According to the national statistics
bureau, the figures pointed to a “complex environment” both at home
and abroad.
It said the country’s economy had
“performed within the reasonable range” in the first half of 2019 but
that it faced “new downward pressure”.
While China watchers advise caution
with Beijing’s official gross domestic product numbers, the data is seen as a
useful indicator of the country’s growth trajectory.
Other data showed some signs of
improvement in the world’s second largest economy.
Industrial production rose 6.3% in
June from a year earlier, while retail sales rose 9.8% year-on-year – both
above forecasts in Reuters polls.
Slowing growth in China has raised
concerns about the potential knock-on effect on the global economy.
Earlier this year China announced
plans to boost spending and cut billions of dollars in taxes in an effort to
support the economy.
It has also moved to provide a
liquidity boost by reducing the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve.
The US-led trade war is another
factor weighing on growth.
While the US and China agreed to resume trade talks at a recent G20 summit
in Japan, they have already placed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of one
another’s goods, hurting businesses and casting a shadow over the world
economy.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic saved two championship points in Wimbledon’s
longest singles final to retain his title in a thrilling win over world No 2 Roger
Federer.
Roger Federer led Novak Djokovic 8-7 40-15 on his serve in the final set but
the Serb fought back to win 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 13-12 (7-3) in four
hours and 57 minutes.
Novak Djokovic, 32, has won 16 Grand Slams – and four of the last five.
The Swiss said letting slip two championship
points in his Wimbledon final loss to Novak Djokovic was “such an
incredible opportunity missed”.
It is the second time Roger Federer, 37, has been involved in the longest
singles final at Wimbledon – and ended up losing too – after he was beaten by
Rafael Nadal in 2008.
Roger Federer has lost his past five meetings with Novak Djokovic in Grand
Slams, last beating the Serb at Wimbledon in 2012.
He still holds the all-time men’s Grand Slam record of 20 singles titles but
Novak Djokovic now has 16 with Rafael Nadal on 18.
Roger Federer, who during Wimbledon set two new landmarks in winning his 100th match at the championships and his 350th match at a Grand Slam, said holding the record was not what motivated him as a player.
Serena Williams, like in last year’s final defeat by Angelique Kerber,
seemed weighed down by public and personal expectations as she quickly fell 4-0
behind in the opening set.
Simona Halep had said beforehand that she had no pressure on her and that is
exactly how she played.
Defeat means Serena Williams’ wait for a first Grand Slam title since becoming a mum continues, as does her pursuit of an eighth Wimbledon singles title.
Simona Halep had lost nine of her
previous 10 meetings with Serena Williams.
She has now won the past two Grand
Slam finals she has appeared in, having been defeated in the three before that.
Serena Williams has lost her past three.
Although 56 minutes is a quick
victory, it is some way off the fastest Grand Slam final win – Steffi Graf’s
34-minute French Open win of 1988.
Simona Halep, who began the championships as world No 7, will rise to No 4 when the next rankings are published on Monday, July 15.
Investors
and business owners alike follow commercial real estate trends. They
wish to know what the future holds and how it may affect their
business or their investment portfolio. What are the four most
important trends they should be watching in 2019? Furthermore, why
are these trends of importance?
Industrial
and Multifamily Properties Remain in High Demand
ULI’s
2019 Emerging Trends report announces industrial and multifamily
assets will remain popular in 2019. Investors are grabbing up entire
portfolios to strengthen their position in the industry. A good
example of this is the Blackstone Group. This group recently obtained
logistics assets from Harvard University, investing nearly $1 billion
when doing so.
Retail locations are becoming hot again, especially those primed for upgrades or redevelopment. Investors snatch up these properties thanks to their low cost and ability to be used for alternative purposes. Anyone looking for commercial real estate needs to act quickly before they miss out on a great opportunity.
Office
Space Demand May Slow
Office
net absorption remains positive. If the country
continues to see job growth in those sectors making use of this type
of commercial real estate, investors may once again look to this area
to build their portfolio. Experts are noticing office real estate
expansion is greatest in those areas in close proximity to
entertainment venues and additional amenities.
However,
these buildings now consist of smaller workspaces that are more
flexible, and co-working is becoming more common. Nevertheless, if
fewer jobs are created, office demand will decrease thanks to the
supply levels. When this occurs, vacancy rates will rise and rent
will grow at a slower pace thanks to increased competition.
Real
Estate Tech Will Flourish
Real
estate brokers, as with any business person, look for ways to
simplify their daily operations. With the help of new technology,
doing so will be less of a challenge. New products can be of help
with everything from research to property management. Every company
needs to look into investing in this area or risk falling behind
competitors. In a competitive market, lagging in this area can be
very dangerous and lead to customers looking elsewhere. For this
reason, many in real estate will make boosting their technology a
top priority.
New
Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Will Emerge
Thanks
to many retailers closing their physical locations, storefronts will
sit vacant or so many believe. However, certain online retailers are
opting to make use of this space and are opening physical locations
to complement their current online presence. Amazon is one company
making this move, and it is joined by Athleta and Casper. These
retailers have very little to lose because the rents are incredibly
low as landlords try to fill the vacant spots that are overtaking
their properties.
Although
nobody can accurately predict the future, as there are too many
variables at play, experts can provide information on what they
expect to happen based on their insider knowledge. While these four
trends need to be monitored, this does not mean other aspects of
commercial real estate are to be ignored.
The
more a person knows, the easier it becomes to make informed decisions
that are right for their business. For this reason, every person
interested in this sector should follow the news to see what develops
and what may be coming. Knowledge always remains the most important
thing.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was seen shaking for the third time in a
month during a ceremony in Berlin with Finnish PM Antti Rinne.
However, Angela Merkel, 64, insists there is no need to worry.
Video footage shows the chancellor
trembling, shaking back and forth alongside Finland’s prime minister during a
ceremony in Berlin on July 10.
After the incident, she said she was
“very well” and there was “no need to worry”.
A government spokesperson said the
chancellor would continue meetings as planned.
Angela Merkel was last seen shaking
two weeks ago ahead of a trip to Japan for the G20 summit. She told journalists
at the summit she was fine.
On July 10, she gripped her hands as
she tried to control her shaking, standing alongside Antti Rinne.
Angela Merkel was first seen shaking
last month during a welcome ceremony in Berlin for Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a press conference on July 10, Angela Merkel said she was “working
through what happened during the military honors with President Zelensky.”
She added: “This process is
clearly not finished yet but there is progress and I must live with this for a
while but I am very well and you don’t need to worry about me.”
Her spokeswoman, Ulrike Demmer, was questioned by German
media as to why the government had not provided any information on the
chancellor’s health. The spokeswoman said she had “nothing to add”.
Angela Merkel’s office has repeatedly dismissed concerns about her health.
Following her second shaking incident, a health specialist, Dr. Christoph
Specht, said that the chancellor could have contracted an infection. He said
shivering indicated an infection that was flaring up again.
German media have reacted with alarm to Angela Merkel’s health scare.
“The health of Angela Merkel is now a political issue,” an
editorial in the Bild newspaper read.
Angela Merkel is now in her fourth term as chancellor, a role she first
began in November 2005. She has said she will leave politics when her current
term ends in 2021.
