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run News24 | INTERVIEW | 'Rock star without an instrument': Booker-winner Shehan Karunatilaka talks Seven Moons By www.news24.com Published On :: Wednesday Nov 13 2024 05:01:31 "I realised I could sustain the writing life, whether anyone reads it or not. It’s what separates writers from civilians. It’s probably a mental disorder." Full Article
run “Distraction,” Simplicity, and Running Toward Shitstorms By www.43folders.com Published On :: Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:49:56 +0000 It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience. —Albert Einstein, “On the Method of Theoretical Physics” (1934) Context: Last week, I pinched off one of my typically woolly emails in response to an acquaintance whom I admire. He’s a swell guy who makes things I love, and he'd written, in part, to express concern that my recent Swift impersonation had been directed explicitly at something he'd made. Which, of course, it hadn’t—but which, as I'll try to discuss here, strikes me as irrelevant. To paraphrase Bogie, I played it for him, so now I suppose I might as well play it for you. (n.b.: Excerpted, redacted, munged, and heavily expanded from my original email) There are at least a couple things that mean a lot to me that I'm still just not very good at. Make nuanced points in whatever way they need to be made; even if that ends up seeming “un-nuanced” Never explain yourself. I want to break both these self-imposed rules privately with you here. [Editor’s Note: Um.] Because, I hope to nuance the shit out of some fairly un-nuanced points. And, to do that, I'll also (reluctantly) need to explain myself. But, here goes. First [regarding my goofing on “distraction-free writing environments”] I think there are some GIANT distinctions at play here that a lot of folks may not find nearly as obvious as I do: Tool Mastery vs. Productivity Pr0n – Finding and learning the right tools for your work vs solely dicking around with the options for those tools is just so important, but also so different. And, admittedly, it’s almost impossible to contrast those differences in terms of hard & fast rules that could be true for all people in all situations. But, that doesn’t make the difference any less qualitatively special or real. Similarly… Self-Help Vs. “Self”–“Help” – Solving the problem that caused the problem that caused the problem that caused the symptom we eventually noticed. Huge. Arguably, peerless. Viz.: How many of us ignore the actual cause of our problem in favor of just reading dozens of blog posts about how to “turbocharge” its most superficial symptoms? Sick. Focus & Play – Yes, focusing on important work is, as Ford used to say, Job 1. But, that focus benefits when we maintain the durable and unapologetic sense of play that affords true creativity and fosters an emergence of context and connection that’s usually killed by stress. BUT. Again, what conceivable “rule” could ever serve to immutably declare that “THIS goofing-off is critical for hippocampal plasticity” vs. “THAT goofing-off is just dumb, distracting bullshit?” Impossible. Because drawing those kinds of distinctions is one of our most important day-to-day responsibilities. Decisions are hard, and there’s no app or alarm gadget that can change that. Although, they certainly can help mask the depth of the underlying problem that made them seem so—what’s the parlance?—“indispensable”. Think: Elmo Band-Aids for that unsightly pancreatic tumor. Reducing Distraction through Care (Rather than braces, armatures, and puppet strings). Removing interruptions and external distractions that harm your work or life? Great. Counting on your distraction-removal tool to supplement your non-existent motivation to do work that will never get done anyway? Pathetic. Frankly, this is a big reason I'm so galled when anyone touts their tool/product/service as being the poor, misunderstood artist’s new miracle medicine—rather than just admitting they've made a slightly different spoon. Because, let’s be honest: although most of us have plenty of perfectly serviceable spoons, everybody knows collecting cutlery is way more fun than using it to swallow yucky medicine. Using a System Vs. Becoming a System. Having a system or process for getting work done vs. making the iteration of that system or process a replacement for the work. This is just…wow…big. But, maybe most importantly to me… Embracing the Impossibles. Getting past these or any other intellectual koans by simply accepting life’s innumerable and unresolvable paradoxes, hypocrisies, and impossibilities as God-given gifts of creative constraint. Rather than, say, a mimeographed page of long division problems that must be solved for a whole number, n. I just can’t ever get away from this one. For me, it’s what everything inevitably comes back to. The very definition of our jobs is to solve the right problem at the right level for the right reason—based on a combination of the best info we have for now and a clear-eyed dedication to never pushing an unnecessary rock up an avoidable hill. YET, we keep force-feeding the monster that tells us to fiddle and fart and blame the Big Cruel World whenever we face work that might threaten our fragile personal mythology. “Sigh. I wish I could finally start writing My Novel….Ooooooh, if only I had a slightly nicer pen…and Zeus loved me more….” All that stuff? That there’s a complex set of ideas to talk about for many complex reasons—not least of which being how many people either despise or (try to) deny the unavoidable impact of ol' number six. But, here’s the thing: as much as saying so pisses anybody off, I think the topics we're NOT talking about whenever we disappear into Talmudic scholarship about “full-screen mode” or “minimalist desks” or whatever constitutes a “zen habit”—those shunned topics are precisely the things that I believe are most mind-blowingly critical to our real-world happiness as humans. In fact, I believe that to such a degree that helping provide a voice for those unpopular topics that can be heard