A short guide to the Middle East

The Middle East Explained In One Excellent Letter To The Editor

This letter to the editor from Mr. K. N. Al-Sabah ran in the Aug 24th edition of Financial Times.  It was then picked up by BuzzFeed.
 

 

 

This Quixotic quote inspired me to attempt a drawing of the social network described in Mr. Al-Sabah's letter.

 

Assuming we do want to get involved in the Middle East, do we know enough to actually make the situation better?

 

 

Look in the comments under the article as it appears in BuzzFeed and you will find a visualization by Derpina which takes the form of a Flow Chart.

 

The first problem I have with Derpina's visualization is that the Turks are Sunni, not Shia. The second problem is that the flow chart makes the situation look deterministic, which is misleading. 

 

I believe my spaghetti chart above captures the chaos more accurately, in my never humble but always biased opinion.

 

That said, I believe this version by the Elder of Zion is even better. His is an improvement on one created by another blogger, the big Pharaoh. As the Elder of Zion states, any attempt to understand this situation will change daily.

 

I wonder if this idea of graphing the complex social networks in the Middle East would make a fun parlor game? I wonder what I will think of this post when I look back on it in 10 years?

 

 

New SHARP director says Army must defeat sexual assault to maintain public trust

Public trust in the Army is high. To maintain that trust, the Army must defeat sexual assault in its ranks.
Attribution: Photo and caption are from the original 22 Aug 2013 article by C. Todd Lopez at www.army.mil 

I just read this article and I find it encouraging. Cheers for Dr. Altendorf and the new Army SHARP Office!

Obviously bringing a General Officer-level leader to the SHARP helm raises program visibility--as well as  expectations. Fortunately, the increased attention is going to integration--horizontally with Provost Marshal General and Inspector General (as well as previously involved Criminal Investigation Command, Army Medical Command, and the Office of the Judge Advocate General), and vertically with the Department of Defense and through them with the other services. This portends well.

Lots more work to do, but the language of “defeat” sexual assault is much more productive than the unrealistic “eliminate.” I also like “maintain” trust which communicates that we are at risk of losing trust, not conceding that is already lost and must be won back. Subtle changes but powerful. We still do a lot of things right in the Army.

As a 28-year veteran, my heart burns about this problem, but I am not ready to hand the solution over to those who, like Sen. Gillibrand, would dismantle the Army to “save” it. God bless her for putting more pressure on the services, but her proposed solutions would be counter-productive in my humble and biased opinion.

Culture change is the goal, and the standard is when parents concerned about their children joining the Army are neutral on the  question of blue-on-blue sexual violence—not because the human beings in the military are suddenly angels but because rape is once again less likely to occur in the military than any other possible place where their son or daughter might go instead.  

Back in the old days, when the purpose of the Army was to fight and win our Nation's wars, parents’ biggest concern about sending their kids off to the Army was that their learning how to kill people, break things, and dodge bullets would scar them for life.  I am sure that some victims of military sexual violence would contend that not all scars are the same.

It is my hope that Dr. Altendorf will engage data-fueled, truth-seeking, action-oriented researchers and analysts to help solve this problem.

Thanks for reading.

Where will YOU be August 11-18, 2013?

It's the 5th Annual DC Beer Week! Get out and support your LOCAL brewers and have a good time!


Websites you'll need

• My main source: http://www.dcbeer.com/dcbw2013
• The official site: www.dcbeerweek.net
• Official Twitter account (if you are so inclined): @DCBeerWeek

Hashtags of note

• #DCBW2013
• #dcbrews
• #DCBeerWeek

Articles in WaPo and City Paper: 

  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/dc-beer-week-the-best-events-dinners-and-tap-takeovers/2013/08/08/65941780-fe18-11e2-bd97-676ec24f1f3f_story.html

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2013/08/09/young-hungrys-dc-beer-week-guide-weekend-edition/

Recap of Main Events:

There are Flagship events for all 8 days in the week and scores of other events in venues all over town. Eight days a week? Yep, the "week" includes two Sundays. But everybody is doing SOMETHING, so just let these Flagship events serve to whet your appetite--then go wet your whistle!