Angela Merkel has been in good health while in office, and even worked from home after a knee operation in 2011. She also suffered a fall while skiing in 2014. Her absences were only brief on those occasions.
Having
a steam shower in your bathroom will be one of the best investments you will
make in your home. It offers many health benefits, and the long list of
advantages that you get from it is enough to convince you to have one
installed.
If
you’re in the process of building your dream home or renovating your bathroom,
below is a short fact checklist that you may want to review before purchasing a
steam shower.
The basics you need to know
A home steam shower works the same way as a commercial one that you see in spas and gyms. It offers plenty of health benefits, which includes improved functioning of the pulmonary system, increased blood circulation, and improved immune system. Steam showers also lead to healthier and brighter skin and are an excellent way to de-stress and relieve tension.
They
also come with timer functions and temperature controls, so you can have total
control when using it. This way, you don’t burn yourself when enjoying your
steam session.
There’s
an endless list of good reasons why it’s good to buy a steam shower and of them
is that you burn roughly 300 calories during a sauna session. Because of the
increased blood circulation benefit that you get from it, you will find your
metabolism working much faster than it used to. Basically, a faster way of
losing weight. Plus, it’s a more enjoyable experience as well with
aromatherapy, paired with soothing music.
Installation
With
steam showers, you don’t have to assemble them to install them. Instead, they
are manufactured as one complete unit so that you can put it in right away.
There
are different types of steam showers that you can buy in the market. Remember
though that even if they look alike, they aren’t necessarily the same.
Installation requirements depend on many things such as the model you purchase,
as well as the extras that come with it. As long as you have at least a water
pressure of 1 bar, you will be able to install and set up a steam shower in
your bathroom.
Health benefits that you get from it
There
is a long list of health benefits that you can get from steam showers. With
regular use, you’ll find it easier to breathe as the hot air and steam clear
your nose and lungs. This is beneficial for people who have sinusitis or
experience inflammation in the lungs.
Another
good thing with steam showers is that the improved blood circulation will relax
the muscles and if you’ll find relief if you have arthritis. It should also be
pointed out that the steam will open up the pores of the skin, which encourages
shedding and removal of deep-seated dirt.
There’s
more you can get from a steam shower installation and if you have extra budget
to spare, it will be a good investment with the health benefits it can offer
you.
Being in the public eye can be a pressure-filled
environment, leaving many famous people struggling to handle the stresses and
strains.
Creative types, top athletes and many other people cannot
handle being in the spotlight, often leading to them suffering with worry,
anxiety and depression.
However, by working with professionals to understand these
conditions, many celebrities have learned to manage the symptoms and thrive in
their respective careers.
Read on as we look at some of the world’s most famous people
have managed to conquer anxiety and worry.
Demi Lovato at Elvis Duran Show
Exercise the key for
Lovato
Singer Demi Lovato has regularly spoken about her struggles
with mental health and says she uses a variety of methods to deal with her
anxiety issues.
The founder of the ‘Be Vocal: Speak Up For Mental Health’
initiative, Lovato has regularly opened up about living with bipolar disorder
and battling anxiety in the past.
She says that solutions can vary from person to person and
has encouraged people not to stay silent about mental health issues.
“I can’t stress enough to vocalize your needs to a great support system – whether it’s your family or even an online community of people who are going through the same thing that you are,” she told the Huffington Post.
“It’s so important to vocalise what you’re dealing with
instead of internalising it and letting it manifest into unhealthy behavior.
That eventually leads to lifelong problems. That’s the most important thing you
can do.
“Exercising is another way I deal with anxiety. Painting,
and writing music and expressing myself through art are other ways that I can
release emotions. Meditation is another one. Whatever it is, it’s important to
find what works for you.”
Soreness, tiredness and feelings of nausea are amongst the
main side effects of intensive training and restrictions on certain
pharmaceuticals make it difficult for athletes to get relief from the symptoms.
With top level sports being a pressure-filled environment,
many athletes also suffer bouts of anxiety often brought on by concerns about
their injuries or worrying about performance.
Performing
helps Stone cope
Oscar winner, Emma Stone, says performing on the big screen
helps her cope with lifelong anxiety and panic attacks.
Stone struggled with deep separation anxiety as a youngster
and was eventually diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and panic
disorder.
She learned cognitive therapy techniques that helped her cope with anxiety and channel her feelings into productive behaviour.
“I believe the people who have anxiety and depression are very, very sensitive and very, very smart,” she said.
“Because the world is hard and scary and there’s a lot that goes on and if you’re very attuned to it, it can be crippling.
“But if you don’t let it cripple you and use it for something productive, it’s like a superpower.”
Today, she manages her anxiety with therapy, meditation,
being with others and keeping busy. She also steers clear of social media to
ensure she avoids putting herself in difficult situations.
She takes medication to manage her depression, but freely
admits that talking about the problem is the key to her wellbeing.
The ‘Star is Born’ actress created the Born This Way
Foundation in 2012 to build empowered communities and improve mental health
resources for young adults.
Gaga believes that mental health is just as vital to our
wellbeing as physical health, and insists that talking about it can really
help.
“I’ve suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life – I still suffer with it every single day,” she said.
“I just want these kids to know that that depth that they feel as human beings is normal. We were born that way. This modern thing, where everyone is feeling shallow and less connected? That‘s not human.
“I think it’s better when we all say: ‘Cheers!’ And ‘fess up to it.”
Fish urges people to talk
In 2012, tennis star Mardy Fish began suffering from anxiety
attacks so serious that he had to withdraw before a match against Rodger
Federer at the US Open.
His anxiety ultimately led him to retiring from the sport,
but therapy, medication and talking openly about his mental-health difficulties
have proved to be a life-saver.
“Mental health is not a very easy thing to talk about in sports,” he told the Players’ Tribune. “It’s not perceived as very masculine.
“We’re so trained to be ‘mentally tough,’ in sports. To show weakness, we’re told, in so many words, is to deserve shame.”
Fish has refused to be defined by anxiety disorder and has
found his way back into tennis as captain of the US Davis Cup team.
He believes that his previous experiences make him
well-equipped to help the current crop of players deal with the pressures of
representing their country.
“To be the Davis Cup captain, the next Davis Cup captain, I’m incredibly humbled,” Fish said. “I can’t even express how excited I am, how excited I am that the players have supported the decision.
“The friendships I’ve made throughout the years, relationships of all the players, not just the top players, is very special.”
According to a recent study, the popular herbal
extract ginkgo biloba may help the brain recover after a stroke.
The supplement, available in health food shops or pharmacies all over the
world, is used in China to aid memory and fight depression.
In a trial of 330 stroke patients over six months in China, ginkgo biloba
was linked with better cognitive skill scores on tests.
However, experts say the evidence for ginkgo is too weak to recommend it.
Those behind the study – published in the online journal Stroke & Vascular Neurology – admit
that larger, longer and more robust trials are needed.
The small study was carried out by Nanjing University Medical School, with patients from five Chinese hospitals.
All 330 participants began the trial within a week of having an ischemic
stroke. The average age of the patients was 64.
Roughly half of them were given 450mg of ginkgo biloba daily, in addition to
100mg of aspirin, while the remainder were given only the aspirin.
