#but considering it’s been announced the UK has gone into a recession

[qvietspvce]

.

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression, radio version - Ep 40, July 2016 - Time cover showing pregnant rape victim, Hiranabe's bad luck, Brexit.

Kaoru starts by saying that at the time this episode is broadcast, Dir will just have finished thier live at Shinkiba Studio Coast. At the time of recording, the live has obviously yet to take place, but Joe assures Kaoru he will be there. Kaoru then says that an extra last minute date has been added to the tour at Zepp Tokyo on the 4th of July. It really is last minute because it was announced only a few ours ago on the 2nd of July.

Kaoru then states that although they have played it at lives, today will be the first public broadcast of the studio version of the new single, Utafumi. He then comments on how they have only been able to play one record per show recently, due to getting to carried away with the conversation. They don't yet know who will join them for the second half of the show, but they hope its Tasai.

Kaoru's first topic is about the controversial March 21st cover of Time International magazine, which featured a nude, pregnant photo of a 17 year old South-Sudanese woman named Ayak who had been raped and made pregnant by soldiers during the country's civil war. She also contracted HIV as a result of being raped. Despite this, she is eagerly awaiting the birth of her child. Kaoru mentions how this is similar to a previous cover of Time, which showed a girl whose nose had been cut off by the Taliban. Kaoru says he feels that war and rape are the same thing in his mind, they are both forms of attack on people. He wonders what the South-Sudanese woman thinks about being on the cover, but he feels no desire to criticize the image. Joe says the image will have been published with the consent of the woman, and she will probably have wanted to send out a message with it. He thinks people who criticize the image might feel sorry for the woman. Kaoru states that feeling sorry for her is out of the question, by which he means that the image isn't intended for that purpose. It's purpose is to show the reality of what is actually happening. He then says that he does not know a lot about it, but the woman has been made into an outlet of this war, and by seening her photo, he gets a sense of how she feels. Joe changes the subject slightly by bringing up the recent hate-speech control bill in Japan, which had been the focus of a lot of debate. The bill included no provision of penalities, which led some to question what is the point of a law with no penalities for breaking it. On the other hand, some people think the bill is important because it shows the state publicly condemning hate speech. Joe says he interviewed one of the people behind the bill, who said that the most important thing to consider is what the people who have been victims of hate speech think about it. Of course, non-hate speech victims also have thier opinion, but we must not forget the opinions of those who have actually been affected by hate speech. Joe relates this back to the topic by saying that the most important thing to consider about this Time cover is the message the woman herself is trying to communicate. In this respect Kaoru thinks that  trying to criticize the image is pretty odd.

Next, they start the Tokyo Sports corner, and lo and behold, its Hiranabe who will join them today. Kaoru tells Hiranabe that for the last few episodes they had been hoping he wouldn't appear this week, because if he gets too carried away talking, they won't have time to play the new single at the end of the show. Kaoru then says its been while since they've seen him, and Hiranabe says he hasn't wanted to appear in public over the last few weeks. Why? When lining up - hungover - to get a public admission ticket to view the first trail of disgraced baseball player Kiyohara Kazuhiro, he had been snapped up close by the paparazzi without noticing, and his face had subsequently appeared in the newspaper. The journalist who took the photo thought Hiranabe looked kinda familiar, and thought he might get a scoop if Hiranabe turned out to be Kiyohara's drug dealer or something. Hiranabe was too embarrassed to show his face in public for a while after this. He now knows what it feels like to be on the recieving end of the paparazzi.

Next he tells a story about getting mugged by a Chinese woman with big boobs in Ginza 8/7 chome. According to him there are a lot of Chinese pimps there, and he warns listeners to be careful of this area. Joe says he doesn't think thats true. Hiranabe knew the woman was trying to scam him as soon as he saw her, so when she called out to him to go for a drink, he declined. She then embraced him, pushing her boobs up against him for 5 seconds. He broke loose and went home, where he realised that the ¥20,000 that had been in his pocket had gone. The woman had snatched it in the 4 or 5 seconds that he was momentarily excited by her. Joe says that was an expensive 5 seconds. Kaoru says to Hiranabe, 'I bet you liked it really', to which Hiranabe admits that he did. But he laments that he is sick of bad things happening to him, and reminds everyone again not to go to Ginza 8 chome. He adds that the woman was cute though. Kaoru and Joe comment on how Hiranabe's ramblings have nothing to do with the Freedom of Expression. Kaoru reckons this will come back up as one of the stories of the year if they do another live special in at the end of the year.

Very swiftly, Hiranabe begins his actual news topic, which is that the UK has declared to leave the EU. This prompts him to say that Europe has many big breasted blondes, but he apologises and says they probably wouldn't steal ¥20,000 from him though. Getting back on topic, he says a lot of people he knows have lost money on the stock exchange since the announcement was made. He comments on how the UK's decision to leave the EU was actually a very close call between leave or remain. Joe mentions the murder of a British pro-remain politician (Jo Cox) which happened shortly before the result, and which made Joe think that UK would probably end up leaning more towards remain. It was a shocking result. Hiranabe wonders what will happen if the UK have stated thier intention to leave, but secretly want to remain. He also asks what will happen if Scotland and N.Ireland declare to seperate from the UK to remain in Europe. The UK would lose its a lot of its manufacturing power, according to him, as London is only a financial centre, not a manufacturing centre. (*No mention of the rest of England and Wales here*). For this reason he thinks the UK secretly wants to remain. Joe comments on the possible economic ripple effects it could have on Japan. The yen was already high at this point, and Joe says further recession in Japan might occur as a result. Its pretty terrible to imagine that the British could have voted to leave the EU without really meaning it, but at the same time have caused financial choas around the world. Hiranabe mentions that the UK itself may suffer economically if they leave the EU, in which case a big breasted British blonde would probably get ¥200,000 from him if she ever tried the same trick as described earlier. (laughs from the others). He'd let her hold onto him for longer. Joe tells him not to put so much cash in his pockets.

