#had the roughest launch possible

[oh-no-dume]

video games these days make me feel more than real life, sheesh

[xtruss]

Elements: The First Images from the James Webb Telescope Are Breathtaking—and Significant

Reminiscent of Vermeer, but carrying news of the origins of the universe, the photos are just the beginning.

— By Rivka Galchen | July 18, 2022

There’s something vertiginous and confusing about taking one’s life seriously, until a new sense of scale alters that perspective.Photograph courtesy NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Since its launch, arguably the roughest luck the James Webb Space Telescope has had is hitting a micrometeoroid the size of a grain of sand. But, of the three hundred and forty-four details that were once listed as things that could go wrong and destroy the whole mission, none has happened. On July 12th, the first five scientific images taken by the telescope were released to the public. The level of detail has far surpassed expectations. These images carry news about the early universe, the birth and death of stars, the collision of galaxies, and the atmospheres of exoplanets. (Exoplanets are ones not in our solar system.) And they’re very, very pretty. The smudgy-pastel feel that previous telescopes delivered is not present. The sharpness and clarity might make you think of Vermeer—what is being painted is light.

“I am beyond cloud nine,” the astrophysicist Marcia Rieke told me. Rieke has served as the chief scientist for one of the telescope’s main instruments, the nirCam; her husband, George Rieke, has been the chief U.S. scientist for another instrument, the miri. Marcia’s team looks at some of the shortest wavelengths that the telescope can perceive, while George’s team looks at some of the longest. There was always a possibility that the highly complex J.W.S.T. would disappoint, or fail altogether. “Now I feel like the young people who worked on this project—they have a bright future in astronomy,” Marcia said.

Marcia Rieke had an opportunity to see the first images a few days before they were released, because she was asked to make a short presentation to help interpret them. The first one, called a deep-field image, is of a patch of sky that, from Earth, is about the equivalent of what would be occluded by a grain of sand—or a micrometeoroid—held out at arm’s length. The Hubble telescope, which focussed on a similar patch of sky for two weeks, revealed thousands more galaxies than expected. The new image, which took less than a day to make, shows immensely more detail—and more galaxies. “No matter where we’ve pointed J.W.S.T., even in the images taken during commissioning that would last a few tens of seconds, we kept getting these galaxies that we weren’t even looking for in the background,” Rieke said. She said that the team started to term these incidental galaxies “photobombers.”

Rieke was surprised by how moved she was by the beauty of the pictures. “I knew computationally that the diffraction was limited to a micron, that the full width at half maximum was whatever—I knew we’d have pretty pictures,” she said. “I didn’t expect them to be so absolutely stunning. You know, if you start out in life as a ground-based astronomer . . . this is not the level of detail you’re used to being able to see.”

After her surprise subsided, she began to look at the galaxies that appeared the reddest. Their light had been travelling the longest—sometimes for more than thirteen billion years. This means that they are being seen as they were not too long after the Big Bang. They hold information about how the earliest galaxies were formed, and of what elements they consisted. “Now that we have the image, we go through the process of measuring, quantitatively, how bright every spot is with every filter that you measured with,” she said. “Then you can get an instant estimate of how far away that galaxy is.”

A list of the most interesting or unusual galaxies was put together. “And what is interesting depends on who you are,” she said. “Maybe you’re interested in the most distant galaxy. Or the one that shows a black hole.” Then another J.W.S.T. instrument, nirSpec, can give data that open up other lines of inquiries: How many heavy elements or metals are there in that galaxy? Or is the galaxy so young that those heavy elements haven’t had time to form? In September, a longer exposure of a deep field that is represented in a famous Hubble image will be taken—ten times longer—which will bring news of even earlier, and therefore fainter, light. This light will be coming from even closer to the earliest moments of our universe—“when the first little aggregates of stars have come together,” Marcia said.

Each of the five images had its own “Easter eggs,” as one of the astronomers who presented the images live on a nasa stream put it. One, of a dying star sending out waves of energy, revealed a second star nearby, which the dying star was orbiting. Little rays of dying starlight were escaping from the clouds of dust, just as sun rays might pierce through clouds. In the image of the exoplanet wasp-96b, water vapor was seen. In the image of the Carina Nebula—a birthplace of stars—a dark billow in the cloud of dust and ionized gas presented a mystery.

Rieke feels that these images are the beginning of getting to pay back to the public the money—some ten billion dollars—that was spent on the J.W.S.T. “For pragmatists, one might think, O.K., Webb can study exoplanets in great detail,” she said. “We can, for example, look for evidence of climate change on an exoplanet and study that, since we don’t have other examples in our solar system where we can look at the effects of carbon dioxide and other gases.” But Rieke is clearly more persuaded by other kinds of gains. “People need hope and challenges. And people need the spice of discovery.” She said that, for scientists, these images bring a sense of scale. “What does it mean to know our place in the universe? You can say, ‘Who cares?’ But, if we really want to understand the universe, we need to know at least how it works.”

Some people might find the level of detail in the images less like a Vermeer and more like a Hieronymus Bosch—everywhere you zoom in, you get an image that is frightening, alien, or sublime. There’s something vertiginous and confusing about taking one’s life seriously, until a new sense of scale alters that perspective. I spoke with Rieke while travelling with my daughter, who made an observation about our hotel room that I found relevant to, well, cosmic beauty. “You know what I like about small hotel rooms?” she asked. I didn’t know. “There’s less there to be scared of in the dark.” Of course, such experiences of scale can be comforting at other ages, too.

I asked Rieke about an idea related to what’s called the Drake equation. How likely is it that there are other civilizations out there, and how many might there be? Some have used the equation to say that it’s almost certain that there are stories a long time ago and in galaxies far, far away. Others have solved the equation to say, basically, no. Rieke said, “I feel pretty confident that Webb will at some point identify an exoplanet in the habitable zone. A place that’s nice and comfy, with an atmosphere whose composition is like Earth’s.” But, she said, even with input from biologists and chemists, there’s “still a lot of controversy over what might be evidence for the suggestions of life.” ♦

[aion-rsa]

New World’s Bugs and Glitches Are Almost as Bad as Cyberpunk 2077

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Amazon’s New World is finally here, and while the red hot MMO is quickly shaping up to be the company’s biggest gaming hit so far, it’s also worth noting that it might just be the buggiest major game since Cyberpunk 2077.

Now to be clear, it’s pretty much impossible to release an MMO or any game of similar size without a healthy amount of bugs. There’s a lot to be said about how many performance issues we’ve learned to put up with at a time when Early Access development strategies are being employed by a growing number of major studios supposedly working on “complete” retail releases, but there’s a degree to which you have to expect a game like this to launch with various bugs, glitches, and technical shortcomings.

It’s also worth mentioning that New World‘s bugs are not necessarily indicative of a lack of effort from the developers or that they somehow suggest this game is doomed to fail. Pretty much every successful MMO ever made launched with quite a few bugs and other problems. Final Fantasy 14 was even so bad at launch that it effectively had to be rebooted, and it’s now one of the most popular and critically acclaimed MMORPGs in the world.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Having said all of that, the quantity and…err… the quality of New World‘s bugs are already reminding some shellshocked gamers of those rough early days of Cyberpunk 2077‘s tragic 2020 launch.

For a better look at the quantity of New World‘s bugs, let me direct you to this official list of known New World issues that the developers were still working on around the time of the game’s launch. While some of those issues have since been fixed, the majority of the hundreds of bugs the developers were aware of at that time still need to be addressed. On top of that, New World‘s players have already taken to the game’s official forums and other social media outlets to share some previously unknown bugs.

More important than the numerous little bugs and glitches that people have discovered so far, though, are a few of the more noticeable issues that range from darkly hilarious to game-breaking.

At the moment, the most notable bug in the game has to be the one that forces you to wait 7 days to respawn your character. At the time of this writing, it’s not entirely clear what causes this bug, but what is clear is that the only reliable way to “fix” it is to log out of the game. The problem there is that some New World servers are so full that it could take hours to log back into the game after you exit.

The “7 days respawn” bug isn’t the only bug that’s exposing how bad New World‘s server issues really are. For instance, some PvP players have discovered that it’s actually possible to trigger a soft “invincibility” glitch that makes you immune to most forms of direct damage. Again, it’s not clear at this time how you can consistently trigger this glitch, but what is clear is that the “invincible” player needs to log out to remove the effect. More often, though, those who have to battle invincible players are logging out instead, which is, again, kind of a problem given the long queue times.

As PC Gamer and others have noticed, New World‘s “swimming” feature also doesn’t appear to be working as intended. Right now, it’s possible to “crouch” into deep bodies of water and go for a walk. That would seem to suggest that you’re not actually supposed to be able to swim, but the fact that there’s a breath meter on-screen during those sequences implies that you’re either supposed to be able to swim or that the developers were aware that this glitch was possible and decided to “counter” it by allowing you to drown.

Actually, it’s possible to trigger a number of notable New World glitches simply by crawling, jumping, and performing movement functions that aren’t running or walking in a straight line. Players have managed to squeeze into a variety of clearly unintended areas and even become “stuck” in the world simply by taking advantage of advanced movement features like hopping over a rock.

Unfortunately, not all of New World‘s bugs have been quite so amusing. From deleted characters to frozen dungeons and quest/class building options that simply can’t be completed at the moment, there are more than a few New World bugs out there that make it impossible for some players to progress. It’s difficult to say with absolute certainty how common these bugs really are, but given the number of replies these issues have received on the New World forum and elsewhere, it certainly seems that many of these game-breaking issues are more than just isolated incidents and seem to represent bigger problems.

So is New World‘s launch as bad as Cyberpunk 2077‘s so far as bugs go? That’s obviously a little subjective, but my immediate answer to that question would have to be “not quite.” Not only was Cyberpunk 2077 a single-player game (and thus theoretically shouldn’t have been subject to the sheer number of bugs and glitches that are usually reserved for MMOs and similar online titles), but Cyberpunk 2077 was essentially unplayable at launch on Xbox One and PS4. New World is a very buggy game, but I’ve personally been able to play it for extended periods of time on PC without encountering game-breaking issues, which is not something that I could say for the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 (which was by far that game’s most stable platform at launch).

At the same time, you do get the feeling that New World wasn’t quite ready for prime time. Any MMO is going to go through a rough patch like this at launch, but the hope is that the game is stable enough to ensure that most players don’t ultimately feel like they’ve paid for the chance to be beta testers. To be honest, New World only feels slightly better from a stability standpoint than it did during the recent Open Beta period.

That being the case, anyone who doesn’t want to deal with what figures to be New World‘s roughest days should probably wait to pick this game up until things settle down a little bit. While there’s always a strong temptation to jump into an MMO as soon as possible in order to maximize your time with the game, I’d say that New World is currently buggy enough to justify scaring off all but the earliest adopters who were already sold on this game’s core concepts and, on some level, probably suspected they were going to have to put up with some of these issues out of the gate.

The post New World’s Bugs and Glitches Are Almost as Bad as Cyberpunk 2077 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[cooldavidkentposts]

AI breakthrough in Tassie salmon farming

Established in 1986, Huon Aquaculture has grown to become a salmon producer that is recognised around the world for the quality of its produce and the ingenuity of its operations.

The company is seen as an ethical business and a respected Tasmanian brand — part of a sustainable industry and a company that is focused on the safety of its employees, as well as the welfare of the fish and the wildlife around its farms.

