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Your pal Sully appears on two episodes of The Toy Story Minute (@toystoryminute)
I love appearing on the various movie minute podcasts. My guest spots continue as I joined hosts Jon and Jeb to talk about one of the classic movies of all time, the original Toy Story.
We talked about why Buzz doesn't know he is a toy, the cowboy vs. astronaut concept, why PIXAR films age better than most animated movies and how Patrick Warburton loved my mom's cooking.
Listen to me talking about minute 16 by clicking HERE.
Follow Toy Story Minute on Twitter by clicking HERE.
Standard | Posted in Sully Baseball, Uncategorized | Tagged Toy Story | 0 comments
Burt Hooton 1978 Kellogg's 3-D Super Stars – Sully Baseball Card of the Day for June 20, 2017
I am not going to lie to you. I used to get Don Sutton and Burt Hooton confused. And you can't blame me.
First of all, when I got my set of Kellogg's 3-D Super Stars Cards, it was 1978. I almost NEVER saw National League games. And I never saw the Dodgers play.
Both names have a one syllable first name and a 2 syllable second name separated by a T sound and ends in ON.
Both were 3-D Super Stars and both played for the Dodgers. And both were white guys with hair sticking out of the side of their respective caps. So yeah, I got the two confused.
Now Hooton wasn't a product of the Dodgers organization like Sutton, Hooton never appeared on Match Game and Hooton never made it to the Hall of Fame.
But Hooton checked a lot off of his baseball bucket list and etched his way into Dodger lore.
Hooton was the second overall pick in the 1971 draft out of the University of Texas and went to the Cubs organization. Pete Broberg, already a Card of the Day, was first overall. The Cubs picked better.
Hooton went right to Chicago and pitched well in 3 games, throwing a pair of complete games and a shutout to a 2.11 ERA before being assigned to Tacoma.
In 1972, he made the team out of spring training. In his first start of the year and only his 4th start of his big league career, Burt Hooton threw a no hitter against the Phillies. He electrified the crowd who knew the Cubs may finally have a shot. He won 11 games as a rookie and threw to a 2.80 ERA over his 31 starts and 2 relief appearances. Leo Durocher was the manager of the Cubs and Hall of Famers Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Fergie Jenkins were on the team. So were Milt Pappas, Rick Reuschel and Bill Hands to put together a terrific pitching staff.
The Cubs would finish 85-70 and behind the Pirates for the NL East. But the Cubs fortunes slipped in 1973 and 1974. A month into the 1975 season, Hooton was sent packing to the Dodgers in a deal involving Geoff Zahn.
LA was a perfect fit for Hooton. He won 18 games for the 1975 Dodgers over 223 2/3 innings and instantly brought depth to the LA rotation.
By 1977, he was a mainstay in the rotation, giving LA 223 1/3 innings and throwing to a 2.62 ERA. He pitched a complete game victory in Game 2 of the 1977 World Series. But in Game 6, he surrendered the first of Reggie Jackson's 3 homers and he took the loss.
1978 he was even better. He did not make the All Star team but finished second in the Cy Young vote. This is partially because he went 11-3 with a 2.27 ERA over 15 second half starts. The Dodger staff was super deep in 1978. Hooton was matched with Tommy John, Rick Rhoden, the late Bob Welch and of course Don Sutton, whom I confused with Burt Hooton.
Once again, Hooton won Game 2 of the World Series. And once again, he lost a later game, this time Game 5 as the Yankees won again.
His time to shine in the post season was 1981. In the Divisional Series implemented because of the split season, the Astros were up 2-0 and poised for the sweep. Hooton only allowed a homer and 2 other hits over 7 strong innings to save the season. The Dodgers would go on to the NLCS.
There, Sutton pitched into the 8th in the opener and in Game 4, another potential elimination game. As the Dodgers broke Montreal's heart, Hooton was named NLCS MVP.
Back to the World Series where the Dodgers once again faced the Yankees. This time Hooton flipped the script. He lost Game 2 but won Game 6, the clinching game in Yankee Stadium, to give manager Tommy Lasorda a long awaited for title.
The euphoria of 1981 would be his apex. Off years in 1982 and 1983 led to a 1984 spent in the bullpen where he had mixed results. In 1985, he played his lone year in the American League as he spent the year with the Rangers in his native Texas.
After his big league career ended in 1986, he became a pitching coach in the Dodgers organization and then went to the Astors farm system and the Padres farm.
A no hitter, NLCS MVP, multiple World Series trips and a ring is nothing to sneeze at for a career. Being confused with a Hall of Famer comes with the territory.
Standard | Posted in Card of the Day, Uncategorized | Tagged 1981 NLCS, 1981 World Series, Burt Hooton, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, no hitter | 0 comments


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As a global leader in democracy promotion, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) engages with critical issues in democracy, governance and elections around the world. From programming aimed at ensuring electoral integrity and accountability to efforts to empower underrepresented populations, such as persons with disabilities, women and youth, to participate in electoral and political processes, IFES is at the forefront of innovative work to provide citizens around the world with the fundamental human right to have a say in how they are governed. Our research and surveys build on this work and aim to improve the electoral cycle in order to build sustainable democracy.
Consortium for Elections and Political Processes Strengthening (CEPPS)
CEPPS is composed of three equal partners: IFES, the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute. CEPPS allows IFES to carry out cost-effective global and regional programming to respond to new challenges in strengthening electoral and political processes. Learn more about CEPPS.
31 Dec 1972 | Election Material
Laws of Malawi - Local Government Supplement: Urban Areas
Official Voters Pamphlet
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The "Official Voters Pamphlet," published on November 2, 1972 by Washington Secretary of State A. Ludlow Kramer outlines 24 Acts and Referendums regarding changes to the state constitution, local...
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The Cayman Islands (Constitution) Order 1972
Constitution of the Cayman Islands as promulgated in 1972.
30 Jun 1971 | Election Material
Maricopa County, Ariz. Selects a Voting System
This is an article from 1971 that was published on the voting system of Maricopa County, Arizona. The Article was written in response to the long lines voters were forced to wait in during the...
30 Apr 1971 | Election Material
Ghana experiments with civic education
"Ghana Experiments with Civic Education" is an article by Fred Hayward featured in Africa Report in the May 1971 edition. Hayward discusses the origins of the Center for Civic Education and...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Why was the garage so brightly coloured in the pilot episode and, not in the rest of the first season. Every time I watch this episode it puzzles me that the garage was like this in the pilot episode. So can some please solve this mystery for me.
While on the subject of first season episodes, I was watching episode two of season one and, what I can't fathom out is when we first see the bus there are no intrusements on the roof but the next shot suddenly there they are on the bus. Was this deliberate or was it an edit during filming, this keeps puzzling me everytime I watch this episode.
In many cases the pilot differs slightly from the rest of the series because the network didn't order additional episodes yet. The PF living room is also set up differently. They probably build more permanent sets after the show has sold.
The kitchen was different too. Sort of like the Monkees pilot, where Mike was simply called Wool Hat and they wore gold vested uniforms they never wore again.
Hey thats a good observation, I noticed some of these differences too. It appears that some of the shots actually are the same sets used for the series, but in reverse. In other words; if you flip the shots taken in the kitchen, garage, etc, horizontally, they appear to be the same sets. Just reversed from left to right. This could have been done in post production, perhaps accidentally, or intentionally, the reason I do not know.
:::sigh:::: It's amazing what little amuses me.
You're right, Scott. Once the Partridges moved in, they used the "Dennis the Menace" facade, albeit only once, as the Kravitzes on "Bewitched.
The Partridge facade that we're all used to seeing actually debuted in "A Partridge Up a Pear Tree". Prior to that, they were using the first incarnation, which was much larger, but still a Dutch Colonial (and the "church" was still next door). That's also when they added the back.
I don't recall there being any major differences between the two homes though, were there? Other than the columned area by the garage/back door, that is. I know they had to widen the driveway in order to accomodate the bus. But, they took some of Jeannie's yard away and gave it to the Partridges to do that. But if the new facade was smaller, where did they reduce? Since the garage is attached, I can't see where they did that.
The first version was much taller. Also, the entrance bump-out was a straight gable instead of the gambrel gable on the "shorter" version. In addition, the spring eave was elimimated (the curve of the roof just above the first floor walls), and the front shed dormer was partially recessed. Basically, the side walls were shortened to accomodate the new breezeway to the garage, and a second chimney added to the left side.
The first floor front windows were also shortened from the first version. I could go on and on about the changes, but take a look at the front when the bus pulls out in "See Here, Private Partridge", and then in "A Partridge Up a Pear Tree". You'll see these changes, and also notice in the latter episode that the church is gone and they hadn't built the "new house" in its place yet.
My friend Adam Jones of 1164.com has tried to find out what happened that would cause such drastic changes. There was a major fire at the Ranch on Western Street about that time, which was right behind the PF facade. Or, they might just wanted to modernize the house a bit. Maybe one of the producers could provide the answer!
Hey thanks for the info Jeff. I'll have to check out those episodes and compare. It might be interesting to see what Bob Claver or Paul Junger Witt have to say about it all. If I remember correctly, some of San Juan Puerto Rico was between the PF back yard and the Western town. (I've been watching some Flying Nun episodes and I recognize a lot of buildings.) It's weird that they changed the PF home so much, yet also kept it the same after remodeling. You wonder why they just didn't change the back door area, deleting the column, and leave the rest of it, since the new home design pretty much matched the old (basic shape wise, anyway). I wish I could track down detailed photos of what the Ranch looked like back then. Now, it's mostly torn down with the exception of the PF street and some of the wooded area where the Walton's home is. The Western Town is a parking lot and the WB Network offices are there too.
We used to have a link in the People and Places section to a website that had incredible aerial views of the Ranch. But, at some point I think it stopped working. I wish I could remember who owned the site because it was fascinating. I don't think it was 1164.com, though I do recall the name "Adam."
Scott, 1164.com is still up (it is Adam's site), but hasn't been updated in a while. While it does focus on the "Bewitched" facade, it has some fantastic aerial shots, as well as hundreds of photos of all of the Ranch buildings, including some that have been torn down. You can spend hours on it exploring everything about the Partridge's neighborbood.
I still plan to finish my Partridge house drawings as soon as I get a break from my "paying" projects. Thanks to Adam I have pretty specific dimensions.
Scott, if you could use your connections to find out the real story behind the remodel, that would be great. There must still be people working at the Ranch who would know!


