Let's play a "fill in the blank" game. Complete this sentence: " I am naturally . . . "
What pops into your mind immediately? Jot down everything that comes to mind.
Now that you've got these initial answers, think about the question a bit longer and add anything else that rises to the surface.
Next, look over your list carefully. Whether you filled in the blank with one or a dozen traits, everything on your list is more than mere self-perception. It is a key element of your identity. After all, this is a description of what you say you are naturally. What you are by nature.
I'm always fascinated by the way people complete this statement. "I'm just naturally unlucky," they say. Or "I'm just naturally suspicious." And then there's the perennial, "I've just got a short fuse by nature."
One of my favorites is, "I'm just naturally depressive." I used to hear that often when I was working in counseling. Whenever someone gave me that line, I had a ready response. With a strong note of incredulity in my voice, I would say, "Naturally? You're depressive naturally?"
Then I would jump from my chair and say, "I want you to come with me for a second." With my "naturally depressed" cohort in tow, I would head down the hallway to a daycare center elsewhere in the building. I would stop at a place where we could watch the children at play.
"Do me a favor," I would ask. "Look at all of these kids and help me identify the ones that are naturally depressive."
The other person inevitably looked at me oddly, then chuckled. Here were a dozen youngsters at play, all laughing, running, climbing, frolicking. Having a great time. So I would press the issue a bit harder." Tell me, which ones are naturally depressive."
Needless to say, this little venture never went much further. My point was already made. None of those children were "naturally depressed," because no one is born depressed.
What we are by nature is that buoyant, laughing, carefree child at play. We have to learn all the fears, insecurities, self-doubts, and anxieties that rob us of our natural joy and buoyance. Unfortunately, we learn negative life patterns so well that we convince ourselves that "I was just born this way."
Moreover, the rationale that "I'm this way by nature" easily becomes an excuse for not making change. After all, if I'm "this way" naturally, there's not much I can do about it. People will simply have to accommodate my sullenness, because, after all, "I'm moody by nature." They will have to tolerate my biting sarcasm because "I'm cynical by nature." Or they will have to endure my ceaseless fretting, because "I'm a worrier by nature."
A more accurate way of describing ourselves would be, "I've learned to respond to disappointment by getting moody, and now I'm so accomplished at it that moodiness has become a habit." Or, "I've learned to worry about so many things that I easily fret about everything."
There were never any "natural cynics" or "natural fretters" among those children in the daycare center, no more than there were "natural depressives." But 20 years downstream many of those kids will have lost their joy and exuberance. They will have started building their identity around a learned, non-productive response to life.
The good news is, what we've learned we can unlearn. If it took us 20 years to learn it, we're not likely to "unlearn" it overnight. But we can get started. Habits can be broken. People break them every day.
So go back to the way you answered the opening question. Did you describe your "natural self" with terms or phrases that could apply to a grown-up, responsible version of those kids in the daycare center? Or were your statements more along the lines of my counselees who would say, " I'm naturally depressive"?
If the latter, would you like to change? Then, here's a way to begin. First, drop the "identity language." That is, quit saying, "I'm a worrier" or "I'm a loner." Identity language has powerful programming influence on the unconscious mind. When we tell the unconscious mind repeatedly, "I am this way," the unconscious mind begins to acts as if those qualities are cast in concrete and cannot be changed.
Instead, start saying, "I've learned to worry a lot." Or, "I've learned to deal with life by isolating myself from others." Now your language suggests a behavior that has become your customary response. And behavior always sounds more like a choice than a life-response cast in concrete.
Second, quit excusing yourself by saying, "That's just who I am." Hold yourself accountable for your behavior. For becoming sullen. For blowing your top. For being sarcastic. For isolating yourself from others.
I'm not talking about blaming yourself or kicking yourself when you slip into the old habits. Rather, simply hold yourself accountable. Constantly remind yourself that your behavior is a learned response and that you are free to learn alternative ways of coping with life.
Then define what those alternatives are and start pursuing them at every opportunity. If your initial efforts fall short of your hopes, keep trying. Repeatedly say to yourself, "I'm still in the process of learning a new behavior." By picturing yourself as immersed in a learning process, there's room for trial and error. You brush aside the temptation of seeing your effort as failure.
Persist as a learner. Little by little, old habits will yield to new habits. And the new habits will become second nature. And before long the new second nature will feel like a new identity.


