#how long is it going to take to interview and onboard someone and then train them?

[stonesandswords]

why do i have to go to work when i could cry about having to go to work instead?

[people2u]

Why Labour Hire Is The Key To Navigating Workforce Demands?

Labour hire is a flexible staffing solution that has been around for decades. It's ideal for employers who need to grow or shrink their workforce, or who have cyclical demand fluctuations. Labour hire also allows businesses to create flexible work arrangements and avoid costly recruitment costs by hiring people on a casual basis.

This article explores why labour hire Companies are an effective solution for navigating the demands of the modern workforce.

Flexibility to Meet Fluctuating Workloads

Labour hire is a short-term employment solution that provides you with the flexibility to meet fluctuating workloads. You can hire staff on an as-needed basis, or fill in gaps between projects by using labour hire contractors.

The professional labour hire company also gives you more control over your costs and liabilities because you don't have to commit long term to any one worker.

If your business needs change or if there's an unexpected drop in demand for your product or service, you won't be stuck paying wages for workers who aren't needed anymore--you can let them go without owing any severance pay!

Access to Specialised Skills and Expertise

Labour hire companies offer you the ability to access specialised skills and expertise from a wide range of industries. With access to this kind of talent, you can get more done in less time, with less effort on your part.

For example, if your business needs someone who is an expert at building websites or programming software but doesn't have the resources or time to train an employee yourself, then labour hire may be right for you!

Reduced Recruitment Burden and Costs

Engaging a labour hire agency can help you reduce the burden of recruitment, saving you valuable time and resources. By partnering with a labour hire company, you can offload the recruitment burden and focus on core business activities, all while reducing costs associated with hiring, onboarding, and training.

Labour hire agencies have built-in processes for sourcing candidates that work well for their clients' needs--and they're experts at finding people who are right for each position. They also take on responsibility for screening candidates against client requirements before presenting them to hiring managers or HR teams (or even conducting interviews themselves).

Quick Onboarding and Seamless Integration

The benefits of labour hire are many, but one that stands out is the ability to onboard new staff quickly and seamlessly. Labour hire companies have the expertise to help you integrate new employees into your business, making them feel at home from day one.

They also have a lot of experience with this process: if you work with a good labour hire company, they'll be able to tell you exactly how long it should take for someone from their team to complete all necessary paperwork on behalf of each new worker (including payroll).

This means that once they've joined up with you as a client, there's no need for any additional training or support; everything will be taken care off behind-the-scenes!

Conclusion

In conclusion, we believe that the benefits of using a labour hire company is clear. You can reduce your recruitment burden, access specialised skills and expertise quickly, and save money on hiring new employees. Best of all, it's easy to get started with this approach--just call professionals today!

Source by :  

Why Labour Hire Is The Key To Navigating Workforce Demands?

[cocochannel00]

Story time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

Ok I was waiting to see if I would need to sign an NDA after the session way back in June but I haven’t so here’s what I’m going to spill for all the people that don’t think record labels keep up with fan pages:

I was at a zoom event with the Vp of Digital Marketing for Columbia Records (he label Harry is signed too) and the guy on the call (John Vincent Salcedo) talked a lot about the Eroda campaign.

The campaign wasn’t initially supposed to be that big (and was supposed to be a secret much longer) but it was the fans that figured out all of these crazy connections because of their errors. The fans found the connections in accounts and all of these “Easter eggs” that weren’t even Easter eggs but they gained so much attention online that Columbia rolled with it decided to blow it up.

That entire campaign was literally driven by Instagram accounts and Twitter and tumble finding bizarre connections to Harry from the code of the website to the post cards share through Google drive (big stupid mistake there).

They are literally watching everything to see what’s trending, what do fans want, what are they able to give us (what are they able to get Harry onboard with). So while sure Harry might have been given the credit about wanting to make the Eroda island, almost everything else done by th digital marketing team at Columbia was driven by fans. (Keep in mind there’s only so much they can watch so it’s usually just keeping an eye on hashtags and look at the bigger fan accounts and what’s going on in their comments section etc)

They also talked about how each artist on the label handle their social media differently. Some artists choose to be completely in control of what gets posted, what they post, what they like, and comment on (think Miley cyrus). While others have their digital team take control of their accounts when it comes to posting, liking, following etc and then there’s some that do a combination of both (they and the digital team have control together). Regardless of what they choose all artists have it in their contract that their required to promote their tours and music (think of why all of Harry’s posts since going solo have only really been about promoting himself).

If you don’t think the publicity team keeps with fans you’d also be wrong. Mike Navarra who is the VP of Publicity at Columbia follows 4 different Harry update accounts on Instagram (who the heck needs four of the same content as a VP).

His PR team is always watching what’s online and fans reactions so don’t think that they don’t have ways of getting things taken down and covered up.

Every aspect of Harry and celebrities that we see is because their publicist and publicity teams want you to see it. Every “candid” photo, every pap walk, it’s all perfectly staged and set to create and perfect their image. It’s not all necessary fake, but structured. Sure some fan photos are inevitably going to leak here and there but the media training he’s gone through since One Direction makes it so you’ll never see him lash out at anyone like other celebrities because he knows how to hide his anger (and if he did lash out at a pap or someone his team would quickly shut it down and you would never know).

Everyone has their own version of Harry in their head and that’s ok! But some times it’s good to remember that Harry Styles that “we know” or think we know is ultimately Harry Style the brand, not the person. The Harry that gets portrayed to us is only shown through tailored videos and interviews where questions have been banned/excluded or through rare social media postings used to promote merchandise and tour or an album. No one knows who he is so we shouldn’t act like we do (but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be held accountable for his actions from time to time). Harry most likely is a pretty decent and genuine guy but what we see as fans and what happens when no ones around is a different story (just like everyone). Just because he uses good marketing strategies and promotion tactics to sell his music, doesn’t make him a bad person.

Ultimately what I’m getting at is that Harry Styles is a business and a business needs to do well so him and his team will do whatever they need to do to get him to the Beyoncé level of success that he wants where he could drop an album with no warning and have it go double platinum in less then an hour. His entire Fine Line album was held together by his dedicated fans pushing it to the general public. Without them, there’s no way he would have been Grammy nominated (aside from in Azoff connection which we can get into another time) and he would have had a decent release much like his first solo album (nothing to this scale). I’m not saying this to discredit his hard work on the album but the pop genre is very vast and for a song like watermelon sugar to become so big (don’t hate me for dising the song I’m just soooo over it) you need to acknowledge all of the other factors everyone happily choose to ignore so they can put an artist on a pedestal.

*disclaimer this has nothing to do with larrie (I know some weirdo is gonna be that guy) and if you’re a larrie please leave as I can’t help you*

*ok second disclaimer cause some people are getting aggressive: I’m not saying everything an artist does is based on what their fans want. I’m saying that the music industry as a whole is based on trends. It’s the reason tik tok and tik tok songs have been able to reach such popularity sometimes from nothing. There’s a lot of factors involved in marketing and promoting an artist/their brand and keeping fans engaged (especially large fan bases) is important for artists long term success (I’m mean look at Olivia Rodrigo now, her team looked at what people like from drivers license aka teenage angst and made sure to market that as part of her look for her album). This is how all record labels work, they try and show the best version of the artist/talent. And yes for those out there, there are some celebrities that are nice a genuine but they’re also human so take them off the pedestal and treat them like what they are, human.

Here’s the proof of the event since people be annoying :

[alexskarsgardnet]

New Interview & Photo Shoot!  Alex photographed by Johan Sandberg and interviewed by Timothy Small for L’Uomo Vogue (October 2020)!

Alexander Skarsgård: the photo shoot and interview for L'Uomo

BY TIMOTHY SMALL, JOHAN SANDBERG 25 SEPTEMBER 2020

Alexander Skarsgård is a really, really nice man. A Swede through and through, Alexander, or Alex, is a very down-to-earth gentleman who could definitely act as more of a big shot, considering he is also one of the most interesting actors in Hollywood right now, a town that, in true Swedish style, he once defined as “kind of silly”. After getting his first big break as the lead in David Simon's excellent Iraq War mini-series for HBO, Generation Kill, Skarsgård exploded in our collective imaginations as Eric Northman in True Blood, while also acting for Lars von Trier in the wonderful Melancholia. 

Since then, he has been a very buff Tarzan in The Legend of Tarzan, a mute bartender in future Berlin in Mute, a very dark killer in Hold the Dark, and a hilarious Canadian Prime Minister in Long Shot, as well as giving an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning turn in HBO's Big Little Lies. The self-defined “restless” 43-year-old is set to star in The Northman, Robert Eggers's highly anticipated third film, a “Viking revenge story” that Skarsgård himself was crucial in bringing to production – and, by all accounts, it seems like it could have all the right pieces to become a future cult classic. It certainly has that kind of hype.

L'Uomo Vogue:  The Northman is such an interesting project. I know it's important to you. It's also part of a growing resurgence of interest in the Viking era and Norse mythology and that sort of epic Scandinavian adventure. How did it all begin?

Alex:  It all started seven or eight years ago. As a Swede living in America, I realised there was a certain level of fascination with the Viking era and Viking culture – and this was before any of the Viking shows that have since happened. It made me realise that there basically had never been a real great epic Viking movie made, and I thought that that's what I wanted to do.

LV:  So how did the project kick off?

Alex:  I started having conversations with a studio back then, trying to crack the best story. All I knew at the time is that I wanted to make a big Viking movie. We had a couple of potential different starting points: we had a story about two brothers, and then one about the Viking travels down to Constantinople with the Viking siege of the city. We were looking for the right story, but I never really felt we were there. I knew the scope I wanted it to exist in. But what was the story?

LV:  And that's when you met Robert Eggers.

Alex:  Yes, like three or four years ago. We met about something else. I can't remember how, but we started talking about Vikings. And he was, like me, a huge fan of Viking culture and of that historical era, and I immediately felt he would be the perfect guy to direct this movie. And then we found an author and poet in Iceland, Sjón, who came onboard to write the screenplay – and they did a fantastic job, just cracking the story and the essence of it.

LV:  Sounds great.

Alex:  It's a real adventure movie, but it's much more. It taps into the culture, and the mysticism of the Vikings, it becomes more intimate and more personal. I didn't want it to be a generic “swords-and-sandals” movie. Robert is one of the best filmmakers out there. And the whole process is so much more gratifying than when you're quote-unquote ���just an actor”. It's been truly extraordinary.

LV:  But then you had to halt production.

Alex:  Yeah. I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland, three months into prep on The Northman about seven days away from principal photography. Just gearing up, you know, getting ready to start a very long, very intense shoot -- a shoot that we were scheduled to wrap in July – and that's when the virus hit.

LV:  What did you do then?

