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ear-worthy · 2 years ago

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What We learned From Podcasts This Week: Fungal Zombies; Sneaky Persuasion; The Power Of Silence

Short Wave Podcast posits fungi takeover

HBO Max has scored a hit with The Last Of Us. The post-apocalyptic nine-episode series has caused many people to worry about "clickers" attacking them and passing along a deadly fungal infection Cordyceps. Thankfully, the fungus in The Last of Us, does not currently affect humans — it affects insects.

On the February 21 episode of the Short Wave podcast, host Aaron (A-aron as Mr. Garvey would say) Scott spoke to fungal researcher Asyia Gusa about the science of fungal infections.

First, Gusa explained that fungal infections, or mycosis, are diseases caused by a fungus (yeast or mold). Fungal infections are most common on your skin or nails, but fungi (plural of fungus) can also cause infections in your mouth, throat, lungs, urinary tract, and many other parts of your body.

Then Gusa gave listeners the good news. We don't have to worry about a global fungal pandemic either killing us or transforming us into mind-controlled toadstool monsters. Fungi don't handle heat well, and our high body temperatures (97 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit) would kill any fungal infections. We're safe. For now.

Now for the bad news. While climate change deniers will not want to hear this, Gusa observes that our environment is heating up. Fungi, like bacteria and viruses, have a robust ability to adapt. What if fungi learned to survive in warmer temperatures, including our bodies?

Gusa reassures listeners that may never happen, and if it did, it would be well into the future. I personally am not taking any chances. I think I'll begin using my fitness center's sauna regularly to kill any fungi that insist upon squatting inside me.

Hidden Brain Podcast exposes how we are victims of Persuasion every single day

The January 16th episode of the Hidden Brain podcast begins this way: "We all exert pressure on each other in ways small and profound. We recommend movies or books to a friend. We convince a colleague to take a different tactic at work. We lobby a neighbor to vote for our favored political candidate. This week, we launch the first of a two-part miniseries on the science of influence, and talk with psychologist Robert Cialdini about how we can all improve our techniques for persuading others."

In part one, Cialdini explains three of the six methods of persuasion used. There are:

1.Role of scarcity

2. Norm of reciprocity

3.Effects of liking.

Cialdini explains the role of scarcity: "People want more of what they can have less of. What we mean by scarcity is entities or opportunities that are unique, are uncommon, or are dwindling in availability. I'm convinced that a major factor that lends itself to the power of scarcity is loss aversion. Loss is the ultimate form of scarcity. If you can't have it, it's gone. So because of loss aversion, which I think is deeply installed in us, things that are scarce, that are dwindling in availability that we will otherwise forego or miss, become very attractive."

Cialdini's example of scarcity as a tactic of persuasion is Booking.com, which books reservations for hotels and flights for customers.

Cialdini explains: "They hit upon this particular tactic where you'll look at a hotel room online, it will be a certain price, and they will say two things. They'll say, 'Only two of these left at this price,' and 'There are five people looking at this room right now.' It's competition for scarce resources." Cialdini went on: "The first time they did that, their marketing people sent a message to the technology people and said, 'There's something wrong because we're getting flooded with so many purchases. There's something wrong with our system.' And the technology people said, 'No, there's nothing wrong with the system, it's what you said that caused people to leap to avoid missing out on this favorable opportunity.'"

Check out Hidden Brain for its two-parter on Persuasion. Download and listen while you still a chance before the episodes are archived. See what I did there? The role of scarcity.

The Happiness Lab Podcast explains the happiness of silence

On the January 30th episode of The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos, she is joined by Leigh Marz and Justin Zorn (co-authors of Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise), who discuss the benefits of silence and how we can all seek out more moments of quiet and recognize their value.

Even for people who claim they hate chatter, most humans abhor silence. Proof? A common and highly effective interviewing and interrogation technique is to ask a question of a person and just wait for a verbal response. Don't jump in to fill the void. People get uncomfortable with silence, like wearing a wool sweater with no shirt underneath.

The authors explain thatbecause emergency vehicles have to be loud enough to break through their immediate soundscape, the volume of their sirens serves as a good proxy for the loudness of our environments. A comparison of fire engine sirens from 1912 to the present shows that sirens are nearly six times louder today, just to pierce through the din.

A range of peer-reviewed studies over the past decades has shown that auditory noise has a serious impact on cognition (especially among children) and contributes to health risks, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, and depression.

The authors explain: "Of course, it’s not just about the noise in our ears—it’s the noise on our screens and in our heads. Researchers have found that most people switch between different online content every 19 seconds, and the average person spends one full hour per day working to get back on track after interruptions from phones or social media."

Then the authors switch to our internal dialogue. Negative self-talk, like rumination about the past and worry about the future, can be merciless, even debilitating.

Modern, internal dialogue is not just high volume but high velocity. As the University of Michigan’s Ethan Kross puts it, “The voice in your head is a very fast talker.” Based on findings that inner speech is condensed to a rate of about four thousand words per minute (ten times the speed of expressed speech) Kross estimates that most of us listen to roughly 320 State of the Union addresses’-worth of inner monologue daily.

Noise is an unwanted distraction—be it auditory, informational, or internal. It interferes with our ability to make sense of the world and discern what we truly want.

Marz and Zorn tell us that silence isn’t just the absence of noise. Profound silence is presence beyond external distraction and internal chatter. It’s a presence that brings clarity, connection, energy, and inspiration.

The authors note: "We’ve found silence to be a vital and necessary starting point for solving complex and seemingly intractable problems."

Okay, I'll shut up now. Let's observe a moment of silence for the sake of silence.

#podcast #learning #education #psychology

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/venezuelan-pirates-the-new-scourge-of-the-caribbean/

Venezuelan pirates - the new scourge of the Caribbean

Image copyright Getty Images

As Venezuela’s economy collapses, a tide of lawlessness is spreading to the nearby island of Trinidad. Its fishermen now live in fear of Venezuelan pirates, discovers Colin Freeman, while Venezuelan smugglers exchange drugs and guns for basic necessities.

