Sabtu, 31 Januari 2015
Finally, A Basic Guide To All Those Decorative Pillows
Finally, A Basic Guide To All Those Decorative Pillows When your bedroom needs a wake-up, there's no better (or better-priced) place to turn than some dazzling pillows. For the ultra-luxe experience, hotel experts recommend arranging at least three on your bed. A bright pop of pillow color can also act as the centerpiece for a stylish bedroom.
Too bad pillow names and sizes are so darn confusing. Do you know the difference between a neck roll and a bolster, for instance? (Yes, there is a difference.) Others, like Euro shams, are easier to remember since they're always the same size. Here's the breakdown on every type of pillow your bed could desire, plus some inspiration on how to put them to work.
Hover over this image to pin.
A big bolster with monogrammed shams is the perfect balance of fun and elegance.
Stick to one strict color palate to draw a room together.
Two patterned Euro shams are all it takes to make a bright statement.
...but it never hurts to mix and match prints.
And for a doable everyday look, choose feather-filled Euro shams that double as sleeping pillows!
Too bad pillow names and sizes are so darn confusing. Do you know the difference between a neck roll and a bolster, for instance? (Yes, there is a difference.) Others, like Euro shams, are easier to remember since they're always the same size. Here's the breakdown on every type of pillow your bed could desire, plus some inspiration on how to put them to work.
Hover over this image to pin.
A big bolster with monogrammed shams is the perfect balance of fun and elegance.
Stick to one strict color palate to draw a room together.
Two patterned Euro shams are all it takes to make a bright statement.
...but it never hurts to mix and match prints.
And for a doable everyday look, choose feather-filled Euro shams that double as sleeping pillows!
7 Explorers Name The Most Beautiful Place They've Ever Seen
7 Explorers Name The Most Beautiful Place They've Ever Seen Looking for travel inspiration? We've been asking fascinating people -- Pulitzer Prize-winners, world champion athletes, entrepreneurs, artists, and more -- to share the greatest travel journeys of their lives.
New Guinea
Scientist and author Jared Diamond, who won the Pulitzer Prize for "Guns, Germs, and Steel," is emphatic: "The most beautiful, exciting place in the world is New Guinea, with no close seconds. This is not my opinion, this is objective fact."
Here's his case: "Within this island, you get the whole world, from the equator to the North Pole, squeezed in. It's on the equator, but its mountains are 16,500 feet high, so there are glaciers. That means that as you go up a New Guinea mountain, you're going from tropical rainforest, into oak forest, into beach forest, into sub-alpine forest, into tundra, and then finally up to the glaciers, all within a few miles. In fact, it is the only place in the world where you can stand on a coral reef and look up at a glacier. Also, there are hundreds of different tribes with hundreds of different languages, so from a human point of view, it is the most exciting place in the world." [Map]
Huli Wigmen crossing in the forests of the Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. (Wade Davis via Getty Images)
Aerial view of the Bensbach River floodplains. (Col Roberts via Getty Images)
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Acclaimed Afghan-American memoirist Tamim Ansary moved from Kabul to the United States as a 16-year-old to attend high school. "Every year they would do a trip in spring, a camping trip someplace," he recalled. "One year they went to Canyonlands, which is in Red Rock Country in Utah. I remember then, I said, 'I'm coming back here before I die.' A couple of years ago, we did go back. I'm too old to make the hike anymore. I couldn't hike into all the places that I remember. But the Red Rock Country of Utah is just overwhelming. Don't let your life go by without having been there." [Map]
Mesa Arch sunrise landscape in Canyonlands National Park. (Dave Soldano Images via Getty Images)
(Alan Majchrowicz via Getty Images)
Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota
Tamim Ansary also raved about the Boundary Waters wilderness area. "If you look at the map of the United States and Canada, you'll find it along the border there. It's thousands of lakes. They only let three parties put in at any portage point in a day, and they don't let you come closer than a quarter mile. They have to carry your canoe and all your stuff down; then you get into whatever lake you've come to, and that connects to another lake, and that connects to another lake. And there's nobody there! We were there for a while and we saw one other party. We camped in a little island that had a campground and everything, but only one and there was nothing else there. I just loved that." [Map]
Birch Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area, Minnesota. (Christian Heeb via 500px)
Rishikesh, India
Britta Hölzel is a rare combination, a Ph.D. neuroscientist and a yoga and meditation practitioner. Her research at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere has focused on how meditation changes the brain.
"I've traveled to India again and again," she said. "A special place is a town in the north of India that's called Rishikesh. They call it the yoga capital of the world, a lot of yoga ashrams are there. It's right where the Ganges comes out from the Himalayas and goes into the open flatlands. While there, I had a moment of deep realization that this is how I want to spend my life. This is what I want to dedicate my life to, both the research and this kind of practice, because I think it just makes such a profound difference to one's life to have an orientation towards living a good and spiritual life and a meaningful life. To me, that makes the entire difference." [Map]
Suspension bridge to Swarg Niwas Temple, Rishikesh. (Exotica.im/UIG via Getty Images)
The Ganges River near Rishikesh. (Ivan604 via Getty Images)
High Sierra Trail, California
To win last year's World's Toughest Mudder contest, endurance athlete Ryan Atkins raced for 24 hours straight, covering 95 miles in the Nevada desert, all while wearing a wetsuit.
