Saturday, April 16, 2016

As Our Transiton Continues....

We have been working away on our Transition and our Beta site is evolving.   We wanted to share this in here  in our "Education" Channel as our journey continues on this National Volunteers' Week 2016:



Thank you to all who have supported this journey!!!


Sunday, April 3, 2016

As We Go Dark.....

#Outsiders is changing.     As our team continues with its' transition plan to reflect and revamp, we wanted to share this simple yet profound thought that we took comfort in as we look forward to the continued opportunity to serve:

 

Please enjoy this selection from John Legend as we look forward to the opportunity and privilege to serve:




Saturday, April 2, 2016

Thought For The Week (weekend edition): On Success and Never Doubting Oneself

As our team has been working away gearing up for the new session, we decided to share two very interesting insights we ran across (one of them we shared on our Facebook Page earlier) which we hope all enjoy and in turn serve as a motivator for all:

“Your time is limited,
so don’t waste it living someone else’s life
and don’t let the noise of others’ opinions
drown out your own inner voice.
Most important,
have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”

~ Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs 

& this from Dave Ramsey:

Click to Watch Feature Video
Why the Critics Don't Count
 
Dave rants about the critics of the world and why you need to ignore them regardless of what they say. Watch Video

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Notations From the Grid : On How Astreoids are Named!! :)))

Welcome to Wednesday here in #outsiders.    As our team has been on the prowl throughout the day, we chose these as +NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory named an Asteroid after Dr. Firouz Naderi who recently announced his retirement after serving at +NASA for over 38 Years.    We here at #Outsiders congratulate Dr. Naderi on this momentous honor and wish all all the best.  


How is an Asteroid Named???Since last night I have been inundated with questions as to how an asteroid is named after...
Posted by Firouz Naderi on Tuesday, March 29, 2016



Coolest Honor I Have ReceivedTonight at NASA/JPL farewell party I learned that they have named an asteroid after me!!!...
Posted by Firouz Naderi on Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

View of the Week: On #Islam, #Muslims & What #FDR Reminded Us...

As the debate ensues over Muslims and Islam,   our team reflected upon this as we chose two thoughts for this edition of "View of the Week" to share:



 “We must scrupulously guard
the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens,
whatever their background.
We must remember that any oppression,
any injustice, any hatred,
is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”

~ Franklin D.Roosevelt






Monday, March 28, 2016

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Notations From the Grid (WeekEnd Edition): Looking to a Post-Trump Era

As we look to the next few months, our team selected this that we released earlier to the Daily Outsider Facebook Wall on the Post-Trump era:


An. Interesting. View of the week. Hsppy easter
Posted by The Daily "Outsider" on Friday, March 25, 2016

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Thought For the Week (Weekend Edition): On This Easter Weekend 2016....

Our team hit the ground running today on this Easter weekend as we have been working on a number of notations.  It is also Easter Weekend and a time for hope and joy.   In this spirit, our team chose these courtesy of +Jonathan Huie & his team.


Happy Easter!!!



 
Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.
- Henry Van Dyke


It is idle to dread what you cannot avoid.
- Publilius Syrus 

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded,
but the fear of pain or death.
- Epictetus

Old age and sickness bring out the essential characteristics of a man.
- Felix Frankfurter

We are not victims of aging, sickness and death.
These are part of scenery, not the seer,
who is immune to any form of change.
This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.
- Deepak Chopra  

Refuse to be average.
Let your heart soar as high as it will.
- Aiden Wilson Tozer

If we insist on being as sure as is conceivable...
we must be content to creep along the ground,
and never soar.
- John Henry Newman

The freedom we are looking for is the freedom to be ourselves, to express ourselves.
But if we look at our lives we will see that most of the time
we do things just to please others ...
The worst part is that most of us are not even aware that we are not free.
- Don Miguel Ruiz

Friday, March 25, 2016

The Friday Musical Interlude; Tor Miller's "Headlights"

Welcome to Friday here in #outsiders.    It is time for the Friday Musical Interlude with a selection from our artist of the week, Tor Miller. 

Happy Easter to all!!!



Thursday, March 24, 2016

Thought For the Week: Taking Time to Laugh and to give....

