My Top Podcasts for 2010

Radiolab
Sporkful
Nuestro Flamenco
Hang Up and Listen
Planet Money (Disclosure)
On the Media
Sinica
Intelligence Squared
Forward Reporters' Roundtable
Star Talk

Fun with Foursquare

Checkin map

Today's Trivia

Napoleon was exiled to Elba; Santa Anna went to...Staten Island. But that's not half of the story - he helped introduce chewing gum to the United States.

Complete White House press corps seating chart

Link


Update to http://j.mp/ac-tw-8-2 courtesy NYDN: http://j.mp/whpc-8-2

TV & Movie Locations from Alan Cordova Photography

From Alan Cordova Photography (map)

• "Men in Black" Building (Brooklyn Battery Tunnel Manhattan ventilation fan station): http://flic.kr/p/5mwWRR
• Temple from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (Petra treasury): http://flic.kr/p/5RVot5
• James Bond Island from "The World is Not Enough" (Leander's Tower): http://flic.kr/p/coGoo
• Richard J. Daley Plaza from "Blues Brothers": http://flic.kr/p/P916b
• "The Office" Building (Pennsylvania Paper & Supply Company): http://www.flickr.com/photos/acordova/35628
• Kidnapping scene from "Man on Fire" (Calle Citlaltépetl in Condesa): http://flic.kr/p/2jM7kw
• "Full House" Victorians: http://www.flickr.com/photos/acordova/570820200/in/set-72157600402734163/
• Princeton University from "A Beautiful Mind": http://www.flickr.com/photos/acordova/2056844941/in/set-72157603275775335/
• Low Library, Columbia University from "Spider-Man": http://flic.kr/p/3bQnEH

New Page: NYC Outdoors

outdoors.alancordova.com

Covers hiking, running and skiing near New York City.  More to come soon!

"Inside Job"

Another frightening econ show from This American Life & ProPublica & Planet Money.

New Photo Site!

Announcing the new photos.alancordova.com - all 6,304 photos geotagged! Zoom into a site, a city, a country or a region!

Turkish press covers Alan's presentation on Sephardi Jewish history in Rhodes and the Marmara regions

Conference site


SonDakika.com:

"Sempozyumun ilk konuşmacıları arasında yer alan Sefardik Yahudilerinden Alan R. Cordova, tarihte İspanya'da Yahudi toplumunun altın çağını Endülüs Emevi devletinin döneminde yaşandığını dile getirdi. İspanya'da Katolik krallığın ülkeye hükmetmesiyle hem Müslümanların hem de Yahudilerin bu topraklarda yaşayamaz hale getirildiğine işaret eden Cordova, Türklerin Sefardik Yahudilerine kucak açmasının asla unutulmayacağını söyledi. Cordova, Türklerin Yahudilere yalnızca 15. yüzyılda değil II. Dünya Savaşı'nda da yardım ettiğine işaret ederek Türkiye'nin Rodos Konsolosu Selahattin Ülkümen'in 42 Yahudi ailesini soykırımdan kurtardığını açıkladı."

TurkishNY.com:
"TCA'nın toplantıda konuşma yapan hukuk danışmanı David Saltzman, Yahudilerin Türkiye'de ve ABD'de istedikleri şekilde ve güvende yaşayabildiklerine dikkati çekerken, Columbia Üniversitesinden Alan Cordova da Rodos ve Marmara Bölgesinden ABD'ye gelen Yahudilerin geçmişini anlatan bir sunuş yaptı. Cordova, sunuşunda İkinci Dünya Savaşı'nda en az 42 Yahudi aileyi soykırımdan kurtaran Rodos Başkonsolosu Selahattin Ülkümen'e de yer vererek, onun gibi pekçok Türk diplomatın bulunduğunu ifade etti."

Alan Completes New York Marathon

The New York Marathon is Alan's second, after Baltimore in 2008. Alan has also completed seven half-marathons since 2007.

View WSW Along the Panj River

View WSW Along the Panj River
Originally uploaded by Alan Cordova.

Featured in Wired UK.

At a carbon trading conference in Washington, DC

http://www.carbontradeexamerica.com/

It’s more than a conference and more than a trade show; Carbon TradeEx America will be the most comprehensive event in the U.S. connecting climate policy, carbon markets, energy security, low carbon technology, and the green economic recovery. Carbon TradeEx America will help you connect with industy thought leaders, senior decision-makers, and practitioners interested in one of the biggest policy priorities of the new Obama Administration.

Historical Partisan Composition of the U.S. Congress 1855-2009

Note: Does not include independents who caucused with the Democratic Party.

