d0llars

Ofgem/UK energy: regulator has failed a real-world stress test

2021-12-15T10:19:00.001-08:00

Bad luck preys upon the unprepared. Multiple corporate failures in UK energy retailing reflect the policy failures of Westminster and Ofgem. Giving the regulator the extra powers it asked for on Wednesday would be a misguided response.

Energy prices simply rose too quickly, complains Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of the regulator, writing in the Financial Times. Not so. Populist initiatives and a weak watchdog caused the UK’s energy mess.

Price controls — a charges cap in this case — generally end this way. Mix in a push for competition at the expense of resilience and disaster was inevitable. It is natural for an under-fire regulator to demand more regulation. But Ofgem’s proposals are unconvincing.

One suggestion involves a rolling six-month fixed contract for the more than 15m households with price protection. Another would feature quarterly resetting. But a regulator hoping to smooth out bumps in wholesale energy prices, to protect both customers and suppliers, is doomed to failure.

Shorter-term fixed periods would only encourage more churn. Suppliers already have enough on their plates. An estimated 2m households will have ended fixed price periods during November and December. Exit fees, suggested by the regulator to reduce churn, would irk consumers.

Brearley’s claim that tougher regulation is needed to protect households from undercapitalised energy retailers is disingenuous. Ofgem itself encouraged businesses of this kind to stampede into the market.

At the beginning of 2018 there were 70 energy suppliers. Today the FT estimates just over 20 remain. Households have been left with a bill for £2.6bn to cover liabilities for corporate failures.

Ofgem accordingly wants to “stress test” energy suppliers. Doing this well would involve more than simply knocking up a spreadsheet and adding some gas prices. It is debatable whether the regulator has expertise or resources required. It has reduced enforcement staffing by a quarter since 2016, according to Citizens Advice.

Ofgem is an energy regulator that appears to see itself as a financial watchdog too. It should concentrate on mastering the first métier. The government should encourage this as the supplier market shrinks back towards oligopoly.

The Lex team is interested in hearing more from readers. Please tell us what you think of Ofgem in the comments section below

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source https://d0llars.com/ofgem-uk-energy-regulator-has-failed-a-real-world-stress-test/

GM announces GMC Electric Sierra Denali pickup truck, releases teaser

2021-12-15T09:18:00.001-08:00

GM announced today that the GMC Electric Sierra Denali pickup truck is going to follow the Hummer EV as GMC’s next electric vehicle.

The automaker released a new teaser for the electric pickup truck.

The first Hummer EV pickup truck is about to be delivered, and it’s going to mark the first new electric vehicle from GM powered by its new Ulitum platform.

GM has already announced that Chevy is going to follow with an electric Silverado pickup truck.

Now the automaker has confirmed a third electric pickup truck and a second under the GMC brand.

GM announced the GMC Electric Sierra Denali:

“The electric Sierra, which will launch only in the popular Denali trim, will be the third all-electric vehicle in GMC’s portfolio after the GMC HUMMER EV Pickup and GMC HUMMER EV SUV.”

The automaker released this teaser image of the upcoming truck showcasing its front-end:

Duncan Aldred, GMC vice president, commented on the announcement:

“Sierra Denali holds tremendous equity for GMC and our customers. We now have an opportunity to evolve Sierra’s capabilities and technologies, as afforded by transitioning to an all-electric propulsion while also elevating the luxurious design and comfort associated with Denali.”

The

GMC Electric Sierra Denali will be revealed next year, but the automaker didn’t say when it’s going to make it to market.

GM did confirm that the new electric pickup truck is going to be assembled in General Motors’ Factory ZERO Assembly Plant in Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan.

The automaker was early in entering the electric pickup truck race with the Hummer EV, but the vehicle is a super luxury truck that doesn’t really compete with the other electric pickup trucks coming to market, like the F-150 Lightning, Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T.

But now with the Chevy Silverado Electric and the GMC

Electric Sierra Denali coming, it is positioning to be an important player in the electric pickup truck space, which is believed to be crucial to electrify the American auto market.

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source https://d0llars.com/gm-announces-gmc-electric-sierra-denali-pickup-truck-releases-teaser/

Finom acquires electronic-money license in the Netherlands

2021-12-15T07:18:00.001-08:00

The Netherlands-based B2B fintech platform FINOM has acquired an electronic-money license in the Netherlands, via full subsidiary FINOM Payments BV, laying the foundations for even stronger growth across all EU markets.

The entire process was started 14 months ago and finalized in November – making it probably one of the fastest ever on the market.

FINOM is backed by General Catalyst, Target Global, Cogito Capital and Entree Capital. The company boasts impressive growth with over 3,000 new clients choosing its financial solutions every month in Q4 2021, operating across France, Germany, and Italy (currently only e-invoicing services are available in Italy).

The EMI license will enable FINOM to roll out across multiple European markets and launch a broader range of services to its clients. This includes issuing e-money and providing payment accounts, issuing debit cards, processing SEPA payments, as well as providing payment initiation and account information services. Most EU-based neobanks and fintechs do not have their own infrastructure which means they do not fully control their business development activities.

“There is huge untapped market potential in the European Union when we speak about financial services for SMEs”, declares Konstantin Stiskin, co-founder of FINOM. “We are talking about 24 million enterprises, with an estimated banking services market value of more than $200 billion. B2B fintechs currently cover less than 2% of that market. With the EMI license , FINOM will now be able to dramatically accelerate its growth and have better control over its processes and scalability. FINOM launched in beta version in November 2020 and in one year we have been able to build best-in-class products, establish processes to scale up our activities in multiple markets and reach a growth rate that has taken other fintech players several years. Acquiring our own license opens a new chapter in FINOM’s journey. Our next goal is to reach 100,000 clients in the EU as soon as possible”.

“We are very happy to see the Finom’s impressive progress. From the very beginning we invested in a team known for their exceptional abilities to execute. Obtaining the EMI license is further proof of great execution and well thought out management”, Mike Lobanov, COO and General Partner at the international investment firm Target Global.

FINOM was founded at the end of 2019 in Amsterdam, and launched its full product offering in France and in Germany in Q4 2020. The platform is designed by entrepreneurs and freelancers to be a true partner to entrepreneurs and freelancers, blending together finance management, invoicing and banking.

On the payments side, FINOM currently works with Solarisbank in Germany and with Treezor in France. In 2020 FINOM raised €16.8M in investments (seed and pre Round A), led by Target Global (Germany) and General Catalyst (USA).

Last but not least, the EMI license and the planned international expansion means FINOM’s team is set to grow. In 2022 new recruits will join the company, doubling the size of the team to 250 people and creating new job opportunities in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Italy.

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Dispensary Packaging and Labeling Explained

2021-12-15T04:18:00.001-08:00

Introduction

The cannabis market is on the rise. More states legalize both medical and recreational cannabis. More states are going to allow marijuana cultivation and selling within their borders in 2022. The majority of Americans support the legalization initiative. For the second year in a row, 68% of adults in the US think that cannabis should be legal.

As the market grows and evolves, it is time to be attentive to details. Being compliant with cannabis laws and regulations is one of the essential things you need to do when it comes to operating a business. Particularly, you need to pay attention to marijuana labeling and packaging.

Let’s talk more about them.

Why Cannabis Packaging Matters

In most cases, cannabis products are packaged as any usual prescription drug. Many medical cannabis dispensaries still use unremarkable small pill bottles. Sometimes they are green-colored, but it is the only change in their packaging design as the standard color is orange.

These pill bottles were introduced in 1970 to reduce the number of children involved in drug-related incidents. However, the incidents still occurred. In response, state regulators issued laws demanding dispensaries to put cannabis products into opaque packages inaccessible to children.

When it became clear that consumers removed their cannabis products from child-resistant bags and children still could access the product, manufacturers started to rethink their marijuana products’ packaging compliance strategies. They headed for more attractive and safe cannabis product packaging that would meet strict regulations. Such measures also gave space for branding.

However, branded packaging is usually damaged by labels. They typically contain information about the amount of CBC, THC, and other cannabinoids, whether or not the product has been infected with mold or if any traces were found on strains.

The information on cannabis product labels can tell how potent the product is and what type of high it provides. For instance, an effect of a strain that contains 3% of CBD will be different from the one that has 0%. The strains can be the same but still provide different effects.

Primary Goals and Benefits of Labeling Cannabis Products

Label requirements can seem a little bit complex. Not all states have legalized marijuana, but those that did legalize it have their unique laws for labeling. Cannabis label applications include different kinds of products, such as topicals, edibles, vaporizes, flowers, oils, concentrates, etc.

The majority of states require labels to be printed with content in detail. Among standard requirements to be described on labels are particular font size, active ingredients, dates of expiration and production, information about testing, manufacture data, and so on.

Marijuana product labels consist of 2 sections: primary panels and information panels. Each of them has its own purpose and function. For instance, primary panels usually include branding information, the name of the product, cannabinoid content, net weight, and any symbols. The information panel contains more detailed information. Commonly, it includes the following data: name and type of the strain, contact information, serial number, percentage of CBD, THC, etc.

You should remember that compliance data is the most crucial information in the cannabis industry. Before selling products, you need to ensure that labels meet state rules and requirements.

What else is essential when it comes to labeling?

Efficiency. Manufacturers have reasons to reduce waste when it concerns cannabis product packaging. Using reusable materials can provide many benefits and reduce costs spent on producing products.
Reducing costs. Some manufacturers use attractive branding to benefit from it and draw the attention of wealthier customers. However, other manufacturers prefer simple and law-cost packaging solutions.
Ecological sustainability. Some cannabis packaging facilities use marijuana for packaging cannabis. Though, paper and reusable plastic can also help reduce harmful impacts on the environmental footprint, which is appreciated by those who stand for ecological protection and environment-friendly packaging.
Aesthetics. Cannabis culture is considered unique by its proponents. That is why they prefer to develop outstanding package designs. Aesthetics packaging attracts more customers and outperforms competitors, which results in an increased income.

Packaging Examples for Specific Product Types

Packaging cannabis-related products can have some pitfalls as its requirements are strict and vary from state to state. Compliance is the first thing a designer should think about when developing a package design. It should protect products from anything that can damage them. Moreover, packaging must be child-resistant to reduce the harm a child can experience.

However, packaging solutions will depend on the product type. Here are some thoughts to bring you ideas:

Cannabis flower. Marketing can take advantage of attractively designed, smell-proof containers. Some manufactures produce customized and child-resistant cases made of different materials: from metal to wood or even glass. These containers often help to protect a product from expiring and spoilage.
Edibles packaging. As edibles are chocolates, gummies, and other candies that can attract children’s attention, edible producers should be pretty careful when it comes to packaging. Therefore, they need to use solutions that will minimize the risk of a child consuming cannabis-infused products.
Concentrate packaging. Concentrate providers have a tendency to rely on cosmetics aesthetics in designing their packaging. However, they also need to remember about child product protection.

Essential Elements of Marijuana Labels

There is hope that one day the labeling requirements will not be so complicated as the cannabis industry matures.

Meanwhile, as we said above, the information included in labeling varies depending on the state. However, there are common elements each label of a medical product will have. Here is the list:

Product identity;
Net weight or volume;
Ingredients;
Activation time;
Tracking information;
Warnings;
Information about a retailer or a manufacturer.

Product identity

Most product labels should have a brand logo and identity statement on their front panel. The brand logo will spread your company’s name, and the identity statement will inform customers about the product. Make their shopping experience smoother by telling them whether they buy cannabis-infused cream, marijuana oil, CBD chocolates, etc.

In addition, the law requires to make it clear that the product a customer is going to buy is cannabis-infused.

Net weight or volume

The net weight of a product should be displayed on the front panel. It shall include the number in metric and US customary system units. In other words, the weight shall be written both in grams or milliliters and ounces or pounds.

Ingredients

Any cannabis-related products should have a list of ingredients on the product label. Ingredients are always displayed from heaviest to lightest. A manufacturer shall not tell a lie in the ingredient list and call them by their common name.

You will also need to include the list of terpenes and active ingredients as the products are cannabis-related. This information concerns the percentage of THC, CBD, THCA, and CBDA. They will help a customer understand the effect that the product will produce.

Activation time

Some states require an activation time to print on labels. It shows the time when a person can expect to feel the effect of the product. It is necessary for those containing a high amount of THC as it produces a high effect.

Tracking information

Medical cannabis labels include an ID or UIN (unique identification number) such as barcode, the name of the lab that tested the product for safety, and the production date. This data is important not only for patients but also for manufacturers and dispensaries. As well as for compliance with the laws and regulations.

Importantly, the expiration date can help a customer decide whether to buy a product or not, whether it is fresh or about to expire.

Warnings

A majority of states require warning statements on product labels. Actually, they are one of the essential elements on a label as some people are not aware of the risks related to consuming cannabis and cannabis products.

In most cases, manufacturers place a piece of information telling that a product is for medical use only or it can impair your ability to drive a vehicle, coordination, and concentration, or marijuana produces intoxicating effects, or it may be harmful to pregnant ladies, etc.

Information about a retailer or a manufacturer

The name and address of the manufacturer or distributor are important to place on a label. It allows consumers to report to you about any unusual reactions they may feel. Also, some of them would love to share their feelings about the product and thank you.

Balancing Compliant Labeling with Branding

Among so many requirements for label compliance, you need to find space for branding and aesthetics. The designing process can be complex. Nonetheless, it needs to be done if you want to stand out and attract customers.

Here is what you need to think about:

It is essential to understand your target audience’s needs and preferences. Understanding and using this information will show customers that you care about them and give them a reason to buy from you. You need to build trust and connection with your customers if you want them to purchase more.
Your brand is the opportunity to make the first impression. Understanding what you are selling, what customers are buying, and what their expectations are is necessary for the first impression. For instance, if you want to be perceived as an eco-friendly brand, then everything should match your message: from colors to labels and signs.
Logos, brand colors, and taglines that the branding consists of will increase the level of your product’s perception and create certain feelings for customers. They impact the overall presentation of a product. You should develop an identity that will make your product unforgettable.

