#like in a group pop quiz type scenario

[starlooove]

If you wanna ramble about it 👀

Gimmie /lh

(Same about Riven Musa Aisha Nabu being a squad, they have to be, I love them)

(u don't have to I just really wanna hear)

AAAH ok so in order: before we start this isn’t necessarily Abt physical presence this Abt their SOULS! Their vibes, their energies, can you truly be at peace without these people around you in some form??

Nabu and Riven: At the start; Nabu could exist without Riven in his general vicinity but Riven cannot exist without Nabu. From Rivens perspective they cannot be separated and Nabu is just like “love this funky lil guy” and it’s only later that Nabu is also like “we cannot be separate under any circumstances you don’t understand, he’d die, then I’d die, and if I died it’d kill him which would be bad for me cause then I’d also die and then he-“

Nabu Helia and Riven: it HAS to be the three of them! Like it can’t just he Helia and Riven, or Helia and Nabu, (Nabu and Riven would be fine but it’s like…not the same) they’re a GROUP! They just go together! It’s like Tecna, Musa and Aisha! They could pair off just fine but when it’s the three of them it’s All or Nothing! And here’s my thing; I feel like Nabu and Helia are very good with general apathy but that Helia and Riven would’ve gotten close eventually. So if not for them being a Unit; they’d be one of those friend groups where it’s awkward if one of them (Riven) leaves. Thankfully, they’re not like that and it just gets rlly quiet in a comfortable way. Helia and Nabu def rant Abt stupid intellectual shit to eachother that the other doesn’t understand beyond what they’ve been told by the other. So Helia can’t tell you shit about the building blocks of a spell but he CAN tell you why this weird old ass famous ass sorcerer is actually a fraud for doing the wrong gesture and pretending he discovered smth. Nabu can’t tell you the difference between a haiku and free form but he could def tell you the top three poets of all time and they’re greatest works. (Riven could tell you ALL of that)

I don’t have any specific scenarios for Musa and Aisha or Musa and Riven they just HAVE to be together, they CANNOT be separated, they are literally exactly who the post is about. Same thing for the four of them as a unit, there’s no explanations or hcs it’s there, that’s them!!

Helia and Flora: each think the post doesn’t apply to them; they’re both wrong. They think they can survive away from eachother but don’t realize that not being together in the sense the post implies ALSO means no writing letters or communication or anything. They think they’re just fine when they’re apart but watch the mail be late one day, they’ll both go insane. Flora/Helia: “honestly we’re do independent, sometimes we forget we’re dating sometimes haha :)” also Flora and Helia: “if they don’t write me back in the next day I’m gonna air this bitch out”

Brandon and Stella think the other person is like the post and that they themselves are just amused and tolerating it, they’re both wrong. Stella thinks Brandon wouldn’t survive a day without her, Brandon thinks Stella wouldn’t survive a day without him, they’re both correct.

Aisha, Helia, and Flora: is honestly just very fun for me. You’d think it’s Flora and Helia holding Aisha back but it’s Flora gently encouraging them to go batshit. Flora is the mom friend bc most of her friends don’t have common sense. Despite the…drastic measures they sometimes take, Aisha and Helia do have braincells and Flora honestly let’s them do whatever and joins in if she’s feeling like it atm. They’d get nothing done but through a series of wacky domino affect type shit they’d produce some kind of result. A. This is why, in the case of a mission (that’s where I see this group being formed) they need someone else to balance them and ACTUALLY take control of the group. I think Riven would actually join Flora in this case but be a lot more vocal Abt his encouragement. Yes, it’s fun to go apeshit, but it’s also funny to watch. They would get nothing done. F. Musa would add balance to the group by not only joining Helia and Aisha, but again by giving direction. She’s all for doing crazy shit but maybe let’s also be productive the mission?? They’d get it done extremely late, but better late than never right? C+. Brandon would suffer heavily but it’d be funny. He’s easy going but he’s actually trying to get the shit they were supposed to finish done. “Flora help me out here?” “No.” “Ok.” B-

[justheretobreakthings]

Welcome to the Family - Chapter 1

(Next Chapter)

A Voltron: Legendary Defender fic Central Characters: Keith, Lance Word Count: 1,976 Modern Day/High School AU Read on AO3

Summary: Lance had been excited about his family taking in a foster kid, eager to get to meet his brand new little brother or sister, who would surely adore and idolize their super cool Big Brother Lance. What he got instead was a sullen, quiet, temperamental teenage housemate with a criminal record and a disastrous haircut.

“He’s our age,” Lance said the moment Pidge and Hunk had connected to the Skype call, his voice coming out in practically a whine. “I cannot fucking believe it. Our age.”

“Okay, yeah, we’re gonna need context here,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes. “Who’s our age, and why do you sound distraught about it?”

Lance huffed out a breath. “Remember when I told you about how Mom and Pop-pop were planning on becoming foster parents since everyone in the house keeps growing up and moving out? And they did those interviews and home visits and stuff?”

“Vaguely,” Pidge said.

“Yeah, not like you mentioned how excited you were to be a big brother, what, forty times a day? Fifty?” Hunk added.

“A conservative estimate if I ever heard one,” Pidge said with a smirk.

“Shut up,” said Lance. “Well, apparently they got their foster kid assignment, told me and Rachel about it today. He’s gonna be moving in on Wednesday and guess what? Guess fucking what?”

“He’s our age,” Hunk said flatly.

“He’s our age! Hell, he’s older, technically. Same grade, but he’s got a fall birthday. I just - God, I had plans, you know? I was getting ready for some cute little eight-year-old to move in and be in awe of their amazing big brother Lance. I was gonna teach them how to dive and help them with their homework and, like, go kite-flying and give piggyback rides and - ”

“I’m sorry, time out,” Pidge interrupted. “Do you even know how to fly a kite?”

“I was going to learn!” Lance snapped. “Point is, I was finally, finally going to not be the goddamn baby of the family for once, I was finally going to get to do all those big-brother things that Marco and Luis got to do. And what happens? I get assigned a guy who’s our age.”

“Well, your age,” Pidge said.

“Our grade, whatever. How am I supposed to do all that with someone my age, huh? How am I supposed to get him excited about genius brother Lance helping him with his homework if he’s in the same grade as me? I can barely help myself with homework!”

“Aw, Lance,” Hunk said, reaching up to pat his webcam as if he were patting Lance on the head. “Maybe he’ll want to do the kite-flying and piggyback rides anyway.”

“Believe it or not, Hunk, I don’t want to give a piggyback ride to someone who’s months older than me.”

“Bummer.”

“I just - gah!” Lance set his elbow onto his desk hard enough for a thunk to echo through it and began kneading the heel of his hand into his forehead. “I wish my parents would’ve given me some warning, you know? Let me know ahead of time that they were planning on fostering a teenager.”

“Quick question,” said Pidge. “Did your parents ever actually say, specifically, that they were going to be fostering a little kid, or did you just assume?”

Lance grimaced. “Okay, no, they didn’t specify. But come on! When you hear the words ‘foster kid’, you don’t picture some fifteen-going-on-sixteen-year-old, right? You picture, like, a little orphan Annie type age range.”

Pidge laughed. “Oh my God, you were fully prepared for your life to become a musical, weren’t you? Did I not warn you that joining drama club was going to end up screwing with your brain?”

“Oh, hush up, I wasn’t being literal about the Annie thing. Just the age.”

“What else do you know about this guy?” Hunk asked.

“Like, next to nothing? His name’s Keith, he’s going into sophomore year like we are, and I’m supposed to be nice and make him feel welcome. That’s all the information I’ve got.”

“Well, then, for all you know, this could still be fun, right? Sure, you’re not getting a little brother or sister like you wanted, but you’re still getting a new brother, yeah? So, make the most of it. Maybe he’ll still want to do a bunch of fun stuff with you and still let you teach him things and all that. You can still do some of that stuff with someone your own age, can’t you?”

“Yeah,” Lance sighed. “But it’s not the same. And plus, I dunno, just… the whole thing about having someone the same grade as me living in my house, it’s kinda…”

“Kinda what?” Pidge asked.

“Well, like, okay, we’re probably going to be in some of the same classes right? So what if he’s the type of person who comes home and immediately reports to Mamá every time I bomb a quiz or something? Or what if he’s one of those slackers who will be copying all my work?”

“If you’re bombing quizzes, it’d be pretty stupid of him to copy off of you,” Pidge pointed out.

“Maybe he’s just not that bright, you don’t know. Or, God, even worse, what if he’s one of those perfect student, straight-A, never-does-anything-wrong types and I end up having to deal with a bunch of, ‘oh, Lance, your brother’s such a good student, why can’t you be more like him?’ And also, like, what if he’s hot?”

“Lance,” Hunk said, face suddenly grave, “Please promise me you’re not going to try hitting on your foster brother.”

“No, God, that’s not what I meant. But I mean, there are only so many dateable people at our school as is. The last thing I need is for someone from my own home to swoop in and start taking up all the good ones for himself.”

“Ever the romantic, aren’t you?” Pidge said.

“I’ve got a lot of love to give, Pidge. I just - I don’t need that, you know? I don’t need someone moving into my house and just suddenly becoming my competition for everything. That sort of thing wouldn’t be a problem if it was going to be a little kid, but now - ”

“Lance,” Hunk said, “Are you hearing yourself right now?”