over the din is now (what passes for) my career. I really believe these deeper ideas are worth socializing on any number of levels and in many media. Even when it’s inconvenient and slightly disrespectful of someone’s business model. So, that’s what I try to do. I talk about these things. Seldom by careful design. Often poorly. But, always because they each mean an awful lot to me. […] But, no matter how I end up saying whatever the hell I say, I believe in saying it not simply to be liked or followed or revered as a “nice guy” who pushes out shit-tons of whatever to “help people.” Because, believe me, friend, a great many of those apparently “nice guys” swarming around the web “helping people” these days are ass-fucking their audience for nickels and calling it a complimentary colonoscopy. And, while I absolutely think that in itself is empirically wrong, I also think it’s just as important to say that it’s wrong. Sometimes, True Things need to be said. Which in this instance amounts to saying, a) selling people a prettier way to kinda almost but not really write is not, in the canonical sense, “nice”—but, far worse, b) leaving your starry-eyed customers with the nauseatingly misguided impression that their “distraction” originates from anyplace but their own busted-ass brain is really not “helping.” Not on any level. It is, literally, harmful. “Helping” a junkie become more efficient at keeping his syringe loaded is hardly “nice.” It’s the opposite of nice. And, it’s the opposite of helpful. These are my True Things. And, to me, saying your True Things also means not watering down the message you care about in order to render it incapable of even conceivably hurting someone’s feelings—or of even conceivably losing you even one teeny-tiny slice of that precious “market share.” Well, that’s the price, and I'm fine paying it—best money I've ever spent. But, it also means trusting your audience by letting each of them decide to add water only as they choose to—by never corrupting the actual concentrate in a way that might make it less useful to the smartest or most eager 5% of people who'd like to try using it undiluted. Because, at that point, you're not only abandoning the coolest people you have the honor of serving—you risk becoming a charlatan. And, that’s precisely what you become when you start to iteratively inbreed the kind of fucktard audience for whom daily buffets of weak swill and beige assurance are life’s most gratifying reward. Sure. Those poor bastards may never end up using any of that watery information to do anything more ambitious than turbocharging their most regrettable symptoms. But, who’s the last person in the universe who’s going to grab them by the ears and tell them to get back to work? Exactly—that same “nice guy” whose livelihood now depends on keeping infantalized strangers addicted to his “help.” Holy shit—no way could I ever live with that. It’s so wrong, it’s not even right. ESC, ESC, ESC! […] Okay. So anyhow, there’s a really long-winded, overly generous, and extremely pompous way of trying to say I don’t know how to do what I do except how I do it. But, I do genuinely feel awful when innocent people feel they have been publicly humiliated or berated simply because I'm some dick who hates people. Which has to be my favorite irony of all. When I was a kid, I thought my Mom was “mean” not to let me play in traffic on busy Galbraith Road. Today, I'm not simply grateful that she had the strength and resolve to be so “mean”—I actually can’t imagine how sad it would be to not have people in your life who care enough about your long-term welfare to tell you to stop fucking around in traffic. To where you eventually might start even seeking 12x-daily safety hacks from some of the very same drivers whose recklessness may eventually kill you. Wow. […] Admitting when life is complicated or things aren’t shiny and happy all the time strikes me as a wonderfully sane and adult way to conduct one’s life. That there are so many folks offended by even the existence of this anarchic idea is not a problem I can solve. No more than I can wish useless email away or pray hard enough that it never rains on anyone’s leaky roof. All out of scope. And, then, I jizzed on at length about how much I admire the recipient’s work. Which I do. Good work doesn’t need a cookie I may admire your work, too. Especially if you care a lot about that work and don’t overly sweat peoples' opinions of it. Most definitely including my own. For these purposes, it doesn’t really matter whether we're friends and, honestly, it doesn’t even matter whether I love, use, or agree with everything you do, say, or make in a given day. It doesn’t matter because good work doesn’t need me to love it. Like tornadoes and cold sores, good work happens with total disregard to whether I'm “into it.” But, conversely, let’s stipulate that the points-of-view undergirding our opinions—again, including mine—will and should survive either agreement or lack of agreement with equivalently effortless ease. Because, like really good work, a really good point-of-view doesn’t require another person’s benediction. Guess we'll have to disagree to agree Now, to be only vaguely clearer here, I'm not posting this circuitous ego dump in the service of altering your opinion of either me, my friend, his work, or practically anything else for that matter. But, I would love it if we could all be more okay with the fact that real life means that we do each have a different, sometimes incongruous, and often totally incompatible point-of-view. Yes. Even you have a point-of-view that someone despises. Ready to change it now? Jesus, I sure hope not. Then, to be only slightly more clear, I'm also not advocating for that fakey brand of web-based kum ba ya that gets trotted out alternately as “tolerance” or “inclusion” or some styrofoam miniature of “civility.” I'm absolutely not against all of those things when authentically practiced, but I'm also really skeptical of the well-branded peacemakers who are forever appointing themselves the Internet’s “Now-Now-Let’s-All-Pretend-We're-Just-Saying-the-Same-Useless-Thing-Here” den mothers. Because we're not all saying the same things. Not at all. And, it infantalizes some important conversations when we tacitly demand that any instance of honest disagreement be immediately horseshat into a photo opp where some thought leader gets to hoist everyone’s hands in the air like he’s fucking Jimmy Carter. Nope. Not saying that. Who will you really rely on? What I AM saying is that alllllll this seemingly unrelated stuff is absolutely related—that the pattern of not relying on other people for anything you really care about is arguably the great-grandaddy of every useful productivity, creativity, or self-help pattern. Where’s this matter? Pretty much everywhere you have any sort of stake: Don’t rely on other people to remove your totally fake “distractions.” Don’t rely on other people to pat your beret, re-tie your cravat, and make you a nice cocoa whenever that mean man on the internet points out that your “distractions” are totally fake. (Which they are) Don’t rely on other people to tell you when or whether you have enough information. Don’t rely on other people to define your job. Don’t rely on other people to “design your lifestyle.” Don’t rely on other people to decide when your opinions are acceptable. Don’t rely on other people to tell you when you're allowed to be awesome. Don’t rely on other people to make you care. Don’t even rely on other people to tell you what you should or shouldn’t rely on. Yes. I went there. Because that’s the point. These hypocrisies, paradoxes, and ambiguities that people get so wound up about—that many of us are constantly (impotently) trying to resolve—cannot be resolved. Because, yeah: all of these harrowingly unsolvable problems are immune to new notebooks and less-distracting applications and shinier systems and “nicer” self-“help” and pretty much anything else that is not, specifically, you walking straight into the angriest and least convenient shitstorm you can find and getting your ass kicked until the storm gets bored with kicking it. Then, you find an even angrier storm. Then, another. And, so on. “Get the fuck off of my obstacle, Private Pyle!” Doing that annoying hard stuff is how you grow, get better, and learn what real help looks like. Even if that’s not the answer you wanted to hear. You get better by getting your ass out of your RSS reader and fucking making things until they suck less. Not by buying apps. You don’t whine about distractions, or derail yourself over needing a nicer pencil sharpener, or aggravate your chronic creative diabetes by starting another desperate waddle to the self-help buffet. No. You work. And, for what it’s worth, just like you can’t get to the moon by eating cheese, you'll also never leave boot camp with your original scrote intact by telling your drill sergeant to try using more honey than vinegar. No. That sergeant’s job is to make you miserable. It’s his job to break down your callow conceits about what’s supposed to be easy and fair. It’s his job to emotionally pummel you into giving up and becoming a Marine. You? You're not there to give the sergeant notes; you're there to sleep two hours a night, then not mind getting beaten for 20 hours until a decent Marine starts to fall out. Who knows? He may even surprise you by introducing a surprisingly effective “distraction-free learning environment.” “Tee ell dee ahr, Professor Brainiac.” Like most humans, I like things I can understand. Like most readers, I love specificity. Like most thinkers, I love clarity. Like most students, I love relevance and practicality. And, like most busy people, believe it or not, I actually do really like it when someone gets straight to the point. But, here’s the problem. If my 2-year-old daughter asks me about time travel, and I blithely announce, “E=mc2”, I will have said something that is entirely specific, clear, relevant, practical, and/or straight-to-the-point. For somebody. But, not so much for my daughter. And, to be honest, not even to any useful degree for me. She'd probably either laugh derisively at me (which she’s great at), or she'd pause and ask, “Whuh dat?” (which she’s even better at). Thing is, her understanding that jumble of characters less than me—and my understanding it WAY less than Professor Al—has zero impact on the profundity, truth, beauty, or impact of the man’s theory. Sure. You could quite accurately fault me for being a smartass and a poseur, and you could even berate my toddler for her unaccountably shallow understanding of Modern Physics. But, in any case, you can’t really blame either Albert or his theory. You're turbocharging nothing Specifically, Albert can’t begin to tell us what he really knows if we don’t understand math. So, let’s say this theory you've been hearing about really interests you. And, let’s also pretend, just for the sake of the analogy, that you haven’t completed Calculus III (212) or Quantum Mechanics (403) or even something as elementary as, say, Advanced Astrophysics II (537). I know you have. Obviously. But, let’s pretend. Where do you start? Well, you could read some tips about learning math. You could find a list of 500 indispensable resources for indispensable math resources. You could buy a new “distraction-free math environment.” Heck, there’s actually nothing to stop you from just declaring yourself a “math expert.” Congratulations, Professor. Thing is: you still don’t know math. Which means you still can’t really understand the theory—no more than a pathetic Liberal Arts refugee like me or a dullard Physics ignoramus like my kid can really grok relativity. Difference is, you will have blown a lot of time hoping that actual expertise follows non-existent effort—while my daughter and I get to remain total novices without charge. Only, we don’t get all mad at the theory as a result; a staggering number of fake math experts do. I mean, be honest—after all that recreational non-work and make-believe dedication almost trying to kinda learn math sorta—you might actually get frustrated at how brazenly Al defies your fondness for