Challenges

Staying compliant with the law and developing an attractive design can come with several challenges. For example:

Small size. Cannabis products often come to market in small containers. Some of them can be just a few ounces; although, drinks are bigger. And requirements for beverage labeling are different. You have to place a lot of information on labels. It can be quite a challenge to fit everything on them due to their small size.
Hard to achieve accuracy. Surprisingly, despite the strict regulations, cannabis labels contain errors. They can show more or less CBD than was written on a label. However, these errors are not made on purpose. They are just simple mistakes. Nevertheless, they can result in fines or customers’ mistrust. There is too much information to put on a label, and errors seem unavoidable.
Too much information. States specify and add the required label information from time to time. It looks like there are more and more requirements and less and less space on a label.
Branded label damage. Days of label design development can be wasted due to a compliance label. Sometimes, a slapped compliance label covers the branded label, and it becomes invisible to people.
Continually changing regulations. Regulators constantly work on cannabis-related laws; that is why they change from time to time. It means that you will also need to change your label from time to time.

Advice for Designing Cannabis Labels

Well, we have spoken a lot about the importance of label compliance. What can we recommend when it comes to designing cannabis product labels?

Consider the labeling technologies. Smart tags, ECLs, and VPD can help you fit all information on labels and save your branded label design. As a result, your products will be compliant and attractive to customers simultaneously.
Make the text readable. It is essential for your relationship with customers that they can read what is written on labels. Choose a font suitable for your brand style that allows customers to find the information they need.
Add negative space. Yes, we understand that finding space for all essential information is still quite challenging, and here we are advising you to add negative space. However, if you have some ideas on implementing negative space, you should definitely use them as a text with negative space that will be perceived as neat and orderly.
Make a compliance label stand out. Think about making a compliance label a part of your brand design. If you cannot get rid of it, make it work for you. Try unique colors and fonts that can be both legible and aesthetically pleasing.
Try different materials or embellishments. Materials or embellishments are small details that can help your products stand out in the row and impress the customers with out-of-the-box thinking.
Reconsider the size of your container. How small or large can your container be? Maybe, you need to change the amount of the product sold and the size of the container. Consequently, a label will be more prominent, and you will fit all information on it.
Be careful when choosing artworks. A majority of states prohibit cannabis businesses from using children-related pictures for their package design. It also concerns cartoon characters, animals, and so on.
Remember about child resistance. Cannabis businesses should make an effort so that marijuana doesn’t get into the wrong hands. Child-resistant containers are one of the solutions.

Point-Of-Sales

Not only manufacturers and cultivators worry about labeling requirements. Dispensary owners think about them, too. If you have dispensaries in different states, you need to create various labels compliant with local state rules. Some states demand just the general information to put on a label, such as weight and strain details. Others require, for instance, laboratory tests and the testing dates to be displayed on labels.

When there is no time and desire to spend hours on developing all labels, you can use a tech solution, such as a POS system. It automates the label-creating process and reduces the risk of human error. Plus, the manual work is eliminated. The POS system saves your time and money. Moreover, POS system developers constantly update their solutions which allows you to stay updated on the changing laws and regulations.

You can consider the IndicaOnline POS system, an all-in-one cannabis dispensary POS system. We provide not only software but also hardware designed by our partner Zebra.

The IndicaOnline POS system is secure and straightforward. It is compliant with all state and province laws. We keep our nose to the wind when it comes to changes in regulations. We implement them in our POS as soon as possible, so you are always aware of new rules and requirements. You will always be able to create licit labels and meet the regulations.

Furthermore, we also offer additional perks such as digital TV menus, SMS/Email marketing, Driver App, RFID inventory, and other solutions. All of them are designed to simplify the dispensary workflow and the budtender’s job. Together they reduce the manual labor and allow the dispensary employees to focus on their primary tasks like communicating with customers and providing them with a better shopping experience. When there is no necessity in conducting the processes that can be automated, the staff can spend more time consulting customers and offering them more suitable solutions.

Hardware That Can Help

Along with solutions for printing labels or POS systems, other hardware can give you an advantage in automating dispensary processes. The following solutions may help:

Label printer. We have talked a lot about the importance of labels in the cannabis industry. Labels are necessary at all stages of cannabis production: from tracking plants to their sale. There are label printers capable of producing labels of different sizes and shapes that will attract customers and encompass your brand.
Receipt printer. As the cannabis industry is the object of close regulators’ attention, the proof of a legal purchase is quite essential. You can provide it with the help of receipt printers. There are also specific requirements for receipts depending on the state rules. Undoubtedly, it is better to stay compliant with them in order to avoid fines and penalties.
RFID scanner. It gives you a significant advantage when it comes to inventory management. As we know, manual inventory management can be time-and money-consuming, and the risk of a human error is relatively high. Modern RFID solutions are capable of counting goods in a matter of seconds with 99% accuracy. The inventory can be conducted every day or even several times a day, which will help to reduce the risk of shrinkage or product spoilage. Check out the IndicaOnline RFID reader.
Cash drawer. Cannabis is legal in many states, but it is still illegal at the federal level. That is why it is the industry that is mainly powered by cash. Some dispensary owners manage to find workarounds and allow customers to bring credit or debit cards. However, a majority of them prefer cash purchases.

Inventory Management

Let’s talk a bit more about inventory management. The cannabis industry is not an exception when it comes to it. Just like any other retail business, it faces challenges in counting all the products.

The cannabis business owners shall report to Metrc or BioTrack about their business results. In the case of dispensaries, it means reporting about products sold, damaged, stolen, etc. Moreover, you shall report a reason something happened to the product. The regulators want to ensure that you are not engaged in illegal activities related to cannabis.

A good POS system can help you optimize the inventory management process. It automatically scans the newly arrived products and combines them with the reporting features. So, the number of what has been delivered and how many is always accurate. As a result, you are aware of the goods you have at your disposal.

Conclusion

As we have said above, the cannabis industry is the object of law enforcement’s close attention due to its illegality at the federal level and the peculiarity of the product sold. You should stay compliant with the law to avoid unnecessary problems, such as fines and penalties.

However, there are a lot of tech solutions that can help you automate the workflow and meet all regulatory requirements. The list of hardware and software is long. But think about obtaining them to have steady nerves and work in calm conditions.

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What Is Order Routing For Stocks And Crypto?

2021-12-15T03:18:00.001-08:00

When you place an order for a stock or a crypto token, your US Dollars don’t magically turn into financial assets. Behind the scenes, a complex process called order routing ensures that your trade goes through.

Order routing is often overlooked. But it’s an important part of successful trading.

In partnership with TradeStation, we’re going to break down how order routing works, when you need to be concerned with it, and how TradeStation makes it happen for its customers efficiently. If you haven’t checked out TradeStation lately, learn more about trading stocks and crypto on their platform here >>

What Is Order Routing?

When an investor or trader places an order through a stock brokerage or crypto exchange, the broker must find a way to execute that trade. Brokers may choose to execute an order directly through an established exchange, or they may send the order to a market maker to fulfill the order in a “dark” pool.

Stock Order Routing

In the world of stocks, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has established National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO), a platform to provide nationwide visibility to current prices. As a result, all stock orders that can be fulfilled will be filled instantaneously at a price in between the best bid and offer on the exchange.

However, stock brokers may choose to route an order through an Alternative Trading System where companies called liquidity providers may provide a better price. In general, most brokers have “smart” or automated order routing. This allows the brokerage to use an algorithm to determine the best way to route each order.

Crypto Order Routing

Crypto traders don’t have all the advantages of stock traders. Since there is no single centralized exchange for all crypto trades, it’s up to each individual platform to find liquidity. The challenge is exacerbated by volatile prices, slow order execution on certain blockchains, and limited liquidity for large orders.

As a result, crypto brokers that have smart order routing offer an advantage to crypto investors looking to buy or sell. And this is what makes TradeStation different compared to other platforms that trade stocks and crypto.

Today’s crypto landscape is made up of so-called “exchanges” and other fragmented pool of liquidity. For many platforms, connections between different exchanges is limited and traders may not always get the best price. TradeStation Crypto, however, isn’t bound to a single exchange. Instead, it has the flexibility to provide access across multiple liquidity sources – giving you, the customer, the best prices.

TradeStation Crypto can connect to exchanges, OTC desks, market makers, and other electronic liquidity pools. The end result is that your trades should execute at better prices (and maybe faster as well).

What Are The Benefits Of Smart Order Routing?

Order routing may sound like a relatively mundane topic. However, smart routing can lead to three advantages for both crypto and stock traders.

Price Improvement

Brokers that offer smart order routing may have optimized price improvements. Price improvement happens when an order is sold at a higher price than expected or purchased at a lower price.

Companies with smart order routing regularly analyze their results to ensure that prices are as advantageous as possible for their customers.

For example, TradeStation regularly monitors trade execution to ensure that prices are as favorable as possible for customers. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the company executed more than $25 million in price improvement for its customers.

Speed Of Transaction

In today’s lightning-fast world, stock trades often take place in milliseconds. The liquidity of “dark” trading pools and centralized exchanges makes it easy to find matches.

But crypto trades usually aren’t so fast. Since crypto tokens have decentralized exchanges, many buy and sell orders take minutes or hours to complete. However, some companies like TradeStation are starting to aggregate pools of liquidity to increase the quality of order execution.

Crypto traders may see significantly faster transaction speeds by using platforms that offer such intelligent order routing. TradeStation’s pooled liquidity network, for instance, can execute crypto orders near-instantly at favorable prices.

Ability To Fulfill Orders

Stock traders largely take order fulfillment as a given. Most trades, even from discount brokers, are executed within seconds if they’re at the market price. Crypto traders can’t count on that, especially if they have large orders.

Since the crypto world has fewer market makers, brokers play an especially crucial role in finding liquidity to place orders. Liquidity aggregation technology is critical to making this work.

When Does Order Routing Matter?

Stock brokers in the United States are required by the SEC to execute orders to the best of their ability and to seek the most favorable execution for customers. Since most online brokers have similar stock routing processes, most stock traders won’t see a significant competitive advantage from smart order routing.

The firms employing these techniques may have hundreds of bot traders executing large numbers of trades each day. However, typical stock traders don’t need such advantages. Stock trades made in the market are typically filled within seconds regardless of which market maker a broker uses.

But if you’re someone who places hundreds of trades, you may want to consider the role that price improvement plays for you. Platforms that focus specifically on price improvement may yield enough “penny savings” that you’ll see major yield differentials over time.

On the other hand, most crypto investors (even those who don’t actively trade) can benefit from smart order routing. Crypto prices are extremely volatile and the decentralized nature of most blockchains makes order fulfillment more cumbersome. Additionally, most blockchain tokens have less trading activity compared to large stocks. As a result, how an order is routed can affect both the price a person receives and the speed of a transaction.

Crypto exchanges work as market makers. But independent crypto platforms (like TradeStation) may be better suited to aggregate liquidity and route orders to the proper exchange.

How You Can Improve Your Trade Order Routing?

As an individual, you have limited capabilities to improve order routing on your own. In many cases, the best way to get better results is to look for brokerages that specialize in intelligent order routing. This is especially true when it comes to crypto traders who need to find liquidity for smaller tokens.

If you’re wanting to invest in various assets – such as stocks and crypto – and want the assurance that your orders are executing efficiently, check out TradeStation. They handle the details so you can focus on what matters most to you: building wealth.

Check out TradeStation here and get started >>

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DeRace x Crypto.com Giveaway

2021-12-15T02:18:00.001-08:00

Win an NFT horse from DeRace

Now is not the time to rein in your trading because we’re giving away 5 DeRace NFT horses to users who buy/sell at least USD 200 of DeRace (DERC) tokens in the Crypto.com App by 30 December!

Campaign Period: 15 December 2021, 08:00 UTC – 30 December 2021, 00:00 UTC

How to participate?

Trade (buy or sell) at least USD 200 worth of DERC during the Campaign Period
Connect your Crypto.com/NFT and Crypto.com App accounts
5 lucky draw winners will receive an exclusive DeRace NFT horse
Perform CRO Net Buys* in the Crypto.com App to boost your odds of winning by up to 20x

*CRO Net Buys = Buys (CRO) – Sells (CRO) – Withdrawals (CRO)

How to Connect your Crypto.com NFT Account to your Crypto.com App Account?

Sign in or create an account on Crypto.com/NFT.
Go to Account Activity and select Connect to App.
Enter the email address that’s associated with your Crypto.com App account and send a connection request to your inbox.
Open the authorisation email in your inbox, click Connect, enter your Crypto.com App passcode, and select Authorise & launch NFT.

Users MUST connect their Crypto.com NFT and Crypto.com App accounts before 30 December 2021, 13:00 UTC to be eligible for this campaign.

Helpful Links

What is DeRace?

DeRace is a complete NFT horse racing ecosystem where you can participate in horse races, breed NFT horses with unique characteristics, host races in your own NFT hippodrome, and earn profit while doing it. The ecosystem is electrifying the current static NFT market by allowing players to fully interact with their DNA-enriched NFT horses and have full control of their own hippodromes.

Notes

In addition to the following rules, please refer to the Official Rules For Sweepstakes for further rules regarding eligibility.
The DeRace x Crypto.com Giveaway Campaign is offered by Crypto.com to Crypto.com App users only.
The links provided above to helpful information are for reference only.
Any trades that are executed through bad trading practices in Crypto.com’s absolute opinion, including but not limited to wash trades, false trading, self-dealing, or trades that display any attributes of market manipulation (‘Disqualified Trades’), will not be counted towards the participant’s transaction volume.
Participants must have successfully completed KYC verification and all other onboarding procedures specified in the Crypto.com App and comply with all campaign rules provided by Crypto.com to be eligible.
To be eligible for the lucky draw, users must have a Crypto.com NFT account that matches with their Crypto.com App account email address before the Campaign End Date.
Citizens and residents of Hong Kong are not eligible to participate in this campaign.
Winners will be notified via email 14 days after the campaign ends as a confirmation.
Winners of the NFT prizes will be airdropped to the winners’ Crypto.com NFT account within 14 days after the campaign ends. Specific instructions on how to redeem the exclusive NFT prizes on the DeRace Platform will be provided.
Winners will be determined at the sole and absolute discretion of Crypto.com.
Crypto.com reserves the right to cancel the campaign or amend the campaign mechanics or rules at any time at our sole discretion.
All personal data collected is used strictly for verification purposes only.
By accepting the prize, winners agree to the Privacy Notice of Crypto.com, which is published at https://crypto.com/en/privacy/global.html.
In the event of any dispute, Crypto.com reserves the right to make all final decisions regarding the campaign.

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How To Improve Your SEO Strategy

2021-12-14T08:18:00.001-08:00

How do you build an SEO and content strategy that targets intent?

Why is it important to consider search intent?

How do you show the right content to the right audience at the right time in the buyer’s journey?

First, you’ll need to know what search intent is.

(Already know the basics? Jump straight to How To Improve Your Keyword Plan With Search Intent In Mind.)

