Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

By Joseph J. Bailey, University of Nottingham, UK.

Rivers are the arteries of the world, carrying life-giving water to the organs that are the natural habitats and human settlements. An increase or decrease in flow can have disastrous consequences through droughts and flooding, thus ensuring a sustainable water supply is seen as a priority by many states worldwide. Despite the vast number of environmental problems dams can (and do) cause, they allow people to not only control water flow to the population in times of low or high supply/demand, but also produce energy through hydroelectric technologies. Whether or not to build a dam, and when to remove a dam, is, or at least should be, decided by comparing the environmental impact with the benefits of energy and water provision. The accumulated impact of building multiple dams within a watershed should also be considered, because this can result in lower…

There’s no easy way for me to share this and not feel awkward about self-promotion so I’ll just come out with it.

Last month, I did a TEDx talk in front of an amazing audience of over 650 people. I was invited to share the story of my recovery thus far and how I’ve handled being dealt the most catastrophic hand I could ever imagine.

Quick recap on how I got here:

Last year, when I wrote my blog post about standing up and asking Brita to marry me, a random friend reached out and asked me to share my story at a technology conference he was organizing. While I’d always felt comfortable talking to people and presenting in front of small audiences, I had never done anything like that event, in front of 300+ CEO’s, venture capitalists, and business leaders. He gave me very little guidance and I still to this day…