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My Hyperinflation Vacation
A trip to the Iranian resort island of Kish illuminates the pressures, limits, and strange consequences of economic sanctions.
For years, I have been advising my cash-poor friends: the secret to an ultracheap international holiday is a Google News search for the words runaway inflation. The place listed in the dateline of any recent articles including that phrase should be your destination. En route to your home airport, visit the bank and withdraw U.S. dollars in crisp hundreds and fifties. At your beleaguered landing place, the local currency's value will be melting away like a snowman in July. Your greenbacks will remain pleasantly solid. Everyone at your destination—hoteliers, restaurant staff, tour guides—will covet them and cut you deals. For you, luxuries will suddenly become affordable. Until your return flight (assuming you make it back safely, and are not robbed by an increasingly desperate local mob), you will experience the dismal science at its most cheery.
Economists' name for truly berserk runaway inflation is hyperinflation. America's most nightmarish bout of inflation—in recent memory, at least—came and went at the end of the Carter administration, when prices rose by about 14 percent in 1980, the peak year. Hyperinflation, by contrast, is beyond nightmarish: a rise in prices of at least 50 percent a month, according to the generally accepted definition. Thankfully, it is rare. Steve Hanke, an economist at Johns Hopkins University, has documented 56 instances since 1795, ranging from a comparatively benign monthlong burst in Taiwan in 1947 (prices rose by a little more than half in that month, then the increase slowed), to a truly surreal year in Hungary in 1945–46, when at one point prices doubled every 15 hours. In Slobodan Milošević's Yugoslavia in 1994, hyperinflation stopped only when the presses at the national mint, in Topčider, overheated to their breaking point.
The most famous recent case of sustained hyperinflation is Zimbabwe in 2007–08, when prices, at the peak, doubled every 24 hours. "It was the only case where the inflation completely ran its course, and the government just printed money until people just no longer used it," says William Masters, an economist at Tufts University. Eventually, after the inflation rate reached 80,000,000,000 percent a month, folks simply stopped showing up at the central bank to pick up Zimbabwean dollars, and the U.S. dollar and South African rand spontaneously became the country's primary currencies.
In 2001, I spent a few months in Zimbabwe, just as the warm-up act for that country's hyperinflationary episode was taking the stage. Already, the currency's loss of value could be observed by the day. I changed my U.S. dollars in small quantities and spent my Zimbabwean dollars as soon as I acquired them. For the first time in my life, I could stay in just about any hotel I pleased: I recall renting a cozy room in the Eastern Highlands for $1.50 (U.S.) a night, including a full English breakfast. For less than $7, I took a sleeper train first-class from Mutare to the capital, Harare, and marveled at the thread count of the bedclothes, the fancy place settings, the frosted double-R logo on the windows, still there from when the train was run by Rhodesia Railways. On my return trip to Mutare a few weeks later, the curtains and curtain rods had been stripped from the windows, almost certainly by the railway employees themselves, whose wages no longer covered living expenses and had to be supplemented by stealing bits off the trains.
Masters has various pieces of Zimbabwean currency framed on a wall in his office, for novelty, including a standard-issue note from January 2008 that says in small letters, "Pay the bearer on demand ten million dollars on or before 30th of June 2008." As inflation spiraled upward, people resorted to bartering with blankets and goats; for the everyday transaction of paying minibus fares, they improvised token systems, so that every minibus did not require a second minibus following it, just to haul its passengers' cash. "Hyperinflation uses up a lot of people's time," Hanke says, "because they're spending a great deal of their time not working, and instead trying to figure out how to unload currency that is melting in their hands."
Inflation happens for many reasons, but hyperinflation scenarios are nearly always the same: a government fails to harvest enough revenue to pay its bills—usually because a war has drained its treasury, or its poor fiscal policies have tanked the economy—so it prints money to make up the difference. "The central bank is just producing a lot more money than people want to hold," Hanke says. "They're spending much more money than they're raising in taxes, and they can't get credit from the private sector. At that point, you're off to the races." Monetary supply outstrips demand, and the wild irresponsibility of the government scares everyone away from saving cash. Instead, people buy whatever they can get, immediately, and prices rise accordingly. Anyone caught with cash loses everything.
And anyone who has hard currency—the kind that doesn't evanesce expensively, like smoke from a Cohiba—is sitting pretty.
If you want to experience the pleasures and opportunities of runaway inflation today, you have two options, at least in theory. The first is the hermit kingdom of North Korea, where your dollars are welcome but you are not. No one is really sure how fast prices are rising in Pyongyang, since the society is almost completely closed, and North Korea's Central Bureau of Statistics consists of little more than a man wearing a Kim Il Sung lapel pin and giving a thumbs-up sign. Almost no one gets into or out of the country, but outside experts' best guess is that prices are rising very fast.
The second option is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Its inflation rate has, in the past year or so, reached runaway speed. Iran has long suffered from inflation rates that we in the West would consider unbearable, notably during the Iran-Iraq War, in the 1980s. Recently, however, as the United States and the European Union have become progressively more serious about sanctions in response to Iran's nuclear pursuits, the inflation rate has ticked up toward ruinous levels—exactly as the sanction proponents hoped. The price of imports has skyrocketed. What's more, oil revenues have collapsed. Two-thirds of Iran's government spending is typically financed with oil revenue, but as sanctions have pinched more tightly, Iran has resorted to storing oil offshore in filled-up tankers, idling for want of buyers. The government has thus been faced with a choice: cut back radically on spending, or crank up the currency printing presses—already humming—even further.
For a couple weeks in October, according to Hanke's calculations, Iran's inflation rate reached a level that, had it kept up for a full month, technically would have qualified as hyperinflation. Inflation has since subsided to a rate that is merely unsustainable. How we measure inflation depends entirely on the basket of goods we use to track prices, and because the prices of some goods, such as chicken and bread, are subsidized by the government, these prices remain low. But Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an Iranian American economist at Virginia Tech, says that inflation has at least doubled the usual rate of 15 percent a year, and Hanke thinks the rate is even higher—as much as 110 percent in 2012—but is systematically underreported by the Iranian government. The Iranian rial trades semi-openly, and as this magazine went to press, its value was hovering under 40,000 to one U.S. dollar, weaker by nearly half compared with six months earlier. Authorities tried to ban currency trading for a few weeks in October, when the inflation rate peaked, but they failed. Finally they just asked money changers not to advertise the depressing new rates in their windows.
Wood's First Rule of Budget Travel applies here: where there is runaway inflation, there are great deals for travelers with hard cash. So in January, I boarded a flight from Dubai to Kish, an Iranian duty-free-shopping and holiday resort in the Persian Gulf. The island is tiny—small enough to circumnavigate by car in about half an hour. Unlike every other part of Iran, Kish requires no visas from anyone, including Americans. I hoped to find a place where foreign and domestic currencies converged, and where Iranian tourists could tell me a little about what their rials could still buy them. Historically, Iranians have gone to Kish to buy goods from overseas and to relax in the sun. But a collapsing currency means that overseas goods have become significantly more expensive, even if the sunshine is still free.
From Dubai, I flew on the Iranian carrier Kish Air, aboard an MD‑82 jet packed with foreign holidaymakers. We arrived safely, though upon takeoff from Dubai, I had wondered how a country barred from getting new American-made airplane parts maintained an old American-made airplane. The other passengers were mostly Filipinas on leave from jobs in Dubai. Kish, they told me, had emerged as a preferred holiday destination for those too poor to go all the way home to the Philippines. After just a short flight, they could live like queens for a week, having toiled as scullery maids for a year or more without vacation in Dubai. On the island, they lounged in modest rented apartments, drank juice by the sea, and biked among the palm trees. At the airline office at Fish Roundabout, a traffic circle in Dubai, I had asked Filipinas who had visited Kish previously what I should bring for my trip. They all said dirhams—the convertible currency of the United Arab Emirates, pegged to the U.S. dollar—and nothing else. Cash was king in Kish: with just a little bit of it, everything you could really want for a weekend jaunt would be available for a pittance.
At Kish's single-runway airport, under the owlish stare of a portrait of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the women were led aside to a bin of scarves and formless blue tunics, so anyone who arrived in risqué attire could cover up before meeting the male immigration officers. When I got to the front of the line, the officer planted a big wet kiss of an entry stamp in my passport and waved me through to the baggage claim with nary a question. I exited the airport into the warm gulf night and headed straight to my hotel, the Parmis.
The first sign of rising prices was the hotel rate card. I had agreed over the phone to pay 370 dirhams, or about $100, for a night at a five-star hotel, including breakfast and lunch. (I had originally been told that the hotel had no vacancies, but when I asked again in English, with the implication of payment in foreign currency, a room materialized.) The rates for Iranians were quoted in Iranian rials, and to me—I had not been in Iran in more than three years—they looked not high but simply wrong. A zero in Persian writing is represented by a dot, and here I saw dots leading far off to the right, as if someone had left an ellipsis on the rate card instead of the full price. The Iranian price was 1.8 million rials. I asked the desk clerk whether prices had gone up, and he smiled and said "Up, up, up!," with his hand gesturing to the ceiling or to God. "Not so bad," he added, optimistically. Not for him, anyway—the decline of the rial had made it harder for Iranians to vacation abroad in places like Dubai and Istanbul; many were keeping their trips affordable by coming to Kish instead. The crowds were most apparent at meals, when the hotel buffet overflowed with Iranian tourists trampling each other to get at the last bit of chelo kebab.