What Is Search Intent?

Search intent is the purpose behind a user’s search.

Your audience uses search for countless reasons.

Some users Google simple questions. Other users are looking for the right website to purchase goods.

It’s up to you to be on the search engine results pages (SERPs) at the right time for each type of search.

The Four Main Types Of Search Intent

Knowing what people are searching for helps you create the right type of content, giving you a higher chance to meet your goals.

Because people search for millions of queries with dozens of goals in mind, it’s easier to categorize these searches into search intent.

To make sense of what people are searching for, you can organize their keywords into these four main types:

Informational: searches that are for an answer to a specific question or information to learn about a topic.
Navigational: searches that are looking for a specific site, page on the web, or geographic location.
Commercial: searches that are investigating or comparing brands, products, or services.
Transactional: searches that indicate the intent to complete a purchase or take action on a website.

By understanding these labels, paired with other keyword metrics like search volume, CPC, and difficulty, you and your team will be able to create and serve better content at the right times.

But what does search intent actually look like?

How can you identify these qualities in your keywords and use this information to perform intent-targeted SEO and content planning?

Spoiler: it can be a lot easier with an intent tool like Semrush!

How To Identify A Keyword’s Intent

To understand a keyword’s intent, you can look for clues.

Clues can be found:

On the SERP.
In the keyword phrase itself.
With a keyword intent tool.

How To Identify Intent With SERP Clues

Google is really good at recognizing intent. It serves up SERPs to fit what it deems to be the intent behind every keyword.

So, you just need to look at what Google provides on the SERP to help you decode the intent.

If you see:

Shopping ads, the intent is Transactional.

Screenshot from search for [laptop stand], Google, November 2021

Reviews, the intent is Commercial.
Commercial searches often feature Google Shopping ads as well.

Screenshot from search for [best laptops for high school students], Google, November 2021

Instant Answer, People Also Ask & Knowledge Panel, the intent is Informational.
For informational searches, Google likes to provide info cards and related questions to explore the topic.

Screenshot from search for [what is cryptocurrency], Google, November 2021

Site links on the top branded result, the intent is Navigational.
If the search is a brand name and the top organic result on the SERP has that brand listed with a lot of site links, this is an indicator of navigational intent.

Screenshot from search for [best buy], Google, November 2021

How To Identify Intent With Keyword Clues

The next place you can look to manually identify intent is within the keyword phrase itself.

If certain words are included in a query, you can start to assume what the intent might be.

Keyword clue examples for each search intent type are:

Transactional: buy, cheap, for sale online.
Commercial: best, review, comparison.
Navigational: any brand name.
Informational: how, why, what, tutorial.

How To Identify Intent With Semrush’s Keyword Intent Solution

The last and quickest way to identify a keyword’s intent is with a tool that is designed to analyze SERPs and the language behind keywords.

Semrush does this automatically.

Any time you research a keyword in Semrush’s suite, you’ll see an intent label.

Screenshot from Semrush.com, November 2021

In early November, we saw SEO professionals take to Twitter to share their excitement as this feature was released.

Screenshots from Twitter.com, November 2021

So, once you know how to identify a keyword’s intent, what’s next?

Once you identify a keyword’s intent, you can then decide on the type of content to create for your site to best target the keyword.

How To Create Content Using Keyword Intent

How Do I Rank Well For Informational Keywords?

Provide information-rich content that answers questions, provides facts, and offers help.

How Do I Create Content For Commercial Keywords?

Stay away from just targeting product pages. Try writing a comparison article instead.

If your keyword phrase is [best laptops for high school students], target this organic traffic with a comparison article that offers information about the options people should consider for laptops for high school students.

How Do I Create Content For Transactional Keywords?

With transactional searches, you should make your product page as clean and direct as possible.

Offer information on your product/service that makes it easy for people to decide to purchase or take action from the page.

Screenshot from Semrush.com, November 2021

Ready to make it all work together?

How To Build Your Keyword Plan With Search Intent In Mind

Just knowing how to build out your content with search intent in mind will elevate you to a new level of success. You may begin to rank higher on SERPs and find your content on page one.

Take it a step further. Outrank your competition by researching and discovering their intent.

Maybe your competitors are ranking for a lot of keywords that are informational while your site only targets navigational and commercial queries.

If you want to outrank them, you’ll need to pivot your content strategy to target informational queries as well.

Tip #1: Add Search Intent To Your Competitor Research

If you have an SEO tool that gathers organic keyword data:

Look at your competitors’ keyword list.
Cross-reference each individual keyword, using the keyword intent clues listed above.
Manually notate what type of intent each keyword is.
Map each keyword to each of your competitions’ high-ranking pages.
Analyze the data. Is their homepage ranking for navigational queries? Are their top blog posts ranking for informational or commercial searches? What are your pages doing in comparison?

An Easier Way:

Semrush’s new intent metric tool makes it very easy to dive into this data.

All you have to do is:

Enter any domain into the main search to get a Domain Overview report.
(This will include organic search traffic at an overview and in that overview, displays the full ratio of intent that this site ranks for.)

Examples

Let’s look at three competing home improvement blogs and compare their organic keyword intent ratios.

Remodelaholic.com has a high ratio of informational keywords, followed by a small percentage of navigational, and the last quarter is a combo of commercial and transactional keywords:

Screenshot from Semrush.com, November 2021

Shanty-2-chic.com has a similar order of ratio, but a higher amount of transactional keywords compared to commercial keywords:

Screenshot from Semrush.com, November 2021

Ana-white.com has a very similar-looking profile to shanty-2-chic in terms of the intent ratios, but with a higher total number of keywords:

Screenshot from Semrush.com, November 2021

What can you do with this information?

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source https://d0llars.com/how-to-improve-your-seo-strategy/

4 new gantry cranes at Port NOLA part of multimillion-dollar expansion

2021-12-14T07:18:00.003-08:00

After more than a month sailing around the world from where they were made in Shanghai, four 1,600-ton container gantry cranes recently arrived at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal at the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA).

With the arrival of the gantry cranes, Port NOLA will be able to handle ships in the 8,000-to-9,500-TEU range more efficiently.

“Containerized cargo has more than doubled over the last decade at Port NOLA, and this investment positions Louisiana to grow as a major economic engine and job creator,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement.

The four, 100-foot tall cranes, unveiled during a ceremony Friday, are scheduled to begin work at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal early next year.

China-based Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. LTD manufactured the cranes. It delivered them on Thursday. The cranes are fully electric with zero diesel emissions and can reach containerized cargo stacked 20 containers high across any ship.

The four new cranes are essential to Port NOLA’s overall expansion, which includes optimizing facilities in New Orleans and building the $1.5 billion Louisiana International Terminal, a 350-acre container terminal, in St. Bernard Parish.

“This investment makes Port NOLA more competitive in the global trade-based economy and increases efficiency through the Louisiana gateway and helps fuel our economy,” said Brandy Christian, Port NOLA’s president and CEO.

Port NOLA’s total trade with the world was $13.4 billion in October, an increase of 34% from the same month a year ago. Exports increased 29% while imports rose 40%.

Port NOLA ranked No. 7 for total trade in October among the nation’s roughly 450 airports, seaports and border crossings, according to a WorldCity analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. It had ranked No. 9 for the same month last year.

Port NOLA’s top three exports in October were soybeans, civilian aircraft and parts, and cell phones and related equipment.

The port’s top three imports were gasoline and other fuels, plasma/vaccines/blood and returned exports, without change.

New Orleans dry van outbound tender rejection rates were 18.34% this past weekend as outbound freight volumes remained flat at 44.20 index points.

To learn more about FreightWaves SONAR, click here.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by Noi Mahoney.

More articles by Noi Mahoney

Nuvocargo raises $20.5M to boost US-Mexico trade

Port Houston’s trade jumps 51% to nearly $17B

New customs requirements for Mexico shipments begin Dec. 1

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source https://d0llars.com/4-new-gantry-cranes-at-port-nola-part-of-multimillion-dollar-expansion/

DP TV: Nasdaq “Under the Hood” | DecisionPoint

2021-12-14T07:18:00.001-08:00

On this episode of DecisionPoint, Carl reviews our exclusive DecisionPoint indicators, followed by an analysis of Bitcoin, 10-Year Treasury Yield, Bonds, Gold, Crude Oil and the Dollar. This week, he talks about participation using the Golden Cross Index (GCI) and Silver Cross Index (SCI) across the broad market indexes. Spoiler alert: They don’t look good. Erin then gives us a “bias assessment” of the Nasdaq. She reviews the Sector CandleGlance and an Industry Group CandleGlance. Don’t miss her two “Diamonds of the Week”!

This video was originally recorded on December 13, 2021. Click anywhere on the DecisionPoint logo above to view on our dedicated show page, or click this link to watch on YouTube. You can also watch this episode and other past episodes on the StockCharts on demand video service, StockChartsTV.com. Registration is free!

New episodes of DecisionPoint air on Mondays at 7pm ET on StockCharts TV. Archived episodes of the show are available at this link.

About the author:
Carl Swenlin is a veteran technical analyst who has been actively engaged in market analysis since 1981. A pioneer in the creation of online technical resources, he was president and founder of DecisionPoint.com, one of the premier market timing and technical analysis websites on the web. DecisionPoint specializes in stock market indicators and charting. Since DecisionPoint merged with StockCharts.com in 2013, Carl has served a consulting technical analyst and blog contributor.
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About the author:
Erin Swenlin is a co-founder of the DecisionPoint.com website along with her father, Carl Swenlin. She launched the DecisionPoint daily blog in 2009 alongside Carl and now serves as a consulting technical analyst and blog contributor at StockCharts.com. Erin is an active Member of the CMT Association. She holds a Master’s degree in Information Resource Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Southern California.

Learn More

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source https://d0llars.com/dp-tv-nasdaq-under-the-hood-decisionpoint/

Is the Santa Claus Rally Almost Here? | Mish’s Market Minute

2021-12-14T06:18:00.001-08:00

Tis the season for a Santa Claus rally.

Though the reasons for a Santa Claus rally are debatable, the main school of thought is that, because there is less institutional participation in the market as many take time off to travel, the stock market is left in the hands of the retail investors, which tend to be more hopeful and cheerier. However, this Christmas is far from average, laying doubt on the potential Christmas rally, which normally takes place in the last two weeks of December. With mixed information on the new variant and a weak supply of goods, shoppers could be less motivated to spend this holiday.

One worrying sign is from the retail sector (XRT), which is breaking under recent lows around $89.96. However, if the retail space is going to make a turnaround, it’s going to need to hold over $88.75.

Having said that, the retail space is not sticking out as the only weak sector. Looking at other key sectors within Mish’s Economic Modern Family, transportation (IYT), regional banking (KRE), and semiconductors (SMH) are also weak. This means that the retail space is not being singled out as prices are dropping across the board.

With that said, if there is going to be a Santa rally this year, we can watch for signs that XRT can hold these recent lows, along with other key sectors from the Modern Family.

Follow Mish on Twitter @marketminute for stock picks and more. Follow Mish on Instagram (mishschneider) for daily morning videos. To see updated media clips, click here.

Watch Mish’s latest appearance on Fox Business below!

On the latest edition of StockCharts TV’s Mish’s Market Minute, Mish gives you an overview of her favorite chart patterns that you can use to help you trade. She reviews flags, gaps, consolidation and wedges, just to name a few. This is an episode you’ll want to revisit many times.

ETF Summary

S&P 500 (SPY): 473.54 high to clear. 464.35 needs to hold.
Russell 2000 (IWM): 212.71 needs to hold.
Dow (DIA): 354.02 support. 365.64 highs to clear.
Nasdaq (QQQ): 401.19 to clear. Flirting with the 10-DMA at 392.16.
KRE (Regional Banks): 67.91 200-Day moving average next support.
SMH (Semiconductors): 297.89 watching to hold over.
IYT (Transportation): 274 to clear.
IBB (Biotechnology): Still trending lower.
XRT (Retail): Broke 89.96.

Forrest Crist-Ruiz

MarketGauge.com

Assistant Director of Trading Research and Education

About the author:
Mish Schneider serves as Director of Trading Education at MarketGauge.com. For nearly 20 years, MarketGauge.com has provided financial information and education to thousands of individuals, as well as to large financial institutions and publications such as Barron’s, Fidelity, ILX Systems, Thomson Reuters and Bank of America. In 2017, MarketWatch, owned by Dow Jones, named Mish one of the top 50 financial people to follow on Twitter. In 2018, Mish was the winner of the Top Stock Pick of the year for RealVision.

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How 3rd Party Logistics Software Can Help Customer Retention

2021-12-14T04:18:00.001-08:00

The ability to retain present clients while attracting new ones is the biggest measure of success for any business—including third-party logistics (3PL) firms. Everyone knows that it’s more difficult to acquire new customers than to hold on to your existing customers—but new trends towards increasingly connected national transportation networks can make this tougher than ever. Any 3PL company that wants to survive and thrive must offer their current client more value by providing them real-time information and impeccable customer service.

How do you make that possible? Start by using the right 3PL software solution.

Why Customers Change 3PL Partners

It’s no secret that companies should always strive to build strong relationships with their clients. After all, trust is the foundation of all business relationships. The majority of retailers and other businesses will quickly look for alternatives whenever that trust is absent. Here are some reasons why shippers lose their trust in their 3PL partner and search for other logistics providers:

Broken promises: If you promise something and don’t follow through, your clients will be rightly uneasy about working with you in the future. It might mean that you are constantly promising capacity you don’t have or committing delivery windows you are unable to meet. To win a new contract or retain existing clients, some companies sign off on unachievable service level agreements (SLAs). In either case, not keeping your commitments has negative consequences for both the client and the logistics provider.

Inattention to customers: Often businesses think they are giving their current customers the right amount of attention, but their clients may feel otherwise. At the end of the day, this is usually a symptom of the same issue that causes broken promises: poor visibility. If you can’t tell what’s happening as your last mile deliveries actually unfold, you can’t easily visualize your network’s limitations. By the same token, you can’t give granular information to customers who might benefit from more insight into the delivery process.

Poor communication: If you fail to communicate frequently and accurately, you run the risk that customers will lose trust in you. You are, after all, carrying the brand into the last mile on behalf of your clients—they want to be confident that things are going well throughout the last mile delivery process. Crucially, communication isn’t just about keeping your clients in the loop; you need to keep end customers connected to the delivery process as well.

All these put together might suggest that the typical 3PL customer can be extremely demanding. In reality, however, they’re merely asking for service levels that will enable them to meet the high demands of their customers.

