequency and distribution of disease in a defined human population.

Bronchogenic carcinoma : Another, if somewhat outdated, name for lung cancer.

Papilloma : A tumorous growth that is usually benign (won’t spread throughout the body).

Carcinoma : A cancer that begins in a single cell of a tissue that lines part of the body, for example your skin or the lining of your lung. This mutated single cell develops into a malignant tumor of many cells that can then spread throughout the body.

Retrospective study : An epidemiologic study in which participants are classified as either having some outcome (cases) or lacking it (controls); the outcome may be a specific disease, and the persons' histories are examined for specific factors that might be associated with that outcome.

Prospective study : An epidemiologic study in which the groups of individuals (cohorts) are selected on the bases of factors that are to be examined for possible effects on some outcome. The cohort is selected in the present and followed into the future.

Surgeon General : Nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate, the Surgeon General acts as the spokesperson for the federal government on matters of public health.


Virtual reality is making the transition from sci-fi daydream to commercial reality.  Head mounted display developers such as Oculus VR, have created amazing head mounted displays that deliver a truly  immersive VR experience.  At the same time, VR developers have created incredibly immersive virtual reality games and experiences.

With the focus on the diverse technical challenges of building a viable HMD and content ecosystem, human factors(ergonomics and hygiene) remain largely unmet needs.  To address these unmet needs, Jema VR is pleased to officially launch the About Face project, a line of research backed products to drastically improve actual comfort in virtual reality.


Posted in | Quantum Computing

Scientists Get Closer to Using Quantum Computing Instead of Traditional Computing

In the last six decades, computers have become faster, compact, and cheaper. However, for engineers, the options have almost saturated for how small the silicon transistors can be made and how fast they can transfer electricity via devices to form digital ones and zeros.

Such a restriction has led Jelena Vuckovic, a Stanford electrical engineering Professor, to turn towards quantum computing, which is dependent on light and not electricity. Quantum computers operate by distancing the spinning electrons inside an innovative kind of semiconductor material. Once the electron is struck by a laser, it emits one or more quanta (or particles) of light to display the manner in which the electron spins. These spin states replace the ones and zeros of conventional computing.

Vuckovic, one of the leading scientists in the field, stated that quantum computing is perfect for analyzing biological systems, performing cryptography, or data mining — or even solving any challenge with a number of variables.

When people talk about finding a needle in a haystack, that’s where quantum computing comes in.

According to Marina Radulaski, a postdoctoral fellow in Vuckovic’s laboratory, the problem-solving ability of quantum computers arises from the complexity of the interactions between laser and electron fundamental to the concept.

With electronics you have zeros and ones. But when the laser hits the electron in a quantum system, it creates many possible spin states, and that greater range of possibilities forms the basis for more complex computing.

Capturing electrons

Acquiring information related to the interactions between electrons and light is difficult. Few of the major technology companies around the world are endeavoring to construct massive quantum computers that are dependent on materials that are super-cooled to near absolute zero, which is the theoretical temperature at which the movement of atoms is restricted.

Vuckovic’s two decades of own research has focused on one facet of the problem, namely, developing innovative quantum computer chips that will be the building blocks of prospective systems.

To fully realize the promise of quantum computing we will have to develop technologies that can operate in normal environments. The materials we are exploring bring us closer toward finding tomorrow’s quantum processor.

The obstacle to be overcome by Vuckovic and her colleagues is to create materials with the ability to trap a single, isolated electron. The research team has worked alongside international collaborators and has recently investigated three disparate ways to overcome the problem. One way is to enable operations at room temperature, which is a crucial step if quantum computing is to be developed into a practical tool.

For all three approaches, the researchers began by using semiconductor crystals, which are materials that have a regular atomic lattice similar to the girders of a skyscraper. When the lattice is slightly modified, a structure can be developed in which the atomic forces applied by the material have the ability to trap a spinning electron.

We are trying to develop the basic working unit of a quantum chip, the equivalent of the transistor on a silicon chip.

Quantum dots

One method of developing such a laser-electron interaction chamber is by means of a structure called as a quantum dot. In physical terms, the quantum dot is a small quantity of indium arsenide enclosed inside a gallium arsenide crystal. The atomic characteristics of the two materials are known to confine a spinning electron.