Endurance competitions have sent Atkins to some incredible locations. "One of my coolest traveling experiences was running the High Sierra Trail in California," he said. "That was awesome, probably the greatest trail I've ever experienced. It starts at Sequoia National Park and finishes on top of Mount Whitney in California, and it's just a totally gorgeous trail. That one stands out." [Map]
High Sierra Trail approaching Mt. Humphreys (Gettystock)
Killarney Provincial Park, Canada
We also asked Ryan Atkins about the most beautiful place he's ever visited. "Honestly, it’s probably a park not too far from where I live," he says. "Killarney Provincial Park, about five or six hours north of Toronto. It's beautiful Canadian forest, with crystal-clear lakes and white quartzite rock all over. There's hiking and canoeing. It's just a gorgeous place." [Map]
Island in Georgian Bay along the Chikanishing Trail, Killarney Provincial Park
Hanalei, Hawaii
"I would say the most beautiful place I've seen is Hanalei, which is on the northern side of the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands," says Tim Kochis, the itinerant former CEO and chairman of Aspiriant, a large independent wealth management firm.
"It is just beautiful, particularly in the sunshine, and then after a rain because there are these series of waterfalls that are falling from the north shore mountains into the ocean. If you see this from any distance, you wonder, how could any place on the planet be more beautiful than this?" [Map]
Stand-up paddle board in Hanalei Bay; Kauai, Hawaii.
A morning shot of Hanalei Valley. (Scott Ingram Photography via Flickr)
Tuscany and Positano, Italy
Lalita Tademy has written multiple bestselling historical epics. Asked about her favorite travel journey, she said, "My husband and I went to Italy for a month. For two weeks of that, we were stationary in Tuscany. We rented a farm house. I wrote every morning, very early. Then in the afternoons, we'd go and visit hill towns and just walk around. We had no real plan. We would just walk. We would stumble into markets that were vibrant and wonderful, or restaurants that we hadn't done any reading but they turned out to be just absolutely delightful." [Map]
Positano, she said, was the most beautiful place she's ever seen. "Absolutely blew me away. Up on the cliffs, perched up above everything, watching the ocean, the boats. It was just stunning. I spent so much time on the balcony, just staring. It was inspiring, and the colors were beautiful, everything in bloom. Gorgeous." [Map]
Sunrise over farm of olive groves and vineyards in Tuscany. (Gettystock)
Positano, Italy on the Amalfi Coast. (Gettystock)
Mongolia
Senior U.S. policy aide Jamie Metzl has traveled to virtually every corner of Asia. His favorite destination? "Oh, that's an easy one," he said. "I absolutely love Mongolia, it is such a magical place. The Gobi Desert is actually where most of the dinosaurs in the Museum of Natural History come from."
He continued: "As opposed to China, Mongolia is this huge country with a very small number of people. Everyone has their little tent -- the Turkic word is yurt, but in Mongolia it's call a ger, and you're miles away from everybody else. So there's this expansive frontier culture, a culture of welcoming and of self-reliance and of not wanting to be part of some system that's going to oppress you. And the people, at least my Mongolian friends -- I certainly don't vouch for every Mongolian -- but they're just such a creative, fun-loving, big-hearted people. They're not the only people in the world that way, but it's certainly in a way that's touched me." [Map]
A row of Mongolian gers. (Gettystock)
Sand dunes in the Gobi Desert. (David Santiago Garcia via Getty Images)
+++
Transcription services by Tigerfish; now offering transcripts in two-hours guaranteed. Interview text has been edited and condensed.
Sophia is a project to collect life lessons from fascinating people. Learn more or sign up to receive lessons for living directly via Facebook or our email newsletter.
New Guinea
Scientist and author Jared Diamond, who won the Pulitzer Prize for "Guns, Germs, and Steel," is emphatic: "The most beautiful, exciting place in the world is New Guinea, with no close seconds. This is not my opinion, this is objective fact."
Here's his case: "Within this island, you get the whole world, from the equator to the North Pole, squeezed in. It's on the equator, but its mountains are 16,500 feet high, so there are glaciers. That means that as you go up a New Guinea mountain, you're going from tropical rainforest, into oak forest, into beach forest, into sub-alpine forest, into tundra, and then finally up to the glaciers, all within a few miles. In fact, it is the only place in the world where you can stand on a coral reef and look up at a glacier. Also, there are hundreds of different tribes with hundreds of different languages, so from a human point of view, it is the most exciting place in the world." [Map]
Huli Wigmen crossing in the forests of the Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea. (Wade Davis via Getty Images)
Aerial view of the Bensbach River floodplains. (Col Roberts via Getty Images)
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Acclaimed Afghan-American memoirist Tamim Ansary moved from Kabul to the United States as a 16-year-old to attend high school. "Every year they would do a trip in spring, a camping trip someplace," he recalled. "One year they went to Canyonlands, which is in Red Rock Country in Utah. I remember then, I said, 'I'm coming back here before I die.' A couple of years ago, we did go back. I'm too old to make the hike anymore. I couldn't hike into all the places that I remember. But the Red Rock Country of Utah is just overwhelming. Don't let your life go by without having been there." [Map]
Mesa Arch sunrise landscape in Canyonlands National Park. (Dave Soldano Images via Getty Images)
(Alan Majchrowicz via Getty Images)
Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota
Tamim Ansary also raved about the Boundary Waters wilderness area. "If you look at the map of the United States and Canada, you'll find it along the border there. It's thousands of lakes. They only let three parties put in at any portage point in a day, and they don't let you come closer than a quarter mile. They have to carry your canoe and all your stuff down; then you get into whatever lake you've come to, and that connects to another lake, and that connects to another lake. And there's nobody there! We were there for a while and we saw one other party. We camped in a little island that had a campground and everything, but only one and there was nothing else there. I just loved that." [Map]
Birch Lake, Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe Area, Minnesota. (Christian Heeb via 500px)
Rishikesh, India
Britta Hölzel is a rare combination, a Ph.D. neuroscientist and a yoga and meditation practitioner. Her research at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere has focused on how meditation changes the brain.