How To Keep Existing Clients and Gain New Ones

Maintain an unwavering commitment to customer service

Third-party logistics providers should constantly stress the importance of providing exceptional customer service in order to minimize potential client loss. Here are a few crucial things to focus on:

Contact and follow-up with customers promptly
Ensure that tracking information is sent to customers after shipments
Updating customers on order status regularly
Resolve order inaccuracies and returns quickly

Besides responding quickly to customer inquiries, 3PLs should do their best to provide customers with information and data proactively. 3PLs can always boost customer satisfaction by going above and beyond what is expected of it.

Ensure that your customers are always informed

Clients rely on third-party logistics providers to help ensure smoother, more seamless operations and deliveries. Using a 3PL allows them to remain focused on core competencies such as manufacturing, product design, and marketing, to name just a few. Clients are often reliant upon their 3PL partners to supply essential information including shipment tracking information and order updates.

That’s why it’s so important to provide timely and accurate information. The majority of companies that use 3PL services have customers of their own who typically require updates on their orders regularly. This means you have the opportunity to help your customers improve their own retention rates—as long as you’re able to to keep their customers in the loop throughout the delivery process.

Eliminate technological inefficiencies

There’s no getting around it: a 3PL’s efficiency and client retention may be adversely affected by outdated technology.

The client seldom empathizes with the cause of delayed delivery—especially when they are employing the services of 3PLs for their supply chain expertise. The last thing a customer wants is to worry about software systems not integrating with their 3PL provider’s systems or outdated route planning and dispatching solutions making the 3rd party logistics software less effective. Third-party logistics providers must ensure that their software systems are up to date and designed to work with the latest technology. That way, they can make life as easy as possible for retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and anyone else who might rely on their services.

How 3rd Party Logistics Software Can Ensure Customer Satisfaction

Implementing 3rd party logistics software is crucial for logistics providers who are focusing on their customer retention rates? Why? Because the right 3PL solutions enhance customer service, elevates your entire software ecosystem, optimizes logistics processes, and saves time and resources. Here’s a few things that an advanced 3rd party logistics solution should offer.

Software integration: Your 3rd party logistics software should have a flexible API as well as pre-built modules for easy synchronization across your entire 3PL solution ecosystem.
AI: The demand for tools that work with large amounts of data continues to increase constantly, especially among e-commerce firms. AI enables you to generate better predictions and improve operational processes.
Process tracking and improvement: Detecting potential exceptions and risks early and averting them are better than trying to track them down later. Implementing 3PL software that can make this possible helps maximize efficiency.
Cloud functionality: Using a cloud service can save resources and provide better stability in the short and long term. With the cloud, you don’t need to install additional equipment, maintain that equipment, or perform software upgrades manually. In a cloud ecosystem, accounting and ERP systems can be seamlessly integrated, and distributed networks can be managed more scalably regardless of company size

In the end, the best 3PL software will help you to consistently improve operations to strengthen relationships with current customers and stop them from switching to your competitors.

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source https://d0llars.com/how-3rd-party-logistics-software-can-help-customer-retention/

Spot Market Bounces Back After Thanksgiving Slump

2021-12-14T03:18:00.001-08:00

[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]

Spot freight volumes fell Thanksgiving week, but they have more than recovered.

Load board operator Truckstop.com reported its overall demand index fell by 12 points to 116.4 as load availability decreased 40.4%. But in the week after Thanksgiving, the index climbed to 122.9 as load availability increased 80.7%.

“Holiday weeks and holiday time off directly affects a transactional market like the spot market,” Brent Hutto, chief relationship officer at Truckstop.com, told Transport Topics. “The big change where you saw the market demand index go down by about 12 points and the daily load volumes go extremely down were just because people took time off.”

Hutto

Truckstop.com also reported that during the holiday week there was a 34.3% drop in the supply of trucks. So, despite high freight demand in general because of issues such as backlogs, there weren’t as many drivers on the spot market side. The supply of trucks bounced back by 71.2% during the next week.

“We had a daily high point on Thanksgiving week of only 835,000,” Hutto said. “We had one day that was 200,000 loads. That was Thanksgiving Day because people weren’t working for the most part.”

Flatbed led the recovery with load availability increasing 107.8% from the prior week. The one metric that went up during the holiday week was spot rates, which saw a 1.9% increase. Hutto explained that was a natural function of there being a lower supply of trucks creating more competitive rates. Spot rates then fell 0.2% that following week.

“When there are fewer trucks, the rates go up,” Hutto said. “Because a lot of truckers took time off to spend time with their families and their friends, there was less trucks on the road and rates went up. And by the way, that has happened every year.”

DAT Freight & Analytics found the number of spot load posts on its load board network increased 107% after the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Truck posts increased 35%.

“It’s not usual to see big gains in loads and trucks posted when you compare a full workweek to one with a holiday, but 107% is significant and indicative of the high volume of freight moving in advance of the close of the month,” a DAT spokesperson told TT. “DAT iQ, the company’s analytics group, expects spot truckload rates to soften in the short term but to remain at elevated levels.”

DAT has been seeing around 25% of total truckload freight volume moving on the spot market when 12% to 15% historically is typical. The company also found that in the refrigerated sector there was strong demand for capacity leading up to Thanksgiving that continued in the week after. The reefer linehaul rate has been up year-over-year at about 55 cents in the $3-a-mile range.

Vise

“We did have a very healthy bounceback after Thanksgiving,” Avery Vise, vice president of trucking research at FTR, told TT. “Spot volumes were up about 80% last week, which is not tremendously unusual. We frequently see a pretty big boost.

“But I think it’s also important to note that dry van, in particular, is essentially, in the latest week, running at what I would call a record level.”

Vise added that dry van technically was at the third-largest week ever, but it was close to the second highest that occurred at the end of September. Vise noted the largest week was when a spike in volumes occurred in February. But he said that was an unusual situation given that widespread winter weather caused disruptions that led to a lot of spot market freight.

Host Mike Freeze talks to the 2021 Transport Topics Trucking’s Frontline Heroes, Gene Woolsey and Cully Frisard. Hear a snippet above, and get the full program by going to RoadSigns.TTNews.com.

“There are a couple of interesting things that happened,” Vise said. “One is we did not see, in the refrigerated segment, the typical run-up that we normally see right before Thanksgiving. Normally, the week before Thanksgiving is the strongest week of the year in the spot market for refrigerated and we really didn’t see that.”

Truckstop.com found that during the holiday week refrigerated load availability fell 35.7% and truck availability decreased 18.2%. Vise noted it is difficult to say whether that means anything given refrigerated volumes already have been high. He pointed to a couple of possible explanations such as load volumes being depressed because products didn’t make it to market.

“The other, I think more likely scenario, or at least certainly a part of that,” Vise said, “is that in anticipation of supply chain issues, we may have seen some front-loading of inventory builds that we typically would see much closer to Thanksgiving.”

Want more news? Listen to today’s daily briefing below or go here for more info:

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Look out below! Analysts eye $40K Bitcoin price after today’s dip to $45.7K

2021-12-14T02:18:00.001-08:00

On Monday, Bitcoin’s short-term outlook worsened after the price fell to an intra-day low at $45,672, a far cry from the weekend’s promising rally above the $50,000 level.

With the year nearly complete, and all-time highs nearly 33% away, traders are most likely readjusting their expectations and pushing the $100,000 BTC target a bit further into 2022.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Day traders, 4-hour chart watchers and over-leveraged longs are likely freaking out (unless they went short from $50,000 over the weekend or at this morning’s weakness), but let’s zoom out a little bit to see where Bitcoin price stands.

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

On the daily timeframe, we can see the price struggling to breakout away from the trend of daily lower highs and aside from the Dec. 4 drop to $42,000, traders appear apprehensive to buy into the most recent dips.

Tracking moving averages has always been a relatively simple way to swing trade BTC and currently the 20-day moving average (blue) is below the the 50-day MA (orange). Some traders simply buy when an asset secures a few daily closes above the 20-MA and sell when the price falls below it because this is a sign that the short-term trend is weakening.

Following this practice, momentum traders might wait for BTC to secure a daily close above the moving average at $53,000 before opening new long positions. More risk averse traders might consider waiting for convergence between the 20- and 50-MA as a clearer sign of a trend reversal. Taking a quick look at the last year of price action proves that the strategy is pretty effective.

Why some traders expect more downside

More experienced traders know that Bitcoin price has a tendency to make double tops, M-tops and head and shoulders patterns after hitting new all-time highs. Lately, analysts on crypto Twitter have pointed to what they perceive to be a double top, which is a clear trend reversal pattern.

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

Looking at the daily time frame, we can begin to see what looks like the start of a head and shoulders pattern. The current dips and following consolidation could eventually complete the right shoulder, with a neckline at $41,500, and a price target near a number so unbelievably low that it won’t be written here.

Traders will also notice that the neckline of said head and shoulders pattern aligns with a wide gap on the Volume Profile Visible Range (VPVR) indicator, which shows increased buying interest right at the $40,000 level.

At the moment, it’s too early to make too much fuss about the existence of a H&S pattern, especially since analysis of price action cannot be determined by a single indicator, but it is still something worth noting.

$BTC S/R update according to Volume Profile:
$47k has been a good support lately but if we break it, our next strong support is at $40k.
On the other hand, if we are able to break $50.6k resistance the next one is all the way at $56k.
Let’s see which set up is going to play out! pic.twitter.com/hcmvmUbVln

— whalemap (@whale_map) December 11, 2021

Data from an on-chain analysis outlet, Whalemap, also pinpoints the $40,000 level as an area to watch closely. While speaking to Cointelegraph, analysts at Whalemap said,

“Basically, if we start closing daily candles below the support outlined above, we will probably go to a lower one. The closest below us is around $40,000.”

While Bitcoin’s current price action does little to inspire confidence in traders who bought higher or expected price to trade in the $74,000 to $80,000 range in December, analyst Mohit Sorout recently pointed out that phases of negative funding have proven to be great buying opportunities.

There is no downside on this asset$btc pic.twitter.com/Vr7mPFOvxU

— Mohit Sorout (@singhsoro) December 11, 2021

On the daily timeframe the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) and Relative Strength Index (RSI) are also oversold, both of which have historically pointed to accumulation phases and good opportunities to dollar cost average into fresh long positions.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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source https://d0llars.com/look-out-below-analysts-eye-40k-bitcoin-price-after-todays-dip-to-45-7k/

Story Or Die With Lisa Cron

2021-12-13T08:18:00.001-08:00

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:29 — 47.6MB)

Why is story so important — no matter what genre we write? How can we use emotion to hook readers — and also tap into what matters in our own lives? Lisa Cron talks about these questions and more in this discussion about Story or Die.

In the intro, Ultimate Guide to Copyright [ALLi]; How do you see your book — is it a baby, is it art, or is it a product? [Jane Friedman’s blog]; The History Quill convention online; The Creative Penn Podcast Survey (by 21 Dec);

Today’s podcast sponsor is Findaway Voices, which gives you access to the world’s largest network of audiobook sellers and everything you need to create and sell professional audiobooks. Take back your freedom. Choose your price, choose how you sell, choose how you distribute audio. Check it out at FindawayVoices.com.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.

Lisa Cron is a story coach for writers and a story consultant for film and TV, as well as a professional speaker. She’s also the author of Wired for Story, Story Genius, and her latest book, Story Or Die: How to Use Brain Science to Engage, Persuade, and Change Minds in Business and in Life.

Show Notes

Why story is so important for humans — and why it’s present in every area of life
What stories are really about
The brain chemicals that a good story will activate — and how to write so they are triggered
Story principles in non-fiction
Emotion telegraphs meaning
The three biggest lies that are taught about writing

You can find Lisa Cron at WiredForStory.com and on Twitter @LisaCron

Transcript of Interview with Lisa Cron

Joanna: Welcome back to the show, Lisa.

Lisa: Thank you. It is an utter pleasure to be here.

Joanna: I’m excited to talk about this again. So, quoting from the book, you say, “Story far predates written language, and evolved as an essential survival tool, long before it was mis-classified as fiction,” which I love.

Why does story matter in every book we write, no matter the genre?

Lisa: Well, because first of all, story is story, regardless of genre, regardless of the format, whether you’re talking about a two-word tweet or War and Peace, it is always the same.

And it predates, really, everything. It really goes back to, if you want to think about it, our brains’ last, as we’ve all heard, big growth spurt, which was about 100,000 years ago. What we were taught, what evolutionary biologists thought for a long time, was that the reason for that growth spurt was because that was when we got the ability to think analytically. That analytic thought became possible at that time. And that’s true, it did.

But what they know now is that that wasn’t the reason for it. The reason for it was because by that time, and we were, at that time, in the middle of the food chain. And by that time, if we were going to leap to the front of the food chain, which we did, we needed to learn to do that thing that we’ve been told to do since kindergarten, since primary school, which is, we needed to learn to work well with others.

At that time, the need to belong to a group became as hardwired as is our need for food, air, and water. You often get people who go, ‘I’m a lone wolf. I don’t need anybody else. I’ve done everything on my own. I’m totally self-made.’ And I always want to go, ‘Well, you do know the wolves travel in packs.’

In the wolf community, a lone wolf is a wolf that has done something that was so egregious to the pack that they’re ostracized and left to die. The point is, is that we really are wired to need to work with other people and to band together in order to figure out literally how to survive.

That’s where story comes in, because story is the thing that lets us step out of the present, so we can envision the future and think about what would we need to do in order to survive the next wolf pack attack or saber-toothed tiger attack, or how to bring food together. And that’s really what stories are about.

At that time, it really became wired that stories aren’t just about how to solve something logistically, like how to survive a wolf attack.

Stories are really about how to survive in the social world.

When I say in the social world, I don’t just mean the world of dating. I mean literally the world of other people. Because that’s what we come to story for.

Now, for the past 100,000 years, and in every story, what we’re wired to come for is asking that question, ‘How is this going to help me make it through the night?’ How is it going to help me achieve my agenda, given what I want? Is it going to help me? Or is it going to hurt me?

And stories are, again, about the internal workings, literally of the mind. Why is somebody doing what they’re doing? Story is never about what someone does, because what someone does on the surface, and the reasons we attribute to it, are almost always wrong.

Stories are about why they’re doing it, and how they’re making sense of it, so that we can really understand the meaning of the action, and why they’re doing what they’re doing, and what it means to them. And that’s what allows us to empathize with them, which is what allows us to really understand other people, and also, to really understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, especially if they’re doing something that we feel is counterproductive, shall we say, and we have a notion of what a better thing to do would be.