“It’s Lance, of course he is,” Pidge remarked. “If ever there was a person who loved hearing the sound of his own voice - ”

Hunk pressed on as if he hadn’t heard her. ��You haven’t even met this guy, and already you’re declaring him to be some sort of rival for you or something.”

Lance sighed. “Fine, yes, you caught me Doctor Hunk, I’m jumping to conclusions. It’s much more likely that this Keith guy is going to show up, decide I’m his role model, never quite measure up to me but be delighted to learn the ways of life at my feet, isn’t it?”

“You didn’t seriously expect your imaginary little brother to do that, did you?” Pidge asked. “I mean, dude, you are a little brother, and you sure as hell didn’t do that with any of your siblings. Or have you suddenly blocked off all your childhood memories? I was there for a bunch of them, you can’t fool me, McClain.”

“Well, yeah, but we’ve been siblings since birth. It’s different when it’s a foster kid, right? Like, getting to be all excited and happy about having a new family and a better life and stuff?”

“Is there a way I can get a transcript of this whole conversation? Because I want to show it to Keith when he gets here, give him a warning about what kind of nonsense he’s in for.” Lance rolled his eyes.

“For the record,” Hunk said, “I think it sounds really cool, getting a foster brother your own age.”

“How do you figure?” asked Lance.

“Well, like, you’re going to get to know this guy well and share classes with him and all, so he could end up being, you know, a really close friend for you, like me and Pidge. Except in this case, you don’t go off to your separate homes at the end of the day, you can just keep hanging out, like, on and on and on. It’d be like having a sleepover with a friend every single night. Oh, and you can partner up for group projects at school and you never have to worry about arranging times and places to meet up. And you can share your clothes with each other and you guys can go on double dates and wear pairs costumes on Halloween and - ”

“Hunk,” Pidge interrupted him, “You are going to be in for such a rude awakening when you go to college and get a roommate for the first time.”

“Come on, it could happen!” Hunk insisted. “Like Lance said, we don’t know anything about Keith. He could very well be a super friendly, fun, cool guy that Lance would love to spend time with! Sometimes it’s good to think best-case scenario when you’re anxious about something.”

“I’m not anxious about Keith,” said Lance. “I’m just… I dunno, I’m not anything!”

“Besides disappointed that he’s not an eight-year-old,” Pidge said.

“Right, besides that. It’s all up in the air right now, is the thing. I could be getting the greatest brother ever or the worst, could go either way. Can’t find out ‘til Wednesday.”

“Do your parents have any more info on him?” Hunk asked. “It’s not like a social worker just came up to them and told them, ‘Hey, you’re getting a kid, his name’s Keith, incoming sophomore, pick him up on Wednesday, the rest is a surprise.’”

“They don’t know anything that would matter to me,” Lance answered. “Mamá got this binder on him, but I’m pretty sure it’s all just case history and medical stuff. Wouldn’t do me a whole lot of good to know his former addresses and his blood type.”

“In that case,” said Pidge, “Guess all that’s left to do is wait.”

“Yeah,” Lance sighed. “I guess.”

“Hey, be excited,” Hunk said. “You’re getting a new brother. And odds are, you’re getting a new person to add to our group, so I guess Pidge and I get to be excited too.”

“Good point,” Pidge said with a nod. “What would the Three Musketeers be without their d’Artagnan?”

Lance blinked at her. “What would what?”

“What would the Three Stooges be without Shemp?”

“Ah. Well, you’ll get to meet him soon too, seeing as he’s gonna be our classmate and all. So if he’s horrible, you guys get to suffer with me, okay?”

“Sounds great.”

“Let us know when he gets in, okay?” Hunk said. “Text us your first impressions, get a picture, stuff like that.”

“Aw, isn’t it cute?” Pidge said. “Hunk’s even more excited about your new brother than you are.” Hunk just shrugged.

“Sure, fine, I’ll give you all the live coverage,” Lance said. “And Hunk, if he shows up and he’s not the mega-friendly new best friend you promised me, you owe me recompense for getting my hopes up.”

“Ooh, look at Lance, pulling out the SAT words,” Pidge laughed.

“Fine, deal,” said Hunk. “I’ll place my bet now.”

“And I’ll join that betting pool,” said Pidge. “My money’s on him being a hellspawn maniac who tries to murder you in your sleep.”

“Pidge,” Lance said, “Why the hell would you say that?”

“To mess with you.”

“Great. So my options are ‘crazy murderer’ and ‘angel who was crafted specifically to be my perfect friend’.”

“As a group, we’re really not that great at considering the middle ground, are we?” Pidge said.

“Keeps life interesting. All right, signing off now, I’ll keep both of you updated on the Keith situation, okay?”

At the confirmations from his friends, Lance ended the Skype call and pushed his swivel chair back from his desk with a long, slow breath.

Wednesday. Keith would be coming on Wednesday. Today was Monday, so he had two days to prepare. Two days before he got his brand new brother.

“Damn it, Hunk,” he muttered to himself, “You’d be better be right about him.”

[aggistelar1984-blog]

My girlfriend Saralynn Buys and I had the oppertunity to dance with McHammer and Vanilla Ice when they came to perform at a concert here in Utah. It was a rush! We went bowling with Vanilla Ice and some of his enterouge the next night. I would have to say the most random thing that happend to me to this day was somehow McHammers Cell Phone ended up in my bag. I was hiking with my family in Sequoia Nat Park when I was a teenager, and we saw a bear lumbering ahead of us and to the right, and we stopped, shouting every so often at hikers coming from the other way to make them aware. Then, some IDIOT decided it was prime photo time and starts sneaking up on it. The bear charges at it, but at soon as the idiot was spooked and stumbled back, the bear just went on his merry way, away from the hiking path. And the whole school sort of talks about it, when he not around. His dad might be crazy. The man is really eccentric, and no one ever seen him not wearing a three piece suit. Clios nudism cushion is my favourite so far. It's Worked very well for me as a spring/summer cushion. It has a soft matte finish which I prefer, and it lasts for a decent time without primer. I don know your exmil, but it sounds as if this has been her plan all along. She wanted do over babies with her husbandson. She likely spends a significant amount of time out of your sight grooming your children to call her and think of her as Mom. " n n n nThe four women had underwent a DC CIK intravenous treatment, which was billed as a "platelet rich plasma, " at a DR Medical Beauty Group location on Wednesday, China Daily reported. They were taken to the hospital after complaining of deep headaches and diarrhea. n n n nIt was later determined that they were diagnosed with septic shock, a life threatening blood infection that causes extremely low blood pressure according to the National Institutes of Health. This type of game scenario could be easily created in Trainersoft by using photos or graphics, and applying hot spots that link to 서울출장마사지 video clips. Once the video clip has played, a multiple choice quiz box could pop up that asks the user what he should do next. The options for answers could be linked to individual video clips that play out that scenario. Spoke to my therapist about this and really the only way for me to stop feeling this way was to remind myself, that if and when death happens, I will still be ok. I not sure if you feel the same way, but to me, it feels like their deaths would devastate and ruin me totally. Like I could not 서울출장마사지 live without them in my lives. But hey if you want to believe the illuminati lizardman are altering our gene through vaccines to hide that the earth is flat then I doubt I can change your mind. Thinking there more lies than truth is some serious psychological trust issues going on. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine." 44 points submitted 12 days ago. I would have done it for a baby or young who had a low probability of getting better. Like my cat, they would not have been able to understand the situation or why they were going through pain, they would not have been able to express their will to me. So why is it okay to put down a cat but not a child.

[hackersandslackers]

