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13 can't-miss TV shows coming in August: What stands out in a hot and crowded month
There are too many good titles to mention in one list, but here are a few to watch out for
By Melanie McFarland
TV Critic
Published July 27, 2019 3:30PM (EDT)
Derek Mio as Chester Nakayama in "The Terror: Infamy" (Ed Araquel/AMC)
In times past August used to be referred to, more than somewhat derisively, as the dog days of summer. Studios belched out movies they didn't know how to market or had little faith in, and TV networks viewed the month as a ratings black hole and as such, not worth much effort beyond airing scheduled repeats prior to the fall season kick-off.
Nowadays on TV, August is competitive. Between some fascinating new shows and returning series availing themselves of a more open runway to launch, there's really no reason to complain that there's nothing on.
A few titles, like Netflix's "Dear White People" (dropping on Friday, Aug. 2) and "GLOW" (returning Friday, Aug. 9) are appointment viewing for the binging crowd, and each boasts impressive guest star additions. Yvette Nicole Brown and Blair Underwood have signed on to the former, and Geena Davis is set to play a prominent guest star role in "GLOW."
This coming Friday also brings the debut of Robin Thede's incisive and hilarious HBO comedy "A Black Lady Sketch Show" at 11 p.m., about which Salon spoke with her at length in a Q&A to be published on Sunday.
The second season return of "Succession" (9 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11 on HBO) is obligatory viewing for anyone bravely striving to stay up-to-date on the best TV dramas on right now. And if that describes you, then don't sleep on Sunday, August 25, which marks the kick off of the final season of Starz's hit series "Power."
Otherwise here are just a few other shows worth checking into, whether because they're sublime or simply ridiculous. We'll be examining a few of these and others more expansively over the next few weeks, but in the meantime look out for them.
"Serengeti," debuts Sunday, Aug. 4 at 8 p.m., Discovery
Accelerating climate change is hell on the planet, but apparently it has also increased the popularity of nature documentaries. This series follows what Discovery describes as "a cast of African wildlife" over the course of a year, and perhaps it goes without saying that the footage is stunning, and Lupita Nyong'o's narration is a mellifluous accompaniment.
Discovery's brand is built around nature non-fiction, but the timing of this series handily places it near enough to the theatrical release of "The Lion King" remake for it to serve as supplementary viewing for parents who don't necessarily want to be on the hook for repeat trips to the movies to pacify their young children.
"BH90210," debuts Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 9 p.m., Fox
Some contingent of permanent teenagers out there craves a "Beverly Hills, 90210" reunion — a real one, not any connected to a CW remake. To those folks Fox is offering a case of "be careful what you wish for" in the form of this scripted mockumentary in which the surviving cast bravely embarks on a quest to pitch a reunion project after a 30th anniversary fan convention in Las Vegas reunites them.
Gabrielle Carteris, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestley, Tori Spelling and Ian Ziering are all on board for this, and regardless of how deep your love is or was for this series, you gotta be curious to see how this will shape up.
"The Terror: Infamy," debuts Monday, Aug. 12 at 9 p.m., AMC
Sometimes horror provides the most relevant and searing indictment on the cruelty of the real world.
In this second installment of the terror anthology series, co-creator Alexander Woo takes on the shameful history of the nation's imprisonment of Japanese-Americans in internment camps during World War II. Elevating the horror of that situation is the addition of disturbed spirit known as a yurei that stalks the families trapped in this real-life nightmare. Among the stars and acting as a consultant is George Takei.
"Our Boys," debuts Monday, Aug. 12 at 9 p.m., HBO
Following the runaway popularity of "Chernobyl" comes this international co-production between HBO and Keshet studios, filmed in Israel. The series covers related crimes that took place in the summer of 2014, involving the murder of three Jewish teenagers by Hamas militants followed by, two days later, the discovery of a Palestinian boy's burned body in a forest outside of Jerusalem. As the Jewish and Arab communities clamor for accountability the story follows the Palestinian teen's parents struggle to find justice in a system passionately aligned against them.
"David Makes Man," debuts Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 10 p.m., OWN
The TV home of the gorgeously filmed, heartfelt "Queen Sugar" adds this poetic coming-of-age drama from Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Moonlight." David (Akili McDowell) is a 14-year-old boy living in the aftermath of his best friend's death, caught between choices that could lift him out of poverty or trap him in a cycle of survival. Alternately devastating and optimistic, I have high expectations for this one.
"On Becoming a God in Central Florida," debuts Sunday, Aug. 25 at 10 p.m., Showtime
Maybe it's because Kirsten Dunst stars in this, but the premise gives us echoes of the brand of weird that made "Drop Dead Gorgeous" such a cult favorite. Dunst plays Krystal Stubbs, a minimum-wage theme park grunt who cons her way to the top of a pyramid scheme run by an oily huckster named Obie Garbeau II (Ted Levine).
"The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance," Friday, Aug. 30, Netflix
Jim Henson's groundbreaking 1982 film introduced a new fantasy world called Thra that he was never able to expand upon, and in its initial release the story's lack of association with the family-friendly Muppet brand kept moviegoers away. But the tale has its fans, and a continued fascination with its mythos has finally yielded a prequel that follows three heroes, all elf-like creatures called Gelfling, who discover the damning secret source of the universe's monstrous, vulture-like villains called the Skeksis. It boasts a substantial star-studded voice cast that includes Taron Egerton, Awkwafina, Mark Hamill, Nathalie Emmanuel, Nathalie Dormer, Lena Headey and Sigourney Weaver.
"Carnival Row," Friday, Aug. 30, Amazon
Amazon has enough faith in this series that it has picked it up for a second season prior to its premiere. The streaming service is banking on the Victorian fantasy's appeal as an allegory of the intolerance pervading our precarious present, with mythological immigrant creatures clashing with the humans who invades their homelands.
In this story, preternatural creatures are restricted from using their abilities. Even so, a human detective named Rycroft Philostrate (Orlando Bloom) rekindles his love affair with a refugee faerie named Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevingne) as a series of murders terrorizes the Row.
Melanie McFarland is Salon's TV critic. Follow her on Twitter: @McTelevision
MORE FROM Melanie McFarland
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Parks Caribbean
Benefits of Parks
Protected Areas 101
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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HomeVehicle ReviewsBMWROAD TEST: 2018 BMW M760Li xDrive
ROAD TEST: 2018 BMW M760Li xDrive
December 18, 2017 Shari Prymak BMW
Back in the 1980s, BMW was taking aim at the Mercedes S-Class with its 7-Series luxury flagship. The S-Class had the edge with its mighty V8 engine, giving it bragging rights over the 7's smaller straight-sixes. Rather than go head-to-head with a V8 of their own, however, BMW came out with a trump card – a brand new V12 engine. It was the first to be built in Germany since the 1930s, joining an exclusive club occupied only by Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Jaguar. It turned out to be a wise move. The V12 gave the 7-Series an unmatched level of power and refinement. Mercedes would eventually react with a V12 of their own, which was probably a sign of the threat conjured up by BMW.
The tradition of V12-powered flagships continues to this day with cars such as this: the BMW M760Li xDrive by M Performance. That's right. Even though it's not technically a full-on M car, the 7-Series finally gets a sprinkling of that BMW M magic.
The centrepiece is the twin-turbocharged 6.6L V12 engine, shared with Rolls Royce, which produces 601 horsepower and 590lb-ft of torque. It's a silky-smooth unit with enough twist to move this luxury-limo from 0-100km/hr in a mere 3.7 seconds. It certainly feels every bit the straight-line weapon that it is. The crisp-shifting ZF 8-speed automatic offers a manual mode with paddle-shifters, however, I found it more fun to just leave it in drive, plant your foot to the floor, and hold on for dear life. The noise it makes is a pleasing V12 growl befitting an M badge. Go gentle on it, however, and it operates in near total silence.
Despite the insane performance, what's immediately clear about the M760Li is that it was designed to be a 7-Series before an M car. BMW has packed in loads of tech to make it feel far sportier than its enormous size and heft would suggest. A rear-biased xDrive all-wheel drive system works with M-tuned four-wheel steering, adaptive suspension, and active anti-roll bars to control movement and body motions without sacrificing ride quality or refinement. Regardless of whether it's being hustled through the corners or stretching its legs down the freeway, the M760Li never loses its composure or its suppleness. It's incredibly capable, but still a little too big and heavy to be what I'd call engaging.
On the outside, the M760Li differentiates itself from lesser models with a full M Performance aerodynamic package, M Sport brakes, 20 inch M light-alloy wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sport rubber, and an M Sport exhaust system with large tailpipe finishers and active flaps for that throatier sound. None of the garnish, however, is quite as eye-catching as the available Frozen Dark Brown Metallic paint of my test car, which has a stunning matte sheen to it.
Changes to the interior from other 7-Series models are far more minimal, but it's still just as opulent and feature-heavy as one could reasonably imagine. Front seat occupants enjoy multicontour seats covered in soft Merino leather, beautiful wood trim with coloured accent lighting, and an endless array of gizmos and semi-autonomous technology. With the available rear-seat package selected, backseat riders get a portable tablet which controls everything from the multi-massage reclining seats, to the motorized sunshades and lighting, to the rear-seat entertainment screens. At the push of a button, the front passenger seat can even be motorized forward and deploy a footrest for extra leg-stretching relaxation.
There's no question that the M760Li is a paragon of refinement and incredible performance. It's even something of a bargain if you can call a six-figure priced car that. Where a Mercedes-AMG S65 commands $253,300 to start, the M760Li xDrive entry price is a comparably reasonable $162,200. The real question is whether to go with the M760Li or BMW's own Alpina B7 (Tested Here). The B7 is arguably more exclusive with similar straight-line performance and more playful handling thanks to a lower curb weight. For some, myself included, it's the better choice. For others, however, nothing can top the appeal and bragging rights of a V12 under the hood. Either way, BMW's got you covered.
BMW M760Li
COMPARISON REVIEW: 2018 Kia Niro vs 2018 Nissan Qashqai
ROAD TEST: 2018 Mini Cooper Countryman


