Archive for April 27th, 2012
Apr
27
Six Tactics to Ignite Your Ambition
Even though you possess talent or technical ability, having and honing is not enough. Here are six critical, transactional success skills to stimulate your most meaningful and fulfilling career.
1. Exploring: Most of us remain a prisoner of our obligations instead of listening to our instincts (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Why Dont You Just Convert The Story Of My Interfaith Family
“Oh Paul, why don’t you just convert to Judaism?”
This invitation was extended to me after a book talk in Washington D.C. and I have to admit it took me by surprise. First, I had always heard that Jews aren’t supposed to proselytize. Second, I’m not just a blank slate; I’m a Christian minister by profession, and the book talk I had just given was about a Christian book (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Dog Ears Music Volume 225
Of Monsters and MenIcelandic alt-pop/folk sextette Of Monsters and Men is the brainchild of songstress Nanna Brynds Hilmarsdttir, who initially enlisted Ragnar rhallsson (vocals/guitar) to bolster her acoustic outlet Songbird. Together, they beefed up the unit’s sound, adding Brynjar Leifsson (guitar), Arnar Rsenkranz Hilmarsson (drums), Kristjn Pll Kristjnsson (bass), and rni Gujnsson (keys/accordion), and Of Monsters and Men was born. After winning Iceland’s Msiktilraunir (Battle of the Bands) in 2010, the collective was ready for a larger stage. The ensemble inked its first deal in early 2011 and has since enjoyed a rush of appreciation in North America, The Netherlands, and across the globe (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Mompreneurs Relying on Facebook to Grow Biz
There comes a time for many stay-at-home moms when they realize that they can turn their hobby into a business. Throughout phases of motherhood, moms have chunks of time during the day to feed their creative side. Whether the kids may be napping or in school, moms can showcase their talents online quickly, easily and on the cheap.
This “lifestyle business” model that allows flexibility has been life changing for these two self-proclaimed “Facebook Mompreneurs.” Mandie Miller of Got What It Cakes and Jenny Robertson of Peanut Butter & Jenny Photography have realized the value of the “word of mouth” type referrals on Facebook (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
The Climate Post Arctic Oil Drilling Opens as Pitfalls Pondered Miles Away
Nearing record highs in March, gasoline prices have dropped for most of April across the U.S. and on average are cheaper than they were a year ago. As pump prices ease, federal prosecutors are turning up the heat in the BP oil spill case, arresting an ex-engineer accused of obstructing justice by deleting potentially damaging emails. And as the feds begin arrests, local reactions in the Gulf among individuals and businesses harmed by the spill are mixed, with oyster leaseholders “overjoyed” by the BP settlement, while shrimp processors are challenging some features of the deal (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
The Rumpire Strikes Back A Dozen Sipping Rums To Challenge Your Preconceptions
Rum seems to be the alcoholic equivalent of soccer — always poised to become the next big thing, but never quite getting there. In-the-know rum mavens are well aware that a quality aged rum can be as complex, refined, and just plain tasty as the finest whiskeys or brandies. But for far too many imbibers, rum is something that comes in a bottle with a pirate on it, and should be followed by the words “and Coke.” It breaks my heart, it really does.
I wrote a piece about ” target=”_hplink”>some of my favorite sipping rums — the dark, aged stuff as opposed to the lighter brands meant for mixing — a while back for HuffPo. And I’d like to think that I helped convert a drinker or two (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
What The Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation MISSED
Ever since Timothy McVeigh’s execution, four months to the day before 9/11, a certain conventional wisdom has taken hold that the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was the work of just two disenchanted guys from the heartland who did something colossally heartless and stupid, got caught and paid the price.
But that tells only part of a much more complicated and troubling story. In our new book Oklahoma City: What The Investigation Missed–And Why It Still Matters (William Morrow; April 24, 2012), Roger Charles and I show that a fractious, over-timid federal law enforcement community blew chances to prevent the bombing and failed to follow several promising leads pointing to the broader involvement of the radical far right.
Their failings were remarkably similar to those that emerged in the wake of the al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington: the threat was underestimated, law enforcement agencies fought each other instead of pooling vital information, and the country’s institutions were ultimately more interested in protecting themselves than in unearthing the truth.
Our books brings the full government record on the bombing to light for the first time–about a million pages of investigative materials in all. We have amplified it with more than 150 interviews with the key players–investigators, prosecutors, defense lawyers, fellow travelers with McVeigh in the so-called Patriot Movement, and McVeigh’s co-conspirator Terry Nichols, who provided detailed answers to hundreds of our questions.
