tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82768983920647833802024-03-05T08:54:08.208-08:00Julie AndertonCulture, Criticism n' StuffUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-9580159714809524922020-11-17T16:06:00.003-08:002020-11-17T17:42:13.680-08:00When An Election Stinks to High Heaven, Bring in the Electoral College<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3k-KGGZR2f6Uj4QorI_EdPP0Mv4c_i5GdD2_s1_5NmLXzOVHvq6oGdvB5-JIZh5I3gUuif77JNz5hD6inlhKXZW2GgWDdydl3UXEn5FoJiner2GvYpRQ7lY8JPOO5Cn3r8YmdNtHKC9dL/s792/Post+copy.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="786" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3k-KGGZR2f6Uj4QorI_EdPP0Mv4c_i5GdD2_s1_5NmLXzOVHvq6oGdvB5-JIZh5I3gUuif77JNz5hD6inlhKXZW2GgWDdydl3UXEn5FoJiner2GvYpRQ7lY8JPOO5Cn3r8YmdNtHKC9dL/s320/Post+copy.png" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">We’ve just had a presidential election that stinks to high heaven. Late in the evening of November 3rd, while Trump led comfortably in critical states (WI, MI and PA), the Networks still called the race a “dead heat”.</span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And then, as we were all nestled, snug in our beds, something very stinky went down, as we awoke to a BIDEN victory in ALL of these critical swing states.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">The kind of stink that spreads over flyover country and clear across to Arizona and Nevada.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And now, with several critical states yet to certify their election results, Trump lawsuits filed in six states (which include hundreds of affidavits, i.e. evidence, citing voter fraud), the Networks have pushed through a Biden victory. Not only, they’re <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/13/business/stop-the-steal-disinformation-campaign-invs/index.html">characterizing skeptics as gullible nitwits</a>—and even threatening them with the loss of their careers!!! </span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I truly sympathize with those dealing with losing — it’s not easy — but at a certain point one has to think not only about what’s best for the nation (peaceful transfer of power) but how any future employers might see your character defined during adversity.</span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) <a href="https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1325836769644982273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2020</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">What a bizarre segue: to actually level a personal threat toward people who question the election. It's suspicious, given that Tapper in a later tweet completely smeared the Trump Campaign's Pennsylvania Press Conference in which witnesses told their experiences of being denied access to ballot-counting. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">If he were genuinely convinced of a solid, honest win, why level such heavy-handed attacks? Doesn’t this level of authoritarianism from a MSM mogul alone communicate culpability?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">But more to the point: these justice-obstructing journalists may preclude any recourse to remedying fraud and bringing about a free and fair election. At which point, the final resort may be the electoral college.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><b>Sick With Rot</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">As the Press Conferences in Philadelphia and Michigan last week made clear, the Trump Campaign isn’t struggling to find evidence of voter fraud. Republican Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel cited 2,300 reports of fraud in Michigan, and over 100 affidavits (this was as of a week ago; more affidavits may well have been created—she mentioned they’d been constrained by time from having more). In Philadelphia, too, a drove of Republican volunteers have come forward and signed affidavits citing fraud.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Here's the full Michigan Press Conference:</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">LIVE: Press Conference with Kayleigh McEnany and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel <a href="https://t.co/tBiNKGRKIy">https://t.co/tBiNKGRKIy</a></span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— Team Trump (@TeamTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamTrump/status/1325916356110323713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2020</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">In the affidavits — all taking place in Democratic strongholds in critical swing states — witnesses invariably cited not being able to witness the counting of ballots.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">In Pennsylvania, I haven't seen a Republican who's looked at a ballot yet,” Lawyer Rudy Guiliani said last week on Steve Bannon's podcast. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Unilaterally block Republicans and somehow the uninspiring dementia patient receives more votes than the charismatic and wildly popular candidate.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #330066;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><b>It Happened Just Like We Said....Yet it Just. Didn't. Happen.</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">The mainstream media, sadly, won’t at all play a part in working to set things right with this election by exposing fraud. In fact, they’ve prepared the public to anticipate the fix!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Calling it a “Red Mirage”, several outlets (<a href="https://www.axios.com/bloomberg-group-trump-election-night-scenarios-a554e8f5-9702-437e-ae75-d2be478d42bb.html">Axios</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/31/red-mirage-trump-election-scenario-victory">Guardian</a> and <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pennsylvania-red-mirage-officials-voter-patience">Fox</a>) spelled out exactly what happened on election night: Trump would have a comfortable lead in key swing states until well into the night, until…..all of the mail in ballots came in. Droves and droves and droves of them. And 100% for Biden.</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">All part of the Great Reset. The enemy always gives out their game plan. Just like how they gave out their gameplan for the election months before it happened! (Ex: red mirage on election night for Trump, before states flip blue) all planned, all staged, all rigged</span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— iammix 🔔 (@iammix24) <a href="https://twitter.com/iammix24/status/1328220353085247488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></span></blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">The red mirage from September 1st, 2020, Axios....<a href="https://t.co/GGgNpdL7YW">https://t.co/GGgNpdL7YW</a></p>— iammix 🔔 (@iammix24) <a href="https://twitter.com/iammix24/status/1328223408547573760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">As if to say: We told you about this, so that makes it legitimate. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">But if it were really so legitimate; if the "red mirage" was an honest explanation for how election night played out; then why is the press obstructing any coverage of the fraud that Rudy Guiliani has uncovered?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Anderson "no evidence of widespread fraud" Cooper and his cronies have unilaterally denied Guiliani coverage--and have totally smeared the Pennsylvania Press Conference rather than cover it. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">But Guiliani's point is clear: he isn't discovering widespread fraud, but rather concerted fraud, in exactly the places Biden needed to win.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;">We're discovering serious fraud; don't let the media tell you there isn't any. It's beginning to looks systemic, you see the same thing happening in 8 or 10 rock-ribbed protected Democratic cities where they feel can get away with anything. It seems not by coincidence they all had the same idea at the same time. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGb4qxYefKI">Rudy Guiliani, November 13th</a></span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span></blockquote><p><b style="color: #330066; font-size: 13pt;">Bring in the Electoral College</b></p><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Our founding fathers knew the vulnerability an election has towards coups and regime changes. As an added safeguard against fraudulent elections, they developed the electoral college.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">The popular election, as we know, doesn't determine the president but rather the state's designated electors, who cast their ballots on December 14th this year. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">In <a href="https://www.revolver.news/2020/11/republican-state-legislatures-must-restore-will-of-the-people/">his recent article in Revolver News</a>, Darren Beattie calls out the critical role the electoral college may play if the media continues to obstruct and smear any efforts to uncover serious fraud. He writes: </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;">If states cannot satisfactorily demonstrate by December 14 that their voting procedures were legitimate and free of fraud, then the law gives state legislatures no choice but to act to restore the will of the people of their respective states. They will be obligated to pick a slate of Donald Trump-aligned electors, and send their votes to Washington, as the Constitution and Supreme Court explicitly allow. <a href="https://www.revolver.news/2020/11/republican-state-legislatures-must-restore-will-of-the-people/">Darren J. Beattie, Revolver News</a></span></blockquote><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">The countdown continues; it's just under four weeks until December 14th. What do you think is needed most for our country right now, to restore justice to the system?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-75388753969997372412020-11-08T23:39:00.001-08:002020-11-08T23:39:17.695-08:00Being a Trump Supporter in our Free & Open Society<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD83Vg_9JYzULj1aCdlkZu89vQs9JBA23K7-igNUOG4cKxm3OFzxHPbdA-tac1dxIlFGGINfmcHgsk1HxxXI7Vws30NzaxERp62PBs5akNCPx5Tf4FfJFByeJDFU-gjIMO2ts8McC6pktF/s1056/Screen+Shot+2020-11-08+at+9.40.46+PM+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1056" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD83Vg_9JYzULj1aCdlkZu89vQs9JBA23K7-igNUOG4cKxm3OFzxHPbdA-tac1dxIlFGGINfmcHgsk1HxxXI7Vws30NzaxERp62PBs5akNCPx5Tf4FfJFByeJDFU-gjIMO2ts8McC6pktF/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-11-08+at+9.40.46+PM+copy.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Lisette Tarragano speaks at a Trump Press Conference in Philadelphia. Tarragano is one of several witnesses in the case Rudy Guiliani's filing against Philadelphia for voter fraud. </div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/election-eve-with-hugh-hewitt-andrew-yang-and-robert-cahaly/id1532976305?i=1000496966350">In his interview with Megyn Kelly just before the election, Robert Cahaly</a> of Trafalger Polling, one of the few pollsters who correctly predicted Trump's win in 2016, insisted on the existence of a shy Trump voter. “I think (the shy Trump vote) has absolutely grown...if I had to give the top demographics for shy Trump voter it was first suburban white women of higher income, second was black men under 50, and the third was suburban men of higher income.” </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And this voter did turn out; the election was in fact way closer than the Biden landslide most polls predicted.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">In a country that prides itself on free speech, what makes citizens guaranteed this right under the First Amendment reluctant to simply tell a pollster who they plan to vote for?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Charles C.W. Cooke, in another Megyn Kelly interview, reflects on this phenomenon:</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">One of the topics that has been dear to National Review’s heart of late is this illiberalism that you have begun to see in the media, in the Academy, in Hollywood, that drives people who disagree with whatever prevailing cultural sentiments it is assumed they should believe out of the public square; either that silences them preemptively by raising the cost of them saying what they really believe, or by trying to get them fired or to participate in a struggle session.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And that’s bad enough but I think where it gets really sinister and really totalitarian is that those who have inflicted this illiberalism on the country seems simultaneously to believe that its results are real.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And so you’ve got a real social cost to anyone who supports Donald Trump or thinks that his message should resonate…but also this disbelief from those who are imposing that social cost that the people upon whom it’s being imposed actually don’t really believe it.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">They’ve convinced themselves over time that they’ve won, that they’ve re-educated the population.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">But of course you can’t take that social pressure into the voting booth. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><i><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/election-overtime-charles-c-w-cooke-krystal-ball-saagar/id1532976305?i=1000497218360">Megyn Kelly, Election VOertime, Nov 4th, Minute 14ish)</a></i></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">What specifically does this social cost which vocal Trump supporters pay look like? Here's what Scott Adams, longtime supporter of the president, has to say:</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I’m having the weirdest experience in the aftermath of this election: a weird mixed feeling. If you were a Trump supporter and you believe he lost the election, what was your baseline happiness change? Did you find yourself going into a depression that you think will last? Because that’s what happened with the Democrats. Have any of you experienced that? Because I experienced the opposite. What I experienced was 'oh, I wanted it go to the other way.' That was my brain. My brain was, 'oh darn it, I expected it to go the other way. I feel like it would have been better if it went the other way.' And then my body weighed in. And my body had the opposite opinion. My body actually felt better. My baseline happiness is really, really high right now.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And it’s not just because I think there’s a high likelihood the vote will be overturned. I'm not looking forward to that, I think it could be a destabilizing thing. <b>You realize that even being a Trump supporter and even when things are going your way, there’s a certain level of stress that comes with that. I walked outside for the last few days feeling that people didn’t want to kill me. And I mean that, literally.</b> I mean that, if Trump is out of office, that whatever severe irrational hatred people had for me, as a presumed supporter of the president, that they would lose that fire of hatred. They’ll never forgive me, but there’s difference between 'ah, you did something that year and we didn’t like it but we’ve sort of forgotten it' versus ‘I want to kill you right now because I am in mental distress over your president; you support him; I fricking hate your guts’. <b>I feel like I was living in a world where I was severely hated just for existing.</b> </span><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"><i><a href="https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/coffee-with-scott-adams-652678">Coffee With Scott Adams Podcast, November 8th, minute 64</a></i></span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Not at all the account of someone frolicking in the free and open pastures of free speech.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">What other expressions does this sinister illiberalism that Cooke speaks of take? </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">At a Trump Campaign Press Conference in Philadelphia on Saturday, several witnesses spoke in Rudy </span><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;">Giuliani's</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> federal lawsuit against Philadelphia for voter fraud. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Here's what lawyer and longtime Philadelphia resident Lisette Tarragano had to say: </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I got really hepped up about watching voter freedom, freedom of speech, and being able to say the words 'Donald Trump' without getting pushed in the corner. And when I really got exited about being asked to observe ballots, was when I felt that my way of life is being put in jeopardy. The American way of life; being put down for things I say, who I like, and it’s not fair.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I am the child and granddaughter of both Holocaust victims and survivors, and I’m the daughter of a WWII veteran who fought for and or ran away from horrible, horrible times where people are repressed and sent away.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">When I was brought in to be a poll watcher; I was never brought in actually— I never got in past the first identification stage. They kept saying that mine as well as 5 or so other Republicans, their names hadn’t been entered into a system. The first time it happened, the second time it happened, I had no second thoughts about it….but after a while, what I witnessed, …..I felt insidious fraud going on, I felt that we were kept away from doing our civil duty. Everybody on both parties should be upset about. This is horrible, we’re being restricted, we’re being restrained. I see this as the insidious nature of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania governments who are keeping us away from doing what we were meant to do.</span></p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><b>Who's to Blame?</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Who, specifically, are the proponents of this closed society? The real enemies to, as Lisette put it, the American way of life?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Well, hm. Here’s a recent tweet from WA Post contributor Jennifer Rubin:</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Any R now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not to follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into "polite" society. We have a list.</span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— Jennifer 'the people decide' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) <a href="https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1324792225260253184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2020</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Ah, so employees of our “free press” explicitly advocates putting people onto lists and excluding them from society. Looks like we might be on on a dead end road. (This is same Washington Post that spent the last four years reporting baseless claims that Russia interfered with the 2016 election.)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">If we were once a society that genuinely advocated and cultivated free speech, those days are completely gone, over—no turn around. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And what have we become? Perhaps Lisette Tarragano’s reference to “horrible, horrible times where people are repressed and sent away” provides glimpses.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-43204703177592749482020-10-29T10:31:00.000-07:002020-10-29T10:31:38.112-07:00Jo Jorgensen and Spike Cohen: a Refreshing Contrast to the Dreary Biden Campaign<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ch5aUePEiPWANexZZbGbAQCGIGicVUZEN9hoRoH8GroLTRxb5Bm8XkgtD-ZgEHd7Jokv9SY6Ua_LmLVuagV1icy4YzZJRzSCXEbcT5HjNf8WiPO0ieysnVhccU35ABeK5HIhbrYze8Rh/s2048/Biden+Campaign+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Biden Campaign" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2043" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ch5aUePEiPWANexZZbGbAQCGIGicVUZEN9hoRoH8GroLTRxb5Bm8XkgtD-ZgEHd7Jokv9SY6Ua_LmLVuagV1icy4YzZJRzSCXEbcT5HjNf8WiPO0ieysnVhccU35ABeK5HIhbrYze8Rh/w319-h320/Biden+Campaign+copy.JPG" title="Jo Jordenson" width="319" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">More and more, the Biden ticket feels totally broken</div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">The Biden campaign of late has both opened my eyes and terrified me.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Two weeks ago the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/">New York Post broke a story</a> about some laptops owned by Biden's son, Hunter, with incriminating e-mails. The e-mails imply Joe Biden received money from overseas companies in Russia and China. A few days later, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/lapdog-press-blacks-out-explosive-tony-bobulinski-claims">Tony Bobulinski came forward to confirm the e-mails</a>, saying that he worked with the Bidens on some of these projects.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Biden has never explicitly denied the e-mails, a clear indication they're genuine. And Bobulinski has been vetted and checks out: he's a Navy vet and generally non-partisan. And so, we're on the verge of electing a president who's susceptible to bribery from foreign companies, including one in a powerful Communist country.</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">As a journalist publishing private communications & docs that are incriminating, you know the subjects of the reporting will immediately claim they're fake *if the are*. Of course they will: that would kill the reporting!<br /><br />There's a reason the Bidens aren't claiming they're fake.</span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) <a href="https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1318327789775368192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2020</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">However, a swath of the media has completely ignored the story, and Twitter and Facebook immediately blocked its distribution within their platforms. The New York Post is in fact suspended until they delete the tweets linking to the Hunter Biden story.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">According to Ground News, a website that tracks which media outlets cover which stories, approximately <a href="https://ground.news/article/c9bcd6f3-cd67-4909-aabe-04609fc656f8/exclusive-senate-committee-successfully-verifies-all-bobulinski-materials-reviewed-to-date">zero left-leaning news publishers</a> reported that the Senate verified Bobulinski's documents. The New York Times, NPR, CNN—all places that hyper-covered the “Russia Collusion” story which amounted to nothing, completely ignored the Hunter Biden Laptop story.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">This contrast between the leftist media coverage of Hunter-Biden and Russia Collusion sends an explicit message: social media and news organizations have an agenda. <span style="font-size: 13pt;">What else are they concealing? Or propagating? And who determines the narrative they push? Burying this story belies an issue above and beyond Biden and this election. </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">But t</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">hat's a rabbit hole that I'll save for another day.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Suffice it to say that citizens should know this dirt on Biden in order to make an informed presidential pick. But the left media shirks its duty and deliberately leaves citizens in the dark.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Biden also terrifies me because he rarely leaves his home in Delaware, and in the rare instances when he does have a rally, he reads everything from a teleprompter. </span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Biden reads a speech calling for bipartisanship as he closes his remarks in Detroit <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Biden2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Biden2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Biden?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Biden</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JoeBiden?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JoeBiden</a> <a href="https://t.co/cTRieU0UHt">pic.twitter.com/cTRieU0UHt</a></span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGOnTheScene/status/1317249790955130880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2020</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">He doesn't look at all like someone up to the ultra-demanding task of being the president.</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">
</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Biden has hand tremor, reduced facial expression, handwriting changes, slow shuffling gait, and cognitive changes. He most likely has Parkinson's disease.<br />He is being used as an Avatar. Who is REALLY running for president? This is elder abuse!!!</span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— Dr. Zev Zelenko (@zev_dr) <a href="https://twitter.com/zev_dr/status/1318380542824488960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2020</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</span><p></p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #330099;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Jo Jorgensen Spike Cohen: Inhale some Fresh Air</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Recently I <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdbRj6VZ6Zw">listened to an interview with Jo Jorgensen and Spike Cohen</a>, the Presidential Candidates for the Libertarian Ticket. And man did it leave me bemoaning our two party system.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Refreshingly, as president, Jorgensen says she would get our military out of the 150 countries we're currently stationed in. (And we don't call ourselves an Empire!) --As well as slash our exorbitant military spending: <i>the United States currently spend more on military than the previous ten countries combined!</i> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">As for other points made, I'll let the candidates speak for themselves. Here's a few takeaways:</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;">In grade school I was taught (unfortunately they don't teach this anymore) the reason America is so great and Soviet Russia couldn't feed themselves is because of central planning....that over there they would have steel. And they wouldn't know how much steel should go to the cars, how much to the refrigerators. 'Who do we give the steel to' is what they would have to decide with their five year plans. In the United States we have prices. Where does the steel go? Whoever is going to pay the most. Basically it's a way to vote...vote with your dollars. You get to decide where the resources go....central planners never do as good of a job.</span></blockquote><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I wonder why this concept isn't taught anymore in our increasingly left-leaning country. </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And Spike:</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Isn't it an odd coincidence that the places you were still allowed to go during the lockdowns all happened to be the big box companies, the largest companies who had the biggest crony lobbyists making sure they remained opened? Because it's clearly safe during a pandemic for everyone to crowed into a Walmart or a Target, but definitely not safe for you to go to a small furniture store where there might be three people in the building with you. When you have government making economic decisions...you're not having a decision based on best outcome, but based on political calculation of the person arbitrarily deciding.</span></blockquote><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">So true. Here in Washington, good old Governor Inslee wouldn't let us go to Church for nearly three months, but we could go to the Church of Almighty Walmart for as many hours every day as we pleased, throughout the entire shutdown.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And finally:</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;">You never spend other people's money as well as you spend your own.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I felt so enlightened listening to these two talk about ideal government (less government!), economics, and the state of the country today. It really left me pining to live under a Libertarian system.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">And juxtaposed to Biden....that dreary, nightmarish candidate: what a breath of fresh air!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">It's good to know we still have capable, clear thinking people willing to serve in public office. I only wish they had way more cachet.</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-39345983050194869942020-10-20T21:34:00.001-07:002020-10-20T21:34:47.137-07:00Is Trump Tired? Reflections on Trump's Last Four Rallies<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3AG7Y0wyg-_kFyN7Q6DJ5k9A_53X52fDWhrmV4Q-3mOIqTb0jxVSNzMDxHAng7QTxGf-hFJo_iXrftBN-D4UjnM2X0BD3m4a2-vBFqk0JmeLPqHHwLeRlocdOnc9FvI7DFUpr1965ObbZ/s1584/Trump+Speech.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1584" data-original-width="1584" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3AG7Y0wyg-_kFyN7Q6DJ5k9A_53X52fDWhrmV4Q-3mOIqTb0jxVSNzMDxHAng7QTxGf-hFJo_iXrftBN-D4UjnM2X0BD3m4a2-vBFqk0JmeLPqHHwLeRlocdOnc9FvI7DFUpr1965ObbZ/s320/Trump+Speech.png" /></a></div><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I’ve listened to four of Trump’s rally’s these past few days: Arizona's most recently, and last week’s in Iowa, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">He definitely has a stump speech and they sound pretty rote the fourth time around.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">We’re going to WIN Arizona, Pennsylvania, Florida and Iowa.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I don’t think you’re going to want to give up your guns.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Under my leadership prosperity will surge.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">We’ll get back to a normal life.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">They thought we’d be at 40% unemployment—we just hit 7.8%”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">It’s a choice between the American Dream and a Socialist Nightmare.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I’m immune….I can jump into this audience and kiss every man and woman.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Biden will wage war on Catholic Organizations.” (he said this in AZ—perhaps he was appealing to the Latino vote?)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I’m running against the worst candidate in presidential politics—and if I lose! --I wish he was good, I’d have less pressure.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I keep hearing about the suburban women. I let you have the American Dream.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I call the people with cameras over there the enemy of the people. They look innocent, but they are not innocent.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I’m determined to ensure that the forgotten men and women of this country are never forgotten again.” (This touches on the crux of Trump’s appeal to struggling middle class.)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The Democratic Party…want to cancel your culture and persecute anybody who refuses to bend to their will. I don’t think they like me too much.”</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">This last statement, made in Greensboro NC, solicited a “We love you” chant from the crowd.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">That’s really an honor,” Trump responds. "Nobody has ever heard those words at a political event. What politician has ever heard those words?” (The crowd also chanted “We love you” in Arizona.)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">However, I sense some his giddiness from rallies four years ago, absent. (“I didn’t say it, but if you’re gonna call Ted Cruz a pussy……”)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #330066;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Is Trump tired?</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">He selects inspiring, upbeat music: “Eye of the Tiger”, as the plane lands, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” as he descends and greets the crowd. “YMCA” thumps out of loudspeakers afterwards, and Trump dances and points to people in the crowd.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">In North Carolina he compares himself to Jesus Christ—the kinds of things that incite ire or love for him.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">But I do sense a lack of joy from him. He rarely smiles, and the rally has a procedural, automated tone. Ok, I did sense a genuine smile after the Jesus Christ comparison. But maybe the presidency has had its effect: Obama started to grey during his second term, and Clinton won back several years after his eight years in office.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I can imagine the constant battle with, well, everything, would dull even the most resilient personalities. From her recent interview with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/10/13/nancy-pelosi-intv-stimulus-bill-trump-offer-coronavirus-tsr-vpx.cnn">Wolf Blitzer it looks like he and Nancy don't talk</a> (now there’s a constructive situation for ya!), to cite one of his battles.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">But he’s certainly giving this second campaign all he’s got. My gosh, a rally nearly Every. Single. Day, with second events (last week the Town Hall with Savannah Guthrie) in the evening.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">More than you can say of Biden, who’s currently hiding out, evidently to avoid answering questions about Hunter Biden’s laptop or packing the courts. (Why is Obama campaigning for Biden in Pennsylvania if he's really so far ahead in the polls, hm?)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Have you listened to or attended any of Trump’s rallies? What are your impressions?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Here’s a link to yesterday’s rally in Pennsylvania (I haven’t listened to this one—can’t imagine he went too far off script) if you want to hear for yourself.<br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span blockquote="" class="twitter-tweet" style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><span blockquote="" class="twitter-tweet" style="font-size: 13pt;"></span><p></p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">THANK YOU PENNSYLVANIA!<a href="https://t.co/OirJvLcxBu">https://t.co/OirJvLcxBu</a></p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1318718655559991297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-33182405635021120362020-10-08T21:50:00.003-07:002020-10-09T14:20:54.647-07:00Will Kamala's Side-Eye Cost Her? <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjSw5IW_T03qWNeMMYPsOMYUkX_f1YLpr8PsMTQ4yi2Dtam0xPvhHCtW_PRKZk3mpM3UV5y-tMG6NIfhzfYtJLUr1oe0F3hlnz_768XqJ7hHVU8iLaBofFmZNMeC-Y2oWx2kMcMD765c4/s754/Screen+Shot+2020-10-07+at+10.00.17+PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjSw5IW_T03qWNeMMYPsOMYUkX_f1YLpr8PsMTQ4yi2Dtam0xPvhHCtW_PRKZk3mpM3UV5y-tMG6NIfhzfYtJLUr1oe0F3hlnz_768XqJ7hHVU8iLaBofFmZNMeC-Y2oWx2kMcMD765c4/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-10-07+at+10.00.17+PM.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the faces Kamala featured at the VP Debates last night.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">After watching the VP debates and then listening to talking heads rant about Kamala and how presidential she sounded, I wonder if we’re witnessing the same phenomenon that we saw four years ago: media reporting how arrogant, clownish and totally unelectable Trump was, that Hillary’s a shoo-in….and an election that produced OPPOSITE results.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Because on Twitter, I witnessed a very different reaction to Kamala.