If your idea of a tropical paradise is based on what you’ve seen in tourist brochures, the coastline of south-west Trinidad will not disappoint. Golden beaches and coconut groves? Tick. Sleepy villages, full of fishermen snoozing under palm trees? Tick. A relaxed, laid-back vibe? Hmm. Actually, no.

Take a closer look in villages like Fullarton, and you’ll notice a few things seem out of place. For one, why have so many of the fishermen got 200 horsepower engines on their boats, when 75 is more than enough? And why, when they go out fishing at night, do none of them put lights on any more?

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Trinidad’s western tips are within sight of Venezuela

The answer, as fisherman Gerry Padarath explains from his beachside hammock, is pirates.

“We’re all scared of them now,” he tells me. “There’s been about 50 fishermen in the village who’ve had run-ins with them, either being robbed or kidnapped. Our only chance is to fish in the dark, so they don’t see us, or buy bigger engines so we can outrun them.”

Hang on… Pirates? In the Caribbean? That was 300 years ago, wasn’t it? Back when men like Blackbeard and Calico Jack sailed these waters. So far, the only pirate I’d seen in Trinidad was a picture of Captain Henry Morgan. And he was on a bottle of rum.

Image caption Gerry Padarath: ‘We’re all scared’

Gerry Padarath knows differently. He gestures out to sea, where across a stretch of mud-brown water another coastline can be seen. It’s mainland Venezuela – which, at its closest point, lies just 20km (12 miles) from Trinidad.

In happier times, ferries used to bring groups of Venezuelan tourists to party in Trinidad. Today, though, as Venezuela slides further into all-out economic collapse, its impoverished coastal ports have become modern Hispaniolas – havens for buccaneers.

From Our Own Correspondent has insight and analysis from BBC journalists, correspondents and writers from around the world

Listen on iPlayer, get the podcast or listen on the BBC World Service, or on Radio 4 on Saturdays at 11:30 BST

Most of the pirates are ex-fishermen, who used to make a good living catching tuna, octopus and shrimp in the Caribbean’s warm waters. But under Venezuela’s former president, Hugo Chavez, the fishing industry underwent a well-intentioned but disastrous nationalisation programme, prompting companies to relocate abroad.

With the added blow of hyperinflation, many of the fishermen now have no job and no way to feed their families. They do however have access to boats and to guns, which are in ready supply on Venezuela’s increasingly lawless streets.

Image caption Candy Edwards was kidnapped and held to ransom

It’s sadly reminiscent of the piracy crisis in Somalia a decade ago, where jobless fishermen took up arms to prey on passing ships. But while the Somali pirates targeted wealthy cargo ships, the Venezuelans tend to go for fellow fishermen from Trinidad, who aren’t much richer than they are.

One such victim was Candy Edwards, who I met in the village of Icacos, where long wooden fishing pirogues are lined up on the beach. He was out fishing with two friends when a boatload of men waving machine guns waylaid them.

“They jumped on board and tied us up,” he told me. “Then they took us off to Venezuela and held us in a cage in some woods. They demanded a $35,000 ransom to release us. The community here in Icacos had a whip round and we were freed after seven days. But I was so scared I didn’t go back to sea for a year.”

Image caption A Venezuelan refugee explains that essential goods have become very costly

You can hear stories like this these days all along Trinidad’s south-western coast. But it isn’t just the kidnappings and robberies that have got people worried. The pirates are also big smugglers, bringing cocaine and guns into Trinidad which fuel the island’s own vicious and increasingly deadly gang wars. On the return run, they bring boatloads of nappies, rice, cooking oil and other basics, all now in desperately short supply in Venezuela.

True, the gang problem has been going on for nearly two decades, and unless you stray into the slums of the capital, Port of Spain, you’re unlikely to see it. But the more Trinidad is engulfed in the tide of lawlessness drifting out from Venezuela, the worse it’s likely to get.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Venezuela once had its own flourishing fishing industry – seen here, the island of Toas, near Maracaibo, 1950

Then again, not all the Trinidadian fishermen are entirely innocent victims. Nosing around, my local fixer and I were met with distinctly nervous looks when we asked about one pirate kidnapping, which had happened just days earlier.

“Can’t talk to you about that right now, too many people watching,” one woman hissed at me. Later on, by phone, she explained.

“That kidnapping was all about drug money that someone here owed the cartels,” she said. “The drug problem is getting worse and worse here – the moment you left, a drug boat came in.”

I can’t say I was sad to have missed that particular scoop. Enough people in Fullarton had mistaken me for a cop as it was. But it did explain that sense of nervous tension. And it did get me wondering about all those new 200 horsepower engines. Were they really all just for running away from pirates? Or might they have other uses too?

You may also be interested in:

Just over a year ago, Greek pilot Vasileios Vasileiou checked into a luxury hilltop hotel in Kabul. The Intercontinental was popular with foreign visitors – which is why, on 20 January, Taliban gunmen stormed it, killing at least 40 people. Vasileios explains how he survived.

Read: The bed that saved me from the Taliban

Join the conversation – find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

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newagesispage · 4 years ago

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AUGUST 2020

PAGE DEB

There is a limited series coming to Showtime ,Blackbird: Lena Horne and America.

*****

Barack Obama joined a zoom call to Crip camp for the 30th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities act.** Hearing Obama, Clinton and even Bush speak as they remembered John Lewis reminds us how calming it can be to hear inspiring words.** Feel bad that Jimmy Carter could not attend since it was in Georgia. We miss ya.**John Lewis put his own words out there in the NY Times on the day of his funeral. He also wrote letters over the last couple of months to many activists to continue the fight.

*****

Racism is so American that when you protest it, people think you’re protesting America. – Romy Reiner

*****

Check our Smartless, the new podcast from Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman and Will Arnett. Each episode one of the hosts brings a surprise guest that answers questions.

*****

Opening some states is like opening a ‘peeing’ section of the pool. –Neil de Grasse Tyson

*****

Rumor is that Dave Chappelle will be on Letterman’s next batch of Netflix shows, My next guest needs no introduction.

*****

Check out the album Grandpa Metal from Brian Posehn, Brendon Small, Scott Ian, Al Yankovic, Corey Taylor and Jill janus.