Alex:  I normally live in New York, while my family lives in Stockholm. When the first wave came, I was on the fence: nobody really knew how long it would be, or what precisely was going on. So we shut down production for six weeks. The idea was to then see what would happen. I basically moved to Stockholm for four months.

LV:  How do you feel about this forced break from work?

Alex:  I had not been home for this long in... more than 20 years. It was strange. We were in a bubble; we were all healthy and safe. In a lot of ways, I had moments when I felt being surrounded by my loving family, feeling safe and loved, and taking a break from work, but then also feeling very guilty because I was, for the lack of a better term, being spared.

LV:  In the past, you've described yourself as being a nomad. Did you miss Sweden and the North?

Alex:  I realised how much I have been missing it. I go to Sweden regularly, but usually only for three or four days, maybe a week, tops. My father and two of my brothers are actors, so we're used to never being in the same city. We all travel all over the world. Maybe we'd get back together for Christmas. And I can really say that I had missed spring in Sweden.

LV:  Do you think we will change the way movies are produced?

Alex:  We're going to have to figure out how to shoot movies with dozens of crew members and hundreds of extras while still respecting social distancing rules. It's an unprecedented situation and everyone is scrambling to figure out the best approach. My brother was one of the first people who worked in our industry during the pandemic. He shot a movie in Iceland in the middle of the lockdown. The way they solved it is they split the crew into colour sections. So, hair and make-up had yellow armbands and the camera department had blue, and they had a “Corona appointee” on set who would call out, “Now blue go in!” and then “Blue, out! And yellow, in!” And then they would all do their job in turns. It was very military-like. Productions are already complicated, so we'll just have to add another layer.

LV:  How did you become an ambassador to the Clarks brand?

Alex:  To me, authenticity is very important. I don't want to endorse products I don't genuinely like. That's why I was excited when Clarks reached out. I've been wearing Desert Boots for 25 years. Also, I like to travel a lot. I like to explore new cities by foot. I want to be able to walk around comfortably in a classic, iconic shoe. I travel from movie set to movie set, and I often live out of a suitcase. And this teaches you to be frugal. Whatever fits in that suitcase, that's all I can bring.

LV:  Is that the Swede in you?

Alex:  Maybe. But we consume way too many things in this society. Also, you give things more meaning when you live with them, and when you go on adventures with them. Like, these are my boots. I've been places with them. And when they fall apart, I'll buy a new pair. If you have the right stuff to begin with, you don't need more.

LV:  Going back to The Northman, that really sounds like a dream project.

Alex:  It is. It will be a rollercoaster ride. I can't wait to get back to Northern Ireland and get back to the production. It's also a very physically demanding project, so I have been training for, well, since a few months before production stopped.

LV: In a way, getting into a role, getting on a movie set, acting through it, the whole process of making a movie is a bit like a little adventure. You have to prep, you have to travel, often with people you don't know, and you have to push boundaries.

Alex:  Absolutely! A huge part of the appeal of this profession is you get to travel, and you meet amazing, interesting people from all over. And the uncertainty, you know? What was it, 12 years ago, I was in New York, and I'd never heard of Generation Kill. And then two days later I was on a plane to the Kalahari Desert to be out there for seven months to shoot the series. And I'll never forget the feeling, sitting on that plane, thinking, “Two days ago I didn't even know about this project, and here I am on my way to Southern Africa to spend seven months in the desert with 200 strangers.” It's very exciting.

LV:  What a feeling that must be!

Alex:  And every single job is like that. Every movie is different. Your part, the tone, the energy, the people – it's always different. And for someone like myself, who has that kind of wanderlust, who's always looking on the horizon, it's very attractive to never know just what the next adventure might be.

October 14, 2020:  Updated with the full interview courtesy of our friends at the ASkarsLibrary (x).

Fashion credits:

Photographs by Johan Sandberg Styling by Martin Persson Grooming Karin Westerlund @ Lundlund Hair Amanda Lund @ Lundlund Stylist’s assistant Isabelle Larsson Digital Daniel Lindgren Production Madeleine Mårtensson and Olle Öman @ Lundlund

Read the full interview by Timothy Small and see the photo shoot by Johan Sandberg in the October issue of L'Uomo, on newsstands from September 22nd.

Sources/Thanks:  Interview:  Timothy Small for L’Uomo Vogue (x), Photos:  Johan Sandberg for L’Uomo Vogue (x), artlistparis.com (x) via artlistparisnewyork instagram (x),  luomovogue instagram (x) &  atomomanagement.com (x) via atomomanagement instagram (x), our caps from artlistparisnewyork’s September 23, 2020 insta story (x, x)

[dancing-cockroaches]

I officially proved my personal theory, dayshift sucks. I'm officially back to having to take heavy sleeping pills for the first time in 5 months. Thank god its remote so I dont have to drive. My circadian rhythm absolutely refuses to be awake during the day, it stresses it tf out so I'm tired but cant fall asleep because by the time I clocked out I've been fighting it for too long, so once I clock out I have to start the 2-3 hour process of getting my body to agree to fall asleep, instead of you know, enjoying my hobbies like I did working overnight. The thing is, my body is very stubborn. It sleeps when it wants to. There's no hacking/training my circadian rhythm. It's not happening. It has the toddler mentality of "I want to do it now! No not then, now now now!"

"Night shift makes more though, why'd you leave!" Well not by much if the industry standard is $12 (I also had no experience in the field, but doesnt matter, as those who did often didnt make much more than that). That extra $1.50 pay differential doesnt go far. Sadly night shift doesnt pay unless you're in a field that's already high paying. And in my case, my field pays pretty well, but you'd be hard pressed to find an overnight shift in it that isnt PRN (I swear every receptionist or admitting clerk position I see posted online is PRN... like ok I'll survive off of two days a month worth of pay. You would think it would be perfect for someone as a second job, but I was interviewed and no, they want full day availability the first week for onboarding). I do have another PRN interview next week so.. just will have to see how that goes, because if it does work as a second job, maybe it can lead to full time opportunities, but I've been scorned too much to expect anything.

[poirott]

This is the 2nd part of the "Riddle of the Spinx" interview with Death on the Nile cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos for British Cinematographer November 2020 issue (part 1 transcribed here). The full interview has now been released on the British Cinematographer website. I've included some of the text below!

In Part 2 Zambarloukos talks about shooting with the cast on location in Egypt and doing a particularly complex single shot of them on set, how they did the opening b&w sequence of young Poirot as a soldier, and built sets of Abu Simbel and the pyramids, the use of realtime footage projected on LED screens to make the studio sets look more realistic, what part of the Murder on the Orient Express set they recycled for Nile, etc.

Q: This was shot like Murder on the Orient Express at Longcross Studios with plates filmed on location in Egypt. Was it ever a possibility to shoot entirely on location?

Haris Zambarloukos: The issue is that 1934 Egypt barely exists today. For example, in the 1960s they moved the Abu Simbel temple 300 metres away so that the Aswan Dam wouldn't flood it. So, we built the entire four-storey high Abu Simbel at Longcross, complete with banks of water. The same with Giza and the Sphinx. In the 1930s the Nile went up to the feet of the Sphinx. Now all you see is the concrete expanse of Cairo.

Secondly, it's difficult to shoot complex shoots on a river while floating, taking all the cast down there and scheduling them, on top of ensuring everyone's safety on such a high-profile project.

Our whole design and research went into creating a set. We wanted to build a life-size boat inside and out; not to break it down into small sets but to shoot it as if we were on a boat. That’s a huge undertaking. Jim Clay built an amazing set to scale for the Karnak. It was so big we needed to build a temporary sound stage around it. We also wanted to use some real daylight when we got great sunlight in Longcross and use a little bit of water to basically film the boats carrying guests to the Karnak.

We recycled the railway from Orient and built the boat on that so we could wheel it in from outdoors to indoors. We built a very elaborate lighting rig that you could pull back and see the entire boat in one shot. You could step onto the boat and walk through all the rooms which were all lit for an analogue film f-stop. It was complicated and took most of our planning but I personally don't think you can tell the difference when we cut - even from a shot filmed outside in real sunlight juxtaposed with one in apparent sunlight on our sound stage. It's seamless because we took such great care and a detailed approach to our rig and construction.

In Orient you created some stylish direct overheads of the train carriage. You've told us of the Steadicam dance sequence in Nile. Were there other stylistic flourishes?

Inside the sound stage we went twice round the Karnak with the entire cast all choreographed for this one great reveal of a murder. It was really hard work to do. I understand why it was cut in the edit although they have kept a lot of other single long takes and there are lots of places where you see the whole cast in a single shot.

However difficult you might think setting up a long single is in terms of lighting and operating, it is equally, if not more difficult, to block a scene with multiple actors, keep the audience engaged and choreograph it in a way that is exciting and at the same time reveals things gradually. There's a lot of pressure on a lot of people in shots like that. Everyone's got to be on top of their game. Because we're all so interdependent, it's a domino effect in that the further you go in the take, the bigger the responsibility is for not getting it wrong whether that's the operator, focus puller, the actor saying the final line, the gaffer lighting a corner at just the right time. We always get excited about those shots but also very nervous.

You augmented the studio work with plates photographed on location in Egypt. Tell us about that.

We filmed on the Nile from a boat with a 14 8K Red camera array. We had a 360-degree bubble on top of the boat and two three-camera arrays pointing forwards and backwards as we travelled up and down. We specifically chose areas where modernity wasn’t present (or where it was, we removed it in post) and we also shot plates from the point of view of passengers onboard the Karnak.

VFX supervisor George Murphy edited the footage and stitched the plates together into an essentially very, very advanced virtual reality rig in which I could pan my camera. We did that before principal photography, so we never had to guess a month or so later what to put there. That’s a big help. Most shoots do their plate photography afterwards. It meant I could pretty much place the camera on any deck of the Karnak for any scene and know what the background would be.

As with Orient, did you play back footage realtime on LED screens outside the boat set?

I'd love to have done it live but on Orient we were only dealing with one wagon's windows at a time. It was still the biggest LED set-up ever done to that point, but the Karnak set is 20 time bigger than that. There aren't enough LED screens available – plus it would have been prohibitively expensive.

Instead, I went for a much larger version of a technique I'd used on Mamma Mia which was to hang back projection screens all around the boat – 200m in circumference, 15m high. We used Arri SkyPanels at a distance to create a sky or a part of the background. It could also be converted into a blue screen when we needed to. It meant that if I had a shot looking above the horizon line into the sky then it could be done in camera.

How confident were you of retaining colour and contrast from set to post?

I took stills on the recce and we used those to the create colours with this back projection for our skies. I take prints (not digital stills) so there is no misinterpretation. A still is a piece of paper that you can see. Once something is emailed across and seen by someone watching on another screen the information can get lost.

