Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The #Outsider Quarter-End Musical Interlude: Kygo - Stole The Show feat. Parson James

As we wind down the Quarter here @ #Outsiders, we wanted to share this as we look to the new quarter here in Outsiders.  Although we do  not believe we "stole the show", we look forward to the opportunity to serve to do what we can to transform and engage:






Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Notations On Our World: On the Clinton Global Initaitive (An #Outsider Special)

We have been following with great interest the proceedings of the annual Clinton Global Initiative.    It has not been as "prevalent" on the news as years past--however the commitments nonethless are quite interesting and we wanted to report on the latest here:


Clinton Foundation
 


At the CGI 2015 Annual Meeting today, CGI members continued to announce Commitments to Action, make partnerships, and participate in a range of interactive sessions. Highlights from day three of #CGI2015 include:

Hanne Rasmussen of The LEGO Foundation answering the question "Which rule would you rewrite right now to help fix the inequality issue?" Hear her response.
Mario Batali and Chelsea Clinton engaging leaders from the food security space, including Katie Stagliano, a 17-year old advocate for healthy food access and gardening who won a Clinton Global Citizen Award in 2012.
Neil deGrasse Tyson sharing NASA's groundbreaking discovery of liquid water on Mars with CGI members, right before he welcomed Pepper – the Social Humanoid Robot – to the stage for aconversation on how robots can be caregivers.
In addition, CGI members announced a number of new Commitments to Action, including:
Gap Inc. pledged to adapt and expand its Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement Program (P.A.C.E.) to support the education and technical training of one million girls and womenover the next five years.
DigitalGlobe and the Blue Guardians partnership committed to provide data, tools, technical assistance, and financial support to more than a dozen Small Island Developing States to increase their resiliency to climate change.
Four separate organizations committed to help rebuild earthquake-damaged Nepal by constructing earthquake-resistant hospitals and homes, repairing classrooms and constructing library spaces, and establishing local for-profit companies to develop solar energy systems.
Check out more highlights from #CGI2015, which continues throughTuesday. Visit live.clintonglobalinitiative.org to watch in real time and stream the sessions you may have missed. 

Watch Live 

Clinton Foundation

Monday, September 28, 2015

An #Outsiders Newsflash: 12 Steps to Getting Your iPhone 6s Set up the Right Way - Techlicious



iPhone 6S Plus in box


Our team ran across this little 'retrospective" on iPhone setup which provides some timely and engaging reminders as outlined here courtesy of the team @Technilious:



12 Steps to Getting Your iPhone 6s Set up the Right Way - Techlicious

Notations On our World: On the State of the US Elections

It is the end of the quarter and candidates are beginning their final push for numbers.    The US Public Affairs shows on Sunday featured a whole host of candidates.   Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina were on NBC's Meet the Press as John Kasich was on Face The Nation.    The combative nature of Carly Fiorina was especially interesting as she dismissed all the criticism against here by noting how everyone lies and she's the only one who is telling the truth.  Hillary Clinton also faced some tough questions today.

On Sunday, The Sanders campaign was in our "neck of the woods"-Orange County as his campaign continues to be soldier on.      As we went to press, though, what we found telling were  the polling numbers that NBC News reported on Meet the Press Sunday.   The three leading GOP so-called "outsiders" continue to lead the pack--as Marco Rubio and John Kasich continue to "gather steam".  A Kasich-Rubio combination will be interesting if it goes up against a Clinton-Webb ticket.

Our team also had a chance to catch GOP Presidential candidates appearing at the Voter Values Summit.   Senator Cruz was in his element about a nuclear Iran, repealing Obamacare and what he said, "...to introduce the Ayatollah to 72 Virgins" (basically to see it that he is assassinated to the appaluse of the all.      It was striking how angry he was.

Donald Trump, though, continues to soldier on as well.   He  noted in his 60-Minutes interview on Sunday that he would have a Tax Plan and reitrated how he was going to self-fund through the Convention.    This is as Jeb Bush, though, continues to poll quite poorly as he sent out this fundraising appeal as well as HIllary Clinton that had fundraisers sent out under both her own name and her Campaign Chair, John Podesta: 

Jeb 2016!


This is the most important email I’ve sent to supporters since we launched the campaign, so I’m going to cut right to the chase.

