#amazon made a big mistake cancelling this show..

[leescheyenne]

Guildford + Consent

[colethewolf]

Jeff Davis is insufferable and he knows that he screwed himself. This deal with Paramount was supposed to be 3 Teen Wolf movies, the Wolf Pack show, and a new reboot/adaptation of a show called Aeon Flux that Jeff was going to produce. And now, all 3 are totally dead in the water.

As usual, I blame Jeff. I think that had he actually put time and effort into the movie, it wouldn't have been such a catastrophe. And even though Paramount is cheap as hell, they might have given Jeff a chance to continue this deal HAD the movie sparked rave reviews.

Instead, that movie didn't even have a finished script until the 2nd to LAST WEEK of filming. Jeff took absolutely no care in what he was creating. He just threw a bunch of shit into a blender and let it spill all over. And then tried to say that the movie was a "love letter to fans" in hopes that it would entice fans to not rail against how bad it was.

It was a BIG mistake to not have a finished script in hand before asking OG cast members to return, because Dylan O'Brien would have brought in major views and good reviews. But Dylan famously said in an interview that he passed on returning because it felt rushed & he preferred to just leave Stiles where he ended in the series.

WELP.

Jeff had the opportunity to write a wonderful send off to every character from the show & he decided to bullshit his way through his one shot at a movie. Had Jeff actually sat down and listened to what fans actually LIKED, he couldn't crafted a good movie that appealed to the OG audience that made the show popular in the first place.

BIG mistake in not letting Sterek go canon in the OG series, but instead waiting to do that whole "oh, Derek has complicated feelings about Stiles' JEEP" for giggles. Sterek would've done numbers on TV back when the only queer rep in teen shows was fucking BLAINE AND KURT. And hell, Jeff probably could've used that popularity to land himself EP of a spinoff with Dylan and Hoechlin as leads.

WELP.

What's funny is that Teen Wolf really was the only lucrative thing that Jeff has under his belt. And he knows that. Which is why he thought he was going to get some success doing ANOTHER show about teenage werewolves...only for that show to majorly suck ass and get cancelled after 1 season.

But now, Paramount owns the rights to Jeff's version of Teen Wolf, including all of the characters not from the OG Teen Wolf (the films), because those rights belong to Amazon. Which means Jeff effectively can't do anything with the legacy of the ONE show that actually made people look his way.

I can't help but feel like this is Jeff getting his toys taken away because he was busy throwing them around the room instead of playing nicely with them. So, now he doesn't get to play with those toys anymore. And he doesn't have any friends who want to play with him either, because he spent 10+ years alienating and bullying the fans who would've gladly followed him onward to watch new shows he created.

This mf Jeff Davis REALLY SAID AND I QUOTE "If I have to write he bared his fangs and snarled, one more time I'm going to blow my brains out."

OH REALLY? If you hate the fandom/franchise that much (which it definitely showed in your writing for the movie thank you very much) then why even pick it back up in the first place?

Just dumb as hell.

Basically paramount is broke and don't wanna pay and it was cheaper to pay Jeff to go away LMAO.

At this point imma continue the story in my fanfic writing which you can find on wattpad. I'll post that link later... as for now, listen to this bullshit.

I'm not surprised, but I'm sad for Derek Hale fr. I'm sad for this Fandom as well. We all deserve better than this shit.

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. LO also completely fell off the amazon lists so?? idk i was under the impression with all the exclusive merch and how hard they were pushing it for literal months surely it would have gotten farther. maybe most of the readers didnt want to buy one copy and then ANOTHER copy for another cover and just knew it wasnt worth it when they could just read it for free anyway? like its basically a collector item and i think they overshot not realizing the fans arent book collectors.

2. im no publisher but i think the webtoons team kinda fucked up on this book. they split it between hardback and paperback, so that automatically splits sales, but they also made a B&N exclusive cover, so that splits sales again, but then they kept adding pins and signed nameplates (???) that people ended up cancelling preorders and maybe forgot to reorder so no wonder it sort of tumbled?? plus its a niche product anyway that most would rather read on their phones for free. What a mess.

3. tbh lo persephone just ... isnt a character. shes the best at everything, everyone loves her, the narrative always excuses her, she has no flaws and every problem she causes it just hand-waved or blamed on someone else. every other character only exists to love her, excuse her, or be punished for not kissing her feet. she has no goals or ambitions or hobbies, much less a real place in the story, she just exists.

4. Maybe I'm too simplistic, but I do think it's possible to write HxP where Persephone can love Hades AND Demeter. I'm just sad LO is following that same trend of making their relationship cruel and abusive with Persephone wanting nothing to do with her and revolving her world solely around Hades. Though this time it comes with Hades also being just as cruel to Demeter off his weird Kingly entitlement Rachel seems to think is charming over off-putting.

5. lets be frank here. persephone didnt start suddenly looking more mature, rachel just made all the woman now all just look as young as persephone to give the fake allusion shes actually not a baby faced teenager. she still looks and acts like a child.  shes actually gotten worse in both regards since s2 started.

6. Ik this is stupid but I find ir funny how Hestia, Athena and Artemis in the trial arc are dressed si ugly they look like they're going to church instead of an "important event" like judging a goddess for conspiracy and mass murder

7. i know LO doesnt really try to be remotely accurate but the "queen" look for persephone is just insultingly removed from greek elements. an aureole effect would be a nice touch, but instead its just some generic pink pouty woman with red eyes that blend into her skin and shes just in a cheep looking stick tiara and a boring black dress that of course has to show off her breasts. its supposed to be this regal look to the dread queen but it just looks like a rushed halloween costume instead.

8. Lo popularity made me so... Disappointed? I thought we are living in a world where feminists achieved more than that. Come on story about a barely adult naive girl getting together with an old capitalist douche with a big power imbalance would never be progressive nor feminist no matter how you write it. Up to this day I can't understand how people can like this narrative and how can they not see all the obvious issues! Just because it's labeled as feminist it doesn't mean it is, open your eyes

9. I have the feeling as if LO in more concerned of the aesthetics than actual plot. I'm not sure how to word it better. I mean its something New. It can also be good like doing visual metaphores to Show something when dialogue isn't good enough.

But LO doesn't seem to be able to do anything else

I just wanted to put that out there since i've been thinking about this for a long time and i don't feel like anypne has brought it up yet.

10. pt.1 I immediately want to apologize for the mistakes, I don't know English well, because I'm from Russia. I really love reading your blog and I agree with many opinions. I would like to share my opinion about Mint and Hades. Hades just kept her by his side because no one wanted to be with him and reveled in his own insignificance. As soon as Persephone appeared on the horizon, he refused Mint as easily as the nymph who worked with him ... 

pt2. (the episode in which Mint came to Hades to sort out the office about the cap). I understand that they had an unhealthy relationship, but damn, it could have been played out differently. Many fans of LO repeat about the truthfulness of myths, but only in the case in which Mint will be humiliated and crushed.

pt3. And what about the wonderful baby Megara? Didn't Hades realize that she was in love with him? What prevented him from trying to start a relationship with her? Not everyone is attracted to their future partner right away, they could gradually develop their relationship and learn a lot from them.

[bifrostbookreviews]

How to Read 200 Books in 1 Year

Trust me, I’m a Professional

Note: this picture does not include every book I read, it’s just how many bookmarks I filled up in 2018.

Post below the Cut for Brevity:

So, I read 200 books in 2018. It was my third attempt to do so; in 2016 I read ~150, in 2017 I read ~110, and this year, come hell or high water, I was going to finish this stupid challenge so I’d never have to attempt it again.

I want to start this post off by saying I absolutely do not recommend reading 200 books in one year. I felt the book hangover in the very fibers of my being. I had to cancel plans so I could get my reading done. At one point, I had some personal things going on so I didn’t read for ~3 weeks when I was already behind, ended up like 26 books behind schedule and Goodreads was telling me I had to read 5 books a week to catch up and I was absolutely freaking out. There were books I couldn’t fully enjoy because I was pushing myself so hard to get to the end that I couldn’t just stop and process and enjoy them. It was annoying and I’m personally never doing this again. If you are on the fence about trying to do a challenge like this... don’t. Or pick something more reasonable, like 100-150 books.

That said, this post is written for the hardcore book nerds like me, where the struggle doesn’t matter, you just want to be so over the top in your book nerdiness you’re gonna attempt 200 books anyway. It took me 3 solid attempts to be successful, and I’ve learned a lot about what to do. I want to impart this knowledge out there, so anyone else trying it can have a general guide on how to get this done. 

Without further ado, here’s how to read 200 books in one year. These aren’t in particular order, they’re just written as they came to mind.

1. Understand what you’re getting into. This was the biggest mistake I made in the previous two years. There’s only 365 days in a year, and if you have 200 books to read, guess what? You basically have to finish a book every 2 days. You need to go in understanding that 3-4 hours of your day will be spent on uninterrupted reading every day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks in a row. That’s what it takes to pull this off, and the sooner you grasp that, the more successful you’ll be over all.

2. Read every genre / don’t read bad books / don’t be ashamed of short books / don’t avoid long books. I know this is a 4-in-1, but they all come down to the same thing: avoiding BOOK BURNOUT. I cannot stress this enough: do not go into this challenge thinking you’re only going to read books in one or two genres. You will drive yourself crazy. Even if in the past, you only read mysteries or you’re only here for YA, trust me when I tell you that you’ll get absolutely sick of your regular genre. Make sure you find books that are completely different from each other. Even if you don’t like them, it’s important to try and switch things up.

That said, don’t force yourself to slog through a book that you aren’t feeling. I give all of my books 50 pages to hook me, and if I’m not absolutely into it by then, I move on. I do this intentionally, because if I’m not enthralled, I become a slow, distracted reader, and then I fall behind, and then I’ll end up 2 weeks behind and it’s not even that I didn’t want to read, it’s that I didn’t want to read this one particular book. I will also sometimes give up at the halfway point and count them as read, because I gave them a solid chance and I’ve gleaned enough to write a Goodreads review about it and spent upwards of 3 hours on it.

I also want to talk about book length, as well. This also has a lot to do with pacing, which I’ll talk more about later so forgive me if this is wonky, but here goes. You need to read books that average a certain page limit. My personal reading limit is ~200 pages a day without inciting a major book hangover. This may be different for you, but it’s important that you become really familiar with where that boundary is, and pick books to read that are no more than twice your daily limit for your day to day reading. If you can muster 150 pages a day, then you should be reading ON AVERAGE books that are around 300 pages and finishing one every 2 days. 

That said, one of my life-savers when I got behind was keeping a stack of novellas, poetry collections, and Goosebumps on hand. There are going to be days you’re too busy to read; you will need emergency books that only take half an hour of reading to get through.

By the same token, don’t discard long books. The Game of Thrones series actually got me out of a reading slump in 2018 despite each book having 1,000+ pages. I just didn’t try to read them in 2 days; instead I would read 30 pages a day on days where I had wiggle room or some extra time to pick at it. I recommend doing the same on books that you really want to read but can’t justify reading all at once, because otherwise, you’ll just wind up frustrated that you’re reading things you don’t want to be.

3. Befriend and support your local indy bookstore. Fair warning, I’m biased, but hear me out. When you’re trying to read 200 books in one year, you need a HUGE supply of books. You’re going to read new books, old books, books you’ve wanted to read for years and books you’ve never heard of before. You’re going to get books online, through friends, through the library, through thrift stores--everywhere. You will be a reading machine. Even if you own 200 books and you get rid of them as you go, you’re going to end the year owning more books than you started with--trust me. You may not know it yet, but you’re signing up for this.

If you have a local independent bookstore, go talk to the employees/owners there. Their job is not to go mark clearance, scan things, rearrange endcaps, and try as hard as possible to avoid you interrupting their daily work task, like it is at any big box retailer. Their job is to find you exactly what you want to read. They will be your Book Person. They will know what books are hot right now, they will have more recommendations than you know what to do with, if they have used books and do a trade in program their books will be cheaper than anything you find online, and if you reeeally get to know them they will probably throw in books - particularly pre-published galleys - for free (don’t tell them I said that). They also sell incredibly discounted books; at my store, specifically, we have a whole cart of books that are $1 each, and multiple bookcases of used hardcover books $3 each. It can be a lifesaver if you’re attempting this challenge on a budget.  