*****

Reports have come thru that Brett Kavanaugh wanted the Supreme Court to avoid decisions about abortion and Trump’s financials.

*****

The Redskins have become the Washington Football team.

*****

Hulu will bring us Nine Perfect Strangers with Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy and Michael Shannon.

*****

Days alert: I wish Bonnie would turn out to be Adrienne. If the switch was made when she chose Justin over Lucas,that would explain a lot. Eve is back for revenge but Ciara and Hope will find Ben. Will it be too late? I hope this brings Shane and Teresa back to town. Allie will have a boy but who is the Father? Rumor is that it could be Theo Carver or Parker Jonas or Tripp Dalton. Will Eli and Lani have twins? Sarah and Xander will reunite??

*****

Spencer Grammer was stabbed while trying to break up an altercation in NY. She is on the mend.

*****

The Green Banana is a sort of 425 foot bright blue sink hole that has been found off the coast of Florida. Divers say it is about 155 feet below the surface.

*****

The Department of Homeland Security has more law enforcement capability than all other branches combined.** Why aren’t the storm troopers working on real crime?? Fingers crossed for no more Trump troops for “Operation Legend.”

*****

Jim Jordan says that, “Big tech’s out to get conservatives.” The top performing FB posts that day: Ben Shapiro 2. Fox news 3. Dan Bongino 4. CNS news 5. Ben Shapiro 6. Ben Shapiro 7. Fox news 8. CNN 9. Blue lives matter

*****

2 million Americans do not have running water.

*****

Actor Bryan Callen has been accused of sexual assault.

*****

Breonna Taylor is on the cover of O.** The WNBA has dedicated their season to Breonna and the Black Lives Matter movement.

*****

Epix has brought us a sort of new look at Manson with Helter Skelter: An American Myth.

*****

Southern Crossroads has a slogan: Rednecks for Black lives!!

*****

Louis De Joy, the new Postmaster General has apparently shut down sorting machines and cut overtime so that mail carriers must leave mail behind.

*****

David Duke is permanently banned from Twitter.

*****

The Emmy noms are here: Netflix broke all previos records for number of noms. Leading the pack was Watchmen, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Ozark, Succession, The Mandolorian, SNL and Schitt’s Creek. The best drama category is the toughest with The Mandolorian, Ozark, Succession, Better Call Saul, The Crown, The Handmaids tale, Killing Eve and Stranger Things. Best supporting actor in drama and comedy is tough including Kieran Culkin, Giancarlo Esposito, Matthew Macfayden, Andre Braugher, Tony Shalhoub, Kenan Thompsonand Daniel Levy. The limited series or movie supporting actress is loaded with goodies too like Holland Taylor, Uzo Aduba, Margo Martindale, Tracey Ullman, Toni Collette and Jean Smart. How can you pick?? The 72nd Emmy’s will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

*****

A new low: College Covid parties in Alabama to see who can get it. I think we need to crack down on education because we have some pretty stupid people in this country. Why do we want to work the medical professionals within an inch of their lives??** 155 thousand dead. The total cases have dipped slightly but fatalities are up. ** Pelosi has issued mandatory mask order for the house.** In the new covid bill they want 1.75 bill for a new FBI building that will stay in the same place that it now stands?? This surely couldn’t be because it is across the street from the Trump hotel and he does not want competition and likes his special locale. **The Senate decided to take a long weekend and not deal with it until August. How do so many not care about their fellow man??** The longer it takes to get the virus under control, the more business’s we lose forever.

*****

The Catherine’s clothing chain is closing.

*****

We need more detective shows with real stories about cops that don’t do things by the book. We have all heard of the fucked up crime scenes like Jon Benet Ramsey or Jeff Macdonald and we know that is just the tip of the iceberg.

*****

There have been shootings all over the country at various gatherings which should not even have been held.

*****

There is a long history with these vipers, Bill Barr’s Father hired a 20 year old Jeff Epstein to teach at Dalton. He was a high school drop out with no degree.** The usual suspects, Nugent and Baio et al.will speak virtually for Trump at the Republican convention.** Contrary to what the administration said, Paw Patrol was not cancelled.** You knew he would get around to wanting to postpone the election. Too bad for him congress has to agree and if they can’t work it out then the speaker may have to take over.

*****

Shep Smith has joined CNBC.

*****

Colin Kaepernick’s life will come to Netflix from Ava Duvernay. **

*****

The world hates us so much right now. We’ve been ruined in more ways than we know.** What kind of shithole President wishes a child sex trafficker well?

*****

Billy Eichner will play Paul Lynde in Man in the Box.

*****

The U.S. has told the Chinese consulate in Houston to shut down. Is this because of intellectual theft?? Now China has moved us out of our consulate there.

*****

Fairfax County will rename Robert E. Lee high after John Lewis.

*****

The Reagan foundation has asked the Trump campaign to stop raising money off of his name.

*****

I’ve been begging everyone for years; please wear a mask! –Emo Phillips** CVS and Wal Mart no longer require masks!!

*****

The company, Tele Tracking that took over control of the covid info is owned by Chris Johnson. The 10 mil contract went to the NY real estate dude.

*****

Funny how everything is a handout besides generational wealth.

*****

Hooray to the Yankees and the Nationals for taking a knee before the game.** Trump claims he was busy with Covid and could not throw out the first pitch. Come to find out, he was not asked. He made it up.

*****

Favre and Trump golfing, yea, that sounds about right.

*****

A company can keep women from birth control if there are religious or moral objections. About 126 thousand women will lose coverage.

*****

Lt. Col Vindman had been approved for promotion but the President would make the final decision. The brave hero decided to retire.

*****

The Supreme Court ruled that Trump can’t block his records being released. It is in the public interest but Trump can try again to block with different tactics.** They also ruled that most of Eastern Oklahoma will remain Native American land.** The Esselen tribe of Monterey county have reclaimed land on the Big Sur coast that was theirs 250 years ago. This was a cooperative effort between them, the California natural resources agency and a conservancy group.