We’re only 4 days away from filing our quarterly fundraising report. This report will be posted for the world to see and as I’m writing this email, we’re still short of our goal of $200,000 for the month.

I need your help. I need you to pitch in $100, $50, $25 or whatever you can afford so we can turn this around.

This is a major deadline and it couldn’t come at a more critical time in our fight to take on Hillary Clinton in 2016. I know it doesn’t seem like an issue at first, but whether or not we have a strong showing could make or break this campaign.

My opponents will be pouring over every detail of our report and we already know what will happen if we fall short of our goal. That’s why I need you now: Jeb2016.com/September-Supporter/


Help Stop Hillary!

Hillary Clinton is going to spin it every way she can, the media certainly won’t cut us any breaks, and Donald Trump will be attacking me on Twitter in the middle of the night, but that’s nothing new and I’m not alone in that.

Mike, we only have 4 days to show that this campaign is ready to fight.

We’re running out of time and I’m counting on you. Please chip in before our deadline in 4 days: Jeb2016.com/September-Supporter/

Thank you,

Jeb  
 

As Jeb attacked Hillary, the bigger story was the resignation of the House Speaker, John Boehner.   It was of interest as this was sent out from Sarah Palin's PAC which underscores the sentiment of the Conservative "Grassroots" out there: 

Dear Friend,

Here is what the Governor said: 
"Here’s the deal: grassroots conservatives’ commitment to adhering to the Constitution and to restoring America’s freedom and free enterprise is very real.

You can only thwart the will of the people for so long. First Eric Cantor, now John Boehner. Senate leadership that’s now on notice surely takes this seriously. The conservative grassroots is calling out the permanent political class and that’s reflected in the GOP presidential polls.

Bold, independent Congressmen in Washington prove they’re to be reckoned with now, and they deserve voters’ thanks for doing what we sent them to do – shake up the status quo and get the country back on track. 

Bold, independent Congressmen in Washington prove they’re to be reckoned with now, and they deserve voters’ thanks for doing what we sent them to do – shake up the status quo and get the country back on track."
Governor Sarah Palin via Breitbart News Network 

It will be an interesting few weeks as Congress wrestles with short term Government funding and the battles linger on.

Interesting times indeed......


Sunday, September 27, 2015

View of the Week: On Success

Our team dug this up from the archives in order to share this as a "lessons learnt" for all to enjoy:

logo
August 25, 2015
FEATURED
Do These 7 Things to Get (and Stay) Motivated
A Pessimist's Guide to Being an Optimist

How do you stay motivated and inspired? How can you keep your passion, your excitement, fired up? By reviewing these self-motivators on a regular basis:

1. Get serious.

Make a decision to go all the way to the top. Up to now, you've thought about it. Up to now, it's passed your mind. But now make up your mind to go all the way to the top, and your life will take off. It's the most extraordinary thing.

The best motivation is self-motivation. Learn how to get in an inspired state of mind.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Notations For the Weekend: ספטמבר בשיראז | Haifa 31st International Film Festival



The Haifa International Film Festival has begun in Israel.    Our team was on the Prowl to assess some of the entrants and one that depicts a Jewish Family in Iran we found especially quite enticing to see.    It is also of note that the Noted Iranian Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf is serving as Chairman of Judges and our founder told us how he's fan!!! 

Enjoy your visit and check out the selections: ספטמבר בשיראז | Haifa 31st International Film Festival

Friday, September 25, 2015

The Friday Musical Interlude: Klaus Badelt....

It is Friday again here in #Outsiders with the Musical Interlude.   It is a solemn day as we are witness to an interfaith service at the 9/11 in New York on the occasion of the Holy Father's Visit.    Our team chose this selection from Klaus Badelt as we honor the fallen and remember that we are all Brothers & Sisters in the quest for a common sense of purpose to leave our World a little better than we found it: 


Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Remembering Yogi Berra

Yogi Berra, the great New York Yankee, passed away earlier today.    Although his "yoggism" will live on, our team ran across this that goes to the essence of the possibilities
which we thought was so appropriate to remember which should be a lesson for all:


Tuesday, September 22, 2015

An #Outsider Newsflash: On Code For America Summit

We just received this here in our Virtual Studio:

Code for America Summit
Considering going to the Code for America Summit, but haven’t bought your ticket yet? There's still time! Here are 7 reasons why you should, plus sessions you don't want to miss.
If you’ve already bought your ticket, we’re excited to see you in Oakland! Consider this 7 reasons why you made a great decision.
Speakers include:
  • CEO and Co-Founder of Airbnb, Brian Chesky
  • Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf
  • Chief Technology Officer of Etsy, Kellan Elliott-McCrea
  • CEO of Usability Works and Generalist Problem Solver at United States Digital Service, Dana Chisnell
  • White House Technology Advisor, Todd Park
  • CEO and Co-Founder of Hack the Hood, Susan Mernit
  • Director of Community Relations at Lyft, Emily Castro
  • Executive Director of Californians for Safety and Justice, Lenore Anderson
The schedule and more are all available online
All the main stage sessions, including keynotes and panel discussions, will be live streamed from the Summit site.
Everything from the mainstage and most breakout sessions will be posted onYouTube shortly after the Summit.

Notations From the Grid: On the State of US Election & A "Blast From the Past"

It has been quite a few days yet again on the Campaign. Our team could not help but dig around old YouTube Clips and ran across this that so directly addresses the state of the campaign today:

Monday, September 21, 2015

View of the Week: On US Election Watch (with some late breaking developments on Scott Walker)

Our team selected this from the +Fortune Magazine Editor Geoff Colvin on the record of Carly Fiorina as we have decided to use the Education Channel to present a view of the campaign until our monthly column on the state of the US Election Campaign around mid-October:

Fortune Power Sheet By Geoff Colvin.
Daily insights on leaders and leadership
By Geoff Colvin





September 21, 2015
A new CNN poll released yesterday shows that Carly Fiorina has surged in the rankings since her impressive performance in the Republican candidates’ debateWednesday evening. She had 2% to 4% support pre-debate and now has about 15%, taking virtually all of the increase from the two leaders, Donald Trump andBen Carson. Trump’s support plunged from around 30% pre-debate to 24% in the new poll, and Carson is now a point behind Fiorina.
The snowballing trend is voters’ growing contempt for politicians. A troika now tops the Republican race, with over 50% combined support, and they’re the only three candidates who have never held elective office.
The new issue is Fiorina’s record as Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, the centerpiece of her case for why she’d be a good president. That record will now attract much closer scrutiny than it has received so far. Here’s how to sort out what we’ll be hearing.
Fiorina argues her case clearly and strongly. She says that what she did at HP was “double its revenues to $90 billion, triple its rate of innovation to 11 patents a day, and go from a laggard to a leader in every product category and every market segment in which we competed.” She also boasts of doubling employment. And much of that is true.
The many, many people who believe she was a disastrous CEO – and that group would include me – observe that she doubled revenue and employment simply by buying a large company, Compaq, in a deal that was a huge loser for HP shareholders. Her claim of going “from a laggard to a leader in every product category” is distinctly odd, since HP was already the overwhelming leader in printers when she arrived, and by the time she left, the company still didn’t dominate any other business. Increasing patents is nice, but only if it pays off for shareholders, which it didn’t. Neither did anything else during her tenure. The stock dropped, and while she likes to point out that her time was a tough period for tech firms, it was a lot tougher for HP shareholders than for those of IBM, Dell, or the S&P tech index. She underperformed them all.
If you want the withering details of her performance, the best analysis by far was written by the great Carol J. Loomis in a 6,700-word 2005 Fortune cover story called “Why Carly’s Big Bet Is Failing.” Here’s Loomis’s conclusion:
“It is right to ask whether this whirlwind [Fiorina] has succeeded. And inevitably that question must be answered in two parts. First, under the only lens that matters, did the famed merger that Fiorina engineered between HP and Compaq produce value for HP’s shareholders? Second, with that merger nearly three years past, is HP in shape to thrive in a brutally competitive world?
“The answers are no and doubtful.”
A few weeks after that article appeared, the HP board fired Fiorina. The company gained almost $3 billion of market value on the news that day. She was only 50 years old and has not run a publicly traded company since.
It may well be that, as Chris Christie said during last week’s debate, the voters don’t really care how well or badly she did at HP. But it’s hard to see how Fiorina avoids talking about it, since it’s the only record she has to present to the voters. And the more closely they examine it, the worse she’ll look.