Kaoru realises the conversation has gone too far again, and questions whether there'll be enough time to play the new single. There is a light flashing at him to play the record now, but Joe jokes its a warning lamp from the director that Hiranabe is about to get killed. Just as Kaoru is about to play the record, Kami jumps in to sympathise with Hiranabe's paparazzi incident from earlier. Kaoru manages to play the record just in time.

After the record finishes, Kaoru says that he had intended to do a more dramatic, impressive introduction to the single, instead of being like, 'Quick, I gotta play the record, Ok, here it is!'. Hiranabe tells him to explain the song properly now, but Kaoru grumpily says there's no time left, he has to close the show, and this is what happens when Hiranabe comes on the show. Kaoru also thinks that Kami butted in right at the last moment on purpose. He finishes with a quick plug of his tour and says its been an interesting day.

Songs - Dir en grey/Amber, Utafumi.

[lovelyfantasticfart]

Laser Eye Surgery Treatment Varieties

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from Blogger https://ift.tt/3hi2Egu

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Coronavirus: Kind Canadians start ‘caremongering’ trend (BBC) Just a few days ago the word “caremongering” did not exist. Now, what started as a way to help vulnerable people in Toronto has turned into a movement spreading fast across Canada. More than 35 Facebook groups have been set up in 72 hours to serve communities in places including Ottawa, Halifax and Annapolis County in Nova Scotia, with more than 30,000 members between them. People are joining the groups to offer help to others within their communities, particularly those who are more at risk of health complications related to coronavirus. The pandemic has led to acts of kindness around the world, from delivering soup to the elderly in the UK to an exercise class held for quarantined residents on their balconies in Spain. But in Canada, a country whose inhabitants are stereotyped in the media as kind to a fault, helping others has become an organised movement called “caremongering”.

US debt soaring (Wall Street Journal) The coronavirus pandemic is about to test the bounds of how much debt the U.S. government can bear. Even before the crisis hit, the U.S. was on track to increase its budget deficit to nearly $1 trillion in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. It was already up to $625 billion in the five months since the current fiscal year began Oct. 1. Now analysts say the deficit will soar well past the record $1.5 trillion hit in 2009, when the U.S. reeled through two years of financial crisis and recession. The economic outlook is so fluid that many analysts can’t keep up with their budget estimates.

Oil prices falling (Financial Times) Oil prices have fallen to their lowest level in 17 years, dropping below $25 a barrel, as demand for fuel has been hit by work and travel lockdowns introduced in some of the world’s biggest economies as part of efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. Crude has now collapsed by more than half in a little over two weeks, with weak demand exacerbated by a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which are raising supplies just as consumption falls dramatically. The two had previously co-operated on crude output but fell out over Riyadh’s calls for greater production cuts to boost the price.

Car companies shutter factories for now (Wall Street Journal) Detroit’s car companies have agreed to temporarily shut down factories in the U.S., Mexico and Canada to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, an unprecedented work stoppage that will affect hundreds of thousands of factory employees. Executives from General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler came to the decision Wednesday following discussions with union leaders and as concerns among workers were growing that the virus would spread rapidly in the plants, where thousands of employees work side-by-side each day.​

US State Department suspends visa services (Reuters) The United States is suspending all routine visa services as of Wednesday in most countries worldwide due to the coronavirus outbreak, a spokeswoman for the State Department said, an unprecedented move that will potentially impact hundreds of thousands of people.

Colombia to suspend entry for all travelers from abroad (Reuters) Colombia will block entry to everyone traveling from abroad from midnight on Monday in an effort to control the spread of coronavirus, President Ivan Duque said on Thursday.

Argentina to announce obligatory quarantine to curb coronavirus (Reuters) Argentina will announce an obligatory quarantine to curb the spread of coronavirus, provincial government sources said on Thursday. The quarantine will be in effect from midnight on Friday morning until March 31, the sources said. Argentina has already closed its borders for a total of 15 days and suspended flights from highly affected countries.

UK puts military on standby as coronavirus shuts down swathes of London (Reuters) The United Kingdom put 20,000 military personnel on standby, closed dozens of underground train stations across London and Queen Elizabeth left the city for Windsor Castle as the coronavirus crisis shut down whole swathes of the economy.

Dutch PM tells citizens to relax, saying there’s enough toilet paper for 10 years (Reuters) The prime minister in the Netherlands has offered reassurances amid the global coronavirus outbreak: telling citizens on Thursday there is no shortage of toilet paper.

Italy considers exercise ban as death toll rises (Foreign Policy) Italy is considering banning outdoor solitary exercise as it struggles under the weight of its coronavirus epidemic, the worst in Europe. Italy is in a de facto lockdown and police have already stopped 1 million residents for breaking the newly enforced restrictions. “I believe that in the coming hours we will have to consider the possibility of a complete ban on outdoor activities,” Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora told the state broadcaster. Italy reported 475 coronavirus-related deaths within the last 24 hours, its largest death toll increase yet.

NATO officially gains a new member (Foreign Policy) It may have been lost in the coronavirus fray, but this week NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that all member states have now approved adding North Macedonia as the 30th member of the alliance.