The next morning, I wandered around the shopping malls to see how much things cost. Because sanctions limit Iran's financial transactions with the West, foreign goods are hard to find. (You can't run an Apple store in Tehran if you can't use a bank to transfer your profits home to Cupertino. Iranian merchants are reduced to taking trips to Dubai with suitcases of cash, so they can return with suitcases of iPhones—ideally without attracting the attention of customs agents.) The duty-free status of Kish makes the malls there attractive to mainland Iranians, because foreign goods are at least a little cheaper and easier to get. (Iran treats Kish as a foreign country, for tariff purposes, so there are no pesky customs agents.)
The malls were packed with clothes, cellphones, computers, and chocolate from overseas. The few Iranian goods on sale were very cheap, in dollars. I bought a movie-theater-size cup of pure pomegranate juice, produced by a company in Shiraz, for about 60 cents. (Services were likewise available, island-wide, for pennies on the dollar. I got a $4 haircut at my five-star hotel.) Many of the imported items were Chinese knockoffs that all but screamed "caveat emptor," and they were so cheap that inflation didn't much matter: zero multiplied by two still equals zero.
But for other imported goods—or at least the ones that might be expected to function properly—the rial prices were grotesque. A shop that sold kitchen appliances from the Italian manufacturer De'Longhi was tidy and gleaming but totally devoid of customers. Non-Chinese consumer electronics, such as real iPads—bounty from across the Persian Gulf—were similarly unaffordable. One mall had a white cuboid storefront that called itself the Kish Island Apple Store. Inside, a current-generation iPad sold for 27 million rials. At the current exchange rate, that was almost $900, but when I offered to pay in U.S. dollars, the price magically sank by $200.
That afternoon, I walked briefly along the beach. Swimming and kiteboarding didn't much entice (Iranian beaches are sex-segregated; as a straight man at an all-male beach, I was reminded of the Simpsons episode in which Homer swears off beer, goes to a baseball game, and, after staring incredulously for a while, says, "I never realized how boring this game is"), so I rented a Segway, sturdy enough to ride on the sand and broken concrete of the beachfront, for 10,000 rials a minute. I darted around the island in the company of a bald young Iranian—I'll call him Parviz—who was an engineer by training but had come to Kish more than a year earlier as a Segway-rental manager. He had about half a dozen Segways tied up by his hut on the beach.
"The owner bought these more than a year ago," he told me, gesturing at the scooters beneath us as we pealed down the road, dodging Filipina cyclists with their borrowed veils flowing behind them. "If he bought them today, they'd be three times the price." Parviz's boss had invested at the right moment: by front-loading his spending, he had traded cash for noncash assets that would earn rials at the rate dictated by inflation. And if he'd gone into debt to finance his Segway business—I didn't ask—that debt would have shriveled, in real terms, by about half.
As in all cases of runaway inflation, there are winners among the losers. Iranians with foresight and the ability to borrow have profited enormously from the past year's inflation. Many Iranians complain, Salehi-Isfahani of Virginia Tech told me later, that only the most politically connected people get significant loans from banks, so there is an inherent iniquity in the ability to profit off severe inflation. It's easy to see why credit is rationed in Iran: the interest rate facing borrowers is fixed at 21 percent, so an inflation rate of about 30 percent means an automatic real rate of return of nearly 10 percent, just for borrowing.
This dynamic, in which savvy borrowers win big while people on fixed incomes, like the old and the retired, lose their savings, reproduces exactly what we've seen in previous inflation episodes elsewhere. "Hyperinflation is among the most cruel forms of government expropriation," William Masters says. "If the government says it's going to take your farm away, at least there's a kind of visible honesty to that." If you bought a large farm in Zimbabwe in 2000 and had a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, in 2008 you could have paid that mortgage off with the 10-million-Zimbabwean-dollar note framed in Masters's office, and expected change back in the transaction. But if you'd been in the more common situation of eking out some small savings, over many years, you'd find that your industry and foresight had been nullified, your thin cushion of savings yanked from under you.
Iran isn't Zimbabwe, of course—it'll take a lot more zeroes on the hotel rate cards for that—and on Kish I saw plenty of ordinary Iranians, the kind not lucky enough to own a fleet of Segways, biking around calmly, enjoying a holiday without visible signs of impoverishment. Yes, Kish has five-star hotels, but it is more like an Iranian Vegas than an Iranian Nantucket: affordable as an annual or biennial holiday to all but the poor. I attended an epic seven-hour show at the Kish Dolphin Park (total cost: $16, including a commission for the concierge at the Parmis), and had a splendid time alongside Iranians from Tehran, Isfahan, Kashan, Shiraz, and Mashhad. The show was remarkably diverse—in addition to the dolphins, there were clowns, magicians, reptile wranglers, and a man who extinguished candles with the crack of a bullwhip. Whatever toll near-hyperinflation was taking, it hadn't plunged the Iranian people into a tailspin of misery—or at least not yet, and not here.
Which is not to say that the past year had been painless. At the dolphin show, I sat next to two sisters, Mina and Mona, both in their early 20s and from Tehran. We laughed and joked and promised to send each other digital photos. But they also told me that their savings had evaporated, they couldn't afford the holidays they had enjoyed before, and they weren't sure what financial calamity might happen next. Mina is an accountant at a paint factory in Tehran, and she watches her money closely enough to know that her pay isn't keeping pace with costs.
"Life is very hard now for us," she told me. "Why?," I asked. She struggled for the English word and instead offered the Persian one, tahrim, and told me to look it up. I didn't have to. Tahrim shares a root with the English word harem—another place that, like Iran, is closed off from the rest of the world. And it means, simply, "sanctions."
I left Kish the next day and returned to Dubai, the land of high but predictable prices. It was clear to me, at least, that Iranians were suffering, though just how badly the sanctions had ravaged the economy was hard to gauge. There are signs that unemployment in Iran is rising, and unease has rippled through the Iranian middle class, now that previously attainable luxuries like trips to Turkey or well-made electronic goods are prohibitively expensive. According to some observers, the middle and lower classes have begun hoarding even basic household items, fearing that their prices will soon rise too. It's unknown how these bad inflationary vibes will affect the country's politics. The day I left Kish, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Brigadier General Nasser Shabani, issued a statement warning that Iran's economic woes constituted a regional national-security threat.
This is hardly the first time that U.S. economic warfare has caused, or intended to cause, destabilizing price jumps. The decades-long blockade of Cuba has certainly inflated prices there, though never at hyperinflationary rates (and with nothing to show for the effort, politically). The United States has even used more-direct forms of inflation attack: in the Second World War, General Douglas MacArthur ordered that bogus currency be sent ashore into the Japanese-occupied Philippines, to dilute the value of Axis bank notes. (The efforts played a minor role, if any, in the defeat of the enemy.) And in Vietnam, the CIA distributed fake currency to destabilize the Communist government. Of course, the ultimate goal of the sanctions against Iran is not solely to pump up prices: they are supposed to embarrass, ostracize, and humble the Iranian leadership. But high inflation is one major manifestation of the distress that sanctions produce, and it might be expected to further those larger goals.
Or maybe not. Other countries with severe inflation have achieved depressing levels of political continuity. Robert Mugabe, for instance, celebrated 33 years of power in Zimbabwe this year. On the list of 56 hyperinflationary episodes that Steve Hanke compiled, many countries underwent dramatic change soon after—think Weimar Germany—but few governments, if any, collapsed directly because of hyperinflation. Expensive flatscreen TVs have never caused a revolution. Eventually, solid currency like the U.S. dollar flows in to replace the worthless native currency (economists call this phenomenon Thiers's Law: good money drives out bad money), and hyperinflation typically ends with the government forced, in effect, to adopt someone else's money—say, by pegging its flailing currency to a solid one. That doesn't end the predation, of course. In the case of Zimbabwe, the Mugabe regime just stole money in other ways, such as by taking over mines. The government has weakened—in January, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told reporters that his country's public account contained exactly 217 U.S. dollars after payrolls had been met—but it's still in power.
That might be because the citizens most capable of instigating revolution are the least affected. "Politically connected people [in Zimbabwe] were able to weather it well," William Masters says, in part by getting import licenses that allowed them to sell at inflated prices goods they had bought at artificially low prices overseas. "They made out like bandits, because they were." Hanke says he knew members of the Royal Harare Golf Club who would order their beers before playing a round, in case the price went up while they were on the course. They were, however, still members of a golf club, so clearly the hyperinflation hadn't ruined everyone. Some clerical leaders of Iran are, for their parts, widely believed to be fantastically wealthy. The politically connected there will almost certainly survive and prosper, although the Islamic Republic's amour propre would surely suffer a gut punch if the country had to abandon its own currency and adopt, say, the Turkish lira or the euro.
It's not yet clear whom the Iranian working classes will blame for destroying their retirement savings. During my trip, no one mentioned any hatred for America—I'm Canadian, so they might have confided safely—or blamed America for the country's ills. It's at least plausible that Iranians would attribute their suffering to their own government. "Everyone knows there is corruption, and that the economy is mismanaged and inefficient," says Mohsen Milani, a professor of international relations at the University of South Florida. "The big question is whether [sanctions] will have an effect on nuclear issues. And I believe they will. Elections are controlled and manipulated, but the candidate who can promise to end the sanctions is likely to win." Salehi-Isfahani, the economist at Virginia Tech, points out that wages have mostly increased quickly to keep up with prices—although government-employee salaries have increased at only half the needed rate, and the economic situation has worn down optimism. "People are adjusting to lower real incomes," Salehi-Isfahani told me. "But I doubt very much that they have adjusted to the lack of hope. The government can't supply that just by keeping chicken cheap."
