#although i have had other issues like: my mail being delivered to a different unit when i lived in an apartment、

[quatorz]

Here’s something I wrote just prior to the election...

I’m sharing it here in case anyone thinks its useful.  I think-especially with the events of today-its going to become so apparent that we need to ‘demystify’ the Trumpster fire and expose him for the lying sack of shit that he was.

I said to a friend of mine MANY years ago that the most dangerous thing that was happening was that the truth was becoming partisan.  Man is that true now. 

But I wrote this, sent it to a few relatives (including my own Dad who is a supporter of the Orange One), and posted it to Facebook. 

The goal of the piece was always: ‘hey, you don’t have to listen to me.  Here are other sources (most of them Republican) who point out this mans complete inability to fill the Oval Office.  (And I live in Pennsylvania, and I wrote this just before our former Governor-former Republican Governor-Tom Ridge endorsed Biden.  Else I definitely would have included this). 

And some of it may seem slightly personal or familiar?  I was writing this primarily to speak to members of my family and friends. 

If any of this is useful, feel free to use it. 

Why I’m Not Voting for Trump

A few weeks ago a bomb dropped.  Not a literal bomb-as in ordinance, but a news bomb.  Although in our endlessly insane (or maybe insanely endless?) news cycle that’s been the last four years, it was easy to get overshadowed because another bomb probably dropped the next day or ever a few hours after that one.

But this one was different.  This was the revelation that Trump had 400 million dollars in outstanding loans.  On one of those loans-for 100 million dollars-they’d paid only the interest-none of the principal-and the loan is due in 2022.  The obvious question was asked: who does he owe that money too?

It’s a good question.  There was a great quote making the rounds from Eric Trump in 2014: ‘Who needs American banks?  Russia has plenty of money!’  During his town hall Savannah Guthrie asked Trump directly if that 400 million dollars was owed to foreign banks.  “Probably,” he said.

So: what makes that revelation a ‘bomb’? 

When I heard this, I immediately thought back to an instance that’s always stuck with me: last October when we inexplicably pulled our troops out of Syria.  Do you remember that?  Trump got off the phone with President Erdogan and announced that we were pulling out of Syria.  The backlash was immediate and bi-partisan.  Resident sycophant Lindsay Graham was especially critical, tweeting out:

“The most probable outcome of this impulsive decision is to ensure Iran’s domination of Syria...The U.S. now has no leverage and Syria will eventually become a nightmare for Israel.

“I feel very bad for the Americans and allies who have sacrificed to destroy the ISIS Caliphate because this decision virtually reassures the reemergence of ISIS.  So sad.  So dangerous.  President Trump may be tired of fighting radical Islam.  They are NOT tired of fighting us.”

This incident always stuck with me.  Especially the timing: getting off the phone with Erdogan and then hours later pulling out of Syria.  Astute researchers quickly found an audio clip of Trump on Steve Bannon’s radio show from back in 2011 saying ‘well, I have a conflict of interest when it comes to Turkey.  I have two buildings in Istanbul’...

So at first I thought this was simply another example of something I’d long thought Trump guilty of: being the president of Trump Enterprises first, and America second.  We’d seen that before with one of the first acts of his administration: the Travel Ban*, and then with his handling of the FBI building**. 

But when news of the outstanding loans came to light, I thought again about Syria, and the odd, out-of-the-blue nature of the President’s decision. 

The day the news of the loans broke, they had a former security official on MSNBC, and he brought up an interesting point: if you had large outstanding financial obligations like that to a foreign bank, you might be denied a security clearance based on that fact because you could be threatened or cajoled into acting against our country’s interests. 

Is that what happened here?  Did Erdogan ask Trump to pull his forces out of Syria (or did he demand it)?  Or was it Putin, indirectly through Erdogan who maybe told Trump “a mutual friend would be very appreciative if you would do this for him”. 

Who gave the order to pull out of Syria…?  An order that-according to Lindsey Graham-went against America’s interest and all but assured the resurrection of ISIS?

You’re probably thinking: whoa, Dave!   Easy there!  I mean, that sounds pretty crazy, right?  The idea that the President could be financially compromised to the extent that he does the bidding of our adversaries? 

Actually, I’m not the first to submit this crazy theory.  After the 2018 meeting in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin, a Republican state Congressman from Texas (yes, you read that right: a Republican from Texas) posted an op-ed with the title: Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?

This Texas Republican’s background?  He’s former CIA.  In the op-ed he writes: “over the course of my career as an undercover officer in the C.I.A., I saw Russian intelligence manipulate many people. I never thought I would see the day when an American president would be one of them.”

He goes on to say: “The president’s failure to defend the United States intelligence community’s unanimous conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and condemn Russian covert counterinfluence campaigns and his standing idle on the world stage while a Russian dictator spouted lies confused many but should concern all Americans. 

“By playing into Vladimir Putin’s hands, the leader of the free world actively participated in a Russian disinformation campaign that legitimized Russian denial and weakened the credibility of the United States to both our friends and foes abroad.”

Wow.

I strongly believe that this President is dangerous.  He’s dangerous in the way he coddles up to autocrats.  He’s dangerous because he has financial entanglements that make him put his own interests before the nation’s.  And he’s dangerous because he politicized a virus that killed 200,000+ people when we now know he’s on record in February telling Bob Woodward (on tape no less) that this was WAY worse the flu, and was deadly. 

But you don’t take my word for it.  Listen to some fellow Republicans.  Here’s a statement by 70 Republicans who served as national security officials and say that this President is dangerously unfit to serve another term.  https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/national-security/

There’s more.  In an open letter to America, 780 retired Generals, Admirals, Senior Noncommissioned Officers, Ambassadors and Senior Civilian National Security Officials announced their support of Joe Biden for President for similar reasons: https://www.nationalsecurityleaders4biden.com/

Let me say, also, that I don’t think there’s anything ideologically wrong with being a Republican.  But I would submit to you that this current Republican administration and Republican Congress does not serve you, or anyone you know.

Basically, if you’re not going to watch Penn State play Ohio State tonight from Mar-A-Lago, their interests are not your interests. 

Trump isn’t for the ‘little guy’.  He’s accomplished one thing legislatively in his four years in office, and that was a tax cut for millionaires and billionaires.  Now, those billionaires are using their considerable resources (like Rupert Murdoch and Fox News) to try and get you to vote for him again so that they can keep the gravy train rolling.  It’s as simple as that.  It’s all about money.

Oh, and I forgot one other thing this President has done for the wealthy and corporations: he’s been hell bent on deregulating industry.  Which is great for big business, but not so great for us-the consumers.  In 2019 regulations on the pork industry were rolled back (read more about that here: https://qz.com/1716113/trump-gives-pork-industry-a-path-to-regulate-itself/).

What could go wrong there?  There were two health inspectors who came forward (if I remember right, they may have been the ones to bring the issue to light) and they basically said that they wouldn’t be eating the food from the companies where they had worked. 

Right now there are massive efforts to have legitimate votes cast be discounted.  In Minnesota, Republicans there are fighting a ruling that ballots can be received up to seven days after the election-as long as they are postmarked by election day.

This deadline was put into place months ago because of the pandemic, and was accepted on a bi-partisan basis.  Now Republicans are challenging that.  So you could have voters that put their vote in the mail last Tuesday-while the deadline was valid-only to have their vote challenged if the post office delivers it on Wednesday. 

Surely it can’t be partisan to feel that everyone’s vote should count?  But this is the new extreme right Republican party that will do anything to win-even disenfranchise legal votes.  Discounting valid votes is how we go from being America to being a Banana Republic.  At some point these Republicans need to understand that they are Americans first and Republicans second, or we are screwed as a nation. 

Trump is a man who shows no respect for the office of the President, caters to autocrats while his lawyers argue in court that he shouldn’t be able to be investigated while he’s in office.  If you’re an American, that should ALARM THE CRAP out of you.  Democracies can fall.  It’s happening everywhere around the globe.  If you think it ‘couldn’t happen here’ simply because it never has, that’s some dangerous thinking.  Remember, technically Putin is ‘elected’ into office.  And this Congress has failed epically in its duty to be a check on the executive branch.  That’s their job, by the way-regardless of who is in office.  

Don’t get me started on Attorney General William Barr.  I wonder if-during his confirmation hearings-when he listed ‘Banana Republics’ on his resume they thought he’d worked for the now defunct clothing chain, not that he was adept at creating them. 

You may be asking yourself: why is he putting all this out there now?  Because I love all of you-and certainly respect all of you.  And I see you blindly following a leader who doesn’t represent you or your values.  And I see you acting in a way and saying things and posting things that are inconsistent with the people I know you to be.

I’m working on the assumption that you are being fed false information.  That deep down you are indeed the people that I think you are, but you are being misled.

And remember: there are two ways to lie.  You can outright tell someone something that is false.  But you can also lie by omission.  Fox News is certainly guilty of the former, but maybe even more so of the latter.  (Fox News probably won’t tell you that 780 former Generals and National Security officials say that the President shouldn’t serve another term.   They didn’t lie…they just didn’t mention it.  And I think that’s something worth mentioning.)

Think of the dynamic at work here: Trump does or says something.  The dozens of news organizations that you’ve followed and respected your entire lives tells you it’s false.  One-ONE-news organization backs up his claim (the organization that is owned by a man who has benefited financially from President’s policies).  Meanwhile Trump calls the others ‘fake news’.  Do you see anything wrong there?

There is a great quote from Orwell’s 1984 that has become hauntingly prescient over the last four years: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” 

This Tuesday will be a deciding moment in this nation.  If you want a vote that actually means something in 2024, don’t vote for Trump on Tuesday.

 ****************

*What about the Travel Ban?  Glad you asked.  If you remember, the travel ban was assigned to keep us safe by preventing people from certain countries from coming to America (it is worth noting that the travel ban was first struck down by a federal judge appointed by George Bush).  One of the oddities about the travel ban was that there were three countries that were exempt.  These three countries were the only countries that had produced terrorists that had killed Americans.  None of the countries actually on the travel ban had.   Weird, huh?  Do you know what else these countries had in common?  They all had Trump branded properties. 

 **  The F.B.I. building.  So the F.B.I. building is in not great shape.  It’s old and falling apart.  In fact they had sections of the outside cordoned off so that a piece of the outer façade doesn’t fall off and kill someone.  The U.S. government had worked out a deal with a contractor that the contractor would build the F.B.I. a brand new facility-for free-and then in exchange the contractor would be given the old F.B.I. location to do whatever they want with it.  Presumably, knock down and make it into a new building/hotel/shops (whatever).  Pretty good deal, right?

Except…a year or so ago a lady had a meeting at the White House and then went before Congress and said that the F.B.I. did not, in fact, want a free brand new facility anymore, but instead wanted the renovate and repair the old one instead.  Huh…

Do you know what building is just a couple blocks down from the F.B.I. building’s location?  Trump’s D.C. hotel. 

Now I know what you’re thinking.  You’re saying: ‘but Dave, look at all the NFL owners: they didn’t want new stadiums.  They decided to pour money into their old dilapidated stadiums that were steeped in tradition and history!’  Except you’re not saying that because that never happened.  Everyone wants a new facility over a crumbling money pit, and I’m sure the F.B.I was no exception.

(It’s also interesting to note that-for some reason-there was two billion dollars in one of the recent versions of a Coronavirus relief bill-that wasn’t passed-allocated for the repair of the F.B.I. building.  Why?  Who put that in there? It wasn’t Senate Republicans.  It was funny watching Mitch McConnell answering questions about that and having to admit that he had no idea that it was even in there).

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, July 19 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late June report, although some may be older than that.

I‘m still working on Etsy search testing and a few new blog posts and pages for my website, so it is still difficult for me to get this summary out more than 1-2 times a month. All suggestions on solutions to my time crunch are welcome. 

If you have an questions, comments or suggestions about my Tumblr or my blog, please contact me here or on my website. I’d love to know what you think! 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Latest change from Google: the free Google Shopping listings will now show up in US organic search as part of product knowledge panels. Unfortunately, since they are only doing this for product knowledge panels to begin with, it likely won't help handmade sellers, but could be useful to sellers of vintage & supply items that are known products that will have a knowledge panel. It may be a sign that they are planning on moving free ads to more Google "surfaces" over time, however. Note that it appears that all product knowledge panel ads will be free starting this summer (US only), so that means that any Etsy paid ads for these types of items will become free ads that you won't have to pay EOA fees on if you get a sale. Google claims the free ads are bringing more searcher engagement to Shopping.  

Amazon announced they will begin to show US sellers’ business name and address on the Seller Profile page as of September 1. The same requirement already exists in Europe, Japan and Mexico. 

The USPS will no longer be delivering mail as promptly every day, to cut costs. This potentially affects anyone shipping to a destination in the United States. 

How 7 different companies grew profits during the last recession - there will still be business opportunities during the upcoming recession, but you have to be positioned to take them. 

ETSY NEWS 

Etsy Labels no longer offer USPS international shipping options for all packages under 4.4 pounds other than Canadian orders, replacing them with the Global Postal Shipping Program (GPSP). Many US sellers dislike the GPSP, and have moved on to outside providers that integrate with an Etsy shop and other services, such as Pirate Ship, Shippo, Stamps, and Shipstation. 

The quarterly category & attributes updates are limited to face mask & hand sanitizer attributes for July. Etsy also made some other minor updates recently, including allowing us to set a message auto reply for up to 5 days. 

You may have noticed that Etsy is really pushing Etsy Ads on sellers right now, despite the numerous complaints about the average cost per click becoming far too high last year. I’ve turned mine off permanently, but if you are interested in trying them or fine-tuning them, Etsy released an article and a related podcast with a transcript.

Louisiana and Mississippi have been added to the list of states that Etsy collects sales tax from. 

Etsy raised fees on Reverb to 5%, “to make further investments on behalf of our sellers.” 

Etsy will release the second quarter results on August 5. We already know that April and May were record-setting, and June was also probably pretty good. 

The site has continued to receive decent media coverage for the mask initiative; Etsy is mentioned in several articles/broadcasts a day as a place to get masks, including stylish ones. This article briefly interviews a seller and looks at what Etsy will do next, as the mask demand peak might be over. 

Now that people think of Etsy for things like face masks, Etsy is continuing to market itself as a place to buy everyday items, something it shied away from for a few years. (Remember when Etsy was all about “owning special”?) They’ve added “Everyday Finds” links & Editors Picks pages, and have published tips on what pandemic shoppers are looking for. (Note that the year over year values compare this April to last April, and so were during peak lockdown for the US.)  “Keeping surfaces clean is top of mind these days, and shoppers are searching on Etsy for many types of cleaners, from all-purpose scrubs to washable sponges...134% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “ceramic sponge holder.”...”74% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “mug”...”352% YoY increase in searches on Etsy containing “diy”.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but this page on the search and ads algorithms appears to be relatively new. 

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

The sea change in online buyer behaviour during the pandemic may mean that you need to update your keyword research. Keyword volumes have changed, some very dramatically. For example “‘adult bikes’ shows a massive upturn.This represents over ten times as many searches for this term compared to just under a year ago. If you projected this back in 2019 you’d probably be laughed at.”

Speaking of keyword research, if you need a refresher on why you should do it and how to approach it, here is a recent article. 

There are many different ways to get backlinks; here are a few that are pretty easy [video & text]. 

Are longer blog posts better for SEO? Not necessarily, as long as you cover the topic well. The exception is that blog posts under 300 words are usually not worth writing. 

Most SEOs think there was an unannounced Google update around the third week of June. Some are reporting that sites that specialize made gains, as opposed to those who have more general material. That same study reports Etsy had one of the largest traffic increases, but not as much as Pinterest (I’ve been seeing a lot more pins when Googling lately, so this seems likely.) Government websites also seem to have received better visibility. “As Google has described in their document on how they fight disinformation, they describe that their systems are designed to prefer authority over other factors “in times of crisis”. If this truly is related to what we saw happen in June, these changes could possibly be reversed once the worldwide pandemic situation improves.”

Bing released a few basic tips on how to use its keyword planner. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

TikTok has moved out of Hong Kong, while the US government may be looking at banning them, following India’s move on July 6. With TikTok in peril, many people are now downloading its competitor Byte. 