Huon Aquaculture is fortunate to farm in Tasmania’s healthy marine environment, allowing them to raise salmon and ocean trout in locations best suited to optimal growth. From the time their fish start their life in hatcheries, up until they are harvested, their environment plays a vital role in their health, growth and quality.

Huon is a fully vertically integrated company, meaning that the company does everything from selectively breeding brood stock for egg production, to processing salmon ready for the consumer.

Rough conditions in Storm Bay

Huon’s Storm Bay lease has the roughest farmable waters in the world. Located at the mouth of Tasmania’s Derwent River and opening south towards the wild Southern Ocean, Storm Bay can regularly experience swells of 4–6 metres significant wave height. While these conditions can be dangerous for people, Huon has found that the swells regularly rolling through the pens is good for the fish as it closely mimics their natural habitat. It also means that the pens can be left fallow for a shorter time before restocking.

However, the rough seas are also one of the reasons that Huon embarked on a journey to find a way to reduce or eliminate the need for people to be manually operating feed barges in such rough and dangerous conditions. Huon looked into mirroring what companies were doing around the world, where they were controlling their processes from a centralised location.

Consistency of yield depends on consistency of feeding

A major reason for automating fish feeding is the desire to maximise the consistency of the size and weight of the salmon at harvesting. Huon’s pens are, according to Peter Bender, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, the largest ocean fish pens in the world, with circumferences of around 240 metres and holding over 100,000 fish. With manual feeding, there can be days when fish are fed less and days when they are overfed — and uneaten fish pellets fall to the ocean floor, which is not only wasteful, but pollutes the ocean floor environment.

Moreover, without an even distribution of feed, the result can be an inconsistency in fish size, as the larger fish continue to dominate and consume the most, while others remain small.

No out-of-the-box solution

As a result, Bender went to an exhibition in Europe, only to realise that none of the software displayed was going to be fit for purpose for Huon because of the way they feed and their stocking densities. Many of the systems were designed for feed pens close to shore, and not up to 50 km out to sea, exposed to the Southern Ocean.

The company realised that an out-of-the-box program was not going to meet their needs, so they knew they had to work from the ground up. The company’s aims were to:

move to a centralised control platform that would reduce man-hours out on the water and on the barges, improving personnel safety;

achieve better control over feeding the salmon from the barges;

develop innovation in aquafarming;

have a positive environmental impact in reducing waste with controlled feeding.  

The challenge was therefore to develop new technology and implement it on a larger barge that could be moored at sea for longer periods without replenishment.

Enter Hogan, the automated feed barge

Commissioned and launched in December 2018 by Tasmanian shipbuilder Crisp Bros. & Haywards, Hogan is the first of two 600-tonne feed barges that will be used to manage the pens in Storm Bay. The sheer size of the barge is a result of it needing to not only withstand the sea conditions in Storm Bay, but also to remain autonomous for larger periods of time — both for feeding and waste recovery activities.

The significance of the barge is not so much due to its size, however, but due to its technology. Those staff that were once fish feeders are now control room operators and feed every fish in every pen from a control room in Hobart. They are able to do this as each pen has cameras that send real-time footage and data back via the barge to the control room. A pellet detection system that utilises artificial intelligence coupled with a remote controlled on-water feed delivery system makes feed delivery more effective than previous manual feeding.

The pellet detection system can detect as few as two uneaten feed pellets in the water column beneath the fish, and can automatically slow or shut off the flow of feed when the fish have stopped feeding — matching the feeding to the appetite of the fish while reducing wastage and potential impact to the sea floor.

In addition to the pellet detection system, Huon also developed a feed delivery system that spreads the feed evenly across the surface of the pen, by effectively ‘spraying’ it from a central point. This ensures that the fish have an equal chance of receiving feed — resulting in a consistent 5 kg fish size at harvesting.

Harsh conditions require tough hardware

For the control system on the barge, Huon engaged Cromarty Pty Ltd, a specialist automation system engineering and design firm. Cromarty provided all the electrical and control system design. The design work was done over an 18-month period.

“When we were asked to get involved in the building of the barges, it was identified that there wasn’t a proper specification of the valves to be used for the various processes on the vessel,” said Andrew Palfreyman of Cromarty. “Basically the valves chosen were not up to the task of working reliably in the harsh and corrosive conditions expected.”

Andrew encouraged Haywards to contact Katherine George, Managing Director of Total Instrument Controls, to assist in specifying the right type of valves to be used in the elements of the Southern Ocean.

Total Instrument Controls are a supplier of instrumentation and control technology and are one of the leading Australian resellers of Bürkert’s valve systems and controls. Previously the company had supplied Huon Aquaculture with various Bürkert equipment for their hatcheries, including solenoid valves and actuators, as well as oxygen dosing systems.

“The various valves from Bürkert that we supplied for the project have a variety of tasks from moving fluids (air, water, fuel etc) around the barge, as well as controlling the feed spreader systems, deck wash systems and generator fuel shut-offs,” Katherine George said. “Any valves in contact with salt water use a particular grade of stainless steel called Duplex for the trim material, as it provides the best corrosion resistance.”

“Bürkert’s 3005 actuators with battery backup on top of butterfly valves and stainless steel ball valves were chosen. Battery backup was chosen to implement failsafe functionality in case of power loss or loss of communication to the barge,” he added. “Battery backup was a must as many of the valves have the potential to sink the barge in stormy weather if they are stuck open, allowing the seawater to continue to enter the vessel.”

AI the crowning achievement

The huge barge, the remote control and the innovative feed system are all achievements that Huon Aquaculture and its suppliers can be proud of. But the crowning achievement is possibly the artificial intelligence and machine learning that has been incorporated into the control system.

Rather than relying on human operators observing the video feed, as is done in European systems, Huon has a achieved a system that uses the latest in AI and machine learning to automatically respond to fish behaviour, and can ‘learn on the job’. Managing Director Peter Bender believes the system may well be the first of its kind in the world — a world-leading innovation built on Tasmanian ingenuity.

Reference

1. Deloitte 2017, ‘The growth of global aquaculture – Fishy business’, Agribusiness Bulletin, <<https://ift.tt/2D5PEfD>&gt;

source http://sustainabilitymatters.net.au/content/wastewater/article/ai-breakthrough-in-tassie-salmon-farming-1176096463

from WordPress https://davidkent.home.blog/2020/07/31/ai-breakthrough-in-tassie-salmon-farming/

[lawrencedienerthings]

A coronavirus shift to online shopping has helped save some retail sales — and tax revenue — in Colorado

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When Erika Righter saw foot traffic at Hope Tank vanish in March as coronavirus safety measures went into place, she temporarily closed her Broadway gift store and reopened online. 

COVID-19 IN COLORADO

The latest from the coronavirus outbreak in Colorado:

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WRITE ON, COLORADO: Tell us your coronavirus stories.

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>> FULL COVERAGE

“Thank God for online,” said Righter, who opened the Denver store in 2012. “I launched an online shop, which I wish I had done years ago.”

Selling online offset some lost sales, though not enough to cover her rent. As she prepares to reopen for in-person sales on June 11, she’s keeping the online store, but also reconfigured the space to include manufacturing laser-etched home products and a space to record community meetings. 

Like many local shopkeepers, she’s struggling with uncertainty — are shoppers ready to return, will employees come back to work and is the city or state going to come to her aid with financial support or, specifically, reserve two spots on every block in both directions so customers can park to pick up orders curbside? 

“We’ll still do online, we’ll still be doing lots of curbside and we’re getting more creative about how we do it,” Righter said. “But again, that’s why we really need to think about how we are pushing traffic towards these businesses because in order to fund a lot of the stuff, you need the sales tax.” 

Store owner Erika Righter gets some help from her son, Miles Ramirez, 5, on June 2, 2020 in Denver, as she prepares to reopen her business Hope Tank after closing in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. She plans to open her store on June 11, but she is limiting the days and store hours. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)

The ongoing pandemic is shaping up to be one of the roughest economic periods any living Coloradan will get through, with the hardest hit industries in the state being retail, restaurants and tourism. Many small businesses that are reopening are spending even more to make their stores safe and purchase personal protective equipment — often at jacked-up prices, which Righter discovered when she surveyed her network of women and minority-owned businesses about the impact of COVID-19.

Local governments are also looking to curb costs, with the city of Denver asking its own landlords for a break and making its 13,000 employees take eight unpaid days off to make up for an expected $226 million in tax-revenue losses. Likewise, the state of Colorado is facing a $3 billion shortfall for the current and next fiscal year.

But there may be one small glimmer of financial hope: Sales tax. 

The state is taking in more sales tax than ever before now that online sellers, such as Amazon, charge Colorado customers at purchase. Last year, Colorado collected nearly a half-billion dollars more in annual sales taxes than in 2016, when Amazon began the practice. With more brick-and-mortar stores also going online and ecommerce seeing an overall increase, the pandemic impact on the state sales taxes wasn’t as bad as you might have expected. 

In a May report, the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting revised its 5% sales tax growth expectation to a 1.8% drop this fiscal year. 

“Social distancing measures have resulted in reduced day-to-day fiscal transactions,” the report says. “Sales tax collections from online retailers, however, will result in higher tax revenues than would otherwise have been collected.”

Newly-painted artwork by artist Katy “The Zimmerwoman” Zimmerman, covers the store front window of Hope Tank on 64 Broadway in Denver. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)

The Amazon tax

Colorado’s collection of general sales tax each month has risen steadily in the past decade. Credit the recovery from the Great Recession, plus the state population growth. More consumers are buying more stuff — and paying sales tax on their purchases. 

But another factor is the 2010 state law that required out-of-state retailers like Amazon to help customers keep track of online purchases and pay the sales tax at tax time. Previously, out-of-state retailers didn’t collect state sales tax, giving them an advantage over brick-and-mortar retailers. The National Conference of State Legislatures put Colorado’s “uncollected use tax from remote sales” at $352.6 million in 2012. For the nation, the amount was $23.3 billion.

Amazon and the direct-marketing industry association fought the so-called “Amazon Tax” law for years. But in February 2016, Amazon began collecting sales tax on purchases made by Colorado customers. A few months later, the company opened its first warehouse in the state and hasn’t stopped expanding physically in Colorado.

The Amazon fulfillment center in Thornton. The center opened in June 2018 and spans 855,000 square feet. The online retailer hired 4,000 temporary workers to staff the three Denver-area distribution centers to help with the increase in orders due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s now offering to make 1,700 permanent. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Amazon now collects sales tax in 46 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Last year, it collected and remitted nearly $9 billion in sales and use taxes to states and localities in the U.S. And its sales have increased during the pandemic: Revenues jumped 26% in the first quarter from a year earlier as consumers faced stay-at-home orders and hunted for toilet paper. Amazon now projects second-quarter sales at 18% to 28% more than the year-ago period. 

Online retailers are now required to collect sales tax on purchases, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. in 2018 that states may charge tax on purchases from out-of-state retailers.

In Colorado, annual sales tax revenues reached $3 billion in fiscal year 2019, which ended last June. The sum excludes sales tax collected on retail marijuana and gas purchases, and was up 5.1% from the prior year.

The state also doesn’t share how much companies pay and doesn’t break down taxes paid by online or brick-and-mortar retailers. But since Amazon began charging Colorado customers sales tax at the time of purchase in 2016,  Colorado collected $436 million more in sales tax last year compared to 2016. 

“Online sales certainly have helped,” said Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the Business Research Division at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. “That’s welcome new money that they would otherwise be foregoing. And we know that ecommerce was chipping away at brick-and-mortar sales anyway, so the fact that they’re able to collect some of that revenue also buffers the climb (downward) that they would otherwise be seeing right now.”