In any case, no wages could ever really keep pace with very severe inflation of the sort that might be retriggered by sanctions, or a further closing of Chinese or Russian markets to Iranian trade. Iran's foreign-exchange reserves are thought to be dwindling. In the absence of a new infusion, we can expect continued flight from the rial, a rise in prices, and finally the temptation that governments under stress have faced at least 56 times before: to print far too much money in order to pay the bills.
A key point in any hyperinflation scenario is a government's moment of moral self-discovery, when it realizes that it is willing—under pressure of its own making or from external forces—to finance itself at its most vulnerable citizens' expense. To see the direction Iran is taking, we might consider monitoring not only the imports of uranium, but also those of printer ink.


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A family history blog covering the surnames of Glover, Fredrick, Watt, Graf and more. Take a genealogy journey with me.
01 March 2010
When Did You First Fall in Love with Genealogy?
1 comment:
- DeeAnnMarch 02, 2010 9:47 AM
I was bitten by the genealogy bug back when I was about 16. My grandma and I went through all of her old boxes of photos. I wanted to know who all the people were, and something told me to label them, so we wrote the names on the backs in pencil. (Which I am very grateful for today!) I asked her a lot of questions and took notes on a steno pad. I looked in Michigan phone books for the name Pykett and sent letters to a bunch of them, never hearing back. (Now I know that it is because that paternal name died out,since all of the males except my great great grandfather, had died before having children, and he had only girls.) I wrote to a known distant cousin on my grandfather's side, and she sent me a hand-written family tree going back to Ireland along with a paragraph of history. I was intrigued, but school kept me busy, and the notes got put in a file. The file came with me to Washington, and once my children were in school, I borrowed every book in the library about genealogy, and the hunt was on! Then I joined Ancestry.com. I devoured the Census records, filling in decades of history. Now I have binders full, starting with some death certificates, my first paper sources. I still have the notes I wrote from my "interviews" with Grandma, though she left a lot of gaps. However, now many of the gaps have been filled. There are still VERY old photos that are unidentified, but I have been able to add names to some of them.ReplyDelete

subset: commoncrawl


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Health overhaul returns with GOP, Dem plans
Sanders unveils Medicare for all, Graham block grants for states
WASHINGTON — In an animated, campaign-style rally, Sen. Bernie Sanders unwrapped his plan to remake the nation's convoluted healthcare system into federally run health insurance Wednesday — a costly proposal embraced by liberal activists hoping to steer the Democratic Party in upcoming elections.
The Vermont independent's plan would hand government a dominant role in insuring Americans, a crucial step, he said, in guaranteeing healthcare for all. Census Bureau data this week showed the proportion of people lacking policies falling to 8.8 percent last year under "Obamacare," the lowest level ever recorded, but he called it an "international disgrace" that not all Americans have coverage.
Though Sanders' plan is going nowhere in the current GOP-controlled Congress, he drew a big crowd to a packed and electrified Senate hearing room.
Hours earlier, Republican senators unveiled their own last-ditch, long-shot plan to scuttle President Barack Obama's 2010 statute and practically begged the White House to help.
"Pick up the phone" and ask governors to support the repeal effort, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., aiming his remarks at President Donald Trump. "Tell them this matters to you, that you weren't kidding about repealing and replacing Obamacare, that you actually meant it."
Shortly afterward, Trump issued a statement saying "I sincerely hope" the effort by Graham and three other GOP senators will succeed.
The waning desire of GOP lawmakers to revive their failed effort to scrap Obama's law contrasted with growing, though wary, Democratic support for Sanders' bill. It has attracted 16 co-sponsors, one-third of all Senate Democrats, though most are from safely Democratic states.
"Today we begin the long and difficult struggle to end the international disgrace of the United States, our great nation, being the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all," Sanders declared.
Though his bill has no chance in the current Congress, the issue is enthusiastically backed by large segments of a Democratic Party hoping to capture House control in the 2018 elections. Sanders caucuses with Democrats and unexpectedly gave Hillary Clinton a tough run for the party's presidential nomination last year.
The room where Sanders spoke held more than 200 people, including members of unions and progressive groups. Many waved posters and chanted "Medicare for all," the name he has given his 96-page bill, which would gradually expand the health insurance program for the elderly to cover all Americans.
Nine other senators attended and most also spoke, including at least four potential 2020 presidential aspirants who almost seemed to be auditioning. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called the healthcare battle "a fight for our nation to live up to our ideals."
Cries for universal coverage and government-provided, single-payer health care have simmered among Democrats for decades.
The notion was submerged as Obama enacted his overhaul, which boosted federal spending and set coverage requirements but left much of the existing private system in place. About 156 million people get policies at work, about half of all those insured, with most of the rest getting coverage through Medicare or Medicaid or by buying individual plans.
But support among Democrats for Sanders' bill and similar measures by other Democrats, plus polling showing growing public backing, suggests the push for a single-payer system will be a major theme inside the party.
"We will defend it at every turn," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., another possible presidential hopeful, told the crowd about Obama's law. "But we will go further." Potential candidates Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California also attended the event.
Sanders provided no details about the price tag of his measure or how it would be financed. Aides have said it would likely rely largely on income-adjusted premiums people would pay the government, ranging from zero for the poorest Americans to high levies on the rich and corporations.
People would no longer owe monthly premiums and other out-of-pocket costs like copayments, and companies would not have to offer coverage to workers. Sanders says most people and employers would save money.
His plan would surpass Obama's law in covering a long list of services, including dental, vision, hospital, doctors and mental health costs. Copayments would be allowed for prescription drugs.
Meanwhile, Graham and three other GOP senators released details of their proposal to erase many of the subsidies and coverage requirements of Obama's law and instead give block grants to states to help individuals pay for coverage.
"If you believe repealing and replacing Obamacare is a good idea, this is your best and only chance to make it happen because everything else has failed," Graham said.


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'Sex Tape' an X-rated tale with a PG plot
The high-concept comedies spawned by "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" need to start using birth control.
Judd Apatow's landmark film rightfully ushered in a new era in comedy, but it has also inspired a now sizable cottage industry of thin movies ("The Hangover," "The Five-Year Engagement," "Bad Teacher," "Horrible Bosses," "The Other Woman") with concepts boasting good titles but shallow stories.
Of these, only one ("The Five-Year Engagement") had Apatow's imprimatur. He and his cohorts have mostly moved on to telling stories about various seminal chapters of life — child birth ("Knocked Up"), high-school graduation ("Superbad"), young parenthood ("Neighbors"), 30s singledom ("Bridesmaids"), middle age ("This Is 40") — and many of these make up some of the best comedies of the last decade.
"Sex Tape," however, belongs to the former group and it marks a low point despite coming from several Apatow acolytes. It's directed by Jake Kasdan, a consulting producer on "Freaks and Geeks" who went on to direct "Bad Teacher." "Sex Tape" reteams that film's lead duo, Jason Segel (a near constant in Apatow-land) and Cameron Diaz, the always game, wide-smiling muse for what's now been several generations of comedy.
A screwball that takes its genre literally, "Sex Tape" is about a West L.A. married couple, Annie (Diaz) and Jay (Segel), trying to reawaken their love life after years of marriage and two kids. Following failed attempts with double-knotted roller skates and new venues like the kitchen floor ("I can see my to-do list," says Annie), they settle on making a porn for themselves that tours through the positions of "The Joy of Sex."
In the first of many outlandish plot twists, Jay hands out his old iPads like party favors at a get-together of friends and family. Hours afterward, an anonymous text makes him realize that each iPad has their video stored on it, due to a syncing app he favors. The technological premise has already been debunked, but that's a minor issue for the movie.
While this set-up could have gone somewhere interesting (shouldn't the video go viral?), the screenplay by Segel, his writer partners Nicholas Stoller (the director of the far superior and somewhat similarly themed "Neighbors") and Kate Angelo bizarrely settles for a suburban nighttime odyssey wherein Jay and Annie try to take back the iPads.
This includes a stop at their friends' house, a similar couple played by Ellie Kemper and Rob Corddry; a visit to Annie's prospective new boss, a family website CEO who wants to buy her blog (Rob Lowe); and a Los Angeles pornography warehouse (with a memorable uncredited cameo by Jack Black).
In short, it's a PG plot for an X-rated story. The movie is so desperate for laughs that it resorts to gags like a chasing dog that can open doors and Lowe's family guru doing cocaine lines with Slayer pounding. Segel's gratuitous full-frontal nudity in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" was far funnier and more surprising than anything in "Sex Tape." He has slimmed down notably, seemingly going for a more grown-up (and, alas, less funny) screen presence.
To its credit, there's a lightness to the film and the performers are uniformly likable. When Kemper and Corddry appear (their couple yearns to see the video as their own turn-on), you wish the movie would stick with them and their nervous energy.
'Sex Tape'
Now playing: Bellevue 8, Green Hills 16, Hollywood 27, Indian Lake 16, Malco Smyrna, Opry Mills 20, Premiere 6, Providence 14, Thoroughbred 20, Wynnsong 16
Rated: R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use.
Star rating: 1½ stars


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My great aunt asked why so many people took pictures posing with the bull's backside, where the testicles are just as detailed as the face. I shrugged, when I was secretly resisting the urge to take a photo of the balls myself. The answer to my aunt's question is that deep down, everyone is a twelve-year-old boy.
When I turned twelve, I decided to have a retro party. My mom stapled hideous fabric up in the striped room. I wore Bailey's tye-dyed tee shirt that was three sizes too big for either of us. My friends showed up in polyester and we ate red vines out of a tub from Costco. I turn 25 tomorrow. I'm not going to say that I'm old, because in the grand scheme of everything I'm quite young. But I do feel weird and anxious; it's a substantial chunk of time. Mackenzie asked me if I knew what I wanted. I had no answer because I never know what I want for my birthday or Christmas anymore. My parents got me a new camera, which turned out to be exactly what I wanted. It has "food" and "museum" modes. So far, food mode just gives things a yellow tint.