If we understand not just what they’re doing, but in their opinion, deep down, why they’re really doing it, that might lead us to understand what their, as I’m fond of saying, their misbelief is about it.

Then we can create a story, whether, again, it’s War and Peace, or a tweet, or a mission statement, that’s going to help them really see and understand and feel that the way that they’re looking at it is counterproductive to their actual belief system.

That’s what story is. Story isn’t about what happens on the surface. Story is about how what happens on the surface affects someone’s belief system, and how that belief system has to change in order for them to solve whatever intractable problem they’re facing on the surface.

All stories are about change. They’re about how we change. And all change is hard.

Again, change isn’t just some external change we make. It’s the internal shift in belief system that allows us to see the reasoning and believe the reasoning, given our own belief system, as to why that change is necessary.

That’s what story is. And, again, story is story, and has been from time immemorial. It’s just that, if I could just say real quickly, the difference is, and part of the reason I think we think of it as fiction often now, is because think about it in terms of the history of the world, and of the human race or of all life on Earth.

The time that we’ve had, what we would consider fiction, in other words, stories that we would read kind of because we want to, not because it’s something that we need to know in order to survive in this moment, is something that’s really new.

We tend to think of that as something completely separate from how we see the world, what we do in the world, from anything that actually makes us who we are, or gets us what we need.

We tend to think of story, sadly, as something that is entertainment. When we think of it as entertainment, because we love it so much, feels so good to get lost in a story, and therefore we think of story as optional, as if it doesn’t serve any actual purpose. And it does.

Again, as I’m fond of saying, and I know you guys have probably heard me say this before, story was more crucial to our evolution than our much-touted and admittedly beloved opposable thumbs. Because all opposable thumbs do is let us hang on. Story lets us know what to hang on to.

The thing to keep in mind is what we’re wired to look for in a story from time immemorial is the same, again, whether it’s a tweet or War and Peace, or whatever you’re writing right now. It is the exact same thing that pulls us in. And when it pulls us in, we’re toast.

We’ve all heard that old chestnut from, I think it was Coleridge who said, ‘To get lost in a story demands a willing suspension of disbelief.’ As if we have some control over it, as if it’s a decision. It’s not.

Once story grabs us, and there’s a literal chemical cocktail that immediately starts to surge through our veins, we’re literally catapulted out of our everyday reality, and we are within the world of the story.

Those functional MRI studies show, when you’re lost in a story, same areas of your brain are lighting up that would light up if you’re doing what the protagonist is doing. You really are there. And I know that’s a long way to answer your question, but there you go.

Joanna: You mentioned a bit about the chemicals, and of course, the book, the subtitle has ‘Brain Science,’ we’re talking brain science. This is not just you making this stuff up.

As you mentioned, there’s fMRI study. You talk about these neurotransmitters that activate during the story. Can you talk a bit more in detail about how that works, and why it’s so important, and maybe also how we hit those points?

How do we activate those brain chemicals in a reader?

Lisa: Oh, absolutely, because they come in unison. And again, yes, this is research. Look at the work of Paul Zak.

I do so much research. As we were talking sort of before we began this, there are great things about the internet, and then terrifying things about it. One of the great things is that it is so easy to do research.

I can be reading an article in ‘The New York Times’ or ‘The Washington Post,’ or in ‘The Wall Street Journal’ that mentions the study, and often, literally within three minutes, I can be reading the scholarly paper or Ph.D. thesis in which all of the research was done.

But anyway, so, what pulls us into a story? It is a chemical cocktail of three things. First, I’ll just say it in order. It’s not 1, 2, 3. It’s they come in unison. But since we’re speaking in a linear way, the first one would be dopamine.

Dopamine, we’ve all heard of dopamine these days. Dopamine is often said to be the pleasure hormone. But it isn’t, actually. It’s actually really stoked, what triggers dopamine is curiosity. ‘I’m going to go through this to find out what might happen, because it might be pleasurable,’ which is something I think we’ve all experienced in the past, I don’t know, 10 years or whatever, since all of us, or so many of us have smartphones.

You get that ding when you’ve gotten an email, and instantly there’s a dopamine, because you want to open it up because hey, maybe you did win the lottery or something.

Then comes cortisol. Cortisol is the stress hormone. Cortisol comes when I want to find out what’s happening, I’m curious, and there’s something at stake. There’s something that for lack of a better way of putting it, something bad might happen. Something is at risk here, and I want to find out what’s going to happen.

Those two things alone don’t do it. In fact, often, writers will make the mistake of having something, this is an oxymoron, objectively dramatic, happening. If it’s objective, it can’t be dramatic, because something is dramatic, it’s affecting someone, and that brings us to the third thing, which is, the third hormone, which is oxytocin, which is the empathy hormone.

In other words, there has to be someone who we care about, who has something at risk, that matters to them in a way that isn’t just generic. In other words, it would matter to them in a surface way that it would matter to all of us, like they’re running down the street, and someone’s chasing them with a baseball bat, and they’re about to hit them with the baseball bat, and they’re running because they don’t want to get hit by a baseball bat.

Well, who wants to get hit by a baseball bat? None of us. So, that isn’t the meaning. The meaning that comes from it is that there’s something at stake that matters to them.

Those are the three things that have to be there, literally on the first page. If you don’t have something that is going to instantly trigger that chemical cocktail, we’re not going to read forward. Why would we? We’ve got no skin in the game.

It’s that that catapults us out of the world that we’re in, and into the world of the story. That is the chemical cocktail. When that happens, we’re toast. You don’t stop and go, ‘Wait a minute. Do I really want to do this?’ You’re just, ‘Oh my god. I gotta find out what happened.’ You’re suddenly sucked into that world of the story.

And the scary thing, again, coming away from just talking, and I don’t mean ‘just,’ but talking about not only, this is only with a ‘just,’ novels and movies, and and all the TV shows we’ve been binge watching for the past 18 months while we’ve been at home.

Any kind of a story, we’re affected by stories, every minute of every day, whether we know it or not. Mostly we don’t and stories are really effective. As we can see, story pulls us into places where if we were just thinking about it, we’d never go, you know. Hello, QAnon, I’m talking to you.

There’s so many things that are out there in the world, back when we had actual facts, that are just painfully obviously untrue, and it doesn’t matter. We’ve been pulled into a story, and now, it’s really resonating with us, and we see it as true. It becomes part of the lens through which we read meaning into everything.

Joanna: This is important to touch on maybe a bit further, which is, as you said, we’re not just talking about fiction. I think in a way fiction’s easier, because you know that you need a character and they’re in a situation, and they want to achieve something, and you try and stop them, and they have to overcome it, and they change, and that is a story with fiction.

I feel like with nonfiction, and a lot of listeners write nonfiction books, you write nonfiction books, it’s the same principle, but in that case, is the character we’re using, is the character us, in a nonfiction book? And let’s assume people are trying to convince people, in good ways, about good and useful things.

How do we bring those principles of story into a nonfiction book?

Lisa: Again, it depends on the type of nonfiction you’re writing. If you’re trying to change somebody’s mind about something, and you know who your target audience is, which is a difference between writing a novel, where you have some idea of who your target audience is.

If you’re writing erotica in the romance vein, you know who your audience is, you know what they expect, you know what they want. But that’s a very wide audience.

If you’re trying to change somebody’s mind about something, you need to figure out who your target audience is, and then are they the protagonist in the story that you’re writing? Whether you’re writing literally about that particular person? Yeah, of course they are.

You’re in their mindset, and you’re looking for the situation in which you can show them, by taking them through that, again, in a story form, the thing that you have identified as their misbelief.

In other words, the reason why, in their opinion, they believe that something is a particular way, and then diving into it and creating that external situation that is going to force them to really re-evaluate their belief in order to solve whatever the problem is that they’re going to be facing.

Stories are about how we solve a problem that we can’t simply walk away from.

That’s what, whether you’re writing fiction, nonfiction, or anything, that’s what stories are always about.

The point is, in order to write anything in nonfiction, whether we’re talking about a mission statement or a pitch letter, you’re trying to sell yourself, or a resume, you really need to put yourself into the mindset of the person who you’re trying to convince first and foremost.

And that is really hard, because the two things that people do when they’re trying to convince people of something is number one, they’ll give the same reasons why it would convince them. That absolutely doesn’t work, because if that worked, you wouldn’t be trying to convince them, they’d already be on your side.

The problem when you give people reasons that would convince you is that they often also tend to be things that the people out there can’t even unpack. Because you’re using facts that you understand, you’re using facts that you can unpack. And often, they don’t even know what those facts actually mean, nor can they see how they would affect them in their lives.

If they can, and if you are asking them to change, that is going to bring up that part of our brain that wants to argue back. Because whenever anybody says anything that goes against what we already believe, even if it’s that I believe my toothpaste is the best in the world, and in fact, it is, that becomes, literally, it’s taken by our brain as a personal attack.

Once we believe something, it becomes not only part of our self-identity, but it becomes part of how we hew to our — for lack of a better term — tribe.

In other words, it’s the group that gives us meaning, and that if we go against them, or do something that’s going to cause them to look at us and ostracize us, we really process that the same way as we would process physical pain.

This is something I think that we’re all going to go through soon, because a lot of the restrictions have come down and the holidays are coming up, and we’re going to be back out there with our families. That means that considering how polarized everything is, everybody’s probably got that Uncle Joe out there who believes the opposite of what you do.

Over the holidays, he’s probably going to sit you down and try to tell you why everything you believe is wrong and why what he believes is right.

When that happens, think about you when you’re reading stuff and it goes by on social media. This is a perfect metaphor, your blood starts to boil, right? It starts to boil. You don’t decide to boil it, you don’t consciously decide to turn up.

It boils, and it boils because to your brain, those beliefs come in as a personal attack. It’s not because we’re stubborn. It’s not because we’re quote-unquote…and I’d love to talk a bit about emotion and being, ’emotional,’ which is so deeply misunderstood.

It’s because literally, as far as our brain’s concerned, and this is, again, the way we’re wired, and the way we were wired 100,000 years ago, is because that threat is wired to come in as the same thing as literally a physical threat.

Fun fact: When someone attacks your beliefs, your blood rushes to your thighs in case you need to make a quick getaway. The brain does not distinguish between those two things. And the problem is we’re taught that it can.

We’re taught that it’s a weakness to do that. It isn’t. The sad and interesting and fascinating truth is we’re wired to live in a world we don’t live in anymore. And so, the goal is to really understand that, and then figure out hacks around it. And that’s what story is about.

Joanna: I think that’s really interesting, that you said we’re wired to live in a world that doesn’t exist. You also said that you wanted to maybe talk a bit about emotions, because I definitely feel like we have access to all this information.

Again, you and I were talking about this. We have access to all this information. So, I have all these opinions and emotions about things that I don’t know enough about, but I think are really important.

This can be absolutely massive things like climate change. It can be political issues, Brexit, American politics, the health issues, the pandemic, these things all feel so enormous.

We have these stories that we all believe. Then we have emotions that are attached to those stories.

Even though logically, I know that I, how can I have an informed opinion on this? But I certainly have emotion. You mentioned there about hacks. What did you mean by that?

Lisa: Two things. One, just as we were talking before we began, it’s true, because there is so much deeply technical information, when you talk about climate change, for instance, that it literally does become impossible to have an informed decision unless you have a Ph.D. in it.

So we have to take what’s up there on top and figure out literally as we do, okay, given that, and once it actually is explained, not explained, but put into story form so that we understand how those things will affect us, then we can decide what we want to do about it.

The problem with the way that we look at it, and the way we’ve been taught just to process information, is literally biologically wrong. The cornerstone, truly, of Western thought is biologically wrong, from Plato on down, because we’ve been taught that there’s logic, and there’s emotion, and they’re binary, and that the goal of emotion is to subvert logic.

In other words, my metaphor these days for that is we’re taught to think of emotion as mold. I don’t mean any mold, but you open your refrigerator and you look at that thing in the back, and like, ‘Oh my god. What’s that green stuff growing on the yogurt?’

The thing about mold, when you think of it as mold, it’s not yogurt mold, or steak mold, or carrot mold. Its goal is to just destroy whatever the food is. It doesn’t have any goal other than to destroy that.

That’s how we’re taught to think of emotion. And that literally is not what emotion is. What emotion does is —

Emotion telegraphs meaning.

In other words, from the time that we’re small, we have what’s known as an avidity for patternicity, which is a perfect reason why you never want to use $25 words, because, like, what is that?

Joanna: I was going to say, what does that mean?!

Lisa: What it means is literally from the time we’re born, and I mean, from the minute that they’ve wiped us off and given us to our mom, we’re looking for patterns, causality. If this, then that.

If I cry real loud, that nice person is going to come in and give me milk. Got it. And once there is a pattern that’s established, it gets relegated to what’s known as our cognitive unconscious, which is where we make almost all the decisions that we make.

I think studies show we make 35,000 decisions a day. And of those decisions, we’re only consciously aware of about 70 of them. And those decisions, I think so many of them are on the level of, ‘Do I wear the blue socks, or the green and pink paisley socks?’ In other words, things that don’t really matter.

Most of our decisions are made by our cognitive unconscious, and its way of letting us know what we should do is through emotion. We feel something.

There is nothing that ever happens in our lives, whether we think about or experience or read about, that doesn’t bring with it a chorus of emotion, which is a chemical reaction, that our brilliant brain and nervous system then translates into feeling, lets us know what we should do about it.

In other words, emotion isn’t some free-floating thing that’s going to cloud your judgment. It literally lets you know what is important to you and what isn’t.

We’re terrified of emotion. I actually think we’re terrified of emotion in a very gendered way. And this isn’t anything that we would feel out of the bat. As babies, we are all the same. But men are taught to be afraid of emotion. You’re supposed to be strong, and emotion is weakness, and if you show emotion, it will make you feel weak.

Very early on, we learn that if we even feel emotion and we’re trying not to show it, it leaks out, so I’m not going to feel emotion. Men are terrified of emotion. Women are terrified that if they show emotion, they’re going to get clobbered by men.

Joanna: Or other women.

Lisa: Right, exactly, because we’ve all been told, ‘Oh, they’re so emotional,’ meaning showing emotion. If you couldn’t feel emotion, you couldn’t make a single rational decision.

Now, I’m not saying that it’s binary the other way, it’s all emotion and not thought. It’s definitely both. It’s a both-and, but emotion is the final decider. In other words, if you couldn’t feel emotion, you couldn’t make a single rational decision.