</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Uhh ...Kamala stop with the school girl facial expressions.</span></p><span style="font-size: 13pt;">— samanthamarika (@samanthamarika1) <a href="https://twitter.com/samanthamarika1/status/1314010546774044672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Text from my most liberal Trump-hating friend in California: “Wayne, Pence is killing her. He’s single-handedly reviving a dead campaign. Nobody saw this coming.” Well I did. Pence is fantastic. He is a nice smiling assassin! Kamala is empty suit. More unlikeable than Hillary.</p>— Wayne Allyn Root (@RealWayneRoot) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealWayneRoot/status/1314021000615350272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Take it like a woman. Don’t make faces.</p>— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/megynkelly/status/1314017761891364864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">How large is this perspective? Does it represent a swath?</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Elites vs. the Little Guy</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">When I, an undecided voter, watched Kamala last night, I saw someone who I did NOT want to be listening to for the next four years. Her bemused smirks and eye rolls corroborated the more explicit “will you shut up, man,” and “this clown” that we saw from Biden in the first debate.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">It communicated a “this guy is so low I can’t even believe I’m in the same room as him.” Kamala said she refused to take a vaccine, coming from Trump’s dirty hands. "It pains me,” she communicated with her exaggerated side-eye, “to be addressed a question like whether or not I'm going to pack the Supreme Court. I refuse to answer.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Her downright snark: responding sarcastically, “good line”, to Pence when he said, “you’re entitled to your own opinion but not to your own facts,” incited a visceral dislike.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Yeah, I Kamala is the last person I’d want to have a beer with.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Yet, in the commentary at ABC following the debates, Gayle King mention how apropos it was that a fly land on Pence’s head, and laud Kamala as professional. (Note: her expert criticism wasn’t of Pence’s debate performance; but of an insect’s behavior throughout.)</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Twitter, I saw, too, only featured trending hashtags that commended Kamala and derided Pence: #ImSpeaking, #flygate, and #penceWonTheDebate (notice "Pence" not capitalized—the hashtag wasn’t congratulatory). I didn’t see Twitter feature one trending hashtag that commended Pence or derided Kamala. But of course those Tweets are out there.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Remembering 2016</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Just weeks before the election in 2016, Hillary gave this talk to Orlando voters, and in a cold, almost irate tone, said “<a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/09/22/hillary_clinton_why_arent_i_50_points_ahead.html">I can’t believe I’m not 50 points ahead</a>.” </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Scott Adams at the time credited this presumption, along with calling anyone who didn’t support her “deplorable”, to Hillary’s in fact LOSING.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">People notice a haughty, exclusionary tone. It either diminishes their enthusiasm for the candidate, and would-be supporters fail to go to the polls, or incites them to vote for the opposing candidate.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>A Little Signal</b></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Even if we’re seeing the same dynamic—liberal coastal elites inciting the ire of voters in swing states—it’s impossible to tell if it can move the needle as it seemed in 2016. We’re dealing with a whole new array of issues. Or Issue, really. The election in large part will be a referendum on Trump’s handling of Covid-19.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">However, this VP debate is crucial for the Harris/Biden ticket, as, given Biden’s age, voters see Kamala as the top of the ticket.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Can you think of anybody whose mannerisms are less presidential than Kamala?” <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays">Scott Adams</a> asked on his podcast this morning.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">How are other undecided voters reacting? As <a href="https://charlierose.com/videos/28498">Matt Dowd said of the election in 2016</a>, “there's a group of voters that don't like either one of these folks, that don't trust either one of these folks, but they're looking for a signal of, what should they do?” </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">To a person equally open to the idea of a Biden or Trump presidency, Kamala’s exaggerated, almost theatrical snark, might just be the little thing to end their vacillation.</span></p> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-19951857297569219992020-03-12T22:17:00.001-07:002020-03-13T07:24:55.253-07:00Ignore the Hysteria: Keep Calm and Invest On<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Corona Virus Market Tank" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVleJybExn041GeaVPtXNlhxc7tMa48gUrpd235-XwkpoUjwO5L0xrtvwvXtht7gv7UunuDr406geDTgIL17H4Oi7z0fsL8YH4FLnd_GwtnNa1eUYanWobXD-Fhw6Hu0Ii17euHjzx5EV/s320/Recession+and+Virus+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Chill out about recession hype" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
When you approach the market with emotion, you're screwed. Sudden drops aren’t reasons to jump ship. As Buffet says, “Beware!” to the investor who cannot control his emotions.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The stockmarket took a nosedive this week, with falls so steep on Monday and Thursday they triggered a circuit breaker. Trading momentarily stopped for fifteen minutes so traders could readjust to prevent further plummeting.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Thursday, in fact, was the single worst day <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/futures-trading-temporarily-halted-prevent-free-fall-dow/story?id=69554569&cid=clicksource_4380645_2_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed" target="_blank">The Dow has seen since 1987</a>! </span><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The fear and uncertainty around the coronavirus clearly has rattled the nation.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">At the same time everyone's stockpiling Spam and toilet paper from Costco, they're also selling off their stock--presumably to hide the cash under the mattress. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve discerned some hysteria in the “financial advice” being touted in response to the plunge: consider the Atlantic article “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/dont-touch-your-stocks-during-coronavirus-crisis/607672/" target="_blank">The Stock Market is Tanking. Do Nothing</a>”, where the author says “the principle of investing is to buy low and sell high” but gives the admonition to “do nothing” right now. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The logical conclusion to her first statement, given the tank, is to buy right now! (And just think about all the great stocks now selling at reasonable prices she completely ignores!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And so I think it’s a good time to reflect on the basics of investing. As I just finished reading <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/full-text-of-warren-buffetts-annual-letter-to-shareholders/articleshow/74264116.cms" target="_blank">Warren Buffet’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders</a>, I’ve excerpted this little gem, apropos to the moment. </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;">Anything can happen to the stock prices tomorrow. Occasionally, there will be major drops in the market, perhaps of 50% magnitude or even greater. But the combination of The American Tailwind, about which I wrote last year, and the compounding wonders described by Mr. Smith, will make equities the much better long-term choice for the individual who does not used borrowed money and who can control his or her emotions. Others? Beware!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Keep Calm and Invest On</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">After the market plunge we’ve just seen, purchasing stock may seem as risky as placing your hard-earned money onto a roulette board.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Or that it requires clairvoyance: sure, it's easy to look back and see how an unforeseen event like this virus caused markets to tank, but without a crystal ball, how can I make good decisions going forward?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Investing isn't about luck or soothsaying, however. It's about carefully researching companies and determining which will have long-term growth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Drops in the market aren’t reasons to jump ship. It’s easy to torture yourself by checking a stock every day and selling when the price dips, or to buy something impetuously determined to be a “hot stock”. But as Buffet says, “Beware!” to the investor who cannot control his emotions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In order to reap a good return, it’s necessary to hold onto an investment through the bear and bull markets. An investor won’t reap the “compounding wonders” Warren mentions for at least ten years into the investment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And stable companies (i.e., those with solid financials) with moderate growth make a far better bet than the hot stocks; that is, stocks with ultra-high P/E ratios. (Or no P/E ratio at all, because the company's in the red--as is the case with Tesla, whose stock price skyrocketed earlier in the year.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Dollar Cost Average</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One methodical and lucrative approach to investing is called the Dollar Cost Average. With this approach, an investor puts the same amount into the market every week or month, regardless of how the market is performing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With Dollar Cost Average, you're investing in the idea that the market rises over the long-term, which historically has been the case. (This is <a href="https://feld.com/archives/2019/02/the-american-tailwind-%EF%BB%BF.html" target="_blank">the “American Tailwind” that Buffet speaks of</a>.) This method prevents investors from trying to time the market and predict when it will rise and fall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here is an hypothetical example of Dollar Cost Average. Let's say an investor has $100 to invest each month. In the first month, she purchases 10 shares of stock selling at $10 each for $100. The next month, the share price falls to $5. Rather than panic and sell, she invests another $100, and purchases 20 shares. At this point, she own 30 shares. The third month, the price increases to $20, and she purchases 5 shares. She's now invested $300 and owns 35 shares, worth $525--a 75% return. Not bad!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Although it's highly unlikely a stock price would be so volatile, this extreme example demonstrates how a methodical approach to investing yields a better return than buying into excitement and selling out of fear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">How does Dollar Cost Average apply right now? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Here’s a personal example: last September I purchased stock in Disney for $135 a share. Now the price has fallen to below $100. Is this the time for me to sell? Absolutely not! As long as I’ve determined Disney is a sound investment (that is, strong financials, honest management and a promising industry), then I’m holding onto it for at least ten years. And this plunge is an opportunity to score an even BETTER deal on a good stock--so maybe I’ll purchase more!*</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">This tank isn’t something to be panicked about, but rather an opportunity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve also have my eye on Target; <a href="https://www.julieanderton.com/2020/01/is-retail-worth-risk-evaluating.html" target="_blank">in an earlier post I concluded its financials are sound</a>, but that the P/E ratio was high (that is, the stock was expensive). Well, now the price has dropped about $20 and is hovering below $100. The P/E is much better now--just about 15. Not a bad time to make a purchase! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">*This reasoning, btw, is for LONG TERM investments of ten years or more. If I needed the money for CASH, pronto, I wouldn’t have invested it, so as to avoid being forced to sell during a slump like this and lose money. I’m only investing extra-extra money I won’t need for twenty or thirty years down the pike (or EVER, even).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The great thing about Schwab (and other brokers) is that you can set a purchase to buy at a certain price: for example, if I want to buy Target at $90, then I can place that order, and my broker makes the purchase when and if it falls there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But I’m meandering.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>It's a Bunch of Click-Bait</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And…..there’s a little reflection on investing for ya. After being injected with a healthy dose of fear, it’s vital to sober up and be reminded NOT TO PANIC! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Cause when you approach the market with emotion, you're screwed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This virus will pass. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As many have pointed out, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1237027356314869761" target="_blank">including the POTUS</a>, tens of thousands more people die from the flu every year than have died from this virus. We’re simply victims to a media industry that profits from selling and propagating fear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Don’t buy into it. Opt out of the Costco lines. But DO hit up your stockbroker to make some purchases!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">What's your take? Do you see any opportunities in the market amidst the virus panic? </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-1793855806633621042020-03-05T04:00:00.000-08:002020-03-05T22:09:14.306-08:00The Future of Catholicism in Hong Kong<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQrXc8GD3KJmmV7PftDzs6i8qwod6hTmVQ74kmYY7mgI3RN3G85etYx-EUYwDpKmZi_qhfKGFRdlBEkhN39ajYPDPcfDx8fiLV4Xej6FXkU-I5aNHyEw2VB66g5RRkbxerqNjWrj0EO1E/s1600/Hong+Kong+Cathedral.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hong Kong Catholic Church" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQrXc8GD3KJmmV7PftDzs6i8qwod6hTmVQ74kmYY7mgI3RN3G85etYx-EUYwDpKmZi_qhfKGFRdlBEkhN39ajYPDPcfDx8fiLV4Xej6FXkU-I5aNHyEw2VB66g5RRkbxerqNjWrj0EO1E/s320/Hong+Kong+Cathedral.JPG" title="Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The recent suspension of Masses over the coronavirus feels like a harbinger of the future that awaits Hong Kong--<br />
a future in which much of its Western identity threatens to be stripped away.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Hongkongers have a multi-faceted identity. By race, most are Han Chinese; pottery from an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Cheng_Uk_Han_Tomb_Museum" target="_blank">ancient tomb in Kowloon</a> links Hong Kong to the Han Dynasty. My local friend was clear to delineate that Hongkongers don’t identify as Chinese culturally or politically, however. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Probably, this is because Britain colonized Hong Kong for 156 years and imbued Hong Kong with a distinctly British air. Its current legal system is based on British Common Law. “Victoria” is the name given to Hong Kong’s highest peak and central harbor. Cars drive on the left side of the road, and red double-decker busses, an iconic symbol of London, transport locals across the city. From my apartment window, I watch locals play cricket at the Kowloon Cricket Club. And at a Christmas party I attended with locals, what did we have for desert? Bread pudding, made in the UK. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Colonization created fertile mission territory, and the Catholic community in Hong Kong is well-established. In every neighborhood at least one enormous parish and accompanying school bustles with Masses, weddings, parish dinners, etc. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Yet, on Ash Wednesday last week, no one was seen out and about with ashes on their forehead. Cardinal John Tong suspended all Masses due to the coronavirus. The timing corresponds with Lent and Easter, the most important seasons in the Church’s calendar. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The virus, too, has dampened the Hong Kong’s monthslong protests against the People’s Republic of China (PRC), sparked in June when Beijing encroached on <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2019/8/22/20804294/hong-kong-protests-9-questions" target="_blank">Hong Kong’s right to self-administer</a>. (Hong Kong’s Prime Minister, who’s selected by the PRC, proposed a bill that would extradite Hong Kong fugitives to Mainland China, to be tried in a separate legal system.) Even in their heyday, the protests were dubiously achieving all of its aims.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The suspension of Masses feels like a harbinger of the future that awaits Hong Kong—a complete handover to China in 2047 and end to the Western influence that’s become part of its psyche. How will Hongkongers handle it? And how will the Catholic Church, which has been persecuted and forbidden in Mainland China, face these changes? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Conversations I’ve had with locals have provided insight into these questions. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>The Pearl of the Orient</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">China ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain 1842 after the First Opium War, and Kowloon, the strip of land across Victoria Harbor on Mainland China, 18 years later after the Second Opium War. In 1898, Britain expanded the colony with a 99-year lease of New Territories, which includes the rest of present-day Hong Kong. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaW0J235kTx5732yBVkbidg661tegLZ4P-IYACveZTw7VkTQ61T3cBP_8mRY1B5LfDILX-TD-8_SK5FlB4Ny6chyrF9KucGXxZ9HonSWBG9LZxZh6ApbVlusvqY-zYGQ5Xd5XAsLxynLDx/s1600/Victoria+Peak+Hong+Kong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Victoria Peak" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaW0J235kTx5732yBVkbidg661tegLZ4P-IYACveZTw7VkTQ61T3cBP_8mRY1B5LfDILX-TD-8_SK5FlB4Ny6chyrF9KucGXxZ9HonSWBG9LZxZh6ApbVlusvqY-zYGQ5Xd5XAsLxynLDx/s320/Victoria+Peak+Hong+Kong.jpg" title="Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The spectacular view of Hong Kong and Victoria Harbor from Victoria Peak. <br />
Hong Kong has the highest number of skyscrapers in the world!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">With beaches, mountains, islands, a breathtaking skyline along Victoria Harbor, and luxe malls selling McQueen, Chanel, and Tory Burch (with no sales tax to boot!), Hong Kong has become a city of destiny. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">On a walking tour in December, our guide, Karry (name changed), told us many Hongkongers feel positively about British rule. They attribute colonization to Hong Kong’s flourishing into the booming economic center it is today. Currently, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong" target="_blank">Hong Kong is the tenth-highest exporter of goods in the world</a>, has the highest concentration of millionaires, and ranks only behind London and New York City by the Global Financial Centre Index, which measures a city’s business and financial infrastructure. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>China Wins Sole Custody</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Britain, an empire in decline, lost negotiating power with China, and in 1984 Margaret Thatcher signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to return Hong Kong to China in 1997. Hong Kong would govern itself as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) for 50 years until its complete return to China in 2047. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing five years later, in which PRC tanks crushed protestors, terrified Hongkongers over the impending handover. In the years following, more Hongkongers fled to democratic countries than at any other time in its history.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">And although it was a bit anachronistic to be colonized in the 90s, Hongkongers weren’t eager for Britain to go—quite the contrary. A local told me the years before 1997 saw a boom in childbirths; parents wanted children eligible for British passports. Hongkongers born after the handover wouldn’t be. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Karry said the handover felt like being the child of divorcing parents, and being told your mother was leaving, never to return. And that you’d have to live with your father, who terrified you. It’s a startling juxtaposition: a financial superpower seeing itself as a helpless child. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Beijing Creep</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Basic_Law" target="_blank">The Basic Laws of the new SAR</a> granted Hongkongers rights common to Western countries: freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly. However, Beijing’s apparent encroachment on these Basic Laws has prompted many protests, including the 2014 Umbrella Movement and the current protests that began last June.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">On the tour, Karry pointed out facial recognition cameras in Central Hong Kong, similar to those used for surveillance throughout the PRC. She also mentioned that current and past Prime Ministers push for a <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2105343/chinese-national-education-set-make-comeback-hong-kong-its" target="_blank">pro-PRC curriculum in primary schools</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Roman Catholicism in Hong Kong vs. China</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Catholic missionaries wasted no time evangelizing the colony of Hong Kong. Swiss Priest Theodore Joset founded the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in 1942, the same year Britain won the First Opium War. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Today, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Hong_Kong" target="_blank">Diocese of Hong Kong has grown</a> to 51 parishes and 251 schools. Around 5% (380,000) of Hongkongers are registered Catholics. (Not all students are Catholic; I’ve met one Hongkonger who said she attended Catholic schools as a child but converted as an adult.) In a city that teems with domestic helpers, Filipinos constitute almost a third of the Catholic Community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">In my experience, the liturgy is identical to any other diocese practicing the Latin Rite. Masses are celebrated in both English and Cantonese, with additional devotions such as the rosary and Eucharistic Adoration.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Hong Kong’s public holidays include Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Monday and Christmas. 11% of Hong Kong’s population is Christian; many Christian denominations have active communities. The Gothic St. John’s Cathedral of the Church of England, Hong Kong’s oldest Church, stands prominently in the Central neighborhood. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Catholicism in China is a different story. <a href="https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=tY_sAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=marching+into+a+bright+decade+hong+kong&source=bl&ots=wVQBtd8Kpl&sig=ACfU3U2jjUoFF_kt_fS_gmbmWZ-J_rOmGQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio1YPB-vPnAhWPfd4KHVlYA3IQ6AEwAXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=marching%20into%20a%20bright%20decade%20hong%20kong&f=false" target="_blank">The PRC cannot square Christianity (or any religion)</a> with Marxist Ideology and does not observe any Christian Holidays. They want a population dedicated wholeheartedly to the government, and believe religion impedes this objective. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">A Catholic poses an exceptional challenge to Communism. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">To a lay Catholic, practicing the faith means receiving the Sacraments (Communion, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick) and performing the Spiritual and Corporeal Works of Mercy (clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, burying the dead, etc.). At the end of the day, however, The Vatican is a sovereign county and Catholics (in theory, anyway) declare allegiance to its leader, The Pope. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Which doesn’t fly for PRC. When established in 1949, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_in_China" target="_blank">PRC toppled the church authority</a>, and established the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), which selects and ordains bishops loyal to Communist objectives, without the Vatican’s approval. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Telling a Catholic to palate a liturgy from a unapproved Bishop, however, is like telling an art collector who’s been sold a fake Van Gogh to get over it. Many Bishops revolted against CPCA, creating an underground Church, some incurring imprisonment and martyrdom. Even so, Catholics tend to prefer the Vatican-approved Church; in some communities the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/world/asia/china-vatican-agreement-appoint-catholic-bishops.html" target="_blank">entire Catholic population attends the underground liturgies and the CPCA Church stands nearly empty</a>!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">In a step toward merging the underground church with the CPCA, <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/09/23/chinese-catholics-pray-best-wary-historic-vatican-deal-bishops/" target="_blank">Pope Francis last year acknowledged seven</a> of the CPCA-ordained Bishops. Critics believe this is Beijing’s attempt to bring the underground church into the light of day, where they’ll be able to supervise and sinicize it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Their suspicion has merit. In the past six years, the PRC has gone on a spree decapitating spires from Protestant Churches not registered with the state--<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/24/world/asia/china-vatican-agreement-appoint-catholic-bishops.html" target="_blank">more than 1,200 the province of Zhejiang alone</a>. Beijing sees any religion not adherent to the PRC as a threat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">In short, it’s no good. Practicing Christianity in Hong Kong, by comparison, is a walk in the park. </span></div>