In a latest paper published in the journal Nature Physics, Kevin Fischer (who is a graduate student at Vuckovic’s laboratory) has reported the ways in which laser-electron processes can be used within such a quantum dot to regulate the input and output of light. When more laser power is applied to the quantum dot, it can be forced to emit precisely two photons in the place of one. According to the researchers, the quantum dot has practical benefits when compared to other major quantum computing platforms. Yet, it mandates cryogenic cooling, and hence might not prove handy for general-purpose computing. However, it can be used for developing tamper-proof communication networks.

Color centers

Vuckovic employed a varied approach to electron capture in two other papers, where she modified a single crystal to confine light in the so-called color center.

In a latest paper in the journal NanoLetters, Vuckovic and her colleagues have analyzed color centers in diamond. Naturally, the crystalline lattice in diamond is made of carbon atoms. Jingyuan Linda Zhang (who is a graduate student in Vuckovic’s laboratory) reported the manner in which a 16-member research group substituted certain carbon atoms with silicon atoms. The single modification led to the formation of color centers that could efficiently confine spinning electrons inside the crystalline lattice in diamond.

However, similar to the quantum dot, most of the diamond color center experiments mandate cryogenic cooling. Despite the fact that it is an enhancement over other techniques that mandated an elaborate cooling, Vuckovic aspired to achieve more.

Therefore, she collaborated with another international team of researchers to analyze a third material, namely, silicon carbide. Silicon carbide is generally called as carborundum, and is a hard, transparent crystal used for manufacturing brake pads, clutch plates, and bulletproof vests. Earlier studies have demonstrated that silicon carbide can be altered to form color centers at ambient temperature. However, this potential has not been made adequately efficacious to synthesize a quantum chip.

Vuckovic and her colleagues removed specific silicon atoms from the silicon carbide lattice to form highly efficacious color centers. They further produced nanowire structures around the color centers to enhance photon extraction. Radulaski was the first author of that study, which was reported in another paper published in NanoLetters. According to Radulaski, the net outcomes, such as efficacious color center, working at ambient temperature, in a material well known in the industry, were highly advantageous.

We think we’ve demonstrated a practical approach to making a quantum chip.

However, this field is just emerging and electron confinement is not so easy. Not even the scientists are confident on the technique, or techniques, that will be effective.

We don’t know yet which approach is best, so we continue to experiment.

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Repairing for better service….

  • Over 8,000 efficient cook stoves were installed in the area
  • The project has so far saved massive tonnes of firewood

Kass 1

Kass 2

Kass 4

kass 3

A word from the Old……

Maungu 222

Maungu 111

Maungu 3333

Household Surveys in the District of Kaliro, Uganda

Surveys are conducted to uncover answers to specific, important questions that are varied, cover a diverse range of topics, and can be asked in multiple formats. Surveys also help to know the impact of a project and serves the purpose of informing decision makers what impact the project has had on the target community. Accordingly, along with other strategies such as use of control groups, it also helps in attributing change in the target population to the project.

As a requirement of the Gold Standard, co2balance conducts monitoring exercises from time to time for purposes of improving the project and keeping it in line with its objectives. These surveys are done annually in randomly selected households and all the work is done with respect and consideration for the local community at all times.

All monitoring studies are recorded on a hard copy which the monitoring team transfers into digital format for analysis documentation and reporting.

Co2balance with its NGO partner WAACHA recently carried out this year’s surveys in the Eastern district of Kaliro and through that were able to generate lots of positive feedback from the community. 3 years down the road, they have continued to use the water and are happy with its quality and yield. Frequent chlorination and water quality testing has also guaranteed them of safe clean water.

Different surveys ranging from project surveys, sustainable development and water usage surveys are carried out.

Here are some pictures from the surveys.

Go Ahead for the ‘Lango Safe Water Project’ in Northern Uganda

Expanding on its successful activities in Northern Uganda, Co2balance has just listed a group of 12 new Gold Standard Projects in the Lango Sub-Region.

The ‘Lango Safe Water Project’ seeks to increase access to safe water supply for thousands of households within the six districts of Dokolo, Otuke, Alebtong, Kole, Lira and Oyam. Focusing on boreholes, the project will utilize a variety of zero-emission technologies like hand-pumps or solar-powered pumps to provide water in rural communities. With over 45% of the rural population in Uganda relying on unprotected and easily contaminated water sources like rivers, lakes or open wells, the project shall reduce the need for water purification and the combustion of firewood.

