Secrets of a mobile phone

This morning, I received an email from my phone carrier with the following directions with an unlock code:

1. Press #
2. Press * three times = P
3. Press * four times = W
4. Press * twice = +
5. Enter the unlock code
6. Press * twice = +
7. Press 1, then # and the display should read "SIM Restriction Off"

I had requested to unlock my mobile phone in preparation for going abroad this summer for vacation and an internship in Bangkok working on flu pandemic preparedness with the national office of a large nongovernmental organization.

Despite the fact I was expecting this message, it was surprising that all I had to do was press a sequence of digits to enable my phone to be used around the world, and I was a little giddy to be one step closer to the summer globe-trotting adventures.

Disaster Diplomacy

Besides a moment of silence at the beginning of lecture today, it was sadly easy for me to forget that September 11, 2001, was only seven years ago. How can we measure how much our United States and world have changed since then? Could you imagine being one of those directly affected by this catastrophic day?

This evening, I was fortunate enough to catch wind of a panel at the Kennedy School of Government titled "Disaster Relief as Diplomacy in the Post-9/11 World." It was a panel of three academic physicians (two of which who were part of the response team at Ground Zero) and one social entrepreneur. Among them, they discussed their work which spanned from developing emergency preparedness systems in the former Soviet Union as part of diplomatic good will to using evidence-based methods to measure the true effectiveness of humanitarian aid to areas plagued with natural disaster and conflict to organizing a non-profit dedicated to "spontaneous volunteers" who respond to global disasters such a cyclone that hit Bangladesh.

I was inspired hearing about the efforts to truly improve humanitarian response to man-made and natural disasters. While they acknowledged the cynicism that can feed critiques of "dependency" and "volunteer tourism," the members of the panel demonstrated the need to strive for solutions that are effective, cross-cultural, and sustainable.

The sunrise is a new day.
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Two pertinent links:
Hands on Disaster Response- the non-profit organization that is a pioneer in developing the best framework for supporting volunteers who wish to get directly involved in the physical and psychological relief efforts around the world

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative- a cross-institutional entity that works to provide the academic support for advocating for human rights and improving humanitarian efforts

Achieving your Childhood Dreams

While avoiding the tropical storm this weekend, I was cruising on iTunes U and found a video that I had heard/read about that is a lecture given by Randy Pausch, a professor from Carnegie Mellon University. Not giving away many details, he is young but terminally ill with pancreatic cancer, and his lecture recounts his own childhood dreams and how they came to fruition during his short life. Describing it like that, I feel that it may come across as sad and/or vain, but in fact the lecture is humorous and insightful, humane and relevant.

As a student myself on the cusp of a new future, I find it inspiring to hear about his experiences about finding his passion and making a palpable difference. I hope that you'll take the 75 minutes or so to watch it in its entirety.




As a postscript, this lecture was given almost exactly a year ago on September 17, 2007. Dr. Pausch passed away in July 2008. Also, not to plug Apple too much, but iTunes U is a gigantic collection of free lectures and documentaries from universities and institutions around the world. You can get to it directly from a link on the regular iTunes page. Check it out.