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aerospace-agenda · 5 years ago

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Ok, so, just... since the “ao3 is bad for asking for donations” bs is going around again, theres a bit of new stuff mixed in, but it seems to largely be the same “why dont they pay the authors” type stuff, with the usual insinuations of the people running the site just pocketing the money and doing nothing.

they made a bit over $700k in donations last year, but let’s bump that up to $750k for estimation purposes.

As of several years ago, they were running with about 750 volunteers, on ao3 alone.

there’s also 18 committees that they run, which are headed by a total of about 30 people, and let’s say there are 3 or 4 other people on each committee on average.

on top of that, they’re one of the most visited and active sites in the world, with almost 6 million fics stored there, and they regularly hit in the region of 250,000,000 distinct visitors a month. these numbers are very significant, because to operate smoothly servers need to be able to quickly access the data for a page, and then pass that data to you.

lets say there are... hm. about 60kb of data that they need to pass to you in order to generate a page. at 250 million visitors, if each person loads a single page and does nothing else, that’s 15TB a month, easily, since i’m taking that estimate from directly loading a single short chapter, no searching or browsing or visiting different author pages or looking through bookmarks. which most people will probably do to some degree each time they visit, each of which is another system that needs to be queried, and is reliable and fast about it.

for reference, i can’t get an estimate on how much this must cost, because i havent been able to find any hosts to compare against that even have hosting schemes that allow numbers as high as ao3 delivers reliably and efficiently.

i work with databases for my job, and i frankly have no idea how the fuck ao3 manages to be what it is on the budget that it gets, im half-convinced there are fucking wizards back there or something.

purchasing the kinds of servers that they need to be using must be costing them well into the tens of thousands on the up-front price, server maintanence costs can run well into the thousands per month, and their reliability must mean they have sufficient redudancy to take them out of commission on the regular.

anyway. let’s say that the hosting, maintanence, and replacement costs for all this only cost them $150k a year. based on everything i know, this is an absolutely absurd underestimate to the extent that it’s frankly laughable.

anyway, that then leaves $600k.

no matter where you assume that goes into the pockets of people behind the scenes, this would require complete complicity of everyone behind the scenes to keep under cover, as well as passing their false financial statements through audits and such. by and large, conspiracies like this don’t work very well!

so, that $600k should go to the people who “actually” bring value to ao3, the writers, then?

does everyone just get an even share of it? in that case, as there are about 2.6 million accounts- everybody gets about 23 cents a year. sound worth it?

no? ok then, what about for each fic someone writes, they get an even share of it? after all, there were “only” about a million fics published in 2019. that’s about 60, maybe 70 cents per fic, doesn’t that sound good to you?

im guessing you think that’s still a bit low. in that case, should it be based on "quality” of fics? how should that quality be determined? kudos, hits, reader interaction? should that be an ongoing thing, or assessed at a particular time since publication? what about very long-running fics, how should that be assessed? should people just get paid a flat amount per chapter?

if the metrics to determine how much a fic is “worth” are transparent, then they’ll be abused- how should that be be determined? poor language quality? short chapter length? if they’re not transparent, how do you justify to authors why they aren’t paid more?

what about disputes regarding fanfics being “stolen”? right now, i dont think many people care much about if someone else writes a very similar fic to theirs. but would they feel the same way if someone else writes something inspired by, or with the same premise, or generally similar, to one of yours? what about if someone writes a story and incorporates someone elses OC? should the person who created that OC get a cut?

if you want to increase funds to pay authors, how should you approach that? ask for donations? if payment metrics are transparent, then that means that anybody who performs well on them are likely to actively drive away donors. make it a subscription site? would you pay a monthly subscription fee just to access the site?

and so on, and so on. and that’s before any issues with backlog and such should be resolved. tbh, there are so many precedents that’d need to be set and potential issues that this would raise that even if ao3 responded with “fuck you” to every person who currently aren’t happy with the system, it would still probably be less unpopular than literally any change to allow them to pay authors.

honestly, at the end of the day, most people who are actually interested in financial support and who write fanfic? generally have a blog with a donation button. or a patreon. or something similar, along those lines. and there’s nothing stopping you from just going and doing that directly if you’re actually interested in supporting them.

it’s worth noting that there’s also a legal aspect to this, which im not particularly familiar with, but, for starters- a commercial aspect to works can make a big difference in whether or not something is considered “fair use”. whether or not something is, indeed, fair use, can also be pretty subjective. do you want to toss that litigational coin? and do you have the money and lawyers to press the issue?

#oc? on this blog? its more likely than you think!#long post #mostly me rambling about how the outcry against ao3 asking for donations is kinda silly.#How long IS this queue...?

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ask-de-writer · 5 years ago

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FRIEND AND THE IMPERIAL EGGS : Part 1 of 7 : MLP Fan Fiction

Return to the Master Story Index Return to MLP Fan Fiction

FRIEND AND THE IMPERIAL EGGS

A Daring Do tale

Part 1 of 7

by De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

8927 words

This is a Fan Fiction based on My Little Pony. Canterlot, Princess Luna and the name Daring Do are owned by Hasboro Inc.