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Home Alaska Are the Alaska Cards Still Churnable?
Are the Alaska Cards Still Churnable?
The last couple days I've been wading through this entire Flyertalk thread–>Alaska Airlines card offers, Personal & Business, now 30k, as well as months back into the 2016 and prior version of the same (discontinued) thread, to get a sense of the state of churning Alaska cards. What I learned is that while there are still people churning the Alaska Airlines credit cards, it is with much less frequency than before and they're following stricter rules than what used to stand.
Below I will go over the new best practices regarding management of the Alaska cards that will apply to most people. Of course, your situation could be different–you might get lucky–and perhaps get away with things others haven't. But the following points are based on the majority of data points contributed by people like us on Flyertalk.
Both come with 30k bonuses of Alaska miles. For years, people have been churning these two cards as an easy way of garnering lots of Alaska miles.
"Churnable"? Is that a made up word?
Why yes it is! In the world of miles and points, a churnable credit card is one you can get the same sign-up bonus from over and over.
The first two best practices were outlined recently by Flyertalker sdsearch as a summary of practical advice taken from Alaska Airlines card offers, Personal & Business, now 30k. After reading that thread myself as well as back into 2016's, I agree with sdsearch.
A. If you have a personal Alaska card already open, you will likely be denied for a second one.
This means you need to close your existing account before applying for another one. How much time is necessary between those two actions, I'm not sure, but it's pretty clear from the majority of data points that Bank of America's system will automatically deny you for a personal card if you have another personal card open.
This might also be the case with the business version of the card, but there are less data points about the business card so it's hard to draw solid conclusions.
B. After you open an Alaska card, meet the minimum spending requirement, and all the bonus points/reward benefits post, lower the credit limit as much as possible.
Considering point A, you will need to cancel your existing Alaska card (or downgrade to non-Alaska card) before applying for another. If you have a high credit limit on your Alaska card when canceling it, that credit will be "locked up" for a year or more, meaning you won't have access to it for credit limits on future cards. To understand this you need to first understand that the amount of credit Bank of America will extend to you as a customer is a finite resource as the bank wants to limit their exposure.
But if you call Bank of America and request to lower your credit line, the subsequent "freed up" credit becomes available within some months (not sure exactly how long, but not as long as when you cancel a card without lowering the limit first).
That's why reducing the credit limit as much and as quickly as possible after getting the card, rather then only when you're about to cancel it, is a wise idea. It frees up your available credit more quickly and therefore you can apply for another card sooner.
Call the number on the back of your card for help reducing credit lines.
C. Do not apply for another card any less than 90 days after your prior application or it will very likely be denied.
We used to lightly warn that waiting 90 days between applications was wise, but now it seems you will almost certainly be denied for another Alaska card if you apply less than 90 days after your previous application, according to Million Mile Secrets.
D. Keep the amount of active Bank of America cards you have to no more than four.
Doctor of Credit reported account closures at the end of January of people with more than four credit cards open. There are even more data points in the comments than what's initially listed in the post.
A quick aside–you should always consider calling the reconsideration line if your credit card application comes back as status pending. Many times they will just ask you the same questions that were on the original application and then approve you. Or if it's more complicated than that, you'll at least learn something from the call about how to better handle things if there's a next time.
There is another Alaska Airlines co-branded personal credit card aside from the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature called the Alaska Airlines Visa Platinum. Sometimes when applying for the signature card, Bank of America will (for whatever reason) approve you for the Platinum card instead which has a lower credit line and only a meager 5k bonus. Obviously not an ideal situation.
There is a lengthy and painstaking way to get your Plat card replaced with a Sig card, and get the full 25K [Sarah Page: now 30k] bonus. Not "upgraded", once a card is issued, it can't be upgraded, they have to open a new app for you from their side. If you look back thru the thread, I've given the full details on this. Be aware it will take at least 2 months to get the new card, and will involve another HP. So maybe just reapply, hope that due to the recent app it will go to pending, and Recon may very well approve you for a Sig. Then cancel the recent inferior card, it's not worth the AF.
The way to get a Sig card, if you are instantly approved for a lessor card, is to just reapply the same day. Most likely that app will go to pending, or be denied as a mistaken "duplicate app". Then you can call Recon, and get them to reopen the app, give you a Sig for your second app, and cancel the first one. All apps on the same day get combined, so your second, or third if necessary, will only register as one HP with the CB.
Don't keep the lessor cards open, as lately AS is closing the accounts of people who get multiple AS cards the same day. Make sure they are canceled as soon as the Sig card is approved.
Also make sure you apply during weekday business hours, as B/A Recon is closed evenings and weekends, and if you have to call them a day later, you will end up with another HP.
The Alaska Airlines Business Visa card hasn't changed its offer for a while now.
Neither has foreign transaction fees.
Alaska partners you can redeem miles to fly.
It appears the Alaska Airlines credit cards issued by Bank of America are still churnable, albeit with much stricter guidelines for approval. The biggest takeway, I think, is that the majority of people are only getting away with having one personal Alaska Visa Signature card open at one time.
Please note this post is based off of others' experiences and that I'm not a financial planner. Do your own due diligence before engaging in practices like churning yourself.
If you have applied for an Alaska Airlines credit card recently, please share your experience(s) in the comments for all of us to learn from.
$363+ Roundtrips to Hawaii from Newark, April through February!
Just learned this the hard way for my wife. She "only" had one of each for pers and bus cards so thought she'd be a slam dunk. P went pending but declined by end of day and Bus was auto declined. All good things must come to an end, I suppose.
Probably won't try recon, but am curious if there was a HP or not.
I've also tried to get a plat approval upgraded twice, but to no avail, even after months of run around on one of them.
And thanks for the tip on lowering CL early. Sounds like a good one. Not possible to do by SM?
Apparently online contact was somewhat available to "Preferred customers" until recently, and now even those people can't get anything done through secure messaging. Back to the old fashioned telephone.
I canceled my Pers and waited about 1.5 months and got an auto approval earlier this week with a huge limit. They never gave me a limit this high before, maybe cause I always had 2 open and this time only 1 non Alaska. I also was able to get the Merrill card the same day by calling in. That one went pending but I called the next day and got approval also with a huge limit. Now granted I have been slowing down my apps to try and clean up my 5/24 but didn't want to pass these up.
Out of curiosity, did you lower the credit limit of the card you canceled before canceling?
In the past yes but this time I did not.
If you can only have one Alaska Air card at a time, and the recommendation is that you close the ones you have before applying, how long would you keep the ones you have opened? less than a year? 6 months? 3 months? wouldn't that raise a red flag?
I tend to keep mine open for 9 months. But that was when you could get one every 90 days. I think 6 months and waiting a month should work. Basically just like a Barclay and only apply after 6 months.
Do you think the auto-denial for an existing card only applies to AS or all BofA cards? In the past, I was able to have two open VS cards, wonder if that's still possible.
I think it only applies to AS cards, but I'm sure having lots of other BofA cards open doesn't help.
All Personal: 1/7/16 Rejected, 3/24/16 Rejected, 6/17/16 Closed (opened 7/29/15), 7/26/16 Approved, 1/13/17 Approved, 5/2/17 Closed (opened 7/26/17), 5/4/17 Approved – Currently 2 cards opened.
Closed personal about nine months ago. Applied for business card-approved. Then personal card-approved. Both instantly.
Update: BoA just closed my account without telling me. When I called they said it was approved in error and that i had a sufficient number of accounts with them, which is 2. I pressed and they offered to pull my credit again but even if they did they would not be able to take credit limit (reduce limit) from my other cards to keep this one open because the closed card is no longer a new card but an existing account. I asked for the supervisor's supervisor to call me back. I had charges on the card and they just closed it without even calling me.
Wow… that's harsh. Thanks for your data point.
First time reading your blog, Sarah – great stuff. I saw this headline on MilesFeed and was like "Yes! That's the kind of stuff I want to see!" I've similarly been digging through all of the data on this recently so it's nice to see it all summarized in one place.
Anyways – seems like they keep citing "sufficient credit with BoA" as a reason for cancelling accounts like they did to C.J. I wonder if it makes sense to close all BoA personal cards before applying again.
Glad to hear it! Yes, it does make sense to close your personal cards before opening new ones, for that very reason. I would call in and lower all your credit lines before closing though (for reasons outlined in this post).
We opened business and personal accounts in both July and December of last year. Not sure of the 4 card rule pertains to all cards or either personal or business cards, but I currently hold 3 business and 2 personal.
I've been"churning" these for a little over 2 years, every 95 days like clockwork. Activate-plastiq a mortgage payment – wait for miles to appear – cxl cards. Wash, rinse and repeat…..
I opened 4 personal Alaska cards in 2015, and when time came to pay AF, I closed 2 of them and downgraded 2 of them to some sort of cash back card (can't remember their names). It's been close to a year since this– what are my chances of getting approved for a new personal card?
As long your credit score is decent I'd say pretty good.
Do you happen to know if any of these rules apply to their 2 Amtrak cards? I know many people don't apply for them (so there aren't many DPs), but I live in an area where I can get a lot of use out of them. I have both currently, and was seeking data points to attempt both again. I suppose I could follow this article for Alaska and first lower both limits, then close both, wait 90 days and apply again for both to see what happens.
I'm not sure, but I would search Flyertalk for more info. That's where I collected most information for this post. This is just me hypothesizing with no data points to go off of but I doubt BofA is as strict with Amtrak cards as Alaska cards.
Different topic but might be of interest to you if you were planning on ordering flowers for Mother's Day: right now you can earn 20 Amtrak points per dollar spent on 1800flowers.com, just use promo code AMT36.
Rather than lower the cl would it not be better to move the credit to another boa card then if you get denied you can have recon move credit back to new Alaska card for you?
The idea is to free up the credit. If yo move it, then the credit is still tied to you.
I have an Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card that has been used for two years, just now applied for another Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card online and was instantly approved. Limit on original was around $9000 and second was approved with a limit of a $15,000 and will arrive via mail in 10 days. Still churnable!
Concerning alaska visa signature card: opened 1/21/16-closed 2/2017, opened 3/21/17, applied on 1/31/18 instantly approved did not close card that was opened on 3/21/17. was given $18,000 credit line.
Great. Thanks for the data points!
What is a good time frame to reapply after closing an Alaska card?
Sorry Bryon, missed this comment. In case you're still interested: The bare minimum you need to wait is 90 days past the prior application. I have seen reports of 120 day wait periods resulting in more approvals.
Can you apply for both personal and business alaska card the same day? Will it get automatically rejected or since one is personal and the other a business card, it is a separate department considering approval? Have people been approved applying for both cards the same day? Thanks for your help in advance.
It's hard to say. I have not seen any data points (at least relatively recent ones) of approvals for both the personal and business card on the same day, and there are less data points about business card apps in general. If you do end up applying for both, let us know in the comments here how it goes. Whatever you decide, don't attempt to open more than two cards in a two month period (nor more than three cards in a year period, or four in a two year period). Read Issuing Banks Rules for Approvals and New Bonuses for further details.