*****

Trump calls the Black lives matter in front of Trump tower, “a symbol of hate.”** Cops shot, Cops killing civilians, mask confrontations: The mental illness in this country is officially off the charts.

*****

Biden claims he will use the Trump tax cuts to pay for 5 million new jobs in products and technology. The Dems released their agenda that touts free child care.** 100 days before the election, Brad Parscale was demoted. Jared puts his friends in high places and it goes on.** They say John Kasich will speak for the Dem convention. **

*****

Hey Seth Meyers: I LOVE the sea Captain!!

*****

Muddy Water’s former Chicago home at 4339 S. Lake Park Ave. will be a museum.

*****

Sen. Tom Cotton called slavery, “a necessary evil.”

*****

Still advertising on Fox news: Verizon, Noom, Allstate, Pfizer, Ancestry, Honey, Poshmark, Purple and Sanofi. ** And we know never to eat Goya again.

*****

Jean Smart will star in Miss Macy.

*****

Oprah mag will stop print.

*****

It is so Scary Clown: The only thing the enemy can’t stand is being laughed at. –Mark Twain

R.I.P. all the Covid victims, Nick Cordero, Hugh Downs, Ennio Morricone, Bill Field, the elephants of Botswana, Ronald Schwary, Charlie Daniels, Mary Kay Letourneau, Max B. Bryer, Kelly Preston, Naya Rivera, Ben Keough, Phyllis Somerville, Grant Imahara, Emitt Rhodes, Regis Philbin, John Lewis, John Saxon, Peter Green, Malik B., Herman Cain, Alan Parker and Olivia de Havilland.

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memozing · 5 years ago

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#online learning

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lindsaynsmith · 6 years ago

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How to Get a Friend Out of an MLM

How to Get a Friend Out of an MLM https://ift.tt/2CWgEwB

Elle Beau didn’t know much about makeup when she started selling it in 2015. As a college student, she was having trouble finding a job that worked with her busy school schedule. So when a friend began posting frequently on Facebook about a new business venture, Beau thought she’d found the solution to all her problems. After paying a start-up fee she couldn’t really afford, Beau was pulled into the cult-like world of Younique. “You’ll definitely make your money back in your first month, easy peasy,” her friend assured her.

But Beau didn’t make her money back. During the seven months she spent as a Younique presenter, she was pressured into buying more and more product, into posting constantly about her “business” on Facebook, and into recruiting friends and family to join her team and buy her products. Although she was hemorrhaging money, she was encouraged by her “upline” (the woman who recruited her and that woman’s superiors) to act like she was flourishing—uploading photos of orders that she’d made, pretending they were from customers, and writing out long testimonials about her love for the products and the company.

“I’ve always been very honest and open about everything in my life,” said Beau, who now runs a blog devoted to warning others about Younique’s toxic culture, and requested VICE not use her real name to avoid harassment from those still devoted to the product. “Finding myself pretending to try and make a sale or trick someone into signing up under me was really difficult. I was doing crap, and so were a lot of the other girls on my team, but we were told to lie.”

If Beau’s story sounds familiar, it probably is. In 2017, more than 18.6 million people in the U.S. were “employed” by a multi-level marketing (MLM) company. According to the FTC, two recent and unrelated studies both found more than 99 percent of people who join MLMs ultimately lose money.

But that hasn’t stopped the MLM model from infiltrating every section of international consumer culture. From colorful leggings and essential oils to supplements and powdered coffee spiked with literal viagra, MLM products like Younique and Herbalife invoke a bizarro world rule 34: if it exists, you can pay money to sell it.

At first glance, it might be difficult to see the problem with the MLMs. Sure, it’s annoying to have acquaintances slide into your DMs and try to sell you weight loss wraps, but is it really hurting anyone? Unfortunately yes, says Rick Alan Ross, an expert cult deprogrammer who founded and serves as executive director of the Cult Education Institute.

“I receive complaints on a regular basis about the destructive nature of MLMs,” Ross told VICE. “They hurt families and relationships, destroy people financially and really do a great deal of harm.”

Over the years, Ross has helped deprogram more than 500 cult victims, and MLMs pop up so frequently in Ross’ line of work that an entire chapter of his book, Cults Inside Out, is devoted to an Amway intervention.

According to Ross, most destructive cults and MLMs share three defining characteristics, initially popularized by Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton: 1. A charismatic leader who is worshipped and revered. 2. A culture of coercive persuasion or thought reform, in which all members of the group are taught to think alike and isolate themselves from anyone who questions their devotion. 3. Sexual, economic or other forms of exploitation of group members by leaders.

Using these tactics, MLMs overwhelmingly prey on vulnerable populations—the poor, single mothers, retirees, and even people with chronic illnesses—and promise them the world. Yes, they tell them, you have to invest a little money. But that’s normal when you start a business! If you work hard, you can can live a life of leisure, raking in cash while staying home with your kids.

When you’re desperate and someone you trust is providing you with what looks like a way out, it’s easy to take the bait. And those decisions, made under pressure and false hope, can end up costing a whole lot more than the joining fee. We talked to Ross and members of the growing anti-MLM community to find out what steps you should take if someone you love is drinking the MLM Kool-Aid.

Image via Shutterstock

Don’t buy anything from them, and don’t join their “team.”

“One of the most common mistakes people make when their friends are in an MLM is that they buy products from them,” the manager of the anti-MLM site Botwatch, who goes by ‘Bot’ or ‘Ms. Bot’ for reasons of privacy, told VICE. “They feel like they want to support their friend but don’t realize they are feulling false hope.”

Along with Elle Beau and several other anti-MLM bloggers, Bot runs mlmtruth.org, a site dedicated to exposing MLMs and providing support for people whose loved ones are in too deep. She says that when a newbie MLMer starts off, their main source of income is going to come from either selling or recruiting their friends and family, and the people who love them may feel obligated to support their “business” by buying their product or signing up underneath them.

“If they have some initial orders, they think they can make it work,” said Bot. “So they invest in it a bit more and keep chasing sales, harassing their friends and family and making relationships awkward.” If no one makes those initial purchases, the newbie MLMer is likely to drop the habit before they get in too deep.