//////////////

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights. They may reblog the story. They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge. I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Grata, Left Wing of the Imperial Throne, watched, crest raised, fluttering in silent Gryphon laughter, as Daring Do, Antiquarian extraordinaire, lay in her Hospital nest, chortling as she dangled small strips of meat for the Eagle chicks that swarmed on top of her coverlet.

Friend, the small changeling egg tender, perhaps the only one anywhere that was not inside a hive, was watching Doctor Do, her Matunen, as she played with and cared for the chicks. There was a delicate, near invisible glow of palest green emanating from her, to enclose Daring Do, and the chicks. She was making a soft humming, purring, croon.

There were big, full grown Eagles perched everywhere about the room. They were watching with total approval. Several flew in through an open flight port, set to the size of the Eagles, so that they could come and go freely. They were all wild birds, not tamed in any way.

After taking in the amusing scene for a respectful length of time, Grata spoke softly. “I hope that I am not interfering with your healing of Doctor Do, Friend. I have come to both speak of how her healing is going, and to ask a favor of you.”

Friend looked up with interest, which caused her filmy sheer blue mane to spread, somewhat like a ruff around her head, making another little ruff at the base of her shortish horn.

“You need not be afraid of me/us, Grata. What may I/we do for you?”

Firmly, Grata responded, “I am not afraid of you, Friend. I do respect you and what you are doing. First, before the business of Empire, tell me about our mutual friend, your Matunen, Doctor Do. The Empire is strong. It can wait.”

That got Daring Do’s attention away from the chicks. With a giggle, she replied, “That is SO O O different from the attitude of any other government on the world of Equestria. They all go, ‘We are the Government! We are strong! We come first!’ and the Gryphon Empire says, 'We are strong, we can wait!’ I love it!”

Friend smiled over to Daring Do, love showing in her eyes and every line of her chitinous body. “Matunen is healing well. I/we loved her healing properly and all is going as it should. Now her healing needs only guidance. It will take some time, yet. She will regain strength and endurance better if she does so slowly, now.”

Grata shook her regal head, crest lifted in wonder, “Our best doctors are still amazed that you could find any way to bring Daring Do through that assassination attempt. No other being that we know of has EVER survived being poisoned by Hellbore mushroom.”

Shaking her head, crest reverting to sorrow, she went on, “All of that, trying to destroy our true history, was so that they could rule with lies. Even starting a civil war, casting aside all honor, was just a grab for political power, under the guise of religion.

“We would have sentenced the conspirators to death by the Long Drop. Instead, you claimed them. You were right, though. Before you were done using them as prey to save Doctor Do, they were begging for the mercy of the Long Drop.”

Friend got up to herd a wayward chick back to the others. With a smile, she said softly, “They were failed nymphs. Their bodies lived but they had no love. Their lives served a good purpose. Matunen is whole. She loves and returns love as Matunen should.”

Grata nodded, crest going briskly up. “Now to the business of Empire. We of the Throne are too busy to take the time to tend a clutch of eggs properly.

“The recent assassination attempt, intended not only to kill Doctor Do, but the entire Throne of Empire as well, has underlined the need to ensure the succession of rule. Normally, one of us, either the Right Wing or the Left would take the time to tend the Imperial Clutch. We cannot do that for some time to come. Trying to pacify and tie back together the wounds of a civil war have us all far too busy.

“On behalf of the Empire, Friend, would you please tend our Imperial Clutch and be mother to our hatchlings?”

//////////////////

“Drat it! Moreegg, I'v got a good mind to drop you! What is the point of lowering a pony the size of you on a rope, if you can’t even find an egg as big as an eagle’s?”

Calling up, from the end of the rope, the pony Moreegg replied, “You might as well save your breath for pulling me up! There isn’t egg one in any of these nests! I can see into three others from here. Lots of signs that the nests were being used recently, the season is right but not an egg to be found!”

Grumbling, Baron Yoksonu began to haul Moreegg back up to safe footing at the upper lip of the sheer cliff that made up the northern scarp of Eagle’s Vale. As he was helping Moreegg get clear of the dangerous edge, the Baron noticed what had been bothering him since they began the search for an egg of the fabled Eagle’s Vale eagles. There was not a single eagle to be seen anywhere.

In all the books, these eagles were always capitalized. There was reputedly a multitude of huge and majestic birds here. Finding an egg should have been an easy, if dangerous task.

Scooting on his belly across the grass and stone to the cliff edge, the Baron scanned the whole expanse of the Eagle’s Vale. Taking out binoculars, the expensive optics only verified what his eyes had already told him. There were no eagles in Eagle’s Vale.

Impatiently, the Baron waited while Moreegg packed their collecting equipment and shouldered the pack.

An arduous trek brought them back to the town of Eagle’s Perch. The harvest was nearly all in. Everywhere that the Baron or Moreegg looked there were ponies using wagons and carts of excellent quality, with wheels that all looked new, pulling in the last of the harvest.

The town’s grain elevator was busy and the mill beside it was loading out another cart full of bags filled with flour. The wheelwright’s shop was busy, refurbishing another wagon.

Sort of hidden, there were many small signs of long neglect that were being remedied when no other task took precedence. Even Moreegg noticed it. “Look, Sir. There are three houses and two business along this one road that are all getting new thatching sewed on. There has been no storm that could be responsible. I see some other old roofs that are in good repair.”