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Soccer 500
ESM Golden Shoe
ESM XI
Brian Glanville
Tim Vickery
Keir Radnedge
Steve Menary
David Conn
Gavin Hamilton
Jim Holden
Paddy Agnew
Nick Bidwell
Sid Lowe
Chelsea Transfer News
Adriano was hailed as returning emperor and he did not disappoint, writes Tim Vickery
Emperor celebrates leading role in Flamengo title success.
In his first game after rejoining Flamengo, Adriano's presence put an extra 50,000 on the gate. "The emperor has returned," they chanted – and the 27-year-old striker was looking imperious from day one. His 19 goals – making him the competition's joint-top scorer – and his all-round attacking play were vital to the Rio de Janeiro giants ending a 17-year wait to win the Brazilian Championship.
All this represented a remarkable comeback just a few months after mental health problems forced Adriano to quit Italian football and even muse about retiring from the game.
In truth, his success on the field does not necessarily mean that all his problems have been solved and he has confessed to a problem with alcohol. During the campaign he missed the occasional training session and bizarrely missed the crucial, penultimate round when he turned up with an injured foot. The official line was that he had stepped on a light bulb. Few believed it, and plenty of alternative explanations circulated in Rio. His good fortune was that Flamengo won without him, while chief rivals Sao Paulo lost, and a possible title win suddenly became probable.
Flamengo could afford to treat his lapses with tolerance because when he was on the field Adriano won matches. At times he looked like an adult who had wandered on to a kids' game. From day one it was apparent that any decent cross from the byline would give him an excellent scoring chance – and right-back Leonardo Moura was a consistent provider.
In the closing months of the championship Adriano forged a wonderful relationship with veteran Serb playmaker Dejan Petkovic, his main supply line through the middle of the field. Petkovic gave Adriano the chance to show he is much more than a big, hulking striker, and that his movement can be intelligent, while his left foot is capable of surprising subtlety as well as fearsome power. Theirs was the link-up that won the title.
The speed of his recovery meant that Adriano was only out of the Brazil squad for a brief interlude and he goes into 2010 as Luis Fabiano's reserve. As well as the World Cup, the year also gives him the chance to represent Flamengo in the Libertadores Cup. But will he take it?
There is much speculation about his future, with potential transfer offers likely to come in from Italy and England. However, it is worth remembering that his battle against depression in Italy is very recent and if he does go back to Europe then his employers will have to be aware that inside Adriano's giant frame there beats the heart of a vulnerable child.
Whether he stays or goes, the emperor will need to be handled with care.
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World Soccer June 2019
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Despite international success, coaches at home in Brazil…
Return Of The Milan Clubs | Paddy Agnew
The two clubs are seeking to get back…
2020 Copa America Raises Several Key Issues | Tim Vickery
The tournament held across Argentina and Colombia has…
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After going out in the group stages, Italy's…
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Museo civico Palazzo dei Consoli. Gubbio (PG)
Palazzo dei Consoli. Gubbio (PG)
The Museo Civico is hosted inside Palazzo dei Consoli, in the historic city center of Gubbio. This building is visible from very far distances; the façade overlooks Piazza Grande, a highly elevated terrace, and political fulcrum of the town of Gubbio in the 14th century. [...] Palazzo dei Consoli was built in the 14th century as the residence of the supreme magistrates in the free Commune, and is the premises of the Civic Museum of the town today. The Civic Museum of Gubbio undoubtedly deserves a visit, not only because of the suggestive scenery in which it is immersed, but above all for the collections of art it preserves inside. The archaeological section preserves a collection of very famous "Eugubine Tablets", the most important document in the Umbrian language and the most comprehensive description of religious rites ever found. The works displayed in the Art Gallery, such as the wooden Crucifix, work of the Master of the Cross from Gubbio, and the Gonfalon of Sinibaldo Ibi, a banner depicting The Madonna of the Mercy and St Ubald are also important. In fact the Museum houses various sections. The archaeological collection is among the richest in Umbria and includes finds dating back to the Umbrian and Roman ages, some inscriptions and a conspicuous numismatic collection. The core of the collection is represented by the Eugubine Tablets, seven engraved bronze sheets, representing the most important text ever known in the Umbrian language. The collection of ceramics, set up in the Loggetta Room and along the secret corridor displaying majolica items dating from the 14th to the 19th centuries, is also worth noting. Among them, the Renaissance production of the Master Giorgio Andreoli, who made célèbre the red-luster and golden-luster ceramic tin-glazing technique from Gubbio, stands out. The rooms on the main floor of the palace—the Piano Nobile—house the Art Gallery. The collection includes majestic painted crosses like the wooden Crucifix, work of the Master of the Cross from Gubbio, and polyptychs painted on wooden panels, such as the 14th century Illuminated Reliquary. The collection includes detached frescoes coming from the churches in town, executed in the 14th century by painters from Gubbio, and numerous works executed around the 16th and 17th century by local and foreign artists. Among these there are the artists Pietro Paolo Baldinacci, Benedetto and Virgilio Nucci, Federico Brunori, Felice Damiani from Gubbio and Orlando Merlini and Sinibaldo Ibi from Perugia. On the ground floor of the Museum two new sections have been inaugurated: one section illustrates the works, documents and objects relating to that historical period in Italy—and in Gubbio—that is called Risorgimento, i.e. the 19th century movement for the unification of the nation; the other section displays a collection of ancient oriental objects, from India, Tibet and South-East Asia that were donated to the Municipality of Gubbio in the 1920s.
Foto di Bellu, Sandro/ Bovini, Mirko/ Giorgetti, Alessio
Assonometria del museo
Sala delle Tavole, III-II secolo a.C.
Sala dell'Arengo
Brocca bronzea
Foto di Giorgetti, Alessio/ Lucarini, Giorgio
Statua virile in marmo
Ritratto virile cosiddetto di Narsete
Brocca a vernice nera
Ritratto virile cosiddetto di Apollo
Pittore del XIV secolo, Maestà, inizi del XIV secolo
Mastro Giorgio, Piatto in ceramica a lustro, 1527


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Het NAFC-kampioenschap 1949 (North American Nations Cup) was de 2e editie van het NAFC-kampioenschap, georganiseerd door North American Football Union. Deze wedstrijden golden ook voor de kwalificatie voor het WK voetbal van 1950. Oorspronkelijk werden er 4 landen uitgenodigd, Canada haakte echter af. Het toernooi werd voor de tweede keer gewonnen door Mexico, die bleven redelijk gemakkelijk bovenaan in de poule, ze wonnen alle wedstrijden en scoorden 17 doelpunten in de vier wedstrijden. De Verenigde Staten werd tweede en kwalificeerde zich daardoor voor het WK. Het zou voorlopig het laatste toernooi zijn, in 1961 ging het toernooi op in het CONCACAF-kampioenschap. Toch zou er in 1990 en 1991 weer een toernooi georganiseerd worden. Voor slechts 2 jaar omdat vanaf dat moment CONCACAF Gold Cup zou starten en de leden van NAFC daarvoor automatische geplaatst zijn.

Eindstand

Wedstrijden

Voetbal in 1949
Voetbal in Mexico
NAFC-kampioenschap

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Kerzing est un village camerounais situé au sein de la commune de Baschéo, dans le département de Bénoué, dans la région du Nord.

