12/02/2015

Notations From the Grid: Reflections On The Generosity of Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan

Our Founder shared this with us late yesterday he released to his Personal Facebook Wall:
On a brief "Prowl" before running off....they've announced they're giving away 99% of their wealth....nicely done!!!!
Posted by Mike Pouraryan on Tuesday, December 1, 2015


 The founder of Facebook and his wife committed to give away 99% of their fortune (some 45 Billion) to charity as they welcomed their daughter into the World.     We join the World in commending them for this wonderful act of generosity and courage that should be a trailblazer for all.    As we were deliberating the impact of the decision by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckberg, we saw this very moving letter that they wrote that Mark Zuckberg also released to Facebook which we are pleased to present here:
Priscilla and I are so happy to welcome our daughter Max into this world!For her birth, we wrote a letter to her about...
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, December 1, 2015


 We here @ #Outsiders identify with this vision and we find it every so gratifying to see such a strong voice commit to this sense of change as we continue to be witness to the tragedy of Syria and how it has engulfed the entire Middle East region as it has.     

 One man can make a difference--and these two beautiful souls showed it as we extend our congratulations and best wishes to them on the birth of their daughter.

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12/01/2015

Notations On Our World: On @COP21 & Other thoughts


© Benjamin Géminel

Our team has been rather "Virtually Breathless" as we have been assessing how things are coming along at @COP21.    We were so gratified to see this as President Hollande along with her Environment Minister, Segelone Royale officially joined the openingi of the Climate Generations Pavilion underscoring the role of nonstate actors as the deliberations continue.    Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister who was named by the 1300 delegates as President of @COP21, noted in his remarks that, "The Time Has Come".  Just like the World, we eagerly await On Our World.

 Beyond the deliberations in Paris, there is the real world.   One distrubring development we're assessing is that Iran is in Recession.   The Government has come up with a "bail-out" type arrangement that entails citizens being entitled to a credit card to help spruce up durable goods   This is as the more conservative elements in the country are continuing their campaign to stifle dissent and to impose their own sense of morality on the Country.   Khameini has come out with some recent statements as his status is increasingly being elevated to the title of "Imam" even in official Government circles.   The Parlimaentary elections will be a harbinger to assess where the country goes from here.  In the meantime, Iran is waging a very challenging campaign in Syria that is seeing body bags coming home.   Four Afghani Soldiers who were part of a Basij Batallion were buried in Tehran within the past two weeks.    Our team found it of curious interest how Vladimir Putin was in Tehran and gave Khamienin the oldest Quran in Russia--as leaders of the Gas Producing Countries meeting in Tehran also went to see Khameini.   The Nigerian President, Mohammad Bouhari, said he learnt a "lot from him".     We will have a Notation soon on Nigeria as President Bouhari is known as "Baba Go Slow" as Boko Haram continue to wreck havoc on the Country.

 As Iran continues to "preach morality", the rate of alcohol consumption continues to increase as this reflects (Some 420 Million Litres): 

 This is as the rate of divorce continues to increase and as people are pulled to profound extreme measures to make ends meet.  The stories are heart-wrenching to read as we assess the situation inside the Country.

 @COP21 and the advent of the Sustainable Development Goals we released in "Visions" gives us hope.   We wanted to end this edition of "notations" with a primer on it as our on-going assessment continues:    



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Notations On Our World: On the "Virtual Road" @ COP21 in Paris......

Day 2 of +COP21 is continuing.     We here @ #Outsiders World Headquarters received this newsflash from the +The Guardian which we wanted to report by the environment editor for the paper which provides a strong and engaging deep effort on the challenges faced right now--some of these we noted in our daily commentary yesterday: 

   
 
 
Dear Mike,

I'm out in Paris as part of the team of Guardian correspondents covering the UN climate talks. Yesterday was the big set piece day for speeches by heads of state and government. They were meant to stick to 3 minutes each but of course many spoke for much longer and the speeches carried on well after dark. Barack Obama said the fact the talks were going ahead was an "act of defiance" following the terrorist attacks 2 weeks ago.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, implored countries to come to a deal: "Please, let's meet on the middle ground, show some flexibility and sense of compromise for the common good. We can't go on like this. We can't waste any further time."

I spent the first two days talking to the heads of the most important developing country negotiating groups and I must say they have rather more faith than I do that they will get a deal. Now that the leaders have jetted out, there are only three days of negotiations left before the politicians arrive and, boy, there are mountains to climb over cuts, long term goals, finance, equity, and the principle that the rich countries should act first and dig deeper because they are responsible for the historical emissions. My feeling now is that there will be a monster collision and rows in a few days time, but then all parties will come to their senses and realise that everyone has to compromise. It will be painful, but it's the only chance of success.

John Vidal
Environment Editor

Here's today's reading list:
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