Thailand to tighten entry rules for all nationalities in virus fight (Reuters) Thailand will introduce new measures requiring all travellers to the country to present medical certificates and health insurance before gaining entry in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Thursday.

Terrorism and the coronavirus (Foreign Policy) Even the Islamic State is taking coronavirus seriously. The terror group has advised its members to avoid traveling to Europe amid the coronavirus outbreak. As Reuters reports: “The Taliban have pledged their readiness to work with healthcare workers instead of killing them.”

While coronavirus ravages Iran, U.S. sanctions squeeze it (Washington Post) Iran has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus, and things may get far worse. On Tuesday, a state television reporter who is also a medical doctor warned that the death toll could be in the “millions” as worshipers forced their way into two Shiite shrines closed by the outbreak. That’s not idle speculation. The death toll in Iran from covid-19 infections surged past 1,000 on Wednesday after the largest single-day rise in the number of deaths since Iran’s outbreak began. But this week, the United States announced that it would be expanding its sanctions on Iran, as well as on entities that aided the Iranian government in its trade in petrochemicals and other restricted activities. It’s a strategy that worries allies and enemies alike. The Guardian reported on Wednesday that Britain was privately pressing the United States to ease sanctions on Iran amid the crisis, while China has publicly called on the United States to lift its Iran sanctions. But the United States, which reimposed sanctions on Iran after President Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear agreement with Iran and other nations in 2018, has refused. Last year, Human Rights Watch warned that U.S. sanctions on Iran had “drastically constrained the ability of the country to finance humanitarian imports, including medicines, causing serious hardships for ordinary Iranians and threatening their right to health.”

Israel’s Netanyahu accused of exploiting virus crisis (AP) With the Israeli government enacting a series of emergency measures to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing accusations that he is exploiting the crisis to entrench himself in power and undermining the country’s democratic foundations. Amid a wave of sweeping restrictions that have put Israel in near shutdown mode, Netanyahu has managed to postpone his own pending criminal trial, authorize unprecedented electronic surveillance of Israeli citizens and block parliament from pressing ahead with legislation aimed at pushing him from office.

Thousands stranded when Morocco shuts borders call for help (AP) Thousands of travelers are stranded in Morocco, which has closed its borders, gone into lockdown and is shuttering hotels in major cities to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus. France, which is the biggest source of tourists in Morocco, managed to evacuate up to 13,000 of its citizens since Friday and is working on getting out up to 7,000 more still in the former colony, according to the Foreign Ministry. Besides getting airlines to put on hundreds of extra flights, French officials announced a special site Thursday to help French travelers waiting to get home. American tourists and students, in contrast, say the U.S. government has done little to help them, forcing them to figure things out on their own. Several hundred are scattered in cities around the country, sleeping on floors in the Marrakech airport, holed up in one of the last hotels open in Rabat and banding together on a Facebook group--U.S. Citizens Trapped in Morocco.

[itsfinancethings]

The impact of coronavirus on markets threatens to derail the world economy. We were positive about the macroeconomic outlook and assets at risk in general before the sudden outbreak of the epidemic. The latter remains a huge source of uncertainty and the economic impact on China and the rest of the world is probably seriously underestimated. The tight controls imposed by the Chinese authorities seem to be working and the number of new cases is decreasing. If this continues, we expect production to resume in China and the rest of the world. In case this prediction turns out to be correct, one could go back to considering the fundamentals - which seem positive. In addition to the coronavirus epidemic, we have identified some trends that will determine the prospects for the global economy. First of all, the improvement of the manufacturing industry, which could prove to be fundamental for profits and shares. The sector has gone through a recession but is now showing signs of a possible turnaround. The PMI Index experienced a small recovery and new orders compared to stocks suggest that this recovery will gain momentum. This is good news for the financial markets. The manufacturing industry accounts for a very small percentage of GDP compared to services in developed markets, but when it comes to corporate earnings and equities, the manufacturing industry is critical. This reversal is driven by semiconductors, thanks to the advent of 5G. Cars have led the factory into a recession, however, we are starting to see signs of stabilization. Equally important is the ceasefire in the US-China trade war. The structure of Beijing's economy is changing significantly, with the service sector growing strongly. While Chinese exports to the United States have declined following the trade war, other Asian countries and Mexico have bridged much of the gap. Markets welcomed the "Phase 1" trade deal and it seems that it is in the interests of both sides to maintain peace for now. Commercial tensions have not disappeared, we expect a recovery when the presidential elections come alive.  Brexit-related talks are continuing but may be tightened. There is no practical reason why a basic free trade agreement cannot be negotiated this year. Services negotiations will be subject to much tougher protectionist measures, mainly due to the UK's large trade surplus in services with the EU. Regardless of the deal, the UK is going to sign, British firms will be in a weaker position to compete in Europe. Brexit is an important challenge for the British economy. However, the UK continues to be resilient, thanks to the educational level of the population, the flexibility of the labour market and excellent institutions. Boris Johnson's government points out the differences, the EU wants control over British regulations. A conflict appears more likely than a compromise. Brexit has distracted attention from British fundamentals. There has been a strong rebound in economic polls since the general elections, however negative aspects remain. Wage inflation is rising, but productivity is growing below 1%. A 4% wage growth translates into a 3% increase in costs per year. This is not consistent with a 2% inflation target, something has to move. We will keep an eye on the pound, as it could be the consequences of it. It's not all bad news for the UK. A strong push towards infrastructure spending will be announced next month. In addition, British mortgage rates have fallen, the housing market is stabilizing as a result and prices are likely to accelerate this spring.