It is also quite of interest as one of the former rising stars, Scott Walker,  is dropping out of the US Presidential Race despite all that he did in Wisconsin.   He has called a press conference at 6:00 PM EST to discuss this.     This is as  Ben Carson is trying to fend off controversy after his comments that Muslims are not qualified to be President.

Interesting times....

Notations From the Grid: On Mecca as the Annual Hajj Begins (Courtesy of Al Jazeera)


Sunday, September 20, 2015

Notations For the weekend (II): On US Eletion Watch

It was an interesting day on the US Public Affairs Talkshow circuit.   We decided to refrain from general comments--but we felt that these two Tweets we released earlier is of interest to get a sense of two of the frontrunners and what the views are as the Campaign season continues:


Thought For the Week

Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way. ~ Swami Vivekananda

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Notations For the Week-End: On Innovations In State & Local Government

Our team had a chance to join the 2nd Annual State and Local Government Virtual Summit On Wednesday.   We wanted to report on it here to get a sense of the level of innovation and ideas which we hope is of interest:

Six sessions, all available on-demand!  
2ND ANNUAL STATE AND LOCAL INNOVATORS VIRTUAL SUMMIT

Thanks for joining us for a day of virtual fun in our State and Local Local Innovators Virtual Summit.

With such a jam-packed day (6 trainings, one awesome keynote and 200+ resources), we know you probably missed a thing or two. The good news is everything is available on-demand so login at your leisure, share with colleagues, and get inspired (again!) to improve your community while preparing for what’s next.
Access The Entire Virtual Summit On-demand

Want a quick recap? Check out all the recap posts on GovLoop here !

CPEs: Don't forget to fill out the evaluation form next to the training you attended. If you qualified for CPE credit you will receive an email next week with your certificate.
  • Transforming the Moments: How to Improve the Interaction Between Government and Its Constituents CPE
  • Tips and Tricks for Tracking Labor Costs in the Public Sector CPE
  • Breaking Down Silos and Combining Data to Move Your Government at the Speed of Business CPE
  • How to Build a Smarter, More Responsive Community CPE
  • The Secret to Better Records Management CPE CPE
  • When Flash Makes All the Difference: Delivering Constituent Services in the Age of Instant Gratification CPE
Swag: If you crawled with us, you'll win with us! Be on the lookout for your swag in the next few weeks. We're giving away 200 copies of Akash Karia's book and our top 25 attendees will get one-on-one career chats with Steve Ressler, Founder of GovLoop.

Already looking forward to the next virtual summit? We are too! Help us make it better and take our 2-minute survey on your virtual summit experience.

Thanks,
Team GovLoop

P.S. Be sure to register for our October State and Local Tech Trends Virtual Training!

Friday, September 18, 2015

The Friday Musical Interlude: Rana Mansour Performs "No Place Like Home"...

It is time for the Friday Musical Interlude here in #outsiders.    Our team chose the Iranian American Performer Rana Mansour and we hope all enjoy this beautiful song as we wish all a fab weekend:


View of the Week: On Constitution Day In the United States

Thursday was US Constitution Day here in the United States.        In celebration of this day, our founder was good enough to share this he received from Walden University which we hope all find of interest:

Walden University


Happy 228th United States Constitution Day!
Did you know that when the Constitution was signed, the United States’ population was 4 million? At that time, Philadelphia was the nation’s largest city, with 40,000 inhabitants. Today there are over 321 million people living in America. Philadelphia is the fifth largest city, with a population of 1.5 million.
September 17 is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day! Join Walden as we celebrate the Constitution’s anniversary by learning more interesting facts about the world’s longest surviving written charter of government.
To learn more about the Constitution, you can:
From how U.S. citizens elect government officials to how American tax dollars are distributed, the U.S. Constitution is a document that impacts the lives of millions every day. So today, let’s celebrate and rediscover the United States Constitution.
Sincerely,
Your Student Support Team

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Notations From the Grid: #IStandWithAhmed

Our Founder joined the Twitter Support Campaign for Ahmed Mohammad yesterday  as this young 14-Year old had to go through the arrest and the subsequent Media Frenzy on it as Mehdi Hassan interviewed him on UpFront: 

I just finished interviewing the 14-year-old legend, Ahmed, from Texas. Literally, #IStandWithAhmed. :-) Interview online soon via UpFront
Posted by Mehdi Hasan on Thursday, September 17, 2015
He has been invited to The White House and meet up with the Founder of Facebook.   It was also of note as  we went to press with this that apparently he has been offered a scholarship to go to a charter school.   Our team felt it was a wake-up call to underscore a simple yet crucial fact that "STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math)" is ever so critical as America is to emerge and sustain its' leadership in the World.




Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Notations On the Grid: A "View of the Week" On #TheIranDeal (The View From Iran)

For this edition of "View of the Week" we wanted to release this as an indication of the level of challenges being faced as the Iran Deal was being deliberated in the Iranian Parliament.    The debate was interestingly similar as Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister lost his cool as he  lambasted the nonsense debate going on and how he noted how "unfair" the characterizations represented: 
عصبانیت عراقچی در کمیسیون ویژه بررسی برجام در مجلس شورای اسلامی----------------------------------------------- برای دریافت آخرین اخبار در فیس‌بوک، با مراجعه به لینک زیر و کلیک روی دکمه لایک در بالای صفحه، عضو فن پیج مردم ریپورت شوید.MardomReport.net
Posted by MardomReport.net on Sunday, September 13, 2015

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

An #Outsider newsflash: How to Research Presidential Candidates

On the eve of the upcoming CNN Republican Debate and the on-going Democratic Debate coming up, Our team ran across this courtesy of the team @USA.Gov which we hope is of interest:

How to Research Presidential Candidates

With the 2016 Presidential Election a little over a year away, do you know how to research presidential candidates and their political parties? On The Issues has a complete list of all the current presidential candidates and includes their views on issues important to constituents across the United States. 
For more information visit our Researching Candidates page on USA.gov.



Please click on here to visit On the Issues:   How to Research Presidential Candidates

Monday, September 14, 2015

Notations From The Grid: On the Clash of Civilizations

Walter Russell Mead of Baird College wrote a very perceptive and engaging piece for the Wall Street Journal that is quite insightful in the challenges the World has before it if it is ever to see off the brutality of Daesh and the need to transform:

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Notations For the W-End: On an Extraordinary LIfe :-)

Our team has been working on curating the weekend Notations courtesy of the team at +TED .  For this edition here in the "Education" Channel,  we chose this on one of the most crucial subjects of all: Mathematics & the relationship with Finance with Jim Simons which we hope all enjoy:


Jim Simons was a mathematician and cryptographer who realized: the complex math he used to break codes could help explain patterns in the world of finance. Billions later, he’s working to support the next generation of math teachers and scholars. TED’s Chris Anderson sits down with Simons to talk about his extraordinary life in numbers.Watch »

Friday, September 11, 2015

On This #911Day: Remembering......

Today is Friday 9/11.   Fourteen years ago today the horrible day occurred that changed America and the World forever.   It is a day to remember and reflect on this Patriots Day as we are here throughout #Outsiders.

Our team's tradition to share the Friday Musical Interlude is dedicated to America Today as we chose David Lanz' Redition of America for this day as we also feature the call to action from the Team at 9/11 Day & Good Deeds.       We also join US Senator Kristen Gillibrand of New York as she is spearheading efforts to ensure that all the first responders are taken care of.

This call to action was telling as we should heed the voice of the young who were born on this day:


Please watch this 30 second message from one child born on 9/11.

What to do this 9/11.


Today we remember the victims and heroes of 9/11 by doing good deeds.

Any good deed counts. Be kind to others. Put aside differences, and think of ways to help others. Remember the spirit of unity we all shared right after 9/11. Take Hillary's video message to heart.

Please also share your good deed plans with others:

  • Visit 911day.org and post your good deed on our site. (You’ll need Facebook)
  • Go to Twitter and tweet your 9/11 good deed. Tag us @911day and use #911day.
  • Share on your Facebook or Instagram page, tag us @911day and use #911day.
Tag your friends and urge them to do good deeds, too. You can also join our Facebook orTwitter pages. Read what others are sharing.

On this solemn and important 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, we dedicate our thoughts, our prayers, and our good deeds to those who lost their lives or were injured, to their families, and to the many who bravely rose in service in response to the attacks.

Tragedy wasn’t the only thing born on 9/11. Hope was born too.

We wish you peace on this day.

David Paine                         Jay Winuk
Co-Founder, 9/11 Day         Co-Founder, 9/11 Day

We close this with this David Lantz Tribute to America as we also note this from President Ronald Reagan:





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