Excited About Internet Week

Image via WikipediaLast year I missed out on Internet Week. I checked out a few panels weeks later on online video, but it is not the same thing. I missed because, well, World Cup Soccer was in full rage. And the two don't even compare. It is Jupiter and oranges.

Brazil 2014
World Cup: Spain Deserved To Win

This year I am showing up but until today I was a little confused. I kept clicking on the schedule button, and what showed up was not enticing. There were these long hour events, no panels. And I was thinking, maybe this is not for me after all.

And then today I found the right link: panels. I promptly created an account and voted. I basically went down the list, and every time I recognized a name, I voted for that panel. Social?

Plus a few other ones. I have read the descriptions of very few panels so far, and I am so excited. I have been excited enough about Social Media Week that happens in February. The Internet Week theme beats the Social Media Week theme. This is New York City's own South By South West.

Person Of The Social Media Week: Oleg Voss
Alexis Ohanian: Angel Investor
Nuggets From The Paulson Auditorium
This South By South West Thing
Looks Like FoodSpotting Rocked Austin
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting

Let me go read at least the names of all the panels.

I did and voted up a bunch more. Branding? Headlines?

Today was the last day for voting. Pure coincidence. I had no idea. I guess my votes count.

I am excited. I expect to be on a few panels myself next year.

I think I qualify already this very year, but is it too late? Where do I sign up?

I am gunning for two things for me personally: video blogging, and panels. I speak fast, I want to keep speaking fast, and I want you to see it in video. I want the video to be even more fast paced. If you edit well, you can make the video even more fast paced.

Blogging is like working out for the mind. I highly recommend it. Blogging also makes you a better listener. If there is limitless space for you to say all that you need to say, you are going to be a better listener.

Blogging: Monkey Business?

I am making a Ustream appearance in June. They asked me if I wanted to speak to a class or just to the camera. I said speaking to a roomful of real people is way more fun, but if that is not going to be recorded on camera then it will have been a waste. So they gave me both.
Image via CrunchBase
I think the deadline for being on a panel for Internet Week was the 15th of the month. So, yes, it is too late. Now my best bet is to reach out to some of the organizers and see if I can still sneak on to one of the panels that someone else registered. Let me pick a few topics.

How about global? Is that a topic? Is that a trend yet? If not then I will make it a trend. Global is my local.

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2,000 Squats

Image via WikipediaI just did 2,000 squats. Don't get too impressed. I did it 50 at a time. But do get impressed. I think I could have done 1,000 more.

This is my way of getting into the mood for StartUp Week. I did not even know it existed. I was aware of Social Media Week. I was aware of Internet Week. But StartUp Week? Well, it exists. And I am going to all events. I am showing up in my ninja outfit.

StartUp Week At NYU April 6-15

April 6, Wednesday, 6-9 PM, NYU Stern, Kaufman Management Center (44 W 4th St), Room 2-60
April 7, Thursday, 6-8:30 PM, NYU Law School (Vanderbilt Hall), Tishman Auditorium, 40 Washington Square South
April 11, Monday, 5-9 PM, Kaufman Management Center Room M1-100
April 12, Tuesday, 6-8:30 PM, Room M1-100
April 13, Wednesday, 5-7 PM, The Courant Institute 251 Mercer Street, Room 109
April 14, Thursday, 6-8 PM, NYU Tisch Hall, Paulson Auditorium (UC-50), 40 W. 4th Street

This is how I got into the mood for World Cup Soccer: Freehand Exercise: 1000 Push-Ups, 1000 Squats, 1000 Crunches. StartUp Week does not even remotely, remotely compare to World Cup Soccer. But a little exercise is always a good idea.

