Lucious Linksies: 3rd November 2012

Veteran social entrepreneur Leila Janah of Samasource recently co-launched a new project to crowdfund medical treatment for the very poor. Think of it as Kiva for surgery: An amazing initiative – crowd sourcing surgeries for women in need, an interesting way of doing things…looking forward to finding out more.

Malala expected to make a full recovery. What an inspiration.

This is a must see, and links in with a topic I have previously broached. 

Some people liken a bad day at work to being in a war zone but for the photojournalists chronicled in HBO's upcoming documentary series "Witness," that's not an exaggeration.

The series, which premieres on November 5 and will air every Monday for the rest of the month, follows photojournalists in Mexico, Libya, South Sudan and Brazil as they navigate violence to report issues such as drug trafficking, gang violence, corruption, and ethnic warfare.

Crucial tips for communicating criticism! Hint: It’s all about you!

I love quote pictures.

The video below is a great compilation…

A really interesting piece on the past and the state of design…

What I know is that this nostalgic trend a lot of people are talking and writing about these days has something to do with that the socio-economic change driven by the analog-to-digital transformation. The main progress that we have made in the last 30 years is not aesthetic or mechanical. What we have seen since the mid-90s is a progress in simulation technologies. Cars look more or less the same, music and fashion is also moving into a state of simulation of what is supposed to be authentic. And often the simulation outperforms the original.

Aren’t these chalk illustrations a fantastic way to inject something a little different into the everyday dreariness of cement paths? Click on the image for more…

Fair call Seth Godin: we do need to get over ourselves.

Weeeekly Liiiiiinks

You know what it is! Here are some interesting internet tidbits I came across this week…

Above: French rapper shocks her fans by wearing the hijab!

I have found myself truly stirred and inspired by this school girl, who was brutally shot in Pakistan for simply wanting to learn…

Classic; on sexism and recent rulings for sole parents:

Making two unconnected issues part of the same debate is a classic response to "women’s issues". The government can then claim "We are taking care of one category of poor women so we can’t afford the other". The tendency to connect two separate issues, both about women, illustrates a much deeper political sexism than the legitimate anger about sexist tweets and commentaries.

What is it like to date a model?

…and then there was peace? A deal has been struck between the two Sudans, but where does that leave them, and will it all work out?

We all need leaders who challenge the tribe. We benefit even more when our leaders have peers who push them to be even better.  Wise words from Seth Godin

You can make it without being a sociopath or middling to the point of uselessness. But it's going to take some insight

Great article on the true role of the World Bank

This is why the World Bank is so valued by the US government and Wall Street: because it is instrumental to expanding the sphere of Western capitalism, a role not dissimilar to that which colonialism once played for Europe. This may be a good way to overcome flagging corporate profits and to stop stagflation at home, but it does not countas a serious strategy for global poverty reduction.

We have to face up to the fact that the World Bank will never be an effective tool in the fight against poverty without fundamental changes in its power structure.

Inside the real-world Double-O section of Her Majesty's Secret Service: How to become a ‘real’ James Bond

So far from pistols, chop-socky or irresistible sexual magnetism, a normal SIS officer's primary tools for motivating foreigners to do what he wants are bribery, bullshit and in certain circumstances blackmail. The only Bond-like quality a normal SIS officer will be required to show is the ability to drink heavily and remain functional, as any diplomat must on the embassy cocktail circuit.

This chick’s face:

I love maths used in every day sort of problems. Did you know the probability of having two people with the same birthday is 50-50…in a group of only 23 people?

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/future-of-resources

The dawn of LI-FI…This is technology innovation being AWESOME.

 The weird square dance in lifts

An interesting piece on Facebook’s diminishing returns…

Let your career passion follow you…

Nice to see something written by a fellow hijabi on “what it is like to wear the Hijab..”

The Weekly Grapevine: First Week of October 2012

 

Can you believe it is October? I spent the week learning about killing wells and trying to get decent phone reception… but enough about me, this is what I found on the net!

How politicians get away with dodging the question: The Pivot:  "Politicians," he says, "are exploiting our cognitive limitation without punishment."

This ought to go down well with my fellow uni students: why lectures are ineffective. 