text:
Big Tech Makes Moves to Break Spotify's Music Streaming StrangleholdApr17
Posted 9:38 pm by McAlinden Research Partners & filed under Daily Intelligence Briefing, Technology.
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Big Tech Makes Moves to Break Spotify's Music Streaming Stranglehold →
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Big Tech Makes Moves to Break Spotify's Music Streaming Stranglehold
News of Amazon preparing to rollout their own free, ad-supported music streaming service rocked Spotify stock this week, but Amazon is only one of many big tech challengers, including Apple and Alphabet's Google, that are taking shots at disrupting Spotify's domination of the growing, multibillion-dollar industry.
Apple music's premium service recently surpassed Spotify's in the US and is now seeing stronger growth globally. Meanwhile, the stage is being set in India for a streaming service battle royale that could serve as a proxy for what the future of music streaming services might look like.
In the midst of the video-streaming boom, apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hotstar already have millions of subscribers. However, many believe music streaming platforms could achieve even greater success.
Global recorded music revenues jumped 9.7% in 2018 to reach $19.1 billion — up from $17.4 billion in 2017. Streaming music revenues, in particular, now account for nearly half of global revenue, thanks to sizable 32.9% growth in paid streaming last year. This brought streaming revenues to $8.9 million in 2018, and puts them on track for a further jump in 2019. In the US, an even more impressive 75% of overall revenue for the record industry now comes from streaming.
The biggest pure play in music streaming, Spotify, has capitalized on the digital shift to music over the last few years and, thus far in 2019, has seen their stock price rocket up more than 20% in 2019. Pandora used to be the industry leader in music streaming, but has gradually had its share of the market eaten away by Spotify. Earlier this year, Sirius XM completed their acquisition of Pandora and are now in the process of re-tooling the service to try and turn the tide. Specifically, Sirius plans to offer a Pandora NOW station on their XM radio platform, and also expand Pandora's free and premium podcast services to host almost two dozen SiriusXM radio shows across a variety of genres. It's a bold move, but it will take some time before Pandora can ever truly hold a candle to Spotify again.
Spotify's real competition is coming from other big tech firms who do not specialize in music streaming, but they do bring brand recognition and far superior infrastructure that threatens to seriously disrupt the sector.
Upon news that Amazon is preparing the rollout of their own free, ad-supported music streaming platform for their Echo devices, Spotify shares tumbled nearly 4%. Amazon's current Prime Music package offers two million a la carte songs to subscribers of its Prime service. Its Music Unlimited has a much bigger library for an $8 monthly fee. Spotify, meanwhile, has a $10 premium product, as well as an ad-supported free tier seen as a subscription funnel. But, at the moment, Amazon is likely the least of Spotify's worries.
Last month, Apple Music surpassed Spotify in paid U.S. subscriptions. Paid streaming is crucial since it accounts for the majority of streaming's contribution to revenues, with a 37% share of the market versus ad-supported streaming's 10% share. While Spotify is still dominant globally, Apple Music's is working on closing that gap – expanding at a faster rate, with a worldwide monthly growth rate of about 2.6%, compared to Spotify's 1.5% to 2%.
Although music streaming used to produce a bit of distinction in their products, recent offerings have become much more uniform, allowing just about anyone with enough capital to serve up a free to premium streaming service. Deloitte notes that "once a differentiator, catalogues today don't matter as much since music companies are happy to license their titles to whoever", making competition much less about the music and more about accessibility. Apple has built huge gains on that front since the company's iPhone comes with Apple Music already downloaded and synchable with the company's iTunes platform. This also benefits Apple since their main objective in offering Apple Music is to keep users engaged with the iPhone. And it's not just Apple that threatens pure plays like Spotify and Pandora.
As of late, India, one of the fastest-growing music streaming markets, has become ground zero for the most intense competition in the industry. The two biggest competitors for market share in the world's most populous country are Spotify and Google's YouTube Music platform. India's titanic consumer base, where the average streamer spends nearly 21.5 hours a week listening to music, compared with the global average of 17.8 hours, makes it a strong bellwether for which companies have the greatest ability to expand across other emerging markets. India's $150 million music-streaming market is estimated to touch $400 million by 2023.
Within a week of Spotify's highly-anticipated Indian launch in late February, the company picked up 1 million unique listeners. While this was impressive, YouTube music's entrance to the country left an even bigger mark, racking up 3 million downloads in their own first week of operations. Similar to Apple, Google manufactures its own phones equipped with Google Play app store. Google Play cites more than five billion installs for YouTube on Google's Android smartphones. With that kind of installed base, Google simply has to inform existing users that they can now purchase a premium music streaming service.
Pricing also sets up an advantage as users receive the first month of YouTube Music for free, after which they have to pay 99 Indian rupees (Rs) a month. Spotify's premium users also get the first month free, but then must pay Rs 129 per month if they want to keep enjoying the premium service. Apple Music's premium price was similar to Spotify at Rs 120, until they recently decided to undercut Spotify by reducing their going rate to the Rs 99 per month mark to match YouTube Music's offering.
The Indian play is being made increasingly difficult for Spotify due to homegrown startup competition as well. JioSaavn and Gaana, India's major domestic music streaming services, both slashed their annual subscription prices by 70% this month. Those cuts were focused on undercutting Apple, Youtube, and Spotify's monthly rates, and keeping customers away from the competition for a whole year. The recent discounts saw JioSaavn's premium tier drop to Rs 299 per year — 70 percent down from Rs 999. Meanwhile, Gaana Plus was discounted to Rs 298 per year instead of Rs 1098, as before. Gaana is especially interesting as one of its major investors is Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Tencent Music is the largest music streaming platform in China.
So, if the US and India are any indicator, big tech definitely has what it takes to not only compete with pure plays like Spotify and Pandora, but even to outperform them due to hardware and pricing advantages. While Spotify is still sitting comfortably in the pole position globally, investors should be aware that there are plenty of new players entering the arena of music streaming and some are off to very hot starts.
Spotify vs Sirius XM vs Tencent Music vs Apple vs Alphabet vs S&P 500
Source material for today's market insight…
Streaming accounted for nearly half of music revenues worldwide in 2018
The scales are about to tip in favor of streaming music becoming the number one driver of global recorded music revenues — a shift that appears to be on track for sometime this year. According to a new industry report, global recorded music revenues jumped 9.7 percent in 2018 to reach $19.1 billion — up from $17.4 billion in 2017. Streaming music revenues, in particular, now account for nearly half (47 percent) of global revenue, thanks to a sizable 32.9 percent jump in paid streaming last year. This brought streaming revenues to $8.9 million in 2018, and puts them on track for a further jump in 2019.
This is the fourth consecutive year of growth for the global music market, and the highest rate of growth since IFPI — the music industry trade group behind the new report — first started tracking the market in 1997.
Paid streaming accounted for the majority of streaming's contribution to revenues, with a 37 percent share of the market versus ad-supported streaming's 10 percent share. At year-end, there were 255 million users of paid subscription streaming accounts, the report found.
Meanwhile, physical disks dropped 10.1 percent over the past year, to account for 24.7 percent of revenues. Within that segment, vinyl is still growing — it posted its 13th consecutive year of growth, to reach a 3.6 share of the market. But it couldn't make up for the fact that physical format revenue, overall, still declined.
Read the full article from TechCrunch +
Apple Music Overtakes Spotify in Paid U.S. Subscribers
Apple Music has surpassed Spotify Technology SA in paid U.S. subscriptions, according to people familiar with the matter, in a shift that escalates the music rivals' contest for listeners world-wide.
Apple Inc.'s streaming-music service has been adding subscribers in the world's biggest music market more rapidly than its Swedish rival—a monthly growth rate of about 2.6% to 3%, compared with 1.5% to 2% for Spotify—the people said.
Apple Music had more than 28 million subscribers in the U.S. as of February, compared with Spotify's 26 million, the people said. Neither service publicly breaks out regional subscriber counts, and those figures include only paying users, excluding those in trial offerings that the companies can count in their public subscriber disclosures. Including nonpaying listeners of its ad-supported tier, who generate a fraction of the revenue subscribers do, Spotify has more users overall in the U.S.
Apple was expected to reach its milestone more than six months ago, but Spotify intensified efforts to maintain its lead, expanding various promotions including a discounted subscription bundle with video-streaming service Hulu. More recently, the Swedish company filed an antitrust complaint in Europe claiming Apple abuses its control over the App Store to advantage the iPhone maker's service, something Apple denies.
Read the full article from The Wall Street Journal +
Why two music-streaming giants have entered India in less than a month
Less than three weeks after Stockholm-based Spotify launched its app in India, Google-owned YouTube Music entered the country on March 12, with premium plans starting at Rs99 ($1.44). The new entrants will now compete with Apple and Amazon Music, besides homegrown rivals Gaana, JioSaavn, and Hungama.
The heightened interest in India's music-streaming segment comes at a time when the over-the-top (OTT) industry is having its moment in the sun thanks to increasing smartphone and internet adoption, coupled with sliding data prices. The on-demand video industry is already the rage in the country, and experts believe music streaming is the next frontier. But tapping into the space is getting more challenging.
The OTT boom in India is being fuelled by Reliance Jio, the telecom firm promoted by India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani. With its nearly-free data charges, Jio has made streaming popular not only in big metros but also smaller Indian towns. While video-streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hotstar already have millions of subscribers, experts believe music-streaming platforms could achieve greater success.
Read the full article from Quartz +
Amazon is reportedly exploring ad-supported music streaming
Reports have surfaced that Amazon is in talks to create a new free, ad-supported music streaming service, per Billboard. Amazon already offers two distinct pay-for-play music services: Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited.
It's unclear how exactly this new music service will fit with the existing options. The reports have indicated that Amazon will use its Echo smart speaker lineup to market the streaming service. A bigger move into music streaming makes sense given Amazon's strategic pushes around both smart speakers and growing its advertising business.
Smart speakers are the primary way consumers access Alexa in the home. Amazon's smart speakers grew at 78%year-over-year (YoY) from 2017 to 2018, per Edison Research for NPR. And by the end of 2018, 31% of US consumers owned an Alexa-enabled device. Consumers mostly use these devices to listen to music: 66% of US consumers chose listening to music as their top use case.
And advertising revenue is Amazon's fastest-growing segment: The tech giant earned $10.1 billion from ads in 2018, up 115% YoY from about $4.7 billion reported for 2017. Recently, Amazon has been pushing to grow its ad business beyond its main site, where it earns the majority of its ad dollars.
Read the full article from Business Insider +
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Morgan Stanley Says Rally 'Has Just Begun' for World's Biggest Meat Seller
Energy & Environment →
100% renewable energy across all sectors possible by 2050 with solar leading the way, study says
Endnote →
Southeast Asia Is Historically Underbanked. Fintechs Are Finally Seizing The Opportunity.
Although gold has not had a rally anywhere close to its largest of all time in 2010 – 2011, it has still been quite resilient in the face of tightening monetary policy over the last several years. And now that the Fed is putting rateson hold, the underlying fundamental trends in gold markets, including a long-term slowdown in production and a spikein demand from central banks, is setting the precious metal up for stronger performance through 2019 and beyond.
Other Viewpoint Reports
Joe Mac's Market Viewpoint: After the Inflation Intermission →
Joe Mac's Market Viewpoint: Patience, Patience →
Joe Mac's Market Viewpoint: The Next Handle →
Joe Mac's Market Viewpoint: A Review of Our-Change Driven Themes →
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Select a theme to see when and why we added it. Also included is a link to all recent Market Insight reports we've written about that theme, allowing you to track its progress.
U.S. Pharmaceuticals
ASEAN Markets
Value Over Growth
Gold & Gold Miners
Long-Dated U.S. Treasuries
Oil & U.S. Energy
U.S. Housing
US 10Y Bond Yield Hits 4-week High
United States 10 Year Government Bond Yield increased to a 4-week high of 2.5958%.
Click here to access the data +
US Industrial Output Falls Unexpectedly
US industrial output edged down 0.1 percent from a month earlier in March 2019, reversing a 0.1 percent advance in February and missing market expectations of a 0.2 percent gain.
US Homebuilder Sentiment at 6-Month High, as Expected
The NAHB Housing Market Index in the United States increased to a six-month high of 63 in April of 2019 from 62 in each of the previous two months and in line with market expectations.
Gold Prices Extend Losses
Gold prices fell nearly 1% to $1276.4 an ounce on Tuesday, hitting the lowest level since December 27th, after strong economic data eased worries about the global economy. Gold prices have been under pressure after positive economic data from the US and China diminished investors' intentions to turn to safe-haven assets while optimist regarding the trade deal between the two countries also supported the prices.
Lean Hogs Prices Rally on Tuesday
Lean Hogs prices went up to $90.5 on Tuesday, the highest level since July 2017, due to a decline in the Chinese pig production. China's purchases of US pork sharply increased in March, after the African swine fever, a viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, hit the world's top hog market since last August.
MARKET INSIGHT UPDATES: SUMMARIES
President Donald Trump's appetite for easier money chimes with a broader shift within the Republican Party as politicians shed some of the hawkish plumage they donned in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
The president unquestionably counts as an outlier among Republicans in demanding this month that the Federal Reserve unleash a new blast of bond-buying stimulus as well as lowering interest rates. But faced with an inflationary dog that failed to bark, and a president demanding low rates as he seeks to bolster the economy ahead of the 2020 election, Republican policymakers appear much less anxious to brandish hard-money credentialstoday. The shift comes as they preside over a major expansion of the budget deficit, despite past vows to control public debt.
Governing parties naturally gravitate toward lower rates as they seek re-election, and the change in mood within the broader party is in part a reflection of Trump's ability to make the political weather, says Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "The president is an easy-money guy. That has an effect," he says.
Read the full article from OZY +
The nation's homebuilders are pleased with the strong demand they're seeing this spring, but they continue to see buyers being held back by today's high home prices. Builder confidence rose 1 point to 63 in April in the monthly National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. It was at 68 last April, and then hit a 2018 high of 70 in May. Sentiment has remained in the low 60s for the past three months. Anything above 50 is considered positive.
"Builders report solid demand for new single-family homes, but they are also grappling with affordability concerns stemming from a chronic shortage of construction workers and buildable lots," said NAHB Chairman Greg Ugalde, a homebuilder and developer from Torrington, Connecticut.
Of the index's three components, current sales conditions increased 1 point to 69. Buyer traffic rose 3 points to 47 but is still in negative territory. Sales expectations over the next six months fell 1 point to 71.
Builders are trying to cater to strong demand at the entry level of the market, but only a few of the large production companies, like D.R. Horton, were really focused there during the housing recovery. More, like Pulte's Centex brand, are now turning in that direction, but the bulk of new production is still in the move-up market.
Read the full article from CNBC +
Pot producers had to scramble to apply the required excise-tax stamps with no glue as legalization kicked off last October, and many are still having to apply them by hand to some packages months later as supply issues continue.
While Organigra has figured out how to automate its production of some products, the Moncton, New Brunswick-based company still must manually apply the tax stamps onto its raw-marijuana containers, Chief Executive Greg Engel told MarketWatch in an interview Monday. "Our pre-roll equipment puts [the tax stamp] on automatically, the oil line does it automatically, but the dry flower jar line, we just can't get it automatic," Engel said, adding that he hopes to have a fix in two weeks.
Organigram on Monday joined a chorus of companies saying their challenge in supplying the Canadian cannabis market is not growing massive amounts of marijuana, but transforming the plant into a product that's ready for sale. Engel said that his company had nearly $30 million worth of dried cannabis at the end of its most recent quarter that it still needed to process, more than it brought in actually selling cannabis in the quarter.
In order to meet demand, the company has begun staffing some parts of its operations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it has now contracted Valens Groworks Corp. to perform some of the extraction while expanding its in-house capabilities.
Read the full article from MarketWatch +
Apple's new gaming subscription service Apple Arcade may have been a bit of a footnote at its Services event earlier this month compared to the stage time given to more prime time-ready efforts like Apple TV+ and Apple News+, but the company is throwing some major funding behind its effort to get people paying a monthly fee for exclusive titles.
The company has already set aside a budget of more than $500 million for its Arcade service, according to a report in the Financial Times. The service, arriving in the fall, will let users play exclusive gaming titles across their Apple devices ad-free and offline. The titles will be free of micro-transactions, unlike many of the popular gaming titles on the App Store.
While the company has already reportedly spent more than $1 billion on its TV+ content service, the gaming subscription world marks another uncharted territory for Apple as it will put the tech giant in the position of curating with its cash by directly funding titles for exclusive launches on Apple Arcade. At its event, the company detailed that it will have more than 100 new and exclusive gaming titles launching as part of its service.
3DP
UPS led a $48 million series B funding round for 3D printing startup Fast Radius. UPS has been working with Fast Radius since early 2016, and the 3PL has participated in two previous rounds of funding for the company via the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, a UPS spokesperson told Supply Chain Dive in an email.
"Additive manufacturing is increasingly becoming the logical direction for future supply chain strategies, blurring the lines between physical and virtual warehousing for products in many industries," Scott Price, the chief strategy and transformation officer at UPS, said in a statement. "Fast Radius' technology platform and additive manufacturing design processes are bringing the virtual warehouse vision to life for their customers, complementing UPS' global time-definite logistics expertise."
The funding will be used to expand Fast Radius' global footprint and scale up its software development, application engineering and sales teams. 3D printing promises faster design and speed to market with the ability to easily make changes to the manufacturing process. And localized production can simplify supply chains and lead to less reliance on suppliers.
Read the full article from Supply Chain Dive +
There is much more to this report! McAlinden Research Partners offers Hedge Connection members weekly access to the Daily Intelligence Briefing research for free – click here to view. (You must be logged in first). Not a member? Join today. McAlinden Research Partners is currently offering a complimentary full month subscription of the DIB. Activate yours today by contacting hugh@mcalindenresearch.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A collection of my top 10 project ideas. I hope they bring you inspiration, creativity and add an element of 'dazzle' to your home! Send me a note if you try one of these top 10 project ideas!
How to create teacher appreciation gifts using inexpensive photo frames and wooden rulers for a unique DIY teacher picture frame craft.
Use wooden letter blocks and colored pencils to create a fun toilet roll holder for the kids bath.
Make a Christmas tree garland using miniature cupcake liners. A fun family craft to do together.
Create a stunning miniature flower pot door wreath using small terra cotta flower pots and craft paint.
Artificially age plastic terra cotta flowers pots using paint and a sanding block.
What to blog about in 2017?
This is a super short survey that will take you all of 2 minutes to complete. All answers are anonymous. Thank You! And happy 2017!!


