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jeremystrele · 4 years ago

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A Boarding House Turned Gorgeous, Rambling + Indestructible Family Home!

Homes

by Lucy Feagins, Editor

The warm and welcoming kitchen of Keryn + Stephen Nossal’s St Kilda West home. Handmade hanging basket lights made by a crayfish pot maker on Bruny Island. Pandanus mat from Maningrida, artist unknown. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Keryn is a KEEN op shopper and has collected hundreds of homewares over the years! Pictured here is a (very) small selection of her collection, including vintage Arabia pottery. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photographic artwork by Thuy Vy. Oil painting by Thomas Gare. Smaller painting was gifted by an artist friend, Marise Maas. Stools from Luke Furniture (now closed). Sling dining chairs by Mary Featherston, found on eBay. Mark Tuckey dining table. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

The most basic kitchen is still serving us well 18 years later and is unchanged’, says Keryn. The original floor boards have been re-sanded and limed. Island bench by Susi Leeton. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Artwork by Angelina Ngale from Utopia Region, Mbunta Gallery. Far left: vintage Arabia salt cellar, which was a gift from friends. The other ceramics are op shop finds. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Light fitting was a junk shop find 20 years ago. Other artworks and trinkets collected over many years in flea markets on travels. Dining table by Mark Tuckey. Mary Featherston sling dining chairs from eBay. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photograph by Kent Morris from Vivien Anderson Gallery. Smaller artwork by Louise Weaver from Avalanche Australian Print Workshop. Mark Tuckey dining table. Mary Featherston sling dining chairs. Vintage Arabia pottery collection on shelf. Chair from Graham Geddes. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Left: Artwork by Minnie Pwerle, bought from Flinders Lane Gallery in 2003. Grant Featherston chairs from Keryn’s childhood home gifted from her dad, recovered by Gordon Mather. Falcon chair from Angelucci. Right: Lightning/Mimi Spirit by Yidumduma Bill Harney bought in Kununurra. Iitalla glassware collection on trips to Finland. Minnie Pwerle artwork behind. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Artwork by Minnie Pwerle, bought from Flinders Lane Gallery in 2003 for Keryn + Stephen’s wedding anniversary. B&B Italia sofa from Space. Artwork on left by Marise Maas from Flinders Lane Gallery. Grant Featherston chairs from Keryn’s childhood home gifted from her dad, recovered by Gordon Mather. Falcon chair from Angelucci. On mantle: Lightning/Mimi Spirit by Yidumduma Bill Harney bought in Kununurra. Iitalla glassware collection on trips to Finland. Minnie Pwerle artwork behind. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Photograph by unknown artist from a 1970s advertising campiagn. Peruvian rug from Citizen Nomade in Byron Bay. 1960s coffee table has been with Keryn and Stephen ‘since the beginning’ from a secondhand shop. Side tables from eBay. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

West German ceramic vase found at Leonard Joel. Orefors bowl was Steve’s mums. Boab nut carving from Derby. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Artwork by Kent Morris from Vivien Anderson Gallery. Smaller artwork by Louise Weaver from Avalanche Australian Print Workshop. Photography by Hayley Millar Baker in collaboration with Melbourne Indigenous Transition School, from MUMA. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Lamp bought from vintage shop in Rosebud. Baskets bought in Maccau. Vintage glass vase from Helsinki. Chairs from vintage shops. The dresser is a family heirloom. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

‘Nickeisha’ photo by Christian Thompson AO collaboration ‘Deadly Brilliant’ with Melbourne Indigenous Transition School (MITS) student. Feathertson Numero Uno op shop chair from 15 years ago. Pandanus weaving from Injalak Arts. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Olivewood Mother of Pear crucifix and religious icons collected over many years. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Patterned cushion cover by North. Linen from Citizen Nomade in Byron Bay. Op shop lamps. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Looking out from the bedroom. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Collection of Mexican love heats bought over many years. Many are from Bauhaus on Keryn’s annual trip to The Garden of Unearthly Delights in Adelaide. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

‘The built-in verandah was there when we bought it. It’s our third white Victoria terrace house renovation, but this one is a keeper for 18 years’, says Keryn. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

White butterfly chairs from Angelucci. White cane and tile top table from the op shop. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

‘Steve took the iron roof off the back verandah and replaced it with clear laserlight from Bunnings’, says Keryn. ‘There was a step down to a red brick courtyard but about 10 years after we had the house Susi Leeton designed a huge deck outside, which was built by Martin Thorley’. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

‘Toby’s spot is on the cane furniture from eBay’, says Keryn. Concrete pots collected over the years. Casalla chair from a junk shop. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

Design-lover and founder of Fancy Films Keryn (also known as Nancy!) Nossal! Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Annie Portelli.

The St Kilda West house of Keryn Nossal (aka Nancy, owner of Fancy Films and St Andrew’s Beach accommodation Coastal Luxe) and Stephen Nossal (director of CRE green hydrogen development) feels like a real family home. But it hasn’t always been this way.

The couple first came across the house in 2003, when a real estate agent recommended they check it out. Four days later, they bought it. ‘We owe a lot to that agent for pushing us and are still in touch with him to this day,’ says Keryn.

It’s hard to imagine now, but 18 years ago the house was incredibly rundown, after operating as a boarding house for decades, then being separated into flats.

‘It was divided into two properties… it had something like 11 bedrooms upstairs, five kitchens, and six bathrooms all designed to maximise the boarding house accommodation in the ‘60s,’ says Keryn. ‘There were leaking roofs, buckets in the hallways, exposed wiring, and it was very dark… the agent’s name for it was Bohemian Rhapsody – and our friends thought we were mad.’

Keryn says it’s taken minor renovations almost every year to get the property to where it is today, with the help of friend and architect Susi Leeton. ‘Susi did countless drawings and was really patient with us,’ Keryn says. ‘It turned out that the temporary kitchen (that she popped into the middle of the house while we decided where to put it) has been so good that it stayed!’

Letting go of a ‘big shebang reno’, as Keryn calls it, was perhaps the most challenging element of the project, but ultimately worth it. ‘The result is the house is made for living in the way we like it, not the way a potential buyer would like it, or anyone else for that matter,’ Keryn says. ‘It’s us.’

Today, the home is a warm and inviting space, filled with out of the ordinary items. The grand Victorian bones (with many quirks – something their kids didn’t always appreciate growing up!) now serve as the perfect backdrop for Keryn and Steve’s beautiful collection of contemporary and Indigenous art, ceramics, and eclectic furniture mostly bought from junk stores or op shops.

‘Our adult kids and their friends appreciate it more now than they did when they were little; understanding that the imperfections are what generate the relaxed atmosphere and that the kitchen is the heart of the home,’ Keryn says.