shortcuts by continuing to rely on so many terms and proofs and blah-blah-blah that you still just don’t understand. So annoying. You may simply decide that Albert Einstein’s a huge dick for never saying things that can be completely understood solely by scanning a headline. EPIC EINSTEIN FAIL, amirite? You never really know what you didn’t know until you know it But, Al just told the truth. Problem is, Al’s truth not only requires fancy things in order to be truly understood—the more of those fancy things you take away from his truth, the less true it gets. And, by the time it’s been diluted to the point where you're comfortable that you understand it? You'd be understanding the wrong thing. Even I can understand that. But, not one bit of any of this is Al’s fault. Al doesn’t get to control who uses, abuses, gets, or doesn’t get what he said or why it matters. Especially since he’s been dead for over fifty years. All I know is, regardless of who has ears to hear it on a given day, it would be to Al’s credit never to mangle something important in order to get it into terms everybody’s ready to handle without actually trying. And God bless him for never agreeing that your “distractions” to learning math are his problem. So, yeah, if you only need to hand in a crappy 5-page paper, you could certainly Cliff’s Notes your way through Borges, Eliot, or Joyce in an afternoon, and feel like you haven’t missed a thing. Trouble is, if you did care even a little, it’s impossible to even say how much you're missing since you can’t be bothered to soldier through the source text. The text itself is the entire point. Even the wonderfully cogent and readable layman’s explanations Einstein himself provided don’t really get to the nut, the application, and the implications of his real theory. That all takes real math. That “single datum of experience” matters Sometimes, complex or difficult things stop being true when you try to make them too simple. Sometimes, you have to actually get laid to understand why people think sex is such a thing. Sometimes, you need to learn some Greek if you really want to understand The Gospel of John. And, yeah, sometimes, you're going to have to just work unbelievably hard at whatever you claim to care about before anyone can begin to help you get any better—or less “distracted”—at it. The part I really know is what doesn’t work. Reading Penthouse Forum won’t help you CLEP out of Vaginal Intercourse 101. Watching a Rankin-Bass cartoon about the Easter Bunny will teach you very little about the intricacies of transubstantiation. And, if you can’t be troubled to care so much about your work that you reflexively force distractions away, dicking around with yet another writing application will merely aggravate the problem. Ironic, huh? These quantum mechanics of personal productivity are rife with such frustrating “paradoxes.” These are True Things. Achieving expertise and doing creative work is all horribly complicated and difficult and paradoxical and frustrating and recursive and James Joyce-y—and any guide, blog, binary, guru, or “nice guy” that tries to suggest otherwise is probably giving you a complimentary colonoscopy. Do the math. Want a new syllabus? Sure: Run straight into your shitstorm, my friends. Reject the impulse to think about work, rather than finishing it. And, open your heart to the remote possibility that any mythology of personal failure that involves messiahs periodically arriving to make everything “easy” for you might not really be helping your work or your mental health or your long-standing addiction to using tools solely to ship new excuses. Learn your real math, and any slide rule will suffice. Try, make, and do until you quit noticing the tools, and if you still think you need new tools, go try, make, and do more. If you can pull off this deceptively simple and millennia-old pattern, you'll eventually find that—god by dying god—any partial truth that’s supported your treasured excuses for not working will be replaced by a no-faith-required knowledge that you're really, actually, finally getting better at something you care about. Which is just sublimely un-distracting. Dedication This article is dedicated to my friend, Greg Knauss. No, he’s not the app guy–he’s just a good man who does good work, who accidentally/unintentionally helped me write this rant. He also happens to be a fella who could teach anyone a thing or two about writing with distractions. Thanks, Greg. ”“Distraction,” Simplicity, and Running Toward Shitstorms” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 05, 2010. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?" Full Article Creative Work Distractions Features
run Democratic Politician Crashes Her Car While Allegedly Drunk, Hurls Vile Insults at Responding Officer: Police Report By www.westernjournal.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 21:35:14 +0000 A Chicago-area Democrat hurled an insult at police Sunday after being charged with drunken driving, according to local news reports. Samantha Steele represents the Second District on the Cook County […] The post Democratic Politician Crashes Her Car While Allegedly Drunk, Hurls Vile Insults at Responding Officer: Police Report appeared first on The Western Journal. Full Article News Alcohol Chicago Democrats Investigation Police U.S. News
run Report Shows New Front-Runner for Trump's Press Secretary Spot: The Media Should Be Terrified By www.westernjournal.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:01:27 +0000 President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering lawyer Alina Habba to be the White House press secretary. Habba often spoke to the media while she was on the legal team representing […] The post Report Shows New Front-Runner for Trump's Press Secretary Spot: The Media Should Be Terrified appeared first on The Western Journal. Full Article Commentary 2024 election Donald Trump Kayleigh McEnany Trump administration White House