Climat
A l'instar de sa commune, Kerzing bénéficie d'un climat tropical de type soudanien à deux saisons, une saison sèche qui dure sept mois (octobre - avril) et une saison de pluie qui va de mai à septembre

Démographie
Le Bureau Central des Recensements Et Des Études De Population (BUCREP) a estimé la population du village de Kerzing à 175 habitants, soitn0,65% de la population de la commune. Cette population se caractérise par une population masculine (95 hommes) légèrement supérieure à la population féminine du village (80 femmes).

Notes et références

Village dans la région du Nord (Cameroun)


Mobile Streams (AIM:MOS), the emerging markets focused mobile media company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Bill to its board as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 January 2018.
Jonathan worked a Vodafone from 2002 to 2013 initially starting as Head of Internet Services in the UK before becoming Director of Internet and Data Services for Vodafone Egypt. In 2009 Jonathan became Head of Emerging Markets, Vodafone Group Marketing for Vodafone Group before being appointed as Senior Vice President of Internet Services & Innovation at Vodafone Essar Limited in India. In this last role he played a key part in developing Vodafone India's internet and data strategy focused on 23 local markets and 150 million customers. Since leaving Vodafone, Jonathan has remained in India and has launched a number of start up businesses, including BillBachao, an online mobile prepay recharge website and data usage app which was subsequently sold in September 2015. Jonathan is currently the CEO and co-founder of CreditMate, an Indian fintech company focused on providing finance for the used motorcycle market in India.
Simon Buckingham, CEO of Mobile Streams, commented: "I am delighted that Jonathan has joined the Mobile Streams board. His expertise from living and working in India is the perfect match for us. He understands our products and markets and is a successful entrepreneur, investor and fundraiser."
Save for the disclosures above, there are no further disclosures to be made in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules in respect of Jonathan Bill.


53 members have or want this plant for trade.
There have been 5 comments posted about this bloom.
I have this beauty planted in the ground--makes an excellent base plant to ANYTHING.
Wow.. neat plant! Thanks for all the info Tarpon Deb!


Dory, Marlin and Nemo are back! Can your child help Dory find her parents?
Dory, Marlin and Nemo set off on a journey across the ocean to find Dory's parents. However, along the way, Dory is captured and placed in a huge aquarium, where she is reunited with her childhood friend Destiny, a whale shark, and a beluga whale named Bailey. Can they help Dory piece together her memories in order to finally find her parents?
Swimming costumes at the ready, because with this personalised Finding Dory book, there's another very important character in this story: your child! Add their name to find out if they can help Marlin and Nemo find Dory.
Don't forget to personalise your book with your child's name, which will be printed on the cover and featured throughout the book. Also add a special message to feature on the title page before the story. And, exclusive to In The Book, upload a photo to truly create a personalised Finding Dory gift like no other.


When building or remodeling your kitchen and / or bathroom, you must make a crucial decision: Granite Countertops, Laminate Countertops, or Solid Surface countertops (Corian, Meganite, LG Hi-Macs, Wilsonart) – which is preferable?
There is no doubt that Marble or Granite Countertops have a certain "snob appeal", and you will pay accordingly to get them. The great majority of homes have laminate countertops, and when done well, they look great – for a while. Corian Solid Surface Countertops have only recently become popular, but there are many reasons that they are the best choice.
In addition to being expensive, Granite Countertops are very heavy, and although they are quite hard, they're as fragile as glass. Drop a cast iron skillet on your new granite countertop, and you are likely to do damage which is simply irreparable. Broken stone is broken stone – forever! The only good solution will be to replace that entire section of granite countertop – and even then, color / pattern matching will likely be impossible. You may be certain that such repairs will come at a high cost!
Laminate countertops can look just like Granite, or Marble, or Wood, or a great variety of lovely patterns, and they can be beautiful. They are the least expensive option, are rather tough, and can actually stand impact with less damage than Granite – but there is a down side. The pattern on laminate tops is actually printed – just like a newspaper! No kidding! That gorgeous image which is made into the laminate is printed on a printing press and covered with a thin layer of clear protective plastic. Laminate countertops are easily scratched, and when that happens, the only cure is to replace the laminate. The process is much less expensive than replacing Granite countertops, but it's neither cheap nor easy.
Corian Solid Surface Countertops will cost significantly more than laminate countertops – but they are far less expensive than Granite countertops. The material is available in a broad range of colors and patterns, and in solid surface tops, the color / pattern goes all of the way through the solid surface countertop material. It is a strong, tough grade of hard acrylic plastic, which will withstand an amazing amount of abuse. If you should have the misfortune of scratching your solid surface countertop, Hardflex technicians can usually buff and polish it to near new condition. Even if you should manage to break the material, we can usually restore it. That's why Hardflex can offer our standard 15 year warranty on our solid surface countertops.
For more information on the advantages of solid surface countertops, see our pages on countertop rebuff, countertop repair, and other related articles. You should not even consider making a choice between Granite Countertops, Laminate Countertops, and Corian Solid Surface Countertops until you have talked with the professionals at Hardflex!


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Home › Bulls: Beautiful Finish
Bulls: Beautiful Finish
Product Type: Lithograph
"Bulls: Beautiful Finish"
Signed and Numbered *Limited Edition 16" x 20" Lithograph
It was, without question, a fairy tale ending, a moment of crowning glory, the victor's march. The most remarkable career in professional basketball was coming to an end. Michael Jordan was calling it quits - this time for good. The man who had graced the NBA with his incomparable acrobatics, dazzling smile and seemingly endless string of "great" games was bowing out. But it just may be his final act that people will remember.
As Phil Jackson said, "That was beautiful, what a finish!"
With Chicago down by one point and the ball in the hands of Karl Malone on the Bulls' end of the court, the victory was surely won. All Malone and the Jazz had to do was run out the clock. But this was not an ordinary ending. This was Michael Jordan with one last opportunity to show off his remarkable skill. It was the artist's finishing touch on a masterpiece called Air Jordan. It was picturesque, classic MJ announcing to basketball fans everywhere that there was only room for one man at the top of basketball's Who's Who.
As the clock ticked off the final seconds, time stood still as the thousands packed in the arena and millions more watching by television held their collective breath. And then as if fate had laid a providential hand on Jordan, the monumental move was made. With catlike quickness, #23 whisked the ball from Malone's grasp, streaked down court, and with every ounce of pride and determination pumping through his veins, the man who had seemingly done it all did it again and nailed a two-pointer from the top of the key for an 87-86 Bulls' victory. It was indeed a fitting end to the greatest basketball career of them all.
Now, America's Sports Artist, Rick Rush, has recorded this classic treasure for sports fans everywhere with "Beautiful Finish," a work certain to retain a timeless value. Rush's dynamic creation of MJ's finale details the heart and soul of Jordan's last second heroics with all the excitement, color and poignancy that saturated Jordan's career: Jordan's steal, the final second jumper flanked by Scottie Pippen, and a desperate Bryon Russell, the Jazz's defender, on the floor.
The framework for this marvelous depiction is a background that includes the six banners marking the Bulls' six world championships, the World Championship Trophy that represents each victory, a bronze "logo" of Jordan in front of The United Center with his shooting hand held characteristically high, and a ghostly representation of Old Chicago Stadium where many memorable Bulls' triumphs took place.
Collectively, these icons mesh to create a fresh but enduring tribute to a "Beautiful Finish."
A Fresh Breeze
Above the Crowd
Amazing Amari
Bears: Won For Papa
Bulls: A Sunday Drive


