#it was a production video produced by a multi-million dollar company at the time

[jarchaeology]

x(.)com/deadiish/status/1752356697614528741?s=20

WELL. i'm in contact with the person who took those pictures. the VHS belongs to a friend of theirs who was actually in the production. it's been many years and the friend has moved across the country since those photos were taken, so he isn't sure where the tape is now. but i was told that if it's found, they'll let me know. it's the kind of situation where we just have to wait and see. the lines of communication are still open, but i don't want to bug them for updates. we've just gotta be patient.

to be completely honest, i'm not even sure i want it to be found at this point. i've already received a lot of shit for other things i've uncovered and it makes me hesitant to want to open myself up to more of that.

[viact1]

How Video Surveillance Systems (VSS) Improve Compliance and Mitigate Risks on Construction Sites

In the fast construction world where safety is at the top of everyone's mind and efficiency comes ahead of all, it is becoming quite a focus point for companies to utilise AI-powered Video Surveillance Systems (VSS) in enhancing safety, advancing risk management and implementing all the regulations of the industry. Whether your business pertains to construction, manufacturing, or mining and extraction is considered one of the most hazardous industries by nature, you can totally relate these advanced systems that do everything possible to mitigate potential hazards and substantially reduce accidents that eventually lead to greater productivity and profitability.

An electronic system for transferring video and audio signals, a VSS, indeed contributes significantly to risk management and compliance. In this blog, you will look at what impact such systems have on changing industries and how they help companies better manage risks, enhance safety, and improve the efficiency of their operational scale.

Video Surveillance System

AI-based VSSs extend beyond the conventional CCTV capturing footage and make further analysis thereof in real-time. Some of them can detect potential safety hazards such as workers not wearing PPE, accidents waiting, unauthorised entry into restricted areas, etc.

Risk Management & Compliance Enhancements

The other salient motivation that drives businesses engaged in construction, manufacturing, and mining to implement Video Surveillance Systems (VSS) is a compulsion to obey the law and prevent any unnecessary risk. Safety is dramatically important in such industries, and a failure to achieve safety standards may provoke extreme repercussions, like multi-million dollar fines, lawsuits, or worst-case incidents: injuries and death.

With AI-based VSS, it becomes effortless to manage and comply with risks. This is how it happens.

1. Real-time safety monitoring

The biggest challenge that construction and other high-risk industries face is maintaining real-time compliance with safety rules. Sometimes, they forget to implement safety procedures at the right time, and accidents arise. A video surveillance system with AI technology scans the site at all times for the violation to occur. It can immediately alert the supervisors that a worker is not wearing the proper PPE or that he is working at height without proper harnessing.

2. Human Error Elimination

Most workplace accidents are attributed to human error. Where the classical monitoring system relies on human supervision, which may not be to the point, AI-powered VSS systems will always be watchful. They always analyse every angle in a construction site; they reduce the possibility of unsafe conditions being missed. This can be as simple as flagging an unsafe proximity between the machine and the worker or locating unauthorised access to restricted zones, among others.

3. AI Powered Risk Analysis

Aside from safety, the AI-enhanced VSS systems may become helpful in risk analysis and prediction of patterns found in the data. For example, a system that notices that there is an increased incident in a certain area within the construction site or repetitive behaviour by the workers is unsafe. The system may produce leads towards the possible cause and thus suggest some corrective action.

4. Development of a compliance documentation report

For most industries, the greatest importance of documentation proof of compliance with safety regulations exists. AI-based VSS systems automatically generate enough log activities on site, reports, and even adherence to the safety standards, as well as incidents or breaches that may happen. This keeps a company aware of its safety record, which can greatly determine the outcome of an audit or investigation.

Saving Costs and Boosting Productivity

Apart from compliance and risk management, there are other advantages to VSSs. These systems are known in most cases to improve productivity and reduce costs while serving to enhance the safety of process operations.

1. Reduced Down Time Loss in Productivity

Even at construction sites, wasted hours at work due to accidents, inefficiencies, or against safety codes may result in massive cost overruns. AI-based VSS identifies inefficiencies in that workers are idle or waiting for equipment and also suggests the optimisation of the workflows that may lead to better time and resource utilisation.

2. Cost-Effective Safety Solutions

Traditional solutions to safety management, like manual inspections, always connote long-term and human endeavours. AI-based VSS eliminates all these, thus enabling perpetual surveillance with minimal interference from humans. This saves on labour but also comes with a much stricter level of observation and accuracy. Even with predictive analytics in preventing accidents and promoting effective site management, more advanced systems, such as those provided by AI-based VSS of viAct, can be used. The Future of Risk Management & Compliance with AI

Conclusion

Safety and compliance can never be traded; VSS arrives as a revolutionary solution that rides on managing risks and being in line with the regulations. Whether it is construction manufacturing or anything else, investment in AI-powered VSS can significantly elevate the standards of safety while gaining efficiency and reducing costs. Automation in the detection of risks and monitoring compliance builds a safer workplace environment that favours employee well-being and prosperity in business.

Are you ready to elevate your risk management strategy, unlock the power of AI, and ensure that you are staying in lockstep with the latest regulations in place? It is time to add a Video Surveillance System (VSS) to your operations.

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Nine "Clouds Transformation” of Chinese enterprises did during the epidemic

Resumption of work in an epidemic situation

[apacbusinesstimes]

Unfaze AI: The World’s First Social Content Automation Tool by a Kiwi Developer

In the era of social media influencing people from lifestyle to what they buy, content creation has become a crucial aspect of personal and professional branding. The demand for high-quality, engaging videos is ever-increasing, but creating such content can take time and effort. Enter Unfaze, an innovative AI technology developed by a New Zealand Harvard graduate that promises to revolutionize the way we create social media videos. In this article, we explore this innovative technology – Unfaze, its features, and its potential impact on social media content creation.

Brith of Unfaze.ai

Soumil Singh, who is a graduate of Harvard University, Kiwi, has developed the world-first AI called Unfaze that automates social media content with basic text prompts. This AI tool has also received huge funding from different investors.

Soumil Singh left New Zealand seven years ago to study applied mathematics and computer science at Harvard University in Boston. During this, he realized that the demand for content creation and social media was increasing and people were more involved in content creation. He says “What we know about these social media and video platforms is that they rely heavily on high volumes of fresh content for users to maintain visibility and engagement,”. That is when the idea of creating Unfaze.ai was initiated.

About Unfaze.ai

Soumil Singh is the founder of a Silicon Valley-based startup called Unfaze.ai. It is the first AI tool that fully automates the creation of short-form video content for both individual content creators and brands.

The creation and editing of a single video take a week and cost around thousands of dollars. With the use of recent technologies, it has become easy for content creators to get video content, says Soumil Singh.

The traditional content-creation process consumes hours of graphic design and post-production from teams of professionals but with this new AI tool users can generate images and short-form videos, including voiceovers, by using only basic texts to describe their content idea within minutes. Using Unfaze.ai can produce professional-quality photos 10x cheaper & faster for e-commerce businesses. Hence this cost-efficiency is particularly beneficial for startups and small businesses with limited marketing budgets. 

The objective of the company is to make the text-to-image diffusion model by establishing fine-grained control over the image-generation process. The company has received multi-million-dollar funds from US and NZ investments, it also includes Y Combinator which is the world’s top accelerator and the first investor in Dropbox and Airbnb. The founder says that by now he has raised around $5.5 million fund, which is invested in technology development, and aims to launch video creation software on their online platform in July 2024.

The market potential of this technology is high as social media platforms are growing rapidly. TikTok has 1.1 billion monthly active users globally which is available in over 160 countries and is estimated to grow its users by over 64% with more than 1.8 billion users by the end of 2024. Hence with this increasing usage of social media, the use of this AI tool will see significant growth. For more articles visit Apac Business Times  

Conclusion 

Unfaze represents a significant leap forward in the world of social media video creation. Developed by a visionary NZ Harvard graduate, this AI-driven tool is set to transform how we produce and consume digital content. By making high-quality video creation accessible, efficient, and cost-effective, Unfaze empowers individuals and businesses to enhance their social media presence and achieve their marketing goals. Hence this technology can be adapted for global markets by catering to the diverse needs of users worldwide.

Visit More : https://apacbusinesstimes.com/unfaze-ai-the-worlds-first-social-content-automation-tool-by-a-kiwi-developer/

[the-lady-writes-what]

I think there needs to be a greater conversation about copyright. I stand in the middle ground as in there are some improvements that should be made to protect individual artists and small creators and give them more rights over their products rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The argument against copyright is also valid and understandable. Corporations take profit from individuals when they buy their creations and turn it around to make them money while the small artist receives few or more often than not no residuals. Corporations make it difficult to talk about subjects or criticize them. Copyright can sometimes hinder creativity. Copyright is what keeps life-saving medicine in labs rather than be produced by manufacturers. Copyright forces ridiculous fees just to type out a few lyrics of a popular song in a book that still credits the original artist. Copyright keeps university textbooks at outrageous prices. Copyright also gives creators the right to object to their work being copied and reproduced in AI. Copyright makes it easier for artists to criticize and even sue companies for stealing their products. You would not know that stores like Shein or Dolls Kill stole from smaller creators unless those artists pointed out their copyrighted designs, and make it less likely for you or others to buy from the big companies who stole the designs. Copyright can be used to take down harmful videos or products because they steal someone's work.

Copyright has been used for good and evil, but as long it remains in the power of multi-million dollar companies it does more harm to smaller creators. I'd argue that the solution is not to throw the whole concept of copyright out of the window but rather make copyright work for smaller creators and rip the power out of the hands of bigger companies. Without copyright, bootleg DVDs will still exist, it just won't be punished. Actors and production teams have already been paid (hopefully); the only thing that the sales go to is in large part the film companies. With or without copyright, bootleg DVDs and CDs slip under the radar most of the time because it doesn't actually harm the companies in the long run in spite of their copyright claims. Because someone had to have purchased the original and copied it and is creating fanfare around the product, making others willingly want to buy the real thing. I think a better solution would be to decriminalize selling bootleg products.

What we can also do away with in terms of copyright is remove licensing fees and copyright on products used for medicine and educational purposes. I can't tell you how many times I was doing research as a writer only to come to a dead end because of a a paywall. It is frustrating for the average layman to be cut short of information just because it's locked behind a paywall. Medicine and medical devices that can save lives and prevent disease should likewise be copyright free as it is more important to save lives of human beings, especially those living in the global south who have few access points to medicine, than for pharmaceutical companies to make another million dollars.

