Archives for “Current Affairs”

ensure that every convoy has ground security and air cover

Tweet “In Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman says every step in the withdrawal is a “deliberate operation in which we collect intelligence, coordinate with the Iraqi Security Forces, clear routes and ensure that every convoy has ground security and air cover.”" - CNN We want our troops home SAFE! And on Thanksgiving I give thanks [...]


Tweet “I get why people are so angry at seeing Christmas commercials and why petitions are starting left and right and why regular, educated, hard-working Americans are taking to the streets to occupy and lend their voices to the movement. These people are normal. They have kids and dogs and jobs that they’ve held for [...]


WTC Rebuilding

Tweet We will rebuild. And we’re almost done. Note: these photos are from May of 2011. I’m sure even more is complete now. Whoooop!


working with these kids is like having bipolar disorder imposed on you

Tweet “Working with these kids is like having bipolar disorder imposed on you. One moment you’re exasperated, because 23 loud, squirmy kids– many of whom don’t speak English–won’t do anything you ask them, and the next they swarm you with hugs and kisses and you feel so loved and appreciated.” - Iris McAlpine


WINNING! GO!

Tweet #sad


the greatest book of all time

Tweet “The poetry. it is outstanding. brilliant. fun. did i say outstanding? yeah. i am going to go out on a limb here. are you ready? sheen has produced the greatest book of all time. did i say the greatest book of all time? yes. the greatest book of poetry of all time? nope. the [...]


pirates mock the notion that the U.S. is a superpower

Tweet Above all, the pirates mock the notion that the U.S. is a superpower, as a bunch of young men, riding tiny boats, lightly armed, seem unstoppable. … All we need to do is declare that for ships on the high sea, a 300-yard radius around the vessels is a limited access zone. Anybody closing [...]


Tweet Instructions for the protest were clearly disseminated on Facebook: Stand 5 feet apart, so as not to break Egyptian laws against public demonstration; be absolutely silent; no signs; wear black, as determined in an online vote; stand on the banks of the river or sea for one hour only, then walk away. No one [...]


not anything in it

Tweet “We really want to slash the budget, but not anything in it,” – Daron Shaw


Egypt Social Media Activity Unexpectedly Small

Tweet I have been digging into the background story on the 2011 revolution in Egypt. Follow that last link for a good recap of how the police beating of Khaled Said created a maelstrom that has turned into massive protests and labor strikes in Egypt. A man named Wael Ghonim has emerged as a symbol of [...]


Tweet Interesting to me that the movie V for Vendetta was the motivation for this and this hero both. Synopsis: Tells the story of Evey Hammond and her unlikely but instrumental part in bringing down the fascist government that has taken control of a futuristic Great Britain. Saved from a life-and-death situation by a man [...]


elites trust government more. nobody else does.

Tweet An interesting rebuttal of the release of this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer on the PRSA blog by Elliott Schreiber: These data may be factual for the elite, but they may be the continuing “fuel on the fire” for those who feel they are on the bottom looking up. On the other side of the [...]


icy overpass in houston

Tweet From our office window. Post on CNN here.


non-violent democratic change

Tweet Shouldn’t the president of the United States be out in front, supporting non-violent democratic change across the world’s most volatile region? – Al Jazeera on the US President


the opposition has come together, he says

Tweet “It is significant” that the opposition has come together, he says. “But the people are ahead. What brought the opposition leaders together? The fact that the people in the streets were together.” - CS Monitor on Egypt


egypt today

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I had the facebook

Tweet “I had the Facebook for one purpose — to keep in contact with my family,” and “I’m not doing this for money. I’m doing this for justice. I believe there should be some, somewhere,” - Fteja


Tweet At this moment, there is one YouTube celebrity with more subscribers than anyone else. It’s not Lady Gaga. It’s not Justin Bieber, either. More than 3 million fans on YouTube have signed up to receive updates and videos from Ryan Higa, a college student in Las Vegas, who was raised in Hilo, Hawaii. – NPR


a trip down memory lane

Tweet It’s all to do with color. It’s all to do with round. With shape. Everything is color. Everything, you know, it must be do with orange. Not only with Orange. I hadn’t seen color. I’d lived in a monochromatic world. I can’t use color. I can do everything. (link) (Second video via Robert. Thanks!)


we will be a better military as a result

Tweet Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, applauded Congress’s action. He and Gates were among the civilian and active-duty military leaders who had rallied for the change. “It is the right thing to do,” he said in a statement. “No longer will able men and women who want to serve and [...]


quotes on wikileaks

Tweet As usual, Clay Shirky nails the conflicted nature of the wikileaks issue for the US on his blog. From the post: “The key, though, is that democracies have a process for creating such restrictions, and as a citizen it sickens me to see the US trying to take shortcuts. The leaders of Myanmar and [...]


more breasts and less violence

Tweet NOTE: This is a cross post. Please comment on the Houston Chronicle More Breasts Less Violence Post. I have mentioned before, half jokingly, that part of the problem with the media is that we need “more breasts and less violence.” As a parent of three children, I find it disturbing that CSI can show [...]


but people didn’t call it a democracy

Tweet Colbert: “But the first amendment only covers journalists. That’s freedom of the press. Who’s Assange to say he’s a journalist… There are certain things that the public should not know. That’s what we elect a government for; to act in secret with complete impunity. Then later we’ll find out whether we liked it.’ Ellsberg: ”That’s one [...]


strange days and visa

Tweet It is strange that we live in a time when the US Govt can’t keep secrets, that an Australian is more hunted than Osama Bin Laden, and that an anonymous operation can take down visa. Indeed the future of web press is up in the air. May you live in interesting times my friend, [...]


the target was seemingly impenetrable

Tweet The target was seemingly impenetrable; for security reasons, it lay several stories underground and was not connected to the World Wide Web. And that meant Stuxnet had to act as sort of a computer cruise missile: As it made its passage through a set of unconnected computers, it had to grow and adapt to [...]