For this edition of Thought For the Week, our team chose this recent selection courtesy of +Jonathan Huie





Take time to laugh.
It is the music of the soul.
Take time to think.
It is the source of power.
Take time to play.
It is the source of perpetual youth.
Take time to read.
It is the fountain of wisdom.
Take time to pray.
It is the greatest power on Earth.
Take time to love and be loved.
It is a God-given privilege.
Take time to be friendly.
It is the road to happiness.
Take time to give.
It is too short a day to be selfish.
Take time to work.
It is the price of success.
- Anonymous

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

View of the Week (Special Edition) : Muslims Show their neighborhoods

It has been a challenging 24 hours.      As Senator Cruz and Mr. Trump have been sharing their views on Islam and Muslims, it was a poignant moment as this was featured on Twitter on Muslims showcasing their communities:

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Thought For The Week (Special Edition): #JeSuisBelge

Our team as it assessed this dark day in our World, we captured this on Twitter that underscored in a very powerful way what our World feels and how we have to make sure that the values that we cherish here at #Outsiders will be strengthened ever more: 

#JeSuisBelge

Monday, March 21, 2016

Notations From the Grid (Special Edition): On This World Poetry Day 2016 saluting Ashraf Fayadh






Tense times for me,
and sleep’s acting like a newly love-struck teen.
I shall disregard the state my heart’s in
and my mind’s upheavals like water bubbling
past the boiling point.

I am a part of the universe with which the universe is angry,
a part of the earth of which the earth feels utterly ashamed,
a wretched human towards whom
other humans cannot maintain neutrality.

Neutrality: an illusion
like all the graces of which humans speak,
so shamelessly theoretical.
Truth is an inadequate term, just like Man,
and love bumps about, a miserable fly
trapped in a cube of glass.
Freedom is very relative:
All said and done we live in a circular prison
With its bars of ozone;
and when we are set free
our fate is certain death.

I am incapable of laughing.
Completely incapable of smiling, even.
Incapable, at the same time, of crying.
Incapable of acting like a human being
which doesn’t upset me in the slightest
though it hurts so,
to have a body covered with light down,
to walk on two limbs,
to depend wholly on your mind,
to be drawn after your desires to the furthest point,
to have your freedom trapped,
to have others decide to kill you,
to lose those closest to you
without a chance to say farewell.

What good does Farewell do,
But to leave a sad impression?
What good’s meeting?
What good’s love?
What good is it to be alive
to this degree
while others die from sorrow
over you?

I saw my father for the last time through thick glass,
then he departed, for good.
Because of me, let’s say.
Let us say because he could not bear the thought
I’d die before him.
My father died and left death besieging me
without it frightening me sufficiently.
Why does death scare us to death?
My father departed after a long time
spent on the surface of this planet.
I didn’t say farewell as I should have
nor grieve for him as I should have
and was incapable of tears,
as is my habit, which grows uglier as time passes.

The soldiers besiege me from all fronts
in their uniforms of poor color,
laws and regimes and statutes besiege me.
Sovereignty besieges me;
its highly concentrated instinct
cannot be shaken by living creatures.
My loneliness besieges me,
my loneliness suffocates me,
I am choked by depression, nervousness, and worry,
remorse, that I’m a member of the human race,
kills me.
I was unable to say goodbye to all those I love
and who departed, even temporarily.
I was unable to leave a good impression about a final meeting.
Then I yielded to the rifles of longing
leveled my way.
I refused to raise my hand
and became incapacitated.
Then I was bound by sorrow
That failed to force me to tears.
The Knowing gnaws at me from within,
killing every shot I have at survival.
The Knowing is killing me slowly
and it’s much too late for a cure.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Notations On Our World (Weekend Edition) : On This First Day of Spring



It is the first day of Spring and Nowruz for all Iranians who celebrated it.   We here @ #Outsiders released the weekend edition of Notations on the US Election Scene earlier as we also featured President Obama's message to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz.   Iran's Supreme Leader (or what we like to note based on the right determination by Professor Juan Cole, Supreme Guide) spoke also on the occasion of the New Year which we will be analyzing in a future edition of Notations.    Khameini deemed the Iranian New Year 1395 as the Year of Economic Resistance and execution.    The new infographics feature on Iran's Official News Agency is quite perceptive in this regard.