Unprotected water collection point in Alebtong District.

In the Lango region, many boreholes have fallen into disrepair because maintenance proved too expensive or programs have been poorly managed. Co2balance will use carbon finance to work with community groups to deliver a long-term rehabilitation and maintenance program. Stakeholders are currently invited to provide their feedback towards the project until the middle of October.

Introducing myself

Hello everyone,

A short post to introduce myself and express how happy and thankful I am to have joined such a nice team. I started at Co2balance a bit more than two weeks ago and it has been a great learning experience so far. I am truly impressed at how much is accomplished by such a small team. It reflects how dedicated, enthusiastic and knowledgeable people are here. I am looking forward to interacting with the rest of you over the next few months and contribute to some of the great work that is being carried out.

A bit more on my background, I recently graduated with a MSc in Environmental Management and Policy from Lund University in Sweden, after having completed an undergraduate degree in business. The place I call home is France, Montpellier in the South to be more precise, but I kind of feel home wherever the “wind takes me” like we often say in French. I have a passion for learning languages and traveling, which has led me to move around quite a lot in the past six years, mostly in Asia. Other than that, I enjoy fitness/running and photography. Below is a picture of me at a camel festival in Pushkar, India around 4 years ago.

Cooking Differently

Approximately three billion people across the globe cook every day using open, three-stone fires or rudimentary traditional stoves. Cooking with these traditional cook stoves is inefficient and grossly polluting, harming health and the environment, and contributing to global warming. In many places worldwide, women must walk for hours to collect firewood, risking their safety and sacrificing energy and time that could be used to earn a living. While often overlooked as a major contributor to the global burden of disease, cooking over open fires indoors is the largest environmental health risk in developing countries i.e. Kenya.

In Kenya the case is not different, many households can relate with the simple and accessible mode of cooking. For decades, women have been using this cooking style not knowing the danger that they expose themselves to.

To curb these menace Carbon Zero has developed various  improved cook stove models  that suit the needs of different local communities with higher efficiencies that have been able to cut down on the amount of fuel used and reducing the time spent cooking allowing women some free time to engage in other income generating activities. Carbon Zero stoves have enabled women to cook with less than a half of the wood they used to use on wasteful three stone fires and in much less time. This saves lives because less wood means less smoke and thus less disease.

Abigael 1

In the Western part of Kenya in Kisumu Carbon Zero has distributed over 10,000 improved cook stoves. Among the stove models distributed in the area was a brick rocket stove that locals have over time complimented for its good service. The rocket stove was the first cook stove to be built in Kisumu East region as part of the pilot project to be used in the rural settlement, where wood used for cooking had led to the immense deforestation of trees. The liner effect on the stove creates a highly efficient, largely smoke-free burn.

Abigael 3

Mrs. Abigael Awour who is 65 years old lives in Rapogi village in Kisumu county were she has been married for the past 35 years and stays with  her daughter and 2 grand children. She is a beneficiary of the rocket stove and we seek to get her opinion on the stove after using it for the last four or so years. With a smile she narrates that “Before receiving the brs cook stove, I had the traditional three stone open fire cook stove, which consumed a lot of fuel and I had to cut down most of the trees I planted so that I could sustain my family. I stay with my grand children who are very young which means I had to cook several meals a day and it was devastating because it was time consuming, very expensive, I also developed health complications, severe back pains and was on a lot of painkillers because I had to bend while cooking since the stove is practically on the ground and cannot be raised.

Abigael 2

She further adds that “After receiving the Rocket Stove I have seen a lot of changes especially in matters that deal with health because I no longer cough a lot due to the smoke reduction since I dry my wood completely and my back pain is no longer severe. The stove was done by professionals who considered all ages; I can now sit down and cook comfortably without straining, save money since I don’t need too much drugs for the back pain, now I have time to do farming and from the savings from firewood I buy maize seeds. Also the stoves retain heat so I only cook twice a day and leave the food warm on the stove for anyone to consume. Now it’s not necessary to cut down a tree to cook, all you need is a few small branches. Energy saving stoves are of great importance to our community, says Rhoda, one of the youth volunteers on the project. The stove saves a lot of energy and money because less firewood has to be collected or purchased. It also cooks faster so women have more time to engage in other income-generating activities and it is more hygienic than the traditional model. The stoves have greatly improved our living standards and for me the rocket stove form Carbon Zero is the best thing that ever happened to women in Rapogi.