Be positive.

When you see a friend starting to fall for an MLM scheme, your first instinct might be to shake them by the shoulders and yell at them about pyramid schemes. But all the experts we spoke with agree this is actually the worst possible thing you can do.

Like cults, MLMs often have a strong culture of positive thinking that’s centered around blocking out any and all negativity. From the top down, every new recruit is told again and again that they will encounter a lot of people who don’t understand or don’t believe in the mission. They are told these people will attempt to talk them out of the dreams, that they don’t want them to succeed, that they’re jealous and bitter. “Haters” may bring up lawsuits against the company, show evidence that the product they’re selling is of poor quality, or gently point out that the revered founder of the company once ran a scam cancer clinic and drowned his newborn daughter in a fucking hot tub. But recruits are assured all of these things are lies, and the people who tell them are toxic.

“When it comes down to it, if you don’t want to push your friend away, the most important thing you can do is not be negative about the company,” said Sasha Zazzi, co-host of the podcast Sounds Like MLM But OK. “For every one person they have telling them this is a bad idea, they have five more in their upline telling them to ignore the haters, and giving them false examples of people who have ‘made it’ to prove they can too.”

Instead of coming at them armed with statistics and horror stories, Zazzi, Bot, and Ross all recommend asking polite questions about the company’s mission, the amount of work they’re doing, and their financial goals. Be supportive of their decisions without actively supporting the business, and don’t argue with them.

“[Confrontation] in many cases results in the immediate termination of the friendship,” said Bot. “If the MLMer does this to a few people, they can quickly find themselves isolated from genuine friends and they become surrounded by MLM people, who are all encouraging them to keep putting in their money and isolating themselves further.”

Show them the money.

While Beau was selling Younique, her sister implored her to keep a detailed spreadsheet of her expenses and sales. She didn’t want to hear it at the time, but when she finally sat down to calculate how much her new business venture had brought in, she was shocked to see herself deep in the red. That realization, coupled with her growing unease over lying about her life on social media, ultimately pushed her to leave Younique.

“If you’ve got any accounting skills, one of the biggest things you can do to help a friend in an MLM is to set up a basic spreadsheet to show them how much they’re actually bringing in,” said Beau.

People in MLMs might think they’re doing well because they’re netting a few thousand dollars a month through sales and recruitment. But they’re often discounting the difference between revenue and profit, and they also may not realize that as independent contractors, a large chunk of their untaxed income will need to be paid out to the IRS come April.

Additionally, MLMers often have large business-associated costs they don’t even think to factor into their earnings. In addition to being constantly pressured to stock up on new products to sell, MLMers are encouraged to attend large, out-of-state conferences hosted by their companies.

For example, the 2018 annual conference for the essential oil MLM doTERRA just wrapped up last week, and tickets to the event were priced between $125 and $169. Attendees could go to the official doTERRA gala for another $75, take a campus tour for $10, and attend an “EMPOWERED SUCCESS TRAINING” session for another $20. Couple in the cost of flying or driving to Salt Lake City, the cost of a hotel or Airbnb for the week, and meals, “networking” drinks and gala-appropriate outfits, doTERRA consultants who made the trip could easily drop thousands on the experience.

If you want to help a friend see the light, Beau recommends sitting them down with the numbers. Take what they think is their net income and subtract what they’ll owe in taxes, the amount they spend on product, and their travel expenses for conferences and training sessions. Watching their money disappear before their eyes could be the wake-up call they need to stop.

Stage an intervention.

It’s one thing to know someone who’s casually shelling It Works products in addition to her full-time gig. According to the FTC, an estimated 50 percent of MLM recruits will drop out in the first year, and are hopefully able to minimize their losses as a result.

But it’s quite another to watch a friend, spouse or family member spiral into debt and financial ruin, and show no signs of giving it up.

“In many ways, MLMs can be as addictive as gambling,” said Zazzi. “You’re constantly told that you have to pay money to make money, and that you’re just a few months’ hard work away from crazy success. So you keep putting money down, thinking this time will be different, this time you’ll make it back.”

When a loved one is in this deep, it’s not enough to be positive and ask gently probing questions, says Ross, who has seen first-hand families and lives ripped apart by the destructive nature of MLMs.

“I get calls like this all the time,” he told VICE, describing conversations with desperate husbands and wives who have been watching in abject horror as their joint checking accounts are drained, their garages are filled with piles of unsold merchandise, and their spouses become unrecognizable. In these extreme cases, Ross says an intervention can be a loved one’s last resort before cutting off the MLMer completely.

When planning an MLM intervention, Ross first advises the spouse or loved one of the MLMer to start educating themselves on the concepts of thought reform and brainwashing. Once they have an understanding of what has happened to their spouse or loved one, they should reach out to other friends and family members for support during the intervention.

Ross recommends putting together a team of no more than four people – siblings, parents and close friends – who can help to anchor the MLMer and prevent them from walking out when they realize what’s going on. These people can also help attest to the harm they’ve seen caused as a result of the person’s involvement with the MLM.

Ross says an intervention usually takes several days, and he asks the person in the MLM to abstain from contacting anyone they work with during that time. The next step involves educating the person on both the fundamental flaws in the MLM business structure, and the cultural similarities between MLMs and cults. In his book, Ross cites an intervention with an Amway seller who began crying upon realizing he’d been brainwashed into believing the promises made by his upline.

Of course, interventions don’t always work. For every person who is willing to listen and leave, there’s another who refuses to see the light.

When asked if the process used to extract someone from an MLM was the same as the one he uses on victims of cults like Scientology, Ross laughed. “It is. It’s exactly the same process.”

