The Digital Conversationalist

Andrea T Edwards

#35 Weekend reads – it’s a year to be courageous, join me

Well here we are, a new year, new hope, and a chance to start all over after a grueling 2020. So Happy New Year my friends and thank you for sticking with me and supporting me all these years. I am so grateful for the community I have around me. The people who walk through life with me have always been my greatest achievement.

So what are you planning to do differently this year? I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, I never have, but I like the idea of a word to guide us through the year. My word for 2021 is courage and I’m launching a whole new brand around this – watch this space – where I’m going to take things up a notch to tackle the biggest concerns the world faces.

I have never pretended to have all the answers, but I do enjoy speaking with people who think deeply about the issues impacting the world, and I’m looking forward to interviewing many this year and being one of the people contributing to making the world a better place.

I believe it is time that respect for all life on earth sits at the centre of how we live, as well as a world where all humans can live with dignity. I hope you join me on this new venture.

My weekend reads are part of this too. Now in my 35th week, I do this to share a broad array of information and news flying around the world, covering the issues that matter. What I share isn’t necessarily what I agree with, but my hope is it helps you navigate the maelstrom of information and the overwhelm that comes with it.

A major part of what I believe is wrong in the world, is a lack of diverse knowledge and opinions. People are stuck in information siloes, seeing only one point of view. That is not a good thing for any of us, so when we share knowledge, we potentially open minds. That has always been my goal here. Feel free to share this with anyone you think will benefit.

Charity

I have been sharing charities to support every week, hoping it inspires people who can donate to donate. Today I want to focus on the World Food Program – winners of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. They have made an urgent call for help, with 200 million people at risk of extreme poverty and famine. Most of those at risk are children.

When people are so desperate for survival, they have nowhere else to go, and are at higher risk of slavery, moving into prostitution or sexual slavery (especially the women and children), abuse, violence, war and more.

Please, if you can make a donation, do it today. And maybe set aside an amount every month to keep it going through 2021. This year will be much worse for so many and I beseech all of us to come together and help our fellow humans.

When we think it’s over there, we don’t connect the dots to see that we are all connected. Misery over there impacts us too. We are all in this together. Can I count on you to donate? Can I count on you to ask your community to donate too? Even if you can’t afford to donate, because you may be out of work or facing extreme uncertainty, can you help raise awareness of this critical need, as well as volunteer your time locally to help charities doing great work?

Let’s make 2021 the year of compassion!!  

Friends content

Pinpoints of light – I want to highlight this blog from my amazing friend Jennifer McDonald who has been fighting cancer for seven years. She’s been blogging regularly on the journey, as well as publishing the book My Big Breast Adventure: Or How I Found the Dalai Lama in My Letterbox. Jen is amazing and a true inspiration. Knowing many are facing cancer diagnosis’ at the moment, or have loved ones who are, I wholeheartedly recommend checking out what Jenni is writing. It will give you hope, inspiration and ideas too. Love you woman!!

If you want to be blown away by incredible photos from around the world, follow Sebastian Rich on LinkedIn. Powerful, moving and remarkable images. He’s also published a book: Conflict – a photographer of war and occasionally peace.

Also follow my friend Tim Hamons on LinkedIn too. He is doing 21 intentions for 2021 using visuals. He will definitely will get you off to the right start for the year and get your creative juices flowing.

Finally, I achieved a little bonus this last week of 2020. My book was listed in two categories by Book Authority. Here’s the blog post I wrote on it 18 Steps to an All-Star LinkedIn Profile made it to the Best LinkedIn Books of All Time.

Content to read

And here’s the content I’ve been reading this last week. Scan the headlines, read the ones that jump out at you, read or watch them all. Knowledge is power, and global knowledge is even more powerful.

Climate Crisis / 6th Mass Extinction

THE GREAT CLIMATE MIGRATION – A Warming Planet and a Shifting Population – worth a read!!

Cancel New Year’s Eve Forever – tks Cheryl Tan

Norway supreme court verdict opens Arctic to more oil drilling

More than 1.5 billion masks believed to have entered oceans in 2020

Texas Fracking Billionaires Drew Covid-19 Aid While Investing in Rivals

Exxon Knows Its Carbon Future And Keeps the Data From View

Norway landslide: Houses buried in Gjerdrum village near Oslo

2020 weather disasters boosted by climate change: Report

The Biggest Climate Change Stories of 2020

Exclusive: GM, Ford knew about climate change 50 years ago

Asia’s developing economies shun coal

Wang Xiangjun: China’s ‘Glacier Bro’ presumed dead

The Biden plan for a clean energy revolution and environmental justice

COVID19

Ten reasons we got Covid-19 vaccines so quickly without ‘cutting corners’ tks David Lim

France mobilises 100,000 police to stop New Year’s Eve gatherings

He Was Hospitalized for Covid-19. Then Hospitalized Again. And Again.