"I've traveled to India again and again," she said. "A special place is a town in the north of India that's called Rishikesh. They call it the yoga capital of the world, a lot of yoga ashrams are there. It's right where the Ganges comes out from the Himalayas and goes into the open flatlands. While there, I had a moment of deep realization that this is how I want to spend my life. This is what I want to dedicate my life to, both the research and this kind of practice, because I think it just makes such a profound difference to one's life to have an orientation towards living a good and spiritual life and a meaningful life. To me, that makes the entire difference." [Map]
Suspension bridge to Swarg Niwas Temple, Rishikesh. (Exotica.im/UIG via Getty Images)
The Ganges River near Rishikesh. (Ivan604 via Getty Images)
High Sierra Trail, California
To win last year's World's Toughest Mudder contest, endurance athlete Ryan Atkins raced for 24 hours straight, covering 95 miles in the Nevada desert, all while wearing a wetsuit.
Endurance competitions have sent Atkins to some incredible locations. "One of my coolest traveling experiences was running the High Sierra Trail in California," he said. "That was awesome, probably the greatest trail I've ever experienced. It starts at Sequoia National Park and finishes on top of Mount Whitney in California, and it's just a totally gorgeous trail. That one stands out." [Map]
High Sierra Trail approaching Mt. Humphreys (Gettystock)
Killarney Provincial Park, Canada
We also asked Ryan Atkins about the most beautiful place he's ever visited. "Honestly, it’s probably a park not too far from where I live," he says. "Killarney Provincial Park, about five or six hours north of Toronto. It's beautiful Canadian forest, with crystal-clear lakes and white quartzite rock all over. There's hiking and canoeing. It's just a gorgeous place." [Map]
Island in Georgian Bay along the Chikanishing Trail, Killarney Provincial Park
Hanalei, Hawaii
"I would say the most beautiful place I've seen is Hanalei, which is on the northern side of the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands," says Tim Kochis, the itinerant former CEO and chairman of Aspiriant, a large independent wealth management firm.
"It is just beautiful, particularly in the sunshine, and then after a rain because there are these series of waterfalls that are falling from the north shore mountains into the ocean. If you see this from any distance, you wonder, how could any place on the planet be more beautiful than this?" [Map]
Stand-up paddle board in Hanalei Bay; Kauai, Hawaii.
A morning shot of Hanalei Valley. (Scott Ingram Photography via Flickr)
Tuscany and Positano, Italy
Lalita Tademy has written multiple bestselling historical epics. Asked about her favorite travel journey, she said, "My husband and I went to Italy for a month. For two weeks of that, we were stationary in Tuscany. We rented a farm house. I wrote every morning, very early. Then in the afternoons, we'd go and visit hill towns and just walk around. We had no real plan. We would just walk. We would stumble into markets that were vibrant and wonderful, or restaurants that we hadn't done any reading but they turned out to be just absolutely delightful." [Map]
Positano, she said, was the most beautiful place she's ever seen. "Absolutely blew me away. Up on the cliffs, perched up above everything, watching the ocean, the boats. It was just stunning. I spent so much time on the balcony, just staring. It was inspiring, and the colors were beautiful, everything in bloom. Gorgeous." [Map]
Sunrise over farm of olive groves and vineyards in Tuscany. (Gettystock)
Positano, Italy on the Amalfi Coast. (Gettystock)
Mongolia
Senior U.S. policy aide Jamie Metzl has traveled to virtually every corner of Asia. His favorite destination? "Oh, that's an easy one," he said. "I absolutely love Mongolia, it is such a magical place. The Gobi Desert is actually where most of the dinosaurs in the Museum of Natural History come from."
He continued: "As opposed to China, Mongolia is this huge country with a very small number of people. Everyone has their little tent -- the Turkic word is yurt, but in Mongolia it's call a ger, and you're miles away from everybody else. So there's this expansive frontier culture, a culture of welcoming and of self-reliance and of not wanting to be part of some system that's going to oppress you. And the people, at least my Mongolian friends -- I certainly don't vouch for every Mongolian -- but they're just such a creative, fun-loving, big-hearted people. They're not the only people in the world that way, but it's certainly in a way that's touched me." [Map]
A row of Mongolian gers. (Gettystock)
Sand dunes in the Gobi Desert. (David Santiago Garcia via Getty Images)
Transcription services by Tigerfish; now offering transcripts in two-hours guaranteed. Interview text has been edited and condensed.