 Top myths about the Iranian Nuclear Program

It is alleged that Iran has threatened to annihilate Israel. It has done no such thing. Iran has a ‘no first strike’ policy, repeatedly enunciated by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has expressed the hope that the ‘Zionist regime over Jerusalem” would ‘vanish from the page of time.’ But he didn’t threaten to roll tanks or missiles against Israel, and compared his hopes for the collapse of Zionism to the collapse of Communism in Russia. Iran has not launched a conventional war of aggression against another state in all of modern history. Israel aggressively invaded Egypt in 1956 and 1967 and Lebanon in 1982 and 2006. The list of aggressive wars fought by the US, including the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, is too long to detail. So why is Iran being configured as the aggressor?

I know we have heard so much about the video and the backlash, but here is an interesting take by an American Muslim on the analysis…

…that’s not to say the film is an “excuse.” The film rather is a “last straw.” The attack on the embassy in Cairo following the one in Libya was not an attack on America but an attack on American intervention of Egyptian affairs. This is why it is so crucial for Egypt to establish its own democracy without Western influence. It restores a fundamental inseparable right of a people to determine their own government, and the morality of this principle on which America was founded means less war and less hostility. And it means more opportunity for us to focus on our own defense and build it in the event of an attack against a single nation (rather than five total wastes of military occupation).

They don’t hate our freedom; they hate that we think it’s ours.

10 favourite TED talks by a fellow blogger; these are great!

An interesting article: The Trouble with South Africa that highlights the issue of representation in the media of figures and groups not as “human beings with stories”, but more a collective that thinks and acts as a single monolithic non-relatable entity.

I’ve been puzzled and not a little disturbed by the lack of empathy on South African social media with the horrific events at Marikana, where 34 protesting miners were killed by police on August 16th. …

So what’s going on? Partly, it’s to do with people’s tendency to believe and react to images over text….

But it also has to do with the way most media have covered and continue to cover the strike. This was pointed out by academic Julie Reid, also in the Daily Maverick. Her piece also argues that the day-to-day event-based coverage has also helped obscure a very worrying much larger trend of police violence against citizens. Beyond a lack of investigation and intelligent mining of the data, I have not come across any article that has attempted to get into the lives of the miners, show them to us as individuals, and help us genuinely understand their daily struggles. Much (if not everything) of what has been written lately glosses over miners’ past, dreams, desires, frustrations, etc. Short: their lives. The failure to give attention to those details made it impossible to imagine what it would mean to live a miner’s life, which has allowed the debate to be sucked into a very ordinary South African debate — a spiral of numbers, acronyms, figures, maps and politicking that works as a cover to say: we haven’t got a clue.

This is sad: An interesting recent piece of research on farmer suicide.

The study revealed numerous male suicide clusters of high risk from across Australia, but generally not (state/federal) capital city regions. Only the capitals of Adelaide and Darwin were found to have male clusters, although these are the fifth and eighth largest of Australia’s eight capital cities, respectively. The Adelaide cluster has also been found to have a higher incidence of mental and behavioural disorders. Suicide rates tended to be highest in areas that were both of lower socioeconomic status and with a higher concentration of Indigenous inhabitants. Only one female cluster was identified and over 40% of statistical local areas (SLAs) had no female suicides at all during the study period.

“Win an Adventure to Africa”  -- Sounds exciting, but a it does frustrate me sometimes that going to Africa is seen as one single destination: Africa is a continent made up of over 50 wildly diverse countries…

This does sound amazing though: UNREASONABLE AT SEA

Aussie Racing Legend, Jack Brabham and a chat with SPEED

The Muslim Dilemma?

The West and the rest of the world will not know peace until critical thinkers in the Arab and Muslim worlds start speaking out and getting an audience from the global media. There is no alternative to native dissent to the suffocating culture of the sacred. Muslims are as intellectually capable as anyone else in the world, but their minds are almost hopelessly shackled by taboos, big and small, social and political. Instead of producing a culture of critical thinkers, Muslim societies are teeming with thin-skinned moralists.

Meanwhile, Muslim-majority nations, those whose flags display stars, crescents, and swords, can’t compete with a nation like South Korea in contributing to global scientific research, or invent anything to save their lives.