During a stroke, the blood supplying vital parts of the brain is
interrupted, often leading to impaired memory and a decline in organizational
and reasoning skills among stroke survivors.
Researchers wanted to see if combining ginkgo biloba with aspirin might help
lessen or halt the cognitive decline.
Previous experimental studies in animals have suggested that
ginkgo biloba protects against the nerve cell death associated with blood clots
in the brain, possibly by increasing blood flow in the cerebral arteries.
All the participants took a
neuropsychological test (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) at the start of the
trial, and then 12, 30, 90 and 180 days later, to check for any cognitive
impairment.
The results showed that those taking
the combination of aspirin and ginkgo biloba had higher scores for cognitive
skills, including memory and reasoning, than those who weren’t.
Speech problems and muscle strength
also improved more rapidly, with indications of improved functional capacity 12
and 30 days after the start of treatment. However, both the clinicians and the
patients knew which treatment they had been assigned to, which may have skewed
the results, and the monitoring period was not very long.
Ginkgo biloba is one of the oldest
living tree species.
According to researchers, the
extract used in the study contained more protective, and fewer harmful,
chemicals than the extract typically used in previous studies.
Few side-effects were reported
during the trial.
The participants were subsequently
monitored for nearly two years, with little difference in the vascular health
of the two groups: 16 people in the combined treatment group, and 20 in the
aspirin group had further problems, including recurrent stroke and aneurysm.
However, longer term studies looking
at stroke severity are necessary, before any more definitive conclusions can be
reached.
At least 23 people have been injured in an explosion at a shopping center in
Plantation, Florida, on July 6, officials say.
Video shows windows blown out of an LA Fitness while a building next door
appeared completely destroyed, with debris strewn in all directions.
No one was killed in the explosion, police said.
Thirteen people have gone to the Westside Regional
Medical Center emergency room, ABC News reported. Broward Health Medical Center
officials said they have two patients in fair condition: one in the trauma
center and the other in the pediatric emergency room.
Joel Gordon, Battalion Chief for Plantation Fire, told
reporters: “This could have been a
lot worse.”
As of a 1:30 p.m. press conference, no deaths were reported.
“At this point, nobody was killed.
Thank goodness for that. As bad as it is, it could have been a lot worse,”
said Joel Gordon.
The vacant pizza restaurant where the explosion occurred was completely
destroyed and an LA Fitness nearby sustained heavy damage caused by the
blast, with debris and glass filling the nearby parking lot.
Fire departments from Plantation, Davie, Lauderhill, Coral Springs, as well
as Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue have all been called to the scene.
Footage from inside the fitness center showed crowds
hurrying out of the building, some limping and in shock, while its front
windows were nearly blown out front the massive blast.
Plantation Fire tweeted that the explosion occurred along
the 800 block of South University Drive on Saturday and police have closed the
road. Motorists are advised to avoid the area.
Plantation police tweeted: “All
stores and businesses in the area of the Fountains Plaza and the Plantation Marketplace
plaza near LA Fitness will be shut down until further notice until Fire
Personnel can determine that it is safe to return. Please do not come into this
area if possible.”
Firefighters with dogs were seen going through the rubble to determine if anyone
was still underneath.
According to police, a family and business reunification center has been set up at Plantation Central Park, 9151 NW 2nd Street.
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor,
the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has been christened by the
Archbishop of Canterbury in a private ceremony.
The royal baby was baptized in front
of close family and friends in the private chapel at Windsor Castle on July 6.
Prince William and Kate Middleton
attended but were not thought to have their children with them.
Queen Elizabeth II did not attend
due to a prior engagement.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of
Cornwall were reported to have arrived at the ceremony by helicopter and Meghan
Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, also attended.
A full list of the 25 guests has not
been made public, but Lady Jane Fellowes and Lady Sarah McCorquodale – the
sisters of Prince Harry’s mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales – were
pictured in an official photograph taken at the christening.
A Royal Communications spokesperson
said: “The Duke and Duchess of
Sussex are overjoyed to share the happiness of this day, and would like to
thank everyone around the world for their ongoing support.
“They feel so fortunate to have enjoyed this special
moment with family and Archie’s godparents.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex opted
to exclude the press and the public from the day and chose not to reveal the
names of Archie’s godparents.
Instead of having press
photographers, fashion photographer Chris Allerton – who took their wedding
photos – captured the special moment, with two pictures released to the public
and posted on the couple’s Instagram account.
Chris Allerton said he was
“honored” to take the official photographs and “be part of such
a joyous occasion”.
However, Prince Harry and Meghan did follow some royal traditions.
Archie wore a handmade replica of the royal christening robe which was made
for Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter.
The robe, which has been worn by royal infants on the occasion of their
christening for the last 11 years, was made by Angela Kelly, dressmaker to the
Queen.
The ornate Lily Font, commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for the baptism of their first child Victoria, Princess Royal, in 1841, was also used – as was water from the River Jordan.
North Korea says Alek Sigley, who
had been detained for several days before being released, had been
“spying” for news outlets.
The 29-year-old Australian student
was reported missing in late June, but was freed on July 4 after Swedish
officials in Pyongyang met the North Korean government.
NK News, one of
the websites to publish Alek Sigley’s writing, has rejected North Korea’s
claims that he spied for them.
It said Alek Sigley’s columns only
“presented an apolitical view of life in Pyongyang”.
Alek Sigley, a fluent Korean
speaker, had been living in Pyongyang while studying a Master’s at Kim Il-sung
University and running a tourism business.
He has not commented on why he
detained. Following his release, he flew to Japan, where his wife lives.
On July 6, North Korea’s state-run news agency KCNA said that Alek Sigley
had “on numerous occasions transferred information, including photographs
and analysis that he gathered while travelling to every corner of Pyongyang
using his status as an international student”.
Alek Sigley had done this “upon request by anti-DPRK [North Korea] news
outlets such as NK news”, KCNA added.
The North Korean government decided to deport him on humanitarian grounds
after he “honestly admitted that he had been spying… and repeatedly
asked for our forgiveness for infringing on our sovereignty”, it said.
North Korea often accuses foreigners detained in its country of espionage or
“hostile acts”.
In a statement, NK News, a website specializing in North Korean news and analysis,
said it appreciated “the DPRK’s decision to promptly release Sigley on
humanitarian grounds”.
The website said it had published six articles from Alek Sigley which showed “vignettes of ordinary daily life in the capital”.“The six articles Alek published represent the full extent of his work with us and the idea that those columns, published transparently under his name between January and April 2019, are ‘anti-state’ in nature is a misrepresentation which we reject.”
Southern California has been hit by a 7.1-magnitude
earthquake, the biggest tremor to strike in 20 years.
The quake struck at the shallow depth of 0.6 miles and its epicenter was near
the city of Ridgecrest, about 150 miles north-east of Los Angeles.
On July 4, a 6.4-magnitude quake hit the same area at a depth of nearly 6.5
miles.
The earthquake was felt as far away
as Las Vegas in the neighboring state of Nevada and over the border in Mexico.
California Governor Gavin Newsom
offered his heartfelt support to all those affected, and has requested a
Presidential Emergency Declaration and federal aid to help.