Dulux Vivid White has been used on the walls throughout – the perfect light-reflecting backdrop for the family’s art, collected mostly from Monash Museum of Contemporary Art and Centre for Contemporary Photography. Keryn is also a KEEN op-shopper who has collected hundreds of homewares pieces over the years! ‘I collect all sorts of things that make complete sense to me’, she says. ‘I’ll never tire of collection special, meaningful pieces – nothing that’s in fashion – and surrounding our lives with things that have a story to pass on’.

Making this home even more special is the fact Keryn’s best friend moved in next door 10 years ago! ‘It’s pretty special sharing a fence with them,’ she says. What a dream!

‘There’s always something to fix, but we love it, and feel very happy here,’ says Keryn. ‘It’s been a gorgeous, rambling, indestructible place to bring up three kids, and continues to be.’

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

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The Outlet Pass: 100 Games in, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are a Supernova

Welcome to The Outlet Pass, a weekly roundup of observations, questions, and predictions from Michael Pina's NBA notebook.

1. We're 100 Games Into the Steph Curry-Kevin Durant Experience

This duo—with a combined 14 All-Star invitations, five scoring titles, 11 All-NBA teams, three Most Valuable Player awards, and the same number of championship rings—discombobulates defenders like one of the most effortlessly nuclear tandems the NBA has ever seen should; the gap between them and whoever’s next (Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, James Harden and Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Paul George, LeBron James and Jose Calderon, etc.) is not small.

Saturday night’s pseudo-meaningful loss in Houston was the 100th game Curry and Durant played together, and a vast majority of their on-court relationship has been spent frolicking in Steve Kerr’s sublime pass-screen-cut-score offense. As the source of so many unanswerable questions for opposing players and coaches whenever they collaborate, it’s hard to envision a better system to exploit how they naturally complement and support each other, and everybody else.

Golden State averages 121 points per 100 possessions when Curry and Durant share the floor, which is up from 120 points per 100 possessions last season. Translation: They’re a sunspot. But for the uncommon instances where flow stagnates, defenses successfully switch off the ball and somehow manage to clog things up, Kerr knows the best two players he’ll ever coach can elevate Golden State towards a higher level of excellence virtually on command.

Whether it’s Durant screening for Curry or Curry screening for Durant, these two in a pick-and-roll is theoretically the most unstoppable play in the world. And after hardly using it at all in year one, the Warriors recently seem more open to familiarizing themselves with its raw power than saving it for special occasions. They’ve run it sloppy over the past couple weeks, but once the rust shakes off there’s simply no way any team in the league will be able to consistently stop them.

Both can pass. Both can get to the rim. (A semi-related inquiry: Raise your hand if after they became teammates you thought Curry would ever attempt more free throws than KD. Curry averages 1.1 more in two fewer minutes every game. What an incredible season.) And, um, both can shoot, like, as good or better than anyone at their respective height, position, or blood type in the history of mankind.

If the defense traps the ball—as the Cleveland Cavaliers almost exclusively decided to do—Durant can slip into open space as Curry whips a pass to the strong-side corner. Seen below, they’re shorting the pick-and-roll, harnessing Cleveland’s aggressiveness against them.

When the Cavs don’t want to rotate a third man over, opt not to trap and avoid a switch, things break down almost immediately because Curry is a ferret.

The juiciest outcome of this connection occurs when Durant actually makes contact with Curry’s defender and forces the defense to switch. Nobody can guard this dude, so getting whoever’s on the point guard to handle him just isn’t fair. The play below could’ve resulted in an open pull-up, trip to the foul line, or even a dunk, but Durant tries to do too much with a double-digit lead and the game teetering out of hand.

He’s struggled in these situations because he isn’t as used to them as he could be.

One rational explanation for why Kerr doesn’t unleash Curry and Durant as frequently as another coach might is it creates one-on-one situations—albeit with a mismatch—and self-sabotages their breathtaking ball movement.

Good things typically happen when Curry screens for Durant, but getting the two-time MVP on an island against a big who can really move his feet sometimes isn’t the greatest use of his talent.

But do it in a way that gives Durant an advantage with a live dribble, against defenders that momentarily aren’t sure about what they’re supposed to do, and all bets are off.

Anyone who’s watched the Warriors play basketball knows they’re impossible to defend when Curry gives the ball up, runs along the baseline, and either gets it back on the other side of the floor or forces a devastating switch elsewhere. Their roster is filled with brilliant passers at every position and they have some of the most lethal spot-up shooters who’ve ever stepped on a court.

But even though they aren’t quite where they want to be with it yet, the ceiling on having Curry and Durant run pick-and-roll together doesn’t really exist. It’s Reason No. 97,341 why the Warriors are not fair.

2. Zach LaVine Has No Conscience

Besides every time my phone buzzes with a Seamless notification informing me that pizza is on the way, I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced the unbridled joy Zach LaVine feels whenever he shoots a basketball.

Since his season debut last week, the 22-year-old leads the league in shots per 100 plays, and basically everyone with a higher usage percentage is headed to the All-Star game. Over half of LaVine’s shots are pull-up jumpers and—somewhat absurdly—over a third are from behind the three-point line.

It’s hard to tell when watching if LaVine is making up for lost time, trying to capture a rhythm, or simply doing what Chicago’s coaching staff wants. Either way, he appears to have a trillion-watt green light in his field of vision at all times. Unless it’s a pick-and-roll with Robin Lopez, or the defense gets uber-committed to putting two on the ball, LaVine is letting it fly.

And, so far, that’s fine. LaVine is a dynamite offensive talent with hallucinogenic athleticism; he’s talented enough to make the same shots a rational human being would not have enough confidence to try. The guy is hitting crossover step backs just because!

You have to respect his first step and his ability to pull up from 25 feet, which is the foundation of an offensive superstar in today’s NBA. He’s obsessed with taking advantage of the slightest crack in any defense, and will even rise up when his man fights above the screen to force a drive. Aside from his minutes restriction, it’s hard to notice any physical limitations from the ACL injury, but LaVine’s decision-making is clearly rusty.

And so long as he’s aloof on the other end, LaVine will have a clear ceiling so far as his overall impact goes. He still loves to ball watch, is addicted to getting back cut, and doesn’t know what to do when his man doesn’t have the ball.

Overall LaVine is a nice long-term fit beside Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen, assuming Chicago re-signs him this summer, but (very) early returns indicate he has a long way to go before understanding how to play in Fred Hoiberg’s pass-happy system.

3. Joel Embiid vs. Double Teams

What is scarier than watching your favorite team try to defend Joel Embiid on the left block? Not much! He’s a walking thunderstorm, with slick footwork, brute strength, and an impossibly deft touch anywhere within 15 feet of the rim.