[jamieclawhorn]

Why the RBS share price is on my FTSE 100 ‘buy’ list for 2019

UK-focused Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LSE: RBS) hasn’t been one of my better tips for 2018. The bank’s shares have fallen by about 25% so far this year, despite the bank settling several historic legal issues and restarting dividend payments.

The stock’s decline can be blamed on Brexit and the risk of a UK recession. But I think it’s also fair to say that 10 years after the financial crisis, many investors are still unsure about banks generally.

I think these concerns may be overdone. Although we can’t know what will happen next year, I’m optimistic about the outlook for RBS. Here are three reasons why I remain a buyer.

1. Problems solved

RBS has had a fair number of legacy problems to solve since the financial crisis. This has taken some time, but the process is largely complete following this year’s $4.9bn (£3.6bn) settlement with the US Department of Justice.

Looking ahead, the firm’s profits should be less affected by legacy issues. This is expected to pave the way for the government to gradually sell its remaining stake in the bank.

2. Dividend restart

This year’s US settlement also led to another important milestone. RBS was able to pay a dividend for the first time since March 2008.

August’s 2p per share interim payout was fairly modest. But analysts expect the dividend to rise rapidly from here on. A total payout of 6.8p per share is expected for 2018, climbing 55% to 10.6p per share in 2019.

These forecasts give RBS stock a 2019 dividend yield of 5%, comfortably ahead of the FTSE 100 average of 4.5%. This payout looks very affordable to me too, as City forecasts indicate that it should be covered 2.6 times by earnings.

3. Cheap at this price

I think the bank’s progress this year has left its shares looking cheaper than they deserve to be.

At the time of writing, RBS shares were trading at 209p. This puts the stock at a 27% discount to its tangible book value of 288p, and gives a forecast price/earnings ratio of 7.5.

This seems too cheap to me, especially given the stock’s growing dividend yield. I continue to hold my shares, and would be happy to buy more.

An unloved dividend bargain?

Another sector that’s unpopular with investors at the moment is public transport. The share price of bus and train operator Stagecoach Group (LSE: SGC) has fallen by 35% over the last two years.

Although some of this decline has been due to weaker profits, I think the stock’s de-rating may have gone too far. Management is taking steps to strengthen the business and today, announced the sale of its US operations for $271m. I estimate this to be about 10 times last year’s operating profit, which seems a fair price to me.

My thoughts

Cash from the US sale will be used to reduce Stagecoach’s net debt of £461m to a more comfortable level. This should make it easier for the firm to invest in new UK opportunities and provide stronger support for the dividend yield of 5.5%.

Stagecoach isn’t out of the woods yet. Earnings are expected to fall again in 2019/20, suggesting further challenges lie ahead.

Despite these risks, I think the stock’s forecast price/earnings ratio of 7 looks good value. Worth a closer look, in my opinion.

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More reading

I reckon the RBS share price should smash buy-to-let in 2019

Forget a cash ISA. I’d pick up a 6% dividend yield from FTSE 100-member RBS’s share price

Should you buy shares in Royal Mail and Royal Bank of Scotland for 2019?

Could Standard Life Aberdeen boost your retirement income as the State Pension age rises?

Is the RBS share price or this falling FTSE 250 knife the brighter bargain today?

Roland Head owns shares of Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

[rawskruge]

werds

The fact that chimps share 99% of their DNA with us is really impressive until you realize that string beans share 50% of it

mosquitos are like dirty used needles that can fly

the top 2000 m of the world ocean warmed about0.09 C degrees during the time period from 1970 to 2013. It also reports the UK’s Met Office calculated that if the same amount of energy had gone into the lower atmosphere, it would have raised its temperature about 36 C degrees!

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Understanding time:

- Oxford University is older than the Aztecs.

- In the span of 66 years, we went from taking flight to landing on the moon.

- There is more processing power in a TI-83 calculator than in the computer that landed Apollo 11 on the moon.

- The first pyramids were built while the woolly mammoth was still alive.

- The fax machine was invented the same year people were traveling the Oregon Trail.

- Everything in this 1991 RadioShack ad exists in a single smartphone.

- There was more time between the Stegosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus Rex than between the Tyrannosaurus Rex and you.

- If the history of Earth were compressed to a single year, modern humans would appear on December 31st at about 11:58pm.

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Asker or guesser:

We are raised, the theory runs, in one of two cultures. In Ask culture, people grow up believing they can ask for anything – a favour, a pay rise– fully realising the answer may be no. In Guess culture, by contrast, you avoid “putting a request into words unless you’re pretty sure the answer will be yes… A key skill is putting out delicate feelers. If you do this with enough subtlety, you won’t have to make the request directly; you’ll get an offer. Even then, the offer may be genuine or pro forma; it takes yet more skill and delicacy to discern whether you should accept.”

Neither’s “wrong”, but when an Asker meets a Guesser, unpleasantness results. An Asker won’t think it’s rude to request two weeks in your spare room, but a Guess culture person will hear it as presumptuous and resent the agony involved in saying no. Your boss, asking for a project to be finished early, may be an overdemanding boor – or just an Asker, who’s assuming you might decline. If you’re a Guesser, you’ll hear it as an expectation. This is a spectrum, not a dichotomy, and it explains cross-cultural awkwardnesses, too: Brits and Americans get discombobulated doing business in Japan, because it’s a Guess culture, yet experience Russians as rude, because they’re diehard Askers.

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the multiple benefits of organic farming — what Europeans call multifunctionality. For one, farmers benefit because instead of needing to purchase costly chemicals, genetically engineered seeds and synthetic fertilizer, they can largely work with the ecological systems of their own farmscapes to fend off pests and promote fertility. Organic farming benefits the rest of us too. These low-input practices promote biodiversity (key to food security), protect pollinators (key to one-third of the food we eat), reduce farm energy use while storing more carbon in the soil (key to fixing climate change) and foster clean water and air (key to, well, everything).