Muslims are struck in an impossible bind: They are totally dependent on the West for all the good things in life but are fanatically attached to religion as a marker of their separate identity. By being unable to be fully Western, they have forced themselves into an orthodox corner. Fanaticism is the result.

Westerners and Western-educated folk who apologize for Muslims by invoking the depredations of the West are not helping make things better. Muslims don’t need to indulge in a victim mentality; they need to develop their societies, build stronger economies, cultivate the arts and and encourage innovation and critical thinking in all fields. Neither self-pity nor piety will get them there.

A tune to finish off your reading: Skyfall from Adele, for the new James Bond film…

The Weekly Grapevine…

You know what it is! Every week, I link a few of the random quotes and articles that I have come across on the net that week… enjoy!

Since I recently started my working life, I have decided to take some time to sort out my Facebook persona…which is a little difficult but worth doing.  Check out this link for a good head start: How to lock down your Facebook Account for MAX PRIVACY AND SECURITY

On a totally different note, I love it when I see examples of beauty such as the example of Balpreet Kaur, who totally schooled a user on Reddit and possibly changed the hearts and minds of many others.  This quote is quite profound…

By transcending societal views of beauty, I believe that I can focus more on my actions. My attitude and thoughts and actions have more value in them than my body because I recognize that this body is just going to become ash in the end, so why fuss about it? When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world in any way I can.

Religious beliefs aside, the way she put this reflects my thoughts on the matter.  Making that a reality is not always easy; it requires strong faith and belief in the personal choice as we are naturally influenced by society around us.  However, constantly reminding ourselves how temporary our physical being is in the grand scheme of things we can strive to remain humble and focus on ensuring our actions reflect the legacy we want to leave. 

Love this site, wish I had thought of it while I was in Sudan! EverydayAfricaTumblr…

What does this mean for the world of motorsport?

Please America, don’t vote this fella in?

If I were Iran, if I were Iran -- a crazed fanatic, I'd say let's get a little fissile material to Hezbollah, have them carry it to Chicago or some other place, and then if anything goes wrong, or America starts acting up, we'll just say, "Guess what? Unless you stand down, why, we're going to let off a dirty bomb." I mean this is where we have -- where America could be held up and blackmailed by Iran, by the mullahs, by crazy people. So we really don't have any option but to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon.  Mitt Romney, May 17, 2012

…and I thought Sudanese hospitals were bad.  If medical errors were a disease, they would be the sixth leading cause of death in America—just behind accidents and ahead of Alzheimer's.

Interesting. Sometimes being top job, President, Prime Minister, whatever…is partly also about whether your body can handle it!

Interesting.  Those in control; military leaders, politicians, CEOs, are less stressed than their lower working counter parts…

Foreign Policy News: Interestingly, not only is the South China Sea a disputed state of affairs, so is the East China Sea, with interesting anti-Japanese protests springing up in China recently.  Sneaky Sneaky…

China reacted quickly to what it saw as Japan's reaffirmation of its sovereignty claim with a variety of measures, which state media called "combination punches."These ranged from Politburo members strongly denouncing Japan to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao vowing to "never yield an inch" to threats of economic retaliation to announcements of joint combat drills by China's navy, air force and strategic missile corps, including landing exercises in the Yellow Sea and the Gobi Desert.

But a quieter move may have more serious repercussions in the end. On Sept. 10, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced baselines to formally demarcate its territorial waters in the area. In Beijing's eyes, this move legally places the disputed islands under Chinese administration in a direct challenge to Japan's administration of the islands over the last four decades.

Ahh, someone has put my feelings into precise words. Where has this man been?!

"When I first heard about the [July 7] bombings, I thought: ‘Please God, [let the bombers] be some bloody foreigners’," he said. "The reality which slowly unfolded was as bad as it could possibly be — three of the bombers were British men of Pakistani origin. I had absolutely nothing else in common with them, but I still felt a guilty connection.