No More Beer, No More Soda

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Grameen Under Attack At Home

Image via Wikipedia

New York Times: Opinionator: Microfinance Under Fire: Both the bank and Yunus, have come under attack by the government of Bangladesh and its prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wazed. It has taken 35 years of painstaking effort to build Grameen into a world-class institution that serves millions of poor people. That progress could be lost if the country’s leaders fail to appreciate what makes the Grameen Bank work........ The Grameen Bank is not just the largest microlender in the world, with 8.4 million borrowers (most of them women villagers) who received more than $1 billion in loans last year, it is the flagship enterprise in an industry that, in 2009, served 128 million of the world’s poorest families. ...... Yunus, the founder of the bank, is an entrepreneurial figure cut from the same cloth as Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple. He has devoted himself since the 1970s to demonstrating, institutionalizing and spreading microfinance. ...... Legally, the government owns 25 percent of Grameen and has the right to appoint a quarter of its board members, including its chairperson. In practical terms, however, the government has little justification to intercede in the bank’s operations. Today, of the Grameen Bank’s paid-up share capital, only 3.5 percent comes from the Bangladeshi government. It is the bank’s borrowers who are its majority owners. They control 75 percent of the board seats and they have supplied 96.5 percent of the paid up share capital. And it’s the savings of villagers — about $1.5 billion — that now finances the bank’s activities and growth. ......... Nevertheless, the government is proceeding to remove Yunus against the objections of its majority owners and will probably succeed. ...... Yunus is being punished for criticizing the government and making a bid to start a political party in 2007. ......... The Grameen Bank is a strong, well-managed institution with 25,000 employees. It could probably withstand his departure. Indeed, given Yunus’s age, it’s critical to pave the way for a successor. But if he is replaced in a manner that diminishes confidence, the bank could face problems. ........ the Grameen Bank depends on unusually high levels of motivation among its staff and high levels of trust among its borrowers. A forced removal of Yunus that is seen as illegitimate, politically-motivated, or vindictive could alienate thousands of employees and trigger a run on savings or loan defaults. ......... The state-owned banks have regularly extended loans to elite borrowers (who default at high rates) as a form of patronage. Unlike Grameen, which is financially self-sufficient, the state banks are perpetually in need of cash infusions from the government. ........ The Prime Minister has made it clear that she believes the interest rates are too high. ...... if the government installed a bureaucratic manager who failed to appreciate the bank’s 
Image via Wikipediaentrepreneurial culture, it could suck the life out of the bank. ....... Before Grameen Bank workers get hired, for example, they spend close to a year demonstrating their interest in serving the poor. They have to do things like write detailed case studies about the lives of village women to show that they genuinely care about, and understand, their clients. Managing this workforce is nothing like managing a run-of-the-mill bank. ........ Over the past few months, officials have sought to damage Yunus’s reputation, claiming without evidence that he has enriched himself at the expense of the poor, intentionally harmed borrowers, and engaged in fraud. The prime minister has called microlenders loan sharks “sucking the blood of the poor.” Her son circulated a letter which contained a litany of unfounded accusations against Yunus — the most outrageous being that the government created the Grameen Bank, not Yunus. ......... It’s not as if Bangladesh is lacking real problems that require government attention. There can be no sense in destabilizing the leading institution in an industry that provides financing to more than half of the households in the country. ........ On March 15, the Bangladeshi Supreme Court postponed ruling on Yunus’s case for two weeks........ Given that Yunus understands Grameen’s culture better than anyone, he should have a key say in any leadership change. ........ Wise governments should view microfinance programs not as adversaries, but as partners in furthering public goals — organizations that need to be regulated, but not controlled. ...... Foreign governments and multi-lateral institutions have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Grameen Bank and other large microfinance organizations in Bangladesh, and elsewhere, with the goal of alleviating poverty. They also need to remember that it’s not enough to finance development organizations. They need to protect them, too.

What the Prime Minister of Bangladesh has been up to would be like the Governor of Michigan organizing a full frontal assault on the auto industry in Detroit. It would be like the Mayor of Austin decided to drive the South By South West festival out of town.

Bangladesh has very little going on for itself. The country has been so thoroughly mismanaged for decades that Grameen is one positive thing Bangladeshis can talk about. It is not like they have a world class cricket team, or anything like that.

But no, even that one thing is too many. And so the political class in the country decided enough was enough. This guy has been getting too much respect worldwide. He has alleviated too much poverty. If the poor don't stay poor, who will vote for those politicians based on their empty promises every few years?

Grameen is the only thing Bangladesh has going on for itself on the global stage - when was the last time they won an Olympic medal, I have never heard of their name in World Cup Soccer - and it is as if that one thing is too many for the politicians in Bangladesh, the roving bandits of reeking corruption.

Jagdish Bhagwati: Misplaced Criticism Of Yunus
Yunus Should Launch A Political Party
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