Compiled by Christine Atira and Moses Maina

Their Stories…………….

Aminoleke“My name is Omara George aged 49 and I live in Dokolo District. I am a user of the Aminoleke borehole that was rehabilitated by co2balance in 2013. Before the borehole was fixed, my family used to walk long distances in search of water and would collect it from the swamps because the only alternative source was too far away. Having a large family meant we had to collect water twice a day to meet our needs. I was also afraid that my wife and daughters could be attacked or raped while they were collecting water especially during the evening hours since we still had rebel activities in our village. The water we drank was always dirty and I worried my children would become sick with typhoid or other water borne diseases that are common in this area. Our lives have improved so much since the borehole was repaired; the water yield is always good and clean, and most of all I am happy because my family are safe and have more time for going to school and the farm. We are very happy with the project and grateful for all the help you have provided us.”

IMG_1204“My name is Ogwang Paul, I am 11 years old and I fetch water from Atek B borehole. I am happy that we now have a borehole close to our house that provides clean water. We no longer have to go to the lake to fetch water like before. I used to wake up at 5am and go with my siblings to fetch water before going to school. This greatly affected my studies because we were always late for school and missed the first lessons. This greatly affected our performance in school. Now that we have a working borehole close to us, we can fetch water and get to school on time. I want to be a doctor when I grow up.”

Purency Altero Okori aged 60 is a resident of Akwangi village and a user of Akwangi borehole which was rehabilitated and is being maintained by co2balance.

“I live a few meters away from the borehole and this has made my daily life easy. I am able to do my housework on time and still go to the market and attend to my stall where I sell vegetables to earn some extra income for my family. I no longer have to boil the water we drink as the water collected from the borehole is clean and safe since water treatment is done frequently. That means I no longer collect so much firewood for use at home.”

Fiona“My name is Adongo Fiona, I am 13 years old and I study in Telela Primary school. I am in level 3 and my best subject is science. I want to be a nurse when I finish school. I am happy for this borehole because I no longer have to travel long distances to collect water for our household. We no longer suffer from diseases like diarrhea and typhoid because the water is clean.

Thank you for this water.”


Five Grammar Habits Every Writer Should Adopt

good grammar

Do you have good grammar habits?

Can you imagine a nutritionist who eats exclusively at fast food restaurants? A personal trainer who never exercises? A writer who can’t be bothered with grammar, spelling, and punctuation?

In most professions, best practices and tools of the trade are mandatory. If you want to be a doctor, you have to earn a PhD. If you want to land a job in accounting, you need math skills. But writers can easily finagle around best writing practices, especially with the increasing accessibility of self-publishing.

Basic grammar skills used to be mandatory — not just for writers but for all high school graduates. These days, you can get out of college with a degree but no clue how to properly structure a sentence or differentiate between they’re, their, and there. Read more

Good Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

grammar spelling and punctuation

Get the lowdown on grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Let’s get technical for a minute. What, exactly, is grammar?

According to Wikipedia:

In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules….Linguists do not normally use the term to refer to orthographical rules, although usage books and style guides that call themselves grammars may also refer to spelling and punctuation.

Technically speaking, in linguistics and academia, spelling and punctuation are not components of grammar. When we discuss the mechanics of writing, we don’t refer to grammar. We refer to grammar, spelling, and punctuation because spelling and punctuation are separate components from grammar.

So how is grammar meaningful if words aren’t spelled properly and if punctuation isn’t applied correctly in a piece of writing? Aren’t spelling and punctuation critical to the structure of written language?

Grammar and Orthography

There are two common ways that language manifests: it is either spoken or written. Grammar deals with how we structure the language, and it is applied to both speech and writing. Orthography, on the other hand, addresses the rules of a language’s writing system or script.

Orthography deals with spelling and punctuation, because these elements are only relevant when the language is written.

After all, when you say a sentence aloud, you don’t say period, question mark, or exclamation point at the end. However, if you’re reading the sentence aloud, you need these punctuation marks to help you navigate the text, and they also provide cues that inform the way we stress words or inflect the reading.

