Hasta La Gadget!

Co-authored by Andy Mullins, Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies

In Sunny Croatia, Tourism Booms With Politics in Turmoil

If you are a Star Wars fan, as we are, you will appreciate the “balance in the Force” and the Jedi’s quest to keep the universe from falling to the Dark Side. By the same token, you know that Lucasfilm and Rian Johnson are filming the next chapter in the Star Wars saga, Episode VIII, in Dubrovnik, Croatia, arguably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Earlier, Dubrovnik and nearby Split hosted the crew of yet another world famous epic fantasy series, HBO’s Game of Thrones. Croatia’s Adriatic coast, with over one thousand islands, is so beautiful that it is no wonder Star Wars and Game of Thrones wanted to leave their footprint there as well.

City of Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (PHOTO: Bracodbk)

Near the famous island of Hvar, there are the small Paklinski Islands, with one – Palmizana – offering both secluded peace and quiet and amazing art exhibits under the ArtPalmizana Meneghello cultural festival, currently featuring an exhibition of the well-known Croatian artist Jasenka Vukelic.

Paklinski Islands, off the southwest coast of the island of Hvar (PHOTO: Gourmet Croatia)

ArtPalmizana Meneghello (PHOTO: Andrej Sapric)

“Sisters,” a painting by Jasenka Vukelic exhibiting at ArtPalmizana Meneghello

It is clear tourism will be growing in Croatia, possibly achieving a record-breaking number of visits this year. Along with high-end tourism and international hot-spot fame, Croatian tourism nowadays incorporates plenty of art exhibits, music festivals, and entertainment for all generations.

A Disturbance in the Force?

But not everything is eye-catching in Croatia these days. In March, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the country’s long-term issuer and unsecured debt ratings to Ba2. The government will need to reform its public sector and to further curb spending, along with a planned privatization of various state-owned enterprises, to fill up the budget and service the significant public debt.

Croatia held parliamentary elections last November and the ruling center-left “Croatia is Growing” coalition, winning 67 seats, was challenged by a center-right “Patriotic Coalition” that won 57 seats. Third came the newly-emerged MOST (“Bridge”) party, with 19 seats becoming the kingmaker in future government formation.

The fact that the newly-formed MOST came out with such a result in its first general election shows the discontent of a vast number of Croats with both left-wing and right-wing political parties.

MOST opted to partner with the center-right coalition led by the HDZ, conditioned on the appointment of a Prime Minister from the business community, independent from the political system, that would seriously engage in reforms, set the country in the right business-oriented direction, curb debt, and revive the economy. Tihomir Oreskovic, a dual Croatian-Canadian citizen and pharmaceutical executive, was chosen to form the government. Bozo Petrov, leader of MOST, and Tomislav Karamarko, leader of the HDZ, were appointed deputy prime ministers.

Early Parliamentary Elections Possibly in September As HDZ Leader Resigns

Crises in the government, looming for some time over several issues, erupted when news became public that Ana Saric-Karamarko, the HDZ president’s wife, took 60,000 Euros in consulting fees from a Hungarian lobbyist working for MOL, the energy company with which Croatia and its petrol giant INA are locked in dispute.

This created a chain reaction. Prime Minister Oreskovic asked both his deputies to resign. Soon after, the HDZ leader asked the Prime Minister to resign. This political soap opera lasted weeks, until the Commission of Conflict of Interest in the Croatian parliament ruled that the HDZ leader was indeed in a conflict of interest with respect to the MOL-INA issue. Karamarko tried to negotiate with members of parliament to reshuffle the government ruling coalition, but to no avail. He then resigned as deputy prime minister, but both HDZ leadership and the main opposition SDP leadership opted to support a vote of no confidence in the Oreskovic government.

This is the first time Croatia’s ruling party dismissed its own prime minister, calling him “an unsuccessful experiment” and accusing him of running the country as a business and not a state. It is also the first time ever that the Croatian parliament dissolved itself. Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, Croatia’s president, now needs to decide when early elections will take place. By law, that should be at minimum 30 days and at maximum 60 days from the day the parliament dissolved.