"I think, as with 9/11, we get sucked into a no-win situation due to tribalism. Even though we have nothing in common with these people — in terms of values, culture, beliefs, intellect, profession — we find ourselves being identified with them because of one or two specific characteristics, and then we are expected to express our apologies for what they did (and thus confirm the tribal commonality) or be condemned for not expressing enough outrage.

"I won’t be defined by my DNA or by anyone else’s preconceptions." – Imran Ahmad

Final quote for the afternoon…

So if you want to keep the blood flowing through as many parts of your brain as possible, you need to read for fun, read for information, listen to music, look closely at art ... only by embracing a wide range of intellectual challenges can we help our minds to be all they should, and can, be. Alan Jacobs, The Atlantic

What’s on the net…

A little collection of a few things that caught my eye… Between the Flags: A great little Tropfest video that shows the humanity beyond the mob mentality, a throwback to 2005 and the Cronulla riots…

I honestly wish I had thought of this when I was in first year…I always wanted to do a massive practical joke but couldn’t think of anything exciting enough! Kudos to these cats.

I work in a male dominated field for sure…But I have never considered what it would be like to work as another one: a taxi driver? "What's a girl doing here?" from Narratively on Vimeo.

An interesting essay On the Joy of Giving

"For a lot of us, what really defines us in the world is having so much money. We're exceptionally wealthy compared to the average," he says in the precise, logical voice of the studious, overgrown schoolboy he resembles. "Once you get used to the idea, I think you realise, wow, this is a really nice position to be in, to be able to help people."

He suggests giving away 10% of your income might, like vegetarianism, one day become a social norm. And he suggests philosophers should pay more attention: "Quite a few people think obviously it's good to donate to charity, so we're not going to talk about it. I think that's a mistake, because you can go further and say, do we have an obligation to do it? Is it not merely something that's nice, but something we really have to do? And I think the answer is yes."

An oldie but a goldie…a little cynical perhaps, but a fair bit of truth there:

Gas is the next big thing in energy, and a few interesting articles in the Australian on this issue caught my eye.  It is quite a contentious area, especially here in Queensland where many of the gas wells are on prime farmland.  However, in today’s society, money talks, and when push comes to shove, will people be willing to reduce their energy consumption or be willing to pay more for their electricity?  In my typical fashion I am not one to side either way just yet, but more play the devil’s advocate…

Randomly, the first massive internet hoax…from the Museum of Hoaxes, an interesting and trivia filled way to spend an afternoon *cough*

This is a useful little infographic… How to make the most of Google!

QandA is a great show but sometimes without the level of sophistication and depth in the discussion that the issues require:

If the producers of Q&A were serious about their adventures in democracy, they should seek to include such experts in all of their discussions. This would make the show more productive and could bring it into its fuller potential as a place of critical, enjoyable, and serious political debate for Australia.

Until then, it will just be the contrived gabfest we tweet at each week.

I do love this blog:

The touchiness of Muslims about assaults on the Prophet Muhammad is in part rooted in centuries of Western colonialism and neo-colonialism during which their religion was routinely denounced as barbaric by the people ruling and lording it over them. That is, defending the Prophet and defending the post-colonial nation are for the most part indistinguishable, and being touchy over slights to national identity (and yes, Muslimness is a kind of national identity in today’s world) is hardly confined to Muslims.

In India, dozens of Christians have sometimes been killed by rioting Hindus angry over allegations of missionary work. Killing people because you think they tried to convert members of your religion to another religion? Isn’t it because such a conversion is an insult to your gods?

In Myanmar, angry Buddhists have attacked the hapless Muslim minority, sometimes alleging they were avenging an instance of the rape of a Buddhist girl (i.e. these are like lynchings in the Jim Crow South).

Or then there have been Sri Lanka Buddhist attacks on Tamil Christians. In fact, Sri Lanka Buddhists have erected a nasty police state and shown a propensity for violence against the Tamil minority, some elements of which have had revolutionary or separatist aspirations (not everybody in the group deserves to be punished for that).

And, militant Israeli Jews have set fire to Muslim mosques in Palestine and recently tried to “lynch” three Palestinians in Jerusalem. If Maher thinks only Muslims are thin-skinned, he should try publicly criticizing Israeli policy in America and see what happens to him.