Right now, I'm trying to finish up a batch of quizzes for work, so I can actually relax and have fun tomorrow. Bailey gets here on Saturday, and while there are many reason I wish she were here now, I really wish she were here to help me with fake answers about the plant books I have right now. I can think of tons of things that salamanders don't do, but my knowledge base of plants has dwindled since my days of teaching at Outdoor School. I meant to finish the quizzes this weekend. Instead, I finished my taxes on Saturday afternoon and starting vomiting for the next twelve hours. Today, I made an attempt to eat something besides English muffins and Gatorade. So far, it's working. But having no appetite makes picking a restaurant to go for your birthday dinner rather difficult. (I'm also really distracted by my extreme desire to go buy a pair of pants that aren't falling apart or off of me. Maybe jeans are something I should buy more than once every year and a half).
Tonight, I'll wear my gold boots. Tomorrow night, most likely my gold flapper dress. Next week, I'm going to buy safety goggles to make people wear at the joint birthday party.
Here's a list of how I spent the last milestone birthdays:
16–Great Grandpa Britton's memorial service.
18–running around Portland to places like the smutty comic book store, a headshop, to buy lottery tickets…and didn't get carded at all.
21–We Vs. the Shark played Ithaca. My friends and I bonded with them over bottles of cheap champange.


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Toddlers take baby steps toward active lifestyle in Lil' Kickers program
When Jeff and Ann Chapetta started looking for activities for their 18-month-old twin girls, they were stunned to find a sports program geared just for them.
"We were really shocked, because as far as sports and activities, there's not much of anything around that starts this early," Jeff said. "We didn't know what to expect, because obviously, they're not capable of playing the game at this point."
But what they are capable of is learning how to interact with others and listen to directions on a playing field, key fundamentals in team sports. That's why the Chapettas jumped at the chance to start their girls in a soccer program at such a young age.
The All Starz Sports Complex in Loves Park offers soccer classes for children beginning at age 18 months. The program, called Lil' Kickers, offers classes for children as old as 9. It is a nationwide program that is available in 27 states, with 13 franchises in Illinois.
Swimming lessons have been available for babies age 6 months and older for several years.
Children can start a parent-tot gymnastic class at academies such as the Gymnastics Academy of Rockford at 15 months.
But when it comes to team sports, opportunities are scarce. The Rockford YMCA, for example, offers programs starting at age 3, but age 5 is generally when most local organizations begin offering children their first organized basketball or soccer games.
The Lil' Kickers soccer program is one of the few opportunities for parents who want to get their children involved in team sports early.
"There's nothing else like it," said Michelle Shute, organizer and director of Lil' Kickers.
Shute started the program two years ago when she was looking for something for her own daughter, Jessica, now 5, to be involved in. A native of England, Shute has a program with eight divisions offered year-round.
"The Bunnies (18 months to 24 months) are actually one of the biggest classes, just because a lot of the parents can't find anything else for them," Shute said. "That's why I started it.
"Being from England, it was always the biggest sport back home, and I love soccer. But the classes are also about coordination, interaction, social skills, behavioral skills. It's a lot of playing."
But parents shouldn't view these classes as a way to turn their children into the next Mia Hamm. It's noncompetitive soccer. Games aren't introduced until the children reach the classes offered for 4-year-olds and older.
Instead, children will start with balancing and coordination activities, such as building cone towers. They play games incorporating soccer balls and hula hoops. Eventually, they learn how to pass and trap balls, but those skills are introduced during games and activities rather than by simple instruction.
"It's neat to see how they're constantly evolving, especially in" the class for 18- to 24-month-olds, said Sally Bradley, who has two sons, James, 4, and Henry, 2, involved. "They'll actually take something they've learned the week before and improve each week."
As with any sport, just because children are introduced to soccer early doesn't mean they have an advantage over children who haven't had soccer classes. Parents can kick a soccer ball around with their 18-month-old at home for no cost. But the experience of working with others is what is valuable.
Gordy Poluyanskis, director of coaching for the Rockford Raptors and Dactyls Soccer Club, said programs for such young players are good because of the fun and friendship the children find, not because of any soccer skills they learn.
"It's a perfect setting for kids to learn to socialize outside of the home and school settings," Poluyanskis said. "It is really an introductory to team sports and confidence-building for young children."
At the Rockford YMCA, the youngest age for peewee sports is 3. Peewee soccer starts at age 4, and youth basketball leagues start as young as age 5. But like the Lil' Kickers program, they are more instructional and fun than they are competitive.
"It is much more about cooperating with the instructor and getting along with others," said Donna Anderson, the YMCA's Child Services director. "I think one of the dangers of introducing sports at an early age is not the physical activity, but the pressure it may put upon our children."
And even though it sounds young, 18 months is not too soon to start thinking about athletics, Rockford pediatrician Mustafa Asim said. With the amount of childhood obesity, Asim is happy to see young children active.
"Any physical activity is encouraged," Asim said. "As long as their children have had regular visits to their pediatrician or family doctor and there are no other medical concerns, and of course, there's good supervision.
"Eighteen months is a small age, but just like we let them play with toys according to age, activities should also be according to age. As long as the parents aren't pushing them, and there are licensed, professional people who know what they're doing, then we encourage it."
Emily Tropp can be reached at (815) 987-1385 firstname.lastname@example.com.
Lil' Kickers soccer for kids


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Clippers stage silent protest to owner
Clippers stage silent protest to owner
Clippers stage silent protest to owner
OAKLAND, Calif. - The Los Angeles Clippers chose not to speak publicly about owner Donald Sterling. Instead, they made a silent protest.
In response to Sterling's purported comments urging a woman to not bring black people to his team's games, the Clippers on Sunday let their uniforms become a show of solidarity.
They ran out of the tunnel for Game 4 of their first-round playoff at Golden State wearing their warmups. Then they huddled at center court and tossed their warmups to the ground, going through their pregame routine with their red Clippers' shirts inside out to hide the team's logo.
Players also wore black wristbands or armbands. They all wore black socks with their normal jerseys.
"It's just us, only us. We're all we got," Clippers star guard Chris Paul could be heard shouting to teammates before they ran out.
The Warriors' sellout crowd of 19,596, decked out in gold shirts, booed the Clippers - as they always do - during introductions.
Sterling's wife, Shelly, was sitting courtside across from the Clippers' bench. Commissioner Adam Silver had said Donald Sterling would not be at the game.
FOR MORE NBA results, see PAGE D5.
Associated Press
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said before the game that he would remain the only one to speak for the team on this, saying players want to remain focused on basketball. Even he, though, acknowledged that has not been easy since TMZ released the alleged recording of Sterling on Saturday.
"Our message is to play," Rivers said. "Our message is that we're going to let no one and nothing stop us from what we want to do. And I think that's a good message. I really do. I think that's the message we're trying to send. And if we can pull this off all the way, I think that would be a terrific message."
While the Clippers wanted to let their play do the talking, other NBA players continued to speak out on the subject.
Some talked about the hurt Sterling's alleged words caused. Others urged Silver to take an aggressive stance against Sterling, who has a history of alleged discrimination. Most of them hoped Sterling would be removed as the team's owner someday soon.
"We're more than basketball players," Wizards guard Garrett Temple said. "We're human beings, first and foremost, and when you hear something like that, it's very unfortunate that whoever that is talking feels that way, and I don't think there's any place in this game or in the world, for that matter, for thoughts like that."
Miami Heat star LeBron James said Silver needed to take action, going so far as to suggest "there is no room for Donald Sterling in our league." Lakers star Kobe Bryant wrote on his Twitter page that he couldn't play for Sterling. Warriors coach Mark Jackson, who played for the Clippers from 1992-94, said he could forgive Sterling but couldn't play for him right now, either.
The players union, still without an executive director since firing Billy Hunter in February 2013, is following the situation closely. The union has asked former NBA All-Star and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to take a leading role on the players' behalf to address the Sterling matter.
Johnson and Silver attended the game Sunday. Johnson said he called an emergency phone meeting of every player representative to the union Saturday night and spoke with Silver before the game. He said this is a "defining moment" for the NBA and for Silver.
Johnson, a former NBA player, said players trust that the commissioner will meet their demands, which include: Sterling not attend any NBA games for the rest of the playoffs; a full account of past allegations of discrimination by Sterling and why the league never sanctioned him; the range of options that the league can penalize Sterling, including the maximum penalty, which players want if the audio recording is validated; assurance that the NBA and the union will be partners in the investigation; and an immediate and decisive ruling, hopefully before the Clippers host the Warriors for Game 5 on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
Johnson also said there will be no league-wide protest by players or any kind of boycott because there's enough attention on the issue already and that players "trust Adam Silver. They trust that Adam Silver will do the right thing."
Jackson also wanted to make clear that the audio affected his team, too. He said they spoke about the comments Saturday and decided to use the issue as a platform to spark change.
"You stand up there and you answer questions as an African-American man," Jackson said, "and you sound intelligent and you carry yourself and conduct yourself to answer and let people know."
The game Sunday provided a bigger platform than anybody in the organization could remember in the past two decades.
The Warriors said they had more than 100 credential requests since Saturday for a total of about 220 media members approved. The team said there were only about 140 to 150 credentialed media for Game 3 on Thursday, and there were about 60 for regular-season game this past season.
For the players, concentrating on the game might have been the toughest task.