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Home/Technology/With the web search feature, WhatsApp wants you to confirm shared content before forwarding
With the web search feature, WhatsApp wants you to confirm shared content before forwarding
August 7, 2020Last Updated: August 7, 2020
On August 3, WhatsApp rolled out a new feature that allows users to quickly double-check the veracity of a forwarded message, especially one that has been forwarded many times. For now, it is only available for those with the latest versions of WhatsApp for Android, iOS, and Web in Brazil, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Spain, UK, and the US.
According to the official report, this feature comes with a magnifying glass button in front of any shared message carrying a link. Clicking the button redirects to the web to search for news results or other sources of information that confirm or refute the content of the message. In a way, the user is aware of the need to either share or disregard.
In addition, the feature permits a user to send the content itself or other sources of information to other users directly from the browser. Apparently, WhatsApp's intention is to reduce the spread of misinformation on the platform.
Meanwhile, this is only one out of a number of features supporting the Facebook-owned messaging app's attempt to control or limit the rate of message forwarding.
Recently, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, it introduced a restriction on how many people users are allowed to forward a message to at a time after the first five. Soon, it added double arrows to label a post that was created by someone who is not a close contact and has been forwarded many times.
Interestingly, this is quite similar to Twitter's recent feature which prompts users to read a tweet that contains a link before retweeting.
In 2020, particularly since the pandemic became a global issue, social media platforms have intensified actions against misinformation.
Facebook, for instance, blocks misinforming posts about coronavirus on the platform, Google took an extreme measure to ban ads on websites that promote conspiracy theories about COVID-19, while Youtube also flags videos revealing false information about a cure for the virus.
While all these moves may give no assurance of an end to misinformation on social media soon, these tech companies expect that their efforts will limit the spread of fake news and also make users aware of the possibility of being a potential fake news peddler if not mindful.
For now, it cannot be verified when the WhatsApp web search feature will be rolled out globally. In the meantime, the tech giant just began the trial of its payment services, WhatsApp Pay, in India after an unsuccessful outing in Brazil in June.
FG APPROVES NATIONAL POLICY ON 5G NETWORK
NITDA AFFIRMS STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT IN RE-ENACTING THE NITDA ACT, 2007
PRESIDENT BUHARI OKAYS CHANGE OF NAME FOR SCIENCE MINISTRY
STAKEHOLDERS DELIBERATE ON SUSTAINABILITY OF DIGITAL SWITCH OVER
TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION EXPO 2021 TO TRANSFORM ECONOMY
NASRDA TO LAUNCH NEW SATELLITE
CBN SENDS STRONG WARNING TO IMTOS STILL PAYING REMITTANCES IN NAIRA
PANTAMI MEETS INDUSTRY PLAYERS ON SIM REGISTRATION RULES
SENATE REFERS BILL TO ESTABLISH AEROSPACE VARSITY TO COMMITTEE
BUHARI RECOGNISES YOUTH INNOVATORS
Nigeria approves ban on local exclusive VOD content, $13,000 hate speech fine
NIESV Speaks on Stamp Duty
NCC SECURES COURT CONVICTION FOR SEVEN SIM CARD REGISTRATION OFFENDERS


