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Matthew Yglesias » Life Imitates Art Imitating Life

CHICAGO - NOVEMBER 07: President-elect Barack...
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nice to know though it was in president Bartlett’s term and not in Matt Santos‘

Life Imitates Art Imitating Life
From reader AB:
1998: Josh Lyman is modeled after Rahm Emanuel.
2004: Matt Santos is modeled after Barack Obama
2006: Matt Santos wins the presidency, and appoints Josh Lyman his Chief of Staff
2008: Barack Obama wins the presidency, and appoints Rahm his Chief of Staff.
In the art version we got a comprehensive Israel-Palestine peace agreement, so that’s something to look forward to in the future.
Matthew Yglesias » Life Imitates Art Imitating Life.

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Guerrilla Billionaire™ : Billionaire Lessons from Malcolm Gladwell

Excellent Advice from Malcolm Gladwell

Here are his 5 Steps to Success:
1. Find meaning and inspiration in your work.
2. Work hard.
3. Discover the relationship between effort and reward.
4. Seek out complex work to avoid boredom and repetition.
5. Be autonomous and control your own destiny as much as possible.
Guerrilla Billionaire™ : Billionaire Lessons from Malcolm Gladwell.

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Probably the Best Bond Film Thus Far

Quantum of Solace
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Quantum of Solace is just that in my opinion, one of the best bond film, and in my opinion the best bond film thus far!
As Bono said in their comeback album during the Boy Band years (late 90’s) look out boys the men are here! and this is what the director/ production team / crew of Quantum Solace is trying to tell spy filmmaker wannabes. There is still nobody quite like bond. Following the public craving for a high realism in their films bond offers quite fantastic but not unbelievable action scenes, these are the most realistic action scenes of the bond series and probably would give the action scenes of the Jason Bourne films a run for their money.
I’d post a longer review next time, but seeing that I still haven’t finished my long review for the newest batman film (I’ve seen it three times and still can’t seem to express my words in prose.) don’t hold your breaths!

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Google Dev Fest Manila (Yehey) Today

Going to Google DevFest 13:00 PHT !
here is the mail from the coordinator,

Hi developers!

We just wanted to remind you about DevFest Manila tomorrow, and also give you an idea of the agenda for the day:
– OpenSocial API
– OpenSocial Partners: Globant, Friendster, ExoPlatform, hi5
– Google Maps APIs
– Google AppEngine
– Whirlwind tour of other Google APIs (inc. Youtube)
Those sessions will be talks that include demos and live code walkthroughs. If you bring your laptop, you can optionally follow along with the walkthroughs or just chat about the currently presented topic with other attendees in the live chat. There will be no reserved time for just hacking (there’s a lot of material to cover!) but we do encourage you to hack while we’re talking.
Besides the talks we’re giving, we’d like to see what you all are working on. You can sign up to give a 3-minute lightning talk here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p9pdwsai2hDNa45aOH9GaQg
If you indicate that you’d like a “consultation”, then we’ll take a look at your project beforehand and give you some ideas on stage about how you could incorporate our tools/APIs.
Also remember to subscribe to the APAC Developer Blog to keep informed of events and news in this region of the world:
Looking forward to a fun day tomorrow!
– pamela
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Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civ...
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Lyndon Baines Johnson before congress:

There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and for faith in our Democracy in what is happening here tonight. For the cries of pain and the hymns and protests of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great government–the government of the greatest nation on earth.
Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country–to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man. In our time we have come to live with the moments of great crises. Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues, issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression. But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, or our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved nation. The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. For, with a country as with a person, “what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong.

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Chris Blattman's Blog: Is college the new high school?

Higher Education
Image by JohnConnell via Flickr

Forgive me for the old they don’t make em like they used to rirades but they actually don’t.

Is college the new high school?
A liberal arts English professor writing in Inside Higher Ed:
After too many years at this job (I am in my mid-40s), I have grown to question higher education in ways that cannot be rectified by a new syllabus, or a sabbatical, or, heaven forbid, a conference roundtable. No, my troubles with this treasured profession are both broad and deep, and they begin with a fervent belief that most of today’s college students, especially those that come to college straight from high school, are unnecessarily coddled. Professors and administrators seek to “nurture” and “engage” and they are doing so at the expense of teaching. The result: a discernable and precipitous decline in the quality of college students. More of them come to campus with dreadful study habits. Too few of them read for pleasure. Too many drink and smoke excessively. They are terribly ill-prepared for four years of hard work, and most dangerously, they do not think that college should be arduous. Instead they perceive college as an overnight recreation center in which they exercise, eat, and in between playing extracurricular sports, they carry books around. If a professor is lucky, the books are being skimmed hours before class.
Via MR.
Chris Blattman’s Blog: Is college the new high school?.

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CALL TO ACTION–Foreign Policy: A World Enslaved

For four years, I saw dozens of people enslaved, several of whom traffickers like Benavil actually offered to sell to me. I did not pay for a human life anywhere. And, with one exception, I always withheld action to save any one person, in the hope that my research would later help to save many more. At times, that still feels like an excuse for cowardice. But the hard work of real emancipation can’t be the burden of a select few. For thousands of slaves, grassroots groups like PGS and MSEMVS can help bring freedom. But, until governments define slavery in appropriately concise terms, prosecute the crime aggressively in all its forms, and encourage groups that empower slaves to free themselves, millions more will remain in bondage. And our collective promise of abolition will continue to mean nothing at all.
E. Benjamin Skinner is the author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery (New York: Free Press, 2008).
Foreign Policy: A World Enslaved.

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Stevey's Blog Rants: A programmer's view of the Universe, part 1: The fish

This was a great thought provoking story! Wow!

A programmer’s view of the Universe, part 1: The fish
I write a column for computer programmers called “Stevey’s Blog Rants.” It’s basically a magazine column — I publish to it about once a month. The average length of my articles is about 12 pages, although they can range anywhere from 4 to 40 pages, depending on how I’m feeling. But for precedent, don’t think blogs: think of Reader’s Digest. The blog format sets the wrong expectations.
Hence, some people complain that my articles are too long. Others complain that I have not given my arguments sufficient exposition, and that my articles are in fact too short on detail to warrant any credibility. This is a lose-lose situation for me, but I keep at it nonetheless because I enjoy writing. Even if nobody were to read my blog, the act of writing things down helps me think more clearly, and it’s engaging in the same way that solving a Sudoku puzzle is engaging.
You should try it yourself. All it takes is a little practice.
Stevey’s Blog Rants: A programmer’s view of the Universe, part 1: The fish.