You can't be anti-AI and not want copyright. Copyright is what allows artists and writers to sue AI tech companies. AI tech bros flagrantly ignore copyright laws when pulling material from the internet and go against artists' wishes. Some artists who do not mind or have no copyright won't be hurt by this, but those who do are able to fight these companies because their work is protected. On a similar note, authors like George R.R. Marti, Jodi Picoult, John Grisham, and others are able to sue Chat GPT because of possible copyright infringements. Without copyright protecting creators, AI would run a muck and vast quantities of computer generated sludge would flood the market.

In conclusion, I think we as humans should be able to come up with a middle ground instead of fighting to keep the old system which favors corporations or deciding to throw out copyright altogether. Copyright should be used to protect artists and creators rather than mega corporations like film companies and publishers. It should prevent "artificial intelligence" generators from stealing works, but have loose enough strings to where writers don't have to shell out thousands of dollars for a line of lyrics to a popular song. Like I stated in the first paragraph, we don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, just create better copyright that protects individual and smaller artists over companies.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk

[tipco613]

New Post has been published on http://cryptonewsuniverse.com/content-marketing-more-prevalent-than-ever-creating-value-with-content-is-key-to-rise-above-internet-clamor/

Content Marketing More Prevalent Than Ever Creating Value With Content Is Key To Rise Above Internet Clamor

Content Marketing More Prevalent Than Ever. Creating Value With Content Is Key To Rise Above Internet Clamor

Given the life-changing events over the past three years, we’ve entered 2023 much wiser and more enlightened. The global population has experienced a technocratic tyranny never seen before, and never before has critical information been so readily available to everyone that brings truth, putting the spotlight on the evil doers of the world, historically and empirically. 

Thanks to the internet and the proliferation of media circumventing the cancel culture, many topics have come to light through content creation. One thing is for sure, the online world has expanded, and for many, it’s the only option to stay in touch with their loved ones and community, bringing a sense of cohesion and strength to the stricken. 

It’s also the best option to facilitate their business to derive income, and companies of all sizes and niches are taking notice. Life goes on no matter what, and we must focus on staying afloat in this crazy world. The latest message is “get the word out,” and content creation, aggregation, or content curation is the best way to do that. If you’re running a business, content marketing is crucial.

According to the latest research, 7.5 million blog posts are published daily, with around 600 million blogs hosted on WordPress, Tumblr, and Google’s Blogger. Moreover, blogging is considered a popular content marketing strategy, with 81% of consumers trusting the information in blogs. Data also shows 61% of online consumers in the US have purchased products based on recommendations from a blog. 

It’s also reported that 75% of people never scroll past the first page of search results, and 80% ignore Google ads. With 82% of marketers reported to be actively using content marketing in 2021 (an increase of 70% from the previous year), the question is, how can you get your content to rise above the noise?   The usual scenario involves finding 'How To' manuals and trying to find 'hacks' or 'shortcuts' that will get your content noticed. A content creator’s post, video, or meme goes viral, and tons of copycats appear for the next few months. They never do better than the original.   For example, the original Old Spice campaign video resulted in over 55 million Youtube views and was copied thousands of times. Sesame Street was one of the copycats, resulting in five times fewer views than the original.   So if Sesame Street, with multi-millions of dollars for the best production resources, can't come close to topping the original video, how will you and your small business do it? There are better ways to produce content than copying. Below are five tips on delivering real value in your content.

The WIIFM Formula 

A marketing acronym that’s been around for years is WIIFM which means, "What's in it for me?" but we turn the formula over. Your content must focus on 'What's in it for THEM, not YOU. (WIIFT) That's when people will read your content. 

Too often, entrepreneurs write self-serving content. It's like going into a pub and shouting out how great you are, your latest accomplishment, and all the reasons you are God's gift to the world. But that is what many brands do when they only write about themselves and how excellent their products are on social media and their blog.

It is better to put yourself in your target customer’s shoes, focus on what they need and care about, and then write content that addresses that.

  Image source: Markethive.com

Know Your Target Market 

To create WIIFT content, you must understand your target customers. Building customer personas will help with this. The main characteristics of a buyer persona that need to be identified are as follows: 

Their location(s)?

Their values?

Their key demographics (job title, age range, etc.)? 

The sort of content they are consuming currently?

Their pain points?

How will your offer resolve those pain points?

This blog will help you create a detailed buyer persona to ensure your marketing campaign is streamlined and customer-focused.    Show Real Expertise 

One of the main reasons your content may not be resonating is when you are producing mirage content. Content that replicates what everyone else in your field is putting out. In most cases, this happens when the person writing the blog post has yet to gain real expertise in doing what they are writing.   If you sell race car parts, your website's blog posts should be written by someone that knows about race cars (Perhaps they build the cars and race them on the weekend?) It’s not a good idea to have some junior copywriter you hired paraphrase a bunch of content they saw from a basic Google search.  

The development of expertise takes time. Either you or whoever writes your content has to:

Do a lot of reading and researching.

Ask a lot of questions.

Invest time doing the thing that is being written. 

Be willing to experiment.

Fail often. 

You will need to find a way to resolve any lack of expertise in your subject matter. You could hire or interview writers who are subject matter experts. Or you could invest the time to become an expert yourself.  

  Image source: Motocms.com 

Be Focused on Customer Intent, not Traffic Volume.

Many companies go after the ‘Top of the Funnel’ (TOFU) keywords. These have tons of search volume and organic traffic but are less likely to convert sales. Additionally, these keywords are probably going to be competitive. It will be highly challenging and costly to rank on page one of Google.   The opposite approach converts much better. Begin with ‘Bottom of the Funnel’ (BOFU) long-tail keywords. They may have just a fraction of the traffic but are much easier to rank for, and the chances of them converting to customers are much more significant. 

For example, the most popular post on Hubspot’s site is “how to make an animated gif.” How many of those people are looking for complex CRM or marketing automation software? Probably not very many.   You will find Long-tail keywords to target using SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMRush.   Also, some excellent keyword research tools are completely free and include:

Reddit 

Quora

Pinterest

Youtube

Twitter

Amazon 

Additionally, social media can reveal how your target customers feel and talk about your product and your competitor’s products. This will let you get ideas on what content to write next and how to present it in a way most likely to resonate with them. 

Don’t Try to Go Viral. 

When you try to go viral, you are taking part in the marketing equivalent of purchasing lotto tickets. You are basing your strategy on something out of your control, can’t be repeated, and most likely will not happen.   For example, if you sell garden shovels and rakes, the chances of your video about the best fertilizer to use in your tulip garden going viral will probably be low.

The problem with “viral content” is that you are looking for a one-hit-wonder. If you were to get lucky and one of your videos takes off, the odds of it leading to a ton of sales and being repeatable over and over are very low.   A more proven strategy is to regularly create ‘How-To Videos’ week after week, showing your company’s expertise and helping your target customers solve real problems. These videos may only result in a few hundred views each, but they build your reputation and solve a real problem for your target customers. 

As an example, Minaal produces carry-on luggage for minimalist travelers. They aren’t focused on delivering viral pranks. Instead, they do an excellent job of making how-to videos related to packing light.

Below is a video presented by Thomas Prendergast, the CEO, and Marketing Director of Markethive, with some fundamental technical steps for creating a blog, specifically on the Markethive platform. 

Where Do You Start?

If you are just starting, check out this detailed beginner guide. It outlines how to start blogging in five easy steps. When you are ready to start your blog, Markethive is your next step. You can utilize the most comprehensive broadcasting platform with blogging tools, email auto-responders, etc.,  all under one umbrella, along with a built-in meritocratic community of entrepreneurs. 

With Markethive’s internal wallet activation imminent, the new dashboard integration with its multiple newsfeed interface is currently in development. This unprecedented concept is unique to Markethive and integral to the objectives of the content marketer/entrepreneur in broadening reach and building their sphere of influence. Be sure to stay tuned for updates and implementations going forward. 

Image source: Markethive.com

So apart from the conceptual technology integration of intuitive tools fundamental to disseminating information of any content marketing strategy, you need to create content that delivers real value and invest time in understanding your target market. It will require learning about your target customers, talking to them, and practicing humility and empathy. 

Moreover, creating quality content takes time and effort but will pay off in the long run. Make sure your content is well-written and contains accurate information. Using visuals such as images or videos can enhance the value of your content. Whatever your approach, make sure you keep your content interesting and relevant to your audience. If you do this, you'll be well on your way to success in the world of content marketing.

    Editor and Chief Markethive: Deb Williams. (Australia) I thrive on progress and champion freedom of speech. I embrace "Change" with a passion, and my purpose in life is to enlighten people to accept and move forward with enthusiasm. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.

          Adapted from Markethive’s original article

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 194: The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts Part 1

“The nature of things is in the habit of concealing itself.”

– Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, as quoted from Page 256 of the 2001 edition of Joe Fisher’s book The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, published by Paraview Press

Description:

Sure, maybe most of us would find it enticing to receive "inside information" from a mystical plane, our very own oracle of knowledge beyond what's possible in our earthly human existence. Who wouldn't want access to a Spirit Guide, one that could lend us valuable insight to better our lives and give a glimpse of what awaits us on the other side? Perhaps this supernatural soothsayer could also provide a longing companionship or, even better, prove to be a soulmate from a past life? It sounds like a delightful gift, right? But what if the source of this metaphysical communication ended up having as many foibles as any ordinary untrustworthy "frenemy?" What if the messages proved to be increasingly inaccurate or questionable, with the attitude of your once beatific benefactor becoming demanding, desperate, petty, contentious, and maybe even obsessive and possessive? Perhaps it wasn't looking out for your best interests, after all? This twist seemed to be the compelling and chilling experience of Toronto-based journalist and author Joe Fisher when he became entangled with a consuming investigation into Channeling and Spirit Guides. In Part One of our examination of Fisher's book, The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts, we're joined by our own Spirit Guide and good friend, Rich Hatem, for a discussion about Fisher's enigmatic journey into a sometimes troubling relationship with Channeling and the personalities, once-human and otherwise, that come through a medium. What materializes is realizing that our expectations of wisdom and comfort from a Higher Source can gradually lead to suspicion, fear, and doom.