Proper Grammar and Popular Grammar

I’m not a linguist. I’m a writer. I’m interested in linguistics and etymology, but only to the extent that these fields of study inform my writing and can help me better understand how to use the tools of my craft.

Grammar addresses how we structure our language and includes concepts such as tense agreement, modifiers, sentence diagramming, word order in a sentence, and sentence order in a paragraph.

But when we’re dealing with written language, proper spelling is just as essential as tense agreement. It would be quite difficult to get through a written text that was not punctuated or if the majority of the words were spelled incorrectly.

Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

Oddly, I’ve found that spelling and punctuation are misused far more than structural (or grammatical) elements in writing. Most people know how to put their words in order, and a writer of average skill is usually good at verb and tense agreements and other aspects of writing that would be construed as grammatical in nature.

Yet plenty of folks struggle with orthography (punctuation and spelling) even if their grammar is in good order. This makes sense, because we are primarily exposed to spelling and punctuation through reading and writing. But the structure of our language comes to us through listening and speaking as well.

In other words, we writers are probably far more immersed in grammar than we are in orthography.

Putting it All Together

Technically speaking, grammar may not include spelling and punctuation, but we need all these elements in our writing. We talk about grammar, spelling, and punctuation because these are separate but related elements that work together to produce a mechanically coherent piece of writing.

10 Core Practices for Better Writing

Don’t Let the Decline of Spoken English Ruin Your Writing

Do Not Let the Decline of Spoken English Ruin Your Writing

Keep your writing sharp by following the rules.

Please welcome author Debra Brenegan with an insightful guest post about grammar and writing.

We are all a little sloppy when we speak. We skip some of the basic grammar rules in order to create intimacy and shortcuts — like secrets between best friends. Such conversation helps us connect to others. But when casual phrases and speaking patterns seep into your writing, it can reflect negatively on you as a writer.

What Your Writing Says About You

In these Internet times, written communication is king, and the proper use of it separates the pros from the wannabes. Readers take writers’ messages more seriously when those messages are properly punctuated and correctly written. Readers don’t want to work to understand meaning. They might not realize it, but readers feel calm, serene, and cozy when you don’t make them strain for understanding. Realistically, the only time most people want to struggle with written language is when they’re stopped in traffic and faced with a vanity license plate.

In our split-second culture, time is essential. You want your message to get there fast and without misinterpretation. If the reading is easy, then the argument you’re making is easier to follow and easier to agree to. Let’s face it: All writing contains an argument, even if that argument is simply, “Read me – you won’t regret it.”

Good writing communicates that you are smart, or at least educated. This is not a bad impression to give – really! It makes what you’re trying to say more credible if you know how to say it.

In addition to demonstrating your education, you help educate others when you write correctly. Bad language/grammar usage is like a cold – it spreads until everyone is cranky and sick, and nobody remembers the days of clear-headedness. Don’t be afraid to counter this.

Remember Your Audience

Proper grammar matters most when you’re trying to communicate with people who aren’t your best friends, people who might judge you or think you’re unintelligent. Instead of giving you what you want – a job, attention, a vote — you end up turning off people because of your “spoken word” writing. Many people understand this regarding professional writing. Of course you want your résumé, application letter, and business memos to be clearly written and easy to understand, but creative writers need to know – and use – proper English, too.

Even in creative writing, editors and readers judge the writing. They want gorgeous prose, but they also want to be able to read it, to disappear into it, to forget that there are any mechanics behind the spin. Proper grammar and writing provides that invisibility and lets readers slip into your ideas, your story, and your writing.

Know the Rules before You Break the Rules

One of the underlying problems with rule-breaking is the question of its cause. Are you breaking the rules because you’re exercising your poetic license or because you can’t remember the difference between insure and ensure? If your reader can’t tell, you’re in trouble.

There’s certainly room for realistic-sounding dialogue and conversational prose, but underneath any stretching of proper rules are – the rules. You have to know the rules before you can break them. Good creative writers break the rules all the time, but they do so with purpose. It is unknowing breakage that damages credibility and your ability to communicate.

If you’re not feeling overly confident in your grammatical understanding, pick up a copy of the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss [Editor’s note: this book uses British grammar] for a fun and simple review of the basics. In the meantime, here are a few common errors you can watch out for (and avoid!).

