Thursday, March 31, 2016

On This Final Day of Q1 2016: Some Brief Final Thoughts....


It has been a very challenging 3-Months in our World.   But what was gratifying to take comfort in was a concerted effort throughout the #Outsider properties to work to live up to the Mission to "Transform the conversation about Our World One Notation, One Tweet, One Tweet at a time".    This is as a concerted effort was begun to create a Social Good component primarily through contributions to the Johnson and Johnson Donate a Good Program which I launched last year and the team has been featuring on the #Outsider Twitter Channel.     Although I was a bit shocked at some of the setbacks at Johnson & Johnson in light of the Product Liability lawsuit losses, It does not take away from what they've done with this program which I look forward to supporting and glad to see the team at #Outsiders has embraced.   .  It is also gratifying that the #outsider mission is expanding to underscore the role of Instagram in the transformation process. 

The US Presidential Campaign was one of the key focus points.    It has been exciting to be witness to it in spite of the rather unfortuante discourse at times.    It was also a watershed Quarter on the Media Front.    Al Jazeera retrenched by shutting down its' Americas' Network after having bought it for 500 Million Dollars from Al Gore to be more focused digitally and as it decided that it was going to lay off 500 People from its' headquarters.   The Independent of London went all digital and others throughout the World continued to reassess their operations.      It was also disappointing to be witness to corruption in Malaysia and South Africa--two countries that I had held out a lot of hope for.

#Outsiders will be "dark" for Quarter End though as we gear up for the new Quarter and work away o the long-awaited transition--the "SandBox" has been in what we deem "Public Alpha"--which is admittedly challenging.     But, I wanted to end these brief thoughts with once again on a high note as I feature two beautiful images courtesy of the Speaker of The House' Office as he welcomed the Boy Scouts (a cause near and dear to my heart) and he had a touching scene with his Children in his Office as I continue to support the work of #outsiders with the possibilities at hand--and continuing to be hopeful as the Nuclear Security Summit was going on in Washington.   I released my wish on the success of the Summit (the final one by President Obama) earlier on my Personal Twitter Feed.

Onward to the new quarter with all its' possibilities....

The Boy Scouts
Every year, the Boy Scouts of America present the speaker of the House with their Report to the Nation.  And this year, they came with a question too: "What's up with the lights on the clocks around the U.S. Capitol?" Click here to find out Speaker Ryan's answer.
Taking time with the Boy Scouts of America
A Special Bill Signing with Speaker Ryan's Children
It's not every day that you get to sign your own bill to send to the president's desk to become law, but that's exactly what Speaker Ryan did when he signed this anti-poverty legislation with his two oldestchildren by his sides.
A Special Bill Signing with Speaker Ryan's Children
 

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Working Away On This Final Week of March 2016.....

It has been yet again a busy few days here in #Outsiders as the team finished the latest curation throughout the properties and finished the morning Social Media curation on Twitter.  It has been quite a morning with a hijacking in Egypt, Donald Trump's Campaign Manager Charged and of course the aftermath of the Apple Phone saga ending--for now.  It was also quite a startling development that the US Supreme Court deadlocked on Union Fees--which the Unions took as a victory.

Our team @ #has also launched a beta to be ready to transition the Properties.      The Beta for the new "Virtual Campus" for the properties is expected to be available real soon.     As I was reflecting upon this journey and assessing the roadmap, I took a few minutes to "drop in" to the Values.com site and picked up a few of the thoughts that is  ever so critical for all to be aware of--including me!!!

Commitment winston churchill Inspiration norman rockwell



Persistence abraham lincoln Ambition liz murray


 
Enough Said!!!

Onward..:))) 

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Working Away On This Easter Week-End......

It has been a busy Easter weekend as the team is finally gearing up to test out the new "Beta Site" as our journey continues.     It included releasing a "Thought For the Week" To the Education Channel in celebration of Easter as it underscores a sense of the possible.   The thoughts the team chose from +Jonathan Huie  was in this spirit.

We have also been witness to a horrific week in our World.    The aftermath of Brussels continues to be felt throughout the World.   A march against hate scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled in Brussels that underscores how the City continues to be on the edge.   I have also been quite horrified by how Belgium asked for trouble as there are multiple police agencies with no one talking  As the campaign against #Daesh is continuing, #Daesh lashed out as a suicide bomber attacked a Football (Soccer) match in Baghdad killing kids as long as 10.  They were buried in Baghdad earlier today. It appears that Europe is pulling its' act together though as I am just seeing reports of an Algerian being detained in Italy based on an European Arrest Warrant by Belgian Authorities.

As I was on the prowl before being off for the night, I saw reports on two victims of hatred that I wanted to pay tribute too.    Asad Shah was a shopkeeper in Glasgow Scotland who was seriously injured and subsequently died in a religiously motivated attack.     Reports I reviewed note that the guy who committed the crime was Muslim:




He was well-liked and the GoFundMe page has raised almost 36,000 Pounds (approximately  7 Thousand Dollars).   He had written an Easter Greeting earlier in the day.    One of the other young victims was Sascha Pinczwoski who was killed with her brother and she had posted a note right before she died in the Brussels attack reminding the World to be tolerant always.    I salute both these ordinary folks who in their own way tried to make a difference.

While finishing my own "Virtual Walk-About" On the Grid, I saw this that one of my cousins released to her own Facebook Wall.   It was from an injured British Soldier that is so powerful in its' message--It was in sharp contrast to the debate that goes on today that is dominating the Republican Party and somewhat echoed by the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan who cited a 10% rule in her rationale to combat what she deemed "radical Islamic Jihadism".    I hope she takes note of what this soldier reminded us all of: 

British soldier who lost leg in Iraq issues powerful message
A British soldier who lost his leg in Iraq has posted a powerful message to people "expecting racism" from him just because he "got blown up".For Chris Herbert's full message: http://bit.ly/21OyRjz
Posted by ITV News on Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Hopefully the spirit of Easter will prevail.

As our team goes "dark" For Easter Sunday, on behalf of myself and the entire #Outsider team, Happy Easter!!!