Reference Links:

Joe Fisher, investigative journalist, and author

Billy Bunter

Catechesis

Catechesis on the Angels, authored by Pope John Paul II

“In Search of Hungry Ghosts: The Mysterious Death of Joe Fisher,” by Louis Proud in EdgeScience, Issue 43

Vroman’s Bookstore, in Pasadena, CA

The Vickers Wellington, a British WWII medium bomber anti-submarine aircraft

“The Vickers Wellington And Its Defensive Ring” on WorldWarWings.com

The “Submarine Reincarnation” episode from Unsolved Mysteries, Season 6, Episode 1

Newmarket Racecourse – where the soldiers slept due to a lack of accommodations

Photos of the Newmarket Racecourse grandstands

Related Books:

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SimpliSafe – Every night, local police departments across America receive hundreds of calls from burglar alarms. The vast majority of the time, they have no idea whether the alarm is real – Is there really a crime going on or not? All the alarm company can tell them is “the motion sensor went off.” SimpliSafe Home Security is different. If there’s a break-in, SimpliSafe uses real, video evidence, to give police an eye-witness account of the crime. That means police dispatch up to 350% faster than for a normal burglar alarm. You get comprehensive protection for your entire home. Outdoor cameras and doorbells alert you to anyone approaching your home. Entry, motion, and glass break sensors guard inside. Plus, SimpliSafe protects your home from fires, water damage, and carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s 24/7 monitoring by live security professionals. You can set up your system yourself, no tools needed – or SimpliSafe can do it for you. All this starts at just $15 a month, with no contracts, no pushy sales guys, no hidden fees, and no fine print! The Verge calls SimpliSafe “the best home security,” it’s a two-time winner of CNET’s “Editor’s Choice,” it’s won “Reader’s Choice” from PC Magazine and it’s a Wirecutter top pick. Right now, our listeners can get a FREE HD home security camera when you purchase a SimpliSafe system at SimpliSafe.com/AL. You’ll also get a 60-day Risk-Free Trial so there’s nothing to lose! Order now from SimpliSafe.com/AL and within a week you’ll give your home and family the protection and peace of mind they deserve, plus a FREE HD CAMERA!

quip – When’s the last time you got rewarded for brushing your teeth? With quip’s new Smart Electric Toothbrush, good habits can earn you great perks — like free products, gift cards, and more! The quip Smart Brush (for adults and kids!) connects to the quip® app with Bluetooth so you can: 

Track when and how well you brush, get tips and coaching to improve your habits 

Earn points for daily brushing, and bonus points completing for challenges (like streaks) 

Redeem for rewards (like free products, gift cards, & discounts) from quip and partners  

Already have a quip? Upgrade it with a Smart Motor, and keep the features you know and love: sensitive sonic vibrations, two-minute timer with thirty-second pulses for a guided clean; slim, lightweight, and sleek, with no wires or bulky charger to weigh you down; multi-use travel cover that doubles as a mirror mount for less clutter. Beyond the brush, quip has everything you need to build a complete routine: mint or watermelon toothpaste with anti-cavity ingredients for strong, healthy teeth; floss that expands to clean, and comes in a refillable dispenser to reduce waste; eco-friendly solar battery charger to power your quip with sunshine; the Refresh Bag, to bring your good oral care habits everywhere you go. Plus, you can get brush head, toothpaste, and floss refills delivered from five dollars, and shipping is free! How smart is that? Join over FIVE MILLION mouths who use quip, and save hundreds compared to other Bluetooth Brushes, when you get a quip Smart Brush for just $45. Start getting rewards for brushing your teeth today, and go to getquip.com/legends RIGHT NOW, to get your first refill FREE! quip. Better oral health, made simple and rewarding. 

The Great Courses Plus – There are so many benefits to lifelong learning, which is why we love The Great Courses Plus! Learn about virtually anything, now with over 10,000 lectures on almost any subject you can think of – from history and science to learning a new language, how to play an instrument, learn magic tricks, or explore topics like food, the arts, travel, business, and self-improvement. And all taught by world-leading professors and experts in their field. Their app lets you download and listen to only the audio from the courses or watch the videos, just like a podcast. Switch between all your devices and pick up right where you left off. Available for iOS and Android. And right now our listeners can get a FREE MONTH of UNLIMITED ACCESS to any and all courses in their entire library, completely FREE! So don’t wait! All you need to do to start your free month is sign up using our special URL: TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/LEGENDS

Miller High Life – When we realize how crazy the world can get, it’s the simple joys in life and “every day wins” that call for a celebration. Just safely getting together with friends and family to enjoy each other’s company should be a moment to cherish; to relax, to have a beer, and some laughs. Miller High Life was created over 100 years ago so that everyone could enjoy the good life, the “High Life,” with a high-quality, unpretentious beer that was within everyone’s reach. With a crisp, refreshing taste and tiny bubbles, it’s been known as “The Champagne of Beers” from its start on New Years’ Eve in 1903. It’s been faithfully brewed the same way ever since, and this summer, Miller High Life will help you raise a toast to celebrate life’s simple, special moments with their limited-edition champagne cans, in stores now. Miller High Life, The Champagne of Beers. A quality beer within everyone’s reach. *Celebrate Responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, WI.

CREDITS:

Episode 194: The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts Part 1.  Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Special thanks to Rich Hatem; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2020 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[thewedigital]

How To Make Money On Fiverr: The Complete Guide

Fiverr.com has exploded as the premier source of micro outsourced services on the Internet. Thanks to a multi-million dollar advertising campaign, it is increasingly very hard to find people who haven’t at least heard of Fiverr. Not surprisingly, more and more businesses, both online and offline, are using the services offered on Fiverr.

As Fiverr’s ability to draw clients continues to explode, the good news is that there is more and more demand for whatever services you offer to the global market for digital services. Here are just fifteen ways you can make money on Fiverr.com. Sure, it may seem you aren’t getting paid much but if you are able to knock out these services in a very short period of time, and stack them with valuable extras, your income from Fiverr might translate to quite a hefty stash of cash.

Offer ebooks or reports you’ve written

Most of the services on Fiverr require that you work on a custom job for you to get paid. In other words, the client sends you specifications and you produce fresh materials based on those specifications. One of my most favorite ways of making money online turns that business model on its head. Instead of you working on new materials for every $5 order that comes your way, you can instead write a book or report once and sell it again and again to different customers. As long as you clearly spell out that you’re not selling resale rights to your work and that you retain all copyright, you should be good to go.

Offer social media services

It is not a surprise that a huge chunk of services offered on Fiverr involve Twitter posts, Facebook promotions, or Google Plus promotions. People are desperate to get traffic to their websites and they don’t mind paying $5 to drive traffic to their web pages.

Write quickly and get paid

If you are able to write very quickly, you can get paid handsomely. Seriously. If you are able to knock out 400 words in 12 minutes or less, you can rack up a base rate of $25 per hour. Not too shabby. The key is to write high quality materials so your buyers will keep coming back.

Use marketing software to get paid

There are all sorts of traffic generation software that you can use for a few minutes to promote clients’ sites. If the software doesn’t take much work to set up, you can make $5 for as little as a minute. That leads to a gross rate of $300 an hour.

Create digital drawings

If you know how to use automated photo-based drawing tools, you can create digital drawings in no time flat. People are always looking for custom graphics based on their pictures.

Research

Get paid to use Google for a research project. As long as you make sure that your research is tightly focused, you should be able to do research in a very short period of time.

Become a virtual assistant

Depending on the country you live in, you can probably make a decent living selling an hour or two of your time doing virtual assistant work for clients you find on Fiverr.

Alter pictures

If you know how to clear the background off a picture using Photoshop, you can make some serious coin through Fiverr. People are always looking to get the background cropped off their pictures so they can use those pictures online.

Design business cards

Companies are always in need of business cards and there is no shortage of demand for people with fairly basic graphics skills who can design business cards.

Take pictures with signs

One of the easiest ways to make money off Fiverr is to take a picture of you holding up a sign standing next to a landmark in your area.

Design flyers

As the online entrepreneurship boom continues to grow, the needs for graphic design has increased exponentially.

Write a review

If you are a fast writer and can knock out a 400 word review in less than 12 or 10 minutes, this can be a great gig to offer. People are always in need of reviews since consumers often buy products or services after reading a review.

Make a video testimonial

If you look presentable and can speak professionally in front of a camera, you should offer video testimonials. This type of gig is constantly one of Fiverr’s top sellers.

Use software to produce SEO diagnostic results

There are tons of software that diagnose how healthy a site is in terms of SEO. You can buy such a piece of software and offer to do custom diagnoses on Fiverr. Since these software packages don’t take too long to operate, you can make quite a bit of cash.

Use software to find SEO keywords

The same analysis for SEO diagnosis above applies to SEO keywords. The big difference is you’re producing a report composed of keywords. There’s a huge demand for this service.

Regardless of your skill level, there something you can offer the global market for outsourced services. Get started on Fiverr today and start turning your spare time into spare cash.

[avoutput]

Final Fantasy VII Legacy || Nomura, Complex?

This is the 3rd out of 3 articles. Find the second here.

It’s time to get down to mythril tacks. At this point, I have talked about what this game meant to me when it was released and how it’s newest installment fared as a game. Finally, it’s time to talk about the impact the Remake has on what has unexpectedly become a robust and diverse universe. What does this mean for us at large, the players? This is a no-holds-barred SPOILER frenzy about anything and everything in the Squaresoft/Square-Enix pantheon. This means not just the games in the orbit of Final Fantasy VII, but the entire catalog at Square-Enix. To be honest, this is just the introduction, I don’t know if I even have an intent of going so far beyond the purview of the Remake, but in the spirit of the Final Fantasy gatekeeper, Tetsuya Nomura, I refuse to limit myself.

It’s been almost exactly a month since I started writing this article. It took so long to come back to this because I kept finding more and more content related to Final Fantasy 7 that I either forgot about or didn’t even know existed. On my own shelf sits Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, and Crisis Core. I decided to watch Advent Children immediately after beating Remake. As a movie fan and amateur critic, the film is littered with terrible film decisions and was clearly the work of people who spend much of their time penning and creating video game stories. It’s a series of cutscenes without a controller attached and at a certain point, you realize Advent Children was never meant for film fans, but for fans of the game. Specifically for fans desiring an epilogue and more directly fans of Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth. The story is almost unintelligible because there is tons of connective tissue left to be assumed by the viewer. It is at once too far removed from FF7 in both linear real time and in-game universe time to be recognizable, and simultaneously inexplicable in what has transpired and why. It takes a crack at explaining it from moment to moment, but largely, it looks like they were looking for excuses to push the characters to act. I am not trying to review the film but rather my intent is to create a modus opendai for the gatekeeper, Mr. Nomura. The more I learned about the world of FF7 that was being created over the years, the more it seemed to lean on the stylings of this one man. In a way, Nomura launched Squaresoft and himself into a whole new stratosphere of fame and broke all expectations. In my first article, I mentioned that for a certain generation of fans, it was the perfect storm, but I would later find out the cause of the storm was Nomura breaking open lightning in a bottle, releasing his brand of design on the world with a multi-million dollar international company backing him.