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<b style="color: #000033; font-size: 15pt;">March into the Bright Decade</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The diocese of Hong Kong has anticipated its rendezvous with China for decades. The Sino-British Agreement left Catholics in Hong Kong anxious, fearing the “religious freedom” granted in the agreement would be mis-interpreted by the PRC. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">After consulting with twenty-one clergy and religious professionals for two years, Hong Kong’s Bishop Wu addressed this anxiety with the pastoral letter, “March into the Bright Decade”. It was released in October of 1989, just months after the Tianammen square massacre rattled Hongkongers to the core. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Wu grew up in the Wuhau area of Guandong Province so knew firsthand how things stood with the church in China. <a href="https://catholic.org.hk/v2/en/message_jw/y1989_3_bd.html" target="_blank">In the letter he writes</a>,</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">As it faces the issue of 1997…many people in the diocese are anxious to learn what direction the diocese will take in the next decade….Relying on our confidence in the Lord of History, we firmly believe that what He has prepared for us must be an even better future. </span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 13pt;">In order to prepare for and to establish a new era, we must have a new spirit with new and appropriate equipment. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">The future Christians in Hong Kong must…Be mature Christians who can maintain their life of faith independently...</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Know Hong Kong and love Hong Kong; be able to integrate faith into the future of Hong Kong, to integrate the cultures of the east and west….Chinese should have a deep national sentiment yet at the same time have a sense of solidarity with all people and in particular a sense of communion with the Universal Church.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Wu called for developing small faith-sharing communities within parishes, training and educating the laity in the faith, strengthening the Sunday School program, and encouraging parents to instruct their children in the faith. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The Archdiocese distributed 60K copies of “March into the Bright Decade” in both English and Cantonese, and it was read at every Mass. After collecting and evaluating feedback from parishioners, the council reports that “ninety-seven per cent supported the overall development orientations in the Consultation Paper”, and that “most people regarded [practicing and preaching the teachings of the gospel] as the most important direction of all.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The letter’s message to optimistically march on did not charm the powers that be, however. <a href="https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=tY_sAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=marching+into+a+bright+decade+hong+kong&source=bl&ots=wVQBtd8Kpl&sig=ACfU3U2jjUoFF_kt_fS_gmbmWZ-J_rOmGQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio1YPB-vPnAhWPfd4KHVlYA3IQ6AEwAXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=marching%20into%20a%20bright%20decade%20hong%20kong&f=false" target="_blank">While Beijing extended invitations to the Anglican Archbishop</a> and the leader of the Buddhist Community to participate in drafting the Basic Laws of the SAR, it passed on Cardinal Wu. (In neighboring Macau two years later, Beijing did invite the local Catholic Bishop to its Drafting Committee for Basic Laws.) And in 1999, Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa denied Pope John Paul II a visit to Hong Kong, presumably under pressure from PRC. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Nevertheless, the Church has marched on. During the police’s siege of Polytechnic University last November, <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2019/11/hong-kong-poly-u-siege-a-humanitarian-crisis/" target="_blank">retired Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun</a> “integrated his faith in to the future of Hong Kong” when he called the situation a humanitarian crisis, and called for food and medical care for the trapped protestors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">And currently, an enormous banner hanging at Raimondi College, the school adjoining the Cathedral, reads:</span></div>
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“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">LOVE is the greatest of all virtues. Family is the basic unit of society. Life is a priceless gift from God and is sacred in itself. Truth is what the human intellect is searching for. Justice is the moral virtue that consists of a constant and resolute will to give to God and one’s neighbour their due.” (notice the British spelling) </span></blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNSrR54ea7nJhk8fsguKbk792z7ttKlQlEZfnQ4fnZ5wM_MSR7slZf1L7z0UJ7LDN1U-vDk30dcOEOnIhmzLcll8rsaWWcpXUdtdcCI5U6_gkKZAZhyphenhyphenanTE7VZZbFpY6-80gEvV55m8OLW/s1600/Raimondi+College+Hong+Kong.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNSrR54ea7nJhk8fsguKbk792z7ttKlQlEZfnQ4fnZ5wM_MSR7slZf1L7z0UJ7LDN1U-vDk30dcOEOnIhmzLcll8rsaWWcpXUdtdcCI5U6_gkKZAZhyphenhyphenanTE7VZZbFpY6-80gEvV55m8OLW/s320/Raimondi+College+Hong+Kong.JPG" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This banner, summarizing the ethos of the Catholic Church, hangs outside Raimondi College,<br />
the school adjacent to Hong Kong's Cathedral. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I have never seem such a pithy or explicit summary of Catholicism so prominently and publicly displayed, and it feels like a direct effect of Cardinal Wu’s pastoral letter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Riots or Protests?</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">A more overt demonstration against the PRC swept Hong Kong these past nine months as protestors have taken to the streets demanding the SAR meet their five demands: withdrawal of extradition bill that sparked the protests, a separate investigation into police brutality, release of arrested prisoners, retraction of the official characterization of the protests as riots and the resignation of Prime Minister, Carrie Lam. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">For months, massive groups filled city streets for miles, holding signs that read things like “Trust the PRC? Seriously?” and banners with pleas for solidarity from democracies from around the world.<b> </b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FDgKd9kR_He6yOuWapgo6kpyX9z4XZz7z3VBtJUAZzrVuFk3F8_n3O9qlrn9H1EgRli2Pq3olyPcKVQkRqStH0eay1fbku92h8cBjXC8Y6wjgQENXiwCQZXNC1rFlpMNEl1iIQpqI-RE/s1600/Hong+Kong+Protests.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FDgKd9kR_He6yOuWapgo6kpyX9z4XZz7z3VBtJUAZzrVuFk3F8_n3O9qlrn9H1EgRli2Pq3olyPcKVQkRqStH0eay1fbku92h8cBjXC8Y6wjgQENXiwCQZXNC1rFlpMNEl1iIQpqI-RE/s320/Hong+Kong+Protests.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hongkongers call for worldwide support in its recent protests over what they<br />
see as the PRC's breach of the Sino-British Join Declaration.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">In their heyday, demonstrators vandalized the MTR (underground train) stations (once leaving 4 inches of water throughout the MongKok station), smashed the windows of pro-PRC businesses such as Starbucks, and pulled up bricks from sidewalks and threw them into the streets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Once, from my apartment I watched protestors hurl molotov cocktails at a cordon line of police officers, then disburse when the police fired back tear gas. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The protests have subsided recently due to the coronavirus outbreak, but locals live with the aftermath: MTR and Starbucks windows boarded up, MTR payment kiosks still partially destroyed, sidewalks repaired in concrete rather than brick, and hundreds of arrested protestors awaiting trail and sustaining injuries received during their arrest. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The SAR tried to frame the protestors as rabble-rousers and destroyers of the peace. </span></div>
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“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">They’re so sneaky,” my manager, an active protestor, said regarding the SAR’s decision to wait until <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3039381/hong-kongs-cross-harbour-tunnel-reopen-after-protest" target="_blank">after the November elections to reopen the cross-harbor tunnel</a>. It is one of only two underground tunnels connecting Kowloon to Hong Kong Island, and was closed due to the protests at nearby Polytechnic University.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">They kept the tunnel closed over the elections, she said, even after the Polytechnic siege subsided, to demonstrate that protestors impeded the everyday function of the city. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">It doesn’t appear that the public has bought it. The election had a <a href="https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/11/25/hong-kong-district-council-election-democrats-take-control-17-18-councils-landslide-victory/" target="_blank">record turnout (71%) and Democrats won 17 out of 18</a> councils over the pro-Beijing party. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I’ve witnessed this solid, if sometimes covert, support for the protests. A friend met her current flatmates at the Polytechnic protests and lives rent-free as her landlord supports their efforts. Another friend feels pressured at work to complain about the hassle of living amidst the chaos created by the protests, while in fact he supports them wholeheartedly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Despite the support, are the protests “working”? In September the protestors achieved one of their five demands when <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3025641/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-announce-formal-withdrawal" target="_blank">Carrie Lam withdrew the extradition bill</a>. However, the prisoners certainly haven’t been released, nor have any of the other demands been met. And the elected offices only affect issues at the <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/25/symbolic-victory-hong-kong-democracy-movement-protests-landslide/" target="_blank">neighborhood level (parks, trash collection, street signs)</a>. It’s more of a symbolic victory, demonstrating that overwhelmingly, Hongkongers support the protests. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">My roommate came across a life-chain: thousands of protestors joined hand in hand along Nathan Road, a central road in Kowloon. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">“It was very impressive,” he said. He’d spoken to participating protestor who said many believe the protests will be in vain, but they feel the need to make the effort anyway. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>Not Chinese, Asian</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">A lot of Hongkongers are mainlanders who came to Hong Kong at the beginning of last century during the Chinese Civil War. And the two cultures share a lot, both celebrating Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. And Buddhism, by far, is the most practiced religion in Hong Kong. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">At the same time, Hong Kong is distinct from Mainland China. One of my local students told me she can tell on sight whether someone is local or Mainland Chinese. The father of another student mentioned that he, a Hongkonger, and his wife, a Mainlander, have hugely different perspectives on life. Hongkongers, too, speak Cantonese, which is a dialect of Mandarin, the language spoken in Mainland China. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Not a few Hongkongers have vehement, almost xenophobic, disdain for Mainlanders. They've told me they’re more civilized than Mainlanders, that Mainlanders defecate on street corners, how nice it is that due to the riots streets are clear of Mainland tourists, and how much they resent Mainlanders coming in from Shenzen to purchase baby powder to resell in China. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Karry said that in a study, most Hongkongers identified as “Asian” rather than “Chinese”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Three years ago, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangdong-Hong_Kong-Macau_Greater_Bay_Area" target="_blank">China started branding</a> Hong Kong, Macau and 9 neighboring Mainland cities as the “Greater Bay Area”. Karry says it’s an effort for Hong Kong to blend in and identify with Mainland. But will this help to bridge the cultural rift? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 15pt;"><b>An Altered State?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The streets of Hong Kong have become quieter since the coronavirus outbreak. Restaurants have fewer patrons and <a href="https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1511264-20200227.htm" target="_blank">venturing out is discouraged</a>. It has seriously dampened Hongkongers desire to “peaceably assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances.” And it will probably suspend Masses on on its holiest holiday: Easter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I visited with a Hongkonger in a bookstore in Sham Shui Po. He spoke of the urgency to pray for Hong Kong. He was a member of nearby St. Peters Parish, where after every Mass parishioners recite a prayer for the future of the Church in Hong Kong. </span></div>
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“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The British really loved the city; they cared for it,” he said. “Chinese Communists do not.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">There’s echoes of the child-of-divorced-parents motif in his comment. Can a child have self-determination? Or is he mercy to whims of his parents? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Locals continue to leave: I met a taxi driver who deplored the changes he’s seen in Hong Kong and plans to join his girlfriend in Canada at the end of the year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">But what awaits the millions who remain, when Hong Kong goes to “live with its father”? How will Catholics react to CPAC? Will a faction go underground? What about the 251 schools when Beijing imposes an atheist and pro-Communist curriculum? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">The morning after one of the worst nights of protest last November, I took a walk through Tsim Sha Tsui. The neighborhood had an errie armageddon-like air: a city bus had been completely charred, sidewalks were destroyed, and all the streets looted with bricks, umbrellas, and debris, completely blocking flow of traffic through one of Hong Kong’s busiest neighborhoods.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZwqOjlid2fl6zOyxTjtAPGhRxUwcGlH1DPeo0Xn93qn6m8YApdjkvXMZBIiuoZlmlJlJD-A_gLIG9jd0yKoD3ct7lhoLoHHwLAM8aykVqi4XmtQp1GVGsp-VWwtk255B0w6qWmlnSWWU/s1600/Hong+Kong+Protests.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1125" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHZwqOjlid2fl6zOyxTjtAPGhRxUwcGlH1DPeo0Xn93qn6m8YApdjkvXMZBIiuoZlmlJlJD-A_gLIG9jd0yKoD3ct7lhoLoHHwLAM8aykVqi4XmtQp1GVGsp-VWwtk255B0w6qWmlnSWWU/s320/Hong+Kong+Protests.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some photos of Tsim Sha Tsui the morning after a night of protests during the siege of Polytechnic University<br />
last November. The streets were cleared of debris by 10 am, amazingly.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">I was amazed at people’s alacrity to remove debris from the streets. By 10 am, city life had resumed as usual. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Hong Kong’s eventual complete return China will be ugly. Over the next 27 years, Beijing will encroach and Hong Kong will push back. But, perhaps, this tendency towards equilibrium will win the day, and after the ugliness has passed, a somewhat altered “normal” state will resume. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Are you a Catholic in Hong Kong? How do you anticipate 2047? </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-57444736920918386752020-02-24T20:49:00.001-08:002021-11-16T21:29:03.821-08:00B-School or D-School? In the Age of Transparency, Marie Forleo's Fabricated a Facade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnGyN74sImuegrowqeTqdhEpdc3qZ18-ySb1LKcT_OS5QR13WeHTkg8oGjqZpPoYvOoL50Gj9jy7pjlLtRfh_N4qQUV2RdeYbWPj7X98iDFudRsKHR5yOVyk_XN-V6l2Ak4jBwlgjmIM1/s1600/MarieForleoBSchool.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Is Marie Forleo a Fraud" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnGyN74sImuegrowqeTqdhEpdc3qZ18-ySb1LKcT_OS5QR13WeHTkg8oGjqZpPoYvOoL50Gj9jy7pjlLtRfh_N4qQUV2RdeYbWPj7X98iDFudRsKHR5yOVyk_XN-V6l2Ak4jBwlgjmIM1/s320/MarieForleoBSchool.jpg" title="Marie Forleo B-School" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marie Forleo's crafty marketing blurs any ability to discern quality or genuine satisfaction <br />
with her "insanely popular" B-School</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Entrance into Marie Forleo’s B-School closes on Friday. If you haven’t heard of it, you’re not one of the wanna-be entrepreneurs she’s strategically targeted this past month via every social media platform that exists. <br />
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Or maybe it simply means you’re not on the internet at all. </div>
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Because like scotch broom in the springtime, her pretty face is popping up everywhere.</div>
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A horde, it seems, of mostly women have handed over $2,000 to participate in this 8-week online “business school”, which Forleo created over a decade ago to assist “big hearted creatives” seek their fortune online.</div>
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Former students rave about Forleo, attributing their online success and "financial freedom" to her brilliant B-School. </div>
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All this hype begs the question: what is the B-School, exactly? And who is Forleo? Does she have something to sell? </div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Misfit to Millionaire</b></span></span></div>
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44-year-old Forleo, who describes herself as a multi-passionate entrepreneur, authored the NYT bestseller <i>Everything is Figureoutable</i> and has worked as a life coach since before it was cool. </div>
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Out of disdain for anything that’s trending, whenever her name popped up in podcast interviews, I’d systematically block her out.</div>
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However, when her face ran across my Instagram feed last month, asking me if "today was the day that changes *everything*", I finally signed up for her e-mail. <br />
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She’d hit me at a weak moment. I’d had a clueless afternoon wandering but avoiding human contact in Hong Kong, where school cancellations due to the coronavirus has left me without a job, indefinitely. <br />
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If Marie proclaims that everything was figureoutable, maybe she could help me figure this one out.</div>
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The sign-up coincided (not coincidentally!) with a <a href="https://marieforleobschool.com/w4z8nz7nk7va/?uid=9a2bf87968b025cf0b01cd28e2fef8e3" target="_blank">three-part video series where Forleo introduces B-School</a>.</div>
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With wavy, waist-length locks that are a little too styled, blush and foundation that are just a little too much, and a rotating assortments of pastel tops, Bambi-eyed Marie started appearing on the scene. Or, that is, on my screen. And in earnest, simple language, presented her business course.</div>
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“What I’m about to share is not some get-rich-quick scheme…there are no silver bullets and there are no magic formulas....If you take this seriously, if you hunker down and you give it your all, what you can achieve in modern business is so far beyond what you can imagine....We’ve got one of the most supporting and loving and generous communities you will ever find online...My goal is to help you run a business that’s highly profitable and highly fulfilling.”</blockquote>
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Nauseating warm-fuzzies such as “standing shoulder to shoulder”, “big-hearted”, “learners are earners” and “the world really needs that very special gift that only you have” are sprinkled throughout.</div>
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Her school is right for <i>everyone</i>. Coaches, makers, artists: her graduates span 148 industries, and include business newbies, serial entrepreneurs, people who know nothing about business and people with Ivy League MBAs. <br />
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“Big hearted, passionate people like you and me are wired to succeed in this digital world,” Marie coaches. And she assures that “effective, authentic, results-driven marketing is a skill set that honestly ANYBODY can learn.”<br />
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Forleo herself, she says, went from thousands of dollars in debt and living in her parents New Jersey home with plastic-covered couches to earning thousands upon tens of thousands--every MONTH--online. She doesn't specify what she sold, nor how long it took. </div>
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A litany of testimonials succeed her vagaries. Forleo has a penchant for the misfit to millionaire narrative, and for all her talk about enabling people to give back, the case studies emphasized the wealth her graduates have amassed since B-School.<br />
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The testimonials include a lead-generation expert who hit six figures within a year of B-School and just bought her dream house, a high-school-teacher gone nutritionist who now has a book deal, a podcast and newsletter with 35K subscribers, a river rafting company that earns six figures and is only open four months a year, and a jewelry maker who has to pinch herself as she now earns $150K a year.</div>
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Unbelievable success! There MUST be fairy dust Marie sprinkles onto her student.</div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/mayicarles/" target="_blank">Mayi Carles, a B-School grad who sells coaching services</a> and courses, recently said in a Forleo Instagram advert that she just bought her 2nd house. I've seen Carles online for years, and the ad doesn’t clarify that it’s been a good ten years since she completed B-School.</div>
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And in an e-mail titled "Before B-School, she had no home", Forleo shares a testimonial from a recent grad who went from purposeless, in debt to her eyeballs, no business plan, no idea even of what she’d sell, to three months later having earned $2.5K as a writer—and she doesn’t even have a website yet! Oh, and now she’s off to the Caribbean with her laptop.</div>
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Forleo breaks down what the program covers (some of these deets were fuzzy……still scratching my head wondering where the magic is in all this magic that isn’t magic), and it includes how to use Google Analytics and build a Wordpress site.</div>
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Um, isn’t this kind of Internet 101? Things I can figure out in an afternoon at YouTube University?</div>
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Well, maybe, I figured, you join for the community--“one of the most supporting and loving and generous communities you will ever find online” is probably worth $2K, right?</div>
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Assurances of building castles in the air assuaged me more than a Netflix-binge. I found myself watching Marie’s videos repeatedly. And e-mails with titles like “Is B-School Right for You? Find Out 👉” started showing up in my inbox. She was reading. my. fucking. mind.</div>
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I don’t really have a business idea, or a product….yet, should I sign up? </div>
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B-School felt like the dress that looks really good in the dressing room, but you aren't sure you'll ever wear.</div>
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I clicked through to <a href="https://marieforleobschool.com/enroll/?uid=9a2bf87968b025cf0b01cd28e2fef8e3" target="_blank">the B-School sign-up page</a>, which had headlines that assured me “I was there for a reason” and “that inner voice was correct. Your feelings are on point.” Hm...for a school about business, she talks a lot about listening to and trusting your feelings. <br />
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A corner box indicating recent B-School registrants popped up with a Klondike-Gold-Rush kind of frenzy.</div>
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Hm...., again. That’s a lot of signups in the few minutes I’ve been on here. How much money is she <i>making</i> with this? And how much community can you really achieve in a group this size?</div>
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“There’s something about the mirrors in those places,” my sister would lament, after agonizing over t-shirts in the dressing room at Mervyn’s, and returning home with a doozie.</div>
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Did a smoking hot woman have me bewitched?</div>
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I needed external confirmation. And went to the internet for answers.</div>
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Smoke and mirrors indeed.</div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Marie the Mirage</b></span></span></div>
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A simple “Forleo B-School” Google search brings up scores of pretty blogs full of fluffy copy from <a href="https://www.sarahkpeck.com/2019/02/why-sign-up-for-b-school-mistakes/" target="_blank">B-School attendees</a> raving about the program—and who receive $1,000 for anyone who signs up through their site.</div>
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A more probing “b-school sucks” or “b school scam” search reveals <a href="https://www.martaraptis.com/blog/marie-forleo-b-school-review" target="_blank">more of the same glossy reviews</a> and a thin layer of dirt. I found a <a href="https://twitter.com/bschoolsucks?lang=en" target="_blank">@bschoolsucks twitter account</a> with two followers, some <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/19n1xz/marie_forleos_bschool_thoughts/" target="_blank">critical but moderate Reddit threads</a>, and this <a href="https://www.rkaink.com/is-b-school-marketing-annoying-or-are-you-not-paying-attention/" target="_blank">critical but still congratulatory post</a>.</div>
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For someone with her caliber of success; Forleo mingles with Hollywood’s loveliest (Oprah, Sir Richard Branson); it’s inevitable she's garnered critics. Droves of them. Some genuine, some trolls, but they exist.</div>
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Yet they don’t seem to exist online.</div>
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If Google is a Goliath, then Forleo is King David, discerning the weakness in its armor and slaying with dozens upon dozens of affiliate reviews.</div>
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But if the only information about Marie is from profiteers, it’s impossible to tell who the hell she really is.</div>
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"It’s not about what you sell, it’s about how you package and position it," Marie cites as the crux of her methodology. Her book <i>Make Every Man Want You: How to Be So Damn Irresistible You’ll Barely Keep From Dating Yourself</i> sold just because of the title, she says in her videos. Had it been named <i>A Guide to Living in the Present Moment</i>, it wouldn’t have sold at all.</div>
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Who was this dolled-up woman, promising me through my computer screen that I could have it all? </div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Behind Oz’s Curtain: Marie Kool-Aid</b></span></span></div>
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With my shovel and spade, I kept digging through Google search results and finally broke through the impenetrable topsoil of affiliate reviews to the 2011 blog post “<a href="http://www.gwynmichael.com/2011/05/11/broke-happy-hot-1-reason-im-not-going-to-b-school/" target="_blank">Broke, Happy & Hot: #1 Reason I’m Not Going to B School</a>”.<br />
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In the post, artist Gwyn Michael writes she's too broke for B-School (at the time its byline was "Rich, Happy & Hot"). She speculates it may be a lot of sizzle without any steak, then corroborates that Marie's addictive and she's off to watch more of her free videos. </div>
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But it was in the <i><b>630 comments</b></i>, from people who’d either completed B-School or who were on the verge of punching in their credit cards, that I knew I’d come across fertile soil.</div>
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Real people wrote these comments, using English and not fluff-jargon. Artists, writers, makers, seasoned in digital marketing, entrepreneurship, and the struggle to make a living from art.</div>
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Their camaraderie had the intimacy of a “let it out” session you’d have with a few family members after Thanksgiving dinner. The REAL safe where you can rant without inhibition.</div>
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And man do they let their hair down.</div>
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“Marie Forleo is a total fake and today the 6 or 7 thousand people that enrolled are running like headless chickens in the Facebook group called B-School Babes” one review starts off.</div>
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About the B-School program, they say:</div>
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“Marie Forleo promises a Ferrari in her marketing videos – but you get a bicycle.”<br />
"She’s selling snake oil disguised as Chanel perfume."<br />
“The program is a bunch of slideshows….stuff you can find for free all over the internet…or from an online marketing for dummies book at the book store.”<br />
“B-school forces you to do a BRAIN DUMP. Endless worksheets asking you stupid questions so you write everything and do a brain download. 2 months later you realize all you’ve been doing is writing nonsense and have NO business started.”</blockquote>