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When Should I Spell Out Numbers?
It is generally best to write out numbers from zero to one hundred in nontechnical writing. In scientific and technical writing, the prevailing style is to write out numbers under ten. While there are exceptions to these rules, your predominant concern should be expressing numbers consistently.
Numbers can disrupt readability in a paragraph, so for most writing purposes, it is best to flex those fingers and type out numbers less than 101 as fully spelled words.
Sophie said there are ninety-nine reasons why she adores Justin Bieber, not ten.
According to census records, there were 53,364 people over the age of one hundred in the U.S. in 2010.
When writing out numbers between forty and forty-nine, be sure to remember that forty has no u in it (this is a common spelling error).
The rules demonstrated in the examples above are simply rules of thumb and there are exceptions to them. For example, round numbers such as hundreds, thousands, or hundred thousands should be written out in full. Numbers that are not conveniently round will read better written as numerals.
It was said that there were five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men.
This year's parade brought in 123,675 attendees.
When a number begins a sentence, that number should always be spelled out. That said, writers often choose to restructure their sentences when the numbers become cumbersome for the reader.
5 finalists will qualify for the next round of the competition.
Five finalists will qualify for the next round of the competition.
Seventeen seventy-six was the year America became a nation.
In 1776, America became a nation.
Spelling Out Numbers in Technical, Scientific, and Complex Writing
Scientific and technical journals, and even news reports, often adhere to the rule that only numbers less than ten should be written out in full, except when fractions or decimals are involved. This can be a sensible approach to ensuring the readability of texts that refer to numbers and figures frequently.
The color blue was preferred by five out of 11 experiment participants.
Did you know the average snail moves at 0.029 miles per hour?
Fractional quantities of larger numbers, such as those in the millions and billions, are most easily read when abbreviated as decimals in combination with the word "million" or "billion" where possible. Whole millions and billions (and in American usage, trillions) can be expressed as a whole number plus the word "million," "billion," etc.
The Milky Way is approximately 13.6 billion years old.
Canada has a population of nearly 36 million.
When using abbreviations for units of measurement in your writing, always express numbers as numerals. Similarly, when writing about money, use numerals in connection with the dollar sign or other currency symbols. Infrequent references to money read best when written out as spelled-out numbers plus the word for the currency involved.
One inch is equal to 2.54 cm.
The weight of an average hippopotamus is 1,500 kg.
Patients expressed a desire to take the medication occasionally, but were hesitant to pay the fifty-dollar fee.
The actual cost of the medication to patients is $51.75.
Deciding whether to write out numbers in full can be tricky, but the key is to use the correct style for your audience and to use it consistently.
BasicsPractice or Practise–Which Spelling Is Right? BasicsBear With Me or Bare With Me? BasicsCenter or Centre–Which Is Right? BasicsProgram vs. Programme–What's the Difference? BasicsEmigrate vs. Immigrate–What's the Difference? BasicsWhich vs. That: How to Choose


Rate 1: "Volunteers to the front!"
Since January 1, 2019, we have been working with volunteers. Our company is currently transforming into a non-profit organization. However, it is already possible to take advantage of the volunteer tariff.
We draw on the services of volunteers, federal volunteers, interns and other types of volunteers.
These people can bring different qualifications with them. The offer is limited and cannot be explicitly requested; it can be provided only when available.
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Trained laypersons with experience in the field of caring for elderly or ill individuals carry out the lightest ancillary activities that an untrained caregiver can be trusted to perform.
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The lay helper does not take on any obvious nursing activities or professional medical interventions.
It is ideally suited for the simplest level of care.
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You are supervised by a healthcare professional who has completed at least three years of training. You receive comprehensive nursing and medicinal care.
Would you like to receive personal care from our head, Mr. Frommholz? He has a bachelor's degree in nursing management and extensive experience in various fields.
You will receive comprehensive all-round care at the highest level.
Mr. Frommholz generally works alongside a companion.
Work with infectious patients that requires wearing protective clothing for longer than 30 consecutive minutes.
E.g.: Patient with norovirus; contact with the patient is permanently necessary.


Just trust your legs, you'll just flow downhill! It's uphill I struggle with.
Lol – love the imagery.
Me too! Lego with bagpipes – just too awesome for words!
I'm with runorgocrazy, give me the downhills anytime – you did well just getting out there after that sort of day!
Are we really that close to July?
To me it looks that my trail running here in France inspires the masses. Well done on the trails, inclines and bagpipes! P.S. The advice I've heard when my feet got blisters was: "Run barefoot". Just an idea….
Where did you get the Scottish lego. My brother and hubby both play the bagpipes so would love to get them some. I ran the Aviemore 10 last year. All downhill. Felt fine on the day but my goodness my legs have never hurt more the day after. Get the training in.
The lego is from the latest series (7) of lego mini figures, available in toy shops whsmiths, etc. 16 to collect and you buy a sealed bag and take pot luck! So although only £2 each you could buy alot to get the ones you want…. or go to amazon and pay £6!
Love your daily Lego Pics !!