If I may, let me take a parallel series by the same creator infested by the meta of his own other original creations, namely Kingdom Hearts. In its inception, it looks like two producers at Square were trying to make a 3-D adventure platformer game with characters as popular as Mario, but only the biggest brand on earth, Disney, could possibly beat the king of platformers. Nomura was… walking by and pushed himself into the conversation, and they decided if they could do it, they would let him direct. (Read more here) Yada yada yada, Kingdom Hearts was created. While I can’t seem to find (and didn’t look too hard to find) proof, I can only imagine that with KH having a tenuous new relationship with big-corp Disney, they focused more on a simple game that was straightforward. KH is very much a disney product with a little bit of artificial Nomura sweetener. With its unbridled success, Nomura was unleashed. Kingdom Hearts 2 would go on to be, in my opinion, one of the most unintelligible video game stories ever inscribed to plastic discs. But the power of Nomura’s story-telling is that we all understand it differently. He creates bedrocks, little story islands of unshakable facts that are connected via a salty sea of undefinable liquid moments. Cast out to sea, rudderless and deprived, you try to bring to your mouth this brine only to be dehydrated faster than if you had just sailed the sea and died in the sun between fact islands or lived long enough to tell the tale. And that metaphor is my tribute to Nomura. Long, winding, hard to remember, and just clear enough that you think you got it, but you still have problems with its construction.

It has now been over two months since I have last visited this article. What is keeping me from continuing? The incomplete nature of my knowledge of Final Fantasy VII lore. Unlike the Kingdom Hearts sea, VII is like a series of interconnected caves, and the more you unearth the more you learn. And therein lies the problem. The Nomura-verse is composed of both his methods and his circumstances. His methods, we have discussed, but his circumstance is game development. Unlike movies or books, games obviously have an interactive capability, but they also have a variable development cycle. Some titles come out quickly, others span decades. They also consist of different teams, story writers, directors, and a myriad of producers. This in turn can make it much harder to make a solid universe, especially when new additions start off in a place where a continuous story was never meant to exist. Nomura is at once hindered and strengthened by his circumstances. He can’t tell a better story because the development cycle of his vision is variable, and success is based on sales and popularity. Without success, he can’t create a new addition, and often in games, the end is meant to tie the whole thing up. Were there to be a sequel, a whole new story is thought up and tacked on wherever it fits. Gamers are pretty forgiving of this concept. Still, at the same time, Nomura probably wouldn’t make a concise story because it's not his style. For comparison, see the Dark Souls series. A game that both has deep lore and an involving story, but at the same time, the game doesn’t require you to know a single point to continue moving forward. This is almost the antithesis of Nomura’s style. In Souls, they let the player decide to explore its story caves, but doesn’t confront them with it to continue advancing. This is a strength of  video games. A strength that Nomura keeps using to his disadvantage.

Yet, Final Fantasy VII still excelled to unparalleled heights. It engages you in the same way all of the previous games in the series have, but with a slight departure on the strict fantasy theme, instead a merger with steampunk or semi-future. The series was changed forever, and so was gaming. Instead of doing the Dragon Quest method, expanding on the same universe design with different stories, Final Fantasy was emboldened to try completely random approaches with vector entries like VIII and X. For longtime fans, or fans of their original design, Every future title, MMO or Single Player, would go on to be successful, but not fully realized in their original context. Even the return to form in IX was much more playful than any of the original six entries. Gaming franchises have since become playgrounds for developers. Once they are accepted by fans, developers are emboldened and experiment with what would normally be a new IP, but instead use the financial shield of the famous namesake to move forward with new ideas. And in the case of Final Fantasy, when this concept of change works, it means that every numbered game becomes a wildcard. It’s a double edged sword for a gaming franchise that dates back to the 8-bit era. It has fans over 40 years old by this point and they may be willing to buy anything new. But this isn’t new to you and it isn’t a revelation for me. Final Fantasy VII Remake causes me to reckon with these demons I had buried years ago. It rips off a scab I thought had healed. I had given up on the past, a past where I was excited for a singular story, contained in a single universe, in a single title. I had given up on the glory years of Final Fantasy, but the Remake took me back and said, what if we told you everything you remember about the original was true, and everything we added after that was also true, even though you probably didn’t play it or even know it existed. Even if you do your very best, you probably won’t be able to track the story or interconnected characters if you aren’t in the know. It’s like joining a group of long time friends that are constantly referencing inside jokes, all of them just winking at each other, nudging you in the ribs and asking, “Do ya get it?” Truly, the Remake series thus far makes me feel lost at sea when what I wanted to feel like was coming home.

This retrospective has left me feeling broken. Based on the end of the FFVIIR, I sought out to reconcile all of the loose ends to all the connected media. However, spending time with the prequel Crisis Core for over around 40 hours, I realized this was a crapshoot. None of it mattered. It didn’t enrich the characters, it only made the story longer. It just added wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey “facts” to an otherwise complete(ish) origin point. The FFVII universe can’t handle the weight that is put on it. It’s a faulty bridge over a treacherous pass. On the other hand, that same bridge for some is a point of excitement. You tread the boards, one by one, testing your weight, hoping to get to the other side intact. And I think that is why we keep trying these games and why they keep getting made. We don’t want the fun to end, despite the fact that it has nothing left for us to be excited by. It’s a closed loop that we keep looking for something new in. By the end of the Remake, we are somewhere between ⅓ or ½ way across the faulty bridge, dangling between where we have been and where it is taking us. At this point, I am too mentally exhausted from trying to make sense of it all. Yet I am incapable of not enjoying it, the mental somersaults one does to understand the interconnected mess that is Final Fantasy VII. It’s too dear to me. I got on the bridge for so many reasons, but the biggest one is to be on the other side with all of the other fans who dared to play and dared to complete the game. To be in the know, to wink across the room. I want to be in that hyper-critical utopia where we all have one thing in common: We played Final Fantasy VII in 1997. And we all have something to say about it.

[jeanjauthor]

A while, back, these people did a highly popular “SOLAR FREAKIN’ ROADWAYS!!” video on YouTube, and an equally popular Indiegogo campaign, more than doubling their goal of 1M USD.  But...it kinda fell off the radar.

I wanted to bring it back into at least a little attention so that people know it IS progressing, and making good strides.  They’ve fixed a lot of issues over the last four or so years, and feel that they finally have a product that can make it to actual driveways and roadways and last long enough to start paying for itself (since the costs will still be quite high for several more years to come).

(...My not-so-secret goal, if I win a major multi-million-dollar lottery, I’mma buy a big chunk of land on which I want to eventually build a custom house, and I’ll pave its driveway and parking area with Solar Freakin’ Roadway panels, so you could say I’m keeping an eye on this company.  I’m dreamin’, but I’m dreamin’ big.  Aim for higher than you think you’ll ever reach, since goals are important, and figure out how be happy in the momentwith whatever you do actually reach at each stage...because big goal dreams take time...just like R&D.)

Research & Development always takes time.  As an author, I get to handle and use the elusively rare, infrequently sufficiently stable element Handwavium when describing science fiction, particularly its progress.  For the development of OTL technology in my IaVerse, I had them going from unmanned probes successfully transiting and transmitting hyperspace to actually having a (small, but still more than a dozen) fleet of ships transporting actual humans to new star systems in just 10-15 years. 

That’s a VERY short period of time...but a lot of the ship designs were for small transport shuttles using insystem thrusters (aka sublight but still way faster than anything NASA, et al, currently use)...because I used yet more of that atomic Handwavium element for getting ships quickly around the local star system.  I also had the discernment, antigen development, and then mass-manufacturing and distribution of innoculation programs for entire planets taking place in approximately one month.  That is hella short timing for medical research at early 21st century standards, and we can finally replicate DNA in mass numbers to the point that DNA testing is now relatively cheap and efficient.

But real Research & Development takes time.

So I’m not at all surprised it’s been this many years to get to the SR4 panels (Solar Roadway version 4.0) mentioned in the above blog.  These panels have many different components, all of which interact in different ways, chemically, thermally, eletrically, structurally...

In The Terrans, first novel of the First Salik War trilogy, I believe it was Li’eth who commented that “these people” (Terrans) had all sorts of renewable resources for their energy, including wind generators, hydroelectric dams on rivers, solar roadways (not sure if I mentioned solar energy generating window panes, but they’re there, too), and of course the famous hydrogenerators that burn water. 

What I didn’t clarify was that nobody on earth actually used hydrogenerators to power cities.  Why not?  Because that still takes quite a lot of water, and that water is pretty much permanently lost.  It’s far easier to install solar roadways, windows, and rooftiles, along with battery banks, heating elements, so on and so forth.  Is it cheaper?  That...depends on how you view costs.  From a strictly financial standpoint over the short or medium run, using dollars or creds or whatever...no.  It’s not cheaper, by far.

But it spares the environment in the long run.  Not just the long run of preventing global droughts from overuse of hydrogenerated energy, but the long run of catalysts getting loose in the environment.  Now, the catalyst won’t cause an explosion if it’s dumped directly into water, but it will work at a slow rate on dissolving the molecular bonds between hydrogen and oxygen. 

(And before anyone yells at me that it isn’t possible, that is exactly what real world plants do.  “Plants' powers of photosynthesis allow them to harness the energy of the sun to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen at separate times and at separate physical locations in the plant's structure.” Apr 15, 2013 https://phys.org/news/2013-04-blueprint-cheap-hydrogen-production.html  This just happens a lot slower and at a much smaller scale than the hydrogenerator catalyst, and it isn’t then pumped into a system of engines to burn and use explosive energy and thermal Sterling engines to recapture heat loss as electricity, etc.  Yes, I put actual science into my science fiction...though admittedly I do use a lot of Handwavium to bind the molecules together.)

New colonyworlds will use hydrogenerators, because they often arrive on the colonyships with the intent of first powering the ships to get there, then security the initial landing site, and then being removed and repositioned in various locations to expand various satellite settlements.  Once the settlements are large enough and thriving well enough to develop the local resources (slicia for silicone and glass, metals for, well metals, blah blah blah), then they invest in a lot renewable resource energy generation.  They do ship a lot of it in from off-world to help relieve the strain on the hydrogenerators, which are best used for large vehicle transport needs, but the goal is to get to the point in the infrastructure and manufacturing process that it can be done locally.

But again...Handwavium on how long all of that takes.  Generations, technically, because it’s literally a case of first having sufficient manpower (even if non-sentient AI robotics are used to speed the process, they have to be supervized, plans drawn up, etc, etc) and sufficient infrastructure (food & shelter & protection from wildlife are higher priorities), etc, etc, etc.  Which is why on Dabin, they still have power lines running out from major manufacturing plants to sell surplus energy to local homes & businesses, supplementing the interim changeover from hydrogeneration to passive generation methods.

