New Blog: After Academia!

My recent experience in job hunting has taught me that graduate students who pursue their PhDs, but who want to transition to a non-academic career face plenty of challenges. We have plenty of marketable skills and experiences in teaching, researching and writing, but for many in the private, public and non-profit sectors, that isn't high on their radar screen. We are very qualified candidates who are large on skills, but short on the practical, resume experiences many employers look for first. As such, I have decided to start a new website, After Academia, to discuss our plight and hopefully offer advice and solutions to the thousands of transitioning PhD students who need a little guidance. In this site, we will offer timely news and discussion, resources, job listings and hopefully much, much more. So check it out! http://afteracademics.blogspot.com.
Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.

Meeting The Challenge of Climate Change

Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change (via The White House)

In June, President Obama laid out the case for action on climate change, and the steps his Administration will take to address it. In his Climate Action Plan, the President announced steps to cut the emissions of carbon pollution, prepare the United…

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How Disqus Blows Outbrain Out of the Water for Blog Contents, Content Discovery and Social Networking

Blog Monetization: Why Disqus is Better Than Outbrain for Small Publishers (via Dude, Sustainable!)

Recently, I've been experimenting with different models for social interaction, content marketing and monetization for my humble blog, but until recently, those three have been distinctly separate enterprises. That is, until I discovered Disqus comments…

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Top 9 Cliches About American Soccer and the USMNT

A hearty congratulations to Jurgen Klinsmann and the boys of the USMNT for qualifying for the 2014 World Cup! We're Rio-bound, baby. I've only recently fallen in love with Soccer as a spectator sport. You see, I played American Football, where I quarterbacked my high school football team to a sterling 0-20 record over the two years that I ran the huddle. I had better luck with baseball, where I started for three years and captained my team to the Maryland State 4A finals my senior year (we lost). But I only played soccer once, when I was 10 years old, and I hated it. We had this little kid who was pretty good, but didn't like to share, so practices and games involved him running around the field with the ball and never passing to anyone. Ever. Some might say that he's just a ballhog, others might blame the coaches for not making him pass to the other kids who might like to play too. Either way, it's water under the bridge (you can tell by my tone that it's not). American successes in the 1994, 2002 and 2010 World Cup whet my appetite, and a few years in Europe, where soccer is the only watchable sport on network TV encouraged me to take a a more active interest to the point where I won't go a single day without reading soccer news or a single weekend without at least peeking at a Premier League game. I love the pageantry of International Soccer as well, and I'm happy to take an abiding interest in our upstart national team. In honor of the "dos a cero" victory over Mexico last night, here are my () favorite cliches about American soccer and the USMNT.

• Soccer is the world's most famous sport, and it's finally catching on in the United States 
• Such words have been uttered since the early '90s, some might even say the '70s NY Cosmos era).
• Americans can't get interested in soccer because there's not enough scoring action
• Fair point, but great action is to be found elsewhere, and unlike, say hockey, the scoring is rarely out of the blue. We don't fault NFL teams for good defense and a solid running game, so why should we fault soccer as a sport for its focus on tactics and ball control.
• The American talent pool is vast and untapped
• I agree, but it's becoming less untapped day-by-day
• But wait, who are all these foreigners playing for the national team?
• In the interest of objectivity, I'm half Icelandic and spent a great deal of time in Germany, so I'm rooting wholeheartedly for Aaron Johansson, Jermaine Jones, John Anthony Brooks, Timmy Chandler and of course, the inveterate Jurgen Klinsmann who was a star in the first World Cup I ever watched in 1990.
• Jurgen Klinsmann was a talented, passionate player who doesn't know how to manage
• Can we put this one to rest?
• Jurgen Klinsmann is a genius
• Too soon?
• We can't expect the US to perform against international sides from Europe and South America
• Ah, now here's an interesting one. CONCACAF certainly gives the US a relatively easy road to the World Cup, but anyone would have to admit that it's an ascendant federation. The recent demise of the Mexican national team should be enough to demonstrate the growing strength of formerly second-tier sides like Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama. 
• Can the US compete day in, day out with the likes of Spain, Germany, Brazil or Argentina? My gut says no, but recent history shows that the USMNT can compete with anyone when they're on their game. Emphasis on that last sentence couldn't be stronger. We're a talented bunch, and when we click, we're hard to stop, and all you need is a good run in the World Cup to end up hoisting the gothic globe.
• Landon Donovan is soft, Clint Dempsey is tough
• I don't really care about this one. Each is a talented and accomplished player who has performed his role in different ways over the course of his career.
• American Soccer is about evening rec leagues, SUVs and orange slices whereas the rest of the world sees it as a street game that breeds passion and toughness
• Can't argue so much about the American side, although living in the Bay Area has introduced me to the local park where Latino men gather en-masse to push each other around and occasionally kick a ball. They're grown men, however, and you rarely see this kind of gathering among kids and aspiring professional footballers. It would be hard to argue, though, that some of the talent pool coming from the middle and upper-middle class reaches of British and European countries are streetballers at hear. I think the European talent pool is open to interpretation.