Certainly this will be a boiling hot political summer in Croatia. Millions of tourists from around the globe will visit the extraordinarily beautiful Croatian coast, enjoying a great vacation while political parties will sweat to campaign and grab some of their constituency’s attention before fall’s early elections. May the Force be with Croatia this summer: to have a splendid tourist season and better consolidate a political scene that will lead the country to economic revival, internal reconciliation, and sunny days.

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The post Veho K-Series K-2 Pro 4K WiFi Action Camera appeared first on TechFresh, Consumer Electronics Guide.

Alongside my college counseling work, I’ve written six novels and taught creative writing to college students and adults for decades. You don’t need to write a novel to get into college, but you do need to adopt some of the essentials of writing creatively to make your application essays sing. Since most of the supplements are not yet on line, I’ll focus on the Common Application essay for now.

Do’s

1. Get personal. Find a topic that makes your heart beat a little faster than usual – a topic with some energy and even tension in it: A piece of your personal story that’s essential to who you are and not reflected in your activities list, a talent, a hardship, a moment you took a risk and spoke out to defend a position, or a problem you solved, even if it was putting together a trampoline in your backyard. These are personal essays, not academic paper or speeches.

2. Before you start writing, do some free writing on your topic. Scribble down what comes to you without thinking about organization, voice or structure. This is a great way to find your voice and your material. Put your notes aside for a day or two, and when you come back to them, see which passages stand out.

Time – and time away from what you’re writing – is a great editor. Every writer I know has the experience that we write something we think is terrific and look at it in the morning and want to cry. The writing that holds up a week later is the good stuff.

3. Speaking of time: Don’t save this essay or any of the others for the last minute. Think of the essay as a work-in-progress, and set aside time to do it over a period of weeks.

4. Write informally and write long. Don’t stick to the 650-word limit as you begin. Again, you’re looking for material, energy, what matters. Once you have that down, you can edit out everything that isn’t essential.

5. College admissions officers often report that they want to be entertained and engaged by your essay. I’d say it’s more important to go for “engaged” than “entertained,” but the message is clear. The first sentence needs to be a grabber. You may end up writing the first terrific sentence once you’re done with the third draft. It doesn’t need to be acrobatic or pyrotechnic, and it doesn’t need to be one for the ages (“Call me Ishmael” – opening of Moby Dick), but a little pizazz goes a long way, at the beginning and throughout.

6. This is essential for every writer I know: Read. Read. Read. Writing is a discipline, and the more you read good writing, the better your own writing will become. Start with a few pieces from The New York Times every day. Notice clarity, detail, and precision, whether it’s a news story or an opinion piece about a lost father. I strongly suggest students read The New Yorker magazine. The writing is superlative, sophisticated, and often funny in interesting ways, and the subjects are as vast as those in The Times.

Don’ts

1. Don’t write about sex, drugs, or other vices. Don’t write about books that hundreds of millions of others have read: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, or Twilight. If you mention a book in your essay, avoid To Kill a Mockingbird or The Great Gatsby, standard fare for high school students.

2. If you have a strong academic record, I’d suggest not choosing Prompt Two – “Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure” – unless your failure has an unusual angle. Perhaps you failed to make a soufflé that rose, which led to all kinds of insights, or failed to revive a wounded animal, leading to your interest in becoming a vet. Though I don’t generally proscribe topics, I’d say to avoid “I didn’t get into X Club or Y orchestra or Z team, and the lesson I learned is to try harder next time.” An important lesson, yes, but not uniquely yours.

3. If your topic is built around an experience you had at a college or university, avoid naming the school if possible, as it will suggest to admissions officers that you are interested in that institution, which may diminish your chances at other schools.

4. Don’t feel you need to write about a major accomplishment to produce a good essay. Parents often say to me, “My son hasn’t found a cure for cancer, so I’m sure he can’t get into an Ivy League university.” Your academic record – grades, scores, recommendations, etc. – will convey your potential for performing well in college.