I could go into the story of, and if you want to take a look, Antonio Damasio, who’s a neuroscientist, frequently writes about a patient, he had a man by the name of Elliot, who, through an operation, had lost his ability to feel and process emotion. Should I tell the story quickly?

Joanna: Yes. Sure.

Lisa: Elliot was a really successful guy. He had a great job. He had a great family. He was one of those guys you would call a pillar of the community. But he also had a benign brain tumor, and they were able to get all of it, but to get all of it, they had to take part of his prefrontal cortex.

When he recovered his body was hale and hearty. But he had lost his job, he lost his family, he lost all his money to con men. He was home living with his parents. The government was cutting off his disability checks because they said, ‘Dude, you were this productive member of society. What are you now a malingerer? Why aren’t you out there doing what you did before?’

So, his parents called in Damasio to run this long and large battery of tests. And what Damasio discovered is that Elliot had lost the ability to feel and process emotion. Keep in mind, he still tested in the 97th percentile in intelligence.

He could enumerate every possible solution to any problem you could pitch at him. He just couldn’t pick one. He’d come into his office in the morning and go, ‘Should I do that thing my boss seems to really want me to do? Or would it be a better use of time to re-alphabetize my file folders again today? And if I do the file folder thing, would it be better to use the blue pen or the black pen?’

At lunch, he’d go from restaurant to restaurant looking at menus, but he never went in because he didn’t know what he felt like eating.

Can you imagine that? If everything really was six of one half a dozen of the other, how would you ever make any decision about anything? Think about it now, because as you guys probably saw the other day, it won’t be the other day now when this comes out, but right now the other day, I think the U.S. finally is letting people come in.

They’ve relaxed the controls because of COVID. And we see all these wonderful stories of people who, for the past 18 months, haven’t been able to see their loved one. Imagine if now that’s happening, and the loved one is finally coming in, and they get off the plane and they’re there at the airport, and they’re walking toward the person who hasn’t seen them in 18 months, and that person feels nothing.

It’s like, ‘Uh-oh.’ In other words, emotion’s what telegraphs meaning. If we couldn’t feel emotion, we couldn’t make a single rational decision. And that comes back to story.

Story, like life, is all emotion-driven.

And my goal in life, my two goals in life, are one, really to get people to understand the power of story, the power that story has over us, and the genuine role that emotion plays, so it stops being vilified, and also, overturn the patriarchy. That’s my other goal!

Joanna: Just some small goals! I want to bring it back to the writers listening, because, when you think about it, our job is to elicit emotion in the reader. In order to do that, we actually have to manipulate them with story.

We have to become masters of story manipulation in order to elicit emotions and spark off these neurotransmitters in people’s brains. We have to control that through our writing.

Lisa: Yes.

Joanna: So, it really is focusing down on the emotion first. I know I struggle with this. I get so excited about all kinds of different convoluted plots, and historical details, and interesting locations.

Do you suggest we start with what emotion do I want to elicit, and how do I get there?

Lisa: It depends on what you’re doing. If you’re writing to convince someone of something, that’s different, and there is part there. But let’s talk to writers, because that’s who our main audience is, right?

Joanna: Yeah.

Lisa: Okay. Here’s the thing. The answer to what you just said is absolutely not. No. Do not think about what we want to elicit.

Let’s talk about how to get emotion onto the page. I think that would be the most valuable, because, as I’m very fond of saying, and I truly believe this, I think writing is taught wrong everywhere. I really do. Hundred percent.

Because the way you get emotion onto the page has nothing to do with thinking about what emotion you want to get onto the page. You do want to think about what point are you making overall.

You do not get emotion onto the page by writing about emotion. You never need to name an emotion. You do not get emotion onto the page through body language.

Body language is vastly overrated in fiction, because body language is literally speaking body-to-body, not description of body language to someone’s brain. Completely different.

Besides the fact that body language is blunt force. You could write some beautiful metaphor about what someone looks like when they’re crying, but so what? I know they’re crying. I want to know why.

The way emotion gets onto the page is via the internal struggle that your protagonist or point-of-view character is going through, in the moment, on the page, as, in each and every scene, they are forced to make a difficult decision. All we need to do is to be in their head as they’re trying to figure out what to do.

Not only in every scene that they’re making a difficult decision, but think of it this way. You’ve got the this versus that. This meaning, in this scene, ‘I need to do,’ blank. I’m being asked to do blank, or to consider blank, or to change about blank. And that’s going to cost me this other thing that really matters to me.

This versus that, and the this versus that is always specific. It’s not, ‘I’m being forced to consider this and I might get shot,’ and the that is, ‘I don’t want to get shot.’ Because nobody wants to get shot.

But it’s, what are those two things? And also, within the V of that, if you kind of think of it as a V, and then you’re going to pour something in, think of a martini glass shaped like a V. Within that is that I’m vulnerable, and I want to give away as little as I possibly can to let someone know what I’m really feeling. Within that struggle, that’s what elicits emotion.

In other words, that struggle lets us know what the protagonist is feeling, not because we’ve been told, not because they’re shivering or sweating, or their heart’s pounding or they’re sobbing. But because that struggle elicits the emotion in them.

And guess what? That is what elicits the emotion in us. What you’re looking for from beginning, as I’m fond of saying, all stories begin in medias res. And where that comes from, comes from all of your protagonist’s backstory, because the biggest lie, that the writing world tells, the biggest lie, I think… Well, there are three of them.

Joanna: Big three lies, wow.

Lisa: Almost every writing myth is wrong. The biggest lie is, use backstory sparingly, and then only when the reader needs to know something.

First of all, you never put anything in because the reader needs to know it. They might. Hundred percent. But that’s not why it’s there. Backstory is the most fundamental layer of story. It is laced into every page.

Backstory is what gives meaning to what’s happening now. When we’re talking about, when I said before, what pulls us in to that, and unleashes that chemical cocktail, that, the oxytocin of empathy, and the cortisol of, ‘Oh, my god,’ stress, is, ‘What does it mean to the character? Why is what they’re being asked to do? What’s at risk?’ comes from the past, by definition, because that’s how we work as humans.

I just finished reading a book called Your Brain Is a Time Machine, by a neuroscientist whose name I can’t pronounce, so I’m not going to try. And he said, basically, and he’s not the only one who says it, obviously. The sole purpose of your brain, and memory, is to record past events in order to predict the future.

Your brain is a prediction machine. The predictions come from what we’ve run into our past that gives us the meaning of what’s happening now. And how does it give us that meaning? Through emotion.

And then, that triggers these thoughts. So, backstory’s the most fundamental layer of any story. And watch, as I’m fond of saying. I was working with a writer a while ago, who said, ‘I want to see that. I hear what you’re saying, but I want to see it.’ And she was reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, who wrote Gone Girl.

Joanna: Ooh, I love that book.

Lisa: Great book. And so, she said, ‘I took a highlighter,’ she said, ‘I’m halfway through the book, and I’ve highlit 60,’ that’s six zero percent, of what’s in the book. Sixty percent was this internality and backstory.

That’s where story lives and breathes. If you don’t create that first, you don’t have a story. You just have, very sadly, what most manuscripts end up being.

As I’m fond of saying, you know, for most of the manuscripts I’ve read, and I’ve read thousands, if you ask me what it’s about, I’d go, ‘It’s about 300 pages. I don’t know. It’s just a bunch of things that happen.’

Story’s not about the plot. It is not about the plot. That’s why if it was up to me, I’d take every story structure book, from The Hero’s Journey up to, and I’m not going to name it, but it’s in my head, the most popular one now, that is so deeply wrong it makes me want to pull my hair out.

Because first of all, it’s a misnomer. It’s not story structure, it’s plot structure. And the story’s not about the plot. The story’s about how the plot affects the protagonist, and is driven by that internal consequence that causes the protagonist to see it differently and then take action.

If you come up with just a plot, you’re going to end up with nothing but a bunch of things that happen, because then the protagonist is going to, scene by scene, going to have to ring a particular bell in order to make the plot work.

Usually what’s happening on page one, what the protagonist does, means that person would never do the thing that they’ve gotta do on page 50. But oh, well, they’ve gotta do it, and now you have destroyed what’s really pulling us through, because when writers talk about what’s the narrative thread, again, they mistake it for the plot.

Narrative thread is not the plot. The narrative thread is the internal, subjective narrative that the protagonist is using to make sense of what’s happening in the plot, and then deciding what to do. That is the narrative thread.

When you’re lost in a story, you really are lost in that protagonist’s world. They’re your avatar. You are that person. That’s why story works. Story is the world’s first virtual reality, literally, as I said.

This functional MRI studies showing the same areas of your brain light up, as I said earlier, that would light up if you’re doing what the protagonist is doing. You literally are there. But not because you’re watching them externally do something, because you’re in their head, experiencing the subjective ‘why’ they’re doing it, and what it means to them. And because you’re there at what it means to them, you are feeling something.

Joanna: It’s really good to come back to these basics, I think. We’re almost out of time, and you mentioned there were three big lies, and you only gave us one. I just know everyone’s going, ‘Wait, what are the other two lies?’

Lisa: One of the other ones is, hold things back in the beginning for a big reveal, and that’s going to pull people in. And it does the exact opposite.

Give us all of it right there in the beginning.

What happens is people end up holding back the very thing that would pull us in. We literally see the writer when they do that. They feel like the writer’s saying, ‘I know something you don’t know. And if you read forward, maybe I’ll tell you,’ which is as annoying as my voice just was. I can hardly say my voice that way, because it creeps me out.

But we’re looking to be able to put things together. We’re looking for the deeper why. When people hold things back for a reveal later, that means that everything that is there, especially in the beginning, is very general. And the general has no legs. We can’t try to figure out what’s going on, we can’t try to figure out what matters, we can’t try to figure out what it means for people.

Okay, now let me tell you the other one. And this kind of does, too. And this is super incendiary. The biggest lie, in my opinion, that the writing world says, beyond this thing about backstory, because you must create the story-specific backstory first, or you have no story.

It’s like saying, ‘I’m going to write a 327-page novel about the most important turning point in someone’s life, whom I know absolutely nothing about.’ And that delivers us to this third thing, which is, back in the day, when we could go to actual writing conferences.

If you ever went to one, you go and you can get your badge, and really often, and they do this to be nice, I totally get it, but the person that’s giving you the badge will go, ‘Okay, are you a pantser or a plotter?’ And then we’ll put a little thing on your page.

A pox on both your houses. Neither one works. Pantsing is the absolute worst way to ever write anything, because stories are layered. Because without the backstory, without story-specific backstory, for your protagonist, and other characters, you have no idea what’s going on. Everything is generic.

And then writers start writing really, really pretty, because they’ve been told it’s about wordsmithing and writing beautiful sentences.

And this is why 99% of what comes into agents and editors, in publishing houses, gets rejected.

Because it literally doesn’t work.

I think it’s also why the statistic is that only 3 out of 100 people make it to the end of just any kind of a first draft, because they start writing and they have no idea what they’re doing. And the thing that kills me is, it’s that notion of if you learn all of these techniques of writing, and then you unleash your creativity, a story is going to appear. You know, ‘if you have the talent. And if you don’t, oh, well.’

I cannot tell you how many people I’ve worked with who seemed to have nothing, but once they started to do this, oh my god. That has nothing to do with talent. It is just a complete and total, literal lie.

The other is that plotting works. And that is that you’re going to sit down and come up with a plot and external series of things are going to happen, and you’re going to use, you know, ‘The Hero’s Journey,’ and we talk about how misogynist that was. But I mean, all of whatever the most recent book is, again, I won’t name it, but I’m thinking it.

You have 10% of the book is this, and 20% is this. And by this time, you’ve got to do that. And so, you’ve got some external generic grab bag of, as I said earlier, objectively dramatic things that you start throwing in, in order to amp up the tension and make things happen. And it is all, literally, from the outside in.

Story is not top-down. Story is bottom-up, meaning it comes from your protagonist. And without creating that, you’ve got nothing. So, yeah, I can’t tell you how strongly I feel this.

Joanna: Oh, you have told us how strongly, Lisa!

Lisa: I know.

Joanna: I love talking to you because I feel like you bring some good challenge into some of the established ways of doing stuff. And of course, you’re a story consultant for film and TV, and you do all this stuff, so you know what you’re talking about.

If people want to check out your books, and everything you do and your consulting and things, where can we find you online?

Lisa: I am at wiredforstory.com. I’m there. My books are everywhere. Amazon, any place that sells books online, I’m pretty sure they would be there. Yeah, on Twitter, I’m just, you know, @lisacron. Just, my name. That’s it. And that’s the only social media I’m on. I feel safe there. I didn’t feel safer anywhere else, really.

Joanna: I know how you feel. Well, thanks so much for your time, Lisa. That was great.

Lisa: Oh, my utter pleasure. This was super fun. I love talking to you, Joanna. I hope we get to do it again soon.

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Google Will Deindex Pages If Site Is Down For Several Days

2021-12-13T07:18:00.001-08:00

Google will begin to deindex your pages from search results if your website experiences more than a couple of days of downtime.

This is stated by Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller during the Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout recorded on December 10.

An SEO named Aakash Singh called in to the livestream to ask Mueller how he can minimize the impact on search rankings while his client’s website is down for over a week.

Unfortunately for Singh and his client, it’s not possible to take a website down for a week without any negative impact to its SEO and search rankings.

Continue Reading Below

If a website’s pages become inaccessible then it will only take a matter of days before they start to get de-indexed, Mueller says.

Mueller goes on to suggest an alternative method for handling planned downtime, but it still doesn’t guarantee no harm will be done in the short term.

Read his full response in the section below.

Google’s John Mueller On The SEO Impact Of Website Downtime

If a website is down for longer than a few days, whether it’s planned or unplanned, it won’t be possible to prevent negative effects on search rankings.

Mueller states:

Continue Reading Below

“I don’t think you’ll be able to do it for that time, regardless of whatever you set up. For an outage of maybe a day or so, using a 503 result code is a great way to tell us that we should check back. But after a couple of days we think this is a permanent result code, and we think your pages are just gone, and we will drop them from the index.

And when the pages come back we will crawl them again and we will try to index them again. But it’s essentially during that time we will probably drop a lot of the pages from the website from our index, and there’s a pretty good chance that it’ll come back in a similar way but it’s not always guaranteed.”

A key takeaway here is that the impact of extended downtime will last longer that the duration of the outage.

Your pages won’t come back immediately, and when they do there will be strong fluctuations in search rankings before things settle down.