Sales in the time of COVID-19

Tattered Cover Book Store rearranged its stores in March to handle incoming online orders. “Our bookstores have really become warehouses in the last two-plus months,” owner Len Vlahos said. 

The bookstores have not yet reopened to customers. But on Sunday, it had its largest sales day ever, with customers buying books online about conversations on racism, including top-seller “How to Be an Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi. The big day coincided with the protests and riots in Denver and nationwide after George Floyd, a black man, died while in custody of the Minneapolis police. 

MORE: Training white people in Colorado to be “anti-racist” (not just “not racist”) is one step in the fight to correct historic wrongs

Tattered Cover on Denver’s 16th Street Mall on April 20, 2020. The local bookstore saw online orders boom, though not enough to offset overall losses during coronavirus shutdown safety measures. (Eric Lubbers, The Colorado Sun)

“When we closed on March 16, beginning pretty much immediately after that our web sales increased, depending on the day, by a factor of 10 or more. So that has absolutely offset some of the losses,” Vlahos said. “However, it hasn’t nearly offset our losses overall. I mean overall, Tattered Cover’s business is down about 75%, even with the massive boost in online sales.” 

Retail sales are still pretty bad. Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department said that retail sales fell 16.4% in April, after falling 8.3% in March. Total sales, which includes restaurants and bars, were at the lowest since 2012. The hardest hit retail industries were clothing and accessory stores, down 89.3% from last year. 

But online sales are up. Market research firm Adobe Analytics points to the no-duh conclusion that when people are forced to minimize social contact, they spend more time and money online. That boosted U.S. ecommerce sales 49% in April compared with April 2019, according to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index. 

Retailers aren’t thinking about sales tax right now, said Richard Auxier, a senior policy analyst with the Urban Institute Tax Policy Center. They’re still trying to figure out how to survive.

“The economy was, for all intents and purposes, shut down for the past two months. This has caused absolute hell for consumers, employers and governments,” Auxier said. “The overall thing is, and Amazon is a good example, there are businesses that are doing just fine in this environment. But what’s probably more likely for anyone who is not Amazon is maybe your online sales are up, but you’ve been obliterated because there’s been no retail sales tax that you could possibly collect.” 

Sales tax is seen as a way to avoid raising other taxes, says the Tax Foundation, a tax-policy think tank in Washington, D.C. It’s pushing states to broaden their sales tax base.

“Historically, sales tax collections have proven far more stable than income taxes during recessions since taxable income drops much more precipitously than consumption when the economy is weak,” the Tax Foundation points out in a brief about how states could recover from COVID-19’s economic devastation. Some suggestions? Add groceries and digital goods to the list of taxable items.

State sales tax decline: No more than 10%?

Colorado collected $217.9 million on sales in March, down 15.2% from last March, according to the state’s General Fund Net Tax Collection data. However, more payments have trickled in and will show up in April numbers since businesses were given a one-month extension due to coronavirus devastation.

There are other things that will help improve this year’s sales tax income. A new law, House Bill 1240, went into effect in June 2019 and requires out-of-state retailers to collect and remit sales tax if they had more than $100,000 in annual sales. 

Another bump went into effect in October that allows the main retailer running a marketplace of stores, such as Amazon’s third-party sellers, to collect sales tax on behalf of the smaller sellers and pay it to the states. The state said it can’t share whether Amazon started paying up in October or had implemented it prior. But Amazon says it is doing this now in 41 states. And the state’s monthly sales tax collected in October grew 9.2% from the prior year.

Both measures are based on the 2018 Wayfair decision and were estimated to bring in an extra $40.5 million to $47.2 million in tax revenue this fiscal year, and up to $65.7 million next fiscal year.

“That has undoubtedly expanded the people who are collecting our tax and we’re collecting more taxes as a result,” said Josh Pens, director of tax policy analysis at the state Department of Revenue.

The agency does not make sales tax projections.

But before COVID-19-related closures, the state’s Legislative Council Staff had forecast sales tax receipts would increase 5.3% to $3.2 billion this year, then rise another 1.9% next fiscal year. In May, staff revised the estimate to be down 1% this fiscal year and then drop 8.6% next fiscal year. It would start growing again in fiscal year 2021-22, at 5.3%.

Likewise, the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting revised its expectation of sales taxes for the year, down 1.8% this year, with steeper declines of 5.6% next fiscal year because of the ongoing impact on hotels, car sales, retailers and food and drinking places. They expect it to return the following year with a 9.9% growth.

“They are super well informed and they have people who are devoted to just sales taxes,” said Lewandowski, with CU. “I have a wide range of sales tax outlooks, and in some of our scenarios we’re looking at more than a 10% decline in sales tax revenue and in other ones we’re looking at less than a 10% decline. So what they’ve published I don’t think looks unreasonable, but we can’t really say if it’s high or low.”

A large piece of plywood painted by artist Jacky Vee was placed in the windows and doors of Hope Tank after quickly closing its doors in March. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Righter, the owner of the Hope Tank gift store, hopes that some of the sales tax benefits flow into her neighborhood to help small retailers. 

But she’s taken it on herself to change what she can by meeting with other business owners, sharing COVID-19 reopening tips, and reminding Coloradans to shop local (“If you’re going to be buying gifts, you should be supporting local, you shouldn’t be getting people a Target gift card,” she said.) 

A few years ago, she created a guide to shopping at women and minority-owned businesses in Denver at the Hope Slinger’s Guide to Denver. And as COVID hit, she launched a fundraiser to hire artists to paint murals on plywood boarding up neighborhood stores.

“Last month, our income was down almost 70%, I mean these are real numbers that are terrifying,” Righter said. “And obviously on Broadway, we have a different scenario where most of us, a huge portion of our income comes from foot traffic. It’s had a massive, massive impact. Massive. For me, I just literally couldn’t afford to reopen yet.”

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[yachtingboat]

Heesen Open and Operational in 'the Roughest of Oceans'

Heesen Open and Operational in 'the Roughest of Oceans'

The Heesen shipyards remain “open and operational” as the world continues to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a statement which called for togetherness and determination in face of an unprecedented and faceless enemy, Heesen outlined the heightened security procedures it has implemented to safeguard personnel onsite.

2020 had started strongly for Heesen with the launch and sale of its second hybrid superyacht, 50m Electra. With 13 superyachts totalling 731 linear metres in length currently under construction, Heesen carries great momentum forward into the future, and the renowned shipyard stresses that there will be a future for business in this industry as we adapt to cope with the COVID-19 challenge.

The full statement from Heesen Yachts is as follows:

In these exceptional times of concern and uncertainty, we are reaching out to you to assure you we are here to weather this unprecedented challenge together. 

At Heesen, today more than ever, the main priority remains to protect the health and welfare of our team, our contractors and the wider Heesen family. Therefore, we are adapting our normal routine and regular patterns of work for the greater good of the community and, in particular, to protect the most vulnerable within it, whilst continuing with business as usual with as little disruption as possible.

We are open and operational while following the government and local government guidelines.

To maintain the safety distance, our office colleagues are now working remotely from home as much as possible.

Other measures taken to continue with minimal disruption include halving the number of employees working in the shipyard at any one time by working in two shifts, so as not to lose productivity and to increase flexibility.

And of course, we have implemented a continuous thorough clean cycle of our offices, sheds and yachts under construction to help minimise the spread of the virus.

At times such as these, it is vitally important that collectively, we work together to flatten the curve of Covid-19 and to enable social and economic recovery as soon as possible. We all need to find new ways of doing business and adapt to this new situation.

At Heesen, we are ready to play our part.

We would like to wish you and your family strength and determination to weather this storm. Even the roughest of oceans will become smooth again. 

Heesen Open and Operational in 'the Roughest of Oceans'

Heesen Open and Operational in 'the Roughest of Oceans'

Project Electra

Launch of Project Electra, second hybrid superyacht built by Heesen

[andrewuttaro]

New Look Sabres: GM 28 - NJD - Birthday Wish

7-1 Win

The Buffalo Sabres are normally on the receiving end of tremendous beatings, at least for the last decade or so. Last night we got a rare taste of what it was like destroying a team by a lacrosse score line. It was something else. Less than seven minutes into the first period it was probably over. I was thinking about the future of several players careers… Devils players! The consensus on Sabres twitter seems to be this game came at just the right time. This club had the roughest of Novembers but had the points in the bank from October to make up the difference. They spent all those savings and as Thanksgiving came and went they began to find their footing again. After a promising home-and-home with the Leafs a convincing win to solidify the gains of a decent stretch of games was needed. A convincing win that was in fact a win in regulation against a team you should handle. New Jersey came knocking asking if we remembered the Home Opener. Whether it was the 50th Anniversary jerseys or 1970s figures present at the game that jogged their memory, the Buffalo Sabres remembered. That game, the second one of this season, was a rout. But this rout makes that rout look like herding cats. When I said this game was over in seven minutes earlier, I mean it was pretty well over in seven minutes. But before we pile on the Devils I thought I’d share with you some thoughts I had about some great players on their roster whom this game made me feel for. Will Butcher: you passed up Buffalo for what you thought would be better. It was for a time but here we are. PK Subban: I love you bud… but this game showed that scary trend is real. Your advanced numbers are garbage, I hope your next destination helps out. Wayne Simmons: Dude, please don’t retire after this. You deserve better than this awfulness. Taylor Hall: well… huh… we both know you’re not going back to Edmonton. When you go win a Cup with Colorado this June please don’t pass the Cup to Nazem Kadri or Nikita Zadorov. For some reason Sabres twitter loves to roast itself during that part of the Final and those two guys minus well be BBQ Chefs. Let’s get down to business.

The Buffalo Sabres came out aggressive. Yeah, I say that a lot here in the second paragraph of postgame; but this time the New Jersey Devils also came out aggressive, AGGRESSIVELY BAD! The Sabres had two goals before the Devils had a shot on goal. That’s right: let me clear my throat played twice before Linus Ullmark was even tested. To be exact the shots were 3-0 Buffalo five minutes in and that was good for a 2-0 lead. Unreal, right? The first goal was right after a Sabres powerplay ended and Jack Eichel was all alone in front of Louis Dominque and just tapped it against the guys pads. It trickled in and everyone was surprised. Hardly two minutes later New Jersey just could not make a clean zone exit and Jeff Skinner had the puck one-on-one with a now annoyed Dominque. Skinner tucked it in far side with a quick little slapper and there are your two goals against zero shots. Up next, not even two minutes later, Jeff Skinner’s third or… whatever non-numbered line we’re calling it, hauling Larsson and Sheary behind like a Christmas tree on a punch buggy mind you, pull off a goal you are more likely to see in the All Star game when all the guys are just trying trick shots they joked about in college then in a real NHL game. Jeff Skinner skates into the zone backwards with speed because the Devils did not know what they were doing in their own zone and crosses the gut of the ice like a figure skater to shoot the puck backwards at the net. That shot didn’t go in because this isn’t a video game, Jeff. However Louis Dominque blocked it with a pad and the resulting rebound was punched in by a Conor Sheary halfway onto his ass. It’s now 3-0 and I think this was the part where Dominque got pulled. No that wasn’t until the first intermission.