Fires have broken out and emergency
services are responding to calls across the state after the quake.
Kern County Fire Department Chief David Witt said about 1,800 people had no
power after the quake, but added there were “nothing but minor injuries…
such as cuts and bruises, by the grace of god”.
According to the San Bernardino County Fire Department, “damage is more
significant than yesterday’s quake”, and said they were tackling blazes
and gas leaks.
Officials said it was still unclear how much damage had been caused and how
many people had been injured in the state.
The LA Fire Department however said nobody had been killed or injured. A
statement after the latest quake said the authorities had seen “no major
infrastructure damage” after a survey of the city.
Crowds at a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game were seen leaving their seats
when the quake struck, although the players themselves continued playing.
A US Navy weapons testing station near Ridgecrest was also affected.
NAWS China Lake – the Navy’s single largest landholding, covering an area
larger than the state of Rhode Island – announced on Facebook it is “not
mission capable until further notice”, without providing details.
In Las Vegas, a basketball match between the New York Knicks and the New
Orleans Pelicans was abandoned because of the tremors.
The quake hit at 20:19 local time on July 5, the US Geological Survey (USGS)
said.
After July 4 event, seismologists had been warning that aftershocks could
continue for a prolonged period of time.
California is prone to earthquakes as it lies on a number of faults – regions where tectonic plates come together.
President Donald Trump is preparing to address
an Independence Day military parade event in Washington DC that he promises
will be the “show of a lifetime”.
Thousands of troops are being assembled at a red-, white- and blue-draped
Lincoln Memorial to hear the first such speech by a president since 1951.
Armored carriers and tanks are part of the “Salute to America”
backdrop.
Opponents accuse President Trump of politicizing the holiday ahead of a
re-election campaign and wasting taxpayer’s money.
The Pentagon has not revealed the cost of the parade, which many believe was
inspired by President Trump’s visit to the Bastille Day parade hosted by French
President Emmanuel Macron.
Some reports say the National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million
to cover the cost.
As well as tanks, President Trump’s 4th of July celebration will
also feature a military jet flyover and an extended fireworks show.
As the armored vehicles were transported from a railyard in south-eastern
Washington DC on July 2, military officials advised residents not to be
alarmed.
The two 70-tonne Abrams tanks have to stay on a side road as they are too
heavy for the memorial’s surrounding areas.
In a morning tweet, President Trump said the parade was “turning out to
be one of the biggest celebrations in the history of our Country”.
The president will be keeping a keen eye on the turnout, given the arguments
over the claimed attendance of his inauguration ceremony back in 2017.
The event will be open to the public free of charge, apart from a ticketed area for VIPs in front of the memorial.
Large numbers of Trump supporters wearing Make American Great Again hats –
and opponents upset at the cost – have been descending on the capital.
The musical playlist includes the Star
Wars theme and Hail to the Chief.
Donald Trump’s speech is at 18:30 local time.
The president will be joined by a Pentagon delegation led by the
highest-ranking US military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Joseph Dunford.
However, the service chiefs of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps
will not attend.
The Defense Department said in a statement it had received 5,000 tickets
from the White House.
The White House has also distributed VIP tickets to major donors and
political appointees, amid reported concerns that empty seats might be visible.
President Trump said in a tweet that
the expense “will be very little compared to what it is worth”.
Military flyovers alone cost tens of
thousands of dollars per hour.
President Trump’s plans for a military display on Veterans Day in November 2018 were dropped after defense officials said it would cost about $92 million – more than three times the original estimate.
Financial emergencies can hit anybody at any
time. Even if you know how to save money effectively and
have built up an emergency fund to assist you during a financial crisis, there
will be times in your life where you need a lot of money quickly to maintain
your quality of life.
There are many different types of financial emergencies that can drain your emergency fund and force you to look outward for additional money. With that said, some financial emergencies are more common than others.
Common Financial Emergencies:
Medical bills
Funeral expenses
Car trouble
Cost of living increases
Household repairs
Job loss
Various Ways to Cover an Unexpected Financial Emergency
When a financial emergency hits, like the ones
listed above, it can create a heavy mark on your life. You will need quick
financial relief to handle this unforeseen situation, and luckily, there may be
several options you could take advantage of.
Using Your Existing Emergency Fund
If you have an emergency fund, you may be
tempted to deplete it when you need money to resolve a current predicament. But
this may not be the best option for your finances.
Emergency funds are set in place to cushion you from financial instability, but depending on your current situation, you may be better off looking for funds elsewhere. It’s recommended that you only use your emergency funds for those once-in-a-lifetime catastrophes.
But if you must, make sure you use no more
than 50% of whatever funds you have managed to save so far. This way you still
have an emergency fund for any other financial dilemmas in the future.
Acquiring Money from Friends or Family
There are many great perks to borrowing funds
from family and friends, however, just as many pitfalls.
This funding method may not be an option for
many, as the amount needed to cover the full cost of a financial emergency may
be too great. But if you’re able to acquire the money you need from a family
member or friend, then you could save on interest rates and pesky fees. Not to
mention, the repayment terms could be incredibly flexible. But there could be
many repercussions if the exchange is not handled with care.
If your financial situation doesn’t improve,
then you could risk the relationship you have with the individual you borrowed
money from. If the terms of the loan were not gone over in detail, the
miscommunication could cause a rift in the relationship between you and the
family member or friend.
Using a Quick Payday Loan
If you need a lot of monetary funds to cover
the total cost of the financial crisis you are facing, then you may have
thought about applying for a payday loan.
Payday loans are unsecure loans, meaning that
no collateral is needed to acquire the loan. This is great news, as you do not
have to risk a valuable asset like a sentimental piece of jewelry. But while
payday loans offer quick financial relief to those facing an emergency with a
deadline, they may not be the best option.
These quick relief loans come with many
setbacks, such as:
High interest rates
Short repayment terms (2 weeks)
Hidden fees
The name is reflective of the repayment terms,
as repayment is typically expected by the borrowers upcoming payday. If you
don’t have the full loan amount plus fees by then, you risk incurring even more
fees and falling further into debt.
Applying for a Convenient Title Loan
Title loans are another borrowing option that
many people turn to. Just as popular as payday loans, with significantly better
terms.
Title loans, unlike payday loans, are secure
loans. Unfortunately, this means that collateral will be required—in the form
of a car. To obtain a title loan, the borrower uses the car as collateral by
giving the title to the lender for the duration of the loan.
This downside may not be so grim though, as
many lenders allow the borrower to keep driving their car while making
payments. And since the loan is secure, the lender may offer better terms.
Title loans could offer borrowers the
following benefits:
Longer loan terms (up to a few
years!)
Flexible eligibility requirements
Quick approval and funding
Competitive interest rates
Title loans are a great funding option for those facing a financial emergency due to their ease and convenience. Credit is typically not the main qualifying factor with title loans, making them easier to acquire than most other types of loans.
Consider the many funding options available to
you, including using your emergency fund, payday loans, and title loans.
Consider how much you need and how long you would need to repay any money you
borrow. Financial emergencies can pop up out of the blue, but you don’t have to
be left adrift.
Hundreds of protesters have occupied
Hong Kong’s parliament building for hours after breaking away from a protest on
the anniversary of the state’s transfer of sovereignty to China from Britain.
