rd AT#497 - Travel to the Westfjords of Iceland By traffic.libsyn.com Published On :: Sat, 09 Jan 2016 16:31:33 +0000 Hear about travel to the Westfjords of Iceland as the Amateur Traveler talks to Katie Hammel of Vaitor.com about her trip to this remote region of the island. Full Article
rd AT#516 - Travel to Sardinia, Italy By europe.amateurtraveler.com Published On :: Sat, 28 May 2016 12:00:00 +0000 Hear about travel to Sardinia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Max Hartshorne from gonomad.com about this off the beaten path part of Italy. Full Article
rd AT#522 - Travel to the Dordogne Region of France By europe.amateurtraveler.com Published On :: Sat, 23 Jul 2016 14:00:00 +0000 Hear about travel to the Dordogne region of France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Laurence Norah about this region known for it's picturesque villages and castles. Full Article
rd AT#423 - Travel to Jordan (repeat) By asia.amateurtraveler.com Published On :: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 15:30:00 +0000 Hear about travel to Jordan as the Amateur Traveler himself, Chris Christensen, relates stories about his visit to the country. Full Article
rd AT#536 - Travel to Bordeaux, France By europe.amateurtraveler.com Published On :: Sat, 12 Nov 2016 16:57:34 +0000 Hear about travel to Bordeaux, France as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jennifer Dombrowski from luxadventuretraveler.com about her new hometown in one of France's most famous wine regions. Full Article
rd AT#574 - Cruise to the Western Mediterranean on Holland America's Westerdam By europe.amateurtraveler.com Published On :: Sat, 09 Sep 2017 10:26:00 +0000 Hear about a western Mediterranean cruise to Spain, Gibraltar, France, Monaco and Italy on Holland America's Westerdam where I just attended a press trip. Full Article
rd Huge Group of California Churches Announces Plan To Defy Governor Newsom’s Order By www.westernjournal.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 02:21:33 +0000 An evangelical church network in California will ignore Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive prohibitions this month, opening sanctuary doors for communal worship despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to Fox News, California Church United, representing roughly 3,000 churches and 2.5 million congregants statewide, announced Thursday that it will return to conducting in-person services by Pentecost… The post Huge Group of California Churches Announces Plan To Defy Governor Newsom’s Order appeared first on The Western Journal. Full Article News California Christianity Coronavirus Culture Faith Politics US News
rd Little Richard, Flamboyant Rock ‘N’ Roll Pioneer, Dead at 87 By www.westernjournal.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 14:48:26 +0000 Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday. He was 87. Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. His son, Danny… The post Little Richard, Flamboyant Rock ‘N’ Roll Pioneer, Dead at 87 appeared first on The Western Journal. Full Article News Cancer Celebrity David Bowie death Faith Georgia Hollywood homosexuality
rd Giant Asian ‘Murder Hornets’ Spotted in US for First Time By www.westernjournal.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 15:16:55 +0000 What one expert called “something out a monster cartoon” has now arrived in the United States. The Asian giant hornet, which can decimate bee colonies and is responsible for 50 deaths a year in Japan, is now in Washington state, according to The New York Times. A new threat reaches the United States: A massive… The post Giant Asian ‘Murder Hornets’ Spotted in US for First Time appeared first on The Western Journal. Full Article News Animals nature US News Washington State
rd For Now, America Just Doesn’t Want to Think That Hard By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 15:28:56 +0000 Andrew Yang has dropped out, which means the presidential campaign just got a lot less fun (you must watch this appreciation from The Recount, embedded above). The race also lost a credible and important voice on issues related to the impact of technology on our society. The fact that Yang’s campaign didn’t make it past … Continue reading "For Now, America Just Doesn’t Want to Think That Hard" Full Article Policy Andrew Yang economics politics tech UBI YangGang
rd A Type of Computing: NYTimes Crossword Moves from AWS to Google App Engine By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 29 Aug 2017 15:30:00 +0000 Full Article Cloud Google
rd How to Design a Data Center in a Norwegian Fjord By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 30 Aug 2017 12:00:00 +0000 Full Article Design Europe Featured
rd Record cold weather to 'fit the mood' of a nation under lockdown for Mother's Day By www.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Sat, 9 May 2020 13:05:01 -0400 Record-breaking high and low temperatures were recorded in parts of Canada going into the weekend, including the nearly 28 C recorded in the Squamish area of British Columbia and the -4.2 C recorded in Kitchener, Ont. Full Article
rd Attorney General Orders FanDuel, DraftKings, Out of New York By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 18:49:56 EST Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has issued a cease-and-desist order to the nation’s two largest daily fantasy sports companies, saying that the betting that takes place on their sites breaks New York's online gambling laws. Full Article
rd This isn't a checkers board, it's actually a musical instrument— Future Blink By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 19:45:11 +0000 Striso is a digital instrument with pressure-sensitive buttons that plays a variety of acoustic-like sounds. Read more...More about Tech, Music, Mashable Video, Innovation, and Future Blink Full Article Tech Music Mashable Video Innovation Future Blink
rd Snag this super portable e-skateboard on sale for 75% off By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 09:00:00 +0000 TL;DR: Skate just about anywhere you please with the lightweight Ubran E-Skateboard for $124.95, a 75% savings as of May 9. When in doubt, skate it out. But not everyone is cut from the same cloth as Tony Hawk, and it won't make sense to try and skateboard if you know you're just going to fall flat on your butt. Luckily, the universe is on the side of frustrated skaters everywhere with the emergence of devices like the Urban E-Skateboard. Not only does it take all the guesswork out of skating, but it's eco-friendly, too. And for a limited time, you can get it on sale for $124.95. At only 7 pounds and 17 inches, the Urban E-Skateboard makes it easy for you to transport it anywhere you go. When you're not, you know, skating, you can easily stuff it in your bag for fuss-free storage. It connects with a wireless remote that allows you to control your speed and choose between three speed modes, accommodating just about every rider's experience level. Read more...More about Mashable Shopping, Tech, Sports, and Consumer Tech Full Article Mashable Shopping Tech Sports Consumer Tech
