kimberly bowman

attitudes to immigration

kimberlybowman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:42:37 +0000

via the Guardian

It’s the answer to the jobs question that really blows my mind.

I am trying not to take it personally.

links I like

kimberlybowman — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:21:34 +0000

A few links from this week..

Favourite story of the week: Man brings shirts into dying wife in hospice, takes her for a ride on the Harley. (You will cry.) (via @kottke)
Favourite blog comments thread of the week. (speaks for itself)
Well-written blog post on whether charities should operate as businesses (spoiler: they already do) (via @fp2p)
Another effective advocacy strategy I hadn’t really considered (until the Robin Hood Tax campaign did it, at Westminster Tube station): buying up advertising at a close-to-government-transit station (case study from Washington) (via marginalrevolution)

Happy New Year

kimberlybowman — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:07:03 +0000

This year has flown by.

Best wishes to family and friends on both sides of the Atlantic, celebrating tonight. I’ll be ringing in 2012 a few kilometres above Quebec City. See you in the new year!

Learning a country through sport

kimberlybowman — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:10:01 +0000

One of the hardest bits of living in a new place can be learning how to make small talk. There is nothing like the feeling you get after you’ve had your first “daily-routine” style exchange with a local in a new place – particularly in a foreign language. It’s one of the first signs you get that you might be able to fit in there.

In Cuba, I watched Mexican telenovelas so I could gossip with neighbourhood ladies. In England, I’m learning sport.

It started with football – which is incredibly easy to learn about as there are about a millions teams and most people (OK, most men, it seems) are happy to talk to you about it. Football fans have one (maybe two) favourite teams, so once you know a couple of people and which teams they support, football (the concept, not the game itself) develops a kind of social quality to it, as well. You start to pay attention to how Blackpool did, so you can congraulate the canteen guy on Monday. You can commiserate with your roommate when his team loses to their arch-rivals.

Pretty soon after moving here, I met my sports-mad boyfriend and my football education sped up. Then I was introduced to cricket. I’m not so keen on the latter and I have a tough time with terminology (keep slipping in to baseball banter), but I do like the international aspect. And there’s something to be said for a sport where nobody ever throws a hissy fit or a punch.

This time of year, it’s rugby. The Rugby World Cup is on and because the UK furnishes a bunch of teams, everybody has an opinion and probably a couple of loyalties.

I haven’t become a sports fanatic and I still don’t really know most of the rules, but I do know that learning how to follow standings (sort of) has helped me understand a lot of workplace / pub banter, and give me something to talk about besides the weather. (And for the record, I’m now cheering for New Zealand, just because they’re small.)

Bouquets of freshly-sharpened pencils

kimberlybowman — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 08:51:47 +0000

Credit: Datu Aurellano / Flikr: datu

Fall is my favourite season. I love Thanksgiving, the colours orange and brown, the sight of young Moms & Dads taking kids to their first day of school. I’m a total sucker for all that. I know Spring is supposed to be the time of “new beginnings” – but we all know September is the time that feels like things are starting up again.

Unfortunately, England doesn’t have Fall, it has Autumn. To my still-Canadian ears, “autumn” sounds less like a season and more like a character from The OC — lovely, but maybe a bit silly coming from me.

Anyway, the autumn is full of new beginnings for me. I’m taking on a new role at work (just for a year – maternity cover!) and starting courses towards a new degree.

Yesterday was registration day at the tiny downtown campus – they day when you pick up your student card and figure out the safest (indoor) place to park your bike. Next week is full-on orientation and the start of classes – and I start learning things like whether or not they still use hard-copy course packs.

This year is going to be packed-to-the-brim and filled with learning, as I balance work, studies and a twice-a-week commute into London. But as I’ve said, I love September – and during a month like this one, you can psych yourself up to do almost anything.