After goal three John Hynes and the Devils coaching staff took a time out to try and stop the bleeding. They did for a little bit. It was about ten minutes later when the Devils had finally figured out this shots on net thing but were still giving up D-Zone turnovers juicer than a holiday ham. Conor Sheary just takes a pot shot from a shite angle and Dominque gets his stick glove on it sending it up in the air. Carter Hutton must have watched this play on the bench thinking he’s not alone anymore. The puck goes straight up, and Dominque even watches a little bit of it’s hangtime. Then it just lands in the goal behind him like a letter delivered by a carrier pigeon. What a game already: its 4-0. Sheary skates the bench in celebrating with a “Idk, it just went in” look on his face. All you Monday night folks who paid for the cheapest Sabres tickets of the season so far got your money’s worth and more. But wait, there’s more! We’re in the last minute of the first period. Folks are filing up the stairs to get to the pisser before others and what happens. Casey Mittelstadt just dumps a puck off to Rasmus Asplund in the offensive zone and Asplund just goes “whatever” and one times it like he’s friggin Alex Ovechkin. It went in: 5-0 because this was Buffalo’s night evidently. That was Asplund’s first NHL goal. The kid who just got called up because of injuries and looked like an NHLer gets rewarded faster than maybe any other recent callup. And so the first period ends… *laughs in disbelief* 5-0 Buffalo.

This game was Founders Night. They had family of the Knox Brothers, the founders of the franchise, in attendance for a pregame ceremony. Apparently there was a giant birthday cake and birthday guard. Fun trivia: 50 Years ago on December 2nd the NHL formally granted Buffalo an expansion franchise. The club wouldn’t get named the Sabres for a little over five months but that’s a birthday even if there wasn’t a name. Perhaps the birthday wish was for lots of goals because 5-0 in the first period was not the end by a longshot. Three minutes into the second period PK Subban and Colin Miller have a little spat and the resulting penalties make it 4-on-4. I don’t know how to put this for children: Victor Olofsson sent a puck to heaven. Olofsson unleashed a slapshot that may soon be outlawed by the Geneva Conventions. The broadcast team didn’t know it went in until the horn went off. Ben Mathewson did a 60 frames per second (fps) replay of the goal and there isn’t really more than a couple frames between the slapshot and McKenzie Blackwood realizing the puck had gone in. It was the hardest goal any Sabre has shot this season. 6-0 Sabres and I really want to apologize to the Devils fans in attendance. This had to be embarrassing. I am so sorry. It wouldn’t be a shutout though guys. Zemgus Girgensons got called for tripping and New Jersey made the most of the powerplay when Nico Hischier sauced in a rebound past Linus Ullmark. 6-1 Sabres, the shutout is gone but the Devils are still angry evidently: Casey Mittelstadt is tripped by Kyle Palmieri, the ref blows it against him and before Mittelstadt is up Palmieri launches the puck at him in a temper tantrum. Mind you the Devils are now out-shooting the Sabres 2 to 1 but the Sabres are locking it down. This was the performance we needed. This was our birthday wish for the Sabres. The Sabres made Palmieri and the Devils pay for that trip and Henri Jokiharju fired a laser from the blue line to make it 7-1 for the home team. At this point we just crossed the halfway point of the game. Buffalo has scored a touchdown and Josh Allen didn’t even throw for it. This game was so good 71-year-old Mike Robitaille was telling 51-year-old Rob Ray that advanced stats are just splendid on the broadcast. It was a savagely beautiful disarming of the trap Ray had set. The Sabres were dunking on the Devils and Boomers were dunking on Boomers about advanced stats. This was such a wildly fun game we’re going to look back on it in two weeks and think it was some collective dream we had.

And it seemed meant to be like some kind of fairy tale! The third period had its scary moments, a couple Devils powerplays and a handful of defensive lapses for the home team but the end result never really seemed in question. Buffalo won in regulation 7-1. This game was everything. Jack Eichel’s point streak continues, he now has 38 points in 28 games on pace for a 111-point season. If he doesn’t make the all-star team we can rightfully conclude this league is rigged against Buffalo. Victor Olofsson probably deserves to go as well. Not only is he scoring at 5-on-5 now but he is leading the team in multi-point games; yes even more than Eichel. Friggin Johan Larsson had a career night: he got three points in a game, all on assists, for only the second time in his career. Think about every shocked or mother-of-god meme you got: that was this game. It was memeable! I can’t imagine they dominate like this every night but like, comment and share this blog to join the fun. Sabres After Dark returns Thursday night for a game in Calgary. I want some revenge for the Thanksgiving Eve myself but by that point my end-of-semester crunch week will be winding down, so I’ll probably settle for just some enjoyable sex puns. I got a pair of those oven mitts they gave away for the Thanksgiving Eve game, let’s hope the Sabres stay hot so I need them! Let’s Go Buffalo!

Thanks for Reading.

P.S. I don’t think the Bills catch New England for the division but let’s just savor the fact they’re one game back and that such a scenario is a realistic possibility at all. Just enjoying being a fan, I don’t think they catch em either but I’m going to enjoy this well it lasts!

[jobsearchtips02]

3 possible futures for the pandemic (and a frightening forecast)

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the next edition of Insider Today. Please sign up here

As a tip, this is “Expert in your inbox,” an email publication that David Plotz and I are composing with the aid of many of our excellent journalists. Our objective is to provide you with insight and analysis about some of the huge stories of the day.

Thanks as constantly for reading. Please do not hesitate to respond to this email and tell us what you like or don’t like, and we’ll develop and improve as we go.

— Henry Blodget (henry@insider.com) and David Plotz (david@insider.com)

SUMMARY: Three possible futures for the pandemic, none of which include it just vanishing. A scary government projection requires an increasing of new cases by the end of the month. The coronavirus wallops some young people, too. Totalitarians must be tough on the pandemic, but they’re bungling it. A neglected detail in a Supreme Court ruling should fret Republicans. The “murder hornet”?! Biden should not launch his Senate archives unless Trump releases his tax returns. Mr. Buffett waves the white flag on airline companies. The Big 3 …

3 possible futures for the pandemic

As the United States begins to resume, researchers have actually released estimates for the future shape of the pandemic They anticipate that the pandemic will last 18 to 24 months, and they explain three possible circumstances:

1. Different cities and nations may re-implement restrictions and mitigation steps.

Moore, Lipsitch, Barry, Osterholm.

2. “Fall peak.” The current wave would decline over the summer, as in the first scenario. Then we would be struck with a far more extreme wave this fall. This is what happened in the 1918-1919 “Great Influenza” pandemic, in addition to less-devastating flu pandemics in 1957-1958 and 2009-2010

Moore, Lipsitch, Barry, Osterholm.

3. “Slow burn.” The most encouraging circumstance. The existing wave is without a doubt the worst. And then the pandemic smolders for an additional few years while life goes on.

Moore, Lipsitch, Barry, Osterholm.

Keep in mind that none of these scenarios include the coronavirus just disappearing after this very first big wave declines.

The scientists do not resolve the possibility that researchers will develop a powerful drug in the next couple of months that can “cure” the disease or a vaccine that will prevent it. They note that vaccines have not played a role in previous flu pandemics.

Sharon Begley of STAT News describes each of these scenarios in detail here — HB

Meanwhile, a government document tasks that the US “everyday case” and “day-to-day death” rates will increase later on this month.

The New York Times got its hands on a document referred to as a “ circumstance update” from the Federal Emergency Situation Management Agency.

The file appears to have actually been upgraded through May 1. It consists of forecasts for a radical increase in expected “new cases daily” and “deaths each day” in the 2nd half of this month.

United States Department of Homeland Security presentation, through New york city Times.

Department of Homeland Security, via New York Times.

To stress: The leading chart calls for the increasing of daily brand-new cases to more than 200,000 a day by the end of May, up from around 30,000 a day now.

The presentation does not describe why the model anticipates this velocity.

An hour after the file was published, the White Home disavowed it. A White House spokesperson told Expert’s Eliza Relman that it “is not a White House document nor has it been presented to the Coronavirus Job Force or gone through interagency vetting. This data is not reflective of any of the modeling done by the task force or information that the job force has actually examined.”

So now we require to comprehend where those projections originated from and whether any government specialists think they are reasonable.

Here are the historic numbers in the presentation, which have plateaued around 30,000 brand-new cases and 2,000 deaths each day:

Department of Homeland Security, via New York City Times.

Yes, the coronavirus is roughest on old and ill people, however it’s awful for some more youthful individuals, too.

Expert’s Aria Bendix, a healthy reporter in her 20 s, developed a nasty case of COVID-19 signs in late March, which she described here Almost 50 days later on, she’s still not back to complete strength.

Loading Something is packing.

Aria’s not alone.

In New York, 18 to 44 year-olds make up about 10%of overall cases. — HB

Will summer season assist?

Getty.

There is still hope that warmer temperatures will halt or at least slow the spread of the virus.

The researchers in the research study and article referenced above conclude that summertime will decrease the transmissibility of the infection by about 20%. Enough to slow it down, however insufficient to eliminate it. — HB

Dictators ought to be terrific throughout a pandemic. Why are they bungling it?

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Denis Protsenko, primary doctor of a healthcare facility for clients infected with coronavirus illness (COVID-19), as they walk at the healthcare facility, on the borders of Moscow, Russia March 24,2020

Sputnik/Alexey Druzhinin/Kremlin/Reuters.

Russia’s COVID-19 break out is blazing, with record cases reported the other day

Authoritarians enjoy nothing more than purchasing the federal government to do whatever they want, enforcing tight controls on the population, and wantonly enacting emergency situation restrictions, so you ‘d expect Putin and his fellow authoritarians to shine throughout the pandemic.

Across the world totalitarians, as well as democratically-elected leaders with authoritarian tendencies, are doing improperly.

This isn’t a set guideline. Plenty of vibrant democracies– Spain, Italy– have actually struggled with break outs, and the Chinese dictatorship almost certainly extinguished its break out more rapidly thanks to its totalitarian tools. But in basic, controlling the virus appears much easier when there’s public trust in federal government, trustworthy and transparent data, and visible popular assistance for action– all of which are tough for authoritarians to summon. Likewise authoritarians tend to choose issues they can solve rapidly with force or rhetoric– neither of which works on coronavirus.

Oh, and it doesn’t assist develop rely on public health when any health expert who casts doubt federal government reaction falls out a window the next day, as appears to happen in Russia — DP

Vote by mail data that could stress Republican politicians

Citizens masked versus coronavirus line up at Riverside High School for Wisconsin’s main election Tuesday April 7, 2020, in Milwaukee.

Morry Gash/AP Images.

The savage battle over vote-by-mail in the 2020 election might be formed by some unanticipated news out of Wisconsin

Less discovered was that the court did permit Wisconsin to accept tallies postmarked by election day.

The Wisconsin vote might be anomalous: Wisconsin authorities and citizens had only a few days to prepare and no precedent for pandemic ballot. The rest of the country will have months to set rules for pandemic-afflicted balloting.

Still the Wisconsin mail-in information might alarm Republicans, who typically gain from less individuals voting. Anticipate them to seek to limit the SCOTUS ruling, and to encourage state legislatures to discover other ways to restrict vote-by-mail. Seven states, all Republican-controlled, have already minimal balloting by mail to senior voters. — DP

What will restaurants and offices appear like, post-pandemic?

AP Photo/Kin Cheung.

And the New York Times speculates how the pandemic will change open-plan workplaces into places with sneeze-guards, push-down air vents, and way more space between coworkers. — DP

Simply when you were starting to believe: The worst is over

Close-up image of a “murder hornet.”.

Shutterstock.