Sunday: Brewery Ommegang & WCP Present "Hop Chef: Special Edition" - Official Opening Ceremony of DCBW '13

Monday: DC Heritage Night at the Howard Theater

Tuesday: Gordon Biersch English Summer Ale Tasting

Wednesday: RFD's Coast to Coast Tap Takeover

Thursday: Nationals Night

Friday: Blind & Bitter: Hop Face-Off with DCBeer, Scion, Crios

Saturday: Old Ebbitt Grill's Craft Brewhaha

Sunday: The Bluejacket Sneak Preview BBQ

HaPpY 3d BiRtHdAy, PhiLosFX!!

Big Splash birthday party invitation by Persimmon, for sale on popscreen.com

6 Aug: At midnight GMT (8 pm Eastern) between 6 and 7 Aug, I ended 36 months of blogging, and officially started month 37.

Whether this is your first post or #637, thanks for reading. You are helping celebrate three years of Philosophy + Special Effects here at PhilosFX!

Let's have a look at some of the performance metrics we have used to spark and track progress:

In closing, please come with me on a little trip down memory lane and review our most viewed, personal favorite, and most commented on posts:

Our most popular post, and with good reason, is the illustrated history of the Road King
http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2011/09/illustrated-history-of-harley-davidson.html

My personal favorite post is the one about the burgeoning brewing scene in the DC area.
http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2013/01/burgeoning-brewing-scene-in-our-nations.html

Winner of the "Most Comments" badge is this spam-magnet. Before Google fixed the problem with spam comments, everyone and his brother chose this post to share their links to weight loss, hair growth, and penis enlargement formulas.
http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2012/06/need-long-saturday-tonight-timekeepers.html

Finally, here are our celebratory posts from the past two birthdays (2011 and 2012):
http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2012/08/happy-2d-birthday-philosfx.html
http://philosfx.blogspot.com/2011/08/happy-birthday-philosfx.html

It's been a great adventure so far. Here's to many more months of exploring, discovering, and sharing! And now that we have made it to this august milestone, I won't be tracking these statistics quite as aggressively anymore...

Blog Stats	6-Aug-13
Cum days	1095
Page views	90,700
View / day	83
% chg	5%
Posts	636
Post / day	0.58
% chg	3%
bit.ly clicks (last 30 days)	15
Flags Views	18,609
Country Flags	137
US State Flags	51
Other Region Flags	11
Monthly income	0.47
Cum income	20.98
Month	36.0

Love Dan Pink?

... Me, too!

Daniel Pink

Forwarded herein is Dan Pink's latest "irregular and irreverent" newsletter. Pink focuses on the big ideas reshaping our work, transforming our businesses, and changing our lives. I hope you enjoy it and sign up for more words of wit and wisdom from the sage of Lynchburg, VA.

"Welcome to the latest edition of our irregular and irreverent newsletter. In this issue, you'll hear about some changes to DanPink.com, 4 awesome productivity tips, and 10 articles you really need to read:  

Let’s go . . .

3 CHANGES TO DANPINK.COM 

Starting today, you’ll see some changes in the website, newsletter, and podcast. Here’s what’s happening:  

1. DanPink.com will become a resource center. We’re reconfiguring the web site to make it much less about what’s happening this day or this hour and much more about providing you a rich set of enduringly useful resources. We’re going to shutter the blog and instead expand and deepen our collection of videos, articles, and guides on working smarter and living better. (For example, check out our new 90-second videos on pitching more effectively) 

2. This newsletter will become the main way I communicate with readers. I’ll still be sharing insights, tools, tips, and reading suggestions -- but I’ll do that through the newsletter, which I’ll begin delivering more often. Of course, the newsletter will remain free of charge and free of advertising. And for brief musings, I’ll continue to Tweet. 

3. Office Hours will become a straight podcast. Our radio-ish program – “Car Talk for the human engine” – has been a huge success. But since most people can’t listen live, we’re changing the format. Instead of a live broadcast, we’re now going to simply record the program and release it on iTunes and on DanPink.com. This will offer us more flexibility in booking great guests and allow us to produce more shows. We’ll still take listener questions, but we’ll do that via Twitter in advance of each program. 

As these changes roll out, please let us know what you think of them.
 
4 SMART PRODUCTIVITY TIPS 

Like most of you, I’m always looking for ways to boost my productivity and to stop doing the things that hold me back. That’s why I turned to Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Brain, a short new book from the folks at 99u that several people had recommended. 

The book was worth the quick read, especially for these 4 insights and suggestions: 

-- “The single most important change you can make in your working habits is to switch to creative work first, reactive work second. This means blocking off a large chunk of time every day for creative work on your own priorities, with the phone and e-mail off.” 

