Tom Friedman’s latest column, Dreaming the Possible Dream, touches on some companies and their promising technologies that we’ve seen here, namely Calera (cement) and Bloomenergy (fuel cells.) Everybody has seen the hype for Bloomenergy. I sincerely hope they live long and prosper. I quoted Bill McKibben here a while ago in his review of a […]
People marked International Women’s Day yesterday in a variety of ways. In Europe, the Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, made news with the publication of his Viewpoint that bans against the Islamic niqab or burqa would violate a woman’s privacy and could potential violate the European Convention on […]
In case you missed it during your morning stroll through the blogosphere, today is International Women’s Day. In fact, it is the 100th anniversary of when the IWD started to be celebrated as a global day of recognition and appreciation for the role that women play in our societies, as well as a day of […]
“Sure, ‘The Hurt Locker’ was a compelling profile of a horrible, though heroic, job — dismantling bombs. And more generally, fighting wars is a horrible, thankless occupation pushed on our young men and women. But anything deeper on war and peace, Hollywood fails to provide. Yes, the adrenaline rush and even addiction that war forces […]
I don’t write about fossil fuels much here because I consider them, well, to be fossils. The fossil fuel industries are rather large dinosaurs lumbering to their long, drawn-out deaths as the earth continues to get hotter. It’s a scene from “Fantasia.” Unfortunately, so is my vision. Coal, oil and gas are going to be […]
A few days ago I came across the Global Music Project, an international non profit whose goal is to unite musicians and music lovers in order to foster cultural awareness, and strengthen collaboration, peace and understanding in areas of conflict. The Global Music Project runs several music preservation and music discovery projects that connect musicians […]
A bad year for film in America. The Hurt Locker was a good anti-war film, but c’mon, Best Picture! The past year may have been a record year for Hollywood financially, but in terms of art, Tinseltown is in decline. Bad film. Bad TV. Bad Late night. What we badly need is some insight into the human […]
Today, March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day that was established to commemorate the struggle women and girls across the globe have endured in order to obtain their ‘full’ human rights. Sadly while many sit here reading this, enjoying our ‘full’ rights, millions of women and young girls worldwide are continue to be denied […]
Gender equality is the key to ending poverty, as it opens the doors of education, and helps to close the door on gender based violence. The key to a prosperous future lies in the lives of generations of girls and ensuring they have equal rights and access, especially in regards to healthcare and education. Thus […]
Fellow blogger Joel Davis tackles the question head on in his blog U.S. Role in the World: “For our focus on the U.S. role, I think the real question is, did the director intend to depict Americans? Having seen the film, I’d say the answer to that question is yes.” [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/y7G-hAHMGoo” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” […]
It was an interesting week. The Iraqis voted in a nationwide election, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called 9/11 a “big lie” and the death of a beloved relative along with the sight of U.S. veterans returning to Iwo Jima for a 65th reunion caused me to stop and reminisce about the achievements of the Greatest […]
I have the pleasure of teaching at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU, in both the graduate and Continuing Education programs. Every month, the MS in Global Affairs folks have a discussion (followed by a lunch) and this past Friday the topic was “New Directions in News Reporting.” Veteran reporter and professor of journalism, […]
You may have heard that there is a little shindig going on in Hollywood today. Yes, I’m talking about the Academy Awards. I have to admit, I’m not all that big on award shows, so it’s not really been on my radar. After all, it doesn’t have anything to do with the U.S. role in […]
*Member of the European Parliament and former French Justice Minister Rachida Dati talks politics, class prejudice and fashion while “being fashion,” as my little cousin is fond of saying. My little cousin doesn’t think I am fashion because “you have to be fashion, you have to feel fashion…Fashion people go out to party every single […]
A “gendercide” afflicts females in China and India Tens of millions of females are missing from societies around the world thanks to neglect, gender-specific abortions, murder and sexual violence, leaving skewed gender ratios that endanger countries’ survival. Traditional favoritism for male children combined with modern preferences for small families is helping to drive the trend. […]