The Baron nodded. “Very observant Moreegg. Remind me, when we get home, to give you a raise and the task of searching out what needs repair while the problems are still small. A Barony in good order is the foundation of real wealth.”

They reached nearly to the end of the town before seeing the solid stone and timber structure of the Gryphon’s Perch Inn. The inkeep, a Gryphon, came out , laid his crest nearly flat, and said, “I am Kraach. The Gryphon’s Perch is my inn. If you choose to stay the night, there is no better place in Eagle’s Perch.” He turned his back on them and, tail held low, stalked back inside.

Inside, they were met by a magenta mare who booked their rooms and saw to stowing their things. While she was fluffing the sleeping stall blankets, Moreegg asked, “Why was Kraach so, I don’t know, um, unwelcoming?”

The mare looked up in surprise. “You can’t figure that out? He is a Gryphon. They hatch from eggs. Your Baron’s 'innocent hobby’ is about the same to him as someone collecting foals and stuffing them for display would be to us.

“As far as any Gryphon is concerned, you are ghouls.”

//////////////////

NEXT==>

Return to the Master Story Index Return to MLP Fan Fiction

#FRIEND AND THE IMPERIAL EGGS #Part 1 of 7 #MLP Fan Fiction #Written by De Writer

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nigeiadigitalmarketingcompany · 6 years ago

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2:00PM Water Cooler 7/23/2019

Digital Elixir 2:00PM Water Cooler 7/23/2019

By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Trade

“U.S. farmers look past trade fears to cash in on China’s hog crisis” [Reuters]. “The U.S. trade war with China initially forced U.S. pork exporters to scour the world for new markets but as the swine fever crisis deepens they’re gearing up for new opportunities to supply the Chinese market later this year and next. The catch for U.S. hog farmers is that if they want to take advantage of the surge in Chinese pork demand, they can’t feed their pigs with the growth drug ractopamine which is widely used in the United States but banned in China. In recent years, the European Union has provided roughly two-thirds of China’s pork imports, excluding offal, with Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark the main suppliers, according to Chinese customs data. Potential demand is so huge, however, that the EU alone can’t satisfy it.” • Chlorinated chicken, pork à la ractopamine…

Politics

“But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?” –James Madison, Federalist 51

“They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery.” –Frank Herbert, Dune

“2020 Democratic Presidential Nomination” [RealClearPolitics] (average of five polls). As of July 23: Biden still climbing at 28.6% (28.4), Sanders down at 14.8% (15.0%), Warren flat at 14.6% (14.6%), Buttigieg steady at 4.8% (4.8%), Harris flat bump 12.6% (12.6%), others Brownian motion.

* * *

2020

Harris (D)(1): “Kamala Harris once opposed legalizing marijuana. Now she wants to decriminalize it” [Yahoo News]. “The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, which was written by Harris and co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, implement re-sentencing or expungement for prior marijuana-based convictions, and tax revenue generated by the marijuana industry, with 50% of it used to create three trust funds…. he California Democrat, however, hasn’t always supported fully legalizing marijuana. Nine years ago, Harris opposed legislation that would have legalized marijuana in California.” • People do get to change their minds. But it’s always nicer when they do the right thing all along.

Klobuchar (D)(1): “2020 Candidates Delayed Paying Staff to Look Richer on Paper” [Daily Beast]. “For some campaigns, the ability to put off a payroll payment—whether by design or coincidence—made a substantial difference. That’s most true for the Klobuchar campaign, which reported $186,000 in salary expenditures on its last reported pay day, June 15. Federal Election Commission records indicate that the campaign was otherwise paying staffers on the 15th and last day of each month. But no paychecks went out at the end of June, according to its second quarter financial filing…. And at some point, she will either have to make all wage payments or simply not pay her staff. And by kicking the can down the road, she has been able to avoid taking the hit on a campaign finance filing for the time being.” • It’s gonna take an awfully big binder for Klobuchar to keep track of all that. Oh, and collective bargaining in the Sanders campaign is a big, big scandal. Potential wage theft? Not so much.

Warren (D)(1): “The Coming Economic Crash — And How to Stop It” [Elizabeth Warren, Medium]. “The [yield] curve has inverted before each and every recession in the past half century — with only one false signal.” • I’m not sure that’s entirely correct. From the Financial Times: “Prof [Campbell] Harvey’s research indicates only an inversion of at least three months is a reliable recession indicator. The curve briefly inverted in 1998, at the peak of the turmoil caused by Russia’s default and the blow-up of Long-Term Capital Management, but quickly normalised before a subsequent, more durable inversion in 2000 preceded the dotcom bust. The latest inversion only lasted five trading days.” In any case, a recession call at some point in the future is not a hard call. Still, good piece!

Warren (D)(2): “Warren warns of ‘coming economic crash’” [Politico]. How Politico summarizes the article above: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday predicted an imminent economic crisis unless the Trump administration and Congress quickly pass legislation to regulate the financial sector and significantly reduce middle class household debt.” • That’s shockingly bad and wrong, even for Politico. Warren recommends reducing household debt, monitoring and reducing leveraged corporate lending, strengthening manufacturing, and limiting potential shocks to the economy. Her recommendations are bulleted, ffs.