Can I present you to your brand-new neighbor, the “ Murder Hornet“? — DP

Biden should only launch his Senate archives if Trump launches his tax returns

As Insider’s Nicole Einbinder reported last week, VP Biden has 1,875 boxes full of records at the University of Delaware from his time in the Senate that are currently unavailable to the public.

Naturally, people are still calling on Biden to unseal all those boxes. (” But her e-mails …”)

The desire to browse all possible evidence to get to the bottom of the story is reasonable.– HB

Warren Buffett provides up on airline companies

Steve Pope/ Getty Images.

The Oracle of Omaha revealed that he has discarded all of his airline holdings

History supports this view.

The last huge gut punch to the industry came after 9/11

YouTubers pretending to be Jimmy Fallon tricked “Tiger King” star Carole Baskin into doing an interview …

Expert’s Lindsay Dodgson has the within story of who the tricksters are, how they did it, and what they found out about the popular reality-TV star who some believe killed her spouse and fed him to her huge cats.

Previous NBA star Charles Barkley has problem for LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, and others who are periodically thought to be the very best of all time: Michael Jordan was much better.

Couple of people who viewed Jordan’s dominance in the 1990 s would disagree

Trump’s most current scapegoat for his bungled coronavirus response is Dr. Anthony Fauci

The President told Fox News that Dr. Fauci told him the infection was no huge offer

The most popular stories on Expert today.

Thank you for reading! Please let us understand what you believe. If we believe other readers will enjoy your note, we’ll release it! henry@insider.com and david@insider.com

%%.

from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/3-possible-futures-for-the-pandemic-and-a-frightening-forecast/

[growthbangle7-blog]

Selecting Good Typical Phone Interview Questions

Do your homework prior to going to some interview. If you have had a few interviews but they did not go well, you can say you haven't found the perfect match yet. If you have got an upcoming interview or to discover more about how to browse job interviews, launch a 15-minute consultation. It is possible for you to practice interviews entertain family members and friends or by yourself that will assist you. The offender interview is a important part of the hiring procedure. An interview could be one. The secret is to be be ready, confident and ready to take care of telephone interviews everywhere they come. The area of the interview will be the case questions. http://bit.ly/2zwauzh Needless to say, the interviews will nonetheless take their form. Phone interviews are also simple to end. A phone interview remains an interview for employment. The phone interview is also an efficient screening tool. There is A phone interview a tool that will allow you to streamline your hiring process. You must be set to get a telephone interview at any moment. I do know a number of folks that find it to be one of the roughest parts, although the telephone interview ought to be the least part of the interview procedure. Should you possess a phone interview coming up, there are a few questions you are very very likely to be requested and practicing them are in a position to instantly assist you to feel confident and intend to wow the interviewer so you can move on into another stage! In the event the interviewer would love to learn more about why you're leaving work, discuss factors you do not have some control over relocation or downsizing. He or she wants to learn more details. You, also, if you feel like the interviewer has a feeling of humor. The interviewer needs to be confident of your curiosity about position and the company. https://annuaire-du-net.com/phone-interview-questions-and-answers/ She or he is currently looking for work-related advantages. He or she is currently attempting to evaluate your degree of knowledge and understanding about something regarding the role. By researching the supplier 4, your interviewer will be impressed. As more than one individual may be able to answer a specific question, there is some overlap of questions. It is a good idea to be ready to ask some questions, yourself. Asking questions also can demonstrate that you're interested in the occupation. More often than not, the questions that are normal give you the identical prospect. To be able to draw conclusions the questions must be asked by you. In case you were fired, you are going to require a explanation. Although, in the event the motive is all about place, cash, work program, benefits, and other factors not tied to real role, you may want to think more concerning your response. Don't be tempted to opt for the cocky performing your job' response. https://is.gd/6b6OO9 Not just that, but the replies to them are generally the same, with your own personal interpretation naturally. For sales jobs especially, questions may fluctuate depending on the supplier and the interviewer. You're going to be requested telephone interview questions that explore your capability to carry out the job. Life After Typical Phone Interview Questions Situational Interview Questions Questions about your prior behaviour in certain situations that are particular to observe how you learn and react from experiences. It's correct, you must showcase talents, your experience, and personalitybut before answering every question, you should determine what the interviewer is really asking you. You might have found the chance through research on jobs that were perfect where you are able to make the most impact and aspire to grow professionally. Usually, you shouldn't quit a job till you've accepted a second job. Do not neglect to mention exactly what achievement you have had in previous jobs. Presumably you're trying to find a new job (or any job) because you prefer to advance your career and receive a position which allows you to grow as an individual and an employee. The good thing is that all might not be lost, if you didn't dress right for your interview the time. Inform your candidates of time and the particular day that the interview will happen. Give a review of the tasks you're accountable for daily on the job. The Day Before The afternoon before your phone interview is a day. Try to remember, you will likely spend a bit over two minutes together with introductions, and also also the exact same. https://tinyurl.com/y44wr8dd

[famousgalaxymusic]

Choosing Good Typical Phone Interview Questions

Do your homework prior to going to any interview. If you've had a couple of interviews but they didn't go well, you can say you haven't found the ideal match. If you've got an interview or to find out more about how to navigate job interviews, launch a consultation. It's possible that you practice interviews entertain family and friends or by your self to assist you. https://mork-gryning.com The offender interview is a part of the process. An interview may be one. The secret is to be prepared, confident and ready to look after telephone interviews everywhere they come. The region of the interview will be the situation questions. Obviously, the interviews will nonetheless take their own form. Phone interviews are also simple to end. A phone interview is still a meeting for employment. The phone interview is also an efficient screening tool. There is A phone interview a tool that will permit you to streamline your hiring process. You must all be set for a phone interview at any given moment. Even though the telephone interview needs to be the least portion of the interview procedure, I really do know several people that find it to be one of the roughest parts. phone interview questions and answers Should you own a telephone interview coming up, there are a few questions you're extremely very likely to be requested and practicing them are in a position to instantly assist you to feel confident and intend to wow the interviewer so you can move on to another stage! In the event the interviewer would love to learn more about why you're leaving work you do not have any control over downsizing or like relocation. questions to ask during a phone interview She or he wants to know more details about a particular item on your resume. You, also, if you genuinely feel like the interviewer has a sense of humor. The interviewer has to be confident of your interest in the company and position. She or he is looking for work-related strengths. She or he is attempting to evaluate your level of understanding and knowledge about something related to the function. Your interviewer will be impressed by Assessing the supplier. As more than one individual may have the ability to answer a question, there is some overlap of questions. mork-gryning It is a great idea to be ready to ask a few questionsyourself. Asking questions can demonstrate that you are interested in the job. More often than not, the normal questions give you the prospect. To be able to draw valuable conclusions the ideal questions must be asked by you. In case you're fired, you will require a explanation. Although, in the event the motive is all about set cash, work program, advantages, and other factors not tied to real role, you may wish to believe more concerning your response. Don't let yourself be tempted to go for the cocky performing your job' answer. But the answers to them are the same, with your own personal interpretation naturally. For sales jobs particularly, questions may fluctuate from the direct to the abstract depending upon the supplier as well as the interviewer. You're going to be requested phone interview questions which research your capability to execute the job. Life After Average Phone Interview Questions Situational Interview Questions Questions about your previous behaviour in certain specific situations to observe the way you learn and respond from experiences. It's correct, you must showcase talents, your experience, and personalitybut before answering every question, you need to determine what the interviewer is actually asking you. You might have discovered the opportunity through research on ideal jobs where you hope to grow and are able to make the most impact. You shouldn't quit a job until you've accepted a second job. Do not forget to mention what achievement you've had in previous jobs. Presumably you're trying to find a new job (or any job) since you prefer to improve your career and get a position which allows you to develop as an individual and a worker. If you did not dress the first time, the thing is that all might not be lost. Inform your applicants of time and the specific day that the interview will occur. Give a review of these tasks you're accountable for daily on the job. The Day Before The day prior to your phone interview is a significant day to prepare. typical phone interview questions Try to remember, you will spend a bit over two minutes together with introductions, and also the same winding down.

[salediscountggdb-blog]

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[mistersnakebite]

The Elite Alliance, Prologue and Chapter 1.

Prologue: A short list.

 The Elite. The name alone suggests the group is either made of the upper crust of society. The truth is, only one member was. The rest? Apart from one of their unofficial leaders, they all came from pretty humble beginnings. They got the name because they might as well have been the perfect gang. Any weakness any member of the Inner Circle had, another member covered it.

Originally, there were nine members of the Inner Circle, the original members of the Elite. One of them was unofficial, but he might has well have been, for how important he was to the group.

At the height of their power, they could do whatever it was they wanted to do. Have presidents impeached, have people killed, have newspapers spew out whatever spiel they wanted them to spew out, rob banks...Anything was possible for those at the top of the group.

Oh, how quickly did they rise, I bet you’re wondering. Oh, when they got the tools they needed, their rise was momentous. But telling you how right away would spoil it. Besides, if you want to understand how they got there, you’ll need to know how that rise started...

 The group operated out of Blackout, a large rock and metal club on the outskirts of London. Despite its location, they pulled in a healthy profit, and because of the money Maximilian Salisbury, the group’s resident aristocrat, provided, they didn’t have to worry too much about getting extra funds.

Not that it stopped the man they all answered to, Leon Wade. A large, well built man with crimson hair and a very profound jaw, Leon liked to make sure they had extra money in the bank in case anything went wrong. The Elite’s choice of careers, you see, was hardly legal.

It was early days, however, so their choices of activities were quite limited...

 “Have you seen this in the paper?” Ace Vane piped up, putting that day’s newspaper down. “Optaman’s at his old tricks again. Saved some girl from the clutches of somebody nasty, then sold his bloody pictures to the paper. I reckon the bugger works for them.”

Ace was the roughest member of the team. He may not have been as tall as the rest of the crew, but he still didn’t look like somebody to be trifled with. The long, black coat he often wore hid his sturdy frame, but his long brown hair and his rugged yet handsome facial features guaranteed he was always a hit with the ladies.

“Hold on a second.” Leon was on the phone, and pulled it away from his mouth for a second. He had quite a soft voice, one that nobody thought would belong to somebody who worked for a group of criminals. “I’ll look in a minute, Ace, I’m just trying to speak to the Russian.”

“Ah.” Ace grinned. He had quite a strong Leeds accent. “That means I’ll have a job to do.”

Leon nodded in reply. “Go ahead, tell me how much you’ll be able to get for it.” Ace noticed as Leon’s eyes widened, and a smile formed on the redhead’s face.

“I know that look...” Ace sighed.

“Oh come now, Ace.” Leon said, hanging up the phone. “You know you’re the best one with jobs like this one.”

Ace just looked at his friend. “What is it you’ve found then, Leon?”

“This.” Leon handed Ace a piece of paper with the black and white picture of a car on it. A highly exotic, very rare hypercar. With a few words written below it.

‘Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse.’

“Leon, where the hell did you find that?” Ace asked, eyes widening. “And how much are we getting for this?”

“Well over two million.” Leon smiled wickedly. “I think the Russian’s already found a buyer.”

“I think this is going to be a big fucking liability.” Ace groaned. “How am I meant to... Appropriate this thing?”

“Oh, Ace, I’m sure you’ll find a way.” Leon’s voice oozed menace now. He wasn’t so much trying to reassure his colleague, more telling him to or there would be a lot of pain.

 Chapter One: Appropriation

 So, I can hear you wondering what Ace Vane’s role within the group was. Well, he had several: Bartender, occasional doorman, one of their go to guys when they needed somebody beating up, and their main guy when it came to stealing cars. I suppose it is kind of obvious when you look at that conversation, but Ace was mainly used to stealing mid-to-high end saloons and, very occasionally, supercars. This was an entirely new challenge...

