Ulysse Sabbagh

Robin Yassin-Kassab, reporting for The National: 

Daraya, a suburb west of Damascus now suffering its fourth year under starvation siege, is run by a council. Its 120 members select executives by vote every six months. The council head is chosen by public election. The council runs schools, a hospital,and a public kitchen, and manages urban agricultural production. Its office supervises the Free Syrian Army militias defending the town. Amid constant bombardment, Daraya’s citizen journalists produce a newspaper, Enab Baladi, which promotes non-violent resistance. In a country once known as a 'kingdom of silence', there are more than 60 independent newspapers and many free radio stations."

And: 

Towns could legislate locally according to their demographic and cultural composition and mood. The alternative to enhanced local control is new borders, new ethnic cleanings, new wars. At the very least, the councils deserve political recognition by the United States and others. Council members should be a key presence on the opposition’s negotiating team at any talks.

Localism as an answer to the many woes brought upon by globalisation is not such a far-fetched idea. Mix this with Yaneer Bar-Yam's idea on teamwork and we have something interesting. 

Thanks, Randall Munroe. 

 From Marginal Revolution, reblogging the NYT: 

"Now scientists have determined that humans and their honeyguides [a kind of bird] communicate with each other through an extraordinary exchange of sounds and gestures, which are used only for honey hunting and serve to convey enthusiasm, trustworthiness and a commitment to the dangerous business of separating bees from their hives.

The findings cast fresh light on one of only a few known examples of cooperation between humans and free-living wild animals, a partnership that may well predate the love affair between people and their domesticated dogs by hundreds of thousands of years.

Claire N. Spottiswoode, a behavioral ecologist at Cambridge University, and her colleagues reported in the journal Science that honeyguides advertise their scout readiness to the Yao people of northern Mozambique by flying up close while emitting a loud chattering cry.

For their part, the Yao seek to recruit and retain honeyguides with a distinctive vocalization, a firmly trilled ‘brrr’ followed by a grunted ‘hmm.’ In a series of careful experiments, the researchers then showed that honeyguides take the meaning of the familiar ahoy seriously.

…Researchers have identified a couple of other examples of human-wild animal cooperation: fishermen in Brazil who work with bottlenose dolphins to maximize the number of mullets swept into nets or snatched up by dolphin mouths, and orcas that helped whalers finish off harpooned baleen giants by pulling down the cables and drowning the whales, all for the reward from the humans of a massive whale tongue.

But for the clarity of reciprocity, nothing can match the relationship between honeyguide and honey hunter. ‘Honeyguides provide the information and get the wax,’ Dr. Spottiswoode said. ‘Humans provide the skills and get the honey.’

Very interesting. May I suggest you watch the beautiful BBC documentaries, Human Planet. You'll see a video of these Brazilian fishermen.  

 From Marginal Revolution, reblogging the NYT: 

"Now scientists have determined that humans and their honeyguides [a kind of bird] communicate with each other through an extraordinary exchange of sounds and gestures, which are used only for honey hunting and serve to convey enthusiasm, trustworthiness and a commitment to the dangerous business of separating bees from their hives.

The findings cast fresh light on one of only a few known examples of cooperation between humans and free-living wild animals, a partnership that may well predate the love affair between people and their domesticated dogs by hundreds of thousands of years.

Claire N. Spottiswoode, a behavioral ecologist at Cambridge University, and her colleagues reported in the journal Science that honeyguides advertise their scout readiness to the Yao people of northern Mozambique by flying up close while emitting a loud chattering cry.

For their part, the Yao seek to recruit and retain honeyguides with a distinctive vocalization, a firmly trilled ‘brrr’ followed by a grunted ‘hmm.’ In a series of careful experiments, the researchers then showed that honeyguides take the meaning of the familiar ahoy seriously.

…Researchers have identified a couple of other examples of human-wild animal cooperation: fishermen in Brazil who work with bottlenose dolphins to maximize the number of mullets swept into nets or snatched up by dolphin mouths, and orcas that helped whalers finish off harpooned baleen giants by pulling down the cables and drowning the whales, all for the reward from the humans of a massive whale tongue.