rd "Leopards ate my face" subreddit bans posts about coronavirus scoffers who later die of it By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 07:19:06 PDT The Leopards Ate My Face subreddit is dedicated to mocking people who thought the Republican party would hurt their enemies only to be surprised to find that it hurts them, too. Inspired by a tweet by Adrian Bott—'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party—it has now banned posts about people who claimed Covid-19 was bullshit only to die of Covid-19. There are simply too many, and it's getting depressing. "We've seen a billion of them in the past two weeks and the vast majority of them don't fit the subreddit," writes moderator u/ROBOT_OF_WORLD. "People dying from their decisions isn't justice, karmic, or funny." Read the rest Full Article Post depressing rona
rd Can you rearrange these cards, sudoku style? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 11:17:30 PDT Here's a fun puzzle with an easy setup that makes for a good stay-at-home time-filler. Like sudoku, see if you can rearrange these cards so that no face or suit repeats itself in any column, row, or diagonal. Watch the video if you need some help. Read the rest Full Article Post puzzles
rd Little Richard dead at 87 By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 08:40:19 PDT "Little" Richard Penniman, singer of Tutti Frutti and countless other hits, died Saturday morning. He was 87 years old. Rolling Stone reports that he died of cancer. Starting with “Tutti Frutti” in 1956, Little Richard cut a series of unstoppable hits – “Long Tall Sally” and “Rip It Up” that same year, “Lucille” in 1957, and “Good Golly Miss Molly” in 1958 – driven by his simple, pumping piano, gospel-influenced vocal exclamations and sexually charged (often gibberish) lyrics. “I heard Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, and that was it,” Elton John told Rolling Stone in 1973. “I didn’t ever want to be anything else. I’m more of a Little Richard stylist than a Jerry Lee Lewis, I think. Jerry Lee is a very intricate piano player and very skillful, but Little Richard is more of a pounder.” Photo: Anna Bleker (Public Domain) Read the rest Full Article Post Video deaths music
rd Quebec records 61 more COVID-19 deaths and 836 new confirmed cases By montreal.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Sat, 9 May 2020 11:13:00 -0600 Quebec public health officials announced Saturday that a total of 2,786 people have died from COVID-19 and there are now 36,986 confirmed cases. Full Article
rd Trudeau says Canada will not pay full price for 8 million sub-standard masks By www.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Sat, 9 May 2020 07:48:00 -0600 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will not pay the full price for medical masks that do not live up to medical standards. Full Article
rd Sport24.co.za | Hard work paid off for former Springbok Bands By www.sport24.co.za Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 16:32:59 +0200 It isn’t surprising that former Springbok tighthead Richard Bands is remembered mainly for one bullocking run for the Springboks in Dunedin in 2003. Full Article
rd Sport24.co.za | Jordaan admits PSL decision is complicated By www.sport24.co.za Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 13:22:00 +0200 Danny Jordaan says it would be massively complicated to ensure the safety of supporters should the PSL return while Covid-19 is still prevalent in South Africa. Full Article
rd Watch Wayward Pines Full Episodes Online | Season 1 Video Streaming & Torrent Search By www.webtvwire.com Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2015 06:02:00 +0000 Wayward Pines Synopsis Wayward Pines is a mystery thriller television series produced by Fox Network and set to premiere in May of 2015. Based on the book Pines written by Blake Crouch and produced by M. Night Shyamalan Wayward Pines follows the story of an FBI agent Ethan Bruke (played by Matt Dillon), who travels […] Full Article TV Shows
rd Expand Your Brand Using Business Cards By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:19:36 +0000 Every successful business expecting high returns should have investment projects. Just like any other advertisement plan, a business card is crucial. It links up your company and the potential customers easily. It’s cheaper to design and distribute the cards. However, for a startup business which is low on budget and high on initial expenses, designing […] The post Expand Your Brand Using Business Cards appeared first on Dumb Little Man. Full Article Business Entrepreneur
rd Article: Pernod Ricard Anticipates Big Benefits from Display Advertising in 2018 By www.emarketer.com Published On :: Fri, 22 Dec 2017 04:01:00 GMT Luis Spencer Freitas, digital marketing director at Pernod Ricard USA, explains what will drive greater innovation in display advertising next year. Full Article
rd My Faith in Nerds: Stronger Than Any Gelatinous Cube By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:01:57 +0000 dConstruct 2010: Merlin Mann - "Kerning, Orgasms & Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks" (NSFW) ME - Kerning, Orgasms And Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it Let's be honest. I don't go...mmmm...places very often. I sit in this chair. I go to the Safeway with my daughter. Sometimes, I take the train downtown to get a haircut. I check the mail. But, by and large, like most nerds, I'm without question, a bit of a shut-in. Which makes it more than a little ironic that my first trip off the North American continent brought me all the way to Brighton, England's wonderful dConstruct Conference. Which wonderful conference placed me inside a very royal complex, alone on a very large stage, 90 seconds after being informed I'd better be entertaining, because I'd be conducting my oration on the same spot where, a scant 36 years earlier, ABBA had become international stars by singing