"As much as this is about basketball, this is life," Rivers said. "And our guys, they have family. They have friends. And that have cellphones. And I can't imagine how much they've been pulled on and talked to and what you should do and what you shouldn't do and what you should say."


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Monday, April 26, 2010
Boy babies.
36 comments:
Gorgeous gifts! Your can never have enough bibs!! I tend to make the same sorts of things...sometimes little stuffed blocks. Hope all is well in your world :)ReplyDelete
They're adorable Kate. Yeah, I agree, bot stuff is harder than girl stuff. You've done a good job though.ReplyDelete
I mean't boy stuff...you all knew that right.ReplyDelete
Little hats and soft toys like cars and dinosaurs are good for boys too. Like the pants!ReplyDelete
You've done a great job on boy gifts! There are so many great things out there for boys, not the most confident sewer myself, but I have purchased some really gorgeous things for my boys from very clever local sewers...ReplyDelete
You have done a fantastic job!ReplyDelete
I've got three sisters. Then my two girls, and three nieces. But then I do have two nephews. What a novelty they are!ReplyDelete
I LOVE those bibs. The apples and the green patchwork are just gorgeous. I am sure the Mummy of the boy babies will love them. I don't have any little boys (2 nephews is as close as I get) but I tend to make applique tees with rockets and robots on them. You could do a sailboat one to go with those pants!ReplyDelete
i have made them taggy blanket's i shall post them later you should look at my blog there is a lia's blog for a good nappy pouch i now find it a invaluable addition to my thing's and stuff!!!!ReplyDelete
yes i find boys stuff really hard to make too. i get asked to make boy stuff quite often and i really struggle with it. girls stuff is definitely easier!ReplyDelete
Ooooh they're all lovely! I have the very opposite problem - all boys, not a girl anywhere!ReplyDelete
Boy fabrics are extremely difficult to find - I'm having better luck with online shopping from the US as there's a better range.
For new baby boys, I usually makes 2 bibs and a flannelette blankie as a gift.
Bibs are good....boys are messy ;-) My boys now love anything camouflage and have been like that for years now, so in future you could go with that idea and you wouldn't go wrong.ReplyDelete
Funky dacks!!!ReplyDelete
The bibs look great, the applique and the patch work look really unique and special. I have a new nephew and I ended up making him a bib, did a bit of embroidery on some singlets and attempted a stuffed toy but it didn't quiet work out. I think stuffed toys are really cute to give too but just not this time(lol).xoReplyDelete
i'm in exactly the same space ... practically all girls and no idea what to make for boys. bibs seem a great idea ... but what about hats? Do you knit or crochet?ReplyDelete
Kate, your boy stuff is awesome !!!ReplyDelete
I love that pillowcase print
Love the bibs and the old pillowcase is perfect as little boy pants! There are some great ideas at http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/celebrate-boy-archives.html - I've found it very inspiring since I find sewing for girls much easier.ReplyDelete
Those pants are so gorgeous Kate, and I want one of those apple bibs for myself, I'm a very messy eater.ReplyDelete
I make boy bunnies, in overalls! Hope your weekend got better..lots of love to you xo
beaut bibs,lovely patchwork ones & cute apple.ReplyDelete
Nautical pants are fantastic!!
Those apples are cute!ReplyDelete
I tend to make the same stuff for boys and girls, just with different colors. I never pass up fabric with cars and trucks. It's not easy to find!
Also, I think about what their parents like. I just made a bunch of bibs with music notes for our musician friends.
Balls! Boys seem to intuitively know how to throw a ball! I can just imagine the gorgeous one's you'd make for them.ReplyDelete
The boy things you have made look great- how about some baby dungarees ? Or you could embelish some t-shirts or vests...ReplyDelete
Have fun
Louise xx
Lovely boy stuff.ReplyDelete
I think similar stuff for boys as girls. Just a different colour pallette.
I keep a collection of boy-ish fabrics in my stash for such occasions.
Andi x
Wow Kate those bibs are SOOO gorgeous! And the pants are the cutest... totally fabulous gifts, well done :)ReplyDelete
I recently had to make for a friends newborn baby boy and I was really stuck for ideas sooooo I made her a cushion with some hungry caterpillar fabric and bought her the book also it made a cute giftReplyDelete
im hopeless at boys stuff too!
I must admit that I found it quite strange having my son when I was only used to having a sister and no brothers! Now I have 3 nephews and possibly the twins could be boys too (although Issy wants girls) but I find them easier to buy and knit for than girls for some reason. The bibs look so good Kate - you cant go wrong with those. My son always loved dinosaurs and wearing shorts and t-shirts with some sort of picture on them! He also had a favourite teddy bear too which I am sure all little boys should have! You could always make some of those baby wraps for them.ReplyDelete
Cute! Boys are just the same, just different colours! Mmmmm maybe not a dress lol! xoxReplyDelete
haha, I got my three year old nephew a pair of chucks(gym boots) from the op shop for $3 the other day. He was so excited he teared up. Which made me tear up.....aaah and now I just have all over again. You're right in that boys 'stuff' is so much harder to figure out. Dinosaurs are always a hit, and frucks, and fracters. (trucks and tractors)At least in my limited experience.ReplyDelete
PS. Those bibs are AWESOME!!ReplyDelete
Loving those little daks - how cute are they?!ReplyDelete
I have the "surrounded by boys" thing happening here. While they are bubs, I figure you just make them the same stuff without the frills. Its later that it gets really tricky!
I beg to differ. I think your boy things are gorgeous. And you shouldn't be so hard on yourself, you're surrounded by girls.ReplyDelete
Oh Kate you're just so clever. Love all the things you made. I know what you mean about boys. I only have a sister, and daughters, and then my sister went and had a baby boy - it has taken some getting used to! We must catch up soon. xReplyDelete
Love your bibs and pants. Cool!ReplyDelete
I don't really make 'boy' gifts or 'girl' gifts when it comes to babies. Perhaps I'll use a different colour fabric - maybe - really I make thinking of what the mother would like.
Anything reversible! As they are sure to become filthy as soon as you leave the house. xxReplyDelete
I have made a few 'boys' things I have no idea what this baby is - the one that is now almost offically overdue... I made pants and bibs. You can never go wrong with pants.ReplyDelete
Apparently I quickly rush and make a couple of cot quilts at the last minute! Love those pants, xReplyDelete
Thanks so much for stopping by...
I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.


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Task Management
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Implementation & Launch
By Andrea Park
Jul. 11, 2014
When it comes to recruiting a diverse and qualified workforce, what's the best approach? Some might say there's a certain art to hiring employees of all races, genders and socioeconomic standings: that it's an organic and deeply personal process. Others believe true workplace diversity can be achieved with an algorithm.
The recruiting database Entelo is a proponent of the latter school of thought. The company recently launched a new program that promises to help employers accrue a diverse pool of applicants by pre-screening social media accounts.
"Entelo Diversity uses a proprietary algorithm to find candidates whose social profiles indicate a high probability of meeting a specific gender or ethnicity as well as candidates who may have previous military experience," the company said in an April press release.
The program is aimed at Silicon Valley firms. The technology industry is notorious for its lack of diversity, a problem that has been closely scrutinized in recent months, following Google's release of its workforce demographics.
With a 70 percent male and 61 percent white workforce that is likely reflective of the rest of the tech industry, Google's best option might be to pursue a methodical approach like that offered by Entelo. But what about less technologically minded companies?
Prudential Financial, for example, has been recognized as one of the National Association for Female Executives' top 50 companies for executive women and DiversityInc's 10 best companies for diversity recruitment, and has received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index every year since 2004. And while it does take advantage of social networking and other consumer-level technology, Prudential's recruiting is more people- than numbers-focused.
"We'd be silly not to use the technology that's available in the marketplace," said Marietta Cozzi, Prudential's vice president of staffing. "But at the same time, from a recruiting perspective, there's a very personal aspect to all the work we do."
In this vein, a main focus of Prudential's diversity recruitment strategy is building relationships with both sourcing organizations and individuals. According to Cozzi, these personal connections serve to establish the firm's commitment to looking at employees as whole people, rather than simply a series of demographic data.
"We work hard to build these relationships because we understand that recruiting is a very personal situation, and we want to make sure that we care for both the candidates and our hiring managers inside the company," Cozzi said.
Sodexo is another firm that has received high praise for its diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Despite being outside of the tech industry, though, Sodexo's approach to diversity recruiting is extremely "metrics-driven," according to Arie Ball, vice president of sourcing and talent acquisition for Sodexo.
"We have a very methodical approach to recruitment," Ball said. "We measure everything: we're measurement geeks."
This methodical approach consists of closely analyzing every step of the recruitment process, focusing especially on the talent pool. The sources from which Sodexo culls its candidates are individually chosen for their diverse and high-quality offerings. For instance, its college recruiting efforts pay special attention to historically black universities and chapters of the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality, a student-run multicultural organization.
"Before we look into any new source or strategy, we always look at its diversity impact," Ball said. "And then once we've implemented a strategy, we go back and measure the results."
Clearly, there is no "right" way to successfully recruit a diverse workforce. Whether a firm approaches diversity as an art (on a more personal level) or a science (measuring and analyzing every detail), however, there are a few guidelines it should keep in mind when developing a recruitment strategy.
"No matter what you do, you've got to have clear leadership from the top, and very visible senior commitments," said Katherine Giscombe, vice president and women of color practitioner of global member services at Catalyst, an organization that conducts research and advises companies about workplace inclusivity.
Giscombe also emphasized the importance of creating company-wide engagement in the diversity strategy. If the company leaders are the only ones engaged, the strategy will fall apart at the middle level
And the ultimate key to effective diversity recruiting? Total cohesion.