Anyway, that’s all in my head and stuff, but a lot of what’s in my stories got inspired first by real-world things, like Solar Freakin’ Roadways.  And I’m still hoping one day to hit it big, and be able to afford my own SR driveway.  I’m also hoping some of you hit it big, and go the same route, too...because the more people who buy this stuff, the large amounts they can mass produce, the bigger the infrastructure will get to be built to mass produce them, and the cheaper these sorts of things will become.

So, dream big...but dream responsibly.  We don’t have hydrogenerator tech, and in this universe it’s probable we never will (Handwavium is only safely handled by theorists and authors and artists, but remains ephemeral at best), so...go for the real-world tech that we know will be good for the world for years to come.

[haulix]

Music Industry Job Board (January 14, 2019)

New openings:

Music Content & Artist Relations Specialist (Musicnotes - Madison, WI) 

Join us in being a part of the global music community by shaping the delivery of digital sheet music. Due to growth, Musicnotes.com is seeking a full-time Music Content & Artist Relations Specialist who excels in managing the details including database management, file indexing, acquisition, and organization. Successful candidates will have experience and an interest in music research and analytics in this data-driven opportunity.

Manager (Singularity - Yonkers, NY) 

We are looking for a person with strong connections to the major labels and high-level music industry people. Being on a first name basis with the upper-level management is a must, someone who knows how to source music licensing deals, a person with good connections to source sync licenses for TV shows, movies, video games, etc. In addition, we are looking for strong connections to paid shows major venues, with the relationship to attach your artists to a major tour. We need an experienced manager with an excellent track record and great reputation. We are a private media company backed by a businessman with close to 30 years in the music industry is seeking a artist management partner. Our office is located In Yonkers, New York. We have invested millions of dollars into our business and are close to launching a great new project.

Administrative Assistant (WMG - Los Angeles, CA) 

Warner Chappell Music Publishing is the smallest major publishing company. We operate as a boutique company with the outreach and resources of a major. We arguably have the most in-demand roster in the business and the company as a whole has never been this “hot.” Join a winning team and work with some of the best songwriters in the business on their never a dull moment journey to a #1, or #1s for that matter!

Audio Engineer (PARMA Recordings - North Hampton, NH) 

If you're bubbling over with audio engineering talent and creativity, PARMA Recordings’ audio engineer opportunity might just be your perfect job.

This is not your average audio gig. This is a unique opportunity to work as part of a team with world renowned artists in classical, jazz and world music. PARMA's mission is to bring light to new music and the audio work we do to bring this music to life plays a vital role in our artists' success.

Successful candidate will have at least 1-2 years of audio experience in editing, mixing and mastering music. Music degree a must, classical music experience a plus.

Day to Day Music Manager (Small Giant Management + Records - Santa Monica, CA) 

Day-to-day manager working as the sole point for a major label pop artist. The position requires astute attention to detail, a high level of organization, a big picture understanding of the ever-changing landscape of the music and entertainment industries, and a creative approach to problem solving.

Admin (TAXI Music Independent A&R - Calabasas, CA) 

FULL-TIME STAFF ADMINISTRATIVE POSITION available at a well-established, Music Company for an intelligent, hard-working self-starter that wants a “starter job” with growth potential. Strong verbal and written communication skills are critical. Experience with basic (but meticulous) data entry and MAC OSX is required. Knowing Film/TV music licensing jargon is a plus!

Are you star that’s ready to shine given the right opportunity? Are you ethical, personable, and articulate? Do you live within 35 minutes of Calabasas?

This is a Full-Time position: Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 6:00 pm, with an hour lunch. Hours are not flexible. Small, friendly staff, and a great work environment. Paid vacation and sick time. Health insurance offered after successful completion of the probationary period.

Executive Assistant (NBCUniversal - Universal City, CA) 

The Executive Assistant provides support to the President of Global Film Music and Film Music Department as necessary.

Coordinator, Film & TV Music Licensing (UMPG - Santa Monica, CA) 

The Universal Music Publishing Film & TV licensing team is looking for a detail oriented, efficient individual for a manager position to work within our fast paced synchronization licensing department. The right candidate will have a general knowledge of music licensing and be able to multi task at a high level. Excellent oral and written communication skills are crucial, as well as the ability to work mindfully within a team driven atmosphere. A strong passion for music is a must!

Legal Assistant, Production (Viacom - NYC)  

Legal Assistant (“Assistant”) is responsible for drafting standard letters, amendments, agreements and distributions for Supervisors, screening and transfer incoming calls with a positive attitude and high degree of professionalism. The Assistant will manage all mailing, faxing, maintaining of files, and faxing of correspondence. The Assistant will also input, revise, proofread, and redline documents while maintaining a highly organized, efficient, and logical filing system of all documents for working and archival purposes. He/She will also manage all scheduling and booking of conference rooms and placing multi-party conference calls for staff meetings and for Supervisors, as well as maintaining departmental lists, calendars, and contacts. Assistant will prepare travel and expenditure reports, order supplies, prioritize the Supervisors’ daily schedule by coordinating appointments and scheduling meetings among parties with demanding calendars.

Music Operations Coordinator (TouchTunes - NYC) 

The Licensing Coordinator is responsible for the copyright research and publishing clearance of recorded music to be performed in commercial establishments.

Tour Accountant (Zeisler, Zeisler, Rawson & Johnson LLP - San Rafael, CA) 

This is an opportunity to join one of the premier business management/CPA firms and work in the world of musicians, entertainers and professional athletes. Zeisler, Zeisler, Rawson and Johnson LLP is looking for an experienced and highly motivated business manager to oversee the day to day activities of busy touring bands and related entities. Prior direct experience in the music industry is a must (tour accounting experience preferred).

Executive Assistant (AEG - Austin, TX) 

The Executive Assistant provides high-level support to executives by managing operational duties and travel arrangements, conducting research, preparing statistical reports, handling information requests, and performing administrative/clerical functions. Administrative functions include but are not limited to, preparing correspondence, receiving visitors, arranging conference calls, travel arrangements, scheduling meetings and heavy calendaring. This individual will also work on various projects of a confidential nature as assigned by the executive.

Executive Assistant (Industria Films - NYC) 

Industria Films has upcoming projects in creating branded content, ad commercials, viral campaigns for non-profits, a podcast series, feature length documentaries, music videos, travel series, and television programming for various networks.

We seek to hire a motivated self-starter who loves media with strong knowledge of production and organizational assistance.

Must possess exceptional administrative skills, with a working knowledge of scheduling, programming, production, communication, marketing, and other related areas.

This is a freelance position with the potential to become a part time or full-time position.

The Executive Assistant will be working directly with the Chief Executive Officer (also a founder and investor of several business startup entities)

Salary is commensurate upon experience and based on skill as well as budget. If your application meets our requirements, we’ll contact you to schedule an interview.

Executive Assistant (BMG - NYC) 

You live by the words of trustworthiness, organization, and dependability. Everyone will recognize you as the prime go-to-person for just about anything, and your abilities have never disappointed anyone. Managing the lives of the company’s decision-makers is not an easy task, but then you showed up and made it seem like cake.

Global Copyright Assistant (UMPG - Franklin, TN) 

We are UMG, the Universal Music Group. We are the world’s leading music company. In everything we do, we are committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship. We own and operate a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising, and audiovisual content in more than 60 countries. We identify and develop recording artists and songwriters, and we produce, distribute and promote the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music to delight and entertain fans around the world.

Arts Administration Assistant (ArtOps/Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings - Southfield, MI) 

The Arts Administration Assistant has a strong interest in a career in Arts Administration, a background in classical music, is extremely organized and detail oriented. This individual will engage with many clients and artists and must have exceptional communication skills. In addition, an aptitude for numbers is essential to support budgeting and bookkeeping tasks. The ideal candidate will have the ability to learn and execute a variety of activities essential to managing a performing art non-profit.

Business Continuity & Crisis Mgmt Manager (Madison Square Garden Company - NYC) 

The BC/CM Manager is responsible for the day to day direction, coordination, implementation, execution, control and completion of both the Business Continuity Management and Crisis Management Programs at Madison Square Gardens. The Business Continuity Project scope will include the creation and implementation of business continuity plans and procedures. The Manager will be responsible for interacting with all Stakeholders, Internal Auditors and Senior Management for both programs. The scope includes working with the Stakeholders in defining, training, and testing business continuity, crisis management and disaster recovery plans and procedures to reduce business interruptions, ensure continuity, minimize financial impact and adhere to legal/regulatory requirements. The plans and procedures will govern the Corporate Office, remote Offices (Obscura, Farmingdale) and the MSG Venues. The implementation of the plans and procedures will include documentation, training, and the approach for creating a business recovery command center for managing through a business interruption. The Manager will also have responsibility for administering a crisis management enterprise-wide operational program, create and lead an enterprise-wide employee assistance initiative, cultivate relationships with key leaders in emergency management and identifying and implementing industry best practices, establishing a corporate emergency response, and forecast and manage a business continuity/crisis management budget.

Music and Entertainment Sponsorship Manager (Verizon - Basking Ridge, NJ) 

This position is responsible for leading entertainment partnerships within the sponsorships marketing organization. The Manager will manage all entertainment partnerships, experiential marketing programs and work with internal cross-functional teams to execute integrated marketing campaigns that deliver against key business objectives. This position reports to the Associate Director of Sponsorships.

Membership Coordinator (ASCAP - Atlanta, GA) 

We are looking for someone with previous experience in the business and in event coordination, who is looking for an opportunity to grow within the position, is good at multi-tasking and handles pressure well. 

Live Entertainment Supervision (Cedar Point - Sandusky, OH) 

Live Entertainment Supervisors are involved with the coordination, production & rehearsal process, and daily operation of all live shows, events, and entertainment at Cedar Point.

Marketing Manager (Rare Americans - San Francisco, CA) 

We’re Rare Americans, a Vancouver based band that went viral after a series of singles launched in June 2018. Since then we’ve amassed millions of YouTube plays and Spotify/Apple Music streams.

As we’re about to launch our second album we’re looking to add a high level difference maker to our team. Someone with a proven track record in marketing (both organic and paid), social media, and has experience growing a band in the music industry.

Our biggest priority is growth and we believe we need a full time person to assist our team. We’re advertising abroad as this position can be done remotely.

We have 6 music video assets for this launch, we’re touring UK, USA, and Canada, and we have a big “give away” contest that should also land us new fans and significant press.

$4-8k per month depending on experience level with full benefits included.

Coordinator, Music Programming (SiriusXM - Washington DC) 

Works with members of the music programming team to create superior radio programs as needed. Supports creative processes, content development and production. Exercises both creative abilities and technical skills. Edits materials and operates an audio board. May be assigned to more than one program and perform slightly different functions across channels.

