Railroad Tracks | Author Unknown

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imagesRailroad tracks.

The  US  standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That’s an exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used? Because that’s the way they built them in England, and English expatriates designed the  US  railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that’s the gauge they used.

Why did ‘they’ use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

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Samsung Galaxy S6 Android apps | Business Insider

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Samsung’s newest phone, the Galaxy S6, is without question one of the best phones you can buy.

I’ve tested several Samsung phones over the years, and the Galaxy S6 is the company’s biggest leap forward in design and hardware. It has the best camera, the best screen, and it looks and feels nice thanks to its metal and glass construction.

But there’s still one thing holding me back from recommending the Galaxy S6 over the iPhone, and it’s not entirely Samsung’s fault.

The problem is Android.

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4 Things You Need to Know to Market to Millennials | Adweek

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If anyone understands the millennial mind (or that of Gen Z, coming up right behind it), it’s Kevin Lyman. Since founding the live music event and brand strategy firm 4Fini in 1995, Lyman hasn’t just immersed himself in youth culture—he has helped brands like Truth, Ernie Ball and Journeys stay connected to it. The Vans Warped Tour—his cornerstone event, which jams up to 100 bands into 10 hours of portable, mud-filled mayhem—is now the longest-running festival tour in North America. In his more than two decades as a marketer and promoter, Lyman has learned a thing or two about reaching teens and young adults. Here, he shares some of his best practices.

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How the Decline in Community Banks Hurts Small Business | Entrepreneur

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A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond reveals that the number of community banks dropped by a whopping 41 percent between 2007 and 2013. That’s bad news for small business owners, who rely heavily on financing from small, local banks.

Even more troubling is the potential culprit. Analysis by the Fed suggests that the Dodd-Frank Act is at least partially responsible.

A Harvard University study shows that the rate of decline in the community bank share of commercial banking assets has doubled since the passage of the law in 2010. Moreover, almost all of the decline in the number of community banks in recent years has resulted from a cessation in bank formation during the current economic recovery, the Richmond Fed reports.

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Is Education Technology Where Women Are Starting To Buck The Tech World’s Sexist Trends? | Co.Exist

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3043779-inline-women-edtech-inline-2The landmark San Francisco trial between iconic venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins and Ellen Pao, the woman who did not become partner, may be over. But its repercussions—and the quest to fix sexism in Silicon Valley and, by extension, the technology industry—are ongoing.

Venture capital may be one of the toughest areas to be either female or a minority—and at the technology high-fliers that are their favorite investments, it isn’t much better. Women made up only 11% of founders in the most recent class of lauded tech incubator Y Combinator.

But in the geeky boys’ club of tech, education tech may be one of the few slightly more bright spots where female founders and CEOs are showing up—and staying the course—in greater numbers.

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  The Emerging Ideas and Progressive Ideals of the 2015 Business | Getentrepreneurial

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Today, every business needs more than an edge. In an atmosphere that’s filled with competitors looking to fill every niche at lightning speed, every aspect of a business needs move with the speed and fluidity of a startup. Fortunately, technology has made this readily possible.

First, think small, but do it in a big way. The cloud is huge, but it has the potential to make your business more agile than even your largest competitor. Centralized storage not only saves on server and backup costs, but also allows your entire workforce to access every bit of relevant information in real time. Even better, they can do it remotely.

The ideal of the paperless office is quickly becoming a reality, and cloud computing is the way it’s happening. Every document, report and record can be stored in a single location that’s accessible from locations as close as the corner office and as far away as your sales team in Singapore.

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Here’s America’s New Minimum Wage Map | Bloomberg Business

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images (1)Seattle’s new minimum wage law takes effect today, the first stage of an extended ramp-up that will see all business in the city paying $15 an hour by 2021. Workers at large businesses will see an increase today to $11, from Washington’s state minimum wage of $9.47, already the highest in the nation.

This map shows the up-to-date status of the minimum wage across the country.

See Map.

Paving Your Own Path to Success | BusinessTips.com

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imagesWhen something amazing happens to someone, one of the first things we want to say is, “You’re so lucky.” This is an appropriate reaction to someone finding $20 on the floor or winning concert tickets, but when it comes to operating a business, is success really a result of luck? It may seem that way when your business is struggling despite all of the hours of hard work you’ve invested in it, but there are strategies you can implement that will slowly but surely help you pave your own path to great success.

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Paying Yourself Too Much? Too Little? Be Ready for an IRS Challenge | Biz Action

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It is generally more tax-efficient to be paid a salary than to receive dividends, given that salary expense is deductible and dividends are paid on an after-tax basis. If the IRS thinks some portion of your salary really should be treated as a distribution of profit, that portion would be added to the pool of corporate revenue subject to tax.

It all comes down to the meaning of the word “reasonable.”

It all comes down to the IRS definition of “reasonable.”

“Whether the pay is reasonable depends on the circumstances that existed when you contracted for the services, not those that exist when the reasonableness is questioned,” according to the IRS.

Suppose, for example, you paid yourself a $250,000 salary at a time when your company was small, with gross revenue of $500,000, two employees besides yourself, and you were not working around the clock. Suppose further that after five years your business has tripled in size and you are still paying yourself $250,000.

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