The reasons for the government’s failures were complex. The earliest opportunities to find other plotters were largely undone by the sheer size of the investigation–the largest in FBI history to that point–and a rash of media leaks that, for example, alerted Nichols and his brother James to the fact that the feds were on their tail (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Top 5 Sports Stories
TGIF everyone here’s my Top 5 for April 27, 2012 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
As expected quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III go one-two in the NFL draft to Indianapolis and Washington.
The Rangers and Devils win game sevens to advance in the NHL playoffs. New Jersey beat Florida in double overtime.
The NBA playoffs begin tomorrow with four games.
The future of the Pro Bowl is in jeopardy. The NFL is considering killing it off after one more game.
Playoffs! The BCS reportedly will recommend a four-team playoff to decide the champion of college football starting in 2014.
The Charlotte Bobcats are now officially the worst team in NBA history (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
The Global Search for Education In Search of Innovation
“We reinvented the notion of a film festival and we were disruptive mainly out of necessity.”
– Craig Hatkoff
“Educate to Innovate,” President Obama’s campaign for excellence in science, technology, engineering & math, is a call to action that our education system embrace a specific type of orientation. Innovation requires educators to think about a 21st century education incorporating both critical and creative thinking beginning with the earliest years of a student’s education. And why is this focus so important? Welcome to the 21st century world of disruptive innovation.
Disruptive innovation definition: A disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually goes on to disrupt an existing market and value network (over a few years or decades), displacing an earlier technology (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Finance Expert Predicts Well Rue The Day
Cate Long covers municipal finance for Reuters online — see her blog here. This is how she describes her beat:
She was watching the Chicago City Council’s live video feed of the vote to pass the Infrastructure Trust and tweeting out comments as the event unfurled. The vote was 41-7 with two aldermen absent. Hey, that’s two more nay votes than the parking meter scam got (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Education Reform Language and Technology vs STEM
As we get closer to the presidential election, organizations and individuals are once again appealing to officials for an education reform. Over the past few years there has been a push for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) programs. What about a push for language instruction?
Although a science and technology program is valuable, a program that integrates technology and language is equally important. Part of the problem with this type of language initiative though is that individuals within the discipline have split views (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
30 Rock Live From Studio 6H Was Much Needed
“30 Rock” needed a live episode. No, not for the ratings boost it surely got, but for something completely different altogether. The “30 Rock” Season 6 live episode, appropriately titled “Live From Studio 6H,” took all the press about the series being on its last legs and turned it into something exciting.
It all started with the sinking ratings. “30 Rock” replaced “Community” on NBC’s Thursday schedule at 8 p.m (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
An Anniversary You Are Forced to Remember
One year after a U.S. Supreme Court decision gave corporations free rein to block class action lawsuits, judges have used the decision to prevent at least 76 potential class-action suits from going forward, a new report by Public Citizen and the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) has found.
The report, “Justice Denied,” tracks the anti-consumer effects of AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, in which the Supreme Court ruled that corporations could block consumers’ rights to sue collectively — even in the 19 states that have laws protecting such rights.
What began as a dispute over $30 between Vincent and Liza Concepcion and AT&T has turned into a legal monster worth millions of dollars to corporate bottom lines (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Broadcast Transparency A No Brainer for the FCC
It’s not often the Federal Communications Commission has before it an item that is so easy to decide.
The agency tangles regularly with complex technical issues regarding broadcast spectrum and telecom policy. But today they get a pass.
On Friday the FCC’s three acting commissioners face a simple question about broadcaster transparency: Should they vote to require television and radio stations to post data about their political ad sales in a publicly accessible online database?
They are already required by law to maintain this information for public view in paper files at their stations. But the process of sifting through and copying these files has been made burdensome and expensive by broadcasters that don’t want the public to know how much they profit from the billions being spent on political ads by campaigns and super PACs.
By posting this information online, everyone will gain a better view of the powerful forces that are trying to influence elections via the media (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
8 Easy Steps for an Organized Pantry
by guest blogger Maya Rodale,writer of historicaltales of true love and adventure
Is your pantry a disorganized mess? Mine was–until I spent a blissful afternoon watching TV, cleaning it out, reorganizing, and labeling everything. I find tasks like this soothing and the sight of a neatly organized and labeled space brings me ridiculous amounts of joy. Here are my 8 steps to getting it done well:
1. Observe the mess (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
For the Best Breakfasts Look to Our Neighbors
I’ve helped more than 2,000 clients in the San Francisco Bay area, and one thing I tell them all is the importance of breakfast. From speeding up your metabolism to regulating your mood, breakfast is key. I find that more and more people now know that they should eat breakfast — but they still ask me what to eat for breakfast. My advice is to eat traditional foods.