Follow Caroline Thompson on Twitter.

via VICE https://ift.tt/1fnaWnB October 22, 2018 at 05:42PM

#IFTTT #Feedly #News #Repost

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leemdixon · 7 years ago

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New media added to my tablet and phone to listen, read and watch over the next month or so…

Tv Shows.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: Although bellhop Todd Brotzman doesn’t have a lot going on in his life, the worst awaits him. It begins when he arrives at work one day and is sent up to the hotel’s penthouse, where he discovers millionaire Patrick Spring has been murdered. An odd chain of events that unfolds leads to Todd becoming a person of interest in the crime and losing his job. That is when he meets Dirk Gently, a fast-talking, eccentric detective who has been hired to investigate the murder. He believes that he and Todd are destined to solve the mystery together. Once Dirk is able to convince Todd to work with him, the latter is visited by wild, dangerous characters — all associated with Dirk — who complicate his life further. Dirk, meanwhile, is being hunted by seemingly deranged assassin Bart, who almost kills a man she mistakenly believes to be the detective.

Van Helsing: In this reimagining of the classic Dracula story, the world is dominated by vampires, requiring humans to work together to survive. The series centers on Vanessa Helsing, daughter of famed vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing, who wakes up after a five-year coma to discover a vampire-controlled world. She soon learns that she possesses a unique blood composition that makes her immune to vampires and able to turn the creatures into humans. That power puts humanity’s last hope to return the world to how it once was before the vampires took over in Vanessa’s hands.

Films.

Assassin’s Creed: Cal Lynch travels back in time to 15th-century Spain through a revolutionary technology that unlocks the genetic memories contained in his DNA. There, he lives out the experiences of Aguilar de Nerha, a distant relative who’s also a member of the Assassins, a secret society that fights to protect free will from the power-hungry Templar Order. Transformed by the past, Cal begins to gain the knowledge and physical skills necessary to battle the oppressive organization in the present.

Justice League Dark: Batman forms Justice League Dark, a new team of dark arts specialists that is led by John Constantine. The team must unravel the mystery of a supernatural plague and contend with the rising, powerful villainous forces behind the siege.

Teen Titans: The Judas Contract: The young super groups get a new member who seems to have ulterior motives as they take on the mercenary Deathstroke.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter: The T-virus unleashed by the evil Umbrella Corp. has spread to every corner of the globe, infesting the planet with zombies, demons and monsters. Alice (Milla Jovovich), a former Umbrella employee turned rogue warrior, joins her friends on a last-chance mission to storm the company’s headquarters located deep underneath what used to be Raccoon City. But the Red Queen (Ever Anderson) knows that Alice is coming, and the final battle will determine if the rest of mankind lives or dies.

MASH: Based on the novel by Richard Hooker, “M*A*S*H” follows a group of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital officers at they perform surgery and pass the time just miles from the front lines of the Korean Conflict. Led by Captains Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Elliott Gould), they add to the chaos and hilarity of the situation.

Audiobooks.

The Gods Themselves Novel by Isaac Asimov The main plot-line is a project by aliens who inhabit a parallel universe (the para-Universe) with different physical laws from this one. By exchanging matter with Earth, they seek to exploit these differences in physical laws. The exchange of matter provides an alternative source of energy in their dying Universe. However, the exchange of physical laws will have the ultimate result of turning the Earth’s Sun into a supernova, and possibly even turning a large part of the Milky Way into a quasar. This is the alien’s ultimate goal, as it would provide more energy for the para-Universe.

Red Mars Novel by Kim Stanley Robinson From the first pioneers who looked back at Earth and saw a small blue star, to the first colonists – hand-picked scientists with the skills necessary to create life from cold desert – ‘Red Mars’ is the story of a new genesis. It is also the story of how Man must struggle against his own self-destructive mechanisms to achieve his dreams; before he even sets foot on the red planet, factions are forming, tensions are rising and violence is brewing – for civilization can be very uncivilized.

Altered Carbon Novel by Richard Morgan In the novel’s somewhat dystopian world, human personalities can be stored digitally and downloaded into new bodies, called sleeves. Most people have cortical stacks in their spinal columns that store their memories. If their body dies, their stack can be stored indefinitely. Catholics have arranged that they will not be resleeved as they believe that the soul goes to Heaven when they die, and so would not pass on to the new sleeve. This makes Catholics targets for murder, since killers know their victim will not be resleeved to testify. A UN resolution to alter this legal position forms one strand of the novel’s plot, to allow the authorities to sleeve a deceased Catholic woman temporarily to testify in a murder trial.

Mogworld Novel by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw In a world full to bursting with would-be heroes, Jim couldn’t be less interested in saving the day. His fireballs fizzle. He’s awfully grumpy. Plus, he’s been dead for about sixty years. When a renegade necromancer wrenches him from eternal slumber and into a world gone terribly, bizarrely wrong, all Jim wants is to find a way to die properly, once and for all. On his side, he’s got a few shambling corpses, an inept thief, and a powerful death wish. But he’s up against tough odds: angry mobs of adventurers, a body falling apart at the seams — and a team of programmers racing a deadline to hammer out the last few bugs in their AI.

Graphic Novels.

Blackest Night: “Blackest Night” involves Nekron, a personified force of death who reanimates deceased superheroes and seeks to eliminate all life and emotion from the universe.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE FILM BLADE RUNNER COMES TO COMICS! Worldwide best-selling sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick’s award-winning DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? has been called “a masterpiece ahead of its time, even today” and served as the basis for the film BLADE RUNNER. BOOM! Studios is honored to present the complete novel transplanted into the comic book medium, mixing all new panel-to-panel continuity with the actual text from the novel in an innovative, ground-breaking 24-issue maxi-series experiment.

