Steli Efti

A Vision of Students Today

DonorsChoose.org And The Chance To Give A Kid Lunch With Jerry Yang

Sometimes I find it very difficult to write a post. I find myself struggling trying to express myself in the best possible manner. Alot of times this is the cause for not posting anything at all.

Blogging is a great metaphor for life. Think about it - how many times you don't do anything to NOT do something less then 100% right. It's silly - but very human. It's not the evil that people do that causes alot of problems, it's the good that people fail to do that does.

Now overcoming hesitation is almost always causing something good in life. Here my little story:

A while ago I read an post by Fred Wilson about DonorsChoose.org and their Blogger Challenge. I was inspired and excited about this great project and the impact it has for kids in classrooms. I was thinking to myself: "Hmm...could I do more than "just" donate some money for this?"

But then all these thoughts came into my mind about how much energy and time I need to build Supercool School and that I'm working very hard to help improve learning and education world-wide in my own way. That was convincing enough for me (at least for a while) to stop thinking about it and getting back to work.

But in the back of my mind there had been (I'm sure this is not grammatically correct) a picture formed that I couldn't ignore. I had this idea.

Fred Wilson was motivating his readers to donate and help him win the Blogger Challenge by offering to give away his seat at lunch with Jerry Yang, the CEO of Yahoo!

He was asking his readers to send him an email after donating some money to a good cause at DonorsChoose.org and tell him why he/she deserves to get the seat.

First I thought wow - I could really use this seat. I mean I'm building a learning platform to improve education world-wide! But then I thought about the gesture of GIVING and had a different idea.

I wrote Fred Wilson an email saying:

"The reason I want to get the seat at lunch is to give it to someone else. If you choose me, I will find the right kid in an underprivileged school who would really benefit from an inspiring and life-changing experience like meeting with Jerry Yang.
I think that's the best use of this seat - and I would be more then honored to serve that cause.
Now I'm not fully unselfish:
I was a kid like that and I can only imagine what would have happened if I had a chance like this as a kid"

Fred Wilson's responded:

"What an amazing gesture. How will you decide who to give it to?"

I was wowed! It looked like this could really happen!!! But then his question was a great way to say: Did you really think this through? Will you really make this happen if I choose you?

And I hadn't thought it through. So I decided that the best thing would be to give a seminar at a local school about technology and entrepreneurship and ask the kids to write a one-page essay about how their life would change if they would get a chance to have lunch with Jerry Yang.

Right after sending Fred the second email I had to make a decision: will I wait to see if he wins the challenge and chooses me to take some action or do I go ahead and do it anyway?

Well, in this case the answer was easy but not the execution. I decided to  hesitate a bit and put "Contacting Schools For Workshop" on my To-Do list.

I didn't contact any school for two weeks.

And then...one nite...I was sitting in an entrepreneur meetup in San Francisco thinking about my To-Do list and that I should get my shit together and start contacting some schools when a guy introduced himself as a Program Director for PathwaysForKids.org

You see - sometimes things fall into place.

I had a great conversation with him and we decided to work together and give a seminar to kids about technology and entrepreneurship since his organization is already working with schools to bring entrepreneurs and kids together.

Life is a great adventure. Sometimes I still feel like I underestimate the power of taking action now. That is the reason why I don't post more often. But fortunately, taking action is a habit. And every time you do so, you are programing yourself to bigger and better things in life. Now this post might not be as perfect as I would like it to be - but it's damn sure better than not posting it at all.

ATTENTION: the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge is still on - there are 5 more days to help!!!

You can choose one of the teacher requests and help classrooms become better places by getting the right resources. But not only that: in this special case you can help Fred Wilson win the challenge, and if he chooses so, we will get the opportunity to find a kid and give him a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Jerry Yang.

 

CLICK HERE TO HELP

This is a win-win-win-win situation. C'mon! What are you waiting for? This is a 4-win ratio for kids!!! It can't get better then that ;) Take some action now and help!

NOTE: I can't guarantee that Fred Wilson will win the challenge, neither do I know if he would choose this idea. The only thing I can say is that in the worst case you helped kids by donating money for a good cause and in the best case you also helped giving a kid a seat next to Jerry Yang. There are only winners here.