Evangelist singer draws a crowd of 2,500 to New Year’s Eve gathering, ignoring risk of COVID-19 spread tks Mark Mulkerin

France: More than 2,500 break virus restrictions at illegal rave

Victoria records 10 locally acquired coronavirus cases as authorities confirm link to NSW outbreak tks Phillipa Edwards

Covid: EU starts mass vaccination in ‘touching moment of unity’

How mRNA went from a scientific backwater to a pandemic crusher tks Joe Augustin

To exhausted healthcare workers like me, Covid conspiracies are a kick in the teeth

Covid-19: Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine approved for use in UK

NCID nurse becomes first person in Singapore to receive COVID-19 vaccine tks Priscilla Joseph

Great News: Latest Research Shows Immunity to COVID-19 Lasts at Least 8 Months

Trump reverses on coronavirus stimulus deal, signs package he called a ‘disgrace’

I’m a consultant in infectious diseases. ‘Long Covid’ is anything but a mild illness

The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 and Sleep tks Gina Giachetti

Covid poses ‘greatest threat to mental health since second world war’

Marco Rubio Rails Against Fauci, Says He ‘Lied About Masks’ and ‘Distorted’ Herd Immunity tks Frank Roberts

COVID Spread Through My Family and Took My Dad. Don’t Make Our Mistakes tks Denise Chai

COVID-19: Thailand’s first coronavirus death in two months leads to new lockdown measures

Covid: Sydney beach party sparks ‘backpacker’ deportation threat

As year-end approaches, vaccine rollout remains woefully behind schedule

What pandemic? Thousands celebrate on the Las Vegas Strip, NYC cops bust underground parties and Florida revelers pack clubs and bars on New Year’s Eve as US surpasses 20 million COVID infections – tks David Lim

Global Politics

Time left until Trump leaves office

Jan. 6 protests multiply as Trump continues to call supporters to Washington tks Frank Roberts

2021 New Year Message by PM Lee Hsien Loong

Legal Expert Calls on Biden to ‘Nominate Obama As Attorney General’

US election: Legal bid to get Pence to overturn results rejected

How does Scott Morrison vote on issues that matter to you? Tks Phillipa Edwards

US Congress overrides Trump veto for first time

Trump’s call for $2,000 cheques blocked by Senate leader

Paul Fanlund: To foreigners, do we all look like American idiots? Tks David Lim

Trump has unfinished business. A republic he wants to destroy still stands

Trump signs relief and spending package into law

Biden accuses US defence department of obstruction on transition

Pennsylvania Attorney General Cites Scalia Quote on ‘Insanity’ When Asking SCOTUS to Shut Down Trump Campaign’s ‘Profoundly Incoherent’ Petition

Early Voting Numbers in Georgia Senate Races Put G.O.P. on Edge

Business and Technology

Twelve highlights from our 2020 research – McKinsey

COVID-19 accelerated the future of jobs. Here’s how to protect workers.

17 Things You Should Leave Off Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile

Set Your Theme of the Year Before You Set Your Goals – tks Tim Hamons

Ever Onward – My Farewell to IBMers

Why we should be wary of our loud, overconfident colleagues

The science-backed ‘Future Self’ strategy can pave the way to greater success

Social issues (#BlackLivesMatter) and humanity

The Year of the Idiot tks Phillipa Edwards

‘A spoilt brat country’: the Australians overseas who decided not to come home tks Kate Marsden

How COVID exposed New Age Narcissism.

Manhattan DA Investigating Woman Who Falsely Accused Black Teen of Theft tks Barry Graubart

Nashville explosion ‘probably suicide bombing’

A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, and a Reckoning

Boy Scouts of America accuse Girl Scouts of starting ‘war’

Sikh Community Delivers Hundreds Of Meals To Lorry Drivers In Kent

People with extreme anti-science views know the least, but think they know the most: study tks David Lim

Samuel Little: America’s ‘most prolific’ serial killer dies

Super Gonorrhea May Be Spreading From Antibiotic Overuse For Covid-19 Coronavirus

Passion, humour, history

First meteor shower of 2021 could bring fireballs and 200 meteors an hour – Frank Roberts

Finding Euphoria in Bangkok’s Food Scene

Fashion Notes: Melania Trump Is Sleek in Slick Black Leather Louboutin Boots

Derided in the West, spam is so beloved in Asia that one company has invented a meat-free version of it tks Samantha Gayfer

‘She is beautiful but she is Indian’: The student who became a Welsh bard at 19

Heather Cox Richardson Offers a Break From the Media Maelstrom. It’s Working.

Swan Late: Mourning bird holds up German trains tks Karen Prager

Let me know if anything jumped out at you?

Cheers

Andrea

18 Steps to An All-Star LinkedIn Profile

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Andrea T Edwards

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I believe it’s time for all of us to embrace our voice and embrace the future. We do this by working and living ‘out loud’ with meaning, intention, integrity and by being true to ourselves. If you own your voice, you own your future.

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