run Sport | Khanyiso Tshwaku | Markram's T20 run drought no laughing matter as leadership crown weighs heavy By www.news24.com Published On :: Tuesday Nov 12 2024 12:33:48 As captain, Aiden Markram is allowed a long rope from a wonky form perspective, but how long can that rope be as the run river continues to shrivel, asks Khanyiso Tshwaku. Full Article
run Sport | BIG PREVIEW | SA v India: Jansen wary of India's blazing batters as Centurion run fest awaits By www.news24.com Published On :: Wednesday Nov 13 2024 05:01:33 Wednesday's third T20 between South Africa and India at SuperSport Park in Centurion is shaping up to be a run-drenched one, especially if the weather holds and SA's bowling centre doesn't. Full Article
run Labour Party Conference – International affairs networking brunch By www.chathamhouse.org Published On :: Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:32:13 +0000 Labour Party Conference – International affairs networking brunch 24 September 2024 — 11:00AM TO 12:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 16 September 2024 Labour – Grace 1 Suite, Hilton Hotel, Liverpool Hosted by Sir Simon Fraser, Chairman of Chatham House. This event is taking place at the Hilton Hotel, Grace 1 Suite, Liverpool. You are warmly invited to join us for an exclusive networking brunch at the 2024 Labour Party Conference.Sir Simon Fraser, Chairman of Chatham House, and Olivia O’Sullivan, Director of Chatham House’s UK in the World Programme, will deliver opening remarks, followed by an interactive networking session where you will have the chance to engage with a wide range of stakeholders. Join us to connect with key senior parliamentary, corporate and media attendees at the Labour Party Conference.This event will be taking place outside of the secure zone. Full Article
run Who Runs the Internet: Internet Consolidation and Control By f1.media.brightcove.com Published On :: Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article
run Is Myanmar Running Out of Time? By www.chathamhouse.org Published On :: Fri, 10 Jan 2020 14:30:02 +0000 Is Myanmar Running Out of Time? 17 February 2020 — 1:00PM TO 2:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 10 January 2020 Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE Just a few years ago the West was celebrating what appeared to be the conclusion of a quarter-century long contest between Myanmar’s democrats and a military dictatorship. Today, the country stands charged with genocide at the International Court of Justice, with Aung San Suu Kyi leading the defence. Is Myanmar a democratic transition gone awry? Or something else entirely? The speaker will argue that Myanmar is not the simple morality tale often portrayed. It has instead become the stage for some of the world’s most pressing challenges such as climate change, explosive inequality and rising populism, the impact of social media; and the rise of China as the next global superpower.In this context, are 20th century democratic institutions and free-market reforms the correct remedy for a country plagued by the legacies of colonialism, decades of civil war, tyranny and a predatory economic system? The speaker will offer a prognosis for Myanmar’s future, assessing the question of whether it will become Asia’s next failed state.This event will be held off the record. Full Article
run Energy diminishing implicit-explicit Runge–Kutta methods for gradient flows By www.ams.org Published On :: Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:01 EDT Zhaohui Fu, Tao Tang and Jiang Yang Math. Comp. 93 (), 2745-2767. Abstract, references and article information Full Article
run Malawi’s Re-Run Election is Lesson for African Opposition By www.chathamhouse.org Published On :: Wed, 01 Jul 2020 19:53:16 +0000 1 July 2020 Fergus Kell Projects Assistant, Africa Programme LinkedIn The overturning of the result in the fresh presidential contest sets a bold precedent for the continent, as a process built upon the resilience of democratic institutions and the collective spirit of opposition. 2020-07-01-Malawi-Chakwera-Election Lazarus Chakwera, leader of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) arriving at the Mtandire suburb of the capital Lilongwe for an election rally. Photo by AMOS GUMULIRA/AFP via Getty Images. Malawi is only the second African country to annul a presidential election, after Kenya in 2017. It is the first in which the opposition has won the re-run.The initial May 2019 vote had narrowly returned incumbent Peter Mutharika to the presidency. But in February 2020 a landmark ruling by Malawi’s constitutional court annulled the result citing ‘widespread, systematic and grave’ irregularities, including the now-infamous use of corrective fluid in vote tallying, and the Malawi Electoral Commission’s (MEC) failure to address complaints before announcing results. New elections were ordered within 150 days.In a decisive contrast with the previous year, the fresh polls on 23 June saw the coming together of Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and running mate Saulos Chilima of the United Transformation Movement (UTM) to head a coalition of nine opposition parties - having fiercely competed as the leading challengers previously.The constitutional court ruling had also changed Malawi’s electoral system, replacing a first-past-the-post model with one demanding an outright majority, which further encouraged the regional power bases of Malawi’s opposition to cast ego aside and work in alliance with each other.In tandem with a slick digital campaign, the new alliance travelled widely to hold rallies across what is one of the world’s youngest countries, while the elderly Mutharika remained largely confined to the capital. It would be a strategy that ultimately delivered Chakwera to the presidency, polling 58 per cent of votes to Mutharika’s 39.Political opposition elsewhere in Africa should take note from Malawi’s coalition - dialogue, not division, can offer a genuine path to change, especially in those countries with less favourable institutional conditions. Neighbouring Zambia would certainly do well to heed this example ahead of a pivotal election of its own in 2021.A victory built on institutional