Sophia is a project to collect life lessons from fascinating people. Learn more or sign up to receive lessons for living directly via Facebook or our email newsletter.
How Social SMBs Can Land a Super Bowl Two-point Conversion
How Social SMBs Can Land a Super Bowl Two-point Conversion 
According to the State of Small Business Report , 57 percent of small businesses anticipate revenue growth in 2015 and the Super Bowl may be the first big opportunity for that growth. There are many ways local, small businesses and those around the nation can benefit from the big game. They may even be the real winners.
With an expected 100,000 visitors and more than $500 million estimated economic impact, as well as over 1 million participants in local events and activities, the Super Bowl can mean big business for small and mid-sized companies near the scene. From construction and real estate to entertainment and hospitality, local businesses often see the biggest gains in the lead up to the Super Bowl.
Staten Island businesses thriving with the Super Bowl
Even tight-budgeted, small startups like uCool are ponying up to invest on a 15 second Super Bowl spot. According to Adweek, the game maker was a late entrant in the game, and NBC has yet to tell the company what quarter the ad runs.
In 2008, Phoenix brought in $500 million when it hosted the Super Bowl, and Dennis Hoffman, Professor of Economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business, is confident they will bring in even more this year. He also notes that visitors come ready to spend. Game goers are shelling out upwards of $1200 for tickets and are willing to spend even more for the Super Bowl experience.
Last year's Super Bowl in New Jersey saw an interesting split of spending between New Jersey and New York City, but looking at statistics from the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans gives a clear picture of how the event impacts a single host city. According to a University of New Orleans study, visitors who stayed overnight spent almost $149 million directly, with vendors spending almost $74 million, and day visitors spending almost $22 million. NFL affiliated visitors spent around $34 million and members of the news media more than $9 million.
Below are ways local SMBs can prepare for a successful Super Bowl 2015:
Be ready for the surge. Local businesses can expect increased customer interactions and, in many cases, will need to keep careful track of their inventory and plan ahead to prepare for the influx. Some local retailers, especially those with football and Super Bowl merchandise and tailgate supplies may even want to take an almost holiday season approach to their inventory and even adopt Black Friday readiness to make sure stores are running at full steam and don't run out of the most sought after items.
Work together and work smart. Small and mid-sized, local businesses may also want to band together to provide a suite of services to incoming visitors or to big businesses needing local support. Restaurants and hotels can work together with event planners and PR companies for parties and with local retailers that help visitors get ready for the tailgate scene. When working together, it is crucial for small businesses to work as smart and effectively as possible. Setting up basic guidelines can be the key to beneficial and long lasting partnerships, ones that extend far beyond Super Bowl weekend.
Here are a few tips for small businesses around the nation:
Know what Super Bowlers like to eat. The clearest winners nationwide are bars, restaurants, caterers, party suppliers, and supermarkets on what has become the 2nd largest food consumption day of the year. This means they need to be stocked and ready for surges. Inventory management is crucial if you're in the food or football business; especially if you sell football food.
See full infographic here
Gear up social media marketing. Even if you can't afford a $4.5 million Super Bowl ad, there are many opportunities to take advantage of the hype for your own marketing. Try leveraging social media and engaging your fans and audience with game day posts and promotions. Pay attention to trending topics and hashtags to see if any are relevant to your business. A clever Facebook post or a timely picture on Instagram or Twitter could go far.
Take advantage of team building for your own business. An estimated 1.5 million people call in sick on the Monday after the Super Bowl, so why not use game night to build team bonds. Having a fun football watching party could be a great way to bring your employees together and the art of a good party for the summer can easily work in the winter.
As you wait for the biggest football game of the season, make sure to think about how you can use the Super Bowl to kick off your small business this season.
According to the State of Small Business Report , 57 percent of small businesses anticipate revenue growth in 2015 and the Super Bowl may be the first big opportunity for that growth. There are many ways local, small businesses and those around the nation can benefit from the big game. They may even be the real winners.
With an expected 100,000 visitors and more than $500 million estimated economic impact, as well as over 1 million participants in local events and activities, the Super Bowl can mean big business for small and mid-sized companies near the scene. From construction and real estate to entertainment and hospitality, local businesses often see the biggest gains in the lead up to the Super Bowl.
Staten Island businesses thriving with the Super Bowl Even tight-budgeted, small startups like uCool are ponying up to invest on a 15 second Super Bowl spot. According to Adweek, the game maker was a late entrant in the game, and NBC has yet to tell the company what quarter the ad runs.
In 2008, Phoenix brought in $500 million when it hosted the Super Bowl, and Dennis Hoffman, Professor of Economics at the W.P. Carey School of Business, is confident they will bring in even more this year. He also notes that visitors come ready to spend. Game goers are shelling out upwards of $1200 for tickets and are willing to spend even more for the Super Bowl experience.
Last year's Super Bowl in New Jersey saw an interesting split of spending between New Jersey and New York City, but looking at statistics from the 2013 Super Bowl in New Orleans gives a clear picture of how the event impacts a single host city. According to a University of New Orleans study, visitors who stayed overnight spent almost $149 million directly, with vendors spending almost $74 million, and day visitors spending almost $22 million. NFL affiliated visitors spent around $34 million and members of the news media more than $9 million.