But a slight feeling of dread still swells inside even The Process’s most devoted followers whenever their deified All-Star center gets double teamed. According to Synergy Sports, LaMarcus Aldridge is the only player who’s drawn more hard double teams than Embiid this season. (Worth noting: Aldridge has appeared in 13 more games!)

But for the second year in a row, Embiid’s turnover rate in those situations is above 33 percent. (57 players have been double teamed on a post-up at least 10 times this season, and only two own a lower turnover rate than Embiid.) For all the amazing ways he dominates the game, punishing aggressive defenses by trusting teammates is monumentally important if this team is ever to capitalize on their promising core with a lengthy playoff run.

For a variety of reasons, this wart will only grow in the postseason when teams won’t hesitate to help off Ben Simmons. Watch below as Marcus Smart flees the Rookie of the Year favorite to double Embiid because he knows A) Simmons isn’t a threat to knock down an open shot, and B) Semi Ojeleye will help from the back side when Simmons cuts through the paint.

The Sixers can adjust by entering the ball with a more threatening three-point option, but so long as Simmons is on the floor against an intelligent defense that’s locked in on helping the helper, Embiid can’t take his time and let help complicate his attack.

None of this is to suggest he’s a lost cause, in this particular area or any other. There are plenty of examples where Embiid has anticipated where the defense will rotate from before he zips a pass to the weak-side corner. But for the time being, he still gets flustered more often than not. Once he corrects that flaw and reads the floor with a bit more patience, there won’t be a more commanding paint presence in the league.

4. Consistent Inconsistencies in Andre Drummond’s Game

Watch any stretch of a Pistons game when Andre Drummond is on the floor and there’s a decent chance that at some point you’ll hear Stan Van Gundy howling in frustration at a poor decision made by his franchise center. (“Move!” and “Screen someone, Andre!” are two house favorites.)

Judging Drummond is not easy. It feels like he’s experienced three different career arcs before his 25th birthday, and is currently enjoying an All-Star-caliber bounce-back season in which he’s ameliorated his reputation by embracing a new role in Detroit’s offense.

Hideous post-ups have almost been entirely replaced by Drummond serving as a dribble hand-off initiator. He touches the ball about 18 more times per game this season, and his elbow touches are three times as high as they were four seasons ago. Few centers in the league are better passers. But the Pistons continue to struggle on defense when Drummond is on the floor, with opponents faring noticeably worse at the rim when he sits, per Cleaning the Glass.

His awareness and effort are both less predictable than Van Gundy probably wishes they are. Here's Drummond sprinting out of the paint and away from his man to cover a D’Angelo Russell-Quincy Acy pick-and-roll that his teammates already have under control.

Drummond was once primarily instructed to drop when guarding similar action, corral the ball-handler before his teammate recovered while also staying within arm’s length of his own man. It requires a level of intuition Drummond lacks and he often found himself in no man’s land. So this year he’s been directed to be aggressive up higher up on the floor. The result is a team that forces a ton of turnovers (they ranked 23rd the previous two seasons in defensive turnover rate, but currently sit in fourth) but also surrenders more threes and fewer long twos.

Drummond has quick feet and hands that prevent ball-handlers from hitting the roll man before a help rotation can be made, but it’s still unclear if the new strategy is fundamentally a good thing.

Here he is allowing Bradley Beal to turn the corner in a sequence that eventually leads to a wide open three for the Wizards.

Sometimes he’ll sprint back on defense. Other times he’ll put his head down and jog. He still lacks the feel of a top notch rim protector and the Pistons give up too many easy baskets because he’s either not in the right spot, executes poorly, or gets confused for no reason.

But, again, Drummond is still only 24 years old, and the growth he’s shown this year—don’t forget about the free-throw line!—signals he hasn’t already plateaued. Brighter days are ahead, and his contract isn’t a total disgrace.

5. Minnesota is No Longer Stuck in the Mud

After some early turmoil that saw Jimmy Butler make an uncharacteristically tempered entrance into the offense, a general look of confusion glued on Andrew Wiggins’ face, defensive intensity/effort/recognition by Karl-Anthony Towns that made Dark look like a Pixar production for a fanbase that knows what bleak looks like, and the exact opposite of a minutes restriction legislated by Tom Thibodeau, the Minnesota Timberwolves have finally established themselves as one of the NBA’s top five teams.

They’re 11-5 since Christmas—which doubles as the day Nemanja Bjelica made his return from a foot injury. Only the Golden State Warriors have a better offense and they’ve entered the top 10 on the other end. Butler is an authentic MVP candidate who’s been magnificent at everything (including turning long twos into short twos and threes, while his shooting splits on the second night of back-to-backs are 50.5/41.7/94.6!).

Towns is starting to meet/exceed the world's absurdly high expectations for him. Even if his fear of foul trouble still prevents him from being elite on the defensive end, he’s reading double teams, being rambunctious on the glass, and displaying a tighter grasp on where he is/isn’t supposed to be when the other team has the ball.

It appears that an internal pecking order has (thankfully) been discovered while Thibodeau tinkers as best he can with an extremely talented but thin roster. Wiggins is finally doing stuff off the ball (like crashing the glass) that impacts winning.

There’s still a strange penchant to play three of Gorgui Dieng, Towns, Belly, and Gibson at the same time in jumbo, retrograde lineups that have somehow actually had success when unleashed in small doses.

But Thibs is increasingly realizing the need to downsize when it’s appropriate to do so, as he did in a loss against the Rockets last Thursday and with Jamal Crawford and Butler both out versus Toronto on Saturday night—a game in which Marcus Georges-Hunt played the entire 4th quarter and Shabazz Muhammad (when can I call him Bazz?) took the court in non-garbage time minutes for the first time in nearly two months.

More important than who plays, though, is how they compete, and in recent weeks a critical development has materialized from their rising comfort. About a month ago, I wrote about their “GREEN!” death siren; why Minnesota’s syrupy disposition in the open floor was so unnerving and detrimental. Just speaking as a viewer, it was one of the more frustrating qualities in any good team I’ve seen all year. They ran off turnovers (of which they force a whole bunch), but were otherwise sluggish.

According to Cleaning the Glass, they still rank 27th in the percentage of live-ball rebounds that lead to a transition play, and there’s been no uptick in their average time of possession after a defensive rebound, per Inpredictable. But there’s a noticeable pep in their step now that I didn’t see earlier in the year. Some of that’s probably due to an improved defense that’s stringing stops together and encouraging more dynamism in the open floor.

