Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 49

ANNE AND CHRISTOPHER RICE TALK ABOUT THE RETURN OF RAMSES THE DAMNED

In 1989, soon after the release of her novel The Queen of the Damned, author Anne Rice released another supernatural page turner about another immortal (but not vampiric) hero from ancient Egypt called The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned. Much more of a period high adventure than her vampire novels, The Mummy was a success and instantly found fans. The tag at the end of the novel promised more adventures of Ramses to come, but for various reasons, those adventures never came.

Now 28 years later, the sequel has finally arrived in the form of Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra. This novel is special for another reason besides being a sequel long in the making: it’s Anne Rice’s first writing collaboration with another author, and the author just happens to be her son, novelist Christopher Rice.

“Fans had been asking me for a sequel to The Mummy for years,” Anne said, “And I got this idea that I thought it would be wonderful if Chris and I could collaborate. As it turns out, he did most of the writing on the book and most of the heavy lifting in terms of the plotting. We had a meeting and made a road map of the plot, and he produced the first draft and the final draft. And then I went over it and added a number of things, particularly with the older characters from the first book. His focus was very much on the newer characters that he created for the sequel. Except for Cleopatra…he wrote a lot about her. He really came to understand that character, and it worked out really well.”

On collaborating with his mom, Christopher Rice told us, “I wrote a draft, I submitted it to her, and she did a really intensive read. Then we sat down together and pulled it apart, talked about what was working and what wasn’t, and she sent me off with marching orders to write the next draft. And a lot of those marching orders were to emphasize the mysterious nature of immortals and not have them flinch or react in the same way an ordinary human character would.”

Of all of Anne Rice’s worlds–vampires, witches, ghosts and werewolves—they chose a sequel to The Mummy as their first mother/son collaboration because of the fans. According to Christopher, “The reason it’s The Mummy is that everyone wanted a sequel to that book, and there wasn’t one. I was present, for year after year at my mother’s book signings, and saw people come up and ask, ‘When is the next Mummy book?’ And her attitude was, ‘I don’t have the time to do it on my own.’”

Much like Anne Rice’s second vampire novel, The Vampire Lestat, expanded upon the backstory of the vampires, it seems this second Ramses novel will expand upon the mythology introduced in the first book in a big way. “We do explore the origin of the Elixir of Life and where it came from, and the backstory of how Ramses got a hold of it” said Anne, “We love exploring the mythological background. Christopher was responsible for writing a lot of that.”

The elder Rice has made a name for herself over the past 40 years writing about various kinds of immortal beings, but the kind of immortality Ramses has is more of a “no strings attached” kind of immortality. Anne explained, “It’s very different. The vampires are very much a metaphor for the outsider and the outcast, and for people who walk in darkness, and that’s not true for Ramses. The vulnerability for Ramses is that he can be captured, and somebody could force him to tell them the formula for the Elixir of Life and make other immortals. And also, he can’t biologically have a child. He has to decide when to give this Elixir to someone, and it’s not something that can be done lightly. To me, it’s just a different way of writing about immortality.”

Source:

https://nerdist.com/anne-rice-christopher-rice-ramses-the-damned-passion-of-cleopatra/

Why Would Luke Want to End the Jedi?

“It’s time for the Jedi to end.”

These are the words of Luke Skywalker, some of the first we’ve heard him say since “Return of the Jedi.” He didn’t speak in 2015’s “The Force Awakens,” and according to the lore, he’s been hiding out on a remote world home to the first Jedi Temple for quite some time.

Why would he, the last Jedi Master, say a thing like that?

This is the question we all hope will be answered in December’s release of “The Last Jedi,” the eighth installment of the Skywalker Saga. But more than a few clues are scattered across the “Star Wars” canon, and the answer might be easier to find than we thought.

Perhaps the first thing we need to understand is Luke’s journey, starting with “The Empire Strikes Back” and how we can assume his journey during the events of “The Force Awakens” played out. In “The Empire Strikes Back,” Luke can see the pain and suffering of Princess Leia and Han Solo through the Force, even before it happens. He ignores the advice of his masters to remain in his hidden training on Dagobah and goes to confront Darth Vader in order to save them. This decision puts him on the brink of the dark side, but he is able to save his friends sooner or later. Luke is so much more powerful now, so many years later, we have to assume he could have interceded on Han’s behalf when Han’s son, Ben Solo (who took on the name Kylo Ren), ran him through with a lightsaber.

The question we have to ask is why? Luke knew his best friend was going to die at the hands of Ben Solo, Luke’s nephew and former student, so why did he still let it happen?