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Marine vet turned congressman Duncan Hunter sentenced to 11 months in prison
Former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter has been sentenced to11 months in federal prison for conspiring with his wife to illegally use more than $150,000 of his campaign money for personal benefit.
By Morgan Cook and Greg Moran, San Diego Union-Tribune | Published Mar 17, 2020 6:22 PM
SAN DIEGO — Former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter has been sentenced to11 months in federal prison for conspiring with his wife to illegally use more than $150,000 of his campaign money for personal benefit.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas J. Whelan handed down the sentence at a hearing for the California Republican from Alpine. Hunter pleaded guilty in December to a felony conspiracy charge, one of 60 counts in an August 2018 indictment that also named his wife and former campaign manager, Margaret.
Both Duncan, 43, and Margaret Hunter, 44, pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned, then changed their pleas last year in separate agreements with prosecutors.
Whelan ordered him to surrender by May 29.
The disgraced former lawmaker resigned his seat representing the state's 50th District in January during his sixth term as congressman for the area of East County. He succeeded his father, former Rep. Duncan Lee Hunter, who left the seat in 2008 after 14 terms in Congress.
Margaret Hunter is scheduled to be sentenced at a hearing April 7.
According to the indictment, the Hunters relied for years on campaign contributions to pay routine family expenses such as dental bills, home repairs and fast-food meals. They also used the donations to pay for exotic vacations, private school tuition, video games and plane tickets for Margaret's mother to travel to and from Poland.
The Hunters used more than $500 in campaign funds to fly the family's pet rabbit, Eggburt, across the country with them, Margaret Hunter admitted in her plea agreement.
ln total, the initial indictment accused the Hunters of misusing $250,000 in campaign funds.
It also alluded to Duncan Hunter spending time and money with several unnamed "individuals" who appeared to have had personal relationships with him.
Earlier this year, as the congressman continued to deny his guilt and prosecutors disclosed more of their evidence in public court filings, it became clear prosecutors believed Hunter had extramarital affairs with at least five different women over many years and spent campaign funds on such things as travel, drinks and hotels.
Though never identified publicly, three of the women were noted to be lobbyists and two others were reported to be congressional staffers.
According to July court filings, Hunter used campaign funds to pay for a three-day weekend at Lake Tahoe with a woman who was not his wife. On another occasion, he used political donations to pay for a stay at the Liaison Capitol Hill hotel in Washington, D.C., records show.
The indictment also said that Hunter and his wife were aware that their use of campaign donations was questionable. Prosecutors recently said in a court filing that Rep. Hunter was warned about the spending as early as 2010.
The couple's joint bank account was overdrawn more than 1,100 times over the six-plus years of records examined by prosecutors, and the couple racked up some $36,000 in overdraft penalties — fees they paid using campaign funds, the indictment stated.
Text messages included in court files show that at one point Margaret advised her husband to use the campaign credit card to buy a pair of Hawaiian shorts he wanted but could not afford — and to tell his then-treasurer that the purchase was in order to assist "wounded warriors."
Since investigations into his campaign spending started in mid-2016, Hunter has spent more than $800,000 on attorneys, including several for his criminal defense, according to his campaign filings.
The criminal charges from August 2018 came two-plus years after the Federal Election Commission and The San Diego Union-Tribune first questioned campaign expenditures Hunter reported in April 2016 — a series of video game purchases and a payment to his children's private school.
Hunter initially blamed his son for grabbing the wrong credit card to pay the video game charges, explaining that both of the cards were blue.
Later, the congressman appeared to blame his wife for improper charges, pointing out that she was in charge of the family finances and she was receiving $3,000 a month to serve as his campaign treasurer.
The Union-Tribune continued to raise questions about Hunter's campaign spending over the months that followed. By the 2016 general election, Hunter had repaid about $60,000 to his campaign for expenditures he said were mistaken or insufficiently documented.
Neither the denials nor the repayment quelled the investigation. The lawmaker dismissed follow-up stories by the Union-Tribune as "fake news" and said the newspaper was out to get him.
Federal prosecutors opened their criminal case in mid-2016, a probe that Hunter dismissed as being conducted by "deep state" partisans within the FBI and others in the U.S. government.
The investigation, and the cost of his legal defense, took its toll on Hunter and his family.
The congressman and his wife sold their Alpine home in 2017 to pay off family debts and moved into the nearby home of Hunter's father.
All the while, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan before he succeeded his father in Congress in 2009 remained adamant than he did nothing wrong.
His lawyers argued in court as recently as this summer that the campaign spending, including resort stays and meals with girlfriends, legally constituted legislative acts — meaning they could not be prosecuted as crimes under the speech or debate clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The questions surrounding Hunter's campaign spending were slow to erode his support among voters in the 50th District, a region his father — who is also named Duncan Hunter — held for 14 terms. The younger Hunter won reelection to the House of Representatives in 2016 and again last year, even as the scandal swirled around him.
But the East County congressman was stripped of his committee assignments after his indictment in 2018 and denied any new assignments under the Republican Party rules adopted for the 116th Congress.
With no committee assignments and a looming indictment, Rep. Hunter drew formidable challengers hoping to win his seat in the upcoming primary March 3 and general election in November 2020. After Hunter pleaded guilty in December, his name did not appear on the ballot for the March 3 primary.
©2020 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
duncan hunter
Rep. Duncan Hunter
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A revolutionary announcement!
blog_admin 3 years ago No Comments
9th November 2016 will go down in history as an unforgettable day for the world. While the whole globe was tuned to news channels wondering who will win the 2016 US Presidential Election, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made everyone turn their heads towards India.
On 8th November 2016, PM Modi announced that from midnight, notes of Rupees 500 and Rupees 1000 would cease to hold any legal tender.
This drastic step certainly has grabbed attention across the country.
PM Modi curbs Corruption!
Along with this, it has also been announced that new Rupees 500 and Rupees 2000 notes will be launched.
On first look, it is clear that this is nothing but sheer brilliance. In one move, our PM seems to have found the ultimate weapon to curb corruption. And let me say right now, this is the stance that I maintain until the end.
Here's the first thing we all need to understand. 'A drastic change like this certainly can't be brought about without affecting at least a few people'.
Having said that, let us consider this scenario.
With no more 500 or 1000 rupees notes, people end up with one of two options, either shift all their transactions online(which is the whole point because it makes all transaction visible and accounted for) or you'll have to deal in lower denominations( which you'll opt for in all your common transactions which is not a problem at all).
Having said that, this makes it clear to an extent, that the economically lower section of the country remains safe.
The higher sections of the society, other than the corrupt ones, already deal majorly in only online money, which means that majorly, they remain unaffected too.
The only faction of the society that will face a problem is the middle class who employ the lower class. But these are problems that the middle class is equipped to manage. With the opportunity to still deposit any and all of their money into the bank and the chance to change up to 4000 rupees a day, they too, will progress towards calm in a steady flow.
But then, of course, come in the corrupt people in the country. With no way out and no more opportunity to deal with black money, all they have left to do is turn in. And it becomes transparent that people who oppose this decision whole heartedly, might just have a problem they are facing.
There's only one thing to actually worry about. Will the rest of the country allow it to progress? Will the PM be able to stick to his stance and go through with it? Will this brilliant idea finally curb corruption in our country?
How we react is in our hands. Corruption being curbed is in our hands.
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Sam Hiscox is a Photographer and Filmmaker from London, UK. He captures the true essence of his subjects across both photographic and film platforms, capitalizing on the spontaneity and human nature of those featured in his work with an effortless and unquestionably honest manor. We're excited to feature a selection of polished yet raw images from Sam's portfolio.
Sam captures surreal moments that confront him on a daily basis. Enamored by the 'batshit crazy' or quirky qualities in human beings, Sam curates the oddities of his world, using the images as evidence or proof that something equally as strange as it is beautiful exists. His raw, spontaneous technique of photographing makes these pieces of evidence even more believable. Sam does not glamorize nor manipulate an image into its strange or beautiful qualities – he tastefully documents it.
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Hi! My name's Claire. I'm Taiwanese. I was born and raised in Taiwan. I'm so happy to be in this program. I've joined this program for a while now and I've been working really really hard on it. And recently I've got amazing results.
I teach English now. And I do one-on-ones now. And in less than two months I've recruited sixteen students and they purchased in total four hundred lessons in total from me. Now I just have to deliver the lessons.
There is a lot of information in this program. I wasn't a teacher before I joined this program. I only had very very little teaching experience. And, you know, as you can see I'm not a native English speaker. And, you know, no matter how much I study, my English will never reach that level. And I've learned English from many many great teachers, you know, I remember how much I enjoy learning from them. But, can I be like them? You know, I'm like, nobody. And I'm, you know, Asian. But no offense to Asians. Asians are great. You know, just like, I belittle myself.
But Kris told me that anyone can be a teacher. If you know five words, you can teach those who know four words. So that's very encouraging. You have to have a niche. You don't want to target too many people, like, the whole world. Otherwise, you will have zero clients. If you, yeah, if your niche is too broad.
So, I follow this program and I define my niche. I've found something that I'm passionate about. And something that, maybe I'm good at. Or it requires some skills that I can learn and I'm able to learn. Yeah, so that's called defining your niche, according to Kris. And, yeah. And then, I market myself using the strategies that Kris, you know, told us, teach us, teaches us in this program. I worry about my grammar, sorry. Yeah, and then I market myself. And then, some people start to, start to, you know, contact me. They want to know what I can offer.
And then, it comes to the scariest part: the sales call. I was never good at sales, you know, I was so afraid of rejection and everything. You know, the idea of asking someone to pay you - that's just, like, you know, scary. And Kris has a lot of useful tips, in terms of sales in the program. So I just follow the tips. And tips, tips, tips, I just follow them. And now my conversion rate is forty percent, which means I can convert four out of ten people who have never heard of me before to paying clients. So, for a beginner, for someone who knows very little about business, I think that's, you know, not too bad.
Now, I'm doing one-on-ones now, but my next goal is to create products that can bring me passive income. But, you know, so far I'm pretty satisfied because I get to work from the comfort of my home and I get to choose how many hours I want to work, I get to. I'm sorry, I get to decide how many hours I want to work. I get to choose who I want to work with. I get to, yeah, oh, yeah, I can decide how much I want to charge, how much I charge.
So, so far so good. Yeah, I'm really happy to be in this program and I look forward to seeing you in the teaching business community, so we can learn from each other. So, thank you so much for watching. Bye!