"The most important thing you can do," Giscombe said, "is make sure your diversity strategy is fully integrated with your business strategy."
This story originally appeared in Workforce's sister publication, Talent Management.
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Learning Learning/Parable 3
Parable 3
The QWERTY Story
Is Intel Inside?
The sequence QWERTY on the keyboard symbolizes how technology can serve not as a force of progress but for keeping things stuck. The arrangement of keys we all use has no rational explanation, only a historical one: there are other arrangements that are more efficient and easier to learn. Indeed the QWERTY keyboard (as it is called) was deliberately designed to be inefficient. In the early days of the typewriter fast typing caused keys to jam! The idea was to minimize the collision problem by separating those keys that frequently followed one another closely. Just a few years later, general improvements in the technology removed the jamming problem, keys no longer stuck but QWERTY did.
In my book Mindstorms I introduced the term "QWERTY phenomenon" to describe situations in which a design decision made to solve a transient problem stays with us long after the problem has gone away. The most damaging of these is the design of the school curriculum. Like the QWERTY keyboard, it was designed to deal with problems that were real once upon a time, specifically before mechanical technologies gave way to electronic ones. In those days you could make a case for spending so much time at school programming children to do the kinds of calculations a digital device could do far better. You could also justify making arithmetic a central part of elementary education on the grounds that everyone should learn to understand some mathematics and crunching numbers was one of the few candidates to serve as entry-level mathematics. The computer makes available many more paths into mathematical knowledge. In those days you almost HAD to begin a mathematical education by doing arithmentic, because it was one of the few branches of mathematics accessible to children using pencil and paper technologies. It made no sense to try to teach algebra or coordinate geometry to seven-year olds. The concepts of "variable" and "x-coordinate" were far too abstract.
But this has changed dramatically. All of a sudden the computer gives these concepts a form that is even more concrete than rules for adding multi-digit or fractional numbers. For children who have learned to write a program to draw a shape (which children can do in a well designed programming language), a variable is a way to make the program draw the same shape in many different sizes. For children who have learned to write a program, such as a game, that makes an object on the screen move about, coordinates are a way to control where it moves. These concepts cease to be abstract when they become tools to serve immediate personal purposes. Even at a more advanced age most children take a long time to see the point of algebra as it is traditionally presented – and many never do.
Some people might object that it is useless to have children understand algebra when they don't know how to multiply 78543 by 17629. I have four answers. Take your pick – each one is sufficient for my point. First, algebra captures a way of thinking that is far more important in life (both practical life and intellectual life) than multiplying big numbers. Second, a calculator multiplies better. Third, if it is necessary to know how to multiply this can be learned far more quickly and far less painfully after learning how to think mathematically. The fourth answer, and perhaps the most important, is expressed in the words of my mentor, the late Bob Davis who used to say: "School math teaches the art of getting the right answer without thinking." Intensive practice of mechanical skills before one knows enough to fully understand them is a great inhibitor of creative thinking.
Last week I used learning a language as an example of how technology could liberate teaching from limitations of the teacher. I was imagining a teacher who had the wonderful human gift of understanding children but happened not to be able to pronounce English. A very similar limitation prevents dedicated teachers from cultivating in children a genuine understanding and love for mathematics. Many teachers who have a deep love for mathematics, and a deep understanding of how it works, develop the knack of helping children cultivate these habits of mind. But many are unable to do this. Perhaps in the age of genuine digital learning everyone will become a math-lover. But again perhaps many will choose not to do so – just as many may not want to learn English. My point is that in the age of technology whether teachers know how to pronounce English or mathematics need not limit their students' development either as mathematicians or as English speakers.
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February 26, 2013
Ok, so here it is. My long awaited 2013 Mock Draft. I know everyone has been itching to see what my extremely educated predications would be. Right? Well, the 2013 combine is over and players have (justifiably or not, that is an argument for another day) made or lost millions of dollars based on how fast they run and how high they jump inside of a controlled setting. You may think I say that mockingly, but I am a combine junkie. I watch it every year, and am drawn into all of the little things that people think are stupid. That being said, I do see the problems with putting too much stock into those numbers. To be a first round talent, first and foremost you have to be a football player. That is why some players didn't fall through the ranks of my list, sometimes a football player is a football player and doesn't deserve to be stripped of his first round grade because he can't run in a straight line as fast as a guy with half his production. So, read and enjoy. I will update this a few times before April, so keep your eyes open.
1. Kansas City Chiefs – OT – Luke Joeckel – Texas A&M
The Chiefs pretty much need a game changer at every position. Looking at their roster will make anyone uncomfortable. Their team needs a lot of help, and it needs it soon. One of the positions that they desperately need a game changer at is QB. Then why didn't I pick a QB you ask? The best QB on the board, by leaps and bounds, is Geno Smith. And Geno Smith is not valuable enough to take at number 1. I think the chiefs could make a trade down, and may get Geno in the first round, but at pick number 1? I hope not. That would be overvaluing a player at its finest. So Kansas City, clear the ruble and begin where the game starts – the OL. Luke Joeckl deserves the top spot at OT and if KC stays at pick 1, he should get the call.
2. Jacksonville Jaguars – DE – Bjoren Werner – Florida State
Another team that, in my opinion needs a QB, but again, not this high. The Jaguars need help on the defensive side of the ball. They were last in the league in sacks last year, so an elite pass rusher is essential. John Babbich, the Jaguars new DC, is a 30 year coaching veteran who will want to implement a hard nosed defense. That won't be possible if the Jags cant get the QB. Werner will be an immediate help in their pass rush. The kid is no slouch against the run either, and is the best DE in the draft. He didn't show out at the combine, but I don't think he did bad enough to drop out of the top 5 – unlike Domontre Moore. Last week, I might have gone with Moore in this spot, but his combine showing was less impressive than I hoped for, and his 40 time may hurt his stock. So, bring on the German.
3. Oakland Raiders – DT – Star Lotulelei – Utah
The Oakland Raiders need a few upgrades on the defensive side of the ball. I think DT is more essential than a DB for this team, so I'm passing over Dee Milner. I initially had Florida's Sherriff Floyd rated slightly higher than Lotulelei, but Lotulelei just looks more like a Raider. 6'2", 311 lbs, and a beautiful beard. Floyd weighed in at the combine a little on the light side, "only" 297. While Floyd might be more athletic, Lotulelei is more Raider.
4. Phillidelphia Eagles – OT – Lane Johnson – Oklahoma
I admit, this has been the toughest call for me so far. The Eagles have a brand new coaching staff, headed by offensive genius Chip Kelley. However, it will likely be their defense that changes the most drastically. No more wide-nine bologna. I wouldn't be surprised if Dee Milliner came off the board here to sure up that secondary. But, it is no secret that the Eagles struggled on the OL last year, unusually high number of injuries or not. Lane Johnson made some money over the weekend, he was top among OL in almost every category. The TE turned OL showed off his athleticism, and Chip Kelley was probably drooling at that size and speed. LT Jason Peters is expected to return to starting duties, but I think last season combined with Johnson's excellent workout over the weekend makes him too good to pass up. He is strong enough to play RT until his time comes on the other side.
5. Detroit Lions – CB – Dee Milliner – Alabama
The Lions need a DB. Badly. Dee Milliner is the best on the board, and a sure fire top 5 pick. He is a complete CB that will be able to completely erase a WR after a little bit of seasoning in the NFL. He struggled a bit in combine drills with his ball skills, but that isn't something I saw during his time at Alabama. If he is available here, I don't think the Lions will blink before entering their pick.
6. Cleveland Browns – DE – Barkevious Mingo – LSU
Ok, here it is. The first player that I am probably overvaluing based on combine results and pure athleticism (I don't count Lane Johnson. He played against a higher level of competition than Eric Fisher, and his measurables show his skill). Don't get me wrong, Mingo has been productive for LSU, but it is his measurable that are going to make NFL coaches giddy. He has a slight frame, but running a 4.58 40 yard dash makes up for it. He will be able to outrun some DBs on whatever team that drafts him, and will be an immediate help in the pass rush. He will be a perfect fit in a 3-4 defense, just like the one that new DC Ray Horton plans to run at Cleveland.
7. Arizona Cardinals – QB – Geno Smith – West Virginia
And here it is people, the team who is desperate enough to take a QB in the top 10, even without a QB having actual top 10 value. Arizona needs someone behind center, and Geno Smith is the best available. Arizona may look to make a trade before April and get this role filled, but until that happens I think they will take Smith.
8. Buffalo Bills – ILB – Alec Ogletree – Georgia
I think Ogletree is the second best linebacker on Georgia's squad, so it surprises even me that I have him being drafted before Jarvis Jones. However, the Bills need help inside, not out. And Ogletree is the best ILB in the draft. I will hear no arguments for Manti T'eo.
9. New York Jets – OLB – Ezekiel Ansah – BYU
My how the Jets have fallen. It was a slow crash that everyone not a Jets fans, on the inside at least, liked watching. It is like a train wreck that one just can't look away from. Their drafting hasn't been great, and no matter what they do, they can't seem to find that ever-elusive pass rusher. Ezekiel Ansah will give them that. He is a bit raw, but we know Rex Ryan loves to take risks on projects.
10. Tennessee Titans – DE – Damontre Moore – Texas A&M
The Titans could use an OL or two, but they need a DE. I could see them reaching for Chance Warmack here, but that seems like a reach to me for a player who can only play OG in the NFL. He will be a good one, but I don't think he warrants a top 10 pick. Moore offers Tennessee a solid pass rush off the end. His poor combine numbers excluded, this kid can play football, and deserves to be a top 10 pick.