Here Gibson’s rim run draws two Portland defenders into the paint, carving a path for Butler to finish with a floater. And here’s another example where even though the Timberwolves don’t shoot until there’s 12 on the shot clock, a push off Houston’s miss forces mismatches on the other end, with Harden guarding Gibson (not that bad for the Rockets) and Clint Capela on Butler (very bad for the Rockets).

They still aren’t shooting threes and remain in desperate need of help on the wing (Cole Aldrich and a lottery-protected first in 2020 for Joe Johnson would be fun), but right now the Timberwolves look exactly like a team nobody will want to face in the playoffs. Going on the road to beat the scrappy Los Angeles Clippers—as they did Monday night—without Butler, in a game where Towns goes 1-for-7, is definitely a good sign.

6. Anybody Want Moe Harkless?

The Trail Blazers are nearly $3 million over the tax, with a redundant roster that’s dangerously close to missing the playoffs. Damian Lillard just had a secret meeting with the team's owner, Paul Allen, and it’s not unrealistic to think either Terry Stotts or Neil Olshey won’t have their job in April. Standing pat at the trade deadline isn’t an option.

But that doesn’t mean this team is a buyer, and getting under the tax might be what they want above everything else.

This brings us to Mo Harkless, a 24-year-old wing who fell out of Portland’s starting lineup around Thanksgiving. He’s currently in and out of Stotts’s rotation, and hasn’t made a three in about two weeks. On one hand, he’s a jumpy 24-year-old wing who’s 6’9” with a few intriguing NBA moments on his resume. On the other, Harkless’s statistical profile indicates he’s below average in several important areas, with two years and over $22 million on his contract through 2020.

The fact that Portland would swap him for a future second-round pick in a heartbeat doesn’t inspire much confidence in any takers, but is there any team out there willing to take him on, maybe if the Blazers are willing to attach a future asset? Would the Cavaliers say screw it if they can’t get anybody else? Do the Brooklyn Nets think they can take him on as a tolerable-risk, mediocre-upside acquisition?

Long-term dollars make any trade unlikely, but this team badly needs to cut salary and Harkless is just compelling enough to be someone Olshey shops hard over the next couple weeks. (The more likely player to pack his bags is Noah Vonleh, who can enter restricted free agency this summer with an inexpensive contract that would drop Portland just below the luxury tax if shed.)

7. Ian Mahinmi is Not as Bad as You Think; Still Very Bad

Necessary Disclaimer: Never forget how it’s not Ian Mahinmi’s fault that Ernie Grunfeld, in a rushed and misguided effort to replace Nene, responded to Al Horford’s spurn by offering a dramatically inferior center $64 million over four years. Again, the money is not Mahinmi’s fault, but it’s still become the worst contract attached to anybody who actually sees the court on a consistent basis.

His point differential ranks fourth on the team behind Otto Porter, Bradley Beal, and John Wall (the Wizards are +4.2 points per 100 possessions with Mahinmi on the floor and +0.6 points per 100 possessions when he sits), and he moves pretty well and with purpose on the defensive end. (Look at the ground he covers on this play):

But this general competence—spliced with the comical mishaps that occur whenever he touches the ball—is not worth $64 million. It’s impossible to grade Mahinmi without staring at that contract, knowing how it clogs Washington’s cap sheet. He has the lowest usage percentage on a team that’s at its best when playing small. The bad still outweighs the good.

Mahinmi is on pace to become the 59th player in NBA history (repeat: in NBA history) to log at least 600 minutes with a turnover rate above 27 percent. This is not easy to do. Last week, a Wizards fan texted me a clip of Mahinmi throwing the ball into the third row, well over the head of a wide open teammate standing in the corner. This is his signature move. Mahinmi is a walking wyd meme.

He rarely shoots—Mahinmi has done a fine job on putbacks and is an above-average finisher inside the restricted area—but his limitations are ghastly when asked to do anything beyond the bare minimum of his cataclysmic limitations. He’s the worst roll man in the league, per Synergy Sports, scoring 11 points on 21 possessions.

Injuries and age have not been Mahinmi’s friend. He’s 31 years old and missed a majority of last season (including the first eight games of Washington’s playoff run) after a slew of physical ailments, starting with knee surgery in mid-October. But that contract was silly the moment Grunfeld made the offer. So far it’s even worse than expected.

8. Bold Prediction Alert: Ty Lue Won’t Survive This

How can he? Yes, this Cavaliers roster will look different after the trade deadline and once the buyout market starts to bubble, but even the most radical Brooklyn-pick-included move won’t correct their bad habits overnight.

Isaiah Thomas is literally running back on defense asking teammates who he’s supposed to guard, basic switches are getting screwed up by veterans who should know better, and the team is playing with a general nonchalance that’s supported by an organization-wide belief that LeBron James will go from (a ridiculously athletic) Clark Kent to Superman on the first day of the playoffs.

They talk like they’re concerned, but don’t carry that worry onto the court. It’s fair to say that’s on the coach. Even more so than him thinking an aggressive defensive scheme suits their aging personnel, or that Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, and Tristan Thompson should ever (ever!) play together.

There’s a tricky balance in wanting to stagger Thomas and LeBron while at the same time needing them to form some chemistry together. It’s a conundrum Lue has struggled with, but Cleveland’s overall problems go deeper than X’s and O’s. The team flat out doesn’t have a lot of talent and isn’t built to compliment its franchise player. That isn’t on Lue, but as the head coach it doesn’t matter.

Photo by David Richard - USA TODAY Sports

If he loses his job, the most obvious candidate to replace him will be David Fizdale, who coached James and Wade in Miami and is widely regarded as one of the most capable names available. But for the sake of thought, the most fascinating candidate who may not actually be a candidate is Mark Jackson. From a soap operatic viewpoint, think about how incredible this would be, particularly if the Cavaliers made it back to the Finals for a rematch against Jackson’s former team. Good lord, that would be so spicy.

From a basketball perspective, Jackson’s reputation as a coach actually kind of fits what Cleveland needs. We already know he’s fine running an iso-heavy offense and is credited for having turned Golden State’s long-woeful defense into a top-three outfit in two years time. Jackson would have less than half a season to refine Cleveland’s system and instill his own principles with the creakiest bunch in the league, after nearly a four-year break as a TV analyst. The optics would be terrible, but there isn't an NBA fan alive (who doesn't root for the Cavs) who wouldn't want to see this happen.

Lue’s presence allowed the Cavaliers to get rid of David Blatt when they went on to win their first championship in 2016. Things are different now, and Lue doesn’t have a "Lue" on his staff: the highly-paid assistant whose beloved by players and intrigued by ownership. Instead, change from the outside feels more and more likely every time this team takes the floor.