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Government Online: Outreach vs. Transparency
March 6, 2009 by Ed Felten
These days everybody in Washington seems to be jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. The latest jumpers are four House committees, according to Tech Daily Dose.
The committees, like a growing number of individual members' offices, plan to use Twitter as a new tool to reach their audience and ensure transparency between the government and the public.
"I believe government works best when it is transparent and information is accessible to all…." [said a committee chair].
I'm all in favor of public officials using technology to communicate with us. But Twitter is a tool for outreach, not transparency.
Here's the difference: outreach means government telling us what it wants us to hear; transparency means giving us the information that we, the citizens, want to get. An ideal government provides both outreach and transparency. Outreach lets officials share their knowledge about what is happening, and it lets them argue for particular policy choices — both of which are good. Transparency keeps government honest and responsive by helping us know what government is doing.
Twitter, with its one-way transmission of 140-character messages, may be useful for outreach, but it won't give us transparency. So, Congressmembers: Thanks for Twittering, but please don't forget about transparency.
(Interestingly, the students in my tech policy class were surprised to hear that any of the digerati had ever Twittered. The students think of Twitter as a tool for aging hepcat techno-poseurs. [Insert your own joke here.])
Meanwhile, the Obama team is having trouble transitioning its famous online outreach machinery into government, according to Jose Antonio Vargas's story in the Washington Post:
WhiteHouse.gov, envisioned as the primary vehicle for President Obama to communicate with the online masses, has been overwhelmed by challenges that staffers did not foresee and technological problems they have yet to solve.
Obama, for example, would like to send out mass e-mail updates on presidential initiatives, but the White House does not have the technology in place to do so. The same goes for text messaging, another campaign staple.
Beyond the technological upgrades needed to enable text broadcasts, there are security and privacy rules to sort out involving the collection of cellphone numbers, according to Obama aides, who acknowledge being caught off guard by the strictures of government bureaucracy.
Here again we see a difference between outreach and transparency. Outreach, by its nature, must be directed by government. But transparency, which aims to offer citizens the information they want, is best embodied by vigorous activity outside of government, enabled by government providing free and open access to data. As we argued in our Invisible Hand paper, many things are inherently more difficult to do inside of government, so the key role of government is to enable a marketplace of ideas in the private sector, rather than doing the whole job.
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Government transparency
I worked with Erik Wilde and Raymond Yee in developing a site to help guide implementation of Recovery.gov transparency measures. The (ugly and tech-focused) site is located at:
http://isd.ischool.berkeley.edu/stimulus/2009-029
The site has demonstrations and an accompanying report (all under a Creative Commons attribution license). We've developed a set of simulated data that conforms to the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) February 18th specifications for disclosure. These data are offered in a variety of human and machine-readable RESTful web services. We hope that this simulated data will help act as a guide for implementation federal agencies. We are already in communication with several agency officials and data architects at OMB.
However, one topic that needs more attention is the issue about what kind of information is required for "transparency". To help answer this question, we're seeking feedback from the wider community. Do these data really help in offering a more meaningful level of transparency? What additional information would be required to make this even more useful for community oversight?
This is yet another way a primary information source of real-world events, is displacing the secondary source of newspapers reporting on events.
Part of the original role a newspaper played in a Democracy was to watch what government did and report the results back to the people. Now the people can watch their government directly because transparency is built right into the process. Well, OK there's more work to do in that regard but Obama does seem to be making a serious effort to pull back the curtain at least a little bit. There may be a few false starts along the way, but the general direction is very hopeful.
I used to work for a member of Congress. Trust me, the last thing any of these 535 clowns want to do is engage in dialogue with individual constituents via Twitter, email, phone, carrier pigeon, semaphore, etc. Did anyone happen to read any of these Twits? Look at this from the Committee on Science and Technology:
"Are you throwing away gold?: How we are disposing of electronic waste (e-waste)"
HOLY @#$%! – HOW MUCH GOLD HAVE I THROWN AWAY IN MY E-WASTE?!?!?!?
Here's one from the edlabordems committee. Anyone know what the hell edlabordems is? Of course not.
"Tmrw Rep Miller 2 attend the WH Health Care Summit. 1 top priority 4 the cmte this yr is how 2 expand access 2 affordable hlth care coverage"
HOwz about a $µmm1t on how to g3t past th3 3rd zon3 on WoW – Lich King. IT IS THE SUXXORZ, B33333AT(H!
Idiots.
Lyle says:
My experience has been that representatives generally use twitter to pump out propaganda PR releases or chat with people who say good things about them. If you want to get feedback don't act like a citizen unless of course you can offer them $$$$'s and/or support. The only good thing about them going online is that if you are a citizen and have an issue you want to challenge them on you keep a record of what you said so that if further along the line you need evidence that you made them aware of something that was important to you it can be used as evidence if you want to ramp up the pressure.
Jed Sundwall says:
Twitter is a communication tool, not just another channel for broadcast. If representatives are willing to, they could allow constituents ask them questions via Twitter and relay the responses, either in 140 characters or with a link to more information. Making yourself available for inquiries does indeed increase transparency.
But with regards to it being yet another tool to distribute controlled outreach, Twitter might not be mainstream, but I believe that there is a broad trend toward distributing information via very short and concise notifications. Whether it happens through Facebook updates, Twitter accounts, SMS, or something else, it's good that the government (and everyone) is getting better at getting to the point!
DS Dan says:
I already receive email broadcasts/advertisements/propaganda from my congressman and senator–I've never heard anyone refer to those emails as a feature that increases government "transparency." Twitter updates would seem to be no different.
Another problem is that the demographics of Twitter aren't very in-tune with the audience the White House should be aiming to reach. It seems a lot of active Twitter users are Congressman and the folks in SIlicon Valley, but college students and many lower-income groups are unlikely to use Twitter, which means that the audience of the information isn't the one that needs to hear it.
If the administration could find a way to bring more people into the Twitter fold (unlikely), or focus on more relevant mediums like email, texts, etc, they might be better served. There's no point updating Twitter when the only people reading the "tweets" are other White House staffers.


