Promethean (pro-mee-thee-an)

According to Greek myth, as punishment for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mortal humans, Prometheus was bound to the side of a mountain, where he was attacked daily by fierce bird that feasted upon his liver. At night his wounds healed; the next day he was attacked anew. Because of his extraordinary boldness in stealing divine fire, the word "promethean" has come to mean creative, boldly original.

American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time

The American Film Institute asked more than 1,500 members of the film community to pick the 100 best films of all time from a list of 400 movies nominated by the institute. The criteria for inclusion was historical significance, critical recognition and awards, and popularity determined by box-office revenue, syndication, video sale and rental figures. The updated, 10th anniversary edition of the list was released in 2007.

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
6. Gone with the Wind (1939)
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler's List (1993)
9. Vertigo (1958)
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960)
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
25. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35. Annie Hall (1977)
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40. The Sound of Music (1965)
41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Sotry (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51. West Side Story (1961)
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. The Deer Hunter (1978)
54. M*a*s*h (1970)
55. North By Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1977)
57. Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan's Travels (1958)
62. American Graffiti (1973)
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73. Butch Caddidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994)
77. All the President's Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997)
84. Easy Rider (1969)
85. A Night at the Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie's Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)
100. Ben-Hur (1959)

Incendiary (in-'sen-dE-"er-E)

Middle English, from Latin incendiarius, from incendium conflagration, from incendere1 a : a person who commits arson : ARSONIST b : an incendiary agent (as a bomb)2 : a person who excites factions, quarrels, or sedition : AGITATOR

Strategic Planning with Addicts

From October 3-4, 2007, I had the opportunity to co-facilitate a strategic planning workshop of an organization called Yakita in Ciawi, Bogor, Indonesia. Bogor is a city 45-minute drive just outside Jakarta. Yakita is one of our organization's partners. Its main mission is to address drug addiction and co-related issues such as HIV, Hepatitis C, crime, violence and reproductive health. It operates rehabilitation centers and several community-based capacity development and empowerment projects in about nine provinces. The workshop was the first for the organization as a group to discuss its future direction. Participants involved were staff members coming from different project sites such as Aceh, Kupang, Makassar, Bogor, Surabaya, Bandung and Bali.

Yakita's staff members are mainly former drug addicts. Surprisingly, these kids (as Yakita's founders Joyce and David Gordon call them), are brilliant and fun to be with. They actively participated in session discussions and were not intimidated to speak their minds. As I was discussing with my colleague, Mary, we have accomplished much working with these junkies (they call themselves such), than with the Ph.D's and professors of a leading university. Our Ph. D friends appeared to have big egos and vested self-interests that they view their organization as a vehicle for their personal aggrandizement instead of using it as a platform to contribute to societal development.

Knowledge Marketing

I've recently read an article "Marketing Your Knowledge" with exciting interest. Produced by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, it examines why the works of knowledge-rich nonprofit sector do not get as much exposure as they should. A product of research involving leading NGO and philanthropy practitioners in the USA, the paper argues that marketing principles are necessary ingredients in knoweldge sharing:

1. Instead of focusing on knowledge supply, (What do we have to say?), successful organizations focus on knowledge demand (Whatknowledge do users need?).

2. Instead of seeking information access as the goal (How can we ensure that our knowledge is widely available?), successful organizations seek informed action as the goal (How can we ensure that our knowledge is widely used to improve practice?).

3. Instead of typically approaching knowledge sharing as one-time products (How can we package and deliver our knowledge in a product?), successful organizations approach knowledge sharing as a long-term,ongoing process (By what process can we ensure that our knowledge is absorbed by practitioners?)

Market Analysis Workshop in Jakarta

As part of our organization's continuing support to Indonesian partner NGOs to come up with their respective business plans, we're currently holding a two-day workshop (October 1 - 2, 2007) on Market Analysis Design in Jakarta, Indonesia. Through this workshop, partners learn how to identify and segmentize their target clientele, frame the right questions to determine the clientele's needs and expectations and develop instruments necessary to guide partners in generating relevant market information.