* * *

“‘She/hers’: In progressive move, 3 presidential hopefuls add pronouns to their bios” [NBC]. “Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s bio on her official presidential campaign Twitter page is touting a new addition: her pronouns. Earlier this month, her bio was updated to “U.S. Senator, former teacher, and candidate for president. Wife, mom … grandmother, and Okie. She/hers. Official campaign account.” She is one of three 2020 presidential hopeful to add pronouns on an official campaign Twitter account, along with Julian Castro and Bill de Blasio. On the surface, it’s just two words. But the inclusion of “she/hers” on a major candidate’s social media profile is no small feat in the eyes of LGBTQ advocates. Among the LGBTQ community and its allies, including pronouns in social media profiles has become increasingly common to avoid misgendering and to indicate solidarity with transgender and nonbinary people.” • Which is great, and one can only hope leads to solidarity with working class people.

RussiaGate

“Mueller testimony could be frustrating for both parties” [The Hill]. “Democrats want Mueller to breathe life into his 448-page report and demonstrate to the American public that Trump is guilty of obstructing his investigation — a verdict Mueller’s team purposely avoided in issuing its findings. Republicans will try to throw Mueller off his game, vowing to focus their questions on whether it was even proper to launch the investigation in the first place.” • I’ve noticed a tendency on the Twitter for liberal Democrats to assign work to others; here is the same tendency with Mueller. Why can’t they “demonstrate to the American public”? Meanwhile, I bet poor old straight-shootin’ Bob Mueller longs for the days when he was only greenlighting fake WMD evidence. Life was simpler, then.

2019

“Rashida Tlaib: Minimum wage should be $20 an hour, not $15” [The Hill]. “‘By the way, when we started [#FightFor15], it should have been $15. Now I think it should be $20. Make sure America Rising hears that. It should be $20 an hour — $18 to $20 an hour at this point,’ Tlaib said.” • And it also shouldn’t take six years to kick in. That’s even longer than ObamaCare took!

Realignment and Legitimacy

“Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – July 20, 2019” [Tony Wikrent, Ian Welsh]. • Interesting wrap-up.

Stats Watch

Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, July 2019: “Fifth District manufacturing activity unexpectedly fell into contraction in July” [Econoday]. “The surprising weakness of today’s report contrasts with the Philly Fed and Empire State regional reports last week showing manufacturing rebounding in these regions. Despite the reported increase in input and output prices, the marked deterioration in the region’s manufacturing survey to the lowest level in six years is likely to bolster the dovish case for cutting the Fed funds rate at the FOMC meeting next week.”

FHFA House Price Index, May 2019: “FHFA had been holding up better than Case-Shiller but data for May point to less gradual slowing underway in home prices” [Econoday]. “Easing imbalances in housing are probably a plus for the long-term health of the sector but are perhaps unexpected given this year’s still strong job growth and the drop in mortgage rates.

Existing Home Sales, June 2019: “The housing market firmed in the early Spring but has since flattened out” [Econoday]. “Lack of momentum in housing, which is unexpected this year given the strength of the jobs market and the fall in mortgage rates, will be one factor that doves can cite at next week’s FOMC meeting in favor a rate cut.”

Shipping: “Trucking spot market underperforms expectations by 10% in June” [Freight Waves]. “The DAT US National Long Haul Van Freight Rate Index which measures the average long haul spot rate for dry van truckloads in the U.S. excluding fuel and other accessorial charges averaged $1.50/mile in June. This number fell well below expectations according to the freight futures settlement price which started the month over $1.66/mile, meaning futures market participants expected rates to be much higher than they were this June.

Tech: “Industrial robots are proving adept at picking up venture-capital funding. Logistics technology startup Fetch Robotics Inc. is adding to its support with a $46 million funding round…. which the Silicon Valley company will use to expand its range of products for the growing warehouse automation market” [Wall Street Journal]. “Fetch is working in a growing area of industrial automation focused on ‘collaborative robots’ that work alongside humans and can be easily integrated into existing operations. That can boost productivity without adding staff, a potential big plus for logistics companies as warehouse operators compete for workers in a tight jobs market.”

Tech: “How Amazon uses 18-wheelers to transfer heavy data loads to the cloud” [CNBC]. “Moving petabytes of data to a cloud like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure just by sending it out over the internet can take years. Some companies would rather not wait that long. So the cloud providers have come up with special-purpose hardware that can be filled up with data and then mailed to the cloud vendors for much faster migration. Using this equipment can save money, too, because moving data over a network in the usual way can get expensive. One business with big data, DigitalGlobe — a subsidiary of Maxar Technologies, came up with a more radical idea. It had AWS send over a truck over for faster delivery. AWS wound up announcing its Snowmobile 18-wheel truck for this exact purpose in 2016. None of AWS’ cloud competitors have followed suit — yet.” • The cloud turns out to have a pretty heavy footprint.