Throw in LeBron's non-endorsement, the Kevin Love fiasco, and Jason Kidd's firing (which could motivate the Cavs to make a move before Milwaukee hires somebody they might want), and all signs point to Lue being on his way out.

9. Marvin Williams's Hunt to Join the 50-40-90 Club

It’s an uphill climb for him to make enough shots and officially qualify for the club, let alone sustain/improve his percentages across the board. But I just want to shout out one of the most pleasant human beings in the entire NBA. Williams spends a good portion of his time thanklessly battling larger, stronger bigs, never complains, and while trade rumors surround his team's best player, is quietly having a career year at 31. Salute.

10. It’s Not Working Out For Mario Hezonja

Mario Hezonja has moments that can best be described as two steps below tantalizing. He’ll effortlessly flick in a three from two feet behind the line, hop on a trampoline for a tip dunk, then shock everyone in attendance by spinning through a double team for a pretty finish at the rim. But these are “moments” in the most literal sense.

More often, he looks like a 6’8” fan who won a contest that lets him suit up for his favorite team every night. Over 3,000 minutes into his career, Hezonja is still a jittery, hesitant imbroglio whose pre-draft athleticism has vanished from almost every nook in his game. Why is he not in a defensive stance here?

For every beautiful touch pass there are a dozen flubs atypical at the NBA level. He’s shooting under 20 percent on corner threes for the second year in a row, which feels half-anomaly, half-red flag, and ranks 400th in Real Plus-Minus.

Hezonja's mistakes are catastrophes (my favorite play all season was when he screwed up a 4-on-1 fast break by passing the ball between his legs) and he's somewhat randomly playing a vast majority of his minutes at the four. (Frank Vogel had him guard Towns for lengthy stretches in Orlando's shocking win over Minnesota last week.)

Even though the Magic turned down his team option for next season, it's still unlikely another team doesn't snatch Hezonja up on a veteran's minimum deal (assuming he wants to stay in the United States). He's 22, can ostensibly shoot, and was a top-five pick just three years ago. But in every other way he just doesn't look like he belongs.

11. All-Star Reserves!

Here’s my team, with one-sentence explainers for each selection. Starting in the East:

Backcourt: Victor Oladipo. He’s super efficient with the 11th highest usage rate in the league, going up against opponents that are doing everything they can to stop him every night.

Backcourt: Bradley Beal. John Wall called him Washington’s MVP.

Frontcourt: Al Horford. The Celtics have been the Eastern Conference’s best team all year despite losing Gordon Hayward five minutes into Game 1.

Frontcourt: Kevin Love. He’s officially underrated.

Frontcourt: Andre Drummond. Even though the shoulder hair is back in full force, his evolution outlined above deserves a trip to Los Angeles.

Wildcard: Kyle Lowry. He took a charge against Embiid in his first game back from a butt/back injury. That is the bravest thing I’ve seen since Tea Leone attempted to take on the ocean.

Wildcard: Kristaps Porzingis. He leads the league in blocks, hardly ever turns it over, can’t be guarded one-on-one, and looks every bit the part of a first option.

And in the West:

Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Backcourt: Russell Westbrook. He’s averaging 24 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds per game.

Backcourt: Klay Thompson. He’s having one of the best shooting seasons ever.

Frontcourt: Jimmy Butler. He’s one of the six or seven most valuable players in the league.

Frontcourt: Karl-Anthony Towns. He has five more double-doubles than any other player.

Frontcourt: LaMarcus Aldridge. Swap him with DeMarcus Cousins. Do the New Orleans Pelicans scare you more or less?

Wildcard: Lou Williams. He saved his team’s season.

Wildcard: Chris Paul. Let’s not overthink this.

The Outlet Pass: 100 Games in, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are a Supernova published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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shirlleycoyle · 5 years ago

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Stop Blaming Instagram For Ruining The Great Outdoors

In one of the first Instagram posts by the popular account @publiclandshateyou, spray-painted graffiti is scrawled across a cliff face at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a protected landscape in Arizona.

“People need to earn the right to visit the world’s beautiful places,” the post declares, admonishing the perpetrators as “numbskulls.”

The vigilante Instagram account sprung up last year, and has quickly been joined by many others like it, all of which shame people for bad behavior outside. Influencers, geotagging, selfies—these are the enemies of our public lands, they say. The thinking is that, by posting some beautiful wilderness on Instagram, influencers are inspiring people to take trips to the same Insta-worthy spots, which inevitably become overrun by the masses. A slew of articles have hit the internet in recent years, all making the same argument: Instagram is ruining the great outdoors.

The New Republic put it bluntly:

“Instagram users who love the outdoors have a habit of ruining the wild places they touch—a perverse irony that seems lost on them. It is now axiomatic that a locale of stunning natural beauty will quickly degrade into a morass of crowding once it is posted on the platform as a pristine image. The herd instinct kicks in, and other users who also want to be photographed in those same lovely landscapes converge with their own cameras and Instagram accounts and followers—ad infinitum, ad nauseam.”

It’s tempting to blame social media for the degradation of public lands. And it may play a part: Instagram and other platforms are likely contributing to the increase in visitation at many of America’s (and the world’s) most beautiful, formerly secluded spots. Even if every hiker is well-behaved, the increase in visitation is taking a toll on some of these areas.

But popularity-via-social media is only one of the many challenges facing public lands in an age when humans have explored nearly every corner of the planet. Instead of blaming lakeside selfie takers, we should confront the real problems facing public lands: adjacent land use, extractive activities like mining and oil and natural gas drilling, an air of exclusivity, a hostile presidential administration, lack of funding for conservation and protection, climate change, and a lack of education about the aforementioned challenges.

Social Media Makes The Outdoors Less Exclusive

Many of the public faces of the environmental movement are white and wealthy. Many of these people grew up taking weekend trips to natural areas. It’s easy to believe that it’s cheap and easy to just go outside, but there are many barriers to entry for outdoor activities like hiking, rock climbing, skiing, kayaking, etc.: gear is expensive, many natural areas are inaccessible via public transit, and it can be hard to know where to go. Instagram has made the last challenge a bit easier to overcome. It’s easy to scroll an Instagram hashtag or geotag for inspiration about where to visit, which is of course core to the Instagram-is-ruining-the-outdoors argument.

But Instagram has also allowed people who have traditionally been excluded from the outdoor community to find others who look like them enjoying public lands. Users such as @pattiegonia, a backpacking drag queen focusing on inclusivity outdoors, have thousands of followers. Pattie uses her platform to teach her followers how to treat public lands, but does so in a way rooted in positivity rather than shaming.

