Cheating is Easy, but...

When my daughter was using a game to teach a concept, the student who won suddenly jumped up and said, "Yes!" Whether a student is learning a new concept in a dirt floor classroom in Sudan, in an air conditioned one in Saudi Arabia, or in a slum in Chicago, the joy of understanding can't be underestimated. As Pope Frances observed last week during his trip to Nairobi, Africa, a country riddled with bribery and government graft, corruption is easy, but it robs a person of peace and joy. Conversely, mastering a concept gives joy.

     I have been very interested to read in Elmira Bayrasli's book, From the Other Side of the World, 
how entrepreneurs in unlikely places are countering what India calls chai paani, "a little bit of extra," the tradition of taking a bribe before correcting an erroneous and costly customs classification, performing a medical test, issuing a telephone number, or awarding a construction contract.

     When I taught international marketing, I used to dread teaching the chapter that discussed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits US businesses from paying bribes openly or using middlemen as conduits for a bribe, when the middleman is known to use part of the payment for a bribe. I felt naive teaching that US corporations would resist the temptation to maneuver around the law when multi-million dollar contracts were at stake. I remembered the story of the overseas diplomat who took a visitor from the US to see two new office towers. "There were supposed to be three," he said, "but, after paying kickbacks, there was only money left for two."

     With this background in mind, I was surprised and delighted to read how the ability to obtain licenses, register property, and obtain other government services online has eliminated contact with officials who have discretionary power to do their jobs only after they collect a bribe, the little bit of extra.

     Although there are still many instances where bribes and kickbacks could help a business handle government paperback faster, companies like the "Dial 1298" private ambulance firm in India and high tech Infosys and Wipro in Pakistan refuse to engage in corruption. They decided to create a new corporate culture built on well defined and uncompromising values and standards that employees are expected to internalize. Moreover, organizations like Transparency International and Ipaidabribe.com, have sprung up to monitor corruption and to invite reports of bribes required and paid in India, Pakistan, Kenya, and Russia. Narenda Modi, India's current prime minister, considered it a winning message to campaign on a promise to end corruption.

      Bayrasli observed that the middle class expects functioning public services and reliable governance. As globalization expands the middle class throughout the world, wise parents and teachers may need not only to punish cheating but to reward the value and joy of learning.

     (Also see the earlier posts, "Warning to Students: Don't Cheat" and "Learning Can Be Fun.")

   

Join a Book and a Fox to Make a Box

On holiday trips in trains, planes, and automobiles, pass the time by helping kids create funny new word combinations.

     According to an item in Entertainment Weekly (Dec. 4, 2015), Jeopardy champion, Ken Jennings, said his son came up with a salmon covered with Nutella and called it "salmonella." Or just create nonsense words by making a brilk out of breakfast and milk.

     The earlier post, "Word Games Lead to Reading Fun," has word combination examples that use names to create new words.

     In any language, kids can use this technique to become their own versions of Dr. Seuss.

An Army Moves on Its Stomach

Napoleon was right. Whether its the army of ISIS, the French Foreign Legion, or the US Marine Corps, food fuels military operations. I remember reading about an incident in the US Civil War, when General Lee's army arrived at a supply depot, found it completely empty, and knew the South's cause was doomed. Hunger (and thirst) saps energy and morale.

     Countries, causes, and individuals that underestimate agriculture's value are in trouble. Mohsin Hamid describes the misdirected rural to urban rush in his book, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. The billion dollars worth of items Alibaba sold on Singles Day are no more able to feed a single person than King Midas' gold. It is a great misfortune that Pakistan, with 180 million people, has only 20% of its GDP devoted to agriculture and that in Nigeria, with 170 million people, agriculture produces only 23% of its $510 billion GDP.

     Considering food's importance for everyone, not just armies, agriculture merits the attention of every country's best and brightest. Indeed, modern agriculture is every bit as dependent on skilled techies as fields that now employ digital whiz kids. To help kids discover the challenge of moving food around the world, draw or find a picture of a farmer on the right side of a paper or board and a grocery store on the left side. Start writing down all that needs to happen in between.