Dealing with Dirty Data

Adventures in Excel

In my last post, we discussed how what separates a true analyst (read: technical) from a project manager wearing the mask of an analyst like some Scott Snyder era Joker (I figure that there's a solid overlap between fans of comic books and fans of the real world application of data. Note that this is a study with an N = 1 so it bares no statistical significance, but I have a funny feeling...call it spidey sense). Full disclosure, this post comes mostly out of my inability to sleep in my hotel room in Chicago following a grueling day of doing the very things I discuss in this blog, and preceding a day where I'll have to literally explain my last post to the suits, but perhaps this is the best mindset to begin discussing the myriad ways in which you may encounter dirty data in the wild, and how a savvy analyst may pivot and match their way around it. However, if my prose isn't as on point as you have grown accustomed...blame it on the 4AM haze. Alas, let's begin by discussing the organizational structure of the majority of corporate entities that leverage data to some degree (note, this isn't all corporations...and what does that say about the state of business?) and how, at each step of abstraction in this process that you are from the data, the data gets dirtier and dirtier. Essentially, there's always going to be a group of about 5-10 fewer-than-necessary legitimately skilled data scientists and/or computer programmers/DBAs who are really solid at building and maintaining a database as well as and some sort of compiling language (nowadays, that's probably python, but not exclusively, nor does this matter). However, depending on your industry (unless of course your industry IS data), it's nearly impossible to recruit people who have these skills to the level necessary AND have some familiarity with why this data is needed, and/or the ability to explain how the internal products that they build can be used by an end user. As such, this team has their own project manager(s) who's sole job is to keep these guys from developing a sentient AI that's sole goal is the annihilation of unfolded laundry...when your industry is healthcare. This team should also have at least one analyst who will take the raw code base and do the first step of translation to a more user friendly form. This generally takes shape as either dashboards in a system like Tableau, or if your company has a group of particularly strong data/business analysts (or particularly weak programmers) an interface written in plain(enough) English on a Business Intelligence platform such as Microsoft BI/SAP Business Objects or whatever other system your company utilizes. As a fun little note, this team ALMOST ALWAYS is referred to by some sort of acronym such as QDAR! (Quality data and reporting!) or KMnR! (Knowledge management and reporting!) or Those Fucking Guys (who have something to do with data) (TFG(whstdwd)). On a less fun little note...neither you, nor seemingly ANYONE ELSE will have contact with this team. In light of this information, how do the reports that they build get chosen or who decides how these databases are built? The world may never know. So let's assume the first type of reporting: the Dataratti (which is how I will refer to the acronym defined team described above moving forward) produces dashboards utilizing a tool such as Tableau or Crystal Reports. You may be thinking to yourself: "hey, isn't my job taking the data and putting it in a form where people who are scared by more than two nested groups of parenthesis, and thus this renders my job unnecessary?" The answer to the question is twofold: Yes, and of course not! As mentioned previously, the decision to create these dashboards, the data contained therein, and how you want them to look is decided upon by a mythical creature who has full access and understanding of the data warehouse, AND has full access to and understanding of the stakeholders (AKA, Those Who Sit Above in Shadow ; that's a reference from a famous run of Thor comics that refers to to a mysterious cabal of gods who perpetuate the cycle of Ragnarok in order to subsist upon the energies created by this strife...which as I write this, is an almost disgustingly on-the-nose metaphor for upper management). Now, if you believe that you may be this mythical creature (as I do), I DARE you to apply for a job with this job description, and once you clinch it with the advice from this blog, rapidly realize that your job will involve either one of these job duties or the other. With that digression, even if somehow a useful dashboard for YOU is created, the limitations inherent in these dashboarding tools make one CRUCIAL issue omnipresent: one can only effectively illustrate up to 16 different variables at a time before the system breaks down (for example, Tableau's documentation specifically warns against this). So even if you have the nicest, most illustrative dashboards on the planet from the Dataratti, there is a nearly 100% chance that the information that you actually need will be scattered across 2-3 different dashboards...rendering the nice looking dashboards essentially useless for your purposes, and as previously stated, you have no contact with the Dataratti, nor do you have access to the underlying data from which these dashboards are created. So pop quiz hot shot, what DO you do? Well, mercifully, all of these dashboard tools allow an end user to download a "data dump" (our parlance for "a buncha numbers with headings"). Using Tableau as an example, one can download either a "crosstab" or a text file of the data represented by the dashboard (in both "summary" and "full data" format). Now, just to get the truly gifted in Tableau off my back, yes, the functionality does exist to build in the ability to download the data in the exact format necessary for your needs through a specific combination of custom web server views and Javascript, but... If the users of the dash are exclusively using this function, why do the dashboard at all? And... This forces the developers in the Dataratti to have decent web design skills on top of really high level Tableau skills, and it requires someone to anticipate exactly how the data will be used by the end user by the Dataratti (which is incredibly hard as it's impossible to speak to this department directly, and as previously stated, the lack of this knowledge on their end is the entire reason why my department exists). A few things to note before downloading data from Tableau: You must highlight at least one element of the dashboard before downloading a crosstab. Depending on what kind of dashboard you're working with, you may need to highlight the entirety of one column in order to capture the entirety of your data (click the first element in any column and then scroll down to the bottom of the report...which may be enormously long, hit shift and click the last element in the report) before downloading either the data or the crosstab. If you are downloading a crosstab, be wary, Tableau web server caps how many rows you can download in this method at a time, this can be avoided by downloading the text version of the data (by clicking data as opposed to crosstab). HOWEVER... If you are going the data route, it defaults to summary view. Look over all the headings, and ensure that this covers everything you need, otherwise click "full data" . Interestingly, this still isn't actually the entirety of your data, and continue to check to make sure all of your headings are covered, otherwise, click the display all columns box, and then download all the rows as a text file. Now, repeat these steps until all of the data that you need in your report is contained across these text files (.csv, AKA the Comma Separated Value file type). With all that lunacy completed, you now have several sheets with some common columns, but all with different information; only some of which you need, so what do you think you do? Simple, you use the tools given to you in the previous posts: you lookup on the common factors across the sheets and return the data that you want until you have all the data you need, in the correct order, on one sheet, and then depending on the ask, you may want to pivot that data out in order to summarize the whole mess of data. THIS IS YOUR FINAL PRODUCT well done. Another protip: if you want to reposition data that you've obtained via a lookup, highlight the whole column, hit control+C to copy the data and then hit control+V pause a second (press NOTHING else) and then press control FOLLOWED by V . This takes the values generated by a formula and replaces them with the values obtained. Functionally, this looks exactly the same, but now you can move the data around without affecting or being affected by other data. As explaining only one possible dirty data scenario took over 1500 words, next time, we'll discuss the other most common form of taking the dirty data from the Dataratti and making it useful to you: using business intelligence portals as opposed to dashboards in order to grab the data that you need. Also, if I don't get roasted on a spit for being half asleep for tomorrow's (today's?) meeting, I'll try and write up a companion post with an example of how this works out in practice. In summary, in this post we've learned: How data is generally siloed and sequestered within the corporate environment, leading to a bevy of unnecessary steps on behalf of the analyst in order to distill a functional report for the powers-that-be Two major methods in which data comes from the data team (henceforth known as the Dataratti) to your team: Dashboards and Business Intelligence interfaces, and... Assuming you get data in the form of dashboards, how to take these dashboards, download the underlying data, recombine and manipulate the data, and package it in a way acceptable for your needs. Congrats, you've just learned the crucial skill of the Slice n' Dice ! Quite sleepily, -Snacks

- Max Mileaf

[retrogamestoreblr-blog]

25 Red Hot Facebook Group Hacks

Do You Know What Gets 10 Times The Engagement Of A Facebook Page? A Facebook Group.

If you’re still using Facebook Pages, welcome to 2020, where Facebook Groups are the now way to win new customers and make sales.I’m about to show you how to get people to automatically WANT to join your group, how to grow your email list and how to get your group members to TELL you want they want to BUY from you, too.

“While you can utilize your Facebook group to grow your email list, I realize that some folks might wonder why you should bother. But It's Important To Do So.”