11. San Diego Chargers – OT – Eric Fisher – Central Michigan
When I started writing this, I didn't expect Fisher to drop out of the top 10. He is a very good OT, and will have a long and prosperous career in the NFL. Lane Johnson's showing at the combine is the only reason I have him outside the top 10, if he sneaks in before, I wouldn't be surprised. He fits the chargers need for a true LT.
12. Miami Dolphins – WR – Cordarrelle Patterson – Tennessee
I asked my Miami native roommate who he wanted to see the Dolphins draft. He said a new GM. However, since Jeff Ireland is still employed, lets try to enter his mind on draft day. The Dolphins have not had a true number 1 receiver in a number of years. Cordarrell Patterson is the only receiver in this class worthy of a top 15 pick. I think he could be an immediate impact player for the Dolphins and give Ryan Tannehill the help he needs.
13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – S – Kenny Vaccaro – Texas
Ronde Barber hasn't said he is going to retire, but he hasn't renounced those rumors either. He may be getting older, but he is still playing at a high level. However, when he does decide to step away, the Bucs will need a safety to complement Mark Barron. Taking a safety with your first pick two years in a row might sound a little crazy, but they need help in the defensive backfield.
14. Carolina Panthers – DT – Sherriff Floyd – Florida
How did this guy get this far down my board? He might be the best DT in the draft, and is an athletic freak (I know I have another DT ahead of him, I already explained why). He is a little light for an every-down 3 tech, but the panthers can just feed him a little extra before games. The guy is an athlete, and will be a good fit in the Panther's scheme.
15. New Orleans Saints – OLB – Jarvis Jones – Georgia
Jones dropped this low just because of Ezekiel Ansah's combine performance and Rex Ryan's propensity towards taking calculated risks. However, the saints are moving to a 3-4 and need an OLB that can get to the QB. Jarvis Jones is that type of player.
16. St. Louis Rams – OG – Chance Warmack – Alabama
The Rams need help on the interior of their line. Chance Warmack is the best OG in the draft. He wouldn't have fallen this far if he was able to play another position on the line. However, he is a pure road grader on the interior and will likely start immediately for the Rams.
17. Pittsburgh Steelers – OLB/DE – Dion Jordan – Oregon
Jordan is a guy who helped his stock tremendously with a good showing in combine drills. The Steelers need a pass rusher, and if Jordan is still available they will snatch him up.
18. Dallas Cowboys – OG – Jonathan Cooper – North Carolina
This is a guy who plays with a nasty streak. His knock, before coming to the combine was his weight. However, he added 30 lbs to his frame and his drills didn't suffer from it. If he can keep the weight on during the season, he will be a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the field.
19. New York Giants – TE – Zach Ertz – Stanford
The New York giants are good at most positions, not great, but at least solid. They could use an upgrade in more than one area, but TE is a position that they need a consistent threat. With the growing role of the TE in the NFL, Zach Ertz has become fairly valuable. He solidified his role as the top TE at the combine, and will be a big pickup for the Giants here.
20. Chicago Bears – OT – DJ Fluker – Alabama
The bears need help blocking. Period. People give Jay Cutler a hard time for being whiney, which he is, but a lot of it stems from spending a lot of time on his back. Fluker is a solid RT who is mean enough to play OG. He will be an upgrade for the Bears.
21. Cincinnati Bengals – ILB – Manti T'eo – Notre Dame
I have long thought T'eo overrated. A fake girlfriend scandal and a poor showing at the combine and he has dropped significantly in coaches' eyes as well. However, someone is going to give him a shot in the first round. Rey Maualuga is a free agent, and isn't expected to be with the Bengals next season. So, they may very well be the team to take that shot. I want it noted I don't think he deserves to be drafted this high, and maybe in 2.0 I will figure out how to drop him from the first round completely.
22. St. Louis Rams (From Washington Redskins) – WR – Justin Hunter – Tennessee
Hunter had an impressive showing at the combine. Too bad he was outshined by fellow teammate Cordarrell Patterson. Even though, he did an outstanding job and jumped up to the number 2 WR. The rams could use a WR with his size and skill set, and will be a solid second selection for their first round.
23. Minnesota Vikings – WR – Kennan Allen – California
Kennan Allen has been a freak on the collegiate level. He has been nursing a knee injury, so he didn't participate at the combine. However, barring anything unforeseen at his Sr. Day and being cleared by doctors, this is a good place for him to come off the board. If he had participated at the combine he may have been higher on my board, at least switched with Justin Hunter.
24. Indianapolis Colts – CB – Xavier Rhodes – Florida State
The colts need some help on the defensive side of the ball. They also need some help on the OL, but at this spot in the draft, a CB is more valuable. This is a player who caught my eye at the combine. He has a history of knee injuries, but has the talent to be a starting CB. Due to Jonthan Bank's average showing at the NFL combine, I have Rhodes jumping him to be the second CB off the board.
25. Seattle Seahawks – DE – Datone Jones – UCLA
As good as Seattle's defense was, they didn't have a perpetual penetrating DL. I realize they scheme to their LBs, but I cant see them passing up a DE that can get to the QB, especially since Chris Clemmons tore his ACL last season. Jones is the best available at this position. He ran the 40 faster than Manti T'eo, and he has some weight behind him to tie up blockers in the run game. The more I think about it, the more I think he is the perfect fit for Pete Carroll's defense.
26. Green Bay Packers – DT – Johnathan Hankins – Ohio State
The Packers need a RB. However, I think for this draft class, they will be better in the 2nd or 3rd rounds going for a Stephan Taylor or Onterio McCaleb, depending on the style RB they think they need to complement the passing game (I'm a fan of pounding the rock, so would lean to Taylor). So, how about someone to stop the run then? I picked Hankins here, mainly because I want to see him play next to BJ Raji. He didn't wow at the combine, and he may slip to the second round, but the guy has size you can't teach and will plug holes allowing Green Bay's LBs to do their job.
27. Huston Texans – WR – Tavon Austin – West Virginia
Another Guy who jumped up because of his combine performance. A 4.34 40 will do that for you. His speed and elusiveness will be a good compliment to the Texan's WR corps.
28. Denver Broncos – DT – Kwann Short – Purdue
The Bronco's need a DT. Short didn't participate at the combine, but has been consistently graded as a first round talent. I admit that I haven't seen the guy play, and youtube isn't much help. But, I trust the grades others have given him and DT is a need here. So, good for him.
29. New England Patriots – CB – Jonthan Banks – Mississippi State University
Jonathan Banks was the winner of this year's Thorpe Award, even so he was the second best CB in the SEC and the third best available for this draft. His 40 time wasn't amazing at the combine, but he makes up for lack of speed with smart play and a long body.
30. Atlanta Falcons – TE – Tyler Eifert – Notre Dame
Lets all be honest, Tony Gonzalez can't be great for much longer. He is considering retiring, and even if he doesn't he won't be around for long. The Falcons need a TE to fill in that role. Eifert is a solid TE prospect who will try to fill the shoes of the future hall of famer, and will only be better if he gets a season or two under the tutelage of Gonzalez.
31. San Francisco 49ers – NT – Johnathan Jenkins – Georgia
Jenkins is getting some competition from Brandon Williams from Missouri Southern State, but in the end I think that Jenkins will win out. He has the tendency to take plays off, but I think that Harbaugh and Co. will get that out of him. He only participated in the bench press, so he better do well at Georgia's Sr. Day, because Williams will gladly take this spot.
32. Baltimore Ravens – S – Eric Reid – LSU
The Ravens will look to replace Ray Lewis, but I don't know who would be worth the pick here. Certainly, there will be no one to replace Ray Lewis. The Ravens may also lose Ed Reed next year, and if not next season, soon. So a Safety here seems like the next likely scenario. Eric Reed is the best safety left. He did well at the combine, and would be able to immediately contribute.
By: Dylan S. White


text:
The State of the Union's Biggest Baby
While most members of Congress politely sat through the president's speech last night, and many of them with members from across the aisle, one congressman sat in his office tweeting idiotic nothings about Barack Obama's socialism. Meet Rep. Paul Broun!
Broun, a Tea Party guy from Georgia, found the unofficial bipartisan seating last night to be too "kissy-kissy." We're partial to these arguments! On the other hand, maybe he could've just sucked it up and sat in the damn chamber for the State of the Union, like everyone else? Never. He had to fire out these important tweets from his office, presumably while naked:
Keep in mind that this was the speech in which Obama doubled-down on his support for the "education reform" movement, suggested a lengthy freeze on non-military spending, and proposed cutting the corporate tax rate.
But the best one was a little further down: "All children will be poor if we continue with Obama's policies." Poor! That doesn't go nearly far enough. All children will die if we continue with Obama's policies, congressman. Try to be a little sharper when you're in your remote Twitter cave for next year's speech.


text:
Meeting With the Staff and Families of the U.S. Missions to the EU and NATO, and U.S. Embassy Brussels
Secretary of State
AMBASSSADOR GUTMAN: Good morning. Michelle and I, and actually now that our own son visiting – Collin is visiting, Collin, we'd like to welcome you all to our home, which, as all of the Embassy employees know, is your home as well and is indeed America's home here in Brussels. And today, I don't need to tell you, is truly a special day, a day of thrills. First, it's always a thrill when we get together, when we, the members of the tri-missions all get to be together. It's a greater thrill to see the families, those who give so much so that their loved ones can serve our country. And if you ever want to see the future of a more peaceful and a more secure planet, you just need to look upon the faces of the kids that were on the stairs there just taking the pics with the Secretary. You cannot look at that stair without being encouraged about our future.