If you use Facebook for your business, please read up on the changes required to comply with California’s new privacy law. 

Instagram is now testing an Instagram Shop tab, which allows users to filter by category. 

Twitter is planning on starting a subscription service, but deleted some of the details  from the job listing just hours later. 

One of the results of the big Twitter hack on July 15th was Google removing the Twitter carousel from its search results. 

Pinterest searches involving Christmas started way earlier this year, with a 77% increase YOY in April. “That includes a 3x increase in searches for “Christmas gift ideas”, while other queries like “holiday recipes” and “Christmas” were up more than 90% and 80% respectively.” These are good stats for marketers to have, helping us decide when to release and promote new products.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Spending too much on Facebook ads? Here are some common mistakes and some suggestions on fixing them. 

If you already know that ROAS stands for “return on ad spend” then some of this article may be old news to you. 

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

If you are using Google Shopping with your website, be aware that the Google bots may be inflating your abandoned cart rate. 

Google Analytics can help you track the effects of changes to your website, or other business conditions. You can also get alerts when certain types of events happen, or when traffic is abnormal. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Walmart is expected to launch Walmart+, similar to Amazon Prime, this month. But note that while many brick & mortar businesses are now doing a lot more business online, it is more expensive for them. 

For those of you who use Stitch Labs, they have been purchased by Square, and the existing services will likely be cut in 2021. 

Deja vu for Etsy sellers - eBay was apparently offering incentive payments for signing up for their new Managed Payments system by mid-July. (Etsy did the same with its Etsy Payments system, but only for Americans.)

Is Amazon Handmade as good for small makers as it claims? Maybe not. If you sell on Amazon, consider these strategies to protect your core business from being swamped by the big A. 

Wix has introduced an ecommerce version with a lot more options and integrations. 

Shopify’s new “Shop” app has some good features but also some issues. [podcast & edited transcript]

BigCommerce filed to go public, and added Ayden as a payment option. More details on the Ayden move here. 

Did you know there are sites you can use to sell your ecommerce business? Here are 10 of them. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

US ecommerce sales are now expected to grow 18% this year, while overall retail is predicted to be down 10.5%. “In a pandemic economy, consumers have gravitated toward trusted and reliable retailers. As a result, we can expect the top 10 ecommerce retail businesses to grow at above average rates (21.8%). Amazon will gain US ecommerce market share this year, while Walmart's accelerating ecommerce growth will take it to the No. 2 position for the first time.”

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a factor you can use to drive sales; here are 6 tips. 

Generation Z is acutely attached to internet use, and is more likely to be planning on starting their own business than any other generation. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

It’s possible that the increase in people working from home will lead to more work hours and therefore more burnout.

[vivintsmarthousesecurity]

Vivint Home Security System

We ordered the Fundamental security system1 from Vivint that included a SkyControl Panel, security sensors, a Kwikset wise lock, a video doorbell, smoke and CO monitors plus an indoor cam. Later on, we added the Vivint Outdoor Camera Pro to our system, which we likewise information listed below. Vivint SkyControl PanelThe SkyControl Panel is the touchscreen command center of our entire Vivint security system.

On top of that, the SkyControl Panel is where we could arm and deactivate our security system, press a panic button to get in touch with the monitoring teams, and even see cloud storage. Although we installed our SkyControl Panel to the wall, it can likewise be utilized as a standalone item.

Wireless, the sensors connected to, you thought it, our SkyControl Panel so we got signaled when they went off, along with the tracking team. Vivint Ping Indoor CameraNow, if you haven't figured it out yet, we're sort of compulsive about security cameras, so naturally, we were very excited to check out Vivint's Ping Indoor Camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI0WRFxwFTw

Vivint Indoor Camera Video DisplayThe infrared LED sensors enabled us to see plainly in the evening, plus, as we pointed out in the past, we had the ability to speak to our guests through two-way audio. Vivint Indoor Web Cam Night VisionAlthough we didn't have any intrusions throughout testing, fortunately, we did use the two-way audio to inform other household members when dinner was prepared, which was much more civilized than yelling like regular.

Like Good Technology The Experience Is Magical

Rather, we needed to pay $5 a month for 2 week of cloud storage, all divided into 30-second clips. However, there was another choice if you want constant recording for 1 month, namely, Vivint Smart Drive, which costs $249. This was a bit costly, so we adhered to those clips.

So while it might not be the very best option for someone with animals, we were still total satisfied with Vivint's indoor cam, specifically in regards to video, audio and night vision. Vivint Outdoor Electronic camera ProNot to overemphasize anything, however Vivint's new outdoor camera is among the most remarkable models that we have actually ever evaluated out.

Yes, it has that clear, 1080p HD display screen that we liked in the indoor electronic camera, but on top of that, it also has 4K sensing units, which suggests two times as lots of pixels as 1080p HD.Vivint Outdoor Cam Day VisionIt likewise has HDR, which aided with light distortion outside. Include a good, 140-degree field of vision and the ability to zoom in 3 times in HD and 10 times digitally, and the electronic camera's video was more than clear enough.

Again, we stuck to the $5 a month plan rather than paying out $249 for the Vivint Smart Drive. Vivint Outdoor Webcam Pro Night VisionBut without a doubt the finest feature of the Vivint Outdoor Video Camera Pro was the synthetic intelligence. Unlike the indoor cam, the outside cam might distinguish in between people and other moving objects, indicating we only got notified when it detected an individual.

Additional Drawback

This was a bit much, specifically when our mail was delivered, but absolutely good for our outdoor security. Remember that the siren goes all the method approximately 85 decibels, about as loud as a snowblower, so the entire neighborhood could get included. In truth, a few of our next-door neighbors told us that they could hear it from inside their houses!On the other side, one drawback of the Vivint Outdoor Electronic Camera Pro was the reality that it needed to be plugged in.

However, once we got the correct extension cord, it didn't wind up being an issue. Overall, we're more than pleased with the Vivint Outdoor Cam Pro, although it's pretty expensive at $399. Nevertheless, this is the precise very same rate as the Nest Web Cam IQ Outdoor, which has very similar functions, so essentially, you pay for what you get.

Vivint's water resistant doorbell cam, which operates in temperature levels from 14 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, retails for $249.99. This was definitely a bit expensive compared to the market average of around $190, especially when we saw that the cam's video display was only 720p HD, not 1080p HD. When you think about the fact that something like the Ring Video Doorbell 2 expenses $169 and has 1080p HD video, the Vivint Doorbell Cam seems a lot more costly, however it does have person detection, which the Ring Video Doorbell 2 lacks.

We didn't get notified when every automobile passed or every squirrel ran by; rather, just when people were at our door, and as soon as we got alerted, it was fun to speak with them through two-way audio. Although the video quality wasn't as clear as we would've liked, the 180-degree field of vision gave us the best possible picture of our front backyard, which we valued.

Vivint Smart Home Security Review App

Vivint Doorbell Video Camera Night VisionWhile the Vivint Doorbell Camera can be hardwired or battery-operated, we chose to hardwire it to our existing doorbell setup, however for those that desire wireless, the battery life is three to 5 years. Keep in mind that Vivint simply brought out a Doorbell Electronic Camera Pro, which repaired a lot of the issues that we had with the original.

It's completely cordless, and it even has detection for packages as well as people!Kwikset DeadboltIt's 2020; are you still getting locked out of your house? With a wise lock, we do not have to stress over that any longer. Vivint gave us a smart lock from Kwikset which we might either control from another location through the app or open by means of a numerical code, which was terrific the one time we left our secrets at the office.

And even though the lock is made by a 3rd celebration, we had enjoyable linking it to other Web of Things devices and creating automated actions. For us, that implied having the doors unlock when the smoke alarm went off, which brings us to our next point Don't leave a key under that mat.

Vivint also provided us a WiFi-connected smoke detector so that we 'd look out if it went off, even when we weren't house. It safeguarded a 35-foot radius, had an 85-decibel siren and a five-year battery life, and in our experience, it worked well, alerting us as soon as we burnt our popcorn (which is too simple to do, by the method).

Our Recommendation

Vivint deals an almost similar detector, other than that it spots carbon monoxide and not smoke. While we didn't in fact release hazardous levels of CO into the air (as it can be deadly if you consume enough of it), we were impressed that the detector is currently connected with other linked gadgets.

Basically, the CO detector does more than beep!Finally, Vivint offers a water sensor that prevents leakages, which we placed near our cleaning device (although it can be anywhere that leaks can take place). The water sensor is likewise wireless and has a battery life of three to 6 years. And that's it for Vivint's parts!.

" Don't DIY your smart-home security system-- the pros at Vivint are totally worth the expense" Dead-simple to run Feature-rich Highly adjustable High-quality video Impressive customer care Costly to get begun Some power cables need to be hidden with tracks Vivint has come a long method given that it presented its doorbell camera in 2015.

The difference, as I've experienced first-hand, boils down to the service experience. Frankly, I never thought I would need a security system. I grew up method out in the sticks of central Texas where it was prevalent to leave the front door opened all day. Call it willful lack of knowledge if you desire, but I've constantly been resistant to the idea that I ought to need to spend for security monitoring services.

The Research

It was then that I installed an Amazon Cloud Camera and got cozy with the comfort paid for by access to video of my home, on-demand, for a modest cost. After being struck by patio pirates who took valuable products a number of times last year, I started to wish for more security and peace of mind.

I quickly learned that a person Amazon Cloud Camera wasn't going to suffice. Bitten by the clever home security bug, I desired more security: Smart locks, voice control, door sensing units, window sensors, and cameras with night vision. When Vivint came along and offered to set up an extensive wise home security system for evaluation with the alternative to either eliminate the system later or leave it in location for follow-up reviews, I immediately concurred.

Vivint isn't the most cost effective wise house security option (you get a personalized quote based upon your requirements), however their service and app experience are exceptional. Through my experience with their system, I have actually found out both of those aspects are definitely crucial. Vivint outfitted my home with a doorbell electronic camera, one indoor electronic camera, three outside cams (all with night vision), 2 Kwikset SmartCode deadbolt locks, three door sensing units, 10 window sensing units, one interior movement sensor, two glass-break sensors, two smoke alarm, a flood/heat/cold sensor, and a touchscreen control panel.

The point here is that Vivint systems are created to supply smart house convenience along with security, and systems can be scaled from modest to almost obscenely fancy. Vivint expertly installs its systems for a flat fee of $99. I was seriously impressed at how quickly the two-person group managed to set up and set up my system.

Why We Recommend The Vivint Smart Home Service Monitoring Plan

All sensing units and door locks are battery-operated and communicate through Wi-Fi. Following their installation, the crew helped my housemate and I with personalizing the system and strolled us through its operation from top to bottom. vivint smart home security system. When they left, we knew precisely how to adjust all factory settings and make personalizations of our own, either from the touchscreen control board or Vivint's mobile app.

The crew left no mess of any sort. When they were gone, the only evidence of them having actually existed was a well-installed system. Vivint's systems aren't totally cordless all 3 video cameras plus the control board must be plugged into wall outlets for power. Vivint utilizes that plug-in point wisely, however, by making use of a house's electrical system for data in lieu of miles of ethernet cables.

The result is a stealthy system that avoids calling attention to itself. Power wires run through your home were neat, if not undetectable. If there's any barrier to entry with a Vivint wise security system, it's the initial cost. Vivint utilizes high quality components, therefore system constructs can get expensive in a rush.

If that's not of interest, the system will save 30-second video clips from any electronic camera for approximately 14-days as part of the service strategy explained listed below. These clips are activated by motion sensing units and other "notifies," and should be plenty for most users. The on-going service strategy is much more palatable.

Related Reviews

If you have a problem with your system's operation, it's most likely going to occur in the very first few months, and Vivint will look after it. If there's an issue with hardware, like a damaged cam, that will also likely happen early on if it will occur at all and Vivint will take care of that too.

Step up to Smart Home and the cost increases to $40/month. Add the Smart Home Video storage, and you're up to $50/month no contract required. If you're the sort who likes voice assistants, Vivint's system works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant gadgets. To put that in viewpoint, Comcast charges about the same month-to-month tracking fee for its Xfinity security systems, with a $30 contract rate for the first two years, bumping to $40 afterward.

We'll let you take that as you will. Is Vivint much better than ADT? Though I've not had recent experience with ADT, I will say that it's hard to envision being more happy that I have with Vivint's service. Because service and price are essential factors to consider, I'm inclined to motivate those with the means to pursue Vivint as their choice.

[tkmedia]

The path to accountability for Canada’s residential school graves

Warning: The story below contains details of residential schools that may be upsetting. Canada’s Indian Residential School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.Canada – Niigaanwewidam Sinclair says the recent discoveries of mass graves of Indigenous children have vindicated what his community has long known. “Every Indigenous community has stories of lost children, so none of this is surprising,” Sinclair, associate professor at the University of Manitoba, told Al Jazeera. “The only surprising element really is that Canadians are so surprised.” At least three First Nations in Canada recently uncovered hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children on the grounds of former “residential schools” – government-founded, assimilation institutions that were run by various churches for more than 100 years. From the late 1800s until 1996, Canada forcibly removed 150,000 Indigenous children from their families and forced them to attend the institutions. They were made to cut their long hair, forbidden from speaking their languages, and many were physically and sexually abused. Thousands are believed to have died. For decades, survivors have known of their deaths, but now with more access to technology, the graves are being examined. As First Nations publicise the exact numbers of lost children, a wave of grief has crashed through Indigenous communities. The findings have also fuelled calls for accountability from Ottawa and the churches that ran day-to-day operations at the institutions – notably the Roman Catholic Church, which was in charge of most of them. But Indigenous leaders say neither the federal government nor the Catholic Church have done enough to address continuing harms caused by the institutions – nor have they acted to implement a long list of recommendations put out by a federal commission of inquiry in 2015. That commission concluded Canada had committed “cultural genocide” through the residential schools system. “They don’t have a plan, they don’t have the means or the political will to deliver on the small amount of initiatives that they’ve committed to, and if anything, they’ve disappointed widely on the commitments they make. Their words don’t match their actions,” said Sinclair, referring to the Canadian government.

Calls to Action

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was envisioned as a way to document the stories of residential school survivors and bring them justice, but years after the TRC issued its calls to action, Canada and the Catholic Church have only implemented eight of 94 recommendations, a December 2020 report by the First-Nation-led research centre, the Yellowhead Institute, found. However, as graves of Indigenous children were counted over the last month, Canada has made progress on four more, said Eva Jewell, associate fellow at the Yellowhead Institute, who co-authored the report, although she cautioned that it is not clear if those four have been fully implemented yet. “Canada can summon the political will when there’s heat on them,” she told Al Jazeera. “There’s a lot of pressure on Canada to act and to do something, and suddenly there’s been a renewed interest in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action. They’ve been neglected for so long, and suddenly here was this finding, and Canadians were rushing to figure out, ‘well, I thought we were doing something.'” Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada told Al Jazeera in an email this month that the country’s 2019 budget provided $28m ($33.8m Canadian) over three years to support the recommendations on deaths at the schools specifically. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers have reiterated that they remain committed to supporting First Nation communities in their efforts. But Indigenous advocates say too little has been done, and Jewell said the existing dynamic puts pressure on Indigenous people to take action when a tragedy makes headlines. “There was no time to mourn, there was no time to sit with the grief, it was just an immediate spring to action and seize the moment, and try to harness the attention and the political will to push through the things that really matter, and that will really affect change in our community,” she said. “I would like to see more sustained commitment and action, and I hope Canadians will commit to that.”

Church responsibility

The TRC’s calls to action include an apology from Pope Francis for the role the Catholic Church played in the residential schools system, and aid from the federal government to help uncover unmarked graves and identify remains. But the pope has not apologised, expressing “pain” this month after 215 Indigenous children were found in unmarked graves at Kamloops Indian Residential School in the western province of British Columbia. Weeks later, some 715 Indigenous people’s remains were discovered at Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan. Both institutions were run by the Catholic Church, furthering calls for the church to hand over all of its records. “The Church needs to accept full responsibility, release all its Indian Residential School records, and trade in shallow placatory remarks for meaningful apologies through action,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said in a statement.