Police firing tear gas have moved in
to evict protesters from the Legislative Council (LegCo) building.
At midnight, local time, hundreds of
police charged towards the building after warning protesters to clear it.
The incident follows weeks of unrest
in Hong Kong over a controversial extradition law.
Hundreds of thousands took part in
the earlier protest – the latest rally against a proposed law that critics fear
could be used to extradite political dissidents to mainland China.
Dozens of demonstrators smashed
their way through the glass facade of LegCo. They were joined inside by
hundreds more after police vacated the building during the evening.
Inside the building, protesters
defaced the emblem of Hong Kong in the central chamber, raised the old British
colonial flag, spray-painted messages across the walls, and shattered
furniture.
They clad in plastic helmets and
brandishing umbrellas retreated from a baton charge by riot police, who quickly
overcame the makeshift barriers in front of the building.
Inside, diehard demonstrators were
pulled forcibly outside by their fellow occupants in an attempt to completely
clear the building.
Democratic lawmakers Ted Hui and Roy
Kwong stood in front of police asking them to allow protesters time to leave
the area, the South China Morning Post
reported.
Within an hour, the streets around the parliament building were clear of
everyone except the media and police.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un have held a symbolic meeting at the DMZ, the heavily fortified zone
dividing the two Koreas.
Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to cross into North Korea
after meeting Kim Jong-un at the demilitarized zone.
Critics have dismissed it as pure political theatre, but others say it could
set the scene for future talks.
Their last summit ended abruptly with no progress on denuclearization talks.
Speaking to reporters alongside Kim Jong-un at the DMZ, President Trump said
it was a “truly historic” moment and that he was “proud to step
over the line” between the Koreas.
Kim Jong-un, in a rare statement to the press, said the meeting was a symbol
of the “excellent” relationship between him and President Trump.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meeting in June 2018 Image source Wikipedia
With no time for the all-important backroom diplomacy, it was expected to be
largely a photo opportunity. However, the dramatic meeting will be seen as a sign
of their ongoing commitment to the denuclearization talks.
Negotiations with North Korea, to try to convince it to abandon its
controversial nuclear program, reached a peak last year when Donald Trump and Kim
Jong-un had a historic meeting in Singapore.
They both committed to the “complete denuclearization” of the
Korean peninsula, but without clarifying what that meant.
It was hoped their second meeting,
in Hanoi in February 2019, would make some concrete agreement about North Korea
handing over its nuclear program in exchange for some of the tight sanctions
against it being lifted.
Hwever, those talks ended with no
deal, as they failed to agree on the pace at which sanctions should be eased.
Since then the negotiations have stalled, though Kim Jong-un and President Trump
have exchanged letters recently.
The DMZ, which runs about 2.5 miles
wide and 155 miles long, has divided the peninsula since the Korean War ended
in 1953.
Though that area, by definition, has no military installations or personnel,
beyond it lies one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world.
The Joint Security Area (JSA) located at the Panmunjom village straddles the
Military Demarcation Line and is where all negotiations between the two Koreas
are held.
Tourists can also go to the JSA when relations between North Korea and South Korea – still technically at war – allow it. No US sitting US president has been inside it. Bill Clinton once described it as the “scariest place on Earth”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered
two shaking attacks in eight days, but she says she is “fine” after
the two public episodes have sparked concerns about her health.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Osaka,
Angela Merkel said she was convinced that “this reaction will disappear
just as it has arisen”, German news agency DPA said.
Asked what lay behind it and whether
she had seen a doctor, Angela Merkel said she had “nothing in particular
to report”.
On June 27, the German chancellor was
seen shaking for two minutes at a ceremony in Berlin.
Angela Merkel, who turns 65 next
month, gripped her arms until she became steadier. She was offered a glass of
water but did not drink it.
The previous incident – which she
later blamed on dehydration – saw her shaking while standing next to Ukraine’s
President Volodymyr Zelensky in hot sunshine.
In 2017, Angela Merkel had an earlier bout of shaking in hot weather on a
visit to Mexico as she was attending a military honors ceremony.
Reports said that subsequent medical checks had found nothing to be wrong.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert tweeted a video of the
chancellor making a speech covering topics such as extremism, women’s
empowerment and climate change. It showed her standing and speaking in a
relaxed manner.
Angela Merkel is now in her fourth term as chancellor, a role she began in
November 2005. She has said she will leave politics when her current term ends
in 2021.
She has a reputation for remarkable stamina – during intensive late-night
discussions at EU summits, for example.
Angela has been in good health while in office, and even worked from home
after a knee operation in 2011. She suffered a fall while skiing in 2014. Her
absences were only brief on those occasions. Her mother died earlier this year.
President Donald Trump and his Chinese
counterpart, President Xi Jinping, have agreed to resume trade talks, easing a
long row that has contributed to a global economic slowdown.
The US and China reached agreement at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
President Trump also said he would allow US companies to continue to sell to
the Chinese tech giant Huawei, in a move seen as a significant concession.
He had threatened additional trade sanctions on China.
However, after the meeting on the sidelines of the main G20 summit in Japan,
President Trump confirmed that the US would not be adding tariffs on $300 billion
worth of Chinese imports.
He also said he would continue to negotiate with China “for the time
being”.
At a subsequent press conference, President Trump declared
that US technology companies could again sell to China’s Huawei – effectively
reversing a ban imposed last month by the US commerce department.
The US and China have been fighting a damaging trade war over the past year.
Donald Trump accused China of stealing intellectual property and forcing US
companies to share trade secrets in order to do business in China, which in
turn said US demands for business reform were unreasonable.
The feud escalated in the months leading up to the G20 summit, after talks
between the two countries collapsed in May.
The truce signals a pause in hostilities rather than a resolution of the
dispute, which has caused market turbulence and hit global growth.
President Trump said his meeting with President Xi was “excellent, as good as it was going to be,” adding: “We discussed a lot of things and we’re right back on track and we’ll see what happens.”
China’s state news agency Xinhua quoted President Xi as saying: “China and the US have highly
integrated interests and extensive co-operation areas and they should not fall
into so-called traps of conflict and confrontation.”
Washington has publicly said Huawei’s
technology poses a national security risk, although President Trump has also
linked the issue to the trade dispute.
Last month, the US banned Huawei
from buying US goods without a license – including from Google, which is
crucial to many of its products. The ban could cost the firm $30 billion in
revenue this year.
President Trump’s decision to allow US companies to continue to sell to
Huawei “where there’s no great national security problem” could be a
substantial concession, although exactly how this will play out remains
unclear.
He said the Huawei situation would be dealt with “at the very end”
of trade talks.
The next summit is due to be held in
Saudi Arabia in November 2020.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has
continued to face questions in Japan over the murder in Istanbul last year of
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the matter is likely to rumble on.
The UK and Turkey are among the countries still pressing the issue, although President Trump says “no-one blames” the Saudi crown prince.
The heat wave
that hit Europe this week has already claimed several lives across the
continent.
Temperatures in France were slightly lower than on June 28, when the country
recorded its highest-ever temperature.