The essay is a personal chat about a subject that thrills you or that you feel is essential to conveying who you are. This past spring, a young woman who wrote about a lifetime of shopping at Costco made news. The headlines – “This Essay Got a High-school Senior into Five Ivies and Stanford” – made it sound as though the essay itself did all the work. No, the entirety of her academic record got her in, and the essay was one piece of it. The five Ivies and Stanford have their own rigorous essays that were part of her applications, which never makes it into these news stories. The newsworthy essay was quirky, colorful, and unusual – and it solidified the rest of her impressive record.

5. Don’t assume that a good essay – even a really good essay – will compensate for a poor record at a highly competitive college or university. Admissions officers insist that high school grades are the best predictor of success in college. But admission to the very top colleges and universities now depends on a strong overall record along with an essay that confirms the record. A strong essay can really help a student with a mixed record at school that’s outside the highly competitive zone.

6. The essays matter, but making good choices about where to apply is just as important. I sometimes work with students whose list consists of ten reach schools and one safety. My favorite resource, written from the student’s eye view, is The Best 380 Colleges, published every summer by Princeton Review. It’s got a wealth of useful statistics and relevant descriptions.

Do remember that this is a process that will come to an end. Have some fun along the way.

Elizabeth Benedict is a bestselling author, former Ivy League writing professor, and founder and owner of Don’t Sweat The Essay.

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The news alert flashed on my cell phone as I was caring for my young granddaughters. There had been another mass shooting, this time in Florida. I quickly read the horrible details and immediately thought of my grandchildren.

What kind of world would they have in 20 years?

I was born 64 years ago and grew up watching black-and-white television shows called “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it to Beaver.” We played outside until dark and grumbled when we had to go inside and wash for dinner.

My parents watched the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and we believed him when he said in a deep, authoritative voice, “And, that’s the way it is.” The television programs ended at midnight with a patriotic video and rendition of the national anthem.

Back then, the news only was broadcast in the evening and I couldn’t have imagined having hundreds of channels with non-stop news programs. The only time we heard news during the day was on November 22, 1963 when President John Kennedy was assassinated.

I was in junior high school and the radio news was broadcast over speakers in our rooms. I knew the event was tragic when my teacher started to cry. Later that day, the horrific report caused tough Walter Cronkite to choke back tears during his broadcast.

Public exposure to natural and human-caused calamities became more prevalent while I was raising my children during the 1980s and 1990s. I was amazed when Cable News Network (CNN) began 24-hour news programs in 1980. I started and ended my days watching the news.

The broadcasts allowed viewers to watch live tornadoes, the fatal explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, and amazing feature stories from around the world.

Continuous news coverage made the audience instant witnesses to current events. We saw bloody soldiers, dead children, burned homes, as well as opulent palaces and travel adventures. Families went from gathering around one television set to having several in different rooms with separate connections. The audience detached from their families and sank into their seats, changing hundreds of channels by remote control.

After decades of powerful images made it difficult to shut out the noise, I devised a list of suggestions for escaping the addiction to endless, stressful reporting.

Turn Off the News

Decades ago, we survived with one or two news programs a day. Then we were free to play, work, and interact with others. Also, watching or reading only a liberal or conservative news source creates opinionated fanatics who don’t know how to sustain an intelligent conversation or respectfully disagree with opposing viewpoints.

Believe There is Good in the World

Think about Anne Frank, the young girl who hid with her family in an attic during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War ll. They were betrayed, reported to the Nazis, and sent to concentration camps. Anne’s mother starved to death after giving all her food to her daughters. Anne and her sister died in the camps.

Later, her diary was found and became one of the world’s most widely known books. Written during her years of hiding, Anne writes: “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.”

Find Joy Through the Arts

Listen to inspirational, happy music. Read positive or humorous books from a variety of humor writers with books that will cause you to laugh out loud. Attend a performance, play, or musical and lose yourself in the passion of the story.