The benefits of breakfast are almost too numerous to list (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
HuffPost Workouts Amp it Up Playlist
Every once in a while a workout comes along that feels like moving a mountain. Sometimes it’s a new routine or the final push through an exercise plateau, other times it’s just an early morning when it feels particularly difficult to get out of bed when the alarm goes off.
In those moments, for me, the best songs are larger-than-life anthems of confidence and self-worth. They work for the same reason the commercials from my favorite Nike ad campaign work:
If we all walked around saying things like “My strong apologizes for making your strong look like cottage cheese,” we’d probably lose a lot of friends. But in those solitary fitness moments, when, for whatever reason, your brain is threatening to convince your body to quit, we can all stand to get a little cocky if that’s what it takes to reach the finish line (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
In Islam Heaven Is Not Exclusive
He was trying to find his way.
While driving to the mosque for my Friday prayers, I saw him in my back view mirror, fidgeting with his GPS on a hot summer day. Driving up on Park Heights in Baltimore with a car full of children, this visibly Jewish man with a long wavy beard and thick black glasses was clad in a black suit. Say whatever you want, but this much was obvious: He had made some tough choices to please his G-d.
So why would your or my God not reward him for his commitment? What if this man was an organ donor? A volunteer firefighter? A caring neighbor? An honest trader? How could anyone declare with certainty that this man cannot go to heaven?
I don’t know how, but people say this all the time: “He cannot go to heaven because he does not believe in [insert your Prophet or God's name here].” According to a 2008 Pew survey, one in five Christians in America believe that non-Christian faiths cannot lead to salvation. That number soared to 60 percent for white evangelical Protestants who attend church once a weak.
Frankly, I would have checked out of my faith, Islam, if it took such a position (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
30 Days To Fire Up Your Creative Genius Day 11 Whats On Your Stop Doing List VIDEO
If you’re going to realize your intentions, what you stop doing is just as important as what you start and continue to do. This is where “quitting” crosses over into enlightenment. Stopping = the white space. Stopping = room to run free and create from the deepest place of being without restraint or compromise (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Dressing the Baby
Singer/songwriters Kenny Loggins, Gary Burr and Georgia Middleman recently formed the new band Blue Sky Riders, and were profiled by Huff/Post50 in February. They are finishing their first album and will be chronicling their experiences as a band in this blog.
Imagine you have a baby. Wait…I’ll make it more interesting. Imagine THREE people have a baby (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Can a Person Suffer From Life
Is there such a thing as “suffering from life”? This phrase caught my attention when reading a NY Times article about two weeks ago. It was entitled “Push for the Right to Die Grows in the Netherlands,” and is about expanding euthanasia in the Netherlands. There is a group that believes that anyone over the age of 70 should have the right to an assisted death because, “We think old people can suffer from life. Medical technology is so advanced that people live longer and longer, and sometimes they say ‘enough is enough.’” So, asserts Dr (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Lower Student Loan Interest Rates
Fifty years ago college was a luxury. Back then, you could still graduate from high school and get a good paying job that would guarantee you a place in the middle class. Those days are gone.
A postsecondary education is the ticket to economic success in America (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
Jews and Medicine Trailing the Magic Bullet PHOTOS
“My son, the doctor”: It’s become a clich, but its persistence reflects a unique connection between medicine and the modern Jewish experience. We examine this relationship in the exhibition I recently curated at the Yeshiva University Museum, titled “Trail of the Magic Bullet: The Jewish Encounter with Modern Medicine, 1860-1960.”
Modern medicine emerged in the second half of the 19th century as innovative technologies and new theories of disease paved the way for extraordinary medical advances. For many Jews — and for the Jewish community at large — the field of scientific medicine presented new opportunities, new challenges and new ways to engage with modernity.
Through the lens of modern medicine, many aspects of the modern Jewish experience are revealed. We see the drive for social integration as well as the sting of anti-Semitism (continue reading…)
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Apr
27
The Grass Is Always Greener Wherever You Water It
Any time we wish something transpired differently in our lives, that engenders a resentment.
Whenever we hear the words “should have” or “should not have,” that is the manifestation of a resentment.
For example:
“I shouldn’t have been in that car accident.”
“My wife shouldn’t have cheated on me.”
“My dog shouldn’t have gotten cancer.”
“My parents shouldn’t have gotten divorced.”
“My mom shouldn’t have put me up for adoption.”
“I should have been a banker.”
“I shouldn’t have bought that house.”
Very few people can convincingly say, “My life is perfect. I accept it 100 percent, including the things that I did not want or expect to happen.” We all harbor resentments (continue reading…)
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