#Invest in Japanese real estate
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The Mitsuzawa Kawamoto Building is a 3-story building with freehold land rights in Kanagawa Ward, Yokohama. The building is on a 171.36 m² lot with a total of 280.90 m² of floor space located within a 10-minute walk of Mitsuzawa-Kamicho Station on the Yokohama municipal subway Blue Line. The first floor has a vacant commercial-use space (vacant), the 2nd floor has a commercial space (occupied by tenant) and a 2DK residential space, and the 3rd floor has a 4LDK residential space. This building can be purchased for residential/commercial use or as an investment property, and is currently listed at ¥117,000,000. Potential annual rental income is ¥9,601,200 with an estimated gross yield of 8.2%. This property can be purchased as an investment for rental income regardless of your residency or visa status. Overseas buyers are welcomed!Details here: https://www.bashamichi-room.com/invest/building-investment#h.tpuh2fyj1o0s
#Japanese building#Japanese apartment#Japanese flat#Japanese investment#Japanese commercial space#Rental income#Invest in real estate#Invest in Japanese real estate#Real estate investment#Rental income Japan#Buy Japanese building#Buy Japanese flat#Buy Japanese condo#Buy Japanese commercial space#Yokohama apartment#Yokohama flat#Yokohama building#Foreigner-friendly agency#English-speaking agency#Bashamichi Room
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Stumbled on this 1992 interview with Michael Crichton about his 90's Japan Scare novel Rising Sun, which is very fun. For one, Crichton is a Perotist!
Question: “Rising Sun” makes a strong argument that Japanese business is unfairly aggressive and Americans are foolish to have tolerated this unfairness for so long. Is that a decent synopsis? Answer: Not exactly. Let me just restate it. In the immortal words of my hero, Ross Perot: “It’s not a two-way street. It never has been a two-way street. It’s not their fault.” It’s our fault.
His 90's "Declinist America Needs Protectionism" vibe really comes through in the whole interview, you forget these days due to Trump how much of a Type of Guy that was and how intellectual-coded it could be in that era of dominant "unreflective" neoliberalism.
Anyway, we certainly did talk about race in the 90's!
Q: Do you consider the Japanese racist? A: [...] We’re talking about a historically inward-looking nation, an island nation, largely monoracial. That’s a good structure in which to have the rise of feelings of superiority about your own people as opposed to other people in the world. Of course, these broad statements can’t be applied to the individual Japanese person. One of the things that Americans, as a multiracial society, feel is a tremendous sensitivity to racial comments of all kinds. In the book, one of the things I tried to say to Americans was: Hey, while you’re tiptoeing around the race issue, your competitors are a monoracial country, very much aligned, and tend to hold in common beliefs that would astound you.
Narrator: America did not, in fact, "tiptoe" around the race issue.
But to be clear it isn't like this is super wrong or anything - 90's Japan absolutely was a "racist country" if such a thing is possible, most countries are, and its geographic isolation and relative lack of modern immigrants at that time certainly did contribute to that. What I instead find amusing is the idea that this is a threat to the US; the implication is that, because Japan is a racist country, when they rule the world economically they will in some way impose that racist worldview upon us. Which, I don't really think that is how free trade works? Might have watched too much Gunbuster on this one buddy.
We of course have the classics of Japan Scare:
Q: Has the continued decline in the Japanese stock market, their falling real-estate value and shrinking foreign investment caused you to rethink your views of Japanese-American business dealings? A: No, not at all. I’ve not seen figures on what the growth of the Japanese GNP will be this year. You hear stories about economic distress in Japan, but you see that the growth rate is going down to 4% from 5%. If this country had a 4% growth rate, we’d all feel like we were pumped full of testosterone.
-😬😬😬-
Narrator: it did not stop going down at 4%.
What i love most is how you see the same exact arguments about American "economic weakness" you see today, but with the dates/countries swapped around:
Q: What allowed us to contribute so willingly to our own weakening? Greed? Altruism? Shortsightedness? Arrogance? A: (following a large sigh) You have to look back at broad time periods. It’s possible now to argue that Americans have had no increase in real earnings power since 1962. Some economists would dispute that, and set the date at 1973. Either way, the country is in a steady, consistent and ongoing decline. Why? That’s an extended conversation.
Obviously since then US living standards have gone up quite a lot! You definitely *cannot* argue that they did not go up since 1962, that is in fact an insane claim. You can't argue they haven't gone up since the 90's either. Even in Japan they have, they definitely have in Europe, economies grow in general. And of course the classic "American companies are all gambling now":
No one invests in a company anymore, in the way it was done in the ‘50s, say, because they believe the company is good. They buy because they think the price of the stock will rise or fall. What this means is that American managers are obliged to manage in the short term. There’s no incentive for an investor to hang on with a company for the long term. In Japan, savings--up to a certain point--are tax free. Why is that not also true in America? You want savings? Then don’t tax it as ordinary income.
I will leave posting a list of the most high-value companies over the past 30 years as an exercise for the reader; you don't need it, you already know them. But I certainly see versions of this dancing around today, and you definitely saw it in 2008 all over the place.
No real skin off Crichton's back, to be clear - prediction is hard, he isn't an economist, most will be wrong. Just funny how the ideological churn keeps spinning.
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Intresting Astrology facts (Vedic Astrology)
Twelfth House Venus is exalted, but do you know why?
TWELFTH House is the house of giving and charity.
Ketu is giver, hence, exalted in twelfth house
Venus is known as enemy of ketu then why both these planets exalts in twelfth house?
Because, Venus twelfth house (Untill it is not in sign of Saturn ie, 10 and 11) knows how to give
Venus exaltation in the house of Jupiter that is twelfth house, shows the more you spend your money spiritually ie to help others, your Venus will improve.
So, basic rule of universe is what you give more to others you will get it, so if you want to improve your twelfth house, which is house of bed pleasure, foreign travel, investments, sleep, learn to give others, your twelfth house will improve..
Venus Ketu conjunction is always seen as negative combination, but it is one of the most spiritual combination, only if you see money as spiritual wealth and not Material wealth.
Ketu is spiritual planet, and detachment, be detached from money, spend your money first to help, ketu will bless you.
If you have Venus ketu conjunction and you get influenced easily when you see other's money you are triggering your ketu and ketu will become negative. Always be grateful for your money, and see it spiritually, more spiritual you become regards to money matters more ketu bless you, so whenever you spend your money, bless your money.
Arigato” is Japanese for “Thank you”. It describes the inflow and outflow of cash as a necessary circulation in our life.
What is this technique?( This technique is exclusively for Venus ketu conjunction.)
The technique is extremely simple. Whenever you have an inflow of money, you accept with love and gratitude no matter how small or big the amount is. And you do the same while spending money, that is, spending money with an open heart and gratefulness. The appreciation for the outflow and inflow of cash is as simple as saying a “Thank you”.
Ketu is also your past life pending karma, so don't be sad when someone takes your money, he/she is just finishing past life debt that you took.
Venus Rahu conjunction should always keep their Rahu good, then you get good money, Rahu is foreign land, import export, thinking big.
But, if you get into lust, illicit relationship, multiple relationship, you will trigger your Rahu and Rahu will act negative.
Rahu in vedic astrology are cleaning workers, one of the best remedy of Rahu is donate to cleaning workers.
Venus Mars conjunction has super attractive body 👁️ 👅.
Venus-Mars conjunction should invest money on fertile agriculture lands or atleast in real-estate, Venus is Money and also sperm, Mars is land, Venus Mars is fertile lands.
Whichever house Venus sits in you will get money when you do work related to house,
First house Venus - Work on yourself, your personality, your identity.
Second house Venus - Work on speech, work with Family, cooking, Astrology.
Third house Venus - Work with siblings, work on your skills, communication.
In male's chart Venus third house gets you wife who has Martian quality, that is fighting skill, she will fight and protect you
Fourth house venus- When ever Venus is conjucted with moon, one best remedy is change your place, your birth place your Venus will improve, fourth house is house, work related to decoration of house is good.
In male's chart Venus moon conjunction attracts females who are good in decorations and cleaning of house.
(Rest of the house I will continue in my next blog.)
Afflicted Venus or debilitated Venus also shows physical or sexual abuse
Venus eighth house if afflicted gives you sexual traumas..
Second house and eighth house Venus are great with Astrology and occult.
Treat Money as spiritual wealth your Venus will improve.
Twelfth house is always what you give.
Eighth house is what you have to let go.
Sixth house is what you fight for.
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Putting the finishing touches on Shredder’s origin story for my Mutant Mayhem fic!
I know you guys came the turtle angst, but hope you stay for an abridged history of the Japanese postwar economic miracle and subsequent domination of the global consumer electronics market leading to a staggering amount of corporate Japanese investment in American real estate during the 1980s including "trophy" properties in New York City
#might even throw in some stuff about the 1990s Japanese bubble economy and stock market crash#as a treat#i swear this will make sense in a few chapters#tmnt#tmnt mutant mayhem#mutant mayhem#teenage mutant ninja turtles#tmnt mm#tmnt fandom#tmnt shredder#the shredder#tmnt fanfiction#tmnt fanfic#tmnt fic#(Shredder concept art by Justin Runfola)
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mixed race (japanese + native american) fiancé hcs ; 16+
requested by ; anonymous (14/04/23)
fandom(s) ; black butler
fandom masterlist(s) ; hub | main characters | main villains | anime only
character(s) ; alois trancy, our!ciel phantomhive, real!ciel phantomhive, sebastian michaelis
outline ; “hey! i hope youre doing well. if/when youreable to, would you mind writing some headcanons for o!ciel, sebastian, r!ciel, and alois (if thats too many, just the first 2 💜) with a gender neutral fiance who is partially both japanese and native american please? thank you very much in advance.”
warning(s) ; references to period typical racism, references to canon-typical violence, generalisations made as to not link the reader to any specific native tribe, author craps on british food in a few places (author is british, it comes from a place of love)
note ; this took ages to look up and research in order to try and not lock the insert into any specific tribe or tribal family for their native side — given how broad and diverse they are. hopefully this came across and wasn’t too disappointing to the requester or anyone else who might have been looking for a very specific type of representation.
Alois Trancy
this man isn’t the most sensitive or understanding in general — so he wouldn’t necessarily ‘get’ or question your religious practises
like if you’re spiritual and perform smudging in the manor then you’re only really going to irritate his demonic staff and prevent them from entering certain rooms for a while
on the other end of the spectrum, smudging is an excellent way of keeping claude and the triplets out of your rooms if you’re annoyed
this would amuse alois for sure — but his interests would be focused exclusively on the aesthetic and story based aspects of your culture
he loves listening to you as you explain the folklores and mythologies of your two heritages — wide eyed and quiet for once as he takes in everything you have to say
he has a particular preference for creatures and deities that explore the gorier aspects of life, and he’ll ask you to retell them often, but he’ll listen to any story you have to tell
and if you participate in cultural crafts like beadwork or shodo or anything along those lines, then he’ll gladly fund your work and might even pay you to make things for his person, his peers or just to display about the estate
he’ll also ensure that you’re never without clothing from your cultures and would prefer you wear it over things from england — be that a selection of richly dyed kimonos for you to wear during galas, or importing regalia from your tribe for you to wear during traditional dances and such if that’s something you partake in
if your tribe partakes in the tradition of getting facial tattoos, then he’ll be incredibly interested in their history and meaning for you
will celebrate and observe holidays that aren’t on the british calendar with you — whether that’s national foundation day, or something that requires travel abroad like a powwow
and in the same vein, he’s not afraid to send his servants after anyone who disrespects you whilst at his manor
Our!Ciel Phantomhive
ciel has a particular interest in the culinary/confectionary side of your dual cultures and would be very invested in trying and recreating the dishes you grew up eating
that, of course, includes sweet things like candies and desserts
(his favourites are dango and saututhig)
but it also applies to meals — especially those associated with specific holidays
so, for example, he would have sebastian recreate the seasonal flavours of namagashi if you opt to take part in any tea ceremonies
or he might recreate some festival foods like okonomiyaki or yakitori when it’s the right season
or if you’re craving something from a powwow, he’ll ensure you have access to things like corn soup, fry bread and so on
he never wants you to be without the comfort foods you grew up with, nor the things you crave
so he has the staff modify the manor’s menu and meal rotation to incorporate more foods from japan and from your tribe
(which is a relief as british food isn’t the most flavourful in the world)
he also insists on trying to learn whichever language (or languages) you’re comfortable with so he’s able to connect and understand more of his future spouse’s culture and world views
he struggles immensely with japanese, specifically with forming his kanji for some reason, but his pronunciation is pretty spot on
but he manages to pick up the language of your tribe pretty quickly
so he’d probably prefer to speak to you using that tongue if he wished to mention something privately
he’s also keenly aware of the history of conflicts faced by native americans — as well as the bigotry faced by immigrants in the uk
he did his fair share of studying at the beginning of your relationship and, well, he has eyes and the situational awareness to recognise how you were being treated
this makes him incredibly protective of you — he trusts you to take care of yourself (you are engaged to the queen’s watchdog, after all), but that doesn’t mean that he expects you to put up with outright horrific treatment by his peers or his people
in other words: sebastian and the rest of the phantomhive staff get some free target practise courtesy of people that insult the lord of the house’s fiancé
Real!Ciel Phantomhive
this man is the sort to spoil his partner however he can at every opportunity — and you are far from the exception
any food that you’re craving, he’ll have the ingredients imported and will hire a specialty chef (or train one) to make it for you
any clothing you desire, he’ll have hand made and imported
if you miss your family or wish to go home to celebrate a holiday, he’ll arrange a trip to the americas or to japan and send you there with supplies and gifts to spare
he’ll usually try to go with you, but there are times where his schedule just doesn’t allow it so you’ll be travelling alone (with dozens of personal attendants)
he’ll study every language you speak independently, learning them whilst you’re away in order to surprise you when you get home
he’ll decorate the manor with pieces of art that represent both of the cultures you come from — or pieces that were made by yourself/your relatives
if there are any local sports or games that you enjoy, he’ll arrange for them to happen at the estate
he’s an excellent partner in that regard
but he puts his business and reputation above a lot of the things he should be doing for you
like yes he’ll spoil and indulge and learn for you
but if one of his most important investors says something offensive then he won’t do anything to stop it
at most he’ll encourage them to keep that talk to his office, but usually he’ll just laugh along and encourage you to grin and bear it
he wants to defend you, really, but he can’t risk plummeting his business because of it
he doesn’t have the means to get rid of someone without it looking suspect — which would tank his reputation and out both of you at risk
if he can punish someone for being cruel, he will — like a staff member of his or someone on the streets
but most of the time he really can’t — so the most he can do is try to keep you away from it all
as his father taught him, his duties to his country and his business come first — only then can he be a husband and lover
Sebastian Michaelis
he spends most of his time with you switching between japanese and the language of your tribe — mainly because he doesn’t like the idea of anyone (or anything) listening in on your combinations and seeing him in such a vulnerable state
he has an incredibly low tolerance for any mistreatment of you (actual or perceived) and, unless instructed otherwise by his master, will just eliminate them immediately after their transgression
a lot of the time you don’t even realise what happened — only that someone is now missing
but you’re usually able to put the pieces together
if you have an argument, he’s usually able to gather how mad you are based on how many rooms have been cleansed and he’s no longer able to enter
the worst argument you had, to date, ended with you cleansing the entire manor and locking him to the outside and the basement for a whole week
(ciel found it hilarious)
if you’re ever feeling homesick, it’s a cakewalk for sebastian to get you back to your family — you can be there one day and back in england the next
but good luck explaining to either side of your family that you’re courting a demon
if you’re artsy and like creating things to honour your heritage then he’ll indulge you, fetching you the necessary materials and displaying the final result proudly
he has met both sides of your family and has scared the crap out of a few relatives when they accidentally almost cleansed him out of a room
(not a fun conversation to have)
he’s an excellent cook (naturally) and is more than happy to indulge any cravings you have for foods that aren’t a commonly sold thing in england
of course he’ll encourage you to eat full, hearty meals because he wants you to be as taken care of as possible, but he can’t say no to his mate and will usually give in if you’re particularly desperate for sweet things or street foods
he gives you a number of nicknames based on new or traditional pet names from your cultures
for example, some japanese pet names he might use are ‘ダーリン’ (daarin), ‘ハニー’ (hanii) (these are mainly used in notes sent to each other) — or, when speaking, he might something more traditional like calling you your given name or an a version with the appropriate suffix (depending on your preference)
and, of course, any other pet names depends on the tribe you’re from
#sleepingdeath#gender neutral reader#black butler x reader#black butler headcanons#kuroshitsuji x reader#kuroshitsuji headcanons#sebastian michaelis x reader#our ciel x reader#ciel phantomhive x reader#real ciel x reader#alois trancy x reader
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Ninja Storm Headcanons
@skyland2703 @eve6rangers @buster-loves-pr
(Some stem from the AU fic)
-Blake thrifts heavy, that man dresses to impress and would even go to lengths of joining online auctions.
-Tori has the strongest elemental output out of the team, while they are all strong her control over water is terrifying to the point of any deep feelings and willpower rooted together allow for her to make tsunamis or even a hurricane if she sees fit.
-Dustin might be a bit air headed but he’s really good and retaining information. Reading books can be exhausting but with his love for comics he’s gotten a very visual mindset and pretty much maps out every scene he reads, helps with studying a lot.
-Marah and Kapri are twins with Kapri being the older one.
-Hunter too likes to dress up a bit but the real reason why he never really showed off like Blake was cause most of his money was either spent on biking tools or saved up. He really prefers shoes and baggy clothing, also one of those people who actually uses a stylish watch when wearing it outside.
-Cam is loaded with money due to his dad, the Watanabe’s have investments all around the place through generational business and with Kanoi’s influence they’ve accumulated a lot of wealth. They live in a huge estate hidden away somewhat like the ninja schools, the team sometimes sneaks in due to the fact that there a bunch of rooms making it seem like a castle.
-Shane has a tendency of helping people but sometimes it tends to get him into trouble, years ago when he was around eight years old he stole medicine to help out a kid who had a sick mom and it got him in juvenile detention. Didn’t matter cause he was happy he could help, that kid was Cam(rip Miko).
-The team has a good taste in music, Blake enjoying a lot of R&B and Soul music, Hunter enjoying hip hop and rock, Dustin has a taste for a lot of upbeat music and Japanese city pop, Cam secretly likes pop, Tori has a mix of a lot of taste and Shane enjoys Lo-fi beats with high tempos. Their favorite artists is Nujabes.
-Shane tends to add style to his fighting by adding in chants or specific words with technique, he seems to find it bringing energy and more power into his element. He’s got a cool way of thinking within the world and the team started to pick up a few of these tendencies…they can’t make fun of him considering Hunter names some of this own techniques after specific gods of thunder.
-Best dancers on the team are Dustin and Hunter but everyone else has a really good rep as well…Hunter was taken aback when they went to a nightclub and Dustin got all close and personal when they started playing a bunch of huge beats.
-Cam broke the stock market and might’ve been responsible for the 2008 crash…
-Meeting up with other rangers is always pleasant, the yellow rangers before Dustin absolutely love him, Tori is surprised to have been the first female blue ranger in ages, Shane isn’t allowed to bring Hunter anymore due to him roasting and hating a lot of the old reds but he finds a way to sneak in. Blake pretty much judges some of the clothing of the other blues and Cam refuses to meet any green rangers but he will be down to hang out with RJ.
-They will jump the shit out of anyone who’s an asshole, anyone who’s homophobic, anyone who picks on Dustin and Cam, anyone who who’s basically causing some trouble. Like you don’t wanna catch any of their smoke🔥
-As teachers they made it mandatory for the students to watch ATLA, both cause the show is good but also the examples for lessons are top notch. It’s also how they found out that fire was an element some students could use.
-Dustin has a crush on Cole the Wild Force Red Ranger…Hunter is jealous.