People from Mosakahiken Cree Nation hug in front of a makeshift memorial at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School Donald Bolen, the Archbishop of Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, said the archdiocese has limited residential school records. But he said death records from 1885 to 1952 were handed over to Cowessess First Nation, which discovered the unmarked graves at Marieval. The archdiocese also has some correspondence outlining when many priests began working at residential schools in that area, Bolen told Al Jazeera. “Within the limits of privacy laws, we’re sharing what we have and we’ll assist Indigenous communities with communications with religious communities who might have more information,” he said, adding that the archdiocese also provided $70,000 in 2019 to help the First Nation in its search for the unmarked graves. Meanwhile, two religious communities of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate – which operated both the Marieval and Kamloops institutions – said on June 24 that they would “disclose all historical documents maintained by us and in our possession, in accordance with all legislation, about our involvement”. Bolen would not comment directly when asked why Pope Francis has not yet apologised. He said an Indigenous delegation would travel to Rome before the end of the year to meet with the pope. “The pope will have a chance to hear from them directly and then to engage,” Bolen said. “That process is really vital.”

Independent investigation

Meanwhile, the residential school discoveries have garnered international condemnation, including from a panel of United Nations experts who on June 4 called for “full-fledged investigations” of the grave site at Kamloops. Murray Sinclair, the former chair of the TRC, also recently told The Globe and Mail newspaper that any investigation “should not be left in the hands of the government or the churches and must instead be created in consultation with Indigenous people”. Trudeau was asked during a news conference on June 25 how far his government would be willing to go to get accountability, including whether police or international experts should investigate. “I think the first thing we need to do is be there for the communities and what they want, and what they need, and what answers they need to get,” he responded. “Every step of the way, my pledge to all Canadians is that we will put Indigenous peoples and their wishes – for their loved ones, for their communities – at the very core of whatever next steps we take.” Asked whether police or international groups should investigate residential school sites, PM Trudeau says there needs to be accountability but says "that needs to be driven by and based on the choices and desires and needs of the people who are at the centre of this."#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/JCMaUaqM7Y — CPAC (@CPAC_TV) June 25, 2021 Melanie Klinkner, associate professor at Bournemouth University and expert on mass graves, said two elements stand out in the residential schools discoveries: the circumstances of the children’s deaths and the potential unlawfulness in how their bodies were disposed of. She said states have a duty to conduct “a full and effective investigation” when suspicious deaths are reported. “The investigation needs to be independent, it needs to be impartial, it needs to be done in such a way that there’s confidence in the findings. It also means that they must be capable of resulting in accountability processes,” Klinkner told Al Jazeera. Klinkner added that other forms of justice also are at play in Canada, including the identification, return and reburial of the Indigenous children’s remains in a culturally sensitive manner, potential historical commemorations at the sites, and support for residential school survivors. “The onus is on the government to uphold the rule of law,” she said, “which is why I think an investigation has to happen.” Sinclair at the University of Manitoba said for Canada to properly atone for its genocide, it must return the land to Indigenous people, recognise treaty rights, and adopt a long-term plan to implement the TRC calls to action, as well as the recommendations in a report on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. “Now is the time to create a country different than that which we have inherited,” he said. Read the full article

[budow4x]

9 TED Talks That Anyone Working in remonty poznań Should Watch

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The High Price of ‘Making the Numbers’ at the USPS

This article was sent on Tuesday to subscribers of The Mail, Motherboard’s pop-up newsletter about the USPS, election security, and democracy. It is the second in a multi-part series about working conditions at the USPS. Subscribe to get the next edition before it is published here, as well as exclusive articles and the paid zine.

This is Part II of a multi-part series looking at working conditions at the post office. If you missed Part I, click here.

For a brief period, it looked like the post office would finally be changing. On Valentine's Day in 1992, eight union leaders and USPS management signed the Joint Statement on Violence and Behavior in the Workplace (JSOV). Spurred by the Royal Oak shooting we covered last week, the one-page document was much more than the "thoughts and prayers" style platitudes we have since become accustomed to after a mass shooting. Instead, the JSOV declared that "grief and sympathy are not enough. Neither are ritualistic expressions of grave concern or the initiation of investigations, studies, or research projects." 

The statement went on: "This is a time for a candid appraisal of our flaws and not a time for scapegoating, fingerpointing, or procrastination." It affirmed that "every employee at every level of the Postal Service should be treated at all times with dignity, respect, and fairness…'Making the numbers' is not an excuse for the abuse of anyone."

But among the missing signatories was the American Postal Workers Union, one of the biggest and most influential unions representing postal workers. 

Years later, APWU Eastern Region Coordinator Mike Gallagher wrote a position paper to stewards about the continuous problem of workplace violence at the post office. He explained that his union chose not to sign because "quite frankly, we knew that the USPS would apply the principles of the Joint Statement against bargaining unit employees and not against managers." The APWU's position was this statement wouldn't change much, because the causes of workplace violence at the post office were fundamental to how it operated. Even a blanket zero-tolerance policy wouldn't change that.

Over the last few months, I have been interviewing postal workers about what it is like to work for the post office. They express a range of sentiments, from pride to gratitude to frustration and exhaustion. As I have said before, the post office is an impossibly vast and diverse organization that defies simplicity. 

The most common sentiment I hear is postal workers are proud to work for the post office because it is inherently meaningful work. But they also wish it was a more humane place to work, that problems actually got fixed instead of ignored or passed along. Most of all, they wish the USPS was a place where being a good boss or being a good worker actually mattered. There is a maxim at the post office that doing your work well only gets you more work. It was a maxim 30 years ago, and it's still a maxim today. 

I found the most revealing part of this reporting process came when I asked a few of the postal workers I interviewed what they thought of a 1994 Government Accountability Office study, its results succinctly summarized by the title: "U.S. Postal Service: Labor-Management Problems Persist on the Workroom Floor."

The seven postal workers from around the country who volunteered to read the study unanimously agreed the basic characterization of the postal service from 1994 is still accurate. It is an authoritarian, top-down organization in which policy is set by higher-ups who have often never done the work of sorting and delivering mail. The people actually doing the work—or even the people managing the people doing the work—have little to no say in how the work is done. There is a widespread perception that supervisors are not selected based on their management skills. As a result of the basic metrics and incentives upper management creates for both supervisors and workers, an "us vs. them" mentality between labor and management dominates daily routines.

To the question of "have things gotten better since the 'going postal' era?" I received a resounding "no."

"I cannot even begin to tell you how incredulous I was reading this," a 27-year-old mail handler at a processing and distribution facility in Oklahoma wrote in an email. "To know that my same daily complaints and laments were a problem back nearly as far as when I was born—and that they haven’t been resolved in the slightest!!—is so disheartening to me."

Another processing and distribution facility worker from the Pacific Northwest echoed similar sentiments. "That was 10 years before I started, and I have to say overall, No. It has not changed much."

Today's edition of The Mail is going to be about why so little has changed even after the rash of shootings that resulted in dozens of dead and wounded and permanently tarnished the post office's reputation. But it's important to acknowledge this is not just about the post office. Violence—both verbal and physical—in the American workplace was not a new phenomenon when Patrick Sherrill killed 14 coworkers in Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986. The U.S. workplace too often treats workers as little more than extensions of the machines they operate, measuring success and failure by "hitting the numbers," callous to what that sort of treatment does to human minds and bodies. We often think of the post office as a quintessential American institution. Unfortunately, when it comes to how it treats its workers, it is.

In 1994, two different letter carriers filed grievances against supervisors who were allegedly harassing them. The cases were consolidated into one national-level arbitration hearing in 1996. The national-level arbitration was not about the specific harassment allegations, but whether the JSOV, by then four years old, was an enforceable agreement. In other words, could a carrier file a grievance against an abusive manager for violating the JSOV and have that supervisor disciplined, transferred, or even fired? Or was the JSOV just another empty promise from management?

The JSOV itself appears to be quite clear on this question. "Let there be no mistake," the statement concluded, "that we mean what we say and we will enforce our commitment to a workplace where dignity, respect, and fairness are basic human rights, and where those who do not respect those rights are not tolerated."

But by 1996, USPS management didn't see it that way. They argued the JSOV was merely a "pledge" and did not override its right to manage the workforce as they see fit. They said the JSOV was nothing more than an effort to "send a message to stop the violence."

Just as the APWU predicted, management was using the JSOV to punish rank-and-file employees for offenses like cursing at managers while simultaneously arguing the JSOV was nothing more than a toothless document when wielded against abusive supervisors.

The arbitrator sided with labor. "The Joint Statement marked a departure from the past and pointed the way to organizational change," the arbitrator found. "This was a document that evidenced an intent to take action rather than a mere statement of opinions and predictions." 

It's difficult to objectively evaluate the JSOV's effectiveness in curbing workplace violence at the post office. But the broad consensus among postal workers and union stewards I've spoken to is the JSOV is better than nothing but hasn't done much in practice. 

On the one hand, there is some evidence that working conditions at the USPS have gotten better. In 2000, there were 10,553 Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaints filed against the USPS by employees out of a workforce of 786,516, or a rate of 1.34 percent. By 2018, the latest year for which these statistics were available, there were just 4,081 complaints out of 633,641 workers, or a rate of .64 percent, less than half what it was in 2000. But factors besides working conditions at the USPS—such as the perceived worthiness of filing complaints with the EEOC—can also impact those rates. 

Likewise, grievances that went to arbitration show some tentative signs of progress. Since 1996, when the JSOV became contractually enforceable, there have been 1,195 grievances involving the National Association of Letter Carriers with a JSOV-related complaint, or about 50 per year on average, according to a copy of the grievance database reviewed by Motherboard. Of those, 611 of the complaints were denied by an arbitrator, leaving 584 cases ruled at least in part a violation of the JSOV.

But, again, this data is not capturing the whole picture. These numbers are not the total JSOV-related grievances, just those that reached arbitration for this one union. And although the years with more grievances came prior to 2000—the most was 145 rulings in JSOV cases in 1997—this is probably because workers had this new avenue to file grievances they didn't previously have, so it captures events dating back several years and conflicts that have been stewing for a while. Rulings per year gradually declined until 2008 with a low 14, before rising again to about 35 per year in recent years.

Source: NALC arbitration database obtained by Motherboard

Moreover, some of the rulings detail that postal management continues to look the other way on problem supervisors, a key issue highlighted by the Congressional investigation into the Royal Oak shooting. 

For example, in 2008, an arbitrator found a supervisor in Oakland, CA had "a history of cease and desist orders…at stations throughout the Bay-View Postal District." Management was aware of these previous violations of the JSOV and the history of worker complaints against this one supervisor, but management "failed to take appropriate action." The arbitrator said the supervisor's actions of calling his employees "muthafuckers" and "bitches" was "exactly the type of work place behavior that the JSOV was intended to prevent." The arbitrator ruled the supervisor could no longer be anyone's boss, but only in the Pacific Area region. 

Sometimes, the arbitrators themselves do little more than shuffle off problem supervisors to other locations. In 2009, a supervisor in Gaithersburg, MD repeatedly threatened and harassed workers, which the arbitrator found to be "abusive behavior which holds open the potential for violence." Nevertheless, the arbitrator's ruling was to reassign the supervisor to another nearby post office and receive sensitivity training. 

Also in 2009, a union steward and postal supervisor in Stockton, CA got into a physical altercation when, after an increasingly escalating shouting match, the steward accused the manager of sleeping with the postmaster in order to get her job. The manager then slapped the steward, who restrained the supervisor and left. Despite the police being called and a statement taken, the supervisor received only a written warning while the steward was suspended for 21 days without pay. The arbitrator discovered this was not the first time local management had looked the other way on complaints of this particular supervisor violating the JSOV.

And these are just a few of the examples that have been documented. More often, postal workers and union officials say, violence and harassment in the workplace goes unreported as an accepted part of the job. In 2018, NALC Branch 343's newsletter succinctly summarized just how little has changed since the "Going Postal" era:

It has been my experience that seasoned carriers often times will ignore or shrug off this type of behavior because they have been exposed to it for such a long time. This speaks volumes. Many of these carriers have seen worse and nothing happened. 

Why is the post office such an enduring hotbed of workplace conflict? This is a question I've asked postal workers around the country over the past few months. And the most surprising element of reporting this story, at least to me, is there is absolutely no mystery about it. Everyone knows exactly why the post office is rife with workplace conflict. It's even right there in the JSOV: "making the numbers."

Until recently, Josh Sponsler was a letter carrier in Ohio. He decided to quit the post office despite being a "career" employee with solid pay, good benefits, and a decent pension waiting for him at the end of the road. But he quit because the mounting stress and tension in the workplace took a toll on his mental health. When I asked what it was about the workplace that made it so stressful, Sponsler brought up "the 96."

The 96, officially known as Form 3996, is the form carriers have to fill out if they expect they will have to work overtime to deliver the mail that day. In the morning, when carriers show up for work, they will look over the various types of mail they have to deliver: the pre-sorted mail, the magazines and other "flats," and the packages. If they think work that day will take longer than eight hours and therefore trigger overtime, they reach for the 96. 

But supervisors also have their own opinion about how many hours each route should take. The machines that pre-sort the mail automatically generate statistics about how much mail is going to each route. Those stats are then sent to supervisors each morning. Then, supervisors literally measure each route's unsorted mail with a yardstick. After plugging that number into the same software, the computer generates a final estimate for how long the mail should take to deliver.

Often, Sponsler says, the carrier's estimate will be very different from the computer's. For one, neither the computer programs nor measuring mail by the yard captures the most important factors about how long it takes to deliver mail. For example, what's the weather like? Are there mailers going to every business along the route? Every residential address? Is there road construction along the route?

And the computer's estimate is based on the regular inspection every route gets, where a postal supervisor will literally time with a stopwatch every move the carrier makes to determine how long that route "should" take. This estimate then becomes the baseline for that carrier's route estimates until the next inspection is done. But, for various reasons, that inspection may not be representative of the route year-round.

These two estimates for how long the day's mail will take to deliver is, as Sponsler put it, "the first thing that would cause tension" every day.

The tension is heightened because these estimates, multiplied by the thousands upon thousands of mail routes around the country are, in many ways, the main metric for how the modern post office functions. Supervisors are not given budgets in terms of dollars but in terms of work-hours. The more hours carriers say they'll need to finish their routes, the harder it gets for supervisors to meet their work-hour budgets, which will get them in trouble with their bosses.

The same goes for supervisors overseeing workers who don't deliver mail, such as mail handlers and other workers in processing facilities. In fact, for them it can be even worse, because they never leave the facility and are therefore constantly watched by their bosses. Throughout the JSOV grievances reviewed by Motherboard, workers report supervisors timing their bathroom breaks with stopwatches, looming over them so the workers can "feel their presence" while they work, or filing official warnings if they're too slow on a machine by a matter of seconds.  

When carriers, union stewards, and post office managers talk about "making the numbers," they're talking about these numbers, the work-hour budgets. And they're also talking about the increasingly unreasonable requirements postal management puts on supervisors and postal workers alike, bringing mail to more and more delivery points every year with fewer and fewer workers, relying more and more on overtime that management consistently wants to slash. Talking to postal workers, an analogy that often comes up is that working for the post office feels like working in a pressure cooker. Everyone is being squeezed.

Reaching for the 96 has become an increasingly common occurrence. In August, the USPS Inspector General reported on the agency's soaring overtime costs which it largely attributed to "staffing challenges." Because the post office has consistently cut the number of people it employs even as it delivers to more locations, it relies on overtime to deliver all the mail every day. But, in many ways, keeping employees from filing their 96's is the most important thing a supervisor does from USPS management's perspective, because it saves the post office money. 

Source: USPS OIG

There are, of course, good ways and bad ways for managers to handle this dynamic. Most postal workers I've spoken to said they've had at least one good boss who was reasonable and treated workers with respect. But, they are the exception, not the rule, because doing so requires actively ignoring or competing with the incentives put forward by their bosses. 