an up-tempo number about giving up. So, y'know. No pressure. Commanded to this location by two of my web heroes, I was told I could speak about whatever I wanted. So, wow, to quote the ladies of ABBA, how could I ever refuse? Thus, I stood on that stage for over 35 minutes, rambling to 800 talented, creative people about Dungeons & Dragons, japanese toothpicks, torrenting Photoshop, as well as what I used to find myself doing after a long evening of shooting mutants in Stargate.1 But, mostly? Yes. Mostly, I stood on a stage thousands of miles from the chair from which I barely move, and I told a lot of really smart people that they were nerds. I also told them they should get out more. I swear: it made sense at the time. Some Serious Talent My talk about the challenges and opportunities of being a giant nerd seemed well received. Honestly, I'm very happy with how it turned out. But--oh, brother--was I ever up against some heavy hitters. Serious Lou Gehrig shit. I'll leave it to other, more eloquent folks to tell you what a wonderful day this was. But I will very much suggest you learn this for yourself by listening to the audio of the fantastic talks. Because every one of them is a corker. Additionally, like I said, Tom Coates put on one of the loveliest slide decks it's ever been my pleasure to see (56MB PDF). Great speakers, great hosts, wonderful attendees (who aren't above buying a yank a pint [thanks, everybody]). And, Thanks, dConstruct I have to admit, I'm kind of over conferences as a thing, which makes it even more crazy when I go to one, and it blows me out of the water with the care and quality of the event, the speakers, and the attendees. dConstruct was absolutely one of those blown-out-of-the-water events. (photo: happy.apple) As I learned over and over again--yes, like me--these folks are nerds. But, brother are they ever talented nerds who care and care. Which I just love so much. I'll take a nerdy bunch of fontdorks and cellists over a splashy mega-conference full of VC pitches and skanks pushing free Red Bull anytime. Anytime. dConstruct was simply a top-notch operation from end-to-end, and I'm insanely grateful that I was invited to participate. Thanks, Clearleft. And, you, the reader? If you get the chance next time, go. Heck, I might even leave this chair and go there, myself. Maybe. I suppose when Dr. Who's over, I could just let these 20-sided dice decide for me. Lemme see...what's my Armor Class and Hit Points...? Listen for Yourself2 dConstruct Podcast MARTY NEUMEIER - The Designful Company The Designful Company on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it BRENDAN DAWES - Boil, Simmer, Reduce Boil, Simmer, Reduce on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it DAVID MCCANDLESS - Information Is Beautiful Information Is Beautiful on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it SAMANTHA WARREN - The Power and Beauty of Typography The Power and Beauty of Typography on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it JOHN GRUBER - The Auteur Theory Of Design The Auteur Theory Of Design on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it HANNAH DONOVAN - Jam Session: What Improvisation Can Teach Us About Design Jam Session: What Improvisation Can Teach Us About Design on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it JAMES BRIDLE - The Value Of Ruins The Value Of Ruins on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it TOM COATES - Everything The Network Touches Everything The Network Touches on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it Kerning, Orgasms And Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks ME - Kerning, Orgasms And Those Goddamned Japanese Toothpicks on Huffduffer Download the audio | Huffduff it Hint: Number Three. ↩ Code for these was stolen wholesale from the dConstruct site. Jeremy, et al - don't hesitate to tell me if that's a problem.Srsly. ↩ ”My Faith in Nerds: Stronger Than Any Gelatinous Cube” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on September 10, 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 dConstruct Geeks Knowledge Workers Nerds Speaking NSFW
rd “Distraction,” Simplicity, and Running Toward Shitstorms By feedproxy.google.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
rd Nerdiest Interview Ever: MPU Workflows Part II By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:34:26 +0000 MPU 046: Workflows with Merlin Mann II « Mac Power Users Download MP3 Huffduff It I have the life that I have because I've made a lot of weird decisions, and they've worked out well. Not gonna lie to you. I'm a huge nerd. Surprised? Yep. I can recite big chunks of The Big Lebowski from memory. I can argue for an hour on the merits of Dick York over Dick Sargent. And, I can—and frequently do—catch myself thinking Catwoman, Batgirl, Princess Leia, and Emma Peel should have a light-hearted pillow fight that ends with an hour of genial french-kissing. Pretty much like you, probably. I dunno, maybe your version includes Kitty Pryde. Po-tay-to/Po-taht-o, right? Perhaps most saliently, by virtue of having spent a solid 2,399 days as a Fake Productivity Guru, I have been provided with an unquestionably Janusian monkey's paw of a gift; I now know a lot about workflows. Nerdy, nerdy workflows. I can tell you a few things that almost always work, I can tell you a handful of things that almost never work, and—best or worst of all—I can tell you thousands of things that might work. Sometimes. Maybe. Kinda. For some people. For now. And, at the risk of gay-marrying my arrogance to my hypocrisy, I can tell you that I also know enough about the unholy diarrhea of potential options for Theoretical Productivity to share two big patterns: Getting your workflow right matters. Getting your workflow right to the exclusion of the actual work is a fool's game. But. Managing to get the most useful and most elegant and least fiddly mix of 1 and 2 right is super-hard. Especially for nerds. Especially for me. So, as I type this today, I believe there can be no greater testament to these claims—or, at least, no greater place to test the veracity of these claims for yourself—than in this TWO AND A HALF HOUR-long interview for Mac Power Users. It is reeeeeeeeally nerdy. Almost intolerably nerdy. Just…overwhelmingly nerdy. But, man, is it ever really good, and really fat with the most insanely granular details of How I Work. Lo, even these 928.5 days after officially retiring from productivity pr0n, my desire to not "vend stroke material for your joyless addiction to puns about