A Salute to Mother Earth On this First Day of Feburary....

As we were working away today, our team saw this beauty from the Commander of the International Space Station that we've periodically featured on our Social Media Roundup.    We felt a salute to Our Mother Earth was warranted to celebrate the launch of the new month as we go "dark" on the network to assess a number of key initiatives including Iran (In Development), On the US Election Scene & the Aftermath of Iowa); On Europe & Brexit, On the latest on the Environment  & other key focus areas for us here in #Outsiders.  

As Commander Kelly noted, when we think of beautiful things, let's remember Mother Earth:

Day 311. When you think of beautiful things. Don't forget Earth. #GoodNight from @space_station! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/5jOGJbWNHy

— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) February 2, 2016

Notations From the Grid (Special Edition): As #Iowa Votes.....

It has begun!!!

No one better than the Economist KAL depicts it ever so eloquently:




As the delegate "rush" is in full swing, it will be quite interesting.   The Trump juggernaut seems to be non-stoppable so far.   As we went to press, we saw reporting that Marco Rubio seems to have been gaining traction.  We look forward to assessing it after all the pundits have had their saw--and the World has converged on Iowa today as all traced the candidates as they all crisscrossed Iowa on a final dash to the finish.  

This rather interesting snapshot we just received here at our Virtual Studios reveals some very interesting thoughts on the Trump Juggernaut as we assess whether it is in fact sustainable--so far so good as we note this final thought:  Even Trump himself noted that what only matters is when people turn out to vote:

Who's pumped on Trump?

As the Iowa caucus kicks off today, Trump remains the GOP's leading presidential candidate. That's despite a raft of rhetoric laden with violence, xenophobia and racism. So who are the supporters powering Trump's ascent? Here's what we know:

• When researchers at YouGov asked Trump fans what's the most important issue for them in this election, they overwhelmingly said immigration or terrorism.
• The issue of political correctness was also key. Only 4 percent of respondents thought it was good. Seventy-one percent said it was bad.
• Surprisingly, 20 percent of Trump supporters polled said they'd voted for Barack Obama in the past, according to YouGov Chief Scientist Douglas Rivers.  
• A University of Massachusetts poll found that Trump was the only candidate with significant support among people with "authoritarian inclinations."
• Although Trump has shunned campaign contributions, we found people in all 50 states who've given him their money: CEOs, deep sea divers, bovine podiatrists and more.

How do you feel about Trump? Our interactive "Trump Game" lets you react to his most divisive quotes.

Notations From the Grid: From #Pakistan with 144 Stories project, Dawn.com memorializes one of Pakistan’s biggest tragedies

Welcome to February here in the #Outsider network.


We find it gratifying beyond words as we see innovation in action throughout the world as the Dawn, the leading newspaper in Pakistan documented stories on the tragedy that we were all witness to:




With 144 Stories project, Dawn.com memorializes one of Pakistan’s biggest tragedies: With terrorist attacks being a common occurrence in Pakistan, how do its journalists get readers to care about their coverage? Dawn.com recently set an example with its 144 Stories project.