For the not so great bosses, they have every incentive to bully workers that take longer to do the job, have routes with the greatest discrepancy between the computerized stats and the carrier's own work pace, or, as is all too often the case, just pick on someone they don't like for whatever reason. And they often do it under the guise of achieving operational efficiency, of hitting the numbers.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, this conflict by design can easily devolve into being about anything other than delivering mail. Mail carriers get frustrated and feel like they're being gaslit into doing a job that cannot be done. They get frustrated being told to do a job in a way they think will be slower while also being told to work faster. Their bosses think they're a liar for saying the work can't be done in eight hours. Supervisors tag carriers who they perceive as constantly asking for unjustified overtime as problem workers who need discipline. 

This dynamic was represented in an extreme but not anomalous way in the Gaithersburg case. The supervisor testified to the arbitrator on the record that he "thinks that Carriers that apply for overtime are 'thieves.'" This view, he added, was the reason he felt empowered to harass carriers who said they would need overtime to finish their rounds. It was also backed up by his postmaster, who expressed similar sentiments.

"You just know there's a very good chance that, by filling this sheet out, you're getting into an argument about time," Sponsler said. And sometimes those arguments get out of hand.

If things haven't gotten any better at the post office, it's fair to wonder: why don't we hear about "going postal" anymore? 

I put this question to Northeastern University Professor James Alan Fox, who has studied mass shootings and workplace violence since the early 1980s. He said shooting trends are more like a "general contagion," in that once they get publicized, a small group of people identify with the shooters and replicate their actions. For example, once the Edmond shooting was covered by the media in 1986, other postal workers started to think that might be a way for them to address their grievances, too. In a situation where these shooters likely saw no way out of their problems, they now had one.

But these trends pass just like any other. "There are fads in crime as there are in other aspects of life," Fox said. "Back in the 80s, the way that postal workers expressed their anger and grievance was with a gun…but that is not part of the culture now."

There is, however, a cohort of postal workers who report regularly higher job satisfaction than everyone else. They're called rural mail carriers. They do the same job as the so-called "city" carriers, even many times out of the same offices with the same supervisors, but for complex historical reasons, they fall under different salary structures. Whereas city carriers are hourly employees that get overtime for working more than eight hours in a day, rural carriers are given an annual salary to deliver the mail however long it takes. As a 1994 Government Accountability Office report put it:

"Rural carriers do not have to negotiate daily with supervisors regarding the time it will take to complete mail sorting or delivery, and their performance is not closely supervised. Rural carriers generally control their own workdays as long as all the mail is delivered on time each day."

I asked Sponsler if he thought putting everyone under the rural carrier structure would solve the workplace issue. He said he had never thought about it before, but he doubted it could ever happen because the entire organization, workers and management alike, have become too addicted to overtime. Many of the workers like the extra money and management won't hire enough people to avoid it. 

Instead, he proposed different solutions, ones I had heard many times before. Abandon the autocratic management structure. Get rid of the computer metrics, or at least drastically curtail how they're used. Empower supervisors to run their post office the best way they see fit, not just follow orders from on high that apply to all the post offices in the area. They're big ideas, but not impossible ones. 

Sponsler ended our interview by saying he didn't really want to quit the post office, but he had to. He liked most of the people he worked with. The carriers really do care about delivering the mail in that cheesy way you always hoped was true but never wanted to ask. It really is true, he said. 

"Even with my experience, it can be a very good place to work," he assured me. But it's a far cry from making sure that experience applies to more than just a select few lucky ones with a good supervisor. "The service needs to work on a lot of stuff to get there."

The High Price of ‘Making the Numbers’ at the USPS syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[dailyaudiobible]

12/13/2017 DAB Transcript

Obadiah 1-21, Revelations 4:1-11, Psalms 132:1-18, Proverbs 29:24-25

Today is the 13th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It's good to be here with you today. And that from the Old Testament today, we will read in its entirety, the book of Obadiah before moving onto the next step forward in the book of Revelation.

Obadiah:

The book of Obadiah has but 21 versus, making it the shortest book in the Old Testament. And, yet, it deals with a very long-running family issue. Contained in this one chapter is a prophecy of the complete destruction and doom of the Edomites. And if we look back on the beginning of our adventure through the Bible, we’ll remember the story of Jacob and Esau. And Jacob's descendants became the children of Israel. Right? Jacob's name was changed to Israel. He had kids. They were children. The children of Israel. Esau's descendants became the Edomites. And they were often in conflict. When God delivered the children of Israel from slavery and bondage in Egypt, the Edomites wouldn't allow them to pass through their land on the way to their promise land. And at other points in history, when Israel was being attacked and overrun, the Edomites stood by silent just watching it all go down. And God reached the end of his patience. And, through the prophet Obadiah, predicts destruction. We have good application for this today too, for although we've been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and have been made children of God, therefore making us all family, all too often we see brothers and sisters at war with one another. We’re standing by silently as brothers and sisters are destroyed before our eyes, often on the Internet. And perhaps they're getting what they deserve in our judgment. The book of Obadiah shows us a very clear picture of how God feels about this. And, so, we begin Obadiah chapter 1 verses 1 through 21.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we need to talk about this proverb for a second because Proverbs 29:25 is worth committing to memory, is worth carrying around with you, is worth having at your fingertips. Because heeding it can change the path that your life is on. It can change the trajectory of where you're going. It can shift your orientation to what you think is going on around you, inside of you. Because, for the most part, as a culture, as a people, even as believers in Jesus, we don't heed this proverb's wisdom. And when we look starkly at what not paying attention to what this proverb is saying is doing to us, it becomes pretty clear how profoundly this is affecting us. And the proverb says, ‘the fear of man is a snare, but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.’ Now this word fear, as it's translated into English here, is a word that means trembling, anxiety, care, dread, as well as fear. And we all seem to carry that as sort of like a base layer of a motion somewhere down inside of us, this anxiety that's just always on the alert. And its deep within us. It touches our identity. Our fears can speak that deeply. And then to gauge how anxious we should be in a situation, we begin the comparison game. How I am I doing compared to him or her or them? And then it feeds into all of this anxiety. And because it's uncomfortable or painful, it feels true, and it shifts our identity and value of ourselves, and it becomes for us exactly what the Scriptures say, a snare, a trap. And all we have to do is kind of look back over the last 24 hours. Look at our interactions and find the point at which anxiety was rising up in us, fear was coming up inside of us, and for the most part we’ll find that there attached to a fear of man, fear of others in some way. And so, we’re being counseled from thousands of years ago that this is a trap. It's exposing where our trust truly lies. And as the proverb goes on, ‘the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.’ So, when our identity is rooted in the trust of the Lord, that's a totally different outcome than when our identity is rooted in the fear of man. And if we’ll just go through the next 24 hours, watching ourselves when we were feeling anxious, when fear seems to be overwhelming us, we can detach from that for a second just to observe - where did this come from, why is this happening, how can I follow the trail back - and we’ll find where our fears lie, and we’ll find that we’re not trusting the Lord in it.

Prayer:

Father, we take this counsel, we heed it, it's true, and it certainly can change things. So, we begin to observe ourselves and invite Your Holy Spirit to show us how so many of our fears are connected and are trapping us, are snaring us, because we’re ultimately afraid of each other or in competition with one another, rather than resting in the fact that we are Your children and You’re protecting us, and that we can, should, must trust You. Come Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what's going on around here.

A few things are going on around here. Today is about the last day to call in your holiday greetings for the annual Daily Audio Bible family Christmas that we do each year, our kind of virtual Christmas party that we have together. So, definitely, definitely don't delay anymore. If you're planning on participating, all you have to do is call one of the prayer lines. So, for example, here in United States, 877-942-4253 is the number to call. And, like I’ve been saying, the only rule about this is just don't combine a holiday greeting and a prayer request in the same call. If you have a prayer request, certainly, certainly call that in, but if you also have a holiday greeting, call that in separate. And we’re going to get to work on putting our Christmas party together. So, don't delay anymore. If you want to be involved, call that in.

The Daily Audio Bible Christmas Boxes are going fast, as they do. We still have some available. If you're in the United States and you want to get the Daily Bible Christmas Box in time for Christmas, because it is full of things that you'll…some things you’ll want for yourself and some things you'll want to give away…if you want that to arrive in time…then Monday December 18th is, kind of the cutoff date for that. You can certainly order after that and we will certainly ship, but it's kind of…we’re looking at the delivery schedules and…thinking that's about where we’re getting close. So, keep that in mind.

Early registration for the More Gathering for women is open right now. And early registration pricing will last until the end of the year. This makes a wonderful gift idea. So, take advantage of that. And all the details about the more gathering can be found at moregathering.com or in the Initiatives section at dailyaudiobible.com. All of your questions and the details that you would want to know about it are there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we approach the end of the year then, thank you humbly and profoundly, like every day, with a heart full of gratefulness that this community exists and that the global fire burns on, and that we keep taking steps forward together. Thank you for making that possible. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or comment or holiday greeting, at the moment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community. This is Diane O. B. in Newburg Indiana calling. And this is a prayer call and a praise report. And first of all, I want to say I am praying for this lady in California that is studying for her board exams, that had some really tragic things happen to her because her parents wanted a boy rather than a girl. I’ve been praying for you honey, every single day, and the Lord has been giving me a heart to pray for you and I believe you have the mind of Christ and you do think the thoughts of Christ. And when you take these board exams, I believe you are doing them at the end of December, you are going to pass with flying colors. And I thank You Lord for granting this wish and desire and prayer of mine. I’m going to be praying for you every day, that you have peace and no anxiety. And I’m praying for all of the others in the community. I thank you for hearing my prayer requests and lightening my load. And I just want to say do not be discouraged do not be disheartened. God loves you and He’s with you. He made you and He will take you back to heaven with Him if you have invited Him into your heart. So, God bless everybody and that’s what I wanted to say. Amen. 

Hi DAB family. This is Marked as His. I’m calling from Balsam Lake Wisconsin. I haven’t called in probably over 4 months now but I hope you all are doing well. Two praise reports. My mom, who was diagnosed with breast cancer around Easter time just successfully finished up both chemo and radiation and her prognosis looks great. So, that’s awesome, and thanks. We did get all off our corn harvest in on time and our soy bean harvest. So, thank you again for that. Right now, I am struggling with feeling very overwhelmed and attacked by anxiety and self-doubt. My cousin, who abused me as a child is getting married. And I feel very betrayed because getting married is something that I’ve always wanted and I feel like God is playing a huge joke on me, giving that gift to my cousin first. And I know I’m supposed to trust in God’s wisdom and His sense of timing but right now it is really hard. It seems like I’m getting the raw end of the deal again. So, I hope all is well with you. And thank you so much for being a family to me too. I’m so glad I turned here than other really bad coping mechanisms, that they soon pass. So, anyhow. Thank you all. Bye.

Good morning my DAB friends. It’s Margo from Australia. We have this morning had a bit of a miracle and I thought I would love to share it with you guys and you could share our joy and excitement. I’ll have to talk quick though. Some of you may remember, my husband and I are applying to join the mission aviation fellowship and as part of that my husband had to pass a class on medical for his pilot’s license. And he’s been having a bit of trouble with his blood pressure. His diastolic blood pressure needs to be under 90 and he’s been up to the doctor multiple times getting it checked and just can’t seem to get that number below 90 despite the fact that he’s quite slim and quite fit and healthy. It’s just some unfortunate reason. And he’s also been getting quite bad headaches. So, this morning he woke up with a really bad headache and we thought perhaps it might be associated with the blood pressure. So, we went up to our local pharmacy to get it checked and the diastolic blood pressure was 97, which is upsetting. But, just after that the doctor phoned and said, you have to come up today and get that blood pressure checked. It’s the last day we can do it for your pilot medical. So, we thought, oh no, we already know it’s really bad, this does not look good. So, we just straight away prayed, asking the Lord for a miracle and he went off to the doctor and guess what the number was? It was 85 and he even checked it twice. And we just praise in God because He is a God who works miracles. I can’t actually remember the last time his diastolic blood pressure was that low. It truly is a miracle and He is a God who answers prayer. And just Glory to God. He loves us. I hope that encourages you as it’s encouraged us. Bye for now.

Hi Joyce in California. Hey, this is mom Annette in Oklahoma City. And little sister, little girl, I wanted to wish you the most happiest of birthdays on December 20th and I wanted to call you and sing [singing] Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Our beautiful DAB daughter, Happy birthday to you. [singing stops]. You know, we can’t always pick the families that we’re born with but we can pick the families that we surround ourselves with. And, I’ll tell you, I know around my job, I've made many daughters and sons and I would wish nothing more than to have you be my honorary daughter. And I wish you the best. I wish you the success that you are looking for. I pray that your studies go well and your examinations are exemplary, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Joyce, I love you and I'm giving you a great big hug, all the way from Oklahoma City. Have a beautiful birthday December 20th, a day we will honor from now on.

[theliqht]

5 Lessons About fire inside music You Can Learn From Superheroes

How are they undertaking this?

They can be accessing MOOCs, or Enormous Open up On the internet Courses. Although platforms are already obtainable from elite colleges like MIT and Stanford for nearly ten years, open-supply lessons keep on to expand in amount and popularity. Now, even some area people colleges like Wake Technical College,Positioned outside the house Raleigh, NC, features MOOCs to a worldwide viewers. This expanding availability means You can find now an incredible range of classes available to anyone with an Connection to the internet, irrespective of place.

Subjects MOOCs go over can differ from fashionable robotics and astronomy to Roman architecture plus the American Novel Given that 1945. MIT, one example is, has classes centered all over Mathematics, Engineering, Strength and Science, in addition to a astonishing variety of courses focusing on the Humanities and Fantastic Arts. The College of Michigan delivers programs ranging from "Storytelling for Social Transform" to Python, details analytics, and device Mastering. You can even get leadership lessons from HEC Paris by way of MOOC, rated via the Economist as owning the second strongest business school alumni network in the world.

Some MOOCs are intended to be taken for understanding obtained, but many courses also provide a certificate of completion via sites like Coursera.org. Certificates of completion--that are different from study course credits--usually cost all-around $50. Fiscal help is accessible for those who qualify.

Factors to Consider a MOOC

There are lots of reasons why a MOOC class could be best for your needs outside of time administration, While most MOOCs permit learners to work at their unique pace, which suggests they simply healthy into most schedules, Irrespective of how busy. Other positive aspects consist of:

A chance to Check out An important ahead of spending for faculty classes. Any one attempting to come to a decision with a vocation route, for The very first time or on account of a midlife alter of route, is aware the annoyance of pondering "Let's say I'm wrong about my selection? The amount of funds am I likely to invest just before I notice this is not for me?" MOOCs are a great way to 'dip your toes' in, so to talk, before the headache of working with regular university classes and regular higher education prices. You may try out as a lot of classes as you have time for right up until anything genuinely sparks your interest.

Get courses not out there domestically. You will discover basically A huge number of MOOC classes accessible online. Even if you are in Boston (in which Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston College and Boston College are all located) or Several other very similar College-dense locale, you may likely find a category or two by MOOC offerings not available to you regionally.

Discover (or relearn) a language at no cost. Not just can you take a foreign language study course for free by using MOOCs, but thanks to classes taught at overseas universities, you can also coach your ear by Hearing native speakers. Have a study course taught within the language you ought to find out and follow along making use of English subtitles. The 2nd tactic is a great way to primarily double your Understanding, but only functions if you already have at least an intermediate grasp with the language.

If Understanding A further language is just not superior on your own to-do list, possibly it ought to be: In 2017, New American Economy described employer demand for bilingual staff in excess of doubled considering the fact that 2010. This demand proceeds to expand. Ideal languages to check? Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.

Create up your resume with needed competencies. Perhaps there's a improved task at function you already know you can do, but your manager won't Assume you're certified for it simply because you lack sure expertise. MOOCs are a terrific way to turn into proficient in parts like HTML coding, Search engine optimization analytics, or no matter what ability you need to come to be the right human being for your task.

Adhere to the back links in this post To learn more on a lot of MOOC programs. MOOCs will also be readily available through a variety of instructional platforms, like Coursera, Udemy, and edX. But MOOCs could be accessed straight through Every university, and are available by using the subsequent Google look for restricting syntax entered into your google research bar:

web site:edu MOOC subject matter

Such as, if I enter web site:edu MOOC robotics, I get about seven,000 success, together with this Introduction to Robotics Specialization from Penn Engineering. Through the use of this syntax, you are able to usually bypass the clearinghouses and come across just what exactly you're looking for on College web-sites, even lessons the clearinghouses may not supply.