However, some areas of northern Spain saw temperatures soar above 40C (104F),
with the city of Zaragoza recording 42C (108F) and a meteorological station
between the Catalan towns of Vinebre and Masroig – close to an area already hit
by wildfires – recording 43.3C (110F).
In France’s southern Vaucluse region, a cyclist died after falling ill in
the heat. According to officials, the cyclist had been in a mountainous region
and warned people against engaging in sporting activity.
According to meteorologists, the hot air drawn in from northern Africa and
high pressure over central Europe are contributing to the heat wave.
The UK recorded its hottest day of the year on June 29, with the temperature
reaching 34C (93.2F) at Northolt and Heathrow airports in west London.
On June 28, France registered its highest recorded temperature – 45.9C
(114.6F) – in the southern village of Gallargues-le-Montueux.
President Donald Trump has offered to meet
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North
and South Korea.
North Korea has described President Trump’s offer as a “very
interesting suggestion”.
Donald Trump has arrived in South Korea to discuss the flagging North Korea
denuclearization talks.
If Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un were to see each other at the DMZ, it would
be their third meeting in just over a year, and their first since a summit in
Vietnam broke down in February.
President Trump tweeted: “After
some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China,
I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if
Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just
to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!”
President Trump – who is visiting South Korea after attending the G20 summit
in Japan – conceded that the pair could see each other only “for two
minutes”.
However, despite the apparent lack of any diplomatic preparation, some have
suggested another face-to-face meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un
could help reset relations and set the scene for future talks.
Only a few hours later, North Korea’s first vice-minister for foreign
affairs, Choe Son Hui, said in statement: “We
see it as a very interesting suggestion, but we have not received an official
proposal in this regard.”
Such a meeting, the statement added, “would serve as another meaningful
occasion in further deepening the personal relations between the two leaders
and advancing the bilateral relations”.
It remains unclear whether officials with President Trump were briefed in
advance about his overture to Kim Jong-un, and South Korea’s presidency said
nothing was yet confirmed.
Last week, a South Korean official said Donald Trump was considering a trip
to the DMZ, prompting speculation a meeting with Kim Jong-un could be possible.
President Trump attempted to make a surprise visit to the area in November
2017, but was forced to abandon the plans due to bad weather.
Document automation software can help you save hours on designing and formatting documents. Find out other reasons to use document automation here.
Did you know that 99.9% of all establishments in the United States are small businesses? That equates to about 30.2 million businesses, with 8 million of them owned by minority groups.
Yes, it’s a competitive world and a majority of businesses don’t survive.
If you want your business to become more competitive, you need document automation software. It doesn’t matter whether it’s thank you letters, quotes, contracts, or other documents. You’ll save time, money, and cut document efforts.
Are you ready to learn the benefits of document automation? Read on and find out more.
Why You Should Use Documentation Automation Software
Aside from its direct benefits, document automation has its own set of indirect advantages that go beyond its function. For some organizations, these can make more impact on their success. Here are some reasons your business should use document automation software:
1. Increase Data Compliance
Your business will see a large improvement in your data compliance as a byproduct of your document process automation. After all, your employees can only access documents using the app.
Your data integrity improves. It happens since you can complete documents based on the data you employees put into the document automation app.
2. Decrease Resources Used to Documents
A lot of organizations dedicate a lot of resources to help audit and manage documents. That meant you had to hire employees and get more software. With document automation, your company can reallocate these resources to other productive projects.
3. Minimize Training Time
The most challenging part of a new job is to learn the business’s internal processes. If you automate document creation, it’s now replicable and easier to internalize. Your new employees can focus better on the work you hired them for.
That means you don’t need to train them on how to make and deliver documents needed in the sales process.
4. Protect Sensitive Data
A lot of documents you distribute can contain sensitive data. Whether it’s internal or external documents, information like these are private:
Pricing
Financial figures
Sales results
Customer consumption data
If you automate your data creation process, it will limit the data exposed on an employee’s desktop. It decreases the chances of information finding its way to the wrong hands.
Both your data and documents will sit together in a single repository. The best part is that you have control over permissions. This will help in limiting the people that can access your documents and sensitive data.
5. Reduce the Number of Documents Managed
With document generators, you’ll have control on the versions and content of the documents. That will limit the number of documents made by your employees. There are companies out there that automated 98% of the data they have in their contract process.
As a result of automation, these companies decreased the number of documents used to make new contracts from more than a thousand to a hundred.
6. Use Consistent Branding
Regardless of whether you’re a small business with 20 employees or a giant corporation, you need consistent branding. It will apply whether it’s your company’s voice or the visuals that accompany it.
If you automate your document creation, you control the document’s content. You also have control over the template. This will ensure that all your employees represent your company with consistent color schemes, logos, and graphics.
7. Make a Repeatable Business Service
Making documents in a manual fashion can often become a tedious task. Once you automate its process, it becomes a repeatable process for your entire business. Your employees increase in productivity since they won’t feel worn out by starting from the ground up every time.
Your employees can also access the same data regardless of their employment duration. They can merge these with your document to generate a document package.
8. Easier Storage and Retrieval
Storing your electronic documents on a centralized location will reduce the necessity of physical filing cabinets. That will save your office a lot of space, making employees feel less claustrophobic. Besides, that will also give you more space to put some amenities to boost employee morale.
Document automation applications store your documents in a secure manner, regardless of the total number of people working within your system. With this, your employees won’t accidentally stumble on documents they aren’t supposed to read. It also eases up their search process when trying to access related documents.
Also, it’s important to remember that hard copy document retrieval can become a time-consuming task. Depending on your company size, it will take anywhere between minutes and days. If you’re in a fast-paced business environment, this is an inefficient way of dealing with documents.
Automating your documents will allow you to get all these documents in one secure system. The retrieval is also instantaneous.
9. Allows Collaboration
Do you have different locations for your company? If so, you know the difficulty of teams working in different areas of the office. It’s even harder when you’re trying to make two different departments collaborate.
But if you automate your document creation, you cut the manual collaboration of documents. You can also drop the need for physical collaboration of these teams if you want. This will improve your efficiency since teams can now talk online and work together.
These electronic documents can have updates in real time. It means any collaborator for the documents won’t need to wait for long before they can start editing the same document. That decreases downtime and improves the overall productivity of your company.
Use Document Automation Software Today!
There are a lot of other benefits when using document automation software in your workplace. But the most important advantage is that you save both money and manpower. This helps you allocate these extra resources to more productive tasks.
If you want to look for more benefits, don’t hesitate to do some more research. But the benefits listed here are great enough as a starting point.
Did you enjoy this guide? If so, read more of our posts and discover more tips today.
All evidence indicates that cardiovascular
disease continues to be a top killer for Americans.
We’ve talked before about cardiovascular disease – heart disease – and some of the ways in which you can beat it. Today, let’s dig into the statistics about heart disease, and try to learn more about the underlying causes and what we can do about it.
1). The Cardiovascular Disease Body
Count
Cardiovascular disease is the top killer, the leading cause of death, for men and for women in the United States. According to the CDC, it kills about 610,000 people a year – 1 in every 4 deaths.
Coronary artery disease is the most
common type of heart disease, and it accounts for over 370,000 deaths out of
the 610,000.
Additionally, about 790,000 Americans
have a heart attack every year, and by far the most important cause is coronary
artery disease.
