Miscellany – Gallifant.com

The Art of the Touchdown Dance – Jacobee Jones

Caleb Gallifant — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:00:26 +0000

Humble About Being Famous

Caleb Gallifant — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:00:59 +0000

Do you ever test your humility? How deep are its roots? How wide are its walls? This poem got me thinking about the authenticity of my humility:

I want to be
famous
so I can be
humble
about being
famous.

What good is my
humility
when I am
stuck
in this
obscurity?

-“Dilemma” by David Budbill, cited in Good Poems by Garrison Keillor

Digital Diplomacy

Caleb Gallifant — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:45:55 +0000

Picture: Michele Asselin for The New York TimesThe New York Times recently published an article following two men who are using social media and telecommunication technology to change the way diplomacy is done. The article tracks the lives and ideas of Alex Ross and Jared Cohen, both of which are State Department employees. Here’s an excerpt of some of their developments:

It is fair to say that Ross and Cohen are obsessed with mobile phones; they speak at length about telemedicine, tele-education and something called telejustice (the details of which they haven’t quite worked out yet). At an early-morning meeting in Palo Alto with mobile-banking experts, they looked for ways to expand a successful pilot program used to pay policemen via mobile phones in Afghanistan to another conflict zone in Congo. In both cases, as truckloads or planeloads of cash meant to pay policemen dwindled on their way from the capital cities to the provinces, so did the chances for lawful governance. Mobile banking is well established in places like Kenya, and cellphones are ubiquitous worldwide, even in poorly developed regions. Here was a way to use technology to address diplomacy, development and security concerns at once: direct payments to officers’ phones, which would be transferable to the phones of their distant families, could become a powerful tool for stability, even in Congo. Or at least that was the hope.

Read the full article here.

You Aren’t As Smart As You Think

Caleb Gallifant — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:38:54 +0000

Michael Hyatt, when asked about what advice he would give students who are graduating, wisely listed the following three things:

1. You aren’t as smart as you think.

2. You have more potential than you can imagine.

3. You are just beginning your education.

Hyatt explicates his points: “You will do yourself a huge favor by downplaying your education and assuming the posture of a beginner…You can be that person who changes everything and makes a huge difference…If you are going to be successful, you must be a lifelong learner. Above all, read.” Read the full post here.

Congratulations to all Spring & Summer grads!