At the same time there were a lot more checks and balances put in place. We had a projector at Longcross and I watched dailies with (dailies colourist) Sam Spurgeon every lunchtime. With Kodak and Digital Orchard we have a very quick process to convert analogue filmmaking into digital by the next morning. Film is processed at night, they scan at 4am and by mid-morning those digital images are transferred to our dailies suite at Longcross. At lunch we’d watch it digitally projected, having been processed, scanned and graded at 2K.

I check that first and give notes to Sam and those get transferred onto our dailies which is what Ken, the editorial team, VFX and studio team sees. That's a major check. It's me with someone in a room, rather than me talking over the phone which is a big difference. I have a very good relationship with Goldcrest and (DI colourist) Rob Pizzey who also sees things along the way. I supervise the grade at the end. So, there's no need for anyone to interpret anything. It’s a collaboration in which we all look at the same images.

Did you shoot black and white for the opening scene or convert?

We shot colour for a couple of reasons. Although Kodak could manufacture BW 65, there is no lab in the world to processes it. Plus, there’s a certain skill to grading BW using colour negative and the added benefits are that that you can place a grey tone to a colour. For example, you could take red and decide it will look a very dark grey or a light grey, so you get very detailed tones. Ultimately, I get much more control in the DI this way. They were very monochromatic battlefield sets and costumes so it was quite limited in this case. The Germans wore grey and the Belgians wore dark blue and it’s a dark sooty gas-filled battlefield but you could manipulate the blue in the sky a little bit more and certainly manipulate the intensity of people’s eyes - especially if they had blue eyes (which Branagh does).

How did you handle sound sync?

To do sound sync work on Orient we used sound cameras that are twice as heavy as high-speed cameras, so I wanted to develop soundproof housing (blimp) for our camera on Nile. I took the problem to Stuart Heath at BGI Supplies at Longcross. They've made all sorts of props for us before, from Cinderella’s carriage to the furniture on Nile. I told him that I needed it really quickly. All my other attempts had failed. Stuart suggested using a material that they soundproof the interior of helicopters with. He brought a draper in who basically measured the camera as if making a dinner suit for it and quickly made a couple of versions for us. It was very effective and really opened up the Steadicam possibility for us. All from just wandering onto a workshop on the lot and asking a friend if he had any ideas about how to achieve something. In the old days that’s what everyone did – the answer was somewhere on the lot.

Finally, after six films and 14 years working with Ken Branagh, could you tell us what makes your relationship tick?

It is a fantastic friendship. To begin with you must be able to maintain a professional friendship with any cast and crew which is all about doing your very best and understanding where you have common aesthetics and shared thoughts about humanity. Ask what kind of world you want this to be, because that will come through in your filmmaking.

As you say, I've spent years working in close proximity to Ken and we have a mutual affection and admiration for each other otherwise we wouldn't be doing it for so long. He is relentless in pursuit of perfection and in his advancement of storytelling and is inspiring to work with. It means you have to be as relentless in your area of craft.

I think we both like making the same kinds of films. I'm a Greek Cypriot who grew up with Greek myth and tragedy. Ken's love of Shakespeare is legendary. You can easily see the lineage between Aeschylus (the ancient Greek creator of tragedy) that goes all the way to Shakespeare. Perhaps that appreciation for the human condition in its best and worst forms is the tie that binds.

Photo credit: Rob Youngson

Source: britishcinematographer.co.uk - February 4 2021

[stone-man-warrior]

June 20, 2020: 2:22 pm:

Nothing but the sound of peacocks when I step outside, and into view on my front walkway today. It’s a nice day, not hot, not cold, not sunny, not cloudy, it’s Solstice.

The longest day.

Last night, and again tonight, will be the shortest of nights for the year.

I did not hear the terror train last night. I went outside a few times, but no train was heard.

There was someone on the South side of my yard, near the fence at 520 making fake owl noises last night at about midnight, and the Strong terror cell was active on Russell road, as was the Chapman terror cell.

The owl bird call, is one that has been used by Clyde Baum for about twenty years. All of the local terror soldiers have and use a bird call that is unique to each one.

The Clyde Baum terror cell at 333 Jackpine has undergone some remarkable changes over course of this year. The place there has been nearly exactly the same for about fifteen years, with exception of Clyde’s habit of always changing the car he drives about once or twice per year, otherwise, the place has been unchanged for a long time, until recently. As I mentioned before, there are many very expensive looking pick-up trucks there now, a lot of nearly brand new modern cars, and a ever increasing number of trailers of different kinds and sizes. I don’t know what changed, but something at Clyde Baum terror cell changed at the start of this year, such that new, expensive vehicles are showing up there, and staying, travel and utility trailers are also growing in number, and, all of the big trees that were around the house there, have all been cut down slowly over course of the year. Some are still laying there in the yard. I want to make a reminder about a commercial air-travel airplane ride I took where someone produced a gun onboard.

It was a long time ago, and I don’t want to say too many details, but I will say that I needed to go to Las Vegas, made the arrangements, and when I went to Medford International to board my plane, Clyde was there at the airport. He, and a number of other terror neighbors, and some other people I knew from Grants Pass, basically, the “Grants Pass Chamber of Commerce” was there at the airport, and they all boarded the same airplane I needed to get onto too.

It was weird, I did not talk to any of them. On the ride back, is when the gun came out onboard the airplane. One of the Flight Attendants, a female, was shooting on the airplane. I was able to intervene. I don’t want to say how. I need to talk to national security personnel about that plane ride, and some others when things onboard the airplane turned into terror on the airplane. The thing I most need to say and have understood by national security personnel, is the Clyde Baum was also on the return flight, as well as some of the “Grants Pass Chamber of Commerce” people that were onboard the other flight. Clyde Baum, took credit for thwarting the person with the gun after the report was made about what happened onboard. Whatever agency, or officers, or investigative people may have been involved with questioning and investigating that incident, interviewed the wrong man, repeatedly, with help and support from local, terror, impostor law enforcement officers. No one has heard the real story about what happened on that airplane, or the others I was on when things went bad. One commercial airplane ride I was on, included that the pilot invited me into the cockpit, and there were US Fighter jets escorting us to the airport. Another, included that one of the windows in the passenger section, came out, broke. Passengers plugged it up with what we could find while in flight. No one has asked anything about any of that. All of those flights were either going to or from, Medford, Portland, or Las Vegas. All of those flights were about ten years ago. So, Clyde, took credit, and gave a false representation of what occurred on at least one of those flights.

I think he was in my yard last night making owl sounds. But I also was under the impression that Clyde was dead, died recently. I only know that the owl, has been Clyde, in the past.

=============================== Other things to think about: Rocky Mountain Power is the parent company of the five Electric Power Utility Companies on the West side of the Continental Divide.

Five corporations, under the same roof, supply power to half of the geographic area of USA. It’s not difficult to see the value that has as a terror army, when you consider the Britain is in the process of taking over USA. They took over Rocky Mountain Power, and all of the sub Utilities, replaced the linemen with Canadian Linemen, and there is a backbone of power, in the form of an army that controls all of the power. I remain optimistic that this information will reach people who understand it, and have authority to change the conditions back to conditions of Freedom.

End terror report: 3:09 pm.

[idontevenknowmanidek]

"I wanna be a star!" Pt. 1: Audition

Life as a porn star was nothing like Nita expected. She thought it was all orgasms and easy money, but her company had her working hard. 2 workouts daily, heavily regulated diet, and filming everyday. The money was good though.

From day one, everything was different than she expected. When she went to sign up to a talent agency, she thought she'd be walking in to some sleazy building filled with gross old guys, not that that wouldve stopped her from moving forward with her "acting' goals. But the building she walked up to was a tall, sleek no-nonsense type place. It was all bright and shiny and everyone there looked hotttt. It was hard to tell who was an actor and who was an office worker. She walked in to speak to the receptionist, who was a sweet, bubbly young woman by the name of Lisa, and was directed up to the 7th floor. Thats were interviews were held.

In the elevator the sounds of smooth jazz filled her ears and set her at ease. "This is awesome!" She thought. In no time, she was walking out into a well furnished office. It was somwhow dark and comforting at the same time. A man sat at the desk in the middle of the room, scribbling on some papers, but the sound of the opening elevator alerted him.

"Ah! You must be Anita Paul. Come, sit down." He stood as she approached and shook her hand. "Would you like a drink?" He gestured at a glass pitcher on his desk and she nodded. Smoothly, he poured a serving into two glasses and placed one in front of her. She thanked him as she took the glass and took a sip, surprised to taste orange seltzer water.

"Good isn't it?"

"Mhm! Wow, that was super refreshing!"

"I'm glad you like it Anita. Now, lets get started. My name is Grant Downing, or Mr. Downing if you so please. Tell me, what brings you to us today?"

"Oh, well... I'm a performer. Its all I've ever wanted to do in life, be in front of a camera. But I like having fun. Being in a drama or a rom-com doesn't interest me much, they arent as fun as... Well, this."

"Interesting. Since you like being on camera so much, would you mind doing the next section while video taped? I just need to see how the camera reacts to you, see you in action, you know?"

"Oh that is absolutely no problem, Mr. Downing." Anita adjusted herself in her armchair, flipping her long, dark hair behind her ears and sitting up straighter, so her breasts poked out a bit. Meanwhile, Grant was setting up a small tripod beside his desk. A little red light began to flash, letting her know the camera was on and rolling.

"Now, I'm going to ask you a few more questions and then, I'll run you through some exercises. Sound good?"

Anita nodded and beamed at the camera.

"So Anita, have you ever had sex before?"

The question made her smile fade a bit. It was times like this that she was grateful for her dark skin, noone could see her blush, but it didn't stop her from feeling the heat riaing in her cheeks.

"No, sir." She said, quietly.

"What a surprise. A pretty girl like you, still a virgin and at 24. Why does a virgin want to be a porn star?"

" Uhm, well... I've never had sex with another person, but ive had plenty of experience with sex toys and the like. I'm a very curious person, you see. I'm also cautious, so while the opportunity has presented itself in the past, ive never done more than hand jobs and other forms of outercourse."

"Thank you for sharing Anita. Next question. What is your sexual orientation?"

Anita let out a sigh of relief at the change of topic.

"I consider myself Queer."

"So, you wouldnt mind having sex with a man or a woman, cis or otherwise?"

"Oh not at all, Ive had partners with all sorts of different identities. Nonbinary, cis woman, trans woman, etc. I do tend to lean more femme in terms of my attraction, but i have dated men and masculine folks as well."

"Good, I'm glad youre open to different things. So, how do you feel about roleplay?"

"I think I might be most excited for that! It'll give me a chance to show off my acting chops and I'll get to try something new all the time!"

"Do you have any hard limits?"