I think the answer lies in Luke’s finishing move in “Return of the Jedi.” At the climax of the film, when he should have launched into an impressive battle against the emperor, he chooses nonviolence. He throws away his lightsaber and lets the emperor have his way with him. It’s only through the compassion of his father that he’s able to survive. This act brings Anakin Skywalker back to the light side.

Thanks to two new stories that have been released in 2017, the first a short story in “The Legends of Luke Skywalker,” and the second the single player story of “Star Wars: Battlefront II,” we catch glimpses of this new Luke Skywalker. He’s helping Imperials, people he would have shot at indiscriminately before his new enlightenment. He doesn’t care what life-form is around and needs help, he shows that life-form compassion.

 

This nonviolent trajectory for Luke Skywalker fits with George Lucas’ concept of an ideal world. In 2012, while on “CBS Morning News,” Lucas talked about how compassion should be the overriding driver of government and societal structure: “[We come] out and say that we care about everyone in our society and what we want to do is do what’s best for everybody in the society. We want to build the best society where everybody gets the best possible life they can possibly have.”

In “The Force Awakens,” when Han Solo tells us that Luke had a student turn dark and kill the other students in his charge, Luke might have to rethink what that compassion means. How can he kill his nephew when his finishing move is love and compassion? Of course, this split forces Luke to do a lot of soul-searching, and what better place to seek out than the origin of the Jedi to see how they grappled with their problems?

One of the earliest lessons learned in “Star Wars” is that violence is cyclical, just as Greek mythology long ago pointed out. It was foretold to Cronus, the father of Zeus, that his children would be his undoing because of this circular violence. The damage he did to his father would likewise be done to him. And he couldn’t stop it.

This idea appears in Christian theology, too. In Matthew 26:52, we see a passage that reads: “‘Put your sword back in its place,’ Jesus said to him, ‘for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.'”

Luke put his sword away once and saved his father. After his nephew’s turn to the dark side, it makes sense that he’d put away his sword again. And something tells me that Rey isn’t going to find a very helpful Luke Skywalker at the beginning of “The Last Jedi” because of this nonviolent coda.

Source:

https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/why-would-luke-want-to-end-jedi.htm

A Step-By-Step Guide To Becoming An Influencer In Your Industry

Influencers are the people others come to for advice. They have a genuine, loyal following because they add real value to their industries.

Influencers have insight and actionable information, and because of that they attract the eye of even major brands.

In short: Influencers have power.

It’s possible that someday soon you will have an amazing service, product or idea that will change your industry forever — or maybe you already do. Perhaps you already have a startup for that industry-changing service, product or idea and a crack team to make it work. What else could you possibly need?

Influence. Because without it, your amazing work just won’t get the buzz you need to really succeed.

This is the fear all entrepreneurs have, and no wonder. We have all faced it from time to time.

To get the attention your business needs, you need to become an authority, an influencer in your industry. Fortunately, this is within your reach.

Too often we believe that influencers are born, not made, and that we can’t learn how to do what they do. Wrong!

Influencers do not pop up overnight; they work their butts off to get where they are. Just ask them.

This practical guide to becoming an influencer in your industry will show you how to grow your following, build credibility, and develop your identity as an authority in your field.

It will cover educating yourself, creating compelling content, harnessing the power of social media, and engaging with your community. And it will share these tools and tactics with you step by step.

What Is Influence? What Makes Someone An Authority?

There is an endless stream of information out there, and everyone is looking for content that is actionable, credible, and powerful. Most of us are on the seeking side of things — we consume the best information we can find.

But authorities create that high-quality information. They consume, but they also create. As you produce more and more valuable content, you grow your influence.

Influencers engage in other authority-building activities as they create their information: They nurture useful, productive relationships and networks, and they continue to improve themselves and their work. Becoming an influencer is an ongoing process.

This matters because it dictates the necessity of engaging at a high level continually. As new consumers of your content find you, they will research you, what you do, and who you know as they watch your social media profiles and activities.

Social media is important today, and this won’t change. It provides a way for people to decide how valuable your work is, and how much they should trust you.

Influence is supported by metrics. Your numbers of followers, engagement levels of those followers and who they are, and your place among other influencers are things people can look at as they evaluate you. For all of these reasons, there are proven, concrete steps you can take to become a top influencer.

Source:

https://marketingland.com/step-step-guide-becoming-influencer-industry-142696

How To Market An Ebook Pt. 1

5 Ways to Build Business Credit When You’re Self-Employed

It’s hard to beat the freedoms of being self-employed. But with the joys of being your own boss and creating your own schedule come some trade-offs. One trade-off can be unsteady income.