-- “Book time on your calendar for uninterrupted, focused work—and respect those blocks of time as you would any client meeting.” 

-- “It’s better to disappoint a few people over small things, than to surrender your dreams for an empty inbox. Otherwise you’re sacrificing your potential for the illusion of professionalism.”
-- “What I do every day matters more than what I do once in a while.”  

10 ARTICLES WORTH READING

One of the features readers have found most valuable is reading recommendations. So, in what will be a regular feature, here are 10 articles I’ve read recently that I’ve found intriguing enough to recommend to you. 

1. Want to Learn How to Think? Read Fiction -- Pacific Standard explains how literature opens our minds to ambiguity and thereby sharpens our thinking. 

2. Gigawalk Does Temp-Worker Hiring Without Job Interviews -- BusinessWeek profiles a company that’s developed technology designed to “find good workers without ever engaging in personal interactions.” Big Data meets HR. 

3. Mary Meeker Internet Trends Report -- This isn’t an article per se. It’s a 117-slide deck from the smartest Internet analyst on the planet. But if you’re interested in the future of technology, it’s a must-read. 

4. Why Men Work So Many Hours -- In HBR, Joan Williams insightfully dissects the real reason why most workplace flexibility programs haven’t fully taken off. 

5. How to Escape Bad Decisions -- Adam Grant explains why we so often escalate our commitment to poor decisions – and provides four ways we can avoid the trap. 

6. Obituaries of Douglas Englebart and Amar Bose -- The inspiring life stories of two extraordinary innovators. 

7. Can Government Play Moneyball? -- In The Atlantic, a former Obama and former Bush official show that we often have no idea whether government programs are actually effective. 

8. Why Stage Parents Push Their Kids -- Time magazine on new research showing that – yes indeed –  Tiger Moms and Little League dads are living out their own personal demons rather than helping their kids.

9. Clayton Christensen: Still Disruptive -- The Economist interviews the author of The Innovator’s Dilemma about education, disruption, and the perils of relying too heavily on data. 

10. You Have 25,000 Mornings As an Adult. Here’s How to Not Waste Them. -- Lifehacker rethinks your mornings and offers 9 smart rules to make them better. 

5 OTHER NEWSLETTERS I LIKE (AND YOU MIGHT, TOO) 

One reason I’m putting more emphasis on the Pink newsletter is that I’ve come to rely on other newsletters as sources of ideas, information, and inspiration. Here, in alphabetical order, are 5 email newsletters that always elude my delete key:  

Barking Up the Wrong Tree – “I want to understand why we do what we do and use the answers to become awesome at life.” 

Brain Pickings Weelky – “A library of cross-disciplinary interestingness and combinatorial creativity.” 

Business Insider’s 10 Things You Need to Know in Tech This Morning – A short, informative daily blast. 

Farnam Street – “Seeking wisdom by mastering the best of what other people have figured out.” 

Springwise – “Your essential fix of entrepreneurial ideas”

THINKERS50 WANTS YOUR VOTE (AND SO DO I) 

Every other year, the keen minds at Thinkers50 select the writers, researchers, and professors who are having the greatest impact on business thinking. I was honored to be on the list in 2011 – and, frankly, I’d like to earn a spot again this year. 

That’s where you can help. 

As part of its process, Thinkers50 is asking people around the word to cast ballots for their favorite thinkers. If any of my books have been useful to you in your work, I’d appreciate your vote. No obligation obviously. But it would be a huge help. Even better, you can vote for more than one person, which means you can also include folks like Teresa Amabile, Bob Sutton, Edward Deci, Seth Godin, David Allen, and more. Could I have your vote? 

Cast your ballot.

As always, thanks for reading our humble newsletter. Enjoy the rest of the summer (or the rest of the winter if you’re in that part of the world).  

Cheers,
Daniel Pink

If you like what you see here--and I sure do--you can get lots more:

Web: http://www.danpink.comTwitter: @danielpink

H/T: UCEE

THE RIDE

H/T: BK

Next Draft? Every Day!

Dave Pell's genius is picking and packing the day's buzz-worthy news into a smart set of talking points for your evening dinner party. Check out Next Draft, it's Water Cooler Cool...