'Hmm.. Yes, i dont think I'd like to do too much with bodily fluids or anything too painful. I dont mind a little pain here and there, but I think if it were geared towards sadism and masochism, i wouldn't be into it as much."

"Noted." Grant said, reaching over and scribbling something. He glanced at his watch. "How do you feel, Anita?"

Anita paused for a moment and thought. She felt good. Really good. She was comfortable in the chair and in front if Mr. Downing. Anita wasnt a prude or anything, but she typically wasnt the most forthright when it came to sex and her body. She guessed ti was just because it was her boss... er, possible future boss, that she was tlaking to that put her at ease. Its a job for porn, there are no secrets, she thought

"I'm feeling great, Mr. Downing"

"Good. Now, I'm going to ask you to list out some of your fantasies for me. While doing this, you may begin to feel aroused and thats perfectly okay. If you want to, you can touch yourself while talking abt these fantasies, but only above the clothes. Understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Downing. Uhm, I geuss my biggest fantasy would be a gangbang... I love the idea of being used by multiple people at once. All those hands over my body." Anita shivered at the thought. The warmth that was once in her cheeks moved lower, to a very different part of her body.

"I also fantasize about being tied up to once of those siban things, and having to ride that for a long time, orgasm after orgasm ripping through me."

"Keep going Anita, tell me more."

By this point, she was dripping with desire, it was as though a faucet had been left on.

"Mmm. I like the idea of using a double sided dildo on someone. One side in me, the other side in them and I'm using it to fuck them. And every thrust I give them, i also feel. Sometimes in this fantasy, there's someone else behind me, hitting it from the back, thrusting in time with me." Anita had begun to rub herself over her slacks. Why did i have to dress sensibly?

"Stop." Mr. Downing barked out, and Anita immediately stopped speaking and masturbating. "Thats enough of your fantasies, thank you. The question part is now over, time for some exercises."

"Stand up with your arms out and give me a spin." Without hesitation, Anita stood and spun slowly for Mr. Downing to see her. "Anita, take your clothes off." In no time, she stood before him, her slacks and blouse, crumpled on the floor before her. As her hand began to reach for her bra, he stopped her.

"Thats more than enough. Kneel, Anita. Legs spread wide." She lowered herself to the ground, settling in the position he described.

"Now we are going to see how well you can act. Grope your breasts and moan."

Her hands began to snake up her body, grabbing and pulling at her breasts through her lacy bra.

"Mmm, Ohhh." Her nipples began to harden and poked at her hands.

"Louder! More forceful. Come on Anita, you've seen porn before."

Anita redoubled her efforts moaning more loudly.

"Unnff. Yeah! MMMM!"

"There you go! Here, take it and use it. Youve got the job if you can come in less than a minute." He handed her a thick vibrator which she gladdly accepted. Turning it on to the highest setting, she got to work and starting playing with herself, moaning wantonly the entire time. 45 seconds in, she came mindshatteringly hard.

"Welcome to the family Anita. Now, take the elevator down to the bottom floor, you'll get your onboarding papers and watch the training video there."

He helped her up and uahered her towarsa the elevator.

"But.. My clothes?"

"Oh you wont need them now" he chuckled. With a smile and a wave, he sent her on her way

[pencils-and-ponies]

We Forget how to Walk 2018

Since I’m currently in the process of rewriting We Forget how to Walk, I figured I would post the original chapters (that I have, since I never finished the first draft...). 

I’ll try to tag things as needed when they come up, but do be aware this story will eventually have graphic injury description and animal death.

CHAPTER ONE

“You waitin' on the ferry?”

Looking up from the horizon, I saw an older man approaching me. He looked to be in his late seventies, and had a kind face that had been left lined and weathered by decades spend on the ocean. Jerking a thumb over my shoulder into the bed of my truck, loaded down with all my belongings, I nodded.

“Moving to Specter Island today.”

He turned the face the ocean and smiled faintly, a look that conveyed a sense of fondness that could only come from years of living in the same place without ever wanting to leave. For an almost uncomfortable length of time he stared out into the fog that stood like a wall between us and the island. Then he shook his head abruptly, frowning.

“I wouldn't”

Well if that's not a ringing endorsement, I thought wryly to myself. Of course I wasn't going to let one old man sway my decision. Growing up in a small town I'd learned pretty quick that the old timers weren't always as welcoming with newcomers, and would often try to come up with ways to convince people to live elsewhere. This likely wouldn't be any different. “I just got a job with Olsen Performance horses. I figure after 20 years of living in Wisconsin, there's nothing an island can throw at me that I can't handle.”

He gave a short, bark of a laugh and sat down on the tailgate beside me. “I don't mean the weather. I mean the name- Specter island. Ever wonder how it got it?”

“Not particularly, no. I guess the fog, now that I've been here.”

“Nah- you can't see it from the mainland anyway. No, there's something… off about it.”

“You mean like it's haunted?” I had to admit, he'd caught my interest. While horses had been my passion my entire life, taking me on the five year journey that had lead me here, I did have other interests. And ghost stories were right at the top of the list.

The man didn't answer for a bit, instead taking off his cap and scratching at a tuft of air clinging stubbornly to the top of his otherwise bald head. Then putting it back on he sighed and gestured to the ocean before us. “I've been sailing these waters a long time, and I ain't never seen anything like that place. An' I seen a lot, let me tell you.”

“What was it then?”

“Now I've never actually set foot there, an' I never will, but I've been off the coast more than enough times. There's something that appears on the shore. Not all the time, not even that often. But every time I see it, someone returns to the mainland in a wooden box.”

For a moment I was a little concerned. Ghosts were one thing, but death omens were a little bit more than I was hoping for.

“How many times have you seen it?”

“Oh, about three, maybe four times. Of course I don't see it every time someone dies, but if I do, within the month someone comes home for the last time. No one gets buried there.”

He'd just answered my next question. Superstition and coincidences, that was all there was to it.

“I think I'll take my chances then,” I said, nodding in the general direction of the island. Off in the distance, there was a low, almost mournful call from the ferry's foghorn. As if that was his cue to leave, the man got to his feet and held out his hand.

“I'm afraid I didn't catch your name, by the way.”

“Naomi Oxley- although most people call me Nox,” I said, reaching out to shake his hand. He had a surprisingly firm grip.

“Well Nox, I wish you the best. Just don't say I didn't warn you.  If you're ever back on the mainland, look me up. I'm curious what that thing looks like up close. Benjamin Alda; most folks know me.”

“If I see it, I'll be sure to report back.”

He smiled again and, without another word, turned and walked off into the fog.

After parking my truck below, I made my way up to the passenger deck, and then out to stand at the bow and watch for my first glimpse of my new home. There weren't many people making the crossing with me, although I hadn't expected a whole lot. April was still considered the off season, and most tourists wouldn't be arriving until the middle of May. The few people who were onboard shot me mildly suspicious glances as I passed, and I assumed they were locals. My only company outside were a couple seagulls, hitching a ride on the railing a few yards away. They ignored me.

While it wasn't the friendliest of welcomes, I did not feel discouraged. There was something alive about this move in a way I hadn't found before. It was something I could feel, the same way I felt the spray from the ocean on my face, and tasted the salt in the air. I'd felt it the same thing the moment I'd started my interview with Keith on the phone.

My previous experiences with starting new jobs had been less than ideal. While I'd known going into this path that a career with horses took a lot of time, tears, and plain old hard work, I'd never imagined that the people would be the worst part. The barn that I'd grown up riding in had been like a fimily to me, and I figured that finding another place like it would be a piece of cake. However, my first job had been at a lesson farm that was starving their horses to death; the second had me living in her basement, which doubled as a bathroom for her dogs; the third was run by a woman who would be from praising you to hurling curses in your direction multiple times per day.  It had been an eye opener, to say the least.

This time would be different. It had to be. I'd done a lot of research on Keith, and on OPH, before taking the position. There was no record of him being accused of abuse, no one showing off the truth that he kept hidden behind closed doors. He was open and honest about his business and what was expected of me, and he even gave me a live tour of the place during our video interview. It was all so simple and yet so rare to find in the horse world.

That, and he just happened to be running one of the best ICTHA training facilities in the country. How could I turn that down.

The International Competitive Trail Horse Association hosted the most popular equine sports in the world, extreme competitive trail. A three day event that tested a horses stamina, bravery, and trust in it's rider, there was nothing else out there that could really showcase what horses are truly capable of. The first day was an endurance ride of varying lengths, although 30 miles was the standard. The following day was an arena course with some of the toughest obstacles imaginable, including rings of fire and the giant inflatable tubes typically seen outside of car dealerships. The final day returned to the outdoors for a much shorter race with obstacles along the way. The horse with the best overall time, performance, and vet scores took first place.

There were no shortcuts in extreme trail. You couldn't focus all your energy on one thing and expect to win, and you couldn't use drugs to mask lameness or pain for the sake of winning a trophy. It took years to train a winner at the top level. And Keith had managed to have one of his horses place in at least the top three ten years running. If he lost, it was to one that he had sold. That kind of success didn't come from training with force or starving your horses, that was for sure.

The call of the foghorn, deafeningly loud now that it was directly behind me, startled me out of my thoughts. And then I heard the reply, surprisingly close but still just out of sight

The island emerged from the fog a couple minutes later like a ghost ship, a solid beam of light swinging around from a lighthouse on the coast to welcome us in. There were other lights in the distance as well, houses and other buildings in town, the docks. I tried to imagine it on a clear day, with tourists and vacationers at every corner.

Someday, I would see it that way for real.

[people2u]

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in business for years, it’s always a good idea to review your options when it comes to labour hire.There are a number of benefits to using labour hire Melbourne, including cost-efficiency, access to a wider pool of talent, and the ability to scale up or down as needed.In this post, we’ll give you a few tips on how to find the best labour hire for your business.

Defining labour hire

Put simply, labour hire is the process of hiring workers from an external agency. This can be in lieu of, or in addition to, hiring workers directly from your local workforce.The benefits of labour hire Melbourne are many and varied. By outsourcing your workforce, you can:

-Avoid the costs and hassle of recruiting and onboarding new staff

-Access a pre-qualified, screened and experienced workforce

-Scale up or down your workforce as needed

-Reduce staff turnover and improve staff retention

The benefits of labour hire

When it comes to finding the best labour hire for your business, there are plenty of benefits to consider. First and foremost, labour hire can help to reduce costs. You don't have to worry about training or onboarding new employees, and you don't have to pay for their benefits or sick leave. Labour hire also allows you to scale your workforce up or down as needed, which can be helpful during busy seasons or when projects are ramping up.

Additionally, using labour hire can help you to find the best talent in the industry. Rather than spending time and resources interviewing and screening candidates, you can simply review the profiles of the workers who are available through labour hire agencies. This can save you a lot of time and energy in the long run. Ultimately, using labour hire is a great way to get the help that you need without all of the hassle.