4. Read on different formats. Research shows that the majority of people read faster on digital devices than they do on paper, but that their comprehension is cut in half. I’m sure right now you’re probably thinking “ok, you just said to support local bookstores; why are you telling me to read on Kindle? Amazon is evil.” First off, you can procure e-books through the websites of some indy bookstores (like mine), which supports us and which we greatly appreciate. Second of all, there’s a lot of books offered online that simply aren’t available in bookstores (ex Chuck Tingle novellas). And third, I DO NOT recommending doing ALL of your reading on e-readers; your comprehension is going to suffer. With all of that said, I personally read twice as fast on my Kindle than I do reading the physical copy of a book (I tested it). It’s something to keep in mind.

5. Keep a steady pace / accept that you’ll fall behind / DON’T BINGE READ! I touched on this earlier with book length, but it’s SO, SO important to maintain a steady pace. What I ended up doing - and wish I had done from the beginning - was on any given book, I’d see how many pages total it had and mark the exact halfway point. That was how far I had to read. The next day, I knew I had to read to the end. Rinse, lather, repeat.

So what happens when you have a couple off days and you don’t get your reading done and now you’re behind? Your first inclination, I can tell you from experience, will be to try and catch up. ‘I can read 400 pages in a day,’ you’ll scoff before eating an entire book like it’s no different from a Netflix binge watch. Now you’re caught up. Problem solved... except it’s not, because the next day, you’re not going to want to look at a book. You’ve won yourself a book hangover, and you’re going to wind up even more behind than you started.

This is the reason why it’s important to keep short books on hand. Instead of binge reading, maintain your pace. Read your short books when you’re behind. If there’s a book you have to give up on, use the day to get farther in whatever long book you’re reading. DO NOT try to jack your pace beyond your daily limit and tell yourself that you can binge read without consequences. You can do that when you’re not doing this challenge.

6. Use a focus app. So this is my final advice, and it was an absolute lifesaver. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to complete this challenge without the Forest app on my phone. There are other focus apps that work just as well, but that’s the one I use. The way the focus app works is that you set a timer and it blocks you from using your phone until the timer goes off. In the case of Forest, it plants a tree and any time you unlock your phone it gives you a message like “stop phlubbing!” or “get back to work!” If you complete the timer, it plants a tree in your forest. If you ignore the timer and go on Facebook, it plants a dead tree in your forest.

I used to be really addicted to my phone and I would waste so much time just scrolling through social media or sending random texts, w.e, but because of this app all of my distractions were eliminated and I was able to consistently eke out time for my reading. I normally set 45 minute timers and I would usually be done with my scheduled reading within 3 or 4 rounds. Honestly, even if you’re not trying this challenge, I still recommend a focus app. It’s just a game changer with anything you’re trying to get done.

So yeah, that’s all. If you’ve kept on till the end, thank you SO MUCH! I know this is the longest post EVER, but reading 200 books a year isn’t easy--and I’m talkative. Please let me know if you’re trying this challenge out, or if you’re trying another challenge! How many books are you reading this year? Have you tried this before? Let me know.

[quickreaver]

Kripke speaks!

So last weekend I dragged my long-suffering husband to Toledo, Ohio to visit their absolutely amazing art museum (seriously, if you get a chance, visit it; it's stunningly good), but also, because hometown boy Eric Kripke was giving a talk there. A free talk. Two hours from me. I was excite! 

Okay, so … Toledo. First time I've actually been in the city, vs. just driving past. It's a ramshackle area, but to explore it is to reveal, in some small way, where Kripke and SPN came from. Smallish and hanging on by its fingernails, Toledo squats like an old cemetery in the shadows of the huge BP Oil refinery. If you head north, you hit Lake Eerie, which—this time of year—isn't awful. If you head south, you're in the middle of nowhere. Every other building seems to be derelict. Toledo's 'historic homes' district is chock full of Victorian painted ladies that have seen far better days, the colors peeling and the yards weedy, but they're still some of the most gingerbreaded, neo-Gothic delights I've seen in a long time.

( (The stupid watermark-like blur is the back of my phone. Should've rolled down the window, duh.)

The industry in town is the aforementioned oil refinery, glass factories, the University of Toledo and a whiff of tourism. So you end up with this strange amalgam of artiness, decay, and working class valor. I dig it. It's very early-season's SPN. I totally get where Kripke was coming from.

(A supposedly haunted building in downtown Toledo, the Pythian Castle.)

Kripke himself is an unassuming, warm, funny guy. The first few rows in the museum's auditorium were reserved for his family and friends, including past grade-school teachers. The majority of the audience was SPN fans, quite obviously, and not young ones either. It was a mix of ages, but far and away the crowd skewed older. If anyone yaks on about fandom only being for the young, or that the future of the SPN fandom is the 16-24 year olds, don't believe them. I did a bit of a live-tweet of his SPN-topical points, which I won't repeat here but you can hit my twitter and follow the #KripkeSpeaks tag for the highlights: https://twitter.com/hashtag/kripkespeaks?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash Lemme see if I can distill the talk down to a few points here, though. He worked very, very hard to get where he's at, and that hard work—regardless of failure—is what opened a lot of doors. That tenacious Midwest work ethic. No matter how small the job, he did it 200%. He slept on floors, he made huge mistakes, he kept his eyes open for serendipitous forks in the road. You've got to have a freight train mentality, but never … never … think you've got it mastered. Lean into the fear. There were two sticking points in his tenure with SPN that he was ready to quit over: when the WB (the CW's predecessor) wanted to ax the classic rock soundtrack, and in one of the episodes (he didn't specify which one), there was a flashback to young Sam and Dean, and the network didn't want to do it. Kripke simply said, “Then I quit.” And he meant it. “You've gotta mean it, or you have no bargaining chip.” Needless to say, the network caved. But he would've walked over either of those situations if the network hadn't conceded. Kripke always loved comedy, and wrote comedy script after comedy script, to no real avail. But he was getting recognized as someone who did solid work. He was a writer's assistant or some such lower level employee when they needed someone to write a script in a pinch. It was horror, but Kripke shrugged and said “What the hell, I'll do it!” It succeeded far better than any of his comedies. He'd been dreaming and fine-tuning his SPN idea for years, and that horror script got him in front of some big names, finally. They didn't like the idea of the heroes being reporters—it felt like a rehashed “Kolchak, the Night Stalker” to them—but then on the fly, he made the leads brothers. In a muscle car. He plucked inspiration from his Toledo childhood. And the big names perked right up. (The stuff he offered “on the fly” had been notes he'd scribbled in the margins of his script. Never let those gems go; you never know when they'll come in handy!) For me, the biggest take-away was “Show me a confident writer, and I'll show you a bad one.” Now, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't know your worth, that you shouldn't love what you do. Plow forward like a freight train, do your very best work, but never stop learning. If think you're the hottest thing since the Pet Rock, well … whatever happened to those Pet Rocks, anyways? When someone crows too loudly about their own expertise, their own authority, they've likely stopped learning. You miss so many opportunities if you think there's only one way to do things. His next TV adventure, Revolution,, was very stressful and fraught with challenges, but he still did his damnedest to make it succeed. When it got canceled, though, he wasn't disappointed. Timeless was far more of a joy to create. That one, he was sad to see go. Then he showed the trailer for his newest show (to be available on Amazon Prime) and it looks sooooo good. The Boys. He's working with the gang that developed Preacher, and sounds like it has that same iconoclastic, dark-humored vibe. YUM. So Kripke gets to exercise his comedy chops after all! (Though, really, SPN had some fantastic comedy moments too. Who says the horror genre has to take itself so seriously?) He took a handful of questions afterwards, during which he revealed he'd love to participate in the last season/episode if his contract will allow. TULPA THIS SHIT, Y'ALL. I had to split at that point because my husband had been patient enough and I was getting hangry and itching to see the museum, but Kripke hung around for autographs. Like the good egg he is. The industry needs more writers like Kripke. I enjoyed the heck out of Toledo, and him.

[michalwu]

Best of 2018 in TV

Another year passed and again I watched a lot of good quality tv. I think that although again it was very hard to choose my top 10 this year was a little bit less intense than previous. Still I had to do a short list of places 20-11 because I couldn’t resist not to mention a few more productions. That said remember I’m not a critic. I watch thinks I like not because I have to and this list is totally subjective though I tried to be fair. I watched over 50 series from 2018 and that’s the results:

20-11 (in random order)

The Affair (season 4), Atlanta (season 2), Homecoming, ACS: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Killing Eve, One Day at the Time (season 2), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Maniac (season 2), Legion (season 2), AHS: Apocalypse.

10. Anne with and E (season 2)

I never was a huge fan of the book as a kid but I read it as mandatory lecture in primary school. But I am a huge fan of this series. Beautiful placement of the plot plus very talented young cast with leading Amybeth. The best part of the story for me always was the dynamics of Anna's relationship with her adopted parents.

9. Patrick Melrose

What an absolutely outstanding trio of actors: Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugo Weaving and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Plus another young talent this year Seabstian Maltz who as a young Patrick is giving one of the most dramatic performence of the year. Creators did justice to the novel.

8. The Deuce (season 2)

This was one of the most enjoyable series this year. I love the period it shows and since the first season I started to develop a sympathy for all those characters especially for Candy. Too bad the series seems to be forgotten this year by critics. In my opion it came back in a lot better shape than last year. It’s funnier, it’s faster and the whole fuss around making porno adaptation of Red Riding Hood is just captivating.

7. Sharp Objects

Another great limited series and another proof of my love to the craftsmanship of brilliant Jean-Marc Vallée. The story from book was kinda predictable and tacky. But thanks to the director who is an expert of showing emotions and dilemmas from the past plus the cast of three great actresses made it into phenomenal work. I am really looking forward to see more projects from cooperation of Mr. Vallee and HBO because so far it brings only true treasures.

6. Barry

I was always a fan of Bill Harder on SNL and his (usually) small roles in comedies. So then I found out that he’s making his own show I kept my fingers crossed for the success. And the results are better than expected. Barry is a great combination of drama and comedy. It sound like things we see lately very often but Barry is the best mix of two this year (not to mention animated series). Why? Because drama is real (he’s a seriall killer with many very hard moral choices to make) and the comedy provided (mostly) by Henry Winkler is just a poor gold. Well done.

5. The Haunting of  Hill House

I’m not a big horror enthusiast but I do have a soft spot for those stories in classical form. And what’s more classic than beautiful, old, and huge haunted house. I fell in love with this series and it’s so much better than the previous movies. This one is actually very far from the original story written by Shirley Jackson but it capture the atmosphere the best. Separation of episode focusing on different from five siblings was a great idea. From non-believer to the most affected of the kids the story became more and more intense and scary. I honestly was scared almost the whole time. Still I tried to play with creators and watch for all  the hidden ghosts in the background. The secret of Bent Neck Lady was haunting me for a while and even after finishing the series it all stayed with me in my mind. This was my favorite new series of the year. I’d love to see it again in other form, maybe as anthology like AHS. With this cast yes please!

4. GLOW (season 2)

It’s so nice today that we can get such a smahing tv show this such a huge female cast. I love this series and those Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling since season 1. I always enjoy it when show or movie takes me to another peroid of time and GLOW blend us into into that reality of 80 like nothing else. We had so many exctiting things this season with Debbie becoming single mother after divorce, Sam Silvia trying himself as a father and the whole team becoiming more and more like a crazy family (recording of intro in the mall was amazing). In real life I’m not really intrested in wrestling (like at all) and though it probably differs a lot than reality I loved those duels bethween characters. Episode Mother of All Matches is one of the best in 2018.

3. BoJack Horseman (season 5)

Oh how I love this show and this character. And before anyone judge me I don’t love BoJack for being a walking disaster and misery. I love this character and many other on the show for the incredibly smart writing. He is a alcoholic, narcissus and washed-out tv star and that who he is. Just like Priness Caroline is an ambitious woman who will give up many things for career even if she know it won’t give her happines in the end. But that’s the greatest thing about this show and creators that they won’t change those characters and put them in unexpected positions just to get the wow factor from the viewers. They still find  a way to present those persons in fresh and captivating way but making it “in” the nature of the character. And that’s the fift season so congrats! And still we can count on them to give us some real gems like episode Free Churro which is a masterpiece of writing. The thing is this season of BoJack doesn’t stand out in specific way from other but it gives us the thing it always did and never disappoints - crazy rollercoaster ride.