-although ninja steel is another team that they somewhat acknowledge it anyone compares them to that team or tries to do a versus situation they will get very offended. In another universe where Ninja Steel was a good season they are a part of the Wave Academy and the Ninja Storm rangers love their company. Cam actually raised Levi.
#headcanon#headcanons#power rangers#mmpr#mighty morphin power rangers#power rangers ninja storm#ninja storm#shane clarke#tori hanson#dustin brooks#hunter bradley#blake bradley#cameron watanabe
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Racial covenants can be found in the property records of every American community. These restrictive clauses were inserted into property deeds to prevent people who were not White from buying or occupying land.
Racial covenants served as legally-enforceable contracts. They stipulated that the property had to remain in the hands of White people and they ran with the land, which meant that it could be enforced in perpetuity. Anyone who dared to challenge this ban risked forfeiting their claim to the property.
A survey of the 30,000 covenants unearthed in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties illuminates the wide variety of people targeted. An early Minneapolis restriction proclaimed that the "premises shall not at any time be conveyed, mortgaged or leased to any person or persons of Chinese, Japanese, Moorish, Turkish, Negro, Mongolian or African blood or descent." Before 1919, Jews were often included in this laundry list of “objectionable” people.
This language shifted with time. This eugenics-inspired list gave way to simpler declarations that the property could only be “be occupied exclusively by person or persons. . .of the Caucasian Race.” While many different kinds of people were targeted by racial covenants, every restriction identified by Mapping Prejudice bars Black people, as they were perceived by White Minnesotans to be particularly likely to decrease property values.
Real estate developers used racial covenants to sell houses, promising home buyers that covenants would protect their investment.
These same developers worked with park commissioners to make land adjacent to racially-restricted neighborhoods into public green space. These parks, they argued, would enhance the value of the property in these new neighborhoods. These rising values would also benefit municipal governments by swelling local tax coffers.
White homeowners also profited from racial covenants. A team of University of Minnesota researchers has demonstrated that Minneapolis houses that had covenants are worth 14 percent more than identical houses that never had covenants. This “bonus” value persists today, more than 50 years after the Fair Housing Act made these racial restrictions illegal.
The families who owned houses with covenants were able to pass that value on to the next generation. This intergenerational transfer of assets continues to drive the racial wealth gap in the United States today.
(continue reading)
#politics#racism#racial covenants#redlining#housing discrimination#structural racism#anti blackness#housing#realestate#national association of realtors#racial wealth gap#generational wealth
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Croupier Comptable: Game Theory for The Venetian Macao, China (Trapping Aesthetic for Volleyball) 14K
BIO
My Name is Adrian Blake-Trotman. I am Indo-Mediterranean Caribbean Born in Toronto but From Barbados and Haiti. I am a Beta-arbitrage Mergers & Acquisitions Banker that Specializes in Commodities. I have Understanding Financial Markets by Université de Genève and Monetary Policy in the Asian-Pacific by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with No Gr. 12 Math or Intro to Linear Algebra; I built a mathematical learning style by using Japanese Candlesticks Bullish Engulfing Discounted Cash Flow Charts for Poker. I Operate TAX AVOIDANCE through Freelance Mergers & Acquisitions through an Enterprise Foundation and Investment Trust. My background is Agriculture Working Class, I've worked in Kitchens and Grocery Stores. My goal is to connect the Democratic Republic of the Congo to two tax havens; Haiti & Seychelles to stabilize the Diamond Trade and more Important the Commodities Market. Through Mercantilism Agriculture Hedge Fund as a Central Bank, Options Volatility Exchange, Lab Grown Re-sale Market, Decentralized Currency and Fiat Money, Hospitality & Gaming. Also To form a Socioeconomic Status Agriculture Working Class; Blue, Pink, and White Collar Jobs. I am Modelling my Cartel off of Wall Street for De Beers but is owned and operated by the Société des Bains de Mer (SBM); The Casino de Monte-Carlo is owned and operated by the Société des Bains de Mer (SBM), a public company in which the government of Monaco and the ruling princely family have a majority interest. The company also owns the principal hotels, sports clubs, food service establishments, and nightclubs throughout the Principality. The Société des Bains de Mer operates in the accommodation, dining, entertainment, and gambling services. SBM manages and owns casinos, hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, spas, beach clubs, and golf clubs. Fifty-two of their fifty-eight properties are located in Monaco. The concept of state-corporate crime refers to crimes that result from the relationship between the policies of the state and the policies and practices of commercially motivated corporations. The term was coined by Kramer and Michalowski in 1990.
THE ARNAULT MODEL: BALANCING FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE AND CREATIVITY
Over the next three decades, as he brought the best luxury brands in fashion, cosmetics, and beverages under the LVMH umbrella, Arnault proceeded to make “a series of brilliant business decisions” that “can only be called masterful.” Even his critics were impressed by “his ability to manage creativity for the sake of profit and growth.” Industry observers frequently credit his outstanding success in a highly competitive industry to the fact that—unlike other global CEOs—Arnault understands both the creative and the financial aspects of running a luxury business
Financed through Real Estate and Convertible Bonds
The Creation of Star Brands
In a 2001 Harvard Business Review interview, Arnault explained his famous business process, which—unlike the traditional fashion industry—requires financial discipline as well as creativity. The entire focus of Arnault's teams is the creation of “star brands” that must meet a high bar for four artistic and financial criteria: LVMH brands must be “timeless, modern, fast-growing, and highly profitable.” In practice, “profitable creativity” means that “star brands are born only when a company manages to make products that ‘speak to the ages’ but feel ‘intensely modern’ and ‘sell fast and furiously, all while raking in profits
Although the LVMH process begins with "radical innovation—an unpredictable, messy, highly emotional activity” on the creative end, as soon as “it comes to getting creativity onto shelves—chaos is banished,” and the company imposes "strict discipline on manufacturing processes, meticulously planning all 1,000 tasks in the construction of one purse.”
The genius of Arnault’s process is that, although the "front end of a star brand—the innovation…the creative process, the advertising—is very, very expensive,” the “back end of the process in the atelier (the factory)” is a place of "amazing discipline and rigor” that drives “high profitability behind the scenes.” Brands with “unbelievably high quality” require “unbelievably high productivity,” so “every single motion, every step of every process is carefully planned with the most modern and complete engineering technology.”
For example, when Arnault automated production at Vuitton, he drove that venerable old brand to the top spot on Fashionista’s list of the world's best-selling luxury brands in 2011, with a value of $24.3 billion—more than twice the amount of its nearest competitor.
As he spent “lavishly” on advertising, Arnault "rigorously" controlled costs by leveraging every possible synergy across the group: Kenzo manufactured a Christian Lacroix line; Givenchy manufactured a Kenzo perfume, and Guerlain created the first Vuitton perfume.
Creative Talent Management
As Arnault built LVMH into the world's largest luxury conglomerate, he hired new design talent for star brands that “speak to the ages” but “feel intensely modern”: from Céline, Kenzo, Guerlain, and Givenchy to Loewe, Thomas Pink, Fendi, and DKNY.
Because his model requires that “the counterbalance to creativity must be commerce,” Arnault “never hesitated to reign in, or outright terminate, creative executives who did not produce.” Since the early days at Dior, he has often replaced creative executives with non-traditional talent and then shuffled them across his brands to help him identify opportunities to drive profit—no matter how unpopular.
For example, at Givenchy in 1995, Arnault brought in a “fashion industry darling” and “notorious wild child,” British designer John Galliano, to replace Hubert de Givenchy, the industry icon “credited with defining simple elegance for an entire generation of women, (including) Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy, and the Duchess of Windsor.”
Within a year, Arnault moved Galliano, the first British designer in French haute couture, from Givenchy to Christian Dior to replace Gianfranco Ferré, the Italian couturier who had led Dior design since the late 1980s. Other non-traditional Arnault hires included installing 27-year-old Alexander McQueen (another British designer) at Givenchy and Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton, where he gave the American designer a mandate to challenge LVMH’s competitors, Prada and Gucci.
Although those iconoclastic designers later left LVMH, they had served Arnault’s purpose: interest in his traditional fashion houses had been jumpstarted by the early 21st century.
HOW TO STABILIZE THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, SEYCHELLOIS, AND HAITIAN CURRENCY (INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE BUT FOR MMA & COMMODITIES NOT CRICKET & TECHNOLOGY MODEL)
Bioeconomy Agriculture Central Hedge Fund with Agriculture Bulge Brackets Oligopolistic System Hyper Inflation Vehicle Fiat Currency: Strict Negative Interest Rates for Investments; Debt/Equity Business Loan Period and Construction Loan/Tax Benefits Programs, Investment Trusts & Enterprise Foundations are Common Corporate Tax Avoidance Practices, and Raise Denominator of Currency & Print Currency for Insurance Companies for Building Process
Combat Sport as National Sport: Free Internet with Corporate Sponsor Purse Bid System Mixed Martial Arts Camps, Orphanages, Polytheist Churches, Gaming-Hospitality; and +EV Gambling
Mercantilism Fiat Currency Pegging: Foreign Exchange Rate to Diamond Peg Currency
Market Extension Vertical Integration Mergers Lottery
Industries: Mergers & Acquisitions Agriculture Industry, Decentralized Finance, Real Estate Finance and Economics, Capital Gains Tax Haven, Corporate Tax Haven, Inheritance Tax Haven, Art Ports, and Gaming-Hospitality
Blockchain Diamond-Metal Exchange Modelled Off of CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). Founded in 1973, the CBOE Options Exchange is the world's largest options exchange with contracts focusing on individual equities, indexes, and interest rates. Credit Spread Options and Blockchain the Commodities Market.
Business Capital is a Collaborative Environment through Generalized Education (STEM AND M & A)
Socioeconomic Status Agriculture Working Class Immigrants
XYY or Triple X Syndrome, ACTN3 Gene, MSTN Gene, and Mercury-Venus Births
A ROUND OF PAR GAME THEORY NETWORK
Beta Arbitrage with Convertible Bonds Compounding
Key Ingredients
Player's: Futures Exchange and Investor
Actions: Issue payments under any circumstances
Payoffs: Exchange - Larger Market Volume, Investor - Larger Assets Under Management or Profits
Representation
Extensive Form includes timing of moves. Player's move sequentially, represented as a tree (timing). Chess: the white player moves, then the black player can see White's move and react
Theory
There's a common expression of higher the risk, higher the reward; but in finance it should be higher reward, higher risk because people's savings are involved. This is why I created The Round of Par Games Theory Network where the intended score should always be 0. Nobody wins and nobody loses between investor and stock exchange, just a nice friendly draw. The Investors assets under management grows and the Exchange's Market Volume Grows.
Let's break down the Components:
Beta Arbitrage
Investor: Beta Arbitrage involves longing in one market and shorting in a DIFFERENT market. The example is longing Company A in the stock market but then going to Company A in the options market and placing a put/short option. Either way the Investor earns a profit.
Exchange: The Futures Exchange benefits because now not only is equity on the stock market is being bought but the options market has a larger volume.
Convertible Bond Compounding
Investor: By compounding through Convertible Bonds not only are you going to be paid back your money because creditors are first on the company's bankruptcy list unlike investors, but it's an easier way to buy more shares for growth investing while not diving head first.
Exchange: The Futures Exchange benefits because now not only is equity on the stock market is being bought, but the bond market has a larger volume.
LANGUAGES
Mandarin
Latin
INDUSTRY WORTH FOR COMMODITIES (AGRICULTURE WORKING CLASS)
In 2012, Forbes reported that $21 trillion was Off-Shored
In 2017 the equivalent of at least 10% of the world’s GDP is in offshore banks, and that number is probably higher due to the opaqueness of the world’s global tax havens, according to a research report release this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The estimated amount of money laundered globally in one year is 2 - 5% of global GDP, or $800 billion - $2 trillion in current US dollars.
Taxes in the US – The federal government collected revenues of $3.5 trillion in 2019—equal to about 16.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) (figure 2). Over the past 50 years, federal revenue has averaged 17.4 percent of GDP, ranging from 20.0 percent (in 2000) to 14.6 percent (most recently in 2009 and 2010).
The foreign exchange or forex market is the largest financial market in the world – larger even than the stock market, with a daily volume of $6.6 trillion, according to the 2019 Triennial Central Bank Survey of FX and OTC derivatives markets.
In 2019, for example, the sales value of rough diamonds amounted to some 13.9 billion U.S. dollars worldwide. After polishing, the value increased by nearly double to 26.7 billion U.S. dollars. In 2019, the global diamond jewelry market value was approximately 79 billion U.S. dollars.
Global Cut Flowers Market to Reach $41. 1 Billion by 2027.
The global coffee market was valued at USD 102.02 billion in 2020,
Global Vanilla Market Is Expected to be worth Around USD 735 Million By 2026
According to the report published by Allied Market Research, the global cocoa market generated $12.8 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $15.5 billion by 2027, witnessing a CAGR of 4.3% from 2021 to 2027
The global water and wastewater market was valued at 263.07 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. The market is projected to reach a value almost 500 billion U.S. dollars by 2028 at a CAGR of 7.3 percent in the 2021 to 2028 period.
The global tobacco market size was estimated at USD 932.11 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 949.82 billion in 2021.
For the year 2020, Worldwide Cotton Market was US$ 38.54 Billion. Global Cotton Market is expected to reach US$ 46.56 Billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 2.74% from 2020 to 2027.
The global waste management market size was valued at $1,612.0 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $2,483.0 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 3.4% from 2021 to 2030
According to Brandessence Market Research, the Energy Drink market size reached USD 61.23 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 99.62 Billion by 2027.
LEGAL DEFENSE
Smurfing: Reverse Onus, Challenge Mens Rea and Actus Rea, Press Malicious Prosecution Charges, Financial Settlement
RICO Legal Disputes Trademark (30 for 30 Court): Undisclosed Settlement; 1 large sum ($30 million) broken into a 3-part settlement, Not going to trial settlement (guaranteed payment for being brought into court), Case being unsealed settlement (if the case gets reopened), and Testimony settlement (in court testimony in reopened case). The non-disclosure agreement (NDA); Agreement to 10 years jail time for every broken NDA, NDA on Case, NDA on Testifying, and NDA on Settlement. Sealed Federal Cases: Have legal matters sealed by the court to prevent leaked information to media and Precedence for RICO
CRIME COLLAR
White-Blue collar crime is a subgroup of white-collar crime White Collar Crime, a term reportedly first coined in 1939, is synonymous with the full range of frauds committed by business and government professionals. Blue-collar crime is a term used to describe crimes that are committed primarily by people who are from a lower social class. This is in contrast to white-collar crime, which refers to crime that is usually committed by people from a higher social class.
SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY OF DEVELOPMENT
Agriculture Working Class Immigrants Socioeconomic Status Focused Key Players in Commodities Market*
Polytheism (Zeus, Poseidon, and Ogou-Athena)*
Births: Mercury-Venus, MSTN Gene, ACTN3 Gene, XYY Syndrome, or Triple X Syndrome
Māori All Blacks Sports Culture and Volleyball is National Sport*
Jumping for Cardio*
Poker Brain*
REITs/Real Estate ETF Investors with Index Credit or Debit Spreads Options Trading*
Mergers and Acquisitions Exploratory School System*
Sand-Based Calisthenics kallos sthenos (beautiful strength) Interval Training: Isometric-Plyometric, Circuit Training: Isometric-Isotonic, and Isometric-Mobility
Tofu is Protein of Choice
Fish/Seafood is Meat of Choice
Blueberry is consumed at every breakfast
Mineral Water instead of Spring Water
Coconut Syrup as Sugar Replacement
Business News is a part of The Cigar Culture
Sports Gambling for Extra Revenue Stream instead of Lottery Tickets when in Working Class
Hydrolyzed Collagen-Leucine is the Main Sports Medicine
Brokerage Accounts with First 10 Investments as Bond Funds and REITs
VAMMMBRGC LIFESTYLE BRAND RACKET
Volleyball (Trampoline)
Acting (Short Film Series: Aesthetic Taxi Game, Character: Expansive Mood Villain)
Modeling (Brand Activation Models)
Music (Psychedelic Festival Trap)
Martial Arts
Ballet (Females Only)
Rings Gymnastics (Males Only)
Graffiti (Art)
Cooking (Endorsements)
LVMH-Lacoste Collaboration Company For Tax Mergers Law; Market-extension merger: Two companies that sell the same products in different markets. 4.2.2 Corporate Taxation At the corporate level, the tax treatment of a merger or acquisition depends on whether the acquiring firm elects to treat the acquired firm as being absorbed into the parent with its tax attributes intact, or first being liquidated and then received in the form of its component assets.
What Is Vertical Integration? Vertical integration is a strategy that allows a company to streamline its operations by taking direct ownership of various stages of its production process rather than relying on external contractors or suppliers. A company may achieve vertical integration by acquiring or establishing its own suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, or retail locations rather than outsourcing them. However, vertical integration may be considered risky potential disadvantages due to the significant initial capital investment required.
Analysis Discounted Cash Flow (DCF): A key valuation tool in M&A, a discounted cash flow (DFC) analysis determines a company's current value, according to its estimated future cash flows. Forecasted free cash flows (net income + depreciation/amortization (capital expenditures) change in working capital) are discounted to a present value using the company's weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Admittedly, DCF is tricky to get right, but few tools can rival this valuation method.
VŒUX DE CHAMPAGNE SOGNI CAVIALI
Description: Beta-arbitrage Mergers & Acquisitions Cartel that commits Mediterranean-Caribbean and Afro-Mediterranean Socioeconomic Status Development Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction (CPR) Unit Charities, Protection Racket, Paramilitary Financing, Lobbyist-Investment Trust, Commodities Management, Gambling & Diamond Trafficking, Rolex Re-sale Market, Real Estate Brokerage, Graffiti Art Port, Smurfing, Nike Sports & Fashion Corporate Espionage and Larceny Business Model Reengineering, and VAMMMBRGC Contract Racketeering Through Enterprise Foundations
Activities: Executive Council for Mayor, Culinary Arts, Grey Market Fashion, Trap Shooting Gambling Tournaments, Volleyball Tournaments, Corporate Sponsor EdTech, Grocery Insurance & Electronic Financial Data Interchange, Diamond Encrusted Accessories Collaboration with LVMH, OTC Beta-arbitrage Branch Bracket, OTC Exchange (Commodities, Sports Betting Investment Trust, Real Estate Investment Trust, Cuisine Real Estate Investment Trust, Forex Pairs Contract for Difference, Retail/Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust, Credit Swap Options Endorsement Index), VAMMMBRGC Youtube Distribution Channel (Gambling News Network, Noir Short Film Series [Shakespearean Crime], Cooking Channel, Sports Resort Real Estate, Sports/Modelling/Acting Business Case Study Video Essay, Brand Activation Modelling, Combat Sports, Calisthenics Workout Class, Sports Science Lessons, Graffiti Tourism, Music Videos, Natural Resources Documentaries, Hype Beast Re-Sale Market, Rolex Business Case Study Video Essays, Business Conferences).
DIAMOND TRAFFICKING
The WFDB Trade And Business Committee
The Trade and Business Committee makes recommendations to the Executive Committee concerning industry relations with financial institutions worldwide, lab-grown diamonds, Know Your Customer and the System of Warranties.
Idea 1: Luxury Goods Encrusted Items Investment Service and Auction. Example: Hermès Bag, Investment System: Masterworks, Auction System: Information Catwalks with models then bidding in a separate room with Video Replay for YouTube.
Idea 2: A sightholder is a company on the De Beers Global Sightholder Sales's (DBGSS) list of authorized bulk purchasers of rough diamonds. De Beers Group made this list, the second largest miner of diamonds. DBGSS was previously known as DTC (Diamond Trading Company). In May 2006, DTC released a list of the 93 sightholders on its website. High Fashion Accessories Aggregator Business Model with Auction and Re-sale.
Business Model
The London Metal Exchange (LME) which is based in Hong Kong is a commodities exchange that deals in metals futures and options. It is the largest exchange for options and futures contracts for base metals, which include aluminum, zinc, lead, copper, and nickel. The exchange also facilitates trading of precious metals like gold and silver.