Here are 25 rapid fire tips to help you master any Facebook group you're using for business.1: Invite Them to Join Your Facebook Group Right Away.When someone comes to your website, send them to your ‘start here’ page.Give them a little bit of an introduction, and then immediately invite them to join your community on Facebook, a group of friendly members who are all there to help each other succeed.Give them the link with the words, “Click here to request to join.” Or right after they subscribe to your email list, ask them to join your Facebook Group.If you’re doing a promotion of some kind, maybe step 1 is to share the promotion and ​market it on Twitter or LinkedIn, and step 2 is to join the Facebook Group.You get the idea – make it easy, invite them early and often, and tell them why they want to join you group.2: Invite Them Again.Yes you read that correctly!Invite them AGAIN to join your Facebook Group.Place an invitation at the end of your emails in the signature section.Place it in forum signatures and any and everywhere else that it’s appropriate.3: Create an Effective Link.Create a link that is YourWebsite.com/community to take people to your Facebook Group to join.Why not use the word “Group” or “FBGroup” instead of “Community?”Because a community implies a sense of connection and belonging – two things people crave.4: Sprinkle that Link EVERYWHERE.Do you have your own podcast?Mention the link.Are you a guest on someone else’s podcast or webinar?Mention the link.Social media?Use the link.Hand out your Group Link like a business card.Or like candy.Or both.5: Link Your Groups Together.If you have multiple Facebook Groups, link them together like this:Go to a different group than the one you want to promote.Go to ‘more’.Click on ‘link existing group'.Then type in the group your linking and hit ‘link’.Now it will say that the Group Admin recommends this other Group.6: Feature a Group Member Outside of the Group.Choose someone inside your Group to feature in a blogpost, podcast, video, social media, or wherever you like.This lets people know that there’s a community they can join, and that you’re featuring people from there, giving them free publicity.7: Get Personal.Write personal messages to the top contributors in your group.To find them, go to your Group and click on “Group Insights.”Click on “members” and you’ll see a list of the top contributors, how many posts they've created and even the comments they've made.Send them a personal message THANKING them.In most cases you will totally make their day. They’ll feel the warm fuzzies and they’ll want to contribute even more to the Group.8: Share the Prestige.Choose some of your top contributors to be moderators.By giving your top people authority to moderate, they can help you control the spam and police the trolls.They can also remove and delete posts, as well as approving new members into the group.Perhaps best of all, it rewards your top contributors and allows them to feel chosen and special.This takes work off of your shoulders and creates ‘superfans’ who have your back and know they are part of your team.9: Share Exclusive Content.Show them stuff behind the scenes that no one else gets to see.Make them feel like they're a part of something special and exclusive.You might show them your process, what you’re working on, or give them info or stories that you share with no one else online.Tell them what you're dealing with right now, and even go live and share something important about yourself or your business.You might also give them first looks at a new product you have in development, and even get feedback on it, too.If you’re writing a book, share a chapter with them, or a first look at the cover. People want to feel like they are on the ‘inside,’ and they’re interested in the processes that bring things to fruition, too.And they even love hearing about the mistakes you’ve made and what you learned from them – maybe even more so than hearing about your triumphs.10: Ask for Their Help.People love to be asked for their opinion and advice.Maybe you’re working on something and you have multiple options - share those options with your group members and see what they think.Are you designing a logo or book cover? Show them the options and ask which one they like, and why.Are you debating between two courses of action? Let them know and ask for their advice.These will likely be some of the most active posts you make, as people get involved and talking, weighing in with their own thoughts and ideas.And they can be tremendously helpful for you, too, by providing insights and ideas you never even thought of before.11: Share Short, Highly Actionable Info.Post things that can be consumed quite quickly but yield powerful results.For example, the exact formula you use to create a winning product.Or the 3 questions you ask every single outsourcer that guarantees great results.Or the 8 words that reduce refunds by 50%.Post something super quick and easy for people to take action on and get results that make them happy.And by the way, this is a great way to turn your members into raving fans, too.I actually use this technique in my Q&A Forum.12: Do a Monthly Survey.Again, people love to give their opinion, so why not give them a poll or survey now and then? This can help you to better understand your audience, who they are and what they want.It’s also a great way to inject some humor as well.Make a couple of your possible answers silly, funny or even ridiculous.Stuck for questions?How about… What is the one thing that is driving you crazy about ___?What is one small secret about your experience with ___ that you have never told anyone?If you could choose any small superpower that would change your business for the better, what would it be?What’s the stupidest advice you’ve ever heard in this niche?What was the best advice?To create a poll, under the status area click “poll.” You can add different options, then click “post” and you're done.13: Start a Discussion.One of the reasons why groups are better than pages is because of the discussions.And if you choose something that has some controversy behind it, you can get a lot of people talking.How controversial you want to get is entirely up to you.I once saw a debate that raged on for three days on social media, about what was better: Smooth or chunky peanut butter.I can’t imagine anyone’s feelings were hurt during this great debate, but there sure were a lot of opinions.14: Pop a Quiz.With a poll you’re looking for opinions. But with a quiz you’re looking for specific answers.Maybe you pose a riddle or a question, giving a scenario and asking what the answer is.Don’t make it too easy, but don’t make it so hard that nobody gets it, either.People love to shout out the answers to those game shows on television, and a quiz in your Facebook Group should garner plenty of responses, too.15: Go Live.Have a regular schedule of going live.It will do wonders for connecting with your group and increasing your authority with your members.Pick a specific topic or maybe just go on to say hello and answer questions.To go live, go into your group and click live video.Start your live video by acknowledging the replay viewers, so they feel welcomed, too, when they see the video later.Then talk to your live viewers, say hi and just be yourself.16: Spam Day.This one is a little strange, but it works.You can go a long way towards controlling the spam in the group by letting it all happen in one post on one day.Choose a day of the week where you give your members total permission to promote whatever they want to promote. You’ll make a post just for this.Once you have a lot of members, you’ll find there are hundreds of comments in there.It gets people to talk and communicate, which is a wonderful thing because the more engagement there is, the more likely members are to see your posts in their newsfeed.It gives your folks a chance to promote what they’re working on, which makes them feel good and might even send them a little traffic.And when they post on any other day, it’s easy to give them a warning and let them know that you do allow them to do this on that one day you’ve chosen, which makes them more receptive to not posting spam the other six days of the week.If you see certain kinds of spam in this weekly post – things that just don’t belong in your group – get rid of those posts right away.By training your audience to promote their own stuff only in a specific place and day, it makes it easy to clean up the rest of the group. 17: Automate.Choose a tool to post automatically on Facebook and even Twitter and other places, too.Meet Edgar and Buffer are both good, and there are dozens of others to choose from.The more you can automate, the more time you have for other things.Realize you can’t automate everything, since social media is supposed to be social.You do need to respond and interact.But there are posts you can plan for and have the software take care of it for you.18: Educate on Notifications.You want to show members how they can get notified when new posts are up in the group.You might create a video for this or show a screenshot with an arrow.Have them click on the notifications box that's right under the cover art, and then click on highlights.They can choose if they want all posts or just ones from friends. And they can even click the off button, too if they want to.Adjusting notifications allows the posts they want from this group to be shown in their newsfeed.On a mobile device they need to look for the blue checkmark to the left, underneath the cover art, or they can click on the information bar or icon at the top right and then hit notification settings from there.19: Be Open and Honest.This one is maybe so obvious, I don’t have to spell it out, but I will anyway just in case.You always want to be honest and authentic with your members.It’s even okay to be vulnerable with them as well.We all love to connect with other people in general, but we especially love to connect with people who are real.Don't be afraid to be open, to talk about the tough times, to just be honest and authentic.Doing this is going to take you a very long way when it comes to them seeing you as a leader.And of course, never speak down to your members.Speak on the same level and even ask them for help if needed. They're going to respect you a lot more for that.20: Use Facebook Group Insights.Facebook collects a ton of data on our members and luckily, they share some of it with us.To get access to this data, just go to your group and click “group insights” on the left-hand side.It's going to tell you a few things such as how many new members you've gotten, how many posts and comments and reactions and so forth.But the most important thing here is the member details on the right-hand side.Click on that and you'll see a list of the top contributors which you may recognize from earlier.Scroll down and you're going to get some good demographic data such as age and gender, and also geographical data such as top countries and top cities.This can be especially useful if you’re doing Facebook advertising, since it is giving you a very good idea of who to target.You get key insights on who is actually interested in your group and how to find more of those people.21: Facebook Content Polls.You’re going to create another poll, but this time it’s not on a random topic.Your one goal with this poll is to understand more about what your audience needs and wants.Give them a choice of topics for your next live training.This will not only tell you what topics they’re interested in – it will also tell you what topics they’re NOT interested in.You can use this information to help you choose which product to make next.One time I was all set to create a new product on a certain topic, but when I did a poll to see what kinds of training my group wanted, that particular topic received almost no votes.That little poll saved me from creating a product that my members simply weren’t interested in, which was almost as valuable to me as finding out what they did want to learn.22: Crowdsource Information.You can collect information from your members that you can use elsewhere.For example, you might ask for case studies, testimonials, success stories, tips and even resources they found especially helpful.I once asked my group what was the best product they had purchased in the last six months. I was astonished to find that a large number of them said the same thing, and yet it was a product I had never taken notice of before.I ordered a copy, loved it and started promoting it, banking an extra $4,300 over the next month from that one product recommendation.I’ve also gotten some of my very best testimonials from my Group, as well as hot tips that I’ve expanded upon and then posted back onto the Group, using them in a lead magnet and a product, too.It’s amazing what the collective minds of your group can offer you, if you only ask.23: Create Events for Launches.You’ve got a product coming out, or a book or some type of event.To get your members to join you for this event and even help support it, create an event.Go to events on the left-hand side of your group and then click on “create event.”Fill out the information, include an image, and start creating buzz.It will also send out a notification at the time at which this event is about to happen. 24: Grow Your Email List.While you can utilize your Facebook group to grow your email list, I realize that some folks might wonder why you should bother.After all, you’re getting fabulous interaction with your group.There’s plenty of activity and communication and it's thriving which is fantastic.But you still want the email for a couple of reasons.Email is a great personal one to one way to communicate with somebody, especially if you're promoting something or sharing something important, because it goes directly into their inbox.And while Facebook Groups are great, what happens if Facebook changes the rules for the groups?What if they throttle how often people see your messages, just like they did with pages?And what if Facebook goes away altogether?Not likely, but definitely possible.In that case, at least if you have your email list. You have a list of people who are interested in what it is that you're doing, and you could setup shop somewhere else.This is why growing your email list is one of the most important things that you could do.One more thing – the more people see your name, the more you are remembered, the easier it is to sell to them.If they have contact with you in your Facebook Group and in their inbox, you become someone even more familiar to them, and familiarity breeds trust.25: New Member Questions.You can ask questions to members before you let them into your group.You setup these questions ahead of time so that you can collect answers from people before they get access to the group.To do this, go to your group, click on ‘more’ and then click “edit group settings.”Some sample questions you might ask are:How did you find this group?What's your biggest struggle when it comes to building your online business?Which of the following best describes your situation? I want to start an online business. I have an online business but I’m struggling to make it profitable. I have an online business and it’s doing great, but I want to grow it even bigger.The first question tells you where your traffic is coming from, which also tells you where to focus your attention to get even more traffic.The second question is important because that's how you find out what they need.And the third question tells you if you should address your content mainly to brand new marketers, marketers with some experience or seasoned marketers who want to grow their business even bigger. There you have it – 25 tips for growing, managing and scaling your Facebook Group to get more engagement and grow your business. Read the full article

[sanskritintheeveryday]

For Christmas, one of my close friends gifted to me a self proclaimed “ayurvedic vegan cookbook” called Eat Feel Fresh. The author of the book, who I follow on instagram, posted various links to this account. When I noticed the name Ojas, I gave it further inspection and discovered that it is “food and lifestyle brand” based in New York. On their mission statement page the company claims that “A nod to the Sanskrit word for “vitality” Ojas Studio is a food and lifestyle brand created to spread the love and wonder of Ayurveda.” Mostly, they create health food snacks that are designed for each of the doshas-Pitta, Vata, Kapha (they have a quiz on their website that tells you what kind of dosha you have). They sell their products online and in store, if you have the time and money to visit them in NY anyways. 

Ojas (ntr.) translates to “strength or power” (Ruppel, page 414). It comes from the root Vaj or Uj, meaning “bodily strength, vigor, energy, ability, or power” (A Sanskrit English Dictionary, Sir M. Monier-Williams, page 235) I think that this word is used correctly in this context. The food is designed to be a health food, snacks that boost energy that don’t contain artificial sweeteners and are crafted using primarily spices, dates, and grains. Healthy food gives you power and energy, while junk food makes you tired and lethargic. 