precedentYet the story here is not only about throwing out an incumbent: Malawians had already done so twice before, rejecting sitting presidents at the polls in 1994 and 2014. It is also not unfamiliar to see public opinion and the judiciary work in parallel to uphold the constitution: former president Bakili Muluzi was twice blocked from abolishing term limits by popular demonstration during his second term, and again prevented from running for a third time in 2009 by the constitutional court.The new result did not arise as the foregone conclusion of a judicial miracle. Rather, throughout the re-run process Malawi has had to repeatedly draw upon the strength of its broad-based institutional foundations. The image of the constitutional court judges arriving to deliver their annulment verdict in February wearing bulletproof vests under their robes was a stark reminder that this was never the easy route to take.In contrast to many other African states, Mutharika was unable to call upon military support as the Malawi Defence Forces (MDF) had moved to shield protesting citizens and protect the judiciary since the 2019 election. The MDF also had previous form in this respect, having defended then-vice president Joyce Banda’s constitutional right to assume the presidency after the incumbent’s death in 2012.And this institutional resilience from the army would facilitate a smooth and mostly peaceful election process during the re-run, despite Mutharika attempts to intervene by replacing the MDF’s commander and his deputy in March 2020.Just ten days before the fresh vote the Mutharika government switched focus back to the country’s legal system by attempting to enforce the premature retirement of Malawi’s chief justice, only to be blocked by the high court. Even as unofficial tallies trickled in, Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) demanded the MEC annul the result: claiming their monitors were intimidated in MCP strongholds, and requesting unlawful access to scrutinise null and void votes.Headed by a new chairperson, this time the MEC displayed enormous patience in the verification process and openly tackled complaints, now mainly from the DPP. On social media, Malawians celebrated the contrast between images of tally sheets from 2019 and the re-run.Writing a new chapterThere are lessons here too for international partners. UK diplomacy played a subtle role in encouraging Mutharika to accept the legal process - he was invited to appear at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in January - while also helping promoting early dialogue among opposition parties.At a time of pressure for UK engagement to offer clear strategic value, the impact of less easily quantifiable forms of influence should not be overlooked, especially as international observer missions effectively went missing in the discredited 2019 election. Preliminary statements back then from the Commonwealth, European Union, African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) struck a mostly congratulatory tone and were non-committal on the issues that would prove decisive in the court ruling. None went on to release their final reports.Malawi must now start to move beyond election mode. Though COVID-19 cases remain low by global standards, a budget already heavily dependent on foreign aid and hampered by 18 months of political uncertainty will be slashed further by the pandemic’s impact. The IMF has predicted GDP growth of just 1% in 2020, down from a pre-coronavirus projection of 5%.As it inherits a major balance of payments crisis, mounting debt and with no tourism revenue to fall back on, the new government will need to use its political capital to push for immediate reform. But it must not forget the core tenet of its campaign. The coalition that defeated Mutharika united the MCP’s rural support base with the middle-class urban following of the UTM. This spirit of unity and inclusion must be expanded and focus on long-term recovery. On this undertaking – unlike the polls – there will be no opportunity for a re-run. Full Article
run Oncologist, Business Leader, and Investor Arie S. Belldegrun Discusses a Career in Innovative Medical Entrepreneurship: A Conversation with Ken Herrmann and Johannes Czernin By jnm.snmjournals.org Published On :: 2024-10-30T08:04:15-07:00 Full Article
run Quantitative proteomics reveal neuron projection development genes ARF4, KIF5B and RAB8A associated with Hirschsprung disease By www.mcponline.org Published On :: 2020-11-17 Qin ZhangNov 17, 2020; 0:RA120.002325v1-mcp.RA120.002325Research Full Article
run Problem Notes for SAS®9 - 66095: The message "ERROR: Could not move and link one or more files to..." occurs while running a job-flow instance By Published On :: Fri, 21 Aug 2020 15:33:44 EST In SAS Infrastructure for Risk Management, the message "ERROR: Could not move and link one or more files to..." occurs while running a job-flow instance if an orphaned folder exists in the persistent area. Full Article IRMOFR+SAS+Infrastructure+for+Risk+Manag
run Antibody binding epitope Mapping (AbMap) of hundred antibodies in a single run [Research] By www.mcponline.org Published On :: 2020-10-27T08:35:16-07:00 Antibodies play essential roles in both diagnostics and therapeutics. Epitope mapping is essential to understand how an antibody works and to protect intellectual property. Given the millions of antibodies for which epitope information is lacking, there is a need for high-throughput epitope mapping. To address this, we developed a strategy, Antibody binding epitope Mapping (AbMap), by combining a phage displayed peptide library with next generation sequencing. Using AbMap, profiles of the peptides bound by 202 antibodies were determined in a single test, and linear epitopes were identified for >50% of the antibodies. Using spike protein (S1 and S2)-enriched antibodies from the convalescent serum of one COVID-19 patient as the input, both linear and conformational epitopes of spike protein specific antibodies were identified. We defined peptide-binding profile of an antibody as the Binding Capacity (BiC). Conceptually, the BiC could serve as a systematic and functional descriptor of any antibody. Requiring at least one order of magnitude less time and money to map linear epitopes than traditional technologies, AbMap allows for high-throughput epitope mapping and creates many possibilities. Full Article