A short three month stint in the most Pacific Northwest town that is closer to Vancouver, Canada than Seattle: Bellingham, Washington. This small logging town is nestled by the Pacific with very little sunshine during the winter months but plenty of plant life to remind you that the sun must exist. Washington was wet but it was gorgeous, including heavy powder days, caked-on mud, and all the clothes into the dryer post hike.


The ADATA HC660 2 TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive - Titanium is at the apex of light and stylish external hard drives, being just 9.6mm thick. Easily store your media and files, including the highest fidelity content, without worrying about running out of space. The HC660 was created to look great and be durable, so it uses a scratch and damage-resistant sandblasted metallic surface. It is electroplated to ensure it maintains its looks for a long product lifespan: surface paint won't chip off or dull, and the grooved texture will remind you of the HC660's fusion of fashion and utility for years to come.


Now discredited in the eyes of Tamil populace for its stance on Jallikattu, the animal rights body, People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has now turned its attention to the practice of sacrifice of goats at temples.
The body fired off an urgent letter to superstar Rajinikanth to use his star power to dissuade his fans from carrying out slaughter of goats after the Thalaivar's announcement of entering political fray on Sunday last.
After news of the proposed goat slaughter was carried in a section of the media, the animal rights body shot off a letter to Rajinikanth asking his to use his good offices to prevent the cruel practice, which is also in violation of laws.
He reminded the superstar that killing an animal outside a licensed slaughterhouse is an apparent violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules, 2001, which state "No person shall slaughter any animal within a municipal area except in a slaughter house recognised or licensed by the concerned authority empowered under the law for the time being in force to do so". Such cruelty to animals also apparently violates The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, which states that it is a punishable offense if anyone "mutilates any animal or kills any animal (including stray dogs) by using the method of strychnine injections in the heart or in any other unnecessarily cruel manner".
It may also be considered a violation of section 429 of the Indian Penal Code, which consider killing or maiming an animal a punishable offense, the PETA official said.


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No Drone Zone
by Greg Carter | Sep 16, 2015 | UAV | 0 comments
Well, it seems everybody is taking shots at the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) phenomenon, in particular, the so-called drone.
The media has been able to capture our attention with the potential crash of an airliner by a drone. However one pilot said, "Fear of drones crashing into passenger planes is 'much ado about nothing' says airline pilot." Most of these hobby drones are under 4 pounds, and many pilots have hit birds weighing up to 10 pounds with no real damage. Still the fear of the unknown exists.
There is also the next door neighbor who may threaten to shoot your drone down if it invades their privacy. Well, many have gone to jail by committing the act. Source Property Casualty 360, "Shooting down drones" is all over the news lately. A Kentucky man used "Number 8 birdshot" to shoot down a multi-rotor over his backyard. A Modesto marksman shot down a drone over his neighbor's farm. A New Jersey Man hit the news for doing the same thing."
All aviation regulations apply to drones. Hobbyist drone flights are permitted only under the FAA's guidelines. Commercial drone flights are allowed only for a Section 333 Exemption or similar approval. You should know before you fly and that is the way things are until the FAA finalizes its " small drone," or "sUAS" rule.
To be safe, in many of the regulations the term "nationwide community-based organization" is intended to mean a membership-based association that represents the aeromodelling community (ex. Academy of Model Aeronautics, AMA) within the United States; provides its members a comprehensive set of safety guidelines that underscores safe aeromodelling operations within the National Airspace System and the protection and safety of the general public on the ground; develops and maintains mutually supportive programming with educational institutions, government entities and other aviation associations; and acts as a liaison with government agencies as an advocate for its members.
I would suggest the AMA and a local club flying field and avoid first-degree criminal mischief and first-degree wanton endangerment charges from an accident. Check out your drone in the privacy of your property and keep the altitude within reason of an airworthiness check.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released the beta version of a new smartphone application called "B4UFLY" in August 28, 2015 for testing by up to 1,000 unmanned aircraft users.
The B4UFLY app, aimed primarily at model aircraft enthusiasts, is designed to give users information about restrictions or requirements in effect at their current or planned flight location.
Key features of the B4UFLY app include:
A clear "status" indicator that immediately informs operators about their current or planned location.
Information on the parameters that drive the status indicator.
A "Planner Mode" for future flights in different locations.
Informative, interactive maps with filtering options.
Links to other FAA UAS resources and regulatory information.
The following is a screenshot from the app and further details can be found at the FAA - B4UFLY Smartphone App site.
The FAA encourages the public to report unauthorized drone operations to local law enforcement and to help discourage dangerous and illegal activity. It will not be long before city municipalities provide their input to No Drone Zones.
Happy Flying!