Even if you are very careful about your finances, it’s possible that a great business opportunity will present itself that you simply don’t have the cash for. If you’ve built good business credit and have access to a business credit card or line of credit, it will be easier to jump on those opportunities.

Building good business credit can seem like a mysterious process if you’ve never done it before. Here’s how to get started. (See also: Best Credit Cards for Small Businesses)

1. Establish strong personal credit first

The vast majority of small business credit cards require you to personally guarantee the charges you make — even if the card is issued in your business’s name. That means if the business fails, you will still be responsible for the debt.

Because you ultimately will be the one who pays the balance, expect lenders to pay attention to your personal credit when you seek business credit. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, when you apply for business credit, a lender has the right to look at your personal credit profile to evaluate whether to issue it to you.

To make sure you have a full array of options when it comes to business credit cards, make sure you are paying your personal cards on time and not maxing them out. A high credit utilization ratio — that is, using a large percentage of the credit available to you — can cause your credit score to drop. (See also: 5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score Fast)

2. Run your business like a business

If you want to get business credit in the future, keep good financial records by using accounting software such as FreshBooks, QuickBooks or Xero. Using software designed for this is much easier than using spreadsheets and reduces the chance that you’ll make mistakes.

Many accounting software programs have a “reports” function that allows you to create a profit and loss (P&L) statement with the click of a button. A P&L statement shows all of your sales and expenses for a set period, such as a year. To get a business line of credit with your bank, you will very likely have to produce one of these statements, so this feature is a huge timesaver. (See also: 5 Free Accounting Tools for Freelancers)

3. Keep your business finances separate

Before you try to open a line of credit with your bank or apply for business credit cards, open a business checking account. This will show lenders you are serious about running your business.

Maintaining a business checking account also gives you an opportunity to develop a relationship with your banker. If money is flowing into your account regularly, you are maintaining more than the minimum balance, and you are handling the account responsibly (i.e., the checks you write are clearing), chances are that your banker will begin to offer you products such as a business credit card and possibly a line of credit.

Don’t use your business checking account to pay your personal bills. You need to establish separation between your business and personal finances and keep accurate records.

To open a business checking account, you will generally need a federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). You can apply for one online through the IRS.

4. Use your business credit card strategically

If you don’t have strong personal credit, you may still be able to get a business credit card. There are some higher-interest cards designed for people with a “fair” credit score.

While paying higher interest isn’t ideal, if you use the card responsibly, you’ll be able to improve your credit profile and should qualify for better deals in the future.

 

Once you get a business credit card, use it regularly to make business purchases and pay the bill on time — ideally in full — to build a history of using it responsibly. Don’t use the card for personal spending. If you connect this card to your accounting software, it will be easy to enter your business expenses, saving you a lot of time.

5. Monitor your business credit report

How do you know if you are actually building good business credit once you make these efforts? Use the free searches on Experian, Equifax, or D&B to see if your business’s credit is being tracked. (You will have to pay to get the actual report).

There’s a different system for business credit card scores than for personal ones. Business credit scores go from 0 or 1 to 100. Each of the major credit bureaus uses its own formula, but factors such as how long you’ve been in business, your credit utilization, and the lines of credit you have opened in the last six months are likely to affect your score.

If you find your business isn’t on the radar screen of the major credit bureaus and you have already gotten your EIN, try applying for a free D-U-N-S number with Dun & Bradstreet, which should get the ball rolling.

All of these steps take some work and can’t be done overnight, so start early — ideally a few months before you think you’ll need business credit. It’ll pay off. Having strong business credit is a valuable asset that you’ll greatly appreciate if you ever get into a cash crunch.

Source:

http://www.wisebread.com/5-ways-to-build-business-credit-when-youre-self-employed

3 REASONS TO PUBLISH A BOOK

Although it may feel like writing and publishing a book wouldn’t really impact your business, the reality is that there are three reasons why every massage therapist should at least consider taking this route.

1. A book is an effective marketing tool.

Elaine Fogel Schneider, Ph.D. (known simply as “Dr. Elaine”), is executive director of TouchTime International LLC and the author of Massaging Your Baby – The Joy of TouchTime – Effective Techniques for A Healthier, Happier, More Relaxed Child & Parent. For her, writing a book has been an effective marketing tool.

“As a therapist working with infants and their parents, having a book has brought writers, television producers, radio show hosts and agencies to my door asking me to be interviewed, or to provide face to face trainings or webinar presentations around the globe,” she said.

Fogel Schneider says she has traveled “from California to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as a trainer of TouchTime.”