Manufacturing: “The prolonged grounding of the Boeing Co.’s 737 MAX is starting to ripple through the U.S. economy. The problems with the jet are cutting into U.S. exports and clouding the outlook for airlines and parts suppliers” [Wall Street Journal]. “The impact of the grounding and Boeing’s production cuts highlight the deep reach the aircraft manufacturer has across a range of high-value supply chains that have been all but idled while the company seeks a solution. Economists say Boeing’s production cuts likely weighed on U.S. gross domestic product in the second quarter, and warn the impact could intensify if the plane maker can’t resume deliveries as hoped in the fourth quarter. Companies ranging from engine maker General Electric Co. to smaller parts suppliers have tied the halt in deliveries of the aircraft to financial damage, or suspended profit guidance.”

The Biosphere

“Melting ice sheets, storm-damaged homes: For some, it’s a business opportunity” [Grist]. For example: “Worldwide demand for air conditioning is only going to increase, according to investors and those in the industry. ‘The hotter it gets, the more your business increases,’ John Staples, president and CEO of US Air Conditioning, told the Verge back in 2013. And he was right — by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s households are predicted to own an air conditioner. But it’s a bit of a catch-22: As the planet warms, access to A/C can save lives, but the more we use it, the more the world heats up. And though people are certainly making money off this boon in the HVAC market, they aren’t investing in developing new, greener methods of cooling.” • The capitalists will sell themselves the rope…

“WASTE ONLY: How the Plastics Industry Is Fighting to Keep Polluting the World” [The Intercept]. “China’s decision in 2017 to stop receiving the vast majority of plastic waste from other countries blew the flimsy lid off our dysfunctional recycling system. That year, when the Chinese government announced the National Sword policy, as it’s called, the U.S. sent 931 million kilograms of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong. The U.S. has been offloading vast bundles of scrap this way since at least 1994, when the Environmental Protection Agency began tracking plastics exports. The practice has served to both mask the mounting crisis and absolve U.S. consumers of guilt. But in fact, much of the ‘recycled’ plastic scrap that the U.S. sent to China appears to have been burned or buried instead of being refashioned into new products. Although China’s turnabout made the failure of the plastics recycling system suddenly and undeniably obvious, in truth the plastics problem has been with us as long as plastic has. Over the decades, as production has grown exponentially, we’ve never managed to repurpose even one-tenth of our plastic waste.”

“This Is What America Could Look Like When Our Coasts Are Under Water” [Vice]. “Depending on how we do it, we face very different coastal futures. In one scenario, our coastlines will be dotted with derelict ruins—the haunting remains of communities that weren’t given a chance to get out of harm’s way. Cities will exist behind walls built that protect from the ocean, and there will be no access to the shoreline. In a more egalitarian vision, U.S. shores could be reclaimed as public land. A national shoreline could serve as a natural buffer to the ocean, and if paired with affordable housing, community investment, and employment, moving away from the coasts could promise survival but also, better quality of life. ‘The question isn’t whether we will retreat, it’s how we will retreat,’ said A.R. Siders, an environmental fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. ‘In that, we have a lot of choice and a lot of opportunity.’” • Oh, there will be “access.” For a price.

“Was the Automotive Era a Terrible Mistake?” [The New Yorker]. “When the people of the future look back at our century of auto life, will they regard it as a useful stage of forward motion or as a wrong turn? Is it possible that, a hundred years from now, the age of gassing up and driving will be seen as just a cul-de-sac in transportation history, a trip we never should have taken?” • Um, hysteresis. We can’t just back up and go in another direction. That’s not to say cars will persist in their current form, just that cul-de-sac is the wrong metaphor.

“‘Climate Grief’: Fears About The Planet’s Future Weigh On Americans’ Mental Health [Kaiser Health News]. “Therapist Andrew Bryant says the landmark United Nations climate report last October brought a new mental health concern to his patients. ‘I remember being in sessions with folks the next day. They had never mentioned climate change before, and they were like, ‘I keep hearing about this report,” Bryant said. ‘Some of them expressed anxious feelings, and we kept talking about it over our next sessions.’” • Today is my day to be kind, so I’m going to cancel my curmudgeonly response to this.

“How Airplane Contrails Are Helping Make the Planet Warmer” [Yale Environment 360]. “[T]he condensation trails produced by the exhaust from aircraft engines are creating an often-invisible thermal blanket of cloud across the planet. Though lasting for only a short time, these ‘contrails’ have a daily impact on atmospheric temperatures that is greater than that from the accumulated carbon emissions from all aircraft since the Wright Brothers first took to the skies more than a century ago. More alarming still, researchers warned late last month that efforts by engineers to cut aircraft CO2 emissions by making their engines more fuel-efficient will create more, whiter, and longer-lasting contrails — notably in the tropics, where the biggest increases in flights are expected. In a paper being widely praised by other experts in the field, Lisa Bock and Ulrike Burkhardt of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, forecast a near-tripling in the ‘radiative forcing’ from contrails by 2050….. Research in the American South and Midwest has concluded that when contrails are around, they raise night-time temperatures sufficiently to reduce the day-night differences by 3 degrees C.”

“Community Roots – Let’s Plant Some Trees!” [Richmond Tree Stewards]. “Homeowners in the City of Richmond will receive free a limited number of trees (2 or 3 depending on availability) from our gravel beds…. In Richmond we celebrate Arbor Day in October rather than late April because that is a much better time to plant trees in Virginia.” • This sounds like a great program!