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The art of decluttering doesn't work so well on young ones who've inherited hoarder genes
In this week's Chubby Hubby, Portly Papa column, Aun Koh discovers the difficulty of downsizing and de-junking with two kids.
(Art: Chern Ling)
By Aun Koh
18 May 2019 08:58AM (Updated: 18 May 2019 11:21AM )
If any of you follow either my wife or me on Instagram, you'd know we moved homes very recently. For my wife, who planned the layout of the home and created a dream kitchen with our architect, this has been a particularly stressful last couple of weeks. It's also been stressful for our kids, who have only ever lived in the old place. Our oldest is eight and we've been in that house for almost a decade.
The move does have major upsides for the kids. My oldest is thrilled because one of his best buddies lives in the same development we've moved to. My daughter loves the multiple (yes, multiple) swimming pools. She's also excited to scoot to school in the future (assuming that we can actually get her into the primary school around the corner).
(Photo: Freepik)
The new home, though, is considerably smaller than our old place. We were lucky when we built our old home – we were able to get the plot ration waived and we took the opportunity to squeeze out a fair amount of space without sacrificing style nor functionality. And, thanks to very smart architects, our old place had loads of built-in storage. The new place, while nice, is quite cookie cutter with almost no built-in storage. In terms of square footage, it's also a good 25 per cent smaller than our old home.
All of this essentially translated into a clear need to downsize. Which, for a family of hoarders, was a very painful exercise. Let me clarify, it's been especially painful for my wife Su-Lyn. Not because she had to give up a lot of her things. I mean, she did, but in our family, she actually has the lowest propensity to squirrel things away. Maybe it's because she is the most un-Golem-like of us all, but she ended up being the one stuck with reminding the rest of us that we needed to do some serious decluttering.
(Photo: Pexels)
But here's the thing with kids and decluttering. It's pretty hard to do. Because while a child might forget about a toy (or a game or a book or even a sweater) for a while, if you remind him of it, and then say something along the lines of, "so, can we donate this or give it away?" or even worse, "I think we should throw this away," that toy also of a sudden becomes his or her favourite toy. Because all things spark joy when you're young.
Decluttering queen Marie Kondo wrote, "Keep only those things that speak to your heart." My daughter would be the first to tell Ms Kondo that every single one of her frilly dresses, her plastic tiaras, her stuffed toys, her wooden fruit, every single Lego block, her collection of countless plastic eggs, her storybooks, her ever-growing collection of hair accessories, all of her bangles, necklaces, and other (fake) jewellery all speak to her heart. Knowing my little girl, she'd probably harrumph and exhibit some oft-practiced side eye if she ever did get the opportunity to meet Ms Kondo in the flesh.
Su-Lyn did try her best to weed out a lot of the kids' things. The good and bad thing about young kids is they grow so fast. That means they outgrow clothes far too soon. Which is great when you're trying to pack only what fits, but damned depressing when you start doing the mental math on how much these kids have costs you over time. In the packing madness, we discovered that almost none of T1's pants actually fit him. This also explains why he's always wearing shorts that looks like a 1970s athlete (i.e. far too short for public outings). A good forty percent of T1's wardrobe has now been donated to charity.
On the other hand, T2 has a wardrobe full of princess dresses, many of which have been donated to us by other friends (whose own little girls have outgrown them) which she's yet to grow into. During the packing process, they filled one wardrobe box all by themselves – a scary rainbow-coloured box of polyester, frills, sparkles and unicorn dreams.
The funniest exercise (for me at least) was when Su-Lyn attempted to have the kids declutter their stuffed toys. I will say openly that the kids are very spoiled – grandparents, godparents, friends and we have all enabled building a Doctor Moreau-level menagerie of real and mythical fuzzy, cuddly animals over the last eight years. Also, because T1 has severe dust mite allergies, as much as he loves cuddling stuffed toys, he really shouldn't, because he always ends up with itchy eyes and a runny nose. So, supermom tried her best to have the kids work with her to divide these fuzzy animals into "keep" and "donate" piles.
Once again, Ms Kondo writes, "You should let your kids experience the selection process by touching all of their toys. It's also important how they throw away their toys. They can earn a stronger sense of valuing things when they throw things away with respect and appreciation." Great sentiment but harder to do in practice. When mommy had laid out all the stuffed toys, the kiddies went through them, hugging each in turn and taking the ones they wanted. The rest were left out in a big stuffed toy bin, earmarked for donation. Over the next hour, however, every single one of these fuzzy little guys quietly migrated to the kids' bedroom. I guess the kids felt that every single bear, pony, bunny, and other creature sparked joy in them.
In the wee hours of the night, my wife had to do her own job of culling the animals, keeping the ones she felt the kids truly loved, curating a few other special ones, but quickly boxing the rest away -- "Out of sight, out of mind" a much simpler and more practical philosophy when it comes to kids.


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Albert Einstein , Avenger, Doc Savage, Enrico Fermi, H.G. Wells, Howard Hughes, Lamont Cranston, Margo Lane, Shadow, Voodoo Master.
Today: In his remote science lab in the Himalayas, Doc Savage prepares to activate his Universal Quantum Machine, which may make time travel possible. He tells his colleagues that the project was funded 75 years ago by Richard Henry Benson, the Avenger….
The story then flips back to 1939 where Doc is discussing splitting the atom and discovering its secrets with Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and a nervous H.G. Wells. He is planning to fly them all to his new atomic lab in the Himalayas, stopping in New York to pick up Richard Henry Benson, their financier….
Meanwhile, Benson is presiding over a board meeting at his company Hallibenson in the wake of his father's recent death; Benson is refusing to cover for executives who have been linked by the FBI to the villainous Dr Rodil Mocquino, and they are threatening him. Benson assures his wife and daughter that everything will be fine while they are flying to Nepal with Doc Savage….
Today: Doc's supercollider tears a wormhole though time but the machine runs out of control and hurls a jet in to the past. Doc flies his P-39 Airacobra after it and boards the craft as they are hurled into 1939. The air traffics controllers deny this strange futuristic craft permission to land but the Man of Bronze asks them to contact Howard Hughes to verify his identity. Elsewhere in the airport as Hughes rushes to the runway, Margo Lane and Lamont Cranston are intercepted by the Shadow who orders Cranston to leave the country so he can assume his identity. Aboard the jet, Doc explains everything to Howard Hughes. On his way to meet Doc, "Cranston" is overpowered and carried off to Benson's plane. This is observed by Dr Rodil Mocquino a/k/a the Voodoo Master, who is plotting the destruction of Hughes, Cranston, Benson, and Savage, and he recognizes an enemy working against him….
Last time I asked "Anybody out there catch something I missed?" Well, by now you should all have caught my misspelling of TWILIGHT ZONE! And me an editor!
Peter Silvestro (September 2, 2014)
Comments: a) This comic follows the pulp Shadow tales in having "Lamont Cranston" be a character the Shadow assumes rather than his true identity as in the more famous radio series; b) the Voodoo Master battled the Shadow in issues #97, 102, and 151 of the original pulp series; c) 1939 Doc Savage has normal looking hair as on the pulp covers but modern Doc has the widow's peak made famous by James Bama for the Bantam reprint series; d) none of Doc's aides appear in the issue; e) evil board members Robeson, Ernst, and Walter are named after Kenneth Robeson (house name for the authors of the Doc Savage and Avenger pulps), Paul Ernst (real author of the early Avengers stories), and Walter B. Gibson (author of most of the Shadow tales); f) the Shadow and Howard Hughes previously met in the Dynamite series THE SHADOW/GREEN HORNET: DARK NIGHTS," also written by Uslan; g) writer Michael Uslan mentions that there are a few tributes to THE TILIGHT ZONE in the story; I spotted "The Odyssey of Flight 33," "Twenty-two," and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Anybody out there catch something I missed?
Review: Very nice epic teaming the three Street and Smith pulp heroes for the first time. Looks like Dick Benson isn't yet the Avenger and they are setting up his origin for #2. No word yet on whether Doc Savage and the Shadow already know one another or this will turn out to be third "first meeting" of the two (after DC and Dark Horse, found elsewhere on this site). Mike Uslan gets the characterizations right and the art is a great improvement over the Doc Savage miniseries which preceded this; the layouts are nice and the art is more vibrant than the rather static Doc series. Uslan also opts to mix historical figures in with his pulp heroes which makes sense with a character like Doc Savage. This can be very good if it isn't overdone; that verdict will have to wait until the end of the series. My biggest complaint with the story is that the plot can be murky (a problem shared with many but not most, time-travel tales). It took me several readings to realize that there are two "Flight 33s" in the story and that all of the Benson scenes are set in 1939. The fault there lay in some anachronisms in the board room scene, with "CFO" and "You're toast" appearing several decades prematurely. Quibbles aside, this looks like it will be an excellent addition to the annals of Doc Savage comics--and Avenger comics, though I can't speak for the Shadow. Can't wait for issue #2!


A farmer explains the relationship between glyphosate, soil fertility and climate change.
German Research Foundation Workshop – DFG Funding Programs for early-career researchers and transatlantic cooperation.
Designated Emphasis in Biotechnology Program (DEB).
ASPB-Pioneer Hi-Bred Graduate Student Fellowship.
Pioneer Hi-Bred Honorary Plant Breeding Fellowships.
NIH T32 Training Grant in Molecular and Cellular Biology.