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And Marie's marketing:</div>
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“The ONLY reason why you can’t find bad/negative reviews is because ONLY affiliates write reviews and they get a 50% commission for each program sold (USD $1,000)”<br />
“Marie is spends too much $$$$$$$$$$$$ in the video campaign but NOTHING in the program itself.”</blockquote>
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And the “unparalleled” B-School community:</div>
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“There is no real connection. A feed with thousands of comments from TOO many women.”<br />
“They’re not the sharpest pencils.”<br />
“The community is filled with highly overwhelmed and highly emotional women which slows you down.”<br />
“The B-School Facebook group can be like such a cult sometimes, since all negativity (and thus healthy critique) is banned.”<br />
“I stay away from the “community” – it’s a black hole, it swallows you.”</blockquote>
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The most disconcerting reviews were those written about “Marie Kool-Aid”:</div>
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“I find what she is doing to be even more damaging than merely robbing people of their $2K (which is damaging enough!). She’s creating an entire movement of people who are convinced that great packaging and positioning is ALL that is required to have a great business. So no, she’s not helping people share with the world “that special gift that only YOU have”, she is helping them learn to be hucksters.”<br />
“This woman is all about sales sales sales… if she was so dedicated to making a “contribution” she would be more generous inside the program which is old, outdated, GIVES BAD ADVICE and keeps you stuck.”<br />
“In her productivity bonus, Marie Forleo says: “WHEN I HIRE SOMEBODY, I CHECK THAT SHE DOESN’T WANT TO START A BUSINESS, I WOULDN’T WANT HER TO LEARN ALL MY SECRETS AND USE THEM TO START HER OWN. Shocking words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”</blockquote>
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Two commenters provided links that no longer exist: one to a Quora forum "Has Anyone Enrolled in B-School and Been Disappointed" and the other to the url "MarieForleoSucks.Com". (What kind of cachet does Marie <i>have,</i> to be able to clean up all around the internet?)<br />
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How to interpret oodles of well-concealed criticism? As an affiliate review put it: "<a href="https://tarzankay.com/marie-forleo-bschool-review/" target="_blank">Say what you want about Marie, she manages her online reputation like a BOSS.</a>" Which, of course, is doublespeak for, "Marie buries critics by paying off people like me to rave about her." </div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>Marie the Magician</b></span></span></div>
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This rot beneath the floorboards finally provided a glimpse at the real Marie Forleo inside the pretty packaging. <br />
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In her B-School introductory videos, Marie states:<br />
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"Modern marketing is all about adding value and building real trust way before you ever ask for the sale...it's about being honest and transparent...there's nothing gross or pushy or scammy about it." </blockquote>
But burying criticism with a quid pro quo isn't transparency. <br />
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And she's clearly marketing B-School using schemes not covered in the program: nowhere does she say B-School teaches affiliate marketing.<br />
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And making undesirable websites and forums go "poof" is not part of "a skill set that honestly ANYBODY can learn."<br />
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Not at all, in fact. That level of manipulation borders on wizardry. <br />
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>$2,000 For a Kick in the Pants</b></span></span></div>
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Despite withholding her marketing tactics and the “business secrets she won’t share with ANYONE”, does Forleo teach anything worthwhile in her business school?</div>
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For sure, it teaches basic internet skills, which, yeah, an orangoutang could learn on its own. But, without a kick in the pants, would it?</div>
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As one reviewer from Gwyn Michael’s post wrote (the only positive comment I came across):</div>
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“I wanted all the information in one place, presented in a clean and appealing format and that is what I got. I don’t really mind that I could have found similar materials for free on the web….I needed a kick up the bum to actually work on my business, so an outlay of $2k made me stick to the program….My business is doing well (and no, I am not an affiliate!) It is doing well because I applied consistent effort to it.”</blockquote>
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I’ve been there. I’ve been the artist with customers who RAVE and want more and more of what I’m making, but who’s earning NOTHING. Why? In part, I’d assess, because my marketing consisted of a lame Twitter account, a blog I’d take 12-months breaks from, no Instagram, and boring and sporadic newsletters.</div>
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Sometimes a “get REAL, girlfriend” splash of cold water is what’s needed for a business to grow. And maybe, for some, Forleo provides that.</div>
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The only other tangible benefit she offers, that I can see, is what the Wizard of Oz offered to Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man: by having faith in her promise that “success comes from consistently taking action”, you will eventually get there.</div>
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Although the materialistic, ruby-studded “there” implied in the testimonies is probably unattainable.</div>
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Could I have leveraged a handmade wallet business (without outsourcing to sweatshops China, which is antithetical to the "handmade movement") to $150K a year? Doubtful.</div>
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Her implicit “if you aren’t pinching yourself because your life is a sheer fantasy, it’s because you haven’t put in the effort” is sheer nonsense.</div>
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And nowhere does she point out that no musician became a concert pianist in 8 weeks. No matter how amaHAZing her program is, she can’t assure you floods of sales for your scarf and hat business if you’ve just learned how to crochet.</div>
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Developing that kind of skill, entirely separate from business, takes a decade. </div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>And the Verdict Is....</b></span></span></div>
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Guru or a charlatan?<br />
<br />
I cannot say. But, Marie (I'm looking at you!): someone who has real faith in the product they're selling would say: “bring the critics on!” Instead, you bury dissatisfied women underneath affiliate reviews.<br />
<br /></div>
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And I won’t be taking B-School to find out. <br />
<br />
This afternoon I balked at $45 Bobbi Brown foundation that I REALLY NEEDED, so won’t be coughing up $2K to figure out if B-School is “magic” or just a bunch of mantras and common sense I can apply on my own.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Have you taken B-school?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Please don’t say you've 10X-ed your income working four-hour days and spend the afternoons swimming in a pool of gold coins.<br />
<br />
Cause if you do, I'm going to tell you to pinch yourself and wake up. </div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-70963153980002049712020-02-19T21:15:00.000-08:002020-02-19T21:15:39.537-08:00Diversification: A Cornerstone of Savvy Investing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIMmm-4IqG81OiYUZXk5rF4ZwMQA4KQi7AFq6OF7vHtJ_gs8aCH-h4MD3OMp9oyPhuU911mUWtONYL6lt0EvQPl6vL3R0mOlIVO4LW3AcYVMDeQ51Ui-4hVMbA6Tq6BanwWlPvo2Z7tuk/s1600/Diversification.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIMmm-4IqG81OiYUZXk5rF4ZwMQA4KQi7AFq6OF7vHtJ_gs8aCH-h4MD3OMp9oyPhuU911mUWtONYL6lt0EvQPl6vL3R0mOlIVO4LW3AcYVMDeQ51Ui-4hVMbA6Tq6BanwWlPvo2Z7tuk/s320/Diversification.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">When people talk about investing, it’s alluring to turn to the horror stories.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">My dad invested everything in Bank of Ireland. And just as he was about to retire, the stock plummeted. He lost it all.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“<span style="font-size: 13pt;">Friends of ours inherited millions in a stock investment. For years, they traveled as artists, living the dream. Then the stock dropped to zero in the meltdown. They lost their entire lifestyle and had find real jobs and forge careers in middle age!” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">These stories thrill us. They make the stock market feel like a page-turner with startling plot twists: you have no idea what’s about to happen next. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">To the beginning investor, however, they’re a total turn off. Since whole point of investing is to increase the value of your savings, why bother if you risk losing it all? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">What so many dramatic stories of loss have in common, however, is a total dependance on a single investment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Let’s take a look at why investors are smart to assume risk, but commit a fatal error if they fail to diversify. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 20pt;"><b>You Can't Play it Safe</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Risk-free investments are a surefire way to avoid losing money. With guaranteed FDIC-insured investments such as CDs and Money Markets, the government has your back even if the bank fails. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Seems like a prudent route, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Well, not really. The returns on FDIC-insured investments are so low they don’t outpace inflation. And that’s a problem. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Have you noticed how $20 won’t buy you the nice dinner out that it could in the 90s? That’s right—inflation. The spending power of $1 gradually falls each year; in the past <a href="https://www.statbureau.org/en/united-states/inflation-tables">twenty years, it fell by a yearly average of 2.2%</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">This means if you’d invested $1,000 into a 6-month CD during the same period, <a href="https://www.forecast-chart.com/rate-cd-interest.html">when the average return was 2.05%</a>, the real return on the investment, which factors in inflation, <a href="https://finance.zacks.com/calculate-returns-investments-inflation-1850.html">would be negative .15%</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Although the dollar amount of the $1,000 would have <a href="https://www.nerdwallet.com/banking/calculator/compound-interest-calculator">increased to about $1,500 over twenty years</a>, its spending power would have decreased. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">In essence, then, FDIC-insured investments implicitly lose value. They’re like taking the consolation prize at the Carnival Balloon Pop before you’ve even thrown a dart—you know you’ve lost at the onset. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">An investment needs a return well above inflation to make it worth your while. And that means selecting assets not guaranteed by the FDIC—that is, assuming risk. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #000033;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 20pt;"><b>Take the Risk and Get in the Game</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">It's easy to sit on the <span lang="en-US">bleachers </span>of life, eating popcorn and watching the game play out before you. But it's not until you join in, risking a win or a loss, that the fun really begins. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Be it moving across the country, running for office, risking intimacy with a friend, or pursuing a business dream, we reap the most fruitful harvests after assuming the greatest risks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Investing is similar: when you assume risk, you create the possibility for lucrative returns. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Take the S&P 500 Index, for example. It is composed of 500 businesses, all of which are vulnerable to changes in consumer demands, managerial decisions, and competition. In short, inherently risky investments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Without a crystal ball, it’s impossible to know if an individual stock in the index will rise or fall. Netflix, for example, <a href="https://www.axios.com/netflix-stock-decade-de737172-d5ca-435c-985b-7a30825ebfc5.html">rose an astronomical 4181% over the past decade</a>. While during that same period, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack#2015:_Bankruptcy">Radio Shack filed for bankruptcy</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Overall, the businesses in the S&P 500 do very well. The index has an <a href="https://www.lendingmemo.com/peer-lending-problems/">average</a> <a href="https://www.lendingmemo.com/peer-lending-problems/">return of 12% over the past 70 years</a>! An investor who selects stocks from amongst these businesses chooses wisely. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">So how to know which are the winners? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">The short answer is that you don’t. Although investors research a company assiduously to discern if it's a buy, knowing for certain is an act of soothsaying well outside the realm of investing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">In order to hedge against the risk of picking a bad apple, smart investors select an assortment of stocks. On average, they know the value of the entire investment will rise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13pt;">Lucrative investing, then, is a paradox. By assuming risk, you're almost guaranteed some investments will lose money. But it's also the only route towards receive a good return. </span></div>
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<b style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 51); color: #000033; font-size: 26.66666603088379px;">What's Your Take?</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Does the risk of investing turn you off? </span><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Do tell! 👇</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">To read more about diversification, check out my white paper, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vAWUlPWYMPVg43qqi-mHljL24ErNl4BX/view" target="_blank">"Diversification: A Cornerstone to Savvy Investing"</a>. </span><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"> </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-45914645615770823122020-02-09T23:27:00.002-08:002020-02-16T18:18:20.311-08:00A Very Gen X Night at the Oscars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2wC5f-nVN2km7uVz9Fr7-4GvopDrhbRzEU0YpldhEAUFLBat3hpbl8gWkMbcrrx8bjU-Ho8l1jbW0BnbM912PiAP-MXC0ny_a8N_LNc5_pKbxyHM2V1Rj6MQYX4p48o3dizmvs2Zj70V/s1600/Oscars2020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz2wC5f-nVN2km7uVz9Fr7-4GvopDrhbRzEU0YpldhEAUFLBat3hpbl8gWkMbcrrx8bjU-Ho8l1jbW0BnbM912PiAP-MXC0ny_a8N_LNc5_pKbxyHM2V1Rj6MQYX4p48o3dizmvs2Zj70V/s320/Oscars2020.JPG" width="319" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The oft overlooked Generation X had its night in the spotlight at the 92nd Academy Awards, sweeping the acting categories--plus a surprise performance from Eminem!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here’s my take on it all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Brad’s Goldilocks Speeches</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Brad Pitt has made quite a splash on the awards circuit this season, also winning at the Golden Globes and SAGs. At each event, his acceptance speech was just right. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For such a hunky, good-looking guy, Brad manages to remain likable and down to earth. Calling out his parents “in the Ozarks” at his Golden Globes speech made this multi-millionaire relatable to the common folks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">He was inspiring without being (too) political; in his Globes speech he said, "If you see a chance to be kind to someone tomorrow, take it. I think we need it." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And he inclined towards self-deprecation, as in his SAG acceptance speech: “Let’s be honest, it was a difficult part; a guy who gets high, takes his shirt off, and doesn’t get on with his wife. It was a big stretch.” This was met with cheers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And they even included poetry. Tonight, he said; “I’m not one to look back, but this has made do so. I think of my folks taking me to the drive-through to see <i>Sundance,</i> to loading up my car to come out here….to all the wonderful people I’ve met along the way; once up a time in Hollywood, ain’t that the truth.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kudos to Brad for consulting with great comedians and writers in preparation for his acceptance speeches!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Once Upon a Time in Hollywood</i> is a movie I haven’t yet seen. So I can’t comment on his performance. But I DO think it’s high time this gem of an actor received an Oscar!</span><br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Laura Dern Gets Her Due</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Laura Dern claimed victory for her performance as the high-power LA divorce lawyer in <i>Marriage Story</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In her moving monologue from the movie, Dern rants about mothers being held to a “different, higher standard” than fathers. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> On first take, Dern sounded unhinged--as the character seemed completely untrustworthy. But on second take, it sold me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Just like Brad, it’s HIGH TIME Laura Dern receives an Academy Award.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In her acceptance speech she called out her parents, two other action legends: “Some say you never meet your heroes, but I say if you’re really blest, you get them as your parents. I share this with my acting heroes...Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern. You got game. I love you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shady's Back</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Eminem's proven that you can have a Third Act in your late 40s. After releasing his album “Music to be Murdered By” last month, this 2003 Oscar winner finally graced the stage of the Academy Awards with his performance of “Lose Yourself.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And the audience enjoyed it. Cameras cut to audience members singing along and jibing in their seats. Unlike Pitt or Dern, Eminem received a standing ovation!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Music is moving like that, I guess. I LOVED this performance as well--my favorite part of the night. What IS IT about Eminem that we all like so much?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Twitter had some fun with this performance; a screenshot to Martin Scorsese looking like he was sleeping through it quickly became a meme.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reverend Joaquin</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I guess we all saw this coming down the pike--the win and the speech, that is. <i>Joker</i> is one of the two best movies I saw in 2020 (second was <i>Uncut Gems</i>). So I can’t say Phoenix didn’t deserve this award.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But after his crass, dickish appearance at the Golden Globes; swearing in the acceptance speech, cutting down a reporter backstage; I found his proselytizing at the Oscars too much to bear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">His maudlin speech chided us for drinking cow’s milk and included a tear-stained reference to his brother, River. Simply proving to us, again, that he's a good actor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it,” is how one Tweeter recapped it. </span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">ZzzzzzZellweger</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And finally, Renee Zelleweger. Her performance as Judy Garland in <i>Judy</i> was top-notch. Especially so as it's one of her first performances after taking a six-year haitus from acting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But her speech was long and rambling. Unlike Brad, who consulted the best and the brightest, Zelleweger, it seems, patched hers together with consultation from a verbose ten-year-old with ADHD. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It went on and on, it making points that could have crescendoed, but instead were nearly incoherent given all the NOISE surrounding them.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For example, in an effort to shine the light on Judy Garland and how a common adulation for heroes brings us together, she references Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride, Venus & Serena Williams, Bob Dylan, Scorsese, the military, first responders more. It was too much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, anyway. We’ll put that one in the books. I kind of anticipated it’d be boring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, I’d be amiss not to call out her impressive arm muscles. Quite an achievement for a woman in her late 40s. That’s an honest remark, I’m not being catty.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Other Evening Records</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Similar to a baseball, it’s hard not to examine the Oscars through the eyes of a statistician. But I won’t get too cra cra and boring here. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Except to point out that with 10 Nominations, <i>Irishman</i> walked away with zero wins. Is that a record?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And that <i>Parasite</i> swept with Best Director, Best Picture, Original Screenplay and Best International Film without receiving ANY acting nominations. That, surely, is a record.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, and I’m still kind of reeling that <i>Uncut Gems</i> was completely shut out. But discussing snubs at this point is kind of passé.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And what about you? Did you like the Oscars? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Were there any surprises in there for you?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-53073276571604971622020-02-06T23:52:00.003-08:002020-02-07T00:51:24.852-08:00Coronavirus Challenges Everyday Life in Hong Kong<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aQavp48G1an_kTyAIfcoMlCHYcBCvAgmjqLKUea2hyphenhyphentqfI2qGn2zRp8IfjOiy9ZjPLcOHMnqAGY5hzPa-7dHvdqSy2ls1v6hagfr6HYyMWEaiE2-CGznkChdHSpuM330gy-Lz_HWZee2/s1600/CoronaVirus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hong Kong" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1598" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6aQavp48G1an_kTyAIfcoMlCHYcBCvAgmjqLKUea2hyphenhyphentqfI2qGn2zRp8IfjOiy9ZjPLcOHMnqAGY5hzPa-7dHvdqSy2ls1v6hagfr6HYyMWEaiE2-CGznkChdHSpuM330gy-Lz_HWZee2/s320/CoronaVirus.JPG" title="Locals waiting for surgical masks" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Locals stand in line outside a Mannings drugstore, awaiting a shipment of surgical masks. <br />
Since Lunar New Year, masks are worn ubiquitously in public, and sell out immediately. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The unusual continues to be the new normal in Hong Kong, as everyday life is interrupted once again, not with protests this time but the coronavirus scare.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Seemingly overnight, nearly everyone wears surgical masks in public, particularly in enclosed spaces, such as the MTR (Hong Kong’s underground transportation). The masks sell like mad, with reports of people <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3048097/long-queues-outlets-across-hong-kong-selling" target="_blank">lining up as much as five hours before</a> new shipments arrive. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBn9ObKa3GKhDinexgszTfmrXUd9o7VphF91-591J9P6q2Ht1ZJvnpLb3_sOeWrE-3qNjZVXtg9yJxcsry6_HyiuEw5nPy95cDj7M0FWz0h3pn0Gi2HVEtgh-QqWkX5bRb8Q9snrRxTMez/s1600/Central+Station.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Coronavirus" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBn9ObKa3GKhDinexgszTfmrXUd9o7VphF91-591J9P6q2Ht1ZJvnpLb3_sOeWrE-3qNjZVXtg9yJxcsry6_HyiuEw5nPy95cDj7M0FWz0h3pn0Gi2HVEtgh-QqWkX5bRb8Q9snrRxTMez/s320/Central+Station.JPG" title="Central Station Hong Kong" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, nearly everyone wears surgical masks, <br />