2. Mozart in the Jungle (season 4)

When I said at the beginning that this list is totally subjective I meant it inter alia because of this series. Mozart IS my favorite tv series. I don’t know if the best but it always gave me the most joy when watching it adn that’s a pretty good determinant. Unfortunately I will have to start saying it WAS my favorite because Amazon cancelled series after this season. I’m still mad and disappointed because GoT is about to end so all platforms grab the money to invest in “next huge thing” (in case of Amazon it’s new Lord of the Ring..yeah we need it). But don’t get me wrong. I didn’t put Mozart this high because I’m mad and or to mark someone’s mistake. I just really loved this season. Placing the plot in Japan was bull’s-eye move. Rodrigo De Souza (favorite tv character next to Leslie Knope) as a boyfriend of Hailey was hilarious, a much as observing her way to become succesfull and independent artist. The scene when she debuts as conductor with piece “Hi” is maybe my favorite moment in whole season. Even stronger is her performence at the finale. Although I rooted for Hailey and Rodrigo as a couple I’m glad that creators didn’t go into cliche with their relationship. Another strong scene is the on at traditional tea ceremony. Of course as always the whole season was very firm from the music side (this series helped me to discover a little piece of classical music and I’m grateful for that). I will really miss this series. I think it could easily do another season especially now when creators decided to end this season in such an interesting place. Too bad...

1. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (season 2)

There’s nothing to explain... but I will ;) I compared all the series with each other and in my opinion there was nothing better that Mrs. Maisel this year. I enjoyed it last year but I didn’t even expected how much delight will it be to have it back. Visually it is the most beautiful thing in tv right now. And the writing as always is case of Amy Sherman-Palladino is just excellent. Those characters are so fast and wit it’s just a pleasure to observe them interact and discuss with much to many words and refrences than any normal person would use. And those actors really take it like a champs. All episodes in Paris was nice but it was nothing compre to Catskill where it felt like watching dirty dancing but with much better and more interesting story. I love the way Palladino direct her characters. How they develop especially Midge, her friendship with Susie and her realisation that stand-up comedy is not only the thing she want to do but it is something she will do for the rest of her life. Every time she stands in front of audience, camera or father himself she proves to be nailer and we as audience live for those moments! I really enjoyed see her parents in Paris as we could discover totally different side of them both and also new romance of Midge. But my favorite sequence of the season was Midge watching Lenny Bruce (Luke Kirby is so on point with this role) in last episode and realising it all (inconspicuous scene but made me waste a few tears). At the end I will add that I love the attitude towards the children presented in this series...irrational like many other things.

*******

Suming up in my list dominant are HBO and Netflix productions but in the end two first places go to Amazon.

Comapring with previous year there is no sign of Legion in top 10. Well season 2 was good, sometimes even great but not enough to get into the top. Beside there’s less new series on the list (seven in 2017, four this year) but we had some amazing comebacks.

I don’t have huge disappointments this year, maybe just a few. 1) Romanoffs were boring as hell and I really counted on Weiner. 2) Cancelling of many good series like Mozart in the Jungle or Daredevil. 3) Riverdale became so absurd that it beats and law of logic. I mean why it gotta be so intense?

[singingwordwright]

Trying to break the cancellation issue down: Week 2

Okay, so tonight I posted an entirely-too-long tweet thread on this issue, in which I recapped a lot of what I laid out in my post last week, as well some things I mentioned in response to an ask yesterday, and also new questions, information, and supposition. I thought I would try to lay it out here in a slightly more coherent issue.

First, however, I’m going to put it behind a cut. Because then if I have to edit any of this information, all the reblogs will link to the edited version instead of reblogging the incorrect/out-of-date version. Then I won’t have to make any future new posts on this subject.

Please keep in mind that this is all educated guessing. None of us know what’s really going on.

To recap what I laid out last week:

@freeform doesn’t own Shadowhunters. Freeform merely “leases” the domestic distribution rights from Constantin Film, who holds the adaptation rights.

(ETA 6/16/18) Freeform, however, has exclusive rights to this show indefinitely and it goes no where unless Freeform chooses to give them up. (this is a correction as I was mistaken before in believing the distribution rights would revert to Constantin after Freeform turned down Season 4)

@netflix doesn’t own Shadowhunters either. Netflix “leases” the international distribution rights from Freeform.

The money Netflix and Freeform pay Constantin for those rights funds production of the show.

Itunes, Amazon Video and Hulu all have domestic streaming of the show as well as Freeform.

Hulu likely acquires its streaming arrangement from Freeform, as the show carries the Freeform logo on Hulu. This makes sense; Disney owns part Hulu and all of Freeform.

I don’t know if Amazon and Itunes carry SH internationally, and I don’t know if they have their domestic streaming agreement from Freeform or from Constantin. I DO know they have a different streaming format than Freeform; you buy the episodes individually or the season entirely, rather than paying for a subscription service (I don’t think the show is on Amazon Prime as part of their subscription package, but I could be wrong.)

Something to keep in mind going forward:

Freeform is a business, and it’s going to be more helpful to us to regard this stance on the issue in terms of cost/benefit analysis, rather than assuming pettiness or malice or vindictiveness. I know having a villain in this scenario fires us up and keeps us raring for the fight, and we need that energy, but ultimately it’s not helpful in drilling down to the core issues and finding solutions.

Stupidity and tone-deafness are definitely sins we could probably fairly lay at their door, however. They have clearly underestimate both the passion of their audience and the importance of this show on a societal level, and those are tragic, foolish mistakes.

Shadowhunters and Freeform: A History:

As anyone who has ever looked at leasing versus buying a car or apartment will tell you, there are certain benefits to both arrangements, but usually in the long run it costs less to own something rather than to lease it. Which means that Freeform isn’t making as much money off SH as it is off the shows that are actually Freeform originals.

Why did Freeform acquire the distribution rights, then?

Well, ABC Family was intending to rebrand as Freeform and go after the millennial crowd, and it needed some new, edgier, more adult, more diverse, less family-oriented shows than The Fosters or whatever.

They also wanted to break into the streaming market instead of going with a live-airing-only model.

A show like Shadowhunters, based off a series of books their target audience enjoyed growing up, was obviously a good bet. Especially since that audience is largely comprised of binge-watching cord-cutters.

The goal, then, was to use Shadowhunters to draw the new audience in and to have it “shepherd” less established, Freeform-original franchises by hoping the SH viewers would stick around to watch whatever was in the 9pm time slot. And that worked well for them.

But once Freeform had a number of other, original shows doing somewhat well, the “benefit” side of the cost/benefit ratio began to decrease. It’s an expensive show to produce that isn’t performing well in live ratings and whatever money they’re making off it, they have to give a hefty portion of that to Constantin Film.

The cost (at least in terms of lost potential revenue) was further compounded by the fact that Shadowhunters was occupying a very coveted time-slot, 8PM, for 20 weeks of the year. That is a massive piece of prime-time real estate to give to a show that is no longer really needed to perform the functions they once required from it.

Malec_Immortal over on Twitter posted a pretty astute (if somewhat vitriolic) series of tweets about how you can identify the timeframe when Freeform made the decision to stop investing so heavily in Shadowhunters. YouTuber Trini did a side-by-side comparison of the effort the Freeform Twitter put into promoting s2 and the effort they put into promoting s3 and it couldn’t really be more blatant.) Now, maybe they might have continued with the show had season 3 performed better in the live ratings, but it’s obvious they were all about reducing their cost while trying to glean what dwindling benefit they could from it.

I think it’s clear that Freeform was still promoting the show up through August, at least, because the cast’s appearance at SDCC was an obvious investment that doesn’t appear to have been used to promote any other Freeform properties (though perhaps a few Disney ones) but by NYCC in October, it’s obvious that they had slotted SH into the role of mentor/veteran show whose primary purpose was to pull in viewers for Freeform’s other, wholly owned properties.

Perhaps if SH had performed well enough in live-airing views to justify a continued investment, Freeform wouldn’t have wanted to reduce their episode order for season 4, but that didn’t happen. At that point, the cost of continuing with a full 20-episode season outweighed the benefit. They tried to negotiate for a reduced season order, Netflix wasn’t happy with that, and now here we are.

Where does that leave us?

Freeform got the drop on everyone in terms of setting the narrative for this whole thing. They blamed it on Netflix for yanking out of their distribution deal and leaving Freeform holding the bag. In truth, however, it appears the only reason Netflix pulled out is because Freeform violated an agreement by demanding a shorter season for s4.

Which makes sense. Of course Netflix would want more and Freeform would want less; this show has always performed better on streaming and internationally than it has on live television.

I think it’s clear that somewhere along the way, Freeform (while not abandoning its streaming emphasis) has reverted to considering live-viewing ratings in its considerations. An obvious example is Beyond. Beyond performed well enough in its first season (shepherded, as it were, by Shadowhunters) to get a second season, but a large part of its success was the fact that it was dropped all at once for streaming-on-demand. For whatever reason, Freeform decided that wasn’t profitable and went to a different model for season 2, and Beyond performed abysmally and got the axe.

Unfortunately for us, they’ve been applying the Beyond-season2 model all along, which means Shadowhunters hasn’t been performing as well either by their calculations (though a great deal of that is down to reduced marketing and just using the show as a vehicle to promote other, Freeform-original properties. 

For all that they claimed it wasn’t about the ratings and was “purely economical” you can’t divorce the economics of a show from the ratings if you’re using a live-air-viewing model. They needed that coveted 8pm timeslot for something that would be more profitable. They could have moved SH to a less valuable time slot, but then it wouldn’t make them enough money to earn back what they were spending on the distribution license (which funds production.)

Yeah yeah yeah, but what does this mean for the show getting picked up?

To put it frankly, our biggest obstacle here on multiple fronts is season 3b. Specifically, it’s the fact that Freeform has pushed 3b back to Spring of 2019. That is screwing our efforts over, big time.

These are episodes that are already in the can. The final cut of 3x20 has been produced, according to Todd Slavkin. And these are episodes that Freeform owns and still hasn’t aired.

No one is going to want to acquire this show until 3b has aired. (Assuming Freeform is willing to let anyone acquire it.) Which means no one is going to want to acquire it until Summer of 2019. And we probably wouldn’t get season 4 until spring of 2020 at the earliest.

I can’t think of a single other show that has been canceled with half the season still month away from being aired like this. And if it has happened, it probably wasn’t picked up by anyone else (if at all) until after the season was done.

Look at it this way. It’s obvious from their CEO’s tweets that Constantin would love to see the distribution rights pass to someone else (probably Netflix.) Netflix may even be willing to pick them up (if Freeform is willing to sell,) considering that who Constantin’s CEO tagged in his tweets.

But what happens to those 10 episodes that are in the can? Whoever picks the show up has to wait until Freeform is done airing those eps before they can begin marketing, and probably even filming.

Maybe someone would be willing to pay Freeform for those eps, but that’s highly unlikely. What new network wants to start a show mid-season like that? And would they even be willing to pay enough for Freeform to recoup their losses on production AND potential losses on advertising? A new network will want the story to be in a place where new viewers who have never seen it before will be able to tune in and quickly pick up on what is going on, and considering the cliffhanger S3a left off on, that’s...not something anyone EXCEPT Netflix (or maybe Hulu or Amazon, who already have the previous episodes in their libraries) would want to pick up. That pretty much rules out...every other network.

Furthermore, again, the show has always done best streaming. Odds are good that ONLY a streaming service is going to want the show.

Some questions we need to ask:

Will whoever acquires the show be paying Freeform to “adopt” their distribution license, or will Freeform’s distribution license lapse and a new license need to be negotiated with Constantin? (ETA 6/16/18: we appear to have an answer on that.)

Also, CAN Freeform even get out of the plan to film/air the 2-hour finale at this point? The contract has probably already been negotiated. Unless they somehow have an option to back out of it, they’re committed.

So, it may be that they HAVE to make that episode. Which probably won’t begin filming until season 4 would have begun filming, probably around August.  Which probably means the earliest they could air the season/episode is in January and we would HAVE to wait until spring/summer of 2019 before anyone else can pick up this show. IF they’re willing to pick up this show. If potential buyers see interest has waned because of the long wait and general frustration and disgust, they’re not going to want the show.

Will potential buyers even be interested if the show has run out of book-based material? The 2-hour finale is supposed to wrap up the final book of the series, and while our main concern is that 2 hours won’t be enough to do all that material justice (especially with any non-book-based plotlines also needing to be resolved.) Any future seasons would, in essence, be a spin-off using the same characters. Can Constantin even do that with the adaptation rights?

So what do we do?

I’m not saying we should stop fighting, not at all, but I’m saying we need to conserve our energy because this is going to be a very long haul. It’s a situation that is messy and complicated beyond any other show that I’ve ever heard of being cancelled and picked up by another network. We very likely won’t see any fruit from our labors until after 3b and the finale air, whenever that may happen. I think with the negative publicity we’re generating, Freeform may find it useful to get us out of their hair sooner rather than later, but the time required to produce the finale ep is an issue there. 