Since Iraq didn’t have ‘weapons of mass destruction’ and wasn’t connected to 9/11, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that 300 million Americans brutally attacked and militarily occupied that country for 8 1/2 years, resulting in the deaths of perhaps hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, the wounding of millions, and the displacement of millions more, mainly because Iraq’s leader had talked dirty about America. Now that is touchy.

To wrap it up…France in the year 2000… from the early 1900’s. Super interesting!

Have a great day!

Linksies, Quotesies and Other Bits of E’s.

 

‎My recommended read of the week: Waleed Aly on the weekend riots.

"It feels good. It feels powerful. This is why people yell pointlessly or punch walls when frustrated. It's not instrumental. It doesn't achieve anything directly. But it is catharsis. Outrage and aggression is an intoxicating prospect for the powerless."

How far would you go to protect your kids from bullying? I think I would be pretty hardcore…but not sure if I would want my kid to go under the knife.

We all have the potential to fall in love a thousand times in our lifetime. It’s easy. The first girl I ever loved was someone I knew in sixth grade. Her name was Missy; we talked about horses. The last girl I love will be someone I haven’t even met yet, probably. They all count. But there are certain people you love who do something else; they define how you classify what love is supposed to feel like. These are the most important people in your life, and you’ll meet maybe four or five of these people over the span of 80 years. But there’s still one more tier to all this; there is always one person you love who becomes that definition. It usually happens retrospectively, but it happens eventually. This is the person who unknowingly sets the template for what you will always love about other people, even if some of these loveable qualities are self-destructive and unreasonable. The person who defines your understanding of love is not inherently different than anyone else, and they’re often just the person you happen to meet the first time you really, really, want to love someone. But that person still wins. They win, and you lose. Because for the rest of your life, they will control how you feel about everyone else.  Chuck Klosterman

This was a few days ago but sounds like a great idea!  Giving out money to strangers can be quite a novel way to spend the day!

As we continually replace real life with ever shorter digital updates, what happens to the memories we build for ourselves and the people we serve? More and more, we don't remember what actually happened to us, but what we've encountered digitally. 

Seth Godin

I sometimes wonder how the minds of men like this work. It just makes me think of Flowers of Algernon to be honest >>> The Guy Who Solved Some Legendary Maths Problem

I don’t know what the right answer is, in terms of changing the sport to attract youngsters, but I do know that it is necessary to do something because despite what some people say the sport IS broken and does need fixing, even if it may not appear to be the case. The length of the races is always going to be a problem for the diehards because “it has always been like that”. Just like cricket was always five-day matches and white flannels until Kerry Packer came along and shook the tree a little.

Any sport needs to be open to new ideas, particularly one that sells itself on the idea of being fast-moving, cutting edge and innovative. One area where there is clearly a need for change is the sport’s involvement with the Internet.

Joe Saward on Change in Formula 1

I do secretly have an issue with retail therapy ;) The post asked some interesting questions about whether our possessions are actually broken promises?

My enthusiasm to acquire this new thing made me think: what are our possessions, really, but a bunch of promises? That dress promises to make us look stylish; that smartphone promises to keep us tech-savvy and connected; that cookbook promises to make us a culinary whiz; that moisturizer promises to take years off our face; that heirloom china promises to help us remember our grandmother.

Life is in all the gray...

The Internet Never Forgets | Links: 19th August 2012

As per every week, here are a collection of some interesting reads that I have wandered across on this world wide web…

August 19 was World Humanitarian Day. This Beyonce tune brought chills to my spine…

Did you know Baskerville is one of the most “trustworthy and credible” typefaces out there?

Speaking of trust…

Trust in the Digital Age: This has been something on my mind for a while, and it is making me hesitate quite often before sharing thoughts, photos and experiences over the net.  I find myself thinking “oh, what will the be seen like in 20 years? What if it was taken out of context? Can someone possibly use this against me?” 

Apple controls the memory on our iPhones. Google keeps tabs on what we search for, and whom we write to, when we use Gmail. We unknowingly pledge allegiance to the companies we do business with.

“Now we have to trust all these entities,” Mr. Schneier warned. “Google has great customer service. Problem is, you’re not the customer.”