Source

Upcoming New York City Networking Events

· 1/20 6:30 PM: http://www.facetofacenetworking.com/upcoming.shtml
· 1/21 1:30 PM: http://newyork.networkingforprofessionals.com/eventlistings.php?id=262
· 1/21 5:30 PM: http://wibo.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=20
· 1/21 6:00 PM: http://www.cbsacny.org/article.html?aid=678
· 1/21 6:30 PM: http://www.meetup.com/The-NYC-Business-Networking-Group/calendar/9381740/
· 1/21 8:00 PM: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=43773924340
· 1/22 8:30 AM: http://www.breakfastnetworking.com/
· 1/22 6:00 PM: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=45737263877
· 1/23 3:00 PM: http://www.chamber.com/calendar_detail.asp?id=246
· 1/27 12:30 PM: http://www.spainuscc.org/newsevents/event-detail.asp?eventID=87
· 1/27 6:00 PM: http://www.goldplacenyc.com/portals/26/events.aspx?DoAction=ViewEvent&EventID=170755299557528
· 1/28 7:00 PM: http://www.meetup.com/nyinternetmarketinggroup/calendar/9355350/
· 1/29 6:30 PM: http://www.sbnyc.org/events/Jan09_AnEveningWith%20BCorporation.html
· 2/5 6:00 PM: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=48979745909&ref=mf

Alan completes the Baltimore Marathon

Race info, PDF map, my splits. Also, photos from Baltimore and results from past races.

Two photos that can never again be taken

It looks like the airplane that once stood in front of the Space Pavilion at the VDNKh of Moscow has been demolished. Here's what the view looked like...

This is not the first object I've photographed to be subsequently removed. The Obelisk of Axum was taken from its eponymous site in Ethiopia in 1937 and planted in Rome's Piazza di Porta Capena:

While the Obelisk was taken down in 2003, it was not until a week before last that it was finally returned to its proper place.

News in Alaska

Story #1: Governor picked as VP
Story #2: Bear attack

Where to Go in New England

Here's a list I put together for a friend (with a map showing the locations relative to New York):

Mystic, Connecticut

-         Mystic Seaport (http://www.mysticseaport.org): Tall ships and a recreated 19^th-century shipping village.

Newport, Rhode Island (http://www.gonewport.com)

-         Newport Mansions (http://www.newportmansions.org): Mansions of wealthy families (Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, etc.).  I visited several with my family when we were there (I was 11), but I only remember The Breakers.

-         Newport Historical District (http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=759&ResourceType=District): Well-preserved colonial architecture

Fall River, Massachusetts

-         Battleship Cove (http://www.battleshipcove.org): Collection of World War II-era battleships with a military museum.

Plymouth, Massachuetts

-         Plimouth Plantation (http://www.plimoth.org): Historical reenactment of one of the first settlements in what became the United States.

-         Plymouth Rock (http://www.plymrock.org): Where the Mayflower is supposed to have landed.  A tourist trap for over 250 years.

Boston, Massachusetts

-         Boston Common: Central Park for Boston.  Visit the Public Garden (home of the famous ‘Make Way for Ducklings’ statue commemorating the children’s book of the same name) and the Lagoon (home of the Swan Boats [http://www.swanboats.com])

-         Boston Children’s Museum (http://www.bostonkids.org)

-         Freedom Trail: Starts at the Boston Common and visits most of the city’s famous sites (http://www.cityofboston.gov/FreedomTrail/).  Guided tours are available at 148 Tremont Street near the Common at 10 AM, 11 AM, 12 PM, 1 PM, 1:30 PM, 3:30 PM and 4:30 PM (https://store.thefreedomtrail.org/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=2)

-         Clam Chowder: Although you can get clam chowder anywhere in the United States, it has always found its home in Boston.  CitySearch put together a listing of the best spots to get a cup: http://boston.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/2007/clam_chowder

-         Museum of Science (http://www.mos.org): Excellent exhibits

-         Quincy Market: Historic district downtown – a bit touristy.

Concord, MA

-         Minute Man National Historic Park (http://www.nps.gov/mima/): Visit the Battle Road, where the Battle of Concord took place on April 19, 1775, and the Old North Bridge, the site of the Shot Heard ‘Round the World, as described by poet Ralph Waldo Emerson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Hymn (and, as US schoolchildren will tell you, later featured in the 1970s educational film series Schoolhouse Rockhttp://www.school-house-rock.com/Shot.html) (warning - the web site plays the annoying song).