Common Mistakes

Misuse of prepositions has spread like the plague. I fumed one day when I was standing in the check-out line at Wal-Mart. After I swiped my credit card, the automatic display read, “Waiting on authorization.” It should be waiting for. Another misuse is “meeting up with” someone. People meet other people. They always have, and they always will. Only in a brief period of history (now) will anyone know what it means to meet “up” with someone else.

It is also common for people to say, “A student needs to learn all they can.” This is mixing a singular subject with a plural pronoun. Realistically, it should read, “A student needs to learn all he or she can.” The he/she construction, although correct, is bulky. You can usually avoid this type of confusion by making the subject plural so that it reads, “Students need to learn all they can.” [Editor’s note: using they as a generic pronoun is becoming more acceptable, though it’s still technically incorrect. Grammar Girl has a detailed article that thoroughly addresses “Generic Singular Pronouns.”]

And finally, it seems too obvious to even include here, but people often use texting shortcuts in professional settings. “OMG” and “UR Gr8” have no place outside of texts and Twitter. And even in an email, don’t forget to capitalize things like my name. I’ll be much more likely to finish reading what you wrote.

Outdated Rules You CAN Break

Comma use has become more streamlined, thanks to widespread Internet copy and Associated Press (AP) style for journalism. Moreover, colons and semicolons seem like daguerreotypes of great ancestors, especially in modern writing. Yes, they are sometimes needed, but often, a comma or a dash will do instead. Don’t use a hyphen (also known as an en dash) instead of a dash (the big one, or em dash) or vice versa. Hyphens bring together, and dashes separate.

The rule most commonly broken without freaking people out is the one about fragments. They are now considered almost cool. As long as they’re not overused. Or senseless. Or too repetitive. Or used when someone is allergic to verbs. But other than those occasions, fragments are a nice way to occasionally break the rules. Just don’t use comma splices, which is the fancy word your 5th-grade teacher meant when he/she wrote, “run-on sentence,” over and over, down the right margin of your essay.

The English language is beautiful and complex, but it can also be a little daunting if the rules don’t come naturally to you. Take the time to relearn some of the rules you may have forgotten. Your readers will appreciate it, and there will be more of them!

About the Author: Debra Brenegan is the author of Shame the Devil, a historical account of nineteenth-century American writer Fanny Fern. Debra is also an English and Women’s Studies professor at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.


4 Famous Psychology Experiments & How They Relate to Inbound Marketing

My love of marketing runs deep, and it has always been evident, but my first love will always be psychology. Most people don’t know (not even my own colleagues) that I have a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and when they find out, they usually ask me if I’ve been secretly reading their minds. Newsflash: that’s not how psychology works. Psychic readings, perhaps, but not psychology.Read the full article

selective attention test

The Asch Experiment

During the 1950s Solomon Asch conducted and published a series of experiments that demonstrated the degree to which an individual's own opinions are influenced by those of a majority group. Demonstrating how a "normal" human being can be pressured into unusual behavior by people they deem as authority figures, or by the consensus of opinion around them.


Sunday, August 1, 2010

Editing on Final Cut Pro...nevermind, wait let's do FCP...maybe

I have been editing since the beginning of the summer and I am not yet finished. For the record, it does not and should not take this long to edit 5 hours of raw footage. I've just been taking it in stride, sometimes going 2-3 weeks without looking at the footage, simply because I had other things to do or I just didn't feel like going through all of the interviews. Also, it took longer than expected for me to collaborate with Dr. Durington, a Towson professor and producer of Record Store. We had plans to use the department's iMac to utilize Final Cut Pro (iMovie's big brother) so the production and editing would be, for the lack of a better word, awesome. Basically, there are more options and the quality is better. Once we finally got together we had problems with the computer. To make a long story short I ended up finishing a rough cut on iMovie and we will be collaborating within the next week to close the editing process.

There is still much to discuss about the presentation of the movie (i.e., where it will be held, how should it be advertised, who is my audience, etc.). Ideally, I want it to be huge and I want it to impact a lot of people from different multicultural backgrounds. I decided that while I love academic material I want to go way outside of that box and engage in applied anthropology that has an effect on the lives of not just anthropologists and culture studies scholars, but also the average woman or man.