Pleased MOOCing!

"Millennials," "Era Y," "The Peter Pan Technology" - they go by a lot of names and were born about in between 1980 and 2000.They're the technology that grew up with smartphones, rear-experiencing cameras, Net and many others. They had been at a young and susceptible age when Harry Potter to start with took his traveling classes on his magical broom, whenever they witnessed the great slide of the dual Towers of World Trade Centre in Ny city on nine/11. The millennials grew up while in the period of mobile devices, electronic cameras, e mail, textual content-messaging, mp3 players, handheld video clip video game units, WhatsApp, Fb/Instagram, YouTube Films, World wide web browsing and what not.

1 these millennial who knocked my socks off was this young girl named Anushka, a teen in her early twenties. Her white t-shirt with "MILLENNIAL" in massive, black, bold letters just caught our fast awareness and we could not end serious about her Unique Talent Presentation, in this article at Nirmiti Academy. The Do-it-yourself (Do It Your self) Craft was her one of a kind expertise. She represented a young experience from the millennials. Moreover, it was her presentation that spoke additional of her being a millennial. She was a real go-getter when it arrived to current her unique talent in a unique way. We could see her beaming with delight and contentment to showcase her one of a kind expertise to Many others. She was so enthusiastic that she was talking a mile a minute. She had a great deal of to convey about it and he or she could go on and on and continue to keep us glued to her presentation. The millennials like Anushka and many Other folks are inspired to work on factors which desire them. Concurrently, I could also see her remaining not able to smile and current herself Fortunately. Long gone would be the times for the millennials exactly where they truly feel present and revel in their environment. They may be the generation who feel the frequent want for Digital awareness which sales opportunities them to overshare their life and times on social networking or go inward in deep conscience to find by themselves. This leaves them unconnected Along with the Bodily globe all around them.

Millennials really are a hugely praised and confident era. These are a highly optimistic era. They have got a greater require to get everyday living experiences as opposed to to build up content prosperity, Despite the fact that they are doing like to accumulate things which should help them to love These ordeals. Millennials are the most educated technology. As the rate tag of training is currently so higher and continuing to climb on a yearly basis, Millennials became very savvy regarding their academic options. Contrary to previous generations who noticed instruction as being a ritual and an investment decision within their long run, millennials watch schooling being an price, Until it will empower them so as to be an even better individual. They assume schooling that will help them put together for The brand new options and issues of the age, in lieu of serving to them by providing fact-primarily based info/understanding. The millennials want to be challenged by thinking of the longer term And just how they might add to creating a greater Modern society and atmosphere. They don't feel the need to grow to be "textbook sensible / book worms".

They realize that facts might be simply uncovered on the internet as a result of their own impartial action. They are the era that features and thrive on know-how at finger "click on". Inside a planet of open access to know-how, it makes minimal feeling to rely on the classroom to be a forum for your transfer of information.

As an alternative, the students Significantly prefer to understand through the stories and activities of Some others. These shared stories and ordeals enable them to reinforce their own practical experience by Finding out with the achievements and problems of Other folks. This can help them prevent earning the same blunders as their influencers. Consequently, they like to invest more of their money and time on such applications which support them to produce numerous approaches that they might integrate into their views and final decision-generating course of action, therefore developing a new ability set.

We cannot ignore the fact that millennials also are a generation of uncertainties and fluctuations. They are really the era who likes to maintain switching their devices. They grew up with technological innovation in which every little thing was at their fingertips. It gets irritating for them to not get what they need whenever they want it. The majority of the issues are already handed to them on a silver spoon. This makes them sense entitled for getting what they want with out putting in A great deal effort and hard work.

Though They're the foremost workforce of the businesses today, they do not believe in lifelong work. Lifelong motivation is really a fairy tale for the millennials. They constantly bounce from on position to a different simply because they are always on the lookout for a thing new and far better. These substantial expectations turn out to be their downfall and would make them less monetarily secure than their mothers and fathers.

Millennials are right here to remain! They are really youthful, shiny and energetic and they're the long run. They are excellent property which the whole world have to harness and use. They are really the generation that is revolutionizing the whole world. They are the budding leaders of tomorrow. They adopt technological know-how and stimulus in exactly the same breadth. This generation can also be a collaborative and social era that includes a give attention to comprehending and creating their understanding as a result of many types of medium to find the responses. It really is with the educator like us to offer an arena for engagement and discovery and be considered a content material pro and mentor. It is for Understanding platform vendors like Nirmiti Academy to give an explorative and experiential expertise and convey out their accurate prospective in life and at function. It Is that this transformational journey that we at Nirmiti Academy look forward to every day to know, unlearn and relearn with these youthful and magical technology - the Millennials!

[seraphatum-blog]

7 Horrible Mistakes You're Making With Concrete Patios And Walkways

Another economical and creative go over alternatives are cloths or umbrellas. Some wires and fabric is certainly an economical way to deliver patio shade. When working with cloth, be sure to come up with a pitch to permit rainwater to slide off of it and stop it from being broken or turning into collapsed.

Obtain the peace of mind understanding that you'll have trustworthy and high-quality gurus submitting estimates for concrete patio. Concrete pros inside our network have several years of experience. You can read through entire customer reviews although comparing estimates.

Studio H Ipe Wooden decking and accent walls, a raked stone yard, a brass sheer-descent water aspect, and concrete stepping pads change an Irvine, California backyard into a peaceful Place that designer Studio H dubs Zen Modern. That shiny eco-friendly grass growing in between the Stepstone Inc. pavers is artificial turf.

Completely Incredible Patio!We named about three or four firms to work on our patio, but when Avi (project supervisor) showed up from Creative Household Transforming Companies, we cherished him. The cost that he gave us was in the course of the opposite contractor’s costs but we felt really comfortable with Avi, so we employed him. We at first believed we needed flagstone, because several of the others had specified us estimates on flagstone and stamped cement, but we didn’t know ample about stamped cement. Immediately after Avi gave us a variety of designs on many differing types of patios, our hearts had been set on stamped cement. His price and attitude concerning the task affected us to interchange the walkway within the front and to the side of the home, certainly the cost acquired a little bit greater but pretty reasonable. Then, following the task started off Avi was referred to as away to carry out something else, so he sent Nir to manage over the task and he was Fantastic too. The workers Auturo, Jesus, Pepe and several Other individuals labored with us no issue the quantity of issues we asked, or how again and again we modified our mind, they held on smiling.

Labor is A part of this concrete sidewalk set up cost. Does include 4 inch concrete slab and ground preparation. Estimate doesn't contain concrete demolition, stamping, and staining.

drammerinc.com When you need to inlay a sprawling deck area within your courtyard, concrete would yet again be a favorable product. Applying Wooden inlays, your patio can be a hugely creative and durable region that everyone would love. Cottage Stained Concrete Patio Design

Here at Walmart.com, we have been committed to safeguarding your privacy. Your electronic mail handle will never be marketed or dispersed to your third party for almost any purpose. You should have a moment to evaluation our Privateness Policy

Pavers might also get slick on wet days although the grout traces aid with drainage. As for other climatic conditions, You might even see that pavers are just a little much easier to place your bare toes owing to their reduced heat absorption.

Wooden is for homeowners that want their products to stay constant with their house design. Wood components like bamboo and maple are thought of sustainable woods since the Wooden just isn't getting Slice down more rapidly than it could possibly improve again or be replaced by new trees. There are plenty of types of eco-friendly Wooden options currently available out there.

Regional shop prices could differ from Individuals exhibited. Goods revealed as accessible are Generally stocked but inventory concentrations can't be confirmed

With numerous choices from which to choose, it could be overwhelming to not only decide on but determine what choices You should consider. So, Allow’s take a look at several of the most popular patterns for getting an notion for it.

Given that most pavers are laid as person units, they can be replaced relatively conveniently without disturbing the remainder of the patio. Some concrete pavers have interlocking joints, which help in developing balance for your patio mainly because they’re more unlikely to change away from position.

my patio was divided into two designs; i utilised vintage brick for 50 percent from the pation and one other fifty percent of concrete combine (2,five hundred PSI). well prepared with one/2 inch rebar spaced at 2 ft on center. across the concrete patio he developed two feet planters making use of cinder block. the preparation for both equally patios involve elevation set-up, grading compaction, and kind placing. he carefully selected and cleaned the most effective brick that was already inside the old patio and The brand new design turned out lovely!

Initially, it is possible to decide for your broom finish concrete patio. Numerous patio homeowners like this as it has the simplest design with earthy tones. Because the a long time go by, the gray overtone will begin to fade thereby converting your Denver patio right into a common tasteful design.

[goldeagleprice]

Lebman Cash Hoard Coming to Auction

It was recently announced that the first-ever offering of Fr. 2100-K* 1928 Dallas $50 is being featured in Heritage Auctions’ Platinum Night Session, Jan. 9. But how did they acquire this note?

Heritage Auctions received a most unusual time capsule—a trove of bills untouched since the darkest days of the Great Depression, mysteriously divided nearly equally between currency native to its southern Texas discovery and others from nearly 1,000 miles away in Minnesota, with no bills from the various districts in between. The collection was introduced to the experts at Heritage with no hint of the intrigue that would surface, the text of the consignor’s email reading simply, “We cleaned out the Lebman’s Western Store bank box, where some banknotes from my grandfather have laid there since 1934, and we would like to bring in these banknotes for evaluation.”

The cash was stored from 1934 to the 1990s in the bank box for Hyman S. Lebman’s business. Hymie Lebman was an accomplished tradesman from San Antonio, specializing in leather works and gunsmithing. His store operated for over six decades at 111 S. Flores, less than a mile from the famed Alamo Mission. His saddles, belts, and gun holsters are prized by collectors for their high quality and artistry. But the Lebman name carried a decidedly different association for federal law enforcement officials tracking Public Enemy Number One, the notorious gangster Baby Face Nelson.

During that Golden Age of gangsters that flourished in the decade leading up to the Second World War, Lebman’s San Antonio hometown had gained a well-deserved reputation as an organized crime laundromat for stolen cash, its banks amenable to those transactions requiring a unique standard of discretion. Lebman, meanwhile, had come to the attention of those criminal enterprises as a main expert in the modification of firearms in an age when the infamous Thompson Machine Gun turned automatic weaponry into an essential tool of the trade.

The most famous of Mr. Lebman’s personal creations resides for eternity in the FBI Museum, a 1911 Colt .38 Special handgun modified with a forward grip, an extended magazine and, most importantly, fully-automatic firing capabilities. The weapon’s serial number tracks its history through Lebman’s shop to Nelson’s hands and the rain of fire on federal officers raiding the Little Bohemia Lodge in northern Wisconsin in April 1934, one of the most notorious gun battles of the decade.

This paper trail to Lebman resulted in the shock of the gunsmith’s life when federal agents raided his shop, as he professed ignorance to the identity of his client. Nonetheless, Lebman would be sentenced to five years in the Texas State Penitentiary for violations of the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 and the Texas State Machine Gun Law, but those convictions were ultimately reversed on appeal.

Lebman’s son Marvin granted an interview to Man At Arms magazine in 2009, saying of his father, “He told me many stories about the customers who he later found out were John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson. He thought they were charming, wealthy oilmen who were interested in guns, and even invited them to his house for his wife to make them dinner when I was about three or four. Our shop had a firing range in the basement, and when he was experimenting with a Model 1911 on full automatic, the third or fourth round went off directly overhead, through the floor, and I was visiting above at the time. It scared him so much that he invented and installed a compensator on the muzzle to control the recoil.”

This weapons transaction in the waning days of November 1933 came just a month after Nelson and his gang famously held up the First National Bank of Brainerd, Minn. on Oct. 23, making off with some $32,000 in cash. After days on the lamb—carousing and gambling among the underworld characters of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the robbers would flee the area, heading south to Texas with their ill-gotten gains, anxious to launder the cash and secure an arsenal for future crimes. It’s hard not to imagine that the Minnesota bills in Lebman’s lockbox found their way to San Antonio by way of the Nelson gang’s infamous southbound journey.

It is particularly intriguing that Lebman’s hidden treasure was transported to the Heritage offices in a $1,000 bank bag from the Commercial National Bank of San Antonio, with many of the $100 denomination notes wrapped in bank straps bearing its name despite the fact that no notes issued by the bank appear in the hoard. That particular financial institution was well-known to cops and robbers alike for its participation in the laundering of illicit, underworld cash.

In the same month that Nelson and his gang were operating in San Antonio, the FBI came down on Z.D. Bonner, President of the Commercial National Bank and attorney John H. Cunningham. They were arrested on Dec. 21, in connection with a brazen daytime mail robbery a year earlier. The Dec. 6, 1932 robbery netted a Chicago gang $250,000, mostly in government bonds.

At the time of their arrest, Bonner and Cunningham were in possession of $75,000 worth of the bonds traced to the Chicago robbery, $47,100 of which was in bank boxes in the Commercial National Bank. During their trial, prosecutors brought evidence forward that even more United States Bonds from a large heist in New York were also washed through the San Antonio bank and more from mail heists in Minneapolis. A total of five separate offenses of embezzlement were brought against the pair.

In a summary of Bonner v. United States, the manner in which the bonds were embezzled is made clear, “Appellants agree that on March 1, Cunningham and Morrow came to the bank and before the first bond was delivered Bonner had the cashier make out a bank draft on a branch Federal Reserve Bank in San Antonio for $100,000, and that amount of money was delivered to Bonner by the cashier in the presence of Cunningham and Morrow. After this was done, Bonner sent the bond over to the Federal Reserve and borrowed $100,000 on it. The other bonds were handled in practically the same way, except that the drafts on the Federal Reserve were for $92,500 each, although the full amount of $100,000 was borrowed on each. The cash proceeds of each draft were taken in $50 and $100 bills.” They further elaborated on the operation, “During these several bond transactions, Bonner and Cunningham each placed in safety deposit boxes over $30,000 in $50 and $100 bills.”

The Chicago and Minneapolis robberies were later connected to Roger “Tommy” Touhy, who was using Bonner, Cunningham and the Commercial National Bank of San Antonio to help launder his cash and bonds. It was under Touhy’s tutelage that Baby Face Nelson got his start. After troublesome adolescence, Nelson was hired by Touhy to help guard liquor shipments in San Francisco.

As the heat of the San Antonio investigations intensified, Lebman supplied the Feds with whatever details he could, short of the existence of this far-flung cash hoard. Just before he was executed in Ohio in 1934, Harry Pierpont, who was said to be Dillinger’s mentor, insisted that it was Lebman’s testimony that had brought the gang down. On Nov. 27, 1934, Baby Face Nelson was killed by federal agents in Langendorf Park, in what was dubbed the Battle of Barrington (Illinois).

The Cash

The approximately $16,000 in face value cash is central to a timeline of 20th-century criminal activity that changed the United States forever from firearms control to the repealing of prohibition. The timeline of the bank box being locked up in late 1933 or early 1934 is supported by the notes themselves. Not a single note in the group was from series or banknote deliveries that could have fallen after 1934. Most cash hoards are nothing exciting, providing quantities of notes, rather than quality or rarity. That is not the case here.

The first small-size National Bank Note from Moore, Texas was also buried in this safety deposit box for the last eighty-five years. Scarce $100s are reported from Texas, a Type II from Dallas, and a Type I from Vermont. More notes are classified as scarce, and some are common in comparison to normal notes absent the pedigree. Each of the notes traced to Nelson will be offered without an estimate, while the Hyman S. Lebman Cash Hoard is being offered with estimates aligned with unpedigreed notes. The premium for the story here is unknown, left to the market to price this historic offering. Additional Lebman notes are included in their Internet Session of this auction to conclude on Monday, Jan. 13.

For more information, visit www.ha.com.

  The post Lebman Cash Hoard Coming to Auction appeared first on Numismatic News.