Originally known as the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the exchange changed its name in 2017 as part of a rebranding effort by its holding company, CBOE Global Markets. Traders refer to the exchange as the CBOE ("see-bo"). CBOE is also the originator of the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), the most widely used and recognized proxy for market volatility.
ABC Exchange (Alumina, Beryllium, Carbon): There are four types of precious stones: diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Each type has its own specific chemical and physical properties. Diamonds are made from carbon, rubies and sapphires from alumina and emeralds from beryllium.
Diamond Monopoly
What Is Vertical Integration? Vertical integration is a strategy that allows a company to streamline its operations by taking direct ownership of various stages of its production process rather than relying on external contractors or suppliers. A company may achieve vertical integration by acquiring or establishing its own suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, or retail locations rather than outsourcing them. However, vertical integration may be considered risky potential disadvantages due to the significant initial capital investment required.
My Vertical Integration Mergers: Company’s Diamond Mines, Merger Manufacturers, Company’s Distribution, and Merger Hospitality and Gaming Diamond Exchange
The Diamond Standard
Influence: Agricultural Bank of China is active in commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance services.
Mercantilism was a form of economic nationalism that sought to increase the prosperity and power of a nation through restrictive trade practices. Its goal was to increase the supply of a state's gold and silver with exports rather than to deplete it through imports. It also sought to support domestic employment.
The bio-economy is defined as the economic activity associated with the invention, development, production; and use of primarily bio-based products, bio-based production processes, and/or biotechnology-based intellectual property.
Industries Association; Hospitality and Gaming: Daily and Monthly Revenue Streams, Capital Gains Taxing: Create Offshore revenue through trading and Blockchain is a volatile market for good liquidity. FOREX Vehicle Currency: Low Interest Rates means currency will be traded against other currencies, Shorting own currency to get foreign currency and exchanging returns to domestic currency stabilize exchange rate and Currency Basket
Interest Rate Pegging: Environmental alternative to gold, Surplus item during Quantitative Easing, and Low Interest Rates lead to spending and loans for investment which means buying and trading diamonds will balloon
Mine Options: Credit spreads and debit spreads are different spread strategies that can be used when investing in options. Both are vertical spreads or positions that are made up entirely of calls or entirely of puts with long and short options at different strikes. They both require buying and selling options (with the same security) with the same expiration date but different strike prices.
Diamond Mine Investment Group: Mines can create private Investment Groups. Items within Group: diamond retail, diamond trading, industrial diamond manufacturing sectors
Lab-created diamonds are grown in controlled laboratory environments using advanced technology that replicates the conditions under which diamonds naturally develop beneath the Earth's crust. These lab-grown diamonds consist almost entirely of carbon atoms and are arranged in a diamond crystal structure.
DIAMOND ROLEX INVESTMENT TRUST (EXAMPLE)
Description
Watch Listing Through Discounted Cash Flow for Rolex Drop Culture or Re-Sale Market
Underwriting Products
$50,000 in value
Collector's Edition
Less than 20 models made
Masterwork Investing Platform (reference)
Masterworks is making the world of art a little less exclusive by offering everyday investors the chance to own a fraction of these high-priced investments with a much smaller amount of money.
Through the fine art investing platform, users can purchase (and trade) shares in what the company has defined as "blue-chip" art: masterpieces from artists like Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Andy Warhol, Banksy, Kaws, Jean-Michel Basquiat and more.
How Masterworks functions (reference)
Masterworks provides an affordable way to invest in art. What was once an option reserved exclusively for wealthy investors is now accessible to investors of all types. Here's how the platform works:
Masterworks will purchase a painting and file it with the SEC as a public offering, or IPO, similar to how a company goes public. Shares of the painting are then made available for purchase on the Masterworks website for as little as $20 per share. The company says it launches about one new painting every four to five days.
The platform stands out, especially for using propriety data to determine which artist markets have the most momentum, focusing on the very high-end segment of the art market that has predictable returns, the company says. Meanwhile, its research team works in the background to calculate appreciation rates, correlation, and loss rates.
Masterworks even recently added a secondary market, too, where investors can trade shares in paintings. Plus, Masterworks lets you invest your IRA earnings into their fine art through its partnership with Alto IRA, an alternative asset investing platform.
Industrial Embassy
Business Model: Insurance companies base their business models around assuming and diversifying risk. The essential insurance model involves pooling risk from individual payers and redistributing it across a larger portfolio. Most insurance companies generate revenue in two ways: Charging premiums in exchange for insurance coverage, then reinvesting those premiums into other interest-generating assets. Like all private businesses, insurance companies try to market effectively and minimize administrative costs. Types of Insurance: Mining, Manufacturing, Retail, Logistics
Financing is the process of providing funds for business activities, making purchases, or investing. Financial institutions, such as banks, are in the business of providing capital to businesses, consumers, and investors to help them achieve their goals. The use of financing is vital in any economic system, as it allows companies to purchase products out of their immediate reach. Equity financing is the process of raising capital through the sale of shares. Companies raise money because they might have a short-term need to pay bills or have a long-term goal and require funds to invest in their growth. By selling shares, a company is effectively selling ownership in their company in return for cash. Advantages of Equity Financing; Funding your business through investors has several advantages, including the following: The biggest advantage is that you do not have to pay back the money. If your business enters bankruptcy, your investor or investors are not creditors. They are part-owners in your company, and because of that, their money is lost along with your company. You do not have to make monthly payments, so there is often more cash on hand for operating expenses. Investors understand that it takes time to build a business. You will get the money you need without the pressure of having to see your product or business thriving within a short amount of time.
Planning Permission and Building Regulations Courses: Planning permission assesses whether the development fits in with local and national policies and whether it would cause unacceptable harm, for example, to neighbours' quality of life. Whereas building control covers the structural aspects of development and progress throughout the construction
AFRO-MEDITERRANEAN PARAMILITARY FINANCING
Military Payments
Sercurity Operations (SercOps) Payment: $150,000 yearly salary: Receives $100,000 salary; other $50,000 is used for branch-managed investment portfolio and investment trust
Discharge Payment: $75,000 yearly salary for Armoured Car Guard and Driver, Receives $50,000 salary; other $25,000 is used for branch-managed investment portfolio and investment trust
Military Funding: Central Hedge Fund Equity Given
Payment is in Fixed Currency
AFRO-MEDITERRANEAN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS DEVELOPMENT CONFLICT PREVENTION AND RECONSTRUCTION (CPR) UNIT CENTERS
Corporate Sponsor: M & A Schools (Mergers and Acquisitions) & Retirement-preparatory School
Cross-Curriculum
STEM education is the cross-curricular study of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and the application of those subjects in real-world contexts.
Studying Style
I use Interleaving Studying for Generalist Kinaesthetic Learners.
Transition to Interleaving Studying: Online PowerPoint Presentation, Video Essays, Case Studies & Meta-analyses over Books to present Information as a country, Less Paper Use, Courses on Different PowerPoint Studying Styles, Make country a Business & Finance Culture and Technological Advanced, Overview at Beginning; Program Learning Concept Check During Quizzes at the End for Courses, Spaced Learning on concept checks before exiting the course.
A great example of when to use interleaving is sports, for instance, tennis. Instead of just practicing backhands in one session, you can interleave backhands, forehands, and volleys to get increased results. Another great example can be found in science classes, where interleaving math, physics, and chemistry, for example, can provide you with an advanced understanding of all 3 fields.
Spaced learning is a learning method in which highly condensed learning content is repeated three times, with two 10-minute breaks during which distractor activities such as physical activities are performed by the students. It is based on the temporal pattern of stimuli for creating long-term memories reported by R. Douglas Fields in Scientific American in 2005.
Spacing boosts learning by spreading lessons and retrieval opportunities out over time so learning is not crammed all at once. By returning to content every so often, students' knowledge has had time to rest and be refreshed.
The two concepts are similar but essentially spacing is revision throughout the course, whereas interleaving is switching between ideas while you study. Although interleaving and spacing are different interventions, the two are linked because interleaving inherently introduces spacing. These two concepts will create student-athletes
The best part about interleaving is that it is almost a universal aid in learning
Evidence suggests that spaced practice is more effective for long-term retrieval.
Interleaving Studying forces the brain to continually retrieve because each practice attempt is different from the last, so rote responses pulled from short-term memory won’t work.
Multiple choice test is an example of measuring retrieval by A. reconstruction. B. recognition.
Chess
Increasing Intelligence: Fluid and crystallized intelligence are constructs originally conceptualized by Raymond Cattell. The concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence were further developed by Cattell and his former student John L. Horn. Crystallized intelligence. This refers to your vocabulary, knowledge, and skills. Crystallized intelligence typically increases as you get older. Fluid intelligence, also known as fluid reasoning, fluid intelligence is your ability to reason and think abstractly. Fluid intelligence refers to basic processes of reasoning and other mental activities that depend only minimally on prior learning (such as formal and informal education) and acculturation. Horn notes that it is formless, and can "flow into" a wide variety of cognitive activities Tasks measuring fluid reasoning require the ability to solve abstract reasoning problems. Examples of tasks that measure fluid intelligence include figure classifications, figural analyses, number and letter series, matrices, and paired associates. Crystallized intelligence refers to learned procedures and knowledge. It reflects the effects of experience and acculturation. Horn notes that crystallized ability is a "precipitate out of experience," resulting from the prior application of fluid ability that has been combined with the intelligence of culture. Examples of tasks that measure crystallized intelligence are vocabulary, general information, abstract word analogies, and the mechanics of language.
Bullet Chess: The rules for bullet chess aren't different from those of a regular chess game. Bullet chess refers to games played with time controls that are faster than 3 minutes per player. The most popular forms of bullet chess are 1|0 (one minute with no increment per player) or 2|1 (two minutes with a one-second increment per player). Increment (also known as bonus and Fischer since former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer patented this timing method)—a specified amount of time is added to the players main time each move, unless the player's main time ran out before they completed their move.
Chess Benefits: It has been suggested by different scientists that chess involves, and possibly boosts, cognitive abilities such as working memory, fluid intelligence, and concentration capacity. Besides, chess may be beneficial for mathematical ability and, more widely, academic achievement by enhancing concentration and problem-solving skills.
Life-History Strategy
Life history theory posits that behavioral adaptation to various environmental (ecological and/or social) conditions encountered during childhood is regulated by a wide variety of different traits resulting in various behavioral strategies. Unpredictable and harsh conditions tend to produce fast life history strategies, characterized by early maturation, a higher number of sexual partners to whom one is less attached, and less parenting of offspring. Unpredictability and harshness not only affects dispositional social and emotional functioning, but may also promote the development of personality traits linked to higher rates of instability in social relationships or more self-interested behavior. Similarly, detrimental childhood experiences, such as poor parental care or high parent-child conflict, affect personality development and may create a more distrustful, malicious interpersonal style. The aim of this brief review is to survey and summarize findings on the impact of negative early-life experiences on the development of personality and fast life history strategies. By demonstrating that there are parallels in adaptations to adversity in these two domains, we hope to lend weight to current and future attempts to provide a comprehensive insight of personality traits and functions at the ultimate and proximate levels.
The Savant Skills Curriculum
Savant gifts, or splinter skills, may be exhibited in the following skill areas or domains: memory, hyperlexia (ie, the exceptional ability to read, spell and write), art, music, mechanical or spatial skill, calendar calculation, mathematical calculation, sensory sensitivity, athletic performance, and computer ability. These skills may be remarkable in contrast to the disability of autism, or may be in fact prodigious when viewed in relation to the non-disabled person.
Learning Centers
Enrichment centers require you to be aware of your students' learning styles (Kinesthetic) as well as their knowledge about a topic. The enrichment center can provide individual students with varied activities or combination of activities that differ from those pursued by other students. As such, the center becomes an individualized approach to the promotion of the topic.
Skill Centers Skill centers are typically used at the elementary level, more so than at the secondary level. Students may work on math facts, phonics elements, or other tasks requiring memorization and/or repetition.
Interest and Exploratory Centers: Interest and exploratory centers differ from enrichment and skill development centers in that they are designed to capitalize on the interests of students. They may not necessarily match the content of the textbook or the curriculum; instead they provide students with hands-on experiences they can pursue at their own pace and level of curiosity. These types of centers can be set up throughout the classroom, with students engaging in their own selection of activities during free time, upon arrival in the morning, as a “free-choice” activity during the day, or just prior to dismissal. These centers allow students to engage in meaningful discoveries that match their individual interests.
Programmed Learning
The way a teaching machine works is: It asks you a question. If you give the right answer, it goes on to the next question. If you give the wrong answer, it tells you why the answer is wrong and tells you to go back and try again. This is called "programmed learning".
Programmed learning, educational technique characterized by self-paced, self-administered instruction presented in logical sequence and with much repetition of concepts. Programmed learning received its major impetus from the work done in the mid-1950s by the American behavioral psychologist B.F.
Exploratory Learning (Singapore Field Trips)
The Choice Theory Culture:
Is an expected way of being or living
Encourages positive choices which lead to healthy relationships
Is relationship based and collaborative
Is not about controlling behavior, rather promoting personal responsibility
Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset Theory
Growth Mindset: “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. With a growth mindset, students continually work to improve their skills, leading to greater growth and ultimately, success. The key is to get students to tune into that growth mindset.
Dweck writes, “In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you’re not the best—it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues. Maybe they haven’t found the cure for cancer, but the search was deeply meaningful,” (Dweck, 2015).
Poker as Intro to Portfolio Building
Famous Fund Managers who played Poker
Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American hedge fund manager and owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball since September 14, 2020, owning roughly 97.2% of the team. He is the founder of hedge fund Point72 Asset Management and now-closed S.A.C. Capital Advisors, both based in Stamford, Connecticut. Cohen grew up in Great Neck, New York, where his father was a dress manufacturer in Manhattan's garment district, and his mother was a piano teacher. He is the third of seven brothers and sisters. He took a liking to poker as a high school student, often betting his own money in tournaments, and credits the game with teaching him "how to take risks." Cohen graduated from John L. Miller Great Neck North High School in 1974, where he played on the school's soccer team. Cohen received an economics degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1978. While in school, Cohen was initiated as a brother of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity's Theta chapter where he served as treasurer. While in school, a friend helped him open a brokerage account with $1,000 of his tuition money.
Carl Icahn is one of the most recognisable and successful investors in the world, having far outperformed the market on an annualised basis since 1968; at a rate which, by some measures, has him ahead of Warren Buffett. Carl Icahn was born on the 16th February 1936 in Queens, New York. It was a beach neighbourhood and a poor area. His mother was a pianist, but dropped her dreams of pursuing it as a career and instead chose a more stable job as a school teacher. His father also became a substitute teacher. As you may expect with both parents involved in education, Carl was extremely studious. At high school, he didn’t involve himself in many activities such as sports and clubs, instead he had set himself the big goal of making it to an Ivy League university; something most people in his area had no chance of doing. His teacher didn’t even think it was worth him applying, but this made him even more determined to be different. He had a mind-set that he wanted to be the best at everything. Icahn’s parents said they would only pay for university if he got into one of the top Ivy League universities. Although no one thought he stood a chance, he managed to enrol at Princeton University and studied philosophy as his major. His parents fulfilled their promise and paid for his Princeton fees but couldn’t stretch to anything else such as his accommodation or food. Instead, Carl got himself a summer job at a Cabana club in his neighbourhood to fund his living costs. It was at the Cabana club that he learnt how to play poker and joined in the games regularly. He says at the start he didn’t know how to play, but then he read 3 poker books in 2 weeks and became the best player there, taking home huge winning each summer. He says: “To me, it was a big game, big stakes. Every summer I won about $2,000, which was like $50,000 back in the ‘50s”
Brain Training: How Regular Poker Play Could Help Soccer Stars Succeed: An athlete’s brain is their most vital organ. It controls how the body functions, and it needs to be cultivated and disciplined just like the muscles do. Those in the industry are constantly searching for new ways to help soccer players get their heads in the game, and it turns out that poker can help immensely. By sharpening cognitive function, increasing social awareness, and improving mental endurance, poker enables athletes to rise to the occasion for peak performance on the field.
Conflict Prevention & Reconstruction Unit Psychology
Reintegration of child soldiers should emphasize three components: family reunification, psychosocial support and education, and economic opportunity. Family reunification—or, where that is not possible, foster placement or support for independent living—is crucial to successful reintegration.
Children are reintegrated into community life through the provision of psychosocial support, life skills classes and basic vocational training. At the end of the program, participants are provided with small grants to start businesses.
Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is a theory that explains this kind of transformation following trauma. It was developed by psychologists Richard Tedeschi, PhD, and Lawrence Calhoun, PhD, in the mid-1990s, and holds that people who endure psychological struggle following adversity can often see positive growth afterward. Post-traumatic growth often happens naturally, Tedeschi says, but it can be facilitated in five ways: through education (rethinking ourselves, our world, and our future), emotional regulation (managing our negative emotions and reflecting on successes and possibilities), disclosure (articulating what is happening and its effects), narrative development (shaping the story of a trauma and deriving hope from famous stories of crucible leadership), and service (finding work that benefits others).
People who have experienced posttraumatic growth report changes in the following 5 factors: Appreciation of life; Relating to others; Personal strength; New possibilities; and Spiritual, existential or philosophical changes
Although posttraumatic growth often happens naturally, without psychotherapy or other formal intervention, it can be facilitated in five ways: through education, emotional regulation, disclosure, narrative development, and service.
Forgeard found that the form of cognitive processing was critical in explaining growth after trauma. Intrusive forms of rumination caused a decline in multiple areas of growth, whereas deliberate rumination led to an increase in five domains of posttraumatic growth. Deliberate rumination involves perceiving multilateral sides of the stressful experience including value, meaning, and significance (Calhoun et al., 2000; Cann et al., 2011), and may also decrease the discrepancy between global and situational meanings, as it promote finding meaning. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) & Compassion-focused therapy (CFT) is a recommended psychotherapy
The two psychological traits which indicate a higher likelihood of experiencing post-traumatic growth are openness to experience and extraversion. Novelty seeking is positively associated with the Big Five personality trait of "extraversion," and to a lesser extent “openness to experience,” but is inversely associated with "conscientiousness." Online poker players are high sensation seekers who gamble to experience strong feelings and arousal, whereas impulsivity plays an important role in developing and maintaining pathological gambling.
CORPORATE SPONSOR: BETA-ARBITRAGE M & A EXAM
Poker Contest: Bankroll Budget*
Math Contest: Linear Algebra Contest, Probability and Ratios
Investment Management Contest: Decentralized Portfolio Building Simulation
Latin and Mandarin Technical Analysis Settings Fair: Year-Long Competition
Blues Ocean Strategy Game Theory Network Mergers & Acquisitions Contest: Macau Game Theory - The course includes modules in areas such as: Essentials of M&A, Due diligence training, Business valuation training, post-merger integration planning
Machine Learning Contest: Quantitative Aptitude
Winners Get a Full Ride to Internships (Licenes Courses I'm Gonna Make with Established Schools and Banks) Freshman Class is made of the contest winners: Mergers & Acquisitions Generalization with Corporate Sponsor; Understanding Capital Markets, Game Theory, Investment Model & Analysis, Quantitative Aptitude, Hedging Techniques, Foreign Language, Business Engineering, Business Models & Reengineering, Offshore Law, Blue Ocean Strategy, Investment Management with Python (Machine Learning)
Ages: 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS DEVELOPMENT CENTRES
Socioeconomic status is the social standing or class of an individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of education, income, and occupation.