I have conflicting reactions to this company. I was initially interested in their “East meets West” ideology that they state on their mission statement page, and the focus on Ayurveda in 21st century America. I thought, “wow, how cool that they are bringing this Sanskrit term and the longstanding history of Ayurveda to people who may have never otherwise been introduced to it. However, with this type of engagement with Sanskrit does introduce the notion of appropriation. There is a difference between appreciating a culture/language and trying to engage with it/introducing your friends and peers to it and allowing them to engage with it, and using that culture for promotional/material reasons. 

I’d also like to make note here that I’ve seen more and more companies pop up around the U.S that make their basis on “Eastern” culture. I think it can be argued that the “West” seems to have an odd fetishization with the “East,” viewing it as more spiritual or mystical. This should be recognized early on when aligning one’s view points. This is exactly the issue the Edward Said introduced us to in his book “Orientalism.” The notion of appropriation should be kept in the back of one’s mind when viewing other cultures, in this case Indian culture, as the basis for a Western company, especially if those westerners do not have either 1. a relationship to that culture ethnically or religiously, or 2. do not have a significant breadth of LEGITIMATE knowledge on that culture. With that being said, it is possible that this company can be seen as benefiting financially from the use of Sanskrit and Indian culture in contemporary life, especially with the cultural focus that Westerners have on “Eastern values/culture,” and can be seen as possibly culturally appropriating. 

 I think that the question of appropriation or non-appropriation lies with ownership of the company; is it owned by an individual that has no concrete knowledge on Sanskrit or Ayurveda and is just using the popularity of "the East” in contemporary culture? Or, is it owned by an individual who does have concrete knowledge on these topics, and does have proper respect for them? From their website, which is not always an accurate portrayal of that company’s motives, it seems that they do promote a genuine understanding of Ayurvedic philosophies, although their use of Sanskrit is less elaborated on. I think that using Indian culture and ancient/sacred language in this way can be a fun and valuable way to spread this knowledge with a large group of people, who, like I said previously, would not have been exposed to it otherwise. However, there is a fine line between appreciation and appropriation, and the fact that this company is using these cultural aspects in a financial way seems very close to crossing that line. What do you all think about the concept of appropriation? Is it applicable to this scenario, or is this actually a promising way to promote Sanskrit and Indian culture in contemporary life?

[rallyanime-blog]

Summer 2017 Anime Pre-Op (ACT 2)

Even more of the summer 2017 worth checking out. Although they might not have the universal appeal or amazing quality I think the anime featured in Part 1 featured, these shows are still pretty excellent in my opinion.

Good shit you should check out

Gamers!

A bit of an oddball choice. What appears to be the most generic high school club anime out there is privy to one of, in my opinion, the funniest and most enjoyable experiences I’ve seen in a while.

Gamers! has the unfortunate stigma of being what seems to a be a dime a dozen school club anime that presents the club subject gimmick before inevitably becoming the rom-com it was truly hiding all along. And Gamers! fits this standard perfectly. It’s not that this particular subject matter is special in anyway nor is it that the characters are revolutionary departures from the traditional members of a club anime. What makes Gamers! enjoyable is the impeccable direction.

What I appreciate about Gamers! is that it fires off jokes at a rapid fire pace. Just joke after gag after slapstick in quick succession. No need for that extended anime comedy explanation! If there’s anything that Gamers! does right, it is its excellent comedic timing and expressive character animation that helps sell the humor. Gamers! also does fake-out twists very well as well. Striking and memorable visual gags also help to enhance the humor such as the pop up text and our MC bursting into flames or the extended shot of the classroom at the beginning of the episode.

The show also looks pretty nice as well with very colorful character and background design as well as well defined character acting and animation. Overall, Gamers! is one of the most well rounded and hilarious comedy anime I’ve seen in a long time.

Kakegurui

Do you like crazy bitches? Do you like gambling? I think the answer for most people would surely be yes. As so, Kakegurui is the show for you.

In a crazy high school setting that could only exist in anime, gambling determines your intrinsic value as a human being as these students are literally gambling with hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars. In the vein of Kaiji, Kakegurui is a high stakes gambling show where the characters are engaged in a deranged duel of wits and treachery to completely ruin the other person. 

Well thought out schemes and scenarios help keep the viewer interested in what’s going on on screen. Have the players, or more specifically Yumeko, operate a step beyond the viewer instead of along side us helps keep the action engaging and us guessing on how Yumeko is going to go ABSOLUTE MADWOMAN to best her opponents.

I can’t understate how great the directing is in emphasizing this insanity. In the vein of Tetsuo Araki projects, frenetic, dynamic camera movement along with choice hyper detail and and close ups really up the intensity of the matches. The characters have their faces distorted with insanity and malice and Yumeko herself becomes one of the most intimidating (And extraordinarily sexy) characters I’ve seen in recent history. The very bold colors present in these scenes go further to add to the mayhem.

Needless to say, Kakegurui is ready to take us on a journey we aren’t prepared to undergo.

Fastest Finger First

This pick is a bit of a self-serving one. There are few things that I love more about anime than the unconventional sports shows. I’m talking about Chihayafuru (Karuta), Ping Pong the Animation (Self explanatory), Gundam Build Fighters (Which isn’t even real!), Welcome to the Ballroom (Ballroom dancing), and Yuri on Ice!! (Ice skating). This show is literally about competitive quiz bowls and academic decathlons. And it’s sick.

Perhaps my love for this type of show stems from the joy of just learning about new sports and all of its intricacies. There’s always something fun about learning about this completely foreign world with the MC and meeting all of the people who care really deeply about their sport. Maybe its the unadulterated passion that all of the characters express for something that most people would consider trivial (Get it?) that is inspiring and fills me with the good feels. Its always easy to get swept up in the rush of the competition and adrenaline in sports anime.

That being said, Fastest Finger First is a fairly straightforward sports narrative with our MC is somewhat unwillingly thrust into the world of competitive quiz bowls. Don’t expect anything different from a really enjoyable sports story with nice character animation and cool visual metaphors and motifs.

New Game!!

Second season of the very excellent New Game!. Its pretty self explanatory that we are guaranteed more cute hijinks with are favorite group of artists and programmers as they try to make it in the games industry. Also look forward to more yuribait in your near future.

Expect more excellent character animation from trusty Doga Kobo as well as brilliant colorful design in the very memorable Eagle Jump Office.

The OP and ED are also excellent and communicate a a lot about what this show is all about: Great characters doing Great things.

I think that wraps up ACT 2. Chapter 3 is coming soon to cover even more anime that you can consider sampling even if I might not have liked them as much as some of the previous entries on this list.

[di-sss-learning-engineering]