     What does it take in Uganda, Africa, to go from the gift of a $500 heifer from Heifer International (heifer.org) that produces three gallons of milk a day to the sale, in a local market, of some of the milk the family does not use? Consider all the steps between the woman growing cocoa for the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana, Africa, and the retailers selling chocolate bars in Europe. Here are just some possibilities:

• Ask local farmers or Peace Corps volunteers to provide training for raising animals
• Grow feed crops
• Buy disease-resistant seed
• Cool milk
• Buy a truck
• Produce fertilizer from compost to increase crop yields
• Contract shipping space on a cargo ship
• Form a 4H chapter to interest the younger generation in farming
• Pass land use laws to protect small farms from encroachment by corporate plantations
• Lease an acre of land
• Provide police and security measures to protect farmers from gang violence and terrorists
• Build a warehouse to store cocoa beans rather than selling them all at once for a lower price than the revenue that could be earned by selling them over a period of a year
• Install irrigation and water pumps

Nowadays, the "Moo monitors" that dairy farmers attach to their cows' collars produce data about the health of their herds. Machines can pick almost every crop. GPS satellite technology enables farmers to monitor weather, judge the health of their crops, pin point the application of pesticide sprays and fertilizers, spot weeds, and measure yields as crops are being cut. Satellites even monitor the temperature and humidity of produce carried by sea in shipping containers in order to predict its condition for sale on arrival. Thanks to government funding and developers in companies like Planet Labs in San Francisco, which has developed small earth observation satellites that can fit in a shoebox, subsistence farmers will be able to utilize this up-to-date technology.

     Already, in countries with impassible roads that subject supplies and produce shipments to long delays, the widespread use of mobile phones enables farmers and fishermen to arrange trades, sales, and payment transfers.

     Since we all move on our stomachs, we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." The world is depending on kids to get involved in producing and distributing the food we all need to live.

                          Also, check out a few of the earlier posts on food and farming:

• Can Small Farms End Poverty?
• Nigeria's New Beginning
• World (Food) Expo, Hybrid Crops & New Farming Practices
• Back to the Land
• Dairy Cows on the Moove
• The Bees and the Birds
• Chocolate's Sweet Deals
• Coffee Prices Going Up, Allowances Going Down?

     

Can't Find a Job or Career; Create One

Throughout the world, younger and younger entrepreneurs and performers are making use of websites, YouTube, and Kickstarter-like platforms to, yes, kickstart their own ventures. Based on Time magazine's report (Nov. 9, 2015) that only 26% of the global workforce has a good job that provides at least 30 hours of work for a weekly paycheck, young people need to look to themselves to create their futures. Even in the USA, according to Time's data, only 44% of the workforce has a good job. In China, the percentage is 28, and in Burkina Faso, it is 5%.

     Under these conditions, starting a business, not-for-profit organization, or any other type of career by yourself or with friends is an attractive alternative. A how-to book is here to help. Crazy is a Compliment: the Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags is written by Linda Rottenberg,         co-founder and chief executive officer of Endeavor, an international organization dedicated to helping the new, fast-growing businesses of entrepreneurs. She provides real life experiences from emerging countries in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as from developed markets in the United States and Europe. For example, Rottenberg tells the story of Wences Casares, who was born on a sheep farm in Argentina. While he was in high school, he started painting and selling T-shirts. Then, he downloaded all the unedited telephone numbers from his village, corrected them, and published and sold a directory that also carried paid advertising.

Here are a few of Rottenberg's helpful conclusions:

• Consider stability the friend of the status quo and chaos the friend of the entrepreneur who sees opportunities where others see obstacles.
• It's a common misperception that an entrepreneur has to start with personal wealth, an ivy league degree, and a Rolodex full of contacts. In reality, Rottenberg has found the opposite is true; they most often lack connections, an elite old school network, and a trust fund.
• When you first get an idea for a new venture, don't tell anyone about it. Family and friends will either say it sounds great because they love/like you, or they will discourage you. One way to get objective feedback is to ask for it on a crowdfunding site.
• Although some risk is necessary, just invest enough to create a minimum viable product or a relatively small adaptation, not a mind-blowing prototype or a multitude of different products. As Henry Ford said, "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." Take incremental steps, get feedback, and adjust. You don't necessarily need a business plan which probably will change as soon as you start doing something.