run Quantitative proteomics reveal neuron projection development genes ARF4, KIF5B and RAB8A associated with Hirschsprung disease [Research] By www.mcponline.org Published On :: 2020-11-17T10:35:13-08:00 Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is a heterogeneous group of neurocristopathy characterized by the absence of the enteric ganglia along a variable length of the intestine. Genetic defects play a major role in the pathogenesis of HSCR while family studies of pathogenic variants in all the known genes (loci) only demonstrate incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity for unknown reasons. Here, we applied large-scale, quantitative proteomics of human colon tissues from 21 patients using iTRAQ method followed by bioinformatics analysis. Selected findings were confirmed by parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) verification. At last the interesting differentially expressed proteins were confirmed by western blot. A total of 5341 proteins in human colon tissues were identified. Among them, 664 proteins with >1.2-fold difference were identified in 6 groups: groups A1 and A2 pooled protein from the ganglionic and aganglionic colon of male, long-segment HSCR patients (L-HSCR, n=7); groups B1 and B2 pooled protein from the ganglionic and aganglionic colon of male, short-segment HSCR patients (S-HSCR, n=7); and groups C1 and C2 pooled protein from the ganglionic and aganglionic colon of female, S-HSCR patients (n=7). Based on these analyses, 49 proteins from 5 pathways were selected for PRM verification, including ribosome, endocytosis, spliceosome, oxidative phosphorylation and cell adhesion. The downregulation of three neuron projection development genes ARF4, KIF5B and RAB8A in the aganglionic part of the colon were verified in 15 paired colon samples using WB. The findings of this study will shed new light on the pathogenesis of HSCR and facilitate the development of therapeutic targets. Full Article
run Hernandez healthy, ready to run atop lineup By mlb.mlb.com Published On :: Mon, 18 Feb 2019 14:01:44 EDT Cesar Hernandez scored 91 runs last season, the Phillies' highest mark since Rollins scored 102 in 2012. Now the luster is no longer there for players who score 100 runs or post 100 RBIs, but Hernandez should score at least 100 runs this season, if he stays healthy and if the Phillies' offense improves as expected. Full Article
run Carolina Panthers sign running back Chuba Hubbard to $33.2M extension By www.upi.com Published On :: Thu, 07 Nov 2024 10:23:52 -0500 The Carolina Panthers signed running back Chuba Hubbard to a four-year contract extension worth $33.2 million, a league source told UPI on Thursday. Full Article
run Tracy, Harris among 4 must-start Week 10 fantasy football running backs By www.upi.com Published On :: Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:51:56 -0500 Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Najee Harris are among UPI senior sports writer Alex Butler's four must-start fantasy football running backs for Week 10. Full Article
run Why More Organizations Are Running HPC Workloads in the Cloud By www.hpcwire.com Published On :: Thu, 18 Jan 2024 10:55:09 +0000 Hyperion Research shows how organizations running high performance computing (HPC) workloads are looking to the cloud to accelerate performance. Projected to reach $11.5 billion by 2026, the cloud market for […] The post Why More Organizations Are Running HPC Workloads in the Cloud appeared first on HPCwire. Full Article
run NOAA: Antarctic ozone hole has shrunk, full recovery predicted By www.upi.com Published On :: Wed, 30 Oct 2024 14:56:45 -0400 A hole in the atmosphere's ozone layer is the seventh-smallest since recovery began in 1992, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday. Full Article
run NASA runs first engine tests on supersonic X-59 research aircraft By www.upi.com Published On :: Wed, 06 Nov 2024 16:04:00 -0500 NASA engineers fired the engines on the X-59 research aircraft in advance of planned test flights to determine if the aircraft can reduce sonic booms and make supersonic flight over land quieter. Full Article
run Listen to your intuition — it can help you navigate the future | Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir By www.ted.com Published On :: Thu, 07 Nov 2024 15:56:57 +0000 "Intuition helps us see the big picture," says filmmaker and sustainability leader Hrund Gunnsteinsdóttir. Reflecting on her work at the UN, she outlines three ways innsæi (the Icelandic word for "intuition") can help humanity face our greatest existential threats — urging us to use our inner wisdom as a guide for essential change. Full Article Higher Education
run Trial Set for 2020 in Long-Running Pennsylvania School Funding Lawsuit By blogs.edweek.org Published On :: Thu, 06 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000 The lawsuit, filed in 2014, alleges that the state was severely underfunding schools, forcing school districts to lean heavily on property taxes, which especially disadvantages students in property-poor areas. Full Article Pennsylvania
run Why Is This Teacher Running for Office? To Help 'Students Get What They Deserve' By blogs.edweek.org Published On :: Fri, 02 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000 High school teacher Jenefer Pasqua is running for Wyoming's state legislature to fight against education funding cuts. Full Article Wyoming
run Gov. Lee hoping for teacher pay raises amid budget crunch By www.teachermagazine.org Published On :: 2020-11-10T19:59:33-05:00 Full Article Education
run Deval Patrick, Obama Education Ally, Announces Presidential Run By blogs.edweek.org Published On :: Thu, 14 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 A businessman, Patrick served two terms as governor of Massachusetts and has credited education with his own dramatic rise to success. Full Article Massachusetts
