{"id":249,"date":"2016-01-29T11:27:33","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T11:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2016-01-29T11:31:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T11:31:47","slug":"misc-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/?p=249","title":{"rendered":"Misc Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ennote\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div><strong>Film making\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; I started learning Final Cut Pro a few months ago through <a href=\"http:\/\/lynda.com\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">Lynda.com<\/a>.\u00a0Here is\u00a0a\u00a0short film\u00a0I\u00a0made this week:<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=a-8qraElYaE\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">Overview of the West Africa Food Security Partnership (the program I work for)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><strong>Story of the Mexican Fisherman\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.\u00a0The Mexican replied, \u201conly a little while. The American then asked why didn\u2019t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family\u2019s immediate needs. The American then asked, \u201cbut what do you do with the rest of your time?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican fisherman said, \u201cI sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.\u201d The American scoffed, \u201cI am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican fisherman asked, \u201cBut, how long will this all take?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To which the American replied, \u201c15 \u2013 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut what then?\u201d Asked the Mexican.<\/p>\n<p>The American laughed and said, \u201cThat\u2019s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMillions \u2013 then what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The American said, \u201cThen you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><strong>Per diem<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>A newsletter I get from <a href=\"http:\/\/ictworks.org\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">ICT works<\/a> featured a write-up\u00a0about ways to stop\u00a0paying\u00a0per diem.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>I never heard of a per diem before coming to Benin. In short time I learned that if you want to organize a training or hold a meeting with adults, you were expected to dish out per diems (normally $2 to $10 per person\/day). People typically expect that their is some behind-the-scenes budget that had a line for these per diems. In their defense, this is often the case. In my case though, almost never. Just me trying to exchange and share some knowledge. Not respecting the per diem expectation can create suspicious feelings. People attending the training\/meeting may think you stole all their per diem or that the training isn&#8217;t &#8220;serious&#8221;. With government workers and the NGO types, people may be offended or mad because they consider per diems legitimate allowances. You on the other hand suspect that everyone came just to pocket the per diem and they could care less what you&#8217;re talking about.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s interesting to see other people reflecting on ways to stop paying per diem, particularly now that I&#8217;m on the other side and get giant per diem when I travel. Perhaps US government employees should take the lead and stop paying themselves per diem?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div><strong><strong>Listening to:<\/strong><\/strong><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dancarlin.com\/product\/hardcore-history-death-throes-of-the-republic-series\/\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">Dan Carlin &#8211;\u00a0Death Throes of the Republic Series<\/a><span style=\"color: #202020;\"><br clear=\"none\" \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/fourhourworkweek.com\/2016\/01\/15\/chris-sacca-on-shark-tank-building-your-business-and-startup-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">Chris Sacca on Shark Tank, Building Your Business, and Startup Mistakes<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/fourhourworkweek.com\/2016\/01\/15\/chris-sacca-on-shark-tank-building-your-business-and-startup-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">\u00a0<br clear=\"none\" \/><\/a>I liked his thoughts on myopia and empathy at around 30 min<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fFO0CkSiZfI\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">Jay Larson &#8211; Wrong Number<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fFO0CkSiZfI\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\"><br clear=\"none\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/THE%20U.S. SHOULD LET IN 100,000 SYRIAN REFUGEES\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">Intelligence Squared &#8211; The US should let in 100,000 Syrian Refugees <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"margin: 7.5pt 0in 7.5pt 0in;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #202020;\">Links I liked:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"margin: 7.5pt 0in 7.5pt 0in;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastcoexist.com\/3040832\/world-changing-ideas\/a-universal-basic-income-is-the-bipartisan-solution-to-poverty-weve-bee\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">What if the government simply paid everyone enough so that no one was poor? <\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 7.5pt 0in 7.5pt 0in;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/the-development-set\/the-reductive-seduction-of-other-people-s-problems-3c07b307732d#.yqpcj7ul8\" target=\"_blank\" shape=\"rect\">The Reductive Seduction of Other People\u2019s Problems<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin: 7.5pt 0in 7.5pt 0in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #202020; font-size: 18px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Film making\u00a0&#8211; I started learning Final Cut Pro a few months ago through Lynda.com.\u00a0Here is\u00a0a\u00a0short film\u00a0I\u00a0made this week: Overview of the West Africa Food Security Partnership (the program I work for) Story of the Mexican Fisherman\u00a0 An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253,"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markhuelsenbeck.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}