Below are ways local SMBs can prepare for a successful Super Bowl 2015:
Be ready for the surge. Local businesses can expect increased customer interactions and, in many cases, will need to keep careful track of their inventory and plan ahead to prepare for the influx. Some local retailers, especially those with football and Super Bowl merchandise and tailgate supplies may even want to take an almost holiday season approach to their inventory and even adopt Black Friday readiness to make sure stores are running at full steam and don't run out of the most sought after items.
Work together and work smart. Small and mid-sized, local businesses may also want to band together to provide a suite of services to incoming visitors or to big businesses needing local support. Restaurants and hotels can work together with event planners and PR companies for parties and with local retailers that help visitors get ready for the tailgate scene. When working together, it is crucial for small businesses to work as smart and effectively as possible. Setting up basic guidelines can be the key to beneficial and long lasting partnerships, ones that extend far beyond Super Bowl weekend.
A Super Bowl nation. With more than 110 million viewers and an almost national holiday status, the Super Bowl is going to impact all kinds of small businesses across the US. Especially if you're in the chicken wing business -- an expected 1.25 billion wings will be eaten. However, wing sellers aren't the only small businesses that can use the Super Bowl to their advantage and smart small businesses know they need to get in on the action.
Here are a few tips for small businesses around the nation:
Know what Super Bowlers like to eat. The clearest winners nationwide are bars, restaurants, caterers, party suppliers, and supermarkets on what has become the 2nd largest food consumption day of the year. This means they need to be stocked and ready for surges. Inventory management is crucial if you're in the food or football business; especially if you sell football food.
See full infographic here
Gear up social media marketing. Even if you can't afford a $4.5 million Super Bowl ad, there are many opportunities to take advantage of the hype for your own marketing. Try leveraging social media and engaging your fans and audience with game day posts and promotions. Pay attention to trending topics and hashtags to see if any are relevant to your business. A clever Facebook post or a timely picture on Instagram or Twitter could go far.
#RTM during #superbowl when you are SMB? Yes, it's possible http://t.co/BV5G9HOOfv http://ift.tt/1DpzAKi
— Sotrender (@sotrender) January 29, 2015 Take advantage of team building for your own business. An estimated 1.5 million people call in sick on the Monday after the Super Bowl, so why not use game night to build team bonds. Having a fun football watching party could be a great way to bring your employees together and the art of a good party for the summer can easily work in the winter.
As you wait for the biggest football game of the season, make sure to think about how you can use the Super Bowl to kick off your small business this season.
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Jumat, 30 Januari 2015
Why Your Twenties Don't Immediately Make You an Adult
Why Your Twenties Don't Immediately Make You an Adult On the morning of my 13th birthday, I expected to wake up and be transformed into a teenager. I thought I'd be cooler, I thought my parents would back off; I thought everything would be different.
It wasn't.
The only thing that changed was my response to "how old are you?" I'd proudly say "Thirteen," as if my sudden acceptance into the teenage world earned me some form of respect.
It didn't.
So why did I think things would be different at age 20? I was subconsciously convinced that I'd suddenly be an adult with my life together. I devoured online lists of things other people wished they had known in their twenties, confident I wouldn't make the same mistakes. I'd leave my teenage years behind and with that, my problems with procrastination and flair for the dramatic. As if adults never have these issues. I'd suddenly know more about taxes and how to properly take care of a car and do a better job at saving money.
But my 20th birthday only showed me just how far away I was from being a grown up. On our way to downtown San Diego for a day of shopping, my "adult" friends and I were in a car accident. No one was hurt, but the car we were in was totaled. We stood on the side of the freeway for 20 minutes because none of us knew what to do. Call a tow truck? Talk to the other drivers? Four licensed adults in the car and we had to call our parents to figure it out. Dealing with insurance after the accident was even worse. It was clear I was not the grown up I'd imagined I would be.
The only thing I learned when I turned twenty was that I still have basically no idea what I'm doing.
As kids we're taught that adults know best. They're portrayed as put-together and authoritative. We pretend adults aren't flawed because they're our parents, our teachers, and our role models. We're supposed to look up to them. And now I'm in my twenties, waiting for this shining moment to show itself so I can get my "life" together and stop eating microwaveable food for dinner and start doing my laundry and watching the news more often. That's what adults do, right?
The problem with this is my life is still going on whether or not it's "together". My room might not be clean and I definitely didn't go to the gym today like I probably should have, I've got it ingrained in my mind that this means my life is a hot mess and it isn't.
I'm 20 years old. I'm a college sophomore with two jobs and a passion for writing. Leaving my teenage years may not have made me an adult overnight, but when I look back at 17-year-old me I'm still amazed at how far I've come since then.
I'll probably never take myself completely seriously if I'm being honest, but that's okay. Even though it's little by little, I'm certainly starting to figure this "grown up" business out.
It wasn't.
The only thing that changed was my response to "how old are you?" I'd proudly say "Thirteen," as if my sudden acceptance into the teenage world earned me some form of respect.
It didn't.