And of course, it's a thrill whenever I get together with Ambassadors Kennard and Daalder. I have been very fortunate in the past three years to get to learn so much from them. As I've mentioned previously, administrations are regarded as successful if 50 percent of their political selections are top notch. With Bill Kennard and Ivo Daalder, the Administration is batting 66 percent here in Brussels. (Laughter.)
And though Ambassador Daalder will introduce the Secretary in just a couple of moments, it's an honor and a thrill to welcome Secretary Clinton to the tri-missions, for it is a true thrill for each of us to have the opportunity to say thank you, because for you career government and career State Department employees and for us, those who have been blessed to serve with you for a few years, and for all of us who work abroad, we know firsthand what a joy and what an honor it is to represent the United States of America under President Obama and Secretary Clinton, what a true source of pride it is for each of us as people come up to us daily and say once again that they love our country. For together, President Obama and Secretary Clinton have given America a new face, a face that shines brightly around the globe, a face that others now line up to greet and look upon with admiration, with respect, and with true affection. And it's not hyperbole, it is the literal truth, to say there is no country in which that face has made a bigger difference in the world than here in Belgium, for as many of you know, of all the countries in the world, Belgium finished first in the world this year, as of May 2012, with the highest increase in its favorability rating for the U.S. and for U.S. leadership.
So the Secretary and all of you have made a powerful team indeed. Through the transparency and honesty of President Obama and Secretary Clinton and through your efforts in transmitting that, Belgians have responded like none other. So we are delighted as surrogates for every tourist who can now proudly wear their Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees t-shirt in the Grand Place, for everyone who now carries their guide books face up and not face down, for every ex-pat who now brags that they have a home back in the States, for every business who sells more today by explaining they're American, we as surrogates thank the Secretary for changing the face of America, for letting us be ever the more proud once again.
And now it's my pleasure to introduce my dear friend, Ambassador Bill Kennard. (Applause.)
AMBASSADOR KENNARD: Thank you, Howard. The Secretary's time is very short with us today, so I'm going to be very, very brief. There's only one thing I want to say, and that is thank you, thank you, Secretary Clinton, for making time to be with us here today. And moreover, thank you for the fact that today, and indeed for the rest of our lives, we will all be proud to be able to say that we served under the leadership of Secretary Hillary Clinton. Thank you. (Applause.)
AMBASSADOR DAALDER: It's my great pleasure and honor to introduce you, Madam Secretary. This is in some ways a bittersweet moment, a little sad that this is your last visit to Brussels to the NATO ministerial, but very happy because of all of the things that you have accomplished for our country, as Bill and Howard said, but for NATO as well in the last four years.
This is your ninth NATO ministerial. And when I look back to your first ministerial four years ago, I can see what an enormous impact you have had on this alliance. Four years ago, the war in Afghanistan seemed to be going nowhere, Russia and NATO were not speaking, missile defense in Europe seemed an impossible dream, and our European allies seemed to be drifting further and further way from the United States. Today, NATO and the transatlantic partnership has been revitalized and is more active than it has ever been before. We're on a clear timetable to end the war in Afghanistan, NATO countries are able to ship their supplies to and from Afghanistan through Russia, and NATO and Russia are talking – not always the same language, but we're talking. (Laughter.) NATO missile defense is a reality, and within NATO our relationship with our European allies and our non-European partners is closer and more cooperative than it has ever been.
All of these accomplishments bear your personal signature and they are a tribute to your perseverance and hard work and your ability to sleep on airplanes. (Laughter.) I believe you've spent more time in the air than you have on the ground. You've certainly earned more frequent flier miles than all of the air forces of NATO combined. (Laughter.)
And as you said in your recent speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, the United States hasn't changed direction; it's simply come back to its core values. You've spoken up for people and communities who the United States never spoke up for before. Our foreign policy has become more cooperative, more thoughtful, and more compassionate. You've touched the lives of people around the world, and all that you've done, you've done with a smile, a sense of humor, a kind word, and great, great passion. And no one else will be able to fill your chair at that big round table at NATO as well as you have.
I thank you for all you have accomplished and all you will continue to accomplish after you leave the State Department. Madam Secretary, it's a great honor to have you here today. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: (Applause.) Thank you. It is truly both an honor and a great pleasure to be here with all of you in this extraordinary tripartite mission that has done so much and accomplished such a great deal in the last four years. I want to begin, of course, to thank our ambassadors here in Brussels Ivo, Bill, and Howard, or as Howard likes to say, the intelligent one, the dignified one, and the good-looking one. (Laughter.) But I'll leave it to all of you to decide. (Laughter.)
But I'm sure you will find agreement because the three of these extraordinary ambassadors have worked so well together. And I also want to thank Elisa, Deborah, and Michelle because they have been terrific partners and representatives of our country as well. So I think we should give a round of applause to our ambassadors and (inaudible). (Applause.)
Now I am pleased to be back in Brussels. I am sad that this will be my last official trip, but I am very gratified by the extraordinary working relationship that all of you have had here in Brussels and that we have had across the Atlantic. Let me start by saying a few words about Embassy Brussels because I think Howard was absolutely right in specifically stating that the work of Embassy Brussels has fortified our relationship, has built greater mutual understanding and respect.
In fact, as Howard was referencing, in 2007, only 8 percent of Belgians surveyed had a favorable view of the United States. Belgian leaders tried to close their ports to U.S. ships and their airspace to U.S. planes. So this Embassy really went to work, Americans and Belgians alike. You targeted critical groups, you made more than one hundred appearances on Belgian TV, and you visited all 589 cities and municipalities – (laughter) – telling the American story over and over again. So today, that number is at 46 percent. We still have some ways to go, but that's a pretty remarkable accomplishment.
Now of course, we're not out to win popularity contests. This shift matters because it produced real results: Belgium agreed to keep its commitment in Afghanistan until 2014, it supported our having a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, it was a leader in the mission in Libya. We needed Belgium as a partner, and that is what's been accomplished by the work that all of you have been doing.
Now meanwhile, our NATO team has been just as busy forging agreement on a new strategic concept for the future of the alliance, creating consensus among allies on some especially divisive issues, leading on the conversation about intervention in Libya. And in the last four years, the number of defense ministerials, foreign ministerials, and summits have really been breathtaking. (Laughter.) And through it all, the NATO mission has just been shining.
I want to take a second to recognize Karen Pennington, a real star of the Foreign Service. As Ivo says, she is the true leader of the mission. So Karen, thank you for your hard work. (Applause.) And of course, the U.S.-EU group, what a tremendous four years you've had. On top of successfully negotiating agreements that strengthen counterterrorism cooperation, building coalitions that confront Iran, promoting peace in the Middle East, expanding trade to our largest economic partner, you have also one of the largest visitor loads in the Foreign Service. Apparently, I'm told you host state officials weekly and top officials from all U.S. agencies nonstop, helping European countries navigate the fiscal crisis. You've really made clear, as President Obama has said, that the United States is here as a partner, as a friend, to listen as much as to talk.
So I'm very proud of this extraordinary group of professionals, Americans and Belgians alike. And I want to recognize the families of those serving in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan, along with all of you who have served in unaccompanied posts. I know it's difficult, particularly around the holiday season, but the work you are doing is essential to America's security.
And finally, let me thank our incredibly committed and talented locally employed staff. Will all the Belgians raise your hands? All of our Belgian partners, colleagues. (Applause.) Well, as you know very well, ambassadors come and go, secretaries come and go, but you remain the backbone of this operation, carrying the institutional knowledge that we need to keep up the good work that has been done. So I thank you. I thank you for your teamwork, your accomplishments, the passion and commitment that you bring to each mission here, trying to build a more just, more prosperous, more free world.
I am really proud of all of you. I so remember my first trip to Brussels, going to the EU, going to the Parliament, the Commission. I forget how many other organizations there are – (laughter) – and then to work with Bill on the follow-up. And certainly, the memorable day that I walked into NATO and there was this incredibly positive outpouring of greeting which was really for our country but which made it clear that people were so happy that under President Obama, once again, we would be a partner. And of course, here at the mission, you've helped in so many ways to make it possible for all of us to do our work.
So with that, let me just shake as many hands as I can before I go off again to NATO, but I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful holiday season. You are entitled to a great wheels-up party tomorrow. (Laughter.) This looks like a pretty good row to have it in. (Laughter.) But know that you have my gratitude and my great pride in having served with you. Thank you all very much. (Applause.)


text:
Events archive
The International Political Economy of East Asia
Dr Amy King (Australia National University)
26 January 2016 - 5:00pm
Lecture Theatre, Dickson Poon Building, University of Oxford China Centre, St Hugh's College
Conventional wisdom holds that the post-WWII international economic order was the product of a dominant Anglo-American power structure and the policy ideas of British and American officials. But this... Read more
South Asia Seminar
Dr Laurent Gayer (Sciences Po)
26 January 2016 - 2:00pm
Fellows' Dining Room
The small qasbah of Amroha, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, presents an unusual record in terms of inter-communal peace. Despite being located in a communally sensitive region, the town has... Read more
Southeast Asia Seminar
Bertil Lintner (Independent Journalist and Author)
20 January 2016 - 2:00pm
Deakin Room, Founder's Building, St Antony's College
The United States and the West did not change their policy of isolating Burma because of their concerns were primarily with the lack of democracy and human rights. It was "the China factor". Burma... Read more
South Asia Seminar
Yaqoob Khan Bangash (Lahore)
19 January 2016 - 2:00pm
Fellows' Dining Room
The constitution of a country is its 'Supreme National Institution.' Hence, the creation of a constitution is a central process in institution making in a country, as the incentives and disincentives... Read more