All drivers are prohibited from reading, writing, or sending text messages or emails while they are driving unless the car is at a complete stop off the roadway. Exceptions are the following: 1) using a GPS device, 2) sending text messages using voice commands, 3) entering a number to place a phone call, 4) truckers, bus drivers and emergency personnel may use digital dispatch systems, 5) public safety workers and healthcare professionals may read text messages as part of carrying out their official duties, and 6) all drivers may read messages about safety-related information such as Amber Alerts, traffic alerts, and whether alerts.
If drivers are found to have read, written or sent text messages or emails while driving, they will be guilty of a simple misdemeanor with a fine of $100, including court costs. Violation does not constitute a "moving violation" and will not give rise to a suspension of your license. Penalties are increased if you injure someone in an accident while texting or emailing. Police officers are not entitled to stop you based only on a perceived texting violation. If you are stopped, officers may not confiscate your phone.
Restrictions for teen drivers are more severe. Teen drivers with a learner's permit, intermediate license, school license, or restricted work license are prohibited from using any electronic communication or entertainment device while driving unless the car is a complete stop off the roadway. This means that in addition to the restrictions put on all drivers, teens may not talk on cellular phone while driving. The only exceptions are teens who have devices that are permanently installed in their vehicle or that are operated through permanently installed equipment.
A violation for a teen driver is a simple misdemeanor and a fine of $100, including court costs. Again, the violation is not a "moving violation," however, a violation may give rise to license restrictions, suspended licenses or even a revocation of a teen's license. As with the prohibition for all drivers, penalties increase if the teen injures someone while using an electronic communication or entertainment device. Enforcement provisions are also slightly different than those for texting. If a police officer sees a teen using the phone while driving, they may legally pull the teen over based only on that violation.
During the first year of the new law's operation, police officers will be only giving out warnings to persons texting while driving. However, after the first year, officers will be imposing citations and fines. Remember, whether legal or not, the safer option is for all drivers to stay off their cell phones in order to avoid accidents caused by distracted driving. Now read the full next of the new law, click here. For more information on distracted driving, see the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website.
Who can be held responsible for my child's lead poisoning?