How many did I miss? Leave a comment in the Disqus box and let me know!

Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.

The Sustainable Dude Now Using Disqus Comments

Regular readers of this blog will know I've been experimenting with a number of comment forms for my posts, and I think I've finally settled on Disqus. Facebook Comments haven't been as easy or as social as I would have liked, and for some reason, the Google+ comments box I liked completely disappeared during an edit of my page's CSS. How it happened, I don't know, and a weekend of trying to get it back hasn't helped. So, I'm settling on Disqus for a number of reasons. One, it offers a flexible sign-in...I've allowed comments from "guests" who aren't registered with Disqus or who don't want to post with one of their social profiles. Two, it's a really sleek design, although a little slow to load. It's my hope that visitors are reading the entire post, so by the time the comments box loads, you'll be in the middle of the article and hopefully thinking of something you can say! Three, it actually offers a "sponsored content" model that works for small publishers like myself. See the "Around the Web" Links at the bottom? Yep. those are sponsored stories that are hopefully interesting and appealing to you. Maybe it'll bring in some additional (well, just some) revenue to help us out at Dude, Sustainable! Leave a comment in the box and let me know what you think! Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.

Infographic - Syria and its Allies

Want to know more about the Syria conflict, but don't know where to start? Well, we've got you covered. This infographic from Al Jazeera shows, in bubble form, who Syria is connected to, and why it matters. Use this to bone up on your foreign policy credentials in preparation for President Obama's big speech on Syria tonight!

by AlJazeera.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.

PBS Newshour: Congress Returns as Obama Lobbies for Syria Strikes

Congress Returns as President Mounts Major Syria Lobbying Effort (via PBS News Hour)

By: Christina Bellantoni and Terence Burlij Protesters march in Los Angeles Saturday to urge Congress to vote against a military strike on Syria (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)Editor's note: There was a technical issue with today's Morning Line.…

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Just Back from the Big Sur Coast

Just got back from the Big Sur Coast, California at its finest! My parents-in-law are in town, and we always take an opportunity to explore the area a little better than the last time. This trip, it was the California coast, starting with San Luis Obispo and running all the way north to San Francisco. We took 101 south through the Salinas valley to begin at San Luis, and decamped at the Montana de Oro state park on the Pacific coast. The little one spent most of the vacation parked next to the beach, digging through sand and getting her toes wet, and the rest of us spent our time trying to guard our food from raccoons and predatory owls! Then, we made our way north, where our parents took some time to see Hearst Castle (once is enough for me) and we spent some time at Hearst Memorial Beach, hanging with harbor seals and such. From there, we headed north, where we hit Limekiln State Park for a quick hike and a swim, and then further north to Pfeiffer Burns State Park. One more night of camping, and a drive home, and our Big Sur Vacation is over! Great trip, but looking forward to real life resuming once more!

Robert Nelson is blogger-in-chief at Dude, Sustainable!. Find us on Google+ or on Facebook.