Author: knjohn

Learn Better through Variation: A Case for Getting Away from Your Desk | Page19

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You might really like your office, but getting away from it can help you learn better and remember more. Here’s why.

Routine can be very helpful when it comes to building a framework for creative work. But if you want to learn something new, shaking up the standard will serve you better.

According to How We Learn, varying your workspace is much better for your learning than sitting down in the same place to toil. Why? Because of how our brains store memories.

Imagine it’s Tuesday and you’re listening to your favorite jazz album while working through a few pages of notes on a seminar you just attended. A few days later, you’re at a friend’s house and she puts on the exact same jazz album. The areas of the brain that hold the memories of what you learned on Tuesday while listening to jazz will be activated, making it easier for you to retrieve that information.

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Toyota Keeps Piling Into Fuel Cells As It Runs Away From EVs | Forbes

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Toyota keeps on running toward hydrogen fuel cells and away from all-electric vehicles in what amounts to the most decisive strategy in the auto industry for the future of alternative power trains.

At the Los Angeles auto show, Toyota executives planned to elaborate on the company’s deepening investments in fuel-cell vehicles, after a weekend announcement that it would begin selling next year a model called “Mirai” — Japanese for “future” — that will travel 300 miles on a hydrogen tank and can be refilled in less than five minutes. The car, Toyota has said previously, will go on sale in Japan in April for about $60,000 and be introduced in the U.S. and Europe a few months later.

The company’s embrace of fuel cells reminds some observers of other significant moments of commitment for Toyota over the decades, including in 1989 when it launched the Lexus luxury brand in the United States and in 1997, when it started selling Prius gasoline-electric hybrids. Both moves redefined the American auto industry in different ways.

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The Galaxy Note Edge Is A True Cutting-Edge Phablet | TechCrunch

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Samsung either plays it entirely safe – see most of the Galaxy Tab line – or entirely gonzo. Whether it’s the chimerical Galaxy K Zoom or their curved TV, it’s as if the company has one floor dedicated to making vanilla ice cream an another dedicated to making unicorn-tear-flavored gelato. And it’s on that latter floor that the Galaxy Note Edge was born.

First thing’s first: this is essentially a Galaxy Note 4, one of the best mini-tablets available. While I remain an iOS user, I’ve turned to the Galaxy Note again and again over the past few weeks because of the bright screen and size. It is, to be clear, a definite iPhone 6 Plus competitor and, in some respects, beats that behemoth at screen clarity and usability.

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Billionaire Michael Bloomberg recommends being a plumber | Money Cnn

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Former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg has some advice for high school seniors: forget college, become a plumber instead. “Today if your kid wants to go to college or become a plumber, you’ve got to think long and hard,” said Bloomberg Monday at the annual meeting of Wall Street trade group SIFMA.

“If he’s not going to go to a great school and he’s not super smart academically, but is smart in terms of dealing with people and that sort of thing, being a plumber is a great job because you have pricing power, you have an enormous skill set,” he said.

The founder of financial data and news services company Bloomberg L.P. even went as far as to say that students considering Harvard should do the math. You could pay $50,000 to $60,000 a year to Harvard or you could make that much as an apprentice plumber, he explained.

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What Entrepreneurs Should Know Before Starting a Business | Business News Daily

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When you’re getting ready to start a business, you may think all you need is a great idea and the cash to make it happen. This is a good place to start, but there are so many other elements to startup success that entrepreneurs tend to overlook when they’re caught up in the excitement of a launch. Ten successful startup founders and executives shared the best tips they believe every aspiring entrepreneur should know before starting a business.

“Commit to mastery, to becoming a learning machine.You don’t need only one tool or skill to build a house or building. You don’t need to be the best at all of them, but you need to understand them.” — Ney Torres, CEO of CarFootprints.com

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How Can Small Businesses Afford to Grow? | All Business

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Growth is a very important part of any business. In order to keep the business going and reach all the goals that the business is capable of, business owners need to supply the tools that their business needs to grow and succeed. Necessary growth for businesses can range from adding on more staff to the payroll or buying a new piece of equipment to make their production process go faster. No matter what is needed for the growth that the business needs, it is never an inexpensive investment.

This dilemma causes an all too common issue for many businesses, especially for small businesses. The business owners need to invest in something in order to grow and keep their business going, but they cannot afford to make the investments that they need with the business’s current revenue. This is a problem that seems impossible to overcome, but with a little assistance and the right planning, any business can overcome this obstacle and grow enough to achieve all the goals that the business owner has set for it. Here are some ways that small businesses can afford to grow and how any business owner can make it happen for their business.

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Veteran | Jim Ely

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Veteran

vet-er-uh n, ve-truh n

a person who has had long service or experience in an occupation, office, or the like:

-a person who has served in a military force, especially one who has fought in a war:

-a Vietnam veteran.

-experienced through long service or practice; having served for a long period:

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of veterans.

From Latin veterānus mature, experienced, equivalent to veter- (stem of vetus) old

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TIP OF THE WEEK

U.S. military veterans can now save up to $69,062.50 on the SBA 7(a) loan guarantee fee.

SBA Policy Notice 5000-1319 declares that the SBA guarantee fee on SBA 7(a) loans is now reduced by 50% for small businesses that are 51% or more owned and controlled by a veteran.

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Indices:

PRIME RATE= 3.25%

SBA LIBOR Base Rate November 2014 = 3.16%

SBA Fixed Base Rate November 2014 = 5.28%

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SBA 504 Loan Debenture Rate for October

The debenture rate is only 2.740% but note rate is 2.787% and the effective yield is 4.15%.

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AHEAD OF THE YIELD CURVE

Veteran interest rate observers have noticed a flattening of the yield curve.

The slope of the yield curve—the difference between the yields on short- and long-term maturity bonds—has achieved some notoriety as a simple forecaster of economic growth. The rule of thumb is that an inverted yield curve (short rates above long rates) indicates a recession in about a year.  More generally, a flat curve indicates weak growth and conversely, a steep curve indicates strong growth.

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