“So any time you have a longer outage, where I’m thinking more than a couple of days, I would assume that at least temporarily you will have really strong fluctuations and it’s going to take a little bit of time to get back in.

It’s not impossible because these things happen sometimes. But if there’s anything you can do to avoid this kind of outage, I would try to do that.”

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What should a website do during an extended outage?

One way to handle it, Mueller says, is to set up a static version of the site that users can be directed to while the main site is down.

If possible, however, the best thing to do is make sure the outage lasts for less than a day.

“… that could be something like setting up a static version of the website somewhere and just showing that to users for the time being. But especially if you’re doing this in a planned way I would try to find ways to reduce the outage to less than a day if at all possible.”

Continue Reading Below

Hear Mueller’s full response in the video below:

Featured Image: Screenshot from YouTube.com/GoogleSearchCentral, December 2021.

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@whale_alert: 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 116,853,303 #USDT (116,853,303 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallet

2021-12-13T06:18:00.001-08:00

116,853,303 #USDT (116,853,303 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallethttps://t.co/6ydOrBZgcY

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) December 13, 2021

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BIS committee sets up cross-border payments task force

2021-12-13T04:18:00.005-08:00

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is setting up a task force on defining common features of cross-border payment service levels.

BIS’s Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) has been working on a multiyear programme on improving cross-border payments since Saudi Arabia made it a priority of its G20 presidency.

The latest stage sees the committee call on managers of service level agreements (SLAs) and payment schemes to nominate senior representatives to a newly established task force focused on ensuring consistency between agreements.

Starting in early 2022, the task force will meet every six to eight weeks, and its findings will feed into the development of a service level template that stakeholders can use as a starting point when establishing agreements. It will not suggest any specific service levels but will reflect how the elements relevant for cross-border payments can be addressed consistently.

Agreed service levels, relevant for both wholesale and retail payments, can cover a set of functions, procedures and arrangements that make it possible to execute a payment order between different entities in the cross-border payment value chain.

Examples include the interlinking of payment systems or correspondent banking processes. Schemes can cover card payments, credit transfers, direct debits, electronic and mobile money transactions, and remittances.

Meanwhile, BIS has published a bulletin called ‘Interoperability between payment systems across borders’ investigating the various technical, semantic and business system compatibility requirements.

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Central Freight shuttering operations this month

2021-12-13T04:18:00.003-08:00

WACO, Texas — Citing steep operating losses that could not be overcome, executives with Waco, Texas-based Central Freight Lines announced Sunday that the company will close by the end of December.

The closure means that 2,100 employees at the less than truckload carrier (LTL) will be jobless right at Christmastime. New shipments will stop Monday and all current orders are expected to be completed by Dec. 20, according to a news release.

“We make this announcement with a heavy heart and extreme regret that the company cannot continue after nearly 100 years in operation,” the news release stated.

“We would like to thank our outstanding workforce for persevering and for professionally completing the wind-down while supporting each other. Additionally, we thank our customers, vendors, equipment providers, and other stakeholders for their loyalty and support.”

The news release further stated that the company “explored all available options to keep operations going. However, operating losses sapped all remaining sources of liquidity, and the company’s liabilities far exceed its assets, all of which are subject to liens in favor of multiple creditors.”

Company officials said that “despite diligent efforts,” Central “was unable to gain commitments to fund ongoing operations, find a buyer of the entire business, or fund a Chapter 11 reorganization. Given its limited remaining resources, the company concluded that the best alternative was a safe and orderly wind-down. As we complete the wind-down process, our primary goal will be to offer the smoothest possible transition for all stakeholders while maximizing the amount available to apply toward the Company’s obligations.”

Central Freight is in negotiations to sell a substantial portion of its equipment. Additionally, Central Freight is coordinating with other regional LTL carriers to afford its employees opportunities to apply for other LTL jobs in their area. Discussions are ongoing and no purchase of assets or offer of employment is guaranteed.

Central Freight Lines was founded in 1925 in Waco by W.W. “Woody” Callan Sr., who bought a Model T and drove it from Waco to Dallas to pick up some goods for a Waco merchant. The company was founded as Central Forwarding and Warehouse company.

Through the years, the company grew to become one of the nation’s largest LTL carriers.

The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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Top 3 Coins to Watch – Week 50 – CoinCheckup Blog

2021-12-13T04:18:00.001-08:00

As we move through the final month of the year, a number of projects are moving ahead with continued development, and this week’s choices are set to benefit from significant updates and announcements that should strengthen their market positions and benefit their communities. The news should also result in increased amounts of attention to each respective currency over the coming weeks.

3. Near Protocol (NEAR)

NEAR is a secure decentralized storage and compute platform that allows users to manage high-value assets like money or identity. It is a public, sharded, developer-friendly, proof-of-stake blockchain which utilizes a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) mechanism.

Why Near Protocol? Continued Strong Performance Expected

Near was one of the week’s best performers and grew by over 35% despite the majority of coins experiencing a pullback. Some of this may have been due to speculation surrounding a possible announcement of MoonPay allowing its users to purchase NEAR globally. In addition, Near is a highly performance blockchain that is compared with projects such as Solana and Elrond which have also been solid performers over 2021. As the year comes to an end, traders may look to increase their NEAR holdings and help the coin get close to its all time high price of $13

2. GALA (GALA)

GALA is designed to power the Gala Games ecosystem to support gaming re-imagined to benefit creators and players, alike. Founded by gaming industry heavyweights, Gala Games is working to make history in decentralized gaming.

Why GALA? Legacy Land Sale This Week

Gala was another of the week’s top performers and looks set to continue to attract attention. The platform merges the best of gaming and NFTs and also allows GALA holders to run nodes. This allows anyone to receive rewards in tokens including GALA, and limited edition NFTs and the Gala Games ecosystem continues to grow. Legacy is a business and entrepreneurial game on the Gala platform and allows anyone to design products, build virtual businesses, and earn and trade the native Legacy coin. The Legacy land sale takes place this week and opens up on December 12, and owning a Land NFT allows gamers to start their own in-game blockchain business association in Legacy. The possibilities are endless and you can find out more about Legacy here.

1. Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum (ETH) is an open-source distributed blockchain that has smart contract functionality, and operates as a decentralized virtual machine which can execute scripts and be used to transfer ether between different nodes. Ethereum retains the status as the principal smart contract provider and platform for hosting ICOs with a number of leading projects operating ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum network.

Why Ethereum? All Eyes on Ethereum This Week

All eyes were on Bitcoin last week as the market was concerned with whether or not BTC could hold the crucial $50,000 price mark. Well, attention turns to Ethereum this week as the market’s number two coin hovers around the $4,000 mark. ETH proved relatively stable over the week, and experienced only a mild decline of around 3%, although it was trading at over $4,500 in early December. With ETH 2.0 still on the horizon and the London upgrade completed back in the summer, a significant number of market analysts are bullish on the future of Ethereum and the coming week will give us a good idea of how ETH will perform as the year comes to an end.

How did the coins perform last week?

The seven day period generally led to mixed results across the market; and ALGO fell by11% and is currently trading at around $1.54. LUNA fell by 16% and is currently trading at $60, and BTC grew by 1% over the week, and is currently trading at $49,735. Over the course of the week, the market moved from an overall valuation of $2.30T to $2.33T, a rise of 1.30%.

Andrew is a writer that does most of his work on cryptocurrency-related topics. While he’s primarily interested in Bitcoin, he also follows major altcoins and the innovative ideas that new cryptocurrency and blockchain projects are bringing to the table.

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090: Architectural Graphics | Life of an Architect

2021-12-13T03:18:00.001-08:00

Graphics are the language that architects use to communicate intent to the people we serve. We draw to explain our designs, we draw to explain what material we want to use, we draw to articulate how we want something to be built … so to that end, it seems like a particularly good topic for an architectural podcast. Welcome to episode 90: Architectural Graphics.

[Note: If you are reading this via email, click here to access the on-site audio player]

Podcast: Embed

When you hear the term “architectural graphics” what comes to mind for you? Is the thought dated in any way? jump to 3:33

While it can be a specific representation or type of orthographic projection like plan or sections, but as we discuss it is basically the creation of computer drawings. Almost all architecture graphics in architectural practice today is going to be generated from a computer. I know this is not 100% true, but it is definitely a large majority. So how is this related to the notion of creating graphics that read the way they should. In our experiences, it seems that this connection is getting lost and there are probably several reasons for this occurrence.

Drawing classes jump to 4:38

When Bob was in school, as far as he can recall, he did not take any “drafting” classes during his time in school. He took some classes on drawing, but they were art-focused classes and not ones that pertained to the concept of “drafting”. Andrew on the other hand took a hand drafting class specifically. It was actually a requirement for his degree. During this class, they basically created a hand-drafted set of construction documents. He also took an AutoCAD class from the engineering department since the architecture department did not offer it. Today Andrew can say that at his College, they do teach the basic ideas of creating architectural drawings. There are not “drafting” courses, but the skills and methods for creating the “standard” orthographic drawings are taught and emphasized in the first year of study.

Timeline of learning that software jump to 11:18

Of course over the duration of your career, you will learn different and new software. This will probably never change for any architect. Well, probably not for the foreseeable future. So Bob started his timeline of software as he entered the workforce since there were no computers during his education. Below are some highlights and a timeline of his representation software knowledge.

DataCAD in 1995 – This company is actually still around and is a software used in areas outside the United States. We both had no idea it was still around. But it is still a product in usage and can be found here. I found some information that says it was once endorsed by the AIA as the software of choice.

AutoCAD in 1996 – This one is of course still a standard in the industry. I would claim that I hit my peak in AutoCAD supremacy in about 2003. I had all the skills necessary to go against any other AutoCAD user on the planet in 2003.

Photoshop in 1997 or 1998 – The big benefit for this at my firm was based on the fact that knowing this software kept me from having to complete details and that type of tedious work. Knowing Photoshop allowed me to be present in meetings and out in front of clients. This was a huge benefit of software knowledge and that was where I wanted to be.

Truspace in 1997 or 1998 (same time as photoshop) – This one is a lesser-known software. It was used to create some 3D models with the ability to paint surfaces on a 3D form. It was software that was mainly used in the movie industry. At the time of use, it was a cutting-edge product for the architecture field to use.

SketchUp in the late 2000s – maybe October (which is right after it came out) I have an old SketchUp file that I found that was made in 2000 right after the software came out. So I started early on that software. I feel solid about my abilities in this one also.

InDesign in 2016 – I had to learn this one recently because I had to create my own submission for my application for AIA Fellow. This forced me to learn this publishing software since I did not have someone assemble this for me. I think at this point I have gained some mastery over this one as well.

Andrew learned and did most of his schoolwork by hand as a chosen option. While there was computer software being used during his graduate school era, Andrew chose to still work by hand for the sense of craft. So most of his knowledge came once he entered practice as well. A few of the graphic softwares were started in school though.
AutoCAD and Microstation in 1996 – So Andrew learned some AutoCAD and Microstation during his college education. He took a semester-long course in AutoCAD during his undergraduate studies. Microstation is still a product under a Bentley Company license.

FormZ in 1997-1998 – Also during his grad school days in the mid to late 1990’s, the software called Form Z was a very popular 3D modeling software used by many. I would say that it was cutting-edge software at that time and to my surprise is still in existence today. I only dabbled in the use of this software as I kept strictly to hand creation of work eve for my graduate school work.

Adobe Photoshop in 1998 – I learned this for my graduate school portfolio and actually had a few photo-shopped images in my final graduate school project review.

Adobe Page Maker in 1998-99 – I also picked up the use of this during the creation of my graduate school and first job portfolio. This software was the precursor to InDesign. The last version of this software was in 2001. It was replaced by InDesign.

AutoCAD in 1999 – Once I moved in to practice this was the only software I used for production. The only one. I was able to set up office standards for the firms I was working at which ended up being the firm I would later purchase. So most of my career I have been the one creating office standards.

SketchUp in 2003 – Not much to say here. It was SketchUp and it was used for conceptual design much like it is still today. The rendering capabilities are definitely better now.

InDesign in 2004 – Getting back into using this for SOQ and marketing materials for the firm. It was the best option for making documents with graphics and text. It still is in my opinion.

Revit in 2008-2009 – I started in this early right after I purchased my firm. It was an important part of my company goals to be on the technological edge for my company. In about 2012 I would put my firm’s Revit skills against any other company.

No computer graphics jump to 16:20

During both of our education, we did not have much access to computer-generated drawing tools. It was mostly in its infancy during this item and there are very few instances of computers being used in practice or academia in the early 1990s. Even in the mid-1990s, it was difficult to find anyone who was working in the computer creation of architectural graphics. In the late 1990’s it became possible for some larger firms to afford. But even at that time, it was usually being used to “draft” the typical details that would be replicated on every project. So the intent was to create some efficiency by creating standard graphics and not unique for every project. In the beginning, it was a very tedious process and all based on the idea of Cartesian references as there was not a mouse to use or colors to differentiate lines. It was not punch-card data entry, but it was pretty darn close! Both Andrew and I learned AutoCAD without any colors for lines. There was only a single color and also a limited number of layers.

Drafting jump to 26:50

How an architect draws is a reflection of many things – you can frequently tell the priorities of a firm just by looking at the quality of their drawings. I didn’t say the content of their drawings – and this isn’t just semantics – it speaks to the culture of the firm. For the purposes of today’s article, I am going to assume that all architectural drawings are correct and serve their purpose of conveying intent, scope, and quantity.

Your first assumption might be that I can’t hold down a job – observant but not true. Your second assumption might be that I am some technically minded CAD maniac … Wrong again. I make the changes where I go because I make it a point to care about how our drawings are perceived by the people who read them. Not only do properly delineated drawings read better, they convey a sense of what it took to create them.

This is all about the pen weight and graphic semantics –

Does it make sense?
Is it intuitive?
Can you tell what is being cut through?
What’s closer and what’s further away?
Can you tell a center line from a section line?
Is this a setback line or a property line?

The list goes on and on and if you used what came right out of the box, you might be factually correct but there’s no office culture conveyed in the drawings. This means making custom graphic keys … it might be a giant pain but it’s worth the time and energy.

Every firm I have worked out since I started drafting on the computer, I have changed their graphic standards. Every. Single. One … and yes I am aware that I have worked at small firms and most were more than happy to let me do this because, this was the sort of thing that few people enjoyed during this transition phase, and b) the drawings looked better. Emphasis on that last one. This is even happening now that I have started the Residential Studio within BOKA Powell. So I am getting to instruct and reshape the way drawings are completed within this larger firm. I did not anticipate this ever being a possibility.