Health Care

“A look at people who have persistently high spending on health care” [Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker]. “Those with persistently high spending, while few in number, are some of the most expensive users of care – the 1.3% of enrollees with high spending in each of three consecutive years (2015-2017) had an average spending in 2017 of almost $88,000, accounting for 19.5% of overall spending that year. The predictability and extent of their spending suggest that any efforts to reduce the total costs of care and improve health system quality must focus heavily on this group of people.” • Yes, “Peterson” is that Peterson. Ugh.

“Verma touts site-neutral pay policies, blasts hospital consolidation” [Modern Healthcare]. “CMS Administrator Seema Verma on Monday took swings at Medicare’s ‘hospital-centric payment model,’ touting the Trump administration’s recent site-neutral payment policy and decrying provider consolidation. Verma condemned Democratic proposals for a public insurance option at a policy summit for the Better Medicare Alliance, which represents Medicare Advantage plans. … ‘The secret of the public option is that it’s only cheaper because it uses the force of government to strong-arm doctors and hospitals into accepting below-market payment rate,’ she said. ‘But the government cannot wave a wand and impose lower rates on some providers while holding everyone else harmless.’ She touted another policy, hated by hospitals, that determines some Medicare payments: site-neutral payment regulations that cut Medicare dollars for some hospital services that can also be performed in physicians’ offices… From there, Verma doubled down on another topic that makes major health systems nervous: the growth of hospital monopolies and the ‘upward trend in provider consolidation.’ ‘Hospitals are buying up physician practices, and mergers of large health systems and health plans are a common occurrence,’ she said. ‘But without competition in a market, consumers have fewer choices, prices go up, and incentives to improve quality go down.’”

“The great plague of 2019, or how the United States got single payer health-care” [Alice Marshall, Medium]. “A few of Pence’s team went to a book party for a famous conservative commentator. Within a week everyone at the party was dead, but not before they spread the disease to their think tank, law firm, and trade association. Several staffers from AHIP and PhRMA were there. By the end of the month they had to close their DC office as everyone was dead.” • Not entirely implausible, even as wish fulfillmennt.

Class Warfare

“The Most Gullible Man in Cambridge” [New York Magazine]. • Yikes.

“Jeffrey Epstein doled out millions to Harvard and others. Is that cash tainted?” [Miami Herald]. “The multimillionaire hedge fund manager lavished at least $30 million on universities, scientists, politicians, cultural organizations, think tanks — as well as his local police department, according to records of three of his charities. Records for a fourth were not available. That $30 million figure includes at least $2 million doled out following a short stint in the Palm Beach stockade that resulted when a 53-page federal sex trafficking indictment got whittled down to a pair of minor prostitution-related charges late in the last decade. For those organizations that hung onto the money, is there a moral obligation to give it back, or alternatively, pay it forward to organizations that would benefit, for example, young sexual assault victims like those Epstein allegedly victimized?’” • Lol, no.

“Student Debt and Racial Wealth Inequality” (PDF) [Marshall Steinbaum]. “This paper analyzes the effect of cancelling student debt on racial wealth inequality using the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances. It concludes that cancelling student debt reduces racial wealth gaps as measured by the ratio of white wealth to black wealth at a given wealth quantile, across the wealth distribution. It then discusses why cancelling student debt disproportionately increases the net wealth of black households and thereby reduces racial wealth gaps.” • As surely all universal benefit programs must do?

“Baby born on 7-Eleven Day at 7:11 p.m., weighs 7 lbs., 11 oz., gets 7-Eleven college fund” [USA Today]. • Just another kind of legacy admission….

News of the Wired

“Dream Of Retiring Abroad? The Reality: Medicare Doesn’t Travel Well” [Kaiser Health News]. “After paying into the Medicare system for decades, it’s no wonder some expats are frustrated that they can’t generally use the program outside the United States…. And retirees should honestly consider whether they will spend the rest of their lives overseas.” • And spend the last days of my life drugged and strapped to a bed in a nursing home room with a TV I can’t turn off? I’d rather die in a ditch in the tropics.

“Don’t Put Your Work Email on Your Personal Phone” [OneZero]. “Here’s one reason: Your work account might be spying on you in the background. When you add a work email address to your phone, you’ll likely be asked to install something called a Mobile Device Management (MDM) profile. Chances are, you’ll blindly accept it. (What other choice do you have?) MDM is set up by your company’s IT department to reach inside your phone in the background, allowing them to ensure your device is secure, know where it is, and remotely erase your data if the phone is stolen. From your company’s perspective, there are obvious security reasons for installing an MDM on an employee’s phone. But for employees, it’s difficult to tell what these invisible profiles are collecting behind the scenes, as they provide people at your company with invisible control over your device. That’s why when it comes to your phone, no matter how much you trust your IT department, it’s a good idea to keep work and pleasure separate.”

* * *

Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Today’s plant (JL):

JL writes: “Mystery tree”!

* * *

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So do feel free to make a contribution today or any day. Here is why: Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of small donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals. So if you see something you especially appreciate, do feel free to click this donate button:

Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated.

If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!