 “S’gonna be one of them bloody days.” Ace mumbled to himself. He’d been hoping for an easy job that day, something involving something easy for him to take that wouldn’t potentially annoy a very rich person. Luckily, while it might prove tricky to steal, it was very easy to find. Hypercars like that were notoriously ostentatious, so it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the mopeds, bikes, and little electric cars that were popular in London at the time.

“...It sticks out a lot, doesn’t it?” A large, solidly built man with black hair and olive skin said to Ace. “How’re you going to get it out of the city?”

“No idea, Strife.” Ace replied, perplexed. “I mean, Tony supplied us with a jammer, but that’s only temporary, and I guarantee you the tracker on that is going to be a pain to get rid of.”

“We could always go old-school.” Strife muttered. “Force them to hand over the keys and their cellphones.”

“It’s risky, but it’s worth a go.” Ace replied. “The guy who’ll own it will be as loaded as fuck, so we could always take his wallet as well…”

“That’d buy us some time.”

“Some beer for afterwards too.” Ace said, keeping an eye on the driver, the man he assumed owned the car exiting it. He was followed by a pair of rather large bodyguards. “Ah, there’s not many of them. This might actually be simple.”

Strife nodded, as they followed their targets at a distance, making sure that neither of them were noticed. As large as James Strife was compared to Ace, his friend stuck out quite a lot.

“Right, they’ve gone into that alleyway over there.” Ace grinned, handing Strife a luchador mask. “I’m sure you know the drill by now.”

“Oh yeah.” Strife replied, putting his mask on as Ace did the same. He watched his shorter comrade pull a small knife out of his pocket, as the two quietly but quickly ran up behind their targets.

“Oi!” Ace shouted, grabbing the driver’s attention. “Dick’ead!”

The driver turned around, noticing the two men charging him and his bodyguards. He didn’t have any time to brace, as Ace quickly span him around, trapping one of his arms and putting the knife right to his throat.

“What…” Was all he had time to gasp, as Ace dragged him slightly further back, wrenching his arm rather nastily.

“You know what to do, big guy.” Ace snarled from under his mask as Strife walked towards both other targets, rolling his sleeves up as they tried to look threatening. There’s not much else they could really do, their client had a knife at his throat and he had backup.

Strife aimed a hefty right hook at the guard on his left. He tried to get his hands up, but wasn’t quick enough, and Strife’s punch laid him out on the spot.

“Oh fu…” The other guard started to swear, but that was an awful mistake, as Strife caught him fresh on the jaw with another vicious hook, dropping him pretty much instantly.

“So, now you can see we’re not screwing about.” Ace growled. “So here’s how things are going to go.” He wrenched the driver’s arm again, making sure not to accidentally slit his throat. “You’re going to give us your car keys, your phone, and your wallet. Or you can struggle, I’ll slice you open and we’ll get them anyways.”

“Do you…” The driver started, but winced as Ace wrenched his arm again.

“We don’t care. Big guy, take his things.” Strife did as Ace asked, frisking the driver and making sure to take what Ace had asked for specifically, also removing a small handgun and a knife from his person.

“Ooooh, naughty.” Ace laughed. It wasn’t a humorous laugh. “Somebody could get hurt with those. Big guy, confiscate them too.”

“Have you got what you wanted?” The driver asked, making sure not to wriggle. Ace was putting quite a lot of pressure on his left arm, and whenever he moved, the pressure increased.

“Not quite.” Ace answered. “Big guy, take their things too.” Once again, James did as he was told, taking the wallets and phones of the two, well, rather useless bodyguards, as well as any weaponry they had on their persons. “Now we do.” He started pulling the knife away from the driver’s throat, just as Strife launched another brutal right hook to the jaw. The driver went limp as Ace released his left arm and let him drop to the floor, unconscious. Ace pocketed the knife, and held out his right hand. “Keys, please.”

“Ace, the car needs to be delivered in one piece.” Strife said, grinning.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.” Ace replied. “We’re not going to need the jammer. Not quite yet.”

 The moment Ace got the keys into the ignition, he started revving the engine as loud as it could go, a vicious smile forming on his face. Strife knew exactly what he was thinking. “Shouldn’t we put the jammer in first?” He asked.

“Nah, not quite yet.” Ace replied. “We need to create a bit of a ruckus first, then we put the jammer in.” His blue eyes twinkled mischievously as put his foot on the throttle, revving the Veyron’s engine. The exhaust and engine growled, as both men bore grins that made everybody around them know they were going do something very, very awesome. Ace revved the engine again, before pulling his foot off the throttle and pulling out into the road.

“Empty road, James.” Ace said, his smile even broader. “You know what I’m going to do.”

James smiled as he saw Ace put his foot hard down on brake as he revved the engine again, finally flooring the throttle and blasting down the street, only braking whenever he saw a corner. Or a police officer.

“We going to the usual place then, Ace?” James asked.

“No.” Ace answered, bluntly. “The tracker in this thing will be pretty potent, so we need to find somewhere to ditch it.”

“Oh yeah. Tony mentioned the tracker was only temporary.” James said. “I think I might have an idea.”

“Go on.”

“Even one of Tony and Blake’s specials won’t last that long, so we’ll need to dump the tracker in something else, not somewhere else.” James suggested. And while we’re stopped, we check for additional trackers.”

“Yeah, something about those other fella’s didn’t make me feel like they were upstanding members of society.” Ace said, frowning. “Normal citizens don’t carry guns.”

“No. No they don’t.” Strike thought for a moment as Ace continued driving. “There’s a multi-story parking lot near here, right?”

“Aye.” Ace kept looking at the road ahead, slowing down a little. “What’re you thinking?”

“We put the jammer in now, then get to work on ditching any trackers in the lot.” James said.

“Dump them in other cars.” Ace suggested. “I can get into pretty much anything in there without setting any alarms off. Just got to find a nice, quiet corner with no cameras.”

James grinned. He loved how Ace’s mind worked sometimes.

“It’s left here then you’re pretty much there.” He said, putting the jammer into the radio as Ace followed his instructions, turning left and then right into the car park. The long-haired thief quickly found a secluded space, and the two started work on removing the first tracker.

“Idiots just attached it to the sun visor.” Ace said, somehow breaking into a little city car when James looked away for a second. He put the tracker in the car and, somehow, managed to lock it again. “Right, James, need to check under the car for another tracker thing. You keep watch.”

James Strife nodded, making sure nobody came along as Ace got down on his knees, checking underneath the Veyron.

“Nothing underneath.” He said, going behind the Veyron and opening the boot. “Oooh. James, it’s a good job Tony gave us one of his specials.”

“What’ve you found?”

“Really complex tracker, man, looks like it’s been hacked too.” Ace frowned. “If I didn’t put that jammer in we’d be surrounded by now.”

“I guess this one isn’t as simple as just ditching it in another car?”

“Well, the thing is, that jammer would normally just send them on a wild goose chase.” Ace said, grinning, and literally ripping tracker off the Veyron. “And as complex as this tracker is, it’ll scare the hell out of them if they can no longer track it.” He passed the tracker to James, who, to him, looked a little puzzled.

“What do you want me to do with it?” He asked, noticing that Ace was climbing back into the Veyron.

“Get in.” Ace replied, grinning broadly. “I’ll drive you to the top.”

 It was a very tall car park, but that suited Ace and James’ purpose just fine.

“So we’re just gonna lob the tracker off the roof.” Ace suggested, still smiling. He handed the tracker to James.

“That’s a very effective solution.” James said, also smiling. “Why am I doing it?”

“Because I need to deliver this thing to the Russian personally.” Ace replied. “You don’t mind making your own way back, do you?”

“…Okay, and why can’t you take me back?”

“Because Leon wants this thing delivering asap and nobody is going to fuck around with somebody who looks like you unless they’re a fucking cockwomble.” Ace replied. “It’s not that far.”

James just nodded, knowing that even to Ace, normally an unpredictable violent thug, Leon was not a man you knowingly disobeyed. Not to The Elite. Not really to anybody. He stepped out of the Veyron, right in front of the spot Ace had parked in, and threw the tracker off the roof, watching it smash into the ground below.

“Right, get back in and I’ll drop you on the corner, the police will be investigating that if somebody was nearby.” Ace said, as James got back into the car. Ace reversed out of his space, and quickly drove out the car park, dropped James next to the nearest Underground station, and sped off, beginning his drive out of London.

 An hour or so had passed when Ace arrived at the meeting point in Dover. He’d had a chance to properly test the Veyron out on a couple of little back roads, and properly blasted his way down the M20, being careful enough to avoid any police on the way there. Somehow, through a massive stroke of luck, nobody had tried to stop him. Kinda a boring ride, in Ace’s opinion. The only person waiting for him was a short, handsome man with bright blue hair.

The Russian.

“Somebody order a Veyron?” Ace asked as he parked up, stepping out of the vehicle and handing the Russian the keys.

“Yes they did.” The Russian replied. “I can see why Mister Wade relies on you, Ace.”

“Yeah, but he rarely sends me here personally.” Ace smiled at the Russian. “I doubt it was because he wanted me to see the car here safely.”

“The money was wired to Blackout’s account before you got here.” The Russian also smiled. “Your comrade was back at the club half an hour before you arrived.”

“Good.” Ace said, offering his hand for a handshake. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

He turned to leave for the train station, but turned back for a moment.

“None of us know your name, do we.” Ace stated. “It would help if me and my friends knew it. We can hardly keep referring to you as the Russian.”

“And I’d rather people not know.” The Russian replied, walking up to Ace, then speaking much more candidly. “Look, the person who wanted that car over there has eyes everywhere, even here. He already knows about your group, you can trust me on that, and he is watching you, wondering whether you’re a threat to him or not.”

“We’re a threat to everybody who stands against us.” Ace’s expression changed.

“That’s not the point.” The Russian shook his head. “Look, this man would rather do business than fight. I am not at liberty to discuss his identity, just as I am not at liberty to discuss yours or mine.” He took a deep breath, and smiled. “But I think you’ll have proven yourselves as trustworthy with this delivery.”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find out what I mean soon enough.” The Russian extended his hand again, and when Ace went to shook it, he pulled him in a little closer, and whispered in his ear. “My name is Kris Tastov, and it really has been a pleasure.”

 A short, very curvy blonde walked into Leon Wade’s office. She flashed him a radiant smile, noticing that he was on the phone. He looked up, noticed her, smiled back, and hung up.

“Aurore, the Russian just called.” He said. “It appears that Ace has delivered the Veyron in perfect condition.”

“Without the trackers.” Aurore added, smirking a little. She spoke with a noticeable Quebecois accent. English clearly wasn’t her first language. “James told me.”

She walked closer to Leon’s desk, and leaned over it a little.

“Shall we get Ace something special for this?” She asked.

Leon flashed Aurore a smile of his own. It was warmer than the one he flashed Ace earlier that day. “I think he’ll be rewarded by the Russian’s client in this case.” He said. “The buyer wanted the car in perfect condition, and Ace made sure he’d get it very quickly. I’d say he deserves rewarding. I just hope the Russian and his client agree.”

[nothingman]

Trump is peddling a made-up Clinton Russia scandal to distract from his own real issues.

The conservative media sphere, fueled by an orchestrated White House public-relations campaign, has a theory for the biggest legal and national security question facing Washington, and it has nothing to do with the Trump-Russia scandal.