The different types of labour hire

There are a few different types of labour hire that you can explore: casual, contract, and permanent.

Casual labour hire is perfect for businesses who need short-term staff for specific projects or events. Contract labour hire is great for businesses who need staff for a longer period of time, but don't want to commit to hiring someone full-time. Permanent labour hire is perfect for businesses who are looking to fill a long-term position.

Labour hire can be a great way to trial someone for a position within your business, or to fill a gap in your workforce without having to go through the process of recruiting and interviewing candidates.

How to find the best labour hire for your business

When it comes to labour hire, it's important to find a supplier that is reliable and can provide you with the staff you need, when you need them. Here are a few tips on how to find the best labour hire for your business:

Do your research

It's important to do your research and compare different suppliers before making a decision. Ask around for recommendations, read online reviews, and compare pricing.

Ask about their screening process

It's vital that you only work with a supplier that has a rigorous screening process in place, as this will ensure that you're only hiring qualified staff.

Ask about their training process

It's also important to ensure that your supplier has a thorough training process in place so that your staff are up-to-date on the latest industry trends and practises.

Ask about their support services

A good labour hire supplier should also offer support services such as payroll and HR management. This will help to take some of the burden off of your shoulders and allow you to focus on running your business.

The cost of labour hire

When it comes to labour hire, price is always a key consideration. But it's important to remember that you get what you pay for - so don't necessarily go for the cheapest option available.

Take the time to research different labour hire providers and compare their prices. Make sure you're aware of what's included in the cost, as well as any additional charges that might apply.It's also worth asking for a quote before committing to anything. This will give you an idea of how much the service will cost, and it also gives the labour hire provider an idea of what they need to provide.

The risks of labour hire

When it comes to finding the best labour hire for your business, it's important to consider the cost. This is because the cost of labour hire can vary significantly depending on the agency you choose.

It's important to remember that not all agencies are created equal, so it's important to do your research before making a decision. Make sure you compare quotes from a few different agencies to find the best deal.

If you're looking for quality labour hire, contact our team today. We offer a wide range of services and can help you find the perfect candidate for your business.

Frequently asked questions about labour hire

It's important to remember that the cost of labour hire is not just the hourly rate that you're paying your employee. There are other costs to consider, such as superannuation, workers' compensation and payroll tax.

Calculating the true cost of labour hire can be a little tricky, but it's definitely worth taking the time to do so. This will help you find the best provider for your business and ensure that you're getting the most value for your money.

Conclusion:

It can be difficult to know where to start when looking for labour hire Melbourne, but by following these tips, you can find the best provider for your business. Make sure you ask the right questions and compare quotes so that you can find the best possible deal.

Source: https://aiocontractinglabourhire.blogspot.com/2022/05/how-to-find-best-labour-hire-for-your.html

[craigrcannon]

Employee #1: Airbnb

A conversation with Nick Grandy, Airbnb’s first employee.

Employee #1 is a series of interviews focused on sharing the often untold stories of early employees at tech companies.

Nick Grandy was the first employee at Airbnb. He is currently building Outschool, which helps parents find and book learning activities for their kids.

Discussed: Closing Down Your Startup, Finding a Startup to Join, Meeting the Founders, Interviewing at Airbnb, Growing From Four to 500, Leaving Airbnb, and Hiring Your First Employee.

Craig : Could you just start by explaining how you ended up at Airbnb?

Nick : Yeah, for sure. I had come out to Silicon Valley with the intention of getting into the startup world though, to be honest, at the time I didn’t know anything about Silicon Valley or startups. I just knew I wanted to explore that world.

I moved out to San Francisco at the same time I joined YC in the winter of 2008. I was working on this company, Wundrbar, with a friend of mine and had a fantastic experience in YC and learned a ton and met a lot of people.

I think actually my high-level plan was “Okay, I’m going to go do this startup, I’m going to do YC, I’m going to figure it out, this is going to be awesome and that’s Plan A. And if that doesn’t work out, well, Plan B is that hopefully I’ll join some other cool company and get into a startup that way.”

Plan A didn’t work out. We shut down the company after about a year and that’s when I started looking around for other startups to join. I think I had the appetite at that point to join an early-stage company so I still had a pretty high risk tolerance but I also wanted to work on something where I felt more assured that my efforts would be put to good use and that there were actually customers and users.

I was meeting with various early-stage companies and ran into the Airbnb guys at a YC event, actually. I met Brian [Chesky] at one and then at a separate event met Nate [Blecharczyk], and the conversation continued from there.

Craig : Were you interviewing with other companies?

Nick : Yeah, I was interviewing elsewhere. Another company I interviewed with was a brain-training game company. I actually worked in a neuroscience lab previously and had an interest in that realm as well. They offered me a job but I passed. I wasn’t fully convinced.

At the same time I was talking to some other people about starting a new company where I would be CTO. But again, I think it was too early, too risky, and I didn’t want to spin wheels for another year trying to get something going. Whereas with the Airbnb guys, they were super early and small but they had a product, a V1, that was up and running. And the product was working. I used it as part of my application process and was like “Yes, this is super cool, this works, I can totally envision this growing and taking over the world and I want to help do that.”

Craig : In terms of interviewing, what was that like?

Nick : I met them socially then swung by the office one day for a pretty casual chat, sort of like “get to know you.” We went to the roof and chatted and had an introductory conversation. Then there was a take-home coding test. Which was basically building a web app. They wanted an answer to, “Can you be productive immediately?”

And then there was an in-person interview with each of the founders. Lastly there was what at the time was termed “the beer test” though now it has more appropriate names.

Craig : Was there anything in particular about the founders that made you want to join Airbnb or was it the product entirely?

Nick : I think it was both. I knew that I’d be working with those three guys very closely. I had to be impressed by them and excited about the prospect of working with them and I was. I was at a point where I was looking for both a product and a vision that I was excited about in addition to the people.

Craig : In terms of the early days, how long was it before there was another employee?

Nick : It actually wasn’t long. They had been looking to hire a first engineer for a long time and the product was starting to take off in such a way that it was then like, “Okay, we need to scale.”

At the time that I joined, there were some sales contractors who were there and pretty soon after, we brought on support contractors. I think actually the second full-time hire came on like a month after I did and then probably the next full-time hires came on maybe like a month or two after that. And then it just picked up steam.

Craig : When it was just four of you, what was that environment like?

Nick : It was the four of us around a giant desk–like four desks pushed together in the middle of a living room.

I think that they, as the founders, they remained more concerned with the corporate questions. I was brought on as an engineer specifically so I had a pretty specific domain. But for things like product questions – “How do we fix this problem?” or, “How do we do this?” – I think those questions were fairly collaborative.

At the time we had weekly product meetings where we talked about the work in progress, challenges, priorities, and how we were going to invest them. It was a fairly collaborative environment.

Craig : You were there for several years, how did the environment change over the course of your time there?

Nick : It definitely evolved. I think that as the company grew, more separation was created. Initially The founders would independently talk about the high-level priorities and then Nate and I would talk about engineering priorities–what we’re going to build, how we’re going to sequence it, and the allocation of work. As the company grew, early employees, myself included, had larger responsibilities in terms of onboarding new people, setting product direction, and defining the direction of the company. I was basically an individual contributor engineer in my first year, an engineering manager / product manager in my second, and a general manager in my third.

Craig : How did your opinion of the company change as you came into this role where you were managing other people?

Nick : The company definitely scaled very quickly. I was there for three years and when I left it was about 500 employees globally. In the last year that I was there, we basically opened like 10 international offices and hired a ton of people because it was just this incredibly rapid growth.

I preferred the small company vibe and was less interested in being a senior manager at a larger company. My favorite stages at Airbnb were when we were around 10, 15 people plus or minus, where there was some focus and specificity of roles but the whole team was also really intimate and you knew exactly what was going on. There was a very fun feel to working at the company. It had this sort of Wild West feel then.

Craig : I’ve noticed that desire among a few first employees. They seem to like that stage where it’s kind of in-between. Do you know what I mean?

Nick : Yeah, totally. I was going to say that by comparison I also worked at Clever. I was there immediately before Outschool. I joined when they were about 20 people and left when they were around 80 people. I started to have the same feelings in relation to the size of the company. That said, Clever is an awesome place and I actually would have stayed except that the time was right to start Outschool with Amir [Nathoo] and Mikhail [Seregine].

Craig : So what was the trigger for you to leave Airbnb?

Nick : There wasn’t one trigger in particular. I was and remain super excited about the company but it was basically the organization growth. Scaling from four to 500 people in three years is super chaotic, and I was less excited about being part of a large company.

Craig : You picked a winner in joining Airbnb. You could have tried to do that again. What made you feel that you wanted to start your own thing?

Nick : That’s a bug that I had prior to being in Airbnb. I had gone through YC. I wanted to start my own thing. Where that came from, I’m not really sure.

I think it’s just different strokes for different folks. Some people would be really thrilled to pick a winner and join a hot startup early on, then grow and become a senior executive at that company. For whatever reason, that wasn’t the vision that was exciting to me. The vision was to create something from the ground up.

Being at Airbnb also created a really tough baseline. Airbnb’s such an awesome business. It’s a really great business model, it’s really fun and it’s exciting and romantic. There are so few businesses like that. It’s particularly difficult when comparing it to other businesses that I’ve looked at and considered joining or starting.

Craig : I assume you learned a lot at Airbnb. How are you translating that now into Outschool?

Nick : There are a lot of parallels in the two-sided peer-to-peer market. I think pretty much every day there’s some parallel or learning I think back to or recall for Outschool.

In terms of product, marketplace dynamics, and organizational growth, learnings are applied every day. Actually, working at Clever was also a fantastic experience because it showed me that it’s possible to have a high-growth company with a totally different culture and different approach. That was a great learning experience and one I’m glad I did before starting a new company again.

Craig : Have you hired someone yet as a first employee?

Nick : Actually we’re in the process of that right now.

Craig : So what are you doing? How’s it going?

Nick : There’s all of that tension around how much you optimize for every hire. And I think Airbnb sort of optimized very carefully and it was really painstaking in the early days of hiring me and then also hiring subsequent employees. We were really careful vetting and then on the other hand you have the advice to, “hire fast, fire fast.” I think actually my approach is going to be a little closer to that.

Craig : Are you narrowing in on a person?

Nick : We have two roles: a customer success manager and an engineer. We’re in the interview process for both of those and we’ve had a pretty good response. We’re interviewing people in person so hopefully we’ll have a hire in a matter of weeks, hopefully not months.1

Craig : What are you looking for in a first hire?

Nick : The thing that we’re screening for in the first hire are someone who’s comfortable with a dynamic environment and comfortable with change. They need to recognize that week-by-week there might be differences in the company. You just have to be comfortable with that or it’s not going to work.