Organizations have also sprung up to spread inclusivity and stewardship on social media. One prominent Instagram account is @latinooutdoors, which uses social media to encourage Latino families to go outside and get involved in conservation.

Last year, the Forest Service released a paper outlining how Latino Outdoors is increasing diversity on public lands using social media.

“Latino Outdoors promotes a shared diverse narrative in the conversation about the nation’s changing meaning of outdoor experiences within an increasingly diverse society,” the Forest Service report said.

Christian La Mont, the social media coordinator for Latino Outdoors, said Instagram is a powerful tool for conservation. Even if people overcome financial barriers to going outside, many traditionally marginalized people often don’t feel welcome. A passion for conservation starts with a passion for the beauty of the outdoors, and a photo on social media can spark that passion.

“You start with the connection and then you work on the stewardship aspect,” La Mont said. “Did you feel it? Did you connect? Now, what can you do to protect it?”

Dana Watts, the executive director of the Leave No Trace Center for Environmental Ethics, agreed that social media can be used to teach stewardship. To meet the challenges of a social media era, Leave No Trace released social media guidelines last year, helping people share their experiences outside in a responsible way.

Danielle Williams, founder of the blog and Instagram @melaninbasecamp, said that we should focus on “calling people in, not calling them out” on Instagram, using the platform to invite rather than shame new hikers.

“Conservation needs conservationists” Williams said. “We need the next generation, and they happen to take selfies. Please don’t try to shut them out.”

Social Media Isn’t To Blame—Lack of Support for Public Lands Is

Steve, the pseudonymous creator of @publiclandshateyou, said that what he and some other long-time outdoor enthusiasts worry about is that their favorite spots will be “ruined” by hordes of oblivious people. Places that used to be secret local spots are now being overloaded without the ability to properly manage the influx.

Steve said that he spends most of his time online calling people out privately on Instagram. Most of those interactions, he said, are amicable.

“It’s okay for people to go out and make mistakes, I’ve made plenty of those,” Steve told me. “I don’t have a problem if someone admits that they’re wrong and tries to self-correct.”

For those with a lot of followers who don’t “self-correct,” Steve feels comfortable calling out their actions on his account. Though Steve said he wants his account to focus on accountability, some accuse him of facilitating bullying, as some of his followers have threatened or harassed the influencers he’s called out. As his account has grown, Steve set guidelines for proper use online, blocking people he sees engaged in such bad behavior.

The tricky balance between encouraging visitation and prioritizing conservation isn’t a new concern—it’s always been central to the mission of public lands. That mission is being jeopardized now more by understaffing and a lack of funding than by Instagram posts.

According to Sheila Faalasli, social media manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, many park services are in disrepair due to budget constraints, and it would cost almost $12 billion to fix them all. These necessary repairs have been deferred for years because of lack of funding. On top of that, the Parks are working with an estimated 14 percent fewer staff and accommodating approximately 14 percent higher visitation from 2011 to 2018, Faalasli said.

“The Park Service is being stretched thin,” Faalasli said in an email.

Faalasli said that social media, rather than causing bad behaviour on public lands, is making it easier to see the waste and degradation already plaguing our parks.

When posts on platforms such as Instagram highlighted that trash had piled up in some national parks during the last government shutdown, Faalasli said that many volunteers showed up with trash bags.

How Land Managers Are Responding To Instagram

Faced by an unprecedented array of challenges, these parks require creative solutions from land managers. Some particularly Instagrammable locations are already finding ways to deal with the influx of influencers. One controversial solution is encouraging people not to geotag their Instagram posts, meaning their exact location isn’t posted to Instagram.

The “Keep Jackson Hole Wild” campaign encourages visitors not to geotag specific locations. Instead, the park created a generic geotag that reads “Tag Responsibly, Keep Jackson Hole Wild.”

The campaign was a response to a surge in visitation to Delta Lake, which is found at the end of a steep, unmarked trail that includes trudging through a boulder field. It’s a hard, dangerous hike, and land managers were worried that inexperienced people would get injured or otherwise have a negative experience if they tried to get there.

“We want people to have an intentional, meaningful experience,” said Kate Sollitt, executive director of the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board. “We find that positive experience more common when people seek local knowledge rather than following a pin.”

She emphasized that the campaign isn’t designed to be exclusive, and they want as many stewards of public lands as possible.

Others, though, see these anti-geotagging efforts as an extension of the kind of gatekeeping that kept people of color out of parks for so long.

Williams wrote a piece arguing that everyone should keep geotagging specific locations. If people are concerned about a fragile ecosystem, she said, they should include conservation information in their posts. Or they could not share it on Instagram at all, instead of “playing keepaway” by advertising its beauty but not its location.

Jennifer Lindenauer, who works on social media and inclusion at the major outdoor retailer REI, falls somewhere in the middle of the geotagging debate. She says that the organization generally tags the park rather than the specific trail in social media posts, but freely shares additional information if anyone asks.

“It’s not our job to be the gatekeepers and decide who gets to go outside and where,” Lindenauer said. “We don’t want to presume to know who is and isn’t taking care of that land.”

Others advocate for expanding the permit system, controlling how many can visit a given destination any day. Hanging Lake, a picturesque destination in White River National Forest in Colorado, is trying this tactic. It, too, has exploded in popularity in the last few years, a boom that rangers partially attribute to social media.

What used to be a local favorite was seeing upwards of 1,200 visitors a day, according to ranger Aaron Mayville. There is just one tiny parking lot, and it got so crowded that people were getting in fistfights over spots, Mayville said.

This year, the park rolled out a quota and permit system, requiring people to pay and reserve their trip in advance. Now, only 615 people are allowed each day.

“The future of visitation is only growing. It’s forcing land managers like myself to really look at our tools,” Mayville said. “Rather than trying to push people to other places or trying to discourage use, we’re trying to educate people.”

Whose Lands?

For much of American history, we’ve been happy to pave our cities and dump ash into the air, so long as we could escape to a pristine mountain pass on the weekends. This lifestyle is antithetical to the ideal of stewardship-focused societies, in which all land is respected and used sustainably.

America’s long-standing experiment with public lands has been among our most well-intentioned, but most mainstream environmentalism ignored that those parks were built on stolen land.

“Conservation did not start with the Antiquities Act,” Williams said, referring to the first legal protection of natural resources in the United States. “You need to have indigenous people involved in these conversations too.”

That’s another reason she supports geotagging: it can help determine whose land you’re standing on. An app called Native Land uses your geolocation to tell you what tribe owned that land before the U.S. government did.

You don’t need to “earn” the right to visit public lands—that’s the entire reason for their existence. Public lands belong to everyone. Now that social media is inviting more people into the outdoors, we need to grapple with how to make a parks system that really works for everyone. That starts with funding and a focus on stewardship, not with shaming.