Alias- Jessica Jones:

Alias is a comic book series created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos. It was published by Marvel Comics under Marvel’s MAX imprint for a total of 28 issues from 2001 to 2004. The protagonist of Alias is Jessica Jones, a former costumed superhero named Jewel who left that life behind to become a private investigator. The running thread is Jessica’s character development, as the layers of her past and personality are revealed to the reader while, simultaneously, she tries to come to terms with them herself. The Dark Tower: The Dark Tower comics follow the adventures and trials of Roland Deschain, son of Steven Deschain, dinh of Gilead. At the outset of our tale, Roland is a fourteen-year-old gunslinger apprentice, goaded by his father’s treacherous sorcerer into taking his test of manhood years too early. Roland thinks that he is fighting for his father’s honor, but in truth Marten Broadcloak is in league with Gilead’s enemy, John Farson, and wants nothing less than to have Roland—the final descendant of Arthur Eld, the ancient King of All-World—sent west in disgrace. Roland wins his guns, but the price is high. With Farson’s assassins haunting the streets of Gilead, Roland and his tet-mates Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns must leave the city. Steven Deschain sends the boys to the Outer Arc town of Hambry, but Roland and his tet-mates soon discover that Hambry is not a quiet backwater but the heart of Farson’s war-machine—a obliterating juggernaut which has its sights set on Gilead. So begins the epic war between Roland’s gunslingers and John Farson’s forces, a conflict whose battlefield moves from the Outer Arc to In-World and finally to the gunslingers’ heroic but doomed last stand at the Battle of Jericho Hill. Over the course of the story, Roland transforms from the dinh of a faithful ka-tet to a war-hardened loner, searching for the Dark Tower and for his ultimate enemies—a many-faced sorcerer and his master, an immortal were-spider who wants nothing less than to destroy the Tower and swallow the wreckage of the multiverse.

How do I consume my media?

Tablet:

Sony Z1 10inch.

16gb with a 64gb sd

Android 5.1.1

Phone:

Huawei P9

32gb with a 32gb sd

Android 6.0

Video app:

Mizuu for organizing.

MX Player Pro.

VLC just incase I need another.

AudioBooks:

Smart Audiobooks.

Podcasts:

Pocket Casts.

Ebooks:

Moon+ reader Pro.

Play Books.

Comics/Graphic Novels:

ComicRack.

New blog post is up-New Media Added To Watch, Listen and Read-May 2017 New media added to my tablet and phone to listen, read and watch over the next month or so...

#audiobooks #films #tv

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systemic-chaos · 2 years ago

Text

I have a lot of design ideas for Hotel main staff (not counting the new staff cuz I'm not caught up to there yet) but I'm not very good at drawing so I'm just gonna try to describe them

Lobby Boy: roadkill, looks like the kind of corpse you'd find in a pit on the side of the road. Somehow both wet and dusty at the same time. Full of worms, stringy dark hair, basically just skin over a skeleton. Also has a pillbox hat. He would love the song 'Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat' I think. Or maybe I'm just projecting

The Manager: Looks like a corpse from a funeral home. Her skin is stretched very tight over her body, has that sort of unique dead people makeup done for funerals. I imagine that she has trouble closing her mouth due to aforementioned skin tightness. Also wearing an 80s girlboss power suit with coordinated colors for whatever lobby she's in cuz obviously.

The Owner: some sort of ritualistic bog body. Very big and bloated, slightly green around the edges. Moss and sticks in his hair, large beak like nose to fit the whole bird/raven guy thing he's got going on. Has a cloak of feathers but under that is just a normal guy's suit.

#become victim to my hotel podcast posting #the hotel podcast #lobby boy #manager #owner #i am not sure if the owner decays tbh #but i feel like he does #tho he feels superior to the rest of the staff he is still after all one of the staff #his designs should lean into the rot aspect more tbh #go wild!

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voguepay · 7 years ago

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Headline News from PaymentsNews.com - May 16, 2017 http://ift.tt/2rmz5kH

Headline News is brought to you by Glenbrook Partners. Glenbrook provides payments strategy consulting and education services to payments professionals worldwide!

ON THE WEB

‘Alexa, pay my AmEx bill…’ - Chain Store Age - "American Express cardholders are now only a voice-command away from browsing their account or paying their bill. The credit card company is expanding its partnership with Amazon by launching its new Amex skill for Amazon Alexa. The skill brings select experiences of AmericanExpress.com and AmEx’s mobile app to Amazon’s voice service Alexa, within devices like Amazon Echo and Echo Dot."

Samsung Pay finally arrives in UK - Finextra - "Samsung's long-awaited push into the UK market for mobile payments is finally over. Originally scheduled for release in 2016, the app is set to make its debut on compatible user devices later today. "

NORDSTROM ROLLS OUT NEW REWARDS CREDIT CARD IN CANADA - Cards International - "Nordstrom, an upscale department store operator in the US, has expanded its loyalty programme in Canada by introducing a new Nordstrom Rewards Visa credit card. The new card will be offered through British credit card provider MBNA, a division of The Toronto-Dominion Bank."

From Kill Switch To Bitcoin, 'WannaCry' Showing Signs Of Amateur Flaws - NPR - "Cops have a decent shot at catching run-of-the-mill online scammers — say, the guy selling a car that's just too good to be true on Craigslist. But catching ransomware attackers is generally much more difficult — unless they slip up. The criminals behind the "WannaCry" ransomware attack may have done just that. Experts are now seeing some amateur flaws emerging including an easy-to-find kill switch and the unsophisticated way the attackers are demanding Bitcoin from their victims."

Web-Retail Startups Turn for Growth to Bricks and Mortar - Wall Street Journal (Paywall) - "Casper Sleep Inc. rattled the mattress industry with a bed-in-a-box that is sold only online, shipped free and comes with a 100-night guarantee. But after three years of robust sales as it lured customers through Facebook ads and podcast sponsorships, Casper is finding it can no longer shun the storefront. The New York company is among several specialty web retailers shifting to brick-and-mortar stores after finding the pool of online buyers is only so deep."

ON THE WIRES

LevelUp closes $50 million financing from JPMorgan Chase, US Boston and CentroCredit Bank - "Today, LevelUp announced that it has completed a $50 million round to continue to grow its business. Investors who participated in this round include long-time partner and investor JPMorgan Chase, US Boston and CentroCredit Bank. Chase made an initial investment in LevelUp at the end of 2015. This funding comes at a time of accelerating growth for LevelUp, which is now used by nearly a million people every month."

Mastercard Brings Faster, Safer Payments to Expedia with Masterpass - "Mastercard today announced that travelers now have more options to simply and securely complete their hotel, flight, and cruise reservations on Expedia.com, Orbitz and Travelocity with Masterpass."