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

Ubuntu: What does the long run appear to be post-Unity?

http://tinyurl.com/yyo4mowe The trendy Linux desktop is one the place “the whole lot simply works,” and “you are in a position to make use of the functions that you’ve got come to depend on in your day-to-day life,” says Canonical’s Will Cooke. Learn how to set up Microsoft Visible Studio Code (VS Code) on Ubuntu Microsoft’s Visible Studio Code editor will now run on any Linux distribution that helps Snap. Observe these steps to put in VS Code on Ubuntu. Following Canonical’s pivot away from its internally-developed Unity user interface and Mir display server, Ubuntu has loved two comparatively low-drama years, because the Linux Desktop market homogenized throughout its transition back to a customized GNOME desktop. In a overview of the newest launch, TechRepublic’s Jack Wallen declared that “Ubuntu 19.04 should seriously impress anyone looking for a fast and reliable Linux desktop platform.” Largely, it has been a slow-and-steady tempo for Ubuntu for the reason that pivot from Unity to GNOME, although the distribution made headlines for plans to end support for 32-bit support. This prompted Valve, operators of video games market Steam, to re-think its approach toward Ubuntu, which it beforehand characterised as “because the best-supported path for desktop customers.”  TechRepublic’s James Sanders interviewed Will Cooke, director of engineering for Ubuntu Desktop at Canonical, concerning the distribution’s long-term plans for legacy 32-bit help, delivery a desktop in a post-Unity-era Ubuntu, and why Linux must be the primary selection for customers migrating from Home windows 7 previous to the tip of help. (This interview was evenly edited for readability.) How help for 32-bit packages shall be dealt with in Ubuntu In June, Canonical introduced plans to stop providing new 32-bit x86 packages starting with Ubuntu 19.10, sparking a firestorm of controversy amongst customers of WINE and the Steam video games platform, amongst others. Following public outcry, the corporate introduced {that a} subset of 32-bit x86 packages shall be maintained to help legacy software program.  For comparability, the first x86-64 processors will be 16 years old when Ubuntu 19.10 is launched. Fedora is prone to drop the 32-bit kernel with the discharge of Fedora 31, although proceed to offer packages for software compatibility. MacOS 10.15 (Catalina), anticipated this fall, is dropping help for 32-bit functions outright. Finally, the quantity of engineering time wanted to protract legacy help will approaching the unfavorable finish of a cost-benefit evaluation, making this a troublesome choice for Linux distribution maintainers.  SEE: How to choose between Windows, macOS, and Linux (free PDF) (TechRepublic) TechRepublic: Canonical—like every other firm—has constraints on assets. It’s important to funds your improvement time. What is the decision-making course of like for balancing legacy compatibility with maintainability over the lifespan of a launch? Will Cooke: The choice-making course of is similar as every other decision-making course of in Ubuntu. It is led by engineers who’re doing the work, and must hold this factor going. Usually talking, Ubuntu is a group mission. It occurs that Canonical is the business entity behind it, and we put the overwhelming majority of the manpower behind it. However, we’re constructed of a group of people that occur to work for Canonical, and individuals who do not work for Canonical however are nonetheless very considering shaping the Ubuntu product. We congregate in mailing lists, on IRC, and more and more now on extra fashionable communications schemes like Discourse, for instance. And that is the place we raised these concepts. Individuals are free to return together with their concepts, converse to different engineers about these concepts, after which talk about it, engineer to engineer. If a choice is reached, then transfer forward with that plan. Within the case of the 32-bit stuff, that is one thing that we have been speaking about for a protracted, very long time. We began gathering some extra details about {hardware} with a bunch of stories in [Ubuntu] 18.04 and that advised us very clearly that—statistically—no person is operating 32-bit anymore. So the dialog was, we might save a big period of time and power if we had been to not do that anymore… we had a couple of discussions round it, however there have been no objections raised. And so that is what occurred… we made the announcement and many individuals stated, “I’ve bought my particular use case—be that gaming, or legacy functions, or printer drivers—what can we do about that?” We foresaw a few of these issues. The answer we had was round containerization, or packaging issues as Snaps, and that—technically talking—would have been, and nonetheless is, a really viable choice. Folks have, for instance, Steam operating in that container, they usually can run their video games simply positive. The suggestions we heard from the group was that this container system shouldn’t be what they wished. So it was comparatively straightforward for us to alter our plans there, so that is what we have accomplished. We have dedicated to keep up these 32-bit libraries, so that individuals do not must concern themselves with containerizing their apps, or discovering 64-bit equivalents. So, 32-bit will proceed to work, and we’ll converse once more about it in in all probability a few years. By then, the state of containerization could have moved on, and the plan shall be—if we do go down the containerization route—then it is going to be solely clear to the person, and the whole lot will nonetheless work. We have got some actually good suggestions from individuals about issues which can be essential to them—Steam, legacy video games, legacy software program—we all know the kinds of issues that individuals are utilizing 32-bit for now, and we will guarantee that we focus our efforts on a very stable answer for these use circumstances. TR: How totally different, in engineering phrases, is sustaining the plumbing to compile a subset of 32-bit packages to keep up compatibility, versus packaging 32-bit binaries from Ubuntu 18.04 in Snap, for software program compatibility? Cooke: Usually talking, there’s not a complete lot of distinction. Both we construct these 32-bit libraries, or we do not. They’re already constructed on 64-bit {hardware} and compiled in 32-bit mode, so we do not have to keep up additional {hardware} going ahead. The issue with 32-bit is that lots of essential safety fixes… are solely obtainable for 64-bit software program. It is probably not about how technically troublesome it’s, it is that the 32-bit software program would not get the identical publicity. No person—statistically talking—is operating it, and lots of the safety fixes merely do not exist for these architectures. So, it is not that it is essentially extra complicated or tougher. It is that the standard shouldn’t be there and cannot be there. Retaining Ubuntu’s id whereas delivery the GNOME desktop TR: Ubuntu is simply over two years into its transition away from the Unity desktop atmosphere to GNOME 3. How has that transition labored, when it comes to balancing GNOME 3’s design decisions together with your necessities for Ubuntu with issues like maintaining desktop icons? Cooke: It has been fairly straight ahead. We work with GNOME, we’ve people who find themselves GNOME members who work within the GNOME group. Now we have a superb relationship with choice makers and with engineers in GNOME. After all, generally we’ve variations of opinion about the way in which that we expect issues ought to work. We’re a distribution and we distribute GNOME. However we are also Ubuntu, we’re a acknowledged model. We wish to… be certain that what we offer our customers is what they need. Once we did the change to GNOME Shell from Unity, we did a survey [asking] individuals simple questions like, “What kind of options do you wish to see proceed in Ubuntu Desktop?” The reply got here by very, very clearly that individuals appreciated having the launcher on the left, they usually wished to maintain that characteristic there. They appreciated having desktop icons they usually wished to maintain that characteristic there.  We have made selections based mostly on knowledge from our person base, from our group. They’ve offered that suggestions and we have accomplished what nearly all of individuals need. Generally that does not go together with the beliefs of GNOME design, however we’re snug with delivering what we see as worth on prime of GNOME. That is delivering a product which supplies individuals consistency between the outdated days of Unity 7, and the brand new days of GNOME Shell. That transition was as straightforward as doable, everyone had an opportunity to have a say in it, and the solutions had been fairly clear. What the long run holds for the Linux desktop The primary secure launch of GTK4 is anticipated later this yr. Naturally, future variations of the GTK-powered GNOME desktop atmosphere will make the most of this main model replace. Concurrently, low-level adjustments are coming for multimedia dealing with, whereas Wayland is primed to switch X11 throughout main distributions—together with Ubuntu. When absolutely realized, these adjustments will make for wealthy media functions extra performant. TR: What is the largest factor you are wanting ahead to in GTK4, and the way will that affect Ubuntu on the Desktop? Cooke: There’s lots of lower-level structure adjustments occurring, and there are issues like PipeWire being developed which can give us the following technology of audio routing, which shall be very thrilling. I feel this can give us choices for skilled audio manufacturing, low-latency audio, all types of intelligent routing of audio units and dealing with of audio units. When issues like PulseAudio had been initially designed, [these] had been by no means foreseen. Having that type of architectural low-level rework of great items of the desktop stack is essential and it’ll be actually cool. The opposite factor that I am actually wanting ahead to is the potential change in structure such that, when the shell itself crashes, it will not take your total session down with it. This was a giant sticking level for us, within the transfer to Wayland… we took the choice that we weren’t going to danger having customers lose work in that method, particularly once they’ve been used to, for instance, Unity 7 crashing, after which coming again with your whole functions nonetheless loaded. We wished to keep up that characteristic, should you like. We fastened lots of these bugs upstream and… usually talking the Wayland session is extraordinarily secure now. We’re wanting ahead to having the ability to transfer over to Wayland as quickly as we will, and I feel that [the release of] GNOME four might be the fitting time to do this. TR: What launch of Ubuntu would you forecast delivery Wayland because the default? Cooke: I can inform you it will not be for 20.04. We’re too near the discharge now. We’re just one cycle away from the discharge. The cycle earlier than the LTS launch is a ultimate fit-and-finish. We must be going into that cycle, which begins in October this yr, with these selections already made. So we’ve not bought time, in six months, to debug and absolutely check a change to the show server. So as to try to get it in for the following LTS—Ubuntu 22.04—we shall be shifting fairly shortly to get Wayland because the default once more and shake the remainder of the bugs out. So I feel we’ll see it transfer in 20.10, after which we’ll must see how that goes, after which we’ll decide from there. Why Linux is compelling for customers switching from Home windows 7 Support for Windows 7 is coming to an end in just half a year, although Windows 7 still holds a 36% market share. Contemplating the comparatively excessive price ticket related to Microsoft’s prolonged help subscriptions for Home windows 7, many organizations—together with potentially the South Korean government—are turning towards Linux in an effort to delay the lifespan of comparatively fashionable {hardware}. TR: What would you need individuals with not significantly outdated {hardware} who’re taking a look at migrating away from Home windows 7 to find out about Ubuntu? Cooke: I’d have an interest to be taught what it’s that they are doing with their laptop, as a result of I’d hazard a guess that almost all of them are net shopping.  If that’s the place you spend 90% of your laptop time, is in entrance of an internet browser utilizing… Gmail or Workplace 365, these types of merchandise, then it’s good to know that Linux is there for you and can help you do precisely the identical stuff that you just’re doing in your net browser. You will not be plagued with continuous updates and you may be shielded from web-based vulnerabilities on Home windows. So, it’s good to know that Linux is a safe place, you can get your work accomplished in simply the identical method that you just’re presently doing it. However with the entire added safety that comes from having Linux. TR: During the last 5 years, what’s the largest innovation that eased a ache level for utilizing Linux on the desktop? Cooke: There’s hundreds of thousands of issues, actually. I do not assume I might put my finger on a single one. I feel the abstract could be that you do not have to drop down right into a textual content editor and fiddle with config recordsdata anymore. The auto-detection that occurs in Linux now—it might be from USB units being hotplugged, it might be exterior displays, it might be the entire {hardware}, the sound card, the community card, all of that stuff that is inside the pc. All of that now will get detected robotically. Whereas, 5 years in the past—possibly a little bit bit greater than 5 years in the past—you’ll have a comparatively new piece of {hardware}, and then you definitely’d must be compiling kernel drivers your self, or modifying code to try to work round bugs in issues that did not fairly work but. In order that maturity, and the truth that Linux is now taken so critically by the likes of Intel—which signifies that drivers come alongside very, very early within the improvement course of for that {hardware}—signifies that the general desktop expertise as of late is painless by comparability. Issues do simply work as of late. Then you definitely couple that with the likes of Skype, Spotify, and Google with Chrome, for instance, who’ve been bringing these very essential functions. Essential as a result of that is what customers need.So that you mix these two issues, and you have a really highly effective story—not solely will you be capable to set up Linux onto your {hardware} and there is a superb probability that the whole lot will simply work, however if you do set up it and it simply works, you are in a position to make use of the functions that you’ve got come to depend on in your day-to-day life. For extra, try “Mark Shuttleworth sees increased demand for enterprise Ubuntu Linux desktop” and “Dell releases more high-end Ubuntu Linux laptops” at ZDNet, in addition to “Lenovo shipping Ubuntu Linux on 2019 ThinkPad P-series models” and “Open source project aims to make Ubuntu usable on Arm-powered Windows laptops” on TechRepublic. Open Supply Weekly Publication You do not wish to miss our suggestions, tutorials, and commentary on the Linux OS and open supply functions. Delivered Tuesdays Enroll at present Enroll at present Additionally see Picture: Jack Wallen/TechRepublic Source link

[tamaratrabuuniverse]

My presentation: The User Experience - new medias in Brazil and the use of social media by the youth in the USA

Brazil

Brazilians are open and warm-hearted. The majority of Brazil’s population is extremely young. Close to half are under the age of 25, and as a result, employment is an issue.

New Media landscapes

The new media landscape in Brazil is formed by Social media, music and game Industry.

Which are based on the three values: digital inclusion, free culture, and network sociality.

Social media Orkut

Orkut was the most popular social network site in 2010. Orkut encourages members to post pictures of themselves, to link to other users or Web sites, and to trade photos, audio, and video files in their “scrapbook. part of Orkut’s appeal is, its strong community facility, which structures interaction and conversation

Music & Gaming Industry

In Brazil, copyright and intellectual property are heavily debated, especially regarding music production and gaming. Brazilians, not only the poor, have taken matters into their own hands, pirating games and creating clones of certain Nintendo Entertainment Systems (i.e. Phantom System).

Digital inclusion

(The government is aware that education in IT provides better employment prospects and keeps children off the streets.) They want to make the internet accessible to everyone. For example LAN-houses are places where Brazilians can pay to use computers and the Internet. These houses are mainly for youth and represent important social places for them

Free culture

they don't want to be dependent on other countries but want to support their own people. Local production is cheaper than importing everything. This includes also the copied games.

Networked sociality

Heather Horst uses the term networked sociality to describe the use of various media technologies as a means to socialize. Brazil mostly have to go to public places to surf or game and also to have direct contact with others within these places.

Brazilians

Brazilians like to form groups and to discuss about everything.

the government

Moreover, the government works to improve the education system by increasing access to computers, and therefore the Internet. The government is aware that education in IT provides better employment prospects and keeps children off the streets.

Industries

The government has implemented high taxation on imported goods and software, in part to promote the growth of local industries.

Interview

How is the situation today?

An interview with a brazil citizen.

Profiles, friends, and comments

are the main basic elements of every social network. They do so by defining their individual homepage with text, images, and videos. Maybe one of the most central features is a public list of the people that one identifies as Friends within the network.

Today s social media have still the basic thinks like a profile or a list of friends. But today the sites have a lot more features like marketplaces or calendar of events.

Public and digital Body

Today we face a life very open to the public. Perhaps we do not realize the consequences a simple comment on a social network site may have. Public often implies that the audience is unknown and that strangers can become spectators.

Not only do social medias make our lives very visible, we are also not aware of our digital body or the public audience we have. The digital body Language is the aggregate of all the digital activity you see from a person, each mail that is open, each web visit or each search on google.

Adults cannot and should not police the youth.

Brazil VS. USA

Looking at the role new medias play in different cultures, in this case Brazil and the United States, allows us to better understand how design should concern itself with understanding the experiences people desire or need. For example Brazilians had to go to public places for using internet, automatically physical sociality was created within these places.

The American kids has mostly no possibility to get out in the evening because they have no cars or alcohol serving places are forbidden for the younger ones. So the need for online communication is a lot stronger for them.

Experience

The lesson to learn from Eastman is that you need to ask yourself, what do people want to accomplish? How does this activity fit into their lives? How can I deliver on those desires?

Social media is not just a product, it is a system. It is a network that was originally designed as a platform to connect individuals without the intention of selling them products. To use MySpace or Facebook is an experience. Although many social media sites exist, they each try to provide people with what they need. While some people use these platforms for searching for people or groups, others use it to post photos. Regardless, there is always a reason why people use these platforms. They were designed to fit into most people’s lives. None of them actually need to own a computer, it is possible to log in almost anywhere you want.

From time to time social media is not just a connecting tool anymore. They have gone from being directed by experience to now collecting data and advertising. It is not “what can they do for us” anymore, it is” what do they need from us” now.