These statistics are grim. What’s behind
them?
2). Who is At Risk?
There are a number of different risk
factors for cardiovascular disease. Three of the most important are 1) high
blood pressure, 2) high cholesterol, and 3) smoking.
Some 49% of Americans have at least one
of these three risk factors. However, there are other risk factors which can
also contribute significantly to cardiovascular disease: diabetes; being
overweight or obese; having a poor diet; a lack of physical activity, and
excessive alcohol use.
Many of the above risk factors feed into
high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol, and thus may lead to
cardiovascular disease.
3). Symptoms – What to Look For if You
Might Have Cardiovascular Disease
Since cardiovascular disease describes a
variety of conditions, there are a number of different symptoms to look for.
Some people experience pain, tightness,
pressure, and discomfort in the chest, known as angina. Shortness of breath is
another major symptom.
Sometimes people with heart disease
suffer from pain, numbness, weakness, or coldness in the legs or the arms –
this happens when the blood vessels in those areas become narrowed.
People also experience neck, jaw,
throat, upper abdomen, and back pain as a result of cardiovascular disease.
There are also some general differences between men and women: where men are more likely to suffer from chest pain, women are more likely to suffer from shortness of breath, nausea, and extreme fatigue.
Whatever the case, if you or a loved one
are suffering from any of these symptoms, seek professional medical advice.
Heart arrythmias are another cluster of
symptoms. Fluttering in the chest, racing heartbeat, slow heartbeat, dizziness,
and fainting or near fainting are a few symptoms you might experience if you
have cardiovascular disease.
Whatever your symptoms, it’s a good idea
to follow up with a doctor and get professional help. It’s in your best
interest to make sure you catch heart disease as soon as possible for the best
chances of treatment.
4). Treatment – How to Deal With
Cardiovascular Disease
Taking a best-case scenario, if the
patient’s condition is due to lifestyle issues rather than genetic issues and
it is discovered early, lifestyle changes and perhaps a medication could result
in a reversal of the issues causing the disease. In this scenario, it is easy
to imagine that there would be no lasting damage.
In other cases, arteries blocked by
plaque may require angioplasty, a surgery to open the arteries, or balloon
valvuloplasty, a procedure which requires less cutting than traditional
surgery. In more severe cases, heart bypass surgery may be necessary.
A procedure called cardioversion, or
electrical cardioversion, uses electricity to restore normal rhythm in damaged
heart muscle.
There are many other treatments for
cardiovascular disease, and the treatment needed will depend on both the
patient’s condition and how severe it is.
5). Prevention – Reducing Your Chances
of Cardiovascular Disease
As frightening as cardiovascular disease
is, there are a number of tried and true strategies for preventing it. Although
some cases of heart disease are the result of congenital issues (birth
defects), the vast majority are preventable because they are caused by
lifestyle choices.
These same lifestyle choices can also
play a very important role in helping to treat the condition.
As we saw above, smoking is one of the
most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease. This points to one of
the most important strategies for preventing cardiovascular disease: quitting
smoking.
Controlling other, potentially
contributing health conditions is another way in which to prevent
cardiovascular disease. In particular, it is important to control high blood
pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes, both through medications and healthy
lifestyle behaviors.
Eating a diet that is heart-healthy – in
particular, low in salt and not fattening – is another important step.
Maintaining physical activity is also an
important preventive strategy.
As the CRT Meeting for Interventional Cardiology states: “Preventing cardiovascular disease through appropriate health and fitness behaviors is always the optimal personal health plan.”
Conclusion
The reason cardiovascular disease
continues to tragically claim so many American lives is that too many Americans
are not maintaining good health. Through good diet, a modest amount of physical
activity, and avoiding smoking and excessive drinking, most Americans can avoid
cardiovascular disease.
July 4th is a special date for many across America, because it is a time to celebrate the United States’ independence from Great Britain in 1776. Usually, families across the nation celebrate with BBQ’s, celebrations and other formal events. However, July 4th is also unfortunately a day that can result in severe accidents and tragedy due to irresponsible actions.
Fireworks
The most common danger to the health of people who celebrate Independence Day are fireworks. Usually, fireworks are a public display administered by licensed professionals. However, too many overzealous people seek to make displays of their own domestically. Thousands of people per year require medical attention due to firework-related injuries and are the result of not knowing the full safety precautions one must take.
First, you must check to see if fireworks are legal in your location and if a permit is required to administer them. If so, fireworks must never be put into a container and must not be held by children. In addition, fireworks should never be lit indoors or flammable objects. The most common way people can get injured is by holding the fireworks with your hands.
Badly Cooked Food
With outdoor BBQ’s also come the risk of having food being undercooked. The primary concerns with food safety, especially when cooking outdoors, is undercooking meat and spreading germs and bacteria to surrounding food and materials.
If meat does not get cooked thoroughly, food poisoning and salmonella could potentially follow. While certain meat such as lamb or beef can be eaten rare if the outside is cooked well. Other meat choices such as sausage and chicken is only safe to eat if there is no pink in the middle and is hot in the center. A thermometer can help verify this information.
Drinking
With any festive occasion may also alcohol and the temptation to drink. While you can drink responsibly and have a great time with loved ones, drinking excess alcohol can lead to one becoming drunk. This can predispose to making unwise decisions such as driving.
If you plan to drink and could potentially become drunk, plan for someone you trust to bring you home. If you know of a friend that may do so, make proper transportation arrangements to prevent a potential tragedy.
Public Swimming
Other events may be taken place in public locals and areas near a body of water. While there are ample opportunities to take great photos and enjoy a good evening across crisp waters, swimming into lakes can potentially lead to drowning or coming into contact with foreign materials that can cause illness.
If the celebration is being held domestically and a traditional pool is used, refrain from engaging in activity that can cause one to drown or get injured such as dunking others and diving.
July 4th is a great day to celebrate freedom with loved ones, but it is also important to stay safe. Follow these tips to ensure a danger-free day.
Sales is the cornerstone of almost every business,
whether you’re selling a product or a service. But sometimes, even when sales
drop, we tend to forget the simple day-to-day things we can do to bring them
back up.
Some strategies may take longer than others to produce
results, but there are several things you can do right now to make a
difference.
Use promotional
products
On your way out the door for lunch, grab that promotional pen sitting on the edge of your desk. After your meal, you can leave one on the table with your tip or even hand a few to the managers for their waitstaff.
No one will turn down a free product, especially one they can use every day. And promotional items are surprisingly effective. For one thing, most people don’t throw them away until they break or stop working.
In addition to pens, you can use mugs, shirts, notepads,
bags, etc. The important thing to remember is that your products should line up
with your company, or at least not deviate from it completely.
For example, a dentist wouldn’t hand out bags of candy
with their logo on them. And a church might not want their name printed on
flasks. Instead, you want an item that automatically makes the customer think
of your brand, or at least be universal enough that it can be used by anyone.
Reach out to past
customers
Depending on the product or service you offer, repeat
business could be your bread and butter. This is especially true if you’ve
managed to wow your prior customers with excellent service. But even if what
you sell isn’t conducive to repeat business, there’s still value in those
previous contacts.