“When I was explaining the problems to my mom, she said ‘es tu parque, cuídalo,’” La Mont said. “It’s your park, take care of it.”

Stop Blaming Instagram For Ruining The Great Outdoors syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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slapmeagain-blog · 7 years ago

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Thanks to “The Rock”

July 25th, 2017. 9:01 a.m.

Sam, Mel and Charlie head back to the UK today. It’s been great having them here. It’s been 15 years since their last visit for my 50th birthday party at Long Tan. I can barely remember it! Let’s see, we did it as a benefit for CASA NY -- Court Appointed Special Advocates (for children in foster care). I charged $50 a head. Only one person I know of remarked (not to me, but I know who you are!), “I’m not paying $50 bucks to go to a birthday party.” It was a good crowd, and it seems we all had a great time, though I confuse that party with the restaurant’s opening party which was a year or two before. Anyway, Sam and Mel and some other friends from England, from Italy, etc. joined us and most stayed at our house, which wasn’t even completely finished yet, and as I recall, even had some people camped out on the kitchen floor, empty still of appliances and counters. It was fun, wasn’t it?

I met Sam back in my days on Wall Street, probably around 1991, when I was working at a hedge fund, running the strategy desk for currency and fixed income trading. Sam’s older brother worked at one of the banks, Chase I think, that provided us with execution services in the fx markets. Steve (Sam’s brother), affectionately known in the markets as, The Rock, for his love of rock music and his vinyl collection, called one day and asked if I could arrange tickets to a Guns n Roses concert coming up at Madison Square Garden for Sam and a friend coming over from Nottingham. Steve had bought their plane tickets, saying it was Sam’s first trip to New York. I said, “Sure.” and got one of the other banks to come up with a couple of tickets for them. They arrived in NY the night of our first Christmas Party in our new apartment on Park Place, and I invited them to join us at the house. As I recall, it was December 7th and I’d instructed the bar tender to make up pitchers of kamikazi’s for Pearl Harbor day and everyone was pretty plastered. It took Sam and ‘Gut’, his pal, a while to find me at the party, and I was impressed that they’d made the effort to come to Brooklyn. Years later, he told me how intimidated he was with the place, the crowd and the party when he arrived, but that I’d made him feel at ease and that they’d ended up have a great time.

The two of them stayed at the Chelsea Hotel -- then still a cheap bohemian tourist hotel -- known for it’s famous residents (Dylan Thomas) and the fact the Sid Vicious probably got away with murder there (his girlfriend was found stabbed but he was never charged apparently.) Turns out Sam was a real rocker, and had his own band back home in Nottingham. So here in NY, they partied all night at places like CBGBs and Kenny’s Castaways, where the Smithereens, one of Sam’s favorite bands’, front man used to wash dishes between sets. Sam wore a leather jacket with their name painted on the back as I recall. I don’t think I went out with him on that trip, but if I didn’t, I can’t imagine why not. In any event, the two of them got by for a week on 3 or 4 hours a night sleep, spending their days sightseeing and their nights crawling around the bars in the Village and the Lower East Side.

Well, that week was the beginning of a long friendship, that remains strong to this day. I haven’t seem Sam in a long time, though I made annual trips to Nottingham every summer for years after that first meeting in NYC. We’d go out on pub crawls -- trying to hit up to 6 or 7 before they closed -- with Sam and 15 or so of his mates every July, and when the pubs closed we’d end up at the local night club, Central Park, to dance to Nirvana and Metallica, throw back shots of Jack Daniels, and finish the night with the usual public urination, a burger from a street truck, sometimes eaten laying down on the sidewalk as the summer dawn cracked at around 4 a.m., getting a car service home, then climbing through a kitchen window as we’d forgot the keys or come home without Mel who had them. One acquaintance of Sam’s called late one night, after we’d got home but before we’d passed out, drunk as a skunk, to apologize for giving me a hard time for how long it took the ‘yanks’ to get on board and enter the war. Not sure if he meant WWI or II and I didn’t remember the incident at all, but I was touched by his heartfelt apology nonetheless and assured him no offense was taken, and he took quite a bit of convincing!

I remember going up there one summer weekend with my then business partner, Steven Jacolow, just before we started our asset management firm in the UK, down south in Winchester. Must’ve been 1996, the year after we left Caxton when they downsized and cut my group from 12 to three people. Mel and the ladies loved that Steve was wandering around their house the next morning in nothing but his Calvin Klein’s. He always was a tease.

Over the years, as Sam and I became close, the other Steve, Sam’s brother, even became a bit jealous of our friendship, though he frequently joined us on my weekend visits to Nottingham. His wife Annette often questioned my sexuality and motivations in a gossipy tone, an old guy hanging out with all those young people. Well, she wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last, though I never got lucky even once, not that I was pushing. It was pretty clear none of them was gay. And it didn’t seem to bother any of them. Later, I learned, they were fine, just waiting for me to come out. In fact, 1996 was the year I did, to Hedy. Owed that to her, at least, before I could come out to anyone else.

The years passed. I moved back to the US, then in 2000 had another job in the the UK, London this time, but on my own, working for JP Morgan. When I got the offer, Hedy and I decided to separate (Cole had just left for school), and the offer seemed timely for us. Sam and Mel came down to London at one point that year and spent a month with me in my flat in Shoreditch, when Mel’s company sent her for some training. I moved to Italy in January 2002,right after 911 -- and finally back to the US at the end of 2004, when Claire was born.

So many years passed, so quickly. In 2015, Sam’s brother, Steve, died at 57, after a heart attack at Paddington Station, and with Jim Martin’s and Hedy’s urging, I decided to attend the funeral in Cardiff, Wales. It was a quick trip -- 36 hours -- but it was a watershed for Sam and me. Jim and I met at Heathrow, and had a driver take us to Cardiff for the service. Sam and Mel, and Sam’s mom, Jan, whom I had also developed a relationship with over the years seemed so glad I had come, and Jim and I spent the evening chatting with them about Steve and his life and shared memories. It was a good, meaningful evening for all of us. I promised to make the effort to get up to Nottingham, which I did the following summer, in 2016, and we did a pub crawl with the old gang, though I have to say none of us was sorry it didn’t end in a night club, with shots, any public urination, or breaking and entering -- we were all home in bed by midnight....

Their visit this week, with their 13 year old son, Charlie, comes on the heals of mine with them, and our rekindled efforts to spend more time together after the loss of Steve. Part of his legacy will be the lasting gift of friendship that he unwittingly gave to our families over 25 years ago.