…“You should be mindful,” … “that the Internet never forgets.”

I love this little photography project, recreating photos from the past: Back to the Future

A great opportunity for any young Aussies out there interested in the South East Asia region…Youth Exchange Program with Indonesia.

For all my mates at uni…How to Procrastinate Better! I like this one, but I will probably finish reading it tomorrow… :)

The truth is that most procrastinators are structured procrastinators. This means that although they may be putting off something deemed important, their way of not doing the important thing is to do something else. Like reading instead of completing their expense report before it's due. Nevertheless, such people feel bad about being procrastinators and often annoy others. That is where I think I have something helpful to say.

Hope you all have a great week, and Happy Eid to all my Muslim Brothers and Sisters out there! Hope you enjoyed feasting! =)

Assange: A thought-bite

I haven’t had time to think this through, but I wanted to add to highlight the conversation, especially in light of reading a number of things on trust lately.

The issue of Julian Assange has heated up with his first public appearance in two months.

What are your thoughts on Assange and the trial that is happening at the moment? This Guardian editorial is interesting…

But that is precisely the point: the valuable service performed by Mr Assange at WikiLeaks is a different issue from the serious accusations facing him in Sweden. Conflating the two may provide a rhetorical rush, as it did in Knightsbridge on Sunday; but over the longer term it badly damages the reputation of WikiLeaks and does Mr Assange's case no practical good.

I think if Assange truly did what he did to those women that is awful, and any man regardless of stature should be punished for such acts. However, I don’t have trouble believing that he has made very powerful enemies because of his work, which then leads me to wondering about the motivations behind allegations. It is not my place to judge, but I do wonder…

It is an easy way to discredit a man and to cause enough fuss that his work becomes tarnished with the same brush. Yes, the editorial says they are two different issues, but at the same time, WikiLeaks’s brand is so tied into the ‘brand’ of Julian Assange that I don’t think it could escape the spill.

Which would be convenient for a number of people, to say the least.

Interesting times…

Whatever you think about Assange, I think what he did was cause a little chaos, and a little chaos is always refreshing. For me, it was about making governments aware that they should be accountable to the people who elected them. That is the aim, the why. The execution, well, that is another matter entirely, and totally up to interpretation.

We all know where leaving things to interpretation gets us…

Repost: The Difference between White Terrorists and Others

Written by Juan Cole on this great blog, Informed Comment.

1. White terrorists are called “gunmen.” What does that even mean? A person with a gun? Wouldn’t that be, like, everyone in the US? Other terrorists are called, like, “terrorists.”

2. White terrorists are “troubled loners.” Other terrorists are always suspected of being part of a global plot, even when they are obviously troubled loners.

3. Doing a study on the danger of white terrorists at the Department of Homeland Security will get you sidelined by angry white Congressmen.Doing studies on other kinds of terrorists is a guaranteed promotion.

4. The family of a white terrorist is interviewed, weeping as they wonder where he went wrong. The families of other terrorists are almost never interviewed.

5. White terrorists are part of a “fringe.” Other terrorists are apparently mainstream.

6. White terrorists are random events, like tornadoes. Other terrorists are long-running conspiracies.

7. White terrorists are never called “white.” But other terrorists are given ethnic affiliations.

8. Nobody thinks white terrorists are typical of white people. But other terrorists are considered paragons of their societies.

9. White terrorists are alcoholics, addicts or mentally ill. Other terrorists are apparently clean-living and perfectly sane.

10. There is nothing you can do about white terrorists. Gun control won’t stop them. No policy you could make, no government program, could possibly have an impact on them. But hundreds of billions of dollars must be spent on police and on the Department of Defense, and on TSA, which must virtually strip search 60 million people a year, to deal with other terrorists.

Reposted in full as it is so spot on.

What’s happening on the net: 4 August 2012

  “The only dream worth having is to dream that you will live while you are alive, and die only when you are dead. To love, to be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and vulgar disparity of the life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.” ― Arundhati Roy

Can someone tell me how it is August already? Subhanallah…

Some tips on writing…”Rustle up some dysentery; it’s worth it for the fever dreams alone.”