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Wednesday, July 17, 2013 1. Sorry, This Pocket is Taken The major phone carriers know about your sick, demented need to have the latest gadget in your pocket. So they are offering new plans that will enable you to upgrade your device after only one year. The programs are marketed as an incentive to keep early adopting tech addicts happy. But what if something else is at work? What if these programs are really a response to the fact that fewer of us feel the need to upgrade, and more of us are satisfied with what we're packing in our pockets? "For the first time since 2008, computer-equipped phone upgrades dropped." Have we reached peak smartphone? + It took a powerful computing device for you to be at least partially satisfied with your phone. But your doctor could still be satisfied with a pager. From Fortune: Where pagers haven't gone extinct yet. (At least they've replaced their paper manuals with a handy CD-Rom.) + OK, so your phone is good enough. What about your TV? From Quartz, here's all the evidence that Apple is making an actual TV. 2. Deadly Lunch In India, at least 22 children died after eating a poisoned school lunch. "After seeing the children get sick, the school’s teachers and administrators fled the school, according to Dr. Shambhu Nath Singh, the deputy superintendent of the government hospital in Bihar’s Saran District." + A lot of the stories about India focus on the country's economic rise. This incident is a reminder that there is another side to that story. 3. The Root Issue Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is the drummer for The Roots (currently the house band for Jimmy Fallon). In this NY Magazine essay, he shares his take on what the Trayvon Martin case meant to him. It's definitely worth a read: "Imagine a life in which you think of other people's safety and comfort first, before your own. You're programmed and taught that from the gate. It's like the opposite of entitlement ... I don't know how to not internalize the overall message this whole Trayvon case has taught me: You ain't shit. That's the lesson I took from this case. You ain't shit. 4. Do You Like to Be Watched? "Do we want to live in a surveillance society that might ensure justice for all, yet privacy for none?" The NYT's Nick Bilton on the pros and cons of a surveillance society. + We're seeing an increasing number of cases where those who are accessing our data have no interest in participating in debates on the matter. Universities are now facing a barrage of cyber attacks, and outside attacks on stock exchanges are putting markets at risk. 5. Cover Hurl Today, the Internet is expressing great displeasure at the person Rolling Stone editors decided to put on the cover. Several stores have already said they will pull the issue from their magazine racks. Take a look at the cover shot of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, and see what you think. It's of course not the first time a terrible person has been featured on the magazine's cover. + In response to the criticism, Rolling Stone editors decided to publish the entire story online (earlier than expected):"He was a charming kid with a bright future. But no one saw the pain he was hiding or the monster he would become." 6. Recruited at 13 "It gets to a point where I can't even stand myself. It's eating me inside little by little, and there's nothing I can do or say to justify my actions." A day after the arrest of notorious Zetas' leader Miguel Treviño, the Center for Investigative Reporting shares this short video featuring Rosalio Reta, an American teenager recruited by Treviño and trained to be an assassin. 7. Never Too Cold For A Cold One "The most dire danger in Antarctica is always failure to respect the absolutely lethal environment of Antarctica itself. I was far happier to serve until I could guide him over to a couch to pass out than to see him stagger out into the -85F night." From The Atlantic: On Getting Drunk in Antarctica. 8. Tabs of Steel Give me a hundred sit-ups, fifty push-ups, and ten laps around the track. Either that, or you can just give me one swallow. It's still a ways off, but scientists are making progress in their search for exercise in a pill. 9. He's Back Get ready. Keith Olbermann is going to be back on ESPN, but he is contractually forbidden from talking politics. Fine, as long as he's not allowed to talk sports either. 10. The Bottom of the News If you find something oddly fun about watching dominoes fall, then imagine how great you'll feel if you can make it through watching 275,000 of them tumble. + Mental Floss: 44 fictional characters whose names you don't know. + A bedding innovation for people who hate making their beds. + Let's Louie for a few minutes, shall we? Here are 10 Louis CK clips. Here's a collection of 14 of his parenting tips. And apparently, Woody Allen wants to make a buddy film with him (Spolier alert: The really young and attractive woman ends up falling for Woody who, after some nervous introspection, welcomes her advances.) This issue is portable: Forward | View in Browser    (Want to spread the word about NextDraft? Send your friends and followers to this landing page.) Thanks, Dave Subscribe Here Share on Twitter   Follow Dave Pell on Twitter   Forward NextDraft to a Friend   Contact Dave Copyright © 2013 NextDraft, All rights reserved. You are receiving this because you signed up for Dave Pell's Next Draft newsletter. NextDraft's mailing address is: NextDraft 600 Harrison Street San Francisco, CA 94107 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list   update subscription preferences