text:
Mains History Paper 1994
Author selfstudyhistory Posted on Posted on February 4, 2015 June 2, 2020
IAS Mains History 1994
Paper-I
1. Mark any fifteen of the following places on the map supplied to you and write short notes on the answer book on the places marked on the map:
(i) Akhnur
(ii) Arikamedu
(iii) Barabar
(iv) Bagh
(v) Bhumra
(vi) Bodh gaya
(vii) Bhagatav
(viii) Chandraketugrah
(ix) Dhamner
(x) Elephanta
(xi) Eran
(xii) Gop
(xiii) Gyarspur
(xiv) Harappa
(xv) Harwan
(xvi) Karle
(xvii) Mohenjo Daro
(xviii) Martand
(xix) Maski
(xx) Mehendragiri
(xxi) Mukhalingam
(xxii) Nachna
(xxiii) Piprahwa
(xxiv) Rajim
(xxv) Sanghol
(xxvi) Sisupalgarh
(xxvii) Sirpur
(xxviii)Sonkh
(xxix) Sutkagen-Dor
(xxx) Tigwa
2. Discuss the pattern of trade during the Indus Valley civilization. How for did it affect the nature of contemporary settlements in the Indian sub-continent?
3. Determine- the veracity of Megasthenes' descriptions of Indian society and economy with the help of other contemporary evidences.
4. Trace the scientific and technological developments in India up to c. A.D. 750.
5. Write short essays of not more than 200 words each on any three of the following:
(a) Ziauddin Barani as a historian
(b) Narrative paintings under Jahangir and Akbar
(c) Meaning and features of the Maharshtra Dharma
(d) Mughals and the British East India Company
6. Do you agree with the view that the form and content of temple architecture in South India between c. A.D. 750 and 1200 were products of a specific economic and political milieu?
7. What light do inscriptions and accounts of European travellers throw on the antecedents and legacy of the administrative structure of the Vijayanagar Empire?
8. "Aurangzeb is a much maligned monarch." Argue the case for and against the proposition.
Paper-II
1. Comment on any three of the following statements in about 200 words each:
(a) "The Widow Remarriage Act was, in many ways, a logical sequel to the abolition of Sati"
(b) "The new attitude of caution and conservatism can be detected in almost every sphere of British activity in India after the Revolt of 1857."
(c) "The British Raj had a deeply racist aspect and it ultimately existed to protect colonial exploitation."
(d) "To glorify the strength of the Congress and deny that of the League is to be blind." (P.C. Joshi, 1945)
2. How did the British establish their control over Maharashtra in the first two decades of the 19th century? Why did the Maratha challenge ultimately collapse?
3. How do you account of the rise and growth of the Business enterprise in India during the first half of the 20th century?
4. Gandhi restrained mass-movements yet he retained his popularity among the masses. How do you explain this paradox?
(a) "The Renaissance was not a political or religious movement. It was a state of mind'
(b) "Protestantism contributed substantially to the rise of capitalism."
(c) "Asian Nationalism is just a product of Western impact on the Asian intelligentsia in the last decades of the nineteenth century."
(d) "The countries in the Middle East became, after 1919, the scene of constant effervescence and some striking changes."
6. To what extent were the advances in scientific knowledge in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a product of the needs of a changing society?
7. "The perpetuation of the economic malaise was the main cause of the political instability of Europe during the next two decades (1919-39)." Explain.
8. Show how the presence of a weak and helpless China next door brought about the rise of militarism and collapse of democracy in Japan.
[Solution of 2017 History Optional Paper II]: Q.1 (d) "The Arya Samaj may quite logically be pronounced as the outcome of conditions imported into India from the West."
Painting during Gupta period
Solution: Daily Practise Questions for History Optional Mains 2017 (Medieval India- 29 September)


Statue of Neptune, 2nd century AD, Prado Museum, Spain.
Neptune (Latin: Neptūnus) is the god of water and the sea in ancient Roman religion and mythology. His Greek equivalent is the god Poseidon. The Roman conception of Neptune was mainly influenced by the Etruscan god Nethuns. Neptune was associated with fresh water as well as the sea, while Oceanus was the god of the world-ocean. Like his Greek equivalent, Neptune was also worshipped by the Romans as the god of horses, and, under the name Neptune Equester, he was a patron god of horse-racing.
The planet Neptune is named after this Roman god.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neptune.
This page was last changed on 19 March 2019, at 23:47.