Get Physical

Go outside, take a walk, ride a bike, take your grandkids to the park, go swimming, or hike a mountain trail. Your heart and mind will be grateful.

Connect with Others

Contact old or new friends and get together. Join a group of people who share your interests. Visit lonely older folks, or volunteer to help at schools, libraries, and hospitals.

Write

Spend time alone writing in a journal, or start a blog, or create a family newsletter. Be your own assignment editor and make the stories funny, poignant, and memorable. Use writing to vent frustrations and anger about bad news.

Get Involved

Horrific worldwide or national tragedies impact people within our communities. Reach out, listen, share, and work to make better laws and a better world.

Find Gratitude

Tragic events can bring society together, teach people to learn from mistakes and cause a deep appreciation for life.

I can’t guarantee a wonderful world for my granddaughters, but I can strive to live a positive life and encourage them to be strong and optimistic. Anne Frank, the young girl trapped in a hell on earth, still had the presence of mind to write these words: “Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”

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I live in a bubble.

Bill Maher, the comedian-cum-political pundit, often castigates Republicans for living in a bubble, for not recognizing bigotry and old fashioned stupidity, among other blindnesses.

I live in a bubble as well, for I am among the most educated in our society and live among similarly learned folks in the media, entertainment, business and culture capital of the United States, if not the world. (My bubble has smaller spheres in other parts of the country–Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Omaha, Austin, Tucson, and other cities where liberals reside.)

Like most intelligent, honest thinkers, I believe Donald Trump is not fit to be president of these United States. It is not just because he is a racist, a misogynist, a bully, etc. It is because he lacks depth of understanding the complexities of national and international issues, how they can be related and the consequences of half-baked actions.

I live in a bubble because I don’t fully understand or wish to accept that too many of my fellow countrymen outside my bubble have displayed a preference for a boob and bigot rather than a competent politician from either party.

Inside my bubble fellow bubbleheads read The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and other opinion making publications. Few articles praise the possibility of a President Trump.

I wonder how many people inside my bubble recognize how different we are from the rest of the country.

About a dozen years ago at a party for friends moving to Manhattan, I listened to several acquaintances bemoan their paycheck to paycheck existence. After their mortgage, car payments, country club membership dues, winter ski vacations, summer homes/rentals in the Hamptons, high municipal and school taxes and possibly private school tuitions, hardly any money from their six to seven figure salaries was left over, they lamented. It was, they all agreed, difficult to live a “middle class life” in Westchester.

Not being too politic I quickly pointed out they were not middle class, by any stretch of the imagination, at least according to generally accepted economic principles. Yes, they might have felt emotionally like cash-strapped middle classers, but only because the choices they made left them struggling to balance their “wants” against their “needs” and disposable income.

My bubblehead cohort does not begrudge the influx of immigrants, legal or illegal. We need them to clean our homes, tend our gardens, nanny our children and grandchildren, build our home expansions, serve us caramel macchiatos and bus our tables after dinner out.

We seldom think about the jobs they hold on assembly lines or slaughterhouses or on industrial construction sites, jobs that have been lost to a home-grown generation of blue collar workers. And we don’t dwell on the jobs that have been lost when plants close and production is shipped overseas. Yes, we feel bad for the displaced workers in cities and towns far removed from our bubble sites, but all we really care about is being able to buy what we want when we want it at the lowest possible price.

We’re not selfish. Just indifferent.

According to Charles A. Murray, a libertarian political scientist, author, columnist, pundit and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, inside my bubble we are isolated and insulated from the average white American. While I can’t think of any of my professional and personal acquaintances without college and perhaps post-graduate degrees, only one in three white American men have four year college degrees.

My bubble won’t burst easily, if at all. But it’s instructive to recognize its existence.

(Take this quiz to gauge if your bubble is isolated and insulated from the majority of Americans: Do You Live in a Bubble? I scored a 39, which means I’m a first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents.)

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