The Facebook Inc. 'like' logo is displayed on a sign at the entrance to company headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
It's too late to buy tickets. Sorry. If it took you this long to decide on whether or not you're in love, you missed out. Of course, you can buy after the IPO is priced, but that may cost you (see "The first day pop" below).
The deal is hot. How hot? Tuesday, CNBC says that Facebook will be filing to bump the size of the deal up 25% to about 420 million shares — swelling it to as much as $18.5 billion. That follows Monday's news that the underwriters were raising the price range from $28-$34 to $34-$38. No doubt they will get it. Senior citizens want in, says CNN Money. One dad is betting his kids' college fund on Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last week I heard that institutional demand was 20x oversubscribed. Yesterday the New York Times reported that in Japan the deal was 25x oversubscribed.
There's an anti-prom in full blossom. Felix Salmon over at Reuters says he's skeptical about the supposed demand; he just doesn't see it. So he ran an unscientific poll that asked if respondents were planning on buying Facebook, knew anyone who was, or were going to skip it. Seventy-five percent planned to skip it.
Meanwhile, many eyes are taking a hard look at the hard numbers. If the deal prices at the high end of the range, the company will be worth more than $100 billion — more than Boeing, for example, which employs about 50 times as many people. Facebook revenues were just $3.7 billion last year, and depending who you ask aren't likely to be much more than $6 billion this year. At this kind of valuation, investors are putting Facebook on a high wire without a net. An ill wind from Europe, or more bad news on advertising revenues, could send the Facebook shares tumbling once they are free to trade. And the company may not be able to shrug off news, as it did yesterday, that a big name like GM is pulling its ads from Facebook.
Business Insider founder Henry Blodget went so far as to call the Facebook shares "Muppet bait." Like many high tech analysts, he wrote back in February that the deal was probably fairly valued at approximately $70 billion. At $100 million, he says, not so much. Sam Hamadeh at PrivCo, a company that specializes in researching private companies, similarly says the risk-reward ratio is out of whack. He's issued a new report just this morning which values the stock at about $24-$25/share.
Insiders are selling. And now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the 83 million additional shares that Facebook just filed to sell are coming from Goldman Sachs, which is now selling as much as 50% of its stake, up from 23%. Other big name sellers include DST Global, the Russian investor, investor Peter Thiel, and Accel Partners. (The Journal has a complete list here.) This suggests that these professional investors don't think there's a lot of upside, especially with the IPO price having been bumped up.
On the other hand, the Google IPO had skeptics, too. The negativity sounds familiar to a number of analysts who have been around the high-tech IPO block more than once or twice. Lou Kerner, founder of the Social Internet Fund, recalls that just before the Google IPO priced, sentiment turned negative. The roadshow was a letdown. But it worked out okay.
David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect, says the naysayers are missing the big picture. In a radio interview with CBC radio Tuesday, he argued that the social media company is nothing short of a global passion. Despite some disappointments in Facebook's first quarter results, he sees huge growth ahead. Two billion users? No problem.
Also worth remembering: In February and March Facebook traded in the private markets, playground for institutions and high net worth individuals, at prices between $36 and $45. Aren't those the sophisticated investors with an inside track on good deals? But then, more insiders are selling now that the deal price is inching higher.
The first day pop. However this all shakes out in the long run, chances are the share price will — initially, at least — rise. The reason? With IPOs, the company and its underwriters agree on one price and then distribute the shares to clients the night before they begin trading. Once the stock begins trading — in this case on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol FB — anyone can buy and sell shares at any agreed on price. It could be $20. It could be $50. Or $80. This phenomenon tends to have little relation to the market's long-term view of the stock, and as a result many investors worry that the price of Facebook could surge on the first day or two of trading and then stall — or even slip below the initial offering price. That's what happened with the Groupon and Zynga IPOs, as well as with LinkedIn, though LinkedIn has since recovered. This is why IPOs are generally seen as an insider's game — those fortunate to have gotten their hands on shares at the initial offering price have the option of selling them on the open market during the initial free-for-all, before reality sets in.
Facebook is bigger than Facebook. As with Google and Apple, the reaction to Facebook is likely to resonate throughout the market. As the standard bearer of the economic power of social media, it could buoy the broader market. But if Facebook traps naive investors with some ill-thought-out trades, it could bring despair and hopelessness to the stock market — and just when the individual investor are finally feeling confident enough to wade back into the stock market.
That would be bitterly ironic. Facebook has made it clear that it wants individual investors to be a part of this deal. After all, where would the company be without all 901 million of them?


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House Republicans Pushing Misguided Tax ...
House Republicans Pushing Misguided Tax Policy
| By Chuck Marr
The House Ways and Means Committee will vote tomorrow on reinstating and permanently extending five tax breaks that expired at the end of 2014 — four "tax extenders" (tax breaks, mostly for businesses, that policymakers routinely extend for a year or two at a time) and "bonus depreciation," which lets businesses take bigger upfront deductions for certain new purchases, such as equipment. The push represents misplaced priorities and unsound policy.
Any effort to permanently extend tax provisions should give top priority to three important Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) provisions slated to expire at the end of 2017. If policymakers fail to act, more than 16 million people in low-income working families, including 8 million children, will fall into — or deeper into — poverty. The House has already voted this year to make permanent (and in some cases expand) a number of tax extenders while ignoring the EITC and CTC provisions. Its continuing neglect of the working-family tax credits in favor of largely corporate tax breaks that aren't paid for raises the probability that policymakers ultimately will let the EITC and CTC provisions expire.
Three of the tax breaks that the Ways and Means bills would make permanent are particularly objectionable on policy grounds:
Bonus depreciation. Policymakers have traditionally viewed bonus depreciation as a temporary provision to boost a weak economy. For example, policymakers enacted bonus depreciation in 2002 when the economy was weak, and then a Republican President, House, and Senate let it expire after 2004, when the economy was stronger. Policymakers enacted the more recent provision as a temporary measure during the recession in 2008.
Research has found bonus depreciation to be of limited value as economic stimulus. In any case, making it permanent would sacrifice whatever modest economic boost it could provide in future recessions because firms would no longer need to accelerate their purchases during downturns to receive the tax break. The new bill not only makes bonus depreciation permanent but expands it, at a total cost of $270 billion over the next decade, according to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).
Two international extenders. The House bills would also make permanent two tax extenders that allow multinational corporations to reduce their U.S. tax bills by booking their profits in offshore tax havens. Making these tax breaks — the so-called Subpart F "active financing" exception and Controlled Foreign Corporation "look-through" provisions —permanent would encourage tax avoidance and reduce federal revenue by another $100 billion over the next decade.
Altogether, the Ways and Means bills would cost $401 billion over 2016-2025, according to JCT — more than twice the total cost of extenders legislation that the House has already passed — with the bulk of the cost coming from corporate tax breaks that are unsound policy. And, in doing so, the House continues to neglect critical tax credit provisions for millions of working families.
Chuck Marr
Senior Director of Federal Tax Policy
House Efforts to Make Tax "Extenders" Permanent Are Ill-Advised
16 Million People Will Fall Into or Deeper Into Poverty if Key Provisions of Working-Family Tax Credits Expire
New Research: EITC Boosts Employment; Lifts Many More Out of Poverty Than Previously Thought
Working-Family Tax Credits Lift Millions Out of Poverty
PreviousRoundup: CBPP's Same-Day Analyses of the New Census Figures
Next4 Reasons Why the Netherlands Isn't a Model for Disability Insurance


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Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson will ring in the new year with a Lorne Michaels-produced special on NBC
Gabrielle Sanchez
Miley Cyrus, Pete Davidson
With 2022 just around the corner, it's time to start thinking about who you want to spend your final moments of 2021 with, and more importantly who you want to keep ties with in the new year. This year, NBC plans on spending it with Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson as the two will host Miley's New Year's Eve Party Hosted by Miley Cyrus And Pete Davidson, a special produced by Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels.
NBC must have looked at its roster and thought: "They're young, they both have tattoos, smoke weed, and they are known mostly for the inappropriate things they've done onstage? Sounds like a perfect pairing."
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Davidson has made a name for himself over the years in his cast member role on NBC's SNL, and he is currently known for being Kim Kardashian's Staten Island sidepiece.
Cyrus previously worked with NBC during her time as a judge on singing competition series The Voice. In May, Cyrus sealed an overall talent and development deal with NBCUniversal Television and Streaming.
With this announcement, Carson Daly's iron grip on NBC's New Years Eve event has slipped for the first time in 16 years. The former Total Request Live host made has hosted NBC's yearly special since 2004. Last year, Daly hosted NBC's New Year's Eve special with Amber Ruffin and Stephen "tWitch" Boss from Times Square.
Per Columbia Records, Miley's New Year's Eve Party Hosted By Miley Cyrus And Pete Davidson promises a "star-studded lineup of special guests and musical performances," which have yet to be revealed. The event will take place in Miami, airing from 10:30 p.m. ET to 12:30 a.m. ET on New Year's Eve, on NBC as well as live-streamed on Peacock.
Hopefully Cyrus will take this as an opportunity to unveil a new cover of an '80s bop, or at least give a glam rock rendition of "Auld Lang Syne."
SportsYahoo Sports
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text:
Q: My web server tries to connect to fluentd before listening port on docker I want to run my ASP.NET Core web api server and fluentd for its logging driver with docker-compose. My docker-compose.yml is like below.
version: "2"
services:
  web:
    build:
      context: ..
      dockerfile: ./DockerTest/Dockerfile
    container_name: web
    depends_on: [ fluentd ]
    networks:
      test_net:
       ipv4_address: 172.20.10.1
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    logging:
      driver: fluentd
      options:
        fluentd-address: 172.20.10.4:24224
        tag: "web.log"
  fluentd:
    build:
      context: ./fluentd
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    container_name: fluentd
    volumes:
      - ./fluentd/conf:/fluentd/etc
    networks:
      test_net:
        ipv4_address: 172.20.10.4
    ports:
      - "24224:24224"
      - "24224:24224/udp"
networks:
  test_net:
    ipam:
      config:
        - subnet: 172.20.0.0/16

If I run web server after fluentd is fully executed, it works fine. But if I run with command docker-compose up, my web server is started before fluentd makes following logs.
[info]: #0 listening port port=24224 bind="0.0.0.0"
[info]: #0 fluentd worker is now running worker=0

So the web server fails to start with error.
Error response from daemon: failed to initialize logging driver: dial tcp 172.20.10.4:24224: connect: connection refused.