2:00PM Water Cooler 7/23/2019

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#Digital Marketing #SEO #Social Media Marketing #Nigeria Digital Marketing Company #Lead Generation

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fani-loves-books · 5 years ago

Text

Can you really make money blogging

Are you a brand new blogger? Are you wondering how do bloggers generate profits? Can you really make money blogging?

Sure, it’s possible to make profits from a blog, which means the actual query is that this: What’s one of the simplest ways to generate profits running a blog.

That’s what this report is all about. Whether or not you’re a brand new blogger or have a number of years of expertise beneath your belt, this report may help your agency up your foundations and construct a weblog that’s each in style and worthwhile.

How Much Money Can You Make Blogging

After you have got began running a blog the essential query that you just may ask is should you can actually make profits running a blog as a newbie. The answer is a big YES!

As this text is directed in the direction of newbies to make profits running a blog lets not set unrealistic targets and concentrate on sensible targets. Set small targets and crush them. These prime bloggers have spent years perfecting they’re running a blog method. Take motivation from them however don’t really feel unhealthy if initially, you don’t do pretty much as good as these market influencers.

Many newbies to running a blog have the identical query: Is it doable to make a dwelling out of running a blog? The quick reply is YES however there is a selection of parameters to take note of earlier than deciding to drop everything else for the sake of running a blog and various issues to do as a way to begin making actual cash from running a blog.

Listed below are 5 issues I know about making money blogging

Construct your personal credibility.

Whether or not you have got a brick-and-mortar running a blog. It is wanted to show honesty and credibility as a way to acquire the belief of consumers. Model belief is required as a way to make gross sales.

Credibility is very similar to respect; it must be earned. It takes time to put the inspiration for belief, and consistency to develop it right into strong popularity primarily based on credibility. Listed below are some methods to construct the credibility of your small enterprise.

Your weblog is constructing your credibility (until you write rants with nary a thought towards grammar and writing high quality). Every publishes you write builds on the earlier posts, and is telling your reader “this blogger is credible”.

Planning Your Running a blog Enterprise

Now it’s time to determine which mannequin will transfer you towards your targets most successfully. It’s shocking how usually new bloggers overlook this step of their enterprise – as a result of it’s the one greatest technique to ensure that your revenue matches your goals.

Utilizing the data you gained from Chapter 2, this chapter will break down what you need and wish, and enable you to determine the most effective mannequin to suit your targets and needs. You’ll work in your concept to verify it’s a superb one, and create a plan to construct your viewers and transfer ahead along with your concept.

You’ll study:

The Blocks You Have to Construct Your blog Enterprise

Making Positive Your Thought is a Good One

Figuring out When It’s Not Working

Set Your Weblog Technique

Do you know that 55% of entrepreneurs say running a blog is their prime inbound advertising and marketing precedence? Did you also know that these entrepreneurs are 13x extra prone to see optimistic ROI than entrepreneurs who do not spend money on running a blog?

Over the past decade or so, companies have elevated income, improved model consciousness, and boosted conversions with beneficial written content material revealed for his or her audience and clients. The important thing right here is that their weblog content material is efficacious — it is not sufficient to easily have a weblog; there must be a function or cause for its existence.

Method to monetize a blog

These chapter particulars the best way to get arrange along with your purchasing cart, fee processor, and service provider account – all of the items that you just want as a way to begin taking funds, and your integrations – the items that let you ship your product to the individuals who bought it.

Natural site visitors to a weblog or web site are earned site visitors. Generally on-line coaches and gurus name this “free” site visitors, nevertheless it’s not free. It often comes from a mixture of search engine optimization optimized posts that get ranked in the major search engines and social media websites like Pinterest, Fb, and Instagram. Should you’ve constructed up guests to your website by way of these strategies, then that site visitors like this takes loads of effort and time to develop. You sometimes should do key phrase analysis, write content material that folks wish to have interaction in, and promote on social media.

If in case you have natural earned site visitors to your weblog and web site, it’s essential to know the best way to monetize it so as to generate profits from that site visitors.

When you begin your weblog you may go loads of methods resembling:

Affiliate Advertising

Promoting Ads

Google Adsense

Consulting

Dropshipping

Amazon

Clickbank

Shopify

Outline Your Target Audience

It is a key step in serving to you create the fitting content material – content material that resonates with the kind of individuals you wish to goal and count on to devour your content material. A goal market is the particular group of individuals you wish to attain along with your advertising and marketing message. They’re the people who find themselves almost definitely to purchase your services or products, and they’re united by some frequent traits, like demographics and behaviors.

The extra clearly you outline your goal group, the higher you may perceive how and the place to succeed in your greatest prospects. You can begin with broad classes like millennials or single dads, however, you should get far more detailed to attain the absolute best conversion charges.

Don’t be afraid to get extremely particular. That is all about focusing on your advertising and marketing efforts successfully, not stopping individuals from shopping for your product. People who find themselves not included in your goal market can nonetheless purchase from you—they’re simply not your prime focus relating to crafting your advertising and marketing technique.

Conclusions

Running a blog is a kind of issue that takes a little bit of time to get rolling. You should focus at the beginning of creating high-quality content material that may be attention-grabbing for individuals to learn.