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tower of babble (from Harpers)

Donald J. Trump, a reality-television star erecting a mausoleum for himself behind the first-hole tee of a golf course he owns in New Jersey, first declared his candidacy for president of the United States in the atrium of Trump Tower, which he built in the 1980s with labor provided by hundreds of undocumented Polish workers and concrete purchased at an inflated price from the Gambino and Genovese crime families. “The American dream is dead,” Trump said to the audience members, each of whom he paid $50 to attend. During Trump’s primary campaign, he told his supporters that he knew “all about crazies,” loved “Wall Street guys” who are “brutal,” planned to “use the word ‘anchor baby,’ ” and preferred to pronounce “Qatar” incorrectly. Trump, who in 1999 cut his sick infant grandnephew off the Trump Organization’s health-care plan and in 2011 compared being gay to switching to a long-handled golf putter, pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act and said he’d consider trying to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage. Trump said that his book The Art of the Deal was second in quality only to the Bible and that he never explicitly asked God for forgiveness. At a church in Iowa, he placed a few dollar bills into a bowl filled with sacramental bread, which he has referred to as “my little cracker.” Trump, who once dumped a glass of wine on a journalist who wrote a story he didn’t like, told his supporters that journalists were “liars,” the “lowest form of humanity,” and “enemies,” but that he did not approve of killing them. “I’m a very sane person,” said Trump, who once hosted a radio show in which he discussed the development of hair-cloning technology, the creation of a vaccine for obesity, the number of men a gay man thinks about having sex with on his morning commute, and the dangers of giving free Viagra to rapists. Trump denied being the voice of John Miller, one of several fictional assistants he had previously admitted pretending to be, in a recording of himself telling a reporter that he had “zero interest” in dating Madonna; that he had three other girlfriends in addition to Marla Maples, with whom he had been cheating on his wife; and that he had an affair with Carla Bruni, who later responded by describing Trump as “obviously a lunatic.” Trump, who once offered the city of New York vacant apartments in his building to house homeless people in hopes they would drive away rent-controlled tenants, sent a bumper sticker to a group of homeless veterans whom he had previously declined to help and asked them to campaign for him. Trump, whose companies have been cited 24 times since 2005 for failing to pay workers overtime or minimum wage, said the federal minimum wage should go up, and then said it should not. Trump referred to 9/11 as “7-Eleven,” and called Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren “the Indian” and “Pocahontas.” Trump, who had previously labeled a deaf contestant on his reality-TV show The Apprentice “retarded,” and had described poor Americans as “morons,” said the country was on course for a “very massive recession,” one resembling the U.S. recession of 2007 to 2009, which Trump once said Americans could “opt out of” by joining Trump Network, a multilevel-marketing company that sold a monthly supply of multivitamins purportedly tailored to customers based on a test of their urine. Trump submitted his financial-disclosure form to the Federal Election Commission, on which he swore under oath that his golf course in Briarcliff Manor, New York, which was being sued by the town for causing flooding, was worth $50 million, despite having sworn in a previous property-tax appeal that it was worth $1.4 million; and swore that his golf course in Palos Verdes, California, which he was suing for five times its annual revenue, was worth more than $50 million, despite previously having filed papers with Los Angeles County stating it was worth $10 million. Trump claimed he made $1.9 million from his modeling agency, which a foreign-born former model accused of “modern-day slavery,” alleging that the agency forced her to lie about her age, work without a U.S. visa, and live in a crowded apartment for which she paid the agency as much as $1,600 a month to sleep in a bed beneath a window through which a homeless man once urinated on her. Trump sought to exclude a recording of himself telling the nephew of former president George W. Bush that he grabs women “by the pussy” from a fraud suit filed against Trump University, a series of real-estate seminars taught by salespeople with no real-estate experience, which was housed in a Trump-owned building that the Securities and Exchange Commission said also housed the country’s most complained-about unregistered brokerages, and whose curriculum investigators in Texas described as “inapplicable.” Trump announced that he would win the Latino vote, and tweeted a photo of himself eating a taco bowl from Trump Grill in Trump Tower with the message “I love Hispanics!” Trump referred to a black man at one of his rallies as “my African American,” and pledged his support for black people at a gathering of mostly white people in Wisconsin, whom he often referred to as “the forgotten people.” “I am the least racist person,” said Trump, who was sued twice by the Justice Department in the 1970s for allegedly refusing to rent apartments to black tenants, whose Trump Plaza Hotel was fined $200,000 by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1992 for removing black dealers from card tables, who allegedly told a former employee that he hated “black guys counting my money,” who in 2005 floated the idea of pitting an all-black Apprentice team against an all-white one to reflect “our very vicious world,” and who was endorsed by leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, one of whom said, “What he believes, we believe.” Trump tweeted statistics credited to a fictional government agency falsely claiming that the majority of white murder victims in the United States are killed by black people. Trump tweeted a photoshopped picture of Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who Trump had said “had blood coming out of her wherever,” standing next to a Saudi prince, who tweeted back that he had “financially rescued” Trump twice, including once in 1990, when the prince purchased Trump’s 281-foot yacht, which was formerly owned by a Saudi arms dealer with whom Trump often partied in Atlantic City, and with whom Trump was implicated in a tax-evasion scheme involving a Fifth Avenue jewelry store. Trump disputed former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s claim that Trump magazine is defunct, showing as proof an annual circular for his clubs that was not Trump magazine, which folded in 2009. Trump republished his book Crippled America with the title Great Again. Trump told and retold an apocryphal story about a U.S. general who executed Muslim soldiers with bullets dipped in pig’s blood and proposed that Muslims be banned from entering the country. At the first primary debate, Trump praised his companies’ bankruptcies, including that of Trump Entertainment Resorts, in which lenders lost more than $1 billion and 1,100 employees lost their jobs, and that of Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, a publicly traded company that Trump used to purchase two casinos for almost $1 billion, and from which he resigned after the company went bankrupt for the first time, but before it went bankrupt for the second time. “I made a lot of money,” said Trump. At the fifth primary debate, Trump defended the idea of retaliating against America’s foreign aggressors by killing non-combatant members of their families, saying it would “make people think.” At the eleventh primary debate, Trump told the crowd there was “no problem” with the size of his penis. Trump said that he knew more about the Islamic State than “the generals,” and that he would “rely on the generals” to defeat the Islamic State. Trump said he would bring back waterboarding and torture because “we have to beat the savages.” Trump offered to pay the legal