     Rottenberg also has a section that alerts would-be entrepreneurs to the strengths and weaknesses their personalities bring to their new enterprises. She terms visionaries like Mark Zuckerbert, Dreamers; charismatic personalities like Oprah, Stars; those who can reenergize traditional businesses like Ikea founder, Ingvar Kamprad, Transformers; and strategic, analytical thinkers like Bill Gates, Rocketships. Which personality type of entrepreneur are you?

A Catholic and Communist Work to Overcome Two Countries' Major Difficulties

Vietnam and Brazil are not just accepting the status quo. With different approaches, two individuals are tackling problems and working to improve the lot of their citizens.

     Using initial capital provided by an organization based in the Netherlands, Sister Mary Nguyen Thi Phuc, a member of Vietnam's religious order, the Secular Institute of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, designed a credit and savings program for women infected with HIV/AIDS. Using a $223 loan, a woman can start a small business, e.g. by buying a motorbike to transport paying customers or by opening a stand to sell soft drinks, coffee, or fruit, that can generate enough money to provide for herself and pay student fees for her children.

     Borrowers are given 10 months to repay their loans with interest to a banking account. Interest is used to assist others who have accidents, illnesses, or lack funds to pay for a funeral. The microloan program has the added benefit of inspiring other women to overcome their difficulties.

     In Brazil, the State of Maranhao on the Atlantic Ocean in the northeastern part of the country has both dense Amazonian forests and a vast desert-like expanse of white sand dunes. Its newly elected governor, Flavio Dino, although a member of the Communist Party, is a pro-free market proponent who recognizes the private sector generates wealth. He united members of opposition parties and governs with a vice governor from a pro-business party. His first order of business was to cut palace expenses by eliminating or reducing the budget for champagne, caviar, lobsters, and the security staff.

     Although Brazil is in the midst of its worst recession since the 1930s, Maranhao, the country's second poorest state, is determined to rise above Brazil's corruption (See the earlier post, "Warning to Students: Don't Cheat."), declining commodity exports (See the earlier post, "Falling Commodity Prices Spur Diversification in Emerging Markets."), and political turmoil. This toxic combination is threatening to cause Brazil's overall economy to decline 3% this year.

   

Calling All Space Sleuths

What is casting an enormous shadow on KIC8462852?

     Ever since 2009, the Kepler Space Telescope has been circling the Earth's sun once every 371 days. What it looks for is changes in the brightness of hundreds of thousands of sun-like stars in one part of the galaxy. Just as from Earth, we see an eclipse when the moon occasionally blocks our sun, Kepler looks for a dimming, or eclipse, caused by a planet moving in front of any of the suns it watches.

     On October 13, 2015, readers of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society saw that Yale University astronomer, Tabetha Boyajian, had spotted an irregularly shaped 20% dip in the brightness emitted by the sun, KIC8462852. Since the diameter of our sun is nearly a million miles, it would take something on the order of 200,000 miles by 200,000 miles to block out 20% of its brightness. Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, would dim KIC8462852 by only 1%. In short, whatever passed in front of this distant sun was enormous.

     Could this huge object be collecting KIC8462852's energy as Jason Wright, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University, theorized and like the Dyson sphere that appears in science fiction? Less exotic explanations include: matter that has yet to come together in a planet, a gas cloud, or a comet's head.

     And what if there is alien life on the object that ventured past KIC8462852? In eight countries, the NASA-funded Wisconsin Astrobiology Research consortium of 57 scientists in the fields of geology, microbiology, chemistry, and engineering is on the hunt. The consortium looks for the records the simplest organic life forms might leave in water and volcanic environments and the roles oxygen and methane play in microbial evolution.

     William Borucki, who helped design NASA's Kepler Space Telescope at the Ames Research Center in California, found that the Earth's sun is much younger and more intense than most other stars in the universe. Than's good news for young, intense scientists looking for future work in what Borucki is convinced is a "universe...much more wonderfully complex" than he ever imagined.

             (Also check out earlier posts: "Hunt for Moon Rocks, "Who Needs International
                                                Expertise?" and "Space Explorers.")