We really need more answers to know how to most effectively apply pressure to get the show renewed. Our best bet for getting those answers is the same place we’ve gotten the information we have so far; interviews and articles. Some media outlets are already latching onto this story (and largely supporting us, or reporting that we’re not going away) but we need to keep making this A STORY in order to get them to report on it (and hopefully use their access to get more answers than we have.)

HOWEVER I could be wrong about any or all of this. OUR BEST BET IS TO CONTINUE BEING LOUD. DO NOT STOP TRYING TO GET THE SHOW PICKED UP.

[notourlasthunt]

Corporate Silence and the Shadowhunters Cancellation

Buzzfeed Community. June 25, 2018. 

To say the rumours surrounding Shadowhunters are messy is generous.

It's been over three weeks since the cancellation and the fans are desperate for news, but none of the companies involved- by rumour or otherwise- have made a statement in regards to the show. Something which should be manageable and simple, like knowing when the second half of season 3 is airing, is impossible to get a straight answer on. I personally reached out to Netflix after @NetflixFR tweeted that Shadowhunters was returning on 15th August, and the member of customer service I spoke to simply said I would have to check on 15th August and if it was there, it would be aired then, and if not, I would have to assume it will be released some other time.

Netflix also did not respond to the plane fans flew around their HQ in LA, with a '#SaveShadowhunters <3' banner flying behind it, which is a fairly substantial thing to not even acknowledge.

It follows a pattern of confusion surrounding the show since the cancellation.

Last week, when Freeform released and then retracted a press statement that the return of Shadowhunters was 16th August, which @SpoilerTV reported. Their VP of social media and marketing claimed that was 'not right' and still set for a spring 2019 return. Freeform has not mentioned the return of Shadowhunters since then, and has not commented on Netflix's 15th August (potential) air date yet.

It also follows an extraordinary amount of quiet.

Netflix have encouraged fans to 'request' the show on their website, but Freeform are the company that cancelled the show so their silence is understandable on that front. Amazon have encouraged emails to ask if the show will be considered.

However, the lack of response to everything else is astounding. The fans have raised very nearly $16,000 for the Trevor Project and a further $2,822 at last count through their merchandise store for three separate charities. Their petition has 132,000 signatures to date. They flew a plane over Netflix HQ, they've organised to have an ad on a billboard in Times Square. They should be impossible to ignore.

'Shadowhunters has everything it takes for a show to be successful. We just really hope that someone listens up and realizes why giving up on it right now is a big mistake'

-TV After Dark

Of course, it's entirely possible the fans are being more than heard- they're being listened to.

This silence might be an indication of movement behind the scenes. For the fans, a best case scenario would be that this unwillingness to speak stems from negotiations for a season 4. However, there's no evidence either way for that, and the speculation and rumour of renewal are currently only that. No official statement has been made.

After all this heartbreak, frustration and confusion, I'd suggest the only company that has a chance of fully winning back the trust and respect of the fans is the one that announces they're doing a fourth season.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover (AP) The mob that showed up at the president’s behest and stormed the U.S. Capitol was overwhelmingly made up of longtime Trump supporters, including Republican Party officials, GOP political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists, members of the military and adherents of QAnon. The Associated Press reviewed social media posts, voter registrations, court files and other public records for more than 120 people either facing criminal charges related to the Jan. 6 unrest or who, going maskless amid the pandemic, were later identified through photographs and videos taken during the melee. The evidence gives lie to claims by right-wing pundits that the violence was perpetrated by left-wing antifa thugs rather than supporters of the president. Steven D’Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, told reporters that investigators had seen “no indication” antifa activists were disguised as Trump supporters in Wednesday’s riot. The AP found that many of the rioters had taken to social media after the November election to retweet claims by Trump that the vote had been stolen.

Parler, Free Speech, and bans (NYT) From the start, John Matze had positioned Parler as a “free speech” social network where people could mostly say whatever they wanted. It was a bet that had recently paid off big as millions of President Trump’s supporters, fed up with what they deemed censorship on Facebook and Twitter, flocked to Parler instead. On the app, which had become a top download on Apple’s App Store, discussions over politics had ramped up. But so had discussions that the election had been stolen from Mr. Trump, with users urging aggressive demonstrations last week when Congress met to certify the election of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. By Saturday night, Apple and Google had removed Parler from their app stores and Amazon said it would no longer host the site on its computing services, saying it had not sufficiently policed posts that incited violence and crime. Early on Monday morning, just after midnight on the West Coast, Parler appeared to have gone offline. Parler’s plight immediately drew condemnation from those on the right, who compared the big tech companies to authoritarian overlords. Parler has now become a test case in a renewed national debate over free speech on the internet and whether tech giants such as Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon have too much power.      (Worldcrunch) The moves by the tech giants didn’t sit well with many, including critics of the president. “We understand the desire to permanently suspend [Trump] now,” Kate Ruane, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote in a statement on Friday. “But it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions—especially when political realities make those decisions easier.” French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire went further, telling France Inter radio this morning that he was “shocked” that the social networks could take such action: “The regulation of the digital [space] can’t be carried out by the digital oligarchy itself. The digital oligarchy is one of the threats that weighs on our nations and our democracies.”

Presidential Disqualification (NYT) If the House impeaches President Trump this week, it will still have almost no effect on how long he remains in office. His term expires nine days from now, and even the most rapid conceivable Senate trial would cover much of that time. But the impeachment debate is still highly consequential. The Senate has the power both to remove Trump from office and to prevent him from holding office in the future. That second power will not expire when his term ends, many constitutional scholars say. A Senate trial can happen after Jan. 20. And disqualifying Trump from holding office again could alter the future of American politics. There is a significant chance he could win the presidency again, in 2024. He remains popular with many Republican voters, and the Electoral College currently gives a big advantage to Republicans. If he is not disqualified from future office, Trump could dominate the Republican Party and shape American politics for the next four years.

As spending climbs and revenue falls, the coronavirus forces a global reckoning (Washington Post) Costa Rica built Latin America’s model society, enacting universal health care and spending its way to one of the Western Hemisphere’s highest literacy rates. Now, it’s reeling from the financially crushing side effects of the coronavirus, as cratering revenue and crisis spending force a reckoning over a massive pile of government debt. The pandemic is hurtling heavily leveraged nations into an economic danger zone, threatening to bankrupt the worst-affected. Costa Rica, a country known for zip-lining tourists and American retirees, is scrambling to stave off a full-blown debt crisis, imposing emergency cuts and proposing harsher measures that touched off rare violent protests last fall. Around the globe, the pandemic is racking up a mind-blowing bill: trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue, ramped-up spending and new borrowing set to burden the next generation with record levels of debt. In the direst cases—low- and middle-income countries, mostly in Africa and Latin America, that are already saddled with backbreaking debt—covering the rising costs is transforming into a high-stakes test of national solvency. Analysts call it a “debt tsunami”: National accounts are sinking into the red at a record pace. “I consider the risk to be very high of an emerging-market debt crisis where a lot of countries run into problems at once,” said Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. “This is going to be a rocky road.”

Schools shut as Madrid clears record snow (AP) Schools in Madrid were closed on Monday while most trains and flights resumed as the Spanish capital tried to return to some form of normalcy after a huge snow storm on the weekend. While many in Madrid enjoyed the rare snow fall, skiing right at the heart of the city and holding mass snowball fights, a cold spell was set to turn the snow into slippery ice this week, and authorities rushed to clear more streets. With most streets still covered in snow, many workers stayed home. A Reuters reporter saw a number of empty shelves at several central Madrid supermarkets.

Pope, in new decree, allows more roles for women in Church (Reuters) Pope Francis, in another step towards greater equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church, on Monday changed its law to allow them to serve as readers at liturgies, altar servers and distributors of communion. In a decree, the pope formalised what already has been happening in many countries for years. But with the change in the Code of Canon Law, conservative bishops will not be able to block women in their diocese from those roles. But the Vatican stressed that the roles were “essentially distinct from the ordained ministry”, and were not an automatic precursor to women one day being allowed to be ordained priests. In a big shift last August the pope appointed six women, including the former treasurer for Britain’s Prince Charles, to senior roles in the council that oversees Vatican finances. Francis has already appointed women as deputy foreign minister, director of the Vatican Museums, and deputy head of the Vatican Press Office, as well as four women as councillors to the Synod of Bishops, which prepares major meetings.

Populist, Prisoner, President: A Convicted Kidnapper Wins Kyrgyzstan Election (NYT) A populist politician and convicted kidnapper won a landslide victory on Sunday in a snap presidential election in Kyrgyzstan triggered by a popular uprising against the previous government. Sadyr Japarov, the winning candidate, got nearly 80 percent of the vote, according to the central electoral commission of the mountainous country, the only democracy in Central Asia. More than 80 percent of voters also supported Mr. Japarov’s proposal to redistribute political power away from Parliament and into the president’s hands. In September, Mr. Japarov, 52, was still in jail, serving a lengthy term for orchestrating the kidnapping of a provincial governor, a charge he denounced as politically motivated. A violent upheaval that erupted in October over a disputed parliamentary election sprung Mr. Japarov from a prison cell to the prime minister’s chair. A few days later, he assumed the interim presidency before resigning to run for that office. The country’s main investigative body quickly canceled Mr. Japarov’s conviction. A landlocked former Soviet republic of 6.3 million people, Kyrgyzstan has suffered recurrent political strife. Three of its presidents, including Mr. Japarov’s immediate predecessor Sooronbay Jeenbekov, have been toppled in violent revolts since the country’s independence from Moscow in 1991.

A Year After Wuhan, China Tells a Tale of Triumph (and No Mistakes) (NYT) At a museum in Wuhan, China, a sprawling exhibition paints a stirring tale of how the city’s sacrifices in a brutal 76-day lockdown led to triumph over the coronavirus and, ultimately, rebirth. No costs appear to have been spared for the show, which features a hologram of medical staff members moving around a hospital room, heart-rending letters from frontline health workers and a replica of a mass quarantine site, complete with beds, miniature Chinese flags and toothbrush cups. But the exhibition is also striking for what is not included. There is no mention of the whistle-blowing role of Ai Fen, one of the first doctors to sound the alarm in Wuhan, where the virus is believed to have originated, or the decision by Zhang Yongzhen, a Shanghai doctor, to share its genome with the world against official orders. Visitors are invited to lay a virtual chrysanthemum at a wall of martyrs that includes Li Wenliang, the ophthalmologist at a Wuhan hospital whose death from the virus led to nationwide mourning. But missing from his brief biography is a crucial fact: that Dr. Li was reprimanded by the government for warning colleagues about the virus from which he later died. China has spent much of the past year trying to spin the narrative of the pandemic as an undisputed victory led by the ruling Communist Party. The state-run news media has largely ignored the government’s missteps and portrayed China’s response as proof of the superiority of its authoritarian system, especially compared to that of the United States and other democracies, which are still struggling to contain raging outbreaks. Those efforts have taken on new urgency as the Jan. 23 anniversary of Wuhan’s lockdown draws closer. In recent weeks, the government has deployed an army of censors to scrub the internet of critical coverage of the Wuhan outbreak.

Daily Low Flying Israeli Jets Over Lebanon Spreading Jitters (AP) Israeli military jets carried out several low flying flights over Beirut as reconnaissance drones also buzzed overhead Sunday in what has become a daily occurrence. Israel regularly violates Lebanon airspace, often to carry out strikes in neighboring Syria. On Christmas Eve, Israeli jets flew low late into the night, terrorizing Beirut residents who are no strangers to such flights. They were followed by reported Israeli strikes in Syria. The frequency of low flying warplanes over the capital has intensified in the last two weeks, making residents jittery as tensions run high in the region on the final days of President Donald Trump’s administration. “Of all types of panic I experienced in life in Beirut, the panic that accompanies the Israeli warplanes flying this low in Beirut is very special,” Tweeted Rudeynah Baalbaky, who said it brought back memories of the 2006 war with Israel. “When the drone leaves, the warplanes come. When the warplanes leave, the drones return. They have seen us in our PJs, filmed us in our PJs and surveilled us in our PJs. Now what,” quipped Twitter user Areej_AAH.