How to Improve Memory for Studying in 27 Ways Sometimes it feels impossible to remember everything thrown at you during college. Between the major battles of the Crimean War, partial derivatives, and the life cycle of the western gymnosperm, how do you keep it all in your head? But it turns out that with the right tools, you can drastically improve your ability to learn and retain the mountains of information necessary to succeed both in college and beyond. So read on and I’ll teach you 27 awesome memory hacks that will help you achieve this! 1. Your Brain 101  The human brain is an efficient organ, and sometimes we don’t keep information that we later wish we had. Our minds are full of memories and information accumulated over a lifetime, and we have basically two types of memory to help organize all this stuff: a) Short-term memory = things we’re doing right now; very sharp! b) Long-term memory = things we’ve done in the past; much duller. The goal here is to better encode information into your long-term memory so that it’ll be available later for, say, a pop quiz or test.  I’ll talk about specific techniques to help you do this coming up. 2. Set the Scene  Start off with choosing a study spot where your focus can rest fully on the task at hand to help with the encoding of memory. Even if you think you’re a multi-tasking ninja, your conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time. So eliminate any distractions. A quiet room with good lighting is best for reading. In a classroom, the ideal scenario is taking notes with pen and paper. Or if you’re a laptop note taker, at least shut off any notifications from popping up to remind you that you’ve gone fifteen minutes without checking Facebook! Look: Failing to prepare yourself to learn will render most of the following tricks and tips useless. We know life isn’t perfect, and you can’t always have the ideal setting available for studying. But with a little advance planning, it’s absolutely doable. 3. Be Present If you can restate what you’ve heard in a lecture in your own words, your chances of remembering later are much higher than if you listen passively. This is called “attending,” and there are many ways to do it: writing notes during a lecture instead of just listening, or in a one-on-one session with your prof saying “This is what I think you said…” and then putting it in your own words. Just be sure that your laptop and other distractions are put away to enable you to focus solely on the task at hand. 4. Keep Calm and Study On  Stress decreases your ability to encode and retrieve memories. My guess is that if you’re reading this article, then that’s the last thing you want to do! This stress impact can be reduced with meditation, focused breathing, or even yoga. Anything you do to relax and reduce stress can and likely will help your memory. 5. Go to Bed Yes, your mom was right. Those all-nighters are doing you more harm than good. While you may think the extra hours of studying will get you the grade you want, studies have proven that sleep is vital for memory. One such study completed by Rasch and Born demonstrated the importance of REM sleep—the deepest stage in the sleep cycle—in stabilizing memories. Getting enough sleep every night and maintaining as regular a sleep and wake time as possible will go miles toward a better memory. 6. Exercise  A good workout won’t just help your memory, but it may reduce stress and help you sleep. Triple whammy! This doesn’t mean you need to spend an hour on the treadmill every day. Simply electing to take the stairs instead of the elevator or walking the three blocks to your favorite coffee shop instead of taking the bus can make a difference. 7. Outsource Your Brain Know a great way to help your memory? Stop relying on your brain to remember every little detail. In the age of calendar apps, let your phone remember that dentist appointment. You focus on the power rule for your calculus exam. 8. Focus on the Learning Process Let’s face it: Nothing can replace the time you put in effectively studying and learning new material. Studying early and often will always beat last-minute cramming. But inevitably with all the things competing for your time in college, you’ll find yourself the night before a test wondering how you’re ever going to get all that information in your head. That’s why I’m going to focus the rest of the tips on some specific techniques that can be real life savers for speeding up the memorization process. 9. Acronyms You’ve likely heard of PEMDAS, the acronym that helped us all to memorize the order of operations in elementary school. By remembering this made-up word, you can recall the sequence of words that align with each letter: Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction. Try making up your own acronyms as easy shortcuts to memorizing everything from historical events to chemical processes. 10. Acrostics  Similarly, acrostics are words comprised of the first letters of other words. But typically you use them to join longer phrases or concepts. For a simple example, if you’re studying the Gettysburg Address, you might make an acrostic that looks like this: Abraham Lincoln delivered it on November 19, 1863 Because he wanted to honor Union soldiers who had fallen at the Battle of Gettsyburg Equality, freedom, and democracy were its main themes 11. Create Connections and Associations Connecting something you know to a new concept you’re trying to learn can help fix that new concept in your memory. For example, knowing that gravity causes things to move faster and faster toward the Earth when dropped, you may associate acceleration with gravity. Acceleration is like gravity but can be in any direction. 12. Repetition (Listening) We all memorize through repetition when we listen to our favorite song a hundred times and suddenly realize we know every word. In the same way, when you listen to a definition you’re trying to memorize as either you or a friend repeat it over and over, then you’ll remember it more quickly. 13. Repetition (Doing)  This method is common with musicians and athletes. Perhaps a violinist can’t seem to memorize a few measures of music; she might repeat the same notes until her fingers seem to play the notes on their own. 14. Repetition (Reading)  If you want to remember the order of a story for a presentation, it may help to read its summary several times. When you reach the point of knowing what’s about to happen before you read it, then you know you’ve memorized the order of events. 15. Repetition (Writing) When it comes to things like new terms and spelling differences, sometimes writing and re-writing something until it becomes second nature can help you to memorize it. 16. Rhyme-Keys This method typically is used with a list in which order is important. You first link each number to a word that rhymes with it. For example, number one could be “sun”, and two could be “blue”. To keep two things in order, you might tell a story with these rhyme-keys. If butter is first and cheese is second, then you could tell the following little story to remember: “The butter melts in the sun with the blue cheese.” 17. Visualize  Engage as many senses as you can. Maybe you want to remember a battle for your European history class. Close your eyes and think about the sequence of events. What happened first? Imagine it. Imagine the sound the boats made as they raced toward the shore. What happened second? Imagine the sound of the cannons as they were fired. What happened third? Smell the smoke of a fire. Engage as many of your senses as you can. When you recall that first event, go through the same process until you’ve memorized it. 18. Story Lines Engage the narrative part of your brain. Create a story or dramatize one you already know. Maybe you need to remember a chemical reaction. Give the carbon and hydrogen a story! For example, tell the story of their breakup and new relationships. By making these mundane things into characters, you give yourself new things to remember about them—and maybe have a little fun doing it too. This method has saved students when they had to remember dozens of physics formulas! 19. Chunking Our working, or short-term, memories can only retain five to nine pieces of information at a time. To make the best use of this memory limitation, we can remember the same number of chunks of information instead. For example, as opposed to thinking of each digit of a phone number individually, we tend to think of them in groups. This turns a 10-digit number into three chunks, helping us to memorize it. This idea would help us remember eight numbers by thinking of them as two years. For example, 18421963 becomes 1842 and 1963 as opposed to 1-8-4-2-1-9-6-3. See how that works? Chunking is effective for short-term memorization. 20. Scent  Yes, you read that right. Studies such as one conducted by Anne-Lise Saive, Jean-Pierre Royet, and Jane Plailly have shown that smells can evoke memories. These memories are typically more likely to be sensations or situations rather than specific facts (episodic memory). So, if you were to always chew mint gum in your biology class, while it may not help you directly to remember the chemical formula for glucose, it will evoke the memory of being in that classroom, which may in turn help you recall that formula. 21. Method of Loci This method is also known as the “mind palace.” Imagine you’re walking through your very own castle. You greet George Washington as you step into the foyer, and you greet Barack Obama as you step out of the back door after meeting each of the presidents in various locations in between. You remember the order of the rooms you walked through, and by mentally placing the presidents in those rooms by chronological order, you’ll visualize your way into an A on that presidential history quiz. 22. Image-Name Associations That girl who lives down the hall—maybe it’s Bess? You know you won’t remember her name alone, but you notice she has hair so long you wonder how she buttons her jeans. You now think of her as “Bess whose hair’s a mess,” and now you’ve associated a defining feature with her name, which will help you remember it. This could work in other situations as well, say, for a historical figure or world leaders on a political science test. 23. Chaining  When you have a series or “chain” of things to memorize, you can utilize your visual memory despite having verbal ideas to remember. To do this, you can make up a story as silly or as realistic as you want to chain the unrelated ideas together. For example, three monkeys made a point of going in one roller coaster cart for four different rides. One of these rides was so busy they had five monkeys in one cart. This silly story helps you remember that the first several digits of pi are 3.1415 by chaining the numbers together. 24. Time It Right  If you study before bed, your brain is better able to process that complicated information during sleep. Just know that this relies on you actually getting enough sleep to allow your brain to do its work. 25. Attach Emotion We often remember embarrassing or negative emotions more so than positive ones. So we remember those things we first got wrong in a study group more than the things we could teach others. If you make a mistake in a math technique, the frustration may cause you to remember that you must make the other choice next time. This won’t work for things like city names, but it will work if you know it’s an A or B situation. 26. Organize If you organize a list of names you must remember in alphabetical order, you’ll more easily notice that you skipped a name if you’ve jumped from A names to C names without the name starting with B you wrote the night before. 27. Get Moving  Walking or other gentle exercise allows us to occupy the part of our brain that is idle during resting study. Because we can walk without conscious thought, we let our conscious mind focus more fully on the issue at hand. At the end of the day, no memorization technique can replace strong study habits. However, if you need a memory boost before that final exam or peer review, these tools should do the trick!   Sources/For More Information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHPJp_wK67g http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/how-to-improve-your-memory10.htm https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-babble/201501/smells-ring-bells-how-smell-triggers-memories-and-emotions http://crnlgerland.univ-lyon1.fr/spip.php?article105&lang=fr http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nervous-system/how-to-improve-your-memory7.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23589831

[alihawame-blog]