EdTech
Business Model: Grants, corporate sponsorships, and recruiting business FutureLearn is another MOOC heavyweight with 210+ partners that include universities, humanitarian foundations, and large businesses. Some startups even rely on corporate sponsorship as their main business model
Generalist Education
VAMMMBRGC: Volleyball, Acting, Modelling, Music, Martial Arts, Ballet (Female), Rings Gymnastics (Male), Graffiti (Art), Cooking (Gastronomy)
STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
M&A: Merger, Acquasitions
Welfare Investment Program
Fund through Rental Properties: Bond Funds, REITs
Credit Building Program: Line of Credit Deposit Program
Job Placement for Agriculture Working Class
Agricultural Industry means an industrial activity involving the processing, cleaning, packing or storage of the results from agricultural production. The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also "Designation of workers by collar colour") include blue-collar jobs, and most pink-collar jobs. Members of the working class rely exclusively upon earnings from wage labour; thus, according to more inclusive definitions, the category can include almost all of the working population of industrialized economies, as well as those employed in the urban areas (cities, towns, villages) of non-industrialized economies or in the rural workforce.
As with many terms describing social class, working class is defined and used in many different ways. The most general definition, used by many socialists, is that the working class includes all those who have nothing to sell but their labour. These people used to be referred to as the proletariat. In that sense, the working class today includes both white and blue-collar workers, manual and menial workers of all types, excluding only individuals who derive their livelihood from business ownership and the labour of others. The term, which is primarily used to evoke images of laborers suffering "class disadvantage in spite of their individual effort," can also have racial connotations. These racial connotations imply diverse themes of poverty that imply whether one is deserving of aid.
COMMODITIES REAL ESTATE
Insurance Premium, Financial Electronic Data Interchange, Royalties, Lease, & Gross Sale Payments for Restaurant Clientele Grocery Stores and Delivery Food Courts:
A lease payment is the equivalent of the monthly rent, which is formally dictated under a contract between two parties, granting one participant the legal right to use the other individual's real estate holdings, manufacturing equipment, computers, software, or other fixed assets, for a specified amount of time.
Gross sales refer to the grand total of all sales transactions over a given time period. This doesn't include the cost-of-sales or deductions (like returns or allowance). To calculate a company's gross sales, add up the total sales revenue for a specified period of time—monthly, quarterly, or annually.
A franchise (or franchising) is a method of distributing products or services involving a franchisor, who establishes the brand's trademark or trade name and a business system, and a franchisee, who pays a royalty and often an initial fee for the right to do business under the franchisor's name and system. Royalties is the amount someone pays you to use your property, after you subtract the expenses you have for the property.
CONFLUENCE FOREX & COMMODITIES BETA-ARBITRAGE FORMULA
Trading Psychology: Play Defense, Focus on preserving capital instead of gaining capital
Position Trading: Currency being used, Shorting Low-Interest Currency against High-Value Currency Or Currency Being used, Shorting Low Interest/High-Value Currency against High-Interest Currency. Examples: Carry-Roll Down Bonds, CFD Forex Gold
Swing Trading: Use mt4/mt5 With Heiken Ashi Charts, Setting at 14 or 21 Momentum Indicator above 0 as Divergence Oscillator and VSA as Reversal Oscillator and Trade when bullish candlesticks above 200 exponential moving average and/or 20 exponential moving average (EMA) on H1 (Hourly) Time Frame; use H4 (4 Hours) and D1 (1 Day) as reference. Works for Oil & Gold Commodities
Master Supply and Demand (S&D) Zones (banks use this)
Candlestick Patterns for Momentum: Bearish Engulfing, Hanging Man, Shooting Star Three Crows, Evening Star, (Short). Bullish Engulfing, The Bearish Inverted Hammer or Regular Hammer (Regardless of Colour), Morning Star, and Piercing Line (Long) are extremely Important
Candlestick Patterns for VSA When Volume Spikes Down and Price is Up Bearish: Shooting Star, Doji, Hanging Man, Doji-Star
Candlestick Patterns for VSA When Volume Spikes Up and Price is Down Bullish: Hammer, Inverted Hammer, Doji, Doji-Star
S&D Reversal Patterns: The Drop-Base-Rally is a bullish reversal pattern, The Rally-Base-Drop is a bearish reversal pattern
S&D Continuation patterns: The Rally-Base-Rally is a bullish continuation pattern, The Drop-Base-Rally is a bearish continuation pattern
Swing Trading Time Frame H1 (Hourly) Reference D1 and H4 to locate supply and demand zones Pivot Points and VSA
Heiken Ashi Candlesticks Much easier to read candlestick charts and analyze market trends
Using Pivot Points for Prediction A pivot point is a technical analysis indicator, or calculations, used to determine the overall trend of the market over different time frames Works for commodities
Exponential Moving Average (EMA) 200 Day 20 Day
Momentum Indicator Settings 14 or 21
Volume Spread Analysis (VSA Trading) Entry 4 Steps: Identify the trend, Identify the sign of weakness in an existing uptrend, Wait to test the weakness for confirmation for the continuation of the uptrend, Look for any bullish reversal candlestick pattern for entry.
Relative Strength Index (RSI) Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a momentum indicator. It is a single line ranging from 0 to 100 which indicates when the stock is overbought or oversold in the market. If the reading is above 70, it indicates an overbought market and if the reading is below 30, it is an oversold market. RSI is also used to estimate the trend of the market, if RSI is above 50, the market is an uptrend and if the RSI is below 50, the market is a downtrend.
Commodity Channel Index Commodity Channel Index identifies new trends in the market. It has values of 0, +100, and -100. If the value is positive, it indicates uptrend, if the CCI is negative, it indicates that the market is in the downtrend. CCI is coupled with RSI to obtain information about overbought and oversold stocks.
What is Cash-and-Carry-Arbitrage? Cash-and-carry-arbitrage is a market-neutral strategy combining the purchase of a long position in an asset such as a stock or commodity, and the sale (short) of a position in a futures contract on that same underlying asset. A cash-secured put is an income options strategy that involves writing a put option on a stock or ETF and simultaneously putting aside the capital to buy the stock if you are assigned.
What are Gold CFD? A contract for difference (CFD) is a popular type of derivative that allows you to trade on margin, providing you with greater exposure to the gold market. Instead of purchasing gold itself, you buy or sell units for a given financial instrument depending on whether you think the underlying price will rise or fall.
What is Quanto Option? The Quanto option is a cash-settled, cross-currency derivative in which the underlying asset has a payoff in one country, but the payoff is converted to another currency in which the option is settled.
Hedging Strategies: Forex and Commodities CFD, Crude Oil Cash-secured Put Options (Binary Options)
TURF ACCOUNTANT
Beta-Arbitrage (PROFITS FOR BOOKMAKER)
+EV (Investment)
Live Betting (Balance Sheets)
BRANCH BRACKET DISCOUNTED CASH FLOW PORTFOLIO BET SLIP
+EV Round Robin instead of WACC Portfolio
$5 Units
GAME THEORY OPTIMAL POKER WITH LOOSE AGGRESSIVE & GROWTH INVESTING
Growth Investing Strategy & Game Theory
Japanese Candlestick Charts: Bullish Engulfing
Discounted Cash Flow Model: EV (Expected Value replaces WACC)
Mixed Strategy
Fold Equity
Community Cards
Companies Charts and Historical Financials
Royal Flush
Straight Flush
4 of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Hands
FCF of Companies
Strategy
Every chart starts with a green candlestick
Depending on your hand the second candlestick is either green or red
Green for the top 5 hands: Listed above
Red for the bottom 5 hands
If it's green invest by betting
If it's red fold
The third candlestick depends on the Flop
The fourth candlestick depends on The Turn
As more money gets betted the Green candlestick gets larger
After The Flop risk-assessment and probability needs to be accounted for
After The Flop, The Turn, and The River it is possible for a red candlestick to appear because of a fold or a better hand because you lost money. Judge how much money you lost by the size of the candlesticks growth
Tony Dunst Tips
Learn to think in Big Blinds, Opponents are Effective Big Blinds
Identify Player Types then Adjust
Study Big Blind Defense Frequency (Hand Ranges)
Work on Bubble and Final Table Play (Independent Chip Model)
Build 3 Betting Ranges
AFRO-MEDITERRANEAN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS VOLLEYBALL SPORTS PERFORMANCE FOR KINAESTHETIC LEARNERS
Volleyball Physiological Age System for Both Genders: Plyometric High-Intensity Interval Training Through Cross Training, Wingspan Through Cross Training, Unstable Surface Muscle Recruitment Contrast Training, Isometric-Plyometric-Sprint-or-Vertical Jump Contrast Conditioning, Intermittent Hypoxic Training (IHT) Weighted Jump Rope Respiratory Conditioning, Functional Threshold Power (FTP) Cycling, Fascia and Central Pattern Generator Skill Development, Stretch-Reflex Elastic Strength Training, Running-Based Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST), Stimulus-Fatigue-Recovery-Adaptation for Supercompensation, Autophagy Recovery, High Fat and High Carb with Lipolysis Supplement Nutrition: 3 Fuels of Energy in Oxygen, Fat, and Glucose, Convert Hybrid Muscle Fibers
Stretch Goal of Having a Physiological Age of 25
Volleyball is an aerobic sport with additional anaerobic demands. This will require volleyball players to work both energy systems, making cardiorespiratory conditioning very important. The aerobic, or lower intensity training, will help build a strong cardio base that is needed for a long match. A study done on college athletes showed that gymnasts and volleyball players had significantly higher bone mineral density than swimmers, which is considered a low-impact sport.
Collagen Athletes: Researchers found that a year of daily collagen peptides supplementation measurably increased bone mineral density in the lumbar spine and in the upper femur. The women also had higher levels of a blood biomarker that indicates bone formation. Collagen provides resistance to tension and stretch, which commonly occur in fascial tissues, such as ligaments, tendons, sheaths, muscular fascia and deeper fascial sub-layers. Julio Jones and Cam Newton do Fascia Beach Workouts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unm5dvlcqL4
Offensive Systems 5-1 System Rotation 1: Setter Starts in Right Back, Rotation Offense to Middle Front, Run One Man or Two Man Routes, Call out Formations
Defensive Systems Middle Back Systems: The Set is important to determine if there’s enough time for one man, two man, or three man block. Shots to Plan for: Dink, Off-speed, and Angle. Setting Blocks: Mix Sequencing of Jump Two Man and Three Man Back
Anta Sports Fashion Collab Circuits (Graffiti Beachwear Fashion Week and Trade Show): Key City Tournaments
Planned Pregnancy: Mercury-Venus Cusp, MSTN Gene, ACTN3 Gene, and XYY Syndrome or Triple X Syndrome
CARTEL THEORY
HSBC Bank Holding Company Equity Financing
What Is a Bank Holding Company? A bank holding company is a corporation that owns a controlling interest in one or more banks but does not itself offer banking services. Holding companies do not run the day-to-day operations of the banks they own. However, they exercise control over management and company policies. They can hire and fire managers, set and evaluate strategies, and monitor the performance of subsidiaries’ businesses.
What Is Equity Financing? Equity financing is the process of raising capital through the sale of shares. Companies raise money because they might have a short-term need to pay bills or have a long-term goal and require funds to invest in their growth. By selling shares, a company is effectively selling ownership in their company in return for cash. Equity financing comes from many sources: for example, an entrepreneur's friends and family, investors, or an initial public offering (IPO). An IPO is a process that private companies undergo to offer shares of their business to the public in a new stock issuance. Public share issuance allows a company to raise capital from public investors.
Palmiers Noirs Rivals
United Kingdom
Jews
Luxembourg (EU Blacklist Creator)
Latin Kings
Sinaloa Cartel
Sonora Cartel
Colombian Cartels
Neymar
Banker Title
Croupier Comptable: An investment banker who has experienced decadence through Casino Capitalism
Palmiers Noirs Structure
Clandestine Cell System
A clandestine cell system is a method for organizing a group of people (such as resistance fighters, sleeper agents, mobsters, or terrorists) such that such people can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization (such as law enforcement or military units).
In a cell structure, each of the small group of people in the cell know the identities of the people only in their own cell. Thus any cell member who is apprehended and interrogated (or who is a mole) will not likely know the identities of the higher-ranking individuals in the organization.
The structure of a clandestine cell system can range from a strict hierarchy to an extremely distributed organization, depending on the group's ideology, its operational area, the communications technologies available, and the nature of the mission.
Criminal organizations, undercover operations, and unconventional warfare units led by special forces may also use this sort of organizational structure.
Infrastructure cells
Any clandestine or covert service, especially a non-national one, needs a variety of technical and administrative functions, such as: Recruitment/training, Forged documents/counterfeit currency, Finance/Fundraising, Communications, Transportation/Logistics, Safehouses, Reconnaissance/Counter-surveillance, Operational planning, Arms and ammunition, and Psychological operations
A national intelligence service has a support organization to deal with services like finance, logistics, facilities (e.g., safehouses), information technology, communications, training, weapons and explosives, medical services, etc. Transportation alone is a huge function, including the need to buy tickets without drawing suspicion, and, where appropriate, using private vehicles. Finance includes the need to transfer money without coming to the attention of financial security organizations.
Cartel Definition
Cartel is an ambiguous concept, which usually refers to a combination or agreement between rivals, but – derived from this – also designates organized crime. The main use of ‘cartel’ is that of an anticompetitive association in the economy.
Price cartels engage in price fixing, normally to raise prices for a commodity above the competitive price level.
Cartel Theory
Cartel theory is usually understood as the doctrine of economic cartels. However, since the concept of 'cartel' does not have to be limited to the field of the economy, doctrines on non-economic cartels are conceivable in principle. Such exist already in the form of the state cartel theory and the cartel party theory. For the pre-modern cartels, which existed as rules for tournaments, duels and court games or in the form of inter-state fairness agreements, there was no scientific theory. Such has developed since the 1880s for the scope of the economy, driven by the need to understand and classify the mass emergence of entrepreneurial cartels. Within the economic cartel theory, one can distinguish a classical and a modern phase. The break between the two was set through the enforcement of a general cartel ban after the Second World War by the US government.
Constituent characteristics and exclusion criteria for cartels
Constituent criteria for cartels would be the following: The members are, at the same time, partners as well as competitors (so do e.g. enterprises, states, parties, duelists, tournament knights). These members can be individual persons or organizations. The members of a cartel are independent of each other, negotiating their interests with each other and against each other. So there have to be at least two participants and they determine their interests autonomously. The members of a cartel know each other; they have a direct relationship, in particular they communicate with each other.
Exclusion criteria for cartels would be the following: There is a "hierarchical" or other strong "dependency relationship among the participants": a drug mafia that is organized hierarchically and managed by a single boss can't be a drug cartel in the sense of a real "cartel". KLikewise, a business corporation can't be a "cartel" due to its central management, which controls its subsidiaries. Furthermore, an OPEC, in which all adherents would be dependent on the largest member (since long: Saudi Arabia) would no longer be a "cartel". Similarly, colonial empires from a motherland and colonies do not constitute a "state cartel". The union of competitors, in their entirety or via important members of its association, is dependent on an outside power. A strict, state-mandated compulsory cartel without freedom of choice between the partners would not be a (real) cartel. A suitable example is the "Deutsche Wagenbau-Vereinigung" (German Railway Cars Association), which was organized in the 1920s by the "Deutsche Reichsbahn" (German Imperial Railways) – its "market opponent". The combination takes place between actors of different levels. Thus, the concerted actions of employers’ associations and trade unions in some industrialized countries was not a cartel, because the allies there were no homogenous competitors. The alleged members of a suspected cartel do not know each other, but only randomly show a parallel behavior: “Cartels of the godless”, “cartels of maintenance deniers” or “silent cartels” are therefore usually no real cartels, but pure verbal abuse formulas.
MACAU ECONOMICS
Science
Science of Aesthetics
Nutritional Biochemistry
Vertical-Rotational Force Kinetic Chain
Biomechanics
Sports Medicine
Technology
Biotechnology
FinTeach
RealTeach
Merger & Acquisition EdTech
Engineering
Business Engineering (Tribes Organism and Keynesian Macroeconomics)
Construction Management
Business Model Reengineering
Mathematics (Decentralized Central Banking)
Investment Management
Monetary Policy & Central Banking
Wolf Packs are Generalist
David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. Generalists often find their path late, and they juggle many interests rather than focusing on one. They’re also more creative, more agile, and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.
Wolves are habitat “generalists,” meaning they can adapt to living in many kinds of habitat. They basically need two things to thrive: abundant prey and human tolerance.
Trophic Cascade, an ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators and involving reciprocal changes in the relative populations of predator and prey through a food chain, which often results in dramatic changes in ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling. (Trillwave in Macau)
A keystone species is an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem. Without its keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. Keystone species have low functional redundancy. (Trillwave in Macau)
Unpredictable and harsh conditions tend to produce fast life history strategies, characterized by early maturation, a higher number of sexual partners to whom one is less attached, and less parenting of offspring.
BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY BY RENÉE MAUBORGNE AND W. CHAN KIM (COURTESY OF BLINKIST)
What’s in it for me? Conquer uncontested market space.
Every business asks themselves the same question: how can we beat out the competition? And almost every business comes up with the same answer: we need to become bigger, better, and faster to outperform our rivals.
But what if your business didn’t have to beat the competition because there wasn’t any? What if you could enjoy unlimited growth without worrying about limited demand? This isn’t some idle fantasy but a strategic approach that a handful of successful businesses have already made reality. How did they do it? And how can your business do the same? This short Blink will give you a taste.
Escape your competition by setting sail to a blue ocean.
When you establish a new business, competition can be brutal. Whether you’re selling wine, audio books, or life insurance, the market for a product can only get so big. So you’re left to fight with hundreds of other companies for your share of a limited demand. No surprise that America’s most popular business TV show is called Shark Tank! Markets today are like oceans, swarming with hungry companies ready to kill each other. There’s so much blood in the water, we can call these markets red oceans.
But every once in a while, a company emerges that seems to sail past all the competition. These are businesses that rise fast, grow uncontested, and seem to play by their own rules. What are they doing differently?
Well, instead of fighting over scraps in red oceans, these businesses navigate uncharted territory: blue oceans. You can think of blue oceans as all the markets we haven’t yet discovered, for products and services that don’t yet exist. Demand isn’t limited because demand isn’t there – it has to be created. But this isn’t a handicap, it’s an opportunity. Because if the size of your market isn’t limited, neither are your growth and profits.
In blue oceans, the water isn’t bloodied by cut-throat competition. It’s deep, clear, and full of undiscovered potential. The blue ocean strategy gives you the methodology and tools to conquer such uncontested markets. The basic tenet is this: It’s true that the space in a certain industry might be limited. But who’s to say that a business can’t create an entirely new industry?
Let’s look at an example of this in action: famous Canadian circus company Cirque du Soleil. With its extraordinary variety shows, Cirque du Soleil has entertained millions of people worldwide. On top of that, it’s made record profits. Not something you would expect from a circus company! How did the company do it?
Well, Cirque du Soleil did two interesting things. First, it got rid of the old circus staple of animal acts. Then, it supplemented its human acts with live music and compelling storylines. The first move reduced costs while the second introduced exciting new elements into the world of circus. In effect, Cirque du Soleil created a blue ocean: it carved out an entirely new market for artistic theater experiences. And people love it.
Lower your costs and differentiate yourself.
Perhaps you find the example of a circus company a bit too eclectic? No problem. There are thousands of other businesses that have successfully implemented a blue ocean strategy. Companies like Ford, Nintendo, Netflix, Nespresso, Yellow Tail, Southwest Airlines, and even The Body Shop. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at how they succeeded.
But first, a few more words about red oceans. In red oceans – industries that are already established – everyone plays by agreed rules. Not so long ago, these rules might have looked something like this: “Movies can be bought or rented.” “Wine needs to have an air of sophistication.” “Air travel is expensive.” But in blue oceans, none of these rules apply. Blue oceans are actively shaped by the actions of the industry players who create them.
Let’s be clear – you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to establish a blue ocean. Often, a few little tweaks are enough to set a product apart from its competitors and create a new market. It’s really quite simple: Take a close look at your industry as it is right now. Then think about which factors you can Raise, Eliminate, Reduce, and Create. Let’s go through these points step-by-step with examples.