Instead, it has to with a thoroughly debunked and verifiably false charge: that Hillary Clinton gave Russia “20 percent of our uranium” as secretary of state.

Trump made that claim early on in his time in office to defend himself against charges that he would be too soft on Russia. Now, he and his allies have brought it back to muddy the waters during the roughest patch of his presidency.

Take New York Republican Rep. Peter King, who said last week that “it’s important we find out why that deal went through.” At the same press conference, House Republicans said the House Intelligence Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee would launch new probes into Clinton’s purported role in helping a Russian state-owned company, Rosatom, gain control of 20 percent of America’s uranium production capacity, a key part of any US effort to build nuclear weapons.

King was responding to a disputed report in the Hill newspaper, which reported on October 17 that the FBI had found evidence that a Russian official had used bribes to gain improper influence over an American company that handled uranium shipments bound for Russia. That, as the Washington Post summarized, has led conservatives to argue that “the case should have raised alarms about the Rosatom investment in Uranium One and possibly blocked the deal.”

Fox News in particular has taken up the conspiracy theory with gusto, with Fox & Friends, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Martha MacCallum all running lengthy segments devoted to the story. Conservative radio darling Laura Ingraham tweeted out a link to an article about the supposed uranium scheme in the conservative National Review. The conservative Daily Caller website has run several articles on the subject, as has Breitbart, the right-wing outlet run by former Trump senior strategist Steve Bannon.

Trump himself has added new fuel by taking the highly unusual step of encouraging the Justice Department to allow a former FBI informant to testify about the case before Congress — a rare and nearly unprecedented step. The informant’s lawyer claimed, per the Post, that he would tell lawmakers about his work “uncovering the Russian nuclear bribery case and the efforts he witnessed by Moscow to gain influence with [former president Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] in hopes of winning favorable uranium decisions from the Obama administration.”

There’s just one problem: The GOP claim that Clinton gave 20 percent of America’s uranium to Russia is incorrect and clearly misleading now, just as it was when Trump raised it in the past.

The key event that the myth is based on is Russia’s nuclear power agency purchasing a majority stake in a Toronto-based energy company between 2009 and 2013. The company had mines and land in a number of US states with huge uranium production capacity — a move the US State Department signed off on. But PolitiFact did a thorough fact-check of the claim last year when Trump first made it on the campaign trail, and found the following faults with it:

The mines, mills, and land the company holds in the US account for 20 percent of the US’s uranium production capacity, not actual produced uranium.

The State Department was one of nine federal agencies and a number of additional independent federal and state regulators that signed off on the deal.

President Barack Obama, not Clinton, was the only person who could’ve vetoed the deal.

Since Russia doesn’t have the legal right to export uranium out of the US, its main goal was likely to gain access to the company’s uranium assets in Kazakhstan.

Crucially, the main national security concern was not about nuclear weapons proliferation, as Trump has suggested, but actually ensuring the US doesn’t have to depend too much on uranium sources from abroad, as the US only makes about 20 percent of the uranium it needs. An advantage in making nuclear weapons wasn’t the main issue because, as PolitiFact notes, “the United States and Russia had for years cooperated on that front, with Russia sending enriched fuel from decommissioned warheads to be used in American nuclear power plants in return for raw uranium.”

Trump’s misleading comments are in service of a broader goal: to push back against the growing investigations into his administration’s possible collusion with Moscow, which have hit a new fever pitch with yesterday’s guilty plea from campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who told the FBI that he’d met with a Russian-linked professor who said Russia had “dirt” on Clinton, including thousands of her stolen emails. Special counsel Robert Mueller unsealed the guilty plea yesterday alongside wide-ranging indictments of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and campaign aide Rick Gates.

There’s plenty of evidence that suggests Trump is obsessed with the Mueller probe to the point that he watched yesterday’s news obsessively and yelled at the TV. At this point, he would do nearly anything to distract people’s attention — including reviving a false and debunked claim about the uranium deal.

via Vox - All

[robertkstone]

2017 Mini Clubman S All4 Update 5: The Great American Road Trip

You can learn a lot about a car from a road trip, especially one that spans two weeks and covers more than 2,500 miles. From braving a summer storm in the eastern Sierras to surviving the hottest place on Earth, the 2017 Mini Clubman S All4 did all I asked of it dutifully and without complaint.

I had always wanted to do a long road trip but never had the time or a vehicle reliable enough to attempt one. My family reunion takes place every two years in Reno, Nevada, and this year’s gathering seemed like the perfect excuse to check some things off my bucket list. Not to mention, I happen to be chaperoning a pretty cool long-term car this year. With my time off approved, I zoomed waaaay out from Los Angeles on Google Maps until the entire state of California (plus a few of its neighbors) was visible. “How much of this could I see in two weeks?” I asked myself. The answer: quite a lot. My route would take me from my home in Long Beach up California’s central coast to San Francisco, on to Reno by way of Lake Tahoe, back down U.S. Route 395, east through Death Valley and onward to Las Vegas, then south again to meet up with Route 66, where I would cruise east to my final destination, the Grand Canyon. But great road trips are best enjoyed with a co-pilot, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one than my wife, Courtney. She likes road trips and can also tolerate (maybe just barely?) two weeks on the road with me.

  Perhaps more experienced and efficient road trippers could fit two weeks’ worth of luggage behind the rear seats, but our overstuffed large roller bags weren’t making it into the cargo area without first flipping down those 60/40 benches. This was fine for just two people, but a family of four might have to rethink their packing strategy or take a larger vehicle. There was still plenty of space atop the folded seats and in the rear footwells for a backpack, a cooler full of drinks and snacks, and other odds and ends. We also had the cargo area’s underfloor storage for any valuables we wanted to keep out of sight. Our first big stop was San Francisco, a city that’s notoriously car-unfriendly. Although it’s not as small as its Mini Hardtop stablemate, the Clubman was well suited for SF’s crowded downtown streets. Parking, when we could find it, was relatively easy, thanks to the Clubman’s C-segment dimensions. Parallel parking facing downhill on a near 45-degree incline will never be easy for anyone but a native San Franciscan, but the Clubman’s rearview camera and parking sensors definitely helped make it less of an ordeal.

No matter the season, the Bay Area never seems to get much warmer than 65 degrees. But everywhere else we went on our trip, it was very clear we were in the height of summer—no place more so than Death Valley. The highest temperature on Earth was recorded at Furnace Creek, California, now the headquarters of Death Valley National Park, back in 1913 when the Mercury reached a sweltering 134 degrees. We haven’t seen that kind of heat since, but Death Valley routinely gets above 120 in the summer. Everyone warned me about driving through Death Valley this time of year, and I have to admit this was the one leg of the trip I was most apprehensive about. But the Mini did just fine. The temperature only got up to 117 that day, but that was plenty hot for us. We kept the automatic climate control set at a comfortable 70 degrees almost the whole way, only turning it off when going uphill (just in case). The AC was off for a minute at most, but a minute felt like an eternity as the heat was radiating through the greenhouse. We’ll never know if that minute of suffering helped us (given that automakers frequently torture test their cars in Death Valley, probably not), but we made it through without a single warning light or any sign that the car was even struggling. Its operators, however, were exhausted from only brief exposure to the extreme heat. The Mini encountered all kinds of road surfaces on this trip, from rocky dirt roads to potholed, unmaintained asphalt, and thankfully its Bridgestone Potenza S001 run-flat summer tires held up and didn’t leave us stranded on the side of the road in triple-digit heat. It was also reassuring to know I had all-wheel drive during a sudden downpour on highway 395 and when I was hugging the side of a mountain on the 3-mile dirt road to Bodie, a California ghost town at the base of the Eastern Sierras. You expect a dirt road to be bumpy, but some of the roughest roads I traveled were paved. There are stretches of Route 66 in San Bernardino County, California, that have been completely neglected. But because I was on a mission to drive as much of the old Mother Road as I could, I subjected the Mini to dozens of miles of cratered, sometimes washboarded blacktop. The payoff was the more interesting desert scenery and endless whoop-de-doos that you don’t get on the interstate. Although it can’t beat the incomparable beauty (and tourist-driven commercialism) of Historic Route 66 in Arizona, California’s section of the Mother Road is worth seeing. But you might be more comfortable seeing it in a car with more ground clearance and more dirt-friendly tires than the Mini because there are portions that are unpaved.

In total, we covered 2,515 miles over 16 days. We spent more than 60 hours in the Mini, and we hardly had any complaints by the end of the trip. Besides the rough patches we hit, the ride was comfortable, and the sport bucket seats were easy on the posterior, though frequent stops to get out and stretch probably helped. The chrome interior trim can catch glare at certain times of day, but sun-defeating measures such as dual driver-side visors help keep the most blinding of light distractions out of your eyes. According to the onboard computer, the Clubman averaged 25.9 mpg, which by no means makes it a fuel sipper, but that number is nearly 1 mpg better than its EPA combined estimate. The Clubman turned out to be a fine choice for our long road trip. If we had more people and luggage, two weeks on the road might not have been possible (at least not comfortably). But if you’re only traveling as a duo, just get out a map and start playing connect the dots. The country is your oyster.

READ MORE ABOUT OUR 2017 MINI CLUBMAN COOPER S ALL4 HERE:

Arrival

Update 1: Turbo Lag and the Launch Control Feature

Update 2: A Treacherous Storm in L.A.

Update 3: Yes, It’ll Fit

Update 4: The Grass is Green Enough

IFTTT

[stormdoors78476]

Trump's First 100 Days: A President's Very Public Education

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health care is complicated. China can be a useful ally. NATO isn’t obsolete. Being president is hard.

Over the course of his 100 days in office, President Donald Trump has been startlingly candid about his public education in the ways of Washington and the world.

He’s been blocked by the courts and befuddled by a divided Republican Party that’s running Congress, and his first months on the job have left the long-time reality-TV and real estate tycoon struggling for major governing victories and searching for a new approach to many of his campaign promises.

His “America first” campaign rhetoric has bumped up against the challenges of conflict overseas. His ambitious declarations on health care and immigration have run into the limits of Congress and the courts.

A president who prides himself on his ideological flexibility has struggled to manage a novice political team, split between moderate and conservative advisers, and he’s found himself reaching out to the friends and business associates from the world he left behind.

On foreign policy, Trump has been persuaded by foreign leaders and has leaned heavily on a national security team with more governing experience than his political advisers. He’s looked for lessons in his biggest victory: putting a conservative judge, Neil Gorsuch, on the Supreme Court.

“I really just see the bigness of it all, but also the responsibility. And the human responsibility,” Trump said in an Associated Press interview, assessing the difficulty of the presidency.

“This is tougher than what he thought,” said Trump friend and business partner Phil Ruffin, who has visited the president twice since he took office Jan. 20. “In business, you make a decision and it happens. In government, it’s not like that.”

Just days into Trump’s presidency, the courts rejected his first travel ban. Since then, they’ve pushed back on his rewritten travel ban and his attempt to cut federal money for cities that harbor people who are in the United States illegally. But Trump’s roughest lesson has come from Congress, which has balked at his attempt to repeal the Obama-era health law his party campaigned against for years.

During the campaign, Trump said the Affordable Care Act would be gone on his first day in the White House. In the weeks after his inauguration, the realities set it.

By February, he told a group of governors that “it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” adding: “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.”

For Trump, the health care battle was a rude introduction to the complicated internal politics in the Republican-run House, which includes hard-liners in the Freedom Caucus and moderates in the Tuesday Group. When the White House made concessions to conservatives, it pushed some moderates away, and vice versa.