bills of anyone who assaulted protesters at his rallies, denied making the offer, then made the offer again after a 78-year-old white supporter in North Carolina punched a 26-year-old black protester in the eye and said, “Next time we see him we might have to kill him.” Trump, who in 1999 called Republicans too “crazy right” and in 2000 ran on a Reform Party platform that included creating a lottery to fund U.S. spy training, said that the 2016 primaries were “rigged,” then clinched the Republican nomination for president, receiving more votes than any Republican in history. “I was the one who really broke the glass ceiling,” said Trump when his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, became the first woman to lead a major party’s ticket. Trump hired Steve Bannon, the editor of the white-nationalist website Breitbart, to replace his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who ran a firm that once lobbied for the military dictator of Zaire, and who himself replaced Corey Lewandowski, who resigned from the campaign not long after he was filmed grabbing a Breitbart reporter by the arm to prevent her from asking Trump any questions. Trump selected as his running mate Indiana governor Mike Pence, who previously backed a bill that would allow hospitals to deny care to critically ill pregnant women, and who once criticized the Disney character Mulan as a “mischievous liberal” created to persuade Americans that women should be allowed to hold combat positions in the military. In his general-election campaign, Trump said he would consider recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, and called on Russia to hack into Clinton’s email account. Trump said that he doesn’t pay employees who don’t “do a good job,” after a review of the more than 3,500 lawsuits filed against Trump found that he has been accused of stiffing a painter and a dishwasher in Florida, a glass company in New Jersey, dozens of hourly hospitality workers, and some of the lawyers who represented him. “I’m a fighter,” said Trump, who body-slammed the WWE chairman at WrestleMania 23 in 2007, and who attended WrestleMania IV with Robert LiButti, an Atlantic City gambler with alleged mafia ties, who told Trump he’d “fucking pull your balls from your legs” if Trump didn’t stop trying to seduce his daughter. Trump, whose first wife, Ivana, accused him in divorce filings of rape, and whose special council later said rape within a marriage was not possible, said “no one respects women more than I do.” Trump threatened to sue 12 women who accused him of sexual misconduct, including one who recalled Trump trying “like an octopus” to put his hand up her skirt on an airplane 35 years ago; four former Miss Teen USA contestants, who alleged that Trump entered their dressing room while girls as young as 15 were changing and said, “I’ve seen it all before”; the winner of Miss Utah USA in 1997, who alleged that Trump forcibly kissed her on the lips and then told her, “Twenty-one is too old”; an adult-film star, who alleged that at a golf tournament in Tahoe in 2006 Trump offered her $10,000 and the private use of his jet to spend the night with him; and a People magazine reporter, who alleged that while she was writing a story on Trump and his current wife, Melania, on the occasion of their first wedding anniversary, Trump pushed her against the wall and forcibly kissed her before telling her, “We’re going to have an affair.” “What I say is what I say,” said Trump, who previously told a pair of 14-year-old girls that he would date them in a couple of years, said of a 10-year-old girl that he would date her in 10 years, told a journalist that he wasn’t sure whether his infant daughter Tiffany would have nice breasts, told the cast of The View that if Ivanka weren’t his daughter “perhaps I would be dating her,” told radio host Howard Stern that it was okay to call Ivanka a “piece of ass” and that he could have “nailed” Princess Diana, and tweeted that a former winner of his Miss Universe pageant, whom Trump once called “Miss Piggy,” was disgusting. “Check out sex tape,” tweeted Trump, who once appeared in a soft-core pornographic film breaking a bottle of wine over a limousine. Trump did not comment on reports that he used over $200,000 in charitable contributions to the Trump Foundation to settle lawsuits against his businesses, $20,000 in contributions to the Trump Foundation to buy a six-foot-tall painting of himself, and $10,000 in contributions to buy a smaller painting of himself, which he hung on the wall of his restaurant Champions Bar and Grill. “I’m the cleanest guy there is,” said Trump, who once granted the rights to explore building Trump-branded towers in Moscow to a mobster convicted of stabbing a man in the face with the stem of margarita glass, who was mentored by the former lead council for Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Gambino and Genovese crime families, who once purchased a nightclub in Atlantic City from a hit man for a Philadelphia crime family, who once worked with a soldier in the Colombo crime family to outfit Trump Golden and Executive Series limousines with a fax machine and a liquor dispenser, and who once purchased helicopter services from a cigarette-boat racer named Joseph Weichselbaum, who was charged with drug trafficking in Ohio before being moved to Trump’s sister’s courtroom in New Jersey, where the case was handed off to a different judge, who gave Weichselbaum a three-year prison sentence, of which he served 18 months before moving into Trump Tower. Trump told journalists he “made a lot of money” when he leased his house in Westchester to the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. “I screwed him,” said Trump. Trump, who in 2013 said that he did “have a relationship” with Vladimir Putin, said in 2016, “I don’t know Putin.” Trump, who wrote in 1997 that concern over asbestos was a mob conspiracy, who in the 1990s spent $1 million in ads to bolster the theory that a Native American tribe in upstate New York had been infiltrated by the mafia and drug traffickers, who once implied that Barack Obama’s real name is Barry Soetoro and that he won reelection by making a secret deal with Saudi Arabia, and who in 2012 tweeted that global warming was a “hoax” created by “the Chinese” to weaken U.S. manufacturing, suggested to his supporters that the Islamic State paid the phone bills of Syrian refugees, that his primary opponent Ted Cruz’s Cuban father was involved in a conspiracy to kill President John F. Kennedy, and that U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia may have been suffocated with a pillow. During the first debate of the general election, Trump said that Rosie O'Donnell had deserved it when he called her “disgusting both inside and out,” “basically a disaster,” a “slob,” and a “loser,” someone who “looks bad,” “sounds bad,” has a “fat, ugly face,” and “talks like a truck driver.” At the second general-election debate, Trump invited three women who have accused Clinton’s husband of sexual misconduct to sit in the front row; claimed that Clinton had once laughed about the rape of a 12-year-old girl, which audio showed not to be true; claimed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had endorsed him, which it had not; and afterward suggested that his opponent had been on drugs during the debate. Trump, who said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose supporters, told his supporters that Clinton could shoot one of them and not be prosecuted. Trump told the audience at a Catholic charity dinner that Clinton “hates Catholics,” that she is “the devil,” and that Mexico was “getting ready to attack.” Trump, who once kept a collection of Adolf Hitler’s speeches at his bedside, told his supporters that the election was “rigged” against him, won the election despite losing the popular vote by a margin of almost 3 million, claimed that he had in fact won the popular vote, and then announced that he would be staying on as executive producer of The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, which a year earlier had fired him because he called Mexicans “rapists.” “Our country,” said Trump at a victory rally, “is in trouble.”