procrastination and systems for generating more taxonomically satisfying meta-work" is tempered by a (widely under-reported) practical streak. Yes: I continue to despise empty advice about rearranging deck chairs on The Titanic. But, yes: I do also still very much enjoy talking about how all the tips and tricks can or can't work in the context of work you care about. That matters. It really does. So. Here goes. A one hundred and forty six minute-long, Joyce-ian amble through the Big Stuff and the Little Stuff. David and Katie were very patient. How I name text files. Why I break iOS apps. Why I love the letter "x." Why I won't row out to islands any more. How a 115,000 word book manuscript is "like a house full of confederate money." How "The Cloud" broke in New Zealand. How I use MultiMarkdown, Scrivener, TextExpander, OmniFocus, TextMate, Notational Velocity, Dropbox, and an explosive combination of Elements, Notesy, Nebulous, Simplenote, CF Outliner, iThoughts, Instacast, Good Reader, and wow wow wow. How I try not to fiddle—how I sometimes succeed and often don't. But, how I try. Anyhow. There you go. A perfectly nerdy bookend to last year's first Magnum Opus MPU interview on these same topics, Mac Power Users Episode 46 is just insanely nerdy. And, what have you. I hope you like it. I hope it's useful. I hope you don't use it to replace real work. And, as ever, I really hope Batgirl starts having more sexy pillow fights. Enjoy. And, God save you. MPU 046: Workflows with Merlin Mann II « Mac Power Users Download MP3 Huffduff It ”Nerdiest Interview Ever: MPU Workflows Part II” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on March 27, 2011. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?" Full Article Elsewhere Interviews Productivity Pr0n Workflows
rd VIDEO: GOP senator says China made ‘conscious decision’ to allow COVID-19 to spread beyond border By dennismichaellynch.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 16:53:12 +0000 The DML News App offers the best in news reporting. The post VIDEO: GOP senator says China made ‘conscious decision’ to allow COVID-19 to spread beyond border appeared first on Dennis Michael Lynch. Full Article News Feed Powered by DMLNewsApp.com
rd Bradford boy with sweet intentions sparks missing person search By barrie.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Thu, 7 May 2020 11:51:29 -0400 An eight-year-old boy with good intentions sparked a missing person search on Tuesday. Full Article
rd K9 unit discovers human remains in search for missing Meaford man By barrie.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Thu, 7 May 2020 20:32:00 -0400 Grey Bruce provincial police say the OPP canine unit found human remains in Meaford, and one person is under arrest. Full Article
rd Garden centres and nurseries reopen to lineups of anxious customers By barrie.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Fri, 8 May 2020 18:47:38 -0400 The Ontario government gave garden centres and nurseries the green light to open their doors to the public on Friday. Full Article
rd Campers must clear out of Oppenheimer Park by noon Saturday By bc.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Fri, 8 May 2020 11:29:00 -0700 With the eviction date looming for campers to leave Oppenheimer Park, B.C.'s social development minister says everyone is still expected to be out of the park by Saturday. Full Article
rd B.C. records 29 new cases, one more death from COVID-19 By bc.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Fri, 8 May 2020 10:25:00 -0700 B.C. recorded 29 more cases of COVID-19 and one more death over the last 24 hours, provincial health officials announced Friday. Full Article
rd MI Barber Shop Owner Defies Gov. Whitmer Shutdown Order…Opens Business…Police Officer Walks In…Says, “I love you!”…Walks Out By 100percentfedup.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 01:49:01 +0000 The following article, MI Barber Shop Owner Defies Gov. Whitmer Shutdown Order…Opens Business…Police Officer Walks In…Says, “I love you!”…Walks Out, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com. Last week, we reported about how Shelley Luther, owner of the Salon Á La Mode in North Dallas, Texas, who opened up her business in defiance of lockdown orders in the city. The salon owner said that she was ignoring a citation and a cease and desist order from the city to shut down. This one […] Continue reading: MI Barber Shop Owner Defies Gov. Whitmer Shutdown Order…Opens Business…Police Officer Walks In…Says, “I love you!”…Walks Out ... Full Article Featured Politics
rd Univ of Pittsburg Researcher, China Native, Dr. Bing Liu, “On the verge” of COVID19 Breakthrough Is Murdered…Alleged Gunman, Hao Gu, Kills Himself By 100percentfedup.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 03:23:08 +0000 The following article, Univ of Pittsburg Researcher, China Native, Dr. Bing Liu, “On the verge” of COVID19 Breakthrough Is Murdered…Alleged Gunman, Hao Gu, Kills Himself, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com. A 37-year-old China native and "outstanding researcher" at the University of Pittsburgh... Continue reading: Univ of Pittsburg Researcher, China Native, Dr. Bing Liu, “On the verge” of COVID19 Breakthrough Is Murdered…Alleged Gunman, Hao Gu, Kills Himself ... Full Article Featured Politics
rd BREAKING: 43-Yr-Old Father Of 9, Dollar Store Sec Guard, Shot DEAD While Allegedly Trying To Enforce MI Gov Whitmer’s Face Covering Exec Order By 100percentfedup.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 18:27:38 +0000 The following article, BREAKING: 43-Yr-Old Father Of 9, Dollar Store Sec Guard, Shot DEAD While Allegedly Trying To Enforce MI Gov Whitmer’s Face Covering Exec Order, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com. Will the mainstream media report about the senseless death of a 43-year-old father of nine, who would have been alive today if it were not for VP wannabe, Gretchen Whitmer's executive order that forced him to respond to a customer not wearing a face mask? Continue reading: BREAKING: 43-Yr-Old Father Of 9, Dollar Store Sec Guard, Shot DEAD While Allegedly Trying To Enforce MI Gov Whitmer’s Face Covering Exec Order ... Full Article Featured Left News Politics