My worst post ever!

Well, it's now 7 days ago that I'm waking up every morning to tell myself that I would find some time today to post an update about Supercool School and our current level of development. As you might have guessed, I'm still not posting this update and haven't kept my promise to post more regular yet. Well, it's 1:30am and I have to wake up in 4 hours (assuming I would be going to sleep right away which I won't) to work remotely with a designer in German on the last pieces of our Supercool School application and then head towards Palo Alto to meet a startup lawyer to lunch. Then returning to San Francisco to finish some very very very important things on my "To-Do-Or-Die-Trying" list before I'll run to another meeting in the evening.

Please be patient with me. Have a little faith in me. I'm changing to the better, one day at a time. More information to come tomorrow ( can someone plz kick my ass if you haven't seen a new post before 1am tomorrow?!).

Ok - gotta return to what I was doing before this post. Peace out!

P.S. I even missed the awesome 2 year-happy-birthday SOB party of the uniquely awesome Liz Strauss today. Damn it! DAMN ITTTT!!!

P.P.S. Arrhh...just in case you didn't know (warning: sarcastic voice here plz) - I want to post about the DonorsChoose.org Blog Challenge for 2 weeks now!!! It's an incredible touching effort to do some good in our classrooms today. Please go and check it out NOW if you don't want to wait till I get my shit together.

P.P.P.S. Lovya all. Much power and love to all my readers! You kick ass!

Man In The Arena

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Yossi Vardi

Source: TechCrunch

Philos Of Philosophy

Although I'm Greek, I don't consider myself a philosopher - I'm much more of a "Doer" then a "Thinker".

But, knowing the meaning of the word "Philosophy" ( friend of truth, wisdom, knowledge) I would say I'm definitely a "philos of philosophy" ( a friend of the "friends of truth" ).

Reading some of Aristotles work today inspired me to share some of the wisdom of my friends with you in this post.

Warning: there is a catch: One of those quotes is actually MY quote. I thought it would be interesting to see if anyone will find out which one is from me ( and if it makes any difference ). Enjoy the wisdom...

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something."
Plato

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."
Aristotle

"Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach."
Aristotle

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
Aristotle

"What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do."
Aristotle

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."
Archimedes

"We know all there is to know, but we don't do all there is to do."
Socrates

"Let him that would move the world first move himself."
Socrates

P.S.

Here are some interesting links I found searching for philosophy blogs:

Experimental Philosophy Blog

Facebook Experimental Philosophy Group

MySpace Site of Experimental Philosophy

Seems like "Experimental Philosophy" is big on the net. Though am not exactly sure what it is. Hmm...I'll get back to you on this one.

smart Vs. intelligent

What's the difference between being smart and being intelligent? Here's the analogy I came up with in 6th grade:

If we imagine intelligence as the capacity of our brain, smartness would be the art of filling it. In other words, maybe your room ( intelligence) isn't really big but you are very good in filling it and using it most effectively ( smartness).

I can't tell you what's more important. I guess the best is to have lots of both of them. But if I would have to choose - I'd always rather go with smart then intelligent. But I'm biased on this one ;)

How do you differentiate between smart and intelligent?

Think Outside The Fast-Food-Box

Here's a challenge: You have to translate two full Chinese sentences ( 13 kanji symbols out of a total of approximately 47,035 in the  Kangxi dictionary ) in 1 hour. Let's suppose you can't speak or read Chinese and you don't know anyone who can ( just like me ).

Let's look at the obvious options:

1. You go to an "expert" website like kasamba and pay around $30.00 to get it right away
2. You can try to google it ( it's "free" but a waste of time )
3. You call a paid translation service ( cost at least $50.00 and they need forever to get back to you)
4. You send an email to friends who might know someone who can help you ( again free but uncertain)
5. You post it on a blog, on twitter or on facebook and ask your social network ( same things as email to friends )

This task is perfect for a "think-outside-the-fast-food-box" solution:

What I did two weeks ago ( when I had exactly this problem) was I called a local Chinese restaurant with delivery service to order sweet-sour chicken and rise. 30 minutes later, the delivery boy brought me my food and I asked him if he can help me translate this 2 sentence document for an extra tip of $3.00. He was more then happy to help me and had a fun time explaining to me the meaning of the symbols and the sentences. It was great!