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Whistle Stop Tour 2020
Stop #1: Burlington, VT
2019 On Demand Videos
Past Photos & Video
On Demand Videos
The Guide to YouTube Success in 2020 – Mike Stelzner
http://traffic.libsyn.com/themarketingagents/AOCP-324-Mike-Stelzner.mp3
Looking for data-driven advice on how you should be using video to engage your audience? Want fresh approaches to standing out on YouTube and getting more views? Want to discover the latest tactics that are working for video marketing?
Michael Stelzner shares the approach to video and YouTube that has been working for Social Media Examiner and will help your business build and audience and drive traffic as well.
He also explains why companies should be focusing on video and making sure it's part of their digital marketing this year and beyond.
Rich: My next guest's team sent over a short bio, but this is the third or fourth time he's been on the show, so let's forgo any formalities.
This is a man who befriended me in our first meeting, at which he picked up the check for like 20 of us, took me under his wing, mentored me, and provided me some of the best business advice I had ever received. He is incredibly insightful and will often ask me questions that I'm afraid to ask myself.
I ascribe a lot of the opportunities I've had over the years to his generosity, but I also know he doesn't tolerate mediocracy, so I must have learned something from him. I love having him on the show because he makes all of his decisions based on data and insight, and I name drop him regularly in my presentation on How to Be a Thought Leader. I'm always happy to have him back on the show, Michael Stelzner. Mike, welcome back to The Agents of Change.
Mike: Hey Rich, super awesome to have you. Wasn't that 10 years ago when we first met?
Rich: It was something like that because I think that was Blog World in Vegas.
Mike: Yeah. Is that were Lewis Howes was there and Amy Porterfield was there?
Rich: I don't remember. If Amy was there she was really quiet and mousy back then, which just goes to show you how long ago that was. But I remember you and Mari Smith were there, and I think you were kind of leading this group, and I kind of got in by Denise Wegman inviting me at the last minute.
Mike: That was over 10 years ago because we just turned 10.
Rich: Yes. Because you showed me this business card at the time which had Scout on it and were like, "Oh Rich, here's my new business, Social Media Examiner". And I thought to myself, oh great, what the world needs is another blog about social media. And the bottom line is I also thought email was ridiculous when I first heard about it. I think the thing is I just don't see good things coming until its too late.
Mike: It's all good.
Rich: Anyway. One of the big announcements that I saw come out of your camp this year is that Social Media Examiner is going all in on YouTube. And I'm curious to know why that is, and what are you dropping to focus on YouTube?
Mike: Well that's a great question. It all started when I read an article in Fast Company or Wired Magazine about how Alexa was threatening Google search. And I did a little Google search for the phrase "social media" on my mobile phone and I was shocked to see literally pages and pages of stuff that Google delivered up before they showed me in slot #2. So technically I had to scroll like 6 screens down to see that I was ranked #2 or #3 in the phrase "social media".
What I realized is that Google sees Alexa/Amazon as a threat. And the days of organic search traffic are kind of maybe not going to be here in the future because Google wants to deliver the one correct answer, in the same way every other smart speaker wants to. And they want to do it in search.
I saw the writing on the wall, I wrote a blog post called, The Death of Organic Search, that kind of laid out all the data. And I said the future is going to be diversification. Now I know what you're thinking, "Wait a minute, doesn't Google own YouTube?" Yes, they own YouTube but I began to realize that it's harder and harder now for written word to be discovered with the socials and with Google not necessarily driving traffic anymore.
So I thought to myself that the next best thing these days is long form video. And I began exploring YouTube and I just started to notice that people on YouTube stay on YouTube and spend outrageous amounts of time on YouTube. So I made a commitment for the next 2 years to invest heavily in the development of exclusive content on YouTube.
Rich: Alright, so I have a few questions about that. One is just a point of clarification. So when you're talking about the fact that you had to scroll down 6 pages to see you were #2, did I understand that correctly and what exactly were you scrolling down?
Mike: If you type in "social media" right now on your phone, you're going to see all sorts of stuff. You're going to see stuff like the definition of the word social media, you're going to see Google recommend all these other things, you're just going to see a lot of stuff. And then eventually you're going to get to the search results.
So what Google is doing is it's trying to answer the question that you are trying to type in without having anyone click. There is a statistic that I came across recently that said 51% of all Google searches have no clicks.
Rich: Yeah, I saw that too and it shook me to my core.
Mike: That's a problem for those of us that create content. So that's why I said it's time to wake up and diversify. In my mind podcasting – we've got a good podcast, both of us, you and me – but video and in particular You Tube, I saw as a big opportunity that we were late to the game.
Rich: Ok, so I understand where you're coming from. And because Google does put a lot of things like the knowledge boxes and the 'people also ask', and the local results, and the paid results, and everything else like that above a lot of their "organic results". So the meritocracy that Google used to be is really no longer the case unless you start scrolling down the page.
Mike: Yeah, that first ranking doesn't mean the same thing as it used to mean.
Rich: Exactly. You can be #1 and people aren't even going to see you when they get to the search results page until they start scrolling.
Mike: Yeah. And I put some statistics together showing hundreds of thousands of people searching on the phrase "social media" every month. And I showed exactly from our Google search counts how many people were clicking on us in position #2 and it was literally in the hundreds, it was ridiculous.
Rich: It is crazy. So but why not – to play devil's advocate – you've got this great podcast that I regularly listen to and recommend everybody listen to, why not just take that podcast and slap it up on YouTube and be done?
Mike: Wonderful question. There used to be a day where we believed that every piece of content should be published everywhere, but I don't believe that's the day that we live in anymore. There was a day where we would take a video and we would publish it on Facebook, and YouTube, and Pinterest, and Twitter, and LinkedIn. Which is essentially the same thing as what you're saying, take your content and repurpose it.
The problem is that the behavior on one platform is not the same as it is on another. I've been studying YouTube for 4 years and going to all the big conferences and YouTube people and really just digging in for a long time. And I began to realize that video on YouTube is very different than it is anywhere else. And there's a strategy as far as how it works, what it needs to do, and everything about it is very unique.
I'm a personal believer that you need to customize your content for every single social platform. I'm personally not a believer in taking video that was designed for YouTube and repurposing it anywhere else. So we can talk about both of those if you want to, but I'll just tell you why I believe you ought to have a place where you call home when it comes to video.
I believe that you program your audience to watch the video wherever you happen to publish it. And we are actively trying to program our audience – which is very big – that YouTube is the place where you go to see our video content, and it's the only place where you go to see our video content. And we've seen really good results since we've been doing this.
Rich: For Social Media Examiner, what's the objective of YouTube? I mean for a small business like me, I might be looking to get more clients and use education to attract clients to flyte new media, or I might be using it to get people to attend The Agents of Change conference. But what's the goal for Social Media Examiner?
Mike: I think you have to think about YouTube in the same way you think about a blog, and the same way you think about a podcast. The goal is to get subscribers. And the goal is to get those subscribers to come back and watch your content or to come back and listen to your content, in the case of a podcast.
So what we are trying to do is we are trying to create content specifically for the platform knowing that there's a billion + people that watch videos everyday on the platform. And what we're trying to do is develop a very loyal tribe, in the same way that people come back to our website and read our articles every day.
In addition we also know that there are different kinds of learners out there. There are people that learn by reading, there are people that learn by listening, and there are people that learn by watching. And we've realized that we've forgone the people that learn by watching. So the goal in the YouTube channel is to develop a very large subscriber base over the next 2 years – almost 200,000 subscribers – and to get an average watch of 25,000 people per video. That is the only goal. There is no financial or monetization goal. Rich, you've known me for a very long time, when I started Social Media Examiner my only goal was to grow an email list. Do you remember that?
Rich: Absolutely.
Mike: I didn't advertise anything at all. So the goal is to become so indispensable to a group of people that they will talk about us, share us, become reliant on us, and the content that we're creating there is video tutorials almost exclusively. So every one of these videos are like little, sexy, cool, tactical video articles. We fly experts like Mari Smith, Jenn Herman, or Amanda Bond, or Bella Vasta into San Diego and we put them in the studio and we literally record really tactical videos and then we edit them. We have a really cool crew in Austria that makes these videos look spectacular. We create really cool thumbnails that are designed to get people to click, and we're just trying to grow the channel. And that's it. Literally, that's it.
Rich: For now, at least.
Mike: Yes. The longer term strategy is in the background of every single video we have a little sign that says, Social Media Marketing World, on top of a desk. That's it. Or if I'm doing videos at conferences, I'm wearing a t-shirt that has the logo of Social Media Marketing World, a little subliminal advertising.
Now we do have the option to remarket to people that watch our channel through Google. So we could go to those that are regular watchers of any particular video or all the videos, and give them an advertisement specifically for our product.
Rich: Absolutely. And that whole thing makes a lot of sense. And you actually answered like three of the questions that I had written down that I want to talk to you about. I'll just ask for a little bit more information on some of these.
You mentioned that almost all of your videos are short, how-to videos. You used to do The Journey. You used to do different types of videos, you had a talk show going on, unless you shuttered that. Are you saying that almost every video you're creating now are these short, expert driven, how-to?
Mike: They're not short. They're typically 5-12 minutes in length. So when you say "short" I think like a minute or two.
Rich: I hear you. I think we're on the same page. It's not like you're doing a half hour talk show, and it's not like The Journey episodes or anything like that.
Mike: Yeah, we should talk about that a little bit. So we have a live show, we still have a live show. We used to simulcast the live show on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. And we decided that what we were going to do was turn it into a live taping of a podcast. So now what we do with the live show is we have it exclusively on Crowdcast, which is a platform that makes it real easy for crowd interaction, and then we take the audio from that live show and put it in a podcast.
We found that we have a lot more people listening to the podcast. So we have about 5,000 people every week that listen to the podcast, and then we have about 100 that show up live. And the reason we took it off the YouTube channel was we began to realize it wasn't going to help our new strategy on the YouTube channel. Because what we wanted was when people came to the channel we wanted them to see a litany of content that was just super tactical, and we knew that a lot of people would not listen to a 45 minute talking head video on our channel, so instead that's exclusively done with the podcast.
In the case of The Journey – which is our documentary – I hired a Director of Marketing, I was the central corporate character, so you could say I retired from that show and as a result the show doesn't exist anymore because the central character is no longer doing the show. And by the way, that was fun and exciting, but nothing comparted to the results of we're getting with the kinds of videos we're doing now.
Rich: Alright, and that is interesting because I do subscribe to a number of YouTube channels and it goes through phases for me. I'm a super comic book nerd – as I think you know, Mike – and a lot of the subscriptions I have are for comic book related shows. And one of the things I've noticed is that they have – these are the ones that are cranking out content three times a week – and they have different types of shows. They have the origin shows, then they do breakdowns of recent comics, and they also do videos of the podcast they do. So it's interesting that you're saying I'm just going to do primarily one type of show and do it really well.
Mike: Yeah, it's exactly what we're doing. For example we had Rick Mulready in the studio and he did a Facebook Ads Manager tutorial, and Mari Smith how to increase your organic reach, and then we had Jenn Herman talking about Instagram Stories hashtag strategy. It's just the same content we would have published on our blog or on our podcast, except it's direct to camera.
What makes it special is we have an overseas crew in Austria that adds animation to it and cuts it so that it's more entertaining to watch.
Rich: Yeah. In fact I watched the one recently with Jenn Herman talking about IGTV hashtags, and it almost felt like it was one of those explainer videos that you watch that explains, there was a lot of overlays, a lot of fast cuts, and very easy to understand. But there's huge production value, I felt, behind it. I was actually going to ask if you have an entire team working behind the scenes on post, but it sounds like you do in Austria.
Mike: We have two editors in Austria, and then we have a full time employee in-house as well, and then we have our editorial team that particular person reports to. And then we also have a graphic designer that works sometimes on the thumbnails. So it's a big investment, but we're playing the long game. So in the short run it's really all about driving our audience, And by the way, we're linking from Facebook to YouTube, which used to be a no-no, and it's actually not a no-no anymore. It's totally ok.
Rich: Interesting.
Mike: So we're driving a lot of traffic to our social platforms over to YouTube, and from our email which is one of our main ways of doing it. And the hope is that we can catch the YouTube search and the YouTube recommended videos, and that's kind of the game we're playing right now.
Rich: Alright, so that was actually my next question. So we talked about a couple ways that you're driving traffic here; email, social, specifically Facebook. But I want to know what you're doing to optimize your videos to be found on YouTube. Is it about tags, is it about trying to show up in suggested videos, what are you currently doing that you're allowed to talk to me about?