VersaMail is the Email client that ships will all the present Treo and Palm Handheld models. It's descended from a product called MultiMail, a text-based email program Palm bought a few years ago. Palm has been steadily enhancing it, like adding some support for HTML mail, adding Exchange ActiveSync support, and other features. For those carriers offering Palm's Blackberry Connect, it is also built on top of VersaMail to offer push e-mail, contacts and calendar events. It presently supports POP3 and IMAP, and it supports SSL and authenticated sending (ESMTP). It also supports configuring non-standard ports for sending and receiving mail (which some providers now use to combat zombie PC's sending spam).
It will then dump you back into the last program you were using. If you're lucky, you can just go back into VersaMail and it'll work fine. If you're not lucky, you have to use other tricks like going into VersaMail and quickly switching mailboxes by hitting the hardbutton twice in succession (assuming you have two accounts set-up). In the worst case I've ever had (which has only happened once), I've had to delete all the VersaMail databases, and then re-create the accounts and re-download the mail again. Because I use server-based IMAP for my mail, and I leave a copy of mail on Yahoo!, I didn't lose any mail during that whole mess-up.
ChatterEmail was built from the ground up to be a Treo E-mail Client. It has a 30-day trial period, which I used for the entire period in order to really get a feel for it. The version I used was 3.0.4rc1, which means it's a "release candidate" or late beta product. One nice thing about Chatter's trial period is that you can still access your stored e-mail when the 30 days are up; you just can't send and receive anymore. The latest version of ChatterEmail (as of this posting date) is 3.0.6.
J for Junk e-mail (if you have a Junk mail folder defined).
This beats the menu + key or on-screen buttons approach used by VersaMail, as it eliminates one keystroke or stylus tap for each mail you deal with. That can be a big time-saver for e-mail power users. As you can see below, the button bars in Chatter are a little cleaner, being icons; VersaMail only implements text buttons. VersaMail has problems with some forms of message encoding. The message below originated via a mailing list that adds a "signature block" automatically to each message sent via the list, and usually the messages on this list get sent via the mailing list software as an attachment. The same message is displayed below. Note how Chatter picks it up as an attachment (message.txt), whereas VersaMail doesn't show anything but the signature block; this might lead the recipient to believe there was no message actually sent.
Does this mean that Chatter handles e-mail better than VersaMail? Not exactly! Chatter seems to have issues with truncating messages (cutting them off prematurely). Chatter has a preference, like VersaMail, to set a limit on how much of an e-mail is retrieved when it syncs with the server. If a message is only partially fetched, both programs give you the option to "get more" of the message, which should download the entire message. With VersaMail, when I select that option, I usually get the entire message (although VersaMail too has problems with truncating large messages). With Chatter, when you select a message to get more, it would indicated it retrieves the entire message, but it is very obvious it did not (VersaMail has the same problem on really large messages). These truncations happened more frequently on Chatter than on VersaMail, on mailing list "digests" of more than 50KB in size. Usually, VersaMail only has problems with messages of 64KB or larger. Other than the size issues, Chatter does generally handle e-mail messages of varying types of formatting better than VersaMail. If you don't do large digests, Chatter is definitely the better of the two for message viewing.
In the mailbox view, many of those same shortcuts apply when a message is highlighed or selected. The only ones I felt were missing that would make it even more usable are T and B, to go to the Top or the Bottom of the mailbox view, like the Blackberry does in it's email client. Given that T is already taken in that view, it's understandable. Holding the option button down while rocking the 5-way up or down will advance through the message view by pages, rather than individual messages, so that does help somewhat. But, if you routinely keep a lot of mail in your mailbox, it would be nice to have one-button jumping to the top or bottom. Given that VersaMail has none of these one-button features, Chatter is a huge step up in terms of usability.
Another possible shortcoming in Chatter is that you can only sort the mailbox view by date received, either ascending or descending. There are no options to sort by sender or subject, which can be useful for dealing with large amounts of email. I personally like sorting my Yahoo account by subject, since that will group similar messages together, as neither program supports threading. Since Chatter's target market is for people using push e-mail, where you typically deal with it as it arrives, this may not be much of an issue for those people; those who get mail periodically, and who get a lot of it, may find it painful to process. VersaMail does allow for sorting by sender, subject, and date received, so I have to give it points for catering to peoples different styles of processing email.
VersaMail stores it's messages in your handheld's memory, whereas Chatter can be configured to store it's mail on the SD card. This can save you a lot of memory if you're on a Treo 650 and want to keep a lot of mail with you. Chatter keeps a message index in memory, but not the actual messages, so it doesn't eat up a lot of space if you have a lot of mail. The flip side is that VersaMail is in ROM (Read Only Memory, or what's built-in from the factory), whereas Chatter has to be stored in memory in order to work (I'm not going to get into the whole topic of ROM hacking here). So, in practice and depending on how much mail you deal with, the Chatter program may take up as much memory as what VersaMail uses for it's message database. If you want to carry 6 months of mail with you, Chatter's the way to go; otherwise, you can't weigh the memory aspect as heavily as other usability factors. Chatter does offer mailbox encryption on the SD card, but it's not strong enough to withstand someone who's determined, so it shouldn't be relied on to protect state secrets and such.
Chatter has a nice feature for IMAP accounts called filtered mailboxes, which for some could be a workaround for the "sort by subject or sender" issue above. Basically, it's subfolders on an IMAP account that have configurable filters, message handling and alert options. You can configure how often filtered mailboxes are synced (if done automatically), and whether or not you are notified of new mail in that box. There is also an option for SMS triggered syncs; that mailbox will sync when you receive an SMS containing a text message you configure. That's a handy feature for automated message systems , server-side filters, or voicemail/faxmail to email systems.
As far as overall IMAP feature support, Chatter handles subfolders in subfolders; Versamail only handles first-level folders (no subfolders), and does not have custom options per folder (just per-account settings, unlike Chatter's filtered mailboxes). Chatter also supports message flags (see the picture above where the background of an envelope is red or flagged), whereas VersaMail does not. Both products will synchronize read/unread status back to the server. Chatter supports configurable options for where Sent messages are placed, and will sync the changes back to the server; that means that messages sent from the Treo will be stored in your sent folder on the server. The version of VersaMail I have does not. I've had to configure it to BCC a mail to mkbrown+Sent for it to be kept on the server (I use something called "address extensions" to deliver mail to certain folders automatically). Chatter also has "junk mail support", and if configured, it will sync the Junk to the Junk folder on the server; VersaMail, nope!
Another nice thing about Chatter is it's status area (see the mailbox view above where it shows off-line). It tells you if there's no signal, what's happening (Auth, Login, number of messages, etc), and it will highlight other accounts that have messages (see the red mkbrown in the picture above). Versamail uses progress bars (a blocking operation, meaning you can't do anything while it's working) and the standard antenna bars for radio status and signal. Chatter supports background operation, which is it's secret for letting you get on with using your device while it's fetching mail in the background. It works pretty well, but will sometimes reposition the screen if you're reading a mail at the same time it's updating the status area. Annoying, but not a big deal when you consider you can do something productive while it's grabbing mail in the background.
Chatter also has a summary view, which incorporates e-mail from all the configured e-mail accounts you choose into one page. I personally didn't find it very useful, as I prefer to deal with one account at a time. You, on the other hand, may think it's just amazing and makes you want to buy Chatter right now. It's an optional view, so if you don't want it, you don't have to use it. VersaMail doesn't have anything like it. You can see it below.
So, what do I miss most about ChatterEmail now that my trial period is over and I went back to VersaMail? HTML message viewing, one button operations, IMAP subfolders, and message flags. Those were the features I liked most about Chatter, for use in my particular situation. I don't use push e-mail, so it wasn't a deciding factor for me. Being able to file messages wherever in my folder hierarchy was top-notch in my books, as was being able to flag them, neither of which are features that VersaMail supports. What do I feel was missing from Chatter, that would have made it more usable for me? Sort by Sender or Subject in the mailbox view. That way, I can process e-mails, and delete entire threads if they're read or irrelevant to me.
As for product support, VersaMail is supported by Palm Inc., which means you get someone reading scripts and pasting form letters in a call center, who may or may not be able to help you resolve your problem, like many call centers these days. (Wake Up manufacturers! Customer SERVICE and SUPPORT means that the tech support people should know more about their products than the people who are calling for help, not the other way around!) If you have a Treo, and the version of VersaMail you have is buggy, then you are at the mercy of your cellular service provider as to whether or not you will see a firmware upgrade or software update for your device which MAY fix any problems you're having. Otherwise, Palm sells an upgrade version of VersaMail (3.5, which ships on the Treo 700p and 680), which MAY fix any issues you're having with older versions of VersaMail. But, in the case of 3.5, you'll have to pay to find out; there's no trial for it. I'm running 3.1F myself on my Bell Mobility Treo 650, and I had to hack my ROM a while back using the Telus ROM update to upgrade my VersaMail from 3.1b to 3.1F, because Bell Mobility avoids ROM upgrades like the plague. They want to sell phones like appliances, so it's not their problem if something goes wrong; and besides, it takes them months – if not a year – to qualify a phone on their network before it becomes available, so the product may no longer be in production by the time they'll consider qualifying a ROM upgrade. Bell's network is stable and the coverage is good, so the price you pay for that is to not expect to get a ROM upgrade (ever!).
Chatter's support has been excellent up to the end of February of this year. Marc Blanc, the author of Chatter, runs a support forum on his website, and he also frequents a lot of palm mailing lists providing support to his users. Marc is very passionate about his product, and solicits feedback and feature requests from his users, which he then rolls into new releases of ChatterEmail. Upgrades to Chatter have historically been free of charge, and rapid, because Marc believes in a "release early, release often" approach to software development. Now, let me clarify something; I've been talking about "historically" and "up to February" because, in a forum post here , Marc reveals that he will no longer be actively developing ChatterEmail, as he has accepted a position with Palm Inc. Marc has said that Chatter will still be available for purchase, and that support would continue to be provided, albeit not as it has been in the past, as he is transitioning Chatter to a different support structure and distancing himself from it, which is likely a requirement of his accepting the position with Palm.
Congrats to Marc on his new position, and kudos to Palm Inc. for picking up a talented and vibrant developer from the Palm community. I can only hope Marc's talents are being applied to address VersaMail's difficiencies (as well as related PalmOS flaws). Given that Marc is not longer actively developing Chatter, would I still recommend it? Yes! Marc has built up a supportive community around his product that rivals that of another extraordinary developer and product, C.E. Stuart Dewar and Pimlico Software's DateBk6 (which I've used since DateBk3). Marc has committed to his users in e-mail posts that future PalmOS devices will be supported, and I'm confident that the product will continue for the foreseeable future.
Now, it may seem like I'm bashing VersaMail; well, it does have it's flaws, but it's still a very usable e-mail client. Many people don't even load a third-party piece of software onto their Treo's or Palm Handhelds, so they don't have the first clue as to what other options they may have. The point to this E-mail Round-up series is to show what's out there, and what each program's strengths and weaknesses are. Next in the series will be VersaMail vs SnapperMail2; expect to see that around the end of April, as I'll be giving Snapper the same 30 day shakedown cruise as I did for Chatter. Feel free to ask questions using the comments section below; I'd be happy to give my two cents worth (Canadian). I'll be doing a post in the near future about Syncing options for PalmOS products, so stay tuned!
Update: You can find part 2 in the series, VersaMail vs SnapperEmail, here.
E-mail is a mainstay in today's mobile devices, and the Treo is no exception. The Treo product line ships with the VersaMail Client (now just called Email on the newest Treo's like the 680 and 700p), but how good is it, and how does it stack up to the competition? That's what I'll be covering in the next three or so posts in this series, but from the point of view of an individual or small business. There are other products out there that replicate the Blackberry experience, like Goodlink and Palm's Blackberry Connect, but those products are usually deployed by large organizations, so individual users don't have a choice in the matter.
I'll be doing these reviews in a series of comparisons, because everyone's needs for email are different. These reviews aren't about finding the "best" email client; there is no such thing. By comparing the various email clients to each other in real world applications, it can help you find the best application for your needs and situation. In order to test these applications, I'll be using my own IMAP mail server, as well as a Yahoo! POP account I use for a multitude of mailing lists, both individual messages and digest modes. I'll be comparing the third-party e-mail clients against VersaMail, which is what installed standard on the Treo.
For some background information, E-mail is client-server relationship. E-mail gets sent from a client on your PC or Treo to your provider's server, then passed through a few other servers on it's way to it's destination, the recipient's server. The recipient would then use a client software package to get that e-mail. There's two major ways of getting e-mail. The first is called POP3 or Post Office Protocol version 3. POP3 is generally what most providers supply with Internet Service accounts, and it's the protocol used to access webmail based accounts like Yahoo or Gmail. It works much like a physical "snail mail" mailbox: mail sits there until you retrieve it, where it is then moved into your inbox on the e-mail client. It is possible to configure your email client to leave the original in your mailbox on the server, and merely fetch a copy into your mail program's inbox, but that is not typically the default. The Yahoo account I'm testing with will be keeping the original, and the various clients I'm using are configured to get a copy. POP3 accounts are generally not intended for the long term storage of e-mail (although Gmail is an exception).
IMAP is a different beast. It's a system that is designed to store e-mail permanently on the server, and therefore it has tools to make it beneficial to do that. IMAP supports folders, and folders within folders, so you can make a filing system that works for you. Your email program works with a local copy of your email "filing system", and any changes you make are propagated back to the server.
Many IMAP server installations have server-side tools to filter e-mail based on a multitude of criteria, and this filtering is done as the mail arrives at the server. This can be a huge time and money saver; let's say you frequently receive mail of a routine or non-urgent nature. That type of mail can be filtered into a different folder than your Inbox (like "Read later") that you read when your at your desktop PC. That makes getting your inbox mail faster, as you won't have to wade through all your mail, and you won't pay for retrieving email you don't need to read immediately (for those that pay per kB transferred).
Typically, email is "pulled" from the server to the client, as the client "polls" the server. Think of it along these lines: The client says "Hey, got any mail for me?" every 15 minutes. The server will respond either "nope", or "yup", in which case the client says "Ok, gimme". Push e-mail like the Blackberry basically shoves email out to the mobile device the moment it arrives at the server, eliminating the delay of polling for mail every 'x' minutes (no more "is it here yet?"). It's like having the mailman running your mail to you every time a letter shows up at the post office. With the Blackberry or Goodlink, this involves having a dedicated server which talks to both the mobile device and the mail server, and acts as a go-between. This integration typically requires a significant investment in both money and IT infrastructure, which is usually reserved for larger organizations.
For individuals looking for push email on a smaller scale, some e-mail clients are supporting an IMAP server feature called "IDLE". It's like keeping a phone call (connection) open so you can talk to someone right away, when you need to. Most of the time the connection is idle (meaning you're not paying for data transfer because your not actually sending or receiving mail), but your email willl come through right away when it arrives because the connection to the server is still open. The IDLE feature is particularly handy if your existing IMAP server supports it: you just buy an e-mail client that supports IDLE, and you have instant push email on your existing infrastructure, with minimal costs and fuss.
Reading and replying to email sent to me personally that is in my Inbox (IMAP).
I find that mailing lists are a great way to test email clients. The sheer volume of people from around the world, using a multitude of email programs (with varying levels of compliance to the specifications of technically correct emails) ensures that the program I'm testing has a wide range of samples to go through. The emails will be a range of plain text, text digest, HTML, and multi-part mixed. Text digests nice torture tests for portable email clients. The mailing list software is supposed to reduce HTML or rich text messages to plain text, but sometimes things happen where a mashup of plain text and HTML codes get sent through, and some e-mail clients just choke up trying to handle the mashup.
So, stay tuned for the next post in this series, where I'll be talking about my baseline for comparison, VersaMail, and how it stacks up to ChatterEmail.
2007-03-15 Update: You can find part 1 in the series, VersaMail vs ChatterEmail, here.
2007-08-24 Update: You can find part 2 in the series, VersaMail vs SnapperEmail, here.