As we all embrace Spring and the spirit of Renewal, our team thought to once again feature a selection from +Pandora we hope all enjoy:


PANDORA | The Next Song Matters
The weekend with 
Shakatak
Shakatak
Got plans this weekend? Take Shakatak Radio with you.
Launch Station

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Thought For the Week (Weekend Edition)


As we celebrate the advent of Spring here in #Outsiders, our team decided on a 'double special" as we hope all enjoy these series of thoughts from +Jonathan Huie as we wish all a fantastic first weekend of Spring:



 
If you get to the point where someone is telling you
that you are not great or not good enough,
just follow your heart
and don't let anybody crush your dream.
- Patti LaBelle

Follow that will and that way
which experience confirms to be your own.
- Carl Jung 

Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson


 
A life lived in fear is a life half lived.
- Anonymous 


A pilgrim is a wanderer with purpose.
- Peace Pilgrim

It is by going down into the abyss
that we recover the treasures of life.
Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
- Joseph Campbell

Friday, March 18, 2016

The Friday Musical Interlude: Remembering Frank Sinatra Jr. :))

Welcome to Friday here in #Outsiders. 

For this week, our team decided to pay tribute to Frank Sinatra Jr. who passed away earlier this week due to cardiac arrest.    As someone once said, he was the "keeper of the flame" as he served as his Father's Musical Director and continued his legacy.   Please enjoy this selection from the grid as we wish all a great weekend on the eve of this first weekend of Spring 2016:



Thought For the Week (II): On #Happiness

Please enjoy a special edition of Thought of the Week courtesy of the folks at Inside Success on finding happiness on the eve of Spring:


'Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.'
READ MORE

Thursday, March 17, 2016

View of the Week (Special Edition): On this St Patrick's Day 2016

We here @  #outsiders wanted to extend our best wishes on this St. Patricks' Day as we feature this from one of our must reads, +Jonathan Huie:


May God grant you always...
A sunbeam to warm you,
a moonbeam to charm you,
a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you.
Laughter to you.
Faithful friends near you.
And whenever you pray,
Heaven to hear you.
- Irish Blessing

May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours.
- Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.
And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
- Irish Blessing
 

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Thought For the Week:

Please enjoy this selection of thoughts we chose from +Jonathan Huie for this edition of "Thought For the Week": 



Don't live your life to please other people.
- Oprah Winfrey

[Be of service, but don't be a doormat.]

How different our lives are when we
really know what is deeply important to us,
and keeping that picture in mind,
we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.
- Stephen R. Covey

It is your life.
In the symphony of your life, you are the star.
You write the melody and the lyrics.
You are the soloist and the conductor.
You are merely a bit player in other people's lives,
but in your own life, you are the star.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Notations From the Grid: On Digital Trends 2016......

Our team recently signed up for this from the team @ Business Insider that we we would be analyzing and sharing insights in our Visions Channel:

BI Intelligence

5 Top Digital Trends of 2016

Five Big Fintech Predictions for 2016
Download Now
We are thrilled you requested our exclusive 5 Top Digital Trends of 2016 deck from the BI IntelligenceResearch Team.
Click here to access your exclusive deck now!
Sincerely,
The BI Intelligence Team

Monday, March 14, 2016

View of the Week: On The Power of Individual Voices

Welcome to the New Week in #outsiders as we have been assessing our World Today which has been quite challenging to say the least.   As such, we decided on a bit a high note as we picked up this courtesy of the team @ +TED:

PLAYLIST OF THE WEEK

The power of the individual voice

It only takes one voice to create change. Be inspired to take action through these talks by brave and passionate individuals. Watch »
6 TED Talks • Total run time 1:43:08

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Thought For the Week (Special Edition): On #Joy, #Happiness & #Hope

One of our regular features in our Twitter Feed is the thoughts courtesy of the team at Simple Truths.   Our team selected this we received as a special edition of "Thought for the Week" as we look to a new week.   This is as we have been reviewing distressing reports from Turkey on a recent explosion and as we have been seeing the challenging scene before us that is the US Election Season right now:

Simple Truths: small books. BIG IMPACT.
 
Top 4 Inspirational Videos
Millions of people have been touched by our inspiring videos. They will help you be your best self in all areas of your life. Check out some of our favorites now!
WATCH NOW


1. Finding Joy: Simple Secrets to a Happy Life


Life can be complicated but happiness is really pretty simple. Discover your joy with this inspirational video and share it with others!
Finding Joy: Simple Secrets to a Happy Life

2. 212 The Extra Degree


211° is nearly boiling...but raising the temperature that one extra degree means the difference between something that is very hot and something that generates enough force to power a machine. This simple metaphor can fuel our every endeavor–serving as a force that consistently pushes us to make the extra effort is everything we do. The one extra degree may be all that separates you from being great.
212 The Extra Degree

3. Learning to Dance in the Rain


No matter your season in life or the challenges you face, understanding the power of gratitude can change your life forever! Don't stop for the rain...just dance!
Learning to Dance in the Rain