rd 77-Yr-Old MI Barber Defies Gov Whitmer’s Shutdown Order: ”I don’t need another mother” Shop Will Stay Open Until “Jesus walks in or until they arrest me” [VIDEO] By 100percentfedup.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 18:57:01 +0000 The following article, 77-Yr-Old MI Barber Defies Gov Whitmer’s Shutdown Order: ”I don’t need another mother” Shop Will Stay Open Until “Jesus walks in or until they arrest me” [VIDEO], was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com. Emergency orders that “non-essential businesses” remain closed during the Covid-19 crisis have devastated small business owners across America. A wave of business owners across the nation are defying executive orders by their governors and opening their businesses anyhow. Yesterday, we reported about a small business owner in the state of Michigan, where Governor Gretchen Whitmer […] Continue reading: 77-Yr-Old MI Barber Defies Gov Whitmer’s Shutdown Order: ”I don’t need another mother” Shop Will Stay Open Until “Jesus walks in or until they arrest me” [VIDEO] ... Full Article Featured Politics
rd BREAKING: MI Lawmakers File Lawsuit Challenging Governor’s “Improper” and “Invalid” Emergency Orders: “We’ve attempted to partner with our governor, but she’s rejected” By 100percentfedup.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 20:54:20 +0000 The following article, BREAKING: MI Lawmakers File Lawsuit Challenging Governor’s “Improper” and “Invalid” Emergency Orders: “We’ve attempted to partner with our governor, but she’s rejected”, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com. In addition to crushing Michigan's economy, the governor's reckless, one-size-fits-all executive orders are harming an untold number of Michigan citizens. Continue reading: BREAKING: MI Lawmakers File Lawsuit Challenging Governor’s “Improper” and “Invalid” Emergency Orders: “We’ve attempted to partner with our governor, but she’s rejected” ... Full Article Featured Politics
rd BREAKING: Ex-Cop Father and Son Arrested and Charged With Murder of Black Man Jogging In Neighborhood…President Trump Responds [VIDEO] By 100percentfedup.com Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 02:55:40 +0000 The following article, BREAKING: Ex-Cop Father and Son Arrested and Charged With Murder of Black Man Jogging In Neighborhood…President Trump Responds [VIDEO], was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com. The Georgia Bureau of Investigations has arrested a father and son duo, 64-year-old ex-cop, Gregory McMichael, and his son, 34-year-old Travis McMichael for the February murder of 24-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was jogging through their neighborhood when they jumped in their truck and pursued him. Yashar Ali shared the news of the […] Continue reading: BREAKING: Ex-Cop Father and Son Arrested and Charged With Murder of Black Man Jogging In Neighborhood…President Trump Responds [VIDEO] ... Full Article Featured
rd Watch: Biden Pulls Awkward Stunt During Town Hall By 100percentfedup.com Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 16:08:56 +0000 The following article, Watch: Biden Pulls Awkward Stunt During Town Hall, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com. Joe Biden began his virtual town hall on Saturday with the political stunt of wearing a mask in his own home. Biden was attempting to host a live town hall with NowThis News, but glitch after glitch happened throughout the Biden campaign’s attempt to reach supporters. When the video below begins, it looks like he’s […] Continue reading: Watch: Biden Pulls Awkward Stunt During Town Hall ... Full Article Breaking Featured Politics
rd Little Richard, flamboyant rock 'n' roll pioneer, dead at 87 By www.ctvnews.ca Published On :: Sat, 9 May 2020 08:55:00 -0600 Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "architect of rock 'n' roll" whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, has died Saturday. He was 87. Full Article
rd Dorothy Gordon By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 01 Aug 2019 15:21:32 +0000 Associate Fellow, International Security Programme and Global Economy and Finance Programme Biography Dorothy was the founding director general of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, a position which she held for over a decade.She works globally as a policy adviser, evaluator, project manager and organizational management consultant.Over the course of her 30-year career in international development and technology she has held management positions with the UN and global management consulting firms on four continents.As a strong advocate of the importance of building robust local innovation ecosystems based on open source technologies, she serves on the board and as a mentor to a number of start-ups and NGOs focused on women in tech. Full Article
rd Local Pathways Towards De-escalation of Libya's Conflict By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 22 Jan 2020 10:20:01 +0000 Invitation Only Research Event 28 January 2020 - 3:00pm to 4:30pm Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE Event participants Usama Otman Essed, Libya Center for Strategic & Future StudiesChair: Tim Eaton, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House A shaky truce remains broadly in place among rival Libyan forces fighting for control of Tripoli. However, a durable ceasefire to bring an end to the current bout of conflict, which was initiated by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces’ (LAAF) offensive on the capital in April 2019, has not been reached. In recent weeks attention has focused on talks hosted in Moscow and Berlin, with the former aimed at agreeing a ceasefire and the latter seeking to reach agreement among international actors to bring an end to external military support for Libyan warring actors, and to craft a way forward for future intra-Libyan talks. Yet, there has been little emphasis on Libyan actors – beyond Haftar and prime minister Fayez al-Serraj – in this process. This roundtable will bring together experts and policymakers to discuss means of de-escalating the conflict and seeking a lasting resolution through the development of interconnected intra-Libyan social and security negotiation tracks. Mr Usama Otman Essed of the Libya Center for Strategic and Future Studies (LCSFS) will present his research group’s ideas on these issues and discuss their ongoing efforts to promote dialogue among social and security actors.Attendance at this event is by invitation only. Event attributes Chatham House Rule Department/project Middle East and North Africa Programme Reni Zhelyazkova Programme Coordinator, Middle East and North Africa Programme +44 (0)20 7314 3624 Email Full Article
Reni Zhelyazkova Programme Coordinator, Middle East and North Africa Programme +44 (0)20 7314 3624 Email
