Notations On Our World: An #Outsider Newsflash On This Historic Day in #Havana

.@JohnKerry: #Cuba’s future is for Cubans to shape. #USCuba http://t.co/JXEHLES4kV

— Department of State (@StateDept) August 14, 2015

It was a beautiful sunny day in Havana as The flag of the United States has just been raised over the US Embassy in Havana for the first time in 54 Years.   The poem by Richard Blanco on belonging to the sea was just beautiful beyond words.   This was as the Secretary of State gave a rousing speech as he underscored how a new day has arrived--this is the first time that a US Secretary of State has been on Cuban soul since 1945.

We found it quite a nice touch as he delivered part of his speech in what he viewed as near flawless Spanish and culminated with a simple admonition that all diplomats remember:  Promises made, promises kept.  The Embassy Marine Contingent in 1961 that brought down the flag for the last time were there to hand off the flag to the Embassy Marine Contingent Havana 2015 who in turn raised the flag.   

Fun to be witness to history....

Notations On Our World: An Ever So Challenging 24 Hours & #OVERSHOOT

It has been a challenging few days around our World as we have been witness to the continued calamity in Iraq and Syria and the political paralysis in India.    Our team has been busy with our  "Twitter Watch" on the latest from China and India over the past 24 hours--along with "The Daily Update".     

We have also been on the prowl with another challenging problem  with our World which we will report on:  Our Planet.    August 13 will be officially "Earth Overshoot Day" whereby, "...Global overshoot occurs when humanity’s annual demand for the goods and services that our land and seas can provide—fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, wood, cotton for clothing, and carbon dioxide absorption—exceeds what Earth’s ecosystems can renew in a year. Overshoot means we are drawing down the planet’s principal rather than living off its annual interest. This overshoot leads to a depletion of Earth’s life-supporting natural capital and a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Learn more".       It is a developing story which we will have comments on over the ensuing weeks.     The interactive map above from the team @ Earth Overshoot Day  is quite insightful for all to get a sense of the challenging times we are faced with   It was quite timely as our team was able to join this Webinar sponsored by MIT & UPS which we have made available to our community: 

WEBINAR ON-DEMAND

Thank you for attending, Mike. We hope you enjoyed our recent webinar, "The Power of Resilience in a Time of Uncertainty." Here's how to access the event materials: • Watch a recording of the presentation and Q&A — available for a limited time. Access instructions below. • Read a summary of key insights (PDF). • View the Twitter chat and continue the conversation at#ResiliencePower.

ON-DEMAND ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS 1. Visit http://sloanreview.mit.edu/webinar-ups-2015/on-demand 2. Enter your unique PIN 68469 in the PIN field and click "Logon." 3. Click the "Open" link on the right to watch the archived webinar. Please note that you must listen through your computer speakers. To test your system compatibility, click here and select "Check System Compatibility for Participants." If you have any trouble accessing the webinar, please call our Customer Support line at 877-297-2901 (International callers, please call 972-588-8035).

EVENT MATERIALS Event Summary (PDF) Read insights and highlights from Yossi Sheffi's presentation and Q&A session. (The event slides will be available to all registrants in late September.)

As we went to press with this latest edition of "Notations", we received some distressing news about the cancer of Jimmy Carter.    According to a statement released by the Carter Center, he has cancer that has spread.   We will continue to monitor it over the course of the ensuing days.

Notations From the Grid: On The Tragedy in #Syria

The horror of Syria continues with no end in sight as we saw this on the Human Rights Watch Twitter Feed earlier this morning during our "Daily Roundup":

The Brief: Syria's deaths have topped 240,000; 70,000 of those killed were civilians. More: http://t.co/5pV1jIyspc pic.twitter.com/u6luWDBlOE

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) August 10, 2015

It  has been also quite disconcerting as we have reviewed attacks in Turkey over the past 24 hours as we also saw this:

It is chilling 😱😨but the world will overcome http://t.co/k1K8pFBzXu pic.twitter.com/pPS0VxOzhF

— Mike Pouraryan (@mikepouraryan) August 10, 2015