There I was...sitting on my desk with the solution to my translation problems: Delicious Chinese Fast Food! Mmmhhh....

Any other good stories on how to solve challenging problems in unusual ways?

A Story About A Little Habbit called "Nau"

WARNING: I never wrote a post like this before. After you read it - you will understand what I mean ;)

Let's start this post with one of my favorite quotes:

"We sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow our characters, and we reap our destiny."
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

Did you realize how powerful your habits are for your life? Did you realize how powerful words can be? I'm asking because I'm wondering about the word "habit". It sounds "cute", "little" and "alive" to me. Almost like a little creature. Maybe it's just the similarity to the word "Hobbits", the famous little creatures from the epic novel "Lord of the Rings" .

I started to wonder about Frodo and the little Hobbits that did amazing things and bravely saved middle earth in J. R. R. Tolkiens legendary books.

I started to wonder...hmmm...what if our habits would be little creatures called "Habbits" ?

For no good reason at all...you can follow me as my mind wonders around and creates this short story about a little Habbit called "Nau" ( is this the craziest post ever written by me or what?!?)

The Story About A Little Habbit called "Nau":

Nau was a good Habbit. He loved to dress in bright colors, favoring yellow and green. His feet were covered with curly hair (brown, as was the hair on his head) with leathery soles, so he hardly ever wore shoes. Nau was a young Habbit and like alot of good Habbits he would live happily for a full lifetime.

Nau was very good at being early. But he was terrible at being late. Every morning, when he went to school, he would try to wonder around and find more interesting things to explore then being the first in class. But no matter how hard Nau tried, he was always the first.

His friend Lei couldn't believe it: "Nau how can you be always the first in class? I live a thousand fingertips closer to school then you do! And I'm always later here then you!!!"

"Hmm...I don't know! I'm trying to walk as slow as I can and to find more interesting things to do but it seems that in the end I always forget to remember to be late at school. I'm soooo bad at being late!"

Well, it's important to know that Habbits love to eat! At least seven meals a day, not including snacks, when they can get them - breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, tea, dinner, later and supper.

And the teacher, Mrs. Fits, would always give the first in class a tasty big apple as reward and a math task to fill the time till the rest of the class would arrive.

Nau enjoyed the apple, but wasn't too eager to have to do the math before the rest. But in the end it always worked out pretty well because Nau could do the math better then the rest of the class in the end of the day.

One morning Nau decided to go to school with Lei so that he would make sure NOT to be the first in class. Both agreed with the plan: "We're starting to walk together at eight in front of the big old magic tree behind the blue river."

At exactly eight, Nau would wait in front of the big old tree. He wondered where Lei was. Or was he too early again? Hmm...Nau didn't had a watch. He didn't need one since he was always the first one but this time he wondered if Lei was playing a game with him.

"Hmm...Lei is very good in playing games and making fun! I should have a look behind the tree in our hideout for a hidden message. Maybe he's playing a trick on me."

And there it was - a letter hidden behind the tree for Nau:

DEAR NAU,

I FIGURED SINCE YOU ARE SO BAD AT BEING LATE, I SHOULD MAKE SURE OUR PLAN WORKS OUT AND START MY WAY TO CLASS BEFORE YOU ARRIVE HERE. THIS WAY, WHILE YOU READ THIS LETTER I CAN GET A HEAD START AND MAKE SURE TO BE THE FIRST IN CLASS TODAY. SEEYA LATER ;)

Nau couldn't stop laughing. He was smiling from one ear to another thinking about how great Leis plan was and that he finally would make it to be late at school.

He even wondered if he should read the letter twice to give Lei double the time to beat him at being early. It was a great moment for Nau till...

..well, we all know that Nau wasn't late, don't we? Nau was again the first at class. Just as the day before...and the day after that day...

But to be fair to Lei. It was a good plan. Even a great plan. But exactly just that - a plan....