There may be an ever-increasing variety of individuals making a living from running a blog at a part-time to a full-time degree — nevertheless, they’re nonetheless within the minority. The Web is big! There are a number of strategies to earn cash. However, as a newbie let’s think about a method at a time. It takes time to settle, however when you receive a commission your first examine, you get the motivation for a lifetime.

source http://www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com/make-money-blogging/ source https://tidevein.tumblr.com/post/189829690895

0 notes

pantslessyoda · 5 years ago

Text

Can you really make money blogging

Are you a brand new blogger? Are you wondering how do bloggers generate profits? Can you really make money blogging?

Sure, it’s possible to make profits from a blog, which means the actual query is that this: What’s one of the simplest ways to generate profits running a blog.

How Much Money Can You Make Blogging

After you have got began running a blog the essential query that you just may ask is should you can actually make profits running a blog as a newbie. The answer is a big YES!

Listed below are 5 issues I know about making money blogging

Construct your personal credibility.

Planning Your Running a blog Enterprise

You’ll study:

The Blocks You Have to Construct Your blog Enterprise

Making Positive Your Thought is a Good One

Figuring out When It’s Not Working

Set Your Weblog Technique

Method to monetize a blog

If in case you have natural earned site visitors to your weblog and web site, it’s essential to know the best way to monetize it so as to generate profits from that site visitors.

When you begin your weblog you may go loads of methods resembling:

Affiliate Advertising

Promoting Ads

Google Adsense

Consulting

Dropshipping

Amazon

Clickbank

Shopify

Outline Your Target Audience

Conclusions

source http://www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com/make-money-blogging/ source https://tidevein.tumblr.com/post/189829690895

0 notes

babysnekku · 5 years ago

Text

Can you really make money blogging

Are you a brand new blogger? Are you wondering how do bloggers generate profits? Can you really make money blogging?

Sure, it’s possible to make profits from a blog, which means the actual query is that this: What’s one of the simplest ways to generate profits running a blog.

How Much Money Can You Make Blogging

After you have got began running a blog the essential query that you just may ask is should you can actually make profits running a blog as a newbie. The answer is a big YES!

Listed below are 5 issues I know about making money blogging

Construct your personal credibility.

Planning Your Running a blog Enterprise

You’ll study:

The Blocks You Have to Construct Your blog Enterprise

Making Positive Your Thought is a Good One

Figuring out When It’s Not Working

Set Your Weblog Technique

Method to monetize a blog

If in case you have natural earned site visitors to your weblog and web site, it’s essential to know the best way to monetize it so as to generate profits from that site visitors.

When you begin your weblog you may go loads of methods resembling:

Affiliate Advertising

Promoting Ads

Google Adsense

Consulting

Dropshipping

Amazon

Clickbank

Shopify

Outline Your Target Audience

Conclusions

source http://www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com/make-money-blogging/ source https://tidevein.tumblr.com/post/189829690895

0 notes

limitededitionpink · 5 years ago

Text

Can you really make money blogging

Are you a brand new blogger? Are you wondering how do bloggers generate profits? Can you really make money blogging?

Sure, it’s possible to make profits from a blog, which means the actual query is that this: What’s one of the simplest ways to generate profits running a blog.

How Much Money Can You Make Blogging

After you have got began running a blog the essential query that you just may ask is should you can actually make profits running a blog as a newbie. The answer is a big YES!

Listed below are 5 issues I know about making money blogging

Construct your personal credibility.

Planning Your Running a blog Enterprise

You’ll study:

The Blocks You Have to Construct Your blog Enterprise

Making Positive Your Thought is a Good One

Figuring out When It’s Not Working

Set Your Weblog Technique

Method to monetize a blog

If in case you have natural earned site visitors to your weblog and web site, it’s essential to know the best way to monetize it so as to generate profits from that site visitors.

When you begin your weblog you may go loads of methods resembling:

Affiliate Advertising

Promoting Ads

Google Adsense

Consulting

Dropshipping

Amazon

Clickbank

Shopify

Outline Your Target Audience

Conclusions

source http://www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com/make-money-blogging/ source https://tidevein.tumblr.com/post/189829690895

0 notes

illylussiano · 5 years ago

Text

Can you really make money blogging

Are you a brand new blogger? Are you wondering how do bloggers generate profits? Can you really make money blogging?

Sure, it’s possible to make profits from a blog, which means the actual query is that this: What’s one of the simplest ways to generate profits running a blog.

How Much Money Can You Make Blogging

After you have got began running a blog the essential query that you just may ask is should you can actually make profits running a blog as a newbie. The answer is a big YES!

Listed below are 5 issues I know about making money blogging

Construct your personal credibility.

Planning Your Running a blog Enterprise

You’ll study:

The Blocks You Have to Construct Your blog Enterprise

Making Positive Your Thought is a Good One

Figuring out When It’s Not Working

Set Your Weblog Technique

Method to monetize a blog

If in case you have natural earned site visitors to your weblog and web site, it’s essential to know the best way to monetize it so as to generate profits from that site visitors.

When you begin your weblog you may go loads of methods resembling:

Affiliate Advertising

Promoting Ads

Google Adsense

Consulting

Dropshipping

Amazon

Clickbank

Shopify

Outline Your Target Audience

Conclusions

source http://www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com/make-money-blogging/ source https://tidevein.tumblr.com/post/189829690895

0 notes