Lebanon tightens lockdown, imposes 24-hour curfew, as hospitals buckle (Reuters) Lebanon announced a tightening of its lockdown on Monday, introducing a 24-hour curfew from Thursday as COVID-19 infections overwhelm its medical system. The new all-day curfew starts at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Thursday and ends at 5 a.m. on Jan. 25, a statement by the Supreme Defense Council said. Lebanon last week ordered a three-week lockdown until Feb. 2 that included a nighttime curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. But tighter measures were now necessary as hospitals run out of capacity to treat critically ill patients, President Michel Aoun said in the statement.

In Trump’s final days, Netanyahu orders more settler homes built (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered construction plans advanced on Monday for some 800 Jewish settler homes in the occupied West Bank, anchoring the projects in the final days of the pro-settlement Trump administration. Palestinians condemned such construction as illegal. The timing of the move appeared to be an attempt to set Israel’s blueprint in indelible ink before Joe Biden, who has been critical of its settlement policies, becomes U.S. president on Jan. 20. Moving ahead with the projects could help shore up support for Netanyahu from settlers and their backers in a March 23 election, Israel’s fourth in two years, in which the conservative leader faces new challenges from the right.

Saar, longtime Netanyahu ally, emerges as his top challenger (AP) For years, Gideon Saar was one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most loyal and vocal supporters, serving as Cabinet secretary and government minister. Now, the telegenic Saar, armed with extraordinary political savvy and a searing grudge against his former boss, could prove to be Netanyahu’s greatest challenge. After breaking away from the Likud Party to form his own faction, Saar is running against Netanyahu in March elections and has emerged as the long-serving leader’s top rival. A secular resident of culturally liberal Tel Aviv with a celebrity news anchor wife, Saar, 54, is a hard-line nationalist long seen as an heir to the Likud Party leadership. After unsuccessfully challenging Netanyahu in a leadership race and then being denied a government position as retribution, Saar last month broke out on his own. He said his aim was to topple Netanyahu for turning the Likud into a tool for personal survival at a time when he is on trial on corruption charges. Saar’s chances of becoming prime minister in the next elections are far from certain and polling forecasts his New Hope party coming in second place after Likud. But his entry into the race reconfigures the playing field and could complicate Netanyahu’s task of forming a coalition government, perhaps sidelining the Israeli leader after more than a decade at the helm.

Pompeo Designates Houthis as Foreign Terror Organization (Foreign Policy) The U.S. Department of State designated Yemen’s Houthis as a terrorist organization on Sunday, potentially complicating efforts by an incoming Biden administration to bring an end to a war that has become the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Because the Houthis don’t appear to have foreign bank accounts, a terrorist designation will do little to affect the group’s operations. The designation is likely to complicate and at best delay humanitarian relief efforts, however, with charities and international groups wary of facing prosecution for working in Houthi-controlled territory. Pompeo’s statement attempted to head off humanitarian concerns surrounding the designation, adding that the U.S. Treasury Department is “prepared” to issue licenses for “certain humanitarian activities conducted by non-governmental organizations in Yemen” and “certain transactions and activities.” Scott Paul, Oxfam America’s humanitarian policy lead, is skeptical that the State Department has done its homework. “No responsible humanitarian agency or private business can afford to rely on these assurances. We’ll need to prepare for the worst,” Paul wrote on Twitter.

[peakwealth]

Cancelled

Grim reapers, new look. (Electrical box panel, Puglia, Italy 2019)

Only a few months ago, a group of so-called stakeholders in the British airline industry got together to try and  do something about their damaged reputation. Flight shame had become a big thing in the media and the finger of climate blame was being pointed, perhaps somewhat hypocritically, at civil aviation. Calling itself Sustainable Aviation, the group included British Airways, Heathrow Airport, EasyJet, the engine maker Rolls Royce, Airbus and the air traffic controller NATS (*). They proposed to cut net carbon emissions of commercial aviation to zero as early as 2050. This would essentially be achieved through carbon 'offsets' (hence the tricky word net), accompanied by charming initiatives such as planting grass on terminal roofs and installing beehives.

They could not have imagined just how dramatically the world was about to change. How little time it would take for the airlines to ground their planes by the thousands, for countries like India to ban all international flights, for Spain to close its borders and airports, for Germany to 'strictly prohibit entry for purposes of tourism'.

Suddenly there was no more need for beehives. In a matter of days aviation had become so sustainable it was dead or just about. The airlines were begging for money to survive.

I remember when, more than twenty years ago, a newcomer called Air Asia started flying in Malaysia and beyond. It was South-East Asia's first major low cost carrier. The planes, all identical Airbuses, were painted with a big red-and-white slogan that proclaimed NOW EVERYONE CAN FLY. And they could. Air Asia grew to have hundreds of planes with more being ordered all the time. Within a decade Asians had become as addicted to air travel as anyone else with spare cash in their pockets.

Today Air Asia's aircraft are parked in neat rows, like those of most other airlines. No one is flying. This much we know. What we don't know is what happens when the epidemic subsides and travel restrictions are lifted. Will the airlines be resuscitated (with public money) or will things never be as they were?

The outcome will be closely watched because air travel is a key enabler of the wider economy. If the planes aren't taking off, large parts of the economy will remain paralyzed.

C'est si bon, de partir n'importe où.... (French song. Screenshot)

________________________________________________________________

This raises the next, far bigger question which everyone has been agonizing about: if the pandemic is indeed a historic turning point, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for society to reinvent itself, what sort of new world should we aim for, if any? Because it would be such a bummer if we just sat on our sofas, waiting for the green light, and then went back to IKEA and Starbucks while the central banks and Goldman Sachs restored the old order.

Thinking Big

One could start off small, take two steps back, turn down the heat of urban life, be creative. But that only works for those with money in the bank and a secure space to retreat to. The instant chaos provoked by the lockdown in India and elsewhere is a reminder that billions of people don't have this luxury.

One step farther would tell us to reduce private consumption (e.g. by closing retail commerce and limiting car traffic one or two days a week) or to push back against the grotesque waste of food in rich countries.

One could also think big. In an interview with BBC radio a few days ago, the novelist Isabel Allende suggested we start by doing away with patriarchy since it clearly isn't working too well. That could be said about a lot of things: late-stage capitalism, religious fanaticism, climate laisser-faire, what have you. Chacun à son goût.

But it can serve as inspiration.

Why not begin by advocating the restoration of the public good as the overriding moral principle in society, rather than the neo-liberal economic model, the stock markets and their shareholders. The Western world has drifted away from the essential ideals of social democracy ever since Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher put the knife in it, back in the early eighties. That could now, at long last, begin to change.

While we're at it, why not ban political lobbying once and for all and resolve to rope in financial markets and regulate the banks? This may need to be done mano dura because the financial 'industry' has demonstrated that it is incapable of meaningful self control. Having failed to put its house in order after the crisis in 2008, it has become a permanent threat to the world's stability and collective well-being.

Of course, the sudden primacy of the public interest would come as a seismic shock to the global economy. Once the profit principle is subordinated to the urgent necessities of global survival, it is going to hurt a lot of corporate interests, starting with the pillars of what was, until last year, the new liberal world order: so-called big tech, or more accurately the totalitarian oligopolies of digital capitalism - Google, Facebook, Amazon, Huawei, Apple, Alibaba, etc.

Shortlists might depend on personal grievances, on one's own level of disenchantment with the way things are. First in line for a major reset might be tobacco, big pharma and private health care. For decades business has tried to chip away at public health care all over the world, hoping to see it collapse into their laps. The pandemic has demonstrated that only universal public health care can do the job.

Equally obvious and fundamental would be the re-affirmation of education as a basic right and a public responsibility, bolstering the credibility and accessibility of free schools.

Talking about basics and health, one should not forget the global food giants (hello Nestlé and Kraft, watch out McDonald's) and all the other corporate purveyors of obesity and disease. Elsewhere, the military-industrial complex has long been one of the darkest corners of human greed, it requires serious de-escalation. Then there is a growing list of sunset industries now heading for the exit faster than expected. One of the most obvious is fossil fuel (particularly oil sands and shale oil, coal being a no-brainer) and some of the industries in its orbit like the car industry and everything that swirls around it. Goodbye Harley-Davidson.

Decade after decade, travel and tourism have grown to be the world’s number one business and many countries have hitched their economic futures to the leisure industry. Tourism relies on the froth of disposable income, on mobility and security. All three have been badly damaged, as have the incomes of tens of millions of people, many in precarious jobs. In fact, the bottom has dropped out of tourism.

While tourists will surely trickle back, the business may never return to where it was only a few weeks ago. Nor should it. Now might be the right time for some serious pruning, like putting limits on the frenzy of airline travel, or doing away with socially destructive bad habits like AirBnb. Cruise ships have multiplied in recent years to become not only an environmental pest, but a disturbing display of social inequality and conspicuous waste. They would not be missed.

If the future is to be one of reduced circumstances, then the casino ghettoes of Macau, Las Vegas or Singapore might feel like lacking in legitimacy and purpose.

Other forms of commercial entertainment may look equally overripe in a post-coronavirus world, such as Formula One car racing (supported with public money while the proceeds go mostly into private pockets) or, yes, the Olympic games. Time to ditch it, permanently.

If some of this sounds a little drastic, it may well be that we need not actively worry about it: the epidemic could take care of it all by itself. The contraction of the economy, the disappearance of income flows, the collapse of employment, the insolvency of businesses and countries alike might, in such a scenario, be enough to restore - dare I say it - a measure of sanity to the global economy, at least temporarily, and give the climate a fighting chance.

The obvious flipside of such a scenario would be that the true pain would be borne by the global poor. While plummeting output and evaporating wealth might hurt the 1 %, or the top 10%, it would be catastrophic for billions of others. Governments would have to re-enigineer public (and, yes, private) finances to prevent total collapse and provide some sort of universal basic income. Its day seems to have come. But even within the utopia of a newly redistributive economy, the gap between winners and losers might still widen, depending on where they happened to live. A transfer of wealth to the global south, especially to Africa with its burgeoning population, has become ever more urgent, if only out of naked self interest.

Because whether we want it or not, a new world order is already emerging. A few months ago I dwelled, somewhat self-importantly, on the nature of sober, well-intentioned government, grounded in democratic institutions and led by smart people. It is early days still, but the pandemic is showing the benefits of competent governance and straight thinking (if not always  the usefulness of democracy). Tomorrow’s world order might very well track those countries which have proved nimble or proactive in limiting the epidemic, countries with adequately funded public health care and switched-on leadership.

Despite all the obfuscation and mistakes that were made, beginning with the unconscionable trade in endangered animals that is credited with igniting the pandemic, China seems to be managing the crisis rather well. So is its unloved cousin across the straits, Taiwan. South-Korea and other Asian countries also appear to have a handle on the crisis beyond the desperate measures to flatten the time-vs-infection curve. Aside from New Zealand and Europe’s Nordic countries, Germany has stayed one step ahead of the virus as have such outliers as Greece and Portugal (which acted more decisively than its Spanish neighbour).

All of this remains to be seen, so much is yet to be revealed, but the tectonic plates of global power are audibly grinding below the surface. Needless to say, this carries great risks as the crisis is opening the door to radical surveillance, political regression, parochialism and waves of xenophobia.

Yet this is not the time to lock the door and hide under the bed. The pandemic is a unique reminder that we’re all in this together, the whole wide world, and that change can and must happen, particularly considering the climate challenge still ahead of us. If not now, then when?

________________________________________________________

(*) https://www.sustainableaviation.co.uk

Thanks to my friends who contributed ideas.

[tamboradventure]

My Favorite Books of 2019

Posted: 12/10/2019 | December 10th, 2019

Another year is almost over, which means it’s again time for my annual best books of the year list! This year, I sort of fell off the book-reading wagon. Writing my own book, moving to Paris and then Austin, and running a conference was exhausting and, by the end of the day, I was often too tired to read.

But, while Netflix often whisked me away to dreamland, I did manage to read a lot of great books this year. It may not have been as many as I would have liked but one can still not be made at averaging two books a month.

So, as we come to end of 2019, here are my favorite travel and non-travel books I think you should pick up to consume:

Ten Years a Nomad, by me!

This is my new(ish) book!!! Unlike my previous books, this is not a “how to” guide but a collection of insights and stories from the road. It’s a memoir of my ten years backpacking the world and the lessons I learned along the way. This book gets to the heart of wanderlust and what extended travel can teach us about life, ourselves, and our place in the world. It’s available as an audiobook too!

I think it makes for the BEST Christmas gift and it would mean a lot if you picked it up! Gift it to a friend! Leave it in hostels! Whatever you want!  

River Town, by Peter Hessler

This book is about American writer and journalist Peter Hessler’s time living in Fuling, China, in the 1990s as one of the first Peace Corp volunteers allowed back in China. I loved his book Oracle Bones, so I was excited to read this one. I don’t think it’s as good, but it’s a detailed, fascinating, well-written account of what living as an expat during a time of great change was like.    