Stay in touch with as many customers as you can, no matter what you sell. If you’ve neglected doing this in the past, it’s important to start now. You never know when someone who’s done business with you in the past will introduce you to a new sales lead.
And contacting them doesn’t have to feel like a sordid
task. Sometimes, something as simple as a mass email can generate more
interest. There are plenty of services that can take care of this type of email
marketing for you, running entire campaigns if needed.
Get active on
social media
Social media is one of the most effective means of advertising we have at our disposal today. And the best part is that it’s absolutely free unless you choose to purchase ads. What’s important for social media marketing is that you’re consistently active and using the right channel. This just means using the platform that works best for you and your business.
Yelp, for instance, is a public review site that a lot
of people check out when traveling. It’s great for restaurants and other such
businesses. And LinkedIn is more of a professional channel that attracts
professionals in mostly white-collar industries. It’s a good place to connect
with people in industries relating to job placement or personnel.
But Facebook is still pretty much the queen mother of
social media. It’s used by almost everyone in the world and attracts almost
every demographic. The key is to find one or two platforms you can effectively
operate and interact with people every day.
Help someone out
According to almost any sales expert, trust is the number one key to closing sales. But don’t think this is something you can fake.
In order to do this effectively, you must be genuine in
your relationships and willing to help people, even when no sales are involved.
One example of a good trust-building technique is to chime in when people talk
about their problems on social media. Of course, these would typically be
problems your product business could solve, because that’s your expertise.
But don’t be salesy every time you comment. Offer
genuine solutions that might not make you a dime. Then, when people do need
your product or service, they’ll trust you enough to do business with you.
What would life be like without music? The world
will probably be a dull and quiet place. Music is a huge part of our lives and
it’s one of the most precious human experiences. But as we age, our taste in
music tends to change.
Children, teenagers, adults, and the elderly may
have different music preferences which evolve as they age. You may have already
noticed this as you appreciate or listen to different kinds of music now
compared than when you were still young. But why do we undergo this music evolution?
Children and music
Most children love listening to, singing along with,
and dancing to music. Usually, children don’t have their own music preferences.
They tend to like music which their parents condition them to like. When a child listens to a particular type of childhood songs or
music time and time again, he will enjoy it more.
This is why it’s important for parents to carefully choose the type of music they expose their children. The more a child listens to music, the more natural it feels for them. Of course, as children grow older, they will start having their own preferences though this depends on the music they’re frequently exposed to.
It’s a common belief that a person’s taste in music
develops and becomes final by the time they reach their teenage years. But
there’s a recent study which suggests otherwise. According to this study, our
taste in music continues to evolve as we age to meet our psychological and
social needs.
Teenagers are at the age when they experience a lot
of changes. In fact, because of everything that’s going on in their lives,
their tastes tend to change drastically, and this is mainly because they’re
still in the process of looking for themselves. Often, teenagers would try
different things and listen to different types of music to understand
themselves better.
For teenagers, music is a huge part of their lives. When they feel stressed because they don’t have time to do manage their affairs they would ideally want to, music helps them calm down. If you have ever felt like you don’t have enough time, Edubirdie writes your essays. From research reports to thesis and college essays to dissertation, it takes only a click to get writing work done.
By using this essay writing service, you can focus
more on enjoying music and on finding out which type of music fits your
personality. The formation of our music taste starts by the age of 10, even for
those who didn’t have any initial interest in music.
Then comes a “formative window” which
occurs between the age of 11 to 17. During this time, self-discovery is at its
peak, which is why you would find your impressionable self-reacting
dramatically to each new song and musical piece that you hear. When you reach
14 years old, this is when you start developing musical preferences.
This is the “magic age” where your cognitive development makes your musical taste an important part of your identity. Teenagers frequently need to explain their identity and music is an effective and affordable way to do this.
It’s commonly believed that a person’s taste in
music is solidified by his late teens up to his early twenties. Scientists
claim is that our basic preferences are already laid out at this time. This is
also when we find our direction and footing in terms of what we listen to for
the next years of our life.
For most of us, our musical tastes as adults are usually based on our preferences during our teenage years. Through effort, it’s possible to expand these tastes as an adult. However, this does become more challenging if you had a narrow taste in music during your teenage years. Difficult, but not impossible.
We’ve already established how music is an important
part of a teenager’s life. During the teenage years, you would blast whatever’s
popular or “trending” at the moment. Then your musical interest may
start to drop when you reach your 20s and early 30s. At age 33, this interest
tends to bottom out.
These findings come from a new study which measured
how quickly and when people would lose interest in mainstream hits. For this
study, they came up with a compilation of songs on Spotify for each of the
users in the US back in 2014. Then the researchers cross-referenced the data
against the popularity of the recording artists and the age of the users.
The data showed that it seems to be more challenging
for us to keep up with the “popular” and “mainstream” hits
the older we get. One surprising finding from this study was how quickly the
effect happens for parents of young children.
No matter what their age was, even for those who
were in their early 20s, as long as they were parents of young children, these
people listened to significantly less mainstream music compared to other people
of the same age.
To identify the users of the study who were parents,
the researchers identified those who streamed a lot of nursery songs or
children’s music. Another interesting finding from the study was that men tend
to move away from popular music at a faster rate than women.
The musical pieces we adults listen to, may become
more complex as we age. Although this
study conducted on Spotify was a single study, it does highlight the
possibilities of collecting and integrating huge amounts of data using
sophisticated methods for social science research.
The golden years
Have you ever wondered why people growing up in 60s
and 70s still love listening to Elvis, The Beatles, and other old-school bands
and singers? Or as an adult, have you ever wondered why you still have a strong
affiliation with the “cheesy” bands you used to love when you were a
teenager? By now, you should have a better understanding of why this is so.
Another recent study conducted by Deezer in the UK asked people about their streaming habits and musical preferences. The findings of this study showed that people tend to go through what’s known as a “musical paralysis” when they reach 30.5 years of age. This is when they don’t listen to new music as much and they stick to their preferences.
Our musical discovery reaches its peak around 24
years and 5 months, though some women may reach this peak a bit earlier. During
this age, most people would only feel interested in checking out ten new songs
or musical pieces each week while others would only listen to around five new
artists each month.
Some people even claim that they feel like they’re
stuck in a “musical rut” where they only play the same things time
and time again.
Even as we reach the golden years, music remains to
be a huge part of our lives. The elderly love listening to music, especially
the one which makes them feel calm and relaxed. For them, when they find music
that’s similar to what they used to love in their youth, the tendency is they
would love that too.
Our preferences and inclinations would remain the
same but the actual taste in music continues to evolve. This is why the older
generation tends to prefer classical pieces or those which have nice, slow
beats even though they may have loved fast or loud music in the past. This is
because they have found something which appeals to who they are now but still
reminds them of their favorite music in the past.
Conclusion
As you can see, science supports the fact that our
taste in music changes over a lifetime. As we age, we tend to listen to
different kinds of music and musical pieces. What we might not know is that
these preferences we have when we are older are still based on our preferences
when we were in our teenage years.
No matter how you look at it, music is a vital part
of our lives and our society. Children, teenagers, adults, and even the elderly
listen to music. We use it to express our feelings, to find our own identity,
to help us accomplish our tasks, and more.