Mike: I can talk to you about everything. Here's the good news, YouTube shows you really interesting statistics in a funnel. They show you exactly how many people they have revealed your video to. So they show you the impressions, and then they show you the clicks, and then they show you the plays, kind of in a funnel. So they kind of let you know this video is getting a 3.7% click through rate, this one's getting a 5.9% click through rate.
They also show you a whole bunch of different statistics like where your traffic is coming from. This is coming from a playlist that you have this is coming from search and here's the search phrase, or this is coming from recommended videos.
So what we've been doing is we've been watching the videos that after the first week just keep spiking up to the right, and we're looking for the YouTube suggested stuff and if it's starting to work. And then what we do is we look at the other videos we're competing with on that search phrase, like Instagram hashtags you can pull up right now and see that we're #2.
Then what we do is we now start thinking how can we create a better thumbnail, because the thumbnail in YouTube search is the thing everybody sees first, and then they see the headline. And the idea here is we're beginning to learn that if you can get creative with the thumbnail so that it's not exactly the same as everybody but it compliments it, then you can get a lot more clicks. Because it is a bit of a game of creating, just like a Facebook ad, creating a graphic and a headline that will get someone to click. And if they click and they watch, then YouTube rewards you with more recommendations. It's kind of this first and foremost you've got to get people to watch, almost all the way to the end of the video. We tend to have a 40-50% retention to the end of the video, which is really good.
So when those videos are strong all the way to the end, and they're getting recommended in search which is all YouTube cares about, that's when we can start to go back and alter the thumbnails, because YouTube does not carte how many times you change that thumbnail.
Rich: So it sounds like what you're looking for is between the title and the thumbnail, you basically are creating click bait, but you want to deliver on that click bait. Otherwise, you're not going to get rewarded for any next behavior.
Mike: Yeah. A quick verbal example is the video that dropped today. So the graphic shows the video pointing to some words that say, "5 steps to more", and then it shows 3 money bags. And then underneath it says, "how to create sales videos that convert". So the idea is that 5 steps to more money doesn't make a lot of sense without the headline, and those two things are playing together. So that's the current thing we're playing with right now.
If someone types in "how to create sales videos", hopefully they'll see this "5 steps to more money" and that will incentivize them to click on our thumbnail instead of someone else's.
Rich: That's the sizzle. So talk to me about your description strategy. Are you focused on keywords? As I was looking through it I saw a lot of links in your recent videos, both in your content as well as your guest's content, plus so many emojis it looked like an Instagram bio. I know none of this is by accident, so tell me your thinking behind that.
Mike: Here's the deal. You probably know this already that Google just released this thing called, "BERT". Are you familiar with this at all?
Rich: You know what's funny, there's an email from one of my favorite email creators all about that, but I haven't cracked it. So tell me about it.
Mike: So what it is, is this new national image process system that Google is releasing. Which means it knows what you mean, whether you say it right or wrong. So it's getting to the point now where for example "best restaurants in Maine" versus "what restaurants are ideal in Maine", it knows it means the exact same thing. Where in the olden days you would have had to write a blog post for each one. So this artificial intelligence is getting so sophisticated that it can get to intent faster.
So we're getting away from that age of keywords. Google has announced that literally a few days ago. So the day of using keywords are dead. So instead, I just write these descriptions in a way that makes sense to a human. Because I know that what YouTube cares about the most is human session time. So if I can write the description in such a way that someone will read it and be incentivized to watch it, that's what matters the most.
So I'll say, for example, my latest video says, "Wondering how to create sales videos that turn more viewers into customers? Looking for a proven process to follow? Owen Video explains his 5-step system for producing video that can convert, and shares a 2-step method for getting video testimonials from customers." So that's it. That's really just kind of what they'll get if they watch the video. And the emoji's my team puts in there just because the idea is that eventually people will become familiar.
But here's the honest truth, most people don't even look at the description now. They just look at the thumbnail and they look at the title, and that's it. That's all they care about, the rest of that stuff is there for the persona that wants to learn more, and that's it.
Rich: I think it's funny that marketers are the ones most likely to click on "see more", but not anybody else. Not any mere humans.
Mike: Or if you're like ok, maybe there's something in the session description or whatever. We use hashtags though, that's important. What's cool about YouTube is the hashtags are above the title now in the description of the video, which is kind of a new thing, and that's kind of exciting.
Rich: Well I just think that it's funny. I don't know that I ever saw emoji's in the description until recently. And if anybody knows YouTube you know you don't really get to put any sort of HTML in there outside of the exact link. So emoji's are really probably the best way to make your descriptions look interesting, if not any more searchable, so that's kind of interesting.
Mike: Emoji's are hot for everything, even for email.
Rich: Absolutely. And I've been using emoji's and emoticons forever because they're the hieroglyphics of modern day.
Mike: There you go.
Rich: So you talked a lot about subscribers already, but I do want to know, how are you encouraging people to subscribe to your channel? Do you have verbal calls to action, do you have things in the description? What are you doing to really incentivize that subscription?
Mike: Almost nothing. Now this is crazy, but in the olden days we used to say, "Please subscribe and hit the bell", now we don't do any of that because the YouTube consumer is sophisticated now. It's a big mature channel, they know to hit the 'subscribe' button.
So what we do at the very end of the video is we just have a call to action where the word says 'subscribe' and it shows our logo. And most people know if they click on that little scout avatar that they can subscribe.
And then we'll also show a video on the other side to keep them in session. Because what YouTube wants is longer session duration. So I don't actually ever say anything. Actually what we do – and I think you'll find really fascinating, Rich – is we literally keep them hanging until the last 10 seconds, so that it abruptly ends. Because this is what YouTuber tells us is the most important thing, to get them as far along as possible so they'll just go right into the next video.
Rich: So the previous phase of YouTube, the model was let's add 15 seconds at the end of each video where we show three or four other videos people can click to. And what you're saying is, no, it's like the end of Soprano's season 5 and just cut to black and be done.
Mike: The credits are in a little box and you're still watching it. Yeah, exactly. Literally end it and over the top of the screen are the references to the next thing if they want to do it. But that just keeps them…they still have the 15 seconds at the end and where you can have the end screen. But the current strategy is to never say, "That's the end of the video, thank you." Instead it's to say, "If you want to learn more, click on the video right here on the screen", pointing at it and literally a video pops up there on the screen.
Rich: Alright. Now you focused on a specific type of video that's working for you, and you talked about The Journey which went away. Did you discover this because you had some failures that were starting to develop? Well, maybe not failures.
Mike: Well maybe not failure, but here's the thing, I just had some things that I felt like tutorial videos were going to be hot because I'd seen so many other people doing it. Like if there's something I want to learn and I don't know how to do it, I'm going to go to YouTube and search for it. Especially if it's something to do with my house, I know there's going to be a video out there about it. Well why isn't there videos out there about how to do Facebook ads, and if there was, most of them were done by really small creators that nobody has ever heard of before.
So I'm looking at view counts of some of these videos and I'm like, well we have a chance to compete with these guys, because we already have a big audience and we can drive to them. And the other thing that we do, by the way, is we take a camera crew with me when we go to events. I just most recently got back from Derrall Eves' VidSummit and I did 8 interviews while I was up there. And those videos are a talking head, except they also have the animation going on over the top. So it will be me interviewing that person and it will have really cool animation over the top so that it will be easy to watch. Those videos do not do as well as these actual intentional 'how to" tutorial kind of videos. Those are the ones that everybody wants to watch and we're talking about a difference of 1.000-2,000 views versus 5,000-6,000 views. It's pretty dramatic.
Rich: And that I guess is important to watch, I guess in terms of trying to build up that repeat viewership and everything like that. Tell me a little bit about if you have a strategy around this, because I know for a long time when YouTube was really promoting this – and going back to my comic book descriptions that I have on YouTube – a lot of them will categorize things like 'DC', 'Marvel', 'Independent'. Are you using playlists as part of your current YouTube strategy?
Mike: Absolutely. So what we're doing is, when we have a bunch of Facebook ads videos, we put them into a Facebooks ads playlist. Sometimes we actually have whoever is in studio say, "If you want to learn more, check out our Facebook ads playlist right here on the screen". Because you can embed a playlist just like you can embed a video. So the playlist thing is really valuable, because once someone gets into a playlist and it's organized in the right way, they'll just stick through the whole playlist.
So yeah, we're absolutely taking all our stuff and putting them into playlists. You'll see those on our homepage on youtube.com/socialmediaexaminer, you'll see playlists for Instagram, YouTube, and I think will create more as more content comes up.
Rich: That sounds awesome. So this is a nice segue for me to talk about your upcoming conference, Social Media Marketing World, that's going to happen on March 1-3, 2020. Links on our show note, but I'm just curious, are you going to be talking about some of this stuff that you're doing on YouTube at Social Media Marketing World? And, are you doubling down on the number of speakers about YouTube, are you changing the type of presenters you're having on YouTube? I know whenever you get into something you really get into it.
Mike: I haven't decided what I'm going to talk about on my keynote yet. But I can tell you we have 4 tracks on video, 1 on YouTube for business, 1 on video marketing, 1 on video creation, and 1 on live video. So we've got like 20+ sessions that you can go to just on video. And that's the cheap ticket, that's the ticket that's currently only $397.
But yeah, I mean I think that if you started to think about Instagram and you started to think about Stories and you start thinking about Tik Tok, and you start thinking about Facebook video ads. I mean video is really the future and it's the hardest, most scariest to kind of wrap their brain around. But it really is a big part of where marketers could use some professional development for sure.
Rich: Mike, one of the things that I like telling people when I'm speaking is, "best practices don't always equal best results." Like you can get an expert up on stage each telling you how they did it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it will translate well for your business and that you should always look at your results, your analytics, your metrics. What kind of metrics are you using to know that what's working is working when it comes to YouTube?
Mike: We're looking at video retention time, that's the first metric. We really want to see a really nice solid flat line from the beginning to the end of the video. And then the second thing is subscriber growth. You want to see that subscriber growth increase every single month. And the correlation that we're starting to see – because we're only a month and a half into this as of this recording – but the correlation we're seeing is we're seeing a direct correlation between subscriber growth and video views on these videos. And that's no different than saying I want email subscribers or I want podcast subscribers.
So those are the two metrics. Subscribers without video views, vanity. Subscribers with video views, very important. Because we know the most valuable thing right now is your time. And if you're going to spend 5-10minutes with us multiple times a week, that's super valuable for us. So that's what we're tracking right now.
Rich: That's fantastic. Mike, as always, blown away but what you're doing. I need to rethink my entire plans for 2020. This has been great. By the way, remind me, what is the URL for your YouTube channel for Social Media Examiner?
Mike: YouTube.com/socialmediaexaminer.
Rich: Alright, and we'll have of course those links in the show notes. Mike, anywhere else you want people to go check you out right now?
Mike: Well if you love podcasts, come check out the Social Media Marketing Podcast, we interview awesome guests every single week.
Rich: They absolutely do. You should definitely check that out, big focus on social media, one of my regular go to place. Also for finding guests for this show, so you can hear them first on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.
Mike thanks so much for swinging by and I'll see you this coming March in San Diego.
Mike: Thank you, Rich.
Mike Stelzner has a knack for knowing when the marketing industry is about to see a big change, and always manages to be a step ahead. To experience his insight and knowledge, check out his popular podcast. To see how he's changing the marketing game with video, check out his YouTube page. And if you really want to immerse yourself amongst some of the top minds in the marketing industry, make sure you attend his conference in March 2020.
Rich Brooks is the President of flyte new media, a web design & digital marketing agency in Portland, Maine, and founder of the Agents of Change. He's passionate about helping small businesses grow online and has put his 20+ years of experience into the book, The Lead Machine: The Small Business Guide to Digital Marketing.
Filed under: Digital Advertising/Marketing, Podcasts, SEO
Tags: 2019, 2020, agents of change, link building, Mike Stelzner, Rich Brook, video marketing, youtube
StoryBrand: How to Tell More Compelling Stories for Your Business – Josh Cantrell
Getting the most from your LinkedIn connections – Thomas Libby
How to Integrate Online Video Into Your Marketing – Lou Bortone
Changes are coming for AOC in 2020 – Rich Brooks
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According to Facebook statistics website, SocialBakers, Europe has become the largest continent on Facebook.
Europe has became the largest on Facebook, ousting North America now with 205 million Facebook users (June 5th, 2011). North America follows with 203 million users.
This means that it seems as though for some time to come, Europe is going to be the largest Facebook continent, but if we look at the yearly development, we see Asia is already growing much faster then the other countries. There will be some interesting development to come, but for now, congrats to Europe and obviously to Facebook.