Bits and pieces from other places

kimberlybowman — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:42:31 +0000

Bill Gates’ ‘Internet Tidal Wave’ memo from 1995 – an interesting perspective on the future of the internet. (via @lettersofnote)

Apparently I am not the only person who still sends regular ~~post~~ mail (sporadically): Snail Mail My Email (via @swissmiss)

Great looking temporary tattoos (it’s summer! your ankle should have a rainbow on it!) at tat.ly (via @swissmiss)

If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in a while…. (via @lettersofnote)

yes, i want to change the world by working with you.

kimberlybowman — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:29:42 +0000

For most of the great people I know, their job is about more than their daily work/paycheck. These gorgeous recruitment advertisements are geared to would-be Facebook staff to help remind them of how their job contributes to a better world.

See more here, by 3Advertising. (via rethinkcommunications)

recommendation: remember the milk

kimberlybowman — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:04:47 +0000

It’s been about a week, and I still love (and am still using) Remember the Milk regularly.

It’s a web-pased to-do list thingy (I think the official name is “productivity and task management tool”), which apparently integrates with things like your Iphone. I just leave it open on my desktop or in a Chrome tab at home and at work, but even with limited use I’m finding it really handy.

Imagine a simple-looking to-do list that you can access from any computer or phone. You can add tasks easily while checking your Gmail, or by forwarding an email (from any address) to a standard email account. You can prioritize, cateogorize, tag and date tasks (oh, and postpone them too) in an interface that’s only as complicated as you make it. I’ve read Getting Things Done, but about the only behavior change I really adopted was getting serious about making detailed lists. I love working with simple but detailed lists. And this tool does the trick for me.

Enough ranting. I like it. If you’re looking for something similar, I hope you do too.

British Conservatives debate foreign aid

kimberlybowman — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:25:37 +0000

Scanning the Telegraph in a cafe this morning, I came across an op-ed by former Conservative Prime Minister John Major, in support of foreign aid. Here’s my favourite bit:

The argument runs something like this: the Conservative Party’s commitment to tackling global poverty and disease was never anything more than a handy fig-leaf of modernisation, designed to win over liberal-minded voters; now that times are tough it should be discarded.

And it doesn’t really matter because – in any event – it’s all wasted anyway.

This argument is wholly wrong. Its advocates miss two critical points: first, that our Party’s commitment to Aid pre-dates David Cameron and is based on conviction not calculation; and second, that every pound of Britain’s – still relatively small – aid budget is amongst the best value of any Government spending.

For those of you outside the UK, a quick catch-up:

Britain has been massively affected by the financial crisis. Last year’s election resulted in a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. They’ve promised to maintain support for Britain’s well-respected approach to global development, including introducing legislation that would mandate spending 0.7% of GNI on aid.

Meanwhile, the government is undertaking “the most drastic budget cuts in living memory,” which are putting hundreds of thousands of people out of work, limiting access to good post-secondary education and ‘devastating’ British science. (This post isn’t a commentary on the cuts – but I did want to make it clear that they’re making life more difficult for many.) In November’s Comprehensive Spending Review, the government promised to “ring-fence” the overseas aid and health (NHS) budgets and, to a lesser degree, education budgets. This meant protecting them from cuts while other departments implement cuts that average about 19%. (Overview here)

Some in the Conservative party are apparently against the government’s aid plans. Last month, Defense Secretary Liam Fox wrote to the Prime Minister (the letter was leaked) of his opposition to plans to enshrine the 0.7% commitment (to aid) in law. Some arguments against are summarized in Major’s quote, above.

Now, I could see how people who are feeling the effects of the downturn – and now the cuts – might wonder why foreign aid shouldn’t be cut as well. And, more cynically, I could see why a hawkish Defense Secretary, whose worldview would naturally incline him to the think less of the development / diplomatic sides of foreign affairs – might write such a letter. But of course, I disagree. I think what Britain has done with its development programme – in terms being supportive of development, and of creating a Ministry (DFID) which is, by many accounts, a real leader – is a great thing. Something people living in this country should be proud of.

And I think John Major said a few things I agree with, more more eloquently than me I.

Note: Edits made 5/6/11, mostly to correct typos and odd phrasing.