Companies like Apple and IDEO have been and continue to be so successful, because they are selling an experience and considering their products not as standalone objects, but as elements of a greater system. Therefore, adding feature upon feature does not add to the usefulness of a product. Designers need to focus on more than just a functional object; they need to consider what experience they are designing for.

Couchsurfing

With Couchsurfing, you can stay with locals in every country on earth. Travel like a local, stay in someone's home and experience the world in a way you would never be able to in a hotel. It is a good example for a internet based social network that creates as well real-life friendships and communities. You can meet a lot a lot of new people and cultures around the world.

The platform couchsurfing serve the need of cheap traveling. It is definitely a special experience and appropriate for solo travelers.

Discussion Question

After learning about Brazil and the United States, how do social networks compare in your country?

How has the use of these various platforms changed in your country over time?

Does social media improve our lives?

Readings

boyd, danah. 2007. “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” In MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning – Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Volume (ed. David Buckingham). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Horst, Heather. 2011. Free, Social, and Inclusive: Appropriation and Resistance of New Media Technologies in Brazil. In International Journal of Communication. 5. 437–462.  

Merholz, P., Wilkens, T., Schauer, B., & Verba, D. (2008). Subject To Change:

Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World: Adaptive Path on Design. O’Reilly Media, Inc. (Chapter 1 + 5)

[theconservativebrief]

When Gretchen Carlson — the former Fox News anchor and Miss America 1989 — took over as chair of the Miss America Organization earlier this year, she promised that the 2019 pageant would “join the empowerment movement” and become “open, transparent, and inclusive” by judging contestants on their talking points and social impact initiatives rather than their outfits and looks. And at Sunday’s final competition, it seemed that Miss America 2.0 was indeed the (slightly) less pageant-y pageant that Carlson intended.

Thanks to sweeping changes announced this summer that included removing both the swimsuit and evening gown portions, as well as a major branding overhaul, this year’s event was markedly different from the others in the pageant’s 97-year history.

The viral highlight? Miss Michigan, Emily Sioma, introduced herself not with an overview of her college and major but by drawing attention to the ongoing water crisis in Flint. “From the state with 84 percent of the US’s freshwater but none for its residents to drink, I am Miss Michigan Emily Sioma,” she said.

According to the Daily Beast, Sunday night’s competition, which aired live on ABC, was “50 percent less offensive than the average pageant, with 100 percent more pantsuits.” There were earnest calls from the contestants for everything from diversity to the importance of investigative journalism, women in STEM, and wheelchair adaptive sports, while the opening script relied heavily on words like “sisters,” “future leaders,” and “empowered.”

Yet despite reports of turmoil behind the scenes — as well as a very public rift between Carlson and the most recent Miss America, Cara Mund — Miss America 2.0 could provide a possible model for what beauty pageants might look like in the future.

Because women have always been judged heavily on their looks, beauty pageants have existed around the world for millennia. When Miss America debuted in 1921, it was to attract more crowds on the Atlantic City boardwalk, and audiences would clap for their favorite contestant, which accounted for 50 percent of the vote.

In the pageant’s beginnings, non-white women were not allowed to enter the competition. Even though the rule that required “contestants must be of good health and of the white race” was repealed in 1950, the first black contestant wasn’t included until 1970, and the first black winner was Vanessa Williams in 1984. It was the first time that a winner received death threats and hate mail, and also the first time that a contestant was forced to resign following the discovery of nude photographs (ones that she was told would never appear in print), leading to a contentious national conversation often tinged with racial undertones.

Meanwhile the second-most famous pageant in America, Miss USA, was co-owned by none other than Donald Trump between 1996 and 2015, a time in which the future president engaged in behavior such as entering the Miss Teen USA dressing room while contestants were changing and bragging about it. Trump, who remains very preoccupied with judging women’s appearances, went on to attack Alicia Machado, the Venezuelan Miss Universe, for gaining weight during the 2016 election.

It isn’t entirely surprising that the Miss America Organization has desperately attempted to shed its sexist past. Last December emails between CEO Sam Haskell and lead writer Lewis Friedman leaked in which contestants were referred to as “cunts” and called “piece of trash” and “huge,” among other misogynistic comments.

When Gretchen Carlson, who became a vocal advocate for #MeToo after settling a sexual harassment lawsuit against former Fox CEO Roger Ailes, took over as chair of the organization and named several more women to its board, the goal was to transform the pageant into one that focused less on the contestants’ looks and outfits and more on the social issues they champion.

But in doing so, another minor scandal erupted: In the weeks prior to this year’s pageant, Miss America 2018, Cara Mund stated in a public Facebook post that the organization “systematically silenced me, reduced me, marginalized me, and essentially erased me in my role as Miss America in subtle and not-so-subtle ways on a daily basis.” She accused the organization of prioritizing Carlson over her, as well as using passive-aggressive tactics to minimize her status.

Last week, a sash that read “Gretchen sucks” was placed on the statue of Miss America in Atlantic City, and several posters mocking Carlson with the words “So Fake” were hung from nearby traffic light poles.

Despite the drama, however, it seems as though this year’s contestants largely adhered to the mission of Miss America 2.0. In place of the traditional evening gown portion, the women were free to wear attire that made them feel confident and expressed their personal styles. (Read: lots of jumpsuits).

Even the revamped pageant’s branding looks like that of a hip, socially aware startup — the hero image on its website is a cinemagraph of a woman in a billowy skirt leaping in Converse-like sneakers, while the font is, of course, a cool sans serif.

missamerica.org

But besides Sioma’s bold statement about the water crisis in Flint, most of the contestants who had made it to Sunday’s finals stuck with less overtly political issues to champion — the environment, youth empowerment, and support for people with visual impairments, for example.

There were certainly politics present onstage a few nights before, however. During the pageant’s preliminary round on Friday night, Miss West Virginia, Madeline Collins, stated that “Donald Trump is the biggest issue facing our country. Unfortunately, he has caused a lot of divide in our country, and until we can trust in him and the choices that he makes for our country, we cannot become united.”

And on Thursday, when Emili McPhail (Miss Virginia) was asked how the NFL should respond to its players kneeling during the national anthem, she said that the protests were “absolutely about police brutality,” and that “kneeling during the national anthem is absolutely a right that you have, to stand up for what you believe in, and to make the right decision that’s right for you.”

This, perhaps, could indicate the changes coming to the beauty pageant world. And unlike the overwhelming majority of Miss America winners, this year the judges selected a nonwhite contestant, New Yorker Nia Imani Franklin, who chose youth art education as her social impact initiative.

Miss America 2.0’s goal is to make pageants more like serious job interviews. But to be clear, the Miss America pageant has always been a job interview — it determines the woman who will represent the organization over the next year in speaking and travel engagements. It’s just that being hot and likable can no longer be the only requirement.

However much this year’s pageant was a leap toward the future, it’s still difficult to imagine a Miss America who is queer (although 2016 saw the competition’s first openly gay contestant), who is disabled, who is fat, or who is trans- or gender nonconforming. It’s even difficult to imagine a winner whose personal style is a little off-base, who doesn’t have perfect hair, not to mention one who takes a stand on a controversial political topic.

These are ingredients that are baked in to the Miss America recipe, and though there are plenty of pageants that aim to subvert the norm — drag and queer subcultures have their own versions; there’s even an event to crown the “smallest penis in Brooklyn” — anyone hoping for a truly subversive Miss America probably shouldn’t bother holding their breath for Miss America 3.0.

Original Source -> Gretchen Carlson’s Miss America 2.0 promised empowerment. It mostly delivered.

via The Conservative Brief

[crystalshipsss]

Empowerment Articles.

E-Commerce is a growing sector of the United States economic climate and also has actually been enhancing considerably for the previous several years. Some might permit you to purchase their services straightaway from their website or system. Considering that the 1990s, it has come to be typical technique for companies of all dimensions to produce T-shirts with their company logos or messages as component of their total marketing campaign. training manual printing arising consumer touch-points are also entering play in B2B omni-channel commerce-- Internet of Things (IOT) allows automated getting of service components as well as maintenance services, intelligent representatives give computerized human-like experiences through chat as well as voice apps, as well as increased reality enables immersive style and arrangement experiences. Find products, procedure orders, take repayment, swipe charge card, produce invoices, and manage it all from your iPad or mobile phone. In most commercial T-shirts printing, the particular shades in the layout are made use of. It's also fascinating to note that looking ahead, ecommerce specialist Gary Hoover's data tasks ecommerce retail sales will at some point even out with that of brick and mortar. Although I would certainly not suggest anybody usage OsCommerce today, my dependable open source purchasing cart powers a 7 figure ecommerce organisation and is equally as effective as a completely hosted platform like Shopify or BigCommerce. Ecommerce enables distributors to be closer to their clients, causing raised productivity as well as competitiveness for business; therefore, the customer is profited with an enhancement in quality service, causing greater distance, as well as an extra effective pre and also post-sales support. An on-line shop evokes the physical example of acquiring product and services at a normal "bricks-and-mortar" store or shopping mall; the process is called business-to-consumer (B2C) on the internet shopping. This kind of e-commerce includes mobile media and web content, retail services, traveling acquisitions as well as various other services. Finally, although the boom in online sales has actually additionally opened up a prospective method for fraud as well as rip-offs, site-builders have actually taken care of to remain in advance by using high-grade website defense and also payment safety and security to maintain the online industry as safe as feasible. You hereby affirmatively stand for that (a) you go to the very least the Minimum Age in the suitable country; (b) you have the permission of your moms and dad( s) to use the Website if you are under 18 years of age; (c) you have all the appropriate civil liberties and authority to approve For life 21 the rights granted in these Terms; and (d) you have reviewed, recognized, and also agree to be bound by these Terms. In this article, you'll learn the basics of MailChimp and also e-commerce, and obtain some ideas for expanding your company. An extra-large t shirt can be put on with tights as well as an infinity scarf for a laid-back yet stylish feel; a lengthy tee is extremely in now. Boost sales results for your regular e-mail projects with client sections, product referrals, and promotion codes. 55% of Americans begin their item searches on Amazon.com, whose sales stand for nearly HALF OF ALL eCommerce sales in the US (44%, actually. You can change a section or page to your ecommerce site, transform your pictures, and upgrade your design text Online Shop was produced with the intent that you could make it your own; as well as alter it as often as you or your business needs modification. To the level that this Site consists of connect to outdoors services and also sources, the accessibility and also web content of which Permanently 21 does not regulate, any type of concerns regarding any type of such service or resource, or any web link included on the Site, should be directed to the particular outdoors solution or source. The pictures as well as a duplicate of your product and services need to be professional. WordPress Based Buying Cart - If you are currently acquainted with WordPress or have a WordPress site, then it might make good sense to run your shop on WordPress. C2C commonly takes place on on-line markets such as ebay.com, in which one specific offers a product and services to an additional. The major root cause of power stealing or feeding is an absence of link to ones very own personal power or spirit, for if you had a connection to on your own on a much deeper degree you would certainly have no should make use of other people for power. In the 1960s, published Tees obtained popularity for self-expression also for souvenirs, ads, and also demonstrations. . When as compared to purchasing retail in traditional business, the consumer generally has more details offered in regards to helpful material and there is likewise a prevalent concept that you'll be getting less expensive, without jeopardizing a similarly customized client service, along with ensuring fast handling as well as delivery of your order. Individuals additionally have what is called a power field or aura A typical issue that many people have is that somewhere in life they ended up being dis-connected to their own personal power or soul as well as due to this they have actually come to be depending on the energy of other individuals. Clicking the purchasing bag symbol could display different sorts of product details, consisting of more images of the showcased product, images of other products contained in the tale, summaries and valuing info for the product as well as links that lead straight to the brand's web site to buy the product. It is incredibly common amongst humans although just a couple of people are actually familiar with it, in regards to needing to safeguard their very own energy from being stolen or used by others. The IRL (In Real Life) pop-up shop in Chicago's Water Tower Area is a display room for online-only brands to present their products. Whether you're a regional service, dining establishment, food cart, youth-sports organization, other community organization, Smart & Final gives you with access to cost savings, tax-free sales for resale, invoice monitoring, as well as a liason to help you with your purchasing requirements. Sana aids companies like Pelican Rouge leverage business logic and information kept in their Microsoft Characteristics as well as SAP systems in powerful, beautifully designed and user-friendly web stores. With E-Commerce on a solitary system with Quote-to-Cash-- sales, having, as well as earnings-- devices, you could provide a frictionless experience and also offer a lot more efficiently throughout the consumer lifecycle-- from research to reorder. Nielsen E-Commerce Dimension provides detailed protection of ecommerce FMCG sales as well as share in the market. Fix: Shipping Same as Billing" might trigger items to be delivered to countries which are not permitted. You could classify them inning accordance with the product and services that they market, the celebrations that they transact with, and even the platforms on which they operate.

[nishantwap]

Man United, Mourinho must fix style, Chelsea's post-Conte future

New Post has been published on https://www.hsnews.us/man-united-mourinho-must-fix-style-chelseas-post-conte-future/

Man United, Mourinho must fix style, Chelsea's post-Conte future

Winning the FA Cup on Saturday will have absolutely no bearing on whether or not Antonio Conte sticks around as Chelsea manager. In that sense, the “oldest cup competition in the world” is even less relevant than usual, which doesn’t mean it was a fruitless exercise. We learned something, too, getting further confirmation that he can match tactical wits in a war of attrition against almost anyone and come out on top, especially if his team gets the early goal, which they did.

Jose Mourinho twisted himself into a pretzel of backhanded compliments after the match. First he complimented Chelsea, because it’s about winning and then saying that “only one team tried to play football” (his team, obviously) and that he’d love to know what the media would have said if United had played (or not played, in this case) the way Conte had his team play.

I can’t speak for the “media” as a whole, but if that had been Marcus Rashford winning and converting a penalty early on, and then United parking the bus while looking to play on the counterattack, I’d have said: “Well done. You played to your strengths and your plan worked.”

Good football doesn’t necessarily mean attacking football or entertaining football. It is football that works and does what it is supposed to do: create as many good chances as possible while conceding as few good chances as possible. The reason I, like many others, was so effusive in praise for Manchester City is that they created a ton while conceding little and achieved tremendous results along the way.

Manchester United have finished second under Jose Mourinho this season, and that’s progress, but they’ve also turned in some unbelievably turgid performances at times (Sevilla being Exhibit A), which is why Mourinho has been criticised at times.

It’s simple, really.

Mourinho did what Mourinho does following a high-profile defeat, lashing out at others and offering back-handed compliments to Chelsea. Chris Brunskill Ltd/Getty Images

Chelsea went into lock-down mode a little early, and against a different team, one that is comfortable in possession in the final third and doesn’t do the bulk of its scoring on transitions and counters, might have paid a higher price for it. As it happened, with Romelu Lukaku on the bench — by the way, the whole “he says he isn’t fit” thing from Mourinho was befuddling: how about sticking up for your star striker who scored 27 goals this season? — and with Alexis Sanchez having an off day, it was always going to be hard to break down Chelsea. United did create chances and on a different day might have equalized. They did not. That’s football.

Mourinho can’t blame Conte for opting to play on the counter, not when he contributed to United’s own first-half woes by deputizing Ander Herrera to man-mark Eden Hazard. It may have worked in the past, but against a three-man midfield, it simply meant Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba were a man down in the middle of the park.

As ever, there’s a middle ground when it comes to United. There has been evident progress since Mourinho’s arrival and it goes beyond the silverware he has won. Equally, he’s not where he’d like to be — or where many of us expected him to be — after two years. Not so much in terms of results, but in terms of building a side that plays the way he wants them to play.

He will need to remedy that this summer.

What’s next for Conte and Chelsea?

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2:10

Despite winning the FA Cup this season, the FC crew agree Antonio Conte has likely coached his final match for Chelsea.

Conte’s future looks like a game of chicken, with neither side wanting to blink first. If Chelsea sack him, they need to pay up the final year of his contract: that will cost them north of $10 million. For a club that received no Champions League revenue a year ago and won’t be getting any next year, it matters because those are funds that would otherwise go to strengthening the team.