[rolando11]

IKONIC - The First-Ever Marketplace For In Game NFTs

Hello, everyone! A new cryptocurrency called IKONIC has caught my eye and I'd like to tell you more about it. As a prelude to the conversation, I think we can all agree that blockchain technology still has to evolve and improve. So, with that in mind, let's take a quick look at the IKONIC project.

As the esports industry grows to multimillion dollar events and enterprises, IKONIC will provide a new opportunity for them to engage with their fan base and own and share their favorite moments in history.

A few mouse clicks will turn even the most wild and impressive gaming performances into NFTs. In a few more clicks, they'll be listed on IKONIC's marketplace and available for trading. They can be designed to pay lifetime royalties or even produce additional sources of income through the sublicensing rights.

All of this is just the beginning, after all! In contrast to other NFT marketplaces, IKONIC will be unique. It's going to be a movement, not just a group of people. We intend to assist the IKONIC community use their gaming passion to achieve amazing things. As a team, we can accomplish anything:

An whole new economic model, one that will enable a wide range of fresh, exciting, and original games, should be created: a gaming service. The metaverse desperately needs a new launchpad for the next wave of indie blockchain games, so that gamers everywhere may benefit. These projects will thrive if they have an enlarged market for their in-game content, which will create a sustainable ecosystem for them. Electronic sports are enormously popular. A $950 million industry in esports is predicted to increase at a rate of 9% per year until 2023. Multi-million dollar esports tournaments, even if you don't watch them, are becoming increasingly important. Some are even offering more money than the first golf tournament in the world, The Masters, which was held in 1934. When we look at this new market, we can obviously tell that something is missing. " The secondary market for experiencing great sporting moments from the past has grown enormously in the legacy sports industry. Sports memorabilia and collectibles are a huge part of this, with an annual income of $140 billion.

This venerable industry is also embracing the blockchain to modernize itself. In just a few short months, NBA Top Shot has raked in more than $230 million in revenue. They contributed to the $2 billion valuation of this single company. But so far, the esports sector hasn't had anything quite like this—not yet. Because it's all so fresh, things can be happening at an unnaturally rapid pace. It's possible that we've misplaced the proper legal infrastructure. Using sub-licensing, major sports companies can leverage and re-monetize their intellectual property (IP) without losing or damaging their claim to the underlying product.

Until recently, we didn't have a blockchain version of this type of structure. In this day and age, it is possible. To put it to use, IKONIC is ready and waiting. In the esports industry, there is no longer any reason for us not to achieve NBA Top Shot. We'll assist the most high-profile tournaments harness the power of blockchain technology to increase income and expand their reach.

IKONIC'S SIX WAYS TO CREATE VALUE Here, IKONIC's value creation strategy is examined in light of the immense growth potential of these gaming trends. How we intend to accomplish this is as follows:

IKONIC will provide users with a video clip to NFT minting experience that is seamless and fast. As we've come to expect from Instagram and TikTok, the new platform will make it quick and entertaining to perform small edits and flourishes on video material. Everyone will be able to use the platform and have a good time doing so. It's our goal to create a platform that gamers of all skill levels can utilize to record and share memorable gaming memories with their friends and followers. In the platform, users will have easy-to-manage royalties and sublicensing rights, allowing them to be in charge of their content and simply manage and make cash.

A COMPLETELY DEVELOPED AND BUILT-IN MARKETPLACE IS INCLUDED IN IKONIC Game-clip NFTs will be the primary emphasis of the initial design. As a result, it's simple for gamers to extract monetary value from their own recorded gameplay. A bigger market for game-related digital assets can be built on top of the existing marketplace infrastructure and community after IKONIC has proceeded into advanced development. IKONIC's gaming as a service is bolstered by the expansion of the marketplace. conceptualizations of launchpads, as described below.

PUBLISHING YOUR NFTS - HOW TO DO IT Have you ever gone to a collector's home before? What an astounding collection of trophies they have! Finally, IKONIC is bringing this experience to the digital NFT sphere. In IKONIC, owning NFTs—both the video clips and in-game assets—feels like a real object that you can engage with and socialize with, making them more valuable than other NFT alternatives.

CLIP TO NFT PLATFORM FROM IKONIC Among the first four projects, a program that allows you to print video game clips onto NFT served as the foundation. It was a game-changing program that allowed users to print video game footage onto NFT that served as the foundation for the first four ventures.

Here's a video showing how it works. NFT printing has already been integrated into this application, allowing gamers to do so right from their physical console! iKONIC is the only company in the industry with this concept, thus it has the advantage of being the first to market. The app's demo demonstrates its utility for casual gamers, but the technology behind it might be extremely beneficial to professional game streamers as well. eSports teams and event organizers alike are sure to be drawn to this core product and the surrounding community. Blockchain technology, however, will allow them to produce more income streams from their assets than they could have ever imagined.

Tokenomics IKONIC is the name of the token. Its total stock is 2,500,000,000 $6,000,000 is the maximum amount that can be legally spent. $2,000,000 in seed money Selling for $2,000,000 is a smart move. An estimated $2,000,000 is available for public sale $3,200,000 was its initial market value. Circulating stock at launch: 157,916,667 Market capitalization diluted to $50,000,000 Assumed time of listing: Q2 2022.

DATE CALENDAR FOR TOKEN EMISSIONS 3% of the seed is unlocked upon listing, and 97% vests over the course of 18 months, starting on day 181 following listing (approx. 5 percent per month) On a 12-month timeline, starting on day 91 after the IPO, 95 percent of the stock is unlocked (approx. 8 percent per month) 20 percent is unlocked at the time of listing, and the remaining 80 percent vests every day for the next three months, starting on the day of the listing (approx. 27 percent per month) On day 181 following the offering, advisors begin vesting daily for a period of 30 months (approx. 3 percent per month) To begin on day 361 following listing, Team & Company will wear vests every day for 36 months (approx. 3 percent per month) Referrals and the Ecosystem: Vests every day for 35 months, starting on the 31st day after the listing (approx. 3 percent per month) Over the course of 48 months, the vests will be worn every day, starting on day 361 of the listing (approx. 2 percent per month) Over the course of 45 months, the vests were worn every day, starting on day 91 of listing (approx. 2 percent per month) Liquidity and Listings: 20% unlocked upon listing, 80% vests daily over 16 months beginning on the first day after listing. Liquidity and Listings: Community Rewards: Emissions based on the number of people who participate in network incentive promotions. Day 361 after listing: Vests every day for the next 48 months (approx. 2 percent per month) the enigmatic Ikonic Aidrop

More Information

Website —  https://www.ikonic.gg/ Telegram —  https://t.me/ikonic_moment Twitter —  https://twitter.com/official_ikonic Medium —  https://medium.com/ikonic LinkedIn —  https://www.linkedin.com/company/ikonic-official/ Discord —  https://discord.gg/GgSD6B55

Author

Forum Username: Roland0Guita Forum Profile Link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3402230 WALLET ADDRESS: 0x37aF53958890c3A548Ab75CCC350c16A0fF5DCfB

[astonishinglegends]

Ep 197: Mrs. Hingely and the Mince Pie Aliens plus Listener Stories

Christmas tree element in the main image composition courtesy of Elekes Andor

"We come from the sky."

– 3 purported aliens to Mrs. Jean Hingely on January 4th, 1979, shortly before they attacked her artificial Christmas Tree and left with her mincemeat pies

Description:

Tonight's episode starts with the coverage of a strange and funny case involving aliens and holiday pies. On January 4, 1979, Mrs. Jean Hingely of the town of Rowley Regis in the West Midlands region of England was visited by three fishbowl-helmeted and friendly aliens with wings. After some spiritually uplifting exchanges, her holiday visitors thrashed her Christmas tree and nicked three of her mincemeat pies. The second part of our episode features heartwarming personal stories of hope from some of our listeners. These stories may not be proof of an afterlife for some, but for others, they may bolster the belief that our existence doesn't end with our physical death and that somewhere there is a world where everything we cherish is waiting for us, and proof that love is eternal and boundless.

Location:

The 12th century village of Rowley Regis in the West Midlands region of England, where Jean Hingely was visited on January 4, 1979 by three winged, benevolent aliens who trashed her Christmas tree and made off with three of her mincemeat pies.

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Credits:

Episode 197: Mrs. Hingely and the Mince Pie Aliens plus Listener Stories.  Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess; Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel. Sound Design by Ryan McCullough; Tess Pfeifle, Producer, and Lead Researcher; Research Support from the astonishing League of Astonishing Researchers, a.k.a. The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2020 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

[benheathers30]

HOW TO MAKE MILLIONS FROM VIDEO GAMES RESELLING WITH VERY SMALL CAPITAL

Video game reselling is a multi-billion dollar industry which anyone can dive into with minimal investment/ capital.

Before you begin your journey into video game reselling, you have to understand how most video games and it’s consoles supply Chain and logistics work. Understanding how it work is important so you don’t get scammed by fraudsters on Alibaba and Ali-express claiming to be suppliers of top video game producing companies.

Most top video game design and producing companies print, manufacture or couple their product in China 🇨🇳 this include video game giants like EA SPORTS and GAMELOFT. But these companies are based mainly in the United States or Western Europe. For this reason, video games and consoles sold in China are subject to a 17 percent value-added tax, while those that are exported can be sent abroad tax-free. Same reason why getting iPhones 📱 in China are almost 50% more expensive than in the United States despite it being assembled in China.

So if you are to purchase a single PlayStation 5 from Amazon which is selling at a retail price of $499 at the time of writing this. You will most likely buy the same exact PlayStation 5 console in China for around $750+ or its local equivalence. And in China there is no option for bulk purchases as anyone claiming to supply you any of the products below the USA market price is either sending you Blank products that won’t work or empty boxes.

To be a successful Video Game Reseller you have 3 options you can explore.

Paying for presale before initial video game release:

This is somehow very risky as most video game releases are not as successful as anticipated and may sell lower than the initial presale price. This option is my list favorite. Some video games end up being over hyped. A good example of a totally failed release is MARVEL’s AVENGERS which ended up being a commercial failure in a report by Square Enix.

A friend of mine lost over 7 million dollar of his investment in presale of marvel’s avenger due to its disappointing outcome. I know no one who made any profit from the presale of Marvel’s Avenger.

2. Buying from Amazon and selling in physical stores in your area or home country.

This is what most inexperienced drop shippers do and can’t make you much if you’re thinking of this as a main job and not just a side hustle. This option is not as profitable as the next option I’m to tell you. But it’s way less risky than paying for presale products.