Unable to cut a deal in late March, House Republicans pulled the health bill from consideration. Trump lashed out at Freedom Caucus leaders on Twitter and indicated he would seek retribution come campaign season.

Trump’s team tried to pick up the pieces but hasn’t gotten there yet. A renewed burst of momentum this past week, buoyed by hopes the House would vote before Saturday, Trump’s 100th day, petered out. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he would not be rushed by the president’s deadline.

The contrast between the scuttled first attempt on health care and the relative smooth sailing of Gorsuch was a learning experience. The takeaway: working behind the scenes with outside groups, which lined up solidly behind Gorsuch, and lawmakers can pay dividends.

“Outreach to partner organizations starting sooner is helpful and I think that you will see that,” said Marc Short, the White House legislative director. “Probably we were a little bit surprised when we engaged some of the conservative groups on health care that they felt they’d been left out of the conversation from the Hill.”

None of Trump’s top advisers had deep experience in legislating. Now they’ve begun to compensate with outreach. The White House has hosted 230 members of Congress, and there have been 10 bowling sessions in the Executive Mansion’s basement. But no amount of bowling can overcome the division in the Republican Party.

The president has seemed taken aback.

In the AP interview, Trump said there was “a pretty vast area” between the approach by the most conservative members of his party and those who are more moderate.

To bridge the divides, Trump’s advisers have worked to moderate between the factions as his team tries to revive the health bill. The White House is taking a similar approach on the president’s tax plan.

Restless in Washington, Trump is working at “breakneck speed,” chief of staff Reince Priebus told reporters. Sometimes so quickly that his own advisers can’t keep up.

The president’s declaration last week that his team would release a tax proposal before the 100 day mark startled some in the White House, who scrambled to put together the one-page outline that was released Wednesday.

The proposal lacks the details about making taxes simpler and more efficient in ways that don’t add to the federal government’s mounting debt. Those are core Republican principles that would require lawmakers to eliminate or reduce precious tax breaks enjoyed by millions of people.

Trump did meet his goal of starting work on the plan in his first 100 days, but another tough challenge awaits on Capitol Hill as he still contends with health care.

Trump’s frustration with a lack of progress has sometimes erupted in anger — and sometimes in the direction of his political advisers. He’s frequently blamed his team for being unable to quash negative stories. He was particularly incensed by the steady drip of revelations about his campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

After Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped aside from Russia investigations because of his own undisclosed contacts with a Russian ambassador, Trump unleashed on his top advisers in an Oval Office meeting. Sessions’ decision overshadowed Trump’s well-received first address to Congress days earlier; it was a speech the White House hoped would give the president a burst of momentum.

But ultimately it was Trump himself who created the biggest distraction. The morning after his Oval Office row with his staff, he tweeted a series of inflammatory accusations about his predecessor wiretapping Trump’s New York skyscraper.

One of the lowest moments of Trump’s young administration was the forced resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn, who misled the White House about his Russia ties. Flynn’s departure cleared the way for a well-received overhaul of the National Security Council.

Trump has relied heavily on Flynn’s replacement, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who has formed an alliance of experience with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The president has largely heeded their advice on major foreign policy decisions and given the Pentagon vast control over military operations around the world.

It’s been Trump’s evolution on foreign affairs that’s perhaps been clearest to track.

Confronted with photos of injured children, victims of a chemical attack in Syria, Trump quickly pivoted from what he billed as an “America first” policy during the campaign in favor of intervention.

After listening to European leaders make the case for NATO, he stopped saying it was obsolete.

And after pleas from business executives and warnings of economic turmoil from foreign leaders, Trump just this week abruptly abandoned plans to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Each shift has different forces behind it.

On Syria, Priebus said he said sees a “Trump Doctrine” coming into focus: a combination of putting America first but not sitting around while world injustices, such as the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons, go unanswered.

In some cases, Trump has acknowledged he was ill-informed during his campaign. As a candidate, he dismissed the NATO alliance without knowing much about it, he told AP last week. “Now I know a lot.”

He had pledged to label China a currency manipulator, part of his tough-on-China populist rhetoric. But after a particularly warm visit from President Xi Jinping, Trump acknowledged the downside to alienating a power that could be a useful partner in curbing North Korea’s nuclear program.

“The bigger picture, bigger than even currency manipulation, if he’s helping us with North Korea,” he said. “What am I going to do, say, ‘By the way, would you help us with North Korea? And also, you’re a currency manipulator.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

Trump has proved to be open to persuasion, particularly from world leaders and outside forces. When news spread Thursday that Trump was considering triggering the U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA, the leaders of Mexico and Canada launched a diplomatic full-court press to persuade Trump to rethink the plan. It took only a matter of hours before the president relented.

__

Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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[realestate63141]

Trump's First 100 Days: A President's Very Public Education

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health care is complicated. China can be a useful ally. NATO isn’t obsolete. Being president is hard.

Over the course of his 100 days in office, President Donald Trump has been startlingly candid about his public education in the ways of Washington and the world.

He’s been blocked by the courts and befuddled by a divided Republican Party that’s running Congress, and his first months on the job have left the long-time reality-TV and real estate tycoon struggling for major governing victories and searching for a new approach to many of his campaign promises.

His “America first” campaign rhetoric has bumped up against the challenges of conflict overseas. His ambitious declarations on health care and immigration have run into the limits of Congress and the courts.

A president who prides himself on his ideological flexibility has struggled to manage a novice political team, split between moderate and conservative advisers, and he’s found himself reaching out to the friends and business associates from the world he left behind.

On foreign policy, Trump has been persuaded by foreign leaders and has leaned heavily on a national security team with more governing experience than his political advisers. He’s looked for lessons in his biggest victory: putting a conservative judge, Neil Gorsuch, on the Supreme Court.

“I really just see the bigness of it all, but also the responsibility. And the human responsibility,” Trump said in an Associated Press interview, assessing the difficulty of the presidency.

“This is tougher than what he thought,” said Trump friend and business partner Phil Ruffin, who has visited the president twice since he took office Jan. 20. “In business, you make a decision and it happens. In government, it’s not like that.”

Just days into Trump’s presidency, the courts rejected his first travel ban. Since then, they’ve pushed back on his rewritten travel ban and his attempt to cut federal money for cities that harbor people who are in the United States illegally. But Trump’s roughest lesson has come from Congress, which has balked at his attempt to repeal the Obama-era health law his party campaigned against for years.

During the campaign, Trump said the Affordable Care Act would be gone on his first day in the White House. In the weeks after his inauguration, the realities set it.

By February, he told a group of governors that “it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” adding: “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.”

For Trump, the health care battle was a rude introduction to the complicated internal politics in the Republican-run House, which includes hard-liners in the Freedom Caucus and moderates in the Tuesday Group. When the White House made concessions to conservatives, it pushed some moderates away, and vice versa.

Unable to cut a deal in late March, House Republicans pulled the health bill from consideration. Trump lashed out at Freedom Caucus leaders on Twitter and indicated he would seek retribution come campaign season.

Trump’s team tried to pick up the pieces but hasn’t gotten there yet. A renewed burst of momentum this past week, buoyed by hopes the House would vote before Saturday, Trump’s 100th day, petered out. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he would not be rushed by the president’s deadline.

The contrast between the scuttled first attempt on health care and the relative smooth sailing of Gorsuch was a learning experience. The takeaway: working behind the scenes with outside groups, which lined up solidly behind Gorsuch, and lawmakers can pay dividends.

“Outreach to partner organizations starting sooner is helpful and I think that you will see that,” said Marc Short, the White House legislative director. “Probably we were a little bit surprised when we engaged some of the conservative groups on health care that they felt they’d been left out of the conversation from the Hill.”

None of Trump’s top advisers had deep experience in legislating. Now they’ve begun to compensate with outreach. The White House has hosted 230 members of Congress, and there have been 10 bowling sessions in the Executive Mansion’s basement. But no amount of bowling can overcome the division in the Republican Party.

The president has seemed taken aback.

In the AP interview, Trump said there was “a pretty vast area” between the approach by the most conservative members of his party and those who are more moderate.

To bridge the divides, Trump’s advisers have worked to moderate between the factions as his team tries to revive the health bill. The White House is taking a similar approach on the president’s tax plan.

Restless in Washington, Trump is working at “breakneck speed,” chief of staff Reince Priebus told reporters. Sometimes so quickly that his own advisers can’t keep up.

The president’s declaration last week that his team would release a tax proposal before the 100 day mark startled some in the White House, who scrambled to put together the one-page outline that was released Wednesday.

The proposal lacks the details about making taxes simpler and more efficient in ways that don’t add to the federal government’s mounting debt. Those are core Republican principles that would require lawmakers to eliminate or reduce precious tax breaks enjoyed by millions of people.

Trump did meet his goal of starting work on the plan in his first 100 days, but another tough challenge awaits on Capitol Hill as he still contends with health care.

Trump’s frustration with a lack of progress has sometimes erupted in anger — and sometimes in the direction of his political advisers. He’s frequently blamed his team for being unable to quash negative stories. He was particularly incensed by the steady drip of revelations about his campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

After Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped aside from Russia investigations because of his own undisclosed contacts with a Russian ambassador, Trump unleashed on his top advisers in an Oval Office meeting. Sessions’ decision overshadowed Trump’s well-received first address to Congress days earlier; it was a speech the White House hoped would give the president a burst of momentum.

But ultimately it was Trump himself who created the biggest distraction. The morning after his Oval Office row with his staff, he tweeted a series of inflammatory accusations about his predecessor wiretapping Trump’s New York skyscraper.

One of the lowest moments of Trump’s young administration was the forced resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn, who misled the White House about his Russia ties. Flynn’s departure cleared the way for a well-received overhaul of the National Security Council.

Trump has relied heavily on Flynn’s replacement, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who has formed an alliance of experience with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The president has largely heeded their advice on major foreign policy decisions and given the Pentagon vast control over military operations around the world.

It’s been Trump’s evolution on foreign affairs that’s perhaps been clearest to track.

Confronted with photos of injured children, victims of a chemical attack in Syria, Trump quickly pivoted from what he billed as an “America first” policy during the campaign in favor of intervention.

After listening to European leaders make the case for NATO, he stopped saying it was obsolete.

And after pleas from business executives and warnings of economic turmoil from foreign leaders, Trump just this week abruptly abandoned plans to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Each shift has different forces behind it.

On Syria, Priebus said he said sees a “Trump Doctrine” coming into focus: a combination of putting America first but not sitting around while world injustices, such as the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons, go unanswered.

In some cases, Trump has acknowledged he was ill-informed during his campaign. As a candidate, he dismissed the NATO alliance without knowing much about it, he told AP last week. “Now I know a lot.”

He had pledged to label China a currency manipulator, part of his tough-on-China populist rhetoric. But after a particularly warm visit from President Xi Jinping, Trump acknowledged the downside to alienating a power that could be a useful partner in curbing North Korea’s nuclear program.

“The bigger picture, bigger than even currency manipulation, if he’s helping us with North Korea,” he said. “What am I going to do, say, ‘By the way, would you help us with North Korea? And also, you’re a currency manipulator.’ It doesn’t work that way.”

Trump has proved to be open to persuasion, particularly from world leaders and outside forces. When news spread Thursday that Trump was considering triggering the U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA, the leaders of Mexico and Canada launched a diplomatic full-court press to persuade Trump to rethink the plan. It took only a matter of hours before the president relented.

__

Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2pxqI7G