Charlie, Claire and Carter have been getting on very well, and Claire asked me the other day, if, when we go to Paris for her 16th, we can stop for a few days in England to visit Charlie. Ah, the hearts of 13 year olds! And even Marco, after hearing stories of our Nottingham pub crawls has decided that we should make a trip to the East Midlands some time in our future. All good. Thanks, Steve Nicholson, for keeping us all close...

#oldfriends #friendshiprenewed #pubcrawls #nottinghampubs

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ia-alfredopassos · 8 years ago

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Depending on your perspective, 2006 was either a really bad year for public speaking or the start of a world-changing transformation. In that year the famous TED conference began streaming 18-minute presentations from the world’s top minds for free.

Today TED talks are viewed more than two million times a day and, in my opinion, they have become the gold standard in public speaking and presentation skills. It also means that, like it or your not, your next presentation will be compared to a TED talk.

This post is part of a series of articles based on my new book, Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds (St. Martin’s Press). During a trip to Paris last December I met with a group of young business professionals who said they were tired of speakers who gave “old school” PowerPoint presentations. “What exactly would you consider ‘new’ school?” I asked. “You know, like TED,” they said.

The South China Post newspaper recently reported that TED-style events are exploding in Hong Kong “in a big way.” Independently organized “TEDx” events are catching on across Asia. On a trip to Japan where I gave a keynote I was approached by several people who said, “We love the American style of speaking.” “The American style?” Yes, you know, like TED.” It doesn't surprise me anymore that wherever I travel in the world, I hear about TED. TED talks are translated into 90 languages, which is more than the Harry Potter series. TEDx events have been held in 145 countries. Teachers across America are showing TED videos to students to help satisfy the new Common Core educational standards, which place a greater emphasis on public speaking and presentation skills.

After analyzing 500 of the best TED talks, interviewing speakers whose TED presentations have been viewed nearly 20 million times, and pouring over research by leading neuroscientists, I've reached the conclusion that the human brain is wired to love the TED style. People simply can’t get enough of TED talks because they are truly addictive.

The good news—having to raise your game to the TED-style is not a bad thing. In fact, adopting the techniques that have brought some TED speakers global acclaim will make it much more likely that you will persuade your audience to act on your ideas.

I’ve identified 9 common elements to all TED talks and each of these are scientifically proven to increase the likelihood that your pitch or presentation will be successful, whether you’re pitching to one person or speaking to thousands.

1. Unleash the master within.Passion leads to mastery and mastery forms the foundation of an extraordinary presentation. You cannot inspire others unless you are inspired yourself. You stand a much greater chance of persuading and inspiring your listeners if you express an enthusiastic, passionate, and meaningful connection to your topic.

2. Tell three stories. Tell stories to reach people’s hearts and minds. Brain scans reveal that stories stimulate and engage the human brain, helping the speaker connect with the audience and making it much more likely that the audience will agree with the speaker’s point of view. Recently I wrote this column about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Her original TED talk was going to be “chock full of facts and figures, and nothing personal.” Instead she told three stories and ignited a movement. Stories connect us. Tell more of them.

3. Practice relentlessly. Harvard brain researcher Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor had this “stroke of insight” that has been viewed 15 million times on TED.com. Dr. Jill rehearsed her presentation 200 times before she delivered it live. Practice relentlessly and internalize your content so that you can deliver the presentation as comfortably as having a conversation with a close friend.

4. Teach your audience something new. The human brain loves novelty. An unfamiliar, unusual, or unexpected element in a presentation jolts the audience out of their preconceived notions, and quickly gives them a new way of looking at the world. Robert Ballard is an explorer who discovered Titanic in 1985. He told me, “Your mission in any presentation is to inform, educate, and inspire. You can only inspire when you give people a new way of looking at the world in which they live.”

5. Deliver jaw-dropping moments. The jaw-dropping moment—scientists call it an ‘emotionally competent stimulus’— is anything in a presentation that elicits a strong emotional response such as joy, fear, shock, or surprise. It grabs the listener’s attention and is remembered long after the presentation is over. In this column on how Bill Gates radically transformed his public-speaking skills, I demonstrate how Gates learned to incorporate a jaw-dropping moment into many of his public presentations, including his now famous TED talks.

6. Use humor without telling a joke. Humor lowers defenses, making your audience more receptive to your message. It also makes you seem more likable, and people are more willing to do business with or support someone they like. The funny thing about humor is that you don’t need to tell a joke to get a laugh. Educator Sir Ken Robinson educated and amused his audience in the most popular TED talk of all time: How Schools Kill Creativity. Robinson makes humorous, often self-deprecating, observations about his chosen field, education. “If you’re at a dinner party and you say you work in education—actually, you’re not often at dinner parties, frankly, if you work in education…” Robinson makes very strong, provocative observations about nurturing creativity in children, and he packages the material around humorous anecdotes and asides that endear him to the audience. Lighten up. Don’t take yourself (or your topic) too seriously.

7. Stick to the 18-minute rule. A TED presentation can be no longer than 18 minutes. Eighteen minutes is the ideal length of time to get your point across. Researchers have discovered that “cognitive backlog,” too much information, prevents the successful transmission of ideas. TED curator Chris Anderson has been quoted as saying that 18 minutes is "long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people's attention."

8. Favor pictures over text. PowerPoint is not the enemy. Bullet points are. Some of the best TED presentations are designed in PowerPoint. Others use Apple AAPL -0.17% Keynote or Prezi. Regardless of the software, there are no bullet points on the slides of the best TED presentations. There are pictures, animations, and limited amounts of text—but no slides cluttered with line after line of bullet points. This technique is called “picture superiority.” It simply means we are much more likely to recall an idea when a picture complements it.

9. Stay in your lane. The most inspiring TED speakers are open, authentic, and, at times, vulnerable. Researcher Brené Brown even gave a TED talk on the topic of vulnerability and how her own research led to her personal journey to know herself. Opening up paid off for Brown in a big way. Oprah discovered Brown on TED, invited Brown to be on her show, and today Brown is a bestselling author and regular contributor to O, The Oprah Magazine. Make no mistake. Your ability to persuasively sell your ideas is the single greatest skill that will help you achieve your dreams. Follow these nine rules and you’ll astonish, electrify, and inspire your audiences.

Source: Carmine Gallo, Contributor I write about success, leadership and communication. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

I am a keynote speaker and communication coach. I am the author of seven international bestsellers including my newest book "The Storyteller's Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don't. I also wrote the bestselling books Talk Like TED, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and The Apple Experience. I graduated from UCLA and have a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern. I live in Pleasanton, California, with my wife and two daughters. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

#carmine gallo #9 Public-Speaking Lessons From The World's Greatest TED Talks #forbes

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