It is interesting how cultural differences can affect cognitive perception… like asking the question “Is the sky really blue” depends on if we know the sky is blue. Make sense…?

Hmm. Since I am such a “gangsta” (lols), maybe I should set up an offshore bank account in a tax haven…but that would be pretty difficult right? Apparently not!

Setting up the company was a lot cheaper than I expected. A&P charged $900 for a basic Belizean incorporation and another $85 for a corporate seal to emboss legal documents. For $650 more, A&P offered to open a bank account to stash my fledgling operation’s money in Singapore — a country, the Web site also noted, that “cannot gather information on foreigners’ bank accounts, bank-deposit interest and investment gains under domestic tax law.” And for another $690, it offered to assign a “nominee” who would be listed as the official manager and owner of my business but would report to me under a secret power-of-attorney contract. Then an A&P associate asked me to fill out the incorporation information online, just so she wouldn’t type in anything incorrectly. The whole thing took about 10 minutes.

Amazingly neither A&P nor I broke any law in Canada, Belize, Singapore or the United States.

I bought my university bag from this awesome online store Scaramanga… and was not disappointed. Check out their new range.

A story about a lady with a disabled child and how for her, that is just life and she is appreciating it…

For all the people who are puzzled by my seeming happiness, I'll be glad to let them know my "secret." I'm not in denial, I'm not on antidepressants, and I don't live in a fantasy world. I have a wonderful husband and I am pursuing a career I've dreamed of since I was nine years old. I have a beautiful son, friends, and a working stove. I am not paraplegic. I have parents who, through luck and fate, had me here in the United States, and not in North Korea. I live in a time where my awful vision can be corrected with glasses. I am a college graduate. I am never hungry unless I choose to be.

Do I have enough? Resoundingly: yes. And I ask you to take a moment: I suspect you might, too.

Lovin’ this chick (olypmic weightlifter, no less!) and her responses to haters on twitter telling her to “get back in the kitchen”

We don’t lift weights in order to look hot, especially for the likes of men like that. What makes them think that we even WANT them to find us attractive? If you do, thanks very much, we’re flattered. But if you don’t, why do you really need to voice this opinion in the first place, and what makes you think we actually give a toss that you, personally, do not find us attractive? What do you want us to do? Shall we stop weightlifting, amend our diet in order to completely get rid of our ‘manly’ muscles, and become housewives in the sheer hope that one day you will look more favourably upon us and we might actually have a shot with you?! Cause you are clearly the kindest, most attractive type of man to grace the earth with your presence

I love a story of a migrant embracing their new land, working amazingly hard and doing inspiring things (many times without even meaning to).  Check out this guy: first Asian American Gold Medalist, Sammy Lee…

As a twelve-year-old in 1932, Lee dreamed of becoming a diver, but at the time Latinos, Asians, and African-Americans were only allowed to use Fresno’s Brookside Pool on Wednesdays, on what was called “international day”: the day before the pool was scheduled to be drained and refilled with clean water. Because Lee needed a place to practice and could not regularly use the public pool, his coach dug a pit in his backyard and filled it with sand. Lee practiced by jumping into the pit.

The boxer in me loved this piece…about the thrill of the fight. (I promise though, I love peace!)

The “Prep School Negro”…the trailer for a documentary about African Americans who ‘escape’ the ghetto and go to a private prep school and the struggles they deal with trying to balance their lives.

Ever been this excited about anything?

Until next week guys… !

Motorsport Munchies

Hello hello fellow motorsport lovers! Here is a little collection of links and videos that will keep you occupied and rev-happy for a bit! 

First up: Great round up on the Technical side of F1

I really want to buy this book on engineering motorcycles…

The Formula Student Competition wraps up… A Swedish University comes out on top! 

Summing up this year’s Formula Student, project manager Fiona Pawley said: “This year’s competition has been truly impressive, with many of the cars displaying world class engineering that wouldn’t be out of place in a Formula One paddock. These young engineers will mature into the motorsport team bosses and industry leaders of the future.”

Learn a little bit about what affects Pirelli Tires and their performance (layman's terms)

TOONED! Episode 3.  Loving the new McLaren cartoon…”And here we have, just a few of the spare Ks from Mika Hakkinen's name” LOL.