So why did I think things would be different at age 20? I was subconsciously convinced that I'd suddenly be an adult with my life together. I devoured online lists of things other people wished they had known in their twenties, confident I wouldn't make the same mistakes. I'd leave my teenage years behind and with that, my problems with procrastination and flair for the dramatic. As if adults never have these issues. I'd suddenly know more about taxes and how to properly take care of a car and do a better job at saving money.
But my 20th birthday only showed me just how far away I was from being a grown up. On our way to downtown San Diego for a day of shopping, my "adult" friends and I were in a car accident. No one was hurt, but the car we were in was totaled. We stood on the side of the freeway for 20 minutes because none of us knew what to do. Call a tow truck? Talk to the other drivers? Four licensed adults in the car and we had to call our parents to figure it out. Dealing with insurance after the accident was even worse. It was clear I was not the grown up I'd imagined I would be.
The only thing I learned when I turned twenty was that I still have basically no idea what I'm doing.
As kids we're taught that adults know best. They're portrayed as put-together and authoritative. We pretend adults aren't flawed because they're our parents, our teachers, and our role models. We're supposed to look up to them. And now I'm in my twenties, waiting for this shining moment to show itself so I can get my "life" together and stop eating microwaveable food for dinner and start doing my laundry and watching the news more often. That's what adults do, right?
The problem with this is my life is still going on whether or not it's "together". My room might not be clean and I definitely didn't go to the gym today like I probably should have, I've got it ingrained in my mind that this means my life is a hot mess and it isn't.
I'm 20 years old. I'm a college sophomore with two jobs and a passion for writing. Leaving my teenage years may not have made me an adult overnight, but when I look back at 17-year-old me I'm still amazed at how far I've come since then.
I'll probably never take myself completely seriously if I'm being honest, but that's okay. Even though it's little by little, I'm certainly starting to figure this "grown up" business out.
Obama Makes Some Progress In His Passage To India Before the Big Kowtow in Saudi
Obama Makes Some Progress In His Passage To India Before the Big Kowtow in Saudi President Barack Obama made some progress on his agenda in his passage to India. But events in the Middle East and Washington demonstrated again how hamstrung his administration continues to be.
With Republicans stronger in Congress now than they have been since the first election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, Obama's domestic utterances are important mainly for how they help frame the 2016 elections Which makes Obama's geopolitical agenda and international travels and statements all the more important for his remaining presidency.
India, at the far end of what we call the Asia-Pacific Pivot (the "rebalancing" of geopolitical priorities away from over-engagement in the Islamic world of the Middle East and Central Asia to greater engagement with the vast and rising Asia-Pacific mega-region), has been an Obama priority from the beginning. The media focused on the "reality" show knuckleheads who crashed the first Obama State Dinner in 2009, but what was actually important about the affair was that it was in honor of India.
President Barack Obama cut short his much touted trip to would-be strategic partner India, the world's most populous democracy, to lead a a very high-level bipartisan delegation to Saudi Arabia.
So even though Obama's ballyhooed Indian trip this week proved to be a mixed, and decidedly truncated, bag, it is quite significant.
There's never been an "Obama Doctrine," despite earlier projections from some fervent enthusiasts. Except, of course, the pithy internal motto: "Don't do stupid shit" Which might be more impressive if not for Afghanistan, Isis, the Syria flip-flops, the tragic lack of Libya oversight, and so on.
The Asia-Pacific Pivot has been the biggest innovation. Though it has clearly suffered from the inability/unwillingness to get free of the briar patch of the Middle East.
Yet there has been progress, including on this trip.
While there was no big agreement on climate change, in contrast to the recent deal with China, Obama's heralded rapport with new Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on display. It yielded some commercial agreements, notably on solar energy and nuclear power, and in Modi's expressed enthusiasm for a "quadrilateral security dialogue" between the US, Japan, Australia, and India.
The first three already agreed to coordinate naval activities across the vast Pacific expanse. The addition of India would bring in the adjacent Indian Ocean.
Obama and Modi also issued a joint communique on Asia-Pacific affairs.
The overall effect of an emerging alliance of democracies is that of a few more moves to contain an increasingly aggressive People's Republic of China, which has outraged and intimidated smaller neighbors by claiming sovereignty over virtually the entire South China Sea.
Yet what happened at the end of Obama's India trip shows how hamstrung his administration continues to be by Middle Eastern interests.
For Obama cut short his passage to India in favor of a special pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia to pay his very special respects to the Kingdom's new monarch, 79-year old King Salman, who has just succeeded the late King Abdullah. As kowtows go, this was a doozy.
Rather than follow the initial plan of simply sending Vice President Joe Biden in the wake of Abdullah's passing and Salman's succession to the throne, Obama not only cut short his India trip to come himself, he also brought an ultra-heavyweight entourage. Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA Director John Brennan came along with a host of major Republicans, including renewed Senate Armed Services Chairman and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain, former Secretaries of State James Baker and Condi Rice, and former National Security Advisors Brent Scowcroft and Stephen Hadley.
In an episode of unintentional hilarity, even as he cut short his Indian sojourn, Obama saw fit to lecture his South Asian hosts on tolerance and women's rights. Then he went to Riyadh, which is certainly the most curious mixture of medievalism and monied modernity of any major city on the planet. And a place where native advocacy of tolerance and women's rights is a formula for pain and disaster.