In fact, her book has been translated into Chinese and Malay, increasing her presence in those areas, as well as in the U.S., and opening up more opportunities for her to share what she knows about the benefits of massage to infants.

2. It establishes you as an expert

Kamillya Hunter is the owner and founder of Spa Analytics Consulting Group, a company she created when she was a massage therapist before letting her license lapse after her family moved to Germany. Her company supports the massage industry through consulting services, website design and content.

In August 2017, Hunter released her book,Success of a Failed Therapist and says that not only has it been well-received by other massage therapists, it has also helped establish her as an expert in the field.

“Whether it’s written to your massage client or simply [about] a particular service or topic you know well, when people see your ideas and thoughts in print, you attract a higher quality client base,” says Hunter. “You become an industry leader and it adds to your status of expert.”

3. It Gives You Another Revenue Stream

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean annual wage for massage therapists is $44,480 with a mean hourly wage of $21.39. Whether you make this amount, a little more, or a little less, if you want to raise your annual revenue even more, writing and selling a book is one way to achieve that goal.

Hunter says that writing and publishing Success of a Failed Therapist has, for her, created passive revenue opportunities outside of the treatment room.

In other words, her book makes her money even when she isn’t actively selling it. “If well distributed, [a book] can provide you with a decent stream of revenue that can be just what you need during the down times of off peak seasons,” she says.

How to Start Writing A Book

The idea of writing and publishing a book can seem as daunting as standing at the bottom of a mountain and wondering how you’re going to get to the top—but there are steps you can take to start making your very book a reality.

The first step is to come up with what it is you want to write about. Maybe massage has been a life-saver for you personally and you want to share your story in the hopes that it will inspire someone else to find the same relief.

Or perhaps, like Fogel Schneider, there’s a particular demographic that you massage, such as athletes, women or the elderly, and you would like to serve them even more by providing them important information about the benefits of massage.

Once you’ve decided on the basic premise or topic of your book, the next step is to come up a basic outline. What topics do you want to make sure you cover? In what order should they be presented so that they make logical sense to the reader?

Not only does having an outline help you better organize your book and give you an idea of what needs to go in it, but it can also help you stay on task when writing—which is what you’re going to do next.

While some people enjoy the writing process, others find the idea of putting thoughts in black and white a task they’d do anything avoid. If you fall into the second category, here are some tips that can help:

Set aside writing time on your calendar regularly so you’re always moving forward with your book. This could be by designating 30 or 60 minutes each morning or night, or by putting aside a block of time on weekends where you just sit down and write.
Write to simply get your thoughts down. Don’t worry yet about how good your ideas are, how your stories sound or whether you’ve used the right words. These issues can and will be addressed later, during the editing process.
If you truly detest writing, consider hiring a ghostwriter, which is someone who can take your thoughts and ideas and put them into book form. Alternatively, you could also dictate your book to audio and have it transcribed.

Whether you write the book yourself or have someone else write it for you, at this point in the process, you’ll have a rough draft.

With that, you can start tweaking it so it has all of the information you want it to have and provides it in the style and tone that you want it to. This is accomplished through editing and it’s something you can do yourself or hire out.

Ideally, you should have at least one other person preview your book as two sets of eyes looking over your book increases the odds that you’ll find any potential grammar, spelling, or content-related errors before it goes to print.

With your book in publish-ready form, you can take one of two routes. You can either self-publish using one of the many business found easily through a Google search, or you can seek publishing through a traditional publisher. Both have their pros and cons, so it’s all about finding the best option for you.

Having a book can give you another marketing tool, can help establish you as an expert, and can provide another stream of income.

So if you could use any one of these three benefits in your massage therapy business, then maybe it’s time that you sit down and write your own.

Who knows? You may just like what you read.

Source:

https://www.massagemag.com/how-to-start-writing-a-book-87548/

YouTube Adsense is Dead

Now that its bottom line is being affected, YouTube says it will begin to take additional steps to protect its advertisers and creators from inappropriate content on its network. In a blog post authored by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on Monday, the company said it will increase its staff to over 10,000 in 2018 to help better moderate video content.The news follows a series of scandals on the video-sharing site related to its lack of policing around content aimed at children, obscene comments on videos of children, horrifying search suggestions, and more.

The company has been suffering from the fallout of accusations that it has for too long allowed bad actors to game its recommendation algorithms to reach children with videos that aren’t meant for younger viewers. At the same time, it has seemingly fostered a community of creators making videos that involve putting kids in concerning, and even exploitive, situations.

One example, the channel ToyFreaks, was recently terminated after concerns were raised about its videos, where a fathers’ young daughters were filmed in odd, upsetting and inappropriate situations, at times.