rd Prospects for Reforming Libya’s Economic Governance: Ways Forward By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 27 Jan 2020 15:45:02 +0000 Invitation Only Research Event 6 February 2020 - 10:30am to 12:30pm Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE Event participants Jason Pack, Non-Resident Fellow, Middle East InstituteTim Eaton, Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham HouseChair: Elham Saudi, Director, Lawyers for Justice Libya There is a broad consensus that Libya’s rentier, patronage-based system of governance is a driver, and not only a symptom, of Libya’s continuing conflict. The dysfunction of Libya’s economic system of governance has been exacerbated by the governance split that has prevailed since 2014 whereby rival administrations of state institutions have emerged. Despite these challenges, a system of economic interdependence, whereby forces aligned with Field Marshal Haftar control much of the oil and gas infrastructure and the UN-backed Government of National Accord controls the means of financial distribution, has largely prevailed. Yet, at the time of writing, this is under threat: a damaging oil blockade is being implemented by forces aligned with Haftar and those state institutions that do function on a national basis are finding it increasingly difficult to avoid being dragged into the conflict.This roundtable will bring together analysts and policymakers to discuss these dynamics and look at possible remedies. Jason Pack, non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute, will present the findings of his latest paper on the issue which recommends the formation of 'a Libyan-requested and Libyan-led International Financial Commission vested with the requisite authorities to completely restructure the economy.' Tim Eaton, who has been leading Chatham House’s work on Libya’s conflict economy, supporting UNSMIL’s efforts in this field, will act as respondent.Attendance at this event is by invitation only. Event attributes Chatham House Rule Department/project Middle East and North Africa Programme, Libya’s Conflict Economy Full Article
rd Why is it So Hard for Iraq to Form A Government? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Sat, 25 Apr 2020 17:03:58 +0000 25 April 2020 Dr Renad Mansour Senior Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme; Project Director, Iraq Initiative @renadmansour Mustafa al-Kadhimi has emerged as the compromise prime minister designate, but his potential appointment is built on shaky foundations. 2020-04-25-Iraq-Security-COVID A member of Iraqi security forces stands guard behind a yellow line after the government declared curfew due to coronavirus. Photo by Fariq Faraj Mahmood/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images. On April 9, Iraqi President Barham Salih gathered the Shia, Kurdish and Sunni political blocs at the presidential palace to task head of intelligence Mustafa al-Kadhimi with forming a government.Kadhimi is the third prime minister-designate assigned since Prime Minister Adil abd al-Mehdi resigned in November, in the wake of mass protests against government corruption and the country’s ethno-sectarian based political system.Kadhimi’s two predecessors, Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi and Adnan al-Zurfi, both failed to form a government. This third attempt came as Iraq struggles with repeated crises since October 2019, when the government began responding with deadly force to large-scale mass protests, killing more than 600 and injuring tens of thousands.In January, the assassination of Qasem Soleimani escalated tensions between the United States and Iran, with Iraq stuck in the middle and becoming the home for regular tit-for-tat attacks. The Islamic State — never completely defeated — took advantage of these crises and increased its attacks in disputed territories.The outbreak of COVID-19 challenges the country’s fragile public health sector, while the decline in the price of oil will make it harder for leaders to pay the public salaries that keep the system (and patronage) moving.What does the delay in forming a government amid multiple crises mean for the post-2003 Iraqi political system? Iraq’s post-2003 political system is designed to withstand crisis. Over the years, political parties reflecting the country’s ethnic and sectarian divides have had a tacit understanding that crises represent a risk to their collective interests. These elite stakeholders have together weathered civil war, insurgency and multiple protests — despite deep conflicts with one another.For instance, in September 2018 protesters attacked most major political party headquarters and the Iranian consulate in Basra, and authorities killed some 20 protesters.Since the May election of that year, the fragmented Shia elite had been unable to even declare which side has the largest parliamentary bloc, let alone decide on a government.But after the September crisis, the previously gridlocked parties swiftly came together to form an “understanding” that pushed through the impasse leading to the Mehdi government. In 2020, however, Iraq’s political parties were slower to come back together despite the multiple crises — far greater than 2018. The system is less able to swiftly fix itself, based primarily on the fragmentation of the elite — and their determination to prevent any challenge to their rule.Why did the two prior attempts fail? The two previous prime minister-designates each fell short for different reasons. When I met Allawi in February at the prime minister’s guesthouse in Baghdad, he was very clearly convinced that his mandate was to sideline the parties.He hoped that simply choosing technocratic ministers outside the elite pact, with the support of Moqtada al-Sadr behind him, would garner support from protesters and the disillusioned public. He failed, however, because his cabinet had to go through parliament and the parties rejected what they saw a threat to the elite pact and the system.Zurfi similarly failed after being directly appointed in March by Salih after the Shia parties failed to come up with a candidate. From the beginning, then, Zurfi faced challenges because parties were not in agreement. He attempted to directly confront his opposition, and spoke out against Iranian influence in Iraq. As a result, Zurfi was unable to even get to parliament with his proposed cabinet, as the Shia parties got back together to bring him down.The failure of both strategies — Allawi attempting to work outside the elite party system and Zurfi trying to target certain parties — reveals tensions in Iraq’s political system. This fragmentation strains the parties’ ability to swiftly unite, and the system’s ability to withstand crises.The endemic problems are a consequence of fragmentation, including the failure following the 2018 elections to declare governing parliamentary bloc. Moreover, after that election, newcomers into the political system (two-thirds of the MPs are serving their first term) are increasingly making their own demands and less willing to blindly toe party lines.Can Kadhimi overcome the impasse?Kadhimi’s appointment as prime minister-designate nonetheless is on shaky foundations. His appointment had previously faced a veto from Iran and its allied groups which make up the Fateh bloc. Kataeb Hezbollah, an armed group close to Iran and linked to the Popular Mobilization Units, issued a statement accusing Kadhimi with blood on his hands for the deaths of Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.Many Fateh bloc members had for months vetoed Kadhimi’s name due to this allegation. Immediately before Kadhimi addressed the nation for the first time, Iraqi state television broadcast a prerecorded statement by PMU (and Fateh) leader Qais al-Khazali, who had also previously accused Kadhimi of spying for the Americans and being complicit in the two killings.Khazali, who commands the second-largest party within Fateh, accepted the party line to back Kadhimi but came out with his own conditions on television. However, the concerns about the COVID-19 crisis and the collapse of the price of oil finally brought all sides to compromise — a design of the political system.Kadhimi has signalled he will play by the old rules with these stakeholders. Because of the magnitude of these simultaneous crises, Iraqi politics is moving back to the post-2003 norm. The ethno-sectarian based political system is geared to weather such existential crises more than it is to handling day-to-day governance. Despite the notion of “post-sectarianism” in Iraq, this system is based on ethno-sectarian political party compromise.In his television address, Khazali, who had previously attempted to move away from sectarian language, explained that the process of selecting a prime minister is reserved to the Shia, who have the right as the majority, and not to Salih, a Kurd.Over the years Kadhimi has expressed an admiration of the bravery of the protesters and of the importance of civil society. Many Iraqi civil society activists owe their lives to the work of the former intelligence chief. However, he has also been part of the same system that has violently suppressed protesters.As the compromise prime minister-designate, he will find it difficult to transform his country as long as he plays by the rules of post-2003 Iraq — an irony not lost on the protesters who immediately rejected the candidacy of a man whom until recently many protesters had supported.This article was originally published in The Washington Post Full Article
rd Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Awarded 2015 Chatham House Prize By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 22 Jun 2015 09:04:35 +0000 13 October 2015 Médecins Sans Frontières, the medical humanitarian organization, has been awarded the Chatham House Prize 2015 for its life-saving work in combating the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa. CHP15MSF.jpg Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been awarded the Chatham House Prize 2015.The Chatham House Prize is presented annually to the person or organization deemed by members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year.This year, members voted for MSF in recognition of its work in combating the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. MSF was among the first groups to respond to the epidemic in March of that year and remained engaged on the ground throughout the crisis, caring for the majority of patients in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. MSF leaders and staff were persistent and forceful in their action to halt the spread of the epidemic and, as a result, were instrumental in saving thousands of lives. Dr Joanne Liu, MSF’s international president, will represent MSF at the Chatham House Prize award ceremony in London where she will be presented with a crystal award and a scroll, signed by Her Majesty The Queen, patron of the institute. Previous recipients of the Prize include former president Lula of Brazil, Burmese democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.Dr Robin Niblett CMG, director of Chatham House, said: 'I warmly congratulate Médecins Sans Frontières on being voted the recipient of this year's Chatham House Prize. This is the first time an organization has been awarded the Prize and I am delighted that their vital work has been recognized in this way. MSF led the fight against Ebola by sounding an early alarm on its dangers. It put into place a highly effective operation that saved thousands of lives, and helped prevent a more wide-spread catastrophe, risking and, in some cases, losing the lives of its own staff.'Dr Joanne Liu, international president of MSF said:'I am honoured that MSF will be the recipient of this year’s Chatham House Prize and I look forward to accepting this award on behalf of the thousands of people who worked in the Ebola outbreak. This includes the doctors, nurses and logisticians who volunteered from around the world, and the thousands more national staff in Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone who made our work possible. Knowing that they did this while coping with the fear of Ebola in their communities and in the face of incredible stigma makes their contribution even more remarkable. While we continue to work on the ground, our focus is also trying to ensure that next time there is an outbreak, that patients get the care and treatment they need, on time, before it spreads and turns into a killer epidemic. But we all still have a long way to go and it is important that we work together to respond to these challenges and opportunities.'Members EventChatham House Prize 2015: In Conversation with Dr Joanne Liu of Médecins Sans Frontières13 October 2015 - 17:00 - 18:00SponsorsChatham House gratefully acknowledges the support of our lead sponsor Royal Dutch Shell, and other sponsors AIG, BHP Billiton, Chevron and DTCC.NomineesThere were three other nominees for the Chatham House Prize 2015:Mahamadou Issoufou, President, Republic of Niger (2011-) Juan Manuel Santos, President, Republic of Colombia (2010-)Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany (2005-)About the Chatham House PrizeThe annual Chatham House Prize, launched in 2005, is awarded to the person or organization that is deemed by Chatham House members to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year.The selection process draws on the expertise of Chatham House's research teams and three presidents, who nominate candidates. Our members are then invited to vote for the winner in a ballot.Further information about the Chatham House Prize Related pages Chatham House Prize Full Article