[vrheadsets]

Me Vs. A Decade

Today’s VR vs. story isn’t really about virtual reality. It’s more a story about the writer, as today marks a very important day for me. Let’s begin 24 hours ago though.

It was Monday. My phone was ringing. It was ringing and it was over on the other side of the flat.

Bugger.

Groaning I drop the speaker I’m trying to repair with one hand and break away from the Twitter post I’m writing with the other, to sprint across the flat. Dodging the overly long and overly patched up internet cable, hurdling the two steps up to the, weirdly, slightly higher level which that side of the flat is at. Before pouncing on the phone lying on my bed before it rings off. I knew who it was of course, if they are still there on the other end. Or, more precisely I know what type of call it would be. Someone from Manchester, or Liverpool, or Dublin or Abergavenny – that was a recent one – who wanted to talk to me about either:

a) The amount of money I could claim from the car accident I had. Which I’m reasonably confident is £0.00 since I don’t drive.

b) Have I thought about pensions and life insurance? Answer: Yes, but do they think about me?

or c) Whether or not I had heard about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) from mortgages or home-buying or something. How it had been mis-sold or misused and how I was due funds worth hundreds of pounds. Have I checked? To which the answer is I have never done anything financially that involved PPI. The last caller on that demanded to know how I would magically know this.They were told forcefully that I think I would remember such a transfer.  Also since I rent the likelihood of any of this is rather on the low side.

I was surprised as it was not actually any of these but a number I recognise from an employment agency. I picked up, and a somewhat more masculine voice than I expected wheezed “Hello it’s Derek from Kitten Whisperers!” The names have been changed to protect the guilty. “I was wondering if we could have a chat.”  Turned out Derek was after a catch-up on things since the CV they had from me was a bit out of date, and since you never know and its always good to have such companies thinking of you, I agreed.

I ‘hmm’-ed and we went through some run of the mill questions. “Are you doing okay?” “Are you still living here?” “Are you still working for VRFocus?” Yes. “What do they do?” Well…  Then Derek asked, “So, do you have much experience in Community Management?” And for a brief moment I was stumped. I mean, presumably he had my “kinda out of date” CV in front of him. What was he expecting? That I’d suddenly go ‘well actually I made it all up’ and fill him in with a completely different work history? ‘No, in truth from 2008-2009 I was a matchstick-seller and part-time snowboarding clown and from 2011-13 I lectured at Harvard in Esperanto.’

I pursed my lips together. “Actually it’s ten years on Tuesday.”

“Oh.” He said, a bit bored. I slumped because I was actually telling the truth .On the 28th of March 2007 I was bundled though into an office at SEGA Europe and quickly made to sign an NDA. It was all a bit hectic in the office and I wondered what was going on. I was then told that in about five minutes they were going to announce the fact that Mario and Sonic were going to be in a game together for the first time. and I was hurled into a chair and signed up to the official forum with full on mod powers.

“Track what they say.” Said my new line-boss as the press release for what was Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games rolled out to the press. “If they start getting worked up.” He paused and pursed his lips together. “Well we’ll come to that.” He shrugged and patted my shoulder.