text:
Q: Selecting friends giving high rating each other SQL I have a table which contains four fields
1: cause
2: employee1
3: employee2
4: rating

Here employee2 is providing rating to employee1 on the specified cause.
I need to find out pair of employees who always gives rating 5 to each other.
I am new to sql and know basics of this language but I am not getting what to do in this situation.

A: Try something like this:
Here's a SQL Fiddle
--Test data setup:
CREATE TABLE #emptable (cause varchar(20), emp1 varchar(20), emp2 varchar(20), rating int)
INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C1', 'emp A', 'emp B', 5)
INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C1', 'emp B', 'emp A', 5)
--INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C1', 'emp A', 'emp B', 3)
INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C1', 'emp A', 'emp C', 5)
INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C2', 'emp C', 'emp A', 2)
INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C2', 'emp D', 'emp A', 3)
INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C3', 'emp A', 'emp D', 5)
--INSERT INTO #emptable (cause, emp1, emp2, rating) VALUES('C1', 'emp B', 'emp A', 3)

--query
SELECT E1.emp1, E1.emp2
FROM #emptable E1
INNER JOIN #emptable E2
    ON E1.emp1 = E2.emp2
    AND E2.emp1 = E1.emp2
    AND E1.cause = E2.cause
GROUP BY E1.emp1, E1.emp2
HAVING MIN( E1.rating)=5
AND MIN(E2.rating)=5
DROP TABLE #emptable

--results
emp1    emp2
emp A   emp B
emp B   emp A

A: SELECT E1.* FROM SAMPLE AS E1, SAMPLE AS E2 WHERE
E1.RATING = E2.RATING AND
E1.RATING=5 AND E2.RATING=5
AND E1.employee1 = E2.employee2

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
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Underrepresented students investigate a life in biomedicine with UAB researchers
by Jeff Hansen
For a second summer, Maria Onatunde traveled to UAB from Florida to participate in UAB's PARAdiGM program, which offers in-depth research experience for undergraduates from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds.
For more than a year, Morgan Zipperly (left), a UAB M.D./Ph.D. student, has helped mentor undergraduate Maria Onatunde (right) as part of the Preparation for Graduate and Medical Education program. For a second summer, Maria Onatunde has come to UAB as a Preparation for Graduate and Medical Education (PARAdiGM) student, in the UAB School of Medicine.
The University of Central Florida student was investigating a potential career path of a combined M.D./Ph.D. degree two years ago and saw that UAB offered the PARAdiGM summer research program for outstanding undergraduates from disadvantaged and underrepresented minority backgrounds.
With this opportunity to explore a potential future career as a physician-scientist, Onatunde spent her first summer working with David Brown, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, UAB School of Health Professions. Brown's Locomotor Control and Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory, better known as the LocoLab, studies neuromusculoskeletal control during active movement in people who are recovering from a stroke.
"I was assigned three mentors while in Birmingham," she wrote in the UAB PARAdiGM blog of her first summer. "A clinical mentor — who happened to be a physician-scientist — a research mentor and a Medical Science Training Program mentor. Any question I had about school, the lifestyle during school and the opportunities it would open for me was answered while in Birmingham. I learned so much about what I want to do, what I do not want to do and how to better prepare myself for the future."
For this summer's research at UAB, Onatunde worked in the lab of her clinical mentor from the previous summer, Talene Yacoubian, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology. Onatunde used short hairpin RNA to knock down the gene for 14-3-3-theta, a protein that is thought to play a role in Parkinson's disease. Onatunde was also able to shadow Yacoubian, a movement disorders neurologist, in the clinic.
The UAB PARAdiGM Program
With a focus on students from diverse and underrepresented minority backgrounds, PARAdiGM provides undergraduates with an understanding of, and appreciation for, the biomedical research process. The goal is for students to be exposed to the passion and excitement of careers as physician-scientists, where they can help patients and investigate their diseases. The PARAdiGM participants:
Participate in the program for two summers.
Work in the lab of a funded biomedical researcher.
Learn about careers at academic medical centers by shadowing clinician-investigators in the clinic and on inpatient rounds.
Present their summer research at the UAB Summer Expo.
Attend the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students.
Receive instruction in essay writing, MCAT preparation and critical career skills, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Onatunde's Medical Science Training Program mentor from last summer was Morgan Zipperly, a UAB M.D./Ph.D. program student, who came by to visit as Onatunde presented this year's research at the UAB Summer Expo for undergraduate research. Onatunde says that Zipperly continued to share advice during the past year as Onatunde was back in school in Orlando, Florida.
The PARAdiGM Program supports student attendance at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in the fall. That meant a trip to Seattle last November for Onatunde, along with her fellow PARAdiGM students.
"Seattle was amazing, period. I loved it!" Onatunde wrote in the PARAdiGM blog. "I mean the weather could have been better; but hey, it's Seattle. When it stopped raining, though, it was so beautiful."
"From the moment I got there, I just kept on being reminded how blessed I was. There is so much there for an aspiring undergrad," she explained. "It's just a ball of opportunity, to be honest. I learned so much and met so many people from different walks of life. I got to speak to many programs and realize what I want and what I don't want in a program."
"Man, it was amazing."
During her two summers in Birmingham, Onatunde also sampled the fun that Birmingham offers. In her returning summer, she started a Summer Student Council to help facilitate social activities for her fellow students, including tubing in the Cahaba River, visiting the zoo, and attending the Caribbean Festival at Lynn Park, Art on the Rocks and potluck dinners with her fellow summer students.
The rising senior says she hopes to spend a year doing research at the National Institutes of Health after graduation, and then go to medical school.
Maria Onatunde reflects on her second summer at UAB
"There's an older show I watch called 'Heroes,' about humans with superpowers (don't judge me). One of the main characters is a time traveler, and this morning I woke up wishing I was him. With one blink of my eyes, I could stop time and go back a couple of months, and that's exactly what I want to do. Go back. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that in the next two days I'll have to say goodbye to Birmingham, the wonderful experiences I've had and the wonderful friends I've made.
"This is my second summer coming back, and I am beyond glad that I did. I've learned so much about who I am, my strengths, my weaknesses and what I am capable of in this short time.
"I think the smartest thing to do when you come to UAB's Paradigm/SIBS program is to come with goals. There are so many opportunities here, and the program coordinators are more than happy to help you achieve what you want, if you know what you want.
"That's how I came this year, with goals, and I'm glad to say I've achieved them. I've shadowed amazing physicians, worked for one of my role models in her lab. I've really gotten out of my comfort zone and made some amazing friends.
"Most importantly, I've gained a greater sense of identity and understanding. Being in this program has not only helped me decide my next step, but it has also helped me understand more in depth what I want. It has shown me what I need in a mentor when I take my year off and hopefully land a post-bac position at the NIH. It has also shown me that, beyond just getting into medical school, I desire a support system — extended family in the area, fellow students who are each other's No. 1 fans and faculty that will stop at nothing to see you succeed. That's the environment I experienced this year, and I want it forever."
—From the PARAdiGM blog at UAB
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UAB is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and family-friendly environment in which all faculty and staff can excel and achieve work/life balance irrespective of race, national origin, age, genetic or family medical history, gender, faith, gender identity and expression as well as sexual orientation. UAB also encourages applications from individuals with disabilities and veterans.


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I got my iPad Mini Snugg case in a denim cover because I plan to perform some DIY magic on it in the future. I think it would look great with some graffiti on, don't you think?
Aside from looking and feeling good in my hands, the Snugg lives up to its name...that is of being snug. My iPad Mini has never felt safer or more secure in a case before. I love that it's padded and protected while at the same time lightweight. Unlike other similar style cases, my Snugg hardly weighs a thing and in my book, that's pretty important because being lightweight signifies the majority of an iPad's hefty price tag. It would be a shame not to be able to enjoy that perk because of a case that weighs you down.
Snugg also promises fine craftsmanship with a lifetime guarantee on all of their cases.
It has holders for business cards, credit cards, notes, a stylus or a pen (if you're old fashioned like me). I use my iPad for work so it's really nice to have these things handy while I check my mail and other important matters. It makes cross-checking and remembering things a lot easier and convenient especially for people like me who still mix paper with technology.
The Snugg also comes with a garterized holder which makes taking photos easier despite having a cover.
And did I mention that, the flap closes automatically with some sort of magnet which also locks your iPad at the same time without having to do it manually? It does.
Overall, I love my Snugg and would give it a 5 star rating. I think it's great that it has all of these conveniences in a finely made and stylish case that hardly weighs a thing.