A good example is Horizon Forbidden West Edition which is currently selling for $69 on the PlayStation online platform. You can actually purchase this video game from Amazon at $69, get it sent for free to a virtual United States delivery address which you can set up with companies like USAOPEN or ANYTIME MAILBOX. Services like this will help you repackage the products in a more cost effective way to reduce the cost of shipping it to your home country.

Once the products gets to your home country, you either setup a retail online store or you could go the old fashion way of setting up a physical store and selling it to your local customers.

The cons of this option is that major sellers on Amazon like the Official PlayStation or EA SPORT accounts will only allow you order a very limited of their product sometimes just 2 or 3 within a given amount of time. And this is not so favorable for people trying to make huge profits from reselling these products which is why I would always recommend the last option to most of my closest of friends.

3. Buying from a Bulk Supplier based in the United States.

This is my top choice in terms of profitability, it involves ordering from a reputable supplier within the United States. These suppliers partner with major video game producing studios like EA SPORTS and Enix Studio to extensively market and distribute most of their games. They sell these products at very low rates but are only allowed to sell from within the United States. This might be a big issue for people planning to buy from out the United States.

Most of these bulk Game suppliers are exclusive suppliers for a particular gaming platform. Some supply only PLAYSTATION BASED GAMES like Spiderman, Ghost of Tsushima, Death stranding, returnal and many more while others supply only XBOX exclusive games like FORZA and HALO or Nintendo exclusive games like Doom Eternal and Goosebumps.

The only bulk game suppling company I am would recommend at the moment that partner with all 3 major video game platforms like PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo is FOX BULK GAMES. Though having a high minimum order quantity they are the only Bulk suppliers that offer full refund on all products with a return window of over 90 days.

These bulk suppliers only sell in bulk quantity which might be an issue for small capital investors as the minimum order quantity is around 100pieces for most video games which most often is around $800 or $900.

http://www.foxbulkgames.com

Based in the United States 🇺🇸, It’s the only Bulk Game Supplier I can think of that has affiliation with all top video game platforms which include but not limited to PlayStation, Xbox ad Nintendo.

HOW TO MAKE PROFIT FROM BUYING FROM LICENSED BULK SUPPLIERS LIKE FOX BULK GAMES.

If you’ve been long in any retailing business, you’ll understand that buying in bulk will always means you’ll get very high discounts and that’s excluding promos and all sorts of marketing bonuses.

At FOX BULK GAMES you buy these video game consoles and video games which there are licensed to sell at a fraction of the price. Ever wondered where top retailers on Amazon, GameStop and EBay get their stocks from? You guessed it right. They all get them from a bulk supplier based in the United States only.

A good example is the Spider-Man Miles Morales PS5 game which is currently retailing on AMAZON at $65 by the time of writing this. This very same game could be purchased from FOX BULK GAMES from $12. Contrary to Amazon allowing you to only purchase a maximum of 2 or 3 pieces, fox bulk games only allows you to make a purchase of a minimum of 100 pieces. On some products the minimum order is around 1,000 pieces.

If you can purchase the very same game for $12, you have to also take into accounts logistics of such shipment and taxes on your port of entry which depending on you country might not be as cheap as you think. Let’s say you get all cost price to around $18 or $22. You still have a profit margin of over 180%. That’s if you can figure out a way to market the product and sale it without having to pay someone else to do that for you. Using you local, country based multivendor e-commerce sites would be a good bet. One big disadvantage of buying with Fox Bulk Games is that there have a limited number of games available as there might not be able to reach a contract agreement with every video game producing studio to distribute all their products.

At the end of it all, it all comes down to you being able to market your product by all means possible to people probably younger demography in your area probably because these products won’t sell themselves in your hands or your warehouses. Do not forget to order for restocking as these games before you exhaust you current stock as these bulk suppliers take longer time to fulfill shipments for international customers unlike Amazon or EBay.

Thanks and don’t forget to upvote.

[schrodingers-opinion]

COMMODITIES THAT THRIVED DURING THE PANDEMIC

INTRODUCTION

Ever since the coronavirus outbreak became a global issue, billions were affected, millions lost and hundreds of thousands unemployed. This has been a challenge on both small businesses and Multi-National Companies (MNCs), making us realise that none of us were prepared with an infrastructure for a crisis this big. According to a United Nations report dated 6th April 2020, 90 countries were under a complete lockdown and more than 4 billion people were quarantined limiting their options and opportunities to consume products by not just declining access but also the requirements of a majority of them, especially when considering the Fashion industry where brands like Zara had to shut down 1200 of its stores. According to a World Bank report dated 8th June 2020, the global economy witnessed a 5.2 percent contraction in global GDP- the deepest recession in decades.

Share of economies in recession, 1871-2021

The proportion of economies with an annual contraction in per capita GDP. Data for 2020-2021 are forecasts by the World Bank.

Industries such as cleaning, delivery and telehealth services witnessed a high rise while several sectors like the entertainment industry faced huge losses leaving several unemployed. However, this pandemic also brought an extensive opportunity for certain commodities whose requirements and substantially their demands had increased to a point never seen before.

A few commodities/services whose sales increased broadly in the course of this pandemic are as follows:

1.    Masks- Even though the Mask industry has been alive for more than a century, its usage was restricted to a great extent. It was a commodity limited to very few operations such as mining, catering and the medical field. However, the face masks segment of the sanitation and protection sector dominated the industry, book-keeping a share of 35.8%. The global face mask market was worth 6.2 billion USD in 2017 and is expected to reach 31.83 billion USD by 2027.

 Share of exports of face masks, by country, 2017

  Vertical Web Media LLC states in its report that the U.S. consumers spent close to 601.75 million online on face masks, registering a 14.9% increment from 2018. The first few countries to include mask usage in national mandates are Vietnam and Czech Republic. Considering how unforeseen the pandemic was for each and nearly each and every nation of the world, the mask industry had to begin supplying the commodities at a much greater scale trying to fulfil the demands of the people which also became an issue due to the limitation of the resources hence leading to export bans from many countries who prioritised their own citizens’ requirements. The Centres for disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised Americans since April of 2019 to use face coverings to not just “slow but also stop the spread of the virus” as said by the CDC director. 3M a leading U.S. based face mask manufacturing company had doubled global production of N95 masks to about 100 million a month as of a march 25th 2020 report and is reported to have produced more than 2 billion respirators globally. The company also managed to increase its annual production to 2.5 billion N95 respirators, an evident and surpassing rise over 2019 indicating a global surge of respiratory assisting products across the globe.

 2.     Sanitizers- This disinfecting anti-bacterial gel has only been commercially available for a few decades but is clearly become a daily usage product, more like a necessity now. Since the inception of the present dominant health crisis and the situations as they are today being unexpected, the industry faced a major “supply shortage” due to the unforeseen spike in demand as stated by the leading U.S. based sanitizer brand BeCleanse. The Global News Wire predicts in its reports that the market size for sanitizers will be worth 1.97 billion dollars by 2026. Market research by Nielsen shows extraordinary sales record in the last week of February 2020 as sales for the product were up by 300% in the U.S. compared to the same week a year before that and the first week of March 2020 witnessed a sales rise of 470% compared to the same week a year before that, an industry that already manages more than $200 million in annual sales of hand sanitizing products. Due to the supply shortage the prices for the same have skyrocketed as well, as a consequence of this unusual high demand anomaly leading law enforcement officials in many states to be threatening prosecution for price-gouging against third-party sellers like Amazon.

 Sanitizers became expensive due to less availability and high demand as shown in the following graphical representation as per a CNBC report-

The y-axis represents price (in USD) of an 8-ounce bottle of Purell hand sanitizer and the x-axis represents two cost situations; 1. Nominal cost (pre-covid) and 2. New cost due to supply shortage (during covid).

 3.     Liquor- Forbes in the list of industries that thrived during the pandemic ranks liquor on the 4th position showcasing how people turned to alcohol basis consumptions for both domestic and industrial uses (to make sanitizers). As even witnessed in the past, during the 2003 SARS epidemic, the quarantined individuals were more likely to use alcohol as a coping mechanism. By April 2020, many U.S. states relaxed their alcohol laws to provide financial support to the liquor industry and for the first time, adults could order liquor availabilities like beer, wine and scotch for curb side or home delivery. The week ending on March 21, 2020 recorded a 54% increase in off-premises alcohol sales in the United Sates where as in a survey in Poland a 14.6% increase in alcohol-consumption was reported. Due to the current pandemic alcohol consumption can be demanded and supplied via online services making it contact-less and convenient in these unprecedented times.

The following chart is the representation of how not only did the liquor sales observed a drastic increase but how they were more effective due to additional provisions of home delivery-

The y-axis represents percentage increase in sales and the x-axis represents different dates March and April of 2020; 1- March 7; 2- March 14; 3- March 21; 4- March 28; 5- April 4; 6- April 11; 7- April 18 and 8- April 25. The orange line represents delivery/online services and the blue line represents takeaways with the customer’s presence.

4.     Internet Service- Started as a research project and is now a global commercial network since 1990s. With more than 4.3 billion active internet users in the year 2019, minor task completion has become much easier, more convenient and quicker. However, this service was surely a blessing in disguise amidst this global pandemic which forced us to stay separated physically but let us stay connected virtually and allowed us to work, carry out transactions, complete operations and various domestic and professional functions by merely sitting at home. Objectives that wouldn’t have been fulfilled like staying connected to learning are a reality now through online schools. The global peak traffic increasing by 47% compared to the predicted increase of 28%, OTT platforms like Netflix witnessed subscription of 16 million new subscribers, uploads to the cloud increased significantly along with Video Calling increasing by 80%. $20 billion was raised for Jio, a leading digital service providing brand in India during the months of lockdown showing the investors’ confidence on huge requirements of internet services in the form of public demand.

The following graphical presentation shows broadband subscription per 100 people in different countries-

The grey line represents South Korea, orange is for the United States and blue displays the data for the whole world as an average.

The y-axis is for the number of subscriptions and the x-axis is for time. 1. year 2000, 2. 2005, 3. 2010, 4. 2015 and 5. 2017 (data for 2021 has not yet been declared).

 CONCLUSION

The entire world was in an economic dilemma, many faced huge losses that they couldn’t overcome and a number of them survived. In a single year 280 plus companies went bankrupt, thousands rendered unemployed with absolutely no source of income while the basic expenses became more and more expensive due to the scarce supply amid pandemic. However, as mentioned in the given report, this was also a turning point for many industries. As the sales and the records speak for themselves, the mentioned commodities that were not very common before the pandemic became basic necessities in the world. According to researchers many of the industries that are thriving and growing in today’s era will be expecting a growth at diminishing rate for the next 5-7 years, the global face mask market, for instance was worth 6.2 billion USD in 2017 and is expected to reach 31.83 billion USD by 2027. But again, there’s never a guarantee, in spite of statistical predictions, we didn’t see a global pandemic coming our way until it was here; reminding me of something John Galbraith once said, “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.”