Payza Becomes First Payment Network to Include Bitcoin Within Its eWallet - "Payza, an award-winning global payment platform, today announced that it has become the first eWallet provider to treat Bitcoin like any fiat currency. Members can now hold their bitcoins directly in their Payza eWallets, no longer needing a separate Bitcoin Wallet to perform Bitcoin exchanges to or from fiat currencies."

A Brand New re-Volusion: E-Commerce Software Platform Refocuses On SMB Roots; Releases Volusion 2 - "Volusion, a leading all-in-one website builder for retailers and brands, today unveiled Volusion 2, a new and significantly upgraded version of its software platform, underscoring the company's refocus on the needs of small to medium sized businesses by helping them start selling on their websites faster."

GLENBROOK PAYMENTS EDUCATION EVENTS

Understanding how payments work and the impact of the accelerating pace of change in the industry has never been more important. Get the knowledge you need fast at one of our two day Payments Boot Camps. Our one day Insight Workshops follow each Boot Camp and are deep dives into key topics such as digital payments and the global phenomenon of real-time push payments. Take a discount for attending all three days. Our workshop schedule is all set for the fall. Check it out here. We hope to see you soon!

Bring your colleagues along! Group discounts are available. For more information or to learn about our private workshops conducted at your location, contact Glenbrook's Russ Jones.

UPDATES FROM GLENBROOK

We're hiring! Passionate about payments? Love solving tough client problems? If that describes you, come join us! Click here to learn more!

Join our mailing list for updates about Glenbrook events. Follow us on Twitter: @paymentsnews and @paymentsviews

Click here to share PaymentsNews with a friend

Note: Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners. Throughout the day, as we spot interesting developments, this post is updated. Do you have news to share? Tell us here: [email protected]!

from Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners http://ift.tt/2rmz5kH via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners

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payment-providers · 7 years ago

Text

New Post has been published on Payment-Providers.com

New Post has been published on https://payment-providers.com/headline-news-from-paymentsnews-com-may-16-2017/

Headline News from PaymentsNews.com - May 16, 2017

Headline News is brought to you by Glenbrook Partners. Glenbrook provides payments strategy consulting and education services to payments professionals worldwide!

ON THE WEB

‘Alexa, pay my AmEx bill…’ – Chain Store Age – “American Express cardholders are now only a voice-command away from browsing their account or paying their bill. The credit card company is expanding its partnership with Amazon by launching its new Amex skill for Amazon Alexa. The skill brings select experiences of AmericanExpress.com and AmEx’s mobile app to Amazon’s voice service Alexa, within devices like Amazon Echo and Echo Dot.”

Samsung Pay finally arrives in UK – Finextra – “Samsung’s long-awaited push into the UK market for mobile payments is finally over. Originally scheduled for release in 2016, the app is set to make its debut on compatible user devices later today. “

Goldman Sachs Sees Big Potential for Fintech in Brazil – New York Times DealB%k – “Brazil is experiencing a wave of growth in financial technology that will most likely eat into the market share of the country’s huge and long untouchable banks, a new report from Goldman Sachs says.”

NORDSTROM ROLLS OUT NEW REWARDS CREDIT CARD IN CANADA – Cards International – “Nordstrom, an upscale department store operator in the US, has expanded its loyalty programme in Canada by introducing a new Nordstrom Rewards Visa credit card. The new card will be offered through British credit card provider MBNA, a division of The Toronto-Dominion Bank.”

From Kill Switch To Bitcoin, ‘WannaCry’ Showing Signs Of Amateur Flaws – NPR – “Cops have a decent shot at catching run-of-the-mill online scammers — say, the guy selling a car that’s just too good to be true on Craigslist. But catching ransomware attackers is generally much more difficult — unless they slip up. The criminals behind the “WannaCry” ransomware attack may have done just that. Experts are now seeing some amateur flaws emerging including an easy-to-find kill switch and the unsophisticated way the attackers are demanding Bitcoin from their victims.”

Web-Retail Startups Turn for Growth to Bricks and Mortar – Wall Street Journal (Paywall) – “Casper Sleep Inc. rattled the mattress industry with a bed-in-a-box that is sold only online, shipped free and comes with a 100-night guarantee. But after three years of robust sales as it lured customers through Facebook ads and podcast sponsorships, Casper is finding it can no longer shun the storefront. The New York company is among several specialty web retailers shifting to brick-and-mortar stores after finding the pool of online buyers is only so deep.”

ON THE WIRES

LevelUp closes $50 million financing from JPMorgan Chase, US Boston and CentroCredit Bank – “Today, LevelUp announced that it has completed a $50 million round to continue to grow its business. Investors who participated in this round include long-time partner and investor JPMorgan Chase, US Boston and CentroCredit Bank. Chase made an initial investment in LevelUp at the end of 2015. This funding comes at a time of accelerating growth for LevelUp, which is now used by nearly a million people every month.”

Mastercard Brings Faster, Safer Payments to Expedia with Masterpass – “Mastercard today announced that travelers now have more options to simply and securely complete their hotel, flight, and cruise reservations on Expedia.com, Orbitz and Travelocity with Masterpass.”

Payza Becomes First Payment Network to Include Bitcoin Within Its eWallet – “Payza, an award-winning global payment platform, today announced that it has become the first eWallet provider to treat Bitcoin like any fiat currency. Members can now hold their bitcoins directly in their Payza eWallets, no longer needing a separate Bitcoin Wallet to perform Bitcoin exchanges to or from fiat currencies.”

A Brand New re-Volusion: E-Commerce Software Platform Refocuses On SMB Roots; Releases Volusion 2 – “Volusion, a leading all-in-one website builder for retailers and brands, today unveiled Volusion 2, a new and significantly upgraded version of its software platform, underscoring the company’s refocus on the needs of small to medium sized businesses by helping them start selling on their websites faster.”

GLENBROOK PAYMENTS EDUCATION EVENTS

Bring your colleagues along! Group discounts are available. For more information or to learn about our private workshops conducted at your location, contact Glenbrook’s Russ Jones.

UPDATES FROM GLENBROOK

Note: Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners. Throughout the day, as we spot interesting developments, this post is updated. Do you have news to share? Tell us here: [email protected]!

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