kant help me

hello there, i'm Nettra (pronounced according to spelling: net + tra = nettra).

i'm a global nomad and digital native currently based in Paris. i was born in California, raised in Phnom Penh and loved my three years in New York City.

i am a recovering political scientist keen on helping diverse stakeholders work together towards sustainable solutions to poverty. learning about the impact of technology, entrepreneurship and creativity on society is what gives me energy.

this tumblr helps me keep track of things which have happened to me, as well as the interesting, funny, inspiring and beautiful links i find this on this internet odyssey (read more).

for something more focused and structured (i.e., without photos of cute animals), you may like to browse my online art portfolio or visit my website. you can also find me on twitter, ask me a question or feed my fish.

Kant Help Me by Nettra Pan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Material posted here is my own, unless otherwise stated.

If you find your content here and would like me to remove or attribute it to you, please let me know and I would be happy to oblige.

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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
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As the deafening explosions subsided I tried to regain some composure; you want to be stoic when the children catch your gaze.

The Terrifying Sounds of the Bombs in Gaza at Night : The New Yorker

[I saw] the president get us of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars. And finally I think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very very solid.

Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama for president - CBS News

Hey guys, remember when everyone was making fun of Romney for putting his foot in his mouth? Let’s go back to those days!

Obama Ad Tries to Reset the Race to Two Weeks Ago - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Have to admit that popular political analysis and commentary is my one big guilty pleasure. This is a fun read and dissection of recent political ads in the US.

Reuters says sources con­firmed Xi hurt his back swim­ming ear­li­er this month and was obey­ing a doc­tor’s orders to get some bed rest. Future lead­ers of glob­al super pow­ers: just like your dad.

Missing Chinese Leader Reappears at Science Fair http://da.feedsportal.com/c/34375/f/625848/s/23754922/l/0L0Stheatlanticwire0N0Cglobal0C20A120C0A90Cmissing0Echinese0Eleader0Ereappears0Escience0Efair0C568920C/ia1.htm

You will make a difference in the world, but not immediately. Your first obligation is to find something you like doing, because if you like doing it, you’ll do it well.

Condoleezza Rice in a Levo League interview http://www.levoleague.com/career/dream/condoleezza-rice-intervie/

The early 21st century looks to be a time when such geotechnology matters more than ever — outweighing traditional power determinants like geopolitics and geoeconomics. Indeed, China is a superpower today not because it has twice as many nuclear weapons as it had two decades ago, but rather because it has come to dominate manufacturing through manpower, ingenuity and espionage, has generated massive surpluses from it, and now invests those profits in military hardware and other advanced technologies. A decade from now we may look back at China’s 12th Five-Year Plan as the seminal document of the early 21st century. It pledges $1.5 trillion in government support for seven “strategic emerging industries,” including alternative energy, biotechnology, next-gen IT, high-end manufacturing equipment, and advanced materials. China invented none of these fields, but outstrips all competitors in attempting to improve and deploy them at scale.

@paragkhanna and @ayeshakhanna1 raise important points for countries to consider moving forward.

Which Nation Has the Best ‘Technik’? - Ayesha Khanna and Parag Khanna - Harvard Business Review

I think Dr. Kim is a good choice but I wish the process had really been an open and competitive process as the US and the EU had agreed to back in 2009.

Dani Rodrik in on the World Bank, a multipolar world and the importance of ideas.

For those of us who cover politics, Twitter distills the best points, jokes, and actual news in a way that makes it an indispensable tool.

Jacob Weisberg in his Vogue piece Fast Company: The Women of Twitter

I agree, of course, about how important Twitter has become.

The article gives a good basic overview of the Twitter landscape in a way that is accessible for newbies and also interesting for those more acquainted with the medium (since who wouldn’t be interested in how the company is run from day-to-day). I think we have pretty much reached the peak of the momentum for social media like Twitter. Most businesses are now on it (just two years ago, tried as I may, my argument for Danone and Columbia to get on board were met with much hesitation) and here Twitter is covered in a publications which cannot exactly be identified as “tech.” Social media has done wonders to democratize social interactions, but now social media itself has been democratized, meaning that it is open to a much wider audience. More evidence: I’ve managed to get both my parents and just recently my uncle onto Twitter.

Here’s the full quote:

All news now essentially breaks first on Twitter, and it’s axiomatic that the more relevant something is to you personally, the more likely you are to find out about it via the people you follow. Twitter is where I got early word of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, that the earthquake that vibrated my desk chair in August was a mild one centered in Virginia, and that the pond where I sometimes skate on weekends wasn’t yet frozen at the end of December. For those of us who cover politics, Twitter distills the best points, jokes, and actual news in a way that makes it an indispensable tool. Tweets often are the news, such as Rick Perry’s announcement that he wasn’t dropping out after his fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and would carry on to South Carolina. In a very real sense, it’s where a presidential campaign now happens, as candidates talk to voters, their campaigns talk to the press, and journalists talk to one another.

Jon Stewart’s satirical skit about the Kony 2012 video. Includes a video about Syria 2012 featuring a cute, intelligent talking dog. Worth watching. 

What the Invisible Children’s Viral Video can Teach Us and What it Cannot

For many, this 30-minute video will be a great introduction to the horrific events in Uganda lead by the LRA. The amount of work which went into this for me to even be able to write this blog post in response is astounding. Aside from being a great example of how to mobilize people through storytelling and social media, it presents a wonderful story about how we can all make a difference, how, if we really try, we can change the minds of the most powerful people on the planet. Because we can today. We can shape history.

I was really moved. How can I begin to describe my reaction?

But if you really care about this issue, you might consider taking one or two more steps before throwing your support behind Invisible Children.

It is an American non-profit that is advocating for intervention in Uganda. That is its goal and everything it produces will be to support that goal. Unfortunately, no professional 30-minute video has been created for us to easily learn about the realities of the situation. The pathos ends here.

What you can do, however, is check out the following links:

I also recommend these links:

If after all the reading, you are inspired to make a change. You should know that it is possible, and you can do it, as Natalie Warne of Invisible Children did (TEDxTeen Video) (via @NiamhHughes).

But it’s a complex issue, and we are more intelligent than the adorable Gavin. It’s not a good guys vs. bad guys situation. Please read into the organizations and causes you are supporting.

I try to stay informed through this list of various hodgepodge of security, political, economic news sources on Twitter. (See also Foreign Policy Twitterati and Women Who Tweet + Are Crucial to Foreign Policy).

Good Intentions Are Not Enough. We should share and act responsibly (thinking before linking), but most importantly, now that the conversaion’s started, let’s keep it going.

Update: I’ve added some more articles I found interesting between March 7-10, 2012. Feel free to tweet me @nettra to suggest any other insightful commentary. Thanks!

Also wanted to include this meme which illustrates just how complex the situation is. See it here.