especially in enclosed, crowded spaces such as the underground MTR stations. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1505668-20200130.htm" target="_blank">The SAR discourages public gatherings</a>. Most Sundays, Central teems with domestic helpers eating and relaxing on their one day off; this last weekend it was nearly empty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Disneyland and Ocean Park are closed "until further notice", and libraries remain shut as well. Malls feel like ghost towns, and primary schools and university classes are cancelled for the entire month of February!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6IEqjhyphenhyphendZLVYg_8j2Y5QaBAuBl2aLsQnPl_wR6tH0TaFhhjwM2WEUkvhgSToYWC9p1rOqeQRGkYepL-Y0HQZn7-nchEG76ncdewxkEa2PHC-PNWW-peWuqXhAsw20JqGtfqm-xMm3f7C/s1600/TST+Hong+Kong.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Corona Virus Outbreak" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6IEqjhyphenhyphendZLVYg_8j2Y5QaBAuBl2aLsQnPl_wR6tH0TaFhhjwM2WEUkvhgSToYWC9p1rOqeQRGkYepL-Y0HQZn7-nchEG76ncdewxkEa2PHC-PNWW-peWuqXhAsw20JqGtfqm-xMm3f7C/s320/TST+Hong+Kong.JPG" title="Paisano's Pizza Hong Kong" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Since the outbreak, many Hongkongers choose to remain at home rather than eat out. Yesterday, just a few patrons occupied the normally buzzing Paisano's Pizza in Tsim Sha Tsui. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“It’s mad out there,” I spoke with a woman inside Rosary Church in Tsim Sha Tsui who said she had come inside for some peace. It, too, had cancelled its regular Adoration, and had all the windows and doors open for ventilation.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This shutdown of the city began after the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, and subsequent spread throughout China over Lunar New Year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1506935-20200206.htm" target="_blank">According to latest report, 27,300</a> people in China have contracted the virus, and 560, or 2%, have died. For comparison, in the first weeks of 2020, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm" target="_blank">19 million in the US have contracted the flu</a>, and 10,000 of these (.05%) have died.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So the coronavirus is four times more deadly than the flu. However, in terms of numbers, the flu has killed nearly 9,500 more people. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Given the unusualness of this virus and the worldwide reaction, it's hard to not have some reflections. Here are some of mine.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Fear Sells</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Given the relative low number of deaths, I'm amazed at how fear of the virus has spread worldwide. No headlines in the US are reporting that 10,000 have died from the flu in only five weeks--and these are local deaths. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Friends from all over the world (Kenya, Portugal, Taiwan, the US and Jerusalem) have written to me, advising me to GET OUT. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">One of these people hadn't known anything about the Hong Kong protests. But the terror of this epidemic managed to reach even her ears!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fear sells, it's clear. The media needs to continually churn out clickable content, and this virus provides wonderful fodder for generating hype.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It reminds me of the great exodus in Florida for hurricane Irma in 2017. The hurricane didn’t turn out to be nearly as bad as reporting anticipated, especially for North and Central Florida residents. Yet, the networks convinced millions to leave the state—the largest exodus, ever!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Conspiracies Abound</span></h4>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Given that this coronavirus is so unusual, conspiracies as to its origin abound. It's a fake virus created by the Chinese, or a virus created by the US, who has exclusive access to the cure. Or that a <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7971401/Have-real-coronavirus-death-figures-leaked-Chinese-conglomerate-lists-death-toll-24-589.html" target="_blank">website momentarily posted the ACTUAL</a> numbers of people who’ve died from the virus, and it's much higher than the official numbers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Putting all conspiracies aside, the PRC undoubtedly sees a silver lining with the reaction of Hongkongers. For months, Beijing and local police to no avail have tried to curb belligerent and destructive uprisings against the PRC, with local police using water guns and tear gas to try and quell the protests. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSpzQJgyhOBSaUUbBjyDQ7SGFuX9fPy7MVZmttXT3DP3EkBqKdwhkAIFvz-hCQAn7r06lptJN71CZLRp2dg4ZOLtueeigTUtPoZS_Q1qlNiRjyV3peeu3D_zodaoxQ2GFLBqoUO0fDZhA/s1600/NathanRoad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Tsim Sha Tsui" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZSpzQJgyhOBSaUUbBjyDQ7SGFuX9fPy7MVZmttXT3DP3EkBqKdwhkAIFvz-hCQAn7r06lptJN71CZLRp2dg4ZOLtueeigTUtPoZS_Q1qlNiRjyV3peeu3D_zodaoxQ2GFLBqoUO0fDZhA/s320/NathanRoad.JPG" title="Nathan Road Hong Kong" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture of Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, looking towards Victoria Harbor, in November of last year. This protest coincided with the Polytechnic University cluster; some of the most fraught days of the Hong Kong protests. </td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But now, with the outbreak, Hongkongers have shown a remarkably different affect. Behaving like docile children, they proactively ostracize themselves and are committed to the shutdown of everyday life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And, as my friend observed, whether this virus is natural or manmade, any fool now knows the formula for creating immediate worldwide fear and panic.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Exacerbating Xenophobia</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hongkongers are constantly making jabs at "Mainlanders". “We’re much more civilized”, “Isn’t it great they aren’t crowding our city” (due to the protests) and “they come down here and defecate on street corners!” are a few I’ve heard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://time.com/5777285/hong-kong-coronavirus-border-closure-strike/" target="_blank">Hongkonger’s hyper demands to completely shut down</a> the boarder with mainland China is no doubt augmented by this disdain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And the US exaggerates the issue as well. Have we ever seen anything like it: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-american-airlines-cancel-hong-kong-2020-2" target="_blank">American, Delta and United have cut services to mainland China</a>, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/30/21116252/travel-risk-warning-coronavirus-state-department-china" target="_blank">Pompeo has issued a Travel 4 Advisory Warning</a> (the highest possible), and anyone coming into the US from China is quarantined for 14 days!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Go figure why the US would have such an extreme reaction over a virus that’s killed, in total, 560 people—when gun violence accounts for 100 deaths in the US every single day. </span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A Quieter Hong Kong</span></h4>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It remains to be seen how long this situation will continue, or what the long-term effects will be. The "experts" say it could last for 2-3 months. No doubt retail and hotel industries are taking a huge hit. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m sensing some exasperation in the streets, as fewer people seem to be donning the face masks on sidewalks and in grocery stores.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the meantime, I’m enjoying the quieter city life and empty restaurants. It's probably not here to stay.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-27974385047773738902020-02-03T06:30:00.000-08:002020-02-09T22:52:54.273-08:00Super Bowl LIV: Not Just a Bunch of Beer Commercials<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_407N3goabs6gq0yqfRP-pimMXoh0wzuxW3ewnWtPCsTXHqjoM7wZ5pKOQgz5uSi2ynRxm_METnpYspFLxokzNF-LyBGCfpTl08ANg2B5aMIZ3jzEYQKD4JZmJFpTycbu5dK71OFYUBg/s1600/Superbowl+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1553" data-original-width="1553" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5_407N3goabs6gq0yqfRP-pimMXoh0wzuxW3ewnWtPCsTXHqjoM7wZ5pKOQgz5uSi2ynRxm_METnpYspFLxokzNF-LyBGCfpTl08ANg2B5aMIZ3jzEYQKD4JZmJFpTycbu5dK71OFYUBg/s320/Superbowl+copy.jpg" title="Super Bowl Food" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What are your favorite Super Bowl foods?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Super Bowl LIV is in the books. Between the game, the commercials, and the Halftime Show, it's an event designed to over-stimulate. Every second demands our focused attention. No bathroom breaks during the Super Bowl! If you step away for just a second you'll miss a crucial play, a clever commercial, or a meme-able moment in the Halftime Show. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It's also one of the few things Americans are still watching together, in real time! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The game itself was close & competitive---neck and neck the whole way. The 49ers and Chiefs were tied at halftime, and in the final minutes of the game, Kansas City inched ahead of San Francisco with a winning touchdown. An astute Tweeter noticed that the 24-20 final score hearkened back to Kobe Bryant. His spirit, surely, was at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Fortunately, I wasn't emotionally invested in either of the teams so it didn't stress me out to watch the score go back and forth. </span><span style="font-size: large;">T</span><span style="font-size: large;">his is the ONLY football game I've watched this season, too. Living in Hong Kong, it's hard to justify watching football when the games are at 7 am on a Monday! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes II wrangled this victory at the ripe young age of 24--in only his second year with the NFL! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And it's nice to see the Chiefs win--it's been FIFTY YEARS since they won the Super Bowl.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-size: large;">Nice, too, that for once we're NOT talking about you-know-who--that team who's usurped all the NFL's attention for the past several years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway. Some of the real excitement, for me, came in the out-of-game content. </span><br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Halftime Show</span></h4>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFHOKKpDNVhiqbK91-_hIM5I4uSsSjLYrylIruw6na55JhvWP1k2FRM-EQuFLxuupzMrXKbx_aaoXuGvCJJcz7ktfkG_fUV1ngDdcrtlTIyqfEEwW8No7OcWtBiek5o7fCeEQCjoaMi9a/s1600/shakira-jennifer-lopez-super-bowl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Super Bowl Half Time Show" border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghFHOKKpDNVhiqbK91-_hIM5I4uSsSjLYrylIruw6na55JhvWP1k2FRM-EQuFLxuupzMrXKbx_aaoXuGvCJJcz7ktfkG_fUV1ngDdcrtlTIyqfEEwW8No7OcWtBiek5o7fCeEQCjoaMi9a/s320/shakira-jennifer-lopez-super-bowl.jpg" title="Jennifer Lopez and Shakira" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just one of the dazzling outfits these two wore. How in the world do they change wardrobes so many times? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Shakira and Jennifer Lopez crushed the Halftime Show. </span><span style="font-size: large;">JLo began with a disarming "I'm Jenny from the Block", but the fireworks studded performance was anything but "just". </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The fourteen-minute show (that went alarmingly quickly) packed in Shakira's six-minute intro (tongue-wagging & all), duos with Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, and a touching performance with Lopez and her 11-year-old daughter singing "Born in the USA" while holding Puerto Rican and US flags. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UJSNhofO8uJA7qN8nQLXjxjJWyQaDf0noDCMxfOtvV2tUN-xcl_UCq860U9l8-vac9RBr0G1IDKz14uuuncHgmZASt1uHpLa8hQu3VGeFC0rNoRUP6u23TO6ncs89A7Sll0ELtt8qSQe/s1600/ShakiraTongue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="970" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UJSNhofO8uJA7qN8nQLXjxjJWyQaDf0noDCMxfOtvV2tUN-xcl_UCq860U9l8-vac9RBr0G1IDKz14uuuncHgmZASt1uHpLa8hQu3VGeFC0rNoRUP6u23TO6ncs89A7Sll0ELtt8qSQe/s320/ShakiraTongue.jpg" title="Shakira Tongue Wag" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shakira's tongue wag has generated some popular memes on Twitter. It's apparently a tradition at Carnival (aka Mardi Gras) in her native Columbia. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Shakira (43) and Jennifer Lopez (50!) danced like they were half their age. </span><span style="font-size: large;">How IS IT that they can look as good as they do? I know, I know.....they have personal trainers and can afford $495 facials. Ok, but still. It's impressive.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Coming on the heels of the Netflix special, <i>Miss Americana, </i>Taylor Swift sounds myopic bemoaning turning 30. Looks like</span><span style="font-size: large;"> middle-age women aren't doomed to retire from the spotlight while fame seeks out the shiny new toy, as Swift frames it.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Commercials!</span></h4>
<span style="font-size: large;">This was the life of the Super Bowl! Definitely not just a bunch of your basic beer commercials.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Although the commercials for beer did runneth over. There were inspiring beer commercials, such as Budweiser's "Typical American", highlighting everyday selfless acts of everyday Americans, and funny-ish beer commercials, such as Michelob's, where Jimmy Fallon makes a (believe it or not) humorless joke, and next-best-thing beer commercials, such as Bud Light's, where Post Malone deliberates whether to purchase tried-and-true Bud Light or the Bud Light SELTZER. (--A commercial aimed at the Next-Best-Thing Generation, aka Millennials, for sure.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The fastest way to America's pocketbook must be through the stomach, as the Super Bowl ran plenty of advertisements for food, including Pringles (stack different flavors to create your OWN unique flavor), Cheetos (MC Hammer made an appearance--"you can't touch this" when you have Cheetos Hands), Doritos (<i>The Good, the Bad and the Ugly</i> spoof with Sam Elliot and Lin Nas X)</span><span style="font-size: large;">, Sugar-Free Mountain Dew (<i>Shining</i> remake with Brian Cranston)</span><span style="font-size: large;">, and Little Caesar's Delivery (the best thing since sliced bread). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And the commercials certainly were not without celebrity. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Chrissy Teigen and John Legend sold "new luxury" with Genesis cars, The Rock and Oprah made a pitch for Weight-Watchers, and Bill Murray and Sephen Tobolowsky spoofed <i>Groundhog Day</i> in a "doozy"of a Jeep commercial. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not to be left out, the NFL built up its own brand with a commercial featuring the first-female offensive coach, Katie Sowers, and another highlighting the sophisticated research put into making football a safer game. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And.......it's a wrap. The NFL put on a good show this year. Glad I got up at 6 am to see it. There's been discussion on Twitter that the Super Bowl should be moved to Saturday. </span><span style="font-size: large;">One commenter said that instead, Monday should be a holiday. I'm kind of in favor of the latter. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What were your thoughts? Did you watch the Super Bowl? </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-81152054152891608262020-01-28T22:26:00.000-08:002020-02-25T22:24:08.878-08:00 Is Retail Worth the Risk? Evaluating the Financials of Macy’s, Target & Nordstrom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1G2542ULgoRZ-lxrVxjWVyVqYOz4zsD-k65HEXHq0lwjbqLpT2h3MsRktbG0bzxi6FYzsSuACLFFOmPDlfolJ1API3dxp0oUno4TGVHHyG2n-X4ZsVzWsuzRBlEHnKhaeZgmPQQOWZvkZ/s1600/Macy%2527s%252C+Target%252C+Nordstrom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nordstrom" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1G2542ULgoRZ-lxrVxjWVyVqYOz4zsD-k65HEXHq0lwjbqLpT2h3MsRktbG0bzxi6FYzsSuACLFFOmPDlfolJ1API3dxp0oUno4TGVHHyG2n-X4ZsVzWsuzRBlEHnKhaeZgmPQQOWZvkZ/s320/Macy%2527s%252C+Target%252C+Nordstrom.jpg" title="what's the best retail investment?" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you like to go to the Mall? I sure do! Especially a swank mall like K11 in Hong Kong.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Is retail a smart investment? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">With malls shuttering and department stores downsizing across the US, it appears retail is a dying beast. So many opt to shop online, where the Goliath, Amazon, </span><span style="font-size: large;">usurps</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> something like 60% of all sales!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, we like to try clothes on in person. At a store last night, my friend purchased two coats that sold for less online: "This way I know they fit," she reasoned. And shopping is a fun weekend outing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I don’t think retail is going extinct.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So, I decided to evaluate the fundamentals of three stores; Macy’s, Target, and Nordstrom; to see if their financials look sound, and if they’d make a good investment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">These companies represent slightly different industries (the SEC lists <a href="https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html" target="_blank">Nordstrom as family clothing/retail, Target as retail/variety, and Macy’s as department</a>), but they’re close enough they merit comparison.</span><br />
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My Prediction</span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Going in, I predict Target will be in the best financial health and make the best investment, and Macy’s the worst. This is due to first-hand experience: in Portland, Oregon I've seen Target stores going up and thriving, and Macy’s stores shutting down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Nordstrom is a head-scratcher: they’re giving brick and mortar a fighting chance <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/11/06/tour-nordstroms-new-nyc-flagship-megastore/" target="_blank">with new luxe flagships stores</a> in Vancouver, Toronto, and Manhattan. Plus, their online service, which I’ve used domestically and internationally, is great. And I can’t tell if their ultra-easy return policy is a boon--it makes for great customer service, but must cost tons of money.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Criteria for Analysis</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In order to evaluate the financial health of these companies, I’ll look at several data and ratios from their financial statements over the past five years: income, income growth, debt to equity, income to gross margin, and return on assets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">None of these companies have released their financial statements for the year of 2019 (only quarterly earnings) so I’ll be using the statements through 2018, which are posted at their websites (<a href="https://www.macysinc.com/investors/financial-information/financial-results" target="_blank">Macy’s</a>, <a href="https://press.nordstrom.com/financial-information/annual-reports" target="_blank">Nordstrom</a>, & <a href="https://investors.target.com/annual-reports?c=65828&p=irol-reportsAnnual" target="_blank">Target</a>). I crunched the numbers on several Excel file which is WAY too boring and lengthy to include in this post, so I'll just include the results. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Next, I’ll look at stock criteria--P/E ratio and dividends--to see if a purchase makes sense.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Fundamental Ratios</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Net Income</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">First of all, I glanced at net income over the past five years to see if any companies were in the red. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI4oTxKAJX_qTqujD-RW-2DZEb6EwJEHbzSG0aYzCEsDl9V0Y0jxjmpH555a0Z7ZHwvZa5FyDrTsae3Li4nDjTwiITsZUj11WR2LgSB3BAu-35dTa6yfJ8VSzOnTknnXofcB7N7SLoqDw/s1600/ThisNI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="1600" height="59" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI4oTxKAJX_qTqujD-RW-2DZEb6EwJEHbzSG0aYzCEsDl9V0Y0jxjmpH555a0Z7ZHwvZa5FyDrTsae3Li4nDjTwiITsZUj11WR2LgSB3BAu-35dTa6yfJ8VSzOnTknnXofcB7N7SLoqDw/s320/ThisNI.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like only one year in the red--for Target. Numbers are in millions.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">As you can see, only Target reported negative income—for one year in 2014. Negative income can be a sign of shaky financial health, or even bankruptcy. Does this put Target out of the running? Let’s keep digging.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Income Growth</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Growth is certainly something that you want to see in a company. Steady growth, <a href="https://podtail.com/en/podcast/the-sure-investing-podcast/andrew-sather-on-financial-statement-analysis/" target="_blank">around 3%, is a sign of good health</a>. Rapid growth, however, can be a sign of volatility.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/how-to-calculate-revenue-growth-for-3-years.aspx" target="_blank">I calculated the growth using the net income from 2014 and 2018</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>TARGET: 8%</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">MACY’S: -6%</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">NORDSTROM: -5%</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Target is the clear winner here. Perhaps 8% is a little rapid (<a href="https://investors.target.com/annual-reports?c=65828&p=irol-reportsAnnual" target="_blank">they’ve opened about 50 new stores between 2014 and 18</a>), but it’s more promising than the declining growth of Macy’s and Nordstrom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Macy’s has a “store closing cost” expense listed on its income statement all six years. Not good! And Nordstrom <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-trunk-club-nordstrom-impairment-1111-biz-20161110-story.html" target="_blank">decreased its Goodwill by $197 million in 2016</a> when it wrote down the value of Trunk Club (they'd purchased it for $350 million), which really took a bite out of net income that year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Net Income to Gross Margin</i></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A higher percentage of net income to gross margin means the company is thrifty and efficient with operating expenses. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I calculated these values yearly then averaged them for the past six years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">TARGET: 11%</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">MACY’S: 12%</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>NORDSTROM: 12.5%</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Look like Nordstrom narrowly wins! Way to keep operating expenses DOWN. These results are all pretty close, however, so I can't say this metric exactly pits one company against another.</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Debt to Equity</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This is a critical ratio as it demonstrates a company’s ability to pay off debts. A company with lots of liabilities relative to equity may have to sell off assets or take on more debt during a bad year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I calculated the TOTAL debt to equity for each year, then found the average. This is the average ratio of total liabilities to equity from 2013-18:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>TARGET: 2.2</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">MACY’S: 2.9</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">NORDSTROM: 6</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Target is the winner here--it's doing the best job of keeping debts low, even as it expands and opens new stores.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And Nordstrom is the astronomical loser--its current (2018) ratio is in fact higher than the average; it now owes $8 for every $1 of equity. A precarious position to be in. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This isn't due to an increase in Nordstrom's liabilities, but rather a significant decrease in equity, caused by a negative balance in retained earnings (which is called accumulated deficit). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/2017/5/7/accumulated-deficit" target="_blank">Accumulated deficit is a sign of financial instability</a>. What may have triggered Nordstrom's drop in equity is that it decided to pay dividends during a low income year (2015-16), during same period it wrote down Trunk Club in the books. In essence, it didn’t have the income to pay dividends, but paid them anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>ROA</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A higher percentage of return on assets <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnonassets.asp" target="_blank">means a company is using assets efficiently</a> and turning them into net income! </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This is the average ROA for the past five years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">TARGET: 5 cents (5%) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">MACY’S: 6 cents (6%) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>NORDSTROM: 6.86 cents (6.86%)</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And Nordstrom is the winner, again! It’s earning an entire 6.86 cents in net income for every dollar in assets, narrowly out-beating Macy’s, who’s only earning a paltry six cents. And Target loses with an abysmal five cents earned for every dollar in assets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Conclusion on Fundamental Ratios</i></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Given that it’s demonstrating steady growth with a relatively low debt to equity ratio, Target wins the fundamentals round. Its year in the red does give me pause, however.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Nordstrom has won in a few categories. It’s been doing a good job keeping operating expenses LOW and creating income out of assets. But these victories are marginal. Its astronomical debt to equity ratio is a red flag.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Macy’s hasn’t done anything to recommend itself, really. It has the lowest growth rate, and a pretty high debt to equity ratio.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Stock Price Analysis</span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So far, these equations have dealt with the financial health of the companies. Now I’ll look at their stock prices and dividend payments, to see if they’d make a good purchase.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Trailing P/E Ratio</i></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Comparing price-to-earnings ratios demonstrate how much value you receive for the share price. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">As an analogy: Imagine your local hairdresser charges $80 for a blowout. And the salon down street charges $60. If the quality and service at each salon is equal, which receives your patronage?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Generally, a stock with a lower P/E ratio indicates the better buy. A high P/E ratio mean the stock is selling for more than it’s worth, and that the price may fall as enthusiasm for the company wanes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The equation for the P/E ratio is: share price / (earnings/# of shares outstanding). I’ve taken a short-cut and <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/JWN?p=JWN&.tsrc=fin-srch" target="_blank">found the ratios at the Yahoo Finance</a>. Here are the P/E ratios on January 23rd, 2020:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">TARGET: 18.7</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>MACY’S: 5.7</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">NORDSTROM: 11.6</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Macy’s is the clear winner. Its super-low P/E ratio makes it a real bargain. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Maybe investors are looking at Macy's declining growth and high debt-to-equity and going, "meh, think I'll give it a pass." --Making it a bargain for the rest of us 😉.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">As I mentioned in my <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/15mFIQCRMgmc94ZxaemiHG6gTA7RceJNg/view" target="_blank">white paper, "Unlocking the Stock Market"</a>, a lot of investors have an upper limit on a P/E ratio value, say around 15. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">By this gauge, Nordstrom's value of 11.6, though much higher than Macy's, would also indicate it's a "buy". Purchasing Target stock, however, would be ix-nayed--with a P/E ratio of 18.7, the stock is overpriced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Dividend</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Last but not least, the almighty dividend! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s important to invest in a stock that pays a dividend. If you hold onto the stock for 15 or more years and reinvest dividends, the initial investment grows by as much as 7-10%!!! (Assuming the stock has steady growth.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.streetinsider.com/dividend_history.php?q=m" target="_blank">I found these dividend values at Street Insider</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>TARGET 2019 Dividend payment: $2.64</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">% of stock price: 2.3%</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">MACY’S 2019 Dividend payment: $1.51</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>% of stock price: 8.8%</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">NORDSTROM 2019 Dividend payment: $1.48</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">% of stock price: 3.7%</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Looks like Target wins for "biggest dividend payment", but since its stock price is so high (currently selling around $113), its dividend yield is actually the lowest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Macy’s dividend yield, on the other hand, is quite high. The stock price is selling at $17, and with a dividend of $1.51, the yield is 8.8%. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This means if you purchased only 11 Macy's shares (less than $200), you could purchase ONE WHOLE SHARE at the end of the year with dividend payments. Quite a bargain, really. With Target, on the other hand, you'd need to purchase 43 shares ($4,800) to receive one share from dividend payments! Kind of reminds me of purchasing Monopoly houses at, say, Park Place vs. Baltic Avenue. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">With respect to dividend growth (I didn’t do calculations for all of these), it’s reported that <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/investors-buy-nordstrom-inc-nyse-114918445.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAgEbKEBA33kVRIqs4vaqTZkiyiClEVV71qwbKFZ5bskzXTqK9I0lTip-kAYdG5cbqDy9y1tYO5ovYelddATBS4pM3rbkL4ZVMNakaLFZqw0Rn66u3T05Fl-BChZMCKeXkukxVoPo0OCqTB443ifgQRs2iq0-9zcOQJs6un8KnRi" target="_blank">Nordstrom is a Dividend Rock Star</a>-- meaning the dividend payment has steadily increased over the years.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This growth doesn't entirely entice me, as in paying increasingly higher dividends, Nordstrom has seriously impaired its ability to pay off debts. Ultimately, this makes the business more precarious for investors.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Conclusions?</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To quote my favorite Winona Ryder character, Lelaina Pierce from <i>Reality Bites,</i> "The answer is......the answer is......I don't know." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">None of these companies look disastrous. But do they merit investment? Target’s financials are decent, but the stock is overpriced. Nordstrom’s HIGH debt-to-equity almost puts it out of the running. But then it DOES have great dividend growth, and the P/E ratio is reasonable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">If I HAD to pick something, I’d go with Macy’s. Just because it’s only selling at $17/share, and such a bargain with a P/E ratio below 6, and a really high dividend yield. And because nothing in its financials looked too horrible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But “not too horrible” isn’t exactly a stellar recommendation. Macy’s seems like a gamble; with many stores closing, the company could go either. So if I didn’t have a gun to my head, I’d pass on all three. For the time being, anyway. At least until Target's P/E ratio falls below 15.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And as for the industry itself, I'd say Target's high growth and overpriced stock indicates there's some lifeblood in retail yet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What are your thoughts? If you were to invest in one of these companies, which would you select?</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-12885692900615155042020-01-22T19:26:00.000-08:002020-01-22T20:19:18.658-08:00Does Apple Know Hollywood Math?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXRATrfeYXXEvLJDNiCSwqk034DKYVFlUtcY-3uGq2Hem0Uvzre84jTtb5BvBOP7dEHCDHJQ2ZIpGdKgItFdCtoqMsEX7VfXHYNwVRYr2H4KGQTH4X-uIP5mzoJ6gaqhTZ2gTPnEI_Imo/s1600/Apple+TV.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1553" data-original-width="1553" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXRATrfeYXXEvLJDNiCSwqk034DKYVFlUtcY-3uGq2Hem0Uvzre84jTtb5BvBOP7dEHCDHJQ2ZIpGdKgItFdCtoqMsEX7VfXHYNwVRYr2H4KGQTH4X-uIP5mzoJ6gaqhTZ2gTPnEI_Imo/s320/Apple+TV.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Vanity Fair just ran the article: “<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/01/apple-julia-louis-dreyfus-deal" target="_blank">Apple Signs Julia Louis-Dreyfus to Overall Deal Because it Would Like Some Emmys, Please</a>”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is not Apple's first overall deal with a superstar. The article reports they've done the same with directors Alphonso Cuarón and Justin Lin, and art-house movie distributor A24. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Is the formula that simple: if you build a streaming service with former Emmy winners, Emmys will come?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Or is this one equation the engineers at Apple have gotten wrong?</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">After all, Louis-Dreyfus spent three forgotten years on SNL before moving on to <i>Seinfeld</i>….and, well, we know how that story ended. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That is to say, it's not so simple as possessing talent. The talent also needs to be in a fertile environment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Which brings me to the point of my concern….</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Have you SEEN what's on Apple TV+?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For starters, scrolling through its slim catalog feels like walking through an empty warehouse. But maybe that's to be expected for a nascent streaming service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Morning Show,</i> its most acclaimed achievement, had a promising beginning, but really petered off by the end. (Although DO see it to the end—the scenes of Mark Duplass wandering around Times Square looking like he’d just spent the last three nights sleeping under a blanket of newspapers are not to be missed.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Servant, </i>M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller about a toy baby that becomes real, is anything but.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Dickinson</i>, an amalgamation of 19th-Century Amherst and woke Gen-Zers, is just <i>so</i> bizarre.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Banker</i>, starring Samuel Jackson, was supposed to be in their canon of <i>good</i> movies but <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/apple-canceled-banker-premiere-sexual-abuse-claims-real-life-subjects-son-1256695" target="_blank">it’s been detained in #MeToo purgatory</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Elephant Queen</i>, a movie that follows an elephant herd in Kenya, is their only content that's irrefutably good. And, well, Oprah’s Book Club. (<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/23/oprahs-book-club-comes-to-apple-tv/" target="_blank">Yes, she too has signed herself over to Apple TV+</a>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A LOT of star power went into all this: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Billy Crudup (<i>Morning Show</i>), Lauren Ambrose, Rupert Grint (<i>Servant)</i>. And more. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yet elephants in Kenya have out performed them all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe Apple’s methodology WILL pay off—they’ll hit some jackpot of a show that EVERYONE will have to see, meaning EVERYONE will have to sign up for the service.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">And Apple certainly needs a lot in its arsenal to remain in the game. It has Disney to content with, <a href="https://www.disneyplus.com/" target="_blank">who has license to pretty much EVERYTHING</a> currently out there: Star Wars, Marvel, 20th Century (we're not to say "Fox" anymore, lest we associate Disney with that unmentionable mogul). Plus, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quibi" target="_blank">Quibi is coming down the pike with brand new, star-studded content</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Still, you have to wonder why <i>Truth Be Told,</i> a show with an Oscar and an Emmy Winner--Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul--is so forgettable I didn’t even think to review it above. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Let's hope Apple is just cutting its teeth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because something about all those amaHAZing superstars ambling around that cavernous streaming service is giving me the creeps. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe that’s the real psychological thriller—how Apple TV+ is locking up talent and content with overall deals into its as-of-yet meh streaming service.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-31211646669021615082020-01-15T18:25:00.000-08:002020-01-15T19:26:36.129-08:00Startling Side Effects of Insomnia & Simple Ways to Ensure a Good Night’s Sleep<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvA7JVUP30D-2e4we3cttrIeVGXxN-SFqUNP7G3BACMOSr0ps17b4lSlP5-MFIeLZRrxzqVFuphO1zfFvdjBJAaaRtNOZ_zYfRxV4gQ5_7Dfb0T0k_5kpdeRvvrdUu8_ZD1uptfNGmqMdH/s1600/A+Good+Night%2527s+Slee.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="healthy sleeping routine" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvA7JVUP30D-2e4we3cttrIeVGXxN-SFqUNP7G3BACMOSr0ps17b4lSlP5-MFIeLZRrxzqVFuphO1zfFvdjBJAaaRtNOZ_zYfRxV4gQ5_7Dfb0T0k_5kpdeRvvrdUu8_ZD1uptfNGmqMdH/s320/A+Good+Night%2527s+Slee.JPG" title="How to avoid Insomnia" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A solid sleep feels awesome. And it's great for our health, too! </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Eighteen years ago I was having burgers with a group of friends. The conversation turned to productivity and sleep. One zealous guy quipped, “If Mother Teresa and Bill Clinton can get by on four hours a night, why shouldn’t we?” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Recalling his comment feels like discovering Atari games in a storage closet.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Gone are the days when people name-drop and boast about how little sleep they can function on. (Although I <i>did</i> just come across this anachronistic <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/angela-merkel-daily-routine-2017-7" target="_blank">headline stating that Angela Merkel</a> gets by on four hours.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Debunking The Myth</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Books like Ariana Huffington’s <i>Sleep Revolution</i> have debunked the idea that functioning with little sleep is a sign of productivity—in fact the opposite is true.</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Basically every day, literally, we have new scientific evidence about the connection between sleep and every aspect of our health. From obesity and diabetes to hypertension, heart disease, cancer, every aspect of our emotional intelligence and mood -- you know, how we feel about our lives. How depressed or anxious or fearful we are. And then our actually -- our actual cognitive functions. <a href="https://charlierose.com/videos/25871" target="_blank">Ariana Huffington</a></span></blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Sleep and health go hand in hand. We're more vulnerable to colds when sleep deprived. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Plus, it affects our performance and cognitive functions. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/how-science-helps-the-warriors-sleep-their-way-to-success/" target="_blank">Andre Iguodola demonstrated that his basketball game</a> improved dramatically when he slept better. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But It's Complicated</span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Acknowledging that sleep is healthy and actually having a good night's sleep are two entirely separate beasts, however.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">At various time over the years, I've fallen into a pattern of chronically waking up at night for several hours and then being exhausted the next day. This past autumn was one such time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">After closely examining my sleeping and daily routines, </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I discovered simple changes that improved the quality of my sleep.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Here's what I found. </span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">How to Ensure a Good Night's Sleep</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Keep a Sleep Journal</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It's helpful to write down my activities for the day, mood, and diet alongside the time I go to bed and wake up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A journal makes it easy to discern patterns—for example a correlation between eating sweets right before bed and sleeping poorly, or sleeping solidly on the same day I’ve worked out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Set the Stage for Good Night’s Sleep</i></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A lot can wake us up at night, including thirst, noise, and light. Simple things like closing the curtains, keeping a water bottle alongside the bed, and wearing earplugs help to reduce restless sleeping patterns. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Or, if you get cold during the night like I do, wear warm long-johns to bed, as well as socks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Are You Really Tired?</i></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Oftentimes I sleep poorly if I go to sleep before I'm really tired--after only having been awake for 12-14 hours. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I sleep much better if I've been awake 16-17 hours. Sometimes this means staying up later than I’d prefer (to 1 or 2 am), but it’s worth it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Quieting Bedtime Routine</i></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s so easy to fall asleep to a series on your laptop. But that’s not good! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Huffington talks about creating a demarcation between day and night. This can be as simple as taking some moments right before bed to journal or read fiction--as well as wearing clothing designated specifically for sleep. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">A routine gives your mind cues that it's time to rest and sleep. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Similarly, using the bed exclusively for sleep (no working on the bed during the day!) lulls your mind into a restful place once you've lain down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Napping</i></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">When I can only swing a short amount sleep at night, I'll make time for a nap in the afternoon. Even a twenty-minute power-nap feels awesome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So many workspaces designate places for napping nowadays--there’s no shame in napping at work!</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Your Suggestions</span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Do you ever struggle with sleep? What helps for you?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-74490327704360515292020-01-08T17:57:00.000-08:002020-01-08T17:57:30.025-08:00Why I'm Giving Lending Club a Hard Pass<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0bzmK1hWu3PEJAenL_vAWpT5NKjbABU0G_mFYmQHDdF9gTBnruXhyphenhypheniHnxKq1LchQcySEb2TkC1ww-4wywzOqJRFq4ltlQzWYuUXbLWWDwm35sKTJRydnwaaf3zRL1Q-H1sKl2o5GrWKy/s1600/LendingClub.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0bzmK1hWu3PEJAenL_vAWpT5NKjbABU0G_mFYmQHDdF9gTBnruXhyphenhypheniHnxKq1LchQcySEb2TkC1ww-4wywzOqJRFq4ltlQzWYuUXbLWWDwm35sKTJRydnwaaf3zRL1Q-H1sKl2o5GrWKy/s320/LendingClub.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of my resolutions for 2020 is to invest in a different asset every month.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In an earlier post, I wrote that <a href="https://www.julieanderton.com/2019/10/peer-to-peer-lending-good-investment.html" target="_blank">peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is a good alternative investment</a>. And in a theoretical sense, this is true. P2P lending offers an alternative to stocks or bonds and a return well above the risk-free rate. It’s exactly what you’re looking for to diversify a portfolio.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And so I’d thought I’d start 2020 by investing in P2P lending. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">As I’d invest money I don’t need right away, my intent would be to re-invest the payments on the loan so as to receive the benefits of compound interest. Essentially, I wouldn’t see this investment again for a while—20 or 30 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Last week, however, I took a closer look at <a href="https://www.lendingclub.com/" target="_blank">Lending Club</a>, the largest P2P company, and discovered something that gave me pause.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Greatest Risk of P2P Lending</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">P2P lending companies facilitate loans between lenders and buyers. The companies allow investors to spread one investment over dozens of loans, which reduces the impact of one loan defaulting. Borrowers are vetted so you know the risk associated with the money you're lending. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The greatest risk of investing in P2P lending, then, isn’t that a lender might default on a loan, but that the P2P business itself fails. If the P2P company goes bust, you will not have any of your money returned; neither the principle nor interest earned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And risk isn’t to be avoided with investing: far from it. In fact, assuming risk is the only way to receive a return higher than the risk-free rate, and make investing worth your while.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But the risk needs to be judicious. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Lending Club: the Fundamentals</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Lending Club is a public company and its financial statements are available online—<a href="http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReports/PDF/NYSE_LC_2018.pdf" target="_blank">including its income statement</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">As the most basic objective of a business is to make money, when looking at the financials, it’s good to start with the income statement.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLaAQLC2h00PhkvdNKfcwply6G9ZWxdcY5Pe-o2QFJuWfjvFTrJAdzIwbA0eA_vAHRDolh1Du0QbHLRY09_4D4WSLST-pLMHOjrdZ2zGCVM-2Lj_QZM8h0GGyERfnm5jw-yWBzoJTZxEu/s1600/Lending+Club+16+18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1600" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLaAQLC2h00PhkvdNKfcwply6G9ZWxdcY5Pe-o2QFJuWfjvFTrJAdzIwbA0eA_vAHRDolh1Du0QbHLRY09_4D4WSLST-pLMHOjrdZ2zGCVM-2Lj_QZM8h0GGyERfnm5jw-yWBzoJTZxEu/s320/Lending+Club+16+18.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't like the look of these numbers! </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And at this first basic step, Lending Club doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s been in the red for the past five years—the entire time it’s been a public company!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3I4D-D07X2fQiZiDLZjVLLK1_yfCF9ajxF_Aj6FyF0YQ8a2JJD7xr4bZ1JBICqEkj90AzJpkVG5tpSOFo0vms8eNfhM-7e6AlEY8XciyHOiNj7umeJN2WUAtUCvYtH4EawctgGafxORo/s1600/Lending+Club+14+15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1600" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3I4D-D07X2fQiZiDLZjVLLK1_yfCF9ajxF_Aj6FyF0YQ8a2JJD7xr4bZ1JBICqEkj90AzJpkVG5tpSOFo0vms8eNfhM-7e6AlEY8XciyHOiNj7umeJN2WUAtUCvYtH4EawctgGafxORo/s320/Lending+Club+14+15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lending Club's losses increased astronomically in 2016!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This loss substantially grew in 2016, to more than <a href="http://www.annualreports.com/HostedData/AnnualReportArchive/l/NYSE_LC_2016.pdf" target="_blank">twenty times it was in 2015</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Lending Club Gets a Pass</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">An income statement like this makes me put on the breaks, HARD. A company deeply in the red may very well indicate more troubled times ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I can’t even justify looking into other aspects of the financial statements (cash flows, debt to equity ratio). Even if I dug up some remotely promising information, these large, consistent losses are too much for me to look past. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">—Lending Club may very well not be around 20-30 years down the pike when I’d be planning to recoup my loan, making this a totally reckless investment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I'm Still Open to a P2P Lending Investment</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I’m not entirely turned off to the idea of investing in P2P lending. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The internet abounds in anecdotal stories of people earning a return well above the risk-free rate (including <a href="https://www.lendingmemo.com/peer-lending-problems/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.investlikeaboss.com/ilab-08-peer-to-peer-lending-strategies-structuring-atypical-investments/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.moneyunder30.com/lending-club-investing" target="_blank">here</a>). And that's even with defaults on some of the loans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="http://partners4prosperity.libsyn.com/p4p047-peertopeerlendingmp3" target="_blank">And, as stated on the Prosperity Podcast</a>, a P2P lending investment should only be 10-20% of a portfolio--and of that, divided between companies. So the risk can be hedged. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But the problem is that P2P lending is a fairly new industry--the first company, Prosper Marketplace, started in 2005. It's a bit of an unknown. And as Lending Club is the only public company, it's the only one who has disclosed its financial statements. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I can only wonder as to the financial state of other P2P lending companies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I’d need to do a little digging before I’d invest in, say, Prosper or Peer Street. I’d like to receive some assurance that the business seems viable. Although I’m not sure how you can assess a company's financial health without seeing its financial statements. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And You?</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Have you invested in any P2P lending companies? What’s your experience?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-69740086776090180842019-12-30T22:03:00.000-08:002020-01-01T23:28:27.111-08:002020: A Decade in Hindsight<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5zdBjLnql6k3CjJHGfe59A5cqavUCJFiZrmW122duG4VCEBk9eMldF7CFcrSTSqzA7YMfQpr1OYm7w3HUtq92gjqql-ghzGiZa-k1u_hP2CfmdyWocEoIgeTC36so7ahAr3a8z9ZBoCN/s1600/NewYearGoals.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih5zdBjLnql6k3CjJHGfe59A5cqavUCJFiZrmW122duG4VCEBk9eMldF7CFcrSTSqzA7YMfQpr1OYm7w3HUtq92gjqql-ghzGiZa-k1u_hP2CfmdyWocEoIgeTC36so7ahAr3a8z9ZBoCN/s320/NewYearGoals.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What from the past ten years stands out for you?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Happy New Year! </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Wow, 2020—A NEW DECADE!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We see things most clearly in hindsight, they say. And looking back on this decade, it’s hard to believe how much has transpired—for me personally and in the culture.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In the Netflix documentary <i>Date with Destiny</i>, Tony Robbins says, “We overestimate what we can get done in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And although many of these past ten years felt like they were moving at a snail’s pace, I’m amazed, looking back, at how much I accomplished: I ran 2 marathons, completed two 200+ mile hikes, and grew a tiny craft business from nothing until it was my principal source of income.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And SOO many new friendships and adventures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Plus, I developed an entirely new skill: teaching!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Looking Back, Culturally</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Vanity Fair aptly named 2010-19 a “content decade” in its piece, "<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/12/the-decade-in-content" target="_blank">A Decade in Content</a>". They mention the proliferation of </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">anonymous Twitter accounts, such as @sosadtoday, which I really enjoy. </span></div>
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you’re damn right the problem is me</div>
— so sad today (@sosadtoday) <a href="https://twitter.com/sosadtoday/status/1210097927638654976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 26, 2019</a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In my own reflections, I am amazed at some other developments this decade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Instagram</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Instagram started in 2010! And what a catalyst it’s been. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Print adds, billboards and television commercials are Neanderthals: now it’s all about influencers and content marketing.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKLsZirgugS5nT-_LIxqxtvDiZrvoHNmVdoC39__XzaySi-9hB4dDzxRAtRSMEEJ3wpFBNX_Uo83XhUieqNhyopsGTTkMmlgsZbPD08PAt5TntSRwzqR3SBhKZiDh61RR4fCUElHXJ7uC/s1600/FoodPorn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYKLsZirgugS5nT-_LIxqxtvDiZrvoHNmVdoC39__XzaySi-9hB4dDzxRAtRSMEEJ3wpFBNX_Uo83XhUieqNhyopsGTTkMmlgsZbPD08PAt5TntSRwzqR3SBhKZiDh61RR4fCUElHXJ7uC/s320/FoodPorn.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In these post-IG days, it's almost more important what food looks like than how it tastes! </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Netflix Goes International</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Although Netflix was around before this decade (it began in 2007), it started streaming internationally in 2010.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s now deeply entrenched worldwide: <a href="https://www.axios.com/netflix-stock-decade-de737172-d5ca-435c-985b-7a30825ebfc5.html" target="_blank">62% of its subscribers come from outisde the US</a>. Netflix hires local directors, actors, and filmmakers to create material targeted for specific international audiences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Netflix’s ubiquity has changed the way we consume content—broadcast television is out and streaming is most definitely in. <i>Major</i> $$$ are being spent creating content on SO MANY new and upcoming platforms, including Disney+, Quibi, Peacock and AppleTV+.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Superwomem</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Jennifer Lawrence broke onto the scene in 2010 with her performance in <i>Winter’s Bone</i>. She’s become such a phenomenon, what-with the <i>Hunger Games</i> series, all the David O’Russell films (<i>Joy</i>, <i>American Hustle</i>, <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i>), and MORE, that it’s hard to remember a time without her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And Lena Dunham, too, made her debut with <i>Tiny Furniture</i> in 2010. Shortly after, she went onto create the show <i>Girls</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Although truth be told, I have a hard time taking Dunham seriously (for many reasons, including her <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/11/21/16679078/lena-dunham-accused-woman-lying-rape-murray-miller-aurora-perrineau" target="_blank">double-speak over the MeToo movement</a>), it’s undeniable she’s made quite a splash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Your Reflections</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">How about you? Do you like to reflect on your past, or are you more inclined to look ahead?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And what stands out culturally for you this past decade?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-51854603015065067402019-12-26T21:02:00.001-08:002019-12-28T01:00:53.876-08:00Hustlers: A Highlight of 2019 Cinema<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Both critically and at the box office, <i>Hustlers</i> made a splash in 2019. <a href="https://time.com/5737103/best-movies-2019/" target="_blank">Time named it one of the top ten movies</a> of the year, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustlers_(film)" target="_blank">it grossed $150 million on a $20 million budget</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/oscar-campaigns-lupita-nyongo-jennifer-lopez" target="_blank">Jennifer Lopez is slated to be a Best Supporting Actress Nominee</a> at the Oscars for her performance.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Hustlers</i> is based on a true story about strippers who fleece wealthy patrons of Scores Club in Manhattan. In addition to Lopez, it stars Constance Wu and Julia Stiles, with appearances from Cardi B and Lizzo. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Screenwriter and Director Lorene Scafaria adapted <i>Hustlers</i> from Jessica Pressler’s article, “<a href="https://jessicapressler.com/the-hustlers-at-scores/498" target="_blank">The Hustlers at Scores</a>” published in <i>The Cut</i> in 2015. Pressler interviews Samantha Foxx and Roselyn Keo, who are the inspiration for the movie's fictional characters Ramona and Destiny (played by Lopez and Wu).</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">I watched the movie two weeks ago, and here are my impressions. (This review is somewhat spoiler-ey, btw.) </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrU4I5mxduVB5d3-lExGM2bCC6qQXtqq-3LHYiTsdwAbdzl12TQrcjXyr7a0EKlVtbC6ZNVj-vYda_tcgaNOW0g_o5TLoVVtNBaHhfMf-L122xF7uAy6VqAHsSiO5Om2AlKjc3_mbGPF3M/s1600/jennifer-lopez-ramona-hustlers-a+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Jennifer Lopez" border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="420" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrU4I5mxduVB5d3-lExGM2bCC6qQXtqq-3LHYiTsdwAbdzl12TQrcjXyr7a0EKlVtbC6ZNVj-vYda_tcgaNOW0g_o5TLoVVtNBaHhfMf-L122xF7uAy6VqAHsSiO5Om2AlKjc3_mbGPF3M/s320/jennifer-lopez-ramona-hustlers-a+copy.jpg" title="Hustlers" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The women in Hustlers didn't have cheap taste, that's for sure.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Overall Impressions </span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Four years ago, Scafaria wrote and directed <i>The Meddler</i>, starring Rose Byrne and Susan Sarandon, about the complicated relationship between a meddling mother and her adult daughter. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">She had the budget to get much flashier in <i>Hustlers</i> (a $20 million budget verus $3 million), and works with a much larger cast. I loved the lavish fur coats, glitzy make-up, and dramatic hairstyles. Cardi B and Lizzo play small but notable roles. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Lopez, as Ramona, steals the show at the beginning with a solo pole-dancing scene. In the following scene she's instructing the ingenue and newest Scores employee, Destiny (Wu). </span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Scafaria demonstrates the same ability to develop characters with nuance: Ramona, while the ringleader of a criminal operation, is also a protective mother. And Destiny is responsible and conscientious, yet illicit--she only hires "stand-up" women to help fleece the men. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">The movie jumps from Destiny telling her story to a reporter (the fictional Pressler, played by Stiles) to flashbacks at Scores, where she and Ramona developed a business partnership drugging then ripping off men. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Many scenes and dialogue in the movie follow Pressler's article precisely. <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/uncategorized/9889259/ex-strip-club-hostess-samantha-barbash-who-inspired-j-los-hustlers-film-reveals-how-loaded-men-held-lavish-325k-two-day-parties-and-snorted-cocaine-off-strippers-boobs/" target="_blank">Apparently, however, Foxx and Keo weren’t in fact pole dancers.</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">The flashbacks, unfortunately, form a superficial retelling. For example, Pressler reports that many men at Scores wanted to take care of Destiny like a father or husband. In the movie, this translates into a brief scene where one man compliments Destiny on her handwriting. I didn’t sense any of his emotional commitment until much later when she calls him asking for money--nor get the idea that she had dozens of such committed men. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">I wish <i>Hustlers</i> had developed the Destiny character earlier. In the article we know immediately that she was abandoned as a child by her Cambodian-refugee parents and left to be raised by her grandmother. This is finally mentioned an hour into the movie, after we’ve spent tons of time with the character--but not invested time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">The screenplay sets you up for things that don’t entirely pay off: at the onset Destiny tell the reporter she was naïve and didn’t know who Ramona really was—leading me to think Ramona would reveal a double side and lead Destiny awry. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Yet, it turns out Destiny led herself awry. She was never conned or deceived about what she was getting into. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And scenes that should have felt full of suspense, including a sting where Ramona and Destiny were set-up to drug a man then fleece him, fell flat.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A MeToo Movie? </span> </span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">On its surface,<i> Hustlers</i> is very much of-the-moment. Released exactly two years after the Weinstein sexual assault accusations that spearheaded the MeToo movement, it’s a true story about women ripping off men, written and directed by a woman, and starring women. Plus, it features female musicians—Lourde’s “Royals” plays in a memorable montage. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The post-MeToo world is one where the power </span>dynamic<span style="font-family: inherit;"> between women and men has been questioned, reevaluated, and shifted. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">But <i>Hustlers</i> only reinforces the status-quo. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Ramona and Destiny exploit their lowly position as strippers—they know their victims will be written off as fools and weaklings by the cops and society. </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“You let a <i>stripper</i> steal from you? Ha ha ha.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">The man who finally DID incriminate them only managed to with much persistence and irrefutable evidence--initially he was ignored by the cops. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">And capitalizing on being the plankton of society--surviving at the bottom of the food chain--isn’t exactly what the MeToo movement is about.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Jo-Lo as Oscar Contendor</span> </span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Much has been discussed about Lopez being a force to be reckoned with at the Oscars. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">To no one’s surprise, her performance includes a killer pole-dancing scene, and she convincingly portrays Ramona as a powerful, complex woman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, having seen both <i>Hustlers</i> and <i>Marriage Story</i>, I don’t see how she could win against Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps simply due to a great screenplay, Dern’s performance in <i>Marriage Story </i>outshines. She, too, is an impossible-to-really-get-at character, with a hilarious and unhinged monologue. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Honestly, I liked Wu’s performance as the naïve-girl-gone-bad and protegé of Vega. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Stiles is wooden and unemotional as always. But that made sense in her role as the reporter. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">The fashion is really the stand-out feature of <i>Hustlers</i>. If it’s nominated for anything, it should for Best Costume and Best Make-up and Hairstyle.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">My Recommendation</span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">I really enjoyed <i>Hustlers</i>. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">If you’re up for some great acting, an interesting true story, and extravagant clothing, give this a shot. It’s available to stream on Amazon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">I like movies with a lot of women in the cast, for obvious reasons. And though stripping isn’t my cup of tea, I didn’t find it too off-putting. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: normal;">Your Fave 2019 Movies</span></span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did you see<i> Hustlers</i>? What did you think? </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What stood out in 2019 Cinema to you? </span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-64199204193978397532019-12-18T19:42:00.000-08:002019-12-18T19:49:20.071-08:00Christmas Cards: Reconnect With EVERYONE You’ve Met Over the Year<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnPcwWxIp4qirXjvMOJk-2hEdhvvh5b70aFi7NWlcKPEMEAq8qYCcsyyl0tT0heagaxdsB9prwp-Hs2uPQgLX8otC9CDjzjZIxyFjWBxvKhHLeBZjzF7dTHwL30ku5wFcoZqQsJwCN3Ew/s1600/ChristmasTradition.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Christmas tradition" border="0" data-original-height="1209" data-original-width="1209" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDnPcwWxIp4qirXjvMOJk-2hEdhvvh5b70aFi7NWlcKPEMEAq8qYCcsyyl0tT0heagaxdsB9prwp-Hs2uPQgLX8otC9CDjzjZIxyFjWBxvKhHLeBZjzF7dTHwL30ku5wFcoZqQsJwCN3Ew/s320/ChristmasTradition.JPG" title="Christmas cards" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you send Christmas cards?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A few Decembers ago I was having lunch with a friend and asked him if he wrote Christmas cards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“I don’t see the need for that,” he said dismissively. “It’s really so self-centered.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">His assessment of this long-held tradition amused me. We’ve all received the Christmas cards he's talking about: a collage of pristine, idyllic photos accompanied by a form letter parading the sender's super year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">These cards don't feel like a "greeting" at all. More like a showy display. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Others forego sending cards simply because it's TOO MUCH. Last year I eagerly anticipated exhausting my address book and sending out dozens of cards but FAILED due to a hectic schedule.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8CxOOBBdrY85aY9arbhggSeJn1QwbnYa07cAQpjb8_JVUlj4e1ag_CFV_Plv3Q9mo4BlUE7YQoavFfEAbob8cNX-1iT0l2ytFQD89YHV9rVx4uPFM3WNFI2Iuqkcdl8wgEVnCTIDnhhf/s1600/ChristmasCards.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Hong Kong" border="0" data-original-height="1599" data-original-width="1600" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8CxOOBBdrY85aY9arbhggSeJn1QwbnYa07cAQpjb8_JVUlj4e1ag_CFV_Plv3Q9mo4BlUE7YQoavFfEAbob8cNX-1iT0l2ytFQD89YHV9rVx4uPFM3WNFI2Iuqkcdl8wgEVnCTIDnhhf/s320/ChristmasCards.JPG" title="Victoria Peak" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'll be in Hong Kong over Christmas and look forward to sending Christmas cards this year. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Window For Connection</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, especially in this “year of travel”, I’ve come to an appreciation of just how many people come in and out of my life over twelve months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In Seattle over the summer, I reconnected with a friend from college. We hadn't seen each other in about ten years, and over chili cheese fries she told me all about her kids and career. A few weeks later she sadly informed me that she’d be getting divorced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In July, I attended my twenty-year high school reunion, and caught up with people I’ve known for ages but had been completely out of touch with. It was great to hear how their lives had evolved. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">(It's funny how much people change; after the reunion I went out with one of the "skater dudes" from my class. I don't think we ever spoke in high school, but over drinks at a sports bar found we actually have a lot of local friends in common.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And while traveling in the UK, Ireland, and Portugal, I met many travelers just like me—and locals as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Christmas provides a window of opportunity for connecting with all these people—to hear how they’re doing, recall memories of our time together, and wish them the best in 2020.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Without seizing these opportunities, it's so easy to lose track of people entirely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Digital and Snail Mail</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ951NJr0K2ShcAPZekm6XI4S_WbajwqAp5FVxaFwPblBVx4KbSo2RFFKjaL_GmElX3g-YuxtoqWHA_QFh4-J_k2reCh0foKDqrQYBv30aAW1Zh-TPioB3yY-wr-g4hjolZKxI7eORC6WC/s1600/ChristmasCard+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ951NJr0K2ShcAPZekm6XI4S_WbajwqAp5FVxaFwPblBVx4KbSo2RFFKjaL_GmElX3g-YuxtoqWHA_QFh4-J_k2reCh0foKDqrQYBv30aAW1Zh-TPioB3yY-wr-g4hjolZKxI7eORC6WC/s320/ChristmasCard+copy.JPG" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I loved these Sanrio cards. My only misgiving is that there's hardly any space to write anything. Guess I won't be giving a lengthy update in this Christmas card. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I chose Hello Kitty and My Melody cards, as a tribute to the kawaii aesthetic so prevalent here in Hong Kong. Plus I love Sanrio. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And as nice as it is to receive snail mail, I don't have the current address of many friends, as they move or travel so frequently. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, I do have photographs of most of them, and of our time together. So for these people I’ll create a Momento video. I really enjoy this App (<a href="https://www.julieanderton.com/2019/12/free-exclusive-my-black-friday-and.html" target="_blank">as I wrote about on previous post</a>) that creates GIFs and videos from photographs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Your Plans?</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What about you? Do you like to send cards at this time of year? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Or does it feel like "just another thing" during this hectic holiday season? </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-88956257267473454492019-12-11T18:57:00.000-08:002019-12-11T18:57:41.344-08:00Put Your Passions on the Front Burner<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWvRiA0v8s4eKeZpKo3Y8in5GDW0L1AEJgX0ckGLNWftLXM3zvoKYFI60b4JZ5qVfRzyaa-sZPmnfTBzywn7-sRH_xSVJMfwm-P4zDZGBSKuhqsy750KEE2DNrn6LHEaVc9lXKZxcUNYV/s1600/Free+Time+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipWvRiA0v8s4eKeZpKo3Y8in5GDW0L1AEJgX0ckGLNWftLXM3zvoKYFI60b4JZ5qVfRzyaa-sZPmnfTBzywn7-sRH_xSVJMfwm-P4zDZGBSKuhqsy750KEE2DNrn6LHEaVc9lXKZxcUNYV/s320/Free+Time+copy.JPG" title="How do you spend your free time?" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Creating space for your favorite activities--be they eating out, traveling, reading--is so important to living a full life. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My foodie friend won’t eat at the same place twice. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“There’re so many restaurants out there,” he reasons. “And I want to experience as many as possible.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">He researches and carefully selects new restaurants, then relishes the entire dining experience: the atmosphere, menu, starter, main course, desert and coffee. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I love hearing his insight during a meal: “The decor is decadent and almost kitschy”, “This minimalist atmosphere is more my speed”, and “My only complaint is that the menu offers Indian <i>and</i> Italian food.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Pursue What You Love</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I'm inspired by his tenacity to pursue a passion with wild abandon. And though I can’t say I share his love for cuisine exactly (I tend to seek out one or two places I like then patronize them over and over and over--so maybe I’m a little OCD), I <i>do</i> have a love for audio. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Be it podcasts or audiobooks, there’s way more content I want to consume than there are hours in a day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In a past life, I worked at home and could listen to hours and hours of podcasts and audiobooks from my computer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, after moving to Hong Kong and spending hours each day commuting, I became aware of how hard it was to listen on the go. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhujjCUzfldQGyE7yJ9tOMWA9RXM-rWzVpPV4usbmNl-49GSXOTWH6Sb7twhEh9ucGqZ65FyXjnm7p3coFc7grmeAmOXcmt0XCU5yVpOdfi8vGjuaE1RYsKywyr78lEmHGGF4nrRNZSe3Fu/s1600/Hobbies+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="are a huge pain" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhujjCUzfldQGyE7yJ9tOMWA9RXM-rWzVpPV4usbmNl-49GSXOTWH6Sb7twhEh9ucGqZ65FyXjnm7p3coFc7grmeAmOXcmt0XCU5yVpOdfi8vGjuaE1RYsKywyr78lEmHGGF4nrRNZSe3Fu/s320/Hobbies+copy.jpg" title="wired-earbuds" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Untangling these several time a day was making me cra-cra. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I was constantly untangling the wires of my earbuds--they’d knot up after only twenty minutes inside my purse. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Being attached to my purse by a cord made navigating city crowds awkward, too. And I’d take the earbuds out and put them in again constantly—anytime I needed to talk to someone or make a purchase. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And with all noise of Hong Kong, I’d have to either to crank up the volume or continually start and pause the program I was listening to. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In short, wired earbuds were an enormous PITA. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Love My Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">For several weeks, I’ve had my eye on Bose’s noise-cancelling headphones. My old roommate had a pair and loved them. Although they’re pricy (<a href="https://www.bose.hk/en_hk/products/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/noise-cancelling-headphones-700.html#v=noise_cancelling_headphones_700_soapstone" target="_blank">over $400!</a>), when the white-and-rose-gold limited edition pair came out, I went for it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR0cjNXfjCF6ql31n0BbSepFGV5TkBUcA6kgruLc_RHl6Igv0cXVcIdfOGr866w8gM667WRW2uI-UgbA3j8NmeqHWO2y0I0A-BQwTHNvyQsITVz4Kg9ixuAgu_9bTnyyMW5IpG_vBl6J6B/s1600/Bose+Noice+Cancelling+Headphones+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1539" data-original-width="1539" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR0cjNXfjCF6ql31n0BbSepFGV5TkBUcA6kgruLc_RHl6Igv0cXVcIdfOGr866w8gM667WRW2uI-UgbA3j8NmeqHWO2y0I0A-BQwTHNvyQsITVz4Kg9ixuAgu_9bTnyyMW5IpG_vBl6J6B/s320/Bose+Noice+Cancelling+Headphones+copy.jpg" title="Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm loving the Bose Noise-Cancelling 700 headphones. Totally worth it. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Now that I’m using the headphones, I see how the purchase made so much sense. They've given me the capacity to do in spades something I really love. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I listen to audiobooks, podcasts and articles CONSTANTLY now. Last weekend I finished an entire audiobook and got two hours into a second while walking about doing errands. (And since the Black Friday sale at Audible, I have more audiobooks to get going on!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I love wearing them around the house as well. If I walk into another room I don’t have to pause the program but can listen continually. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And the noise cancelling feature is amazing. I can hear above the din of city noises, including super-loud buses and underground trains, without having to crank the volume up to 11! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Making Your Passions Simple to Pursue</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s hard, sometimes, to do the things we love. (Or even to identify what those things are!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Hiking, going to the movies, eating out and traveling are all complicated and sometimes expensive multi-step processes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, it’s so worth it to make the effort and sacrifices for these things to happen. Life is about living, after all, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I think a system or a device, such as my headphones, is the key to making fun things happen. For example, making an "appointment" to eat out every Friday night makes the practice routine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What are your favorite things to do? Are there any road blocks that prevent you from doing them? </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-45647923441885056662019-12-04T21:46:00.000-08:002019-12-07T07:01:53.990-08:00Free & Exclusive! My Black Friday and Cyber Monday Scores<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BX38QsTFbL1W-ri0OiOz2xoyLWdBjNRTayrHnfgH7cB7jQCOd5kPTRtUGmwuFOmsnJNdcfVcEBFv7DbFHYP9m-oUr7KbW2WAx3ORA25WkZMM97W1H0go2Qj8uSx8_RxJOWy36kXCH3ZG/s1600/Black+Friday.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1597" data-original-width="1600" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BX38QsTFbL1W-ri0OiOz2xoyLWdBjNRTayrHnfgH7cB7jQCOd5kPTRtUGmwuFOmsnJNdcfVcEBFv7DbFHYP9m-oUr7KbW2WAx3ORA25WkZMM97W1H0go2Qj8uSx8_RxJOWy36kXCH3ZG/s320/Black+Friday.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I didn't purchase any of these adorable teddy bears on Black Friday. But I did make some other great purchases--read on!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I'd like to call myself a minimalist: I don't own a car, can fit all of my possessions into a small storage space, and keep everyday spending to a, well, minimum. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, I've observed Black Friday for years. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s not uncommon for me to set my alarm for 5 am the night of Thanksgiving in order to be the first in line at a store the next morning--and then to hit a half dozen stores before 7:30 am. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">One year I received a free pair of scissors from JoAnns for being one of the first to arrive! Another year Macy’s stayed open all night between Thanksgiving and Black Friday! The saleswomen told me it wasn’t the greatest strategy—the store was almost entirely empty during the wee hours of the morning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Sometimes I check things out on Thanksgiving Day. That’s a good strategy—see what’s on sale in the evening, then return the next morning to make purchases. </span><span style="font-size: large;">There are a surprising number of people at Target on the evening of Thanksgiving, by the way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps all of this makes me a heretical minimalist. But anyway, so it is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This year, however, I was in Hong Kong where Black Friday isn't observed. ☹️ And I don’t want to buy a lot of stuff anyway, as that means I’ll have to carry it around in my suitcase.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, I did manage to score some virtual deals!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Audible</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2fGQdYdpmKjEf9F3m2Yp1n9pwsphLd2Du0yoW1mgPA2QT5-aGDfwE-uUmtoaKzWodA1ZocRdj_2lEMQG9ppZySt2luveuuRiVLDm4bXwSJxrCMPPqsOzcO8rEIFodN07tu5MVOsAskuL/s1600/Audible+Book+Sale.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1262" data-original-width="1476" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2fGQdYdpmKjEf9F3m2Yp1n9pwsphLd2Du0yoW1mgPA2QT5-aGDfwE-uUmtoaKzWodA1ZocRdj_2lEMQG9ppZySt2luveuuRiVLDm4bXwSJxrCMPPqsOzcO8rEIFodN07tu5MVOsAskuL/s320/Audible+Book+Sale.png" title="Audible Cyber Monday Sale" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Audible has a great Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale, offering 300 or so books in a variety of genres for $5-$8 each. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I signed up for Audible last year after first arriving in Hong Kong and craving familiarity. Although HK doesn’t feel nearly so foreign now, I had to get back in on the sale this time around. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, Audible has around 300 books on sale for $5-$8 each, ranging from self-help to classics to series. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I’m a sucker for classics. Here’s what I purchase this year:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>True Grit by Charles Portis</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This movie is a classic and honestly I hadn’t even realized it was based on a book. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the movie that I can barely remember the story. Although that scene of John Wayne at the end is hard to forget.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This much-loved fictional series based on the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars is a favorite of my father’s (and his brother’s). I tried to get into it about thirteen years ago but it wasn’t happening. I did enjoy the movie, however, starring Russell Crowe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Maybe <a href="https://www.julieanderton.com/2019/09/banksy-and-more-street-art-in-beautiful.html" target="_blank">after having visited and enjoyed mariner-rich Bristol, England</a>, the supposed origin of pirates, I’ll be able to get into the story and appreciate what I've been missing. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s a new era, right? Thirteen years is a long time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I have to be honest, I had no idea who Greg Heffley even was when I saw an enormous balloon of him in photographs from Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. That piqued my interest (how is it that something so loved by so many is completely unknown to me?) and so I decided to pick up this book when it went on sale for $5.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s only 1.5 hours, so even if <i>Wimpy Kid's</i> not my thing (which I’m suspecting it won’t be—I'm pretty sure the series is for ten-year-old boys), it shouldn't be hard to get through. And I'll have an appreciation of just who this wimpy character is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">GIF Maker by Momento</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Several weeks ago <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gif-maker-by-momento/id1172709468" target="_blank">I discovered the Ap Momento</a>, which creates fun videos and GIFs from all photographs you have stored on your phone. The free version, however, is difficult and lame, hardly allowing you to do anything. So when the paid subscription went on sale for only $1 for three months, I went for it.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyLEDJO_BkOQWojpILTnMvsuj8wVrw4L_DPlSWdlf09wOgZ16VKmvvyVjYAIoHMo8QocrTaTRvH-HodG1Eupg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Here’s a video I recently made from a friend’s birthday party--proof that I actually DO have a life outside of the internet. (The videos look much better as Instagram stories.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I think I'll have a lot of fun with Momento, creating GIFs and videos for friends and Instagram stories. If I get really hooked, maybe I’ll subscribe in February for the $50 a year fee.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Nordy's</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNvRuLsbMYI2jJYgsZE0B5Z9lUOw4H01vGIMDS8z_BxasQJGerXfyp0zXkzuMWxI_61RbpSI2xDd1n5zzDV2sm7Lo8WIiqte6o3i41big8FKYGhNPFRiwFGpSUdBDDrlrbvwYD_8Lt8xs/s1600/Brass+Plum+Pjs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Brass Plum" border="0" data-original-height="1093" data-original-width="1093" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNvRuLsbMYI2jJYgsZE0B5Z9lUOw4H01vGIMDS8z_BxasQJGerXfyp0zXkzuMWxI_61RbpSI2xDd1n5zzDV2sm7Lo8WIiqte6o3i41big8FKYGhNPFRiwFGpSUdBDDrlrbvwYD_8Lt8xs/s320/Brass+Plum+Pjs.jpg" title="Nordstrom Black Friday Sale" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You kinda can't go wrong with Nordstrom--cuz even if you do, the return is hassle-free. </td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And as it turned out, it wasn’t an entirely digital weekend. In the last hours of Cyber Monday I squeaked into Nordstrom’s sale and purchased these super cute thermal leggings and a top to match. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Plus, I got my first pair of Zelle live-in leggings—an exclusive Nordstrom brand. They look perfect for exercising outdoors during these cooler Hong Kong months. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">None of these items were on sale, actually, but I’ll receive a $25 coupon towards future purchases. Not bad.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What About You?</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Well that’s everything. It wasn’t as quite an eventful Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend as I’ve had in the past, but I am happy with my haul.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What about you? Did you shop over Black Friday and Cyber Monday? What did you purchase? </span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-44915000917259526062019-11-26T19:14:00.000-08:002019-11-27T03:55:56.516-08:00The Perfect Couch Movies for Thanksgiving Weekend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDb9RIWgR4ib8_-kBkQVWfeEiGGK84ESCNJl2jbT6qGvnyvuKjNxqByd9Gw19zQkJLT8gL-_U2WCCxMa4ksGMLN3SVW8pGGdfD2SgoW106tWVevbGNptQTMqBmIau0sxUI8CyzJ_8w2rfk/s1600/Netflix+Movies.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDb9RIWgR4ib8_-kBkQVWfeEiGGK84ESCNJl2jbT6qGvnyvuKjNxqByd9Gw19zQkJLT8gL-_U2WCCxMa4ksGMLN3SVW8pGGdfD2SgoW106tWVevbGNptQTMqBmIau0sxUI8CyzJ_8w2rfk/s320/Netflix+Movies.JPG" title="Movies to Stream Thanksgiving weekend" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love the three days after Thanksgiving. They're perfect for eating leftovers and lounging.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After the craziness of Thanksgiving Day, you’ve got three full days to graze on leftovers—and plenty of time for movies!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Although there’s a lot of <a href="https://www.amctheatres.com/amc-scene/the-must-see-movies-of-thanksgiving-weekend-2019" target="_blank">great movies in theaters right now</a>, if you’re really just up for snugging in your jammies all weekend, here are some fun films to stream on Netflix.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dolemite is My Name</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiS2aMMJqI-M-ye10nvTfWFExTauT0wj_sTlN4DcnOvQs2SBcumiFoHOOfPzMwCF7b1-lkpeOILk0UTzuNtX7py_gGURNoj2q4pPhNleA9grGh6J0UtHCn3T45EsOiTNpE9jmQsjq6dLZV/s1600/Dolemite+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Netflix Movies" border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="780" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiS2aMMJqI-M-ye10nvTfWFExTauT0wj_sTlN4DcnOvQs2SBcumiFoHOOfPzMwCF7b1-lkpeOILk0UTzuNtX7py_gGURNoj2q4pPhNleA9grGh6J0UtHCn3T45EsOiTNpE9jmQsjq6dLZV/s320/Dolemite+copy.jpg" title="Dolemite Is My Name" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">58 and going strong. Eddie Murphy was great as Rudy Ray Moore. I hadn't seen him since Mr. Church (2016), playing a much more low-key character.