YouTube had said then the channel’s removal was part of a new tightening of its child endangerment policies. It also last month implemented new policies to flag videos where inappropriate content was aimed at children.

It has since pulled down thousands of videos of children as a result, and removed the advertising from nearly 2 million videos and over 50,000 channels.

Source:

YouTube promises to increase content moderation staff to over 10K in 2018

Rise of Automation : Technology and Robots Will Replace Humans Now Available on Amazon and Itunes

You probably have an idea how robots will affect human workers negatively. Chief players in the tech world like Bill Gates and Elon Musk have provided their solutions; universal basic income or robot tax. But amidst the serious warnings and the utter sci-fi utopias, the human pain that will follow future job loss seems to be forgotten.

15 years or so from now, the US economy will lose 38% of its jobs to automation. This rate is alarming. And yet, many people maintain that automation should not and cannot slow down.

However, what if the progress is decelerated a little? Just enough to match the slow fashion and slow food trends maybe? At the very least, people should rethink the ownership of autonomous trucks. Robotization would not be that bad if truck drivers owned the automatic trucks instead of having a corporation own them all. In the meantime; robotization is a real threat and poses a danger to crucial human infrastructure.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Elon Musk and Universal Basic Income

Silicon Valley and the Automated Future

Job Automation

Bill Gates and a Threat to Jobs

Artificial Intelligence and Automation

Auto Industry Jobs That Will Be Lost To Automation

The Rise of Automation and Coding

Cyber Security

Consumer Automation

Automation in the Healthcare Industry

Al Is the Future of Cybersecurity

The Future of Automation

Colleges: Jobs of the Future

Automation and Perception

Manage Automation and Jobs

Automation and the Future Economy

Conclusion

Bitcoin hits new high above $11,500 as the Winklevoss twins become the first bitcoin billionaires

Bitcoin is back to its winning ways, posting a record high on Sunday and making billionaires of the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

Bitcoin suffered big price falls last week but recovered over the weekend. The digital currency hit a new high of $11,826.76 a coin on Sunday, according to data from Markets Insider, surpassing its previous high of about $11,300.

The digital currency retraced some of its gains Sunday after hitting the peak. As of 8.05 a.m. GMT (3.05 a.m. ET) on Monday, bitcoin was up 2.79% against the dollar to $11,554.83.Markets Insider

Bitcoin has attracted interest from both ordinary investors and institutions. Last week it emerged that the exchange operator Nasdaq could follow its rival CME Group in launching bitcoin future contracts next year, a sign that professional investors are increasingly taking the asset seriously.

Investors are being drawn in by the promise of big gains. The Telegraph reported over the weekend that the Winklevoss twins, known for suing Mark Zuckerberg saying he stole the idea for Facebook from them, had become the world’s first bitcoin billionaires.

The two former Olympic rowers disclosed in 2013 that they owned $11 million worth of bitcoin. The cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise since then — it has risen by over 1,000% this year — has propelled that investment to over $1 billion, according to The Telegraph. The Winklevoss twins are long-time bitcoin bulls and are also investors in the crypto exchange Gemini.

Source:

http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-november-4-winklevoss-twins-first-bitcoin-billionaires-2017-12

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Robinhood stock trading comes to web with finance news for its 3M users

You know what’s cool? Not just being worth over $1 billion, but saving your customers $1 billion. Today, zero-fee stock trading app Robinhood announced that it’s hit 3 million registered accounts, $100 billion transacted in its app, and $1 billion in saved commissions considering competitors like E*Trade cost $7 per trade.

And now, Robinhood is getting a web version where beyond swapping stocks, you can research them with its financial news feed, check analyst buy-sell ratings, and compare them with its playlist-style Collections.

Long-standing competitors like Scottrade might cram a ton of data onto a web page, but that doesn’t necessarily teach you financial literacy. That’s something Robinhood users need as half of them are first-time traders. Co-founder Baiju Bhatt tells me “If the goal is to actually make people learn about investing, get better at it, be informed, I think our approach is the best one out there.”

Robinhood’s $110 million raise at a $1.3 billion valuation from April has clearly been put to swift use. But the web launch actually harkens back to Robinhood’s original mission. Back in 2013 before it raised its seed round with the intention of letting you trade stocks for free, Robinhood wanted to be a crowdsourced investment advice platform. With the new features like the ability to see the average price Robinhood users paid for a stock and whether its popular on the app, Robinhood is starting back down the path to social fintech.

Source:

Robinhood stock trading comes to web with finance news for its 3M users

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