Lands of Lost Borders, by Kate Harris

I read this right after I handed in the final draft of my book and was blown away by Kate Harris’s magical prose. Kate writes the way I would love to be gifted enough to write. The book follows her journey cycling the Silk Road from Turkey to Tibet and is filled with vivid descriptions of the people and places she encountered. It’s one of the best books I read all year.      

The Joys of Travel, by Thomas Swick

Thomas Swick has been a travel writer and editor for decades and is one of the giants in the industry (it’s been fun to get to know him over the years, and I only regret not finding his work sooner). The book is a quick but thoughtful read on the emotions we feel as travelers and is filled with lovely stories from his time living abroad in Poland and how mass communication has changed travel. It’s a book that will surely inspire you to see more.    

Here Lies America, by Jason Cochran

This book examines death tourism in America and the forgotten history that comes along with it. My friend Jason Cochran spent time roaming the country exploring the secret past of America’s greatest memorials through the lens of his family’s history. It’s an intriguing and absorbing look at the history of the US (I learned a lot I didn’t know) and how we remember our history (and what we choose to forget). I can’t recommend it enough!    

The Atlas of Happiness, by Helen Russell

Written by Helen Russell (who also wrote the entertaining book The Year of Living Danishly), this book examines what makes certain cultures happy and others not. (In many ways, it’s like The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.) The book’s writing style makes it an easy read that will give you lessons you can use in your own life.      

Stillness Is the Key, by Ryan Holiday

Written by Best-selling author and modern-day philosopher Ryan Holiday, this book is a short and easy (but insightful) read about the need for stillness in your life. In this fast-paced world, we forget that slowing down can provide us with calmness, thoughtfulness, and help us lead a happier life. As someone who has gone through a lot of change this year, I found a lot of wisdom in the book. It’s some of Ryan’s best writing to date.    

Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker

As an insomniac, I was hoping this book would help me learn how to sleep better. It didn’t. But what it did do was show me just how important sleep really is and why I need to try to get a lot more of it. “Sleep when you’re dead” is a common phrase, but reading this taught me that if I don’t try to sleep more, I’ll be dead quicker.      

Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch

Without giving too much away, this sci-fi book by Blake Crouch revolves around the idea of an infinite multiverse where every possible outcome of a decision plays out — and each decision thereafter creates another split, and so forth and so forth. It made me really think about regret and the decisions we make in our lives in a way I never thought about before. I couldn’t put the book down and found it a profoundly impactful book. It changed how I view regret.    

Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me), by Carol Tavris

I know that I’m raving about a lot of books on this list, but this is hands-down the best I read all year, one that made me look at people differently. We have a hard time saying, “I was wrong” (even when presented with facts that show 100% we were wrong). This book delves into why people double down on false information. In an age of “fake news,” it was an eye-opening look into how people reduce cognitive dissonance.

***

So there you have it! My favorite books of 2019. I wish the list was longer so I could say I kept my promise to read more, but all you can do is pick up and keep going! I have a pile of books on my coffee table I’m getting through quicker, now that I’m at home more.

Regardless, if you’re looking for some good books this holiday season, pick one of these up (especially mine, because, hey, let’s be real, I’d appreciate the support!).

If you have any suggestions on what to read, leave them in the comments. I’m due for another big book buy soon!

If you’d like to see some of the other books I’ve recommended (or are currently reading), check out this page I created on Amazon that lists them all!

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe, so you always know no stone is being left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com, as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them both all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it, as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

World Nomads (for everyone below 70)

Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all those I use to save money when I travel — and they will save you time and money too!

The post My Favorite Books of 2019 appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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[thumbkenya76-blog]

How one man lost $31,000 in a romance scam

Although the Valentine's Day candy is rapidly exiting store shelves everywhere, romance and the scams that go with it go on year round. 

Last year, people reported losing $143 million to romance-related scams – a higher dollar amount than any other type of scam reported to the Federal Trade Commission. The average median loss? A whopping $2,600. Those ages 70 and older reported a median loss of $10,000. Some individuals even reported losing $100,000 or more.

Victims aren't just losing their life savings. Some are taking on new debt in the name of love – taking out home equity loans, opening up new credit cards and even getting payday loans to solve somebody else's crisis, medical emergency or business trouble. 

"It's amazing how deeply they get into your head and your heart with Facebook messages," said Eric Larson, 54, who lives in northern Montana and was caught in a romance scam for much of last year.

It started when a woman sent him a friend request on Facebook in January 2018. He didn't know her, but she was nice. She showed pictures of herself dressed up when she was going to church.

Larson, who had divorced after a 20-year marriage, was home after sustaining an injury at work and dealing with other medical issues. 

"We exchanged selfies of each other," he said. "She was interested in me and my life and made me feel likable and lovable and interesting."

How he lost the first $1,000

After two and a half months, she broke her cellphone, needed a new one and, because she was a student, asked him to buy it for her.

That was how he lost the first $1,000. He sent that money via Western Union to another person who supposedly was able to get her the money. 

More stories – a father who was murdered, her legal battle for a $28 million inheritance, a need to keep things off the radar because her father's old business had ties to organized crime – drove up his total losses to around $31,000.

Around half of that money came from savings and the money he was earning when he went back to work. He had to borrow the rest on credit cards, payday loans and the like. 

"I didn't tell anybody what was going on," Larson said. 

He's willing to talk now because he wants to help someone else avoid getting trapped.

"I know I'm not the only divorced, middle-aged man that's lonely and wants someone to talk to," Larson said. 

Related video: 71-Year-Old Man Loses $80K to Overseas Con Artist in Romance Scam (provided by WXIN)

Click to expand

UP NEXT

Over roughly eight months, he put money on Steam gift cards supposedly to help her cover her cellphone bills. They only talked a few times but she accessed Facebook via the cellphone. 

He helped with legal bills for that inheritance. He bought "lots and lots and lots of Amazon cards – $100 each." 

He'd take pictures of the gift cards, send her the numbers on them and she had quick access to the cash. He didn't even have to mail the cards. 

He was flat broke at one point but somehow she convinced him to apply for a Target credit card. And the same day, he maxed it out to buy gift cards for her.

At another point, she wanted him to open a bank account for her. When he said he didn't have money to do that, she asked him for his online banking information so she could wire money to cover that cellphone to his account.

He asked her to send a check. She insisted on sending it directly to his bank. He gave her online bank information. 

She directly deposited a fake check and ultimately he ended up with a $2,000 overdraft. 

When he started suspecting something, he asked her to send him another selfie. 

"And she sent me a picture of a different woman," he said. 

He soon crafted his own story where he pretended to have major surgery ahead. Then, perhaps, when he stopped responding, she would think he was dead. 

After talking with an FBI agent, he realizes that "she" might have even been a "he" or a group of men overseas engaged in scamming Americans out of their money. 

While he likely won't get any money back, he wants to see more oversight by banks and retailers to help people stop from making horrible mistakes. If someone's judgment is clouded, he said, there should be even more hurdles when it comes to wiring money or buying a string of gift cards. 

How scammers hook you

The pitches made by sweet-talking scammers tend to be similar. One huge red flag: The new love of your life somehow can never see you. He or she is stationed abroad or travels frequently. 

The scammer texts or sends emails to better control the message. One tip: Take time to paste the text into a search engine and see whether the same words show up on websites devoted to exposing romance scams, AARP suggests. 

Scammers might do research about you online, too. But they often tap into the same old cliches to describe themselves: They're a simple person who likes walks on the beach. They'll talk of finding "true love." 

And they've always got a reason for you to feel sorry for them. One con artist told his victim that he lost his wife years ago, for example, and mourned her by working and working. Now, he's ready to move on – once he finishes this last, big job overseas.

We're doing more things online so scammers have all sorts of opportunities to target their victims. A scammer could be targeting 25 people or more at once, said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention programs for the AARP. 

More than half of adults in the United States have used the internet to find new friends, dates and romantic partners, according to an AARP national survey. 

About 27 percent of those surveyed said they or someone they know have encountered a relationship scam online, according to the AARP survey. About 11 percent report being victimized.

If you suspect being targeted by a fraudster – or your relative or friend is – you can call the AARP helpline to talk to a trained volunteer at 877-908-3360 and press 2. 

How fake connections get your money

Once they convince you that you're in love – maybe promising to visit you by Christmas – they find a reason to ask for some cash.

Most of us would dump a guy or gal within seconds if they asked for $500 after a few dates. But somehow the online universe is different.  

"Once they have you, they have you," Stokes said. "They've found a way to get you out of your logical thought process." 

A new Better Business Bureau report indicated that some online romance scams can escalate beyond gift-card related scams, too. Some victims turn into unwitting accomplices as "money mules," where they act as middlemen in a variety of scams. 

“If the victim doesn’t have the money, the scammer often asks them to send a package from a friend," said Laura Blankenship, director of marketing for the Better Business Bureau serving Eastern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

Criminals operating primarily from Eastern European countries and Nigeria may buy computers and other electronics via the internet using stolen credit cards.

They then have the goods shipped to addresses in the United States of “reshippers.” 

The victim might be asked to repackage the merchandise and mail it elsewhere, according to an alert by the United States Postal Service. 

"These scammers prey on the emotions of those looking for love and companionship," Blankenship said.

How to spot a romance scam 

Victims tell shocking stories of how falling in love was a 24-hour whirlwind. 

Yet the love connection might repeatedly promise to meet you in person but always comes up with an excuse to cancel, according to the AARP tip sheet. 

Many times, scammers create profiles online using other people's pictures. 

Consumers can use a reverse image search on Google to see if the photo was used online publicly elsewhere, Stokes said. 

Sometimes, they may even use a photo of someone in the military. Never send money to someone claiming to be a U.S. soldier. 

Larson said someone who is lonely can be a prime target but the one thing he realized is that you should never send money, ever, to someone you meet online.

"I wouldn't have sent a dime," he said, when asked what he would do differently now. 

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/how-one-man-lost-dollar31000-in-a-romance-scam/ar-BBTW8Fp?srcref=rss

[savetopnow]

2018-04-05 18 TECH now

TECH

Ars Techica

CEO says Facebook will impose new EU privacy rules “everywhere”

Tragic YouTube shooting casts new light on creators’ “adpocalypse” complaints [Updated]

Bay Area: Join us 4/11 to discuss the tech boom and the fate of democracy

Porous silk fiber traps heat, hides a rabbit from IR camera

Woman takes Ancestry.com DNA test, learns her real dad is her mom’s doctor

Buzzfeed Tech

People Couldn’t Log In To Tinder To Cancel Their Dates Because Of Facebook

Facebook Now Says Cambridge Analytica Accessed Up To 87 Million People's Data

Nasim Aghdam Opened Fire On YouTube Because She Was "Upset" With Its Policies And Practices

This Country Said It Would Punish Journalists For Writing Fake News But Changed Its Mind

Grindr Is Letting Other Companies See User HIV Status And Location Data

CNet

Apple Watch data said to provide clues in murder trial - CNET

It's Star Trek First Contact Day! Here's how to party - CNET

Facebook faces Australian government privacy investigation - CNET

Game of Thrones: Gendry has a big part in the final season - CNET

Next Indiana Jones could be a woman, Steven Spielberg says - CNET

Clean Technica

What Changed In The Solar Energy Industry In Quarter 1, 2018?

Maine Auto Dealer Blasts Trump & EPA As States Gear Up For Legal Challenges

French Utility Company EDF Plans Energy Storage Push

Denmark’s Largest Space Project, The ASIM Climate Observatory, Has Arrived At The International Space Station

Electric Cars = 37% of New Car Sales in Norway in March

Hacker News

Armory (YC W17) Seeking Senior Engineers that are passionate about software

Linux Kernel Lockdown and UEFI Secure Boot

Tesla crash in September showed similarities to fatal Mountain View accident

Where I started might not be useful to you

Why are diapers so expensive?