Obama had no such criticism for his Saudi hosts. Indeed, he was full of praise.
The incredible drop in the price of oil since Jun 2014, in which Saudi Arabia has played arguably the most crucial role, has helped Obama tremendously. At least in the short term.
Most American incomes simply have not recovered from the great recession. So much lower gasoline prices are a great boon for Obama, temporarily masking the pain of a very uneven economic recovery. Even though the oil price drop is hurting America's own oil boom and drive for energy independence, with higher cost producers left in the lurch, as we see here in California. Kern County, center of fracking and other oil-related ventures, has just declared a fiscal emergency due to plunging oil prices. and consequent declining property tax revenues.
The US economy, some of it at least, is on an uptick. Much of that is due to the very striking fall in the price of oil; since June it was cut by just over half in the next six months. Half of that cut came just since early November. Now the price is some 60 percent lower than it was in June 2014.
I'm not sure how long that's sustainable. Much of the stunning price reduction is because the Saudis and aligned Gulf Arabs are choosing, at present, to maintain market share rather than income. The result, of course, is bad news for Russia and Iran, which doesn't seem entirely coincidental. I doubt either will knuckle under. Saudi production costs are very low and cash reserves are high. But there are lots of interests to buy off and lots of money being left on the table.
Obama already set up training for Syrian rebels, a great cause in Riyadh, on Saudi territory last fall as the price of oil plummeted. More pressure on Iran seems a likely Saudi demand.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Obama already was getting heavy pressure to back away from peace moves on Iran and its controversial nuclear program from Israel and its closely aligned allies inside the US.
Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, born and raised in America, whose background was in right-wing American politics before becoming an Isareli political consultant, joined with House Speaker John Boehner to bypass the White House and arrange an address on Iran to a joint session of Congress in March by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. It's an extraordinary move, both on the part of the new masters of Congress and on the part of the Israeli government, a major American client.
Netanyahu's insistence on the imminence of an Iranian nuclear weapon, and on its "existential threat" to Israel, would be more persuasive had he not been saying much the same thing for the past two decades. And had Netanyahu not aggressively lobbied Congress to authorize the disastrous US invasion of Iraq, which of course helped Iran rise again in the first place.
In addition to the domestic benefits for Obama, the dramatic drop in oil prices is causing far more damage to Russia for its military and paramilitary reaction to the Ukraine regime change than all of Obama's sanctions put together and it's squeezing Iran. For a certain mentality, that makes it likelier that Moscow and Tehran will be reined in. I don't think it will work that way. I think that's how Americans think, not Russians or Iranians.
There is one major effect that is inarguable. Drastically lower oil prices send the exact wrong signal for a nation and a planet that needs to end its oil addiction.
Ever since the beginning of the environmental movement and the Arab oil embargo of 1973, figures like Jerry Brown and Gary Hart and, a bit later, Al Gore have been advocating an end to our oil dependency. And 40 years on, despite some progress, it still hasn't happened.
Fred Dutton, whom I came to know in his capacity as a University of California regent way back when I was a Berkeley student protesting apartheid South Africa, where the university had major investments, called it back in the 1970s. As the chief American lawyer for Saudi Arabia, he was a prime architect of a transnational system that still grips us today.
Complementary need and greed, he said, just a few short years after the Arab oil embargo signaled the emergence of Arab oil power in response to America saving Israel from defeat in the Yom Kippur War, would produce a very powerful and stable international system.
It's certainly a system that has lasted and is very powerful, as witnessed by Obama and the planeload of power brokers on their pilgrimage to the great desert power. How stable it is, well, that's another question, isn't it?
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William Bradley Archive
With Republicans stronger in Congress now than they have been since the first election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, Obama's domestic utterances are important mainly for how they help frame the 2016 elections Which makes Obama's geopolitical agenda and international travels and statements all the more important for his remaining presidency.
India, at the far end of what we call the Asia-Pacific Pivot (the "rebalancing" of geopolitical priorities away from over-engagement in the Islamic world of the Middle East and Central Asia to greater engagement with the vast and rising Asia-Pacific mega-region), has been an Obama priority from the beginning. The media focused on the "reality" show knuckleheads who crashed the first Obama State Dinner in 2009, but what was actually important about the affair was that it was in honor of India.
President Barack Obama cut short his much touted trip to would-be strategic partner India, the world's most populous democracy, to lead a a very high-level bipartisan delegation to Saudi Arabia.
So even though Obama's ballyhooed Indian trip this week proved to be a mixed, and decidedly truncated, bag, it is quite significant.
There's never been an "Obama Doctrine," despite earlier projections from some fervent enthusiasts. Except, of course, the pithy internal motto: "Don't do stupid shit" Which might be more impressive if not for Afghanistan, Isis, the Syria flip-flops, the tragic lack of Libya oversight, and so on.
The Asia-Pacific Pivot has been the biggest innovation. Though it has clearly suffered from the inability/unwillingness to get free of the briar patch of the Middle East.
Yet there has been progress, including on this trip.
While there was no big agreement on climate change, in contrast to the recent deal with China, Obama's heralded rapport with new Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on display. It yielded some commercial agreements, notably on solar energy and nuclear power, and in Modi's expressed enthusiasm for a "quadrilateral security dialogue" between the US, Japan, Australia, and India.