Equally, if he resigns, he leaves that money on the table. If Conte found another club at which to land, one that would pay him a comparable amount, then it would be less of an issue. But that hasn’t happened yet, and equally, his people need to be careful about pitching for other jobs since he’s still under contract.

Compounding matters is the fact that this is a fraught time on the Chelsea end. Roman Abramovich’s visa has expired and as of right now, it has not yet been renewed by British authorities. There is no indication whether it’s a technicality, he’s a victim of Anglo-Russian relations or if it will all get sorted soon, but clearly not being physically present complicates matters.

Another person who isn’t physically present is Chelsea’s director of football, because the club haven’t had one since Michael Emenalo’s departure just before Christmas. None of these hurdles are insurmountable, although they do make everything that little bit more difficult.

Could inertia set in and Conte stick around?

It’s unlikely, but perhaps that scenario is not as far-fetched as it may initially sound. Conte’s relationship with some members of the squad isn’t great (witness Willian’s Instagram feed) but the ones with which he’s fallen out aren’t the guys who are likely to play a big part in Chelsea’s future. If anything, they’re pawns who could be sold to finance a summer transfer campaign.

Conte has the support of the bulk of the fans, and not even his harshest critic would suggest that if he sticks around, he’ll simply mail it in: it’s just not in his nature to do so.

Unless Chelsea have a master plan they’ve kept totally under wraps rather than rushing into an appointment and chucking money at the transfer market, without the filter of a director of football, perhaps it makes sense to wait a year and do it right.

Lazio vs. Inter delivers the drama

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0:47

Gab Marcotti explains how Inter’s big decision in the summer proved decisive to securing Champions League football for the first time since 2012.

Inter captured fourth place — and a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2012 — in the most dramatic way, twice coming from behind to win 3-2 away to Lazio. They were outplayed by an injury-weakened opponent for much of the game, and at 2-1 down with 12 minutes to go, it looked all over. Then Stefan De Vrij (who, of course, is joining Inter on a free transfer in the summer) gave away a penalty, which Mauro Icardi converted before Matias Vecino flicked home the winning header.

In other circumstances, the De Vrij situation would have looked sinister, but it’s as much a reflection of the modern game as anything else. Deals are done well in advance and the only question is whether to make them public. Had this not been announced, it would still have leaked. And even if it didn’t, when he showed up at Inter in the summer folks would cycle back to the penalty he gave away.

In my opinion, it’s a non-story. If De Vrij had wanted to favour his new club, there were plenty of other occasions to do it. On this one, he simply mistimed a tackle he had to make. He was an utmost professional until the end, much like Nico Kovac, who robbed his future club Bayern of the German Cup just 24 hours earlier.

Needless to say, this is huge for Inter. They gambled in the summer by hanging on to their sellable assets (Ivan Perisic, Marcelo Brozovic, Icardi) and appointing Luciano Spalletti. The football wasn’t always great, and Spalletti (at least for now) didn’t prove to be the savant some had hoped he would be, but in the end, they got over the line. Now, the challenge is building on it and being ready for Europe.

As for Lazio, you feel for them. This has been an incredible season and you’re left to wonder what might have been if not for those late season injuries to Ciro Immobile and Luis Alberto. De Vrij likely won’t be the only one to depart — Sergej Milinkovic-Savic has plenty of suitors — but it’s critical that whatever money comes in be reinvested wisely.

Who knows, they may yet have another mini-miracle in them next year…

Kovac upsets his new club in German Cup final

Niko Kovac might not be great for Bayern in the long run but he showed he can win the big game when asked. Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images

I have no idea if Niko Kovac is ready to manage Bayern for the simple reason that I’m not sure anybody is ready to take over the Bavarians right now. After all, this is a club still marked by the Pep Guardiola Era two seasons after his departure, where there are no fewer than 16 or 17 starter-calibre players who expect to play, where expectations are sky-high and where there are two, sometimes conflicting, bosses at the very top.

Two years spent at Bayern fifteen years ago, when it was a very different club, aren’t really going to move the needle in that regard. But what’s evident is that he’ll be a little more prepared than he was last week after Eintracht Frankfurt’s 3-1 win in the German Cup final. Silverware commands respect, and delivering Eintracht’s first trophy in 30 years matters. (It matters possibly more than it should: taking Eintracht from 16th to 11th to eighth in the Bundesliga ought to be a better indicator of his work.)

Kovac needed the rub of the green against his future club, but then so does everybody when they play Bayern. His opponents hit the woodwork several times and had a strong penalty appeal turned down (even after VAR). But the fact that Eintracht were right there to take advantage of the breaks, and that he was in no way fazed by the occasion, speaks volumes.

As for Bayern, between this and the semifinal with Real Madrid, their season ends with a whimper. It’s not as if they didn’t do enough to succeed in both clashes; it’s just that the bar has been set so high that anything other than tangible trophies feels a little empty.

Even when you win the league by 21 points.

Iniesta’s place in Spain’s “best-ever” discussion

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2:11

After Andres Iniesta’s last game for Barca, the FC crew assess his place among Spain’s greats and whether he can go out on top at the World Cup.

Philippe Coutinho scored a peach of a goal as Barcelona downed Real Sociedad, but it was all about Andres Iniesta on Sunday as he played his final for the club he joined as a kid 21 years ago. Nine La Liga titles, six Copas del Rey, four Champions Leagues, two European Championships and a World Cup — scoring the winner in the final, no less — speak for themselves.

My own Iniesta memory is that of a late scout who raved about him ever since he saw him at a very young age. He’d regularly moan that Iniesta deserved more playing time as a youngster and would lambast Frank Rijkaard for not using him more. It seems weird today, given that future superstars are anointed early, but Iniesta did not become a regular starter until he was 22. With hindsight, you wonder if perhaps being brought along slowly didn’t contribute to his success.

Some were hailing him as the greatest Spanish player of all time on Sunday. I thought of the other candidates, from Ricardo Zamora, Telmo Zarra and Francisco Gento decades ago, to Michel, Xavi, Emilo Butragueno, Raul and Ikea Casillas in more recent years, to maybe Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos, who have more history left to make. (I’m purposely leaving Alfredo Di Stefano out of the conversation — that’s a can of worms.)

I’m going to sit on the fence here, but there is no question he belongs in the Spanish G.O.A.T. conversation.

What’s next for Buffon?

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1:54

The FC crew interpret what Willian’s now-deleted Instagram post says about Chelsea players’ relationship with Antonio Conte and Conte’s future.

The day before Iniesta, Gigi Buffon also made his farewells. After 16 years at Juventus with nine league titles, four Italian Cups and, of course, the 2006 World Cup, the unimportant 2-1 win over Verona was his final game. In his case, there’s a little more mystery over his future, which he says will become clearer this week.

Until recently, Buffon was determined to retire at the end of the campaign. In fact, Juventus president Andrea Agnelli had made an offer whereby he’d be fast-tracked into some sort of front-office role at the club after a period of apprenticeship. He may yet go down that road, but he also revealed there were other opportunities.

What appears certain is that if he does continue playing, it won’t be in Italy and it won’t be (his words) at a lesser club. Media speculation has linked him with Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool (though there are strong counterarguments to each), with perhaps the most fascinating tale sending him to Argentina to play for Boca Juniors.

All will be revealed really soon. Personally, I dig the romantic idea of him playing his final years at Diego Maradona’s old club and experiencing a Superclasico against River Plate.

Tuchel says all the right things

Thomas Tuchel faced the press for the first time as manager of Paris Saint-Germain, just 24 hours after Unai Emery’s final game in charge. He was asked the predictable questions.

Neymar? “He’s an artist … exceptional … any artist gets treated accordingly!”

Transfers, and implicitly the threat of a financial fair play-motivated freeze? “If the transfer window closed today, I would be very happy: I am confident in those who built this squad.”

Philosophy? “When Pep [Guardiola] worked in Barcelona, he introduced a particular mindset and that is what I want to create here.”

Buffon? “I do not want to start speculation … he is an incredible personality and has had an exceptional career.”

All in all, Tuchel said what you’d expect. But how all of this plays out in the real world, remains to be seen. I’m a Tuchelista, through and through. This club, at this time, does not seem a natural fit. I hope he proves me wrong.

How will Real line up vs. Liverpool?

Real Madrid’s trip to Villarreal was meant to be a general tuneup ahead of the Champions League final with the added novelty of Luca Zidane, the manager’s other son (Enzo made his debut last year in the Copa del Rey), getting his first taste of the big time.

Assuming Keylor Navas returns between the sticks, which is a given, Saturday’s lineup offers a hint of what could come in Kiev. It would mean no surprises in the back four, with Casemiro joining Toni Kroos and Luka Modric in midfield and Isco behind Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. It could all change, of course — heck, nobody has more options in the final third than Zidane — but it’s a testament to Bale’s sparkling form in the final stages of the season.

Guerrero’s ban is a travesty

The fact that Paolo Guerrero, Peru’s captain and top goal scorer, will miss the World Cup is frankly a travesty, and it’s good that FIFPro and others have gotten involved.

In a nutshell, for those who don’t recall, Guerrero tested positive for benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine) last October. He argued that it came from drinking contaminated tea, and after initially banning him for 12 months, FIFA reduced the ban to six. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed FIFA’s decision and the case went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who extended the ban to 14 months.

Now CAS agreed with FIFA that Guerrero wasn’t trying to enhance his performance, but they say he bears “some fault or negligence even if it was not significant” basically because he should have been more careful. And because current FIFA rules say that in such cases the ban should be between one and two years, they opted for 14 months.

WADA, no doubt, are happy. After all, when you’re a hammer, you treat everything like a nail. But there’s common sense here, too.

Treating cocaine the same way you treat steroids or EPO is just silly. It may be illegal and bad for you, but it is not a performance-enhancing drug and there is no case of anyone using it for that purpose. This article goes into the issue in detail if you’re interested in the subject.

In the meantime, you have a guy who has already served a six-and-a-half month ban who will miss out on his first, last and only World Cup not because he was trying to cheat, as CAS and FIFA found, but because he was careless (albeit in a “not significant” way, as CAS says) about drinking a cup of tea.

Dost, Sporting end season in a bad way

You may have noticed that for the past two years I’ve run something called #BasDostWatch. It started as a bit of an inside joke and turned into a bit of a tradition, helped along by the fact that Dost himself could not stop scoring. It was a way to celebrate a player who, as much as anyone, got the very best out of a limited and unconventional skill set, making the most of his brains, work-rate and heft.

But like his Sporting teammates, Dost had a wretched end of the season after a group of masked men, possibly club Ultras, burst into the training ground and beat him up, along with a number of teammates. It’s a sinister tale involving a divided fan base and a controversial club president and you can read more about it here.

I wish #BasDostWatch could end on a happier note. (Sporting lost the Cup final to Desportivo das Aves to add insult to injury.). Most of all, I wish this is the last we hear of this criminal nonsense, unless it’s to hear that the armed thugs who did this are brought to justice.

Monday Musings, in its current version, is going on holiday for the summer. Catch you all in August.

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MM060 - The Rewards of Patience

Recently I attempted to make a purchase online. I encountered a problem and called the company’s 800 number. Although I was originally agitated, and felt the desire to hang up the phone, I stayed on the line and was surprisingly rewarded for my patience.

Episode Transcription

[INTRO]

♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫

*Alex*

Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset, and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.

*Professor Paul*

Welcome to a brand new week of Morning Mindset, at least it’s a new week when we release this. However you can listen to this anytime you want; morning, noon, night, you can get up at 3am and listen to it, I’ll let ya. But when we released it, it was a brand new week, so thank you for that. I also want to thank everyone that went to Amazon or Kindle and purchased one of my books recently. Yes we can track the sales numbers, I do see that, and I’ve suggested both “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World” & “Faith and the Patriot; a Belief Worth Fighting For”.

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I also have several other booths that are available via Amazon, and I do appreciate all of you that have gone to Amazon or Kindle and purchased the paperback or digital versions. Thank you, and if you do enjoy the books, please leave a review and let other people know. So, let’s get into the topic of the day. “The Rewards of Patience”, now I will freely admit that I am not always as patient as I should be. There you go, if my wife is listening, I made the confession. I’m not as patient as I should be. Write this down honey, write down the time & date.

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I know I should be more patient, but recently I decided I was going to make a purchase online, not a huge purchase but a considerable thing. Not just a pair of socks or a CD or something, I was gonna spend a few hundred dollars. The item is immaterial, but I went to the website and I bought it. So as you do in our modern era, I clicked on the item, put it in my cart, and went to check out. Now I had never used this site before, so what does that mean? Well either you’re a new customer or returning guest, so you have to put in all of your stuff.

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Your name, mailing address, all that jazz, you have to add that in there so that they can get it to ya. Now as I’ve said before, I live up in a small town in the mountains of Wyoming, and we do not get house-to-house delivery. To get your mail you have to actually go to the post office and get your mail there. They don’t come to your house, so because of that, the United States Postal Service does not recognize my actual, physical address. They think it doesn’t exist. Now trust me, I live in a real house on a real street, with real numbers on it, UPS & FedEx know how to find my house, but according to USPS, my home address doesn’t exist. What does that mean?

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Well if I’m ordering something relatively large and it has to be delivered via FedEx or UPS, I have to put in 2 addresses. A billing address, and then a physical address, so I’ve been down this road before. Well I’m doing this and their billing system keeps telling me “Incorrect”, ”Error”, do it again. *Heavy Sign*, so I give it a couple more tries, and I’m getting frustrated, I think “I could just go get the same product from another company, screw this company and their stupid website.”

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But there’s an 800 number, so I call that instead of going to a different site. I call the 800 number, I am immediately put into a phone bank system. Press 1 for Blank, 2 for Blank, etc. So I press the right number, then I press another prompt, then a person answers the phone. Now the person sounds to me like he’s in a call center in India, okay. “How can I help you today?” and I tell him the issue, so he starts with “Well is there an alt. address we can use? Can you ship it to a friend?” and I said “No, look dude. UPS & FedEx know where my house is. The problem is that your website won’t let me place the address”, so he tells me that they can do the order manually, and I say “Yes, please.”

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So I give him all the information, and he said “What I’m going to do for you is I’m going to create a new customer account for you”, I gave him my email address. He said “Okay, as a reward for you creating a new customer account today, I’m authorized to give you $20 off your purchase price.” Alright, cool. So he says “If you’ll just wait a second, this, this & this. I’ll see if I can put it in today, and if I can then you can probably get it by Friday.” Which is last friday as I’m speaking into this microphone here. I said okay and oh, this order receives free shipping for all orders over “Blank” and gives me $20 off the purchase price.

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So he puts the order through manually, and gives me $20 off the purchase price & free shipping, and so far I’m happy. But I’m the wait and see, let’s wait & see kind of guy. So I’m here to tell you, because when I first got the “Can we get a different address, send it to someone else and they can go pick it up”, I’m gonna admit to you guys, that I was losing my patience, *Laughs*, this was before he gave me the free-shipping and all that. But I was losing my patience and the devil got up on my shoulder and said “Enough of this garbage, hang up and go order it from someone else.” But I didn’t, I took a deep breath and was patience with the stranger on the other side of the phone, and I was rewarded for it.

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After I got off the phone with him, within 30 seconds I had an email confirming my order and 5 minutes after that I had my tracking number, and that it was most-likely going to be delivered on Monday, which is the day you’re listening to this. Ladies & Gentlemen, I got my package on Friday! I got my package, my discount, and the free shipping. So the moral of the story is this; the next time you’re losing your patience on someone, about to hang up the phone or what have you, hold on and have some patience. Your patience will be rewarded.

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I just wanted to share that story with you guys, alright that is it. If you would like to read more from yours truly, Paul Markel, such as “Team Honey Badger; Raising Fearless Kids in a Cowardly World”, you can go to Amazon.com and get it as a paperback or as a kindle version, and download it immediately. I am Paul Markel, and I’ll talk to you again, real soon.

[OUTRO]

♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫

*Alex*

Thank you for spending time with us today. To get show notes, submit a topic request, for more from your host Paul G. Markel, visit MorningMindsetPodcast.com. That’s MorningMindsetPodcast.com. Please leave a review of this podcast on your favorite podcast player, we appreciate your time & effort, and we look forward to reading your honest feedback.

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