 Le Batmobile – Nothing more really to be said…

Ever wondered what is like from the F1 driver’s point of view? Wonder no longer…welcome to SPA!

A beautiful video for all motorsport lovers…

I want to be ...a F1 Driver

Interestingly in this video, Senna mentions his family’s unhappiness at his choosing motorsport as a career…The episode looks at the lives of a few drivers (current and up and coming), how they got there and the difficulties getting there.

Riveting Reads Round Up: 29 July 2012

Brush your teeth and then go drink some OJ, and you're in for a rude surprise -- the juice tastes downright awful. What causes that? Most toothpastes contain a compound called sodium laureth sulfate, which causes the foaming action when you brush. But it also blocks your tongue from being able to detect sweetness. So when you drink the juice, you're unable to taste the sweet aspects; instead, you only sense the bitter/sour parts. – interesting fact, via Now I Know, a cool way to learn something new every day…

If there is one thing that you want to read that will really challenge you… make it this article on the thoughts of an Israeli Defence Force checkpoint soldier.

To be honest, the article made me sick… not only at the words I was reading, but at the situation of the Palestinians, the inhumanity of war and the poison of power.  Read it critically…but I guess it is also important for me (and Muslims in general, who might be highly offended that I posted this link) that we are also merciful in our thoughts and look to at least try to understand the other sides…

There is then no normative notion of disobedience at the checkpoint, no proper way for Palestinians to act. The only way for Palestinians to anticipate the soldier’s next order is to try, at every moment, to anticipate the soldier’s next thought. Is he irritated? Is he complaisant? Is he looking for action? Is he feeling lonely and hoping for a friendly conversation? Does he want to be amused? Is he in a hurry? Is he filled with grief and anger? The soldier’s mental state is the Palestinian’s most urgent concern: it is a matter of life and death. As one soldier testifies, “I can assure you there’s tremendous frustration building up, it’s really scary. I would take it all out on someone.”…

The circumstances instill in soldiers and Palestinians an intense interest in each other’s minds. This same interest subverts their capacity to recognize each other. There can be neither truth telling nor lying at the checkpoint. No obligations, no gestures, no smiles, and no insults. There can be neither respect nor disrespect, neither shame nor honor. Palestinians will say and do whatever they think is most likely to get them through the checkpoint. Soldiers will say and do whatever keeps the Palestinians scared enough to do nothing but obey:

Actually, you should also read this article from Racialicious: A Muslim Community, Tarred Again.  I think a great article on the difficulties of American Muslims trying to make it.  Doesn’t mean they can’t, but it is difficult…

In an interview for a research position on South Asian affairs at a US bureau, I was asked to state my views on Israel. And I have, sadly, taken it as a given that in interviews I will be asked what kind of Arab I am. When I say that I am the “Indian kind of Arab,” few understand—or appreciate—the joke.

South Sudan: Sometimes money really should come with strings attached…

Banksy enters the Olypmic Games…"

Could be a little awkward…More Olympians than you might think lose their medals!

Ever wondered what the optimum way to travel on foot was while it was raining? Wonder no more!

A physicist has put forth new ideas in the long-running question of how best to keep dry when moving in the rain.  If you run, you are out in the rain for less time, yet you run into more drops - so what is the optimal speed?

Let’s talk Batman – What it would take to become Batman physically, and how much it would cost to be him? About $2.8 million…not too shabby.

 

Still on Batman, but an infinitely more sombre note…Spree Killer Contradictions. A moving, and I think very apt, piece.

I refuse to write his name because he’s not the point, the is-he-or-isn’t-he faking psychosis mass murderer who destroyed dozens of families last weekend in his quest for selfishness. As much as we want to aim our fingers at him in judgment, this act of violence isn’t about him, just as it wouldn’t be about the lone terrorist who stuffed a bomb into his underwear, or the two disgruntled men who took out the Federal building in Oklahoma City all those Aprils ago. I don’t absolve any of these men of their acts, certainly not, but I can’t abide providing them the public attention they crave and that they receive from so many media outlets.

Great response to those who critisise the Sudan Revolts for having “no alternative”

 

Something random to finish us off…