How to Use WhatsApp for Business & 4 Ideas to Get Started

WhatsApp has grown immensely popular over the last years, and it’s even gotten to the point where any type of business (especially restaurants and retail stores) can take advantage of it to increase customer engagement. Still, we know it’s completely possible that not every one of you is familiar with what WhatsApp is and how it can be a valuable business marketing tool (not everyone has enough time at their disposal to spend on the app, after all). So, before we offer some useful marketing ideas for this app, we’ll also discuss why you should think about using WhatsApp, and how you can use it. In case you’re already familiar with the app, you can just skip to the section that details the marketing tips. What Is WhatsApp , and Why Should Your Business Use It? Essentially, WhatsApp is a mobile app that’s free, and which lets users chat with each other by using their phone’s Internet connection without having to deal with text message charges. The app also offers free video and voice calls, lets users share files and images among themselves, and supports various types of phones (Windows phone, iPhone, BlackBerry, and so on). As for how it works, you just need to download the app, install it, confirm your country and enter your phone number. You then set up a profile, and the app shows you a list of users you can interact with based on the phone numbers in your phone’s contact list. Now, there are 3 ways to interact with other users: One-on-One Chat – Basically, you can easily chat with anyone in your phone list (voice or video), and share files with them. If you want, you can also record snippets of audio text and send them over. Group Chat – A group chat supports up to 256 people, and each one of them can talk and share photos, files, and videos. Broadcast Lists – Sending a message to a broadcast list means it will be received by anyone in said list who has your number saved in their phone’s address book (the number of people is limited to 256). The message will show up as a normal one for them (think of it as the BCC function with emails). If you get a reply from anyone, the chat will act like a normal one-on-one discussion. Even though WhatsApp has been bought by Facebook back in 2014 , the app has yet to be redefined with features that are marketing-friendly (like Facebook Messenger has, for example). So, given all that, why should you use it as a business marketing tool? Well, the audience, for one. WhatsApp has about 1 billion active users – per day. Out of those, around 20.5 million are from the US alone (and the numbers are only expected to grow in the next years). So, it’s quite clear that, marketing-wise, you’d have access to a very large number of consumers. On top of that, it’s highly likely that many of your existing customers (or potential clients too) are already using the app. Another reason would be the fact that modern consumers are actually expecting to interact with businesses (now and in the future) through messaging apps like WhatsApp . In fact, according to a survey , 67% of consumers feel that way. At the same time, 53% of the people who participated in that survey said that they are more likely to do business with a brand they can message directly. Lastly, one more reason we strongly believe you should use this app for your business is because its engagement rates are simply amazing. 98% of mobile messages are actually opened (with 90% of them being opened within 3 seconds of being received). 4 WhatsApp Marketing Ideas for Your Business Before we discuss the marketing ideas , we need to make one thing clear: It’s paramount to understand that WhatsApp doesn’t have any features you can actually use to promote your business, nor do they sell any ad space on their app. Furthermore, you must understand that you cannot create a business account – there’s no such thing like that on WhatsApp . That essentially means you’ll need to create a basic user account for your brand. Also, please keep in mind that any business marketing strategy you employ must be have a personal side to it first and foremost. That’s the nature of this app, and doing anything else will make your approach feel extremely salesy. So, with that out of the way, here are 4 WhatsApp marketing ideas you should try to improve your brand’s image and boost customer satisfaction while also attracting new clients: 1. Offer Customer Support Through WhatsApp Before you ask, no, we’re not referring to literally offering customer support to every single one of your clients through this app – it just wouldn’t be feasible. What you can – and should – do is to set up a branded customer support account that caters to your most loyal clients. Basically, the ones who buy from you the most and who promote your brand too, or clients who are part of your loyalty program (if you have one). There are plenty of possibilities with this. If you run a restaurant or a QSR, you can use such an account to handle more sensitive or serious complaints, or address all sorts of questions customers might have about future or potential products (they’re more likely to interact with you here since they know they have more chances to get a response. If you run a retail chain, you can use this type of premium support to let your top customers know about new products and events, and also keep them updated about any online orders they might have placed. You can advertise this feature on your website and on social media, and also make it a feature that’s part of your loyalty program. Calling it “VIP Customer Support” is an excellent idea, and one that’s sure to get plenty of engagement. And in case you have a loyalty program and want to offer this feature to your most profitable customers but don’t know how to get access to such info, we recommend giving our platform a try – it can offer you the customer insights you need. 2. Create a Relevant Brand Persona Just because you must have a basic user account doesn’t mean you can’t personalize it to the point where it represents your brand in a decent manner. The persona you create can be both imaginary or played by someone within your company (or, why not, someone outside the company who you hire). You can do this to simply promote your brand, or raise awareness about new products, services, or business locations. The catch here is that you need to make people interested enough to contact said persona by using WhatsApp . You can contact them, but it’s not really worth it in this scenario given the limitations we previously discussed. Here’s an example to give you a better idea of what we’re talking about. Say you run a retail store chain, and you’re about to open a new location. To create a lot of hype around it, you’re planning on offering a wide range of discounts (or other potential rewards) during the opening day. However, since there’s likely to be too many people attending because of that, only a certain number of customers will be allowed in during that day. And the only way for people to gain entrance would be to talk with the brand persona you created on WhatsApp (it can represent the store owner or manager, or – why not – even the store doorman) to convince him/her to let them in over other people. People can do that by chatting with the brand persona or sharing files with them (photos of products they bought before to prove they’re loyal customers, and things like that). The idea is that you’ll end up creating a lot of buzz and engagement over your new retail store. The “winners” could be awarded with a QR code (which you can easily send over), which they can show on their phone during the opening to gain access. And if you don’t want to alienate the ones who don’t get in during the first day, you can send over a coupon through the WhatsApp account to make up for it. Naturally, you won’t just set everything up and wait for people to contact you. You should also promote this marketing strategy on your other social media accounts and pages, as well as your website. This is just an imaginary example to help you understand what can be done with a WhatsApp brand persona, of course. All the details of this fictional campaign can be changed according to your needs. 3. Offer One-on-One Help Through WhatsApp No, this is not the same as the VIP customer support bit. This is more marketing-oriented, and more focused on promoting your products and services than addressing customer issues and complaints. For instance, if you have a restaurant or QSR chain, you could connect existing or potential customers to some of your chefs through WhatsApp who can offer them step-by-step assistance with cooking a dish similar to what you offer on your menu. If you have a retail store chain, you could have some brand specialists offer customers help through the app with putting together outfits that incorporate your products. And it’s all pretty straightforward thanks to how easy it is to use the app, and how flexible its file-sharing features are. Once more, you should definitely promote this feature online. 4. Organize a Quiz Quizzes (like contests) are extremely engaging, and – actually – some people might be more inclined to partake in quizzes since they don’t solely rely on luck but skill as well. So, they end up being more satisfying. Whether you run a retail or restaurant/QSR business, setting this up is quite easy. During the promotion, just let customers (and potential clients) know that if they add your number on WhatsApp, they can participate in a quiz to win coupons, discount, or redeemable rewards. They’ll just need to get in touch with you through the app, and answer 3-5 questions. The questions can be about your brand, relevant pop culture, or your products – it’s all up to you, ultimately. Best of all – you can also tie this in with your loyalty program. For example, you can offer winners to chance to sign up for your program when they use their discounts/coupons or redeem their rewards. Offer them an incentive by adding some extra loyalty points into the mix too. As for people who don’t win the quiz, let them know they can enjoy the same rewards (and more) if they sign up for your loyalty program and accumulate points. What about Business Marketing Tools for WhatsApp ? We expected you’d be asking yourself this. Truth be told, there are various marketing tools you can use for this app. However, we don’t recommend doing this at all. Why? Well, to quote WhatsApp ’s own terms : “You will not use (or assist others in using) our Services in ways that involve sending illegal or impermissible communications such as bulk messaging, auto-messaging, auto-dialing, and the like.” That’s pretty obvious that if you try to use any marketing tools, you’re likely to get banned or temporarily suspended (and that’s a best case scenario). Plus, let’s face it: Even if you don’t get caught, mass-messaging users in this type of context and with this app will most likely backfire and ruin the image of your brand. Interacting with them has to feel natural, otherwise they’ll easily catch on to what you’re doing. We know that doesn’t sound too great, but look on the bright side: WhatsApp is at least working on future features that will make it easier for businesses to engage with users. Have Other WhatsApp Marketing Ideas You’d Like to Highlight? Then feel free to share them with us in the comment section below. And if you felt that this article was really insightful, please remember to share it with anyone you think it might really help.

[ncmagroup]

by Serena Polverino

Brand advocacy. I’m sure you have heard this word pop up in several marketing meetings this year, haven’t you? If brand advocacy has been a buzz word this year, prepare for even more hype to come around this concept in 2018. The reason why brand advocacy is going to be a dominant trend in most 2018’s marketing strategies is because it allows businesses to do what every business loves doing: do more with less!

Why do Businesses Need Brand Advocacy?

Integrating brand advocacy into your marketing plans will allow you to receive support with content production from your own employees. We all know that creating content is an expensive and time-consuming business. What brand advocacy allows businesses to do is drive active employee participation and leverage the internal skill set, industry, and company knowledge to generate and distribute content.

Employee-generated content also represents an incredibly effective way to reinforce company culture and values, showing how these concepts practically translate into real behaviors and campaigns promoted by the people who make the company. Patagonia (@patagonia) does this by publishing on their corporate blog employee-generated content that supports the company’s marketing efforts to position itself as a sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle brand.

SOURCE: PATAGONIA.COM

SOURCE: TWITTER

But wait, it doesn’t end here! By boosting active employee engagement, we are not only contributing to content creation and distribution but also developing a more attractive perception of our brand to both potential applicants and customers. According to Edelman Trust Barometer 2016, employees embody company culture and values and therefore are three times more trusted than CEOs. In other words, employee engagement (or the lack of it!) affects your brand perception and consumers’ trust towards your company.

This certainly doesn’t come as a surprise: it’s the concept of dogfooding applied to your brand awareness efforts. Think about how your perception of brand changes when you see the employees of that company actively partcipating in company life by producing and sharing content on social media. This participation can be in the form of proudly announcing new product features, sharing exciting company news, or supporting talent acquisition campaigns. This last point is effectively exemplified by Rapid7 (@rapid7) and their series of short videos “At the movies,” casting real employees using their own face and words (and acting skills!) to give a taste of Rapid7’s culture code.

SOURCE: TWITTER

Driving Brand Advocacy with a 4-step Roadmap

We can see now that there are certainly a lot of benefits deriving from brand advocacy, but how can we practically drive employees’ engagement and make sure they will not perceive it as an extra burden on their shoulders? We say brand advocacy, they hear more work, right? We’ve all been there.

To truly unleash the potential of brand advocacy, we need to stop looking at our employees as loudspeakers for brands. This is certainly not how we want to approach employee advocacy.

We want to encourage our employees to act as brand advocates to grow their personal brand first, and as a result of that, help strengthen the company’s perception. This activity of creating and sharing content online will offer brand advocates the opportunity to establish new meaningful connections, progress in their career, and consolidate their own personal brand, something that will stay with them forever regardless of whether or not they continue to work for their current company.

Sounds like a win-win scenario, right? Let’s see how we can put brand advocacy into practice with a 4-step roadmap.

1. Create a tiger team

Gathering a tiger team will serve as the cornerstone of your brand advocacy efforts. A tiger team is a group of six to ten employees who clearly perceive the value of brand advocacy and are not afraid of evangelizing with their peers. Ideally, you want to cast a wide net and create a cross-functional tiger team including players from all the main departments in your company.

SOURCE: PEXELS.COM

What types of personalities are we looking for? Most likely the first people who will support you in this project will be the “social rock stars” in your company – who would you go to if you had to organize a fun run, a company BBQ, or a pub quiz night? Definitely, try to involve those people first, but make sure to include also those more introverted types to fairly represent company diversity and have a more thorough approach to the events you’ll be planning.