Raise. Think about how you can elevate the product quality, price point, or service standards of your industry. Southwest Airlines did this when it became the first US airline to make domestic flights quick, easy, and affordable for everyone.
Eliminate. Consider which aspects of your product or service can be cut completely. Remember how Cirque du Soleil got rid of costly and unethical animal acts? Every industry has some outdated practice they’d be better off abandoning.
Reduce. Look at which production processes, product features or service offers you can reduce. Australian wine brand Yellow Tail, for instance, decided to reduce its focus on prestigious vineyards and the aging process in favor of affordable wines with broad appeal.
Create. Brainstorm what new features you can offer your customers. Netflix is a premium example of this that barely needs an explanation: it was the first company to offer on-demand streaming for movies and TV shows.
Ideally, considering these questions will help you do two things: lower your costs and differentiate your business from the competition. And that’s really all you need to create a blue ocean. Even more so, if your company keeps addressing these four factors – that’s raise, eliminate, reduce, and create –, it will stay one step ahead of the competition at all times.
Final summary
In this short Blink, you’ve learned about the difference between red and blue oceans. Rather than competing for limited market space, successful businesses often capture new markets with unlimited potential. They’re discovered by raising, eliminating, reducing, and creating industry factors in a way that lowers costs and sets your business apart from the competition.
RANGE BY DAVID EPSTEIN (COURTESY OF BLINKIST)
What’s in it for me? Learn why taking a wide-ranging approach to life will pay off.
In our complex and cutthroat world, there’s a lot of pressure to get a head start and specialize early. Many successful people, such as Tiger Woods, start to focus on one path early in life. But delve a little deeper, and it becomes clear that it’s generalists, not specialists, who are primed to excel.
Generalists may take a little longer to find their path in life, but they are more creative, can make connections between diverse fields that specialists cannot. This makes them more innovative and, ultimately, more impactful.
Drawing on examples from medicine to academia to sport, these blinks explore how breadth and range are far more powerful than specialized expertise. They also show that experts often judge their own fields more narrowly than open-minded, intellectually curious amateurs do.
In these blinks, you’ll learn; what comic books have to tell us about the ingredients of success, how the complexity of modern life has changed the way we think, and why you should be a Roger; not a Tiger.
Starting early and specializing is fashionable, but has dubious merit.
At the age of ten months old, Tiger Woods picked up his first miniature golf club. At two, he showed off his golf drive on national television. Later that same year, he entered and won his first tournament in the under ten category. Tiger Woods embodies a now popular idea that the key to success in life is to specialize, get a head start and practice intensively.
This trend toward specialization doesn’t only show up in the sports world. In fact, it’s also true of academia, our complex financial system and medicine. Oncologists, for example, now rarely focus on cancer alone. Rather, they specialize in cancer of a particular organ. The writer and surgeon Atul Gawande notes that when doctors joke about right-ear surgeons, we shouldn’t be so quick to assume they don’t actually exist.
But is specializing really the way to go? Simply put, no. In many walks of life, building up experience in just one field doesn’t help performance. In a 2009 paper, psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Gary Klein explored the connection between experience and performance.
Klein shows that experience counts in certain fields. For firefighters, for example, years of focused experience trains them to recognize patterns in the behavior of flames, which enables them to make 80 percent of their on-the-job decisions instinctively in seconds.
But Kahneman found that in other areas, experience counted for nothing. Studying the assessment of officer candidates in the Israeli Defence Forces, he found that recruiters’ predictions of a recruit’s future performance, based on physical and mental abilities, were no more reliable than guesswork. Crucially, as the recruiters received more and more feedback after multiple recruitment rounds, they didn’t get any better at making predictions. Kahneman concluded that there was a complete disconnect between experience and performance.
Some fields of life resemble golf or firefighting. While not necessarily easy, they offer recurring patterns or simple rules that govern decision-making. But there are many more fields of life, like army recruitment, that are much more nebulous and require the creativity and flexibility that generalization offers.
Experimentation is as reliable a route to expertise as early specialization.
In 2006, a now 31-year-old Tiger Woods watched Roger Federer win the US Open final for the third year in a row. Both were at the peak of their powers. As they sipped champagne together in the locker room afterward, Federer felt he had never connected with someone who understood his feeling of invincibility so well. They became firm friends. But, as Roger later told a biographer, his story was very different from Tiger’s.
Roger’s mom was a tennis coach, but if she ever felt tempted to coach him, she resisted it. As a young boy, he dabbled in squash, skiing, wrestling, skateboarding, basketball, tennis and badminton. Later, he gave credit to this range of sports experience for helping his hand-eye coordination and athleticism.
Over time, he found that he liked sports with balls. He moved toward tennis as a teenager, but not intensively. In fact, when his instructors recognized his talent and tried to move him to a group of older players, he asked to stay in the group with his friends. Roger Federer’s winding path to tennis success points to the fact that sampling, rather than specialization, can often be the best route to eventual success.
And plenty of evidence across multiple disciplines supports this. This is true even in an area like music, where plenty of outstanding musicians do specialize young. World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, for instance, started playing music at a very young age. But what many people don’t know is that Ma first tried violin and piano, and only moved to the cello because he didn’t like the first two.
Yo-Yo Ma isn’t alone in this. In a study of students at a British boarding school, music psychologist John Sloboda found that every one of the students who attended structured music lessons early in their development was categorized by the school as “average,” while not one was “exceptional.” In contrast, those children identified as exceptional were those who had tried out three instruments.
So, if you haven’t yet found your calling, experiment. You could take Vincent van Gogh as inspiration. He tried everything from working in bookstores to teaching and art dealing to preaching before finding his calling as an artist who changed painting forever.
Let’s find out how this works.
Living in a complex world has increased the average person’s IQ and ability to think abstractly.
In 1981, James Flynn, a professor of political studies from the beautiful hilly town of Dunedin in New Zealand, changed the way we think about thinking.
Flynn stumbled upon reports of IQ test scores of American troops that showed dramatic improvement between the two World Wars. The same score that placed a World War I soldier in the 50th percentile would only land him in the 22nd percentile of World War II troops. Intrigued, Flynn asked researchers in other countries for data. He received IQ test results from the Netherlands that showed similarly huge leaps from generation to generation. He then compiled data from 14 other nations.
In what’s now known as the Flynn effect, this research reveals an average three-point increase in IQ every decade in over 30 countries. But what causes this rapid rise? The work of a Russian psychologist, Alexander Luria, gives us an idea.
In 1931, the Soviet Union was changing rapidly. Remote, essentially premodern villages operating in ways unchanged for centuries were converted to collective farms with industrialized development, planned production and division of labor.
Luria capitalized on this rate of change to conduct unique studies. In one experiment, he asked villagers to sort wools into groups. In more modern villages, people would happily group similar pieces of wool, like those in different shades of blue. But in the remote, still premodern villages, participants simply refused to do so. According to them, each piece of wool was different – it was an impossible task!
Other questions involving conceptual thinking got a similar response. One villager, named Rakmat, was shown a picture of three adults and one child and asked which person did not belong. But Rakmat didn’t think about the question abstractly, as we would, and identify the child as different. Instead, he insisted that the boy must stay with the adults and help them with their work.
Luria’s findings were clear. The more exposure to modernization, the greater the ability to make conceptual connections between objects or abstract notions. Today, our minds are constantly dealing with abstract concepts. We glance at a download progress bar on our computer, for example, and instantly understand its meaning. Our minds are better at understanding a breadth of topics and making connections between ideas than ever before.
And yet, we continue to narrow our conceptual focus.
If you want it to stick, learning should be slow and hard, not quick and easy.
The teachers you liked the most in your educational career might be the ones who taught you the least. A study of teaching at the US Air Force Academy tracked the progress of thousands of students working with hundreds of different professors, starting with Calculus I classes. It found that the professors whose students’ got better grades on the exam were also highly rated in student evaluations. The professors whose students did not receive good grades received harsher student feedback.
But when the economists conducting the study looked at long-term results, there was a twist. The professors who received positive feedback had a net negative effect on their students in the long run. In contrast, those professors who received worse feedback actually inspired better student performance later on.
Rather than teaching to the test, these professors appeared to be facilitating a deeper understanding of underlying math concepts. It made their classes frustrating and difficult, hence the poor grades and student evaluations. But it paid off in the long run. Those professors were using desirable difficulties – harder, but ultimately more rewarding, ways to learn.
There are certain techniques we can all use that embrace desirable difficulties. One such technique is spacing, which means leaving time between learning something and practicing it. Consider a 1987 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. This study separated Spanish students into two groups, testing one group on vocabulary that they had learned the same day, and the other group weeks later. Eight years later, and with no further study in the interim, the two groups were tested again. The results showed that the latter group could remember over 200 percent more words.
Even short-term spacing is effective. In a 1972 study, researchers at Iowa State University read people a series of words. The first group of participants was asked to recite the words straight away. Another group was asked to recite them after being distracted for fifteen seconds by some simple math problems.
The first group did considerably better than the group that was distracted. But later the same day, the participants were asked to write down each word they could recall. This time, the group that previously performed worse did the best. The process of working hard to recall the information in the first instance had helped them move it from short-term to long-term memory.
So, don’t get too excited by quick progress when you learn. Embrace hard, slow learning. It will pay off in the long run.
A narrow focus is unhelpful, and a remedy for this is to think outside the box.
In some environments, dealing with specialists is desirable. If you need an operation, you probably want a doctor who specializes in the procedure and has done it many times before. However, as we benefit from more reflection and thinking, this narrow focus can be unhelpful.
For example, cardiologists use stents – metal tubes that hold blood vessels open – to treat chest pain so often that they often do so reflexively, even in situations that may be dangerous or inappropriate. This explains a 2015 study by Dr. Anupam Jena of Harvard Medical School. The study found that patients with cardiac arrest or heart failure were actually less likely to die if they were admitted to hospital while top cardiologists were away.
Other fields also point to the benefits of looking at problems with an outside view, rather than the inside view dictated by your own particular specialty.
In a study by University of Sydney professor Dan Lovallo, private equity investors were asked to provide a detailed assessment of businesses they were considering investing in, including their estimated return on investment. The investors were then asked to write notes about some other projects with broad similarities, like another tech start-up or an infrastructure project.
It turned out that the investors’ estimates of returns for the businesses they were actually planning to invest in were around 50 percent higher than for those alternative projects they had identified but not looked at in detail. The investors were shocked to discover the differences, and quickly slashed their estimated profit for their original potential investments.
As further psychological research has repeatedly shown, the more details we consider about something, the more extreme our judgments become. In one example, students rated a university higher when told that only certain science departments, rather than all science departments, were ranked in the national top ten.
Clearly, failing to see things from a broad perspective can lead to some bad calls.
A breadth of experience and interest drives innovation.
Comic books can tell us a surprising amount about range and success. When Dartmouth business professor Alva Taylor and Henrik Greve from the Norwegian School of Management decided to examine the impact of individual breadth on creative impact, they chose to study comics.
Tracking the careers of comic creators and the commercial success of thousands of comic books from 1971 onward, they made some predictions about what would boost the average value of a comic. They predicted that the more comics a creator made, the better the comics would be. Further, they thought that the more resources a publisher had, the higher quality and more successful its product would be.
All these assumptions were wrong. Neither experience nor financial resources bred success. What did drive success was the breadth of a comic creator’s experience across comic genres. Of 22 genres, the more a creator had worked in, from comedy to crime, fantasy to non-fiction, the more successful they were. But this link between breadth and success isn’t just the case in creative or artistic worlds.
Andy Ouderkirk, an inventor at the multinational company 3M, was named Innovator of the Year in 2013 and has been named on 170 patents, a proxy for creative success. He became fascinated with what generates successful and inventive teams, so he started to do some research. He found that the inventors who were most likely to succeed within 3M and win the company’s Carlton Award, which recognized innovation, were not specialists. They were polymaths, people with one area of depth, but a great deal of expertise in other areas as well.
These polymaths tended to have many patents in their area of focus, but also repeatedly took expertise gathered in one area and applied it to another. A study of prestigious scientists led by Robert Root Bernstein, a Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University, confirm Ouderkirk’s findings. Comparing Nobel prize-winning scientists to other scientists, the figures show that Nobel laureates are a full 22 times more likely to be an amateur actor, magician, dancer or performer.
So, for any hiring managers out there looking for fresh talent, here’s a plea. Don’t just look for people who fit into your clearly-defined slots. Make some space for those who don’t fit so clearly into any one category. Their breadth of experience might be invaluable.
The experts and pundits that our society listens to are usually hopeless at making predictions.
During 20 years of the Cold War, world-renowned forecasting expert Philip Tetlock collected and assessed the predictions of 284 experts. He concluded that experts are absolutely terrible at making predictions about anything.
Tetlock found that an expert’s years of experience, academic degree and even ability to access classified information made no difference. When experts said that some potential event was impossible, it happened in 15 percent of cases. Events declared to be an absolute sure thing failed to occur 25 percent of the time.
And worryingly for anyone who listens to cable news, Tetlock found that there was a perverse and inverse relationship between fame and accuracy. The more an expert appeared in the news, the more likely they were to be wrong, or as Tetlock famously put it, “roughly as accurate as a dart-throwing chimpanzee.”
One of the problems was that many of the experts’ focus was too narrow. Having spent entire careers studying a single issue – say, US-Soviet relations – they tended to have explicit theories about how it worked. So, what makes a better forecaster of future events? Well, researchers like psychologist Jonathan Baron point to active open-mindedness – a willingness to question your own beliefs. Most of us fail at this, and can’t override our strong instinct to cherry-pick evidence that confirms our existing beliefs.
Consider a study run by Yale professor Dan Kahan. Pro and anti-Brexit voters were first tasked with interpreting a set of statistics about the effectiveness of a skin cream. Most participants completed the task successfully. But when presented with the same numbers framed as the link between crime and immigration, many of the participants misinterpreted the statistics according to their political beliefs. The same study has yielded similar results in the US on the topic of gun control.
So, how exactly can we combat our tendency to stick to our existing beliefs, despite the evidence? Kahan argues that one personality feature is important if we want to stay open-minded and think clearly about the world around us. Instead of scientific knowledge – how much you know – emphasize scientific curiosity – a desire to learn more, willingness to look at new evidence and ability to think with a genuinely open mind.
Now, let’s consider how we can embrace this kind of curiosity.
To be more of a generalist, you need to change your attitude toward learning and success.
See if you can answer this question correctly. Disease X has a prevalence of one in 1,000 people. The test for the disease has a false positive rate of five percent. What is the chance that someone receiving a positive test result has the disease?
If your answer was two percent, or 1.96 to be precise, you got it right. And in doing so, you did better than the 75 percent of physicians and students at Harvard and Boston University who got it wrong. Their most frequent answer was 95 percent.
The problem is straightforward if you know how to think about it. In a sample of 10,000 people, ten will have the disease and get a true positive. Five percent, or 500 people, will get a false positive. So out of the 510 people with a positive result, only 10, or 1.96% are ill. Sadly, many students aren’t taught to think openly about such problems. And this, according to Arturo Casadevall – a star in the world of microbiology and immunology – has to change.
In a new role at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Casadevall is developing programs focused on an interdisciplinary understanding of topics such as philosophy, ethics, statistics and logic. One course, called “How do we Know What is True,” examines different types of evidence in various academic disciplines. “Anatomy of Scientific Error” encourages students to hunt for signs of misconduct or poor methodology in scientific research.
Casadevall hopes that, with a more rigorous grounding in reasoning and multidisciplinary thinking, students will be better prepared to make a real impact on our economy and society.
Of course, not all of us hold senior academic positions like Casadevall. What can we do to expand our range? Well, one thing is to embrace failure. Dean Keith Simonton, a creativity researcher, has shown that the more work creators produce, the more failures they produce, but they are also more likely to produce a superstar success. Thomas Edison, for instance, held over 1,000 patents, many of which were ultimately failures. But his successes, like the light bulb, were revolutionary.
Treading a wide-roaming, disorderly path of experimentation may not always bring instant results. But it may just be the best route to greatness in the end.
Final summary
The key message in these blinks: Embracing range, experimentation and breadth of experience is often a better road to success than specialization. Range demands patience, open-mindedness and scientific curiosity. If we can foster and exemplify these, the chances that we will generate major innovations and contribute significantly to our economy and society increase.
THINKING IN BETS BY ANNIE DUKES (COURTESY OF BLINKIST) CROUPIER COMPTABLE PSYCHOLOGY
Human minds tend to confuse decisions with their outcomes, which makes it hard to see mistakes clearly.
Super Bowl XLIX ended in controversy. With 26 seconds left in the game, everyone expected Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll to tell his quarterback, Russell Wilson, to hand the ball off. Instead, he told Wilson to pass. The ball was intercepted, the Seahawks lost the Super Bowl, and, by the next day, public opinion about Carroll had turned nasty. The headline in the Seattle Times read: “Seahawks Lost Because of the Worst Call in Super Bowl History”!
But it wasn’t really Carroll’s decision that was being judged. Given the circumstances, it was actually a fairly reasonable call. It was the fact that it didn’t work.
Poker players call this tendency to confuse the quality of a decision with the quality of its outcome resulting, and it’s a dangerous tendency.
A bad decision can lead to a good outcome, after all, and good decisions can lead to bad outcomes
In fact, decisions are rarely 100 percent right or wrong. Our decision-making is like poker players’ bets. We bet on future outcomes based on what we believe is most likely to occur.
So why not look at it this way? If our decisions are bets, we can start to let go of the idea that we’re 100 percent “right” or “wrong," and start to say, “I’m not sure.” This opens us up to thinking in terms of probability, which is far more useful.Volunteering at a charity poker tournament, the author once explained to the crowd that player A’s cards would win 76 percent of the time, giving the other player a 24 percent chance to win. When player B won, a spectator yelled out that she’d been wrong. But, she explained, she’d said that player B’s hand would win 24 percent of the time. She wasn’t wrong. It was just that the actual outcome fell within that 24 percent margin.
If we want to seek out truth, we have to work around our hardwired tendency to believe what we hear.
We all want to make good decisions. But saying, “I believe X to be the best option” first requires good-quality beliefs. Good-quality beliefs are ideas about X that are informed and well thought-out. But we can’t expect to form good-quality beliefs with lazy thinking. Instead, we have to be willing to do some work in the form of truth-seeking. That means we have to strive for truth and objectivity, even when something doesn’t align with the beliefs we hold.
Focusing on accuracy and acknowledging uncertainty is a lot more like truth-seeking, which gets us beyond our resistance to new information and gives us something better on which to bet.
We can learn a lot from outcomes, but it’s difficult to know which have something to teach us.
The best way to learn is often by reviewing our mistakes. Likewise, if we want to improve our future outcomes, we’ll have to do some outcome fielding. Outcome fielding is looking at outcomes to see what we can learn from them.
To become more objective about outcomes, we need to change our habits.
Habits work in neurological loops that have three parts: cue, routine and reward. As Pulitzer-prize-winning reporter Charles Duhigg points out in his book The Power of Habit, the key to changing a habit is to work with this structure, leaving the cue and reward alone but changing the routine.
We can improve our decision-making by being part of a group, but it needs to be the right kind of group.
We’ve all got blind spots, which makes truth-seeking hard. But it’s a little easier when we enlist the help of a group. After all, others can often pick out our errors more easily than we can.
But to be effective, a group dedicated to examining decisions isn’t like any other. It has to have a clear focus, a commitment to objectivity and open-mindedness, and a clear charter that all members understand.
In a decision-examining group committed to objective accuracy, this kind of change is self-reinforcing. Increasing objectivity leads to approval within the group, which then motivates us to strive for ever-greater accuracy by harnessing the deep-seated need for group approval that we all share.
To work together productively, a group needs CUDOS.
Shared commitment and clear guidelines help define a good-quality decision-examining group. But once you’ve got that group, how do you work within it?
You can start by giving each other CUDOS.