Ten years ago…

After the call ended I thought for a while about that ten years. I’d accomplished quite a lot in that time, not that you’d know it. But the truth of it is most people don’t know what I do, what any of us do. But that’s my career. A ten year stretch during which I had several years at SEGA setting up and managing their social media and working hard to rebuild community trust from the ground up. Which is mighty impressive considering I’ve never had a day’s worth of proper training in any of it before then – or indeed, astoundingly, since. I co-created an world record owning international convention with that community. Wrote blogs every day. Was the first one in and the last one out, and did my damnedest to fix an impossible to fix situation (and took a lot of flack for caring enough to do so) before I left several years later with my head held high despite being left exhausted in every sense of the word by the whole thing.  Still, I’d left my mark.

Of course they then erased everything I ever wrote after I left because they were too lazy to keep the European branch’s blogs when they merged them. Which was nice of them.

Whilst I wasn’t well known by name, (I didn’t exactly promote myself as a ‘figure’ during that time) for those in the know I had gained a reputation for hard work (to the point of exhaustion), dedication and became known for my ability to conjure up miracles from essentially nothing. A social media MacGuyver able to put together content plans with nothing but half a screenshot and a second-hand paperclip. I was hired in the short term at Square Enix to essentially rescue a project after the previous Community Manager (CM) disappeared straight after it was announced. I ended up writing a bunch of game lore and cobbling together the foundation of something that could be built on. From there, after some disappointment, I ended up in Belgium where I led a tight-nit multinational team of newcomers to the role, as we dealt with all manner of projects. Instructing them as mentor/teacher.

I worked on multiple projects; I turned my hand to advertising campaigns having never previously been given a dime except for the convention and essentially doubled the revenue being made and halved the cost. In time one  project was announced to be wound up and, again with nothing, I took over the reigns to somehow get a social game people had spent money on to conclusion and salvage the situation for the creators.  I became de facto Producer and with nothing in my resources and a product announced to be closing I grew the English community by 50,000 in one and a half months. Sent session numbers through the roof and actually brought the game to a resolution which didn’t involve people screaming for blood. They had their money’s worth and they were happy. I still get messages asking if I can somehow bring it back.

After the Belgian firm turned heel on its own employees, I left and my team joined me as soon as they were able. Unemployment was better than staying at a time when there was a global recession going on. That says more than anything else I could. But that team was good, very good. Two have gone on to work with big companies within the games industry and I’m beyond proud of them.

Life took me back to the UK and I ended up working here at VRFocus. Did you know I’ve been here over two years now? It doesn’t feel it. But I have. I’m still a CM, albeit “Community Manager & Writer” now, I do what I can and that reputation I have is still very much in effect. Although the person behind it is rather more tired and worn looking than his 2007 equivalent.

True story: After Square I applied for a job at a major UK studio and during the interview was surprised to be asked if I wasn’t too old to be a Community Manager. I was then told, dumbfounded, in a phone call that I wouldn’t be progressing further and one of the reasons given was “we think you’re too old for the role”. I also didn’t have “the look we are going for”, apparently. Which made no real sense. Apart from the fact discriminating on the grounds of age (as well as apparently, my face) is illegal, I was 28. They made me sound like Methuselah. They’d probably have a coronary to discover I’m still one at 34! (Before anyone asks I was so shocked at what I was hearing it took some considerable time before I’d really realised what had been said, and by then it was too late to suddenly go “hey, hang on a minute!”.)

It all evolves. Much like VR – which we will come back to, I promise.

In fact this reminiscing is partly due to reading an excellent article on what the job entails by my opposite number (I… guess? Although she has a much better title than me – and she has a electronic fancy follower clock/counter that I desperately want to steal.) from Upload VR, Elizabeth Scott. Who got me thinking about what it is I do here and have done previously. But if you’re unsure what it is I do, I write this and Life in 360 and a number of other posts/features as required. Sort out most of the graphics, the moderation, and am the person you talk to on Twitter, or Facebook or Reddit if you see VRFocus being chatty there. I sort the social media in general when I’m in. I work with various partners and the guests writers we have to produce content, I work on the website itself – now with the new site’s designer. I’m HR, I run the time sheets. I edit videos when required. I run events when we run them but you’ll probably never see me at a main one. I search for stories and allocate them to the writers, with whom I work on their stories as I need. I’m, as my author description says, the unofficial Deputy Editor.

I fix.

I’m basically a cross between an online janitor and a hatstand.

But the core of the job is you help, and whilst I’m presently more on social than anything else. It’s kind of ironic that a guy who is heavy on the social anxiety made this his career. But hey, I never said I was smart. Ten years, four companies and a lot of projects have passed. The job has changed and evolved throughout those years and some point in the future it will change again – and it might be VR that changes it.

Community Management is part of that family of Customer Relations-type roles in business. It sort-of-kinda sits between everything. It’s marketing, it’s public relations, it’s creative and design, it’s finance and even legal (sometimes) and several of those are already being touched on and altered by other types of technology. The most obvious one being Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). In the same way will there come a time where a CM’s role will also be to respond to discussions on an article using such a system? Will a young wide-eyed fan be thrust into a virtual forum room to monitor reactions to Mario & Sonic At The Lunar 2028 Olympic Games? Appearing as a cartoony Avatar holding up the announcement trailer for you to then step into. All care of Oculus and Facebook’s Rooms system. Perhaps they’ll appear in your office or classroom as a virtual projection, displayed by Microsoft HoloLens to discuss a news story.

Will my career be supplanted by something else, all travel and interaction made virtual? I’m not sure I’d like that, if I’m honest.  But that’s a question to be answered by the future – and the future is coming fast. For now I’ll continue to evolve as best as I can. Will I be doing the same role in 10 years? Who is to say.

Here’s to a decade.

  from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2nvWqkp