My friends Elaine and Gray kindly agreed to host me at their place for two weeks while my villa mate Tricia welcomes family and friends at “ours” (it’s her villa really, I just have a room there, but that’s another story).

Elaine, Gray, and Elaine’s son Phil are in Oman for the Eid holiday, so I’m in charge of their two dogs Poppy and Gypsy. They’re good dogs. Most of the time.

Today, as

The auditorium fell dead silent when Dr. Sunitha Krishnan stepped onto the stage at TED India on November 6. And Tedsters around the world, watching via a live stream webcast, were transfixed – or at least we were in Dubai!

The diminutive, soft-spoken, anti-trafficking crusader, who was gang-raped as a teenager, began her talk with the heart-wrenching stories of three children – Pranitha,

Susan notes: Executive coach, entrepreneur and soon-to-be published author Lynn Harris knows what lies behind the dearth of women in corner offices and boardrooms: a whole bunch of unwritten rules!

I can’t wait to read her upcoming book Unwritten Rules: What Women Need To Know About Leading In Today's Organizations (scheduled for release by the end of this year), in which she explains all the

Journalist and camerawoman Margaret Moth is one of a kind.

No doubt. No argument. And definitely no tears.

Born Margaret Wilson, Moth changed her last name after asking herself what stopped her from having her own moniker rather than inheriting her father’s, or adopting a husband’s.

Her choice was inspired, she says, by a friend’s Tiger Moth plane, from which she frequently sky dived as

In February 2008, former nun and religious scholar Karen Armstrong shared a wish with the worldwide TED community.

(Scroll down to see and hear the amazingly eloquent, thoughtful and thought-provoking talk in which she made the wish.)

She asked “TEDsters” to help her assemble the Charter for Compassion, a document around which religious leaders can work together for peace.

 Armstrong's

I was going to start this blog entry with a caveat.

But then I decided it probably wouldn’t do much good – someone somewhere is bound to be offended by what follows. So there are no apologies here. I’ll seek forgiveness later if required.

Before I go any further, a word of advice: whoever you are, wherever you are, register for the next and closest TEDx event within reach (the worldwide

My Mom has Alzheimer's.

She doesn't know what time of the day it is, let alone the day of the week, or the month.

Sometimes she doesn't know even know the season of the year. Or what she just ate. Or the name of her cat.

One day soon she won't know who I am either.

But even in her demented state of mind, she knows it's wrong to torture people, she knows that sometimes you

Dr. Janet Rose Wojtalik has seven powerful “secrets” to share about parenting girls – secrets that will help today’s moms and dads create the strong, independent, amazing women of the future.

One of three children born to working-class parents, Wojtalik says she herself struggled to break free from negative, gender-biased parental and societal messages, and the fear of failure, to eventually

Here's a taster from the latest video blog update (#5), from Dubai-based Canadian journalist (and AWR member) Natalie Carney, who is producing a documentary on children in Afghanistan.

See the 10-minute "full meal deal" here.

Find out more about her fledgling charity Kids Being Kids: Afghanistan here.

 

Related links:

My Mom is an amazing woman.

She’s feisty, fiery and passionate about what she believes in.

Her clear belief in what’s right and wrong have served her in good stead over the last 80+ years.

I know – I’ve seen her oppose many things she believed were wrong. AND I’ve personally been on the south side of her wrath on several occasions! It’s not a happy place to be ☺

She’s rallied people