CUDOS are the brainchild of influential sociologist Merton R. Schkolnick, guidelines that he thought should shape the scientific community. And they happen also to be an ideal template for groups dedicated to truth-seeking. The C in CUDOS stands for communism. If a group is going to examine decisions together, then it’s important that each member shares all relevant information and strives to be as transparent as possible to get the best analysis. It’s only natural that we are tempted to leave out details that make us look bad, but incomplete information is a tool of our bias. U stands for universalism – using the same standards for evaluating all information, no matter where it came from. When she was starting out in poker, the author tended to discount unfamiliar strategies used by players that she’d labeled as “bad.” But she soon suspected that she was missing something and started forcing herself to identify something that every “bad” player did well. This helped her learn valuable new strategies that she might have missed and understand her opponents much more deeply. D is for disinterestedness and it’s about avoiding bias. As American physicist Richard Feynman noted, we view a situation differently if we already know the outcome. Even a hint of what happens in the end tends to bias our analysis. The author’s poker group taught her to be vigilant about this. But, teaching poker seminars for beginners, she would ask students to examine decision-making by describing specific hands that she’d played, omitting the outcome as a matter of habit. It left students on the edge of their seats, reminding them that outcomes were beside the point! “OS” is for organized skepticism, a trait that exemplifies thinking in bets. In a good group, this means collegial, non-confrontational examination of what we really do and don’t know, which keeps everyone focused on improving their reasoning. Centuries ago, the Catholic church put this into practice by hiring individuals to argue against sainthood during the canonization process – that’s where we get the phrase “devil’s advocate.”
If you know that your group is committed to CUDOS, you’ll be more accountable to these standards in the future. And the future, as we’ll see, can make us a lot smarter about our decisions.
To make better decisions, we need to spend some time in the future.
Temporal Discounting – making decisions that favor our immediate desires at the expense of our future self – is something we all do.
We can also recruit our future feelings using journalist Suzy Welch’s “10-10-10.” A 10-10-10 brings the future into the present by making us ask ourselves, at a moment of decision, how we’ll feel about it in ten minutes, ten months and ten years. We imagine being accountable for our decision in the future and motivate ourselves to avoid any potential regret we might feel.
Backcasting, imagining a future in which everything has worked out, and our goals have been achieved, and then asking, “How did we get there?" This leads to imagining the decisions that have led us to success and also recognizing when our desired outcome requires some unlikely things to happen. If that’s the case, we can either adjust our goals or figure out how to make those things more likely.
Premortems are when we imagine that we’ve failed and ask, “What went wrong?" This helps us identify the possibilities that backcasting might have missed. Over more than 20 years of research, NYU psychology professor Gabrielle Oettingen has consistently found that people who imagine the obstacles to their goals, rather than achieving those goals, are more likely to succeed.
Final summary
The key message in these blinks: You might not be a gambler, but that’s no reason not to think in bets. Whether or not there’s money involved, bets make us take a harder look at how much certainty there is in the things we believe, consider alternatives and stay open to changing our minds for the sake of accuracy. So let go of “right” and “wrong” when it’s decision time, accept that things are always somewhat uncertain and make the best bet you can.
Side Note: I think there is a link between Poker and Financial Psychopathy & Cerebral Narcissism because of the Rewiring of the Brian Benefits of Poker through Dopamine Release.
PITCH ANYTHING BY OREN KLASS (COURTESY OF BLINKIST)
PITCH ANYTHING is a fast-paced narrative packed with crystal clear examples illustrating the unique S.T.R.O.N.G. Method, which takes advantage of how the brain really works by Setting the Frame; Telling the Story; Revealing the Intrigue; Offering the Prize; Nailing the Hookpoint; and Getting a Decision.
You must tailor your pitch to the audience’s croc brains.
Everyone should learn to pitch ideas well. In every profession, from dentistry to investment banking, there comes a time when you must convince someone of something. Unfortunately, there is a gap between what we are trying to tell our audience and how they perceive it. To understand this gap and overcome it, we must look at the evolution of the human brain.
Basically, the human brain has evolved in three separate stages, resulting in three distinct parts: the primitive reptilian part, the croc brain, developed first. It’s a simple device primarily focused on survival and it can generate strong emotions, like the desire to flee a predator. Next, the midbrain developed. It allows us to understand more complex situations, such as social interactions. Finally, the sophisticated neocortex evolved, facilitating reasoning and analysis to understand complex things.
When you pitch, you use your neocortex to put into words the ideas you are trying to convey. Unfortunately, your audience doesn’t at first process these ideas with their neocortices. Instead, it is the audience’s primitive croc brains that receive the ideas and they ignore everything that is not new and exciting. Worse still, if your message seems abstract and unfathomable to the croc brain, it might perceive the message as a threat. This will make your audience want to flee to escape the situation.
This is why you must tailor your pitch to the croc brain. Since croc brains are simple, your message should be clear, concrete and focused on the big picture. You also need to ensure the croc brain sees your message as something positive and novel, which deserves to be passed on to the higher brain structures.
To secure your target’s attention, you must create desire and tension.
The one critical thing you need throughout your pitch is the attention of your target. To successfully attain this, research has shown that you must evoke two sensations in your pitch: desire and tension. Desire arises when you offer your target a reward, and tension arises when you show them they might lose something, like an opportunity, as a result of this social encounter. On a neurological level, this effectively floods your target’s brain with two neurotransmitters: dopamine and norepinephrine.
Dopamine is a chemical associated with anticipating rewards — desire. One such reward would be the pleasure of understanding something new, such as solving a puzzle. Thus, to increase the level of dopamine in your target’s brain, you must introduce novelty through a pleasant surprise, like an unexpected yet entertaining product demo.
Norepinephrine, on the other hand, is the chemical responsible for alertness and it creates tension in the target. If your pitch convinces them that there is a lot at stake here, their brains will be flooded with norepinephrine.
To create tension, you must create a bit of low level conflict with a push-pull strategy. This means first saying something to push the target away, like, “Maybe we aren’t a good match for each other.” You then counter this by pulling the target back toward you with something like, “But if we are, that would be terrific.”
This push-pull dynamic creates alertness in the target, as they sense that they might lose this opportunity. Depending on the situation, you may use very powerful push-pull statements, especially if you sense your target’s attention beginning to wane.
To control a meeting, you must first establish frame control.
Different people will see any given situation from a different perspective or point of view based on their intelligence, ethics and values. These perspectives are called frames, and they dictate how we perceive social situations such as meetings and sales pitches. Frames also determine who controls those situations.
When two people meet, their individual frames crash into each other. Only one frame can survive such an encounter — the stronger one. For example, let’s assume a cop pulls you over for speeding. He has a strong moral-authority frame and you only have a weak “I’m so sorry officer”-frame. It is clear that when your frames clash, his frame will prevail. This means he will control every aspect of the encounter: from its duration to its content and tone.
You will often face a similar clash of frames in a business environment; for example, a customer may be focused on the price of your product while you are focused on its quality. You will both try to get the other to focus on what you think is important.
If it is your frame that survives this clash, you will have frame control in the situation meaning your ideas and statements will be accepted as facts by the customer. This is a crucial advantage in any pitch. Without frame control, you are unlikely to convince anyone of anything.
You will often encounter the power frame, time frame and analyst frame, hence you must know how to counter them.
In a pitch or sales meeting you will often encounter certain archetypes of frames, and it is important you choose strong with which to counter them.
Typically, your target will use the power frame which exudes arrogance. You must not do anything that validates the other person’s power. Instead, use small acts of defiance and denial to bust the frame; for example, by yanking your presentation material away from the target if they do not seem to be taking it seriously.
Another oft-used frame is the time frame, where your customer asserts control over time: “I only have ten more minutes.” This is meant to push you off balance, but you can always counter with: “That’s fine, I only have five.”
A particularly lethal frame is the analyst frame, denoted by a fixation on details and numbers. If your opponent is in this frame, they will likely insist on drilling down into minor technical and financial details, effectively bogging down your pitch.
In such situations, give a direct but high-level answer to the question asked and get right back to your pitch. Analysis comes later. Before more questions come up, counter the analyst frame with your own intrigue frame. This basically means you tell a compelling personal story and leave it unfinished as a cliffhanger: “… so there we were, in a pitch black, falling airplane with no idea what was going to happen. Anyway, back to the pitch …" This redirects the focus of the room onto you and makes the discussion personal once again.
Use prizing to make the target seek your acceptance.
The most important frame you should be able to use is the prize frame, as it works in a variety of situations against many opposing frames.
Typically when you’re selling something or pitching an idea, your target will tend to see their money as the “prize” of the meeting, something you have to fight for. You must reframe the situation so that you are the prize and they would be lucky to do business with you.
Because people tend to want things they can’t have, prizing yourself will make your target work for your acceptance instead of the other way around. BMW does this with a special-edition M3. The company demands prospective buyers sign a contract assuring they will take proper care of the car, otherwise they cannot buy one.
In a pitching situation, never engage in behavior that makes it seem as if you are chasing the target, for example by agreeing to last minute schedule changes or trying to prematurely close the deal by saying things like, “So, what do you think so far?” Such behavior only reinforces the impression that the target is the prize. Instead, get your target to explicitly qualify themselves to you; for example, you could say, “I am very particular about with whom I work. Why should I do business with you?” This usually catches them off guard and they start trying to impress you.
Stack frames to trigger hot cognitions.
Contrary to popular belief, we are more prone to making choices instinctively than through rational analysis. In fact, we often make a decision about something before we even fully understand it and only later come up with reasons for that decision. These gut calls are called hot cognitions, whereas the decisions arrived at through rational reasoning are known as cold cognitions.
After you’ve introduced your big pitch idea, you want to trigger hot cognitions within your target. These will make him or her want what you have to offer in mere seconds, instead of analyzing your pitch for days to reach a rational, cold decision. You trigger the hot cognitions by stacking frames, meaning you introduce multiple frames in quick succession.
The first frame is the intrigue frame: you tell your target a compelling story, a personal narrative where a dilemma is solved. At the crucial juncture, you stop telling the story, leaving your target on the edge of their seat, ensuring their full attention.
Next, you pile on the prize frame, where you flip the tables on the target: instead of trying to impress them, make them qualify themselves to you. You could say something like, “This deal has so many investors after it, I have to choose who to take on board.”
After this, you stack on the time frame by adding time pressure to the pitch: “Unfortunately, this is a limited-time offer, and the train, so to speak, is leaving the station on Monday.” This will make the target feel like they are losing an opportunity, at which point they will want it even more.
By triggering all these hot cognitions in the target, you will leave them drooling for what you have to offer.
Don’t be needy – make the target chase you.
Neediness, otherwise known as validation-seeking behavior, is a sign of weakness and it can be absolutely fatal to your pitch. If you act needy, the audience will sense you are weak and their primitive croc brains will classify your proposal as a threat – to their money. This can easily push you into a vicious cycle where the audience becomes more and more distant due to your neediness, which in turn makes you anxious and even needier!
To negate neediness, you can use a simple three-step formula based on the movie The Tao of Steve, where the protagonist, Dex, follows a pseudo-Taoist philosophy to pick up women.
First, try to eliminate your desires, at least in the eyes of the target. If they have something you desperately want, this will translate as neediness in you. To negate this, make it clear to the target that you do not need them.
Second, focus on the things you do well, your strengths. Demonstrate something that showcases your excellence. Dex, for instance, was great with children and made sure the target of his affections saw this. Similarly, you must demonstrate excellence in front of your target.
Third, withdraw. At the crucial moment when your target expects you to chase them for their money, withdraw instead by saying something like, “I’m not totally convinced we’re a good match for each other.” This will make them chase you, much like the women in the Tao of Steve chased Dex.
To pitch effectively, you must attain situational alpha status.
Status plays a vital part in any social encounter. In any meeting, a dominant member known as an alpha emerges, while others take subordinate beta-positions. It is very difficult to be persuasive from a beta-position; hence, you must grab alpha status.
Though some elements of status, like your reputation or wealth, are quite stable, situational status can vary immensely; for example, while a successful surgeon has considerably higher social status than a golf teacher, the teacher is still the alpha during a golf lesson.
Often your pitch targets will lay so-called beta traps to force you into the situational beta position; for example, being made to wait in the lobby is a classic beta trap.
You must try to ignore these traps and avoid doing anything that enforces your opponent’s alpha status. Instead, use small acts of defiance and denial to grab the situational alpha status for yourself as soon as you can.
Say a customer has made you wait in the lobby. Once in the meeting room, you could begin examining some papers on the table in front of you. When the customer peeks at them, you could yank them away and say something like, “Nope, not until I’m ready.” If done in a good-natured, half-joking manner, this enforces your alpha position.
Once you have alpha status, you must then steer the discussion into a direction where you are the expert, much like the golf professional talks about golf, not heart surgery, when teaching the surgeon. To solidify your status, force your opponent to say something that reinforces your alpha position with a good-natured jest, like, “Remind me, why on earth should I work with you guys on this?”
Keep your pitch short and simple.
Before you begin any pitch, let your target know you will keep the presentation short. This will put them at ease. When Watson and Crick presented their Nobel Prize-winning idea of the DNA helix, they only needed five minutes. If you know what you are doing, you can pitch anything in twenty.
Start your pitch by introducing yourself. This does not mean rattling off your entire résumé but just outlining your greatest successes, like projects where you really did something impressive.
Most people will be tempted to jump right to the “big idea” for which they’re trying to get financing. But before you get to it, you should address one crucial concern in your target’s mind. Namely, you must explain why now is the right time to invest.
Rather than a long and complex analysis, simply outline the economic, social and technological forces which make your deal unmissable right now. Economic forces that benefit your pitch, for example, could be your target customers becoming wealthier and interest rates going down, the social forces could be the rising consumer concern for the environment, and the technological force could be the development of the electric car. You must present these forces in a way that shows a window of opportunity has recently opened but will not remain open forever.
The three forces set the stage and paint a backstory for your big idea, which should also be kept brief and simple. Use an established “recipe” for this: “For [target customers] who are dissatisfied with [current offerings on the market]. My product is a [new idea] that provides [solution to key problem] unlike [competing product]. My product has [key product features].”
That’s it. The time for details comes later.
Final summary
The key message in this book is: In any social encounter where you aim to be persuasive, it is vital that you seize control of the situation and ensure the target sees your pitch through the frame of mind you have chosen. At the same time, you must cater your pitch so that on a neurological level, the target’s brain works for you, not against you.
TRIBES BY SETH GODIN (COURTESY OF BLINKIST)
All Tribes Share 3 Components
A Group of People
A Common Cause
At least one Leader who Represents and Organizes the Tribe
The most important feature for a tribe is the shared cause.
A tribe’s shared cause leads its members to internalize the tribe’s values and ideas as their own. These internalized incentives make tribe members into driven believers instead of mere followers
Don’t engineer your ideas for the masses: make it exclusive and meaningful for a distinct group of people.
Apple set out to produce a new kind of phone that almost no one would initially like, but that a few people would really love.
With today’s technology, everyone can form and lead a tribe.
The first thing to know is that people need to be able to communicate intensely about their shared cause. This means that communication can’t just be vertical – between you (the leader) and the individual tribe members – more importantly, it must be horizontal, between tribe members.
With today’s technology, you have everything you need to facilitate both vertical and horizontal communication. Websites, blogs and social networks allow you not only to spread your cause, but also provide the room and the tools for your tribe to communicate, share ideas and organize. For example, you can use Basecamp to organize projects, and Twitter to share brief updates about developments. At the same time, these websites allow you to set ground rules for participation, and align everyone with your common vision by setting specific goals.
If you have a meaningful cause and the will to lead, people will follow.
Have you ever wondered how many people make up a movement? The answer is around 1,000: that’s the amount of true believers you need for a group to keep moving.
Creating a movement is about organizing an existing yearning into a way that tribe members can connect with each other, and form a movement under your leadership.
As former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley defines it, a movement contains three elements: A narrative that tells the story of the future you’re trying to build; a connection between the leader and the tribe and among the tribe members; and something to do – the fewer limits, the better.
When forming a tribe, don’t worry about making it grow – concentrate on tightening connections.
At least in the beginning, a tribe’s biggest advantage is not its size, but the multiple connections between the members, the leader and the outside world.
In fact, a tribe has four different directions of communication: Leader to tribe, tribe to leader, tribe members to one another and tribe member to outsider. Normal marketing pales in comparison, with communication generally only in one direction: company to market.
The most important of these directions is the communication between members. And this is where tightening a tribe comes in.
Tightening a tribe means bringing members closer together by facilitating communication and tightening their common bonds. You can do this by transforming a shared interest into one passionate goal, and by providing a platform for members to easily connect with each other.
Or you can harness the power of insiders and outsiders. To create a feeling of cohesion, you have to develop a culture of insiders – which inevitably excludes others. This allows the tribe to differentiate itself from other tribes, and create a stronger sense of internal identification.
Leadership is about stepping into a vacuum and creating motion.
For a tribe to form there has to be a particular change that people want to see made. This need for change has to come from a certain discomfort with the status quo, from a sense that there is something missing in the world. A leader steps right into this discomfort zone – the vacuum – and starts to organize so people will follow him.
Leaders do this despite the risks because of two things: they have faith in the cause and they know that innovation is always more effective the earlier it happens – so the sooner the better.
To make the world a better place, we need more heretics and less sheepwalkers.
What we need in the world are more heretics: people who question the status quo and the existing dogmas, and take action without asking for permission. Organizations need more heretics to advocate change from the inside: because if you hire amazing people and give them freedom, they will do amazing things. And tribes need heretics as leaders to break into new territory and help change the world.
ARMED ROBBERY INFLUENCE PASSING ATHLETE
Generalist Kinaesthetic Learners VAMMMBRGC
Volleyball
Acting
Modeling
Music
Martial Arts
Ballet (Female Only)
Rings Gymnastics (Male Only)
Graffiti (Art)
Cooking (Endorsements)
Characteristics
Suddenness
Speed
Intense
Aggressive Intervention for the Victim
Maximum Masking his own Contribution
Choosing the appropriate moment to attack and target the more vulnerable and defenseless victims.
Roles: The Bosses
**The Mastermind: The leader, who found the target, calls the shots, and thought up the plan. Usually the most experienced in the business as well, and very respected by their crew otherwise they wouldn't be able to keep all these amoral people in line. Compare The Chessmaster (Bullet Chess), The Captain, the Big Bad. May or may not have been the one to put the team together
**The Partner In Crime: The leader's second-in-command, who assists The Mastermind in plan-making and usually almost equally as experienced. Depending on the nature of the crew, he might be the only one besides The Mastermind who actually knows what's going on. May overlap with other roles. Compare The Lancer, The Dragon, the Number Two.
**The Backer: The Client who is paying for everything. Sometimes he has a deadline or is fussy in some other way that influences the crew's actions. Usually only The Mastermind and his Partner interact much with him. There isn't always a backer though, sometimes the crew front the money themselves and fence it hoping to make back enough for a profit.
Business Equity Heist
Scatter Site Shares Appreciation Rights Social Club
Bullet Chess Influenced Robbery
Preparation: The first step in creating such a good repertoire is to understand that memorization comes in a distant second to an appreciation of the ideas behind your opening moves
Prophylaxis*: In the game of chess, prophylaxis or a prophylactic move is a move that stops the opponent from taking action in a certain area for fear of some type of reprisal. Prophylactic moves are aimed at not just improving one's position, but preventing the opponent from improving their own.
Pre-Move: This is when you make your move *before* the opponent has taken their turn. Helps with Time and Creates psychological pressure.
Tactical Vision: Tactics are maneuvers that take advantage of short-term opportunities. They can support your strategy and/or destroy your opponent's plan and ideas. Tactical and combinational themes must be mastered.
Opening Game: A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. In addition to referring to specific move sequences, the opening is the first phase of a chess game,
Middle Game: The middlegame in chess is the portion of the game in between the opening and the endgame, though there is no clear line between the opening and middlegame or between the middlegame and endgame. Theory on the middlegame is less developed than the opening or endgames.