Mashable

Dr. Evil makes a comeback on Jimmy Fallon, after y'know, being fired by Trump

Australia also investigates Facebook following data scandal

Big shark swings by cops just doing their job

Google bought more renewable energy than it needed last year

Saudi Arabia to open first cinema after those 'Emoji Movie' screenings

Motherboard

Mark Zuckerberg: 'It Was My Mistake' Facebook Compromised Data of 87 Million Users

License Plate Surveillance Company Attacks Nonprofits For Filing FOIA Requests

Indonesia Calls State of Emergency After Giant Oil Spill Catches Fire

Around 10,000 Black Holes Are at the Center of the Galaxy, Study Says

This Dad Made His Kids Manually Generate Electricity to Power Their Wii

New York Times Technology

A Quick Online Divorce for $60? Not So Fast, Denmark Says

As Spotify Goes Public, Sony Cashes In

Facebook Says Cambridge Analytica Harvested Data of Up to 87 Million Users

YouTube Attacker’s Complaints Echoed Fight Over Ad Dollars

Cyberattack Shows Vulnerability of Gas Pipeline Network

Recode

YouTube vowed to increase security after the attack — but that’s a tough task on tech campuses

Mark Zuckerberg will testify before U.S. lawmakers in two separate hearings next week

Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook hasn’t felt ‘any meaningful impact’ in its usage or business in the wake of its privacy scandal

Facebook will stop sharing as much of your personal data with people outside of Facebook

Facebook says Cambridge Analytica may have had data from as many as 87 million people

Reddit Technology

Citing 'Don't Be Evil' Motto, 3,000+ Google Employees Demand Company End Work on Pentagon Drone Project

Facebook said the personal data of most of its 2 billion users has been collected and shared with outsiders

Jeff Bezos Has Lost $16 Billion Since Donald Trump Started Tweeting About Amazon

Zuckerberg: Nobody has been fired over Cambridge Analytica

Facebook will release more data about election interference, but only after the election

Reuters Technology

Uber to suspend service in Greece after new legislation

Telefonica comes out on top in British mobile airwaves auction

Italian state lender to buy stake in Telecom Italia: sources

Facebook says data leak hits 87 million users, widening privacy scandal

Australia begins privacy investigation into Facebook

Slashdot

YouTube Will Increase Security At All Offices Worldwide Following Shooting

One of Estonia's First 'e-Residents' Explains What It Means To Have Digital Citizenship

Microsoft Touts Breakthrough In Making Chatbots More Conversational

Facebook Is Changing the Way It Stores Call, Text History

Google Now Purchases More Renewable Energy Than It Consumes As a Company

TechCrunch

‘The end of my VC career’ — Stefan Glaenzer quits Passion Capital to clear way for third fund

Alibaba is preparing to invest in Grab

Highlights and audio from Zuckerberg’s emotional Q&A on scandals

News startup Knowhere aims to break through partisan echo chambers

Cambridge Analytica denies accessing data on 87M Facebook users…claims 30M

The Next Web

How AI and machine learning are redefining cybersecurity

9 reasons why Amsterdam is the best place on Earth if you work in tech

Facebook confirms it spies on your Messenger conversations

Foxconn is making Sirin Labs’ $1,000 blockchain phone for cryptocurrency geeks

Zuckerberg: Most of Facebook’s 2 billion users should assume their data has been compromised

The Verge

Unsplash, tech’s favorite stock image site, now has an iOS app

YouTube will increase security at all offices worldwide following shooting

Spotify claims it actually had a better Weeknd than Apple Music

Mark Zuckerberg says he is a ‘power user of the internet’

Jay and Silent Bob are coming to virtual reality, whether you’re ready or not

WSJ Tech

China Threatens U.S. Cars, Planes and Soy in Response to Trump

Shooting Raises Questions About Silicon Valley's Open-Campus Push

The Woman Who Is Reining In America's Technology Giants

Facebook Data on 87 Million Users May Have Been Improperly Shared

Spotify's Slump Raises Questions About Listing Process

Wired

The Politics of ‘Black Panther’ Are What Make It Great

You Know, for Kids

The Life Issue

‘The Sky Is Yours’ Combines Dragons and YouTube

The Uber Crash

[sincerepositivethings]

Issue Forty-Six

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Happy belated Towel Day! Look, I ain't no fool. You've probably heard of Hitchhiker's Guide before. Some of you have already read it, seen it, and you carry a towel around with you. That's fine, but today I'm going to introduce you to this story in four different mediums, so even if you think you know it, you might not know all of them. You're wrong. I don't know this thing. What is this now? First and foremost, The Hitchhiker's Guide is a sci-fi comedy written by the late, great Douglas Adams, who also wrote for/with the Pythons, if that gives you a sense of the style. In short, Arthur Dent is a human on Earth who suddenly learns that his friend Ford Prefect is not. He is a writer for the publication The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and has just learned that the Earth is about to be destroyed because it is in the way of a massive construction project. He takes Arthur into space who has a generally bad time as everything goes wrong around them. The Radio Show Though it's probably best known as a series of novels, Hitchhiker's was originally a radio show on the BBC. There are some differences in plot here and there, as Adams was always refining things with each retelling, but on the whole, the story is pretty much the same and performed wonderfully by  Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, and Peter Jones as the book. Listen to the first 12 episodes here! The Books If you haven't read these before, as long as you can get past the Earth being destroyed at the very beginning, they are the perfect reading material for times like these. They are packed with jokes, they are twisty and turny in ways you may not expect, and often, plot threads that you didn't expect to ever be tugged again show up in remarkable ways. Here's one of my favorite passages in which the book-within-a-book is introduced: “Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one – more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty-three More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway? In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch-Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.” Buy it from a local book store at www.bookshop.org! The Video Game When I was writing my Paul McCartney text adventure game late last year, for inspiration I kept going back to the LucasArts adventure games and the Hitchhiker's Guide text adventure game. Now, I'm not going to lie to you: it's hard. Even if you know the story and what's supposed to happen, it's very hard. However: it's really fun. If you've got the patience, it's also really free to play, thanks to the good people at the BBC who have nicely spruced it up a little from its terminal text origins. Play the game right here! The TV Show/Movie I will be the first to admit that neither one of these are perfect, but having rewatched both of them fairly recently, I can also say that neither is as bad as you may remember. The TV show features the original radio cast performing marvelously with a very lackluster budget. This can be especially problematic when one of your main characters has two heads. The film, from 2005 had a much more lavish budget, big name stars (Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell, Stephen Fry and many others) and was... fine. It was good. If you want to see the characters moving around and saying things in three dimensions, as opposed to in your imagination, this is the choice for you. Unfortunately, it ONLY made $100 million dollars worldwide, so no sequels and only one fifth of the story was captured. Alas. Hopefully they'll get it right on the recently announced Hulu show. The TV show can be streamed on Amazon Prime, Hulu, or Britbox; the film can be seen for free (with ads) on Vudu.

My senior year of high school, I attempted to get the theme to the TV show Knight Rider nominated as our prom song, 16 years after the show was cancelled. I submitted a cassette tape but obviously had better things to do than attend the prom planning meeting and was told that the tape didn't play and I was disqualified. Oh, well. That doesn't change the fact that that song rules, so when my friend Chris F. pointed me to this video by Samara Ginsberg in which she plays her arrangement of the song for 8 cellos, I knew it was a lock for this week's "Little Thing." Be sure to check out her other cello videos as well, and imagine slow dancing with your high school sweetheart to every one of them.

[jenniferfaye34]

#Giveaway + Excerpt ~ Sweet Adventure by Tamie Dearen... #books #romance

Title: Sweet Adventures

Author: Tamie Dearen

Genre: Sweet Contemporary Romance

Cover Designer: Najla Qamber Designs

Publication Date: June 13, 2019 Hosted by: Lady Amber’s PR Blurb: Will Katie jump into the shark-infested waters for a second chance at love?

Katie Carson is afraid of everything. Spiders. Sharks. And especially love… thanks to her ex-fiancé. That's why her immediate attraction to the reckless Gary Lassiter scares her to death. Sure, he looks like Superman and he saved her from a giant arachnid, but he's an adrenaline junkie.

Gary Lassiter owes his life to his best friend, Steven. But his loyalty is tested when he meets Steven's PA, Katie. Though Steven and Katie are probably a better-suited match, Gary wants Katie for himself. He sees a lot of spunk behind her overtly timid façade, and he’s determined to bring it out in the open.

When the three spend a week at Indigo Bay, Katie starts to fall for Gary, even stepping outside her comfort zone. It’s all fun and games until her adventure brings her to a moment of life or death. Thrown into the nightmares of her past, she’s convinced they can’t have a future together. Will Gary get past her defenses?

This is the sixth book in the Indigo Bay Second Chance Romance series. All books have been written as standalones, so feel free to dive in anywhere!

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Tamie Dearen lives in Texas with her very romantic husband—her own personal romance hero. She’s been involved in creative writing since elementary school, though her degrees are in the science fields—Chemistry and a D.D.S. But a more recent master’s degree in higher education sparked her writing bug again. And with a zany and wonderful bunch of family and friends, there’s no end of inspiration for her stories. Contact her on her website at TamieDearen.com.

Author Links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2XD2iaR

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7337567.Tamie_Dearen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TamieDearen/

Web: https://www.tamiedearen.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TamieDearen

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tamie-dearen

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Chapter One

Katie screamed, jumping up so fast her desk chair crashed to the floor behind her. The spider on her desk was gargantuan—approximately the size of Godzilla—covered with spiky brown hairs. She could tell by the menacing look in each of its ten million beady eyes it was preparing to leap at her and inflict a lethal bite.

Maybe it already bit me!

She checked her arms for signs of puncture wounds.

“Is something wrong?”

The deep voice startled her, and she whipped around, stumbling on the overturned chair. The room tilted and a sledge hammer impacted the back of her head. She looked up from the floor, stars swirling in front of the face that bent over her. Thick brows furrowed over crystal blue eyes.

I know that face—it’s Superman!

Pain thudded in her skull, forcing her eyelids closed. 

“Are you okay?”

“Just hit my head,” she mumbled.

Her eyes came open as gentle hands lifted under her shoulders. The blue-eyed hero was kneeling beside her, so close she caught a whiff of his enticing scent, a combination of minty clean and a dash of masculine aftershave. Curling her legs to the side, she sat up and groaned, raising her hand to the back of her head.

“Let me see,” he said.

Her face was pressed against his clean black t-shirt, as his fingers parted her hair to probe the tender scalp on the back of her head. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the intoxicating smell.

“It’s not bleeding,” Superman announced. “Good thing you have this padded rug under your desk. The tile would’ve split it open.”

As her hero uprighted her chair, she couldn’t help noticing how his back muscles flexed and bulged, pressing against the thin cotton.

That’s strange… I’ve never wished I was a t-shirt before.

Stretching to his full-height, something over six feet, he turned to face her and bestowed a slow smile that sent warmth furling in her belly. Damp tendrils on his forehead suggested he’d been in the shower moments earlier.

Had he come from the company gym? She only interacted with a few of Gherring, Inc.’s employees, the ones who came to the board room to meet with Steven Gherring, her boss. She’d certainly never met this guy before. No way she could forget Superman.

He rubbed his hand across the stubble of dark beard on his square jaw, and she imagined her fingers doing the same, tracing the sharp angle, relishing the masculine feel of the soft bristles on her sensitive skin.

His eyes sparkled as if he somehow read her thoughts, and blood rushed up her neck to highlight her embarrassment.

As if it wasn’t humiliating enough to meet Superman when I’m sprawled on the floor.

“I’ll help you up,” he said.

She placed her palms in his outstretched hands. Big mistake! Charged like an ongoing static shock, his touch sucked the air from her lungs in a whoosh. Before she could escape his electrifying grasp, his large hands folded over hers. With what seemed to be little effort, he hefted her up and eased her into the chair. Then he sat back on the edge of her desk, folding his arms.

The spider!

“Stand up! Get off the desk!” she yelped.

At her cry, he jolted to his feet and whipped around, staring at it as though it might explode at any moment. “What’s wrong with the desk?”

She aimed a wobbly finger at the desktop, the last place she’d seen the spider, who’d now retreated into some unseen place. No doubt, his plan was to hide away, waiting patiently until she’d forgotten about him, only to spring out and clamp his jaws on her skin.

“There’s a spider.”

He glanced at the desktop, empty except for her laptop, the dark wood pristine as always, not a scrap of paper marring the gleaming surface. “Where?”

“He’s hiding now. Probably went underneath or in a drawer, but he was humongous.” She stretched her arms as wide as they would go.

“That big, huh?” The corners of his mouth twitched.

“He was huge. And poisonous. A brown recluse.” She put enough certainty in her voice to properly warn him, though she hoped her hero was brave enough to slay the skulking beast.

“Venomous.” He sank to his knees, peering under her desk. “Spiders are venomous, not poisonous.”

“Either way, I hate them.”

“It wasn’t a brown recluse, though.”

“How do you know? Do you see him?”