Portsmouth, NH(http://www2.preservationnation.org/dozen_distinctive_destinations/2008/Portsmouth)

-         Strawberry Banke (http://www.strawberrybanke.org): Historic district featuring colonial and federal architecture

-         Isles of Shoals: Small islands off the coast, viewable from scenic tour boats (http://www.islesofshoals.com/tickets/index.php?page=shop/browse&category_id=2fd1022ccc3a56c1f878cd899a22c469)

Portland, ME

-         Old Port Exchange: Revitalized warehouse district featuring the 1807 Portland Observatory signal tower.  Restored Victorian houses

Bar Harbor, ME

-         Acadia National Park (http://www.nps.gov/acad): The most beautiful and best-preserved section of the Maine coastline.

"Financing Business in Tajikistan"

A recently published post about my consulting work with the First MicroFinance Bank of Tajikistan published in Columbia Business School's blog Public Offering and on the Social Enterprise site (additional hyperlinks added):

Financing Business in Tajikistan


One of the more remote places to do business is Tajikistan, a mountainous republic in Central Asia. Recent events aren’t helping: an energy crisis appears to have set in motion a food shortage, and the IMF claims that the National Bank misrepresented its creditworthiness to secure loans.

Still, the economy is growing, and we were excited to see it firsthand over spring break. All semester we had been working with a local bank, the First MicroFinanceBank of Tajikistan (FMFB), on assessing the viability of providing commercial loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In mid-March Lukas Bauer ’09 and I traveled there to gather research that could help us identify the factors that would determine whether or not that could work.

After arriving in Dushanbe, the capital, we went first to the bazaar to meet with small-business owners. We found retailing practices that would usually cause great concern: bags of cash were transported hundreds of miles to pay suppliers; there was no maintenance of current accounts or accounting books; and monthly sales tracking (or any, for that matter) was conspicuously absent.

In the framework of commercial finance, these business practices would preclude an assessment of the chance of default, a necessary element to judging the risk that the bank would incur by providing a loan. However, the framework of microfinance allows lenders to protect portfolios through diversification: while a default of the size of most commercial loans could cripple the financier, the combination of multiple borrowers and the small size of individual loans protects the bank’s lending portfolio from collapse.

The next day we boarded a plane for Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), the remote mountainous province that comprises nearly half of the country’s territory. In ninety breathtaking minutes we flew over the 20,000-plus foot Pamir range, observing the isolated villages and seasonally passable unpaved roads below (we would spend nineteen hours driving back). We were beginning to understand the complexity of the challenges faced by GBAO businesses.

Over the next three days we visited clients in the rural districts of Roshtkala and Rushan, discussing the finer points of locally significant activities such as Pamiri residential construction and chicken incubation. They pointed to real challenges facing their business, ranging from changing consumer preferences to across-the-board inflation on basic commodities.

We were awed by the lengths to which owners went to start their businesses. One dentist brought fragile equipment over steep mountain passes from China. Other aspiring industrialists drew deeply on capital loans to create outbound supply chains.

By the week’s end, we had a real sense of the needs of the customers. They called for more credit, lower interest rates, less up-front paperwork and most vociferously, longer loan durations. From the bank’s perspective, however, these requests had to be balanced with risk level, transparency and the costs such changes would pose.

Our challenge now is to resolve this disjunction. Over the next month, our team — Ossama Soliman ’08, Gervasio Guareschi ’09 and Michael Hsueh ’09, along with myself — will be researching microfinance institutions around the world that make loans in similarly inhospitable terrain.

After final exams, part of our team will travel to Dushanbe to present our recommendations and plan the next steps with the bank.

Microfinance will not be a panacea for Tajikistan; even if the FMFB succeeds in meeting its clients’ financial needs, deeply rooted economic and political problems will still limit business opportunities.

Nevertheless, the bank has already demonstrated that the provision of finance markedly improves the odds that entrepreneurial endeavors will blossom into productive and profitable enterprises. We aim to convey the insight from more mature organizations that will enable the bank to both succeed commercially and make as broad a social impact as possible.

This consulting project was organized by the International Development Club and sponsored by the Social Enterprise Program.

Third Semester Begins 9/05 at Columbia Business School

This fall, I will be taking seven electives:

• Earnings Quality
• Entrepreneurial Finance
• Launching New Ventures
• Advanced Seminar on Managing Teams
• Strategy Consulting Skills
• Financing Growth in Emerging Markets
• Venture Capital

My primary extracurricular activities will be planning the South-East Asia Chazen Study Tour, managing a panel at the Social Enterprise Conference participating in the Hermes Society and serving as a Peer Advisor to Cluster G'09.