REFERENCES

BeCleanse. (n.d.). Hand Sanitizer Manufacturing Process & Bulk Production. becleanse.com. https://www.becleanse.com/hand-sanitizer-manufacturing-process/

business wire. (2018, October 2). The Global Face Mask Market 2017-2018, Forecast to 2023: Analysis by Type, Type of Packaging, Distribution Channel and Region - ResearchAndMarkets.com. businesswire.com. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181002005450/en/The-Global-Face-Mask-Market-2017-2018-Forecast-to-2023-Analysis-by-Type-Type-of-Packaging-Distribution-Channel-and-Region---ResearchAndMarkets.com

CNBC. (2020, March 28). SUCCESS The history of hand sanitizer—how the coronavirus staple went from mechanic shops to consumer shelves. cnbc.com. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/27/coronavirus-the-history-of-hand-sanitizer-and-why-its-important.html

Felter, C. (2020, August 4). Which Countries Are Requiring Face Masks? cfr.org. https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/which-countries-are-requiring-face-masks

Firstpost & Bhattacharjya, M. (2020, June 21). For global fashion industry, impact of coronavirus pandemic presents both crisis — and opportunity to recast itself. firstpost.com. https://www.firstpost.com/living/for-global-fashion-industry-impact-of-coronavirus-pandemic-presents-both-crisis-and-opportunity-to-recast-itself-8493781.html

Forbes. (2020, December 18). Industries Thriving During The Pandemic. forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2020/12/18/industries-thriving-during-the-pandemic/?sh=1c9e02da7a03

Fortune India. (2021, August 5). Why Jio got massive funding despite Covid lockdown. fortuneindia.com. https://www.fortuneindia.com/enterprise/why-jio-got-massive-funding-despite-covid-lockdown/105694

Internet Society. (2020, December 9). COVID-19 Impact on Internet Performance. internetsociety.org. https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2020/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-internet-performance-in-afghanistan-nepal-and-sri-lanka/

NCBI. (2020, December). Alcohol Consumption during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey of US Adults. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7763183/

NielsenIQ. (2020, May 7). Rebalancing the "COVID-19 effect' on alcohol sales. nielseniq.com. https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/analysis/2020/rebalancing-the-covid-19-effect-on-alcohol-sales/

OECD. (2020, May 4). The face mask global value chain in the COVID-19 outbreak: Evidence and policy lessons. oecd.com. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/the-face-mask-global-value-chain-in-the-covid-19-outbreak-evidence-and-policy-lessons-a4df866d/

supply chain dive. (2021, January 28). 3M increases N95 production rate to 2.5B annually. supplychaindive.com. https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/3m-n95-mask-respirator-production-ppe-supply-chain/594073/

Violence against women and girls: the shadow pandemic. (2020, april 6). unwomen.org. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/4/statement-ed-phumzile-violence-against-women-during-pandemic

world bank. (2020, june 8). The Global Economic Outlook During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Changed World. worldbank.org. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/06/08/the-global-economic-outlook-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-a-changed-world

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VideoCreator Review & OTO 1, 2, 3 and 4 Links - Automate Your Video Creation Forever

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VideoCreator Review - Turn Your Ideas Into World-Class Animated Videos For Any Goal In ALL Shapes, Topics & Languages At Record Speed!

Features:

Hundreds of Ready-To-Use Templates: From All The Hottest Topics & Designs Suitable For Every Business. Videos In All Shapes & Dimensions: Vertical, Square, Landscape and Rectangle videos made easy. Videos For All Marketing Goals: Explainer, Animated, Whiteboard, Ecommerce or any other type of video inside ONE platform. Multi-Lingual Support: Create Videos In Any Language To Attract Global Audiences. Unlimited Video Renders: No Limits, Restrictions or Monthly Fees. Copyright-Free Video, Image & Music Library To Save Thousands in Fees! 720P HD Video Renders To WOW Your Audience Like Never Before. Commercial License Included: Sell Videos To Clients Online & Offline To Maximize Revenues.

Benefits:

All-In-One Video Maker: Create all types of popular video formats from inside ONE Dashboard. Ready-Made Video Templates: Create videos with ease using hundreds of templates. Customize Everything: Personalize videos with your own branding, images and text. Upload Your Own Logos, Images & Music: Give your videos a personal touch. Videos in All Dimensions: Perfectly sized for all social media platforms. Millions of Royalty-Free Images: Pixels and Pixabay Integration for copyright free assets. Easy to Use Dashboard: Intuitive drag-and-drop interface for impressive videos without technical skills. Full HD Resolution: Create videos in full HD without paying any extra fees. Built-In Music Library: Select from hundreds of music tracks. 100% Cloud Based App: No need to install anything. Step-by-Step Training: Cut your learning curve and get results fast. Top Notch Support: Get help when you're stuck in a flash.

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Easy Steps:

Step 1: Select - From Hundreds Of Ready-To-Use Templates...Stacked library filled with pro-quality, fully customizable video templates for any marketing goal! Step 2: Customize - To Make Unique Videos For Your Brand - Easily add your own logos, text, images, music, watermarks and backgrounds to customize your videos. Step 3: Create - Unlimited Videos Forever - Produce UNLIMITED videos in FULL HD quality for your websites, ecom stores, social media, product promos. Sell videos to clients or use in your own business to profit!

VideoCreator Review & OTO 1, 2, 3 and 4 Links - Detailed Features:

Revolutionary Motion Tracking Technology: For the first time ever, you can add your logos and branding to" real-life moving objects and scenes" to attract more eyeballs and convert more sales. This proprietary technology has been in the works for the past 3 years and we finally cracked it. Other competitors, only allow you to add logos to static images and scenes. Here the logos move with the object in motion and look super natural as if they were part of the original scene!Revolutionary new video format to boost engagement, skyrocket clickthrough rates and slash your advertising costs on any social media platform! We did extensive testing and research to make sure these are are 100% compliant with all social platforms rules. Your accounts will never be at risk!. True gamechanger to skyrocket your results and get more sales from social media! Big Budget Corporate Style Videos: Fortune 500 companies and startups spend thousands to hire actors, animators and freelancers to produce these kind of big budet videos. With VideoCreator you can create these without any editing, expensive freelancers or complicated video equipment. These videos are perfect for startups, crowdfunding, SAAS apps, product promos, brand presentations and more. The possibilities are truly endless. Multi-million dollar enterprises such as Wix.com, Square Space, Artgrid, Fiverr, Monday.com among others are using similar videos to grow their business. Pattern Interrupt Scroll Stopper Videos: Revolutionary new video format to boost engagement, skyrocket clickthrough rates and slash your advertising costs on any social media platform! We did extensive testing and research to make sure these are are 100% compliant with all social platforms rules. Your accounts will never be at risk!. True gamechanger to skyrocket your results and get more sales from social media! Profit Boosting Ecommerce & Product Demo Videos: Showcase your products and ecommerce brands with amazing 3D product mockup videos! These video templates are inspired by the BEST SELLING video ads that drove millions in sales. Now you can create amazing product showcase videos within seconds inside VideoCreator. First-To-Market Video Flip Books: Turn your images and ebooks into visually stunning video flipbooks. Perfect for Authors, Teachers, Business Owners and freelancers to turn your work into a masterpiece. This is guranteed to drive more book sales, result in more engagement and ultimately more profits! Futuristic 3D Animation Videos: Realistic 3D Animations bring your videos to life. Hiring freelancers to create 3D videos like these will costs thousands and weeks of storyboarding, animation, rigging and other complex tasks. VideoCreator makes it easy for anyone to create 3D animation videos in mere minutes without any experience or skills. Local Business Videos Featuring Real Human Actors: Create the perfect video message for any local business with live actors dressed in various props and clothing to represent specific professions. Live actors dressed as Doctors, Real Estate Agents, Handyman, Construction, Fitness, Shopping, Business, Military and various other professions are included. You never have to hire an actor or record yourself on screen. Drive more people to your brick and mortar stores, create compelling advertisements for your business or sell videos to clients for TOP DOLLAR! Immersive 360 Degree Animation Videos: Brand new and never seen before 360 animations will put you miles ahead of your competition. These super unique videos will put your marketing on steroids and drive more engagement, leads and sales!

Largest Collection of Pro-Quality Video Templates Available In Any ONE APP! App comes loaded with over 670+ conversion tested ready-to-use video templates. Largest collection compared to any other app! You have total control to customize the logos, text, images, music, watermarks and backgrounds to customize any video to your needs. Create amazing Scroll Stoppers… video mockups...product promos... ecommerce videos… motion tracking videos...explainer videos… animated videos… logo reveals…whiteboard videos… live action videos… 3D visual effects… hyper realistic dynamic scenes, ecommerce videos… video ads…social media and any other type of video you can imagine from ONE dashboard. Replace multiple video apps and save money and time! Revolutionary Logo Motion Tracking Technology: For the first time ever, add your logos and branding to real-life moving objects and scenes to attract more eyeballs and convert more sales! This proprietary technology has been in the works for the past 3 years and we finally cracked! Other competitors, only allow you to add logos to static images and scenes. Here the logos move with the object in motion and look super natural as if they were part of the original scene! Sizzling Hot Scroll Stopper Videos: Scroll Stopper videos are guaranteed to boost engagement, skyrocket clickthrough rates and slash your advertising costs on any social media platform! We did extensive testing and research to make sure these are are 100% compliant with all social platforms and rules. So you will never get your accounts banned. Create sizzling hot scroll stoppers for any marketing goal in MINUTES - no expensive freelancers or video apps needed! Live Action Text Messaging Videos Featuring Real Human Actors: Perfect choice for local businesses and entrepreneurs to attract new traffic, leads and sales. Create the perfect video message for any local business with live actors dressed in various props and clothing to represent specific professions! Live actors dressed as Doctors, Real Estate Agents, Handyman, Construction, Fitness, Shopping, Business, Military and various other professions are included! Profit Boosting Ecommerce & 3D Product Mockup Videos: Showcase your products and ecommerce brands with amazing 3D product mockup videos! These video templates are inspired by the BEST SELLING video ads that drove millions in sales. Now you can create amazing product showcase videos within seconds inside VideoCreator. Photo Realistic 3D Animation Videos: Photo realistic 3D Animations bring your videos to life! Hiring freelancers to create 3D videos like these will costs thousands. Using complicated animation apps requires skill and experience. VideoCreator makes it easy for anyone to create 3D animation videos in minutes without any experience or skills.

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