We also want somebody who wants to help build a company from the ground up. Not just someone who’s just looking for a job, somebody who’s really excited about the idea of helping to build an organization.

Those are sort of critical for any role, independent of the particular skill sets. And then also things like being an independent thinker and being able to solve problems on their own, because we can’t oversee everything.

At this point we’re essentially looking for partners as opposed to people who are simply hired to do a 9-5 task and then go home.

Craig : What about somebody who’s looking at companies and thinking about being a first employee? What should someone know if they’re going to do that?

Nick : That’s a good question. I think a lot of that’s pretty context-dependent by where the company is at. I joined Airbnb at a time when we were just starting this very aggressive growth curve and the whole organization scaled very quickly. That’s different than if I had joined early on and for a year we struggled to find product/market fit and didn’t hire anybody else.

Those are very different things and imply different relationships. I think for a lot of YC companies there is a pretty big distinction between the founder role and an employee role where the founders are thinking about corporate-level things and a different set of problems than any particular employee will who is brought in to solve a particular problem for the company.

Craig : Is there anything someone should know about setting or managing their expectations when joining a company as a first employee?

Nick : Generally, it’s a super risky thing to do. The sweet spot generally comes later where there’s more clarity that a company is on a great path and has a great growth curve. For very early employees often that’s not clear, let alone how long the company will be around or what things are going to look like in six months or a year.

I think that anyone looking for an early role needs to be comfortable with that high level of risk and needs to be particularly excited about the benefits of being super early, such as being able to touch all parts of the company and see all the parts clearly. There’s also the team intimacy, the Wild West feel, the lack of process, and then the immediacy of doing anything that comes along when your team is then only four people or ten people large.

Craig : Thinking back on Airbnb, how do you feel about your time there?

Nick : I feel incredibly fortunate that I got connected with the company at the time. It was a fantastic experience in growth and I’m itching to have that experience again.

1 Since speaking with us Outschool has hired their first employee. ↩

[whynotpretty-and-weird]

Do you have any advice on trying to get a job as a cast member at Disneyland? I am so interested in trying it out! It seems so amazing and fun, and to make people happy? Even better! Could you tell me about your experience as well, if you're comfortable with doing so that is! Thank you ❤

To all that come to this happy blog, welcome! I’d be happy to talk a little bit about being a Cast Member at Disneyland, California and getting hired at was I think is literally the happiest (work)place on Earth! 😊 This will be a long post! Don’t let this stuff intimidate you, it was a great experience and I can hardly imagine working anywhere else. ❤

How I got Hired:

First of all, when applying to be an in-park Cast Member, apply for whatever job opening they have, even if it’s not exactly what you want to do. After three months of doing your first job at Disneyland, it is not uncommon to transfer to a different department/area/ride. I’d recommend being a food service worker first because I think it’s a little less “center stage,” which can be crazy if you’re new, but apply for anything.

On the application, remember that customer service ranks #1 in what they are looking for when interviewing for any role at Disney, and this is the most important thing to remember when completing the online application. 

After the application, it may take a long time (it took me 6 months) for them to give you a callback, which means that they want to move to the next step which is the interview. Regardless of whether you have a phone or in-person interview, place customer service first in your values and skills. Cast Members are expected to live and work by a code of conduct known as “The Four Keys,” which are in order of importance. It may be helpful to memorize The Four Keys and work them into your interview. It’s also great to get familiar with commonly used Cast Member terms like “backstage,” “costumes” instead of uniforms, “behind the scenes,” and “guests” instead of customers. Use words like “magic,” “dreams,” “childhood,” “family,” and “experience.” These words are “magic” words, if you will, to use in your interview.

If you’re having an in-person interview, become familiar beforehand with the “Disney Look” and try to ensure that you match it for your interview. That means no visible tattoos, no dyed hair (that was hard for me) and an over “conservative” appearance. They love wholesome-looking people. Be cheerful, upbeat, sweet, kind, and pretend like you’re a Disney protagonist!

When You Get Hired:

After hiring-in, you will join a secret website and network just for Cast Members. You’ll go to the Team Disney center to fill out legal forms and you’ll get your photo taken for your I.D. card which serves as literally the key to all of the Disneyland Resort and cast member parking lots, all the backstage entrances, discounted EVERYTHING like at every store both at Disneyland and elsewhere, and is your Main Entrance Pass (MEP) to just about every Disney resort in the world, all with just the swipe of a barcode. It’s a pretty powerful card.

Then you’ll go to several days of orientation, called “Onboarding,” where you learn cast member basics like Disney history, “The Disney Point,” and so much more cool stuff. Then you go on a walking tour of Disneyland, so I recommend wearing the most comfortable black, plain shoes you can find. I wore high heels and I regretted it sooo much. You’ll also get a special tour and orientation depending on which park you work in, like I worked in Disney’s California Adventure (DCA) so I got a special orientation and tour of that park instead of Disneyland.

A week later (usually) you’ll get to meet up with your location trainers for on-the-job training, but first, you’ll get your costume and your nametag, which was intimidating to me, but I soon learned that wherever you are backstage, it’s 100% okay to ask ANYBODY for help or directions. Your trainer will help you learn the ropes (literally sometimes, depending on where you work lol) and make friends, which is really easy when like 95% of cast members are hired because they have the same personality, so you could go up to almost anyone and you’ll instantly have like tons in common.

Some of my tips I picked up while working at Disneyland include:

DO stay in character. Think about what you’re doing, like say you are a Cast Member on the Indiana Jones Adventure. Remember that you are a 1930′s assistant to Indiana Jones himself. How would they behave and how would they talk? One of the most famous Cast Member mottos is “Every Role a Starring One.”

DO Track your steps! You’ll be amazed at how much you walk. I would get over 10,000 steps even when I took the backstage tram.

DO ask for special holiday packs at the Cast Member store October through December. There are free tickets in them.

DO take up offers to hang out in the parks with your teammates. It’s a great way to get to know them and make friends.

DO keep your I.D. card in a lanyard card-holder so you never lose it.

DO Always smile. Always, unless you work on the Haunted Mansion.

Don’t Approach the face characters (i.e. the princesses) backstage when they are in-costume and walking. This means they are trying to get somewhere and don’t talk to them about the character they are “friends with,” aka the character they play.

Don’t Lose any part of your costume as this can seriously affect your “record,” aka the point system that Disney uses that determines your good standing and employment status.

DO Pack your own lunch or snack. The backstage restaurants (i.e. Starbucks, Subway, Taco Trucks) are quite pricey. I’m pretty sure that most of the cast cafe’s have microwaves and free water.

Don’t Date Disney! This is kind of a big joke, that it’s never a good idea to date another cast member, and it’s known as “The 3 D’s”, or “Don’t Date Disney.” I personally wouldn’t recommend dating someone from your job/ride/area, but there are like 23,000 cast members, and it’s okay to date someone who’s not part of your team.

DO Be friends with your manager! They are pretty awesome.

DO go to the parks alone. It’s an experience worth trying at least once.

DO Check out the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge construction if you can. It’s really awesome!

I wish you the absolute best of luck if you choose to apply, and remember that dreams do come true! I held on to that belief during the whole hiring process, and it really helped shape the mindset I believe helped me get hired in the first place. Feel free to ask me any other specific questions you have! ❤🏰🎆

[livinginlandmarketing]

Debbie Reaves had settled in for a routine viewing of “The Daily Show” at her Trabuco Canyon home several months ago when she heard host Trevor Noah voice concern about whether there would be enough polling place workers come Election Day.

The fear was that seniors, who historically have often volunteered to work the polls, wouldn’t be comfortable coming out due to the coronavirus pandemic, which poses a greater risk for anyone 65 or older. Combine that with the distrust President Donald Trump and others on the right have sown about mail-in voting, plus expected record-breaking turnout, and the situation appeared ripe for potential voter suppression in the form of long lines to cast in-person ballots.

She’d never been politically active before. But Reaves, who’s 62 and healthy, decided to request for time off from her job as a project manager for a healthcare company and sign up for what she thought would be one day of volunteer work.

“Our voices need to be heard,” Reaves said, “and a safe, convenient voting environment is essential.”

Looking back, Reaves acknowledges she had no idea what she was getting herself into.

Forget tiny designated polling places in someone’s garage or a local church, monitored for a day largely by retired volunteers. In-person voting in Orange County is now a multiday event overseen at large vote centers by some 1,500 paid staffers who go through a thorough vetting process and extensive training.

This cycle, OC Registrar Neal Kelley said that includes additional training on pandemic safety measures and conflict management, such as how to handle people refusing to wear masks or otherwise disrupting the democratic process.

OC and a handful of other California counties had already moved to the vote center model and to professionalize election workers before the March primary. Since the pandemic struck, other Southern California counties have been forced to go that route because they quickly discovered the old model wasn’t going to work this fall.

Still, there are significant differences in how election worker programs are run from one county to the next.

In prior election cycles, Riverside County Registrar Rebecca Spencer said her office would recruit 3,500 people to staff 600 polling places across the county. They’d receive a stipend for one day of work plus another small payment for one three-hour in-person training.

But when they went to start putting that plan together for this cycle, Spencer said they discovered many seniors on their volunteer list weren’t comfortable working a polling place this cycle. Locations that had hosted polling stations in the past also were backing out.

Now Riverside County has hired 600 election workers to staff 130 voter assistance centers that are open for four days, Saturday, Oct. 31 through Election Day. Most of those workers are paid $15 an hour and go through two hours of virtual training. There also is one lead and one assistant lead worker assigned to each vote center.

Those workers have spent 40 hours a week for the past four weeks attending an “election officer academy” that takes them through everything from how to set up the voting equipment to how to guard against COVID-19 to how to de-escalate difficult situations.

Under this model, Spencer said they’ve had no trouble filling all 600 election worker slots, with a waiting list ready to go in case anyone drops out last minute.

San Bernardino County also moved to the vote center model for the same reason, county spokesman David Wert said. After initially having trouble recruiting from the usual pool of volunteers to staff those centers, he said they’re now relying largely on existing county workers who’ve been trained to work elections.

Two San Bernardino County workers tested positive for the coronavirus after a week-long training at the National Orange Show Event Center. But Wert said county health experts don’t believe those workers contracted the virus at the event because organizers had taken precautions such as requiring all of the roughly 400 workers to wear masks and face shields, frequent sanitization and temperature checks each day.

San Bernardino County did virtual trainings whenever possible, Wert said. But he said they needed to do some in-person training to show supervisors how to use new equipment and to do a dress rehearsal for a system that’s being rolled out locally for the first time this cycle.

Wert said they notified everyone who’d been at the training about the two positive cases, encouraging them all to get tested and telling them not to report to work if they had any symptoms. So far, Wert said no other election workers have reported feeling sick.