Finally, adopt a bottom-up approach when gathering your tiger team. Employees might feel under pressure if the input to participate comes from HR or the leadership team. On the other hand, if the input comes from their peers, they’ll be more willing to learn more about the cause and actively engage.

2. Educate and provide guidelines

Employees might not understand the benefits that derive from acting as a brand ambassador, so before asking for their contribution, remind them how this will help them build a stronger personal brand on social networks, establish thought leadership, and grow their professional network.

Moreover, creating content can sound scary to many people since it requires writing skills and a deep understanding of the person you are writing for and of the channels, you are using to distribute your content (e.g., social vs. microblogging platforms vs. corporate blog). This is why you want to organize study groups, training sessions, and workshops to provide employees with guidelines on your house rules and buyer persona, how to align your brand’s voice to different social media, and how to repurpose content.

3. Share tools and resources

Creating educational paths and offering guidelines is a great starting point, but also remember to provide employees with some practical tools and resources that can help them create and distribute content easily.

For example, curate ready-to-share content and send weekly emails to suggest cherrypicked content from the web. Or use programs like click-to-tweet to make sharing a status update literally as simple as clicking a button. Mind you, this is all about shaping your personal brand, so remind them to personalize the message to fit their own voice!

If you find it hard to hand-curate the content to share with your colleagues, try using some content aggregator apps for social media such as DrumUp (@drumupio) and Quuu (@quuu) to receive weekly updates on the best content on your topic of interest published around the web.

SOURCE: QUUU.COM

Sharing content can feel intimidating because not everyone feels comfortable with their writing skills. Help your colleagues or employees hone their writing skills by offering them access to editing and proofreading apps such as Hemingway editor (@HemingwayApp), or get inspiration on how to write compelling headlines with Hubspot’s blog title generator.

4. Motivate and reward

I know what you’re thinking: ah, here’s the catch! But money is not the only way to motivate employees. Brand ambassadors want to be recognized for their contribution, so make sure they receive shout-outs from their managers in team emails and all-hands meetings to celebrate their commitment with the rest of the company.

Try also to drive some healthy competitiveness between brand advocates with a monthly leaderboard, and reward the top performers based on the number of shares or likes their posts receive.

SOURCE: PINTEREST.COM

As we mentioned, acting as a brand advocate is a great opportunity to build your personal brand and advance in your career. Make sure brand advocates will be recognized by the executive leadership and invited to join special projects that will help them in their career development.

Investing in brand advocacy and implementing concrete processes to help employees grow their personal brands are for sure significant mind shifts for businesses. However, hopefully, these four steps will support you in this process and help your company unleash the power of employees to start seeing impressive results both in terms of company culture and brand perception.

How Can I Learn More on Brand Advocacy?

If you wish to learn more on how to enable deeper engagement with peers, employees, and customers, and devise an effective social media strategy to accelerate sales, join me for a hands-on, workshop-style training on Building a Brand with Social Media on September 25th at the Westin Boston Waterfront.

During this training, you will learn how to:

Identify the benefits of becoming a social leader and create an actionable strategy to consolidate brand presence on social media.

Plan content to shape the perception of your company as a workplace on social media.

Motivate and organize employees’ work to act as brand ambassadors.

Monitor brand sentiment on Twitter and measure ROI of social media efforts across main social platforms.

Go to our website:   www.ncmalliance.com

BRAND ADVOCACY: UNLEASHING THE POWER OF EMPLOYEES IN 4 STEPS by Serena Polverino Brand advocacy. I'm sure you have heard this word pop up in several marketing meetings this year, haven’t you?

[oakgroveenterprises-blog]

How to Outperform Using High Efficiency Portfolios

By Charles Stevens

Are your investments running on all cylinders? How can you be sure?

High Efficiency Portfolios: All assets produce, either positive capital appreciation, interest or both.

Mutual Funds, ETFs or SMAs all have one debilitating feature, with the amount of money deposited into each of these bundled products, it is impossible for efficiency. Pop quiz: when considering a group of ten stocks, is it better to have most of them make a substantial rate of return while some of them lose proportionately or to have each stock either make zero or a nominal rate of return. Historically speaking, bundling equities in a product like a mutual fund, would result in 6 positions with positive returns, 1 relatively flat while the rest fall into negative territory.

For example, Portfolio 1 on the plus side had 3 stocks that garnered 15%, two at 10% another at 5%. To finish off the portfolio, each stock had 0%, -5%, -10% and then -15%. I'm sure if you paid any attention to the stocks in your mutual fund, you would be pretty happy seeing those types of returns and unfortunately, many of you do. Now Portfolio 2, our high efficiency model, would have returns that brought returns of two stocks that had 10% return, 8 stocks at 5% and the last one at zero. Not very exciting, so what's the difference. Believe it or not, Portfolio 1 has a 4% average rate of return while Portfolio 2 boasts 5.5%. It may not seem much, but over a 10 year time horizon, that 1.5% increase compounded would realize a 13.3% additional return.

Retirement accounts, 401k plans are notorious for producing adequate returns, essentially because they are so inefficient. It's no wonder why increasingly more employers are allowing "in-service withdrawals" for employees who want to manage their own investments without incurring all the embedded costs and mediocre returns from their employer's retirement contribution plan. There is also a growing trend for smaller companies to administer "open architecture" retirement plans where the control of investing is completely up to the participant.

Efficiency has become very prevalent in recent years, from increasing the gas mileage on a car to tax credits for installing the right windows and furnace. Corporations and families alike are looking for ways be leaner, to work more productively. We are all in search of ways where we can get out a lot with putting in a little. So why hasn't the way we manage our assets followed suit? Ease of use, convenience and simplifying are benefits extoled by the money managers who create the euphoria of investing in cookie cutter, bundled products. As investors, where do we go from here?

Let's look at how a collection of stocks ought to be put together. We know that there is a level of risk needed to produce gain. How much risk versus how much reward is an important lagging measurement used to quantify this adverse relationship. There have been many money managers who would tell you that the number of stocks to reduce risk should be large. I'm sure you have heard that mutual funds are 'safer' than individual stocks. Well, that just is not the case. We proved that with our portfolio comparison. We can though, mathematically prove that the actual number of individual stocks needed to bring the risk/return ratio in-line is 13. Simply said, any more stock positions than that does not decrease the amount of risk. Through our many years of stress testing our data, we put together 5+1 High Efficiency Portfolios, made up of 10 positions in each portfolio. What makes them unique to each other is the amount of times they are rebalanced in a year. We have over 25 "filters" in a quantitative computer-based model that has proven to successfully produce some of the best rates of return collectively in the marketplace.

You can use the following to create your portfolio of stocks or streamline the current holdings you have whether its mutual funds and ETFs in your retirement plan or a small self-directed account you have in an on-line account. Putting together your portfolio needs to go through 4 "phases". The first, where almost everyone goes to pick stocks, bonds, or commodities, are Quantitative Measurements. This is financial data of the company and the trade history of the stock. Price to Earnings Ratio, Earnings Per Share, or trailing 12 months are just some of the common data used to choose stocks. To create a high efficient portfolio, it is not only what you are going to measure, but how you are going to use the measurement in what-if scenarios and the hierarchy of importance within the data. Even the phases have a different level of importance in the final selection of your stock portfolio.

Our second phase is the Qualitative Measurement. This type of data can seem to be somewhat subjective, but certain events can be quantified if done correctly. Also, this data needs to have an ebb-and-flow to the industry classification where the same data may have a direct relationship, or no relationship or somewhere in between. This phase has more influence in picking stocks where the portfolio rebalances about every 6 months versus quarterly and annually. It is best if you create a list of qualitative events and then give each position a numerical data point to either choose or weed out stock choices.

The third phase is Technical Analysis. This type of data is used more heavily within shorter rebalancing terms. Stocks chosen have strong fundamentals that lead into price and buyer driven appreciation. We are careful not to choose "what's hot" but rather a good company with stock price fluctuations that are favorable for at least the quarter to two quarters. Essential point, there is a reason this is the 3rd phase. It doesn't drive the decision-making processes on what stocks to pick, but it certainly adds to the efficiency of making sure all the equity positions have opportunity to appreciate.

The final phase is the Fluid Risk Assessment Matrix. This is a proprietary risk assessment tool that has been 20 years in the making utilized exclusively on the back end of every computer model. The asset risk score has several qualitative and technical parameters that creates high efficiency within our model portfolios. We created a series of algorithms that produce a Fluid Risk Assessment Score of the investment where your personal risk score is inserted with the asset's risk score produces a perfect blended score to use in finalizing investment decisions. This matrix measures 10 Dynamics of the price of the asset, risk v. reward, risk assessment slope and other quantitative fundamentals.

We believe that this four-phase discipline helps choosing the right stock portfolio, but it will also help with increasing the efficiency of your current investments in your 401ks, IRAs or brokerage accounts. And if you are asking, "What about bonds?" We created a Fluid Risk Assessment Matrix specific to bonds. This sequence of algorithms could be as important as our Equity Matrix in assessing the amount of unaware risk. To have a high efficiency portfolio, each allocation must be running on all cylinders and all of those cylinders must run in sync. By creating a disciplined exit and entrance strategy of choosing your investments will perform exactly how you predict they will.

To receive a complimentary Fluid Risk Assessment Score on your portfolio, please call (248) 491-3570 or simply email at chuckyourtaxes@outlook.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Charles_E_Stevens/2018759

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9604308