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Eddie Murphy makes a splash back into the spotlight with Dolemite is My Name. Murphy plays the scrappy comedian Rudy Ray Moore, a Missouri native who performed a risqué and unique rhyme-based comedy in the 50s, 60s & 70s. Through hustle and word of mouth, Moore grew a niche fan base.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After releasing several successful comedy albums, Moore decided to step up his career and make a movie. To fund it, he put everything on the line and signed over royalties for his albums. His scrappiness was put to the ultimate test as he battled Hollywood’s distribution system to bring his movie, Dolemite, to his fans and repay the debt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After seeing Dolemite is My Name, I really wanted to see Moore’s Dolemite. It looks offbeat and totally hilarious. He “taught” himself to do kung-fo for the movie, but the stunts look really, really fake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At 58, Eddie Murphy proves he’s still in the game; there’s talk that this role will earn him an Oscar Nomination. And I love Keegan Michael Key as Jerry Jones, Moore’s scriptwriter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Between the great acting and Moore’s inspiring story, Dolemite is My Name entertains to the end.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Always Be My Maybe</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Cj5Q_X1c7ThrmnsQ0ABUwGObLw4HVIVqnXKty7NzWDjf5SnsbAuaoxO3zVbRMkknF05clyAbzRYfwI0Y6zL4ZjELm4kYvmtpl9mr22lwj-OzsgxjXWC44RY6kkHorFC8kZmnNrYDXIsD/s1600/always-be-my-maybe+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Cj5Q_X1c7ThrmnsQ0ABUwGObLw4HVIVqnXKty7NzWDjf5SnsbAuaoxO3zVbRMkknF05clyAbzRYfwI0Y6zL4ZjELm4kYvmtpl9mr22lwj-OzsgxjXWC44RY6kkHorFC8kZmnNrYDXIsD/s320/always-be-my-maybe+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Creators Randall Park and Ali Wong have great chemistry playing the love interests in Always Be My Maybe.</td></tr>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I would NEVER had seen this movie had it not been reviewed on <a href="http://comedyfilmnerds.com/" target="_blank">The Comedy Film Nerds Podcast</a>. From the trailer it looked like yet another meh Netflix rom-com. (Although, come to think of it, that one with Rebel Wilson wasn’t bad, either.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Always Be My Maybe is actually a smartly-written movie. It tells the story of childhood BFFs Sasha Tran (Ali Wong) and Marcus Kim (Randall Park) who reconnect years later as adults. Their lives have taken very different directions. Sasha lives in fame and luxury as a celebrity chef, while Marcus lives with his widowed father and plays in a local band. Will their disparate lifestyles prevent them from connecting? Watch to see!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">California natives Wong and Park also produced and wrote the movie. They're definitely keeping to the axiom of writing what you know. The movie makes perceptive and funny statements about California culture such as, “Rich people are done with fancy clothes. Now it’s all $1,000 shirts that look like they were stolen off the homeless.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Keanu Reeves makes a hilarious appearance playing a douchey version of himself. Here’s one of his lines: “The man who embraces his mediocre nothingness shines greater than any.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you’re looking for something light and sweet, Always Be My Maybe won’t let you down.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_OC-zylrjKvp4MJ33IuHdsx-76kL_nnVQ5zzT2IEOzfSPEIKnFvNxKdxExAfPwffDBw6sd19LB98-6_q67IkbPBMy9tfHIwDQjPbwIhNDOgXUSUMHMjeTqmf37phnvVu5cFfSZpVGZcH/s1600/El+Camino+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU_OC-zylrjKvp4MJ33IuHdsx-76kL_nnVQ5zzT2IEOzfSPEIKnFvNxKdxExAfPwffDBw6sd19LB98-6_q67IkbPBMy9tfHIwDQjPbwIhNDOgXUSUMHMjeTqmf37phnvVu5cFfSZpVGZcH/s320/El+Camino+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This epilogue to the Breaking Bad series tells Jesse's story.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">El Camino is really made for the Breaking Bad fan. If you didn’t watch the series, it might be hard to “break” into the story with this move.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's an epilogue to the Breaking Bad series, and tells Jesse’s story. At the beginning, Jesse escapes the Brotherhood compound where he’d been held captive. He desires to leave everything behind: Albuquerque, his family, friends, and the meth business. That’s no small feat, however.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">El Camino is calmer and slower than Breaking Bad, and less violent. It didn’t feel like a “movie” movie, but more like a really great show. It still includes plenty of scenery from the New Mexico desert that Breaking Bad was known for.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Todd Alquist (Jesse Plemons) has a significant role. His pathological personality was exaggerated to the point of seeming cartooney. But that's in keeping with the Breaking Bad tone, I suppose, recalling Gus Fring's death (Giancarlo Esposito). He fixes his tie after his head has been hollowed out by an explosive. (Sorry to get graphic.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, a lot of the same characters have cameos; his old girlfriend (Kristin Ritter), Walter White (Bryan Cranston), and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks). Ed Galbraith (Robert Forster) plays a significant role. Forster actually died shortly after the movie came out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>My Spoilery Reflections</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I love the notion of completely leaving your current life and starting brand new. What if you could be whisked off to a remote cabin in a remote state and begin afresh? Would you like that? Would you say good-bye to anyone before you left?</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Still in the Game</span></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Netflix continues to put out quality content and it’s clear they’re poised for battle in the fierce streaming war.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These are all great weekend movies. Maybe they’re not suited for the big-screen, but are perfect to see over Thanksgiving weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Have you seen any of these movies? Or have any that you’d recommend?</span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-43269688677031797942019-11-19T22:03:00.000-08:002019-11-21T03:01:31.341-08:00Get Yourself to Hawaii With A Spending Journal<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkb3mmVO0mbGfn-tPX4d7jfRJFdxdmsfDxOi0Ndsz0S6ntNp9hqM4DyjqzQQYhzZyXARyQiou9CK53PAzkgHbwy8vLsOHrJZyMb1EI-OO2psQJzPDAPX36l9MI8w0gfeeDpBP4IYqO7why/s1600/How+to+Save+Money.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="how to save money" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkb3mmVO0mbGfn-tPX4d7jfRJFdxdmsfDxOi0Ndsz0S6ntNp9hqM4DyjqzQQYhzZyXARyQiou9CK53PAzkgHbwy8vLsOHrJZyMb1EI-OO2psQJzPDAPX36l9MI8w0gfeeDpBP4IYqO7why/s320/How+to+Save+Money.JPG" title="Track Expenses & Save Money" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keeping a journal of my daily spending helped me to curb excess purchases, and make space in my budget for things I really want! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Do you have your eye on pricy skincare products but can’t seem to swing it with all your other expenses? Or are you dying to take an all-inclusive vacay but it’s just not in the budget?</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This past month I did an exercise that scrutinized my daily spending. And I discovered it’s a great strategy for identifying excess purchases and creating room for the good stuff.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Let me explain.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Keeping A Spending Journal</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So many people have told me over the years how helpful it is to record Every. Single. Thing. you purchase. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">One woman said it uncovered a habit of spending $100 a month at Goodwill. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I’d put it off because it seemed too hard. I buy so many things all of the time. How can I keep track of it all? </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And honestly, I dreaded seeing how much I was really spending on lattes and junk food. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I found, however, that it was actually pretty simple. At the beginning of October I purchased a tiny journal that I carried around with me. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5KBSfexVGHdq_48yyhckz-5-EZZn3_h7ZG96duzdrjCB25R9nVLSSmRjyLDZb9cqNDuCYxF6IcI5QMCHiOI9T1Vs0U3xF5C7_ipElEcO9OuhD0XaYNBmTJYC2cKP9r3kIr-V9OcZRf1N/s1600/Track+Personal+Spending.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Track Personal Spending" border="0" data-original-height="1417" data-original-width="1416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr5KBSfexVGHdq_48yyhckz-5-EZZn3_h7ZG96duzdrjCB25R9nVLSSmRjyLDZb9cqNDuCYxF6IcI5QMCHiOI9T1Vs0U3xF5C7_ipElEcO9OuhD0XaYNBmTJYC2cKP9r3kIr-V9OcZRf1N/s320/Track+Personal+Spending.JPG" title="Budget Journal" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's my tiny spending journal. Everything is recorded in Hong Kong Dollars. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Periodically during the day, I'd pull it out and record what I'd purchased. Generally it was never more than five or six things for the entire day—sometimes way fewer. At the end of each quarter of October I divided the purchases into categories. </span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My Discoveries</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">At the end of the month I combined all the quarters and looked at the numbers. I made significant discoveries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><i>Groceries, zOMG!</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I was amazed at how much I really spend on groceries—42% of my overall spending! I know they're expensive in Hong Kong, and I tend to eat most meals in. But still, that's a huge percentage of daily expenses. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Now I'm thinking it'd make sense to analyze just exactly what I'm buying in the grocery store. There may be some excess fat in there—and not just on the pork ribs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Keeping it Real</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My spending went WAY down in the 2nd half of the month: after taking out the one-time glasses expense, 57% of total spending was in the first half, and only 43% in the second.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This is due, I believe, to the simple act of writing everything down. My intent with the exercise wasn't to curb expenses, but merely to create a record for analyzing them. However, with the accountability of a journal, I steered clear of purchases I knew were excessive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>New Glasses & Within Budget!</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I purchased a much-needed new pair of glasses this month—and my budget still stayed in a good range! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My conservative spending in the last half of the month allowed me to fit in this extra purchase. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Breakdown</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Here's the breakdown of what I actually spent for the whole month, in US dollars. (I was recording the ‘walking around’ expenses only.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$332 (42%) GROCERY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$114 (15%) GLASSES</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$108 (13%) TREAT/FUN/MOVIE/EAT OUT*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$47 (6%) MTR (transportation)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$47 (6%) LATTE*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$41 (6%) HAIR</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$28 (3.5%) LAUNDRY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$27 (3.4%) FACE MASK</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$20 (2.5%) STUFF (hat, earrings)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$9 (1%) SWIMMING</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$6.50 (1%) TEACHING SUPPLIES</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">$10 (1%) MISC</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">=$790 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">*Had I not been writing this down the latte and eating out category would have been WAY higher, I'm sure. </span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Preventative Spending</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It’s important to incorporate treats into daily life: swinging by Starbucks for morning coffee, a weekend blowout, or (as I've <a href="https://www.julieanderton.com/2019/10/looking-for-balance-and-finding-burnout.html" target="_blank">mentioned in an earlier post!</a>) full-service laundry. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">However, it's also easy to spend money on things we don't really want—a dinner out because the fridge was empty, or on an Uber in lieu of carpooling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A daily journal makes it easy to pinpoint this preventative spending. And simply changing up a dinner or breakfast routine can save $100 a month. Over a year, that adds up to plenty of luxury skincare products, or long lazy days lapping up sun on the Baja Peninsula. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Do you find yourself unnecessarily spending money on things you don't enjoy or even need? Is there an easy way you could change the habit? </span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-90353151132220350682019-11-13T19:24:00.002-08:002019-11-14T04:12:04.667-08:00Eye Candy from Apple TV+: The Morning Show & More<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Morning Show" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nWxTLqNWHe9V7XIk04t_r_nOaAihJI9KDNMr8ScGJVZ6sUQY1Gza6h56iT03z6PJEn5EO8WF1NoX_U9zJR2bJTx6iUG-U1IqWYdmkFBTi64I-x41ih2EUESPY4bom8LqV1YPLC7goTro/s320/APPLETV%252B.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="APPLETV+: Like Candy" width="319" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AppleTV+ really is "candylicious". If you're looking for a sweet way to spend your Saturday afternoon, it fits the bill. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Yes, I do have a life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And lately it's been spent binge-watching everything on AppleTV+. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Not a lot of reading, current events, eating, socializing, errands, or leaving the house going on. There’s new content to be consumed, after all! Everything else can resume later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-plus/" target="_blank">AppleTV+ is the new streaming service</a> from Apple that debuted on November 1st. It’s the first in a long line of streaming services slated to launch over the next several months, <a href="https://www.julieanderton.com/2019/10/streaming-wars-new-hope-for-your-friday_23.html" target="_blank">as I blogged about here</a>. The first seven days of AppleTV+ are free, and after that it costs $5 a month or $50 for the year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Overall, I've had two impressions of Apple TV+: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">First, it's super high-quality. Apple clearly has spared no expense hiring the best and the brightest to write, direct, and act in its movies and series. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Secondly, the catalog is TINY. You really can binge-watch everything in the seven-day trial. (They're adding more content all the time.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">If you’re familiar with Netflix and their abyss of movies, series and documentaries, AppleTV+ feels shockingly skimpy--kinda like grocery shopping at the corner store when you're accustomed to Wallmart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Here are impressions of what I’ve seen so far.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Morning Show</span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This, by far, is my favorite program on AppleTV+. Starring Steve Carell, Mark Duplass, Jennifer Aniston, Billy Crudup, and (best for last) Reese Witherspoon, it's hard not to be roped in with the cast alone. Can you find a more likeable ensemble?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The MeToo movement is fodder for a dramatic storyline and The Morning Show feels like something we've seen over and over IRL, e.g. in the firing of Charlie Rose from PBS, or Matt Lauer from NBC. </span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In the show, a morning show fires its anchor, Mitch Kessler (Carell), when sexual allegations emerge, leaving co-host Alex Levy (Aniston) in the lurch. Chaos ensues as the executives scramble to find Kessler's replacement, handle the PR backlash, and wrestle with the demands of "Ice Queen" Alex.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The Morning Show has ten one-hour episodes. AppleTV+ dropped three at premiere, and will drop one more each Friday over the next seven weeks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Shifting the Needle</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Two years after the Weinstein scandal and the ensuing shit-show, The Morning Show makes a promising stab at having a nuanced conversation about the MeToo movement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Here are lines from Mitch Kessler: </span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">This whole MeToo thing--it is so fucking puritanical and myopic. A woman can say one thing about you, and everything you’ve done in your life, gone--your career erased.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">We should talk about the specificity of the MeToo movement; there was the first wave of guys who were accused and there was the second wave, and we could talk about the nuance between the two...the first wave was really bad, and then the guys accused in the second wave was...just...different.</span></blockquote>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I haven't seen this kind of dispassionate discussion of the MeToo movement anywhere else. It is a wonderful antidote to what's felt like a mad roller coaster ride. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>The Bradley Jackson Character</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Creators Jay Caron and Kerry Ehrin have taken other cues from the MeToo movement. In Reese Witherspoon's character, Bradley Jackson, they've created a strong woman who "fits the narrative real women are living". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">(Spoiler Alert!) Bradley Jackson is a local news correspondent from West Virginia who's circuitously snatched up to co-anchor The Morning Show.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Jackson describes herself as a “40-year-old single, childless woman who’s a political independent.” </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Although </span><span style="font-size: large;">statistically</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> a LOT of woman fit this description, they aren't often reflected in fictional characters.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Her new boss and network head, Cory Ellison (Crudup) is enthused at her unconventionality; </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“We need the women….who don’t see </span><span style="font-size: large;">themselves</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"> reflected in ice queens," he tells her. "Be messy. Do segments on the ways you haven’t lived up. Be the narrative real women are living” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It really is true: most 35-45 year old women streaming this show are not reflected in SAHMs or affluent, career-driven ice queens. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Binge-Worthy</b></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In so many respects, The Morning Show is current and thoughtful and sophisticated and “in touch”. If you're like me, you'll find yourself watching and re-watching the episodes all weekend long. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">A Few More Bites from the Candy Apple</span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In addition to The Morning Show, here are other movies and series I've watched. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Snoopy in Space</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In these 8-minute cartoons, Snoopy attempts to join NASA to live out his dream of exploring space.</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The characters are very authentic to the comic strip, and it's wonderful to see Charlie Brown, Lucy, Woodstock, et al. on television--as well as listen to some great piano while the credits roll. </span></div>
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Dickinson</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dickinson is a strange blend of 17</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: large;"> Century period piece and modern coming-of-age story. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">n this show, poet Emily Dickinson struggles with her desire to write and remain single while society pressures her to do the opposite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">The characters say things such as: “We hang out like all the time.” and </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">“Alright ladies time to clear out.” </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">And it caricatures the lifestyle of early Americans; in one scene Dickinson's sister knits all day long. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Juxtaposing woke sensibilities with 17th Century Amherst didn't sell me entirely. Maybe it's just not for me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>Oprah Book Club</b></i></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Yes, Oprah herself appears on AppleTV+! In her first interview, she sits down with Ta-nehisi Coates and discuss his book, <i>The Water Dancer</i>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.08in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">These two have a stimulating conversation about a difficult subject: slavery and its aftermath. It's a promising beginning to her show on Apple TV+.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><i><b>The Elephant Queen</b></i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor, The Elephant Queen follows a sometimes tragic storyline of a female elephant herd through Kenya.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I hadn't watched anything like this in years, but really enjoyed following geese, frogs, bugs, and mostly elephants through their circle of life.</span></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Hope You Have a Nice Couch</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">If this trend of high-quality streaming continues, none of us need to leave our homes for entertainment anymore! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Have you been watching AppleTV+? What are your impressions? </span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8276898392064783380.post-58899058455488212972019-11-07T19:08:00.002-08:002019-12-03T23:33:13.382-08:00Where Have All the Girlfriends Gone?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="time for friends" border="0" data-original-height="1122" data-original-width="1122" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHm6ky9W4zsGcFRrEFSedqRL-2bVtxWs1PCmtMp2DIb3m045YJ9_tFIBvusHrNC743KQILuPSoYRNLdneLVdXEBZyXuvux7YEbpl6twdDSRgFg5xWL5PUtnsALAuKffZPBghl2SAKz26TN/s320/Facetune_30-05-2019-18-51-43.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Leisure time" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A night out with friends sounds great, in theory. But is it possible? <br />
The gig economy--Uber, Lyft, Postmates--poses upheaval to traditional work and leisure time. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">A few weeks ago I wanted to mail my friend a package. I'd been to a party at her place the year before, and knew her address was somewhere. So I scoured our correspondence on e-mail, WhatsApp, text message, FaceBook & Meetup and eventually found it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Reading back through all of that (a lot of messaging channels, for sure!), I was surprised at the number of times I'd written, “I think I can hang out this weekend but I'll have to let you know at the last minute because I might be working that night.”</span></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What a pain I must have been, I awed. Why did she even put up with me?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I'm Not Alone</span></h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I recently came across the article, “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/why-dont-i-see-you-anymore/598336/" target="_blank">Why You Never See Your Friends Anymore</a>” from <i>Atlantic</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">For a variety of reasons, an inability to spend leisure time with friends and family is symptomatic of modern society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Here is what author Judith Shulevitz has to say: </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The hours in which we work, rest, and socialize are becoming ever more desynchronized. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whereas we once shared the same temporal rhythms—five days on, two days off, federal holidays, thank-God-it’s-Fridays—our weeks are now shaped by the unpredictable dictates of our employers. Nearly a fifth of Americans hold jobs with nonstandard or variable hours. They may work seasonally, on rotating shifts, or in the gig economy driving for Uber or delivering for Postmates. Meanwhile, more people on the upper end of the pay scale are working long hours. Combine the people who have unpredictable workweeks with those who have prolonged ones, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">and you get a good third of the American labor force. </span></span></blockquote>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Where Have All the Girlfriends Gone?</span></h4>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Time With Friends" border="0" data-original-height="1555" data-original-width="1555" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_CKy_-wM4HldDJPAVltvfkatsSkjjn9m2FVOod77iMy6uJngT_tJ5d0T5cbo7ItAuGTKiUi4pvep9B9CfC7E662bi9T6iD9k-zjfZRma9MfgdIQyp-oT16WG_-c7IRlPlISznaoltYQK/s320/792167BC-37BB-42F8-B799-ABEB719FFB91.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Leisure Time" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love brunching with friends. But God help anyone who tries to organize a Saturday morning brunch, given our erratic work schedules.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Brunching with friends on the weekend, happy hours on a Friday night, chilling with a friend on Saturday over coffee, then shopping, then seeing a movie....I love doing these things. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">But it can feel like sweating blood to put something together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I notice a LOT of my interaction with friends isn't IRL anymore: it's via messenger apps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">What's your experience? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">How often have you used the reason “I have to work” for not seeing friends or family during what's traditionally seen as time off (weekday evenings and weekends)? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Have you ever been unable to commit to something because you weren't sure if you'd have to work? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Or have you lost friends to the gig economy--you or they work such odd hours that you never see each other anymore? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Opting Out</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Can we simply opt out of busyness and erratic schedules? Perhaps. It's not uncommon for people to remove email or messenger apps from their phone so that they're not always on call.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It's not so simple as that, however. Even if you can simplify your own schedule, can your friends and family? <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/why-dont-i-see-you-anymore/598336/" target="_blank">And some businesses (cough, cough Amazon)</a> actually require employees to be on call for sporadic weekend shifts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">It is a conundrum. --And not being able to spend time with close friends and family has a huge impact on the strength of community in our lives. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Do haphazard schedules prevent you from spending IRL time with family and friends? If so, do you see any solutions?</span></div>
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