The first three already agreed to coordinate naval activities across the vast Pacific expanse. The addition of India would bring in the adjacent Indian Ocean.
Obama and Modi also issued a joint communique on Asia-Pacific affairs.
The overall effect of an emerging alliance of democracies is that of a few more moves to contain an increasingly aggressive People's Republic of China, which has outraged and intimidated smaller neighbors by claiming sovereignty over virtually the entire South China Sea.
Yet what happened at the end of Obama's India trip shows how hamstrung his administration continues to be by Middle Eastern interests.
For Obama cut short his passage to India in favor of a special pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia to pay his very special respects to the Kingdom's new monarch, 79-year old King Salman, who has just succeeded the late King Abdullah. As kowtows go, this was a doozy.
Rather than follow the initial plan of simply sending Vice President Joe Biden in the wake of Abdullah's passing and Salman's succession to the throne, Obama not only cut short his India trip to come himself, he also brought an ultra-heavyweight entourage. Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA Director John Brennan came along with a host of major Republicans, including renewed Senate Armed Services Chairman and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain, former Secretaries of State James Baker and Condi Rice, and former National Security Advisors Brent Scowcroft and Stephen Hadley.
In an episode of unintentional hilarity, even as he cut short his Indian sojourn, Obama saw fit to lecture his South Asian hosts on tolerance and women's rights. Then he went to Riyadh, which is certainly the most curious mixture of medievalism and monied modernity of any major city on the planet. And a place where native advocacy of tolerance and women's rights is a formula for pain and disaster.
Obama had no such criticism for his Saudi hosts. Indeed, he was full of praise.
The incredible drop in the price of oil since Jun 2014, in which Saudi Arabia has played arguably the most crucial role, has helped Obama tremendously. At least in the short term.
Most American incomes simply have not recovered from the great recession. So much lower gasoline prices are a great boon for Obama, temporarily masking the pain of a very uneven economic recovery. Even though the oil price drop is hurting America's own oil boom and drive for energy independence, with higher cost producers left in the lurch, as we see here in California. Kern County, center of fracking and other oil-related ventures, has just declared a fiscal emergency due to plunging oil prices. and consequent declining property tax revenues.
The US economy, some of it at least, is on an uptick. Much of that is due to the very striking fall in the price of oil; since June it was cut by just over half in the next six months. Half of that cut came just since early November. Now the price is some 60 percent lower than it was in June 2014.
I'm not sure how long that's sustainable. Much of the stunning price reduction is because the Saudis and aligned Gulf Arabs are choosing, at present, to maintain market share rather than income. The result, of course, is bad news for Russia and Iran, which doesn't seem entirely coincidental. I doubt either will knuckle under. Saudi production costs are very low and cash reserves are high. But there are lots of interests to buy off and lots of money being left on the table.
Obama already set up training for Syrian rebels, a great cause in Riyadh, on Saudi territory last fall as the price of oil plummeted. More pressure on Iran seems a likely Saudi demand.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Obama already was getting heavy pressure to back away from peace moves on Iran and its controversial nuclear program from Israel and its closely aligned allies inside the US.
Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, born and raised in America, whose background was in right-wing American politics before becoming an Isareli political consultant, joined with House Speaker John Boehner to bypass the White House and arrange an address on Iran to a joint session of Congress in March by Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. It's an extraordinary move, both on the part of the new masters of Congress and on the part of the Israeli government, a major American client.
Netanyahu's insistence on the imminence of an Iranian nuclear weapon, and on its "existential threat" to Israel, would be more persuasive had he not been saying much the same thing for the past two decades. And had Netanyahu not aggressively lobbied Congress to authorize the disastrous US invasion of Iraq, which of course helped Iran rise again in the first place.
In addition to the domestic benefits for Obama, the dramatic drop in oil prices is causing far more damage to Russia for its military and paramilitary reaction to the Ukraine regime change than all of Obama's sanctions put together and it's squeezing Iran. For a certain mentality, that makes it likelier that Moscow and Tehran will be reined in. I don't think it will work that way. I think that's how Americans think, not Russians or Iranians.
There is one major effect that is inarguable. Drastically lower oil prices send the exact wrong signal for a nation and a planet that needs to end its oil addiction.
Ever since the beginning of the environmental movement and the Arab oil embargo of 1973, figures like Jerry Brown and Gary Hart and, a bit later, Al Gore have been advocating an end to our oil dependency. And 40 years on, despite some progress, it still hasn't happened.
Fred Dutton, whom I came to know in his capacity as a University of California regent way back when I was a Berkeley student protesting apartheid South Africa, where the university had major investments, called it back in the 1970s. As the chief American lawyer for Saudi Arabia, he was a prime architect of a transnational system that still grips us today.
Complementary need and greed, he said, just a few short years after the Arab oil embargo signaled the emergence of Arab oil power in response to America saving Israel from defeat in the Yom Kippur War, would produce a very powerful and stable international system.
It's certainly a system that has lasted and is very powerful, as witnessed by Obama and the planeload of power brokers on their pilgrimage to the great desert power. How stable it is, well, that's another question, isn't it?
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