4. The Power of Kindness


What's the most effective technique for transforming your life? Simple: just be a little kinder. Watch this touching video and pay it forward.
The Power of Kindness
 

Saturday, March 12, 2016

View of the Week (weekend edition): On #Happiness

As we welcome all to the weekend here in #outsiders, we thought this very compelling thought from the Prime Minister of Bhuttan on +TED was so compelling we hope all enjoy it:


Deep in the Himalayas, on the border between China and India, lies the Kingdom of Bhutan, which has pledged to remain carbon neutral for all time -- and to measure its success by the happiness of its people. Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shares his country's mission to put happiness before economic growth. Watch »

Friday, March 11, 2016

The Friday Musical Interlude: Kygo with "Stay" :)))

Welcome to Friday here in #outsiders as we are yet again pleased to present a feature from our artist of the week-Kygo:


Wednesday, March 9, 2016

View of the Week (Special Mid-Week Edition): On Our World

One of the must-reads for our team daily is Geoff Colvin's Powersheet.    We have had the pleasure to periodically share his insights on a daily basis.     What we received earlier today (which we are still trying to assess) is quite powerful in terms of the dark clouds that are before us on the Economic Front as the US Campaign season is well under way and the World continues to be as challenging as ever--we understand the clouds, though--but what about solutions?   This is one of the challenges we've laid out to think through: 

Fortune Power Sheet By Geoff Colvin.
Daily insights on leaders and leadership
By Geoff Colvin
  
  
  
March 9, 2016
Wise leaders seek out voices they don’t agree with and news they don’t like. Right now, as always, such voices and news are out there if we look. When the good times were rolling in 2006 and 2007, few people wanted to hear the warnings of fund manager Jeremy Grantham or New York University professor Nouriel Roubini(known then as Dr. Doom) or Yale professor Robert Shiller. But they were right about the coming bust, and their unpopular views deserved a hearing because all three had proven themselves over many years to be sharp judges of economies and markets. Here are four such voices now, responsible experts whose views we should hear, like them or not:
Jim Rogers says the probability of a U.S. recession in the coming 12 months is 100%. He’s best known for calling – and betting on – the booms in commodities and emerging markets 20 years ago; he has also been a partner of George Soros. Now he argues that the wheels are coming off the U.S. economy – he cites flat payroll tax numbers – despite its fairly steady but slow growth, as the current expansion nears seven years in length. Weak or slowing economies in China, Japan, and Europe increase the downward pressure, he told Bloomberg. You think the dollar is strong now? He’s long dollars because he foresees a flight to safety as markets weaken globally.
-Similarly bearish for other reasons is the Bond King, Bill Gross. The problem, he says in his latest outlook letter, is that central bankers’ desperate attempts to stimulate their economies have gone too far by imposing negative interest rates. While low rates generally pump up asset values and energize economic activity through the wealth effect, he argues that negative rates do more damage than good. They clobber banks’ business models, endanger pension funds, and harm “all savers; households worldwide that saved/invested money for college, retirement or for medical bills.” He doesn’t offer hope: “Central bankers seem ever intent on going lower, ignorant in my view of the harm being done to a classical economic model that has driven prosperity – until it reached a negative interest rate dead end and could drive no more.”
-Yale’s insightful Vikram Mansharamani sees “bubbles bursting everywhere” and does not see the trend stopping. The author of an excellent book calledBoombustology, he keeps an eye on these things. At the Global Financial Markets Forum in Abu Dhabi, he told CNBC he sees “a bubble bursting, I would argue, in Australian housing markets — that is beginning to crack; South Africa — the whole economy; Canada — housing and the economy; Brazil. We can keep going on and on.” The bubbles were inflated by the super-easy monetary policies that trouble Gross, and the bubbles’ bursting is contributing to deflation worldwide. Not a promising scenario for economic growth.
-Stock market maven Mark Hulbert reminded us in a commentary yesterday thatMonday was the seventh anniversary of the current bull market’s start. His simple point: “There’s no way the stock market over the next seven years will produce a return anywhere as good as the last seven.” His more sobering point is that U.S. stocks will have a hard time even outpacing the growth of the economy. Corporate profits are already unusually high, and multiples are well above average; neither measure is likely to increase much further. His argument is hard to refute.
I think of these four observers and others like them as responsible realists. We can’t know how right or wrong they are, but experience says we had better think about what we’ll do if they’re right.

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