But for the clarity of reciprocity, nothing can match the relationship between honeyguide and honey hunter. ‘Honeyguides provide the information and get the wax,’ Dr. Spottiswoode said. ‘Humans provide the skills and get the honey.’

Very interesting. May I suggest you watch the beautiful BBC documentaries, Human Planet. You'll see a video of these Brazilian fishermen.  

‘In Syria, there was always a way to avoid bureaucracy, even if it meant paying a bit of extra money. Here, there is no way around the paperwork,’ Khattab said.

Read more on the Guardian from a couple of days ago. The app is brilliantly named Bureaucrazy. They need funds and coding support. 

‘In Syria, there was always a way to avoid bureaucracy, even if it meant paying a bit of extra money. Here, there is no way around the paperwork,’ Khattab said.

Read more on the Guardian from a couple of days ago. The app is brilliantly named Bureaucrazy. They need funds and coding support. 

Here's the list, from No Film School:

• Days of Heaven (DPs: Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler)
• Barry Lyndon (DP: John Alcott) 
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (DP: Geoffrey Unsworth) 
• Citizen Kane (DP: Gregg Toland) 
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (DPs: Karl Struss and Charles Rosher) 
• The Conformist (DP: Vittorio Storaro) 
• The Red Shoes (DP: Jack Cardiff) 
• McCabe and Mrs. Miller (DP: Vilmos Zsigmond) 
• Night of the Hunter (DP: Stanley Cortez) 
• Apocalypse Now (DP: Vittorio Storaro) 
• The Magnificent Ambersons (DP Stanley Cortez) 
• The Tree of LIfe (DP: Emmanuel Lubezki)

And here's a video showing excerpts from these films. You should probably watch them all, I know I will. 

Here's the list, from No Film School:

• Days of Heaven (DPs: Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler)
• Barry Lyndon (DP: John Alcott) 
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (DP: Geoffrey Unsworth) 
• Citizen Kane (DP: Gregg Toland) 
• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (DPs: Karl Struss and Charles Rosher) 
• The Conformist (DP: Vittorio Storaro) 
• The Red Shoes (DP: Jack Cardiff) 
• McCabe and Mrs. Miller (DP: Vilmos Zsigmond) 
• Night of the Hunter (DP: Stanley Cortez) 
• Apocalypse Now (DP: Vittorio Storaro) 
• The Magnificent Ambersons (DP Stanley Cortez) 
• The Tree of LIfe (DP: Emmanuel Lubezki)

And here's a video showing excerpts from these films. You should probably watch them all, I know I will. 

 Over the next 10 years, we're building everything from Oculus headsets to solar-powered planes. We've always had labs for each team, but our new lab will be a hub where engineers can work together to make even faster progress towards connecting the world (emphasis mine).

Mark is hungry!

 Over the next 10 years, we're building everything from Oculus headsets to solar-powered planes. We've always had labs for each team, but our new lab will be a hub where engineers can work together to make even faster progress towards connecting the world (emphasis mine).

Mark is hungry!

Yaneer Bar-Yam is a complex systems scientist and he has an idea about solving some of the world's biggest woes.

But first, what are complex systems?

From the one and only Wikipedia: 

The study of complex systems represents a new approach to science that investigates how relationships between parts give rise to the collective behaviors of a system and how the system interacts and forms relationships with its environment.

Here's the problem according to Yaneer's post on Medium: 

Why should governments fail? Because leaders, wheth-er self-appointed dictators, or elected officials, are unable to identify what policies will be good for a complex society. The unintended consequences are beyond their comprehension. Regardless of values or objectives, the outcomes are far from what they intend.

 And his solution?

There is a solution. It is not a form of government, no “ism” or “ocracy’’ will do. It begins with widespread individual action that transforms society — -a metamorphosis of social organization in which leadership no longer serves the role it has over millennia. A different type of existence will emerge, affecting all of us as individuals and enabling us to live in a complex world.

To be successful in high complexity challenges requires teamwork. Each team member performs one part of what needs to be done, contributing to the complexity and scale of what the team does while limiting the complexity each individual faces.