I tried to add depends_on and links, but both are not working.

A: I solved this using fluentd-async-connect option.
logging:
      driver: fluentd
      options:
        fluentd-address: 172.20.10.4:24224
        fluentd-async-connect: "true"
        fluentd-retry-wait: 1s
        fluentd-max-retries: 30
        tag: "web.log"

It will try to re-connect after each connection fail.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Home Consumer Twitter storm in a China teacup
Twitter storm in a China teacup
by Tom Pattinson 2 February 2020
2 February 2020 0 comment
In October, Daryl Morey, the general manager of NBA team the Houston Rockets, shared a message in support of the Hong Kong protesters on Twitter, a site which is blocked in mainland China. Within hours, the public went mad – at its peak, he was receiving comments at a rate of two per second. The Wall Street Journal said the attacks were by a troll-mob but more likely it was a targeted bot campaign. The tweet was deleted but not before NBA stars, sportswear brands, the public and the Chinese government had weighed in.
Before long CCTV and Tencent cancelled the streaming of two pre-season games and Chinese sponsors were clambering to distance themselves from the NBA. An apology from the NBA and comments from various NBA stars stating how Morey was 'misinformed' went some way towards repairing the damage that a single tweet by one individual had caused.
But the damage done was not just to China's feelings. For the first time, a large mainstream audience of non-China watchers, basketball fans, the everyman in America – was suddenly asking, why on earth is this one tweet so sensitive and why are we apologising?
Vice President Mike Pence even criticised the NBA for 'silencing free speech' and called it 'un-American'. The NBA, who are meant to represent youthful rebellion and independence were suddenly being mocked for kowtowing to China.
Compounding this was the release of an episode of the cartoon South Park that focused on China and prodded at nearly every one of China's sensitive points, including the self-censorship that Hollywood conducts when dealing with China. Within hours, every reference to South Park on streaming sites and social media platforms was scrubbed. This time however, the cartoon's multi-millionaire creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone released a sarcastic 'apology' – further twisting the knife to the glee of many of their American fans.
Parker and Stone are probably well aware they have nothing to lose in China where they have little if any income, and a lot to lose in the US where their rebellious brand is their trademark. But for publicly listed companies or major organisations that may have over 30 percent of their revenue coming from China, it's a harder act to balance.
Do they want access to the Chinese market but, perhaps, compromise some of their principles (whilst potentially alienating customers at home) – or should they stick to their guns and potentially miss out on the world's biggest market?
So, what is the solution? For most smaller companies simply keeping schtum on most matters is the obvious choice. But there's a problem with that. In today's marketing environment, content is king. Posts, comments, videos and likes on social media keep brands relevant and in the forefront of customers minds.
Social media sites however, are rarely managed by the CEO of the company but more likely by some young intern who barely knows the brand they're working for let alone Asian geo-politics. The social media manager in charge of the Marriot Hotel Group's social feed recently got the boot when they 'liked' a post that the Chinese authorities didn't. I doubt they were fully aware of the consequences of actions but the sheer volume of content created for socials means that no longer is there a couple of ad campaigns a year – there are a couple of campaigns a day. So, when someone from the Mercedes marketing team in Europe posted a cute quote from the Dalai Lama, little did they know that it would cost the company millions on the other side of the world and lead to a grovelling apology when China took offense.
Nor presumably, was some cool, young film director in Italy fully aware that his short promo film for Dolce & Gabbana would be enormously culturally offensive to a people he may never have met or knew much about. Yes, you'd hope senior management might have stopped that one before it was signed off but brands are increasingly relying on young creatives to be aware of not just how to use Photoshop and Final Cut but also to be up to speed on the cultural and social issues of countries far, far away.
The mistakes made have led to lots of American brands apologising for offending China's people, but will American and European customers continue to respect a brand that they feel is self-censoring or not standing by its own brand identity?
At a recent lunch, the CEO of a major British brand operating in China told me that we might soon see disclaimers on websites that explain to audiences in the West why they have a different communication strategy in China but will that fly?
Companies like Google, who are still associated with their original motto "Don't be evil," have withdrawn from the Chinese market because they haven't managed to find a way to square that circle. As with Facebook, they have been waiting in the wings to see how they can conform to China's rules without putting aside their scruples. So far, neither have succeeded.
PRsocial media
Tom Pattinson
Tom Pattinson is the editor of FOCUS.
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Netflix's 'Fyre' Documentary Teaser Relives the World's Most Disastrous Music Festival
Netflix's Fyre Documentary Teaser Relives the World's Most Disastrous Music Festival
Ryan Scott
in Movie Trailers
Netflix is going to give us an unprecedented look at the catastrophe that was the Fyre Festival. The famously disastrous music festival, which was supposed to be like Coachella, but bathed in luxury, turned out to be anything but and became subject to more than $100 million in lawsuits. Now, the whole mess is going to be chronicled in a new documentary titled Fyre, which is set to arrive on the streaming service in January, with Netflix releasing the first footage in a brief teaser to go along with the announcement that they have picked up the rights to the movie.
Fyre will showcase what actually took place during the 2017 festival. Originally, the event was pitched as a premium music festival, taking place on two different weekends in April and May of last year. But the expectations vs reality kicked in extra hard when attendees showed up to the island in the Bahamas to find anything but luxury. They were met with crappy tents, packaged sandwiches, security issues and much more. Much of the calamity was documented on social media by attendees, with the rest of the world watching it unfold in real time.
The event was organized by Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. Lawsuits were filed against the pair and others involved in the event totaling more than $100 million. As we see in the brief teaser released for Fyre, those who were excited for the event ended up trying desperately to get off of the island as quickly as they could. As a result, McFarland was ultimately indicted on fraud charges and was sentenced to six years in prison. Ja Rule claimed on Twitter that the problems were not his fault and the organizers posted a statement trying to explain away the terrible experience. But the damage was done and now, we're going to get the inside scoop on how it all went down.
RELATED: Jurassic Park Becomes a Fyre Festival Doc in Fan-Made Mashup Video
Fyre comes from director Chris Smith, who previously helmed the documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, which also was sold to Netflix. That streaming movie offered a fascinating look at Jim Carrey during his time playing Andy Kaufman for the biopic Man on the Moon. Chris Smith's latest effort will not only give us all a better look at what went wrong, but we're going to get the inside story from those actually involved. If it's half as interesting as the behind the scenes look we got at Carrey's extreme method acting, this is going to be something to look forward to in early 2019.
In addition to this documentary, Hulu is also producing a docuseries looking at the Fyre Festival, which is also slated to debut in 2019. Danny Gabai, Chris Smith and Mick Purzycki serve as producers on Fyre, with Brett Kincaid, Max Pollack, Matthew Rowean, Gabrielle Bluestone, James Ohliger and Elliot Tebele on board as executive producers. Fyre is set to debut on January 18, 2019. Be sure to check out the trailer from Netflix's See What's Next Twitter account below.
Get your exclusive first look at FYRE — a revealing new doc about the insanity and rapid unraveling of Fyre Festival: the greatest party that never happened. Premieres January 18. #NetflixNewsWeekpic.twitter.com/B4iaR3UJwM
— See What's Next (@seewhatsnext) December 10, 2018
Topics: Fyre, Netflix, Streaming
Writer of various things on the internet (mostly about movies) since 2013. Major lover of popcorn flicks. Avid appreciator of James Bond, Marvel and Star Wars. Has a tremendously fat cat named Buster and still buys CDs. I've got my reasons.
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The Klout web services are used for Twitter Social Media customer profiles to retrieve the customers Klout scores and associated information.
There are two existing web services for which you need to maintain the API keys.
The API Keys are provided by the Service Provider not by SAP.
You would need to go to the Klout Score site and follow their documentation to generate a key. After your receive the API Keys from the service provided you will be able to connect it with SAP Cloud For Customer.