Development: It is important to develop your whole Army. Note the word whole. Some players get a few pieces out and launch an attack. The necessity for quick development depends on the type of Center that exists. For example, if the center is closed, development is not necessarily a priority because the enemy pieces won't be able to break into your position. However, if the center is open, development takes on a great significance
Initiative**: The side that forces it's ideas on a reacting opponent and Are making believable threats or responding to threats.
Dynamic Advantage: A dynamic Advantage centers around temporary items like development, the initiative, and more active pieces. Make sure you make use of this Dynamic plus before the opponent catches up in development, initiative runs dry, or you're active pieces are exchanged
Compensation: If you give up something (space, structural weakness, squares, material) and get nothing in return you are in trouble. However if you give up the same imbalances (space, structural weakness, squares, material) in exchange for different types of imbalance you are said to have compensation for whatever it is you gave up
Material Advantage: A material advantage goes to the player who has more and/or stronger pieces.
End Game: In chess and chess-like games, the endgame is the stage of the game when few pieces are left on the board. The line between middlegame and endgame is often not clear, and may occur gradually or with the quick exchange of a few pairs of pieces.
KEY MOTIFS
Mr. & Mrs Smith, Physical Fitness, Force-Velocity Curve Stimulus-Fatigue-Recovery-Adaptation Performance Training, Circuits, Networking, Chaárms or Athena Venus-Mercury Cusp Births, Triple Decker Projects with Sand Volleyball Courts, Brand Activation Modelling, Sports Larceny & Contract Racketeering, Sports for Orphans Charities, Short Film Series Acting, Polyglot, Industrial-Organizational Psychologist and Mergers & Acquisitions Bankers Advisory Team
KEY VALUES
Brass Knuckles as Weapons, Decadence, Socratic Methods Game Theory, Poker Country Clubs with Sports Betting Investment Trust, Red Bull Music Festivals, Athletic excellence, Sports Performance Centers, Med Spas, Patchwork Tattoos, Pastel Goth, Pastel Wavy Hair, Video Games, Real Estate Investment Groups, Scatter-site Share Appreciation Rights Social Club, Art House and Management Companies, Business Incubators and Startups Accelerators Collaboration Holding Company, Syncretism of Athena through Occult Magic to Warrior Spirits, Law Education EdTech Sponsor and Provider, Armed Robbery Sports Playbooks, Force-Velocity Curve Physique, Smurfing, Sports Betting, Poker Tournaments, Enterprise Foundations, Rental Properties, and Overview of the Nevada Economy: The top three sectors by total employment are Real Estate and Rental and Leasing, Accommodation and Food Services, Retail Trade, while the unemployment rate across the state in 2022 was 4.8%.
AESTHETIC THEORIES
Subjective
Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions
Precarious Balance
Precariously: If something is happening or positioned precariously, it's in danger. A glass could be precariously balanced on the edge of a table. If something is on the verge of danger, then the word precariously fits.
Semblance
Semblance is generally used to suggest a contrast between outward appearance and inner reality.
Phantasmagorical
Having a fantastic or deceptive appearance
adjective. having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination. having the appearance of an optical illusion, especially one produced by a magic lantern.
Law of Polarity in Relationships
In any successful relationship that has an intimate connection and sexual attraction, there is polarity. What does this mean exactly? Polarity in relationships is the spark that occurs between two opposing energies: masculine and feminine. Gender does not affect whether you have masculine or feminine energy.
Second Reflection
Burden Aesthetics with Intentions
The Second Reflection lays hold of the Technical Procedures
CRIMINOLOGY THEORIES
Choice Theory: The belief that individuals choose to commit a crime, looking at the opportunities before them, weighing the benefit versus the punishment, and deciding whether to proceed or not.
Classical Theory: Similar to the choice theory, this theory ascertains that people think before they proceed with criminal actions; that when one commits a crime, it is because the individual decided that it was advantageous to commit the crime.
Critical Theory: Critical theory upholds the belief that a small few, the elite of the society, decide laws and the definition of crime; those who commit crimes disagree with the laws that were created to keep control of them.
Labeling Theory: Those who follow the labeling theory of criminology ascribe to the fact that an individual will become what he is labeled or what others expect him to become; the danger comes from calling a crime a crime and a criminal a criminal.
Life Course Theory: The theory that a person’s “course” in life is determined by short (transitory) and long (trajectory) events in his life, and crime can result when a transitory event causes stress in a person’s life causing him to commit a crime against society.
Positivist Theory: The positivist rejects the idea that each individual makes a conscious, rational choice to commit a crime; rather, some individuals are abnormal in intelligence, social acceptance, or some other way, and that causes them to commit crime.
Rational Choice Theory: Reasons that an individual thinks through each action, deciding on whether it would be worth the risk of committing a crime to reap the benefits of that crime, whether the goal be financial, pleasure, or some other beneficial result.
Routine Activity Theory: Followers of the routine activity theory believe that crime is inevitable, and that if the target is attractive enough, crime will happen; effective measures must be in place to deter crime from happening.
Social Learning Theory: Social learning indicates that individuals learn from those around them; they base their morals and activities on what they see others in their social environment doing.
Strain Theory: The theory holds that individuals will turn to a life of crime when they are strained, or when they are unable to achieve the goals of the society, whether power, finance, or some other desirable goal.
Trait Theory: Those who follow the trait theory believe that individuals have certain traits that will contribute to whether or not they are capable of committing a crime when pushed in a certain direction, or when they are in duress.
Consensual or Victimless Crime: Consensual crime refers to crimes that do not directly harm other individuals or property. Rather, individuals choose to participate in risky behaviors that may be considered against the law. This includes indulging in drug use, prostitution, or obscenity.
CROUPIER ACCOUNTING
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Favorite Hobbies
Leveling up consists of being the best version of you and pursuing your passions. Having hobbies will drive your ambition and will show others that you’re motivated to reach your goals. Here are examples of my hobbies if you are stuck trying to find a new passion:
Learning languages. I currently study the most used languages in the fashion industry: French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, German & Spanish
Reading books on famous women in history
Using the Google Arts & Culture app to better my knowledge in the fine arts.
Writing poetry
Studying famous composers & classical music
Horseback riding
Playing the piano
Fashion journalism
Teaching my self how to host special occasions & cook/bake foods from around the world
Researching organizations for charity
Playing badminton, tennis and croquet
Signing up for pole dancing, aerial & pilates classes
Studying psychology
Broadening my knowledge in medical esthetics
Learning about real estate & law
Sketching fashion designs
Taking trips to the Saturday market
Buying books about architecture & interior design
Painting
Watching ballet performances & fashion shows
Practicing calligraphy
Investing in books about philosophy
Expanding my vocabulary
Going on library trips for new novels
Listening to podcasts & opera performances
Going to the gym
Teaching myself how to be a sommelier
Blogging
Going to the museum
Journaling
Watching old Hollywood films
Understanding perfumery
Learning how to play the violin & harp
Photography
Xoxo
Kitty.
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RGG/Yakuza/Judgement in the Entertainment Industry
YAKUZA
Kiryu: Ascended singer/back up dancer now a professional fighter. With Nishiki he was part of the Sunflower Boys Club (like Disney micky mouse club ya dig). In his younger he even had a (successful) duo with Nishiki named (idk the name fam but their duo would be a male japanese 80’s duo WINK). But this only created a gap between the two where Kiryu was getting noticed more and contacted by various types of deals (commercials, mc host deal, acting, etc,), the public treated Nishiki like a side dish (the Beyonce treatment).
The deal sealed itself at the death of their company owner Kazama, and closely after when their manager Kashiwagi resigned from its position and the industry as a whole. After a long break and reflection, Kiryu still wanted to reunite the duo and rebrand into something more mature, but Nishiki refused and broke his contract to go his own way. Kiryu did the same in professional fighting where he is at the top of what they have to offer
Nishiki: once known as everyone boyfriend, the lovely Nishiki (play BOYFRIEND – Love Style). Rebranded with his whole name Akira Nishikiyama as a professional racer leaving all his links with kazama’s company behind him. He plays it lowkey and he is actually not bad (more like a silver or bronze type of good but not the top game). Nishiki remained petty and hate any discussions about Kiryu with the media/public especially since Nick Ogata leaked out that a girl was the main reason and the source of the duo’s breakup and Nishiki’s bitterness towards Kiryu Yumi: Actress Kashiwagi: Manager (precisely Nishiki and Kiryu’s), now retired. Haruka: Idol (off course) Majima: MC and variety show host and part-time fighter. Actually, most of his wealth comes from owing stuff (most people don’t know the depth of what he owns). His occasional fights with Kiryu gets the most ratings. We can even catch him on baking competitions and dancing with the stars and the local drag race, yah majima the funky ‘’businessman’’ Saejima: MMA Fighter. Akiyama: Funky & Rich golf player. Tachibana: Real estate owner. Jun Oda: Tachibana’s bodyguard Daigo: rookie but hella successful news presenter Mine: Lawyer attached to famous cases especially defending the guilty. The dude the girlies are simping for on Tik Tok. Shinida: Baseball player.
Nishida: Cameraman or TV crew member Majima keeps calling his assistant. Ryuji: grown Disney kid who ascended to legit model-hood but loves to puts his nose in everything. Rumors says he spent time in jail. Somehow has hella cash and people on social media likes him. His rants get millions of view, He always beefing with someone on Twitter and in real life (guilty or not). Aside from his antics, he has his hand in ownership of many brands and large businesses mostly coming from his father’s heritage and shady business practices. People loves to undermine his talent when it comes to investments and overall finance. Reina: professional guitarist of an indie jazz band rikiya: aspiring actor, currently everyone sweetheart and part of all the series famous with the youth these days. Part of the main cast from series trending on Netflix. Hana: kpop group coordinator (the girl who do the clothes)
Baba: Aspiring but still struggling SoundCloud rapper
Mayumi: center of a girl group. HyunA of a group with the aesthetic of the girl group SECRET.
Date: a famous lawyer always involved in big cases.
YAKUZA 7/LIKE A DRAGON
Ichiban: Athlete, (I see soccer). Using his name into it: Ichiban is always number one. Here’s goes the lighting bringing the fire in the place. He is the one, he is number one, ICHIBANNNNNNNNNN, GOALLLLLLLLLL
Nanba: high-scale gardener or theater actor Saeko: Ascended girl group member who branched off from the duo she was doing with her sister Nanoha. Dipping into acting. I would see as a professional dancer too a regular at dancing with the stars type stuff
Adachi: Senior Actor.
Eri: News presenter?
Han Joongi: Visual of kpop group (group the caliber of DBSK or ZE:A)
Zhao: Son of a rich Chinese businessman, nobody is sure where he actually lies since he touches a little bit at everything. But he is a heavy and popular presence in social media. You can find in all kinds of variety show/reality tv but he getting more credits for his cooking skills and inventions getting him top class restaurants. RGG’s Huang Zi Tao.
Masumi Arakawa: Japanese morgan freeman
Masato Arakawa/ ryo aoki: A son of a wealthy man who seems to do well with his acting career.
Ishioda: Rival MC of various shows.
Jo sawashiro: Lawyer
Mabuchi: architect
Seoghui: Solo singer/dancer with her back up dancers. Hajime Ogasawara: Kpop member turned actor
Nick ogata: MC of all types of shows. Radio host. Walking TMZ.
JUDGES EYES/LOST JUDGEMENT
Yagami: Actor or baseball player.
Kaito: Boxer Tesso: Olympic athele (mhhhh gymnastics or athletism)
Higashi: Classical musical player or conductor, people still scratiching their head how the heck he met kaito
Sugiura: new generation kpop group member. Like the new hot stuff these days (ATEEZ, Stray Kids type stuff) Tsukumo: music composer like yasutaka Nakata or a really lucrative indie gamer/youtuber
Hamura: Senior Actor (who can get away with sexual assault charges)
Kuroiwa: Top class actor with a Gold-tier PR team.
Kyoko amasawa: that girl who lead in show like idol school, aspiring top scale idol praised for being rebellious and not caring what people think of her. In a group like Le Sserafim.
Kengo: Professional BMX-er and your rapper who somehow made it trough shows like show me the money. Hoshino: overlooked k-pop band member
Akutsu: basketball player
Soma: a dude full of cash who owns a lot of stuff (like akutsu’s basketball team)
Sawa-sensei: Miss meteo.
#judgement headcanons#judge eyes#lost judgment#rgg#yakuza#rgg headcanons#rgg imagines#yakuza imagines#lost judgement headcanons#like a dragon#ryu ga gotoku#ryu ga gotoku headcanons#imagines#headcanons#kiryu kazuma#majima goro
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Notes from Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein
note: take book with grain of salt as author is greatly self-aggrandizing, but provides some nice color on yakuza
many yakuza prefer to be called 'gokudo' (the ultimate path)
shobadai - slang for protection money paid to the yakuza
"Santa Fe was a book of nude photos of the popular actress Rie Miyazawa" that showed her pubic hair. When authorities didn't pursue the book for breaking obscenity laws based on the photos' "artistic qualities" it opened the floodgates to the relaxing of those policies enjoyed to this day
typical divisions of a police station: violent crime, white-collar, fraud, , traffic, juvenile crime, prevention, lifestyle/vice, plus an organized crime control division, which would pursue drugs, credit card fraud, and human trafficking
kind of neat - the idea of exotic animals being sold to yakuza to scare people. who would have a leashed tiger?
When someone leaves the yakuza, a letter is circulated to all members, either a hamonjo - this person is no longer in the organization, don't do business or associate with them; or a zetsuenjo - betrayer hunt this person down.
if a murdered body is found with the head facing North, that may indicate a killer feeling remorse as that's how dead bodies are laid out.
suicides remove their socks and shoes as it's rude to wear into the afterlife
There are two major types of yakuza: tekiya, low-level con artists and bakuto, the big leagues, who engage in predatory lending, human trafficking, the racket, and blackmailing corporations. They are over half Korean-Japanese and the dowa, formerly untouchable caste of Japan.
The major yakuza have lots of sub-groups that pay monthly dues. The Yamaguchi-gumi (biggest) takes in about $50M in private equity monthly and this is considered a conservative estimate.
The police don’t have the authority to wiretap, offer plea bargains, or witness protection in yakuza investigations, which limited their ability to effectively prosecute them. It’s also not illegal to be in a criminal organization.
As of 2006, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police compiled a list of ~1k front companies in greater Tokyo, 20% real estate with significant investment in securities, auditing, consulting, and other financiers.
Police sometimes call the yakuza “Realtors” lol
In 2008, a major Corporation was found to be paying over $100M USD to yakuza to remove tenants from properties they wanted to purchase (this is called jiage or land-sharking and is big because tenant laws are so protective.)
The bosses of some yakuza groups are minor celebrities and will be photographed and reported on having meetings/dinners with politicians, or will grant TV interviews!!!
Marubo cops – organized crime detectives
One business model: landsharking, moving yakuza into buildings before they can be repossessed and then buying them themselves or getting money from the original owner for the service, protection money from the sex trade, and the cash cow, extortion (specifically, shaking down business people with embarrassing secrets). They would do the same with companies in financial trouble. They would take out loans from midsize banks using the company’s real estate as collateral, but then when the company would go bankrupt, those loans would go unpaid. The Sumiyoshi-kain also ran staffing companies, loansharking, and an insurance company specializing in false claims to rip off real insurance companies. A collection agency for recovering bad debts for real loan companies. Pawnshops for trafficked goods. A talent agency for porn (paid well not coerced). Transportation and security for large events. Take construction contracts and then subcontract out, pocketing the difference. Set up a fake political org for the tax break and a way to launder money. Have your extortees pay to receive your newsletter.
kabukicho was the undisputed red light district of tokyo before it got partially cleaned up following the 2001 fire of the Myojo 56 building where 40+ people died. It is speculated that the yakuza burnt it down after not being paid its protection money by the mahjong parlor inside.
At least in 1999 during the time of this book, a reporter tells him: "Nine times out of ten, no matter how much it looks like a murder, the Shinjuku police will write it up as a case of assault resulting in death - manslaughter? Why? So they don't have to launch a full investigation." Murders of 'low-lifes' not deemed newsworthy. What WAS newsworthy was anything involving someone famous, a civilian, or a teenager. Maybe a brewing gang war.
The reason the anti prostitution law is on the books is to protect girls who were being sold into sexual slavery after the war. That's why they only go after the pimps and owners, not the girls.
one thing to track is i keep writing big clubs, when i should go smaller, seedier, and more participatory. one stage, men using vibrators on the fully naked dancer. also kinkier: more costumes, piss play, the works.
downtown there are typical haunts where the yakuza hang out near their offices, where they get coffee and shoot the shit. and it's not one organization, but all of them.
lots of young girls (high school to college) get addicted to the host clubs and run up a big tab at which point they get redirected into becoming hostesses or joining the sex trade themselves. these are usually unlicensed clubs that have no police protection and are therefore easy marks for the yakuza. a good host club makes about $300k a year in 1999; the legit hosts can make big money too, think $6-10k a month not including gifts. hosts and hostesses often frequent each other's places when they get off work, so they're often busiest at like 4am/late late hours.
Roppongi is known for its foreigners. The place to go if Japanese people and foreigners are looking to connect (/connect!) Before the bubble burst, Roppongi was known for its highbrow establishments, but it's gone sleazy with big clubs, drugs, and all the typical sex trade establishments. It's nicknamed "High-Touch Town"
Because yakuza bosses can be held liable (and sued) for the crimes of their subordinates, when someone gets collared, it's typical to throw them out of the org (at least on the surface) claiming they were just a bad egg to limit liability. Yakuza will also sue newspapers and other organizations that call their businesses fronts or old members yakuza. Very good lawyers.
money laundering - hostess clubs and sex parlors (have your employees act as regulars and pay there); donations to religious organizations you run from the profits, own restaurants, r&r spots, and more and have your employees go there with the profits.
there are legal limits on interest rates for consumer loans, but yakuza loan sharks obviously go way above that. keep database of all customers at one establishment to see when the loan is falling behind, and then reach out from one of your other loan offices to offer a loan with even higher interest rates to double prey upon your victims.
more swords as weapons since gun use penalties are so high!
not uncommon for yakuza to own the movie studios making yakuza films which has promise as a funny detail; also more chopped fingers, toes transplanted as fake fingers, etc.
Tokarev - Russian guns popular in the 90s with yakuza
"that's why we farm out the dirty work to the Chinese and the Iranians. If they get caught, they don't talk and they just get deproted."
control the media by running the top talent agencies and denying them access to top entertainment talent if they publish unfavorable reporting
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#Japanese space#Japanese investment#Japanese commercial space#Rental income#Invest in real estate#Invest in Japanese real estate#real estate investment#Rental income Japan#Buy Japanese commercial space#Yokohama real estate#Yokohama commercial space#Foreigner-friendly agency#English-speaking agency#Bashamichi Room
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What Was Japan’s Lost Decade? How Did It Happen?
What Was Japan’s Lost Decade? How Did It Happen? (December 12, 2022) Japan, stuck in a liquidity trap, faced a particularly deep economic crisis between 1991 and 2001.
What Was Japan’s Lost Decade?
Between 1991 and 2001, Japan’s once red-hot economy was in trouble. An asset bubble had formed in both its housing and stock markets, and when the Bank of Japan implemented a series of steep interest rate hikes as a way to tame inflationary pressures, you could almost hear the bubble pop.
Japan’s stock market tanked, and asset prices fell. Several big banks, which were overleveraged with speculative investments, either failed outright or needed to be bailed out by the government. Businesses folded, and unemployment rose. Japan became mired in a decade-long recession.
The country was actually experiencing a liquidity trap: It seemed like everything Japan’s central bank did to help didn’t work. Interest rates were cut, but fearful for the future, Japan’s citizens sat on their savings instead of spending them.
The government tried instituting large-scale public works projects, similar to what U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt implemented during the Great Depression, but that only increased Japan’s budget deficit. Finally, its central bank injected huge supplies of yen into the markets through quantitative easing, which lasted for five years. This, along with the resultant inflation, effectively got Japan’s citizens spending again, and the country began a slow recovery.
