Notations From the Grid (Special Edition): Remembering #Apollo1

Remembering #Apollo1 In their memory our team will be dark today to honor their sacrifice https://t.co/a3sBBJ2iJW

— The Daily Outsider (@DailyOutsider) January 27, 2016

Notations On Our World: On #Americas Watch with some late breaking developments

The Oregon siege is over as the FBI raided the wildlife refuge, arrested Bundy and seven others as one was killed in the raid.    The image above is from the Wall Street Journal Feed on Twitter just reported within the past 5 minutes.   

As we were assessing all the coverage, we also have been continuing our on-going assessment of the campaign and the latest conflict Mr. Trump has with Fox News.   This has been released by the Campaign that is also available on Mr. Trump's Twitter Feed: 

pic.twitter.com/SmTkLPiBYD

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016

He continues to tout his Poll Numbers and the pundits seem to so far agree.    This was also as the President of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Jr., endorsed him today.

The Debate is scheduled for Thursday.     It is quite an experience to be witness to it all especially as Michael Bloomberg is slated to potentially enter the race.    There is also very crucial development that was reported by the Guardian as the Doomsday Clock was set at 3 Minutes to Midnight:



The World continues to be ever so challenging.

Notations On Our World: On the "Virtual Road" w/Iran's President #Rouhani in #Europe

Iran's President Rouhani is on a four-day trip to Europe.    It was interesting how President Rouhani was accommodated as nude statutes in the Italian Parliament was covered for his visit and as  wine was not served during the Official Meals.    It was of note that 17 Billion Dollars worth of deals have been signed.

As part of his meetings, President Rouhani and the Holy Father also had a meeting at the Vatican as President Rouhani asked The Holy Father to pray for him:



We will be sharing updated notations over the ensuing days...this is a developing story as Iran is open for business....

View of the Week (Special Edition): A "Virtual Token" From Our Founder-A @Pandora Station To Enjoy....

As our team has been on the prowl working away, our Founder shared a "Virtual Token" that we hope all will enjoy--as we hope to have periodic new features over the ensuing weeks on our on-going development work: 

mikepouraryan shared Shakatak Radio station with you

mikepouraryan wrote: “I'm listening to Shakatak Radio on Pandora”

Notations On Our World: An #Outsider Newsflash On The Status of #Washington

Washington will be shut down tomorrow.     Here is the bulletin we received on this earlier this evening at our Virtual HQ:

GovExec Breaking News   January 25, 2016     Offices in Washington Area to Remain Shuttered Tuesday // Tom Shoop Federal offices in and around Washington will remain closed Tuesday, the nt announced Monday evening. The announcement came as local jurisdictions struggled to remove the massive amounts of snow dumped on the region in last weekend's snowstorm. Main roads were open across the area Tuesday, but crews had yet to reach side streets in many locations. Read the entire story here

Notations On Our World: An #Outsiders' Newsflash From the Congressional Budget Office

New From CBO CBO to Release Full Report on Updated Budget and Economic Projections Today at 2 p.m. As Scheduled CBO will release its annual Budget and Economic Outlook report at 2 p.m. today on the agency’s website as scheduled.

Notations On Our World (Special Week-End Edition): A Salute to @MOAS

MOAS is a Malta-Based charity that has overseen numerous rescues of Syrian Refugees.    Our Founder gave us a heads-up on it as he finished a column in his Founders Corner and shared his personal thoughts as he saw a report on SkyNews.   Thanks to him, we have been on the prowl to get to know this organization and assessing what we can do to be supportive of it.

Such selfless souls are to be commended as we hope to do what we can to support them partly through underscoring what they're doing as we do so with this:

Harsh conditions have made the Aegean sea crossing more treacherous than normal for refugees. View this email in your browser

Your support is everything. Thank you. As we've seen firsthand over the past month, the number of refugees making dangerous sea crossings shows no sign of slowing down in 2016. Thanks to your support, we will continue to help save lives at sea. Click here to continue making an impact. Operations Update: Dec. 23rd - Jan 22nd On December 23rd, the Responder, our 52m rescue vessel with two high-speed rescue launches, began its mission in the Aegean Sea. Bitter temperatures, bad weather and harsh conditions have made the crossing between Turkey and Greece more treacherous than normal. Despite this, we're proud to report 378 refugees have been rescued and/or assisted so far. We've shared some details from our recent rescues below.  A special thanks goes to all our partners, including CISOM, ERRC Malta, and Lagan Search & Rescue, as well as the Hellenic Coast Guard for their continued support. January 22nd: Early this morning, the MOAS crew rescued 29 people, including 9 minors and 3 babies, from a boat with a faulty engine that was headed towards the rocks in Agathonisi. We were then saddened to hear that simultaneously, another 2 tragedies occurred on the islands of Farmakonisi and Kalolimnos. Every life lost is a tragedy for all of us.  January 15th: MOAS rescued 20 people from a sinking boat, including 3 children. 3 other children found deceased after drowning. Sky News filmed the harrowing rescue, and later spoke with MOAS director Martin Xuereb.  January 10th: 55 people rescued from an overcrowded wooden vessel. January 9th: 40 people rescued from a heavily deflated rubber dinghy. Guardian reporter Patrick Kingsley was on board, click here to read his full account.  January 2nd: Children given medical assistance by CISOM medics after their boat was shipwrecked. (MOAS was not involved in the rescue directly.) Reporter Mark Stone also shared details of his role in the recent MOAS rescue of a Syrian family.  Crew Member Spotlight: John Hamilton  As MOAS's Search and Rescue Operations Officer, John Hamilton is in the thick of the action. During MOAS rescues, John deploys one of the rhibs from the MOAS mothership, coordinates how best to proceed, and helps refugees safely board the vessel. We're lucky to have had John as a MOAS crew member since its inception, and are sincerely thankful for his constant dedication to saving lives at sea.

Partner Spotlight: Akos Varga Rescue swimmer Akos Varga joined us on the Responder from ERRC Malta at the beginning of January. Thank you for your dedication and hard work. Sound Toys Campaign Raised $220K Last month, audio effects company Sound Toys offered a different weekly music plug-in to their customers, with all proceeds going to MOAS. We're thrilled to report that thousands of producers, engineers, and recording artists participated, and the campaign raised $220,218 to help save more lives at sea!  Partner Spotlight: Roberto & Eugenio Welcome aboard to Roberto & Eugenio, the most recent CISOM medics to lend support to MOAS in the Aegean. Thank you for your service. Guardian Charity Appeal Raised £2.5M The Guardian and Observer raised a record breaking £2.5 million for their refugee charity appeal, which featured MOAS and 5 other charities.The proceeds will allow the Responder to stay at sea for another full month. Watch the thank you video, featuring the MOAS team!