Author: knjohn

Texas university students to protest gun law with dildos | BBC News

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Texas students are planning to hang sex toys from their bags in protest at a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons on university campuses.

“You’re carrying a gun to class? Yeah well I’m carrying a HUGE DILDO,” Jessica Jin, organizer of Campus (DILDO) Carry, wrote on Facebook.

About 3,000 people have signed up for the protest, which is planned for next year when the law takes effect.

Gun rights supporters have criticized the rally on the group’s Facebook page.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott enacted the campus carry law in June. Under the law, university presidents are permitted to create so-called “gun-free zones”.

“The State of Texas has decided that it is not at all obnoxious to allow deadly concealed weapons in classrooms, however it DOES have strict rules about free sexual expression, to protect your innocence,” wrote Ms Jin, a student at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Solar & Wind Reach a Big Renewables Turning Point : BNEF | Bloomberg Business

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Wind power is now the cheapest electricity to produce in both Germany and the U.K., even without government subsidies, according to a new analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). It’s the first time that threshold has been crossed by a G7 economy.

But that’s less interesting than what just happened in the U.S.

To appreciate what’s going on there, you need to understand the capacity factor. That’s the percentage of a power plant’s maximum potential that’s actually achieved over time.

Consider a solar project. The sun doesn’t shine at night and, even during the day, varies in brightness with the weather and the seasons. So a project that can crank out 100 megawatt hours of electricity during the sunniest part of the day might produce just 20 percent of that when averaged out over a year. That gives it a 20 percent capacity factor.

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The Psychology of Social Proof in Email Marketing | The Startup Magazine

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Social proof may be a popular marketing buzzword nowadays, but the concept extends way back in our evolutionary past. The ancestors of all primates existing today learned important survival skills by emulating and imitating each other, using mirror neurones. Our brains are still running on the same ‘monkey see, monkey do’ software as early humans. Whether it’s preventing us from going into an empty restaurant, compelling us to read product reviews before purchasing, or encouraging us to dump a bucket of ice water over ourselves  – social proof exerts a powerful influence on us.

Social proof can even be more motivating than a financial incentive. Consumers, like email marketers, are looking for a high ROI from their purchase. You can leverage social proof to win their trust and sell the added value of your product. But how should this be applied in an email campaign? Here are a few tips to steer you in the right direction.

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12 Sure Signs You Shouldn’t Trust a Business Partner, Vendor | Small Biz Trends

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When working with an outside company, there are only so many factors you can control. But based on their behavior, you should know when it’s time to back out.

That’s why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

“What is one warning sign that a deal with a partner or vendor is not going to pan out?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. There Are Long Wait Times Between Communications

“I find that when a partner or vendor takes a long time to respond to our calls or emails, it’s not going to work out.

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Urban Outfitters wants full-time employees to work for free | Business Insider

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As the holiday season approaches, Urban Outfitters is hoping that its employees are in the giving spirit.

Gawker published an email asking the full-time employees at URBN, Urban Outfitters’ parent company based in Philadelphia, to work without pay during five weekend days in October.

The email explains that October is the busiest month of the year for URBN (which houses Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Anthropologie), and therefore, URBN needs its employees’ help.

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What’s Your Most Productive Work Time? | Business News Daily

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If you’re like many of today’s office workers, you begin your day between 8 and 9 a.m., end between 5 and 6 p.m., and spend the eight or nine hours in between juggling meetings, conference calls, emails and project deadlines — along with a few trips to the coffee maker to keep you alert and productive.

Sound familiar? If it does, then you probably also know that, despite your best efforts (and caffeine intake), you’re not always at your peak when you’re trudging through the daily stream of work. All 9-to-5ers go through productivity slumps during the workday, and yet they still try to power through and keep working, even if it means substandard output. But why do they do it?

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What Your Flaky Behavior Is Really Telling People | Entrepreneur

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There are certainly no shortage of reasons — or excuses — as to why you needed to cancel a meeting 30 minutes before it was scheduled, or why you were 20 minutes late for a call or appointment. I know what you’re thinking: “but I was super busy” or “my previous investor meeting went long.”

The reality is you’re going to be judged by your actions, and your actions are saying the wrong things.

Look, I’ve lived in the trenches of startup warfare — actually I’m in them right now while building two companies simultaneously — so I can both honestly and accurately say that I understand that things get crazy. But I must also say that it’s incredibly important to effectively manage your time and schedule, at least if you don’t want to burn dozens of bridges through your journey, which will only make things more difficult in both the short and long runs.

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What Advertisers Are Getting Wrong About Programmatic | Adweek

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Specs

Current gig Vp of strategy at TubeMogul

Previous gig Head of technology at Ikon Communications

Age 35

Adweek: Describe your role as vp of strategy

Phil Cowlishaw: It’s a little bit like Navy SEALs. I take a high view of our most important strategic accounts and then deep dive into them to get a deep understanding of exactly what business drivers will make a difference for them and then how TubeMogul, the platform, can deliver this. My job is to lead a team that helps these accounts, to truly align their business models with our software features. At the end of the day, it’s ultimately helping them get the most value out of our platform. It’s really about how they can pull the triggers inside of our platform to shift more product or brand awareness.

What clients have you been working with?

L’Oréal USA, Jose Cuervo, Mondelez, Allstate, Heineken, Quiznos, Hotels.com and Lenovo.

What trends do you see emerging in digital advertising?

There’s an increased interest in this space on the brand side. We’re seeing brands trying to understand exactly what programmatic is and how it could potentially help their business. We’re seeing a significant shift into the programmatic space and a drive and adoption by big brand advertisers and their agencies to try and understand the power of programmatic, especially in online video, and how it can drive business results.

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Google Is Planning For A Zero-Waste, Circular Economy | Fast Company

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The current economy is built on waste—dig up some materials, turn that into a product, ship it to an “end user” who eventually tosses it in the trash. But that’s starting to change.

Google is one of the latest mega-corporations to commit to the principles of a circular economy—one that keeps “technical nutrients” like plastic and silicon out of the landfill, and trims out wasted water, energy, food, and land.

“Our goal is to embed circular economic principles into the fabric of Google’s infrastructure, operations, and culture,” says Kate Brandt, Google’s sustainability lead. “What that means is that we’ll be focusing on opportunities wherever possible to eradicate waste through smart design—at our data centers, in our kitchens, on our campuses, in all we do around the world.”

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