Orange County didn’t have any trouble with initial recruitment for its 1,500 election workers to staff 168 vote centers, Kelley said. “But as we get closer to the election,” he said, “more people cancel each day. It’s a challenge but we have been keeping up.”

The training process was a bit daunting, and the pandemic and heightened worries of violence did cause some additional concern for Linda Chezar, a Newport Beach resident who’s serving as a lead election worker at a vote center in Orange County. But at 61, Chezar said she doesn’t scare easily. And she didn’t want to let fear hold her back from participating in what she feels is the most important presidential election in her lifetime.

Chezar said seeing the process up close for the first time – with precautions such as computers that aren’t connected to the internet, to prevent any chance of hacking, and completed ballots always monitored by at least two people – has made her more confident in the security of our election systems.

“I’m really proud of what Orange County has done,” she said. “I think they have done everything humanely possible to make it easy to vote, to secure your vote and to minimize any kind of hassle.”

Just to get the OC job, Reaves said she invested four hours of her time. That included a full job application and an hour-long online test, which Reaves equated to a “mini-SAT.” She did a Zoom interview with two people and a Live Scan background check. Then she attended an on-site onboarding in Santa Ana, where she had to sign forms attesting she’d read 200-plus pages of documents and would read a 150-page Vote Center Handbook.

Once they’re hired, Reaves said election workers in Orange County have to commit to 10 days of work. That includes two days of online training, one day of on-site training, one day of set up at the voting center, five days of live voting for up to 13-plus hours and one day of helping tear down the voting center.

Given the pandemic and the commitment now involved, Kelley said OC has seen the average age of its election workers drop substantially. Some younger workers told Reaves they had been out of work due to the pandemic, so they jumped at the chance to work for a week making $19 to $21 an hour, plus some overtime until the last voter clears out on election night.

In the first hour her vote center was open Friday morning, Chezar said they processed 60 ballots without problems.

If anything does go sideways, Chezar said the county provided solid training and has good systems in place for backup. And if all else fails, she said, “I know how to dial 911.”

While Chezar knows everyone is fired up right now, she said she plans to channel her dad, who had strong political beliefs but could have respectful debates with anyone and still remain friends.

“I’m going to try to dial down the rhetoric and the fear, be reassuring and make it more of a celebration of who we are as Americans,” she said.

“We’re not red, we’re not blue – we’re American at voting time.”

Poll workers Debbie Reaves attaches a security tab—one of three—on a piece of voting equipment to ensure the machine is not tampered with. “People don’t know about all the security measures that are in place,” she said while preparing for Friday’s vote center opening at Lake Forest Sports Park on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Poll workers prepare the voting center at Lake Forest Sports Park for Friday’s opening on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Poll workers prepare the voting center at Lake Forest Sports Park for Friday’s opening on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Poll workers prepare the voting center at Lake Forest Sports Park for Friday’s opening on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Poll workers prepare the voting center at Lake Forest Sports Park for Friday’s opening on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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-on November 01, 2020 at 12:00AM by Brooke Staggs

[hegemoneapple]

Basilisk Eyes: Chapter 7: Number 4 Privet Drive

Crossposted: Basilisk Eyes by Hegemone | Completed: Chapter 7 out of 157 | T | AO3 | FFN | WATT | HPFF

Summary: As Harry Potter slays the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, blood and venom get in his eyes, mostly blinding him. While Harry learns to adapt, he makes some new friends. But this is more than a story of adaptation and friendship as there are threats... and Harry isn't the only one with a past that haunts him.

oO0OooO0OooO0OooO0Oo

Harry was having a really hard time focusing on what Healer Smethwyck was telling him about the wood guide staff he was being given and the resources he could access at some Center to help “ease his transition” as Healer Smethwyck had put it, to this new “challenge” that he was facing. Healer Andy had introduced the senior Healer reverentially and had left to attend to other patients. 

Harry fiddled with the stack of leaflets that had been shoved in his hand, resisting the urge to toss them aside, worthless as they were to him. Something in the back of his mind (it sounded like Hermione) was telling him that he should really try to pay attention, that he might need to know this stuff. But he felt as if he were listening to everything through a long tunnel—that someone at the end of it was yelling instructions to him that were important, but that he couldn’t quite comprehend them.

In the fog of his despair, Healer Smethwyck’s voice seemed to drone on endlessly… “This staff is charmed to help you navigate independently… can warn you of danger in your path… the ministry that the restriction of underage magic should be modified…  the spell "----" can be used… some others that you’ll receive… after some adaptation courses… when you’re out and about among muggles… you live with muggles, right?… to use their tools for the visually impaired…”

At some point, Madam Pomfrey had entered the exam room. She had excused herself for a bit to visit a fireplace for a conversation via floo with the Headmaster. Harry heard Madam Pomfrey responding politely to the Healer and it seemed as though the interview was being wrapped up. Harry felt as though he were listening to all this through layers and layers of cotton balls—it was all muffled and distant. He was catching bits and pieces and guessed that they were talking about the upcoming dates of his adaptation courses and where they were located (some Center in London that Harry didn’t recognize) and the name of shops that carried accessibility tools, such as quick quotes quills and book readers. Harry heard the scratching of a quill and the passing of paper and the sound of Madam Pomfrey stuffing the paper in her medibag. 

“Here, Madam Pomfrey,” he said in a detached voice, moving the leaflets toward the sound of her bag.  “Could you put these in there, too? I’ll have to read them later,” he added with a tinge of sarcasm that she didn’t seem to catch.

Listlessly, he hung onto Madam Pomfrey’s arm, holding his new staff in the other hand, as they made their way down the echoing corridor. He felt lightheaded and slightly nauseous. He was self-conscious holding the stick with his opaque glasses (were they black?) shielding his eyes and clinging to Madam Pomfrey, imagining how he must look to those they were passing in the corridor. With a start, he wondered if they were heading back to the floo fireplace.

“We’re not going to floo again, are we?” he asked.

“Oh, no, dear. That was disastrous,” she said, and he could feel the slight jerking of her body as she shook her head. “No, we’ll take the Knight Bus to your Aunt’s house.”

“What? Can’t I go back to school?” Harry blurted out in disbelief and stopped suddenly in the corridor. 

Could this day get any worse?

“No, dear, there’s only a few weeks of school left and with the exams canceled there’s not much point in you going back. The school needs some time to figure out how to accommodate your needs and you need some time at home to rest and learn how to get along. Best if you do that at home. Professor Dumbledore and I discussed it while you were meeting with Healer Smethwyck. He’s sending an owl to your Aunt and Uncle telling them everything they need to know. Your school things will be packed up and sent home to you, so you need not worry about that,” she hurried on pulling him along.

“I need to get back to the school (there was an incident in the dungeons… dungbombs and cauldrons; Professor Snape is tending to the burns, but he doesn’t have the best bedside manner) and you really need to rest. You’ll have time this summer to learn how to get around and you’ll need to learn how to read and write in braille, I suppose. Braille is a muggle form of writing with raised dots that you read with your fingers. Blind witches and wizards find it useful, too. The courses that you’re signed up for will be a big help.” Harry heard a finality in her tone and found that he didn’t have the energy to protest. His voice withered and died. He felt like a dried husk.

They exited the building. Harry closed his eyes against the painful burst of light. At the curb, Madam Pomfrey stuck out her arm and somehow conjured a bus. It popped into the space in front of them with a squeal that set Harry’s teeth on edge. 

They were greeted with a hearty “Welcome to the Knight Bus!” by an individual with the worst halitosis Harry had ever experienced and climbed awkwardly onboard. Madam Pomfrey paid the fare, Harry told them the destination address at Madam Pomfrey's prompting. He was so tempted to say "The Burrow," but remembered that Mrs. Weaseley would be tending Ginny and probably didn’t have time for him, too. The bus lurched forward as Madam Pomfrey was helping Harry settle into a seat and she fell against him. 

“So sorry, my dear!”  she said as she untangled herself from him and sat in the seat next to him.

Glumly, he leaned against his staff and tried not to tumble out of his seat. The trip was over pretty quickly and though Harry harbored a lot of dread about showing up at Privet Drive weeks before the end of term, he was relieved to be released from the insufferably jerky and bumpy ride. He wasn’t sure which was worse, transportation by floo powder or by Knight bus. Had he been in a less despondent state of mind, he might have marveled at how incompetent the Wizarding community seemed to be when it came to creating comfortable transportation.

And then they were standing on the front stoop of Number 4 Privet Drive, listening to the chimes of the doorbell echo through the house. Harry had had to feel around for the bell because Madam Pomfrey had no idea what he was talking about when he tried to explain the concept of a doorbell to her.

“What are you doing here?” was the greeting Harry received from his Aunt. He stood there numbly as the familiar odor of Number 4 Privet Drive engulfed him. He felt as though he were drowning.

Startled no doubt by the abruptness, Madam Pomfrey introduced herself, “Hello, Mrs. Dursley. I’m Madam Pomfrey, Matron of Hogwarts. Did you get the owl from Professor Dumbledore about Harry’s, um, accident?”

“No,” Aunt Petunia tried to deny, but then sharply reversed, “Yes. I did.”

“Might we come in? I can share some information with you about how to help Harry… ” 

Petunia spoke over Madam Pomfrey, “I suppose you better come in.” 

Harry felt his Aunt’s bony fingers close around his wrist as she pulled him inside; he tripped over the threshold but managed to just keep from falling. He was sure her impatience had everything to do with getting them out of sight of the neighbors and nothing to do with welcoming him home.

The conversation with Madam Pomfrey was conducted in the hallway and was very brief. Madam Pomfrey handed over the leaflets and parchment from the hospital and explained quickly about Harry’s lack of vision while Aunt Petunia responded with impatient grunts and sharp monosyllabic answers.

Harry couldn't believe that Madam Pomfrey was going to leave him here. 

Can't she see how much I'm not wanted here? Doesn't she understand what she was condemning me to?

He felt like he had been mistaken about her character—the trip through the floo network was the first indication.

No wait, that she couldn't cure my eyes—that she didn't even try that hard—she'd given up on me before she even tried. 

Madam Pomfrey gave Harry a quick hug, reminded him of the upcoming training, and left him.

His Aunt left him without a word in the hallway, storming back to the kitchen. He heard the rubbish bin lid clang and he imagined she had just tossed all the literature he had received. He shrugged to himself; even if he snuck back into the kitchen in the dead of the night to retrieve the leaflets, he had no way to read them. They might as well be tossed. He also acknowledged to himself that there was no way the Dursleys were going to help him attend the adaptation courses. 

Resignedly, he used his staff to find the base of the stairs (he hadn’t actually figured out how to use the magical features on it yet, and just resorted to poking around with it until he found the bottom step) and made his way up to his room. He closed the door behind him, located his bed, set the staff to the side, and laid down upon it fully clothed. After a long while of just lying miserably on the bed, he fell asleep.