rd Russia and the New World Disorder By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 03 Jul 2015 15:52:13 +0000 6 July 2015 A new book argues that Moscow’s approach to regional and global affairs reflects the tension between two very different worlds—the perceptual and the actual. The Russian annexation of Crimea was one of the great strategic shocks of the past twenty-five years. For many in the West, Moscow’s actions in early 2014 marked the end of illusions about cooperation, and the return to geopolitical and ideological confrontation. Russia, for so long a peripheral presence, had become the central actor in a new global drama. In this groundbreaking book, renowned scholar Bobo Lo analyses the broader context of the crisis by examining the interplay between Russian foreign policy and an increasingly anarchic international environment. He argues that Moscow’s approach to regional and global affairs reflects the tension between two very different worlds—the perceptual and the actual.The Kremlin highlights the decline of the West, a resurgent Russia, and the emergence of a new multipolar order. But this idealized view is contradicted by a world disorder that challenges core assumptions about the dominance of great powers and the utility of military might. Its lesson is that only those states that embrace change will prosper in the twenty-first century.A Russia able to redefine itself as a modern power would exert a critical influence in many areas of international politics. But a Russia that rests on an outdated sense of entitlement may end up instead as one of the principal casualties of global transformation.Praise for Russia and the New World Disorder'Once again, Bobo Lo has written an illuminating book on Russia's foreign policy. He has achieved a real 'tour de force' in both conceptual and descriptive terms. With elegance and precision, Lo has explained why Russia, as a declining power, is still so important for international stability, crisis management, and global issues. A must-read for now, and certainly a classic book for the next decade.'—Dr Thomas Gomart, Director of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), Paris'Bobo Lo offers a trenchant analysis of the challenges and choices that confront Russia in today's rapidly changing global environment. In his compelling discussion of the Kremlin's Hobbesian view of the international system, he asks whether Russia is capable of jettisoning its imperial mindset and becoming a modern nation-state capable of interacting more effectively both with its neighbors and the wider world. His answer is sobering--and sometimes surprising.'—Angela Stent, Director, Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies (CERES), Georgetown University, and author of The Limits of Partnership: US-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century.'Bobo Lo's new book is elegantly written and has a masterful grasp of the pressures and temptations that have acted on Putin in foreign and security policy. He puts us all in his debt.'—Robert Service, Fellow of the British Academy, and Emeritus Fellow, St Antony's College, University of Oxford Editor's notes Bobo Lo is an associate fellow with the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, and an associate research fellow with the Russia and New Independent States Center at the French Institute of International Relations. He was previously director of the China and Russia programs at the Centre for European Reform, London; head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House; and deputy head of mission at the Australian Embassy in Moscow. He is the author of Axis of Convenience: Moscow, Beijing, and the New Geopolitics (Brookings/Chatham House, 2008). Contacts Press Office +44 (0)20 7957 5739 Email Full Article
rd Oxford University Press to publish International Affairs By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 11 Mar 2016 09:55:35 +0000 11 March 2016 Chatham House has signed an agreement with Oxford University Press (OUP) to publish International Affairs from 2017. International Affairs, the institute’s peer-reviewed journal, has published high-quality, policy relevant articles for over 90 years and its global readership includes many of the world’s pre-eminent academic thinkers, policy-makers and practitioners. From January, when its current contract to publish with Wiley-Blackwell ends, OUP will assume responsibility to publish, distribute and market the journal to new and existing readers and audiences.Vanessa Lacey, senior publisher for Oxford Journals, commented on the acquisition: 'We are thrilled to have been chosen by Chatham House to publish their prestigious journal International Affairs from 2017. International Affairs is a critically important, ‘must read’ journal of relevance to international relations academics and policy-makers alike. We look forward to partnering with Chatham House and International Affairs’ exceptional editorial team to reinforce its position as a global leader in its field.'Robin Niblett, director of Chatham House, said: 'Chatham House is delighted to have teamed up with OUP, the world’s leading university press, to publish International Affairs. In terms of shared values, reputation and vision, OUP is an ideal partner for International Affairs and Chatham House. This is an exciting opportunity to develop further the journal’s digital outreach and its engagement with new audiences around the world.'Andrew Dorman, commissioning editor of International Affairs also commented: 'The IA team is really pleased to be working in partnership with OUP to produce the journal. We share a common vision to publish cutting edge articles from across the discipline, which influence both the academic and practitioner communities in all parts of the world.'OUP adds International Affairs, the foremost UK international relations journal and one of the top ten internationally, to a growing portfolio of respected international relations-related journals. Full Article
