confessions of a hackathon addict

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the..."

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 15:51:30 -0700

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

- Albert Einstein

"In matters concerning truth and justice there can be no distinction between big problems and small;..."

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 13:48:34 -0700

“In matters concerning truth and justice there can be no distinction between big problems and small; for the general principles which determine the conduct of men are indivisible. Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted in important affairs.”

- Albert Einstein

"As if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth."

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 22:20:05 -0700

“As if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.”

- Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

ronsbell: Source: Tatiana of Andcolaw

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 20:43:26 -0800

ronsbell:

Source: Tatiana of Andcolaw

My TEDxSFState talk entitled, “Confessions of a Hackathon...

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 18:51:31 -0800

My TEDxSFState talk entitled, “Confessions of a Hackathon Addict.” It was cathartic to summarize the last 4 years of my career into one talk.

"Time is the school in which we learn. Time is the fire in which we burn."

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:58:06 -0800

“Time is the school in which we learn. Time is the fire in which we burn.”

- Delmore Schwartz

Sad contraptions

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 23:17:10 -0800

Sad contraptions

Flying by the Panama Canal

Wed, 30 Nov 2016 02:08:09 -0800

Flying by the Panama Canal

“I choose violence.” -Cersei Lannister

Wed, 19 Oct 2016 00:53:18 -0700

“I choose violence.” -Cersei Lannister

"Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength."

Mon, 26 Sep 2016 23:50:10 -0700

“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.”

- Theodore Roosevelt

Atom at The University of British Columbia giving an info...

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 00:16:10 -0700

Atom at The University of British Columbia giving an info session about the @yahoo Engineering Associates Program @yahooeap, an accelerated career program for top talent.

@yahoo Summer of Purpose, volunteering at the Sunnyvale...

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 00:57:27 -0700

@yahoo Summer of Purpose, volunteering at the Sunnyvale Community Services food bank. We helped prepare 1,000 grocery bags. They go through 7,000 per month and still need help: http://www.svcommunityservices.org/volunteer.html @lifeatyahoo

When I work with my team on doing estimations, I insist they be...

Sun, 28 Aug 2016 11:05:16 -0700

When I work with my team on doing estimations, I insist they be literally written on the back of envelopes.

Who’s ready for their Fantasy Football draft?

Fri, 26 Aug 2016 19:12:04 -0700

Who’s ready for their Fantasy Football draft?

"Empathy can melt hearts, bring down walls, and this is what makes it dangerous."

Fri, 19 Aug 2016 16:15:27 -0700

““Empathy can melt hearts, bring down walls, and this is what makes it dangerous.””

- Shankar Vedantam, Hidden Brain podcast http://youtu.be/5gTStzP2LVg

Yahoo Receives National Recognition for STEM Education Initiatives

Fri, 12 Aug 2016 21:30:22 -0700

yahoopolicy:

By Olivia Khalili, Director, Yahoo for Good
In 2012, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology estimated that over the next decade there would be a shortage of one million STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) graduates in the U.S.
At Yahoo, we never shy away from a challenge, which is why we’ve been doing our part to help turn the tide in growing a diverse, high-skilled workforce globally. I’m pleased to share that our efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Yahoo is the winner of the 2016 “Excellence in Corporate Culture Award” from US2020, a nationwide campaign devoted to building and sustaining STEM education. This award recognizes companies promoting and supporting a culture of STEM volunteerism across all levels of their business operations. Grace Chung, Senior Manager for Corporate Programs, was in Washington, D.C. today to receive the award on behalf of Yahoo for Good at a daylong summit on STEM education initiatives.
Launched at the 2013 White House Science Fair, US2020 has been building a working community of committed companies, organizations, schools, government agencies, and cities. We’re proud to be a partner in this endeavor.
During Yahoo for Good’s 2015 Summer of Service global volunteer campaign, we saw participation from nearly 6,000 employees, many of whom volunteered their time for STEM education. This was a 33% increase from 2014 and a total of 31,000 volunteer hours.
Educating youth from underrepresented communities in STEM fields is the cornerstone of our Yahoo for Good program. In particular, we devote significant resources to STEAM. What’s the ‘A’ you might ask? ‘A’ is for the arts. So much of the work in STEM careers requires more than just technical skills; it takes creative thinking and imagination. According to a 2013 report by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, for every dollar spent on arts education, an additional 56 cents is generated elsewhere in the U.S. economy.
Yahoo for Good promotes STEAM volunteerism across our offices worldwide through various programs and policies. From paid time-off for employees to volunteer to up to $1,000 in corporate matching funds for donations to eligible non-profit organizations, Yahoo’s giving culture is rooted in a fundamental belief that investment in community service is an investment in our future.
Beyond our flagship Summer of Service and Summer of Purpose campaigns, we’ve piloted quarterly volunteer weeks beginning in 2015. Hour of Code last December brought various student groups from underrepresented communities onto Yahoo campuses for code instruction from Yahoo employees, small-group mentoring and career development discussions. Students participated in hands-on workshops centered on product development, security, accessibility and more.
Yahoo employees frequently participate in off-campus projects, through partnerships with non-profits including Technovation, Girls Who Code, Black Girls Code, Hack the Hood, the Inneract Project, Teens eXploring Technology, and the SF Education Fund.
We’re honored to receive recognition for our efforts, and we share this recognition with all of our partners and Yahoo employees who have devoted countless hours to share their knowledge with communities around the world. It is our hope that through these collective efforts, we’re able to inspire the next generation of creative thinkers and doers.

It’s great to see Yahoo getting recognized at the White House for the campus tours, hackathons, coding workshops, and school talks that we do to encourage young people to think about careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.

pbstv: How to Make An Avocado Rose.via @pbs-food

Sat, 11 Jun 2016 18:52:27 -0700

pbstv:

How to Make An Avocado Rose.via @pbs-food

This!

Tue, 07 Jun 2016 21:58:46 -0700

This!

It’s official, @yahoo is in the bot business.

Tue, 07 Jun 2016 21:58:35 -0700

It’s official, @yahoo is in the bot business.

Yahoo’s on Kik

Tue, 07 Jun 2016 09:55:46 -0700

yahoo:

By Jon Paris, Senior Director of Product

At Yahoo, we’ve always built experiences at the intersection of search, communications and content to help you connect with what matters most to you. Today, we’re thrilled to announce three new Yahoo-powered bots, available on Kik. We are excited to explore how messaging will change the way that we all discover and engage with information.

Whether you’re planning a weekend outing, dreaming of a Parisian vacation or simply celebrating summer sunshine, check out weather information for multiple cities with Yahoo Weather (@yahooweather). Because messaging is all about sharing, we’ve made it really easy to share weather conditions, brought to life by beautiful Flickr photos, with your friends on Kik.

Yahoo News (@yahoonews) helps you discover, delve deeper and share the stories that interest you most. Just chat this bot to learn what’s trending. We’ll also share a morning and evening news digest with you.

Lastly, you can adopt a pet monkey right on Kik – meet MonkeyPets (@monkeypets). With care your virtual pet will grow and thrive. It’ll also teach you a thing or two about emoji and our beautiful world as it shares selfies from its travels.

You can help us make these bots better by sharing your feedback. Just write “Feedback” to any Yahoo Bot to provide input with our team. But first, try them today by adding @yahoonews, @yahooweather or @monkeypets as friends on Kik! We can’t wait for you to try our first few bots!

Got up super early this morning to launch @Yahoo powered bots on Kik 👢. 🐒⛅️📰🤖. This is what my team has been working on the last several months, and it’s great we get to finally share this with the world.