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8 iPhone accessibility features for everyone, on Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Accessibility is for everybody.
Image: lili sams/mashable
By Rachel Kraus 2018-05-17 15:23:43 UTC
Accessibility is about equal access — for everybody.
Today, we're reminded of this in part because of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. According to the World Bank, one billion people, or about 15 percent of the global population, experience a form of disability.
From voice commands to smart homes, technology presents an opportunity for people with disabilities to reduce accessibility barriers — as long as tech companies take the time to consider this population in the engineering process, from beginning to end.
SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about Global Accessibility Awareness Day
For Apple, accessibility is one of its six core values. And perhaps unbeknownst to many users, it's built in accessibility features to all of its products, including the iPhone.
"We've built accessibility into the guts of our products," Sarah Herrlinger, who heads up Apple accessibility programs, said. "They're deeply embedded into the OS. It's built in, not bolted on."
Accessibility is all about ease of use and customization to individual needs. At a recent Apple demo, I learned how taking into account the use of technology by people with disabilities should be a no brainer for tech companies; it can dramatically affect the lives of people with disabilities, and, accessibility just makes technology better for everyone.
iPhone accessibility features include vision, hearing, physical and motor skills, and educational settings that can allow people with a range of needs to use the iPhone, and utilize their device to more easily engage with the world around them.
To get to these features, go into Settings —> General —> Accessibility.
Here are 8 awesome iPhone accessibility features you might not know about.
1) Invert Colors
The iPhone has multiple vision settings that are included for people with a range of vision needs, from low vision to color blindness and more.
Invert colors changes the display values on your phone to create more contrast. It comes in handy if you want a black screen just because it's easier on your eyes, or you want to have less brightness while reading in bed.
2) Magnifier
This tool could be great for restaurants, or anywhere else where there's small print in low light. Enabling "Magnifier" turns your phone's camera into a magnifying glass. When you tap the side button on iPhone X or home button on earlier models, a window for your camera will pop up. Point it at the text or object you want to magnify, and voila.
3) Larger Text Sizes
Here's where you can adjust the size of your text. But you can also crank up that size even higher in apps that support Dynamic Type. There's a slider that allows you to choose just how big you want your text to be.
4) Zoom
If you want to be able to see larger text, or just more detail in an image, just when you want it instead of all the time, zoom is for you. By double-tapping three fingers, you can zoom in to the whole screen, or you can drag three fingers around the screen to zoom into specific parts. You can also change your maximum zoom level through a slider, which goes up to 5x zoom.
5) Shake to undo
'Shake to undo' is the iPhone's default setting — it's what causes the "undo typing" prompt to come up when the phone senses that shaking has caused it to press a bunch of random keys. But if this pop up annoys you (sometimes you just wanna type A;oij;oaifjaio;fa;ih), you can turn off this setting under the Interaction portion of the accessibility settings.
6) Subtitles & Captioning
This is super convenient. If you are someone who prefers closed captioning, it can be cumbersome to turn this on and off every time you go into a media app. By enabling Closed Captions + SDH under media in accessibility, when subtitles are available in an app, they'll automatically be turned on.
7) Accessibility shortcut
If you want to have the ability to easily turn off something like invert colors, zoom, or voice over, you can create an accessibility shortcut for one of the features. That means that triple clicking the home button or side button (on an iPhone X) will quickly get to the feature you're looking for.
Accessibility shortcuts make it easy to use your iPhone just the way you want to.
Image: rachel kraus/mashable
8) Siri
Digital assistants in general, and Siri in particular, have been taking a lot of flak recently. But Andrea Dalzell, a registered nurse and accessibility advocate who uses a wheelchair, showed me how game changing a voice assistant can actually be when you make the most of it.
"Siri is like my best friend," Dalzell said.
Using Siri along with with her Apple Watch and Airpods, Dalzell said that the ability to make calls, set reminders, and send messages through voice command was game changing for her. She can continue getting around in her wheelchair while taking care of the tasks that keep her busy. Her use of Siri made me wonder how much more productive I could be if I actually asked for some help from the digital assistant hanging out in my pocket once in a while.
Topics: accessibility, Apple, identities, iPhone, people-with-disabilities, Tech


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NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 1, 2016
by Lyle Richardson | Mar 1, 2016
Notable post-trade deadline game highlights, waivers moves, contract signings and more in your NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL GAME HIGHLIGHTS.
Brayden Schenn (left) and his teammates are showered with hats following his third goal against the Flames.
NEW YORK POST: Derek Stepan scored the game-winning goal in Eric Staal's debut with the Rangers in a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Staal played over 15 minutes but didn't collect any points.
PHILLY.COM: Brayden Schenn's first career NHL hat trick lifted the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-3 victory over the Calgary Flames.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Patric Hornqvist also tallied his first NHL hat trick while Sidney Crosby collected three assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins thumped the Arizona Coyotes 6-0.
For more scores and highlights of last night's action, head to NHL.com.
NOTABLE NHL HEADLINES.
NOTE: You can read my analysis of yesterday's trade deadline deals here.
ESPN.COM: Yesterday also saw some movement on the waiver wire. The Montreal Canadiens claimed forward Mike Brown from the San Jose Sharks, the New Jersey Devils claimed defenseman David Warsofsky from the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Edmonton Oilers claimed Adam Pardy from the Edmonton Oilers and Adam Cracknell from the Vancouver Canucks.
PHILLY.COM: Flyers winger Jake Voracek will miss the next two weeks to an unspecified injury.
OTTAWA SUN: Senators center Kyle Turris will miss the remainder of this season recovering from a high-ankle sprain that's hampered him since mid-January.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: The long-awaited first NHL game between Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel takes place tonight in Buffalo. McDavid was the first overall pick in last year's draft while Eichel was second overall.
NHL.COM: The Columbus Blue Jackets re-signed forward Boone Jenner to a two-year contract. While financial terms weren't disclosed, GeneralFanager.com reports it's $2.9 million per season.
SPECTOR'S NOTE: A fair bridge contract for Jenner, who's coming out of his entry-level contract. He's shown growing potential as a top-six forward, with 22 goals and 35 points in 64 games this season. At his current rate of progression, he'll be in line for a significant raise on his next contract.
OTTAWA SUN: Meet Tom Poraszka, the founder of General Fanager.
SPECTOR'S NOTE: General Fanager and Cap Friendly are my two go-to sources for NHL player and team salary information. Both sites are doing a fine job carrying on the legacy of the late Matthew Wuest and his groundbreaking site CapGeek.com.