[realtimecollaborativeeditingogkb]

The atom editor collaborative editing Awards: The Best, Worst, and Weirdest Things We've Seen

Organize Your Final Cut Pro Media With Master Libraries

Large media files are problematic for distribution and sharing. Large images can slow website loading, and large media files can be difficult to share with customers on email. You can configure your ECM system to notify employees of the different stages of a process, such as reviews and approvals, and prompt for actions.

The money management behind a film’s success.

What is a bin Premiere Pro?

How to Collect Files and Easily Share Projects in Adobe Premiere Pro CC: Go to File and select Project Manager . Select all the sequences you want to include in the shareable folder. Under Resulting Project select the radio button that says Collect Files and Copy to a New location.

The default interface is easy to grasp and divided into four spaces for live and project previews, your source footage, and the timeline. Other frequently-used tools can be pinned as well to create a custom working space.

Onboarding & Services Find training and consulting services to help you thrive with HubSpot. Research & Reports Get up-to-date research and data on hot business trends.

Media Asset Management solutions

Since I’m working mainly in Premiere Pro these days, my folder template includes a Premiere Pro template project, too. This gives me an easy starting point that has been tailored for the kinds of narrative/interview projects that I’m working on. Simply rename the root folder and the project for the new production (or let Post Haste do that for you).

The integration with Adobe Premiere Pro CC enables users to manage an entire project, from start to finish within the Adobe Premiere Pro editing environment, with Cantemo Portal™ handling the file management tasks. Aside from right clicking each clip and revealing each file in Finder from Premiere, because that would take a very long time. Is there a way to force Premiere to only look for media assets to link to within a specific folder i.e. the Main Project folder?

What are examples of digital assets?

DAM stands for Digital Asset Management and in relation to photography, it describes everything we do with our image files from the moment we begin to download them from the memory card or camera.

Filmworks Scheduling

In the scenario of a company in a high-risk industry, understanding which assets are tangible and intangible helps to assess its solvency and risk. It works with weird file types, very large files, and immensely large collections of content. Solutions Review brings all of the Content Management news, reviews, best practices and industry events together in one place. Every day our editors scan the Web for the most relevant information and posts it here.

It’s helpful to be clear about the relationship between your original media files and the clips inside Adobe Premiere Pro, because it explains much of the way Adobe Premiere Pro works. You’re given a tutorial overview of major features when you first start it so even someone with limited video editing experience can get up to speed quickly.

New 100% Web-based video editor

You may choose one over the other, depending on just how you’re editing your projects. Within each of them, are subfolders created for audio clips and video clips. Every media file is properly organized within the correct subfolder. Use the Media Library proxies – ELEMENTS Media Library is a powerful, browser-based Media Asset Management toolbox, perfectly suited to simplify your workflows.

How https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1OLbROzGzljyygc_ioEY7oL5LhG-r_ewP3vTesWTR5s8/edit?usp=sharing do you create a new bin?

Premiere Pro creates a folder on your hard disk at the start of each project. By default, this is where it stores the files it captures, the preview and conformed audio files it creates, and the project file itself.

[conceptsnest]

SELF MANAGED TEAMS: KEY SKILLS TO FOSTER

The best team members you’ve ever worked with likely had one thing in common:  Strong self-management skills. As a manager, you don’t want to be pulled into double-checking every detail of a project or answering minute questions incessantly. After all, you have your own responsibilities to focus on. The best employees are the ones who manage themselves. 

How do you optimize for this? When hiring and training a team, you’ll want to pay attention to your potential team member’s self-management skills. Here are some self-management skills to look out for and continually hone within the team:

01: Do they know what to work on first?

One of the most important self-management skills a team member can enact is how they manage their time. In particular, this means they internalize priorities well, and know precisely what to work on first. Your team can only make strong progress if everyone is each working on what is most important for the team, in any given moment. An employee with strong self-management skills can discern which activities should happen “now” or “later.” They can decide that one task can be afforded to be done quickly, while another task requires more significant attention. Do keep in mind though, as a manager, it’s your responsibility to share information with your team about company vision and progress so that they have a frame for what to work on first. Otherwise, you leave even the person with the strongest self-management skills out to dry.

02:  Can they give an answer when there is no answer? 

Sometimes, an employee is going to have to make the call. Perhaps you, as the manager, are out on vacation or out of the office for part of the day. Or perhaps it’s a decision that an employee should be making, as it’s within their domain.  In most situations, that shouldn’t require your direct report to call you on the phone or seek your approval:  They should be able to come up with an answer, even when there is no answer. Effective self-management skills call for confident decision-making. Your team should become comfortable with your company’s mission, vision, and values and know how to respond to situations accordingly. 

In the book, The Effective Executive, by Peter Drucker, decision-making is frequently discussed as an important tenet in self-management. And specifically, the ability to include a variety of opinions in making sound decisions. Drucker in fact recommends to not start with fact – start with opinions. When you lay out opinions, you can then work backwards to figure out what all the potential courses of action could be, before then settling on the best decision.

This ability to think decisions through on their own, from all angles, should be something to seek out in your team members – or teach them 

03:  How do they react under pressure?

An employee can only prioritize tasks and make good decisions if they’re able to manage their own stress, to begin with. Someone who has a propensity for angry outbursts – or perhaps worse, doesn’t speak up when they’re overwhelmed – will only hurt the rest of the team disproportionately. Ideally, you want to hire someone who is self-aware enough to understand how stress affects them. Stress affects all of us – none of us are immune to it. And it all affects us differently, to varying degrees.

In the book, No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy,a concept is espoused to stop feeling bad about feeling bad. Don’t blame yourself for being stressed out and/or not being happy all the time. They write:

“A better version of the familiar adage “Grin and bear it” may be “Sometimes you have to bear it, but you shouldn’t force yourself to grin.”

So yes, people are going to have to deal with stress at work but seeking out team members who understand how to pause, reflect, and calibrate their own reaction in a stressful situation is imperative. Figure out how your team members should be handling stress – and lend a helping hand.

04:  How proactive and thorough are they about solving problems?

Whether problems are technical in nature or interpersonal, an employee with strong self-management skills takes it upon themselves to solve them. At the end of the day, you as a manager should not be the ones solving problems – you should simply be creating an environment for your team to solve problems on their own. As you interview, hire, onboard, and train your team, you’ll want to make sure your team member is both proactive and thorough in solving problems. Here are some questions to ask yourself as a manager – or to pose to your employees – around how to ensure they’re able to solve problems well:

1)      Whose problem do they ultimately think it is? Are they owning it?

2)      Do they define what success looks like?

3)      Do they imagine worst case scenarios?

4)      Do they identify what the relevant variables and levers are in the problem?

5)      Do they ask questions often?

6)      Do they seek out diverging opinions?

7)      Do they understand the trade-offs involved?

8)      Have they included and talked to all the stakeholders?

9)      Have they considered what happens if they do nothing?

10)  Do they have a back-up plan / alternative option?

In short, problem-solving is important both to individuals and organizations because it enables us to exert control over our environment. You want your team member to have this ability to exert control over their own environment.

Effective time management and prioritization, confident decision-making, graceful stress management, and strong problem solving are the biggest self-management skills you should be looking for when building your team. Let your employees know that these skills are valued and part of why you hired them. It makes a world of difference for the individuals you hire to know these skills are valued by you as a leader, and it will drive them to maintain their self-management skills and keep them sharp. 

Suggested Tool- Team Chartering:

It’s the practice of designing and building the team together. And even if its a team who has worked together for a long time, taking the time to go back and work through these steps helps. A team charter is an alignment tool. It’s an opportunity to identify agreements, expectations, and make commitments for how you’re going to work together. It brings clarity and purpose and promotes autonomy. It’s common that teams go to work but forget exactly what they’re working towards, so this is a great way for any team to articulate how they’re going to serve each other and the organization.

A)     Purpose:

Team chartering always starts with Purpose so that your entire team becomes aligned with what you’re here to do. Your purpose is your end result. Think of it this way: once you’ve accomplished what you’re here to do as a team, how will the world be any different? Your purpose as a team then will nest up into the purpose of the organization at large.

B)     Mission

Your mission is different than Purpose. Your purpose is the ‘why’, your mission is the ‘how.’ How your team is actually going to achieve that purpose. It’s the shorter-term objectives and the results you want to achieve together.

C)      Values

In addition to your purpose and mission, your team charter will also hold your values. And, again, like your Purpose, these values will nest up into the overarching values of the company. A great way to set team values is to have your entire team write down their personal values and bring those to a collaboration session. 

Put them all up on a wall and then the team can filter through those and decide which ones make the most sense or are relevant to the mission and purpose they’re looking to accomplish. Try to narrow it down to no more than 10. And when things get hard, bring your team back to these values, your mission, and your purpose.

D)     Communication & Workspace

Another part of designing how your team will work together is specifying communication and workspace preferences. This is how your team will share information and communicate. Adaptive, high-performing teams work out in the open so that information is accessible to their teams at all times. So when you’re identifying the communication and workspace pieces of your charter, you will want have the discussion of both behaviors and tools. Your team will want to decide which tools are available to your company so that you can work out in the open. But remember it’s less about which tools you’re going to use and more about how they allow you to accomplish your mission and purpose.

E)      Meeting/Operating Cadence

With team chartering, you’ll also want to work out the team’s general operating rhythm. How will you organize the work and move it forward? How are you going to meet and for what purpose? Maybe you’ll have a live standup every day/ once in three days to remove roadblocks that are coming up. Maybe you have 60-minute coordination meetings on Mondays to organize and align the work. Maybe you have Retrospective meetings on Fridays. Meetings are a big one because it’s where you can waste most of your life if your meetings are not purposeful. So you want to be thoughtful about the purpose your meetings serve. There’s a ton of opportunity to increase performance — and morale — simply by being clear about the meetings you need as a team in order to do your work. Use retrospective meetings to continuously work on self-awareness, trust, and vulnerability with each other, discussing what you have learned and what you can do better as individuals and together.

F)      Guardrails and Norms

The final piece to your team charter is setting guardrails and norms where we are identifying anything that may getting in the way of accomplishing your mission and purpose. For example, if your team burns out, they can’t do anything, so maybe you have a norm that you keep an eye on each other’s health, or you decide you’ll take mental health days once a month. Guardrails may be things like how much you can spend on travel or what your budget looks like in general. Important things to name and talk about as a team. Guardrails and norms are also some of the most dynamic parts of your team charter. When your team works through conflict, identify whether you need to adjust your guardrails and norms so that the team continue to be as autonomous and harmonious as possible.

Content Curated By: Dr Shoury Kuttappa