All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Varoufakis: Greece can get by without a new bailout | News | DW.DE | 03.05.2015

Negotiations between Athens and its international creditors are moving closer to a deal, according to the Sunday edition of the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung daily. Although it seemed unlikely that an agreement could be struck before Greece owes the next repayment of its debt package to the IMF on May 12, some rapprochement appeared to be taking place between both sides.

Measures such as creating an independent audit court and freeing up the market for natural gas were some examples the newspaper gave of what it described as constructive and encouraging talks that began last week and were expected to continue on Monday.

via Varoufakis: Greece can get by without a new bailout | News | DW.DE | 03.05.2015.

Saudi Arabia’s Islamist-liberal divide – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

King Salman bin Adbul-Aziz Al Saud had been known to patronize liberal intellectuals at historical research centers and pan-Arab media, but after becoming king, he has been courting Islamists. The war in Yemen seems to have attracted the approval of Islamists opposed to the Shiites. Within hours of announcing Operation Decisive Storm against the Shiite Houthis in Yemen, Islamists proclaimed their support and praised the new king. The war was sorely needed, as it prompted Islamists to back the regime after its new anti-terrorism law had criminalized most of them, notably the Muslim Brotherhood, Sururis and radical jihadi fighters. Surprisingly, the war also unified the liberals and the Islamists, albeit temporarily, against an external enemy for the first time since the Arab uprisings.

via Saudi Arabia’s Islamist-liberal divide – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Ben E. King…. I Count The Tears. In Memory 1938-2015

Longshot's Blog

The Drifters_Ben. E. King

What memories of not only my youth but straight into adulthood as Ben E. King’s vocal talent and music will always stand the test of time.

For that’s how good the songs were all made coming from that golden era of our baby boomer age.

Benjamin Earl King left us yesterday at the age of 76 and although his stint with The Drifters was not that long, what an impact he made.

I guess some would say why not have his signature song playing “Stand By Me”, I’d reply because I had to take it back a little bit further of my first memories of hearing him. “I Count The Tears” just happened to be my very fav. from his time with The Drifters, although everything he sang with them and as a solo artist as far as I’m concerned are all gems.

Clyde McPhatter, Rudy Lewis and Johnny Moore…

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Learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable

Fit and Feminist

Over the past few years I’ve gotten considerably faster as a runner, cutting my PRs by about a third at all of the major distances from the mile to the marathon.  I’m still not super fast, but I guess you could say I’m normal person fast.  I’ve been asked a few times to write about how I did it, and the truth is that I didn’t really do anything special.  I just followed the standard suggestions you’ll find in any running publication: regular speed work and tempo runs, running with faster people, strength training, a bit of fat loss so I was carrying less body weight when I ran.

But it’s occurred to me that there’s one big thing I’ve done that I’ve never seen mentioned in any of those “how to get faster” lists, and that’s making the conscious decision to embrace discomfort.

In the past whenever I tried…

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