“Not yet, but I know we don’t have brown recluse spiders in New York City. It gets too cold here.”

Too her horror, half his body disappeared under her desk, deep into the spider’s lair. “Don’t go in there.”

A muffled chuckle sounded, before he backed out and stood, miraculously unmarked, brushing his fingers on his jeans. “I knocked a little spider web down. That should take care of it.” His hand swept toward the desk, as if all were clear.

“No, thanks. I’ll just do my work over here until the exterminators come.” Katie stood, crept toward her laptop and snatched it, retreating back to her chair, well away from the spider’s domain. Then the monster emerged, charging across the rug. “There he is!” she yelled, on her feet and scrambling away. “Get him before he makes it to the bookshelves!”

With amazing calm, her hero stepped on the spider. Relief flooded Katie’s system, knowing she wouldn’t have to be on guard for his reappearance. Superman bent down and examined the conquered foe.

“You’re that afraid of a tiny little spider?” He cocked his head at her, fingers shoving through his damp locks, pushing them into adorable disarray.

She shrugged. “He looked bigger on the desk.”

He coughed behind his hand, but it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. “Now that we’ve ended this horrible arachnid infestation, I’m here to see Steven.”

Katie snapped into her role, Guardian of the CEO.

“I’m sorry. Do you have an appointment, Mr. …?” She left the question hanging.

“Lassiter. Gary Lassiter. And no, I don’t have an appointment, but—”

“I’m afraid Mr. Gherring won’t be able to see you without an appointment. His schedule is quite full. Let’s see when we can fit you in.” She opened her laptop and pulled up his schedule, with no real intention of making an appointment. Steven Gherring had given strict instructions not to schedule any appointments he didn’t initiate himself. One of Gherring’s subordinates would no doubt handle this man, clearly an intruder, even if he did look like Superman and valiantly slayed large spiders.

“I think Steven will want to talk to me. We’re partners in a business deal.”

“If you aren’t willing to follow protocol, Mr. Lassiter, you may find your business deal canceled.”

“I’ll take my chances.” With an arrogant grin, Gary edged toward the entrance to Gherring’s private office, an ornately carved wood door.

In a flash, Katie was on her feet, racing for the door. With the element of surprise on her side, she reached it first, barring the entrance with her body. Her chin lifted in dogged determination as she glared up at the invader, who towered over her by at least six inches.

“No one goes through this door without an appointment.”

His devastating blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he retrieved his cell phone and held up his index finger. “One moment, please.”

He tapped once on his screen and held the phone to his ear. “Hi… I’m here… No, I can’t… Because your very attractive pit bull is guarding the door, baring her teeth at me.”

Katie heard her boss’ laughter from the phone in Gary’s hand just before the door opened behind her.

She barely kept her jaw from dropping. This interloper had Steven Gherring’s personal cell number?

“I tried to tell you.” Gary shook his head.

Her face radiated heat. But for the recent spider web, she might’ve crawled under her desk to hide. Instead, she aimed a glare at her boss. “You made an appointment with this man and didn’t bother to tell me?”

“An oversight on my part, Ms. Carson. It won’t happen again.”

His lips curved into the trademark, billion-dollar smile that left most women swooning. Katie, however, was impervious to his charms. Not because he was thirteen years older—he certainly didn’t look it—but because she’d sworn off men two years ago. All men. Including handsome billionaires, like her boss.

And hunky spider-killers who’re too smug for their own good.

“It was nice to meet you, Ms. Carson,” said Gary, apparently unaware of the poison darts her eyes sent his way. “I hope you don’t encounter any more giant arachnids.”

“Thank you for disposing of that one,” she mumbled, more irritated than grateful.

He followed Steven inside the door, but turned to his head to toss over his shoulder, “Just thought you might want to know, I noticed a bunch of empty spider eggs in that web.”

The door clicked closed behind him, but the sound was drowned out by the bass drum her heart pounded in her ear.

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[729renegades]

“PROSPECTS BUY FROM PEOPLE THEY KNOW, LIKE AND TRUST”

. . . Says Dan Kennedy, author of the ‘No BS’ series of business books.

The journey took almost 45 hours’ door to door and most people thought, “Jay, you poor bastard, I’d be tearing my hair out”.

And yes, to most it would seem like a nightmare, it’s all about perspective.

So many people said, “if you travelled Business Class you would not have had that problem”, but I can’t see a problem. Flying doesn’t stress me like so many others and I get so much done.

So, I was travelling to Cleveland for a 3-day seminar with one of my business mentors, Dan Kennedy, author of the ‘No BS’ business books.  To ensure that I didn’t miss any of it, I left a day early. That way, when the seminar started, I’d have had a day to recover from jetlag and would be able to absorb all info that he had to share. Unfortunately, the security gods of the airport wanted to hamper that plan, and as a result of missing 2 connecting flights and getting my bags lost, I finally arrived just in time for the summit.

When I was in Toronto, I was told that I wouldn’t be able to catch a flight that evening and they would fly me out the following day. Aggh, after waiting a further 3 hours at the airport, they finally put me on a flight that had gone technical and, as I sat in the seat, there was a technician fastening the baggage box above me with a piece of wire and Gaffa Tape! I kid you not.

Half an hour earlier I was checking on Uber to see how much a taxi would cost to make the journey and, had the flight been cancelled, I would have collected my bags and booked an Uber to take me to Cleveland; I could have slept in the taxi for the 4-5hr journey and I would have been fine.

Why would you not just take the plane the next day?… I bet you’re thinking. Simple. The seminar is not cheap; it’s a massive investment that most would baulk at. But to those that attend year on year, the value to our businesses is proportional to the amount that it is implemented… and as I said before, I wasn’t going to miss a single minute!

All of my marketing strategies are generated from and being exposed to this information, so I feel privileged to be able to afford to attend and would not miss a second, if that was at all possible.

For those of you that have not read any of Dan’s ‘No BS Direct Response’ philosophies, then start by reading the ‘No BS Guide to Direct Response Marketing’, available on Amazon… buy the hard cover, and start implementing. Also check out his ‘Magnetic Marketing’ series, worth every penny and more if you care to heed the advice.

And no, I don’t buy into the BS of, “my business is different” or “I live in the UK, so the American way of business won’t work”. Give me a break.

OK, so what did I learn and what one piece of information was worth the trip and the cost alone? Well it’s in the title: People buy from people they know, like, and trust.

Yeah, but Jay, we all know that already, so what? That’s what I thought. I’ve got over 60 action points taken over the 3 days of things that need to be implemented.

So, what is the first step in getting people to know, like, and trust, and the single most important resource you have that can make this happen?

Well that’s your life story, and the better you share that story, the more value it will have.

Great people have been telling me for years that I’ve got an incredible life story that I should publish, but inside, whilst I know this to be true; without sounding big headed, I really don’t want to bore my customers with an epic novel of trial and tribulation.

In Dan’s course, ‘Writing with Personality’, he talks about putting real life stories into your copy to refer to situations that customers could and would find themselves in.

Since implementing that style of writing, I’ve found that the copy with the most interesting personal stories is also the one my prospects refer to when they first come to visit.

So, would they even read the life story?

Well, here’s the point: those that do, are more likely to become customers because they have engaged with you at a personal level.

So, what have you got to lose?

Now I had already decided to shoot my life story, and some of you may have heard the interview that Steve did with me. The interview was simple: sit with Jay and let’s see what comes out in an hour and a half, and because we are both army people, that story is one of many relating to my life and the impact military service had on it.

It’s one perspective, and, while it’s good, had I attended the seminar with Dan before recording that, I would have structured it differently and I would have been a lot more prepared.

Jay what are you talking about, your life story? Is your life story, ‘Tell it the Way it is’?

Yup, but that’s where you’d be missing the point completely. The whole point of writing your life story is not for self-gratification, it’s not designed to be a, ‘look here, look how much I’ve achieved, look at what an interesting life I’ve had’. That’s a biography.

Nope the reason for writing the life story, the ‘who am I?’ is to find as many levels to connect with your prospect as possible.

As a result, you need to know the psychometrics as well as the demographics of your customer so that, as you write, you can include the stories that they’ll identify with.

The more points you reference that make connections, the more chance you have of getting the deal, and most importantly, the less price has to do with it. As I found out, people will pay more for service from someone they trust than a ‘salesman’, I mean that in the broadest terms.

Unfortunately, as Dan puts it, this may mean that you’ll need to cut some of your best stories, the ones that you tell at the table to amuse. Why? Because those stories, interesting as they may be, will not resonate with the ideal customer, and importantly, not do credit to your expertise.

As an example: one of my favourite stories is how I plumbed my Mother-in-law’s dishwasher into the water main. And how I realised the mistake I’d made when the dishwasher was filling up with gas rather than water; and then offered to go back to my factory to get my gas torch and some solder and fix the problem!

Mmm, I know what you’re thinking: you too would love to do that.

But alas, whilst it’s entertaining, the mere fact that I sell some of the most expensive wood gas combination pizza ovens on the market, huge beasts that bellow fire and cook 1000s of pizzas per day, it may not rest well with my customers. What do you think?

So, to write the story by formula, you need to know exactly who your customer is and have the perfect customer avatar nailed down hard. The stories would be stories that you’d tell at a cocktail party if you were invited with his or her friends.

So, if your ideal customer is someone who goes to the pub after work with his mates, the stories would be completely different from those that you would tell in your book if they attended wine tasting events instead.

If your customer, on the whole, lives in a council house and has no intention of ever owning a house, then the stories would be different from those that you would tell if they had a detached house in a gated community.

If your ideal customer is a pacifist who avoided the draft, then it’s quite clear that your story based on military experience would drive them away.

If your customers tend to be on the whole self-employed capitalists, then stories about the working hours and liberty of the staff and staff-rights will drive them away.

Remember you can’t be everything to everyone.

Recently I was driving past a local garden centre, they had a new sign up: ‘Something for Everyone’. How sad, they would have, in my opinion, been better off to say, ‘If you have expensive taste, you will love what we have on offer’.

So, if you have different segments of customers, you need to talk to each segment differently. Identifying what to say and what stories to tell is the challenge and the key to unlocking the chest.

The event I attended was called ‘Marketing to the Affluent’. Yup, it’s fair to say that I have positioned myself up there as the expert in wood fired ovens. But again, Dan said that there are a proportion of your customers who are willing to pay more than you charge, more for being who you are, than for what you know. But these high-end customers also need to be treated differently to the majority. Striking a happy medium between being available and unavailable is one of the most important lessons we can learn. By being unavailable you make yourself valuable and making the affluent wait means that you can feed them information to engage. Plus send them stuff to make them feel valuable. The better the quality of the stuff you send, the better the chance of engagement.

At last count I spent approximately £146 on Google to acquire a customer, and I spent about £6 on postage.

Dan says, the one mistake he’s made, is not spending enough to buy customers early on.

When I asked if there was an equation for calculating the right amount, he asked me how much I thought I should spend. Up to this point, I had thought I was reasonably marketing savvy and replied “as little as possible” … Ooops, mistake. I think if Dan had had a hangman’s noose and it was tied around my neck, he’d have pulled the leaver. The next 20 minutes was hell and he literally climbed into me for my stupidity. His point was, and rightly so, if I was paying £146 on average for a customer, how many more customers would I have, if I spent £300 to acquire each one. He finished off by advising that the person who could afford to pay 10x what his competitor was prepared to pay to buy a customer, would ultimately win, as long as they had enough profit to make it viable, though each route to market would have a different cost of acquisition.

Again, as an example, if you attended a trade show and your cost of acquisition rose to £2000 per customer, on average does that mean you should not attend? On the contrary; if you are making sales and you can still make a modest profit, then you should still attend. In some markets you may be able to achieve high gross margin %, just be sure that you are, and you have crunched the numbers right.

The thing that will get you noticed is your expertise in the field you specialise in, and the way in which your own story conveys the journey you’ve experienced to gain the expertise you have.

The more detailed and personal the story is, the more chance you have of resonating with the prospective customer. But the kicker comes once that person has acquired your product, they’ll start to re-tell your story to others as a point of conversation, elevating your position and increasing the chance of referral. Not because of what you sell, but because you are the go-to guy in that industry.

So, start making notes on events in your life, just key points at this time, and then start writing each story, first as a paragraph, before bulking it out. Many will remain paragraphs, but the lessons of importance will become chapters, and once finished should have engaged your target demographic.

12 chapters.

12 different demographics with which to engage.

Each chapter full of paragraphs designed to engage with different people within that demographic.

I’ve already started with a vengeance and can’t wait to get it finished.

But will you?

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