Drawing by Hand – the benefits to development jump to 43:48

I would like to kick it old school and talk about sketching since I think in an ideal world, in almost any sort of manner or technique, sketching should always come before drafting. When I graduated from architecture school in 1992, computers in architectural firms were not that prevalent. Some of the larger production commercial firms had the resources to buy “CAD Stations” and dedicate substantial office space to server rooms complete with NASA-looking tape storage systems, but most firms were still drawing things by hand. This was where I really learned how to draw but before you old folks say “that’s right!” and you younger folks look at this as old-timers syndrome, I’m not saying that we drew better, I’m just saying it was different. I used 3 or 4 different lead holders with leads of varying degrees of hard/soft to them. I consciously endeavored to add profile lines, hatching, foreground, and background indicators in place. You could look at the hand-drawn construction drawings and frequently tell who had drawn what sheets and what details. It was art to me … I thought these drawings were beautiful and I didn’t want other people working on my sheets, adding their sloppy pencil work to the magic I had created. It was a big deal to me 20 years ago and even though we don’t draw by hand anymore, it’s still a big deal to me.

By the way, I followed my own advice and bought myself the iPad Pro setup that I put on this year’s holiday gift guide and I have been spending my free time practicing with different digital sketching software. I am killing it but I have no idea what I am doing.
I am using:
Procreate – sketching
Morpholio Trace – another one I may also get into for sketching
Lightroom – photo editing
Dashlane – for passwords
Timepage by Moleskine

Years and years ago, I started a series on my website titled “Architectural Graphics 101”
Reflected Ceiling Plans – January 2017 – this was the first entry into the series
Drawing Alignment and Notes – January 2017
Lineweight – February 2017
Layers – March 2017
Wall Types – August 2017
Window Schedules – October 2017
Title Blocks – October 2020
Finish Schedules – January 2021
Symbols – May 2021
Arrows or Ticks – June 2021

If you have any ideas for additional topics to cover under this series, please let us know in the comments below or in whatever way you want to contact us. It seems like this is a topic that is always of interest.

Would you rather? jump to 54:22

Would you rather have $500,000 or be let in to Area 51 and have all its secrets revealed to you

Well, this one went in a completely different direction than either one of us thought at the start. We both chose the opposite choice that we thought the other would choose. We were able to discuss some of the crazy things that might be possible due to the nature of the question. We tried not to get too outlandish here and the reasons for ou answer may not be what you expect. But in the end, it was a split decision. Think you know which answer we both chose? You are probably wrong.

090: Architectural Graphics

Architectural Graphics are important. I believe that better-drafted drawings lead to better-communicated pieces of information. As architects, that is essentially our job. Andrew thinks this is also often confused with the idea of aesthetics or “pretty drawings”. The reality is that it is about conveying the information and not about creating “pretty pictures”. Those are not the same thing. If there are any steps being taken to provide a clearer understanding of the information within a drawing, that is always a good thing. How could that not be good?

Cheers!

Special thanks to our sponsor Enscape who is offering a free 14-day trial. To sign up, go to the Enscape website at enscape3d.com/lifeofanarchitect so you can see for yourself why Enscape is a leading real-time rendering and virtual reality tool for the global AEC market.

even better stuff from Life of an Architect

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Conduit makes the case for DeFi

2021-12-13T02:18:00.001-08:00

For as much as we like to rag on Shopify crypto bros on the BetaKit Podcast, it’s clear that Web3 in all its iterations has some heat behind it. And that heat (or perhaps boosterism) is starting to pervade all elements of tech.

“Imagine that the bank is a program.”
– Kirill Gertman

Nowhere is this more obvious than at the recent Money 20/20 conference in Vegas. Ostensibly an FI and FinTech conference, according to our guest this week, Money 20/20 was overrun with a lot of crypto bros and a little bit of DeFi.

DeFi – that’s a Web3 thing right? Referring to decentralized finance: breaking away from our traditional institutions towards something proponents argue will be more democratic (or if you don’t happen to live in certain parts of the world, more stable).

So how far along is this DeFi revolution, what’s pure hype, and what does it have to do with scams like Squid Coin – meme tokens that pop up overnight, collect some cold hard cash, and then see their ‘founders’ make off into the night?

Today on the BetaKit Podcast we talk to Kirill Gertman, co-founder and CEO of Diagram company Conduit about all of this.

Gertman explains the current state of the DeFi stack, how much is left to be built, and which corner of the process Conduit operates in.

A few mixed metaphors aside (mostly from me and Rob), Gertman is the most level-headed person I’ve spoken to about Web 3 ever and provides clear explanations that any listener (crypto bro or otherwise) can understand to get a sense of what the hell is going on with these ‘Hello frens’ and sunglass wearers.

Let’s dig in.

The BetaKit Podcast is sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank.
For nearly 40 years, Silicon Valley Bank has helped many leading innovators get their start.
Learn more about how SVB can help your business reach the next stage.

Subscribe via: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts

The BetaKit Podcast is hosted by Douglas Soltys & Rob Kenedi. Edited by Kattie Laur.
Sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank and Innovate BC.

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source https://d0llars.com/conduit-makes-the-case-for-defi/

GITEX Global 2021 Dubai Round-up: Codebase Technologies, RoboAds, Microsoft For Startups and More

2021-12-12T11:18:00.009-08:00

GITEX Global is one of the biggest tech events in the world that took place from the 17th-21st October at Dubai World Trade Centre. GITEX brought together global industry leaders, startups and game-changers to unveil the future.

The 41st edition of the event saw the participation of over 3,500 exhibitors from over 140 countries and brings together innovators in artificial intelligence, 5G, Cloud, cybersecurity, blockchain, fintech and more. These themes are explored across six events – Gitex Global, Ai Everything, Gitex Future Stars, the Future Blockchain Summit, Fintech Surge and Marketing Mania – which come together to showcase the technology sector.

During the event, Richie Santosdiaz of The Fintech Times caught up with a number of thought leaders from various companies to learn more about their offerings and their thoughts on the fintech industry.

Maya Bouali, Codebase Technologies

A highly adaptable and forward-thinking leader, Maya Bouali is Codebase Technologies‘ MENA Territory Sales Manager. With extensive experience gained in different sales capacities, Maya leverages her expertise in the financial industry and technology sector to help Codebase Technologies’ clients develop innovative business solutions. Maya has worked with some of the MENA region’s most prominent digital transformation vendors, including Finastra, Informatica, Microsoft, 01 Systems, FIS and Intellect, on milestones projects.

Codebase Technologies is one of the world’s fastest-growing open API banking solutions providers. With a vision to “utilise technology for a greater purpose,” we engineer impactful digital financial experiences for conventional and Islamic banks, fintechs, neobanks, lenders, and start-ups.

Roberto Croci, Microsoft For Startups

Microsoft for Startups is a global program dedicated to helping all startups successfully launch and scale their companies. The program supports qualifying startups across 3 pillars – 1) Tech Enablement, 2) Market Access, and 3) Community Engagement

Microsoft for Startups MEA has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) to develop and launch specialised regional programs to complement the global Microsoft for Startups program and strengthen the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem. These specialised regional programs include Microsoft’s GrowthX Accelerator and the Highway to 100 Unicorns Virtual Conference

Nasir Zubairi, The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology

Sargun Bawa, Tamara

Demet Zubeyiroglu & Mustafa Balteci, Fintech Association Turkey & Koophub

Demet is the Chairperson of FINTR (Financial Innovation and Technologies Association) a recently launched non-profit to strengthen the fintech practice in Turkey. She is also Managing Director and Co-Founder of KOOPHub, a diverse and independent community enabler in financial innovation.

Faysal ElChamaa, RoboAds

Faysal ElChamaa is the founder and CEO of RoboAds, a US startup that develops and markets robotics, IOT and AI solutions. RoboAds has developed the world’s first advertising and telepresence robot and has recently joined the Nvidia Inception program to further expand developments in machine vision, deep learning and AI solutions that have real world applications and benefits.

Polly Jean Harrison
Polly is a journalist, content creator and general opinion holder from North Wales. She has written for a number of publications, usually hovering around the topics of fintech, tech, lifestyle and body positivity.
Richie Santosdiaz
Executive Economic Development Advisor (Emerging Markets) | Contributor

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source https://d0llars.com/gitex-global-2021-dubai-round-up-codebase-technologies-roboads-microsoft-for-startups-and-more/

UK Government Fails To Back New Measures To Boost Medical Cannabis Access – Cannabis Business Executive

2021-12-12T11:18:00.007-08:00

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source https://d0llars.com/uk-government-fails-to-back-new-measures-to-boost-medical-cannabis-access-cannabis-business-executive/

Generic Sunday – Crypto Live Stream

2021-12-12T11:18:00.005-08:00

Generic Sunday – Crypto Live Stream

Source Link

source https://d0llars.com/generic-sunday-crypto-live-stream/

Senate Votes to Block Vaccine Mandate on Businesses

2021-12-12T11:18:00.003-08:00

Joining the 50 Republicans in the Senate, Democrat Senators Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Jon Tester, D-Mont. blocked President Biden’s vaccine mandate. This comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit first found “grave statutory and constitutional” issues with the mandate.

Senate Blocks Biden Vaccine Mandate on Businesses

Under Biden’s proposed mandate, companies with 100 employees or more had to require their workers to get vaccinated, get tested, and even face the prospect of losing their job.

The Senate vote on Wednesday (08-12-21) blocked Biden’s vaccine mandate to force private employers to the rule. Using the Congressional Review Act Republicans were able to bring the measure to a vote. Under this Act, they only needed a simple majority vote in the House and Senate. And if it passes the House, it will go to the President where the administration has threatened a veto.

Overall, this exercise is a moot point as the courts have already ruled on the vaccination and testing mandate. The vote will nevertheless give those opposing the mandate another avenue to pursue if higher courts overturn previous rulings. But with more states fighting the mandate, the courts is where this will be decided if the administration doesn’t give up first.

Judges Citing Federal Overreach With More Blocks

The ruling against the mandates is increasing as judges cite federal overreach by the current administration.

A federal judge in Georgia has blocked the vaccine requirement for federal contractors nationwide. Without the block, they would have had to get vaccinated by January 18. And this also comes as a federal ruling in Missouri blocked a vaccine mandate for health care workers in 10 states.

The sweeping ruling by Louisiana U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty blocked vaccine mandates from being administered nationwide. Reminding everyone of the Tenth Amendment Doughty eloquently wrote in his ruling:

“If the executive branch is allowed to usurp the power of the legislative branch to make laws, two of the three powers conferred by our Constitution would be in the same hands. If human nature and history teach anything, it is that civil liberties face grave risks when governments proclaim indefinite states of emergency.”

To drive the point further, Doughty added, “During a pandemic such as this one it is even more important to safeguard the separation of powers set forth in our Constitution to avoid erosion of our liberties.”

The injunction, in this case, covers 40 of the 50 states, with the remaining 10 states already covered under a preliminary injunction issued by the Eastern District of Missouri.

The OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS

The emergency temporary standard (ETS) on vaccination and testing was published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2021, as part of the comment period for the mandate. This was a proposal for a permanent standard.

When the litigation against the mandate was brought on, OSHA then published the following update.

On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, published on November 5, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 61402) (“ETS”).

The court ordered that OSHA “take no steps to implement or enforce” the ETS “until further court order.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit now has jurisdiction over ETS challenges and DOL has filed a motion to lift the stay. While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation. Note that the comment period is separate from the litigation.

Had this ruling not taken place, OSHA could have enforced fines of up to $13,653 per violation if the violation was serious enough. If that wasn’t obscene enough, the amount could go up to 10 times if the violation was repeated or deemed willful.

Image: Depositphotos

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source https://d0llars.com/senate-votes-to-block-vaccine-mandate-on-businesses/

d0llars

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Dispensary Packaging and Labeling Explained

Introduction

Why Cannabis Packaging Matters

Primary Goals and Benefits of Labeling Cannabis Products

Packaging Examples for Specific Product Types

Essential Elements of Marijuana Labels

Balancing Compliant Labeling with Branding

Challenges

Advice for Designing Cannabis Labels

Point-Of-Sales

Hardware That Can Help

Inventory Management

Conclusion

What Is Order Routing For Stocks And Crypto?

What Is Order Routing?

Stock Order Routing

Crypto Order Routing

What Are The Benefits Of Smart Order Routing?

Price Improvement

Speed Of Transaction

Ability To Fulfill Orders

When Does Order Routing Matter?

How You Can Improve Your Trade Order Routing?

DeRace x Crypto.com Giveaway

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What Is Search Intent?

The Four Main Types Of Search Intent

How To Identify A Keyword’s Intent

How To Create Content Using Keyword Intent

How To Build Your Keyword Plan With Search Intent In Mind

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Is the Santa Claus Rally Almost Here? | Mish’s Market Minute

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How 3rd Party Logistics Software Can Help Customer Retention

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Story Or Die With Lisa Cron

Transcript of Interview with Lisa Cron

Why does story matter in every book we write, no matter the genre?

Stories are really about how to survive in the social world.

All stories are about change. They’re about how we change. And all change is hard.

Once story grabs us, and there’s a literal chemical cocktail that immediately starts to surge through our veins, we’re literally catapulted out of our everyday reality, and we are within the world of the story.

How do we activate those brain chemicals in a reader?

How do we bring those principles of story into a nonfiction book?

Stories are about how we solve a problem that we can’t simply walk away from.

Once we believe something, it becomes not only part of our self-identity, but it becomes part of how we hew to our — for lack of a better term — tribe.

We have these stories that we all believe. Then we have emotions that are attached to those stories.

Emotion telegraphs meaning.

Most of our decisions are made by our cognitive unconscious, and its way of letting us know what we should do is through emotion. We feel something.

Story, like life, is all emotion-driven.

Do you suggest we start with what emotion do I want to elicit, and how do I get there?

You do not get emotion onto the page by writing about emotion. You never need to name an emotion. You do not get emotion onto the page through body language.

Lisa: Almost every writing myth is wrong. The biggest lie is, use backstory sparingly, and then only when the reader needs to know something.

Give us all of it right there in the beginning.

And this is why 99% of what comes into agents and editors, in publishing houses, gets rejected.

If people want to check out your books, and everything you do and your consulting and things, where can we find you online?

Google Will Deindex Pages If Site Is Down For Several Days

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@whale_alert: 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 116,853,303 #USDT (116,853,303 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallet

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