Yaneer Bar-Yam is a complex systems scientist and he has an idea about solving some of the world's biggest woes.

But first, what are complex systems?

From the one and only Wikipedia: 

The study of complex systems represents a new approach to science that investigates how relationships between parts give rise to the collective behaviors of a system and how the system interacts and forms relationships with its environment.

Here's the problem according to Yaneer's post on Medium: 

Why should governments fail? Because leaders, wheth-er self-appointed dictators, or elected officials, are unable to identify what policies will be good for a complex society. The unintended consequences are beyond their comprehension. Regardless of values or objectives, the outcomes are far from what they intend.

 And his solution?

There is a solution. It is not a form of government, no “ism” or “ocracy’’ will do. It begins with widespread individual action that transforms society — -a metamorphosis of social organization in which leadership no longer serves the role it has over millennia. A different type of existence will emerge, affecting all of us as individuals and enabling us to live in a complex world.

To be successful in high complexity challenges requires teamwork. Each team member performs one part of what needs to be done, contributing to the complexity and scale of what the team does while limiting the complexity each individual faces.

Jeremy Thomas has an interactive way of teaching you how to design for the web in less than 4 minutes. 

Go play on his website!

Let's say you have a product, a portfolio, or just an idea you want to share with everyone on your own website. Before you publish it on the internet, you want to make it look attractive, professional, or at least decent to look at.

What is the first thing you need to work on?

Jeremy Thomas has an interactive way of teaching you how to design for the web in less than 4 minutes. 

Go play on his website!

Let's say you have a product, a portfolio, or just an idea you want to share with everyone on your own website. Before you publish it on the internet, you want to make it look attractive, professional, or at least decent to look at.

What is the first thing you need to work on?

Geir Freysson on his Medium blog:

Workers in the gig economy don’t get paid holidays, minimum wage, health insurance, a pension, expenses, overtime or redundancy pay. And they certainly don’t organise into unions to bargain for pay.

 And:

The gig economy is one of the greatest tech and business innovations of recent times and it promises to make the consumer’s life a whole lot easier. This shouldn’t be mutually exclusive to those who work in it getting a decent deal and having the benefits employees in other industries enjoy. The gig economy could be just as powerful for workers as it is for consumers.

 I say this is a brilliant idea. 

Geir Freysson on his Medium blog:

Workers in the gig economy don’t get paid holidays, minimum wage, health insurance, a pension, expenses, overtime or redundancy pay. And they certainly don’t organise into unions to bargain for pay.

 And:

The gig economy is one of the greatest tech and business innovations of recent times and it promises to make the consumer’s life a whole lot easier. This shouldn’t be mutually exclusive to those who work in it getting a decent deal and having the benefits employees in other industries enjoy. The gig economy could be just as powerful for workers as it is for consumers.

 I say this is a brilliant idea. 

On Fast Company, an argument for independent workers not to call themselves freelancers. Instead, they ought to embrace the word “entrepreneur”.

Indeed, entrepreneurs are not necessarily venture-backed multi-million dollar boasting kids. Someone is an entrepreneur if they operate alone in the business world:

There’s no one else to blame if you fail or make a mistake. You're in charge of all the business decisions. No one pays you to sit at a desk when the work has run dry. Operating a business alone is a huge risk, a bet we independents place squarely on ourselves.

On Fast Company, an argument for independent workers not to call themselves freelancers. Instead, they ought to embrace the word “entrepreneur”.

Indeed, entrepreneurs are not necessarily venture-backed multi-million dollar boasting kids. Someone is an entrepreneur if they operate alone in the business world:

There’s no one else to blame if you fail or make a mistake. You're in charge of all the business decisions. No one pays you to sit at a desk when the work has run dry. Operating a business alone is a huge risk, a bet we independents place squarely on ourselves.

A lovely short video profile of Thomas Lilley, who is a roadliner in Glasgow. A roadliner is a person who paints the words and marks on roads with molten thermoplastic. Lilley does it quickly, freehand, and beautifully.