What Caused Japan’s Lost Decade?
The poster child of 20th-century economic growth, Japan had transformed itself from a largely agricultural nation in the 1960s to the world’s second-largest economy by the 1980s. Japan had figured out ways to make high-quality products cheaply, and these products found their way all over the world.
People sported Sony Walkmans on the street and drove Japanese cars around town. Kids watched Japanese cartoons on Japanese-made televisions. Movies like Shogun dominated the box office, and corporate success manuals extolled the virtues of “Japan, Inc.” Everyone wanted to know Japan’s secret.
A lot of it had to do with how Japan’s businesses were structured. They followed the traditional concept of the keiretsu, a close-knit network of business interests centered around a main bank. These groups took majority shareholder interests in one another instead of being financed through stocks or bonds, and as such, this “socially controlled” investment provided the perfect conditions to nurture, test, and perfect new ideas before they were brought to the larger market.
One well-known keiretsu is the Mitsubishi Group, composed of the MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and the Mitsubishi Corporation. Together, it employs over 80,000 people in the automotive, energy, chemicals, and food industries—essentially acting as its own supply chain.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Japanese Ministry of International Trade & Industry allowed easy credit to the keiretsu, in addition to a period of protection from foreign competition, so that their businesses would have time to become cost-effective production powerhouses. Once they gained dominance in their respective industries, the businesses would embark on export programs, which is how Japan’s electronics, computer, automotive, and aircraft industries grew so quickly.
Growing hand-in-hand with Japan’s successful businesses was a booming stock market. The Nikkei Stock Average hit an all-time high of 38,916 on December 29, 1989. In addition, real estate grew incredibly valuable—commercial land prices rose over 300% between 1985 and 1991, and it was said that one square mile in Tokyo’s government center was worth more than the entire state of California. A bubble had formed; that was plain to see.
As asset prices grew, so did speculation, particularly in real estate, which was financed largely by corporate stock profits. Banks were lending and not looking twice. Sometimes, collateral was not even required.
Depositors thought they were in safe hands because Japan’s banks were backed by the government, and in turn, the banks believed the government wouldn’t let them fail, so they bundled these deposits into packages of ever-higher rates of interest and risk, and sold them to speculators.
Worried about inflationary pressures, and attempting to quell the bubble, the Bank of Japan began a series of steep interest rate increases from 2.5% to 4.25% at the end of 1989, and then to 6% in 1990. But since rising rates made borrowing more expensive, speculators quickly defaulted on their investments.
Several of Japan’s biggest keiretsu banks began to fail, threatening to take entire industries down with them. The stock market nosedived. By December 1990—just one year from its all-time height—the Nikkei had lost over 43% of its value.
What Happened During Japan’s Lost Decade?
Between 1991 and 2001, Japan’s economy entered a deep recession. GDP declined, and borrowers became insolvent. Big banks failed, including the Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, and Nippon Credit Bank. The days of easy credit from banking networks were long gone, and to a large effect, the keiretsu unraveled.
Some businesses went under; in others, production simply slowed, but they lost their competitive edge as a result. The country, which once had guaranteed employment for life, now struggled with unemployment—which affected recent grads and young workers most significantly.
Consumer confidence plummeted, demand declined, and deflation took hold—it was a dangerous mix.
How Did Japan Recover From Its Lost Decade?
It seemed like everything Japan’s central bank tried to do to help didn’t work: Interest rates were slashed to zero, and kept there for a very long time; still, the recession continued. Land prices dropped 15% in some of Japan’s largest cities, which meant that homeowners owed more than their homes were worth.
The Japanese government tried to instill confidence through large-scale stimulus packages. It built new roads and bridges, even when they weren’t completely necessary, and by doing so, created new jobs. These efforts helped boost the economy, but it wasn’t enough to lift it out of the malaise—in fact, they just added to the country’s deficit in the long run.
What finally helped was the quantitative easing program Japan’s central bank began in 2001, which would last until 2006. By 2003, GDP reached a healthy 2% clip, and exports grew once again, due in large part to China’s emergence into the global marketplace, since many of China’s products depended on Japanese parts.
What Lessons Can Other Economies Learn from Japan’s Lost Decade?
The 2007–2008 Financial Crisis had shades of Japan’s Lost Decade written all over it: This time, the asset bubble was created by the U.S. housing market, fueled by toxic subprime mortgages. When the Federal Reserve began a series of interest rate hikes, many subprime borrowers, whose loans were tied to adjustable-rate mortgages, quickly saw their monthly bills shoot up, and millions of homeowners defaulted as a result.
Banks had made profits by pooling these loans into mortgage-backed securities, which were traded by investment banks around the world, and as the mortgages imploded, a series of dominoes began to fall, which affected investors up the ranks of the securities markets: Banks experienced a credit crunch, and investment banks, such as Lehman Brothers, declared insolvency. The crisis affected financial markets around the world and would usher in the Great Recession.
With Ben Bernanke at the helm, the Federal Reserve took notes from past crises and acted swiftly—and by doing so, some say Bernanke helped to avoid deflation and the economic stagnation that had plagued Japan for so long.
The Fed cut the Fed funds rate to 0% for an unprecedented 6-year period between 2008 and 2014. It also implemented a series of quantitative easing measures. The U.S. Congress approved a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which provided emergency aid to banks as well as underwater borrowers. In 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed, safeguarding consumers from predatory home lenders and limiting banks to the amount of speculative trading they could undertake.
The U.S. economy was jump-started again by the middle of 2009—quite a speedy turnaround compared to Japan’s.
Related links below
Reverend Moon Rises Above Ailing Businesses (1999) Washington Post: Moon’s Japanese Profits Bolster Efforts in U.S. (1984) Japan & US at G7 can bask in multilateral momentum (2023)
The Lingering Tragedy of Japan’s Lost Generation by Roland Kelts (on Tetsuya Yamgami and the "lost generation") US, Philippines, Japan set to hold first-ever joint naval drills (2023) Japan to join Salaknib drills between PH, US armies (2023) Even in South Korea, Few Know Extent of Rev. Moon’s Empire (1988) US-Funding in Post-War Japan Why do these Japanese UC women agree to these brokered marriages?
#history#japan#japanese politics#economy#china#neoliberalism#japanese culture#politics#capitalism#lost generation#lost decades#lost decade
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The Essential Guide to Buying Your First Tea Set
New Post has been published on https://thekitchnpro.com/the-essential-guide-to-buying-your-first-tea-set/
The Essential Guide to Buying Your First Tea Set
How many times have you found yourself wanting to enjoy a nice cup of tea while at home, but didn’t have the proper accessories? It happens to me all the time! Although I’ve got plenty of mugs and teapots, I’ve always lacked an actual tea set. Well, not anymore! With this handy guide, you can learn everything you need to know about choosing your first tea set so that your next afternoon or evening can be spent enjoying this classic hot beverage.
What is a Tea Set?
A tea set is a collection of teacups, teapots, and other accessories used to prepare and serve tea. They are usually not meant for anything else than drinking tea, but there are exceptions. The most common types of tea sets are glass tea sets for glass teapots, ceramic tea sets for porcelain or bone china teapots, and stainless steel tea sets for stainless steel teapots. There’s no real best type.
A tea set can vary in size, but it’s typically comprised of teacups, saucers, and a teapot. It’s perfect for an afternoon cup of tea when you want to share with family or friends. But not all tea sets are made equal. So how do you choose which one is right for you? Here’s everything you need to know when shopping for your first tea set.
What Are Some Popular Brands?
To get started, you’ll want to figure out how many pieces you need. While most tea sets include four teacups and saucers, some sets only come with three. This might not seem like a big deal, but when hosting larger groups of people you’ll find yourself in need of more dishes. Some popular brands are Sango and Noritake, but it just depends on your taste. There are lots of different styles out there that can match almost any aesthetic!
Buy Now!
What Are Some Popular Types of Tea Set?
Whether you’re a connoisseur or a newbie, there are many different types of tea. At their core, though, all teas share some common traits: They’re made from either Camellia sinensis or a variety of other plants and they need hot water to steep. Beyond that, all bets are off—teas range from black and green varieties to white and oolong teas, with an entire spectrum in between.
The first step is simply figuring out what kind of tea you like—herbal or regular, black or green, caffeinated or decaf. Once you know that, it’s easy to look for a set that will suit your taste and needs. If you prefer herbal teas and live alone, a smaller individual size may work best.
Buy Now!
How Much Should I Spend?
You can find great deals on teacup sets at your local yard sales, estate sales, and thrift stores. But if you’re not in a rush to buy something, shopping online is usually cheaper. It’s much easier to find products through search engines than through physical retail shops. Start searching for a teacup set today!
There are plenty of cheap teacups out there, but if you’re planning on making a serious commitment to tea drinking, it’s worth investing in something that will last. A basic teacup set shouldn’t cost more than $20—though you can pay upwards of $100 for higher-quality china, which is ideal if you plan on using your cups every day.
Where Can I Buy One?
If you’re looking for a teacup set, you can buy it online on Amazon. There are tons of sellers, but be sure to check reviews before ordering. It’s also important that your tea set is made of porcelain or bone china and the Japanese Tea Set is also pretty suitable for you—other materials can damage your teeth when drinking a hot liquid.
As a trusted online seller of kitchen products and other necessary kinds of stuff, here at Petra Shop, we’re also selling Japanese Tea Set that you’re going to surely like. Most importantly we are offering Free Shipping all over the world. So grab the opportunity and make your first purchase with us and make a strong relationship with us!
Check out our best-selling Tea Set here:
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So, @randombtsprincessa tagged me in her Tulip Tagged Games, so here we go!
1. Three Current Ships:
1st- Sesshomaru x Sango (Inuyasha): Non-canon as all hell, but I loved this ship back in the day. My daughter has discovered anime, and I'm doing a rewatch of Inuyasha with her and rediscovered the love. Thankfully, people produce fics for this pairing.
2nd- Killi x Tauriel or Killiel (The Hobbit movies): I've been a fan of this pairing from the very moment they shared the movie screen together, and I still am now. The Hobbit was in DESPERATE need of female characters as there were zero in the book, and so Tauriel is a movie only character and their romance is movie verse only. I love the gender flip dynamics on this one. There's an age gap, she's the older one because she's an elf and he's a dwarf. There's a height difference, she's the taller one because, again, she's an elf and he's a dwarf. There is the badass and damsel dynamic, but she's the badass and he's the damsel in distress.
3. Siuan x Morraine (The Wheel of Time): I'll be upfront, I do NOT like the books, but I enjoy the TV series. This pairing has everything, longing, secrecy, tragedy, redemption, sexy hotness, and the fact that they were made for each other. This is a WLW pairing, and I am an unabashed femslasher. I guess I will take this time to bemoan the fact that great WLW pairings get next to no love in fandom while MLM pairings are panted after with an intensity that borders on the desperate. As a queer woman I say this: Tis not fair.
2. First Ship:
Kazami x Sui (NP by Banana Yoshimoto): As a bisexual girl growing up in a time where gay and lesbian representation was few and far between, there was even less about bisexuality. NP was a novel about a young Japanese woman named Kazami Kano who was struggling with, among other things like translating a short story that seems to result in the suicide of everyone who tries to translate it, the notion that she might be bisexual and that she might be attracted to and want to date a woman named Sui. This was the first time I REALLY shipped a pairing, that I invested beyond the norm in a couple. I was just so happy to see this depiction of emerging bisexuality in a young woman, that I gobbled it up. I still own this book, and every now and then, I will reread it.
3. Last Song I Listened To:
Artemis by Lindsey Stirling
4. Last Movie I Watched:
I just rewatched The Old Guard on Netflix with Charlize Theron. Can't wait for the sequel to come out this year!
5. Currently Reading:
The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbot: It's a gossipy true crime/history book about bootleggers, murder and Prohibition in 1920's Cincinnati, Ohio. What can I say? Crime is always classier when it's in the 1920's.
6. Currently Watching:
I just finished, as in yesterday, season 1 of Surreal Estate on Hulu. It's a SciFi network show about a fictional real estate agency that specializes in selling haunted houses. It's not a Ghost Hunter style show, it's a regular horror/comedy show. It's really fun and everyone should watch it. Season 2 will be released sometime this year.
7. Currently Consuming:
I just ate 3 pieces of Godiva chocolate that I got for Valentine's Day and drank a passion fruit La Croix.
8. Currently Craving:
Like any good Jew on a cold and windy day, I am craving shakshuka. Which are yolky eggs cooked in tomatoes, with peppers, garlic, other spices, and at least in my family, served over rice.
Now to tag some other people!
@bts-hyperfixation @stillthecozywhaleshark @reliablemitten @thebirdmum
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✦ DAVIKA HOORNE, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER ✦ LAILA SAELIM the THIRTY year old has been in Hidehill for For 30 and was a ACQUAINTANCE to Miyeon Kang, the murder victim. Whispers on the streets are that the OWNER OF CLAYMORE/HEIRESS TO SAELIM CO. who lives in HARLOW ESTATES are said to be STEADFAST and SARCASTIC but I guess we’ll find out for ourselves.
connections ( below ) / visuals / musings / threads
demographics
name: laila ( pronounced LIE-LAH ) saelim / age: 30 / gender: female + she, her / occupation: owner of claymore + heiress to saelim co. / hometown: hidehill / neighborhood: harlow estates / ethnicity: thai / languages: english, thai, japanese / sexual orientation: bi-sexual, bi-romantic / relationship status: single
apperance
hair: black / eyes; hazel / build: slender / height: 5′9 / tattoos: crescent moon on ribcage / piercings: lobes
background
father: richard saelim ( business man / mother: linette saelim ( retired model ) / siblings: one older brother ( open wc )
personality
steadfast, creative, curious, wistful, sarcastic, indifferent, impulsive, critical
headcannons
✗ was a child model from ages of 9-17 before her father forbade it entirely
✗ her mother was a supermodel, almost everyone in the industry knew her, and still does and has quite the influence in the fashion industry.
✗ laila looks like the splitting image of her mom and she still continues to get calls and emails from fashion heads and brands to model for them but she doesn’t miss modeling at all
✗ everyone mostly knows laila as the former model or the daughter or a model and a business mongol
✗ doesn’t want to do the family business, her passion had always been medicine but her father wouldn’t pay or send her to medical school
biography
✗ the saelims have been in hidehill since the moment the town was founded. in fact, they can easily be categorized as one of the families who have found the town. laila’s ancestors come from wealth spanning from generations back in thailand. her great, great, great grandparents initially began a large real estate business in their native home before it expanded into investments into nightclubs, restaurants, and luxury chain hotels that is carried by laila’s father, richard saelim in hidehill. it’s not a stretch to say that the saelim’s are one of the wealthiest families in the world with how her father has continued to expand the business & they’re known in all of tennessee and all of the us and asian countries
✗ as a result of their wealth and status in hidehill their company saelim co. owns large amounts of property through the tennessee, and several homes in harlow estates which her family rents out to visitors & tourists, etc. their mostly widely known for their hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants. until they’ve been dipping their toes into the bar business and when laila was a young girl, they had bought the rather upscale claymore bar which is now run by laila herself
✗ her parents were an arranged match made by their families due to their position in town, it only made sense that they form an alliance that mutually benefited both families. neither of them wanted it course, because richard was a man who enjoyed is freedom and didn’t wish to settle down so early. it was no surprise that he was hidehill’s most sought out bachelor, not only did he have the looks but the charm & wealth which only made him all the more attractive to the mothers who wanted their daughters to marry well. the winner would be her mother, linette, a woman who was displeased with being forced into an arranged marriage but there’s no choice to be made. she was expected to do as her parents wanted, even though she would have picked a life of her own making for herself which was to remain unmarried
✗ as expected, her parents marriage was a far cry from perfect. due to this being against their wishes entirely, they had their issues and perhaps too many arguments. they really had no choice but to make it work, so that’s what they had attempted to do. it had taken five years into their marriage to produce a child, which was laila’s older brother and three years later, she came. things weren’t perfect, but the couple made it work. that’s only because their parents had placed a clause that they wanted grandchildren if they were to inherit the family wealth and two grandchildren appeased laila’s grandparents. so they obeyed if only to continue living their privileged life.
✗ the saelim children might have grown up with a silver spoon in their mouths, but their childhood consisted of being raised by nannies that were replaced each month with whatever excuse their parents came up with that time. they seemed disinterested in raising their children but expected nothing less than perfection from them. for a time laila did what they wished, being the ideal daughter, excelling in school , anything that would garner their attention until she realized that would never happen. her parents wanted to live their lives with freedom and as a result they spent little time with their kids
✗ her mother especially missed her modeling career, the way she could easily jet off on vacations with her friends. once she married that freedom was all but moot because laila’s father didn’t want his wife to be photographed in various states of undress and racy images of her across papers & magazines. he was a progressive man in many ways, but still traditional in other ways. it resulted in a mother that was not so attached to her children, since in her mind they were also in part responsible for the end of a life she had wanted for herself. her kids was a constant reminder of the life she lost
✗ it hurt to see her mother's indifference, and though she knew deep down linette loved her, it didn't change the fact that amara was viewed as an obligation. for that reason, she never had a normal relationship with her mother. the only interest her mother took in her was her career, as if she were living vicariously to her daughter. believing she'd win her mother if she pleased her, amara did exactly that, becoming a model in her teens ( which she didn't want to do until richard forbade her daughter to be doing such a thing once she began to grow out of her adolescence. so laila had endeavored to make her father proud but he was more interested in her older bother, his son because he’d be the heir to their fortune. in his father’s eye, her brother was the golden child
✗ because her brother was managing their more older businesses, her father hand handed the claymore bar to laila, and though she has little interest in her family business, but its what her parents expect of her. she thinks that one day if she proves herself her father may take an interest in her.
✗ the news of the murder of a friend, Miyeong of her mother’s had come as a shock, laila didn’t know the woman personally, but due to her friendship with linette, she’d gotten to know her enough to feel sad at her passing. miyeong was woman and didn’t deserve to be murdered in cold blood. she fears for the safety of her family and her friends - all of her cherished ones.
THE SECRET ( tw: abortion )
loneliness was her companion as a child at home , so whenever she could she spent her time with her friends. that same loneliness and thirst for love pushed her towards a married man who doted on laila. she met him at a young age & had gotten involved with a married man despite her better judgment until she ended up pregnant, he made her promises that he'd leave his wife, but when this news dropped of her pregnancy he had left her and threatened her to drop the child. though amara didn't want to abort the child, she had no choice because she was too young to be caring for a child and not to mention the punishment she’d receive if her parents ever found out.
CONNECTIONS
platonic + friendships
best friend — ( this person has been in her life a long time and someone she cares for above all ) ;;
confidant — ( someone she can confide in without any hesitation ) ;;
partner in crime — ;;
friends — ( people she genuinely enjoys being around ) ;
found family ( people she's grown to think of as family ) ;;
a elder brother, mother, and father figure to her ( s he isn't close to her parents, she also wished for siblings ) ;;
a good influence;;
a bad influence;;
bandership;;
gym/ workout buddy ;;
hiking buddy;;
anything else !
work
colleagues ( from her modeling work as a teenager ) ;;
employees at claymore bar
regulars @claymore
her father is an actor and entrepreneur so perhaps they know each other through that , business partners of her father & friends of her mother
negative
frenemy — ( someone who isn't friends with her but they love to verbally spar with each other, bantering is usually what they end up doing );;
enemies — ( for whatever reason, they don't like laila , perhaps they've wronged her, or she's wronged them ) ;;
a rival;;
any sort of negative connection really !!
romantic
ex's on good terms ( open to male, female, nonbinary ) ;;
ex's bad terms ( open to male, female, nonbinary ) ;;
former flings/hook-ups/ one night stands ( open to male, female, nonbinary ) ;;
slow burn;;
skinny lover;;
flirtationship;;
unrequited crush ( either on her side or your muse’s );;
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