run North Carolina schools chief running for lieutenant governor By www.edweek.org Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article North_Carolina
run Gov. Lee hoping for teacher pay raises amid budget crunch By www.edweek.org Published On :: Wed, 11 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 Full Article Tennessee
run With a Schools Superintendent Running the State, What Lies Ahead for Wisconsin? By www.edweek.org Published On :: Wed, 07 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000 After years of shepherding the state’s K-12 system, Democrat Tony Evers will be called on to make good as governor on his pledge of more funding for K-12. Full Article Wisconsin
run Meet the Indiana Teacher Running to Unseat the State's House Education Chair By blogs.edweek.org Published On :: Tue, 30 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 "I'm running because I'm not happy with the state of education," said veteran educator Kevin Leineweber, who is one of several teachers running for the state's legislature this year. Full Article Indiana
run Education Advocates Already Filing to Run in 2018 State Elections By blogs.edweek.org Published On :: Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000 Already, some educators and prominent education advocates have entered their names into the running for of the many 2018 state races around the country where education policy is likely to be a hot topic. Full Article Arkansas
run Fantasy Hockey Goalie Waiver Wire: Elvis will take care of business in the City of Grunge By sports.yahoo.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 14:00:00 GMT Elvis Merzlikins is expected to start for the Blue Jackets, who are mired in a five-game losing streak and have never beaten the Kraken in regulation. Full Article article Sports
run Ask Smithsonian: Why Do We Get Prune Fingers? By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Fri, 27 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0000 Why are we equipped with this curious modification? Find out in this one-minute video, where Ask Smithsonian host Eric Schulze gives us the info on our wrinkled digits. Full Article
run Sebastian Thrun on the Future of Learning By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Mon, 07 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0000 Why the American Ingenuity Award winner believes higher education should be a basic human right Full Article
run Lizard-Inspired Running Robot By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0000 Full Article
run How Fast Can an Elephant Run? By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0000 Researchers at a conservation center in Thailand tested many variables to study an elephant’s gait and how they accelerate when facing danger Full Article
run Ask Smithsonian: Why Does My Nose Run When It’s Cold Outside? By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Thu, 31 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0000 Host Eric Schulze opens the floodgates of knowledge to reveal the answer. Full Article
run Divers Discover the Long-Lost Wreckage of a Passenger Steamship That Sank in a Hit-and-Run in 1856 By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Mon, 16 Sep 2024 20:01:55 +0000 "Le Lyonnais" descended into the depths off the coast of Massachusetts after colliding with the "Adriatic," a sailing vessel that left the floundering steamship to fend for itself Full Article
run A Runaway Capybara Is Evading Capture and 'Living Her Best Life' in England By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Thu, 19 Sep 2024 19:27:23 +0000 The “beloved” rodent named Cinnamon was spotted this week with help from drones. She has been wandering and eating grass after escaping her zoo enclosure last Friday Full Article
run How an Elephant's Wrinkles Reveal Whether It Is Right- or Left-Trunked By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 19:42:00 +0000 A new study sheds light on the muscular, dexterous appendage, suggesting trunk wrinkles are more important than many people realize Full Article
run Watch Vampire Bats Run on a Tiny Treadmill to Shed Light on Their Blood-Fueled Metabolism By www.smithsonianmag.com Published On :: Thu, 07 Nov 2024 17:03:31 +0000 In a rare technique among mammals, the bats burn proteins from blood, rather than carbs or fat, to power their pursuits of prey, according to a new study Full Article
run Number of confirmed measles cases in New Brunswick rises to 25 By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Sat, 09 Nov 2024 13:55:33 EST There have been 25 confirmed measles cases in New Brunswick since October after the identification of 11 new cases, according to a news release Saturday from Public Health. Full Article News/Canada/New Brunswick
run Warm days and fallen leaves: Images of autumn in New Brunswick By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 09:00:00 EST Send your best snaps and video from across the province to cbcnb@cbc.ca Full Article News/Canada/New Brunswick
run Lest we forget: Stories of New Brunswick war veterans By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 05:00:00 EST From bravery on the field of battle to stoicism behind the lines, New Brunswickers of all backgrounds made their marks. Full Article News/Canada/New Brunswick
run Changes loom for several city-run services in Winnipeg if work at Canada Post grinds to a halt By www.cbc.ca Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 15:11:03 EST The City of Winnipeg is advising residents of alternative options to access several city-run services that could be disrupted by the end of this week in the event of a work stoppage at Canada Post. Full Article News/Canada/Manitoba
run More Businesses Run on SolidWorks and Enterprise PDM By www.solidworks.com Published On :: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500 Fast Deployment Makes it Easy to Focus on Core Business Rather Than Managing Technology Full Article