This article is about the composer. For the American author, see Virgil Thompson (author).
Thomson was born in Kansas City, Missouri. As a child, he befriended Alice Smith, great-granddaughter of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter-day Saint movement. During his youth, he often played the organ in Grace Church, (now Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral), as his piano teacher was the church's organist. After World War I, he entered Harvard University thanks to a loan from Dr. Fred M. Smith, the president of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and father of Alice Smith. His tours of Europe with the Harvard Glee Club helped nurture his desire to return there. At Harvard, Thomson focused his studies on the piano work of Erik Satie. He studied in Paris on fellowship for a year, and after graduating, lived in Paris from 1925 until 1940. While studying in Paris he was influenced by several French composers who were members of "Les Six" including: Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, and George Auric. He eventually studied with Nadia Boulanger and became a fixture of "Paris in the twenties."
In 1925, in Paris, he cemented a relationship with painter Maurice Grosser (1903–1986), who was to become his life partner and frequent collaborator. Later he and Grosser lived at the Hotel Chelsea, where he presided over a largely gay salon that attracted many of the leading figures in music and art and theater, including Leonard Bernstein, Tennessee Williams, and many others. He also encouraged many younger composers and literary figures such as Ned Rorem, Lou Harrison, John Cage, Frank O'Hara, and Paul Bowles. Grosser died in 1986, three years before Thomson.
His most important friend from this period was Gertrude Stein, who was an artistic collaborator and mentor to him. After meeting Stein in Paris in 1926, Thomson invited her to prepare a libretto for an opera which he hoped to compose. Their collaboration resulted in the premier of the ground breaking composition Four Saints in Three Acts in 1934. At the time, the opera was noted for its form, musical content and the portrayal of European saints by an all-black cast. Years later in 1947, he collaborated once again with Stein in his provocative opera The Mother of Us All which portrays the life of the social reformer Susan B. Anthony. Thomson incorporated musical elements from Baptist hymns, Gregorian chants and popular songs into both scores while demonstrating a restrained use of dissonance.
Thompson's contributions to music were not limited to the operatic stage, however. In 1936 he established a collaboration with the film director Pare Lorentz and composed music for the documentary film The Plow That Broke the Plains for the United States government's Resettlement Administration (RA). Thompson incorporated folk melodies and religious musical themes into the film score and subsequently composed an orchestral suite of the same name which was recorded by Leopold Stokowski and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra in 1946 for RCA Victor (# 11-9522,11-9523). In 1938 he also formed a collaboration with Lorentz and the operatic singer Thomas Hardie Chalmers on the documentary film The River for the United States government's Farm Security Administration. Subsequently, in 1948 he collaborated with the director Robert J. Flaherty on the docufiction film Louisiana Story, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1949. At the time, the award was the only Pulitzer Prize in music granted for a musical composition written exclusively film  Thomson composed an orchestra suite based upon the score which was premiered by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1949 to widespread critical acclaim.
Following the publication of his book, The State of Music, Thompson established himself in New York City as a peer of Aaron Copland, and was also a music critic for the New York Herald-Tribune from 1940 to 1954.
His definition of music was famously "that which musicians do," and his views on music are radical in their insistence on reducing the rarefied aesthetics of music to market activity. He even went so far as to claim that the style a piece was written in could be most effectively understood as a consequence of its income source.
In 1969, Thompson composed Metropolitan Museum Fanfare: Portrait Of An American Artist to accompany the Museum's Centennial exhibition "New York Painting And Sculpture: 1940–1970."
Thomson became a sort of mentor and father figure to a new generation of American tonal composers such as Ned Rorem, Paul Bowles and Leonard Bernstein, a circle united as much by their shared homosexuality as by their similar compositional sensibilities. Women composers were not part of that circle, and one writer has suggested that, as a critic, he selectively omitted mention of their works, or adopted a more passive tone when praising them.
Thomson was a recipient of Yale University's Sanford Medal. In 1949 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for the score to the film Louisiana Story. In addition, the Kennedy Center Honors award was bestowed upon Thomson in 1983. In 1988, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Ronald Reagan. He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.
Thomson died on September 30, 1989, in his suite at the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan, aged 92. He had lived at the Chelsea for close to 50 years.
Thomson, Virgil. (1940) The State of Music. New York. Morrow.
Thomson, Virgil. (1945) The Musical Scene. New York. A. A. Knopf.
Thomson, Virgil. (1948) The Art of Judging Music. New York. A. A. Knopf.
Thomson, Virgil. (1951) Music, Right and Left. New York. Henry Holt and Co.
Thomson, Virgil. (1966) Virgil Thomson. New York. Alfred A. Knopf.
Thomson, Virgil. (1971) American Music Since 1919. New York. Holt Rinehart and Winston.
Thomson, Virgil. (1981) A Virgil Thomson Reader. Boston. Houghton and Mifflin.
Thomson, Virgil. (1989) Music With Words: A Composer's View. New Haven. Yale university Press.
Hitchcock, H. Wiley, and Robert Fussell, eds. (2008). Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein: Four Saints in Three Acts. Music of the United States of America (MUSA) vol. 18. Madison, Wisconsin: A-R Editions.
^ Lerner, Neil William. 1997. "The Classical Documentary Score in American Films of Persuasion: Contexts and Case Studies, 1936–1945". PhD diss. Duke University.
^ Kime, Mary W. 1989. "Modernism and Americana: A Study of 'The Mother of Us All'". Ars Musica Denver 2, no. 1 (Fall): pp. 24–29.
^ Glanville-Hicks, Peggy. 1949a. "Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts". Notes, second series, 6, no. 2 (March): pp. 328–30.
^ Griffiths, Paul. 2001. "Thomson, Virgil", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers; New York: Grove's Dictionaries.
^ Thomson, Virgil The State of Music (New York: Vintage Books, 1962), p. 81. OCLC 729029.
^ Finding aid for the George Trescher records related to The Metropolitan Museum of Art Centennial, 1949, 1960–1971 (bulk 1967–1970). The Metropolitan Museum of Art; retrieved August 6, 2014.
^ Tommasini, Anthony Virgil Thomson's Musical Portraits (New York: Pendragon Press, 1986), p. 19. ISBN 0918728517.
^ Hubbs, Nadine. The Queer Composition of America's Sound; Gay Modernists, American Music, and National Identity (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 2004).
^ Leading clarinetist to receive Sanford Medal Archived 2012-07-29 at the Wayback Machine, tourdates.co.uk; accessed October 31, 2015.
^ Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, nea.gov; accessed October 31, 2015.
^ Delta Omicron Archived 2010-01-27 at the Wayback Machine, delta-omicron.org; accessed October 31, 2015.
^ von Rhein, John (1 October 1989). "Virgil Thomson, Prize-winning Composer, Influential Music Critic". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
Review by Tim Page in The Nation of Virgil Thomson: Music Chronicles, 1940–1954. New York, NY: The Library of America. 2014. ISBN 9781598533095.


text:
Q: move blocks between two divs So I have two divs and inside there gona be some blocks:

    21@epos.com
    +

if one clicks on
   +
whole block moves to other div.
Everything works but only to move ech block to another div once,
but I need them to go both ways as much as .moveSym clicked.
my JS
    //remove block on click
$('.del-block').on('click', function() {
    var block = $(this).attr('id');
    $('.' + block).remove();
})

//move form list blocks to different fields
$('.leftSide01 .moveSym').click(function() {
    console.log($(this).attr('id'));
    var id = $(this).attr('id');
    $(this).text("-");
    $('.leftSide01 .list-block.' + id).appendTo('.rightSide01');
})
$('.rightSide01 .moveSym').click(function() {
    console.log($(this).attr('id'));
    var id = $(this).attr('id');
    $(this).text("+");
    $('.rightSide01 .list-block.' + id).appendTo('.leftSide01');
})

I know there are plugins for this, but I really want to write it by myself and learn :)
Fiddle http://jsfiddle.net/A1ex5andr/CRvVK/

A: Need to use event delegation, because the handler to be executed depends on the parent element.
//move form list blocks to different fields
$('.leftSide01').on('click', '.moveSym', function () {
    console.log($(this).attr('id'));
    var id = $(this).attr('id');
    $(this).text("-");
    $('.leftSide01 .list-block.' + id).appendTo('.rightSide01');
})
$('.rightSide01').on('click', '.moveSym', function () {
    console.log($(this).attr('id'));
    var id = $(this).attr('id');
    $(this).text("+");
    $('.rightSide01 .list-block.' + id).appendTo('.leftSide01');
})

Demo: Fiddle

A: You can really simplify this logic into one function that works for both (if there are only ever going to be two divs) . . .
$('.moveSym').click(function() {
    console.log($(this).attr('id'));  // I just left in, because you had it in the original code   :)

    var targetParent =  $(".rightSide01");
    var linkText = "-";

    if ($(this).parent(".rigthSide01") > 0) {
        linkText = "+";
        targetParent = $(".leftSide01");
    }

    $(this).text(linkText);
    $(this).parent().appendTo(targetParent);
});

This code starts out assuming that the block is on the left-hand side . . . it sets up the targetParent value (i.e., where the block will move to) to the right-hand side and the new link text to be "-".
After that, it checks to see if the block is actually on the right-hand side, instead, and, if it is, then it updates the variables with the values needed to move it to the left.
At that point, it updates the text in the "move-sym" span element to the final linkText value, and moves its parent block to the new target div (the targetParent value).
No need to worry about the delegation or event handlers in this one, because the function is the same, regardless of the location, and will travel with the "move-sym" span element, wherever it goes.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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ASCAP's Awards for Programming of Contemporary Music recognize orchestras that have demonstrated a commitment to new pieces. During the past season, for instance, the youth orchestra premiered an orchestral piece by Stella Sung, a faculty member at the University of Central Florida, and performed other recent works by the venerable American composers Lukas Foss and Samuel Adler. ASCAP has given out the awards since 1959.
The youth orchestra will include Sung's piece, Or-lando Suite, in the concerts it will play during a trip to Australia that begins July 9. The schedule for the 12-day trip includes concerts in Sydney - at the famous Sydney Opera House - and Canberra.
The orchestra, led by Jonathan May, will give a going-away concert July 6 at 4 p.m. at Seminole Community College's Fine Arts Auditorium in Sanford. Admission to the concert, which will include Sung's piece and music by Beethoven, William Walton and Leonard Bernstein, is free. Details: (407) 895-3595.
The Orlando Museum of Art is sponsoring a nine-city trip to China sparked by its "Imperial Tombs of China" exhibition.
Educational Discovery Tours is arranging the 18-day trip, which was inspired by the travels of Italian explorer Marco Polo. The Oct. 14-Nov. 1 trip will include stops in such cities as Shanghai, Xian and Beijing and is to include visits to the Jade Buddha Temple and Yu Gardens, as well as a stop at the tomb site of China's first emperor, which contains 8,000 terra cotta warriors.
The cost is $5,945 for museum members, $5,995 for nonmembers, and includes air fare, accommodations, meals, tips and excursions.
For details on the trip, call Janet Kilbride in the museum's education department at (407) 896-4231, ext. 275.
The Orlando Sentinel will publish its annual season preview edition of Arts & Entertainment on Sunday, Aug. 24. Central Florida organizations offering programs in theater, dance, classical and popular music, visual art and science and history are eligible to have their season schedules published in the edition.
Organizations must provide the following information for each event: date, time, location, description of the program, admission price and cost of subscription series (if applicable).
Also, please include an address and phone number for the public to write or call for tickets or more information.
Send schedules to Arts Season Preview, The Orlando Sentinel MP-6, P.O. Box 2833, Orlando, Fla. 32802. Schedules must be received by July 25.
Ceramic sculptor Hou Rong will host a lecture and a separate class in July at the Crealde School of Art in Winter Park.
Rong, who works in Chicago, is one of the few artists designated by the Chinese government to reproduce the terra cotta warriors on view in the "Imperial Tombs of China" exhibition.
During a reception from 5 to 6:30 p.m. July 11, the artist will give a slide presentation of his work in China and the United States as well as a video presentation on the production of a terra cotta figure.
Later, the artist will conduct a workshop on the creation of a ceramic figure. He will produce a ceramic figure or head during the workshop, make a plaster mold from the original and cast a plaster copy from the mold. Workshop hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 12 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 13. Cost is $105 for non-members and $90 for Crealde members. Registration deadline is July 7.
For details, call (407) 671-1886.
Ronald Amos, a Lake County playwright and actor, has won the 1997 Southern Playwrights Competition, a contest based at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala. Amos' play, A Seacoast in Illyria, concerns the effect that a traveling salesman has on the residents of a rooming house in a Southeastern port city. The play will have its premiere at Jacksonville State in May 1998.


text:
'1 in 5' Episode 10: Meet Lorena Barton
April 19, 2021 | Aspen Postsecondary Success for Parents, Press Releases
Lorena is a single mother in the process of rebuilding her life. Though it has been challenging, she wouldn't change a thing. Being a mother has not only been her greatest joy, but it has allowed her to find her vocation and pursue her lifelong love of health and science.
Lorena Barton is a single mother and a recent graduate of Los Angeles Valley College. Lorena is passionate about helping families and has plans to work in public health nursing.
After studying full-time for over a year at LAVC, she has recently begun her nursing program at Loma Linda University. She currently attends school full-time while working part-time at LAVC's Family Resource Center. She finds it enriching and rewarding to be able to help other student parents at the same place where she herself received so much support.
Lorena says, "When you're following your dreams, there is a drive inside of you that allows you to push hard and accomplish whatever's needed to reach your goals."
You can read the episode transcript here.
LAVC Family Resource Center strives to advance social and economic mobility by reducing barriers to higher education and jobs through integrating support services for underserved populations.
CalWORKs is a public assistance program that provides cash aid and services to eligible families that have a child(ren) in the home. The program serves all 58 counties in the state and is operated locally by county welfare departments.
Postsecondary Success for Parents, the PSP initiative, is a partnership between Ascend at the Aspen Institute and Imaginable Futures.
Student Parent Stories
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8 Higher Education Institutions Partner to Support Black and Native Student Parents
Today, Ascend at the Aspen Institute announced that eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) have joined its Black and Native Family Futures Fund.
Press ReleasesDecember 13, 2022
'1 in 5' Season 2 Episode 5: Meet Yolanda Johnson-Peterkin
Yolanda Johnson-Peterkin was taught to always take care of those around her, but didn't always see education as a way of doing so After dropping out of school and later finding herself incarcerated and pregnant, Yolanda became determined to change the course of her life. Once she was released, Yolanda focused on establishing a relationship …
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'1 in 5' Season 2 Episode 4: Catching up with Drayton Jackson
Drayton Jackson experienced homelessness for almost 20 years. Today, Drayton utilizes his lived experience to advocate for others in a similar position—but it wasn't always easy adjusting to having a seat at the table. Drayton, now the father of eight, is setting boundaries and goals for himself to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Along with …
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'1 in 5' Season 2 Episode 3: Meet Soren
Soren's interest in higher education has always been rooted in an interest in the environment, even from childhood. As an adult, after struggling with their own mental health, Soren became interested in psychology, and pursued jobs in the medical field, but was soon discouraged by the for-profit medical system. Soren went through challenging transitions in …
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'1 in 5' Season 2 Episode 2: Meet Ignacio Angel
Ignacio Angel has decided to define for himself what success looks like as a college student and father of four. The for-profit trade school he went to, which was later investigated for preying on vulnerable students, never delivered on promises of a job, and landed him in debt. With Lilly's help, he found a support …
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'1 in 5' Season 2 Episode 1: Meet Daria Willis
Dr. Daria Willis brings her extensive education and her own experience as a student parent to her role as president of Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. Daria had her daughter, Lyric, during her first year in college. She shares how keenly she felt the social stigma of being a single parent. It took a …
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Student Parent Podcast "1 in 5" Returns for Second Season
Today, Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Ascend) released the second season of "1 in 5," its highly rated podcast that explores the multifaceted lives of the one in five college students raising children.
Press ReleasesDecember 1, 2022
Tune In To Ascend's Student Parent Podcast: 1 in 5!
The 1 in 5 podcast vividly profiles students who are parents pursuing their education while raising a family and working. Today, more than one in five college students (22%) are parents. The experiences of students who are parents should not be unfamiliar or unheard, especially on college campuses. They're in classrooms and clubs, working jobs and managing finances just like their peers.
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New Parent Advisors Will Help Shape Ascend's Expanded Commitment to Student Parent Success
Today, Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Ascend) announced that 11 new Parent Advisors have joined its Postsecondary Success for Parents initiative (PSP) to help shape Ascend's expanded agenda to improve higher education policy and practice for student parents.
Press ReleasesSeptember 29, 2022
A Leadership Imperative: Postsecondary Success for Parents Launches Its Next Phase
More than half of the nearly 4 million student parents in the U.S. are students of color, with Black, Native, and Latino students among the most likely to be raising children while in college. In fact, one-third of all Black college students in the U.S. are parents. When higher education is not designed with parents …
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Aspen Institute Announces 2022 Ascend Fellows
Today, the Aspen Institute announced its 2022 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, 22 leaders from across the United States who are primed to transform systems so that our youngest children and families can thrive.
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Raise the Barr


The bowls created at Terra Cottage Ceramics, 514 N. Seventh Street, Paducah.
It's not often that I begin my day in a pottery class, but during a recent visit to Paducah, I did just that. Kentucky Monthly's Julie Moore, Mary Hammond and Laura Schaumburg from the Paducah Convention and Visitors Bureau and I met up with a dozen ladies from the Paducah Homemakers Club for an informative and animated lesson from Michael Terra, the owner and operator of Terra Cottage Ceramics.
After Terra gave us a good schooling on the dos and don'ts of glazing, we were, for $5, provided with a workspace, bowl, brushes and glaze. From there, we could create whatever fancied us. "There is a correct way to do this, but as far as creativity, there is no wrong choices in what you do with your bowl," said Terra, coordinator of Paducah's Empty Bowls Project.
Once completed, the bowls are fired in Terra's industrial kiln and on Feb. 23 they'll be on display at The Convention Center in Paducah. From 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m., people may purchase the created bowls for $15 and have them filled with food from an assortment of McCracken County restaurants.
The proceeds go the Community Kitchen.
According to Schaumburg, last year's event raised more than $22,000, "which is pretty good for a community with a city population of roughly 27,000," said Terra.
Aside from the camaraderie enjoyed by all, doing an art project for such a worthy cause is a fine way to spend a winter morning. If you would like to glaze a bowl, there is still time. Simply call Terra at (270) 908-0090 and make an appointment for yourself our your group. If not, you can see other people's work, such as ours, on Feb. 23 and assist by buying a ticket and sampling some excellent food.